For centuries, the bold ideas of Paracelsus swept through European medicine and magic like wildfire. The Archidoxes of Magic gathers his most fascinating writings on the hidden powers of the heavens and the earth: the virtues of the seven stars and planets, the mysterious force of the seven vowels, the crafting of seals and characters, the signatures stamped upon plants and stones, the preparation of life-preserving elixirs, and the art of transmutation. This modern-English edition makes the Renaissance physician-reformer's vision accessible to today's reader without losing its strange and luminous spirit. Here Paracelsus is no distant legend but a living teacher: sometimes obscure, often startling, always earnest in his quest to understand the unseen threads that bind the cosmos to the human soul. An extensive introduction, glossary, and reader-friendly notes illuminate his world so that the wisdom of the original can speak clearly across five centuries. Part of The World Scriptures Library.