From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordStones bearing signs and images associated with celestial powers.
- In the bookGamahei gives the broader description of images impressed by a supercelestial influence.
- In this editionA textual note records the reading of the 1650 printing and the editorial treatment.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 23; facsimile PDF page 351.
Historical definition
Gamathei are stones impressed with celestial virtues and supernatural constellations, and marked with wonderful characters and images. 1
Meaning
The entry joins a material subject, stones, to two kinds of description. Virtues and constellations are said to be impressed in them, and characters and images mark them. The visible marks are therefore related to attributed powers rather than offered merely as surface decoration.
The definition does not enumerate the images or state a method for interpreting them. Nor does it say that every marked stone belongs to this category. A particular passage must supply the features or judgement by which the name is applied.
Use in the book
Gamahei gives the broader description of images impressed by a supercelestial influence. Imagines concerns metallic figures in which celestial powers operate. Constellatio explains the impression of higher stars or their virtues upon lower bodies. Read together, these entries connect medium, mark and efficacy without making every figure or stone the same kind of object.
The original has the defective spelling supernaturll. The modernised definition supplies the expected supernatural while the original reading and the textual note remain available. That small correction does not alter the source’s substantive claim about the stones.
Places to read
- GamatheiRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- ConstellatioThe influence of higher stars understood as an impression in lower things.
- GamaheiImages attributed to an influence beyond the celestial.
- ImaginesMetallic images treated as subjects of celestial efficacy.
In this edition
The commentary keeps the distinction between visible markings and the powers attributed to them. Recognising a historical claim of celestial efficacy is different from independently confirming that efficacy or supplying an unmentioned system of talismanic correspondences.
Source note
1. The original prints supernaturll, omitting a letter. The modernisation reads supernatural.
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 23; facsimile PDF page 351 — Facsimile