The Two Astronomies: "Theory Of Signatures"
Superior - constellations and planets in the heavens Inferior - the alchemy of metals and minerals in the Earth
“Some thirty years ago, one of my contacts impressed on me the importance of a seventeenth-century Alchemical book in French, 'Abrege de l'astronomie inferieure'. When I got back to Glasgow, I thought I might look it up and see what my contact found so interesting about this work. Unfortunately, the Ferguson Collection did not hold a copy, so I rather forgot about it till recently when I managed to obtain a pdf of the work. Yesterday, I finished making a translation of this. The idea of the book is that there are two astronomies, the Superior one is concerned with the constellations and planets in the heavens, while the Inferior is about the alchemy of metals and minerals in the Earth. The author is at pains to point out that the Inferior Astronomy is the more important and that the astronomy of the heavenly bodies is flawed. He presents a mass of classical mythology that explains the alchemical properties of the metals and minerals”
- Adam McLean
Known in Alchemy as the "Theory Of Signatures"
"Every plant and mineral is an earthly star."
- Paracelsus