Secret Fire

To get the vegetable Fire the best method is to get what the ancients called calcined tartar. According to modern chemistry, this is
potassium carbonate. And we explained yesterday in the Mendeleiev table of elements, that potassium is the element that determines
things in the vegetable kingdom. Since potassium carbonate can be very easily deliquesced, it's put to deliquesce during springtime
and you get a liquid that the ancients called oil of tartar. This deliquescence must be distilled and then we get water that's called Angel
Water. It's ordinary water, but it's loaded with vegetable Fire. I'll explain afterwards what we can do with it.
The second practical deliquescence - I'm not speaking about theory - I'm talking about practice and what we've tried - is the butter of
antimony one. The butter of antimony will give you a very unique Fire, consider it as universal. That is, the alchemical product that
you can get from the deliquescence of the butter of antimony can be set 2 ways. Simply by the temperature of the incubation
afterwards. If the incubator is at 40 C the vegetable life will develop. If the incubator is at roughly 90 C the metallic life will develop,
but the vegetable life is destroyed. I'll repeat again, to determine afterwards if you want Fire to be set to mineral, you must dissolve
salts in angel water, it's a problem according to your path, but if you want the Fire to remain metallic you must not dissolve the salt
containing potassium. The different salt you can use to get the metallic Fire will be sulfate.
If you take dead copper sulfate, the ones you use to cure vines for instance, you dissolve it in angel water, you will have a Fire charged
in the Netzach world. This is the determination of Fire. For beginners I think this is enough, but we can have a more complex
exposure of this later on. We don't have time now. The second problem is that you have to get this Fire, and the power of this Fire has
to be great to get it to go up the sephirotic levels. There are different methods. For instance, yesterday we explained how to get the
Fire to go up by successively melting the antimony. But in liquids, the best would be several distillations. And these several
distillations allow the sephirotic level of the Fire to raise.
In the case of alcohol this problem is often not solved. That is, if you really want to have a useful alcohol for a stone you must free this
Fire by at least 7 distillations no matter if the alcoholic degree raises or not, it's not a very liberating effect. It's the invisible energy of
alcohol that raises. If you raise properly your alcohol up to 6, 7, or 8 (times) you have a peculiar phenomenon, some yellow drops of
oil appear on the alcohol. Not on the one that's distilled, but on the one you distill. You must eliminate these drops. The ancients
would call it death oil, and when you've gotten rid of this death oil the ancients say that you have the water of life. ("Eau de Vie")
This is said for the vegetable mercury (alcohol), so you raise the vegetable Fire by distillation. We've now seen determination of Fire
and raising it farther, now we'll see another point of view, which is its animation. Which is something different. I have not spoken of
Fire in the mineral extractions, because it's a complex problem that maybe we can see in another seminar. What must be understood
afterwards is that fundamental - and that if you want to make proper stones, mineral or vegetable, the Fire provokes, makes the
evolution of the stone. But the Fire has 2 states. In it's normal state we could say it has something but it's not really animated and in
this state it's not strong enough. But when you put your tincture or your stone in the incubator - and the temperature is at the proper
temperature 38, 39, 40 C for the vegetable, the Fire will have grown a new property inside that will make things evolve. The best
comparison you can get is the egg and the hen. And this is why the ancients probably called the incubator the flask of the
philosophical egg. So when the inner Fire is awakened through the effect of the ordinary fire, the evolution of your substance starts,
like the evolution in the egg.
During all the length of this evolution the Fire becomes very, very fragile. As with eggs, if the temperature is broken (varied or
stopped) everything fails. In the work you cannot break down temperatures until the work is done. And just as the chicken hatches it
must have a healthy temperature - the work is similarly a healthy temperature. For instance, a vegetable stone that's done can be
between 0 C degrees and 90 C degrees with no risk.
A very special property of the Fire that's very secret - I've never found it in a book - is that the Fire has the property to open substances
according to the alchemical sense. And I'll describe an experiment we have done on this and that shows pretty well this. If you want to
make a stone on this level (Hod), you go to a chemistry shop and you buy a salt that has potassium and that crystallizes in
rhombohedric, and then if you dissolve this salt in water, purify it, crystallize it, on Wednesdays on the hour that follows the rising of
the sun, you try to imbibe it with the sulfur of this level, the essential oil of caraway, and you will see that it does work.
If the salt does not open you take potassium carbonate, deliquesce, distill the deliquescence to angel water and dissolve this salt in the
angel water, crystallize it and the Fire of the angel water has vivified the crystals. Do the same experiment on Wednesday morning and
you see that the salt is able to drink the sulfur (essential oil of caraway). The ancients say that the salt has opened the pores of the
substance. We think we gave the butter of antimony because we think that it's something to think of in the future.
Q. When you're going through the distillation to raise the level and the death oil appears do you just filter that out or ...?
A. No. The ancients say you have to have a goose feather to remove it O.K.? Here nowadays it would have to be a decantation, that
would be the best.
To Make and Distill Alcohol
Press the liquid out of enough grapes to make a half gallon of juice. Pour the juice into the 5000 ml round-bottom flask, then add the
skins. To determine the alcohol we are making to a specific herb add 1 or 2 ounces of dried herb (It is really best to use an herb picked
by your own hand; in this way, you know what formative forces are locked up in the herb.) The entire volume of the contents should
not exceed two-thirds of the flask's capacity. Our aim is now to cause a fermentation of the mixture. Add a little brewer's yeast and
sugar and use a fermentation lock to close the flask. Put the flask into an incubator at 27 degree's C. In two to four days the formation
of gas bubbles will announce the start of fermentation. In time the bubbles will stop and the matter will fall to the bottom of the
container. This is a sign the fermentation has stopped. In all, it will take about two weeks for the entire process to be completed. Hook
up the distillation train to the flask using a 2000 ml round bottom flask as the receiver. A water bath will be the best method for this
distillation. Hook up the water supply to the condenser and then turn on the heating element. The impure alcohol will distill over at 80
degree C.to 90 degree C (you can add a few handfulls of sea salt and sand into the water bath to increase it's temperature). Distill the
soup until no more will rise. Turn the heat off and let it cool. Put a cork into the flask and store it in a cool place until needed later.

