40 PARACELSUS 



Mysterium magnum. — Original matter ; the matter of all things ; 

 the ultimate essence ; essentiality of the inner nature ; specific 

 quality of the semi-material part of things. All forms come 

 originally from the Mysterium magnum, and all return to it in 

 the end ; the Parabrahman of the Vedantins. 



Mysticism and Mystic knowledge. — Mystical is that which is 

 mysterious and occult, and therefore not generally known. 

 Mysticism generally refers to a morbid craving for gratifying 

 a curiosity to know all about spooks, witchcraft, black magic, 

 &c. ; true mystic knowledge is soul -knowledge, and is based 

 upon the development of the power of the soul to distinguish 

 between that which is real, eternal and permanent, and that 

 which is illusive, temporal, and subject to change. 



Necrocomica. — ^Visions of future events in the air. 



Necromantia. — Sorcery ; witchcraft ; the art of employing the un- 

 conscious Elementaries of the dead by infusing life into them, 

 and employing them for evil purposes. 



Nectromantia. — The perception of the interior (the soul) of things ; 

 psychometry ; clairvoyance. 



Nenufareni. — Elementals of the air. Sylphs. 



Nymphae. — Elementals of water-plants. 



Occultism. — The science that deals with things that transcend 

 sensual perception and are generally little known. It deals 

 especially with effects that cannot be explained by the uni- 

 versally known laws of Nature, but whose causes are still a 

 mystery to those who have not penetrated deep enough into the 

 secrets of Nature to understand them correctly. What may be 

 occult to one person may be fully comprehensible to another. 

 The more the spirituality and intelligence of man grows, and 

 the more it becomes free of the attractions of sense, the more 

 will his perceptive power grow and expand, and the less will the 

 processes of Nature appear occult to him. 



without their knowledge, had been buried, and the pain instantly ceased 

 when the stone was removed. This sympathy existing between man's 

 consciousness and his body is the cause that the astral form of a dead 

 person may keenly feel any injury inflicted upon his corpse. The " spirit " 

 of a suicide may feel the eflPects of a "post-morUm examination as severel) 

 as if he bad been cut up while alive. 



