The diagnosis of a disease and prescription of treatment for it is the business of medicine. It is important to recognize that it is illegal to practice medicine without a license. For this reason, if you are not a qualified medical practitioner, use the information in this chapter solely for education and do not attempt to treat anyone with spagyric products for physical illness. Experience is required in both the professional end of diagnosis as well as in the preparation of tinctures and assessing how much to ingest.
No disease affects every person identically. Each person will respond differently enough to the same disease that the same set of symptoms can be interpreted differently by several physicians, and only experience allows them to make proper diagnosis. Because spagyric products are increased in their potency with each operation of separation and recombination, the amount needed for a specific disease will differ not only with the patient, but also with the strength of the Elixir prescribed.
Tinctures are often taken diluted at one or two drops in a teaspoon of water or ten drops in a glass of water. Some will brave it and take it directly under the tongue as well. For physical illness, the drops are to be taken hourly, whereas for meditation, the tincture's dose is taken once a day or at specific weekly intervals.
The choice of herb is tricky, as some alchemists insist on the doctrine of correspondences, yet it is more common to take an herb based upon its healing properties in relationship to the disease and prepare or use it as the basis for a tincture. In this instance, it might be advisable to consult a homeopathic or naturopathic physician for herbal suggestions on which to base the production of an Elixir.
It is also unrealistic, despite the great potency of spagyric products, to expect to heal everything. It is not uncommon for people to turn to alternative forms of healing only at the end of their medical journeys rather than as a complement during allopathic treatment. This is unfortunate, as it creates a condition that is most often worse than if they had begun using spagyric products earlier. This sense of desperation intensifies and charges the healing environment, and it may create expectations that plant products are incapable of satisfying.
Spagyric products must be used:
• Early, to provide the optimum results;
• Often, that is, in small doses regularly rather than large doses at once; and
• Correctly, with the right tincture for the right disease.
If plant products are incapable of making any significant progress in curing the disease, then mineral products will need to be employed. Mineral products include either specific medicines made from specific minerals or products that have a broad power and influence, such as the White Stone or the Red Stone, two of the most important healing, rejuvenating, and spiritually initiating alchemical creations known in alchemy.
In his work The Alchemist's Handbook, Frater Albertus describes a method for testing the quality of a product: