As Alchemy continues to skyrocket into modern popularity, along with it is a broadening scope of educational and commercial endeavours proposing to offer info & purchase of the infamous metallic oils…but all that glitters certainly isn’t gold. All throughout the history of alchemy, patients and practitioners alike have been poisoned or even met their demise through ingestion of improperly prepared metallic tinctures, elixirs
and metallic oils…therefore we should all take heed and tread lightly.
Certainly, properly prepared oils created from metals are possible & can be safely ingested; this post isn’t to dissuade anyone from the subject, or insinuate total fraud, rather it is a call to discernment and due diligence of doing no harm.
Due to the pioneering work of modern alchemists such as Robert Bartlett, we can confirm through chemical analysis the lack of metallic salts or extremes of pH and also show that organic oily compounds occur in these metallic medicines…when made properly.
One common glaring error that has been circulating with popularity as of late is the concept of making “oils” from the chloride salts of metals. A common path popularized by 17th century alchemist Glauber (only briefly described here) is to dissolve metals in the Spirit of Salt (hydrochloric acid) in order to create a chloride salt of the metal. Then Philosophical Wine (acetone) is used to extract (catalyze) the oil of the metal, the menstruum is purged and the remaining oily/resinous residue is dissolved in alcohol.
The issue here is the claim that this produces an metallic oil free of metallic salts…yet many of the metals being used for this work are actually soluble in acetone and alcohol! For example, the popular metals Tin, Copper and Iron chloride are all readily soluble in acetone and alcohol…and are all toxic.
The idea that this simple and fast process alone is a viable path to metal free medicinal oils is simply false, and a simple search of the solubility of these substances is all that is needed to confirm this. Upon evaporation, these substances all leave crystalline salts and sometimes no oily Sulphur, as is the claim, whatsoever.
To produce truly safe oils of the metals, a process known as “sweetening” must be performed at this point in order to remove metallic salts and also excessive acidity. “Sweetening” is unique to each metal, requiring numerous steps, some of which can be quite difficult and time consuming. This process is a method of “humanizing” the final product, not only for safety but also for the purpose of increasing bioavailability by finalizing the transfer of the informational & energetic blueprint of the metals from the inorganic metallic kingdom down into the organic realm of the plants & animals.
Again, there is no intent here to stop the very valid pursuit of alchemical preparations of metals…the purpose of this article is to encourage proper education, safety and patience in this Art. If you are planning to ingest, or even more importantly, to sell to the public, these substances should be properly researched and tested BEFORE they go in someone’s body.
We have an incredible opportunity at this time to access knowledge of this path through books, through sharing with one another, living teachers of this truly Great Art such as Robert Bartlett and of course modern chemical analysis that can help us determine whether our works have produced successful medicinal oils, elixirs & tinctures…or poison.
“Primum non nocere”- Do no harm