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After Almost 300 Years, Famous
Occult Text Translated into English
 For
nearly three centuries, a book of occult and magical texts
written by the German alchemist Georg von Welling has been
revered by esotericists and occultists worldwide. Since its
publication in the early 1700s, the book, Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum
et Theosophicum, has been available only in its original
German.
Until now.
Joseph McVeigh, professor of
German studies and chair of the German department, has completed
the first complete translation into English of the famous
book. The translation is scheduled for publication in January
2006 by Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC, a publisher of spiritual, esoteric
and occult texts.
The Opus Magus, as it
is sometimes called, which has the lengthy subtitle “In
Which the Origin, Nature, Characteristics, and Use of Salt,
Sulfur, and Mercury are Described in Three Parts,” has
long been considered among history’s most important
alchemical works. The book contains aspects of alchemy, astrology,
magic, esoteric Freemasonry, and the Golden Dawn, with reproductions
of famous illustrations from von Welling’s original
tome.
“This book is historically
important for a number of reasons,” says McVeigh. “It
is not only a valuable compendium of esoteric thought from
the preceding centuries, but also anticipates in many ways
the coming Romantic Movement in Germany in the early 19th
century. First published in 1719, this popular book was still
being published in a third edition at the same time that many
of the masterworks of Enlightenment philosophy by Immanuel
Kant were appearing. I could not believe that the Opus
Magus could have lain untranslated in its entirety for
so long.”
Among the Opus Magus’
most famous references is a scene in the famous play Faust,
by 18th-century writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Faust,
the immortal protagonist, who seeks knowledge unattainable
by conventional education and experience, discovers a book
of magic and is transfixed by its contents, resolving at that
moment to become a magician. The model for Faust’s book
of magic was most likely von Welling’s Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum
et Theosophicum, which Goethe had read in its entirety
as a young man before beginning Faust.
“Reading von Welling’s
text, one can imagine Faust’s dark study,” says
McVeigh, “where he struggles with the futility of earthly
knowledge and the temptation this book offered him with its
claim of secret insights into nature and the cosmos.”
“For the modern student
of the Western Mystery Traditions, it is impossible to overestimate
the importance of von Welling’s work,” writes
Lon Milo DuQuette, an occult scholar and Freemason, in the
book’s introduction. “Its influence can be traced
through the doctrines and teachings of a host of European
esoteric institutions including those of the Freemasons.”
Red Wheel/Weiser will print 3,000
copies of the Opus Magus in the first edition. A
collector’s hardcover edition will be available for
$80.
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