From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordA body described through an internal or human astral relation.
- In the bookImaginatio is also described as a star in a person.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 17; facsimile PDF page 345.
Historical definition
Confirmamentum is the body of a star in a human being, or an astral body.
Meaning
The definition gives two expressions for its subject: the body of a star in a person and an astral body. It places the term within the book’s account of celestial powers operating in human life. It does not identify an anatomical organ or describe a star physically lodged in the ordinary sense within the body.
The relation to a person is explicit. Compare a passage’s language of bodies, powers and stars before deciding whether it is speaking of the visible heavens, a human counterpart, or the efficacy attributed to either.
Use in the book
Imaginatio is also described as a star in a person. Corpora cœlestia Spagyrorum calls astral virtues present in their matter “celestial bodies,” while Constellatio concerns the impression of higher stars upon lower bodies. The vocabulary consequently moves between body and virtue rather than observing the boundaries of a modern anatomical list.
Places to read
- ConfirmamentumRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- ConstellatioThe influence of higher stars understood as an impression in lower things.
- Corpora cœlestia SpagyrorumCelestial bodies of the spagyrists understood as astral virtues in matter.
- ImaginatioImagination described through human, celestial and supercelestial relations.
In this edition
“Astral” is retained as the historical term. The entry offers no basis for replacing it with a psychological faculty or a contemporary model of bodily energy.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 17; facsimile PDF page 345 — Facsimile