Finally, I'm getting around to sharing some pictures from Stage One!

First, a photo of raw ingredients.

I was hoping to begin this tincture at sunrise on Thursday, 29 January 2009, as my memory suggested to me that this was the day and hour of Jupiter.

The next New Moon is set to occur on January 26, at 7:55 UT. i.e. a Monday. Melissa Officinalis, being a Jupiterian herb, should be processed in the first alchemical hour of the following Thursday, that is, on January 29, beginning at 7:04 and ending at 10:30 (at my location).

Today, after resigning from a Yahoo group whose moderator was very inflammatory (!), I decided to see what might be out there in terms of alchemical groups...

There are quite a few general magical groups, many of them Golden-Dawnish, which have some association to the subject, but there are also quite a few dealing exclusively with the subject.

General comments on Elements

“It seems hardly possible to define these terms [i.e. Earth, Water, Air, Fire] in such a way as to make their meaning clear to the student. He must discover for himself by constant practice what they mean to him. It does not even follow that he will arrive at the same ideas. This will not mean that one mind is right and the other is wrong, because each one of us has his own universe all to himself, and it is not the same as anybody else’s universe…. There is no right and wrong about any matter whatsoever. This is true, even in matters of the strictest science. The scientific description of an object is universally true; and yet it is not completely true for any single observer.” (Thoth, 17–18).

Yes, it's very nice. If anyone wants to read a blog I post to occasionally...(i wouldn't know why) it's here:

http:// midnightmonkeys.blogspot.com

I had a wonderful opportunity to go see the Who yesterday (Saturday) in London, with my grandson.

Perfect seats! 2nd row floor seats, one seat off the middle... about 10' from Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend... what more could you ask for!