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

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

, was a German

alchemical Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

and

theosophical Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

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

Rosicrucian Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking it ...

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 poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

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 or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

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 (german: Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of th ...

. 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