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 claimed stellar art of forging exceptionally powerful swords.
- In the bookConstellatio concerns impressions of higher stars upon lower bodies.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition pages 23, 24; facsimile PDF pages 351, 352.
Historical definition
Gladialis is an art in which swords are forged according to the course of the starry firmament so that anvils cannot resist them; it is also called Incusma.
Meaning
The definition links a craft action with a celestial ordering. Swords are forged according to the course of the starry firmament, and extraordinary resistance or power is claimed for them. Incusma is supplied as another name for the art.
The sentence describes an attributed result without giving a forging procedure or a rule for selecting a time. The reader should preserve that difference between a claim about an art and a usable account of its practice. The anvils are part of the description of the swords’ exceptional power, rather than a separate material identification.
Use in the book
Constellatio concerns impressions of higher stars upon lower bodies. Formæ rerum describes celestial influences received by lower bodies. Those entries provide the philosophical vocabulary within which a craft might be understood through stellar efficacy. Magia’s distinction between natural and diabolical kinds shows that the compiler also evaluates arts, but the short Gladialis entry does not itself repeat that division.
Places to read
- GladialisRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- ConstellatioThe influence of higher stars understood as an impression in lower things.
- Formæ rerumForms explained through received celestial influences or active virtues.
- MagiaMagic divided into lawful natural wisdom and forbidden knowledge through evil spirits.
In this edition
The modernised definition retains the extraordinary claim as historical wording. The commentary supplies no metallurgical explanation for the asserted result or astrological instructions absent from the source.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition pages 23, 24; facsimile PDF pages 351, 352 — Facsimile