Ripley’s 7th gate. This is most inspiring especially when I feed the plant stone. 

THE SEVENTH GATE – CIBATION

Now I turn my pen to write of Cibation,
Since it must here the seventh place occupy:
But in few words it will be expedited,
Take heed therefore, and understand me wisely;
Cibation is called a feeding of our dry matter,
With milk and meat, which moderately you do,
Until it be brought unto the third order.

But give it never so much, that you it glut,
Beware of dropsy, and also of Noah’s flood:
By little and little therefore you to it put
Of meat and drink, as seems to do it good,
That watery humours not overgrow the blood,
To drink therefore let it be measured so,
That you never quench it from that kindly appetite.

For if it drink too much, then it must have
A vomit or else it will be sick too long from the dropsy
Therefore thy womb thou save,
And from the flux, or else it will be wrong,
But rather let it thirst for drink along
Than you should give it overmuch at once.
Which must in youth be dieted for the nonce.

And if you diet it (as nature does require) moderately,
Till time that it be grown to age,
Keeping it from cold, and nourishing it with moist fire,
Then it shall grow, and wax full of courage,
And do to you both pleasure and advantage;
For it shall make dark bodies whole and bright,
Cleansing their leprosies through its might.

Three time must you also turn about your wheel,
Still keeping the rule of the said Cibation,
And then as soon as it does feel the fire,
Like wax it will be ready unto liquation:
This chapter needs no longer protestation,
For I have told you the diet most convenient,
After thine elements be made equipolent.

And also how you shall bring thy gold to whiteness,
Most like in figure to leaves of the hawthorn tree,
Called Magnesia, as I have told before,
And our White Sulphur without combustibility,
Which from the fire will never fly away.
And thus the seventh gate (as you desired)
In the uprising of the Sun is conquered.

The end of the seventh gate.

Today I started another plant stone project. This time from Lavender. Lavender is well known from its healing properties and the delicious odor.

Here are some instructions to make a basic Plant Stone by James Collins: Basic Plant Stone.

In this project I used just 130 gram of fresh Lavender. Its not much but enough t make a (small) plant stone from it.

The Plant Stone is a very interesting and important process of spagyrics and generally in our Art. It has all the pure healing qualities of the plant in a very concentrated form. So a plant stone is very powerful in many ways when properly made. Here is more information about the plant Stone from John Reid III, in that case a Hyssop Plant Stone Plant Stone In this gallery you see how I made the plant Stone Rosemary till the moment of digestion. There are many different ways of making a plant Stone some are complicated others are simple. The method I used was the method of making a simple plant Stone. Salts of sulfur and salts of salts mixed and added volatile oil of Rosemary.  It takes weeks, months before the Plant Stone is ready for use. Here is a video of the calcination of the Salts of Sulfur the agony of the Soul: