Aurum Potable - An Alchemical Process
A true aurum potable - (Latin for “drinkable gold") - is a rare and special thing, for people living in any age. The power of herbs and their medicinal properties are well known to pharmacology and the public. However extracting the medicinal qualities of minerals and metals is an art still reserved to alchemy and the few. So what is it that distinguishes a true alchemical extract of gold from other preparations? This article will accompany the gallery on the right depicting the process.
Our Aurum Potable formulation comes from a text called “Secreta Alchemiae” attributed to an Arabic caliphate prince named Khalid Ibn Yazid (CE 668- 704). Yazid was a ruler from an Arabic tribe called the Umayyad who was reputed to have a profound passion for alchemy.
Many Arabic texts from the period are ascribed to Yazid and perhaps this was done to lend them validity. Nevertheless, the text that this alchemical medicine comes from can be reliably dated to at least the second half of the 10th century (CE 950-1000), but perhaps it is even older than that. Although this preparation is produced from gold, the final product does not contain any gold in it. The same is true of any alchemical metallic oil - there should be no metal present in the final preparation. Some products out there claiming to be oils of gold are actually colloidal. What is a colloidal? It is when a metal is broken down into very small (nano) particles and put into a liquid suspension. So when you drink a colloidal, you are actually drinking a metal. This is not necessarily therapeutic, sometimes it is toxic; with the exception of iron and trace minerals these metals are not needed for health.
Our metallic oils are not colloidal but are complex organically-catalysed oils.
How is it produced?
In the tradition of Hermetic alchemy, our Aurum Potable is commonly known as an Oil of Gold. It was given this name by alchemists because when the product is created, it physically resembles an oil and it is created from gold. To use an analogy - from a scientific perspective we all know that essential oils are extracted from plants. This is obvious whenever we make a herbal tea. We take a herb, put it in a teabag or strainer and pour a solvent on it – in this case hot water. The water takes up the colour or essence of the herb, and the herb is left behind. We drink the extract and thus consume the herbal essence, getting all its benefits. This analogy applies equally to the oil of gold - even though the process involves many more steps (and time – it takes 1 year or more to create oil of gold!) In the process of creating the oil of gold we use a special solvent (in alchemy called a menstruum) and pull the essence out of the prepared gold which is seen in its colour or tincture, then we can consume it. The gold itself is left separate from the final product just like a herb is left separate from a herbal tea.
One big difference between a herbal oil and a metallic oil is that a herbal oil is extracted from the plant. But in the in the mineral and metallic kingdom, essential oils are actually catalysed. What does this mean? When our specially prepared menstruum (remember, our solvent like in the teabag analogy with water) meets the alchemically opened and prepared gold, rather than the menstruum extracting something from the gold, the gold is actually so powerful and transformative that it impresses itself onto the menstruum. The menstruum itself is evolved, powerfully changed by the gold – transmuted in a sense. It creates an oil and this oil is then tinctured into organic wine spirit.
Why Gold?
In alchemy, gold is perfection. It is truly incorruptible – gold can be taken and thrown into the ocean for 10,000 years and after that time it could be retrieved and still come out perfect. Because of its perfection and incorruptibility, alchemists for millennia have all seen gold as the perfect expression of spirit on earth. Corresponding to the Sun and the solar archetype, in gold light finds its ultimate expression through the process of evolution as a form of condensed energy. For this reason gold also embodies the perfection, illumination and vitality of the spiritual quest. In alchemy, consciousness and physical reality are two expressions of the same Prima Materia (First Matter) – therefore true alchemy is neither spiritual nor physical, but both.
Imbibing this medicine takes an individual on a quest to find their soul’s ultimate expression in life – help one find their inner sun and turn them into their own source of light. Throughout the centuries it has widely been acknowledged by alchemists as a vitality medicine par excellence – boosting energy, speeding recovery from illness, improving circulation, invoking illumination and clarity. Be mindful that it can boost the power of anything it is taken in conjunction with.
Sol Invictus!
