Entering history as one of the last European spagyrists - therapists inspired by the alchemical theories of the Swiss physician Paracelsus (1493-1541) - Alexander von Bernus also had an important poetic and dramatic output, which emerged in close proximity to writers such as Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), Frank Wedekind (1864-1918), Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1928), Thomas Mann (1875-1955), Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) or Stefan George (1868-1933), most of whom he had met during the course of his studies in literature and philosophy (1903-1907), then physics and medicine (1912-1916) at the University of Munich. His theater was active from 1907 to 1912. It was founded under the name Schwabinger Schattenspiele
(Schwabing shadow play, named after a district of Munich), which united a small circle of artists around Bernus, including his first wife Adelheid von Sybel (1878-1966), as well as his faithful friend Karl Wolfskehl (1869-1948).