8

‘Alchemy in the Amphitheatre’

Some consideration of the alchemical

content of the engravings in
Heinrich Khunrath’s Amphitheatre
of Eternal Wisdom (1609)
Peter Forshaw

One of the features that makes Heinrich Khunrath’s Amphitheatre of Eter-

nal Wisdom so remarkable is its sequence of ‘theosophical’ and ‘hieroglyphic’
figures, the most famous of which, the Oratory-Laboratory (Fig. 8.4), has
appeared in innumerable articles and books on alchemy and the occult
arts. Unfortunately, the complexity of these engravings has, on the whole,
resulted in superficial readings of their message and consequent misrepre-
sentations and distortions of Khunrath’s alchemical practice. On the one
hand, whiggish historians like John Read condemn him as a “Hermetic
mystic of the deepest dye”¹ practising an alchemy which was “spiritual
rather than material”, and exerted “no influence upon the progress of al-
chemy towards chemistry”.² On the other hand, although the occultist
A.E. Waite acknowledges the fact that Khunrath was a practical alche-
mist and “an absolute believer in the literal transmutation of metals”,³ he
prefers to promote him as a “hierophant of the psychic side of the opus”,⁴
misleadingly describing the Amphitheatre as “a text of purely spiritual and
mystical alchemy”,⁵ a “book of Divine Alchemy”.⁶ This paper shall con-
sider the alchemical content of the Amphitheatre’s engravings and show
that far from deserving the somewhat marginalized status of ‘spiritual
alchemist’, Khunrath should be recognised as someone whose alchemy

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spans the whole spectrum, from investigation of the properties of matter

and practical physical-chemistry to the use of alchemical language in the
regenerative discourses of Christian spirituality.
Heinrich Khunrath, ‘Doctor of Both Medicines and Faithful Lover of
Theosophy’, was born in Leipzig in 1560. Graduating with highest hon-
ours from Basel Medical School in 1588, he subsequently practised as a
physician in Magdeburg, Hamburg, and Trebon, as well as spending time
at the court of Rudolf II in Prague, numbering both Count Wilhelm
von Rosenburg, John Dee’s erstwhile patron, and Graf Albrecht VII von
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt among his clientele. He died in Dresden in
1605, leaving behind a collection of predominantly alchemical writings,
including On Primordial Chaos,⁷ Three highly useful Questions,⁸ On the Fire
of the Mages and Philosophers,⁹ Universal Magnesia of the Philosophers,¹⁰
and Light in Darkness.¹¹ His best known work, The Universal Ter-tri-une
Christian-Cabalist, Divinely-Magical, and Physico-Chemical Amphitheatre of
the Only True Eternal Wisdom¹² is a theosophical commentary on selected
verses from the Solomonic texts of the Bible in which Khunrath seeks
to propound his “way of correctly philosophising” by a “mystical Ladder
of Seven orthodox Grades”¹³ and has been described as “one of the most
important books in the whole literature of theosophical alchemy and the
occult sciences”.¹⁴
Although emblem books like Horapollo’s Hieroglyphica (1505) and
Alciatus’ Emblemata (1531) antedate the Amphitheatre in the use of illustra-
tions, none had appeared containing such detailed and complex images,
which have been numbered “among the most important and remarkable
mystical drawings in the world”,¹⁵ depicting “remarkable illustrations of a
kind of sophic Utopia, the whole symbolic landscape of the occultists.”¹⁶
Umberto Eco describes them as “complex verbal-visual constructions,
where banderoles, subscript texts, [and] compositions in rebus merge
with symbolic representations”,¹⁷ displaying “surreal landscapes, initiatory
journeys […] a sort of Dantean ascent to a magical passage [resembling]
Christian Rosencreutz’s tomb in the Fama”¹⁸ and Jacques van Lennep
likens them to “visual mazes” and logographs,¹⁹ constituting what Urszula
Szulakowska calls the “first Paracelsian illustrative cycle”.²⁰ They are, indeed,
of particular interest in the history of alchemical imagery in that they pre-

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 peter forshaw 

date the famous alchemical emblem books of, for example, Michael Maier,
Johann Daniel Mylius, and Daniel Stolcius, and are far more sophisticated
than anything that had come before, such as Arnold of Villanova’s famous
Rosarium Philosophorum series (1550) or the illustrations in Petrus Bonus’
Pretiosa Margarita Novella (1546). What is surprising, however, is the pau-
city of serious academic work on them. Other than Umberto Eco’s short
work, Lo Strano Caso della Hanau 1609 (1989), Ralf Töllner’s published
thesis, discussing the alchemical content of certain of the engravings, Der
unendliche Kommentar (1991) and Urszula Szulakowska’s chapters in The
Alchemy of Light (2000), little detailed work exists.²¹
The Amphitheatre exists in two main versions: an extremely rare 1595
edition of which only four printed copies are known to survive, and a later
enlarged 1609 edition that can be found in the rare book collections of
most major European and American libraries.²² Along with their 25 pages
of text, each surviving copy of the 1595 Amphitheatre contains four hand-
coloured circular ‘theosophical figures’ surrounded by further explicatory
text. Although no place or publisher is given on the title page, Hamburg is
the most likely place of publication as all four engravings bear the inscrip-
tion:

Heinrich Khunrath of Leipzig, lover of Theosophy and Doctor of Medi-

cine, inventor, by the grace of God. Paullus von der Doort Antwerp
engraved [this] in Hamburg, in the year 1595 since the birth of Christ,
in the month of April (May, July, September).²³

The fourth and most famous image of the Adept in his Oratory-Labora-
tory also includes the words “H.F. Vriese painted [it].”²⁴
The engraver Paul, or Peter van der Doort (or Doost), was at that time
Superintendent of the Dutch Poor in Hamburg and is otherwise known
for a picture of the Holy Family, one of a sailing ship, and a view of the
city of Hamburg with figures in costume.²⁵ The perspectival scheme of
the fourth figure was drawn by the Netherlandish painter, draughtsman
and writer on perspectival drawing and architecture, Hans Vredeman de
Vries (1527-1606), author of the Theatrum Vitae Humanae (1577).²⁶ In
1595 he moved from Gdansk, where he had been designing fortifications

