The following page of instructions was extracted directly from the book "Initiation into Hermetics" by Master Franz Bardon.
Any object can be influenced by any fluid, regardless of being loaded electrically, magnetically, with elements or akasa, through the aid of imagination and the will. But according to the laws of analogy and by experience, it has been found out that not each object and not each kind of liquid is suitable to retain an accumulated power for a long time or to accumulate it at all. Similar to the fact that electricity, magnetism and heat have good and bad conductors, the higher powers offer the same bipolar aspect. Good conductors own an enormous accumulative capacity because the powers concentrated in them are stored up and can be held back at will. In the hermetic science such accumulators are called “fluid condensers”.
The Fluid Condensors
Types of Fluid Condensers ~
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There are three principal groups of them: 1, solid fluid condensers; 2, liquid fluid condensers; 3, aeriform fluid condensers.
To the principal group of solid fluid condensers belong, first of all, resins and metals. As for the metals, gold occupies the highest rank. Tiniest jots, even atomic particles of gold grants an enormous amount of condensation power to any liquid. For this reason, gold is added in smallest portions to any fluid condenser. But more about this subject will follow later on.
The second group comprehends lacquers, oils, tinctures and extracts composed from resins that have been produced by certain plants. Just as gold occupies the first rank among the solid
substances, being analogous to the sun, viz., corresponding to the power and the light of the sun, so among the fluid substances the human blood and seed – the sperm – play the part of gold. Sometimes they can replace the gold completely, because tiny particle of blood or sperm dropped into a liquid will grant an excellent accumulative power to it.
To the third group are attributed all kinds of fumigations, flavors, smelling waters, and evaporations about which I will not talk in detail because they are less important for the magic practice. Apart from that, I will treat only of the most valuable fluid condensers that
are required for the practice. Should I have to quote all these various kinds here, their production and the possibilities of using them, and all the precious and semi-precious stones too, which doubtless may be excellent condensers this brief summary alone would grow into a voluminous book.
There are two kinds of fluid condenser preparations. In the first line there is the simple type made form one material or one plant being most useful for any purpose. The second kind consists of compound fluid condensers that are prepared from several materials or plants owning extremely strong accumulative properties. Since a small quantity of gold has to be added to any fluid condenser whatever, the magician’s attention was directed to gold first. He can get it as soluble gold chloride. One gram of gold chloride diluted I 20 grams of distilled water produces a wonderful gold tincture. 5-10 drops of this tincture are sufficient for 100 grams of a fluid condenser. Those people who are experienced in laboratory work can produce a gold tincture by electrolysis. Homeopathic medicines such as aurum chloratum and aurum muriaticum are gold chloride. Aurum metallicum is colloidal gold produced by electrolysis.
Supposing that you have no opportunity to obtain gold tincture, you can produce it yourself in the manner of the ancient alchemists. Take a piece of the best quality gold (at least 14 carats). Prepare some distilled water equal to ten times the weight of the gold. Heat the piece of gold in an open flame until it is red hot, then throw it into the water. Take care that the tool or wire you are using to hold the gold does not touch the water. The best thing is a wire hook from which you throw the gold into the water. Take care not to be splashed by the hissing water. Now let the water and the gold cool down and repeat this procedure 7-10 times. Add more water, since some of it will boil off each time you cool the gold. Each time, tiny particles of gold – colloids – are liberated, and thus the water will become saturated with gold.
The ancient alchemists called this sort of saturated water or any other herb essence, chilled with red hot gold, the “quintessence of gold in the hot way”, and they used it as an admixture to other alchemistic preparations. But we want to use it for our fluid condensers. The gold-saturated water is to be filtered and preserved. One usually pours 5-10 drops of this gold tincture into approximately 3 ounces of fluid condenser. The piece of gold used for this preparation has to be cleaned for further use.
Preparation of the Simple Fluid Condenser ~
Take a handful of chamomile flowers, put them in a pot, cover them with water, and boil for about 20 minutes. Let cool with the lid on the pot, then strain the decoction. Boil the filtered decoction to about 50 milliliters. Let cool and mix it with an equal volume of alcohol (for better preservation). Add 10 drops of gold tincture. If you wish to use the condenser for your own purposes, you may add a drop of your blood or sperm, if possible both together. Filter again and keep it in a cool dark place, ready to use. Any fluid condenser prepared in this manner does not lose its efficacy even after several years. The condenser must be shaken each time you use it, and the bottle must be kept corked. In the same way you can prepare several
universal condensers from Chinese tea, lily blossoms (white are best), poplar leaves, alruance roots or mandrake, arnica Montana, or acacia flowers. Any simple fluid condenser prepared from one plant is sufficient for normal use such as influencing through the elements or developing the astral senses by means of fluid condensers.
