Tour of an Alchemy Laboratory

Hello my name is Dennis William Hulk and I’m going to take you for a short tour of my alchemy lab modern laboratories and alchemy and chemistry share a lot in common with medieval laboratories and the major difference is of course that we’ve got modern equipment today most laboratories are arranged in order of

Operations and alchemy different sections of the laboratory are used for different functions following the principles of alchemy basically the first operation in alchemy is calcination are working with fire in order to purify the elements and the raw materials that we’ve accumulated trying to extract the essence of that material

It ranges from furnaces such as this and and which are basically an oven for lower temperatures and the furnace for the higher temperature work in which metals are melted and crucibles and ashes are obtained and then carried through very high temperatures 2,000 to 3,000 degrees in order to get the

Purification that is desired more simpler calcination processes are of course drying modern herb dryers such as this which can be found in kitchen stores supply stores are used and the basic operations of calcination of course working with heat and polarization followed usually by dissolution operations or working with water and dissolving materials and

Dissolving essences sometimes dissolving the ashes and materials from calcination another important operation is separation where the materials are separated into different layers for instance in fractional distillation or in simple funnel funnel work with filter papers in which the different size materials are separated out and also centrifuging and

Gravity separation is another method of separation conjunction is a process in which elements are brought together in two vessels or a single vessel in order to combine and combine into a new essence fermentation which is a process that begins with putrefaction it’s a major process in alchemy the alchemist

Always had a vessel of some type filled with putrifying disgusting digesting matter such as this for many chamber in which the materials are put inside for instance grapes we’re talking grapes the crushed grapes pulverized grapes are put into a container and the container is sealed with a water seal or hermetically

Sealed from since water is put in here and then the top is put in for an airtight container and that I digest it goes on for days or weeks at a time and changes the chemical composition of the materials in this case it produces alcohol a symbol in fact for aqua vitae

Is this is symbol for the alcohol that we get from grapes it’s the symbol for the purest alcohol in a in today’s world it would be called ethanol in the more general sense use all through industry and even to power our cars but in alchemy aqua vitae is

The ultimate alcohol it is the most spiritual alcohol coming from grapes and is the alcohol that is pervert for dissolving herbs in in alchemy of course alchemist worked with thee with the ancient symbols which which have more meaning for the alchemists and carry some of the esoteric signatures of the

Materials being worked with for instance similar here for potash which is a good name actually because that’s how you form you you take ash and you put it in the pot and you heat it up for many hours sometimes even days and you produce a compound that is

Contains new properties from the ashes potash produced potassium compounds in fact potassium is potash you might consider it a derivative of the alchemists term another popular element and alchemy is sulfur this symbol for triple purified or sublimated sulfur sulfur became extremely important in alchemy and in fact sulfuric acid and

Other sulfur compounds provide a healing and power the industrial revolution for for many decades next process after fermentation is distillation and basically it involves taking a compound an impure compound for instance the dregs and putrified solution from fermentation and putting it in an Alembic which is a boiling vessel

Basically and then putting it through a process of distillation to separate out the materials involved for instance the materials are boiled the vapors go up and are condensed through a condenser and then drawn off in the vessel the basic retort which is something like this is it’s the simplest distillation

Apparatus that the water’s just boiled or the materials too spoiled in this Olympic part and then it comes out through the long condenser stem and is collected so the basic shape for a retort is easily recognizable one retort that was used quite a bit in alchemy as is an

Alchemical apparatus called the Pelican the Pelican consists of a lower limbic boiling vessel and then a double chamber or in the middle chamber where a double circulation is going on there are usually two arms reminiscent and the alchemical magic imagination of a pelican picking at its breasts to feed

Its young with its own blood sacrificing itself and a distillation probably the most important operation in alchemy does that same thing it sacrifices the material below to bring out the essences to nourish the stone the solution becomes known as the mother of the stone and and through and through this

Recirculation Pelikan apparatus it becomes purer and purer the longer the vessel is heated so we’ve got the vessel here coming up with the vapors from the material the materials are recirculated in part by the Pelican arms and they go back down into the vessel so it’s a recirculation process and the final

Purified essence of the steam come up into the retort part under the collecting part of the vessel and the steam condenses and then runs out through a tube or the essences can be collected coagulation is a process in alchemy that involves all these processes coming together so basically

It’s a it’s a operation that concludes of itself if the previous work was done accordingly but there’s all types of intermediate operations that go on in alchemy as in chemistry to produce the desired product but the difference is it’s not a commercial enterprise alchemy isn’t interested in producing essences

And delving into the mystery of matter and there’s a component in alchemy that is not present in chemistry and it’s basically a meditation area every L chemical laboratory by definition has an oratory or a meditation tabernacle or a space set aside for meditation were the energies of the above and the below brought

Together in one operation you have the male and female alchemists coming together a kind of a lateral conjunction of feminine and masculine consciousness coming together to focus on what’s going on in the áthen or the furnace of the alchemist bringing together the essences the essences above our imagination and consciousness of the alchemists

Themselves as well as drawing down energies from above and that is the whole conjunction vertical conjunction going on here between the powers above and the powers below the chemists don’t work like that so the whole operations a whole of operations and alchemy and the meditative work the practical work in

The lab and the work on one’s own psychology in fact that simultaneous changes would take place between the alchemists and and the material he’s working with is a very intimate relationship not following chemistry and the focus on essences the minut and tiny hidden essences of everything the sulfur

Mercury and salt this the soul of spirit and body of everything can be released to transform it into a higher incarnation so essences are the key and the goal of alchemy