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as well as painting pictures for the Court of Artus, the Red Room of the
Town Hall and several churches, to Hamburg, and it is most probably
there where he met Khunrath, before moving on to decorate rooms in the
imperial palace in Prague.²⁷
The Amphitheatre’s second, enlarged edition of 1609 adds a further
five rectangular ‘hieroglyphic figures’ along with Khunrath’s portrait and
an ornate symbol-rich title-page, all dating from 1602, and sometimes
an owl engraving which also appears in two other of Khunrath’s publi-
cations,²⁸ with three of the five double-page rectangular engravings in-
cluding Khunrath’s name as their ‘Inventor’, ‘Constructor’, and ‘Fashioner’.
Khunrath’s portrait also supplies the name of its engraver, Johann Diricks
van Campen who engraved it in Magdeburg when Khunrath was aged 42.
Although it cannot be taken as final proof, a comparison of the lettering of
the unnamed engravings with that in the portrait suggests the probability
that all these additional images where executed by the same artist.²⁹ In
contrast to the 1595 edition, all these engravings are in black and white,
as are the four circular engravings that now appear without their original
surrounding Isagoge or ‘Introductory Commentaries’, which are printed
separately, to conform with the smaller and more standard folio format
of the augmented edition.
A curious fact about the copies of the 1609 Amphitheatre is that they all
have the engravings bound in different sequences. It is doubtful whether
any real order was ever intended for the later rectangular engravings; in
fact, an errata note in the colophon asks readers to ignore the printer’s
mistaken instructions to insert images at the end of each of the book’s
7 Grades.³⁰ There is, however, as Eco points out, a clear sequence to the
four circular engravings,³¹ as all the surviving copies of the 1595 edition,
as well as the manuscript in the Royal Library, Copenhagen, have the
same order,³² the sequence being easily seen to follow the Amphitheatre’s
title-page description of itself as Christian-Cabalist, Divinely-Magical, and
Physical-Chemical: Figure 1 is Christ at the centre of a cabalistic diagram of
Hebrew names; Figure 2 shows Man the microcosm as Adam-Androgyne
at the centre of hyperphysical or supernatural magical practices; and Figure
3 (Fig. 8.1) represents the macrocosm and Physico-Chemical practices.
Figure 4 (Fig. 8.2) is the Amphitheatre’s most famous engraving and a

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 peter forshaw 

Fig. 8.1. Rebis and Hermes’ Bird, double plate engraving from Heinrich Khunrath,
Amphitheatrvm Sapientiæ Æternæ, Solivs Veræ: Christiano-Kabalisticvm, Di-
vino-Magicvm, nec non Physico-Chymicvm, Tertrivnvm, Catholicon, Hanau: G.
Antonius, 1609.

visual representation of its “Triune Apocalyptic Key”,³³ the Three Books

of God, Man and Nature, with Khunrath’s threefold injunction to Know
God, Thyself, and Nature. Although the work’s most well-known commen-
tary, the anonymous Judgement and Commentary of an experienced Cabalist
and Philosopher concerning the 4 Figures of Doctor Heinrich Khunrath’s great
Amphitheatre (1608),³⁴ generally attributed to the Pietist Johann Arndt,³⁵
is correct in describing this figure as being concerned with Theology,³⁶ it
should be borne in mind that Khunrath’s idea of what constituted theo-
logy is broader than most. While the first three engravings are presented
as flat, two-dimensional images, this fourth figure is striking in its depth

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  alchemy in the amphitheatre

Fig. 8.2. Oratory-Laboratory, double plate engraving from Heinrich Khunrath, Am-
phitheatrvm Sapientiæ Æternæ, Solivs Veræ: Christiano-Kabalisticvm, Divino-Magi-
cvm, nec non Physico-Chymicvm, Tertrivnvm, Catholicon, Hanau: G. Antonius,
1609.

of perspective, the sense of extra dimension being particularly appropriate

as it represents the synthesis of Khunrath’s Theosophy, which he defines
as “Wonder-working Catholic Theology, in the ternary (that is Biblically,
Macro and Microcosmically)”.³⁷
Given its synoptic nature, a brief description of Figure 4 would be a
useful point of departure for an introduction to Khunrath’s beliefs and
practices. The left-hand side of the image, the Oratory, is the realm of
God, connected with Christian-Cabala and the spiritual aim of divine
union. This is represented by the presence on the Oratory table of the
Amphitheatre’s first two circular figures. On the left is the Sigillum Emet

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 peter forshaw 

(Seal of Truth), Christ as   (Wisdom of God) at the centre of

concentric rings of divine and angelic Hebrew names. That on the right
is the image of Adam-Androgyne, representing the Theosopher, the ten
Grades of Cognition and the Ladder of Conjunction and Union by which
he comprehends the universe and unites with God. The right-hand side
of Figure 4 is the realm of Nature, and shows the Laboratory concerned
with Physical-Chemistry, the transmutation of metals, the preparation
of both chemical medicines and the Philosophers’ Stone. Finally, I would
suggest that the central table signifies Man as he relates to these two realms
via Magic, be that concrete physical magic or natural philosophy or more
abstract hyperphysical magic relating to God and his angelic ministers. As
well as being an allusion to the doctrine of sympathies and the harmony of
the spheres, the presence of the four musical instruments on the table (the
harp and Lira da Braccio on the left, spiritual; the lute and cittern on the
right, secular) are also a reference to sacred music’s ability to dispel ‘sadness
and evil spirits’, melancholy being a subject treated of by Khunrath in his
most iatrochemical work, the Three highly useful Questions.³⁸
In his book Alchimia e Iconologia, Mino Gabriele divides the discussion
of alchemical images into three sub-categories, dealing essentially with
1) allegorical images featuring animal and anthropomorphic figures, 2) a
secret vocabulary composed of cryptographic and hieroglyphic ciphers,
such as geometrical shapes, and 3) images of laboratory equipment.³⁹ This
convenient division of categories shall serve as the basis for the following
analysis of alchemy in the Amphitheatre.
On the subject of allegorical images, Khunrath shows a predilection
for describing the alchemical process figuratively both in word and image.
His most well-known alchemical work, On Primordial Chaos, is full of
references to Green and Red Lions,⁴⁰ Salamanders,⁴¹ Basilisks,⁴² and
Phoenixes,⁴³ while the Amphitheatre’s Circular Figure 3 contains some of
the most impressive examples of alchemical symbolism found anywhere, in
the image of the hermaphrodite Rebis and the equally composite Hermes’
Bird, along with references to Lion’s blood, White Eagle’s water, and Virgin’s
milk. One of the rectangular engravings, that of the alchemical Citadel,
also features members of the alchemical bestiary in the large dragon atop

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Fig. 8.3. Alchemical Citadel, double plate engraving from Heinrich Khunrath, Amphi-
theatrvm Sapientiæ Æternæ, Solivs Veræ: Christiano-Kabalisticvm, Divino-Magicvm,
nec non Physico-Chymicvm, Tertrivnvm, Catholicon, Hanau: G. Antonius, 1609.

the Philosophers’ Stone, a smaller dragon in the pool at its base, along
with the well-known images of the serpents devouring each other’s tails,
representing the volatile and fixed parts of the process, and the ouroboros,
symbol of both eternity and the universe.⁴⁴
Turning to the second category, that of cryptographic and hieroglyphic
ciphers, the most obvious example is the presence of the symbol John Dee
describes in his Monas Hieroglyphica (1564), formed from a combination
of the astrological and alchemical sign for Mercury and the zodiac sign
for Aries, m which can be interpreted alchemically as the Mercurial Water
which does not wet the hands, otherwise known as Azoth, and the Fire
necessary for the operation, in the well-known alchemical adage “Azoth
and Fire are sufficient for the Art”.⁴⁵ Although Szulakowska’s claim that
“the imagery and much of the text of the Amphitheatre […] is due to

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Fig. 8.4. The Calumniators, double plate engraving from Heinrich Khunrath, Am-
phitheatrvm Sapientiæ Æternæ, Solivs Veræ: Christiano-Kabalisticvm, Divino-Mag-
icvm, nec non Physico-Chymicvm, Tertrivnvm, Catholicon, Hanau: G. Antonius,
1609.

