Original scientific paper

Giulio Camillo Delminio and the Spiritual Component of Alchemy

Snježana Paušek-Baždar ; Zavod za povijest i filozofiju znanosti HAZU, Zagreb, Hrvatska

Abstract

In the treatise De Transmutatione Delminio stated that there existed three sorts of transformation: The divine transformation, the speech transformation, and the natural (alchemic) one. He called the alchemists »transformers of natural things« or »philosophers who perform natural transformation«. Unlike the general creation of the world, which he explains by the incorporation of the spirit of Christ from »above« to the »below«, from the universal to the singular, the »transformer philosophers« initiate their experiments from »below« to the »above«, from the universal to the singular. Just a few of them, the ones who can understand the primordial matter, can achieve results. This is the central theme of Delminio’s text. That is, he first shows that the primordial matter is not the same for him as for Aristotle. He believed that it could be cognized in the context of Hermeticism, yet he eventually concluded that this is only possible to achieve by an »insight«, a gnosis. However, this insight may only be reached by the chosen ones, the ones in whose spirits dwells the spirit of Christ, who possess completely pure souls, in the same way that the primordial matter is pure. This interpretation was also Delminio’s base for the following statement: Regnum Dei quod intra vos est (The Kingdom of God which is in you).

Keywords

The spirit of Christ; the primordial matter; the four elements; Aristotle; Hermes; transformation; natural philosophy

Hrčak ID:

76331

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/76331

Publication date:

5.12.2011.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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