The Chymical Wedding: Alchemy and Art, Medicine and Magic in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Dr. Jeremy Wasser

Alchemy was about much more than the search for the “Philosopher’s Stone” and the secret of transmuting base metals into gold. Alchemists were chemists before there was the modern science of chemistry. Before those medical disciplines had been formalized, alchemists were pharmacologists and toxicologists. They were healers and physicians of both the body and the soul. The alchemical masters viewed the body holistically. They were on a quest to understand the nature of the body and the influences of the natural world (the macrocosm) in the lives of human beings (the microcosm).
The course will start by tracing the origins of alchemical thinking and review the science and philosophy of ancient practitioners (some of whom we know by legend only). Course content will explore how later alchemical masters, such as Paracelsus, contributed to the evolution of alchemy into a holistic model of the nature of the human body. Physicians at this time were trained in the astrological connections to anatomy and medicine. However, this new holistic approach allowed alchemy to contribute to a novel logical framework for both diagnosis and therapy.
Lectures will examine how alchemical practitioners conceived of disease and how they attempted to use alchemy to “transmute” patients back to health. We will trace the roots of modern chemistry and medicine back to their alchemical origins. A selective review of the relevant alchemical literature will be referenced, along with analyses of the many Medieval and Renaissance artworks illustrating alchemical principles.

Lecture 1: "The origins of alchemy in Antiquity"
What ideas and philosophies formed the basis for alchemy in the Middle Ages? What role did ancient philosophers and scientists play in the development of alchemy? The thinking of the Ancients on the human body (the microcosm) and its relationship to nature and the universe (the macrocosm) is critical to answering these questions. Along with the works of the antique pre-Christian world, we will include Biblical (Old and New Testaments), Talmudic, Kabbalistic and Islamic sources in our analysis.

Lecture 2: "The transmutation of alchemy’s ancient origins into the medieval world"
How did the alchemical masters of the Middle Ages access the knowledge and ideas of the ancient world? How did this knowledge come to be applied to human biology and medicine? In this lecture we will study a select group of European alchemists (Albertus Magnus, Arnold of Villanova, Roger Bacon and others). The masters constructed an alchemical schema to explain the natural world and human physiology. We will explore these beliefs and how they contributed to the marriage of alchemy and medicine.

Lecture 3: "The chymical wedding: Paracelsus and the epitome of alchemical thinking in the Renaissance"
Medical practitioners applied alchemical thought to medicine in the 16th century and later Renaissance. The life and works of the natural magus and physician, Theophrastus Philipus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim (Paracelsus) will serve as a case study. Paracelsus famously stated that the purpose of alchemy was to “…consider only what virtue and power may lie in medicines.” Modern understanding of physiology and pathology has banished much of what he believed to the rubbish heap of medical history. Nevertheless, Paracelsus made an iconoclastic break from over a millennium of slavish devotion to the medical dogma of the Roman physician, Galen. We will take a deep dive into the Paracelsian canon and explore his philosophical, scientific, and medical works. We will also consider the work of other Paracelsian and anti-Paracelsian alchemists and doctors both during his lifetime and after his death.

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