Introduction
This is an instructional post (by me, anonymous op) on some basic herbal alchemy and a thread for discussion of alchemy. I will give a step-by-step of the most basic procedure (basic as in fundamental) of the creation of primum ens and the two additional procedures that can be used to further increase its capabilities by rectifying it into a complete spagyric elixir.
Primum Ens
First you're going to need
Materials
1. Potassium Carbonate
Also known as pearlash you can either buy high quality food/lab grade or you can purify and create it yourself by burning plant matter to ash and purifying it
2. Grape Based Alcohol
A high alcohol content brandy should do fine, older is better but don't buy expensive shit since you're not going to drink it. If you want to make industrial amounts of primum ens you are going to want to consider distilling the stuff yourself.
>but why brandy why not everclear or high proof vodka?
The essence of the alcohol is imparted into the primum ens during the creation. The price differential really isn't that fucking high anyway, maybe twice the price at the most.
3. Fresh plant matter
Now here's the deal. Unless it's a plant that contains most of its key components in the seeds you need it to be fresh as possible in order to get full effects. Yes that means growing it yourself. So spray some ormus or whatever the fuck you do to make your plants grow extra dank if you want maximum quality. Sure if you use some baked dried oxidized to shit leaves you buy on Amazon the result will do something but it'll be like comparing a shot of espresso to a line of 99.9% pure cocaine, you'll get a watered down and shitty primum ens. The rate by-weight of primum ens created from plant matter is about 30:1, so if you want 100 grams of a plants primum ens you need 3kg of plant material, that's a hell of a lot so if you want quantity you need somewhere to grow that shit, not my problem.
4. Tools and containers
You're going to want some kind of non-reactive metal straining device and the best to use is probably copper or stainless steel no alumnium or plastic, at least one pyrex dish, some pipettes and/or syringes, and a couple glass containers that can be sealed to air tight. For storing the final product I highly recommend you use an amber container at the very least, sunlight and indeed any light can degrade many delicate elixirs. I personally use infinityjars which is basically a mildly overpriced meme brand of containers that block spectrums finer than infrared (all visible light and uv radiation) and put that jar in a little mini orgone blanket/pouch I crafted (alternate layers of wool and steel wool) which might be considered overkill by some but fuck me if it doesn't keep my shit potent as fuck.
Pre-Preparation
Okay you're not quite ready to actually start the process yet. If you're preparing a primum ens of a plant which the seeds are the most active constituent than you can just grind that shit up so it doesn't matter, if you're not you need to grow the plants which takes however fucking long it takes and once they're ready to harvest you can actually start. You can do the pre-preparation in advance if you wish, it really doesn't make a difference.
1. Deliquium
Get that potassium carbonate (this shit will burn your skin off asshole wear gloves), you're going to need roughly 33:1 by weight ratio compared to the amount of plant matter you're going to use, that means 2 oz of plant matter is about 2lbs of potcarb. Now spread it real thin in a pyrex baking dish, as thin as you can get, set it outside or in the cellar every night, collect the liquid oil of tartar with a pipette every morning and put it in a jar. If you want you can just collect countless amounts of oil of tartar like this and store them in a cool dark place, but the shit is caustic so don't knock it over and break it.
2. Purification of spirits
Take your grape spirits (you can use wine instead of brandy but wine requires more potcarb) and put them in a glass jar. Add 0.5g of potcarb per centiliter of liquid, ie use 500g of dry potcarb for 1L of spirits. Add the potcarb slowly to avoid raising the temp too much, then freeze the solution completely (you don't have to freeze but it does make it easier). Pipette/siphon/decant the alcohol that has separated on top into another container and repeat no less than three times. You want it to be pure enough that nothing freezes, you want at least 95% alcohol. Once it's as pure as possible put about an inch of potcarb on the bottom and close the jar firmly so it doesn't absorb moisture from the air and stays dry.
Preparation
Note: I recommend doing all of the procedures out of sunlight and in minimal light, preferably at night. I also recommend never letting the sunlight touch your materials at any point. The Sun gives energy to living things but one they are removed from the source of life the Sun destroys them, the UV rays generally degrade primum ens.
1. Maceration
Macerate with a pestle the fresh root/leaf/flower, the most active component of the chosen herb. For example in the case of Melissa and Rosemary the leaf is the most potent and should be used, while Burdock the root only should be used. If the seed is the potent part and is to be used then grind first with a coffee grinder or some such and use mortar and pestle to ensure a fine consistency. Place the material in a jar and submerge in the prepared oil of tartar, approximately 1-3 inches above the top of the plant, at least two ounces of the material should be used but I personally would not use more than a kilogram in one batch since it would be cumbersome to prepare such a large amount.
Seal the jar and leave for 20 days shaking at least once per day. For best results I recommend keeping the temperature of the solution close to body temperature, 37C/98.6F both in this step and the next step. Make sure the jar is firmly sealed as the oil of tartar will burn your skin.
2. Extraction
Use a wire mesh to separate the liquid from the solid. Add to the filtered liquid portion an equal amount of dry grape spirit, adding some dry potcarb to the spirit before if you doubt the water content in it. Both liquids should be as free of water as possible, the less water content the less the chance of low potency or worse. Seal the jar of combined liquids and as before shake daily for 20 days.
3. Separation
Using a pipette or syringe remove the layer of alcohol and place in a separate container. You can continue to repeat step two with the oil of tartar until it no longer colors the alcohol if you wish to extract it completely.
Take the alcohol portion and dry it. Some use low heat such as a hotplate at the lowest setting. If you use heat I do not recommend going over 37C/98.6F. Once it's a nice syrup and no alcohol remains transfer the finished primum ens to a dark container. The effects of the primum ens are strong if correctly created but unbalanced in my opinion. It is the elements of fire and air purified from the plant. The following two procedures can be used to purify the earth and water of the plant and added to the primum ens they create a complete spagyric elixir.
