Quotes About Arcanum

The preceding arcanum-"The Moon"-confronted us with the task of human intelligence to liberate itself from the magical enchantment which separates it from spontaneous wisdom, and to unite itself with the latter, i.e. to arrive at intuition. The nineteenth arcanum-"The Sun"- is that of the accomplished union of intelligence and spontaneous wisdom: The Arcanum of Intuition.

Atheism ... that bugbear of women and fools ... is the very top and perfection of free-thinking. It is the grand arcanum to which a true genius naturally riseth, by a certain climax or gradation of thought, and without which he can never possess his soul in absolute liberty and repose.

For Paracelsus, the basis of empiricism was the experience that Nature is alive and intelligent. Since this knowledge is subjective, it is hidden. Thus, the individual mineral, plant, or disease has an innate arcanum, intelligence, virtue, power, or energy.

Some of my Arcanum bunkmates taught me a card game called dogs-breath. I returned the favor by giving an impromptu lesson in psychology, probability, and manual dexterity. I won almost two whole talents before they stopped inviting me back to their games.

It was easy to understand why. Most students attend the University for several terms before being admitted to the Arcanum. Everyone here had to work their way up through the ranks the hard way. I hadn't.