The signatures

Paracelsus and the Doctrine of Signatures

Philipp Theophrast Bombast von Hohneim, known as Paracelsus (1493-1541), a physician and philosopher, overturned the canons of traditional medicine of his era, making a fundamental contribution to phytotherapy: in his view, the similarity between macrocosm and microcosm represents one of the central chapters in the study and knowledge of the healing properties of plants.

In his pantheistic conception, Paracelsus declares that “All is in All” and that “that which is above is like that which is below,” referring to the hermetic tradition and depicting the entire universe as a system of resemblances.

This is the key to the doctrine of signatures, for which every plant is "marked" in its appearance by its function: every plant that possesses therapeutic properties can express a resemblance to the diseased part, to the illness itself, or to the cause that provoked it. For Paracelsus, plants are bearers of a "divine signature" that allows those who can perceive it to use their healing virtues.

The Planetary Signatures

“Every herb is an earthly star, every star is a heavenly herb”

A plant that dyes red like a Common Sorrel (Rumex acetosa) will have a signature that evokes iron in the mineral world, blood in the human body, passion among feelings, and Mars among the planets.

Every plant carries the characteristics and properties of the star to which it corresponds, by which it is “dominated”.

Harvesting must therefore take place on days and at times that have an astral correspondence with the planet, as must distillation: this is a fundamental principle in the practice of Vegetal Spagyrics*.

*Spagyrics: from the union of two Greek verbs SPAO (to separate) and AGHEIRO (to unify, to join). SPAO, in reality, does not only mean “to separate”, but rather “to extract”, “to pull out”.