DIVINE WISDOM

DIVINE NAT U RE
The Message of the Rosicrucian
Manifestoes in the Visual Language
of the Seventeenth Century

edited by José Bouman and Cis van Heertum

Amsterdam
In de Pelikaan 2014
A Privilege Lasting Forever
Khunrath’s Amphitheatrum was printed with an imperial
privilege for the period of ten years (‘cum privilegio
Caesareae Majest. ad decennium a prima impressionis die’).
Publishers oten requested privileges in the case of valuable
works that involved considerable inancial investment in
an atempt to prevent pirated ediions. The privilege for
Mögling’s Speculum, on the other hand, was granted by
God and Nature: ‘cum privilegio Dei & naturae’, a privilege
which lasted eternally: ‘in ewigkeit umzustossen’. The
exquisite litle scene underneath the itle promises the
reader Mögling’s ‘true counterfeit, life and posiion’. We
see a vessel sailing towards a cross within a wreath (the
Rosycross?). On the right the tetragrammaton, with above
it God’s hand from the clouds, holding an angel’s wings.
This is the world above; but there is also the world below,
where Mögling inds himself (the heart bears the iniials
‘T.S.’: Theophilus Schweighardt or Mögling) and where
Ignorance, Poverty and the Sea of Opinions rule supreme. At
the base of the itle-page is an inscripion admonishing the
reader irst of all to seek the kingdom of God (in an allusion
to Mathew 6:33: ‘Quaerite primum regnum coelorum’).
This part of the itle-page engraving Merian copied from
Mögling’s friend Bonaventura Reihing, who had made an
engraving for Mögling’s Pandora sextae aetais or Pandora
of the Sixth Age, published the year before.
Stephan Michelspacher

Litle is known about Stephan Michelspacher other than that he pracised medicine
as a Paracelsian physician in Tyrol in the early part of the seventeenth century and
let for Augsburg around 1613 to start a publishing house there, which he ran unil
at least 1619. As a Lutheran living in re-Catholicized Tyrol, he may have moved to
Augsburg to escape the fate that had befallen Adam Halsmayr, who was persecuted
by the Jesuits and sent to the galleys. Augsburg was one of the ciies in the Holy
Roman Empire where the Protestant and Catholic religions were allowed to coexist.
Michelspacher was a friend of Daniel Mögling, whose own Speculum was published
three years ater Michelspacher’s Cabala. Between 1618 and 1621, Mögling lived in
the house of the mathemaician and Rosicrucian follower Johannes Faulhaber, an
author also published by Michelspacher. Michelspacher dedicated his own Cabala
to his friend and colleague Johann Remmelin (1583-1632), with whom he had
collaborated on the later’s Catoptron Microcosmicum, a work on human anatomy
with a series of complex prints engraved by Lucas Kilian (1579-1637) and irst
published by Michelspacher in 1613. This anatomical work discusses the macrocosm
and the microcosm as the relecion of divine creaion. Philip Hainhofer (1568-1647),
a merchant and art collector in Augsburg, is another important igure in connecion
with Michelspacher. It has been argued that Michelspacher’s publishing list, with
subjects ranging from alchemy, anatomy, geometry to music, partly relects the
interests of Hainhofer. Although Michelspacher’s publishing aciviies are atested
unil 1619, and litle is known about him ater that date, Daniel Mögling sill asked to
be remembered to him through his friend Wilhelm Schickard in 1630.

Cabala: Spiegel der Kunst und Natur, in Alchymia

Stephan Michelspacher’s Cabala: Spiegel der Kunst und Natur, in Alchymia is a
symbolic masterpiece fusing alchemical, astrological and kabbalisic elements. This
Paracelsian alchemical treaise irst appeared in German in 1615 from the press of
David Francke, a printer in Augsburg. The four prints were designed by Michelspacher
and engraved by Raphael Custos or Custodis (1590/91-1664), an engraver and
publisher in Augsburg and the son of Dominicus Custos, an engraver who had
worked for Rudolf II in Prague. A Lain ediion, Cabala, Speculum Aris et Naturae,
in Alchymia, was published the next year, in 1616 . This Lain ediion contains a
dedicaion to the Rosicrucian Brotherhood: ‘Rosae Crucis fraternitai dicata edita, quo
hac in materia amplius nil desideretur’ (Published and dedicated to the Brotherhood
of the Rosy Cross, so that nothing more is lacking in this mater).
Following the dedicaion is a treaise of nine pages subdivided in ive secions:
1) ‘Eingang an den Leser dieser Kunst’, 2) ‘Vorred’, 3) ‘Kunst’, 4) ‘Erklärung der Kunst’,
and 5) ‘Zum Beschluß ein Erklärung des uhralten Steins’. Michelspacher’s ‘Cabala’
should be interpreted as ‘Cabala chymica’ or ‘Chemia cabalisica’, i.e. in Paracelsian
terms. Thus in Paracelsus’ Philosophia sagax, the ‘Ars Cabalisica’ is a potent adjunct
to natural magic. In his Cabala, Michelspacher gives an explanaion of the alchemical
operaions that are illustrated in the engravings. He explains that by following these
steps of the process in the right order, the hidden secrets of nature will become clear
and the Great Work can be completed:

