A Druid's Handbook to the Spiritual Power of Plants: Spagyrics in Magical and Sexual Rituals - Jon G. Hughes 2014

The Elevation of Basic Substances
Alchemy: Its Relationship to the Druidic Tradition

All alchemical texts speak of the elevation of natural substances. They describe the work of the Greater Circulation as the elevation of base metals into gold and the work of the Lesser Circulation as the elevation of the natural products of the plant kingdom into energized substances and the vegetable stone. The ultimate goal of both circulations is the manufacture or discovery of the elusive philosopher’s stone.

It may well be that this attempt to improve on nature is based on a doctrine of Aristotle, who maintained that all things, including nature, are striving toward perfection. If this were the case, it would appear that, given enough time, all things would reach a state of perfection through the process of natural progression. It has been suggested that the work of the alchemist in his or her workshop is really just an effort to speed up this natural process in order to arrive at the perfect state (the philosopher’s stone) without having to wait for nature to take its course.

Whether alchemical work is intended to elevate nature’s products or accelerate nature’s development, it appears that in some cases the alchemist is contradicting and working against the natural balance of the cosmos. It could also be argued that the alchemist’s “practical” work in the workshop, where he or she applies him- or herself to the development of the outer elixir, in fact contradicts the search for the balance and harmony of nature apparently sought by the work of the inner elixir. It is for the reader to explore this thesis and arrive at his or her own conclusion.

As a Druid I consider it impossible to improve on nature’s products and unthinkable to contemplate speeding up the course of nature. The Druidic tradition that I know holds nature to be in a constant state of perfection and to be moving in a cyclic continuum that may not be interrupted by anything or anyone.

The purpose of Druidic work within the plant kingdom (the equivalent of the spagyric’s Lesser Circulation) is to release and concentrate the latent energies and attributes of the plants with which we work. There is never any suggestion that our work actually elevates or improves anything that nature provides. The work is concerned with the attempt to understand what is already inherent in nature and uses nature’s gifts in sympathy with nature’s laws.

The gifts of the natural cosmos are immensely rich, complex, sophisticated, and at all stages complete. By this I mean that even if we consider nature to be progressing in the form of evolution (and that too is a thesis for the reader to consider), each manifestation of this evolutionary process is complete in itself as it appears. To gain some understanding of this natural cosmos is the ultimate goal of every Druid, not to attempt to elevate something that is already sublime and perfect.

Let’s look at an example that we are all familiar with, that of our own individual “evolution” from single cell to adult person. In normal circumstances this is, as we all know, a wholly natural process, one of nature’s greatest and most amazing gifts. If we look at this process in a Druidic light, it must not be interrupted in any way. We may, however, look at the evolving person at any stage of his or her development, search for the individual’s strengths and attributes, and gently nurture them for the benefit of the individual and the rest of society as a whole.

When a person’s life comes to an end, it is only the corporal being that is lost. The individual’s personal energy is reunited with the collective energy and her store of knowledge and experience is passed on to others. In this way, although each life cycle is finite, it forms a part of nature’s evolving continuum.

In contrast, it could be said that it is the work of the alchemist to take the newborn baby and, through a series of brutal physical and profoundly mystical processes, transform that baby instantly into a physically and mentally enhanced mature adult (improving, elevating, and accelerating nature).

Of course, the Druidic tradition strives to understand the processes involved in the physical and mental development of the individual and to some extent enhance them in the light of the knowledge and experience it has at its disposal. Druidism also seeks to address and remedy any impediments to this development but never to elevate or accelerate nature itself. This may well be an overly simplified analogy, but it serves to demonstrate how the two traditions differ in relation to their perceived ability to “alter” nature.

I am convinced that it is this belief in the inability to improve upon nature, or to speed up its progress, that provides us with the reason that Druidism has no equivalent to the Greater Circulation and does not involve itself in the attempt to raise or elevate base metals into gold. Practitioners of the Druidic herbal lore, however, do share some of their fundamental methods and techniques with the alchemical tradition and in particular with the techniques of the spagyrist. For example, among other things, the preparation of Druidic potions, remedies, and complexes follows the same three-stage process that is used by the spagyrist: the separation, the purification, and the amalgamation (the equivalent of the alchemical cohobation).

The techniques of the alchemists, and in particular the work of the spagyrist adepts, though with similar foundations, diverge from those of the Druidic tradition in some very important ways. As I continued my research, I was struck by the brutality of the methods alchemists employed. I felt offended by the use of such harsh incineration and the application of excessively high temperatures to “force out” the substances they were searching for. It all seemed to be such an unnatural process when compared to the much more gentle and sympathetic procedures of Druidic plant lore. Even so, I could not ignore the similarities between the two and became convinced that somewhere there would be a common ground where some form of combined practice would benefit both traditions.

Thus, maybe at this point we should look a little more closely at the actual techniques employed and compare the methods of preparation and motivation of the spagyrist and the Druid.

We have seen how the spagyrist goes about preparing his or her herbal elixir. We understand the theory of the five elements (earth, water, air, fire, and ether) and the three components of matter (the Triaprima, or fundamental Trinity), mercury, sulfur, and salt, representing spirit, soul, and body, respectively.