Khunrath’s meeting with Dee in Bremen [in 1589]”⁴⁶ is somewhat exag-

gerated, there can be little doubt of the esteem in which Khunrath held
Dee’s enigmatic work. The Monas symbol is clearly visible in both Figure 3,
where it forms the ‘o’ of the word Azoth on the raven’s breast, and in the
Alchemical Citadel (Fig. 8.3) where it can be seen encircled by two serpents
swallowing each other’s tails, above the triumphal archway into the centre
of the city. What is surprising is that while both Szulakowska and Töllner
note the presence too of alchemical glyphs in Circular Figures 3 and 4, and
the rectangular engravings of the Calumniators (fig. 8.4) and the Citadel,
neither of them comments on the novelty of the fact,⁴⁷ for while alchemi-
cal signs do appear in manuscripts, to the best of my knowledge this is
the first instance of such symbols appearing in a printed engraving.⁴⁸ The
Alchymia, for example, of Andreas Libavius who graduated from Basel the

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same year as Khunrath, is considered by some to be the first text-book of

chemistry and was published in the same year as the first edition of the
Amphitheatre (1595). It contains many images of furnaces and alchemical
equipment, but no examples of specifically chemical notation. Volume 1
of his Rerum Chymicarum epistolica forma ad philosophos et medicos, which
came out the same year, does contain some glyphs, such as the Hieroglyphia
Mercurii philosophorum H, but, as in this example, rather than being glyphs
specifically dedicated to chemical substances they are merely the common
dual-purpose astrological-alchemical symbols for the planets and related
metals, already found, for instance, in Paracelsus’ Coelum philosophorum.⁴⁹
Many of Khunrath’s alchemical glyphs, however, are of a quite different
order. Figure 3 has those for the Paracelsian tria prima H (Mercury), I
(Sulphur) and G (Salt), and H Sapientum (Sal armoniac of the Wise). In
Figure 4 we also find D (Precipitate of Spirit);⁵⁰ I sub. (Sublimate of
Sulphur), Sang[uis] q (Lion’s Blood),⁵¹ G Potabile (Potable Gold), and F
(Vinegar). It is only in the year following the publication of Khunrath’s
circular engravings that we find Libavius including similar new glyphs in
his De Sceuastica artis (1596).⁵² What is particularly interesting is that not
only do more symbols appear in two of the Amphitheatre’s later rectangular
engravings, but these additional symbols show a move towards depicting
more readily identifiable ‘chemical’ rather than ambiguously ‘alchemical’
substances; thus in the twenty examples of alchemical malpractice written
in the false entrances surrounding the Alchemical Citadel, we find Anti-
mony J,Lead K, Vitriol G, and Vinegar F, and on the rocks at the centre
of the Calumniators engraving we find in addition Cinnabar 33, Tartar E,
and Saltpetre/Nitre B.
As for Gabriele’s third category of alchemical equipment, although there
are images of the alchemist in his laboratory which predate Khunrath’s
famous engraving, such as the miniature in Thomas Norton’s Ordinal of
Alchemy (1477) or the cover of Hieronymous Braunschweig’s Das Buch
zu Distilliern (1519), none has attained the popularity of the Oratory-Lab-
oratory, which graces the pages of the majority of modern publications
dealing with alchemy or the occult in the Early Modern period. Ralf
Töllner devotes several pages to the alchemical apparatus appearing in
the Amphitheatre image, identifying smelting equipment for the extrac-

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 peter forshaw 

tion of metal from ore found in Georgius Agricola’s De re metallica (1556)

and glass vessels, ovens, and other instruments found in Braunschweig’s
Ars Destillandi (1527) and Christoph Glaser’s Novum Laboratorium Med-
ico-Chymicum (1677)⁵³ including a Balneum Mariae, a sand-oven, retorts
with hoods, circulatoria and a pelikan.⁵⁴ More alchemical apparatus can
be seen in Khunrath’s Portrait, where it appears again on the right side of
the engraving, corresponding no doubt to the placing of the Laboratory to
the right in Figure 4. Another image deserving mention is that appearing
in Khunrath’s Truthful Report concerning the Philosophical Athanor, its Use
and Effectiveness, illustrating his new design for an alchemical furnace or
athanor, which is described in detail in the accompanying text.⁵⁵ Not to
be neglected either is the small image, appearing in the margin of On the
Fire of the Mages and Philosophers, of a mirror, which Khunrath speaks of
as a useful physico-magical instrument for setting a coal or lamp-fire alight
by the heat of the sun, a fact of great significance for Szulakowska who
discusses it at length in her Alchemy of Light, in the context of what she
describes as Khunrath’s catoptrical theurgy in his spiritual and material
alchemy.⁵⁶
Before concerning ourselves with the contentious subject of spiritual
alchemy, let us first look slightly more closely at the Amphitheatre’s Circular
Figure 3 for references to Khunrath’s down-to-earth Physical-Chemistry
of Nature, which he defines as:

[T]he art of chemically dissolving, purifying and rightly reuniting Physi-

cal Things by Nature’s method; the Universal (Macro-Cosmically, the
Philosophers’ Stone; Micro-Cosmically, the parts of the human body
[…]) and all the particulars of the inferior globe.⁵⁷

With a mixture of Neoplatonic and Cabalistic terms and symbols Figure 3

and its accompanying Isagoge set forth an alchemical reading of the biblical
account of creation in Genesis to promote knowledge of Primal Matter,
where God is seen as an alchemist and the Firmament of Heaven as the
“wonderful, perpetual, Universal Macrocosmic Laboratory of Wonderful
God, with Nature presiding or Working.”⁵⁸ As both alchemy and cabala
are concerned with the knowledge of creation, their combination must