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But these things do only concern the students of the true and solid
alchymy and spagyrick art, and those that are expert in chymical
operaions, to whom even the least occult and arcana of nature will
be clear, by help of the degrees, or order of the scales which are oten
made use of in operaion. As for example the igure by the number 1
doth declare the degree of calcinaion, under which also reverberaion
and commendaion are understood. The second igure doth show the
degree of exaltaion, which doth comprehend sublimaion and elevaion
together with disillaion. The third igure doth note conjuncion,
together with putrefacion, soluion, dissoluion, resoluion, digesion,
circulaion. The fourth igure doth contain muliplicaion, under
which are latent, ascension, lavaion, imbibiion, cohobaion, as also
coagulaion, ixaion, augmentaion and incture.

The irst engraving, enitled Spigel der Kunst und Natur, symbolizes the beginning
of the alchemical process through the operaions of calcinaion, reverberaion
and cementaion. The overall goal of this process is to remove the ‘body’, Salt and
philosophical Mercury, from the mater. Paracelsus believed that all metals are
compounded of three basic principles: Salt, Mercury and Sulphur, or: the tria prima
(‘the three irst things’). This idea derives from the Mercury-Sulphur theory proposed
by the Islamic alchemist Jābir, who states that Sulphur (solidity) and Mercury (luidity)
are the basis of all metals. When these two principles are combined in diferent
proporions and degrees of purity, the metals are produced. Whereas Jabir’s theory
applied only to the metals and some minerals, Paracelsus added the principle of Salt
to capture the fundamental elements of everything. He believed that the chemical
separaion (Scheidung) of substances annulled their toxicity and the Salt, Mercury
and Sulphur remained puriied and more powerful. The second engraving according
to Michelspacher illustrates how to obtain the philosophical Sulphur through
exaltaion, sublimaion, elevaion and disillaion. These methods separate the
subtle from the gross, the volaile from the ixed, the spirit and soul from the body;
i.e. the Sulphur is separated from the Salt. The third engraving then illustrates the
operaions of conjuncion, putrefacion, soluion, dissoluion, resoluion, digesion
and circulaion. During this process, the earlier extracted Mercury and Sulphur are
combined and prepared for putrefacion, the separaion of the pure from the impure.
Finally, the fourth engraving illustrates the operaions of muliplicaion, ascension,
lavaion, imbibiion, cohobaion, coagulaion, ixaion, augmentaion. The inal goal
of all these chemical processes is the incture, the ‘treasure of treasures’, which is the
medicine the alchemist sought.

Spiegel der Kunst und Natur: the First Engraving

Unlike the other three illustraions, this engraving appears to consist of several
separate images. The coat of arms at the top of the engraving is not Michelspacher’s
personal or ancestral eschutcheon, so we are here probably dealing with an
alchemical coat of arms. A recurring patern on the arms are the three roundels in
the colours white, red and black. They probably correspond to the three Paracelsian
principles: Mercury, Sulphur and Salt; or to the three major stages of the magnum

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Remmelin & Michelspacher, Pinax microcosmographicus 1634
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opus: albedo (white), rubedo (red) and nigredo (black). On top of the crest are a crown
and wings as a reference to the phoenix, a symbol of the Philosophers’ Stone and the
compleion of the alchemical work. The extended part of the crown bears seven small
arrows poining in diferent direcions, referring to the seven stages of transmutaion.
The combat between the volaile Eagle and the ixed Lion takes place next to the coat
of arms, illustraing the operaion of disillaion by which the ixed becomes volaile.
Above the animals’ heads are two short verses:

Cabala and Alchemy, O God help us to be grateful,

Give thee the medicine most high.
Also the Stone of the Wise,
In which alone the foundaion lies.
As is plain before thine eyes,
Beimes in these eigies.
For this git sublime and pure.
The man whose heart and mind Thou openest,
Who is perfect herein.
To prepare here this Work,
To him may all strength be given.

