Concerning the Tincture, Paracelsus wrote: "There is a medicine that heals all diseases of the body. There is another that heals all diseases of the soul. They are not two medicines but one, seen from two sides."
The Tincture, he taught, is not compounded by the apothecary. It is not found in any herb or mineral in its completed form. It must be prepared through the art — through separation, purification, and reunion at a higher level.
"Take what is heavy and make it light.
Take what is dark and make it luminous.
Take what is dead and make it alive.
This is the work of the Tincture:
To restore all things to their original perfection."
The seven planets, Paracelsus taught, correspond to seven metals, seven organs, seven stages of the work. Saturn is lead and melancholy. Jupiter is tin and the liver. Mars is iron and the gallbladder. The Sun is gold and the heart. Venus is copper and the kidneys. Mercury is quicksilver and the lungs. The Moon is silver and the brain.
"When these seven are brought into harmony," he wrote, "the work is complete. But most live in discord, with one planet dominating and the others suppressed. The art restores the celestial balance."
"The sick man is one whose inner stars war against each other.
The healthy man is one whose stars sing in harmony.
The transformed man is one whose stars have become
A single light, burning with the fire of the One."
Of the preparation of the Tincture, Paracelsus wrote in riddles, as all alchemists must: "Take the Lion of the forest and the Eagle of the air. Wed them in the fire. Let them die together and be born together. What rises from the ashes is neither lion nor eagle but something greater than both."
The Lion is the fixed, the earthy, the stubborn. The Eagle is the volatile, the spiritual, the aspiring. Alone, each is incomplete. Together, destroyed and reborn, they become the Philosopher's Stone — which is not a stone but a state of being.
"I have seen men search the world for this medicine," Paracelsus wrote. "They dig in mountains, they scour the seabeds, they buy fraudulent powders from charlatans. All the while, the medicine lies within themselves, waiting to be prepared."
Teaching 8
Healing is not the addition of something foreign but the restoration of original harmony. The seven stars within you must cease their warfare and learn to sing together.