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Saijen SilverWolf Profile
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Re: Alchemy and Homesteading


deCorbin, you make this so much more fascinating that in anything I've ever read on the subject. You are an excellent 'teacher' in this area! It makes so much sense, it's a wonder I didn't see it before. Thank you!

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Blessed Be,
~*~ Saijen ~*~

~~*~~ .~~*~~
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Re: Alchemy and Homesteading


I just picked up a book from the used store. The library didn't seem to have a good selection, though I did place one book on hold (On becoming an alchemist : a guide for the modern magician ). But I just purchased Everyday Alchemy. I looks ok, and owning it will give me a chance to peruse at my leisure. Sometimes when I check a book out from the library, it just sits around until the due date!
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de Corbin Profile
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Re: Alchemy and Homesteading


!!

I'm glad I got you interested!

I'm not familiar with either book - but I've noticed that there are some good intorduction books coming out - I got The Complete Idiot's Guide to Alchemy (yes, there's a Complete Idiot's Guide to everything these days!) expecting it to be junk, but it was actually very good.

Be aware, though, that there are Alchemical Fundamentalists and Recons who don't aknowledge anything after 1700 as being relevent, and who will make sweeping statements about what Alchemy is, and what it isn't. One book I have Real Alchemy: A Primer of Practicle Alchemy is a good example. It's an excellent book on lab work (and I'd highly recommend it for that), but the author disregards everything else as a debasement of Alchemy.

Ultimately, Alchemy is about personal transformation, so the Alchemist has to end up flying on his/her own wings.


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10/7/2008, 10:10 am Link to this post Send Email to de Corbin   Send PM to de Corbin
 
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Re: Alchemy and Homesteading


I'm sorry this is so long - I actually though I could do this in less space, but it turns out I can't. Thanks for your patience!

Part 3: So enough with the Philosophy! What’s this got to do with homesteading?

OK - this was the section where I was going to explain why Alchemical concepts are useful in homesteading. But, I’m afraid that when I started to write this, I realized that I couldn’t do that until I explained the Alchemical process, and that’s taken a lot of space, so I’m not actually going to get around to homesteading until Section B. However, I promise you that you will know exactly where I’m going with this after you read this section…

Section A: The Alchemical Process

For an Alchemist, everything is made of the four elements (Earth, Air, fire, and Water), and each of the four elements is made out of a different proportion of Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt. The Alchemist works to balance the Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt within his/her self in order to develop his or her enormous potential.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that an imbalance of the three essentials is bad. In fact, imbalance is actually a pretty good thing.

If, an Alchemist reasons, everything were in balance (all were Alchemical Gold), then everything would be one thing. If everything were one thing, there would be no point in acting (why act when all your acts can achieve change nothing?), no point in thinking (why think when all your thoughts are the same?), or in feeling (what is there to feel is there is no difference between things?). A world in which all things are in balance would be a truly tedious and woefully uninteresting thing.

However, balance is important. If the sum total of everything were calculated, the results would, ideally, be equal proportions of Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt. If the proportions are too far out of balance, bad things result.

To see how this idea works, let’s try applying it to society.

If a society as a whole is heavily unbalanced with an overabundance of Salt (the physical), but is low in Sulphur (spirit/intellect) and Mercury (soul/feeling), you end up with a materialistic, pleasure oriented culture. The stereotype of the rich but empty Hollywood superstar will give you a good idea of what this would look like.

On the other hand, if Sulphur is overly strong, and Salt and Mercury are weak, you end up with a society that cares more about the acquisition of abstract knowledge than it does about either the welfare and health of the people that make it up, or about the feelings of those people. The Nazi doctors who treated concentration camp inmates as guinea pigs is a good representation of this group.

And finally, a society where Mercury becomes overbearing at the expense of Salt and Sulphur leads to conditions where science and health deteriorate, while religion rules the roost. The popular image of the stranglehold held by the salvation-based inquisition during the Middle Ages will give you an idea of what this might look like.

What you want to remember - what is very important - is that NONE of the three essentials is bad or good in and of itself. Salt, for instance, only becomes bad when it is disproportionately present, in which case Sulphur and Mercury become good because they need to be built up for balance. You can imagine a society in which Sulphur and Mercury were strong together, while Salt is weak. In a society like that, the arts and abstract sciences, and spiritual practices, would be very advanced, but babies would be starving in the cradles.

Another good point to remember is this: You want all three essentials to be STRONG and in balance, so you never try to correct an imbalance by weakening Sulphur, Mercury, or Salt. For example, the cure for an overly materialistic society isn’t to reduce materialism (Salt) - there is nothing wrong with good medical care, effective transportation, or having fun on the ski slopes.

The real cure for an overly material society is to increase intellect (Sulphur) and feeling (Mercury). When this happens, the problems of materialism are transformed, as if by magic, into virtues, through their interaction with the intellect and the emotions. Balance is the key.