On the let a man holding a book called ‘Prima Materia’ and an aludel containing the
symbol of animony is standing before the pillar of Nature. On the right a man holding
a book called ‘Ulima Materia’ and a pelican in his hands with the inverted symbol of
animony is standing before the pillar of Art. Interesingly, the man holding the Prima
Materia book is looking at the reader and seems to be walking towards the man with
the Ulima Materia, who appears to be standing sill and is facing the other man. This
seems to indicate that the reader should start with the producion of the prime mater,
before he can start producing the ulimate mater. This corresponds with the two images
underneath the pillars of miners hewing stone and soring the extracted minerals
from the mountain, emphasizing that the
substances for the alchemical process are
found within the earth. The references to
Nature and Art further illustrate that the
Prima Materia is provided by nature and the
Ulima Materia by the art of alchemy.
In between the mineworkers there
are two diagrams. Here we get a closer
sense of what Michelspacher probably
intended with his use of the term Cabala,
for the circle on the let contains the
alchemical words ‘Vitriol’ and ‘Azot’.
Vitriol(um) is an acronym meaning ‘Visita
interiora terrae reciicandoque invenies
occultum lapidem verum medicinalum’,
which translates as ‘Visit the interior of the
earth and by recifying thou shalt ind the
hidden true medicinal stone.’ Once more
this underlines that the prime mater is
found inside the earth. The word Azot is
formed of the irst and last leters of the
Lain, Greek and Hebrew alphabets. It may
refer to the Prima Materia and Ulima
Khunrath, Vom hylealischen … Chaos 1597

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 — Stephan Michelspacher —

Materia corresponding with the irst and last leter of the alphabets, in a sense
containing all that is. According to Paracelsus, Azot is the universal medicine and
the ulimate purpose of the alchemical work. The words Vitriol and Azot appear
within a geometrical image of a circle, square and triangle, similar to Bernard
Penot’s itle-page of De Denario Medico (1608) and the twenty-irst emblem in
Michael Maier’s Atalanta fugiens (1617). Heinrich Khunrath also menions this
geometrical igure in Vom hylealischen … Chaos (1597), in which he cites Aristotle
as the original source: ‘Make of the Man and Woman a round Circle, and from that
extract a Quadrangle, and from the Quadrangle a Triangle, and from the Triangle
make a round circle, and you will have the Magistery.’ Two crowned snakes enclose
the geometrical igure forming a caduceus, suggesing that Azot might also be
synonymous with Mercury or the ‘mercury of philosophers’. Aristotle’s elemental
qualiies hot, cold, dry and wet are illustrated next to the caduceus. The diagram
is surrounded by the 360 degrees of the zodiac. The circle on the right illustrates
the four elements water, earth, air and ire, and the alchemical substances sulphur,
bismuth, vitriol and animony. Paracelsus in his Paragranum referred to Philosophy,
Astronomy, Alchemy and Virtue as the four pillars of medicine. At the centre are the
seven planetary symbols, each corresponding to one of the four substances. Around
the diagrams the word ‘GOTT’ is visible, showing alchemy to be a donum dei: a git
from God. The ‘A’ and ‘O’ in the middle refer to the ‘Alpha and Omega’, a symbol
for the totality of God. It might also be a reference to the Azot menioned above
and in this sense is probably connected to
Michelspacher’s fourth engraving, which
shows Christ. The monogram in between
the two diagrams is a combinaion of
the leters ‘M, L, P, S’ and is a personal
monogram for MicheLSPacher. Underneath
the diagrams there is an alchemical
laboratory where two alchemists are seen
working their magic. The alchemist on the
let is engaged in the via humida or the
‘Wet Path’, illustrated by the numerous
lasks and furnaces. On the right is
depicted the via sicca or ‘Dry Path’ with its
open ires.

