152 PARACELSUS 



The " Mumia " of a thing is its life- principle. " From 

 the use of the Mumia have resulted the greatest and 

 mysterious magnetic cures; for some persons who have 

 learned to know and understand the action and power 

 of their own Mumia, and that even a small dose of it 

 attracts unto itself the powers of the whole body, like 

 the magnet attracts iron, have in this way cured them- 

 selves of many ills " {Fhiloso'ph.^ tract iii.). 



"The Mumia of the dead body is useless, and the 

 Mumia that is prepared by embalming a corpse is good 

 for nothing but to serve as food for worms. The most 

 efficacious Mumia is that of a person who died in an 

 unnatural manner while his body was in good health ; 

 such a one, for instance, as has been hung or decapi- 

 tated, or whose body has been broken on the wheel. 

 A person who dies a slow death in consequence of some 

 disease loses his powers before he dies, and putrefaction 

 begins often in such cases even while the patient is still 

 alive. His Mumia will then be worthless. But if our 

 physicians knew the occult powers of the Mumia of per- 

 sons that have died sudden deaths, they would not permit 

 the body of an executed criminal to hang at the gallows 

 for over three days, but they would take it away and use 

 it for medical purposes. Such a Mumia is very powerful, 

 especially after it has been exposed to the influence of 

 the air, the sun, and the moon." 



" The Mumia of a being who dies a violent death in 

 the air returns to the air ; the Mumia of a body is taken 

 up by that element in which the body is decomposed. 

 If a person is drowned, his Mumia will go to the element 

 of water; if he is burnt, it will go to that of the fire"^ 

 {PJiilosoph., tract iii.). 



1 Those who are to a certain extent acquainted with modem spirituab'sm 

 will know that usually at the beginning of a strong "physical manifesta- 

 tion " a cold draught of air is felt, and sometimes even a corpse-like odour 

 pervades the air of the room where the stance is held. This is caused by 

 the presence of the astral body of the dead, bringing with it the elements 

 of its surroundings, such as are connected with its Mumia, from the grave. 



