Transcript of 'A Discourse of Dreams and Visions'

Transcript of Thomas Tryon's translation of Philotheos Physiologus' A treatise of dreams and visions, wherein the causes, natures, and uses of nocturnal representations, and the communications both of good and evil angels, as also departed souls, to mankind, are theosophically unfolded : that is, according to the word of God, and the harmony of created beings...: To which is added, a discourse of the causes, natures, and cure of phrensie, madness, or distraction (London, 1689).

Thomas Tryon (1634-1703) was a London-based mystic and author. Born in 1634 near Circencester, Gloucestershire, he left home in 1652 and travelled to London where he became an apprentice to a hatter. Under his master's influence he became an Anabaptist and soon took up interests in astrology and medicine, working overtime to obtain books on the subjects. After reading some of the works of the German mystic Jacob Boehme (1575-1624) in the late 1650s, he broke with the Anabaptists and developed his own moral code of pacifism, meditation and abstinence. By 1682 he began to write on his favourite subjects of mystical philosophy and dietetics. His works were widely read by other contemporary mystics and sects and were influential amongst the early Quakers. He died at his home in Hackney, London in 1703.

Source: Virginia Smith, 'Tryon, Thomas (1634-1703)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. By permission of Oxford University Press - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/27783.