Swiss physician, chemist, "the greatest alchemist of all time," one of the fathers of modern medicine. Paracelsus was the pseudonym of Dr Theophrastus Bombastus Hohenheim, which meant "beyond Celsius", implying that he was greater physician than the then-revered Roman physician and Platonist philosopher Aulus Cornelius Celsius. A rebellious thinker, Paracelsus developed his own system of medicine and philosophy.

"By nature I am not subtly spun, nor is it the custom of my native land to accomplish anything by spinning silk. Nor are we raised on figs, nor on mead, nor on wheaten bread, but on cheese, milk and oatcakes, which cannot give one a subtle disposition. Moreover, a man clings all his days to what he received in his youth; and my youth was coarse as compared to that of the subtle, pampered, and over-refined. For those who are raised in soft clothes and in women's apartments and we who are brought up among the pine-cones have trouble in understanding one another well." (Paracelsus: Selected Writings, edited with an introduction by Jolande Jacobi, translated by Norbert Guterman, 1951, p. 77)

Theophrastus Bombastus Hohenheim (Paracelsus) was born in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, the only son of a poor German physician. His father was the illegitimate offspring of a disgraced Swabian nobleman, who had lost both his fame and fortune.

Around 1509 Paracelsus started his studies of chemistry and medicine at the University of Basle. After receiving his bachelors degree in 1510, he learned about metals and minerals and mining diseases at the mines in the Tirol. Paracelsus also earned a doctorate, perhaps from the University of Ferrara. At Erfurt he met and apprenticed himself to one Rufus Mutianus, a friend of Pico della Mirandola (1463-94), a Faustian scholar. At some point in the mid-1510s Paracelsus studied under the Hermetic philosopher Trithemius.

Between the years 1510 and 1524 Paracelsus wandered through Europe, Russia and the Middle East, learning the practice of medicine as a military surgeon and acquired a considerable knowledge of alchemy. For his support of the peasants' revolt he was forced to flee from Salzburg. He left the city "too hastily to pack his clothing." (Paracelsus: Speculative Theory and the Crisis of the Early Reformation by Andrew Weeks, 1997, pp. 78-79)

In his wide travels, Paracelsus became acquainted with remedies not familiar to contemporary physicians. After having success as an army physician, he set himself to reforming medicine. Paracelsus opposed scholastic physicians and medical authorities and emphasized the importance of practical knowledge. His philosophy was a curious mixture of mysticism, clearheaded thinking, and familiarity with chemical mixtures. It is thought that he learned the Hermetic secrets from Arabian adepts in Constantinople. "The physician," he wrote, "is he who in the bodily diseases takes the place of God and administers for Him." (Four Treatises of Theophrastus Von Hohenheim Called Paracelsus, edited, with a Preface by Henry E. Sigerist, 1996, p. 15) 

Paracelsus thought that the physician must be a chemist and was accused of prescribing poisonous substances, when he used inorganic, particularly metallic elements in internal remedies. Defending himself against his accusers, Paracelsus argued that his opponents treated their patients with poisons too, but did not know the proper dosages. "The preparations of Antimony vary with the diseases for which it is administered. That which is used for wounds differs from that which is applied in the case of leprosy. And so of the rest. To take the same preparation of Antimony both in wounds and in leprosy would be a serious error." (Paracelsus in Alchemical Medicine, The Story of Chemistry by N.C. Datta, 2005, p. 64) Paracelsus is credited with successfully treating syphilis, gout, leprosy, and ulcers with mercury. Paracelsus also coined the name of "zink" from zinne (tin) and kupfer (copper).

"Every experiment is like a weapon which must be used in its particular way – a spear to thrust, a club to strike," Paracelsus wrote in Grosse Wundartney (1536, Surgeon's Book). "Experimenting requires a man who knows when to thrust and when to strike, according to need and fashion." (A Spoonful of Sugar: 1,001 Quotations for the Pharmacist and Pharmaceutical Scientist, edited by Raymond Rowe, Joseph Chamberlain, 2007, p. 40) Paracelsus had learned in practice that many times wounds would heal naturally if kept clean and drained.

