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

The Leaching of The Two Cardinals of The Flower
The Refinement Process: The Complex of the Flower
The Druidic Workshop

Leaching is the process of filtration that separates the now partly enhanced liquid cardinal essences from the solid plant material. The separated liquids and solids then go through the further, independent process of sublimation (see here).

Leaching: The Working

For this working you will need:

· The two jars containing the macerating cardinals of the plants.

· A glass funnel, to hold the filter paper through which the liquid will pass.

· Two filter papers, of a suitable grade as described previously, one to filter each cardinal.

· Retort stand with rubber clamp, to secure the funnel above the receiver flask. Not essential but very useful.

· Two (100 ml) glass bottles with stoppers, to receive and store the liquids.

· Two sheets of 8½ x 11 paper, on which to dry the solid plant materials.

· Spatula, to stir the mixture and help remove the solid plant material from the jar, and to assist the filtering process.

We need to leach both the macerated petal cardinal and the separately macerated flower head cardinal. These two cardinals must remain separate, so for the sake of simplicity I shall describe how to leach each of the cardinals in turn. In practice, of course, both may be leached concurrently—assuming, that is, that you have two sets of each piece of equipment necessary.

We will begin by leaching the macerated petal cardinal. Assemble the retort stand and clamp the funnel so that its outlet is about half an inch (1.5 cm) above the open mouth of the glass bottle. This will allow the filtered liquid to drip directly into the bottle without loss.

Fold the circular filter paper in half and then in half again so that it forms a quarter-circle. Now, by separating the edge of the first layer of paper from the remaining three, the paper will form a closed cone. Place this cone inside the funnel and you will see that it fits the funnel shape perfectly. It will come about two-thirds up the funnel wall. This is your filtering funnel.

Filtering cardinals

Gently pour the macerated mixture into the filtering funnel until it reaches within a quarter inch (0.75 cm) of the top of the filter paper. Allow this first quantity of macerated mixture to filter into the glass bottle below before filling the filter funnel with the same amount of liquid again. Repeat this process until all of the macerated mixture has been poured into the filter funnel. Use the spatula to ensure that every last piece of plant material is removed from the jar and goes through the filter funnel. Once the liquid stops dripping through the filter funnel of its own accord, use the back of the spatula to gently squeeze the remaining liquid from the plant material in the filter funnel. Allow the last of the liquid to pass through the filter paper into the glass bottle below.

Once you are certain that all the liquid has been leached from the solid plant matter, remove the bottle from beneath the funnel and increase the liquid in the bottle to 50 ml by adding more alcoholic spirit. Increasing the volume of liquid by adding more alcohol spirit does not dilute the potency of the essence, as it contains the maximum amount of the plant’s energies and attributes yielded up by the plant material. If the bottles already contain this volume of liquid or more, simply seal the glass bottle, label it “Leached Cardinal Essence of the Petal,” and set it aside.

Basic cardinal essences

Dried solid cardinals

Remove the filter paper from the funnel, place it on the work surface, and open it out to reveal the plant material that was left inside the filter cone. Gently remove the plant material from the filter and spread it onto the sheet of 8½ x 11 paper, where it will remain until it dries. Discard the filter paper; do not be tempted to reuse it, as it will contaminate any future workings.

Wash the glass funnel and place it back into the retort stand clamp. Renew the filter paper in the same way as before and repeat the whole process using the macerated flower head cardinal mixture. On this occasion, label the storage bottle “Leached Cardinal Essence of the Flower Head” and set aside with the other bottle.

At the end of this working you should have four products: the leached cardinal essence of the petal, the leached cardinal essence of the flower head, and the two dry solids, one for each of the cardinals mentioned above.

Store the two liquids in a cool, dry place until you need them. Put the completely dry solids into separate powder jars, label them, and seal them to await the next step in the refinement process, the fermentation.