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  alchemy in the amphitheatre

have held obvious attractions for Khunrath, particularly when works like
the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation), describing how the universe was
generated from the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, suggested not just
ways of understanding the process, but claimed to provide techniques
for active creation.⁵⁹ Consequently, Figure 3 is a curious combination of
Hebrew terms with those drawn from medieval works of Chrysopoeia,
or gold-making through metallic transmutation, by which Khunrath at-
tempts to correlate the terminology of various conceptual systems to guide
the reader in the direction of gaining knowledge of the preparation of
alchemy’s Prima materia.
Thus, at the base of Figure 3 we see a globe containing the two Neo-
platonic extremes of Form and Matter, where Khunrath equates :
(morphe) or the ‘Essential Form’ of things with   Ruach Elohim,
the Spirit of the Lord that moved on the face of the waters, elsewhere
calling it also the Anima Mundi, Soul of the World, and the Light of Na-
ture.⁶⁰ The raw, confused and unformed mass of virginal  Chaos),
is equated with the biblical Tohu and Bohu, that which was formless and
void.⁶¹ These two are mediated by   Schamaim, Heaven, the Ethereal
Spirit that permeates the whole machine of the world. This is the ‘burning
spirit’, Esh va Maim (Fire and Water), Aqua Communis (Common Water),
or Vinum Catholicon (Universal Wine), drunk by all created things, the
‘aethereal latex’ which can be collected by chemists.⁶² Above this is another
sphere representing both the ‘material’ worked on and the ‘practice’, within
which we see the square of the four elements and the triangle of the three
principles of Soul, Spirit, and Body, Sulphur, Mercury and Salt, the pres-
ence of all three identifying Khunrath as a ‘modern’ chemist, inspired by
the then revolutionary iatro-chemical writings of Paracelsus.

Holding this second sphere is the two-headed Rebis,⁶³ familiar from the
Buch der Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (1433) attributed to Ulmannus, Arnold of
Villanova’s Rosarium Philosophorum and the later works of writers like
Maier and Mylius. It is male on the left wearing a solar crown, female on
the right with a lunar diadem, representing the Chymical Wedding sym-
bolised as the union of Adam and Eve,⁶⁴ Gabricius and Beya,⁶⁵ Mercury
and Saturn of the Philosophers, alchemical Gold and Silver. It also displays

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 peter forshaw 

the three Paracelsian principles, the right breast bearing the sign of Sul-
phur, the left the sign of Salt, while the sign for Mercury is placed on the
navel, as befitting its own ‘versatile nature’.⁶⁶ Main stages of the alchemical
process can also be seen in the quaternary of “Volatilise, Fix, Coagulate,
Compound”⁶⁷ and the ternary of “Separate, Dissolve, Cleanse.”⁶⁸
Above the Rebis is the ‘Hermetic Bird’, a symbol of the main colour
changes of the alchemical process: the nigredo of the Raven’s head, albedo
in the Swan’s Wings, and the multicoloured stage in the Peacock’s Tail.
Here it bears the word Azoth, formed of the first and last letters of the
three matrix languages, Latin, Greek and Hebrew,⁶⁹ encapsulating the
message of the whole diagram: the transformation of ‘Prima materia’ into
‘Ultima materia’. As mentioned above, we also find Dee’s Monas hieroglyph,
itself a symbol of the totality of ‘superior’ and ‘inferior’ astronomy, i.e.
knowledge of the stars and alchemy, understanding of divine order and
the pattern of all change in the universe. Finally, above this is the Hebrew
word  (Urim), the Heavenly Fire and Light to be contemplated in
the Philosophers’ Stone,⁷⁰ surmounted by the Hebrew word  (Esh),⁷¹
both the Solar Fire used by Khunrath to kindle the fire in his Athanor,
and that fire which purifies and consumes the macrocosm on the day of
judgement.⁷²
This synoptical representation of alchemical practice is complemented
by elements in the later rectangular engravings. One such component
is Khunrath’s condemnation of chemical malpractice. Although he is
interested in transmutation he does not want to be classed as a mere
‘Gold-maker’,⁷³ whom he critically depicts in the theriomorphic symbol-
ism of the Calumniators engraving. There, alongside images satirising ele-
ments in the clergy, university and court, we find several condemning less
high-minded fellow practitioners of alchemy, including a bovine figure with
mortar, pestle and bellows, presumably one of the unkempt “Bad Chem-
ists” whom Khunrath describes as “incompetents and botchers.”⁷⁴ His
ass-like neighbour, calling to mind Midas’ foolish lust for gold, most likely
represents with its bellows the type of alchemist contemptuously known as
‘puffers’, the axe perhaps implying crude preparation of materials.⁷⁵ The su-
pine beetle at their feet, described as a “meddlesome gold-beetle”⁷⁶ presum-
ably represents the type of goldbeetle and black-magical treasure-seeker

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  alchemy in the amphitheatre

Khunrath condemns in his pseudonymous ‘Warning’ appended to On

Primordial Chaos.⁷⁷ In a similar vein, the duck-headed figure is perhaps a
pun on the German word to ‘discolour,’⁷⁸ given that it is called a ‘Washer’
and perhaps represents charlatans who coloured impure metals, claiming
them to be gold.⁷⁹ On the subject of fraudulent and mistaken practice, the
Citadel engraving describes specific examples such as the confidence trick
of making iron nails gold-bearing by having special nails made, half iron,
half gold, the latter half only revealed to the onlooker when dipped in a
solvent that removed a surface covering,⁸⁰ or the falsehood of passing off
the whitening of copper for silver, and the fixation of the same for silver,
and likewise its redness for Gold.⁸¹
Although on first sight it may seem as though the Citadel is purely
concerned with physical alchemy, the reader’s perspective changes, literally,
when he passes through the gate, guarded by Hermes with his caduceus
(whose ‘Emerald Tablet’ is the ur-text of the hermetic art), crosses the
bridge, approaches the inner wall marked with the joint injunction to ‘work
physico-chemically’ and ‘pray theosophically’, passes beneath the archway
surmounted by the two serpents swallowing each other’s tails, and Dee’s
Monas symbol, moving as Töllner and Szulakowska have both noted from
the flat, map-like or aerial view of the outside of the Citadel engraving into
a three-dimensional perspective at the centre.⁸² Given that the exterior
of the Citadel shows twenty false entrances describing physico-chemical
malpractices and only one leading to the interior and the attainment of
the Philosophers’ Stone, the implication would appear to be that as with
the transition from the first three flat circular figures to the deep perspec-
tive of the fourth, ultimately Khunrath’s alchemy entails a coordination of
various levels of practice to attain the Stone.
In the centre, dominating the Citadel from atop the Philosophers’ Stone
is a dragon, from whose mouth issues the words “I am the way, truth,
and life”, calling to mind the comparison of Christ to the serpent nailed
to the cross by Moses, an image which was to appear later in Le Livre des
Hiéroglyphs de Nicolas Flamel (1612, Paris) and Abraham Eleazar’s Uraltes
chymisches Werk (1760, Leipzig).⁸³ Above this is a triangle, resembling that
in Figure 3, although this one bears not the word Urim, but the Hebrew
word Aben, meaning at the same time both literally ‘rock’ or ‘stone’, and