Now that you’ve got the idea, you can try imagining what societies with other unbalanced mixtures would look like, and what a balanced society would look like. (If you can work around prejudices about life style choices, you can also try applying this to individual people and make some determinations about the proportion of the three essentials in them. This is what the psychologist Carl Jung did when he developed his personality typology).

And also, now that you’ve got the idea, you can probably see where this is going to fit in with Homesteading. But please pretend for a moment that you don’t see it so I can finish writing this!

I’m going to take an annoying break from the main thrust of this essay, just as I’m getting to the good part. I have to explain the Alchemical process because I’m going to use it on the idea of Homesteading, and I want you to know what’s going on. The process can be somewhat painful, but the end result is worthwhile - so if I say things that hurt a bit, just trust me - I’ll make it all better in the end.

In order to create balance, Alchemists use a particular process. The process is applied at the level of the Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, all at the same time - it’s used physically (which is why Alchemists liked to play with chemistry), intellectually (through study and thought), and spiritually (through prayer/mediation, and through paying close attention to spontaneous intuition/feelings). For clarity, I’ll describe how the process works physically as if we were making a plant extract, then in the next section I’ll apply the process to homesteading.

If an Alchemist wants to make a herbal medicine, he or she will, after gathering the plant in the right time and in the right frame of mind, grind the herb. This is called the “Nigredo” (blackening) stage. In the Nigredo stage, everything the Alchemist wants is there in the plant, but in a confused and chaotic mixture - along with some impurities.

In the next stage, the Albedo (whitening), the Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt are separated and purified.

The Alchemist adds some water to the chopped and ground plant material, and heats the water/plant mixture. The steam is collected and condensed, and the oily material from the plant is gathered from the surface of the water. This is the “essential oil” of the plant, and is considered the plant’s Sulphur (in Alchemical literature, you will frequently see Sulphur mentioned in connection with oil - Sulphurous oil, oil of silver, etc.). The essential oil may be distilled several times to get is as pure as possible.

The next step is to take the plant material and ferment it to release the “spirit” or Mercury of the plant. After fermentation is complete, the material is distilled to purify and concentrate the Mercury.

Finally, the left over plant material and sludge left after fermentation is dried. This left over gunk is called the “dead head,” because the two spiritual components are gone. However, Salt is every bit as important as is Sulphur and Mercury, so this stuff isn’t thrown away. The Alchemist purifies it by burning it to a fine white ash (like the ash on the end of a cigar), and saves it.

This is the painful stage. The Alchemist is always working on three levels - Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury. The actual acts I’ve described take place at the Salt level. While working with the plants, the Alchemist is also performing the same operations on his/her own Sulphur and Mercury. The Alchemist literally tears his/her own thoughts and feelings apart, purifying and condensing them, at the same time that the plant material is being torn apart, purified and condensed.

Alchemy is no profession for sissies - it requires a great deal of self honesty and soul searching.

But the final stage, the Rubedo (redening) makes it all worth while. In the Rubedo stage, all the separated parts are brought back together, just as they were in the original plant, but purified, and in the proper balance. So everything is mixed back together, allowed to sit in a warm place (for, say, about a month) to incubate (just like an egg). This brings it back to life - the life forces of the plant live again in the medicine.

Sort of…

Actually, I left something very important out - and this is where the Alchemist differs from the chemist, or general herbalist…

From the point of view of the Alchemist, the medicine can “live” because the alchemist has given it a part of his or her soul. I know this sounds crazy, but bear with me.

The Alchemist would, ideally, grow the herbs his/her self. If not, the Alchemist would personally gather them, preferably during the day and hour assigned to the planet that rules the plant. If the Alchemist buys the herb, he/she will begin working with the herb on the proper day, at the correct hour. And the whole time the Alchemist is working with the herb, he/she will be involved in a combined act of intense concentration and meditation. The Alchemist identifies with the plant, and everything he/she does to the plant, he/she also does to his/herself.

By working so intensely with the plant, the Alchemist gives some of his/her Mercury to it. And the living medicine gives it back, with interest. From the Alchemical point of view, a medicine made without paying attention to these things is a dead medicine. It may work, but nowhere near as well as a living medicine will.

It’s easy to write this whole thing off as superstition. Classical, objective science tells us that, if any two people do the same thing, using the same materials, in the same way, with equal care, the results will always be the same. But the Alchemist says: “No! That’s impossible! A person puts his or her soul into everything he or she does! No two people have the same soul, therefore, the results can NEVER be the same!”

