The Mage's Images: Heinrich Khunrath in His Oratory and Laboratory, Volume 1

Peter J. Forshaw, Ph.D. (2004), London University, is Associate Professor in History of Western Esotericism at the University of Amsterdam. He was editor of the journal Aries (2010-2020), has edited essay collections and published articles and chapters on esotericism and occult philosophy.

Contents


Acknowledgments


List of Figures


List of Tables





Introductory Note





1 Prologue: a Bio-Bibliographical Introduction


 1 1560 Birth in Leipzig


 2 1570 Immatriculation at the University of Leipzig


 3 1575 Apprenticeship in Alchemy


 4 1588 Immatriculation at the University of Basel


 5 Khunrath’s Portrait Engraving


 6 1588 On the Signatures of Natural Things, Graduation in Basel


 7 1589 Bremen: a Meeting of Maguses


 8 1588–1589 Magical Manuscripts in Berlin


 9 1591 A Patent Application to the Emperor


 10 1591 A Powerful Patron in Bohemia


 11 1592 The Ancient Arabian King and Sage Zebel, Prague


 12 1595 First Edition of the Amphitheatre, Hamburg


 13 1596 Confession concerning the Chaos of the Physico-Chemists, Magdeburg


 14 1597 On Primaterial Chaos, Magdeburg


 15 1597 Fashioning Magical Armour


 16 1598 A Physico-Chymical Testament, Hamburg


 17 1599 Universal Magnesia of the Philosophers, Magdeburg


 18 1599 Inventing an Alchemical Furnace, Magdeburg


 19 1601 Correspondence from Berlin


 20 1602 Extra Engravings for the Amphitheatre, Magdeburg


 21 Looking at the Watermarks


 22 1603 Second Edition of the Athanor, Magdeburg


 23 1603 Water of Health, Magdeburg


 24 1603 Signature of Magnesia


 25 1604 Gera


 26 Practical Philosophical Counsel


 27 A Practical Confession


 28 Cabbalistic Theosophical Tables


 29 1605 Khunrath’s Death, Dresden


 30 1607 Three Questions, Leipzig


 31 1607 Urim & Thummim, Magedburg


 32 1608 On the Fire of the Mages and Sages


 33 1608 An Amphitheatre in Mageduburg


 34 1609 Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae, Hanau


 35 A Puzzling Discovery


 36 ‘Complete in All Its Parts’: the Structure of the Amphitheatre


 37 Changes in the Text between the 1595 and 1609 Editions


 38 The Gratulatory Verses


 39 Chimerical Editions


 40 1611 A Physico-Medical Treatise


 41 1614 Light in Darkness


 42 1615 Athanor; 1616 Chaos, Magdeburg


 43 Manuscripts & Untraced Works





2 Images in the Amphitheatre


 1 Part I. The Image of an Amphitheatre


 2 Sculpta, Picta, Scripta: ‘Not Just of Words, … but Rather of Things’


 3 Part II: the Amphitheatre Engravings


 4 The ‘Inventor’ and His Engravers


 5 Naming the Images


 6 Four ‘Theosophical Figures’


 7 Circular Figure 1: Christ-Cruciform


 8 Circular Figure 2: Adam Androgyne


 9 Circular Figure 3: Rebis or Alchemical Hermaphrodite


 10 Avis Hermetis: Hermes’ Bird


 11 Circular Figure 4: the Oratory-Laboratory


 12 The Oratorium


 13 The Laboratorium


 14 The Central Table


 15 The Auditorium


 16 A Matter of Perspective


 17 The Dormitorium


 18 Underlying Geometries and Symmetries in the Four “Theosophical” Figures


 19 Volvelles


 20 Reading the 1595 Circular Images


 21 From 1595 to 1602: Changes in the Circular Images


 22 The 5 Rectangular ‘Hieroglyphic Figures’ (1602)


 23 The Theo-Magical School of Nature


 24 The Entrance of the Amphitheatre


 25 The Triumphal Pyramid


 26 The Alchemical Citadel


 27 Mercurius and Caduceus


 28 Hieroglyphic Monad or Mercury?


 29 A Heart with Thorns


 30 Changing Perspective


 31 The Calumniators


 32 The Bespectacled Owl


 33 The Sequence of the Images


 34 Interconnections and Correspondences


 35 Khunrath’s Dog


 36 Hermes’s Caltrop in the Cave of Nature


 37 Part III: Hieroglyphs or Emblems?


 38 Hieroglyphica


 39 Emblemata


 40 Visual Exegesis or Eisegesis?


 41 Khunrath’s Visual and Symbolic Terms


 42 Khunrath’s Use of Symbolum


 43 Hieroglyphic Impressions


 44 Part IV: the Roles of the Images


 45 1. The Synoptic Role


 46 The Amphitheatre’s 1609 Title Page


 47 Retrospective Synopsis in the Rectangular Figures


 48 Raising up and Defending Truth


 49 2. Didactic, Pedagogical, Instructional Roles


 50 3. Polemical Role


 51 A Surprising Discovery


 52 Conclusion


Index of Names


Index of Subjects


Index of Biblical Citations