Supported by Erasmus, Paracelsus became professor of medicine in the University of Basel, lecturing in his German-Swiss dialect rather than in Latin as was customary. This naturally upset his superiors. In addition, he burned publicly the works of Avicenna and Galen and declared that his cap had more learning in it than all the heads in the university. "O you hypocrites, who despise the truths taught you by a great  physician, who is himself instructed by the Nature, and is a son of God himself!"  Paracelsus exclaimed in a speech in his typical bombastic style. "Come then, and listen, impostors  who prevail only by the authority of your high positions!" (The Philosopher's Stone by Peter Marshall, 2002, p. 349) His charisma brought him disciples – known as the Paracelsists – who believed that he had discovered the secret of prolonging life indefinitely. 

During all this time, Paracelsus continued to write prolifically. His writings, which he dictated to his disciples, comprise most of what is known about the ancient Hermetic system of medicine. However, apart his surgical work, Grosse Wundartzney, (1536), some pamphlets and astrological forecasts he hardly published anything else.

Paracelsus applied his knowledge of astrological aspects to healing processes. In Philosophia Occulta Paracelsus wrote that human beings have two kinds of spirits – one is from the heaven, one from the nature, but they should follow their heavenly spirit in life. Although he made references to the Aristotelian elements of earth, air, fire, and water, he definend them in his own way. Diseases originate from salt, sulfur, or mercury, which correspond respectively matter (body), soul, and spirit. A doctor should trust more in his intuition and reason that what the patient tells. All wisdom belongs to God (De Fundamento Sapientiae) – and thus we should try understand ourselves to be able to know the divine truth, which has been given to human beings.

"For just as gold is tested in fire a seventh time, the pysician must be proven by fire a seventh time and more . . . Fire approves all things," Paracelsus argued. "Thus the physician is tested; [but] not that he may be burned: rather, his art, theory, [and] practice are to be babtized by fire." (Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 1493-1541): Essential Theoretical Writings, 2008, pp. 304-305) His followeers were apt to call themselves philosophers by fire.

In Neun Bücher Archidoxis (circa 1526-1527) Paracelsus examined role of the sun, and compared it with the alchemical furnace. This text, which was issued in many editions from the 1570s, had a considerable influnce on occultist parcices. A complete edition of his works in Latin appeared in 1589.

Following a quarrel with the magistracy, Paracelsus was driven out of Basel in 1528. Without permanent post, he spent a wandering life in Switzerland, Alsace, and southern Germany. Due to his superiority complex, Paracelsus had no close friends among his colleagues.

In the Austrian province of Carinthia, where Paracelsus settled for a few year, he produced some of his most famous writings, among them Sieben Defensiones (1538, The Seven Defensiones), Labyrinthus medicorum errantium (1538, On the Errors and Labyrinth of the Physiocians), and Das Buch vom Tartaro, das ist vom Ursprung des Sands und Steins (On the Origin and Cause of Sand and Stone). Paracelsus claimed in Prognosticatio (1536) that the drawings of Tarot cards had magical meaning. His accompanying captions for them may have inspired Nostradamus. Éliphas Lévi (1810-1875), a mystic and his great admirer, said that the work was "the most astounding monument and indisputable proof of the reality and existence of the gift of natural prophecy." (The Propecies of Paracelsus: Magic Figures and Prognostications: Made by Theophrastus Taracelsus About Four Hundred Tears Ago, 1915, p. 11)

The Arch-Bishop Duke Ernsty of Bavaria invited in 1541 Paracelsus to Salzburg. It is believed that he was poisoned or killed by assassins who were hired by his enemies. Paracelsus died on September 23, 1541. Most likely his experiments with poisonous chemical substances contributed to his death at the age of forty-eight. "All things are poison, and nothing is without poison, only the dose makes the poison," Paracelsus is credited of saying. After he was buried his bones were dug up several times, moved and reburied. Paracelsus never married. One of his student said, that he avoided the company of women altogether. It has been claimed that Paracelsus was emasculated in infancy by accident or by a drunken soldier. No beard grew on his face.

Despite his obsession with alchemy, Paracelsus encouraged research, observation and experiment, and revolutionized medical methods. He was one of the first doctors to write scientific books for the public. He described silicosis, and to connected goitre with minerals found in drinking water. By experimenting he improved pharmacy and therapeutics, developed techniques for the production of laudanum, and explored the effects of other opium derivatives as well. Two hundred years later laudanum became the fashionable way to escape from psychic or physical pain.

