Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Great Bear King" data-source="post: 1758676" data-attributes="member: 21850">Background information on Agrippa,    Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa was a wizard during the Renaissance.  Born Heinrich Cornelis near Cologne, Germany, in 1486, he took the  name Agrippa in honor of the founder of his hometown.    He had a varied career, working as doctor, lawyer, astrologer, and faith   healer. But he made enemies as quickly as he made friends and was branded  a sorcerer. In 1529, he published a book called On Occult Philosophy, combining ancient Hebrew and Greek texts to argue that the best way to know God was through magic. The Church deemed him a heretic and jailed  him. He died in 1535.Background information on Paracelsus,   Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus, born in Switzerland in 1493, is considered      the founder of modern chemistry and medicine. He began his career as a medical doctor, then turned to the study of magic, especially alchemy and divination. His reputation as a wizard and his role as a doctor are linked. Because he refused to limit himself to the traditional medical education of the time and developed his own successful treatments, he was deemed a sorcerer. But Paracelsus ignored his critics. "The universities do not teach all  things," he said, "so a doctor must seek out old wives, gypsies, sorcerers, wandering tribes, old robbers and such outlaws and take lessons from them. A doctor must be a traveler. Knowledge is experience." Paracelsus developed several useful remedies. He also found the cause of silicosis, a miner's disease that comes from inhaling metal vapors, which previouly had been blamed on evil spirits. He helped stop an outbreak of the plague in 1534 by using a form of vaccination.   Because of his attitude and accomplishements, other doctors disliked him. He spent almost a decade in academic exile and was even forced to flee the city of Basel under cover of darkness in 1528. But by the time of his death in 1541 his reputation had improved greatly.--------------------------------------------------------------------------Ferret, Mystery Man, Merlion, does any one else want to get involved.</blockquote>

Verification