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Christian-Cabalistically the first two members of the Trinity: ‘Father’ (Ab)

and ‘Son’ (Ben). In this one word Khunrath propounds what he considers
to be an analogous relationship between the Philosophers’ Stone as the
filius macrocosmi, son of the macrocosm, and Christ as the filius microcosmi
or son of man.⁸⁴
In his book Magnesia, Khunrath explains that “the two great Won-
der-Books [of Nature and Scripture]” respectively concern “the Apoca-
lypse, that is, revelation of universally hidden Magnesia” and the “analogical
Harmony of the Universal Magnesia of the Philosophers with IHSVH
Christ.”⁸⁵ In this statement, Khunrath presents the ultimate implications
of his synthesis of classical philosophy, alchemy and scripture. Asserting
the idea of the correspondences existing between the Macro and Micro-
cosm, he parallels the alchemical belief that the Philosophers’ Stone is the
most perfect expression of the Greater World, having the power to heal,
preserve and perfect all created bodies,⁸⁶ with the religious belief that
Christ is the most perfect expression of incarnate man, having the power
to heal not only bodies but to save souls.⁸⁷ Both the Stone and Christ are
capable of preserving and perfecting man, by means of spirit, the one his
body, the other his soul.⁸⁸
The Citadel is not the only rectangular engraving to encourage readings
on more than one level. The Pyramid engraving includes both Latin and
German versions of the hermetic ‘Emerald Tablet’, whose famous ‘as above,
so below’ maxim also appears on the 1609 Amphitheatre’s title-page. The
engraving also includes the beginning of the Pimander, which describes
Hermes’ vision of the Spirit Pimander and his sudden understanding of
the whole of the Cosmos, calling to mind other biblical and alchemical
visions mentioned by Khunrath, such as those of Joseph and Geber.⁸⁹
This leads us finally to Khunrath’s alchemical description of man’s
purification and illumination through hyperphysical magic and Christian-
Cabala, as detailed in Figure 2, which appears as a microcosmic comple-
ment to the macrocosmic context of Figure 3. Many parallels can be found
existing between the two figures, both of which display the quaternary of
the four elements, the ternary of body, spirit, and soul, and the union of the
binary in the androgyne or Rebis. Both figures too make use of exactly the
same terminology found in Trithemius, Paracelsus and Dorn, of rejecting

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  alchemy in the amphitheatre

the binary, so that the ternary by means of the quaternary may be reduced
to the simplicity of the monad.⁹⁰

While the message of Figure 3 is ‘Know Nature’, here we find the Delphic
exhortation to ‘Know Thyself ,’ as body, spirit, and soul. Man is portrayed
as a composite being partaking of both the material and the divine, recall-
ing the writings of Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola;
he is the link between the realms of matter and spirit. In Figure 2, we find
the Ladder of Conjunction and Union, and the Ten Grades of Cognition
whereby Man can move from knowledge of himself ultimately to union
with God. The Grades of Cognition, for example, list the faculties of the
human soul, from the senses concerned with the apprehension of mat-
ter to the mens or intellect that intuits the divine. Man is shown as the
Cabalistic Adam-Androgyne, animated by God’s breath, Ruach Elohim,
bounded by the square of the four elements, while above is the Archetype
of God ready to transform the purified Theosopher with the Holy Spirit
of Ruach-Hokmah-El.⁹¹
Although Khunrath never speaks of spiritual alchemy per se in any of
his works, he does make use of alchemy as a metaphor for spiritual regen-
eration, most explicitly in the declaration that Man must be “freed from the
superfluities of impurities, dissolved, separated, purified, conjoined […]
sublimated (by the Divine skill of Divine fire), that is, exalted, to the grade
surpassing perfection, and mentally fermented with God.”⁹² In Circular
Figure 2 we find references to man being ground “with the fiery pestle of
the Ten Commandments of Contrition”, the “fertile salt of conversion”, the
“primaterial Water of burning tears”, and the “vivifying fire of Divine love,
piously digested and wisely dissolved in fasting”, so that “Fiery-Minded
Adam” may be sublimated by being born again. All this language is an im-
mediate foreshadowing of writings that integrate religious and alchemical
discourses like Johann Valentine Andreae’s Chemical Wedding of Christian
Rosencreutz,⁹³ Thomas Vaughan’s Anthroposophia Theomagica,⁹⁴ and Pierre
Fabre’s Alchymista Christianus,⁹⁵ together with the works of Jacob Böhme,
where chemical substances and processes denote spiritual entities existent
in man and the world.⁹⁶
Khunrath intimates that he sees both the preparation of the Stone and

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 peter forshaw 

the spiritual regeneration of man as parallel processes, implying that any

success in the transmutation of base metals into gold is dependent upon
a corresponding inward transmutation of the alchemical operator’s soul
into spiritual gold, in line with Dorn’s “thou wilt never make from other
things that one which thou seekest, except there first be made one thing
of thyself.”⁹⁷ There is the sense of a unified experimental and experiential
practice, an interweaving of physical and spiritual levels of practice when,
in the Isagoge to Figure 3, he speaks of the adept experiencing an ‘internal
movement’ within himself at the moment of the perfect preparation of
Azoth, when he will weep for joy with the understanding that his fore-
father’s original sin has been divinely taken away and removed by the fire
of Divine love, in the regeneration of the Body, Spirit and Soul.⁹⁸
In conclusion, then, we see that Khunrath’s alchemy has manifold
sources and purposes. The preparation of the Stone was both evidence
of his Christian faith and an aim at proof of the existence of supernatural
and divine phenomena, of the possibility of miracles. As such, the inves-
tigation of nature becomes no less than a quest for the real presence of
Christ existing in the physical universe.⁹⁹ For Khunrath, the practice of
alchemy and natural philosophy could have moral and devotional value for
the promotion of Christian belief, the illustration of truth and refutation
of pagan or atheistical errors. Alchemy was in a way a mystical natural
theology, a bridge between natural philosophy and theology, a way for man
to either discover or rediscover the holy both in the world and himself. It
is a complex combination of chrysopoeia and iatro-chemistry, philosophy
and religion, magic and mysticism motivated by the desire for an under-
standing of the relationships between God, Nature, and Man, and aim-
ing ultimately at nothing less than the transformation of the body, spirit
and soul, both of the micro and the macrocosm, with the Amphitheatre’s
engravings representing the quintessence of this experience.
Although he downplays the practical significance of Khunrath’s self-
appellation of Physical-Chemist, Waite is undoubtedly correct in his estima-
tion that Khunrath is one of the first to emphasise a spiritual dimension
to alchemy, predating Böhme, Fludd and the Rosicrucians,¹⁰⁰ an opinion
harmonising with Carlos Gilly’s observation that the wonderful illustra-
tions not only in the alchemical emblems of Maier and Mylius, but also

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  alchemy in the amphitheatre