Because you are a creature of the late 20th, early 21st century, your reason and your logic tells you that the Alchemist is wrong. The truth is, I can hardly believe it myself. But I do believe it… and I know you do too - because no matter what your brain tells you, your soul knows, and your soul’s telling you something worth listening to. Let me show you what I mean…

Let’s imagine that you have an original Van Gogh - say “Irises,” which is valued at about $102, 000, 000. Let’s also imagine that there is a forger who is so good he (or she) can duplicate that painting exactly - with the exact same materials, and the exact same brushstrokes, and no art expert, no test, ever, would be able to tell the difference. Which painting would be worth $102, 000, 000, and which would be worth $100, 000?

Why?

If they are perfectly identical, they’re the same thing… aren’t they?

Think about this very hard. Unless you accept the idea that a thing is more than it‘s physical self, then there is no basis for saying that one of the paintings is “original” and the other is “fake.”

How many things are there like that in your life - little mementos of friends and relatives, things with “sentimental value,” but little or no cash value? The thing that makes you save them and give them a place in your heart is the soul of the thing - the soul that was strengthened by the person who made it, once owned it, or who gave it too you.

Just for fun, imagine this - your Mom and Adolf Hitler both make a meal. They use the same ingredients, same recipe, and both do a great job. Dry each meal out, analyze them chemically, measure the vitamins and nutrients - they’re both the same. BUT - whose home cooking will you eat?

I don’t know about you (although I’m making an educated guess), but I, personally, wouldn’t touch Hitler’s Eggs Benedict with a ten foot pole…

Soul is real. Soul is there. Soul matters. Listen to it when it tells you things.

Next section - I really will talk about Homesteading…


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10/8/2008, 12:59 am Link to this post Send Email to de Corbin   Send PM to de Corbin
 
TexasMadness Profile
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Re: Alchemy and Homesteading


I searched through the pagan books I already have and only a mentioned Alchemy. The only one that describes it in any detail is Grimoire for an Apprentice Wizard and it's pretty much about chemistry and making gold (little g). The one I bought looks like it is much more in line with the stuff you've posted here. I look forward to really reading it! emoticon

Good stuff, can't wait for the next installment!
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Corvus Profile
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Re: Alchemy and Homesteading


Firlefanz pointed out this thread to me, and you were right -- I do recognize at least some of the things you have talked about, though not all of them. I see some of what I myself do, just "incomplete" with regard to the Salt / Sulphur / Mercury trio. I'm not a homesteader, so I don't know if I'll have much interest in the final part that everyone else has been waiting for so eagerly, but who knows? I'll definitely be reading.
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Re: Alchemy and Homesteading


Thank you again for explaining so well what Alchemy really means!

It's utterly fascinating and enlightening. And it really makes me think. That's great.

  emoticon

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- Firlefanz


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Re: Alchemy and Homesteading


I just read this thread. Really interesting! Thanks. Can't wait to read more.
10/8/2008, 12:41 pm Link to this post Send Email to MagiCat   Send PM to MagiCat
 
de Corbin Profile
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Re: Alchemy and Homesteading


Well thank you, everybody - I really didn't think people would be all that interested - but I wanted to write it anyway because writing things helps me to understand what I'm thinking emoticon .

Corvus - I'm pleased to meet you. Corvus is my favorite bird ("Corbin" means "black bird" - either a crow or raven emoticon . Always nice to meet another crow!)... anyway... I'm afraid I'm an Alchemical heretic. I don't really think that working with chemistry is the best way to pursue Alchemy anymore. That course of action made more sense before the principles of chemistry were understood.

But the principles of Alchemy can be applied to any activity. Because the focus here is homesteading, I'm thinking about how to apply it to homesteading. But once you understand the idea, I'm hoping that you can apply it to any other areas that you're interested in.

TexasM - the making gold thing is kind of a peculiar thing. Alchemists work on the three levels I've explained, all at the same time, so, while making Philosophic Gold, they were also trying to make material gold. But the Philosophical Gold was the main thing (Hermes sez: "The Gold I seek is not the gold of which you speak" emoticon ), and you could look at the chemistry experiments as a type of physical meditation - much like yoga.

After European Alchemy reached it's peak in the 1700's, it began to spiral downwards. One of the problems was that, for large groups of people, the emphasis went from making Gold, to making gold.

In a weird way, the more material Alchemists were actually pretty successful in making gold. Alchemy bacame chemistry, and chemistry has made an awful lot of "gold" for an awful lot of people.

And that's not a bad thing. I'd rather be alive today than at any time in the past, in large part because of the advances of science.

But I also can't help noticing that a lot of the problems we have in the world today are caused by our science. It seems to me that it is time for the idea of balance between the three essentials to come back into the popular conciousness. I'm pretty convinced that if that happens, we humans will be able to solve a lot of the problems that are vexing us today.

And, actually I think it is. I've noticed some big changes in the way scientists think and talk about science. (I actually want to expand on this in the final part of this monster essay).

Although I haven't read it, I suspect that the book you mentioned, Everyday Alchemy, will also take this line. I'll be interested to hear what you think of book once you've read it!


 emoticon emoticon emoticon emoticon

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