The Art of Distillation : a new School Module

Our latest installment in the free members-only course is a collection of writings, slides, and information focused on the theme of the Art of Distillation, a foundation technique of Alchemy and Spagyrics with endless application in the work. The Art of Distillation is also the new Module we’ve added for the next session of the School, starting in April of 2012.

The Art of Distillation encompasses so much about lab work- the Art aspect, in which each person follows their own inner guide and creates something unique; and the Distillation process, which is an important technical skill to master. And, as we discussed in this article, like all Alchemical practice, Distillation is best understood by looking to Nature for guidance and wisdom.

This idea, that Nature herself is the source of information about Nature, is not a new concept, and it is not confined to some “other”, more enlightened culture. In the West, we also have this tradition to tap into, and the lineage of it is carried in Alchemy and its sister Art, Spagyrics. Reclaiming this tradition and sharing it with new students who will add to and expand it is one of the primary missions of our School.

In the next session of the School, we will debut a new curriculum which we believe will connect students with this level of understanding even more deeply. In this expanded schedule, we have added a new Module called the Art of Distillation, where we will explore this important process in great depth. Just five months into the session, this new study will allow students to do hands on lab work earlier in the program, while also linking the inner work of Know Thyself to the later, more complex lab work.

For the schedule and tuition information on the 2012 session, see this page. If you’re interested in joining us in the next session, make sure you sign up for our newsletter using the signup box on the right side of this page. Select Alchemical School as an interest, and then watch your inbox for instructions on enrolling in the free subscriber course and applying to the full School in January.

The Art of Distillation : Lab Work Photoessay

We’ve just posted a new installment in our free members-only course, with texts from us and a classical source, a lecture, slideshow, and other resources for deeper study, all exploring the Art of Distillation, which is also the new Module in the expanded curriculum for the next session of our School.

The Art of Distillation is the title of a very important Alchemical work, written in 1651 by John French. Distillation is the foundation of all our lab work, and the variations that can be achieved through changes in equipment, time, temperature, and starting matter make it a lifetime study.

Distillation takes advantage of the fact that different substances have different boiling and vapour points. Alcohol, for example, rises into a gaseous state at a lower temperature than water. By keeping a mixture of both, such as wine, at the boiling temperature of alcohol, but below that of water, the alcohol can be made to rise out of the mixture and leave the water behind. When condensed again at the other end of the distillation train, the liquid that has come over is a much higher proof of pure alcohol. This principle can be applied to other plant materials, as well as mineral and metal work.

This first image shows a simple copper distillation setup. This is a good one for distilling plant materials, such as alcohol from wine or hydrosols from aromatic plants. Copper is common in distillation equipment because it purifies the distillate, and so we see that the materials that an apparatus is made of can enhance the work being done.

In Nature, we can see simple distillations in many weather phenomena, particularly in cloud formations. When the heat of the sun warms the earth or the surface of bodies of water, it causes moisture to rise, just as the heating mantle makes the liquid rise up out of the large reservoir of the copper still. When the earth’s moisture encounters the cold atmosphere, or our distillate reaches the cooler head of the still, the vapour condenses and falls. In Nature, we get rain; in our lab, we get a purified distillate. This process also opens the matter to receiving subtle energies from the Alchemist or universe, as it is more receptive during its transition.

This next image is a much more complex distillation setup, a classic form called a “two brothers”. This setup is not just a distillation, but also a mixing of two substances in their most volatile state, moving in a torus shape, like a three-dimensional infinity loop.

This elegant device mirrors the mixing of air that occurs between sea and land, or mountains and valley. Heated and made more volatile, the moisture not only rises, but moves across into the neighbouring environment, either that of the opposite flask, or a nearby ecosystem. Mixing substances in their most etheric phase creates a gentle but dynamic marriage, charged with subtle energy and the intent of the operator.

In all these workings, and in the several others in our full slideshow, the guiding principle is that of following Nature. Alchemical and Spagyric practice are a way of connecting with the Light of Nature and carrying that healing intelligence through processing and into the final medicine. It is this Light that is the source of both healing and wisdom, and sharing our understanding of this Light with a new audience is one of the missions of the School.

If the Art of Distillation interests you, we invite you to join our new, free members-only subscriber course and see the full slideshow and other resources. Our next session of the School, starting in April of 2012, has an expanded curriculum with a new Module focusing just on Distillation- read more about that here.

To enroll in the free members-only course, or to get information about joining our School in the next session, use the signup box on the right side of this page to join our mailing list. Make sure to select “Alchemical School” as an interest, and then watch your inbox for confirmation and instructions. If you’re already on our School newsletter mailing list, watch for a link to signup instructions in the next newsletter.

Working Philosophically : Crystals in Nature and our Lab

Our new free members-only course continues to expand, with new writings by us and ancient authors, an audio lecture, slideshow, and more. In this installment, we are focusing on two themes: Qabalah and the Tree of Life, and the Alchemical and Spagyric idea of working philosophically.

