Paracelsus, or as his full name reads, Theophrastus Phillippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, was born November 11, 1493 in Einsiedeln, Switzerland. He died on September 24, 1541 in Salzburg, Austria. He was an alchemist, physician, botanist, and astrologer.

Paracelsus was the only child of a poor physician and chemist. His mother died when he was a young boy. He and his father later moved to Villach, Austria, where Paracelsus became an apprentice in the mines. Here was the first time he obtained some basic knowledge about metallurgy.

He began his studies at the age of fourteen. It is assumed that he attended several of the best universities in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, and Italy, yet was dissatisfied with all of them. At the age of sixteen, Paracelsus started to study medicine at the University of Basel and eventually obtained his degree in medicine from the University of Vienna. There is no concrete evidence of where he later received his doctorate though it is assumed he pursued studies and received a doctorate from the University of Ferrara in 1516. It is also believed that it was here where he changed his name, taking up the Latin 'Paracelsus', which means 'greater than Celus', after the encyclopedist Aulus Cornelius Celus.

About Author:

Franz Hartmann (1838-1912) - was a German physician, theosophist, occultist, geomancer, astrologer, author of esoteric and occultism works. Franz Hartmann wrote esoteric studies and a biography of Jakob Bohme and of Paracelsus. He translated the Bhagavad Gita into German and was the editor of the journal Lotusbluten. He was at one time a co-worker of Helena Blavatsky at Adyar. In 1896 he founded a German Theosophical Society. He also supported the Guido-von-List-Society (Guido-von-List-Gesellschaft). He cofounded the Ordo Templi Orientis with Carl Kellner and Theodor Reuss.

Hartmann was born November 22, 1838, in Bavaria, Germany, though he claimed descent on his mother's side from the old Irish kings of Ulster. He became a physician and immigrated to the United States in 1865, traveling as a doctor to various cities and also visiting Indian tribes and studying their religious beliefs. He became interested in Spiritualism and later corresponded with leading Theosophists after the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875.

Hartmann was invited to the society's headquarters at Adyar, India, where he lived during the furor over Helena Petrovna Blavatsky 's alleged miracle working. He published his own Report of Observations During a Nine Months' Stay at the Headquarters of the Theosophical Society at Adyar (Madras), India (1884).

When Richard Hodgson of the Society for Psychical Research, London, published his devastating exposure of claimed trickery and fraudulent phenomena by Blavatsky in 1885, Hartmann accompanied her to Europe and then returned to his hometown in Bavaria. There he claimed to have encountered a sect of secret Rosicrucians from whom he acquired many mystical insights. He was president of the Theosophical Society in Germany for a brief period, but eventually resigned to found independent societies. During his later years he spent much time in the Untersberg Mountains near Salzburg, Austria, where he believed he encountered gnomes, water nymphs, and other nature spirits and also wrote his more memorable books. He died at Kempten, Bavaria, August 7, 1912.

Partial bibliography

* Magick: White and Black
* The Life of Jehoshua, the prophet of Nazareth
* The Principles of Astrological Geomancy
* Correlation of Spiritual Forces
* With the Adepts: An Adventure Among the Rosicrucians
* Life and the Doctrines of Philippus Theophrastus Bombast of Hohenheim Known as Paracelsus
* In The Pronaos Of The Temple Of Wisdom Containing The History Of The True And The False Rosicrucians
* Alchemy And Astrology
* Metafisica Medicina y Sanacion
* Philosophy and Theosophy
* The Four Pillars of Occult Medicine
* An Adventure Among the Rosicrucians: A Student of Occultism
* Among the Adepts: The Brotherhood of the Golden and Rosy Cross and Their Occult and Mysterious Powers
* To Will, to Dare and to Be Silent in Magic