Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum

Name: Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Author: Heinrich Khunrath

The 1599 German text with a new English translation, introduction, glossary, and notes.

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Early New High German Page · Branch 91 of 215

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Early New High German

p. 84

teriam: Item, aus Clangoris Buccinæ vnd anderen / Quod in Aqua Philosophorum primateriali, NATVRaliter lateat spiritus QVINTAE ESSENTiæ, cuius solius est Magistraliter corrumpere, & in suam materiam primam transformare Metalla. Darbey es billich bleibet.

Alhier fellet ein auch mit zugedenckē / das etliche sprechen / man solle vnd müsse Spiritum Mundi secretissimum, den Geheimbsten Geist der Weld / zum Philosophischen TSEIN^‡ / aus dem Lufft / oder aber vom Firmament des Himmels / in gewisse Materias, so auff künstliche anordnung des Artisten darzu insonderheit hingestellet werden / erst fohen. Doctor Khunrath Fohe mir jhn! O du Thore! Gickes geckes / hats auch Narren geregnet? Er ist one zuthuung Menschenhand oder Hülffe /

Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum: Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum

p. 84

-ter: likewise, out of the Clangor Buccinæ and others, That in the pri-material Water of the Philosophers there lies hidden NATVRALLY the spirit of the FIFTH ESSENCE, whose alone it is Masterfully to corrupt Metals and to transform them into their own first matter. And there it rightly rests.

Here it falls in to be remembered too, that several say one should and must first catch the most secret Spirit of the World, the most Hidden Spirit of the World, for the Philosophical TSEIN^‡ — out of the Air, or else from the Firmament of Heaven — into certain Matters which are set out for the purpose by the artful arrangement of the Artist. Doctor Khunrath, catch him for me! O you fool! Gickes geckes — has it rained fools as well? He is, without the doing of Man’s hand or Help,

141.Marginal gloss: ‘… ^†the Fanatic’s swarm of hornets.’ ^†The gloss is five lines and very heavily inked. Its last three lines read mers Hum- / mels- / schwarm; line 2 ends in -ige and is followed by Schwer-; line 1, two words, is a solid blot. A word therefore stands before Schwermers that cannot be recovered from this copy, and the gloss is printed here with the loss marked. — Clangor Buccinæ, the Blast of the Trumpet, is an alchemical treatise of about 1400, printed in the second edition of the Artis Auriferae (Basel, 1593) — the text Khunrath, writing in 1599, would have had. ^‡TSEIN is printed thus in Fraktur capitals and is not a word. SEIN with a preposed T is what the types show; the sense would want something like ‘to the Philosophical Being’. The reading is open. — Fohe mir jhn is fahen, to catch; the mocking imperative is put in the opponent’s mouth, and Gickes geckes is nonsense-syllables of derision. Hats auch Narren geregnet? — has it rained fools as well? — answers the claim that the Spirit can be caught out of the air like rain.

About This Reading Edition

Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum argues that alchemy has one universal subject, that this subject cannot be extracted from the metals, and that nothing in the work can begin without recognizing it. This complete reader begins with the supplied seven-part introduction and orientation, then presents every printed page of the 1599 German treatise opposite its new English translation.

Historical Text and Translation

The German reading text is a fresh diplomatic transcription from 600 dpi images of the Magdeburg copy printed by Johann Bötcher in 1599. It preserves Khunrath’s capitalization, word division, authorial marginal keys, glosses, errata, and three unnumbered closing pages: the errata leaf, owl emblem, and colophon.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared the new English translation, introduction, notes, glossary, collation, and editorial apparatus. The translation follows Khunrath directly, retaining his technical vocabulary, changes of register, repetitions, rhetorical questions, and distinctions between German, Latin, and coined terms.

Rights

Heinrich Khunrath’s 1599 German work is in the public domain. The 2026 English translation, introduction, notes, glossary, editorial arrangement, and related matter are original to this edition and remain © 2026 Diotimos.

supplied-bilingual-editionSupplied complete German–English scholarly edition