Qabalah is a very sophisticated expression of the Hermetic axiom, “as above, so below; as below, so above”, showing us the structure of the archetypal energies that create the manifest world we inhabit. The ten Sephira of the Tree of Life reflect ten different sets of possibilities, each collecting diverse entities such as planets, organs, plants, minerals, angels, deities, and so on.

Every object on earth reflects different proportions of these energies, and in our lab work, we can use our understanding of these archetypes as a way to understand healing plants and the best ways to magnify their virtues. Working within certain cycles of time, we connect each Spagyric we create to a larger context of healing energy, and when you use one of our medicines, you can draw on that greater force for healing, as well.

Another important aspect of Spagyric lab work is the concept of “working philosophically”. This concept is connected to the ancient idea of Alchemists as Philosophers of Nature, since our work consists of observing Nature’s processes and following them in our lab. We might speed up or direct the work for better use in a human life span, but we are always considering the life force behind the physical and chemical manifestations of healing plants.

This Light of Nature, as Paracelsus called it, is seen in the intelligence of all living beings, which encompasses not just animals and plants, but also minerals. The mineral realm gives us one of the most striking manifestations of living intelligence: crystallization.

The structured, regular, and light-capturing forms that are created by our earth’s geologic processes are like the flowers of the mineral kingdom. They are an expression of beauty and purity, and a sign of divine intelligence in Nature.

In our lab, we work both with crystals of Nature’s creation and our own. When a crystal is formed by a lab process, it is one important sign that we are succeeding in our efforts to work philosophically, and that the ancient intelligence of a mineral has continued to live and grow under our care.

In our latest subscriber course slideshow, we explore some of the minerals of Nature and our lab, showing how we can take minerals from the earth and from plants and purify their chemistry and energy so that they continue to carry the Light of Nature.

In the first image, a meteorite has been cut open and etched to reveal the complex and beautiful latticework of crystals that formed in its interstellar creation journey. Each type of meteorite has a different internal pattern depending on the minerals it is made up of.

In the second image, we see a crystallized extraction of meteorite, which we created in our lab from meteorites much like the one above. The striking colour of these crystals is from the minerals in the original meteorite, which was destroyed by the process. But, the formation of crystals shows that not only have we purified its body, we have revived its energies philosophically so that its intelligence can continue to live and grow.

To see the full slideshow, with more examples of crystals in Nature and our lab, we invite you to join our new, free members-only subscriber course. You can also read our new text on the planetary energies of the Tree of Life in Spagyrics, listen to an audio lecture about Qabalah and our work, and more.

For information about enrolling in this new course, use the mailing list signup box on the right side of this page to join our mailing list. Make sure to select “Alchemical School” as an interest, and then watch your inbox for confirmation and instructions. If you’re already on our School newsletter mailing list, watch for a link to signup instructions in the next newsletter.

New Free Members-Only Course

As we finish one complete cycle of our School and prepare to welcome new students next Spring, we are also expanding our community education offerings, and have created a new course with free membership to anyone interested.

This course is part of our ongoing expansion of the School of Spagyric & Alchemical Arts, and will offer more in-depth articles, videos, lectures, and texts than the basic sample course. It is also part of the community building that we are working towards in the School, opening the philosophy and practice of Alchemy and Spagyrics to a new audience and maintaining it as a living lineage.

Right now in this course, we are presenting a slideshow on the lab process of bringing a Magistery to maturation, a text on Paracelsian medicine, part one of a lecture on Hermetics and Alchemy, and a selection of important resource texts. Later this year, we will be posting further installments in the Hermetics lecture, a slideshow of lab practices for working philosophically, and a presentation on the Art of Distillation.

For information about enrolling in this new course, use the signup box on the right side of this page to join our mailing list. Make sure to select “Alchemical School” as an interest, and then watch your inbox for confirmation and instructions. If you’re already on our School newsletter mailing list, watch for a link to signup instructions in the next newsletter.

Alchemical School : Enrollment & Sample Course

Our first group of students has graduated from Module One, and will be moving on to their next Module in a few weeks. We have been greatly enjoying our teaching experience, and will be enrolling new students starting in November.

Our next open session will begin in March of 2011, and will be the formerly separate units of Know Thyself and Plant Alchemy and Spagyrics, combined into one Module, which will cost $800. Application will start in December, announced through our School newsletter, and students will be selected by random drawing, as before. We’re happy to say that we will be able to accept twice as many students for this session as we did in our inaugural class.

This Module will cover ancient history of Alchemy and Hermetics, Qabalah and the planetary energies in spiritual work and healing, and working with Spagyric principles in healing. It is offered entirely online through our School website, and includes written texts, recorded lectures, live chats and discussions, and many hours of personal guidance and interaction with us. For more details on the curriculum of this and the later lab work Modules, see this article on the School website.

If you’re wondering how the online School will work, or if it is right for you, you should visit our sample course to see the classroom in action. We set up the sample course with actual text excerpts, lecture clips, and discussion examples, and it was created in the actual classroom site that students use for full courses. It really gives a feel for the type of material we are working to pass on to students, and our methods for sharing our work. To access the sample course as our guest, click here.

We are excited about the growth of our School, and look forward to many more connections with students who will carry this work forward- be sure to sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss out as we go forward!

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