Petrus Severinus= {Dane Peder Soerensen} and his Influences on Paracelsian Alchemy

Petrus Severinus={Dane Peder Soerensen} and his influences in Paracelsian Alchemy Víctor. Arturo. Cabello. Reyes. ''Go, ye Sons, sell fields, house and garments, burn books, buy boots, climb montains, search the deepest bottom of the earth, the properties of every thing, then buy coal, construct furnance, wath and cook with patience.'' ( Petrus Severinus (1542-1602) Idea medicinae philosophicae, (Basel, 1571, chap. VII, p.73) It is known, moreover, that alchemy in Petrus Severinus is the means for the scientific and verifiable fabrication of the Great Secret of Paracelsus' philosophy; ultimate and healing end of the hidden properties of the Philosopher's Stone. Born in Jutland in 1542-Severinus=(Sorenson). He travels to Germany, France and Italy and attends studies at several universities. Although he wrote an 'Epistola scripta Theophrasto Paracelsus' (1572), it is his work Idea medicae philosophicae, the best known and profusely annotated. ''Severinus fully accepted Paracelsus' endorsement of the macrocosm-microcosm universe, and he wrote that man has within rivers, seas, mountains, and valleys analogous to the greater world.'' (Allen G. Debus, The Chemical Philosophy, p.p.129-130) Curiously, Severinus can be considered not an adept, but a serious scrutinizer of the Magnum Opus or Arte Regius whose fundamental idea, within the processes of transmutation, is attributed to the achievement of an ideal 'accelerating agent' and catalyst within the natural processes for the perfection of metals inferior to noble metals. There is a powerful "catalyst" in the Elixir = Tinctura = Ens seminis of Paracelsus. The Great Art of the Sages! ''He believed that semen could give rise to a complex organism, noy by virtue of the matter present, but trought its internal endowment and intrinsic ''knowledge'' within it.'' (Debus, 131) ''All necessity of Nature I have consigned to the Semina.'' (Van Helmont) Severinus was a mystic, astrologer, prophet and recognized Paracelsian. ( Philip Ball, Paracelsus, p.384) For him, the heart was a vital organism, and he gives supremacy to the blood and to the vital spirit that governs it. Harvey was later... There is an 'Art of Separation' that the followers of Paracelsus = Petrus Severinus follow. Peter Severinus (1540/2–1602) was a professor at the University of Denmark and Royal Physician to the King of Denmark. Severinus improves on Paracelsus' medical concepts and helps them to be more respectable within the confines of ancient medicine and its philosophical parameters. ''Severinus's text, the Idea of Medicine, sought to place itself within the scholarly tradition of learned medical authority by connecting the doctrines of Paracelsus with those of Hippocrates and Galen. The result was a more systematic and less eccentric presentation of Paracelsian notions that succeded so well in altering the coplexion of Paracelsus than even the well-know anti-Paracelsian physician and theologian Thomas Erastus (1524-1583) could recommend the text to his reader.'' (Bruce T. Moran, Distilling Knowledge: Alchemy, Chemistry, and The Scientific Revolution, p.p.84-85) Severinus takes and improves the Paracelsian ideas of the "images" which are the ones that make the "semina" fertile and that when duly transferred to the "imagination" enter into the vital processes of the ARCHEI. It is there that the cosmic components of sympathies and antipathies merge and what can be seen and rejected within individuals ={sensus} is regulated. (Walter Pagel, Cambridge, 1982) Through experience one arrives at ={magisterii naturalis} which is a form of understandingNature. And that experience is won and fought for in the laboratory=''Nostram mechanicam scientiam''. Paracelsus spoke of man's activities being in some way allied to the mechanics of ASTRA = cosmic forces and Severinus refers to them as 'scientiae et mechanici' or processes in the very composition of Nature. (Severinus, Idea medicinae philosophicae, chap. Vi, p.59) Paracelsus attributed correspondences and meanings to the stars – Van Helmont attacks him for this – and Severinus, very carefully, transfers the powers of the stars to the cosmic SEMINA. (Pagel, 1982: 48) ''Oswald Croll, a more mystical and religious Paracelsist than Severinus, rejected all astral influence and infusion of virtues outright. There are no arcana in us, the lower firmament, that stem from the upper firmament.'' ( Walter Pagel, p.49) Severinus claims that Galen failed because of his abnormal "fascination" with "mathematical proofs" and his desire to establish medicine on geometric bases. (Debus: 1991) On the other hand, Severinus organizes the ideas of Paracelsus and accepts his concept of Signaturas and rejects the Galenic doctrine of humors. Severinus appreciates Paracelsus' iatrochemical medicine and deeply studies the master's astrological and scientific concepts. ''... It is significant that Tycho's observations were conducted in close association with Petrus Severinus, the leading Paracelsian of his age.'' (Tycho Brahe: Opera Omnia, 3, 311-19) Consequently, the Paracelsians occupy the best positions in the Courts of Europe and centers of study: Oswald Croll, was chief physician of Prince Christian I of Anhalt-Bernberg, Johann Hartman, was professor of chemistry={chymiatry}at the University of Marburg and Severinus is chief physician to the King of Denmark. But, it is not only that, the work of Severinus -of clear Paracelsian exposure-, was followed by Dr. William Davidson, who was a professor of chemistry at the Jardin du Roi in Paris, and personal physician to the King of Poland. It should be noted that although Van Helmont is a follower of the tradition of Paracelsus and has enormous direct influence from Severinus, there are clearly divergences and opinions that do not necessarily have to be the same; not even similar. Van Helmont does not believe in the macrocosm-microcosm relationship and neither does he assume the idea of Paracelsus' Tria prima = Salt-Sulphur-Mercury. Petrus Severinus does admit and collect the ideas of "seeds" that contain the IDEAS of what is going to be. So Severinus takes responsibility for his ideas of Paracelsus. And remember: "Never look outside for what you need until you have fully used yourself." ( Gerard Dorn) Let's look at Severinus' advice in 1571, in the best style of Paracelsus!: ''... Sell your land, your house, your clothes, and your jewels; burn your books. Instead, buy strong shoes, and travel to the mountains; search in the valleys, in the deserts, on the coasts, and in the deepest recesses of the earth; point out the distinctions between the various types of animals, plants, and minerals... Do not be ashamed to learn the celestial and terrestrial traditions of the peasants. And finally, buy coal, build furnaces, work with Fire. In this way, and only in this way, will you attain knowledge of things and their properties." (Petrus Severinus, Idea medicinae philosophicae, Basel, 1557, chap. VII, p.73) He is worthy of subscratch, there is no doubt alkyne; No one assimilated and explained Paracelsus' medical system like Severinus. In this same sense, Severinus as well as Paracelsus focus their attention on "observation and evidence" when interpreting the phenomena of Nature. Now, many followers of Paracelsus with their variants and contradictions = Crollius, Severinus, Duchesne, Penotus, Dorn, Libavius... and many more organize and make possible the reading of Paracelsus' works. Petrus Severinus={Dane Peder Soerensen} and his influences in Paracelsian Alchemy Víctor. Arturo. Cabello. Reyes.