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

Single and Combined Complexes
The Nature of The Complex
Workings and Rituals

In the majority of cases, a well-crafted complex will provide all the benefits intended for your working. In some rare circumstances, however, it may be necessary to combine the energies and attributes of two or more complexes in order to address the whole spectrum of benefits you are seeking.

Combined complexes, as these mixtures are called, incorporate the energies and attributes of each of the complexes that make them up. The most important thing to remember here is that the combined complex includes all of the energies and attributes of the complexes it is made up of, not just the ones that you may particularly need.

The area of crafting combined complexes is one fraught with difficulties, and it needs a great amount of knowledge and experience to begin this work. As I have suggested, the main challenge is to fully understand the effects of combining the energies and attributes you are working with. Most of us have the capability to focus on the things we want and to overlook the unwanted, more negative aspects. This is also the tendency with practitioners new to this area of work. It is easy to forget or to push aside the unsuitable aspects of complexes’ attributes and just focus on the ones we are looking for. The results of this approach will be the inevitable inclusion of certain energies and attributes that will not help—and may even contradict—the effects we intend.

This work is complicated further by the fact that it is, of course, possible to combine as many complexes as we may feel necessary to achieve the results we desire. The amount of contributory complexes is limited only by those you will have available to you, so the experienced practitioner, with a well-stocked cupboard, may have tens, if not hundreds, of complexes to choose from. Thus, it is imperative to have a detailed understanding of each complex we craft and also the importance of maintaining our workshop ledger with as much information as possible about every stage of every complex’s crafting.

There remains one other prime aspect of crafting combined complexes to consider, that of proportions. The varying proportions of the constituent parts of a combined complex affect the overall balance and effectiveness of the mixture. A greater amount of any one particular component gives its energies and attributes dominance over the others.

The crafting of combined complexes is one of the most skilled activities in the Druid’s repertoire. It offers an infinite choice of variables in both the complexes used and the proportions they are used in. This means that the experienced Druidic practitioner may “tune” the combined complex to suit exactly the needs of the challenge facing him or her.

The other side of this coin is that this very same infinite choice demands that the practitioner know and understand the complexes he or she is working with.

Remember, though, that it is not possible to make a dark potion accidentally, by ignorance. The worst that will happen by combining complexes with incompatible energies and attributes is that the combined complex will be neutral—that is, the energies and attributes of one compound will counteract the energies and attributes of another, thereby rendering the complex ineffective. No harm is done, but a lot of work, time, and valuable compounds may be wasted.

My simple recommendation is to avoid compound complexes until you have mastered the crafting of simple complexes and have given yourself enough time to fully understand their effects. To some extent, this is inevitable, as the individual complexes will have to be crafted first before any combined complexes may be mixed. But let me repeat the maxim I was taught as an initiate: “Never extend yourself beyond your own certain knowledge. Learning, safe experimentation, and understanding must always come first.”

Once you are confident that you are ready to craft your first compound complex, I suggest you begin with a two-part compound—one made up of two individual complexes. Because there is a very strong spiritual/magical component to this crafting, it is facilitated as a ritual working or even sometimes within a ritual Gathering in order to strengthen the work with the combined energies of all those present.