ALCHEMY PART VI

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Alchemy Part VI

 

Plant Stones

 

 

 

 

The Art of Alchemy is the work of Nature, for the Artist picks up with the Art,

where Nature has left off. It is through the Art that the work of Nature is

completed, what would have taken eons of adaptation end evolution are

accomplished in a much shorter time. It is much the same as a farmer who has

learned to mimic the seasons and growing needs of his crops inside a hothouse,

so that in the depths of winter fresh produce is available to him, his family,

neighbors and wider community.

 

The laws of alchemy are transcendent, indeed for them to have any validity they

must be. What good would it be to say that all is One and issues from One

source, and yet, have separate procedures to bring about the inherent perfection

hidden within the varied things produced from the One by adaptation.

 

Many feel that the culmination of the alchemical work is the confection of the

Philosophers Stone. In fact the old Alchemist say that completing such a work is

only equivalent to the passing of an entrance exam into University. But before

such lofty goals can even be hoped for there are stones that must be created in

the small work within the sphere of the plant kingdom. Generally the use of

these alchemical products follows a set course in which the body and spiritual

senses are gradually introduced to the higher energy types produced in each

kingdom. In the plant work this would follow the progression of extract,

tincture, essence / magistery, and finally the Plant Stone or Resurrection

Tincture*.

 

Do not be fooled into thinking that just a regular herbal extract or tincture is

used. Remember in Alchemy Part III the spagyric process was described as one,

which encompassed the threefold procedure of separation, purification and

recombination. For the Alchemist this literally involves separating specific

fractions from the plant, one of which are the crystalline mineral salts. The

procedure involved in just getting this one fraction from the plant is very

detailed, it entails the incineration of the plant matter into an ash, which is

followed up by a long, calcination of the matter to a pure white calx from which

the crystalline salts are latter removed.

 

 

 

The recombination of the desperate parts is not as simple as some modern writers

on alchemy have intimated, at least not when ones aim is the creation of an

alchemical product rather than strictly speaking say a spagyric one. While

spagyrics may be satisfied with simply adding the crystalline salts to the

solution of the herbal extract or tincture, this will not do alchemically. The

Alchemist seeks to create an indissoluble union of the elements he has separated

from the plant. Therefore the Alchemist employs specials procedures to do things

that even today modern chemistry says can not be done, such as the

volatilization of said plant salts so that they join with the spirit and soul,

or alcohol and oils of the plant.

 

While a plant stone will not transmute physical lead into gold, it sure will go

a long way to helping transform the inner person into the divine being they

truly are. Like its fabled older brother the Philosophers Stone, a Plant Stone

is highly prized in the alchemical community, esoteric organizations, and

families with centuries old esoteric lineage’s, all over the world. The main

reason for this is that Plant Stones may be programmed with the desire of a

person during the crystallization process of the salts. It is this gem like

dynamos that the Alchemist then makes into a plant stone. These products have

the uncanny ability to elicit what I call " nocturnal astral erudition " via

contact with the God-of-Your-Heart, Inner Master, Holy Guardian Angel, or

whatever appellation you may chose to use. It is through these contacts which

most experience as dreams, which by the way are something much more intense than

creative visualization or lucid dreaming, that the Universal Mind imparts the

information desired. People have used Plant Stones to increase their aptitude in

their chosen profession, artistic ability, or spiritual evolution. Plant Stones

are very personal things in that the best are custom made for the individual

after they have personally charged the salts, which by the way is a very simple

process. In a world of mass production Plant Stones are something hardly ever

seen today a custom, handcrafted item meant for the use of a single individual.

It amazes me that people will spend thousands of dollars on things that are

euphemistically called generic, but balk at the idea of having to wait 3 to 12

months to have a custom stone made for themselves. The commissioning of a Plant

Stone is a definite statement of intent to the Divine about the seriousness of

your inner work. Anything worth having is worth waiting for, working for,

especially something that will be used over many years as you go about the work

of inner perfection.

 

Plant stones are extremely powerful, a small amount can last a person many years

and why not? Pounds of original plant material must be used to create a 5 – 10

gram plant stone, as the intense aroma of the herb rushing off of the stone will

testify too.

 

In our last segment in this series we will discuss the use of alchemical

products in the practice of magic, and the sort of inner initiations one can

expect to receive when following the Hermetic Science’s paradigm of initiation.

 

 

 

 

 

Image Description:

 

Top: Picture of a completed Rosemary Stone Citrine in color

 

Middle series from left to right: rosemary just prior to incineration, rosemary

incineration, rosemary ash, rosemary white calx, rosemary crystalline salts.

 

Bottom: Alchemical Red Plant Stone, as shown in the Minor Opus

 

* Resurrection Tincture is a trademark or registered trademark of Spagyria, Inc.

All images and text copyright 2006 John H. Reid III

 

JHR3

Ora, Lege, et Labora