Pour the distillate in the receiver into another 2000 ml round bottom flask. Distill off all liquid that will come over at 85 degreesC.
Place the liquid left in the distillation flask into a mason jar and save it for later use.

Take the distillate that is in the receiver and distill it five more times using only a water bath. After each distillation take the residue
left in the distillation flask and add it to the watery substance in the mason jar known as phlegm. The distillate is poured back into the
distillation flask a-new each time (after removal of the phlegm) and distilled again. When making our last distillation the alcohol
should come over at 76 degrees C. In this way we can get an almost pure ethyl alcohol. Be sure to record the final volumes of your
phlegm and alcohol.

Another

To speed up the fermentation process add a little sugar and brewer's yeast to the mixture. Use a wine fermentation air lock in a cork to
seal the flask. Put the flask into an incubator at 27 C. In a few days the fermentation of the herb will begin. This process is announced
by the formation of gas bubbles in the liquid. In time the bubbles will stop and the matter will fall to the bottom of the container. This
is a sign that the fermentation has stopped. In all, it will take about two weeks for the entire process to be completed.

Take the air lock out of the flask. Place the flask with all of its contents still in it into a large pot. Secure the flask to a stand using a
clamp and then place enough water into the pot holding the flask so the water line is about 1 1/2 to 2 inches below the lip of the pot.
Assemble the rest of the distillation train. Use a little stopcock grease to insure easy assembly and proper seal. Hook up the water
supply to the condenser and turn on the heating element. In a few minutes the water in the pot will begin to boil. About ten minutes
after that you will see the impure alcohol condensing and dripping into the receiver. The impure alcohol will come over at 85 to 90 C.
When no more liquid will come over turn off the heat and water and let the apparatus cool.

Empty the contents of the distillation flask into a large pot. Take the pot outside and begin roasting the residue. While the feces roast
we can return to work in our laboratory.

Pour the distillate in the receiver into a 2000 ml round bottom flask. Distill off all the liquid that will come over at 85 degrees C. Place
the liquid left in the distillation flask into a mason jar for later use. By this time, our feces should have become a gray ash. Weigh the
ash and place it into a mason jar for later use.

Take the distillate that is in the receiver and distill it five more times using only a water bath. After each distillation take the residue
left in the distillation flask and add it to the watery residue from the second distillation. This watery substance is known as phlegm.
The distillate is poured back into the distillation flask anew each time (after the removal of the phlegm) and distilled again. When
making our last distillation the alcohol should come over at 76 degrees C. In this way we are able to get an almost pure ethyl alcohol.
Be sure to record the final volumes of your phlegm and alcohol.