On the basis of Hermetic principle of interrelationship Paracelsus recognized the connection between psyche and the physical organism. The Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung has described Paracelsus as "an ocean, or, to put it less kindly, a chaos, an alchemical melting-pot into which the human beings, gods, and demons of that tremendous age, the first half of the sixteenth century, poured their peculiar juices." (Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 15: Spirit in Man, Art, And Literature, edited and translated by Gerhard Adler & R.F.C. Hull, 1971, p. 19)

According to Paracelsus the physician had to be not only an alchemist but also an astrologer, because the human beings have a firmament body, which is the corporeal equivalent of the astrological heaven. And since the astrological constellation makes a diagnosis possible, it also indicates the therapy.

Paracelsus made the use of the magnet and explored the phenomenon of magnetism in relation to the human organism. He favored the use of magnets in curing patients; two hundred years later the French Franz Anton Mesmer developed a theory of animal magnetism and stroked patients with magnets.

Fascinated by Paracelsus's writings about alchemy and the connection between the alchemical stone (the lapsis) and the mystical experience of God, Jung returned to Paracelsus's ideas in several writings, among which the most thorough was Psychology and Alchemy (1944). It explores the analogies between alchemy, Christian dogma and symbolism on the other hand, and the dreams and visions, the classical material of psychoanalysis. The character of Paracelsus has inspired many writes, among them Robert Browning (1812-1889), Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931), and Jorge Luis Borges (1889-1986).

In Borges's story 'The Rose of Paracelsus' the doctor prays to his God to send him a disciple. A young man (Johannes Grisebach) appears. He is ready to follow Paracelsus, if he can prove his skills as an alchemist by burning a rose to ashes and making it emerge again. Paracelsus says that the rose is eternal, and only its appearances may change. "The path is the Stone. The point of departure is the Stone. If these words are unclear to you, you have not yet begun to understand. Every step you take is the goal you seek." (from 'The Rose of Paracelsus' by Jorge Luis Borges, in Collected Fictions, translated by Andrew Hurley, 1998, p. 505) The man throws the rose into the flames. Paracelsus tells that all the other physicians call him a fraud – perhaps they are right. The young man says: "What I have done is unpardonable. I have lacked belief, which the Lord demands of all the faithful. Let me, then, continue to see ashes. I will come back again when I am stronger, and I will be your disciple, and at the end of the Path I will see the rose." (Ibid., p. 507) He leaves, promising to come back, but they both know that they would not see each other again. Alone, Paracelsus whispers a single word and the rose appears again.

For further reading: The Magus by Francis Barrett (1801); The Life of Theoprastus Paracelsus, 1887 (Trubner & Co.); Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim called Paracelsus by John Maxson Stillman (1920); Paracelsus by Friedrich Gundolf (1927); Paracelsus am Eingang der deutschen Bildungsgeschichte by Bodo Sartorius Freiherr von Waltershausen (1936); Paracelsus: Magic into Science by H.M. Pachter (1951); Paracelsus: an introduction to philosophical medicine in the era of the Renaissance by Walter Pagel (1958); The English Paracelsians by A.G. Debus (1968); 'Paracelsus the Physicion' by Carl Jung in The Spirit in Man, Art and Literature (1967); Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal Experience by Rosemary Ellen Guiley (1991); Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus, ed by Arthur Edward Waite (1992); Three Famous Alchemists: Raymund Lully, Corneliius Agrippa, Theophrastus Paracelsus by Arthur Edward Waite, et al. (1998); Paracelsus, His Mystical and Medical Philosophy by Manly P. Hall (1999); Paracelsus: Medicine, Magic and Mission at the End of Time by Charles Webster (2008); '"Morbo spirituali medicina spiritualis convenit": Paracelsus, Madness, and Spirits' by Peter J. Forshaw, in Aisthetics of the Spirits: Spirits in Early Modern Science, Religion, Literature and Music, edited by Steffen Schneider (2015); Bridging Traditions: Alchemy, Chemistry, and Paracelsian Practices in the Early Modern Era, edited by Karen Hunger Parshall, Michael T. Walton, and Bruce T. Moran (2015); Pseudo-Paracelsus: Forgery and Early Modern Alchemy, Medicine and Natural Philosophy, edited by Didier Kahn and Hiro Hira (2022) - Suom.: Suomeksi on ilmestynyt Paracelsuksen tutkimuksista mm. Franz Hartmannin (1838-1912) satasivuinen teos Okkulttinen lääketiede (2001)

