Spagyrics: The Alchemical Preparation of Medicinal Essences

This comprehensive alchemical guide to plant extractions shows how spagyric methods "open" medicinal plants completely to release their most powerful healing properties. Including the Plant Magistery of Paracelsus and the Life Elixir recipe of Andreas Libavius among its historic techniques, this classic source text preserves the nearly forgotten methods of a true hermetic art. The practice of spagyrics is the application of ancient alchemical working methods to the preparation of tinctures, essences, and other products from medicinal plants. While ordinary tinctures and infusions use only a part of the great curative potential of plants, spagyric methods "open" medicinal plants completely to reveal their more powerful healing properties.Drawing on the rich imagery and symbolism of ancient source materials, Manfred M. Junius describes these methods in great detail, showing readers how to prepare plant remedies alchemically for their own use as well as imparting a knowledge of the ideological world in which alchemistic and hermetic thought flowered. Spagyrics includes the Plant Magistery of Paracelsus and the Life Elixir recipe of Andreas Libavius among its historic techniques as well as a wealth of scientific information that demonstrates the greater efficacy of alchemical methods of plant essence extraction. This classic source text preserves the nearly forgotten but highly valuable methods of this true hermetic art for preparing natural remedies. A comprehensive alchemical guide to plant extractions and their health benefitsShows how spagyric methods "open" medicinal plants completely to release powerful healing properties. Provides a history and philosophy of spagyrics that reveal why Western medicine fails to recognize the full benefit to health offered by plants. Connects spagyrics to classical alchemical, hermetic, and ayurvedic traditions. CONTENTS:FOREWORD BY BRIAN COTNOIRPREFACE 1 SPAGYRIA AND SPAGYRICS2 ADVICE OF BASILIUS VALENTINUS3 THE THREE PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES AND THE ELEMENTS4 MERCURY, SULFUR, AND SALT IN THE PLANT WORLD5 THE EXTRACTION OF THE THREE PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES FROM PLANTSThe Extraction of the Essential Oils, That Is, of the Volatile SulfurMercuryFixed Sulfur and Its SaltSalt 6 THE STARSThe FoundationsStars and Medicinal PlantsDays, Hours, and Rhythms of the PlanetsThe Exact Horoscope as the Basis for the Works 7 PREPARATION OF SPAGYRIC TINCTURES AND ESSENCES8 CIRCULATION9 THE PLANT MAGISTERY OF PARACELSUS10 THE CIRCULATUM MINUS OF URBIGERUS11 ELIXIR--CLYSSUS--VEGETABLE STONE The Opus Vegetabile of M. Johannes Issac HollandusTractatus de Quinta Essentia Vini12 ALCHEMICAL SIGNS AND SYMBOLS13 OLD WEIGHTSEPILOGUE: HOW CAN WE HEAL?NOTESBIBLIOGRAPHYSPAGYRIC RESOURCESINDEXProfessor Manfred M. Junius (1929-2004), served as the production manager for spagyrics for Australerba Laboratories and was head of the Australian School of Ayurveda in Adelaide, Australia. His Western alchemical knowledge was obtained through many years of personal instruction from Augusto Pincaldi in Switzerland.