Reading Paracelsus

[MidnightRunner]

Has anyone here read the old hermetic texts?

Since our talk about taking a more active hand with the "Otherworld", and because of a peculiar puzzle, I’ve been drifting through Paracelsus. Maybe this is naïve (maybe obvious) but I didn’t expect to be moved.

I’d assumed anything written in the 1500s would have long since emptied itself of relevance. That the language would be brittle or hard to follow, the thinking strange and severely outdated. And yet, there are moments that stop me cold, like this:

The time for wiring is ripe, for I must spare nothing of
what I have spoiled.

And the works I'm reading start with:

I am different, let this not upset you.
I am writing this to prevent you from being misled in
any point; please read and reread it with diligence, not with
envy, not with hatred, for you are students of medicine.
Also study my books, and compare my opinions with the
opinions of others; then you may be guided by your own
judgment.

There's a humility in that, one I've been severely lacking. I feel the heat of it in my cheeks when I read. Every generation believes itself the culmination of all those before, and still we (read: I) forget how deep the roots go.

I want to unlearn that reflex. Because frankly, this read has been far more captivating and engaging than any current book I've read in the last ten years. (That's more a comment on my taste than what's currently available, I'm sure.)

If anyone has other old writings worth the read, I'd like to find them.

[anonymust]

Paracelsus really was a poet trying to describe science with prose. In English, Jolande Jacobi’s “Paracelsus: Selected Writings” [1951] is a must, particularly since his original German is so idiosyncratic. As noted in that book,

In order to make Paracelsus accessible to the educated layman of all classes, the style has been adjusted to present linguistic usage.

Paracelsus’ German is often opaque, arbitrary in structure and phrasing, and sometimes deliberately obscure. To transpose it into modern idiom has of course been more than a mere work of “translation,” and has inevitably required interpretation. This seemingly bold enterprise will appear justified upon closer examination.

Paracelsus spoke and wrote the High German of his time; however, his own language was extremely personal in character. He himself coined innumerable words based on garbled Latin or on Swiss dialects. Apparently in order to give sharper and more effective expression to his thought, he never tires o£ piling term upon term, figure upon figure, and he constantly repeats himself. This verbosity greatly hampers the understanding of his writings.

So I recommend this version specifically.

Other [old is relative] recommended books:

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, by A Square [Edward Abbott Abbott, 1884]

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid [Douglas Hofstadter, 1979]

Principia Discordia [Malaclypse the Younger, 1976 fourth edition if you can get it]

A History of Occult Magic [CT Kelly, 2028]

[MidnightRunner]

Thank you so much, I'll look into these immediately.