Before engaging in any of the experiments outlined here, read and reread the material several times, keeping your notebook nearby. Outline the steps in each technique. When performing the experiments, pay attention to your notes and write down each step as you take it. Compare your working list with the master list in your notebook. This may seem trivial, but this regime will give you the habit of noting what you do as you do it. If you decide to do more complex experiments, you will have already formed the required safety and notation habits necessary for the work. As stated earlier, most plant work is relatively safe; if you mislabel something, you can throw it out or test it under your tongue. Metallic work is much less forgiving. Good habits formed early last a lifetime. Not to mention, they save a lot of work later!
• Plant Stones represent a higher mastery of the etheric and astral energies than do simple tinctures.
• Plant Stones have several levels of completion, from those that dissolve with use over time to hard pebbles that retain their form after extensive use.
• Moon cycles exert significant influences over the various phases of the work, particularly spagyrics.
• Organic sea salt may be used as a substitute for calcined plant salts.
• Alcohol is susceptible to psychic vibrations, particularly when cold or in a vapor state.
• Our attitude when working must be positive, confident, generous, and focused on the end goal or purpose of the experiment.
• "Ora, lege, lege, lege, relege, labora et invenies," or "Pray, read, read, read, reread, work, and [you will] discover [it]," is an important alchemical motto.
1. Undertake the creation of a Plant Stone using each of the methods described.
2. Using a calendar, the Farmer's Almanac, or Llewellyn's Moon Sign Book or Wicca Almanac, identify the Full Moon and New Moon periods.
3. Using the above almanacs or other astrological sources, locate the Moon and what sign of the zodiac it is in currently. Locate several optimal times for creating tinctures and working on Plant Stones based on the information in this chapter.
Perform the following meditation facing the waxing and Full Moon as often as possible, and preferably in or near your garden or the plants that you use for your spagyric work.
1. Imagine that the rays of the moon are penetrating you and that you are being transformed into a "lunar" being.
2. Imagine or sense the etheric or subtle energy of Earth and its intimate connection to the Moon and its influences. The etheric energy can be imagined as bluish gray with flecks of silver interpenetrating everything around and inside of you.
3. Do this for ten to twenty minutes at night.
4. Note any impression in your journal, and pay attention to your dreams and psychic impressions.
Visualizing the entire operation of making a Plant Stone from beginning to end in perfect detail dramatically assists in making better products. Do this several times with each herb for each planet you are working with. Pay attention to whatever insights you may have about the process.
1. Review your outline of the spagyric process, from making a tincture and calcining the herb to making a Plant Stone. Visualize the entire process being perfectly executed. Add as much detail as you can from memory.
2. Include the parts of the process you do not directly see, such as the creation of the tincture in the foil-wrapped jar.
3. Imagine the effects of the Moon on the various phases of your work.
4. Contemplate your reasons for creating this alchemical product, and think about the success that you will have when it is completed.
5. Do this several times, and note your response to the various phases.
Meditate on the nature of the sea and how all life as we know it came from it. Do some research on the sea and sea salt, and devise your own meditations based on the mythological and scientific information you discover. Note the importance of lunar cycles on ocean tides.