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

Distillation
The Process of Obtaining Suitable Alcoholic Spirits
The Druidic Workshop

Distillation, in purely technical terms, may be defined as the process of heating a liquid until its more volatile constituents pass into a vaporous state and then cooling the vapor to return it to its liquid state by condensation.

If, for example, we wish to distill alcohol from a mixture of water and alcohol, we heat the mixture to 173°F (78.5°C), the boiling point of alcohol (as opposed to 212°F [100°C], the boiling point of water). The alcohol turns to vapor, then travels to the condenser, where it is cooled in order to return it to its liquid state. Thus, the liquid water remains in the original vessel, and the alcohol, having been evaporated and condensed, is collected in the receiver vessel.

Even though we often refer to the entire distillation apparatus as a still, technically this applies only to the vessel in which liquids are boiled during distillation, prior to traveling through the fractionating column, the condenser, and to the receiver in which the distillate is collected.

Alcoholic spirits such as whiskey and brandy are usually manufactured by fermentation, followed by distillation, in order to increase the alcohol content of the drink. In normal cases, fermentation may create a liquid containing around 12 percent alcohol by volume—that is, 12 percent of the liquid is alcohol, and the remainder is principally water. By distilling this 12 percent liquid (usually more than once), manufacturers obtain the usual 40 percent alcohol (by volume) spirits that we see for sale.

The distillation process plays a major role in alchemical workings. Liquids are repeatedly distilled—ten, twenty, sometimes even hundreds of times—in order to purify and concentrate their potency. In the Druidic way, however, distillation is much less prominent. There is no great tradition of distillation of spirits within any of the ancient Celtic cultures. Fermentation of wines and the brewing of ales and ciders were much more apparent, and most households made their own brews from the fruits and berries gleaned from the surrounding countryside.

If the actual process of fermentation was considered a magical wonder, then the idea of distillation was an even more magical process. Distillation was practiced only by Druids, and even then by very few. The equipment needed to begin the distillation process was expensive and difficult to manufacture, and as there was no real understanding of the science involved, the results were haphazard and unpredictable. In fact, the same could also be said of fermentation, with many of the results yielding little if any alcohol content whatsoever.

All the same, alcohol spirits are used in nearly all Druidic herbal potions. Historically, the alcohol spirit (usually under the 40 percent by volume spirits we use today) would be distilled by the Druidic priest or priestess using various grains, vegetables, or fruits as his or her raw material. It was a dangerous process, sometimes ending in explosions and occasionally producing toxic results.

Much of the Druidic herbal tradition uses wood, bark, and roots as its raw material. If these wood-based materials are included in the distillation process, it is possible that the resulting alcohol will be methanol or wood alcohol, the poisonous relative of ethanol or grain alcohol.

Eventually, after what would have been many dangerous and disastrous experiments, most of the Celtic races managed to develop a rough, unpredictable spirit of some form or another. A more refined version of this spirit exists today in Ireland in the form of poteen. The manufacture of poteen for consumption within Ireland was illegal until fairly recently (1999). Today it can be made only by licensed manufacturers and is subject to government duty and taxation.

Needless to say, many Irish households, particularly the more rural ones, somehow manage to have a supply of homemade poteen from some long-forgotten source, which is usually stored away for “medicinal purposes.” It may be a source of wonder to the reader that so many cases of severe colds requiring the use of this special medication appear in Ireland around Christmas, New Year’s, and particularly around Saint Patrick’s Day. In order to keep within the law and to ensure a consistent quality, we shall be using only the proprietary brands of poteen in our workings.

The distillation of alcoholic spirits, and in particular alcoholic beverages, is a very specialized and complex subject, far beyond the scope of this book. I strongly recommend that the reader use proprietary alcoholic spirits and stay well away from the distillation process unless he or she has a thorough understanding of the methods and the dangers involved.

Although poteen is now readily available anywhere in Ireland, I would not be surprised if it were difficult to obtain in some other areas of the world, in which case it is perfectly acceptable to use any relatively tasteless and clear spirit alcohol in its stead. Most countries will have their own readily available equivalent to poteen in the form of vodka or schnapps, for example, any of which will work as a perfect substitute for the classic Irish spirit.

The alcoholic spirit is merely the carrier of the essences we shall be producing (see here). So as long as they do not contain any conflicting ingredients, most spirits will fit the bill. Potentially conflicting ingredients may be identified either from our personal knowledge of what goes into the making of the spirit we are using or by reading the manufacturer’s description of the contents on the bottle. A spirit should be avoided if the manufacturer’s label identifies that the spirit contains wood or bark (such as many of the aniseed spirits), seeds (such as the cumin spirits), or berries (such as sloe spirits—which can include gin, vodka, absinthe, etc.—or coffee spirits). Also avoid the use of spirits containing herbs (such as vermouth), flowers (such as Chinese rose brandy), and the fruits of trees such as plum, pear, and the like. An exception is the apple as a fruit or a flower, as these are considered as neutral and one of the earliest forms of alcohol used in the Celtic nations. Most of the spirits listed in the above categories will contain unknown amounts of flavorings with rogue attributes from unknown sources that may conflict with the subtle attributes of the ingredients you will be carefully balancing in the crafting of your essences.

In looking for conflicting ingredients, we are first trying to avoid the use of any of the herbs or compounds listed in the tables of attributes (see here and here). Second, we want to avoid anything that includes an overpowering amount of any particular compound or taste such as highly flavored orange or coffee liqueurs. Finally, we are looking for a spirit that has been manufactured in the most natural way possible, avoiding large proprietary brands of malt and rye, for example.

All of these factors usually point toward a clear, relatively tasteless spirit, manufactured by smaller “local” distillers, and this usually means a traditional rural spirit of ethnic character.