About

Across myriad cultures, we can acknowledge the existence of the trinity in some form– the sacrality of the number 3. In Spagyric Alchemy, I am working with 3 primary principles (The Tria Prima) and 3 primary alchemical steps, which all mirror the cyclical processes of Nature, Consciousness, and Cosmos.

The 3 steps are separation, purification, and re-integration. This is also the basic formula for the evolution of human consciousness. As we evolve, we experience the illusion of separation from Creator, we go through a purification of Self, which re-integrates us back into relationship with Creator. We experience this over and over, in subtle ways, and that entire process also has the whole process within it (fractality). In other words, on a more micro scale, we isolate a wounded part of the Self in order to purify it (little ego deaths) and re-integrate the evolved expression of that part of us back into the Self, resulting in a more evolved version of Self. This is essentially birth, death, and rebirth.

Plants can undergo this same process and, arguably, should when being administered as a medicine. If we want the transformation of Mind-Body-Soul, our medicines must also have the principles of Mind-Body-Soul in order to operate at such a sophisticated degree within us. Creating a spiritually evolved plant medicine will invoke spiritual evolution in us.

The 3 principles of Spagyria are Sulfur, Mercury, and Salt.

The Principle of Sulfur represents the Soul, or as we would say in Mvskoke, the Sacred Fire. There is a relation to the Fire Element and the Internal Flame being the core, essential nature of a being. Soul is our own unique embodiment of Creator. The Soul, or S(o)ulfur, of a plant is the essential oils or, in some cases, the resin, which are all unique to the individual plant.

I currently extract the volatile oils and resins in a simple extraction method. However, once I complete my distillation laboratory, I will extract and distill the Sulfur in a more methodical manner.

The Principle of Mercury represents the Mind. In Alchemy, this principle of psyche is called the Spirit. It is the One Spirit that moves through and animates all of Life, the bridge between Soul, our unique expression of Life, and the body. All plants yield ethyl alcohol or spirits when fermented, a process symbolic of death. Therefore, the universal Spirit, or Mercury, of a plant is the alcohol it either releases or is extracted within, as it contains the universal intelligence.

At Morningstar Medicinals, I currently use food grade ethyl alcohol (200 proof, diluted per my formulae) made from organic, non-GMO corn as the extraction menstruum. Once I have my distillation laboratory complete, however, I will ferment and distill my own Mercury specifically from each plant.

The final principle, the Principle of Salt, is often forgotten in Western Herbalism. This is the principle of materiality. This is the body of the plant, which is often discarded after the extraction process. In Spagyrics, the remains of the plant are purified and crystallized into mineral salts, and returned to the extracts, completing the alchemical process of Soul-Mind-Body purification.

The resulting mineral salts are the mineral matrix of the plant that are left over after the purification process, called calcination. The body, or Salt, is the physical vehicle through which the Sulfur and Mercury enter and express within the material realm. Without it, we would be disembodied (and often still are regardless of having a body). Therefore, any plant medicine not containing the Salt principle is essentially a disembodied medicine, which would have the same effect on those who take it.

Just as with humans, it is paramount that the Sulfur and Mercury Principles of plants are imbued within the material Salt Principle as a whole entity. This is the key to both whole plant medicines and a holistic healing model.

After the extraction and distillation processes are complete, the remains or corpus (body) of the plant is usually composted or otherwise discarded. However, in Spagyric Alchemy, they are exalted. The corpus is calcined in The Refiner's Fire in such a way that the ultra purified remains become crystalline.

Just as the cellular membranes of humans are crystalline, as are those of plants. These purified crystalline remains are ceremoniously added back to the extraction, completing the formula for birth, death, and rebirth of psyche, soul, and body.

In Mvskoke, we honor the 4 Directions of the Medicine Wheel, which are associated with the elements and our subtle bodies.

The North is the Air Element and our mental body. The East is the Fire Element and our energetic body. The South is Water Element and our emotional body. The West is Earth Element and our physical body. The Unseen is our Spirit body and represents the Quintessence, or the 5th Element of consciousness.

I incorporate the teachings of The Medicine Wheel in my iteration of alchemical medicines, to honor both my European and Mvskoke lineages, the white and red paths converging in me.

The elements play a major role in both the preparation of alchemical medicines and the general understanding of the constitution of plants and people. The 5 elements (ether, air, fire, water, and earth) are present in everything in nature and are certainly reflected in the way that I approach medicine-making.

It is to be noted that a properly philosophically prepared alchemical medicine can not be made without respect and understanding of the 5 elements.

Similarly to the elements, a properly philosophically prepared alchemical medicine cannot be made without the timing of the planets. In herbalism, we harvest and bottle plants, but in Alchemy, we also harvest and bottle planets, imbuing the celestial influences of the "above" into the medicines we make in the "below."

I use the medical astrology model to inform my work, fine-tuning my medicines with the placements of the planets and astrological signs.

The Spagyric process is not complete until the medicine is taken internally. This is the counterbalance of the entire process: as within, so without.

In alchemy, we take the plant through a purification process externally (the same process of spiritual and mental evolution mirrored in Nature), so that when we take it internally, it can take us on that same journey. We evolve the plant so that it can evolve us.