Rosicrucian images from the works of Robert Fludd and Daniel Mögling
to the Geheimen Figuren der Rosenkreuzer in the eighteenth century would
simply not have been possible without the inspiring hieroglyphic figures
in Heinrich Khunrath’s Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom.¹⁰¹

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 peter forshaw 

Notes

1 John Read, Through Alchemy to Chemistry: A Procession of Ideas & Personalities,

London: Bell and Sons, 1957, p. 72.
2 Ibid., p. 87.
3 Arthur Edward Waite, The Secret Tradition in Alchemy: its Development and
Records, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1926, p. 9 and p. 254.
4 Idem., Lives of the Alchemystical Philosophers, London: George Redway, 1888,
p. 159.
5 Idem., The Secret Tradition, p. 236.
6 Ibid., p. 257.
7 Heinrich Khunrath, Vom hylealischen, Das ist/ Pri-materialischen Catholischen
oder Algemeinem Natürlichen Chaos, Der Naturgemessen Alchymiae und Alchy-
misten, Magdeburg: Andreas Genen Erben, 1597. My pagination follows the
Frankfurt: Georg-Heinrich Oehrling, 1708 edition, re-issued in facsimile by
Akademische Druck, Graz, 1990.
8 Heinrich Khunrath, Quæstiones Tres, per-utiles, Haud-quaquam præter mit-
tendæ, Nec non Summè necesariæ cum Curationem, tum Præcautionem absolu-
tam, perfectam & veram Arenæ, Sabuli, Calculi, Podagræ, Gonagræ, Chiragræ
aliorumque Morborum Tartareorum Microcosmi seu Mundi minoris, Hominis
puta, concernentes, Leipzig: Thomas Schürer Buchführer, 1607.
9 Heinrich Khunrath, De Igne Magorum Philosophorumque secreto externo et visi-
bili – Das ist: Philosophische Erklährung von und über dem geheimen ausserlichen
sichtbaren [G]ludt und Flammen fewer der uhralten Magorum oder Weisen und
andern wahren Philosophen, Straßburg: Vorlegung Lazari Zetzners, 1608.
10 Heinrich Khunrath, Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum; Das ist/ Höheste
Nothwendigkeit/ In Alchymia, Auch Mügliche uberkommung/ Augenscheinliche
Weisung/ und Gnugsame Erweisung Catholischer verborgener Magnesiæ; Des
geheimen wunderthetigen Universal Steins Naturgemeß-Chymischer Philosopho-
rum Rechten und allein wahren Pri-Materialischen Subiecti, Magdeburg: Johan
Bötcher, 1599.
11 Heinrich Khunrath, Lux in Tenebris, n.p., 1614.
12 Heinrich Khunrath, Amphitheatrvm Sapientiæ Æternæ, Solivs Veræ: Chris-
tiano-Kabalisticvm, Divino-Magicvm, nec non Physico-Chymicvm, Tertrivnvm,
Catholicon, Hanoviæ: Guilielmus Antonius, 1609. As this work is divided into

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  alchemy in the amphitheatre

two main parts with separate pagination, subsequent references will be to either
Amph. I. or Amph. II. to avoid confusion.
13 Khunrath, Amph. I, p. 19: “Prologvs hic præsens Scalæ cuidam Stvdii Sa-
pientiæ veræ, recteque philosophandi rationis, Gradvvm orthodoxorum
septem mysticæ assimilatur.”
14 Denis I. Duveen, Bibliotheca Alchemica et Chemica, London: E. Weil, 1949,
p. 319.
15 Paul M. Allen, A Christian Rosenkreutz Anthology, New York: Rudolf Steiner
Publications, 1968, p. 329.
16 R.J.W. Evans, Rudolf II and his World: A Study in Intellectual History, Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1973, p. 214.
17 Umberto Eco, Lo Strano Caso della Hanau 1609, Milan: Bompiani, 1989, p. 13:
“oscure ma decisamente affascinanti […] complesse costruzioni verbovisive,
dove cartigli, didascalie, composizioni a rebus si fondono con rappresentazioni
simboliche.”
18 Ibid., p. 13: “Le tavole rettangolari rappresentano paesaggi surreali, itinerari
iniziatici, e culminano nell’accesso alla Porta Amphitheatri, una sorta di ascesa
dantesca verso un varco magico che […] ricorda a molti la tomba di Christian
Rosencreutz cosi come viene descritta nella Fama rosacrociana.”
19 Jacques van Lennep, Alchimie, Bruxelles: Crédit Communal, 1984, pp. 151-2.
20 Urszula Szulakowska, The Alchemy of Light: Geometry and Optics in Late Re-
naissance Alchemical Illustration, Leiden: Brill, 2000, p. 5.
21 Ralf Töllner, Der unendliche Kommentar, Hamburg: Peter Jensen Verlag an der
Lottbek, 1991.
22 For the 1595 copies, see Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library,
University of Wisconsin-Madison, <http://www.library.wisc.edu:2784/li-
braries/SpecialCollections/khunrath/>; University of Darmstadt, Hessische
Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek, Schloss 64283 Darmstadt; Öffentliche
Bibliothek Universität Basel, Standort J G 10. Although I have not managed to
see it, there appears to be a fourth copy in Rostock, UB Rostock (Signature: G
VI-7, Location: 28-SON). As for manuscript versions, one particularly attrac-
tive copy exists in the Royal Library, Copenhagen, Ms.1765 and a less artistic,
but nevertheless useful copy at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, England,
Alnwick Ms 571, available as British Library Microfilm 334.

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 peter forshaw 

23 “Henricus Khunrath Lips Theosophiæ amator, et Medecinæ Doctor, Dei

gratia, inventor. Paullus von der Doort Antverp[ien] scalpsit. Hamburgi. Anno
a Christo nato 1595 Mense Aprili (Maio, Iulio, Septembri).”
24 “H.F. Vriese pinxit.”
25 Ulrich Thieme (ed.), Allgemeines Lexicon der Bildenen Künstler von der Antike
bis zur Gegenwart, Vol. IX, Leipzig: Verlag von E.A. Seemann, 1913, p. 465.
26 Further information and extensive references to de Vries can be found in Hans
Vollmer (ed.), Allgemeines Lexicon der Bildenen Künstler von der Antike bis zur
Gegenwart, Vol. XXXIV, Leipzig: Verlag von E.A. Seemann, 1940, pp. 575-578,
with a reference to Khunrath on p. 576. See also Ger Luijten (ed.), Hollstein’s
Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, Vol. XLVIII,
Vredeman de Vries, Part II 1572-1630, Rotterdam: Sound and Vision Interac-
tive, 1997, in particular pp. 162-4 concerning the “Laboratory of the Alchemist
Heinrich Khunrath”.
27 Thomas Dacosta Kaufmann, L’École de Prague: La Peinture à la Cour de Rudolf
II, Paris: Flammarion, 1985, Section 25.
28 See Khunrath, Chaos (Magdeburg, 1597) and Magnesia (Magdeburg, 1599).
29 For further information and references, see Thieme (ed.), Allgemeines Lexicon,
Vol. IX, 1913, pp. 326-7.
30 Eco, Lo Strano Caso, p. 20.
31 Ibid., pp. 10-11.
32 The Alnwick manuscript includes basic reproductions of the Circular figures
in the sequence 4, 3, 1, 2. It does not include one of the 1602 engravings as
Szulakowska claims in her Alchemy of Light, pp. 106-7.
33 Khunrath, Amph. I, p. 7: “Apocalyptica Clavis Triuna.”
34 Anon., Iudicium und Bericht eines Erfahrnen Cabalisten und Philosophen/ über
die 4 Figuren deß grossen Amphitheatri D. Heinrici Khunradi, pub. Benedictus
Figulus, as an appendix to Khunrath’s De Igne Magorum Philosophorumque
secreto externo et visibili, pp. 107-123.
35 The Iudicium has long been attributed to Arndt, since the note in the 1783
edition of Khunrath’s Warhafftiger Bericht von Philosophischen Athanore, auch
Brauch und Nutzdasselbigen, Leipzig: Adam Friedrich Böhmem, 1783. See Carlos
Gilly (ed.), Johann Valentin Andreae 1586-1986: Die Manifeste der Rosenkreuzer-
bruderschaft, Amsterdam, 1986, p. 38.

