spagyrics

The Art of Solving & Connecting

The word 'spagyric', which comes from Greek, means:

Dividing, separating, separating and reconnecting, reuniting.

This corresponds to the Latin solve et coagula.

It describes the most direct and ingrained way of human beings approaching nature and its 'things' - seeking understanding.

The second part, reunification, indicates that high quality which in nature is entirely unique to humans. The special human quality, however, lies in the fact that humans do all this with the attitude of wanting to preserve the whole, because they understand that all living things are a whole. If they lose this attitude, then from nature's point of view they lose nothing less than their human status and are more like a lonely predator. When people spoke of 'human culture' at times, they also meant that the fields, forests, gardens, tunnels and rivers were treated with appropriate respect and considered to be part of a larger context. Paracelsus gave his definition of spagyrics from this understanding: "The correct handling of the things of nature" and continues the image with "the highest is the medicine".

Spagyrics – in the Focus of Paracelsian Art

Spagyrics draws largely on the traditional understanding of the Paracelsian literature. Paracelsus Theophrastus von Hohenheim (1493-1541) was one of its most important representatives in the early modern period, which is partly due to his powerful formulations and - at that time still unusual - German-language writings. Even in his time he was considered a competent expert who in his writings (Archidoxen, Paragranum, Herbarium etc.) concisely summarized the foundations of this tradition and centered it on the coherence and authenticity "from the perspective of nature". For an Ayurvedic, Tibetan or other healer, the Paracelsian terms are self-evident and the basic framework has been handed down, taught and applied for thousands of years, such as the 5 elements, the three principles (wind, fire, earth), the planetary forces, etc. "Therefore, learn Spagyria, which is otherwise called Alchymia, which learns to separate the false from the just," Paracelsus says as the basis for the healing arts.

What is Spagyrics?

Spagyrics is synonymous with alchemy, the former being a Greek word and the latter probably of Central Asian origin (in ancient China and Mongolia, kimye was called both the "art" and its highest preparation, absorbable gold / Aurum Potabile). Trying to trace the origin of these traditions back to the Middle Ages will be just as futile as trying to see Paracelsus as the "inventor" of something new. From generation to generation, experts speak of "the ancients" who understood this art far better. In their texts, in turn, the same opinion is found about the "ancients", and one must finally go to the Asian traditions, for which even today oral tradition - word for word - is essential together with practice. This art is based on the "ars signaturae". The study of signatures presupposes the understanding that in man, nature and the cosmos, the active agent is always force, and that these forces sometimes express themselves in a material way. Therefore, the processes of spagyric/alchemical preparation are designed to separate the inherent active forces of "natural things" (plants, minerals) from their material form of expression (ie the principles of sulphur, mercury and salt must be separated from their dross in the most precise way possible.) and thereby to present the essential, the elixiric (regenerating, producing) or quintessence (idea; in Paracelsus also: virtue) as purely as possible and to make them usable. Accordingly artistic preparations then allow the designation spagyric essence, quintessence, elixir etc., while retaining a material form. Spagyrics has nothing in common, either practically, philosophically or historically, with homeopathy, which emerged much later and in a certain sense as a "small branch of the healing arts". Rather, spagyrics/alchemy is understood in authentic, traditional terms as the "root, stem or mother of the healing arts", from which "most other arts have their origins" (M. Crügner) - which is understandable when one recognizes the basis of the ars signatureae, namely the understanding of natural forces and their interconnections and effects on humans and nature. Often today, especially in the West, the strenuous learner cannot yet find the right understanding and thinks that alchemy was a kind of medieval precursor to what is known today as chemistry. Inferring the association "medieval", he should rather think "stone age", as some experts note: "The knowledge of the healing arts came into the world together with humans in ancient times." Paracelsus stood in this timeless tradition - and countless others before and after him.

This is where the importance of spagyrics and alchemy lies in the healing arts.