Benedictus Figulus


Benedictus Figulus of Utenhofen was a German alchemist, publisher, and Rosicrucian. He was an editor of Paracelsian texts and an important representative of Paracelsianism in the early 17th century.

Life

At the beginning of the 1610s, he was commissioned by the printer Lazare Zetzner to prepare a second edition of the great alchemical anthology, the Theatrum Chernicum, of which he projected three new volumes under the passably mystical title Théâtre d'or tout nouveau et béni, rayonnant des opulentes richesses du présent siècle d'or, rempli des ouvrages jusqu'alors inconnus, des plus excellents philosophes, tant anciens que modernes, traitant de la grande merveille bénie et du miraculeux mystère de la pierre physique et tinctoriale, de sa préparation et de son acquisition. This was at the time when Rosicrucianism was emerging, and Figulus's friend Adam Haslmayr, an early proponent of Rosicrucianism, was arrested. Worried, Figulus abandoned his work and fled.

Works

In 1893 Arthur Edward Waite translated Pandora magnalium naturalium aurea et benedicta into English as A Golden Casket of Nature's Marvels. It contains The Book of the Revelation of Hermes interpreted by Theophrastus Paracelsus Concerning the Supreme Secret of the World, and tracts by Figulus, Alexander von Suchten, Conrad Poyselius, and others.