The mystic views of Paracelsus, or those attributed to him, are curious
rather than useful. He seemed to have had as much capacity for belief
as he had disbelief in other philosophers’ speculations. He believed
in gnomes in the interior of the earth, undines in the seas, sylphs in
the air, and salamanders in fire. These were the Elementals, beings
composed of soul-substance, but not necessarily influencing our lives.
The Elementals know only the mysteries of the particular element in
which they live. There is life in all matter. Every mineral, vegetable,
and animal has its astral body.
That of the minerals is called Stannar or Trughat; of the vegetable
kingdom, Leffas; while the astral bodies of animals are their Evestra.
The Evestrum may travel about apart from its body; it may live long
after the death of the body. Ghosts are, in fact, the Evestra of the
departed. If you commit suicide the Evestrum does not recognise the
act; it goes on as if the body were going on also until its appointed
time.
Man is a microcosm; the universe is the macrocosm. Not that they are
comparable to each other; they are one in reality, divided only by
form. If you are not spiritually enlightened you may not be able to
perceive this. Each plant on earth has its star. There is a stella
absinthii, a stella rorismarini. If we could compile a complete
“herbarium spirituale sidereum” we should be fully equipped to treat
disease. Star influences also form our soul-essences. This accounts for
our varying temperaments and talents.
The material part of man, the living body, is the Mumia. This is
managed by the Archæus, which rules over everybody; it is the vital
principle. It provides the internal balsam which heals wounds or
diseases, and controls the action of the various organs.
His theories of mercury, sulphur, and salt, as the constituents of all
things, seem at first likely to lead to something conceivable if not
credible. But before we grasp the idea we are switched off into the
spiritual world again. It is the sidereal mercury, sulphur, and salt,
spirit, soul, and body, to which he is alluding.