Anfang. Exaltation: the Second Engraving

The second engraving illustrates the beginning (‘Anfang’) of the alchemical process.
At the centre of the image is the alchemical vessel, or Philosophical Egg, enclosing
a variety of animals: a lion and a swan, a raven, a peacock, a phoenix and inally
the Sun emerging from the vessel. This represents the alchemical process in which
impure substances (the Lion and Swan) die (the Black Raven or putrefacion) and
are ‘reborn’ (the Phoenix) in the Solar Perfecion of the Philosophers’ Stone (the
Sun). An intermediate stage of this process is the cauda pavonis, the Peacock’s Tail.
Above the vessel the acronym ‘VWIWV’ is placed, which stands for ‘Unser Wasser
Ist Wasser Unser’. A large star is placed on top of the vessel poining towards the
‘M’ of Mercury accompanied by two smaller dragons or chimaeras, represening

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Michelspacher, Cabala 1615

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 — Stephan Michelspacher —

volaility. Radiaing from the star are six lines, each leading to a separate star in
the circle. Several interpretaions have been given for the ire-breathing dragon
underneath the alchemical vessel. It may represent the prima materia, as suggested
by its wingless, or ixed state. It is also possible that it refers to the sophic mercury,
the universal solvent, or the ‘venomous Dragon’ and ‘our true, secret vessel, in which
our Sun rises and sets’ as Eirenaeus Philalethes described later in Tres tractatus de
metallorum transmutaione (1668). The dragon may also symbolically illustrate the
ire which is essenial in the alchemical process. As a reference to the astrological sign
of Aries, the irst sign of the zodiac, Michelspacher depicted the dragon with horns,
possibly indicaing that the alchemical work commences in spring. The udders of the
dragon allude to the lac virginis, or ‘virgin’s milk’ which is a reference to mercury,
or ‘the everlasing water, and water of life’, corresponding to the downward-
poining triangle, symbolic of the element Water, of the tria prima of Paracelsus:
Salt, Mercury and Sulphur, placed around the vessel. Interpreing the dragon as the
sophic mercury, as Philalethes did, therefore seems quite plausible. Similar to the
irst engraving, the alchemical vessel is surrounded by the 360 astrological degrees
of the zodiac. The second engraving furthermore includes a twenty-three leter
alphabet connected to various terms with alchemical connotaions. The alphabet
reads as follows: A) stands for Aurum or Gold; B) for Blei or Lead; C) for Cheiranthus
cheiri, the four-petalled yellow walllower said to have carminaive and warming
efects; D) for Dragon’s Blood, which can refer to mercury sulide, but is typically
used as a reference to residue; E) for Eisen or Iron; F) refers to the colours of the
Work; G) refers to the temperature of the Fire; H) for the ‘Raven’s Head’, referring
to the nigredo stage of the alchemical work; I) for Iovis, referring to Jupiter or Tin;
K) for Küpfer or Copper; L) for Luna or the Moon; M) for Mercury; N) for nature; O)
for oil; P) for potable gold or incture; Q) for the Quintessence; R) for the Rebis; S)
for salmiac; T) for the plant Tragant; V) for vitriol; X) refers to Essig or acetum; II (or
Y) to refer to the ire; and lastly Z) for Zinober or cinnebar.

Mittel. Coniunctio: the Third Engraving

This image, someimes called the ‘Mountain of the Adepts’, symbolizes the enire
opus. Paracelsus’ seven steps of transmutaion lead up to the temple and each
step is inscribed with an alchemical operaion: calcinaion, sublimaion, soluion,
putrefacion, disillaion, coagulaion and incture. Of this, Paracelsus said in De
natura rerum (Of the Nature of Things, in an English ediion of 1650):

If any one will climbe that Ladder, he shall come into a most
wonderfull place, that hee shall see and have experience of many
secrets in the Transmutaion of Naturall things.

The ascending aspect of the steps is a common theme in emblems and allegories
throughout the Middle Ages. The reference is here to Jacob’s ladder connecing the
terrestrial and celesial world, as captured in the Tabula Smaragdina’s famous phrase
‘that which is above is like that which is below, and that which is below is like that
which is above’. The igures on the mountain show the seven gods who represent
the seven metals, with Mercury standing on the top of a hexagonal fountain. Two
separate jets of water emerge from the fountain and at its foot we can read again

