Alchemist’s Kitchen

26 27 so below However pigments and potions are mixed, they will not be truly alchemical unless they are made at the right moments. Timing is crucial to maximise planetary resonances, and this requires an understanding of the heavenly movements. The seven wanderers move through the twelve constellations of the Zodiac that divide the solar year, their constantly changing positions determining a unique balance of qualities for each moment. Internally the planets represent seven specific modes of the soul that the alchemist must develop to progess in the Great Work, while the Zodiac corresponds to twelve processes that the soul must cyclically endure on the path of return to the Absolute. In the northern hemisphere the astrological and alchemical year begins with Aries at the spring equinox, when day and night are of equal length. The process through spring to midsummer then marks the ascent of the Sun, which later declines towards its midwinter death and subsequent spring rebirth. Tied to this, the vegetable realm, as the most immediately solardependent kingdom, flourishes and recedes with the solar year, while the monthly waxing and waning of the Moon controls its juices, drawing the sap to the upper parts and back down to the roots. The herbal alchemist is therefore compelled to heed the injunctions of Paracelsus that he should know the innate nature of the Stars, their complexion and property, as well as a physician understands the nature of a patient, and also the concordance of the Stars, how they stand in relation to all things that grow and spring from the matrices of the Elements. Medicine is without value if it is not from Heaven. As ABove