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  alchemy in the amphitheatre

36 Anon., Iudicium, p. 108: “In der vierten Figur lehret das Amphitheatrum Theo-
logiam in oratorio, und ist Theologia nichts anders, dann colloquium divinum,
ein Gespräch mit Gott durchs Gebet und durch den heiligen Geist.”
37 Khunrath, Amph. II, p. 145: “Theosophia est Theologia, in ternario, (hoc est,
Biblicè, Macro et MicroCosmicè) Catholica, Iehovae Mirabilis Mirifica.”
38 Figure 4: “musica sancta tristitiae spirituumq[ue] malignorum fuga quia
spiritvs  lubenter psallit in cordi gaudio pio perfuso”. Quæstiones, B2r-v,
Cviv-Cviiv. See too Amph. II, p. 204 for the power of the Philosophers’ Stone
to cure melancholy.
39 Mino Gabriele, Alchimia e Iconologia, Udine: Forum, 1997, p. 28. For more on
alchemical engravings, see also Mino Gabriele, Alchimia: La Tradizione in Oc-
cidente Secondo le Fonti Manoscritte e a Stampa, Venice: Edizioni La Biennale,
1986.
40 Khunrath, Chaos, pp. 56, 71, 75, 119, 160 and 196.
41 Ibid., p. 143 and p. 147.
42 Ibid., p. 218.
43 Ibid., p. 147 and p. 249.
44 George Boas (trans. and ed.), The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo, Princeton, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1950; repr. 1993, Book 1, p. 43.
45 Khunrath, De Igne, p. 2 and Chaos, p. 258 cite Morienus as the source.
46 Urszula Szulakowska, John Dee and European Alchemy, Occasional Paper, no.
21, The Durham Thomas Harriot Seminar, Durham: University of Durham,
School of Education, 1996, p. 2.
47 Szulakowska, Alchemy of Light, p. 78, Töllner, Kommentar, p. 200.
48 See Paul Walden, “Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der chemischen Zeichen”, in
Edmund O.V. Lippmann, Studien zur Geschichte der Chemie, Berlin: Verlag von
Julius Springer, 1927, pp. 80-105.
49 Ibid., pp. 82-4.
50 “Spiritus per descensum”, in F. Lüdy, Alchemistische und Chemische Zeichen,
Stuttgart: Süddeutsche Apotheker-Zeitung, 1928, pl. 82.
51 John Read prefers “dragon’s blood”, identifying the shape as a serpentine symbol.
See The Alchemist in Life, Literature and Art, London: Thomas Nelson and
Sons, 1947, p. 71
52 See Bettina Meitzner, Die Gerätschaft der Chymischen Kunst: Der Traktat ‘De
Sceuastica Artis’ des Andreas Libavius von 1606, Übersetzung, Kommentierung

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 peter forshaw 

und Wiederabdruck, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1995, ch. 6, De Sermone

Chymico & notis quibusdam, sig. Hh6v.
53 Christoph Glaser, Novum Laboratorium Medico-Chymicum, Nurenberg: Mi-
chael und Johann Friderich Endtern, 1677; reprint Weinheim, 1988, p. 44 ff.
54 Töllner, Kommentar, pp. 206-9.
55 Heinrich Khunrath, Warhafftiger Bericht vom Philosophischen Athanore; Auch
Brauch unnd Nutz desselbigen, Magdeburg, 1603.
56 See Khunrath, De Igne, p. 77 for the Speculum image. For Szulakowska’s ideas
on catoptrics, see Alchemy of Light, ch. 7.
57 Khunrath, Amph. II, p. 147 (mispaginated as p. 145 [T2r]): “Physicochemia est
ars, methodo Naturæ Chemicè soluendi, depurandi & ritè reuniendi Res Physicas;
Vniuersale[m] (MacroCosmicè, Lapide[m] Phil[osophoru]m. MicroCosmicè
corporis humani partes: […]) & particulares, globi inferioris, omnes.”
58 Ibid., p. 131: “Mirabile Dei Mirabilis Laboratorium Macro Cosmicon, Naturâ
præsidente aut Laborante, perpetuum, Catholicon.”
59 See A.E. Waite, The Holy Kabbalah (1924), Hertfordshire: Oracle Publishing,
1996, p. 534 ff.
60 Khunrath, Chaos, p. 41.
61 Genesis 1:2.
62 Khunrath, Chaos, p. 133 and Amph. II, p. 196, Isagoge 3, question 5. Also Amph.
II, p. 127 and p. 128.
63 Khunrath, Magnesia, p. 121: “rebis oder doppelter Mercurius.”
64 C.f. C.H. Josten, “A Translation of John Dee’s ‘Monas Hieroglyphica’”, Ambix,
XII, June and Oct. 1964, pp. 84-221, p.165: “The most famous Mercury of the
philosophers, the Microcosm, and Adam.” See also Paracelsus, The Aurora of
the Philosophers, in A.E. Waite (ed.), The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of
Paracelsus, The Great, Chicago: de Laurence, Scott & Co., 1910, Vol. I, pp. 48-71,
p. 66 “Summarily then, the matter of the Philosophers’ Stone is none other than
a fiery and perfect Mercury extracted by Nature and Art, that is, the artificially
prepared and true hermaphrodite Adam, and the microcosm.”
65 See C.G. Jung, Alchemical Studies, trans. R.F.C. Hull, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1967; repr. 1983, p. 93: “The white woman and red slave […]
are synonymous with Beya and Gabricus in the Visio Arislei.”
66 Cf. the Amphitheatre’s table: “Three Things, which primordially constitute
the World”: “[…] similar to the Planet Mercury in the firmament, which has a

