Opus Mago-cabbalisticum Et Theosophicum: In Which The Origin, Nature, Characteristics, And Use Of Salt , Sulfur and Mercury are Described in Three Parts Together with much Wonderful Mathematicalā€| [Hardcover]

Georg Von Welling (Author), Joseph G. McVeigh (Translator), Lon Milo DuQuette (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2006

After nearly 300 years, one of the most important alchemical and magical texts of all time has finally been translated into English! DuQuette In Goethe's immortal play, Faust, the brooding hero reflects upon the vainness of earthly knowledge and education. He opens a book of magic and is transfixed by an illustration of the magical universe. He resolves there and then to become a magician. The book that fired Goethe's imagination for that dramatic scene was a real book - the book of forbidden knowledge that evoked every mystical cliché - Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum et Theosophicum. This first ever English edition of Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum et Theosophicum will appeal to anyone interested in the history or practical aspects of alchemy, astrology, magick, Rosicrucianism, esoteric Freemasonry, and the Golden Dawn. A perfect addition to any library of classic esoteric literature, this edition reproduces famous illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"For the modern student of the Western Mystery Traditions, it is impossible to overestimate the importance of von Welling's work. Its influence can be traced through the doctrines and teachings of a host of European esoteric institutions--even those that helped give birth to the Golden Dawn and the Modern Occult Revival."--Lon Milo DuQuette

About the Author

Georg von Welling was born in Schwaben, Bavaria, in 1655. He worked as the director of the Baden-Durlacher Office of Building and Mines until 1723 and died in 1725 in Frankfurt. Von Welling was primarily known for his book Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum et Theosophicum, which influenced numerous subsequent authors and informed much of the tradition of Western Ritual Magick. Joseph McVeigh is a professor of German Studies at Smith College with the interest and skills necessary to translate such an arcane occult classic.

Lon Milo DuQuette is a world-renowned scholar and practitioner of the occult. He has written many books including Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot and The Magick of Aleister Crowley.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Weiser Books (January 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578633273
• ISBN-13: 978-1578633272
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.3 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #531,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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67 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional Translation of a Classic in Spiritual Alchemy & Theosophy, July 12, 2006

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P. Nagy "revreader" (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Opus Mago-cabbalisticum Et Theosophicum: In Which The Origin, Nature, Characteristics, And Use Of Salt , Sulfur and Mercury are Described in Three Parts Together with much Wonderful Mathematicalā€| (Hardcover)

The tendency to interpret physical change in spiritual terms was part of alchemy from its inception in the ancient world. Beginning in the Middle Ages and well into the 18th century parallels were drawn between alchemical processes and the mysteries of Christianity. The preparation of the philosopher's stone was described in terms of death and resurrection and equated with the death and resurrection of Christ; the constituents of the stone, for example, the salt, sulfur, and mercury of the Paracelsians, were identified with spirit, soul, and body as well as the Trinity. For Georg von Welling the symbols and signs of nature carried deep correspondences with biblical revelation. The religious nature of many alchemical texts makes it difficult at times to distinguish those that describe actual laboratory processes from those employing alchemical language for purely spiritual ends. Nevertheless, there was a clear tendency among "spiritual" alchemists to distinguish themselves from those they disparagingly described as "puffers" or "sooty empirics". The English physician, alchemist, and Rosicrucian sympathizer Robert Fludd dismissed the work of practical alchemists as "chymia vulgaris". Only their imagery and symbolism kept these alchemists in touch with the fire and the furnace.

The upsurge in spiritual alchemy coincided with the breakdown of religious unity during the Reformation. Alchemical symbolism provided an ideal framework for individuals seeking new schemes of salvation both for themselves and the world at large. The books written by Jacob Boehme illustrate how well alchemical symbolism served spiritual and theosophical ends. Boehme's writings fuse alchemical, Paracelsian, hermetic, and kabbalistic themes into a theosophical exhortation to spiritual rebirth.

Much of the spiritual side of western alchemy was rooted in the notion that the world was a battle ground, in which the forces of evil (matter) battled the forces of good (spirit). This idea came from a variety of sources, neoplatonic, kabbalistic, and Christian. Alchemists were sometimes presented as quasi-Gods in their laboratories, as saviors redeeming base matter, equating the philosopher's stone with Christ and identifying themselves with both Although many alchemists were members of the clergy, their ventures into theology affronted a number of orthodox Catholics and Protestants.

Besides writing the book which made him famous Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum et Theosophicum, written in German, von Welling lived an adventurous life, serving as a captain fighting the Turks at Vienna. Briefly appointed a counselor by Frederick I in Berlin, and supervising the salt mines as a metallurgist and mineralogist.

The Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum et Theosophicum seems originally intended to be only about the alchemy of salt, it ended up covering much more. Initially published in 1719, and edited by "S.R." (Sincerus Renatus, a fellow theosopher), the author signed it as Gregorius Anglus Sallwigt. A note in it saya it was finished as early as 1708. This first edition contains only what was to be the first of the three parts of the subsequent versions. The second edition, published in 1729 (after von Welling's death and signed G.A.S), was the first to contain all three parts. Its first part had been edited by S.R. in 1729. The third edition (1735) was later re-edited in 1760 and 1784, and is considered the definitive and complete edition, upon which this Weiser translation is based. It is signed Georg von Welling and edited by C.S.; this stands for Christoph Schutz, a theosopher likewise interested in alchemy. Schütz also wrote the preface and inserted a text of his own on the "Eternal Wisdom".

Nothing is said in the book about either kabbalah or magic. For von Welling, these words are just synonyms for knowledge of Nature and Christian faith, understood in the "gnostic" sense von Welling intends them to have. They serve to designate his purpose of bringing together the "mysteria naturae" and the "mysteria scripturae". For him, Jewish Kabbalah employs 'throughout a misuse of the Divine Names'; but, the other hand, he occasionally praises the Christian Kabbalists. Actually, the Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum et Theosophicum is best understood as a book of spiritual alchemy and Christian theosophy, and for all practical purposes, the terms "kabbala" and "magic" are to be understood here as synonyms of it.

The Opus contains graphic geometrical drawings that have something of a "magical" flavor to them - not surprisingly, since they are meant to convey theosophical notions. Some of these drawings were later reproduced by numerous other authors and added significantly to the fame of the work. These diagrams are photographically reproduced in this edition.

The three parts of the Opus correspond to Paracelsus' "Tria prima", namely salt, sulphur and mercury. The central topics treated are the alchemy of salt, cosmogony, the Lucifer myth, an exegesis of Genesis, and chiliastic/eschatological speculations. Many of the themes of Opus are also borrowed from - Jacob Boehme. First there is the "Urgrund", understood as the ontologically primary reality in and of God, and His creation of the seven Spirits. Furthermore, one finds Boehme's exegesis of the first words of Genesis, the androgyny of Adam, and the myth of the Fall of Lucifer who becomes Satan. Last, but not least, von Welling borrows from Boehme the universalist belief in an "apokatastasis panton": the belief that after the consummation of all things at the end of time, all beings, be they good or evil, will return to God. But unlike Boehme, von Welling does not deal with the theme of the Divine Sophia.

Von Welling offers numerous theosophical interpretations of biblical verses in the light of alchemical concepts. For instance, salt, which is the main term around which most of his speculations revolve, corresponds to Christ; and the process of purification in alchemy is compared to that of Lucifer on the Last Day. This is not a new line of interpretation, since for already over one hundred years, spiritual alchemy - theosophy blended with alchemy - had offered speculations about salt. It was variously and even simultaneously regarded as a substance, a metaphysical principle and a religious metaphor. Von Welling assigns to the three Paracelsian principles (salt, sulphur, mercury) a role that is both celestial and terrestrial. In the wake of such alchemists as Knorr von Rosenroth, and Heinrich Khunrath, Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont, Georg von Welling deals with the "Schamajim", or the original balance between Fire and Water (in Hebrew "Aesch" and "Majim", used here as a symbolic oxymoron). Their separation is due to the Fall. It is more specifically in terms of both cosmology and metallurgy that von Welling is much indebted to F.M. van Helmont's Paradoxal Discourses, concerning the Macrocosm and Microcosm . . . (London 1685; German ed. 1691). Both share the same complex vision of the four elements as related to the planets, and similar cosmosophical views as well. The spirits of the four elements, or "elementals", are the object of a strong interest for von Welling, who deals with them in connection with his exegesis of the creation of the world. The two earlier relevant and important works on nature of the elementals had been Paracelsus' Liber de nymphis, sylphis, pygmaeis et salamandris (written in the 1530s), and Nicolas P.H. Montfaucon de Villars' Le Comte de Gabalis (1670).

