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'Spagyric', sometimes called 'herbal alchemy' is the production of herbal medicine by alchemical procedures. This procedures involve fermentation, destillation and the extraction of mineral components from the ash of the marc. Paracelsus stated that the true purpose of Alchemy, was not for the vulgar purpose of Gold making, but rather for the production of medicines. ^[1] The term ‘Spagyria’ has been used by Paracelsus in his book 'Liber Paragranum', deriving from the greek words 'spao' and 'ageiro'. The essential meaning of which is to separate and to combine.
He formulated that the nature in itself was 'raw and unfinished' and man had the god given task to evolve things to an higher level. As an example: The 'raw' medicinal plant would be separated into the basic components he termed 'mercurius', 'sulphur' and 'sal' and thereby cleaned of nonessential components. 'Mercurius', 'sulphur' and 'sal' were then recombined forming the medicine.
In nowadays terms this would be the extraction of the essential oils with vapor gainig the 'sulphur'. Then fermentation of the remaining plant and destilling the alcohol produced thus gaining 'mercurius'. Extraction of the mineral components from the ash of the marc which would be the 'sal'. Diluting the essential oils in the alcohol and then solving the mineral salts in it would produce the final potion.
Note that this is a simplified representation of the process which varies strongly depending on the source choosen.

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See also

References

External links

See also

★ Herbalism

★ Alchemy

References

1. http://www.herbdatanz.com/spagyric_or_plant_alchemy_-_1.htm

External links

★ Spagyric or Plant Alchemy

★ http://www.al-qemi.com/welcome/spagyrics/About_Spagyrics/about_spagyrics.html