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There are two principles active in man; one is the principle of Matter . . . the other one is the Spirit. The Spirit in man sustains the body as the air supplies him with life. The material organism derives all sensation and performs all functions of life solely by means of the immaterial being- the vital force. As a magnet may induce magnetism in a bar of iron, a plant may induce certain vital powers to become active in certain organs. These writings express the ancient idea that all beings, whether mineral, animal, or plant, are animated by an inner vital life force. This vital force has been called by many names, including Prana, Qi, and Spirit, and its study has continued as an unbroken thread from ancient Oriental, Ayurvedic, and Alchemical healing through the more recent systems of Homeopathy, Eclectic medicine, and the Vitalist tradition. Since 1991, our work has been the creation of extracts to support both the physical body and its inner vital force. The philosophy and practice of alchemy, and its offspring Spagyrics, are particularly well suited to this truly holistic approach. Like other philosophically-based healing traditions, alchemical thought is characterized by a belief in a life force inherent in all things, a life force which seeks to protect and preserve itself and the body in which it resides. This self-preservation manifests as what alchemists call "intelligence", or the ability of the life force to reach out through the physical vehicle and react to stresses and threats as needed. In the vegetable kingdom, these reactions create the many ways in which plants adapt to their environments to survive, and because of the affinity between plants and animals, the physical manifestations of these reactions, such as chemical constituents or structural qualities, can often be used for healing. Of course, this knowledge is not new to mankind, and many medical systems take advantage of the healing properties that plants can give us. Very few of these medical systems, however, work with both the physical properties that heal and the vital force which is the source of healing. Most systems of herbal medicine practiced today focus on the physical and chemical properties of the plants used as medicine. Homeopathy, by contrast, emphasizes the energetic aspect of the plant's action. But both of these approaches are a type of isolation, in which only one aspect of the plant's manifestation is used, and on only one level of being. Alchemy and Spagyrics are an approach of synthesis, taking the physical reaction/chemical aspect of the plant to its highest concentration, while still preserving the integrity of the plant's vital force. In our work, both chemistry and vitality are purified and elevated in separate laboratory processes, then recombined and put through a process that is a continuation of the plant's own growth cycle. This process allows the plant, still whole and with none of its aspects discarded, to re-integrate into a higher level of concentration and energy. Like the original growth conditions which created the plant, this second period of alchemical growth takes place in a warm environment, and allows the Spagyric process to perfect what Nature created. The results are medicines which are pure carriers of the plant's total healing potential, supporting the physical body through chemical constituents and synergistically transferring the plant's life force to the energetic body. In our laboratory, we start with the highest quality herbs possible, changing suppliers seasonally or in response to quality changes, and we use organic or wildcrafted herbs for about 90% of our extracts. By using the Spagyric art in different ways, we create different levels of medicine, focusing on different levels of being, action, or health needs. Spagyric Essences and Spagyric Essences Plus are created to be supportive of the body's functions and actions, and as specifics in the case of illness or imbalance. Although all levels of the plant's being are preserved and elevated in all of our work, the physical concentration of chemicals and constituents is the focus in this level of processing. For both of these Essences, we first perform an alcohol process which extracts many of the plant's constituents and opens the plant body to allow access to otherwise insoluble materials. We then further extract using an energetic hungry water, which gives the Essence a new range of physical and energetic qualities. After the plant matter has been fully extracted in the alcohol and water, it is made into an ash and finally a purified clear or white crystalline salt. This salt carries alkaloids and minerals in a type of Oligo form. This salt is re-introduced to the liquid and the whole is incubated for its alchemical growth phase. The Essences are made from 325 grams of plant to 3 liters of 65% alcohol, and the Essences Plus are made from 600 grams of plant to 3 liters of 80% alcohol. We have found in our work that this 3 liter total size is the most that can be made at one time while still maintaining a coherent energetic integrity. To work with this level of Spagyric, the proper Essence or Essence Plus is first chosen. Essences, with a dosage of 5-10 drops, twice daily, are