Paracelcus (1493-1541)

Paracelcus was born with the original name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, probably the longest name I have ever heard.  He was a German-Swiss physician and during his life he was linked to botany, alchemy, astrology and the occults.  He took the name of Paracelcus, which meant 'equal to or greater than Celsus', Celsus being the 1st century Roman Aulus Cornelius Celsus, possibly a man to which Paracelsus was inspired by.

Paracelcus made vast contributions to toxicology, psychotherapy, medicine and philosophy and inspired such people as Jacob Boehme.  He traveled widely across Europe, Africa and Asia Minor with the goal of finding hidden knowledge.  Many rumours circulated about his knowledge, and he was highlighted as possibly being the true identity of a major alchemist Christian Rosenkreutz.

He published a number of manuscripts during his lifetime, most notably for me, was the manuscript called Prognostications in 1536 which depicts prophecies and cryptic images. However Paracelcus had a reputation for being arrogant, inciting anger by publicly burning medical books.

If you would like to read more about Prognostications CLICK HERE

Mary the Prophetess (est400BC - 300AD)

She is estimated to have lived anywhere bwtween 400B.C.-300 A.D. And is said to be the first non fictitious alchemist in the Western world. She is known as the names Maria the Jewess or Maria Prophetissima or Mary Prophetissa or Miriam the Prophetess. There is no tangible evidence of the exact time and place of her existence. One theory is that she is possibly Miriam, the sister of Moses and the prophet Aaron.

She is mentioned in a few sources including the 4^th century alchemy by Zosimos of Panopolis, she is also mentioned by George Syncellus in the eighth century as 'Mary the Prophetess', the Arabs knew her as the 'Daughter of Plato'. In the Alexander book by Nizami, Maria a Syrian princess visits Alexander the Great in Greece and learns from Aristotle (384-322B.C.) including how to make gold.

Although none of her original writings have survived the test of time, she is said to have invented some aparatus that alchemists use as well as having various precepts attributed to her.