CHAPTER OVERVIEW
• Distillation
Distillation of Red Wine
• Separating Sulphur from Mercury in a Tincture
The methods previously outlined for creating a Plant Stone will be useful for situations in which time or tools are limited, as well as providing a quick introduction to the operations of alchemy. However, alchemy is like all areas of meaningful study: the more time, energy, and attention you put into it, the more you will get out of it. What we get out of alchemy are the means to heal ourselves and others and assist in the reintegration of Nature into our daily lives. Each of us must decide how important that is to us, and act accordingly.
To better understand the alchemical maxim "solve et coagula," it is important to undertake the process of distillation. Distillation is the heating of liquids or solids, condensing the vapor given off, and then cooling the liquid retrieved so that it is purified. In spagyric operations, our primary use for distillation is (1) to create highly pure alcohol from red wine for use as a menstruum for the creation of herbal tinctures and (2) to separate the principal components of a tincture, or the mercury from the sulphur.
Distillation of herbal products is done at very low temperatures and can be carried out with a few simple tools. Laboratory glassware to perform a simple distillation can be obtained easily and inexpensively and speeds up the process by making it more efficient. Otherwise, the procedure described here is the same, as it is based on the same principles: a liquid is heated, the steam or vapor let off is collected and cooled, and the liquid is retrieved.
In alchemy, the process of separating and recombining allows for a liquid pulled from a tincture to grow stronger (more pure) with each successive round of distillation. As the alcohol is pulled from wine, the process allows the alcohol to be used as a menstruum without bringing in the additional components that make wine. For mercury that is pulled from a tincture and remixed with the sulphur, the mercury is able to make the sulphur (or essential oils, fats, and so on) of the plant more subtle and penetrating in its operations.