the most widely used of our products, and offer the most choices. Essences Plus were created from herbs with healing potential for deeper or longer-term imbalances, and are often used because their lower dosage, 3-6 drops twice daily, is easier and more convenient in longer courses of therapy. We offer nearly one hundred different herbs as Essences and Essences Plus, including those most widely used in healing, and the proper one can be selected by applying the diagnostic methods and prescribing information which you or your health care practitioner already use. The Spagyric processing results in extracts in which the therapeutic effects healers know and rely on are still present, but in a magnified state. Additionally, since they are purified holistically at all levels of the plant's being, they carry the plant's vital force, and act with much greater efficiency, more balance, and fewer unwanted effects than conventionally-made medicines. This two-fold action naturally supports the body's specific and symptomatic efforts to re-balance itself as well as bringing the whole being into a higher state of balance above the level of the original illness. For work going beyond treatment of specifics and into a proactive approach of ongoing support of higher levels of wellness, we created our Spiritualized Essences. For this level of Spagyric, we use 600 grams of plant to 500 milliliters of 95% alcohol from grapes. The plant is extracted in one long, intensive process, and the remaining plant matter is made into a salt in much the same way as in the Essence-level work. All of the work on the Spiritualized Essences, though, takes place with much more refined ingredients and processing than the lower-level Essences. The alcohol is a higher percentage and more refined quality, the salts are Spagyrically revived, energized, and volatilized, the overall extract is more concentrated, and the alchemical growth cycle is longer, more active, and more complex. To successfully work with the Spiritualized Essences, any specific imbalances, illnesses, or symptoms should first be worked out using Essences or Essences Plus. Then, more long-term health goals should be developed. This lifetime approach should consider factors such as past illnesses and any continuing weaknesses, family history, and lifestyle. This ongoing health plan should have as its goal the preservation of functional life, not just life span, and the maintenance of perfect health on all levels of being. After evaluating these variables, areas of life and health will be found which need more support than others. These areas, which generally correspond to organs or organ systems, can then be supported with the Spiritualized Essence. Each plant acts on some organs more than others, and examining the direction that a plant's actions naturally take in any normal diagnostic system will help in choosing the proper Spiritualized Essence. The therapeutic actions and organ affinities of plants are preserved in our work, but our processing is unique in that it refines the Spiritualized Essence to a level of overall support of the vital energy of whole organs and organ systems, rather than just one of the organ's actions or functions. By focusing our processing on the plant's intelligence and life force that are the heart of its healing properties, the natural affinity that plants have for humans becomes a synergy, and the body's ability to truly adapt instead of merely reacting is supported. This support of true wellness, maintained with a dosage of 1-3 drops every other day, enables the body to stop the peaks-and-valleys syndrome that is so common in illness and healing, which leaves the body drained even when an illness has been successfully fought off. In the long-term, the use of the Spiritualized Essences as a support and tonic to the health and vitality of the organs and their systems fits perfectly with the approaches favoured by many in all fields of health care. The search for the Elixir of Immortality of the alchemists, the work of Rasayana of ancient India, and the Taoist inner and outer practices for longevity are the real core of what became Paracelsian-based medicine, Ayurveda, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. The discoveries of healers in pursuit of the higher goal of longevity led to important medicines for the specific ailments and states of imbalance that are more common to the human race, but the hope of all healers is still the realization of a state of sustained health and balance that frees each of us to pursue true wellness and personal growth. The integration of physical and subtle, herbal and energetic, that our work offers makes our Spagyrics the perfect complement to any discipline or system of healing, and we offer further reading, tapes and seminars to assist anyone wishing to integrate our work into any type of healing. For available herbs, prices, and ordering information on our Spagyric Essences, Essences Plus, and Spiritualized Essences, visit our shopping area or contact us. In addition to the Energetic Spirit-level of healing work described above, we also make Spagyrics for Physical healing of the Body level and for Initiatic work with the Soul level of being |
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