Hibiscus Lodge Alchemy Project: Part I: The Entered Apprentice

1) First we must gather our materials for the first part of the project! These include, a bottle of Everclear, a mason jar, some of our herb of choice, Melissa Officianalis (Lemon Balm), some plastic wrap and some aluminum foil.

2) Ideally we will want to begin our experiment on the correct planetary day/time for the herb in question, for our Herb that is Thursday (Jupiter). These dates/times can be easily found online using a planetary hour calculator, of which there are many, here is one: http://www.lunarium.co.uk/planets/hours.jsp

3) Melissa herb can be found online easily, just search for “Lemon Balm” and you will be able to find it. It is rather cheap, going for $12 to $20 a pound. Try to get organically grown, and if at all possible, herbs harvested on their planetary day.

 

4) Our first step is to grind our herb finely! I use a mix of Mortar & Pestle and my hands. Remember, you want to commune with your materials, feel them, taste them, make them part of your experience. We are creating our alchemical child here, and this should not be a sanitary hands-off process! In our work, the herb is the body of our creation, that which is physical and of the earth.

 

5) Our Herb should be ground to a very fine consistency, almost to the point of being a powder, this will aid in the extraction of the essential oils.

 

 

6) Now it is time to add the herb to our impeccably clean Mason jar…

7) Next we must charge our alcohol (as previously discussed). I will not be discussing the esoteric aspects of the project in this document, just the actual technical steps, but feel free to ask me if you don’t remember our discussion on “Charging.

8) Our next step is the addition of our charged alchemical mercury to the herb. See the photograph below for reference as to how much you should add (about 1-2 fingers above the herb)

9) As previously mentioned, it is essential that no metal come into contact with our alchemical child! Most Mason jars have metal lids, and as such we must take care not to allow the lid to come into contact with the tincture. This is easily achieved by placing a piece of plastic wrap between the lid and the jar.

10) Now, place the lid on the jar and screw the outer lid over it. As you can see, there is a label on the jar top, listing the tincture type and the date begun. As with Chemistry, in alchemy, notes are ESSENTIAL!

 

11) Our Alchemical egg must gestate in a warm, dark place throughout its incubation, just like any other egg or fetus. As such, we will cover the jar with aluminum foil to allow no light to enter.

12) Our final step in this first portion is to care for our egg… First, we must shake the mixture vigorously twice in twenty four hours. Every day after, we must shake it once a day, spending some time with our egg. It will take two weeks for it to be ready for the next step, however, additional time will do nothing but increase the potency of our extraction.

Final note: This document contains the technical work associated with alchemy, but does not discuss the esoteric or spiritual doctrines. I encourage you all to seek this light on your own, as alchemy is a very personal journey. We can certainly discuss findings, or observations at mentoring sessions or one on one. This concludes the first, or Entered Apprentice portion of the Alchemy project.

 

To download this document as a PDF, click here.