Macrocosm/microcosm

An approach that has gained attention recently is the use of model ecosystems microcosms, mesocosms, and macrocosms for testing chemicals (Chapter 4,... 

Microcosm, mesocosm, and macrocosm Small, medium, or large multispecies system in which effects of chemicals can be studied. 

In a manner comparable to Christian eschatology, alchemical literature insisted on its own purificatory rituals that involved the preliminary torture, death and dismemberment of the prima materia. The canonical Catholic depiction of Christ s sacrificed body was a primary source for sixteenth and seventeenth century illustrations of the tortured body in anatomical and alchemical publications. In eflfect, the practice of Paracelsian alchemical medicine and surgery had a sacramental connotation, since the physician acted on the human body in the same manner as God worked on the great universal Macrocosmic Body. In like manner, the Paracelsian physician introduced the universal panacea, a liquid form of the philosopher s stone, into the alchemical alembic that was the Microcosmic human body. This alchemical medicine was permeated with the starry virtues of the heavens and the grace of Christ s Spirit, redeeming the body and soul of the patient by granting him not only an extended life on earth, but even eternal salvation. 

Coming." At this time eschatological discourse was co-opted into the service of the esoteric sciences, most especially into alchemical theory in the twelfth century Latin translation of the Turba philosophorum (Arabic original ca. 900 AD). Christian interpolations were added to this text referring to the death and resurrection of the chemicals in apocalyptic terms." The process of distillation in Christian alchemy symbolised death and resurrection, as well as the union of Macrocosm and Microcosm. To the alchemists the death and resurrection of the stone in the manner of a human being was the clearest indication that alchemy was a divine, not a human science. 

The Human Body in the Macrocosm, Robert Fludd, Microcosm, 1, Utriusque Cosmi... Historia (Oppenheim J. T. de Bry, 1619), 105. With the permission of the British... 

Madathanus, Hinricus. Cosmology, or universal science. Cabala. Alchemy. Containing the mysteries of the universe, regarding God Nature Man, the macrocosm and microcosm, eternity and time explained according to the religion of Christ, by means of The secret symbols of the Rosicrucians of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 

Helmont, Franciscus Mercurius van. The paradoxal discourses... concerning the macrocosm and microcosm, or the greater and lesser world, and their union. Set down in writing by J.B. and now published. London Printed by J.C. and Freeman Collins, for Robert Kettlewel, at the Hand and Scepter near S. Dunstan s church in Fleetstreet, 1685. 127, 215p. 

Bai wen pian = [Bai wen pian], or, The hundred questions a dialogue between two Taoists on the macrocosmic and microcosmic system of correspondences / translated by RolfHomann. Translated by RolfHomann. Leiden Brill, 1976. x, 109 p... 

Titley, A.F. Report of discussion upon chemical and alchemical symbolism the macrocosm and microcosm in mediaeval alchemy. Ambix 1, no. 1 (May 1937) 67-69. 

He that hath knowledge of the Microcosm cannot long be ignorant of the Macrocosm. This is that which the Egyptian industrious searchers of Nature so often said, and loudly proclaimed. .. that every one should know himself. 

Inner-plane temples within the Upper Worlds, since they are not confined by the laws which govern matter in the three-dimensional world, are capable of being much larger on the inside than on the outside (like the tardis in the BBC television series, Dr. Who). They can also contain more chambers than any edifice built in physical matter. The only restrictions they appear to have are those limitations imposed by the mind of the human visitor. The same may be true—if we will it to be so—of thought-built edifices constructed by practitioners of the Art. And since the castle golem is to become a true reflection of the macrocosm—so that the individualized microcosm may be refashioned in its likeness—our eidolon, or thought-form, will contain additional chambers we have not yet entered. 

At first, the paths are walked on the subjective, microcosmic level. Here you explore your own inner dynamics. But a time comes, when the paths open up onto their objective, macrocosmic, equivalents. Then you are in full projection upon the actual inner planes of Existence. We need to explore these two modes of pathworking to avoid unnecessary pit-falls and traps, for travel in any world—as physical city-dwellers know— can be a hazardous if certain rules are ignored. 

Everywhere in the Universe the same patterns reappear atoms in the microcosm and stars in the macrocosm. Atoms and stars are related, for the star is the mother of atoms. This statement sums up one of the great discoveries of the twentieth century. The task of nuclear astrophysics is to draw in the details of the relationship. The creation of matter has become a subject of scientific research. The source of most atoms, or rather their nuclei, is the stars. 

The nature encompassing the Universe is One, and its origin has to be the eternal unity. It is a vast organism in which the natural things harmonize and sympathize in reciprocal form. Such is the Macrocosm. All things are the product of a single effort of universal creation. The macrocosm and the microcosm are one. They form one constellation, one breath, one influence, one harmony, one time, one metal, one fruit, (cited in Pinto-Correia 33)... 

The idea of correspondence This is the Hermetic view that there is more than a symbolic connection between celestial and terrestrial objects or the Macrocosm and Microcosm. This is often stated as, "as... 

A favourite saying of the alchemists was, "What is above is as what is below." In one of its aspects this saying meant, "processes happen within the earth like those which occur on the earth minerals and metals live, as animals and plants live all pass through corruption towards perfection." In another aspect the saying meant "the human being is the world in miniature as is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm to know oneself is to know all the world."... 

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