About the causes of diseases and the ways of healing
“In medicine there is a need of that human quality (….) that existed at Paracelsus“ (Rudolf Steiner).
The “Book Paramirum“ about the “Five Entia” or the five causes of every disease is one of the most important scriptures of Paracelsus (1493 – 1541).
“Please note, there are five Entia, creating and causing all diseases. Do ye know that there are five kinds of pestilence, not with respect to their nature, their entity, their form or shape, but with respect to their creation they may later express in any special kind. So there are five kinds of every disease” (Paracelsus ).
The knowledge about the cause of the disease is the basis for a reasonable diagnosis and therapy. When we compare this with a wound caused by an arrow, the diagnosis is the knowledge of what the arrow caused to the body, and the therapy is the removal of the arrow and the wound care.
But who shot the arrow and why? According to Paracelsus there are five possible answers the therapist should consider equally as they give him the decisive hint for the right therapy.
“I have to particularly emphasize that the diseases should not be treated as if they originated from the same source but you have to apply the five Entia in various methods – for no Entia accepts the remedy of another. A doctor, however, who does not understand this, is blind. So there are not only five causes for each disease but also five different ways of healing and treatment.“
What is an Ens?
An Ens is the essence, the idea, the being of something. Paracelsus emphasizes that it is the representation of the idea or of the being of the disease, and not a specific medical system to which he subordinates everything.
“It (the Ens) is an origin or a thing that has the unlimited power over the body. It spoils the body and causes diseases. Not the degenerated body fluids are the cause of the disease, but the cause that leads to the disease”.
Paracelsus divides the five Entia into two groups.
The first group comprises of three causes of diseases that affect the body:
- Ens Astrale – about the power and the nature of the stars and their influence on the body (environmental factors).
- Ens Veneni – about the effect of toxins (food and the role of the excretory organs).
- Ens Naturale – when our own body makes us sick through confusion and harms itself (constitution, diathesis, disposition).
The second group comprises two Entia having an effect on the mind:
- Ens Spirituale – about the spirits that make our body sick (Psychosomatics and Psychology).
- Ens Dei – about the work of God (Destiny and Karma).
Ens Astrale
No one can deny that by birth humans enter into a world embedded into the cosmos, with pleasant and sometimes unpleasant characteristics. Paracelsus goes one step beyond when he says: ”Firmament and stars are of such a kind that humans and all sensitive creatures cannot exist without them“.
The astral as life essence
The stars form the world as we know it with physical characteristics. They form the essence we need to live in. “You should understand the Ens Astrale in the following sense: it is something invisible, that keeps alive all humans and all sensitive lively beings.“
In China this invisible is called Chi, in India it is called Prana, in Greece it is called Pneuma, Wilhelm Reich called it Orgone, and Baron from Reichenbach called it Od. Paracelsus called it “Meteoron” and he says that it is the highest in all creation.
This Meteoron inspirits our environment and it is responsible for all climatic, geographic and geological conditions. Furthermore, the idea of field phenomena derives from it, which is of particular interest to radiesthesia. Also the results of the bioclimatic research according to Curry, who systematically examined the relationship of weather conditions and the inner human sensitiveness may be counted among.
Disease due to sympathy with the stars
Meteoron, first assessed value-free, can change under certain circumstances and act as a toxin to humans, i.e., by generating geopathic zones. When being exposed to radiation for a longer period of time it may particularly harm the immune system. In this relation it is interesting that plants and animals feeling especially well on geopathically stressed zones, such as ivy, oak, mistletoe, eupatorium and wood ant, have a positive influence on our immune system.
Diseases caused by various weather conditions, i.e., headache through chinook wind, allergies or rheumatism are a further consequence of Ens Astrale.“Pestilence”, too, may be explained in this way as it occurs mostly under certain climatic conditions; in Paracelsus’ times, infectious diseases were called pestilence.
Poisoning of the Meteoron is caused by those astrological conditions that formed it once. “Those poisonous stars pollute the air with their toxins. Where this air is moving to, disease comes up, according to the characteristics of the related star. Ens Astrale is the odor, vapor or sweat of the stars mixed with air. “
Paracelsus described that a star has such an influence for example in “exaltation”, which means that a planet stands in a astrological sign, corresponding to its nature, as for example Mars is in the sign of Aries. However, also other constellations are relevant, and mainly the position of Saturn.
In order to understand an Ens in its wholeness certain astrological knowledge is needed. In any case, Paracelsus had the opinion that a healer is to a large extent helpless when he does not know the science of astrology.
However, it is important to know that not the star that makes us ill but the poisoned Meteoron in which we have to live. Paracelsus never thought that the stars have a direct influence on humans. His doctrine was: The stars decline to have a direct influence on humans, but they never constrain them. “The stars do not reign over us and may not induce any characteristics in us, nor do they influence us. They are free for themselves and we are free for ourselves. But note, that we are not able to live without the stars, as coldness and warmth and the digest (quality) of what we eat and use (including all healing remedies) come through them. But humans do not”.
His opinion is that the human being is a mirror of the cosmos working in line with the same principles and formed in the same way. When some people fall sick because of the Ens Astrale, this is due to their individual characteristics making them susceptible for the “sweat of the stars”. The therapist may read this constitution from the astrological chart. For instance, a person can fall ill when during his life a similar constellation occurs in the sky as during the time of his birth (observation of the transits as catalysts). The person suffers because of sympathy to the star as his condition is similar to the poisoned Meteorons. This automatically explains why humans are immune regarding certain diseases as their constitution is antipathic to the ruling Meteoron, i.e., there is no relation between birth and the transiting horoscope chart.
