George of Welling

Welling Opus mago-cabalisticum et theologicum, 1719

Georg von Welling (born June 21, 1655 in Kassel , † February 28, 1727 in Bockenheim , Frankfurt am Main ) was a German alchemist , mine director and theosophist .

Life

Nothing is known about his youth and training, but he came from the old Württemberg nobility. He was captain in the campaigns of Emperor Leopold I from 1683 to 1685. After that he was in the service of Duke Heinrich von Anhalt, where he was chamberlain and governor of the County of Barby , from 1705 mining director in Hasserode and from around 1710 Prussian legation councilor in Berlin . In 1717 he went to Stuttgart , where he was in charge of all mines in the Duchy of Württemberg. In 1720 he left Württemberg's services, went to Pforzheim and, through his sons, sought contact with Margrave Karl Wilhelm von Baden in Durlach , whose alchemical laboratory he headed from 1721. In 1722/23 he moved to the Margrave of Ansbach Wilhelm Friedrich , where he was also involved in alchemy and most recently he lived in Bockenheim, where he continued his alchemical experiments.

He is known for his book Opus mago-cabbalisticum et theologicum , which first appeared in 1719 under the pseudonym Gregorius Anglus Salwigt. It originated from 1708. The first part (Vom Salze) appeared against the will of Welling in 1719 and 1729, edited by Samuel Richter , the complete edition (with the sections on sulfur and mercury) first published in 1735 under the name of Welling, published by the Pietists and chamber clerks in Homburg Christoph Schütz (1693–1750), who also added appendices to it. When writing, he was influenced by the writings of Jakob Böhme and his theosophy, Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont and Johann Rudolph Glauber .

It was studied by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , among others , as part of his studies on alchemy and the Faust material. In Poetry and Truth he mentions that he studied the book in 1768/69 in the circle of Susanne von Klettenberg, along with other alchemical works ( Basilius Valentinus , Paracelsus ). It was important to the movement of the Gold and Rosicrucians , who used it as a text and instruction book in the 1780s. The book contains Kabbalistic symbols (in Hebrew), but he gave it a Christian interpretation ( Christian Kabbalah ).

Fonts

• Opus mago-cabbalisticum et theologicum. On the origin and production of salt, its nature and properties, as well as its use and use , Frankfurt 1719, Internet Archive , second edition with changed title Homburg vor der Höhe 1735, reissued 1760 and 1784:
  • Edition of 1760: Herr Georgii von Welling Opus mago-cabbalisticum et theosophicum, in which the origin, nature, properties and use of salt, sulfur and mercurii are described in three parts , Fleischersche Buchhandlung, Frankfurt and Leipzig 1760, Internet Archive
  • The manuscript of Welling's book is in the Karlsruhe State Library

literature

• Julian Paulus Georg von Welling , in: Claus Priesner, Karin Figala: Alchemie, Lexicon of Hermetic Sciences , Beck 1998
• Petra Jungmayr: Georg von Welling (1655-1727). Studies on life and work (= Heidelberg studies on natural history of the early modern period , Volume 2, edited by Wolf-Dieter Müller-Jahncke and Joachim Theile), also dissertation 1998 at the University of Heidelberg, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1990, ISBN 3 -515-05399-9
• Joachim Telle On the Opus mago-cabbalisticum et theosophicum by Georg von Welling , Euphorion, Volume 77, 1983, pp. 359–379

Web links

• English partial translation of his main work
• Works by and about Georg von Welling  in the German Digital Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Life data according to Julian Paulus in Priesner, Figala Alchemie , Beck 1998.