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  alchemy in the amphitheatre

varied and completely versatile Nature, [since] it is hot with hot things, and cold
with cold things, for it follows the Nature of that with which it is conjoined.”
67 “Solve, Fige, Coagula, Compona” on the Rebis’ body.
68 “Separa, Dissolve, Depura” in the sphere. See too the Citadel engraving: “Dis-
solutio; Purificatio; Azoth Pondus; Solutio; Multiplicatio; Fermentatio; Proi-
ectio”.
69 See Basil Valentine, Azoth: L’Occulta Opera Aurea dei Filosofi, Rome: Edizioni
Mediterranee, 1988, p. 103: “I Filosofi mi hanno gratificato con il nome di azoth,
con le lettere latine A e Z, le greche α e ω, le ebraiche ! et ;, Aleph e Tau, che
sommate insieme danno «AZOTH».”
70 Khunrath, Amph. II, p. 38.
71 See Khunrath, De Igne, p. 80 for Khunrath’s distinction between Urim and
Esh.
72 Cf. Johann Reuchlin, De Verbo Mirifico (1494), Stuttgart: Friedrich From-
mann, 1964, p. 56: “Esth […] quod Latine ignem vocamus”; p. 57: “Hu: Ehieh:
Esth: quae dei essentiam significarent […] Tunc enim deus & idem ipse esset:
& essentia sua esset: & esset igneae naturae. Non quidem ut est elementaris
ignis: neque ut stellaris sive caelestis/ sed ut in enarrabilis in seipso splendor:
cuius omnes praeterea ignes umbra sint & tenebrae.” See also Henry Corne-
lius Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, trans. James Freake, ed. Donald
Tyson, St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1997, p. 479 n: “Esch the fire of
God, literally when referring to lightning (1 Kings 18:38) and figuratively for
God’s wrath (Deuteronomy 32:22).”
73 Khunrath, Chaos, p. 263.
74 Ibid., p. 65: “ArgChymischen wilden Jecken, Lappen Hüdlern und Südlern.”
And p. 259: “Argchymistische Püffel (solte sagen/ Pöbel oder Popul)” and
“Hummelsgeschmeiß der Arg-Chymisten.”
75 Ibid., p. 257: “Gemeinen Püffel”.
76 Ibid., “Ardelionische Gold-käfer”.
77 Ibid., p.268: “Goldkäfer”; p. 284: “Goldkäfer und schwartzkünstige Schatz-
gräber”.
78 In German ‘duck’ = ‘Ente’ and to ‘discolour/bleach’ = ‘entfärben’.
79 Khunrath, Chaos, p. 66: “Waschgöldern/ Glaß und Rothgülden Ertzen”; p. 231:
“Wasch-Golde”.
80 “Auch derogestalt aus ♂ern Nägeln ☼dene zu[m] machen. IMPOSTVRA.”

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81 “albatio ♀is pro ‚ a eiusdemq[ue] scilicet fixatio in m. Item, rvbeum pro

Sole. falsitas.”
82 Töllner, Kommentar, p. 38; Szulakowska, Alchemy of Light, p. 125.
83 John 14:6: “Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No
man cometh to the Father but by me.” John 3:14: “And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up.”
84 Jung, Alchemical Studies, p. 96.
85 Khunrath, Magnesia, p. 57: “Davon können zwey grosse Wunder Bücher/ das
eine Apocalypsis/ das ist/ Offenbarung der Catholischen verborgenen Mag-
nesiæ; das andere Harmonia analogica Magnesiæ Philosophorum Catholicæ
cum IHSVH Christo.”
86 Ibid., p. 88: “als in Silver oder Gold zu transmutiren, und auch der Menschli-
chen leiber/ solche (nach GOTTES willen) dardurch von Kranckheiten zu
liberiren/ oder zu præserviren.” See also Khunrath, Chaos, p. 148: “Lapis Phil.
etiam est & dicitur Medicina Catholica.”
87 Khunrath, Chaos, p. 170.
88 Khunrath, Amph. II, p. 163: “the Philosophers’ Stone, truest Catholic Medi-
cine of our restoration and preservation.”
89 Khunrath, Amph. II, p. 101 and p. 150 (mispaginated as p. 148 [T3v]).
90 See Khunrath, Chaos, p. 123 where the binary is related to chemical substances;
see also Chaos, p. 20 and Amph. II, p. 4, p. 71, p. 216 and Figure 2. On Trithe-
mius, see his letter: “Ioannes Tritemivs Abbas Spanheymensis Domino Ioanni
Vuestenburgh Comiti & viro desideriorum, de tribus naturalis Magi[æ] prin-
cipiis, sine quibus nihil in ipsa ad effectum produci potest”, in Ioannis Tritemii
Abbatis Spanheymensis De Septem Secvndeis, id est, intelligentijs, siue Spiritibus
Orbes post Deum mouentibus, reconditissimæ scientiæ & eruditionis Libellus,
Cologne: Johann, Birckmann, 1567, particularly pp. 93-5.
91 Khunrath, Chaos, p. 127: “Ein Theosophus, wie in secunda Amphitheatri […]
figura.”
92 Khunrath, Amph. II, p. 54: “impuritatum liberemini, soluamini, separemini,
depuremini, coniungamini […] ad plusquam perfectionis gradum […] subli-
memini, hoc est, exaltemini, & cum Deo ipso […] mentaliter fermentemini.”
93 Cf. van Lennep, Alchimie, p. 168
94 Eugenius Philalethes, Anthroposophia Theomagica, London, 1630, p. 28.
95 Petrus Joannus Faber, Alchymista Christianus, Toulouse: Petrus Bosc, 1632.

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 96 Frank Sherwood Taylor, The Alchemists, St. Albans: Paladin, 1976, pp. 227-8.
97 Gerhard Dorn, Philosophia meditative, in Theatrum Chemicum, Lazarus Zetzner,
1659, vol. I, p. 472, and Gerhard Dorn, Speculativae philosophiae, gradus septem
vel decem continens, Theatrum chemicum, vol. I, ii, p. 267: “Transmutemini de
lapidibus mortuis in vivos lapides philosophicos.”
98 Khunrath, Amph. II, p. 202: “hanc factam esse, cum perceperis, motum, in te,
experieris internum, &, oh, gaudio lachrymabis! Quia peccatum originis, igne
Diuini amoris, in regeneratione, & corporis, Spiritus & Animæ, diuinitus auferri
& separari, certò intelliges.”
99 See John Warwick Montgomery, Cross and Crucible: Johann Valentin Andreæ
(1586-1654) Phœnix of the Theologians, 2 vols., The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff,
1973, vol. I, p. 17.
100 Waite, The Secret Tradition in Alchemy, p. 257.
101 Gilly (ed.), Johann Valentin Andreae, p. 40.

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