Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici)
Their Diet
By Sir Knight Andrea Marocchi
n the middle-ages, the Arabian schol- cold, fire and warm. Since the Medieval ars were in touch with the Byzantine, times, men believed in the corresponthe Indian, and also with the Chinese dence between macrocosm and microcivilizations, and they developed new cosm, everything could be considered theories. They were deeply interested in from that point of view, and it influenced Alchemy and assumed that all the metals their diets too. were made up of a combination of sulfur and mercury (later salt too was included). In Europe, Paracelsus (Phillip von Hohenheim, 1493-1541) believed that the classic Greek elements, water, air, earth and fire were composed of the Arabic principles, mercury, sulfur, and salt. Since in the 17th century, scientific research made alchemy obsolete, the classic elements remained in use in astrology, in the esoteric thought, and in several other occult philosophies. There was a bond between the main elements and the main qualities: water and humid, air and dry, earth and
I
knight templar
21
