Mystic

As is discussed herein, wines retain an aspect of mystic speciaUty and connections to art and culture. Detailed connoisseurship and wine appreciation... 

In addition to its ancient origins, part of the traditional mysticism about wine relates to its euphoric effect. Certainly this would have seemed magical in earhest times. It contributed to involvement of wine in religion, in rituals and in celebration. This fact today is still reflected in the special rituahstic place accorded wines. 

The use of fragrant substances has been continuous, and the use of Hpids or emoUients for anointing is fully documented in historical writings. However, it is probably not justifiable to identify the recipes passed on from antiquity as cosmetics. The compositions based on folklore and mysticism were replaced by more scientifically acceptable products beginning about 1875. The first edition of a handbook of cosmetic chemistry pubHshed in 1920 included a foreword noting that scientific cosmetic chemistry did not exist prior to that pubHcation (1). A few years later, texts on cosmetic chemistry and other formularies became available (2). 

Geheimnis, /. secret, secrecy, mystery, geheimnisvoll, a. mysterious, mystic, occult. Geheim-rat, m, privy councilor, -schrift, /. secret writing, code, cipher, -tinte, /. invisible ink. 

For centuries, the beneficial effects of crude extracts from the ginkgo tree were well known in China and India. In traditional Chinese medicine, a boiled-down extract of ginkgo leaves is inhaled to alleviate asthmatic symptoms, and, in India, ginkgo extracts constitute a key ingredient of Soma, a mystical liquid that is thought to increase life span.5 The Japanese know it as the Itcho tree and they frequently use its edible fruit, the ginkgo nut, in cooking. 

At Delphi, the Pythia sat on a tripod above a cleft in the rocks and inhaled cold vapors emanating from inside the earth, which induced in her an ecstatic alteration of mind. In this altered state, she uttered mystical observations in the presence of the Delphi Prophet, who translated them into oracular pronouncements. 

Capra, F. (1983). The Tao ofphysics An exploration of the parallels between modem physics and Eastern mysticism (Rev. ed.). London Fontana. 

Some Paracelsian alchemists, especially Heinrich Khun rath (ca. 1560-1605) and Stefan Michelspacher (active ca. 1615-23), were objects of persecution on the part of hoth Lutheran and Catholic authorities. Khunrath was an alchemist from Saxony, the heartland of the Reformation, but his theological stance was characteristic of the second generation of Protestants who felt that Luther s work had been left incomplete and that another religious reform was essential. In Khunrath s ideas this would take the form of a Lutheranism that could accommodate an autonomous personal piety. To express their Lutheran piety intellectually the alchemists employed the terms of Paracelsian theosophy, while they found an emotive outlet in the mystical experience of the power and grace of the Holy Spirit. They felt themselves to be inspired (literally breathed ) by the Spirit, a force that they identified with alchemical pneuma. Khunrath called himself an enthusiast, hlled with the presence of the divine. 

He also discussed the mystical manner in which the human heart was linked to the heart of the cosmos, the sun. This was governed by the Archangel Michael, the guardian of the world who deputised for the Messiah Christ, or even was another form of the Son of God. ... 

Valentin Weigel, Von der Vergebung der Sunden, Samtliche Schriflen (Stuttgart Friedrich Frommanns Verfag, 1962-78), vol. 4 7, 17, 57, 133-51, 320-22. See also the discussion in Ozment, Mysticism and Dissent (1973), 203-45. 

For an outline of anti-Calvinist policies in Saxony, Silesia and Lusatia and their effects on Spiritual pietism see Andrew Weeks, Boehme. An Intellectual Biography of the Seventeenth-Century Philosopher and Mystic (New York State University of New York Press, 1991), 23-26. 

For a discussion of Boehme s guarded attitude towards the use of symbolic language which recalls Luther s prejudice, see Howard H. Brinton, The Mystic Will Based on a Study of the Theology of Jacob Boehme (New York MacmiUan, 1930), 85-91, 100-27. 

Brinton, Howard H., The Mystic Will Based on a Study of the Theology of Jacob Boehme (New York Macmillan, 1930). 

Ozment, Stephen E., Mysticism and Dissent. Religious Ideology and Social Protest in the Sixteenth century (New Haven and London Yale University Press, 1973). 

PackhuU Werner O., Mysticism and the early South German-Austrian Anabaptist Movement,... 

Scholem, Gershom, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (New York Schocken Books, 1973). 

Indeed, whenever you focus your attention on any of the so-called intelligent systems, and you take the time to leam the mechanisms they use to generate their marvelous and wondrous behavior, you come up with the anti-climactic realization that everything is quite ordinary and perfectly expectable with no surprises or mystical insights. Such reaction reminds us of how Sherlock Holmes reacted when a man questioned the brilliance of his deductive reasoning in solving one of his cases ... 

The term organic chemistry was first used by the Swedish chemist Berzelius in 1807 (Larsson, 1981). He coined the name to describe the chemistry of substances derived from living matter. Berzelius was a staunch believer in the vis vitalis theory, which held that such substances were endowed with a mystical vital force that precluded their synthesis in the laboratory from materials of mineral origin. Ironically, it was a student of Berzelius, Wohler, who heralded the demise of vitalism with his synthesis of urea from ammonium cyanate (Wohler, 1928). In a letter to Berzelius in 1828, Wohler wrote I must tell you that I can make urea without requiring kidneys, or even an animal, whether a human being or a dog . 

Tea is found in every shape and size, grown and processed everywhere across a wide belt throughout China. In the U.S., we are used to only a few types of tea however, the varieties of Camellia sinensis found in China are almost endless. Each of them is given a name that often reflects the romantic and almost metaphysical nature of tea in Chinese culture. Probably nowhere else in the world is tea worshipped as a mystical and ceremonial beverage as in Asian countries, and especially in China, where C. sinensis finds its roots. 

The Occult, black magic mysticism. Winnipeg XMLWorld Publishing, 2004. 

Democritus. The treatise of Democritus on things natural and mystical. Translated by Robert R. Steele. Chem News 61 (1890) 88-125. 

Pseudo-Democritus. "From The treatise of Democritus On things natural and mystical." In The alchemy reader, ed. Stanton J. Linden, 38-43., 2003. 

Dee, John.Mysteriorum libri quinti, or, Five books mystical exercises of Dr. John Dee an angelic revelation of cabalistic magic and other mysteries occult and divine revealed to Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelly, A.D. 1581-1583 / edited by Joseph Peterson with a preface by Elias Ashmole. Edited by Joseph Peterson and Elias Ashmole. Silican, Dyfed, Wales Felindenys, 1985. xvi, 293 p. 

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