Georg von Welling (1655–1727) born, 1655, in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

, was a German

alchemical Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

and

theosophical Theosophy is a religious movement established in the United States in the late 19th century. Founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and based largely on her writings, it draws heavily from both older European philosophies such as Neo ...

writer, known for his work ''Opus mago-cabalisticum'',The work is said to have been influential on later eighteenth century

Rosicrucian Rosicrucianism () is a spirituality, spiritual and cultural movement that arose in early modern Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts announcing to the world a new Western esotericism, esoteric order. Rosicruc ...

s, in particula

Nicholas Boyle, ''Goethe: The Poet and the Age'' (1991, vol.I) mentions von Welling several times in relation with the

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

of the 1770s (pp.76, 88, 222), referencing Goethe's dabbling in alchemy, and the ''Urfaust'' writings that seek to show Faust reaching beyond the contemplative holism in von Welling. first published incomplete under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

Gregorius Anglus Sallwigt in 1719. By profession he worked in the mining industry, becoming Director in the Baden-Durlacher Office of Building and Mines. He lost his position in 1723, and retired to Bockenheim near Frankfurt, where he died in 1727. The first complete publication of his major work, Opus Mago-cabbalisticum et theosophicum, was printed in 1735 8 years after his death.

Works

* ''Herrn Georgii von Welling opus mago-cabbalisticum et theosophicum : darinnen der Ursprung, Natur, Eigenschafften und Gebrauch des Saltzes, Schwefels und Mercurii in dreyen Theilen beschrieben ... wird ... . Deme noch beygefüget ein Tractätlein von der göttlichen Weißheit und ein besonderer Anhang etlicher ... chymischer Piecen'' . Helwig, Homburg vor der Höhe 173
Digital edition
by the

University and State Library Düsseldorf The University and State Library Düsseldorf (, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of the three State Libraries of North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

. Contains 15 engraved plates. A second edition, a page for page reprint of the 1735 edition, was published at Franckfurt and Leipzig in 1760, and a third edition at Leipzig, 1784. The work has been described as 'obscure and practically unintelligible.'

Notes

External links

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some of the text in English translation
Illustration

{{DEFAULTSORT:Welling, Georg von 1655 births 1727 deaths 17th-century alchemists 18th-century alchemists 18th-century German writers 18th-century Christian mystics Christian occultists German alchemists German Christian mystics 18th-century German male writers 17th-century German male writers