Of the theosophical writings of the first half of the century, along with the works of Sincerus Renatus and Hermann Fictuld, the Opus ranks among the more influential. Its reception reached its height in the second half of the 18th century, during which two more editions appeared, in 1760 and 1784. Among the patients to whom the physician Johann Friedrich Metz recommended readings of these kinds was the young Goethe. Metz urged Goethe to immerse himself in von Welling's writings; and in his autobiography, Dichtung and Wahrheit (1811, Book VIII), Goethe even devoted a few pages to the readings that he had made of spiritual alchemical books, and in particular to his personal exegesis of von Welling's Lucifer narrative. There is good evidence that Georg von Welling's Opus was used in Rosicrucian and Masonic lodges in Germany and Russia also later writers on spiritual alchemy often referred to his ideas. Spiritual alchemy proliferated in the 18th century. Alchemical themes and symbols were integrated into Masonic and Roscrucian rituals among such groups as the Asiatic Brethren, the Lodge of the Amis Réunis, the Illumines d'Avignon, and various Rosicrucian orders in Germany. It is good that we have Georg von Welling Opus at last in a vivid and well wrought English translation. To the degree that it quickens our symbolic quest for the true philosophical stone may all those who study it remember Georg von Welling has a biting sense of irony and humor.

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From the Editor, April 13, 2006

By 

Lon Milo DuQuette - See all my reviews

This review is from: Opus Mago-cabbalisticum Et Theosophicum: In Which The Origin, Nature, Characteristics, And Use Of Salt , Sulfur and Mercury are Described in Three Parts Together with much Wonderful Mathematicalā€| (Hardcover)

In Act I of Goethe's Faust, the hero broods alone in his chamber and reflects upon the vainness of earthly knowledge and education. He opens a ponderous book of magic and gazes in almost sensual wonder upon the lines and symbols on a diagram of the Macrocosm. Upon waves of ecstasy he gives voice to the passion that since the dawn of consciousness has consumed the student of the mysteries.

The archetype for the book that fired Goethe's imagination (and in his play initiated Faust's memorable career as magus) was in all likelihood a real book - a book that evoked every mystical clich? of the dramatic imagination; a massive and heavily illuminated work of alchemy, astrology, theology, magic, and cabbala which in 1719 dropped like a living culture into the fertile medium of western syncretic thought; a book that for the remainder of the 18th century would revolutionize the Rosicrucian, Masonic, and Hermetic movements throughout Europe; a book with which Goethe, and the brightest stars in the firmament of European esotericism were intimately familiar - Georg von Welling's Opus Mago-cabbalisticum et Theosophicum.

As important as this work seems to be, it has never been translated into English -- until now.

Meticulously translated by Joseph McVeigh, this is a stunning and highly collectable edition of one of the most important book on alchemy ever written.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Welling's Swelling Meisterwerk, August 20, 2009

By 

Paul Cowlan (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Opus Mago-cabbalisticum Et Theosophicum: In Which The Origin, Nature, Characteristics, And Use Of Salt , Sulfur and Mercury are Described in Three Parts Together with much Wonderful Mathematicalā€| (Hardcover)

This is not a book to be taken up lightly. Like the ouroborus it seems to go round and round in circles with the discursive persistence of Finnegan's Wake, but without its effervescent sparkle. Aurora Consurgens is an easy read by comparison. It is a rambling, wooly, infuriating book which, if it really was as influential as the cover note claims, would suggest that the eighteenth century reader was capable of tolerating a remarkably high density of hot air. I don't say the man wasn't knowledgeable, but I do say he could have halved his text and sacrificed nothing. His personal, testy egotism is entertaining, but the unrelenting theological rant, allegorical or not, is tedious in the extreme. Certainly the work is informative, but isolating the nuggets of pure gold requires the determination of someone searching for marbles in a wilderness of bubble-wrap. And yet ...... and yet......

As I slammed it shut, with a feeling of huge relief at having stayed with it to the last page, I couldn't help noticing that my bookmark was crammed, on both sides, with page references; and, when the dust had cleared, a very real sense of gain and positive expansion remained. Continuing to work on a booklet exploring the nature of the Alchemical Mercurius I found myself quoting Herr Welling again and again, until I was forced to impose a limit. His endless reiterations do an excellent job of dinning his themes into the reader's head, and the overall result is considerably more coherant than the initial encounter seems to promise.

The translation, as far as I can judge, is excellent. That is it is seamless and unobtrusive. The feeling is that you are very close to the original in both vocabulary and mood. The diagrams are vaguely annotated and often, for this reader at least, maddeningly, or even willfully, obscure, but this is exactly as they would have been when it was first published. Welling's quirky, abrasive character is both a weakness and a strength, but it is very much his book, and there is nothing to be done but to take him as he is, froth, bluster and all.

In short, it's worth the effort. You need to be dogged and receptive, to button your collar against the blasts, and to put your head down into the verbiage; but if you cheerfully persist you will, after a while, begin to hear the language of the birds.