From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe influence of higher stars understood as an impression in lower things.
- In the bookFormæ rerum likewise defines forms through influences received from celestial bodies, or through the virtues of things.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 17; facsimile PDF page 345.
Historical definition
Constellatio is the impression of higher stars, or their virtues, upon lower bodies.
Meaning
The term describes a relation between higher and lower, with “impression” expressing what the stars or their virtues are said to communicate. It does not simply name a pattern of stars visible in the sky. Both celestial agents and the bodies receiving their effects are essential to this definition.
The alternative wording “or their virtues” is also significant. The dictionary allows an author to speak either of the stars or of the efficacy attributed to them. A reading that treats every celestial term as a statement about a visible material body will miss that flexibility.
Use in the book
Formæ rerum likewise defines forms through influences received from celestial bodies, or through the virtues of things. Impressiones names the resulting fruits of stars in lower things. Gamathei gives a special case in stones marked with characters and images. Together these terms describe transmission, reception and its supposed effects across the book’s natural world.
Places to read
- ConstellatioRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- Formæ rerumForms explained through received celestial influences or active virtues.
- GamatheiStones bearing signs and images associated with celestial powers.
- ImpressionesEffects in lower subjects described as fruits of stars.
In this edition
The edition retains this historical relation without replacing it with a modern causal theory. “Higher” and “lower” belong to the text’s ordering of things; they are not measures of the worth of the subjects being described.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 17; facsimile PDF page 345 — Facsimile