Alchemy Rising: The Green Book&nbsp;is the first in a projected trilogy by the alchemist Heliophilus that aims to unveil the Sacred Art. Alchemy is the central pillar of Hermeticism, essential for both understanding and undertaking the magical work of the Western tradition, which is steeped in its symbolism. As such,&nbsp;the initiatory lessons of this opening volume comprise a valuable addition to the library and laboratory of alchemist, herbalist, magician or witch. &nbsp;The Green Book&nbsp;is concerned with plant alchemy, how to practically confect spagyrical Tinctures, Elixirs, the true Primum Ens, Plant Magisteries and the Quintessence. Also covered are the Plant Stone of Hollandus, the Plant Phoenix, the Quintessence of Blood and the Homunculus. It constitutes a complete programme of practical works from the occult laboratory of a modern day spagyricist.Alchemy is often thought to be impenetrable, breaking the lances of those who challenge it.&nbsp;The Green Book&nbsp;enables the reader to engage in the quest, building on key principles and cumulative experiments. The processes Heliophilus discloses follow the works of the alchemical tradition, and those of Paracelsus in particular, from whose extensive writings he has extracted the virtue, and adumbrated with his own working notes and photographic documentation.Recipes and methods of working are given, and compared with those of Jean Dubuis, Mary Anne Atwood, Frater Albertus, Joseph Lisiewski, Van Helmont, Crollius, John French, Hollandus, Sibly and others, to indicate a path for the seeker to pursue in their own practic.&nbsp;The inclusion of copious folk magical receipts and sympathetic cures (including the rare weapon salve), in addition to the elixirs, tinctures, essences et cetera, make this volume a veritable treasure, showing both the philosophical theories and folk magical influences that informed his guide Paracelsus.The alchemical creations are produced in the laboratory and the field,&nbsp;extracted and perfected from the virtues of the plants growing in his native Shropshire in England. The third part of the book consists of a carefully selected Herbarium, along with guidance on the gathering and uses of plants as healing remedies for body and soul. It is a work that will potentise the philtres of the herbalist or witch and will give depth to the practice of the magic of the grimoires.&nbsp;The Green Book&nbsp;will teach you the art of distillation, how to separate the pure from the impure, and instruct in the foundational laboratory experience that will allow us to unlock the higher kingdoms. Book 1: Heal Thyself Paracelsus Book 2: Ora et Labora The Work The Three Essentials Tinctures Elixirs First Entities Magisteries The Quintessence The Plant Stone The Plant Phoenix The Homunculus Book 3: The Philosophers’ Garden The Gathering Star Gathering Consummation The HerbariumThe Gathering
The Norse people of old would use runes and charms to guide the 
gathering of herbs, the Eastern people also gathered herbs and prepared 
ointments using prayers and benedictions. We hear whispers of 
incantations and rituals being used to gather plants in Scandinavian 
myths, fragments of which would later migrate to British shores. But 
these are rare, partly due to men like Theodore, Archbishop of 
Canterbury, the attributed author of the Penitential of Theodore, who imposed strict penalties on any person practicing the old ways of gathering wyrts.
Some examples do survive, and we find in The Leech Book of Bald, a tenth century manuscript of Saxon origin, the following:

Against every evil rune lay, and one full of elvish tricks write for 
the bewitched man this writing in Greek letters: alfa, omega, IESVM(?), 
BERONIKH. Again, another dust or powder and drink against a rune lay; 
take a bramble apple and lupins, pulegium, pound them, put them in a 
pouch, lay them under the alter, sing nine masses over them, put the 
dust into milk, drip thrice some holy water upon them, administer this 
to drink at three hours…

As Christianity’s authority grew in Briton the monks, transcribing 
the early herbals, replaced these heathen incantations and practices 
with biblical passages and prayers. The following example dates back to 
fourteenth century, (although it is thought to be older), it runs thus:

Haile be thou holie hearbe / Growing on the ground / All in the mount
 of Calvarie / First wyrt thou found. / Thou art good for manie a sore /
 And healest manie a wound / In the name of Sweete Jesus / I take thee 
from the ground.

An incantation gathered from Agnes Sampson, a witch burned in 1590 is
 a ‘Prayer and Incantation for visiting of sick folks,’ it is entirely 
Christian and suggests the following formula should be incanted:

All kindis of illis that euer may be, / In Chrystis name I conjure 
ye, / I conjure ye, baith mair and less, / By all the virtues of the 
mess, / And rycht sa, by the samyn.

Among the most important rites and observations, as to when herbs 
were gathered, was when they were strongly influenced by their governing
 planet. Herbs under the dominion of the Sun were picked with either 
gold or stag horn, the stag’s antler tines being symbolic of the sun’s 
rays. In later herbals, and in the grimoire tradition, a white handled 
knife (the handle made of bone) is often used to gather herbs; the blade
 being made from copper, as this is said to prevent the plant from being
 ‘determined’ by steel or iron. For this reason purists would prefer to 
use a simple mortar and pestle instead of a food blender, but when 
dealing with kilograms of plant material this can become be a wearisome 
task. On this point I will defer to the sage advice of my friend and 
alchemical teacher, old father Nottingham, whose reply, when I asked 
such questions, was always: My dear boy, you must do as your Art demands!
As physic changed from the four humors of Hippocratic medicine to the
 doctrine of Signatures, the princile of sympathetic relationships 
between the body and the universe around us grew stronger. This helped 
physicians predict and control diseases by matching the sickness to the 
cure by means of the plants’ signatum:
The Signatum (or signature) is a certain organic vital activity, 
giving to each natural object (in contradistinction to artificially made
 objects a certain similarity with a certain condition produced by 
disease, and through which health may be restored in specific diseases 
in the diseased part. The Signatum is often expressed even in the 
exterior form of things, and by so observing that form we may learn 
something in regard to their interior qualities, even without using out 
interior sight.
Plants, according to the doctrine of signatures, under Mars are of a 
‘hot,’ temperament, for example, black pepper and nettles. Bright yellow
 flowers are dedicated to the Sun, whereas pale yellow or white flowers 
are said to be under the watch of our Lady the Moon. These, both being 
luminaries, are said to be good for the eyes. Jupiter tends smooth 
leafed herbs, which maybe slightly serrated and narrow, the veins on the
 underside of the leaves being neither ridged nor prominent. Herbs of 
Venus are those adorned with flowers of bright and delicate colours and 
pleasant odours. Mercurial herbs are said to be refreshing and more 
aromatic than others, whilst Saturn hath dominion over gloomy green 
herbs, whose leaves are, according to Folkard, ‘hairy, dry, hard, 
parched, coarse.’
Since the days of the Druids, certain herbs have been gathered with 
the rising and the setting of the heavenly spheres, some being picked at
 the equinoxes, whilst others at the eclipses of the sun and moon; or on
 the appearance of comets and at certain planetary conjunctions. To the 
Druids no journey was taken, no crops were sewn, no timber felled and no
 hair was cut unless the moon was favourable to the undertaking. Indeed,
 a conjunction of a group of stars with a fixed body was considered the 
precursor for contagious disorders, whereas comets or shooting stars 
denoted putrefaction. Kircher, the famous Jesuit, went further when he 