How to influence Ens Astrale
Every therapist knows the problem when a well-chosen therapy does not work. The reason is that “the remedy resists the falsified fumes of the superior”. The healer may not believe that “he is able to cure a disease caused by the stars when exactly this star is the actual ruler”.
But the therapist does not need to fall into despair in such a case. For example, it is possible to change the Meteoron’s characteristic when we burn incense. Paracelsus used for example a mixture consisting of valerian, galbanum, myrrh and saffron, which generally protect against infection. He also appreciated juniper as in ancient times it was used for energetic space clearings when a person was sick or has died. In the same sense a burning incense mixture with angelica, rosemary, sage, juniper and artemisia may applied. You should also consider an unspecified stimulation of the immune system (e.g., Pascotox drops) or a stimulation therapy with own blood treatment.
The Ens Veneni
In Ens Veneni the cause of a disease is due to the effect of poison, including food . “The body was given to us without poison, and there is no poison within. But the food we offer to our body may contain poison”. This poison can potentially cause all kinds of diseases.
But in food there is also the necessary essence we need to live. So each kind of food is essence and poison at the same time. Shall we now fast forever in order to escape from this dilemma? This would not be in accordance with Paracelsus, who was known for loving food.
The alchemist in the abdomen
“But for the imperfectness we have to use for our defects, He (God) gave us an alchemist so that we do not have to intake the poison we eat with the good, but can separate it from the good.” This alchemist separates the subtle from the coarse, such as the etheric separates from the matter by distillation. “This poison he puts into a bag and the good he gives to the body. This alchemist has his place in the abdomen, which is his instrument, wherein he cooks and works”. He mainly means the liver, but also all other detoxifying and excretion organs. As long as they work well the person may not get sick because of Ens Veneni. But woe if it is not so!
Dycrasia – the mother of all diseases
“When the alchemist is ill and cannot separate the poison perfectly from the good, the poison and good transform into decay and create a Digestio (Dyskrasia = degeneration of the body fluids). This is the mother of all diseases”.
There are various reasons for the inner alchemist to get sick. Here are three examples:
- Malnutrition and wrong food: Paracelsus was one of the first who realized that special food may help in metabolism diseases such as gout and diabetes. He made concrete suggestions for nutrition.
- Senility: Most geriatrics such as angelica, galangal, ginger and Kalmus also stimulate metabolism and help in chronic intestinal distress and lack of detoxification.
- “Congestion” and the suppression of the body’s own detoxification mechanism: they lead to an increased weakness of the alchemist, a vicious circle, from which there seems to be no escape.
Detoxification – the mother of all therapies
“When nature creates a pain anywhere in the body, it wants to accumulate harmful substances and empty them out.”
In a therapy the disease has to be driven from the noble (inner) organs to the non-noble (skin, mucous membranes), everything else has fatal consequences.
In order to treat a disease of Ens Veneni you do neither need a dowsing rod nor a horoscope as you would need for Ens Astrale, but detoxification, the most important treatment method at all. Most of the remedies having an effect on the inner alchemist are of sulfuric nature, i.e., they have spicy or bitter taste, taste like mustard, are yellow colored (blossom and juices) and have spines and thorns such as barberry, nettle, watercress, yellow gentian, turmeric, Goldenrod, garlic, dandelion, milk thistle, masterwort, blackthorn, celandine, wormwood, lemon.
“So every sulfur is an invisible fire that burns the disease. Therefore, the fire element is an important Arcanum (veritable cure) for all diseases”.
Sulfuric remedies, however, not only burn the disease, they also stimulate the spark of life and support the body’s detoxification process. Additionally, they are suitable for all detoxification and removal processes according to Dr. Aschner, and also for all diuretic, sweat and bile driving and menstruation promoting remedies. But that is not enough. The alchemist as such has to be healed as well, i.e., trough liver tonics, regeneration of the detoxification organs or a symbiosis steering of the intestines and last but not least through a healthy lifestyle, which – however – does not mean a “carrots diet for life”.
The Ens Naturale
This Ens refers to humans as a microcosmos as well as to elements, temperaments and body fluids. On one hand, Paracelsus speaks of the significance of the constitution and the consequently resulting disposition, on the other hand he refers to the antique humoral theory (humores = liquids).
In order to understand Ens Naturale, one more excursion to the imagination of astrology is necessary as the stars are essentially responsible for the occurrence of diseases from the Ens Naturale.
…to be continued
With kind permission of the journal “Naturheilpraxis“
Remarks
Subsequently all citations by Paracelsus are italicized without attribution.
Literature
Aschner Bernhard: “Befreiung der Medizin vom Dogma”, (Liberación de la Medicina del Dogma), Heidelberg 1962
“Technik der Konstitutionstherapie” (Técnica de la terapia constitucional) Heidelberg 1961
Braun Lucien: “Paracelsus, eine Bildbiographie” (Paracelsus, una biografía pictórica), Zurich 1988
Golowin Sergius: “Paracelsus”, Munich 1993
Jütte Robert (editor): “Paracelsus heute – im Lichte der Natur) (Paracelsus hoy – en la luz de la naturaleza) Heidelberg 1994
Madejsky Margret / Rippe Olaf: “Heilmittel der Sonne”, (Remedios del Sol), Munich 1997
Nettesheim Agrippa von: “De occulta Philosophia” Reprint, Nördlingen 1987
Paracelsus: “Sämtliche Werke” (Obras completas) Reimpresión, Anger 1993
Selawry Alla: “Metallfunktionstypen in Psychologie und Medizin” (Tipos de metales funcionales en psicología y medicina) Heidelberg 1985
Simonis Werner-Christian: “Erde, Mensch und Krankheit” (La Tierra, los humanos y la enfermedad Stuttgart 1974
Surya: “Paracelsus – richtig gelesen” (Paracelsus – lectura correcta), Bietigheim 1980
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