Paracelsus, Vulcan and Alchemy

Hey dear community, I hope you had a weekend that brought some interesting experiences into your life! In this article, I would like to discuss alchemy and hope you are interested in the topic and can learn new things.

Vulcan is also known in Roman mythology as the god of blacksmithing and fire and he can also be considered the equivalent of the Greek god Hephaestus and according to legends, he had his forge inside the volcano Mount Etna which is located in Sicily. When the volcano was just active, people thought that he was at work and created new armor for the gods and also the Swiss doctor and alchemist Paracelsus was very fascinated by him and he had a lot of respect from him and built a strong relationship and even claimed that Vulcan was the creator of alchemy and as a blacksmith god, he could perfectly handle fire and had a huge knowledge of the processing of metals. Below you can see a copper engraving which I have already shared in the past which highlights this god well and within alchemy, people often find legends in which Vulcan play an important role and were considered a metaphor for various work steps of alchemy and he was highly revered by the alchemists and even considered the patron saint for this occult science. In old works of art that have shaped alchemy, Vulcan was in front of his furnace and practised alchemy and especially he was considered in connection with the fact that he could dissolve the impurities from the metals and then transform them and he was connected with all the steps in which the hot or dry aspects were carried out or metals were processed. According to the philosophy of Paracelsus, there was no alchemical work that could be completed without Vulcan and as a master of the most important element of alchemy, fire, he was called to every work to complete the work and he was of the opinion that he knew all the secrets about alchemy and only he could bring the work to its final state. This can also be related to the creation of the main work of alchemy, the Philosopher's Stone or other works and according to the ideology of the alchemists the creation of nature is not completed and it is their task to bring things into a better state and there is a good quote which Paracelsus published in one of his works "Everything is at first created in its prima materia, its original stuff; whereupon comes Vulcan, and by the art of alchemy develops it into its final substance". For him, Vulcan was more than a god and a true artist who had given alchemy as well as the resulting chemistry to humanity and he described the blacksmith god as the master among artists who had stationed an example for the other alchemists.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about alchemy! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens.