Up until now, the process of making tinctures has been relatively safe and has not involved an open flame. While alcohol burns at a low temperature, it is important to follow some simple safety guidelines when calcinating herbal materials so that you may avoid any injuries or damage to property.
• Pyrex bowl or container, preferably with a lid.
• Metal rod for stirring the mass to turn the fire so it keeps burning.
• Heatproof or fireproof surface to rest the bowl on while the plant matter is burning.
• Hot pads or gloves to handle the container when the process is completed.
• Mortar and pestle.
• Additional alcohol for repeating the process.
• Plastic or metal scoop for handling the cool ashes.
• Container that can be tightly sealed to place the ash in after the process is completed.
To protect against sudden changes in wind that may cause the flames to flare up when initially started, it is common to calcine in a barbecue, brick fireplace, or cinder-block fire pit, like those often used to cook outdoors in the spring and summer. Some alchemists calcine in the less-populated areas of public parks where fire pits and cooking areas are common. It is also a good idea to keep your container's lid handy in case you need to smother the flames.
In the rare and unusual event that the burning material actually spills, do not panic. Simply smother it with baking soda, sand, a large wet towel, or a fire extinguisher. A panic attack under these circumstances is far more dangerous than the size or heat of the actual fire if you are working in one of the fire-resistant or fireproof areas mentioned.
1. Read the entire set of instructions several times before proceeding.
2. Take the plant mass, or feces (also called the caput mortuum, or "dead head"), and ignite it in a heat-resistant container. This is best done outside, as the burning will produce a great deal of smoke. For this operation, a large, deep glass container used for baking is ideal. Metal can also be used here, as our concern is with the ashes. Any residual tincture in that plant mass is being used to fuel the fire and will be lost. Again, the smoke released from the burning plant residue will be significant; as such, if you do it inside, make sure that the exhaust fan on your stove is functioning.
3. As the feces burns, be sure to turn it with your metal rod. You may gently fan it or blow on it to keep the fire going or to make the coals hotter. However, if you choose to do this, you must take extreme care and should wear protective eyewear.
4. After the salts have cooled, take your pestle and grind them to a fine powder. They will still be black and will contain only a few specks of white or grayish white. Mix in some alcohol until the ashes are slightly damp. Then, ignite the mixture and begin the process again. Do this several times, being sure to grind the powder as fine as possible between each ignition. As you do this, you will notice that the amount of ash is considerably reduced with each incineration.
5. After the third or fourth round, when the amount of lighter ash has increased, take the matter (salt) and place it in a heatproof dish, covered if possible. Heat it in the oven at 500 or more degrees Fahrenheit until all of it has turned to a graywhite powder or, better still, to a completely white powder. Frequent grinding of the salt even during this phase will assist in this process. (Remember, the finer the particles during the maceration process, the more sulphur extracted; the finer the particles during the calcining process, the easier it is to get the gray-white or white stages of purification.)
6. After the salts have turned as white as you feel is possible, place them in a glass jar that can be tightly sealed while the salts are still warm. This will keep them from absorbing moisture from the air as they cool. Clearly mark the jar with the planetary symbol of the plant if you are working with one plant for each of the planets. If you have more than one herb for a given planet, be sure to mark the name of the plant on the container's label.
If you are eager to test your spagyric product, place a few grains of your tincture's salts in a teaspoon (1 to 2 milliliters, or ten to twenty drops) of the tincture that has been added to a glass of distilled water. This should occur during the planetary hour on the planetary day ruling the herb, in the case of lemon balm, Thursday. If the salts are very pure, they will dissolve, or at least be dramatically reduced, in the tincture and water. Spend a few minutes in a relaxed state af ter drinking the tincture. You may not feel the effects immediately, but they may arise during periods of meditation or sleep or in other ways across the day. Being familiar with the various areas of life under the influence of each of the planets will help you notice these effects when they take place.
While the salts need not be consumed with the tincture, they will assist in the overall effects of the operation, as they provide the third Essential, or leg, of an alchemical product. It is important to use distilled water, as the energetic traces in spagyric products are pulled toward the salts, or matter, to become "fixed," just as water is absorbed by a sponge. Trace minerals in normal bottled or tap water will draw off a minute amount of the tincture's energy. This is, however, only a small amount and should not prevent anyone from undertaking the experiment.
Once consumed, a feedback loop of energy and increased consciousness is set up within the alchemist's body. This further purifies the material body (salt) of the alchemist, just as the material body (salt) of the plant was purified. With a decrease in blockages, more energy is released within the alchemist's body, making psychic experiments and activities easier to conduct. While the effects of plants are strong, they must be adapted to in stages. Regular consumption of spagyric products is common for students who have yet to begin working with minerals, whose effects are more powerful and longer lasting.
Do not make the mistake of thinking that you could revert to an earlier stage; know only that the energy potential of plants is more limited, and therefore the alchemist using them must fill up his psychic gas tank more often than if he were utilizing mineral products. The distance traveled under their power, however, remains the same.
Above all, remember the sacredness of the operation you have performed. Its intent is regeneration-physically, psychologically, and spiritually-through the assistance of the tincture as a manifestation of your spiritual power. Some alchemists combine this aspect of the work with Qabalistic or astrological invocations, similar to what is done for talismans, to intensify the desired effects.
In the next chapter, we will examine the preparation of the Ens tincture, another simple and highly beneficial experiment. Following that, we will explore the preparation of the Plant Stone.
• Alchemy bridges the spiritual and material, uniting them through a manipulation of etheric energies under the direction of the attitude of the alchemist.
• Everything in alchemy is composed of three parts known as essentials or principles, which are: sulphur (soul), mercury (life force), and salt (material matrix).
• The three essentials are composed of the four elements, all of which arise out of the primordial void, known as Chaos or Hyle.
• These three essentials are separated and recombined ("solve et coagula") to perfect their expression.
• The number of cycles of separation and recombining needed to restore harmony between the elements is traditionally seven repetitions.
• Spagyric products are a consumable talisman.
• The fundamental practices of plant and mineral work are the same; only their kingdoms are different.
• Alchemical practices can be seen as having three parts: the Work of the Head, the Work of the Heart, and Work of the the Hands. The Work of the Head is the technical and philosophical material that we must learn and follow. The Work of the Hands is the application of these ideas in the laboratory setting. The Work of the Heart is the synthesis of our experiences in meditation and prayer, which is critical to being a successful alchemist.
1. Make several drawings for meditation and use in your work area. They should include (1) the three essentials, (2) the Tree of Life, (3) Chaos, and (4) the Philosopher's Stone.
2. Obtain or draw an illustration of Thoth, Hermes, and/or a famous alchemist who inspires you, such as St. Germain, Cagliostro, Paracelsus, Maria the Jewess, or Nicholas Flamel (and his wife, Perenelle), and place them in your work area when studying or performing experiments.
3. Study the chart on planetary hours in Appendix A and calculate the hours for one week.
4. Collect the needed supplies to make a basic tincture for each of the seven ancient planets, as well as sundew for "the planet Earth."
5. Reread this chapter and outline the process for making a tincture in your notebook.
6. Begin each tincture on its planetary day. Note the date, time, planetary hour, and phase of the moon in which you started your experiment. (Sundew can be started on Saturday, during either the first or second planetary hour of Saturn.)
Just as alchemy has its three essentials of sulphur, mercury, and salt, we can examine the three principal tools used by the aspiring alchemist as having three parts as well. Alchemy is often called a work of the head, heart, and hands. The "head" refers to the ideas that must be learned, memorized, and meditated upon, as well as the instructions that must be followed for each step of the process. Alchemy requires the ability to use reason, formulate possible solutions, and reflect upon what actions have been undertaken and why. The "hands" refers to the actual physical actions taken in a laboratory or in working with raw materials and transforming them into a finished product. The "heart" is the method of meditation, inner listening, and awakened intuition that all students must learn to rely upon if they are to enter into the realm of genuine transformation-that is, the making of superior plant or mineral products that have extraordinary healing powers unexplainable by known laws and the ability to initiate both their creator and others into deeper realms of the soul.
This book is designed to give each student sufficient tools with which to undertake the Work of the Head, Heart, and Hands and thereby become a practicing alchemist. Each chapter contains intellectual study, meditative practices, and practical experiments that are to be carried out so that students who follow these instructions develop their various levels of consciousness in a harmonious manner. Remember, to be a genuine alchemist, you must actually transmute your consciousness and be able to demonstrate its reality to yourself by transmuting something in the material world. While this often makes reference to turning lead into gold, it is sufficient to say that on a lesser level, creating a powerful healing product will also qualify. To paraphrase Paracelsus, "We only transmute without, that which we have first transmuted within."
Meditation is the primary tool for undertaking the Work of the Heart and, in light of Paracelsus's view, is ultimately critical for success in alchemical practices. Traditionally, alchemy would be practiced only after a long period of study in Qabala, astrology, and the fundamentals of Hermeticism. This training would take place either under the direct supervision of a practicing adept or in a lodge setting and would be part of a graded series of initiations and degrees taking place over several years, if not decades. The high point of alchemical lodges came in the eighteenth century, when the German-based Order of the Gold and Rosy Cross was the focal point of European alchemical practices. Several of its documents have survived to the present day, along with a summary of the material covered in its degrees. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn later used the names and titles of these degrees in its Qabalistically based system of initiatic degrees.
To begin the inner phase of alchemical work, it is suggested that you spend ten to twenty minutes a day for ten to fourteen days on each meditation listed below.