“There are, therefore, two kinds of knowledge in this world: an eternal and a temporal. The eternal springs directly from the light of the Holy Spirit, but the other directly from the Light of Nature.” - Paracelsus
"the book of nature [can become] readable and comprehensible" - Galileo Galilei
Nature & Scripture Nature & God
“Seeking for truth, I considered with myself that if there were no teachers of medicine in this world, how would I set to learn the art? No otherwise than in the great open book of nature, written with the finger of God.” - Paracelsus
“Through this door I entered, and the light of nature, and no apothecary’s lamp directed me on my way.” - Paracelsus
The Book of Nature and the Book of God
In traditional Hermetic-Alchemical symbolism, there exist two great books:
- The Book of Nature: The visible universe, with its laws, patterns, analogies, and correspondences. Through observation, experimentation, and meditation, the alchemist learns Nature’s secrets directly.
- The Book of God (Scripture, Divine Revelation): Spiritual truths revealed explicitly through inspired teachings, traditions, scriptures, and mystical revelations.
To the alchemist, both books harmonize. The Book of Nature reveals God’s wisdom through tangible reality, while the Book of God offers direct insight into spiritual truths. Mastery and wisdom are gained by reading, interpreting, and reconciling both books.
The "Light of Nature" (Lumen Naturae) was central to Paracelsus's philosophy, standing as one of "the two lights"—the Light of Nature and the Light of the Holy Spirit.
The Book of Nature (librum naturae)
“We must seek for knowledge where we may expect to find it. He who wants to study the book of nature must wander with his feet over the leaves. Every part of the world represents a page in this book, and all the pages together form the book that contains her great revelations.” – Paracelsus
nature itself is a source of knowledge and wisdom, to be studied as a book written by God.
Nature itself is a readable text, open to human knowledge and understanding.
Nature’s book is the alchemist’s primary scripture, and reading it correctly is their central discipline.
studying plants, minerals, and stars is akin to reading a sacred text.
“The realms of nature are the letters, and man is the word that is composed of these letters.” - Paracelsus
by patiently spelling out Nature’s symbols (in the laboratory and in the wild), the alchemist could read the larger “Word” or meaning – learning the grammar of God’s creation.
Paracelsus emphasized "the value of observation in combination with received wisdom," uniting empirical study with mystical insight. The Natural Philosopher reads both the Book of Nature and the Book of Scripture, finding the same divine truths written in different languages.
"Know nature, universally, and particularly; from the book of the most holy Scripture: Of the nature itself, which is, and the greater world, the whole: and the lesser world, this is man, for example, according to both his body and his spirit."
— The Amphitheater of Eternal Wisdom, c. 1595 by Heinrich Khunrath
The Book of Scripture
the "Book of Scripture," the revealed word of God
"Know thyself, from the book of the Holy Scriptures; The nature of the whole Universe, that is, and the whole Macrocosm, and the Microcosm, whether you yourself, according to both your body and your spirit; finally, and your mind, united to God."
— Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae by Heinrich Khunrath