To achieve extremely strong accumulations of power or perform tasks that are destined to produce not only a mental or astral influence but also a material one as well, for example creating elementaries, animation of paintings and other materialization phenomena, we use the compound fluid condenser consisting of the following herb extracts:
Archangelica officinalis (angelica), salvia officinalis (sage), line-tree flowers, cucumber skin, melon seed, acacia blossoms or leaves, chamomile flowers, lily flowers, leaves or roots, cinnamon flowers or bark, leaves of urtica dioica (nettle), leaves of mentha piperita (peppermint), poplar leaves, leaves or flowers of viola odorata (sweet violet), osier leaves or bark, green or dry tobacco.
Three kinds of preparation are important to know. The first and most simple is to put equal parts of the listed plants into a big pot, cover them with water, and boil gently for about 30 minutes. Afterwards cool, filter and gently boil the filtrate to a thick concentrate. Now add the same volume of alcohol and add a few drops of gold tincture, and sperm and blood if you wish. Shake it well and filter into a dark bottle; cork it and store in a dark, cool place.
The second kind of preparation is as follows: put the herbs in equal parts into a glass bottle, add pure alcohol until they are covered, and allow to them extract for about 28 days in a warm place. Filter it and add gold tincture, and your own mumiae of blood and sperm. Then pour it into bottles and keep them for your personal use.
One of the best methods of preparation is to treat each herb or plant separately, whether in aqueous or (better) alcohol extract. After the separate extracts have been prepared, ix them together, add gold tincture and guard it.
One operates in the same way with the other four special fluid condensers destined to influence by the elements. The necessary plants are:
For the fire element: Onion, garlic, pepper, mustard seed or powder. This fluid condenser must not come in contact with the body, especially the eyes, because of their sensitivity.
For the air element: Hazel nut, leaves or bark, juniper berries, rose blossoms or leaves, cherry bark or leaves.
For the water element: Oats or straw, rapeseed, eventually turnip, sugar beet, peony blossoms or leaves, cherry leaves or bark.
For the earth element: Parsley roots, leaves or seed, caraway seed, plantago leaves, carnation flower, or balm-mint.
From the point of view of a layman the recipes quoted here will appear as a dreadful pell-mell, and from the pharmacological point of view one might describe them as pure nonsense. Bu the matter in question here is not the pharmacologic but the magic effect. The eyes of the expert practitioners who know the secret significance of plants, which are so very
mysterious, will detect the correct connection by intensive meditation. One could compose hundreds of recipes on the base of analogies, but this outline ought to meet the requirements of the magician. All the recipes given here originate in practice and have produced fine results. Before I finish with the problem of fluid condensers, I will throw some light on another alchemistic theme that is linked to it, the Life-Elixirs.
8. Life Elixirs ~
The so-called genuine alchemistic “life-elixirs” are nothing else but marvelously composed fluid condensers that have been produced in analogy to the elements and the three levels of human existence. They have been magically loaded in accordance to them. Essences are used for the mental sphere, tinctures for the astral sphere, and salts and extracts for the material sphere, all of them loaded in the corresponding ways. Elixirs produced in conformity with them consequently influence not only the material body of man but his astral and mental bodies as well. Such an elixir is therefore not only a good remedy but an excellent and dynamic regenerative too.
Therefore, the elixirs of sincere alchemists are nothing else but exquisite fluid condensers.
9. Preparation of a Solid Fluid Condenser ~
Since in the next step I am going to describe the genuine mirror magic, the practical handling of the magic mirror, I shall teach the magician how to construct a magic mirror by himself. To manage this, he needs a sold fluid condenser that consists of seven metals. These are:
Lead ~ 1 part
Tin ~ “
Iron ~ “
Gold ~ “
Copper ~ “
Brass ~ “
Silver ~ “
Aloe Resin ~ “
Animal Charcoal ~ 3 parts Mineral Coal ~ 3 parts
The different parts are by volume, not weight. All ingredients must be pulverized. The metals can be filed. Put all the ingredients together and mix well to obtain a real solid fluid condenser.
The Electrum Magicum of the old alchemists is a superb fluid condenser composed of:
30 grams of gold
30 grams of silver 15 grams of copper 6 grams of tine
5 grams of lead
3 grams of iron
15 grams of mercury