Selected bibliography:

• De Medicina, 1478
• Elf Traktat von Ursprung, Ursachen, Zeichen und Kur einzelner, c. 1520
• Volumen Medicinae Paramirum, c. 1520
• Das Buch von der Gebärung der empfindlichen Dinge in der Vernunft, c. 1520
• Neun Bücher Archidoxis, c. 1526-1527
• Das Buch Paragranum, 1529-1530
• Opus Paramirum, 1530-1531
• Liber prologi in vitam beatam, 1533
• De religione perpetua, 1533
• De ordine doni, 1533
• De honestis utrisque divitiis, 1533
• Die grosse Wundartzney, 1536
• Prognosticatio Eximii Doctoris Paracelsi, 1536
  
• De Natura Rerum, 1537 (attributed to Paracelsus)
• Labyrinthus medicorum errantium, 1538
• Sieben Defensiones, 1538
• Des Hocherfarnen und Hochgelehrten Herrn Theophrasti Paracelsi von Hohenheim, beyder Artzney Doctoris, Philosophiae ad Athenienses, drey Bücher, 1564 (Cöln, Gedruckt durch die erben A. Byrckmanni)
  
• Spittal Büch, 1566 (Gedruckt zu Franckfurt am Mayn: Bey Peter Schmid)
• Opvs chyrvrgicvm: des weitberumbten Hochgelehrten und Erfarnen Aureoli Theophrasti Paracelsi medici &c., Wund vnd Artzney Buch, 1566 (Getruckt zu Franckfurt am Mayn: durch Martin Lechler in Verlegung Sigmund Feyrabends und Simon Hüters)
  
• Astronomica et astrologica, des elden, hochgelährten, wolerfahrenen Herren, doctor Avreoli Theophrasti von Hohenhaim, Paracelsi genandt, 1567 (Co̊ln, Getruckt bey Arnoldi Byrckmans erben)
  
• Auslegung der Figuren, so zu Nürnberg gefunden seind worden, 1569
• Archidoxis Magica, c. 1570 (attributed to Paracelsus)
• Zwen tractatus des hocherfarnen vnd bewartisten teütschen Philosophi, vnd beyder artzney doctoris Philippi Theophrasti Paracelsi, 1572 (Getruckt zů Strassburg: Durch Bernhard Jobin)
  
• Metamorphosis Theophrasti Paracelsi, dessen werck seinen meister loben wirt: was nun darin tractirt wirt, wirt volgends blat nach der prefation anzeigen, 1574 (Getruckt zů Basel: Durch Samuel Apiarium, im kosten vnd verlag, Herren Petri Pernae)
  
• Theophrasti Paracelsi schreiben von tribus Principijs aller Generaten: item liber vexationun: item sein Thesaurus alchimistarum, 1574 (Getruckt zu Basel: Bey Samuel Apiario inn kosten des wolgeachten Herrn Petri Pernae)
  
• Drey tractat Ph. Theophrasti Paracelsi, beyder artzney doctoris, 1577 (Getruckt zů Strassburg: Durch Christian Můller)
  
• De natura rerum IX Bücher, 1584 (Strassburg: Getruckt bey B. Jobin)
  
• Treizehen Bücher Paragraphorum des hochgelehrten vnd wolerfahrnen medici D. Theophrasti Paracelsi, 1585 (Basel: Getruckt durch Conrad Waldkirchen)
  
• Erster [-dritter] theil der bücher vnd schrifften des edlen hochgelehrten vnd bewehrten philolosophi vnnd medici, 1589 (Gedruckt zu Basel durch Conrad Waldkirch)
  