In the Lesser Circulation the mercury and sulfur remain joined in what is referred to as the essence. This essence contains the life force of the plant and is the same in all plant life (the spirit and soul of all plants). The separated salt—that is, the body of the plant—differs from one plant to another, and it is these salts that contain the various attributes of each plant within the plant kingdom. These three components are first separated into the essence and the salt, then purified and finally recombined to form the elixir, or medicament.

The separation is achieved by maceration (soaking), circulation (heating and condensing), or extraction (a process similar to percolation). The purification occurs by further evaporation and incineration; the cohobation is achieved by combining the previously purified components to form the elixir.

The spagyrist makes no attempt to influence the work or the products by using spells, incantations, or any form of ritual during their preparation. This, then, suggests that although there are spirit and soul components contained within the material of the spagyrist’s elixir, there is no spiritual energizing or potentializing process involved in the manufacture. The elixir may then work only on a material plane and have limited effect on the internal energy of the individual using it.

In contrast, Welsh Druidic lore maintains that there are four elements (earth, water, air, and fire) and that these are manifestations of the collective energy, the single cosmic energy that unites all of nature. Everything in Creation contains a part of this collective energy in the form either of internal energy, as in animals and humans, or as the latent energy contained in plants and natural inanimate objects. This internal or latent energy is returned to the singular collective energy once the life cycle of the person/animal/plant is completed.

When considering the plants used in Druidic lore, we see that they are composed of two constituent parts: the latent energy, as described above, which we can see is the same for all plants, and their attributes, which are unique to each plant.

The attributes of each plant may be further divided into the physical attributes—these are the purely “chemical” properties of the plant as used in scientific pharmacology—and the magical attributes, whose effect is beyond our current scientific understanding but nevertheless equally efficacious.

The two subdivisions of the attributes work in constant harmony, which is not surprising as they form part of the same plant. We can, however, choose to use one or other of these natural phenomena to a lesser or greater extent in our work without damaging their natural harmony.

To recap, every plant has three components that are at our disposal:

· Latent energy. Common to all plants and to ourselves, as we all draw our energy from the common collective energy.

· Physical attributes. Unique to each plant and may be employed as medications.

· Magical attributes. Available to us in our work to channel as remedies, potions, and influences.

How, then, do we release the potential of this latent energy, extract the physical attributes, and channel the magical attributes of these plants in order to use them for our work? This is achieved through a combination of the practical manufacture and ritual energizing of what are called the plant’s complex and the plant’s incense.

The complex may, in some ways, be compared to the spagyrist’s elixir. It is the sum total of all of the chosen plant’s beneficial components—its energies, its physical benefits, and its magical benefits. It is this complex, and its corresponding incense, that we employ in all our remedies, potions, spells, and intentions. Unlike the spagyrist’s elixir, the complex also has spiritual and magical aspects and is used in a much wider range of applications.

In order to create our complex, we must first extract the cardinal essences of our selected plant. As we shall see, each plant has either two or three cardinal essences.

Following the harvesting of the chosen plant, its cardinal components are separated. These are the various individual components of the plant that contain its range of energies together with its physical and magical attributes. These components vary according to the type or part of the plant we use. For example, in the case of flowers, we separate the petals from the flower head. These provide us with the two cardinal essences of the flower. In the case of trees, we separate the leaves, bark, and wood of our harvested branch. These will provide us with the three cardinal essences of the tree.

The initial stage in extracting the cardinal essences is leaching, in which the first part of the essence is steeped out of the plant. This yields the leached essence. The second stage is called fermentation, during which the second, deeper attributes of the plant are extracted by fermentation within a natural must. This yields the fermented essence, along with the residual, almost exhausted, plant matter (the incense).

The leached essence and the fermented essence are then combined (unification) to form the two (or three) cardinal essences. The incenses are stored for subsequent use in conjunction with the essences.

The cardinal essences of the plant are stored separately for a period of maturation and recombined only during the ritual or working for which they are destined. It is only at this stage, when the cardinals are recombined to form the complex and the corresponding incenses are combined and heated, that the full potential of the plant is made available. We shall look at this process in great detail later (see here).

During the process of creating the Druidic complex there is a series of rituals that are absent from the spagyrist’s preparation techniques. These are placed at various stages of the process and acknowledge the separation and recombination of the component parts of the plant. The first ritual is at the time of harvesting, when we separate the harvested branch or flower, for example, from its donor plant. The second takes place as we separate the cardinal components of the harvested branch or flower. The third is the ritual unification of the leached and fermented essences to form the cardinal essences. The fourth and normally the final ritual is the amalgamation of the cardinal essences and the heating of the incense during the eventual ritual or working for which it is employed.

You will already see that this technique is a complicated one, requiring dedication, concentration, and a great deal of patience. It involves both the physical creation of the complex and its spiritual or magical empowerment. The entire creative process (called the complex refinement) enshrines a great respect for nature and employs only natural processes. It is harmonious with the seasons of nature and uses only that which is provided by nature. It is governed by the time it takes for these natural processes to run their course and makes no attempt to accelerate or improve on the natural forces of the cosmos.

Refinement, in the context of the complex refinement process, does not suggest improvement. It describes the process of cultivating the overall qualities, both physical and magical, of the plant and channeling them in a way that may be beneficial. The Oxford Dictionary defines the word refined as “Characterised by polish, elegance or subtlety,” and the words lluniaidd (elegant) and cyfrwys (subtle) are used constantly in this context throughout the modern Welsh Druidic tradition as well as in many other schools of natural magic.