Alcohol Distillation by Frater Altertus

Alcohol is derived from various sources. It is obtained from sugar cane, grain, corn, potatoes, grapes, wood, to name its most common
sources. Therefore, all alcohol is not the same. This is especially significant where Alchemy is concerned. When we refer to the grain
spirits we speak of that which is the essence of the grain. Thus it should be seen that alcohol is, therefore, the spirit or essence which is
freed from the various sources from which we obtain it. Alcohol derived from wood is known as methanol and is poisonous if taken
internally. The alcohol, or spirit of wine, obtained from wine is the best and most ripened essence of the vegetable kingdom. It has
been claimed to have the highest vibratory rate of any essence in the vegetable kingdom and is, therefore, used as a menstrum to make
extractions from herbs. (Never use denatured Alcohol or Methanol)

To rectify alcohol, proceed as follows: Take any pure non-poisonous alcohol (190 proof spirits) and distill at 78 degrees C. Whatever
is distilled at a temperature above 78 degrees C. cannot be used. Take all that has been distilled at not above 78 degrees C. and place
this again in a clean flask. He-distill at 76 degrees C. The distillate should then be distilled again. This is to be performed seven times
from the first distillation. That which remains behind will become darker after each distillation. Finally, at the last distillation the
distillate will be a crystal clear alcohol. (Do not use methanol.)

There is another method by which alcohol may be rectified. Distill again non-poisonous 190 proof alcohol at 78 degrees C. To every
1000 ml. of this distilled alcohol add 25 grams of potassium carbonate anhydrous. Let this stand for 48 hours. Shake occasionally.
Distill the alcohol once again at 76 degrees C. The distillate will be a rectified alcohol.

The first method above is the old way to rectify. The second method is used today in modern chemistry. Experience will teach which
method the individual alchemist will choose.

It should also be mentioned that in preparing the rectified spirits of wine, it is preferable to use a red wine, the older the better. The
wine should be a pure unfortified wine. Any wine that contains more than 17% alcohol by volume may be fortified with alcohol
derived from sources other than grapes. When such is the case and wine thus altered is distilled, the distillate, therefore, will not be
pure spirits of wine. For this reason the spirits of wine should be obtained only from wine containing less than 17% alcohol by
volume, or else obtained from grape brandy. This is of great importance in Alchemy.

There are various kinds of alcohol, only one is of interest to us at the outset of our work. This is the spirit of wine. As wine generally
contains less than 20% alcohol by natural fermentation, this alcohol (spirit of wine) must be extracted. Since we are interested only in
alcohol extracted from grape wine, we must exclude all other types of wines-apple wine, loganberry wine, etc.

Our next step, then, is to take pure unadulterated grape wine or brandy and pour a sufficient amount into a flask for distillation. The
amount depends upon the flask at hand. It should never be filled more than half full. Two holes should then be drilled through a rubber
or cork stopper. Through these a thermometer in one and a bent glass tube in the other must fit tightly. The thermometer should not
touch the wine, while the bent glass tube reaches barely below the stopper. Now a condenser is needed. This may be purchased from
any chemical supply house. The bent glass tube from the flask must be inserted into the stopper closing the condenser opening.

What has been formed now is known as a distillation train. In order to keep the condenser cool with water, it must be connected by
means of a rubber tube to a water tap. Most likely an adapter will be needed for this purpose. The water will flow to the condenser
jacket and then out at the top opening through another rubber tube and then into a drain. In this way, the vapor that rises from the
heated flask will be cooled and will drip out from the bottom end of the condenser into a receptacle.

Once the heat under the flask is started and the wine begins to boil, a vapor will rise and pass through the bent glass tube and then
enter the condenser. Here the cooling water around the inner tube will cause it to condense and emerge at the end as a distillate,
dripping into a receiver. The heat should be so regulated that the first distillation will not exceed 80 degrees centigrade. A
thermometer will indicate whether the heat must be increased or decreased in order to maintain this temperature.

When about 15 drops have been distilled over and the temperature has been regulated so that the thermometer shows the same degree
of heat, the receiver may be attached to the condenser end. This is done in order to avoid any unnecessary evaporation of the alcohol
or any possible ignition of its fumes. This, however, should be done only after the pressure in the distillation train has become
equalized. This will be after some of the liquid has come over. When the temperature begins to rise above 85C. and all of the alcohol
has come over, there will still be some traces of water in the alcohol. When the flame has been extinguished and the vessels are cool
enough to handle, the train may then be disconnected.

