The Three Levels of Being

Alchemy, and its herbal healing application, Spagyrics, are the holistic healing lineage of the West. Created by the great 16th century healer, Paracelsus, Spagyric medicine and the philosophical framework for its use are very much the equal to better-known lineages such as Ayurveda or Traditional Chinese Medicine.

In his laboratory and healing practice, Paracelsus studied and wrote about plants’ chemical constituents, but he also studied their energetic and subtle properties. He understood that the physical properties of healing herbs, such as immune support or relaxant effects, were manifestations through those plants of the life force of Nature. As an Alchemist, Paracelsus worked with the classical procedures and processes of Alchemy. As a healer, he sought to apply those processes to plant work for the creation of medicines. In combining his knowledge from Alchemy and healing, Paracelsus created a new way of working, which he called Spagyric.

He coined this word from two root words, meaning “separate” and “recombine”. In the lab, the process is just that- the separation of the subtle and physical aspects of the plant, their purification and refinement, and their recombination. This rejoining brings the plant together again as a living whole, but elevated from its original state. This equal emphasis on wholeness and refinement is unique to Spagyric work.

Nature seeks wholeness and balance, and the plant’s physical self is a manifestation of Nature’s intelligence and wholeness. In Spagyric work, plants are understood as instruments of Nature’s work towards wholeness- every plant is part of a whole, and each plant seeks to be whole. This intelligence of the wholeness of Nature flows through the plants, and protects their life force. It is this intelligent energy that is the source of healing, not the physical chemicals that create the effects. In this way, Nature’s intelligence speaks to us through plants, and it is this intelligence that Spagyrics seeks to bring forth into the medicine.

To protect the whole being of the plant, all that the plant created as it grew is considered important in the final Spagyric. If any aspect of the plant were left out or discarded, its being would no longer be whole and its healing effects would lack intelligence. Many of the physical operations of Spagyrics are designed to refine but maintain all the physical aspects of the plant.

To protect the intelligence of Nature as expressed though the plant, Spagyric processing also incorporates subtle energetic work, such as following certain time and planetary cycles, and working gently following Nature’s own processes to continue the growth cycle of the plant, even when it is no longer apparently a plant in a recognizable physical form.

In the laboratory, Spagyric work has a dual emphasis: refining the physical plant for the body of effects it brings, along with magnifying the energetic properties for intelligent direction of those effects for healing. This understanding of medicine as physical and energetic is unique to Spagyric philosophy, and unique to Al-Kemi Spagyrics is an even further refinement of specific Spagyrics for specific levels of healing.

Paracelsus had a very sophisticated view of the subtle inner makeup of plants and people, and his understanding of this makeup is what we follow in our work. Perhaps the most useful healing insight he gave is that illnesses may be most apparent on the physical level, but that does not mean they originated there. The energetic body and even the eternal soul aspect can be the source of imbalance, and all levels can create and manifest imbalance, which can then travel to any other level.

Not only plants have a three-level makeup- people do too, and these three levels of being play the same role within the being they reside in. The body of a plant has a similar function in the plant’s life as your body plays in your life, and the same is true of the spirit and soul. Each level of being, in plant or person, is part of the whole in the same way. This correlation makes targeting the level of treatment possible, since Spagyrics can be created which emphasize the plant’s body to act on the patient’s body, spirit to spirit, or soul to soul. This innovation is unique to Al-Kemi Spagyrics, and is the most true and complete application of Paracelsus’ legacy.

Following Paracelsus’ work has given us the Spagyric processes that make this targeted healing possible, in which we work with the constituents of the physical plant where each of the subtle levels reside, purifying each level more as we work up through the plant. Spagyrics works though refinement and concentration, so the more refined and concentrated the medicine is, the higher in your being it will work. Each level of being has its own access point and usefulness, and focusing on that level in the plant creates a Spagyric for that level in the person. The three levels of being are:

The Sulfur level of being is the highest and most subtle aspect of the self. In people, this corresponds to the eternal qualities of the Soul, which is most directly in contact with the realm of archetype or the divine, and which contains the total accumulation of all our past knowledge and experience.

In plants, the Sulfur level corresponds to the most etheric attributes of the plant, its blueprint of action and the planetary archetype ruling its effects. The Sulfur level is the inner eternal form of a being, determining its nature on all other levels.

Our Magisteries are our Sulfur level Spagyric, and represent the most refined and sophisticated expression of planetary energy as interpreted through the plant kingdom. They are made using purified Biodynamic wine alcohol, and in the year-long process of their creation we refine and purify all possible plant constituents, including several plant salts and two different essential oils. This process creates subtly different Magisteries each time, with vintages expressing the energy cycles of the time of their gestation and birth. The Magisteries’ effects are not bound by individual herbal properties, relating instead to an entire expression of all the attributes relative to each planet.

Our Magisteries are used to balance very deep-set issues, whether inherited or Karmic, and they work according to planetary archetypal rulership more than individual plant effect. The Magisteries affect the chakras, and can also be used by healthy persons as part of spiritual practice. In this way, Magisteries work on the third and highest level of being, and can address the root causes of many illnesses, both past and present, reintroducing vitality and well-being from the highest levels down into the whole person.

The Mercury level is the mediator between the etheric, planetary energies above and the physical constellation of the body, as well as the mediator between the other two levels of being. Because of this, the Mercury level is often an effective entry point to work on imbalances, as it has the most contact with the other levels of self. The Mercury level is your Spirit, containing the vital energy and life force and determining your healthy qualities and strengths. It is also the level of imbalances from an emotional or mental cause, even if they have progressed to the physical, and the level to use to boost overall vitality.

In the plant kingdom, the Mercury resides in the alcohol, which is the carrier of the life force. Calling alcohol “spirits” is a term direct from the alchemical tradition, and speaks of the quality that this level brings to plant work and healing.

Our Mercury level extracts are our Spiritualized Essences, eroSoma Nectars of Love, and Veriditas Alchymical Initiatics, all created in a 6-9 month long process using much more refined ingredients and processing than the Essences. We use a Biodynamic wine alcohol of very high quality and life force, 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.

Spiritualized Essences act on the meridians, and are beneficial as long-term balancing tonics, either for chronic or persistent imbalances, or to support vitality and longevity proactively.

Salt is the lowest and most dense level, the level of solidity, the body and the physical being. In Alchemical healing, the Salt level corresponds to the physical body of a person, different for each of us, and reflecting in a material way the more ethereal aspects of our selves. This is not always the level of the root causes of illness, but it is often the level at which symptoms manifest.
In alchemical practice, the Salt resides in the mineral components of the plant and the hard structural tissues.

Our Salt level extract is the Spagyric Essence, created in a one month long process which includes extracting the plant salts, the body of the plant refined to crystalline form through our proprietary process. These salts are added to the base extract, in 80% grain alcohol, and the resulting Spagyric expresses the plant’s body and helps to carry its actions into the physical.

Since alchemically all things contain the same three levels of being, including the Salt level of the plant determines the Spagyric Essence to the Salt level of being in humans. This makes our Spagyric Essences useful for simple physical imbalances, organ support, and treatment of many common ailments.

Currently, we offer Spagyric Essences of many of the most widely used healing herbs from around the world, and our Spagyric Ens Formulas are also created at the Salt level.

For more on what Spagyrics are and how we create them, see this post, and you might also enjoy this article on dosing, as well as this one on connecting more deeply with your Spagyrics.