• Liber Azoth sive de ligno et linea vitae, 1590
• Philip Aureole Theophrast Bombast von Hohenheim... Opera, Bücher und Schriften, 1589-91 (durch Joannem Huserum in Truck gegeben, 10 parts, reprinted 1603, 1616)
• Theatrum chemicum, 1602-61 (6 vols.)
• Of the Supreme Mysteries of Nature. Of the Spirits of the Planets. Of Occult Philosophy. The Magical, Sympathetical, and Antipathetical Cure of Wounds and Diseases. The Mysteries of the Twelve Signs of the Zodiack, 1656 (Englished by R. Turner; London, Printed by J.C. for N. Brook and J. Harison
  
• Hermetic and Alchemical Writings, 1894 (2 vols.)
• Das Buch Paragranum, 1903 (ed. by Franz Strunz)
• The Propecies of Paracelsus: Magic Figures and Prognostications: Made by Theophrastus Taracelsus About Four Hundred Tears Ago, 1915 (translated by J.K.; with introduction)
  
• Theophrast von Hohenheim, genannt Paracelsus. Sämtliche Werke, 1922-33, (14 vols., translated into modern German by Bernhard Aschner)
• Selected Writings, 1951 (edited with an introduction by Jolande Jacobi, translated by Norbert Guterman)
• Werke [von] Theophrastus Paracelsus, 1965 (5 v.; besorgt von Will-Erich Peuckert; Bd. 1-2. Medizinische Schriften. Bd. 3. Philosophische Schriften. Bd. 4. Theologische, religionsphilosophische und sozialpolitische Schriften. Bd. 5. Pansophische, magische und gabalische Schriften)
  
• Bücher und Schrifften [von] Theophrastus Paracelsus, 1971- (hrsg. von Johannes Huser. Mit einem Vorwort von Kurt Goldammer;
  
• Reprint of the ed. published in Basel in 1589-)
• Four Treatises of Theophrastus von Hohenheim, Called Paracelsus, 1979 (edited, with a pref., by Henry E. Sigerist; first published in 1941)
  
• De la epilepsia: (De caducis liber I), 1981 (prólogo de Juli Peradejordi)
  
• Les prophéties de Paracelse, ou, "Prognostications", 1982  (présentation et commentaires d'Hervé-Masson)
• Das medizinische Consilium des Paracelsus für Abt Johann Jakob Russinger von Pfäfers 1535: Neu-Edition und Kommentar, 1986 (kommentiert vonWillem F. Daems und Werner Vogler)
  
• The Eritings of Paracelsus, 1989 (translated into English and edited by Gerhard Hanswille and Deborah Brumlich)
  
• Concerning the Alchemical Degrees, Grades & Compositions, 1990
• Vom gesunden und seligen Leben: ausgewählte Texte, 1991 (2., stark veränderte Aufl.; herausgegeben mit einem Nachwort, Anmerkungen und einem Personenregister von Rolf Löther und Siegfried Wollgast; orthographische Bearbeitung von Elvire Pradel)
  
• Vom glückseligen Leben: ausgewählte Schriften zu Religion, Ethik und Philosophie, 1993 (herausgegeben und eingeleitet von Katharina Biegger)
  
• Four Treatises of Theophrastus von Hohenheim, Called Paracelsus, 1996 (translated from the original German, with introductory essays by C. Lilian Temkin ... [et al.]; edited, with a preface by Henry E. Sigerist)
  
• Astronomia magna, oder, Die ganze Philosophia sagax der grossen und kleinen Welt, 1999 (herausgegeben, bearbeitet und mit einem Nachwort versehen von Norbert Winkler)
  
• Archidoxes of Magic, 2004 (translation by Robert Turner ; introduction by Stephen Skinner)
  
• The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus, 2007 (translated by Arthur Edward Waite; publisher: ‎ Forgotten Books; first published in 1894)
  
• Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 1493-1541): Essential Theoretical Writings, 2008 (edited and translated with a commentary and introduction by Andrew Weeks)
• The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus: Two Volumes in One, 2009 (edited with a biographical preface, elucidatory notes, a copious hermetic vocabulary, and index, by Arthur Edward Waite; originally published in 1894)
• De tempel van de geneeskunst: het boek Paragranum: tweetalig, 2019 (vertaling en noten van Elke Bussler)
  
• Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombast Von Hohenheim, 1493–1541): Cosmological and Meteorological Writings, 2024 (edited and translated with commentary and introduction by Andrew Weeks and Didier Kahn)