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Biographical

De Nomine Meo

"The name I have chosen, [...], is a philosophical name. There are good reasons why the Philosophers so often write under pseudonyms. Firstly, throughout the Art's long history they have been variously accused of counterfeiting gold, of practicising the Black Arts and (in Christian countries) of heresy. It's wise not to draw attention to oneself.

Secondly, the Philosopher does not wish to be known because he is liable to be pestered for the Great Secret; and thirdly, because he wants to work in the same way as he prays - in private, before God alone.

He often chooses the name of a famous adept - partly to lend his work authority and partly to stress the long tradition in which he is working. He also wishes to pay tribute to the sage whose name he borrows. Above all, a pseudonym prevents the intrusion of personality into writing which is less the product of one's own will than dictated by the Great Work itself. The true philosopher feels himself to be, and is, in an important sense, anonymous.

[...]

The pagan age of heroes is gone. They were heroes because, by definition, they were what the mass of people could never become - exceptions, epic men. Since the advent of Christ, we are commanded to become precisely what everybody can become and in the same sense, namely, ourselves. Ourselves alone in the face of God. The individual who accomplishes himself will in no way appear heroic or exceptional because his achievement is inward and invisible. In fact, it is an agreeable irony that the man whom this realised soul most closely resembles is the man-in-the-street...

 

 

(from the novel, "Mercurius" by Patrick Harpur)

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Thomas Vaughan (April 17, 1621 − 1666) was a Welsh philosopher.

A Royalist clergyman from Brecon, Wales, Thomas was the twin brother of the poet Henry Vaughan, both being born "at Newton in the parish of St. Briget's in the yeare 1621".[citation needed] Vaughan entered Jesus College, Oxford, in 1638, and remained there for a decade during the English Civil War. He became rector of the parish of Llansanffraid (St. Briget) Wales and took up medical studies, motivated by the lack of doctors in Wales. In 1650, he was evicted from the parish because of his Royalist sympathies. He married his wife Rebecca in 1651 and spent the next period of his life in London. His wife died in 1658.

Although he did not practice medicine, Vaughan sought to apply his chemical skills to preparing medicines in the manner recommended by Paracelsus. He corresponded with Samuel Hartlib, and established a reputation with his book Anthroposophia, a magico-mystical work.

Vaughan was unusual amongst alchemists of the time in that he worked closely with his wife Rebecca Vaughan, and valued and even saw as essential, their joint work.

Has per his own admission, he was a member of the famous Society of Unknown Philosophers.

Vaughan later became involved with a plan of Dr. Robert Child to form a chemical club, with a laboratory and library, the main aim being to translate and collect chemical works. In the course of litigation with one Edward Bolnest, Vaughan was accused of spending 'most of his tyme in the studdy of Natuall Philosophy and Chimicall Phisick'. He is reported as having confessed that he had 'long sought and long missed ... the philosopher's stone'.

It is possible that Thomas Vaughan was the author of tracts published under the pseudonym "Eugenius Philalethes", although other alchemists and natural philosophers could also have been the author. However it seems that Vaughan is the most likely contender.

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