declared that all putrid diseases prevailed according to where Mars and 
Saturn were placed. Mead notes Kirchringius’ own extraordinary 
experience regarding a gentlewoman ‘whose beauty depended on the lunar 
force, in so much that at full moon she was very handsome, but in the 
decrease of the moon became so wan and ill favoured that she was ashamed
 to go abroad.’
According to Martius: ‘primum nemo negabit, lunam virtute sua in 
corpore sibi subjecta manifesto agree et observarunt medici ac 
chirurgic, referente waldschmidio, non solum vulvera capitis in 
plenilunio ob cerebri turgescentiam majori cum periculo conjuncta esse, 
quam in novilunio, ubi cerebrum magis subsidet.’ (That birth and deaths 
chiefly happen about the new and full moon is an axiom even among women.
 The husbandmen likewise are regulated by the moon in planting and 
managing trees and several other of their occupations. So great is the 
empire of the moon over the terraqueous globe.)
Many alchemists prefer to gather on the planetary day and hour of the
 herb, but it has been argued that since changing to our modern 
calendar, that the dates and days of the ancient Pagan tradition have 
become problematic to ascertain. Calculating the planetary hours can 
assuage the purists, but in order to perfect the art of gathering an 
astrological chart is considered the finest guide.
We hear Culpeper suggesting the time when herbs should be gathered: 
‘Fortify the body with herbs of the nature of the Lord of the Ascendant,
 ’tis no matter whether he be a Fortune or Infortune in this case. If 
the Lord of the Tenth be strong, make use of his medicines. If this 
cannot well be, make use of the medicines of the Light of Time.’
In some Herbals specific days are chosen for the gathering, most 
commonly during the early days of May or St. John’s Eve: ‘All herbs 
pulled on May Day Eve have a sacred healing power, if pulled in the name
 of the Holy Trinity; but if in the name of Satan, they work evil.’
In my own experience, and once again I will be scowled at by purists, 
the most important aspect of the gathering is the gathering. And 
therefore my only advice would be to step out of you front door, with 
your herb bag and staff, and go a roving through the woods and the 
fields to discover for yourself what friends and allies you might have 
among the wild grasses and weeds. Follow the moon tides and gather the 
plants before they flower, never too many from the same spot, and always
 with reverence. Plants gathered before the sun rise are best, since all
 their virtues are in them; during the day they work and by sunset are 
exhausted and have less efficacy. Dry (assuming you’re not proceeding 
with a wet distillation of the plant, in which case freshly picked is 
best) in a dark, airy space and when thoroughly dried, place them in an 
air tight container away from direct sunlight. Most herbs will last a 
year, but after that they will lose their potency. When working with 
them, be of a cheerful heart and know that even though we have killed 
this little herb, you are resurrecting it and allowing it to fulfil the 
potential for which it has been created.
In terms of the part of the herb to be gathered, each plant is 
different and research is essential, but since each of the elements 
abounds in different parts of the herb, the entire plant is to be used 
in spagyrical preparations. If in doubt let us defer to those sage words
 of Gary Nottingham: you must do as your Art demands! Some Alchemists 
prefer using the seed alone and on this point Glauber offers his worthy 
advice:

If thou has not so much seed, thou may’st make the medicine out of 
the whole plant, as the root, the stalk, the flowers and leaves: and the
 reason why I mentioned only seed was this, that the chief virtue of all
 the vegetables is occultly placed and concentrated in the seed, else 
the whole plant may (as aforesaid) be made use of, which although it 
yield not so much oil as the seed does yet may we even this way receive a
 good quantity. 

Our herbarium is a compound of old wives tales, herb lore, research 
and the snippets of forgotten wisdom gathered from living on the 
Shropshire borders. This knowledge is by its very nature a work in 
progress, and in no way to be taken as the final word on the subject of 
herbalism. To this end I have tried to include the time of their 
gathering, their planetary signature and finally their application. Each
 of us is tasked to create our own living herbarium from the plants we 
encounter and work with. When prepared by an alchemist, their power will
 be unlocked a hundredfold.
A review by Christopher Bradford
So. The writer states (in summary) quite early in the book that his aim is to revitalize alchemy in the UK.
I don’t know why he’s leaving it at just the UK. This book has the 
potential, assuming you all aren’t a bunch of lazy gits, to revitalize 
modern alchemy period.
I’ve been an alchemist for some time. Well past the decade mark. I 
legit spent the first half of that in a state of near perfect confusion.
 No two books were alike, no meanings the same, progress was near 
glacial. I grew in understanding in the way a paleontologist does, 
slowly brushing off old bones in hopes of revelation, unable to move 
quickly for fear of screwing up the whole mess. I had to learn the hard 
way, to study spagery in Orders and then of course the laboratory. I 
worked Junius, I studied Philalethes. From the Golden Chain on 
down to modern works. Spent roughly eleventy-billion dollars on 
glassware. What you end up with is an understanding that there are a 
thousand methods, but one 'Way' that is alchemical. There are certain 
processes that shine with the light of truth, that are consistent in all
 the works of the operative alchemists. They are rarely explained in 
such a way that it is easy to grasp. There is rarely clarity.
Clarity usually only comes from moments of gnosis; the right line 
read from a dusty old book combined with an ongoing operation and a moment
 when they shine together. I remember when I first understood, in 
Emblematic form, what the Toad and the Eagle within a vessel at once 
meant. I meditated upon the image, and thought about an operation I had 
ongoing at the time, an elixir of Garlic I was preparing. I’d reached 
the point where once makes the spirit fly to join the washed Salts 
(heating the 'mercuric' solution in the retort, so that it rises in 
steam and moves to the other vessel). I remember thinking, there goes 
the 'volatile' sulfur, and looking at the 'fixed' salt, and thought 
'…..!!!!….AHHHH. That’s what the bastards are talking about!' Then 
looked back upon the emblem, saw the Toad and the Eagle, and what had 
once been a pretty picture was now opening like a flower to reveal it’s 
wisdom. When the Language of the Birds was first truly graspable for me.
Well. Wish I’d have had this book.
Heliophilus is very gentle in his use of obscuration; he does just 
enough to drive the reader toward self-discovery, without creating walls
 out of blinds, or misleading. This is, in my opinion, the only sane or 
sensible way to teach alchemy. His reading and understanding of 
Paracelsus are internally consistent. That alone makes the book a golden
 one. Heliophilus is well-named.
Often modern authors go to great lengths to separate Spagery and 
Alchemy; Spagery done to completion is Alchemy, and spagyric processes 
are alchemical processes. Spagery is just specific to plants – what 
makes a thing a work of Alchemy is the process, not the nature of the 
First Matter used. We don’t have a separate name for the mineral or 
animal alchemies, and perhaps we shouldn’t. Spagery should bear a badge 
of honor, for the finest medicines come from the Plant kingdom. Always 
have. Don’t consider Spagery a lesser art; instead, it’s a less 
dangerous and in most cases more useful art, as it’s medicines can generally be consumed safely and by folks of all ages (who aren’t allergic to the root Matter).
I would recommend this tome before Junius. Before the work of Dubois 
and the Philosopher’s of Nature. Yeah, I said that. You know why? This 
will make it possible for the aspiring alchemist to deeply understanding
 the older works. It will enable deeper engagement. This book is a 
Mercury of sorts, a Crossroads-spirit for folks who wish to open the 
roads of alchemy.
I have, for the purpose of working this book, made an elixir of 
Lemon-balm using Heliopholus’ opening of Paracelsus’ process. While 
alchemy is alchemy, there were some subtle differences to my own process
 that I found quite interesting. The elixir in the end is quite potent, 
thoroughly alchemical and an excellent medicine.
This book will join the my own offering on Lambspring, Junius’ Plant Handbook,
 and the PoN course as standard reading for my alchemical students, and 
recommended reading for my peers. It is a classic. If you are at all 
interested in Alchemy, you simply must have it and read it. The light 
shines bright inside, with the only obfuscating clouds providing helpful
 shade instead of storms of confusion. Go buy it. Buy it twice, once for
 working, and one to sit pretty on your mantle. I simply cannot 
recommend it enough.

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