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Michelspacher, Cabala 1615

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Michelspacher, Cabala 1615

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the acronym ‘VWIWV’. The two men in the foreground show that the alchemist
must follow Nature or his natural insinct, as is illustrated by the adept on the let
who follows the animal into the mountain, while the other man, blindfolded, is too
blind to see his way. The rabbit entering the mountain symbolizes Nature, the prima
materia, or perhaps the volaile nature of Mercury. Inside the mountain a temple
is placed wherein the sacred marriage, or conjuncion, of the King and Queen takes
place, with an athanor in the background.
The Queen holds three lowers in her hand,
probably referring to the white and lunar
‘philosophical incture’, the red and solar
‘metallic incture’ and the blue ‘lower of
wisdom’. In Paracelsian alchemy the number
three can also be a symbolic representaion
of the tria prima or the albedo, rubedo and
nigredo stages. The Sun and Moon, the
later surrounded by stars, adorn the cupola,
to relect the sacred marriage. A phoenix,
his wings spread out, stands on top of the
temple as the ‘crown of the alchemical
work’, symbolizing the consummaion of the
Great Work.
The mountain itself indicates that, as the temple is hidden inside the
mountain, the philosophers’ stone ‘lies buried in the earth and must be extracted
and cleansed’, reminding us of the VITRIOLUM acronym. It is also possible that the
mountain represents the alchemical vessel itself. According to Hermes Trismegistus,
‘the earth is the nurse thereof’, which could indicate that the vessel is made of a
kind of earth, like clay. The temple itself is then a representaion of the contents
of the alchemical vessel wherein the King and Queen, masculine and feminine, are
joined together in the process of conjuncion. However, the mountain might also
represent the furnace, heaing or ‘nursing’ the vessel, i.e. the temple.
On closer inspecion we see that the mountain itself is situated both on the
earth as well as in the water. Corresponding with these two elements are the four
circles in the corners of the engraving, represening the four elements of earth,
water, air and ire and possibly referring to the enire process and its wholeness.
Encircling the image are the twelve signs of the zodiac and its degrees, accompanied
by twelve alchemical hieroglyphs symbolizing ingredients like verdigris, vitriol,
sulphur, sal ammoniac, cinnebar, orpiment, salt of tartar and alum. The zodiac
signs are arranged so as to relate to the personiicaions of the planets, instead of
their regular order, as in the Thesaurus thesaurorum alchimistarum or Treasure of
Treasures for Alchemists (Huser ed., part 6, 1590) in which Paracelsus states: ‘Have
your stars wandered out of their course, and are they straying in another orbit,
away from the line of limitaion’. Taurus is the irst astrological sign in the ring, again
indicaing that the work starts in springime.

Endt. Multiplication: the Fourth Engraving

In the inal engraving of Cabala, Christ is depicted as the Philosophers’ Stone seated
in a hexagonal bapismal font inscribed with the words ‘Der Brun des Lebens’ (the

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Michelspacher, Cabala 1615

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 — Divine Wisdom, Divine Nature. Visualizing the Rosicrucian Message —

fountain of life), referring to the regeneraive and healing powers of Mercury. The
basin, which is topped by a large three-iered fountain, is similar to the hexagonal
fountain in the third engraving and a common representaion of the ‘alchemical
fountain’. The topmost ier shows Mercury holding a caduceus and six-pointed star.
Writen above him is again the acronym ‘VWIWV’ which is also depicted in the
second and third engraving. Saturn and Jupiter are depicted below Mercury and
below these Mars and Venus stand. The fountain thus symbolizes how Mercury
dissolves the other metals, turning them into philosophical mercury. Christ ofers
two chalices to the Sun and Moon kneeling on either side of him. Lying near them
are respecively three and two crowns, connected to the ive remaining planetary
signs at the botom of the engraving who angrily shake their bellows at the Sun and
Moon. A crossed pair of laming swords hovers above them. They appear to stand on
a mountain top, possibly the same peak illustrated in the third engraving as it displays
a similar fountain on its summit. Clouds surround the scene, reminding us of Hermes
Trismegistus’s saying that above is like below and vice versa. Behind Christ a winding
path or water stream leads towards the
walled city of Jerusalem where a scene
from Christ’s passion is depicted. An
angel loats above the city. A straight
line connects the city of Jerusalem
with the tetragrammaton on the let,
engraved within the Sun. Flying towards
it is the dove of the Holy Spirit, passing
through Mercury in his light, and then
descending into the font. This creates an
equilateral triangle, formed by the apex
in the tetragrammaton and the font and
city of Jerusalem as its basal corners.
Surrounding the scene is the circle of a
rainbow, whereas the font is enclosed by
a square vineyard. This coniguraion of
circle, square and triangle is similar to the
geometrical diagram in the irst engraving
of the Cabala.

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