The residue of the wine may now be discarded as it is of no further use to us at present. However, the distillate is saved. But as this
distilled spirit of wine is not pure as yet, it must undergo several further distillations in order to become absolute alcohol. At this point
we should be certain that the quantity of distillate we have to work with exceeds 100 ml. Each redistillation is accomplished in the
same way as the first distillation. As each distillation is completed, the distillate is poured back into a dry distillation flask. During
these subsequent distillations, the temperature must be approximately 78C. At the end of each distillation there will always remain a
small amount of cloudy residue which must be discarded as it contains water. Only during the last distillation (approximately seven
distillations are sufficient) should the temperature be 76C. As this final menstruum contains no more traces of water, it reaches the
spiritual essence of an herb in a shorter time and more effectively than before it was completely rectified.

Another method to purify spirits of wine is by using potassium carbonate anhydrous. However, in the beginning we do not use this
process.

Spirit of Wine
We shall attempt to procure a pure menstrum from alcohol, or spirits of wine. Since there are various kinds of alcohol, we are chiefly
concerned with but one, at the outset of our work. This is the spirit of wine. As wine generally contains less than 20% of alcohol by
natural fermentation, this alcohol (spirits of wine) has to be extracted. Remember, apple wine, loganberry wine, etc., are not grape
wines. Therefore, we stay with wine fermented from the grape. The tyro in our work has to go step by step to master eventually the
essential fundamentals. At present we are concerned about learning all these steps ourselves gradually, as this is so important,
especially later, in our more progressed work. We, therefore, take some pure unadultered wine, or grape brandy, and pour a sufficient
amount into a flask for distillation. The amount depends on the flask at hand. It should never be filled more than half full. Then, in a
rubber or cork stopper, two holes are to be inserted to fit tightly a thermometer and a bent glass tube. The thermometer shall not touch
the wine and the bent glass tube reaches barely below the stopper. Now we need a condenser. This may be purchased from any
chemical supply house. The bent glass tube from the flask is inserted into the stopper that closes the condenser opening.
We have formed now what is called a distillation train. The water to cool the condenser will have to be connected with a rubber tube
from the tap, which needs an adapter for this purpose, to the condenser jacket, where it will flow out at the top opening back into the
floor or sink drain. This will cool the vapor, or steam, that rises from the heated flask and drips out of the bottom end of the condenser
into a receptacle. When all this is set up, the heat under the flask will have to be started and before long, the wine will begin to boil
and the vapor begins to rise, goes up through the bent glass tube and will enter the condenser, where the cooling water around the
inner tube will let it emerge at the end as a distillate, dripping into the receiver. The heat should be so regulated that the first
distillation will not exceed 80 degrees centigrade. The thermometer will show what it takes on heat to maintain this temperature.
When about 15 or so drops have distilled over and the temperature has been regulated and the thermometer shows the same degree of
heat, the receiver may be attached to the condenser end, to avoid evaporation of the alcohol and any possible ignition of the fumes.
This, however, should be done only after the pressure in the distillation train has become equalized, and this will be after some of the
liquid has come over. When the temperature begins to rise to above 85 degree celsius and all of the alcohol has come over but with it
still some traces of water, the train may then be disconnected, after the flame has been extinguished and the vessels have cooled off
enough to be safely handled.
The residue of the wine can now be discarded as it is of no further use to us at present. The distillate we save. Depending on the
amount of wine used for the distillation we either have to distill some more or, if the alcohol in the receiver exceeds 100 milliliter, we
can then begin with the rectification of the spirits of wine. As our distilled spirits of wine is not pure as yet it has to undergo several
more distillations to become absolute alcohol. This is accomplished by redistillation, exactly as the first time, only the newly distilled
wine is poured back every time into the distillation flask. There will always remain a small amount of cloudy residue after each
distillation, which we discard, as it contains still some water. During these subsequent distillations the temperature has to be about 78
degrees centrigrade. Only during the last, approximately seven times are sufficient, should the temperature be 76 degrees. The final
menstrum is more potent when we macerate a herb in it. As it contains no more traces of water it reaches the spiritual essence of the
herb in shorter time and moi-e effectively.
There is another way to purify the spirits of wine with potassium carbonate anhydrous. This process we do not use in the beginning.
Since with the purified spirits of wine we obtain better results in our work we shall always use it for the extraction in the herbal work.