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Voarchadumia is a curious work on alchemy and metallurgy that influenced the work of John Dee, amongst others. It is known that he had an extensive...
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Voarchadumia is a curious work on alchemy and metallurgy that influenced the work of John Dee, amongst others. It is known that he had an extensively annotated copy, and even referred to the art of the voarchadumacis in the prefatory letter to his Monas Hieroglyphica. As with Dee's opus, Pantheus also accommodates numerological and Cabalistic speculations into his art.
First published in 1530 at Paris, Pantheus declares his art of Voarchadumia to be apart and superior to alchemy - evident in the full title of his work: Voarchadumia contra alchimia. Pantheus draws from an impressive list of authorities: Tubal Cain, Hermes Trismegistos, Geber, Artephius, Avicenna, the Turba Philosophorum, Hortulani, Rosini, Albertus Magnus, Arnoldus de Villa Nova, Raymond Lull, Maria the Prophetess, Morieni and Christophorus Parisiensis. Perhaps there is also the influence of the Aesch-Mezareph, although it is not known whether it had been composed by this date.
To see images of the "enochian" alphabet from Pantheus' Voarchadumia, please check pages 30-31 of this PDF file.
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