Saluete, and welcome to my report on Step 1 of our first laboratory experiment!

The theoretical description of this Step (i.e. prior to us actually undertaking it) follows immediately; the practical report (i.e. once I actually tried it) follows farther down.

Procedure for this step (keeping in mind safety precautions, the keeping of detailed and accurate records at all times, and proper Spiritual preparation!

1. Grind the Herb. The Gotu Kola which we obtained seems to be in fairly small bits as it is, so it probably doesn't need much grinding. However, some processing on the Alchemist's part serves to build a connection between the Herb and the Alchemist. Remember that Alchemy differs from chemistry in the involvement of the Alchemist!
2. Separate the Herb into two lots of 50g each.
3. From each lot, remove a certain carefully measured and small quantity (say 5g) and set it aside in a sealed container (thus you will have two of those). It is best always to measure by weight; however, if you must, measure by volume--but in that case, measure the volume of Herb you had to begin with, so that you know the exact proportion used!
4. Put what remains of each lot into a 1 L Mason jar, which should be approximately 1/3 full at that point.
5. Seal the jar and keep it in a dark place (light will tend to bleach your Herb) until the time of Step 2. A cardboard box is one option.

Note on menstruum: the various options for this have been discussed elsewhere on various Yahoo forums.

Note on the timing of Step 2: if you wish to use the system of Alchemical Hours, there are two choices, Wednesday, July 9th, or Wednesday, July 23rd, depending on whether you believe Gotu Kola is a "positive" or "negative" herb in Junius' sense. In either case, the Step should theoretically begin in the Alchemical Hour from Sunrise, i.e. within 3.43 hrs following Sunrise.

Practical Report

Observations and Reflections on the Step outlined above.

The Laboratory

For my laboratory, I use a section of our shed outside in the back yard, where I also brew beer. It's not the perfect place, and I hope to some day improve it, but for the time being, it has to do. It has the advantage of being very well ventilated, at least. You can see a picture of the area I used for the experiment here: From back to front, left to right, you can see:

1. Back
   1. The high-output propane burner used to heat my beer keg (which will also be useful to heat Alchemical preparations, eventually)
   2. Two two-tiered buckets (a top bucket with perforated bottom within a bottom bucket which, when in use, has a spigot on the front) for mashing grain in beer making
   3. A bin of barley
2. Middle
   1. An old Crown jar with lid, similar to modern Mason jars; 1 imperial quart capacity, of the type which used to use rubber rings to seal preserves
   2. Two graduated measuring cups in cups and ounces on side and mL on the other
   3. A bag containing 50g of organic Gotu Kola from Richter's Herbs
3. Front
   1. An old tupperware tub with lid (which I didn't end up using, actually
   2. A marble mortar and pestle from Lee Valley

8 July 2008

I began my work in the evening with a preparatory meditation (for those for whom it will mean something, Rītus Columnæ and activation of the Earth Centre (I realised later that at some point I should have activated the Water Centre also). NOTE: putting in comments which will only make sense to our Initiates is not an attempt to play the "I've got a secret but I can't tell you" game--it's just unavoidable given that there are two audiences reading this. Readers are welcome to ignore these or substitute appropriate equivalents for them. I placed small quantities of herb in the mortar, about 1 tbsp each time, and ground the herb in the invoking sense while vibrating the name of the Earth Ruler on each stroke (with Inhalation that makes 4 strokes per vibration); for each quantity of herb I used the name 3 times, making a total of 12 grinding motions each time. Then, I placed the somewhat ground portion of herb into the larger measuring cup. Observation: it seemed to me that the herb was probably already in a suitable state for maceration, but I felt that it would be helpful to work it somewhat just the same, in order to form a bond. Here is a photo of the results: Note the following:

1. I made a bit of a mess, as you can see, since I was insufficiently careful (to be expected when inexperienced), and either ground too rapidly, or too great a quantity at one time, or both). Unfortunately, since the workbench (being outside) was far from sterile, I was reluctant to collect the spillage and put it back into the Work. Thus, some ingredient was lost.
2. I had forgotten my watch in the house, so I was not able to record the time I spent on the grinding. Perhaps not a great sin, but nevertheless regrettable.
3. I had forgotten the face mask. My lungs were clearly affected by the dust from grinding; this was a safety violation. One should avoid such violations because first of all, any amount of foreign substance in the lungs is undesirable and can lead to irritation; and furthermore, developing sloppy habits now could lead to potentially serious consequences later (suppose I had been working with Foxglove, Belladonna, or the like?)
4. It became evident that the PoN suggestion to have a glass pane between oneself and the herb is in some ways superior to the facemask, if one wishes to chant or vibrate effectively, perhaps.
5. In all I ground 50g of herb, which measured 275 mL in total (the loss from sloppiness was relatively small). This is a helpful correspondence, as you will see below. Readers can use this as information, but I would recommend that every Artist do his/her own measurement, since of course the figures will depend upon one's grinding.
6. The pestle evidences striations from the resins in the herb (even though it was dry). This shows that the pestle is also being affected by the grinding, and presumably over the long haul will be changed somewhat. As a result, the Tool will in a sense bear the signature of its user, in the same way that a fountain pen wears to suit its owner, and works less well for another person. We see here the comprehensiveness of the Alchemical Work!

I then placed the herb in the jar. I realised that this would have been facilitated by having a large funnel with a big opening to aid in pouring the herb into the jar without spillage. Elementary, of course, but in one's enthusiasm to get on with the work, one can easily omit small but potentially significant things! Here is a picture of the herb in the jar. As one can see, it comes fairly close to satisfying the ideal of filling the container to 1/3....

9 July 2008

I set my watch to 4:00 so as to wake up in plenty of time to grind the second bag of herb and be done before sunrise, which in my area was at 5:49. I woke up on time, but it was still quite dark, and as my shed has no electricity, I didn't see how I could work then; I dozed on and off a few times, and ultimately didn't awaken again until approximately 5:25, which of course left me little time. Indeed, I did not finish by sunrise, but somewhat later, though still well within the first Alchemical Hour of the day. Another lesson! This time, I remembered my watch, so was able to record the timings for various activities. I still forgot the mask, being somewhat sleepy (in future, keep a checklist and do preparations in advance!), but I did remedy the dirty bench top by placing a nice clean pine board over it, so that this time, I was able to collect the little bits which went astray. I felt that a wooden board would be appropriate, as it is plant matter itself and so suitable to the Work. Here is a photo of the results this time: (You can see my tablespoon measure on the left and the base of my bottle of 1.14 L St. Rémy brandy in its Liquor Control Board of Ontario bag on the right.) Here are the timings for this operation:

1. 5:44 Rītus Columnæ + Earth Centre activation
2. 5:48 Begin grinding process of second 50g bag of herb
3. 6:07 End grinding process; herb volume is 275 mL, as before. I removed a 15 mL portion of herb and returned it to the bag, leaving 260 mL in the jar. By the correspondence of volume to weight, 260 mL = 260/275 * 50 g = 47.3 g; 15 mL = 15/275 * 50 g = 2.7 g.
4. 6:14 I added 100 mL of brandy to the herb.
5. 6:15 I added another 100 mL of brandy.
6. 6:16 I added another 100 mL of brandy; the herb was just covered.
7. 6:17 I added another 100 mL; looked like it could use just a tad more to have some "room to manoeuvre".
8. 6:18 I added a final 100 mL, for a total of 500 mL.
9. 6:20 I added 500 mL to the previous night's jar after removing an identical portion from it as well.

Here's a picture of the result. The jar to which I had added brandy incrementally is on the left. As can be clearly seen, the jar on the left has a lower brandy level than the jar on the right. There are several possible reasons for this. First, measuring small quantities iteratively involves a certain error each time, which is compounded as one goes along. Given the light conditions, I had to move to the door of the shed to measure, meaning that I was holding the measuring cup in the air, and my measuring may have been off. Also, it is possible that the measuring cup is not all that accurate, particularly at the lower level. Volumetric flasks should be part of my next acquisitions.... I decided to measure the brandy left in the bottle, and indeed there was more there than the 140 mL expected (1.14 L minus twice 500 mL). So I took the difference and added it to the first jar to correct the situation. It is interesting to note the clear three-level division in the jar. I placed the jars in a cardboard box which I then set on the back of the refridgerator to keep warm. I had placed my thermometer there several days before; upon inspection it read 27.5°C. PoN lessons recommend at least 19°C, and I gather from readings and from talking to more experienced persons that 37°C is ideal. So that's not bad at all!