One of the most common questions we get here at Natura Sophia Spagyrics is “how do I use or work with my spagyrics?” It’s an understandable question, considering the therapeutic approach to spagyrics is a bit different than your standard run-of-the-mill herbal tincture, especially if you are using them to support healing on the Mercury and Sulfur levels of being (psychological/emotional and soul).
For starters, it depends on what type of spagyric preparation you’re using. Our Spagyric Tinctures and Spagyric Formulas are prepared with a physiological focus on mind, meaning they are more oriented towards healing the physical body, organ systems, and maintaining constitutional balance.
When attending to healing the physical body, we feel it is important to “meet your remedy halfway,” meaning that you make any changes to your diet and lifestyle that will aid in your healing process. This might include attending to sleep, food allergies, stress management, exercising more, spending more time in nature, and simply living a healthier lifestyle. Any specific practices that attend to the organ system being worked on is a good general recommendation as well, such as deep breathing for the lungs, drinking more water to aid the urinary tract and kidneys, reducing fat and sugar intake for the liver, and so on.
On Dosage Variances
The dosage range varies slightly from product to product for the Spagyric Tinctures and Formulas, but the general starting range is between 15-30 drops, which is roughly ½-1 ml, or about half a dropperful to a full dropper. Please note that some single tinctures have much lower dosages, such as Poke root (Phytolacca decandra), Blue Flag (Iris versicolor), and Pulsatilla/Pasque flower (Anemone occidentalis), so please make sure to read the recommended dosage for your specific remedy. Most of these products can be taken 3x a day as a good starting point.
It’s important to remember that herbs don’t work like drugs, so if you don’t notice the effects immediately, do not be discouraged, some herbs take longer for their effects to work and be noticeable. Most of our remedies can be taken in larger doses and with greater frequency if needed, so if our suggest dosage doesn’t seem like enough don’t be too afraid to try raising your dosage or frequency a small amount at a time until you find your “sweet spot.” Again, for our low dose botanicals please do not exceed the recommended dosage, or you may experience uncomfortable side effects, particularly in the digestive system such as nausea.
Our Spagyric Essences are a whole different form of extract and are significantly more potent than most liquid herbal preparations. These are a concentration of the essential oils (Sulfur), alcohol (Mercury), and alkali minerals (Salt) of the plants, and are thus taken in much lower dosages than the Spagyric Tinctures and Formulas. To paint the picture a little, the amount of plant material we use to yield approximately 1 gallon of Spagyric Essence would prepare roughly 7-8 gallons of Spagyric Tincture, depending on the plant.
These preparations should be taken at very low doses, typically not exceeding 3 drops per dose. Admittedly eurodropper lids sometimes administer a few drops more than 3, which is ok, but 1-3 is ideal due to their concentration. For all of our products, and liquid herbal extracts in general, it does not matter if you take it on the tongue or under the tongue. Either way it is getting into your body and you will taste it to some extent, which is the most important part. This is why we prefer to never dilute the remedies in water, juice, smoothies, or any other kind of liquid. They are best taken in full concentration directly in the mouth so you taste it (whether you like it or not!).
Meeting Your Remedy Halfway
Now with Spagyric Essences, they are working on a different level than Spagyric Tinctures, oriented more on the Mercury and Sulfur levels. This is due to the fact they are distilled multiple times and made more volatile in nature, concentrating the Mercury and Sulfur principles significantly more than the other preparations. In this way they tend to have a greater affinity for the psychological, emotional, and soul levels of healing. This opens up other avenues for how to work with them and as stated above, meet them halfway.
We like to recommend that our Spagyric Essences are used with attention and intention. Rather than just taking 3 drops real quick and going about your busy day, it’s good to take some time to sit down, take your remedy, and contemplate, reflect, set intentions, journal, pray… whatever practice works for you that helps you to focus on your healing process. Some good questions to ponder are:
- Why are you taking this plant?
- What are you working on within yourself?
- What needs healing in your life right now?
- What bad habits do you need to let go of?
- Are there any patterns of thinking and feeling you want to let go of?
- If so, where and when did you pick up those patterns?
- What people in your life do you need to forgive?
- What do you need to forgive yourself for?
- What parts of yourself do you want to develop?
- What kind of person do you ultimately want to be? How do you want to feel in your body? What do you want your state of mind to be? What do you want your baseline emotional state to be?
These are the kind of questions that help you to start the process of healing the deeper levels of your life, to start removing blockages within the mind and heart, to let go of your burdens, and consider how you want to move forward in a good way. These are often the kinds of questions that we spend a lot of time and energy (whether consciously or unconsciously) trying to avoid, but are important questions to reflect upon to engage in a deeper healing process that Spagyric Essences can catalyze and support.
So we suggest taking at least 5 minutes when you ingest your spagyric to simply sit with it and pay attention to what’s happening in your body, in your feelings, and in your mind. It doesn’t need to be some 360 degree, wide-screen surround sound vision of cosmological proportions… it can be something subtle, a sensation or feeling, a memory that surfaces, a person you haven’t thought about in years… The goal here is to give yourself the space and time to feel the consciousness, intelligence, and chemistry of the plant working within you and be aware of what surfaces.
Another excellent practice when working with Spagyric Essences is to pay close attention to your dreams. Because they are prepared in accordance with the planetary rulers of the plants—astrologically— they function and heal through the astral body, which is essentially the Western esoteric traditions equivalent to the chakras and nadis of Ayurveda, or the meridians and points of Chinese Medicine. As the plants move through and cleanse blockages within the astral body, they tend to open up new pathways that influence the mind, emotions, and also our dreams. It is not uncommon for people to have incredibly insightful and powerful healing dreams while working with Spagyric Essences.
This astral effect of Spagyric Essences also sometimes translates to interesting synchronicities that can happen in daily waking life. I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve heard of people working with Venusian remedies, such as Wild Rose (Rosa nutkana) and all the sudden people that they had unresolved conflict with suddenly popped back into their lives (Venus is all about our relationships and having health and harmony within them). As that Wild Rose starts to work with the Venus aspect of the astral body, dreams and life experiences start to manifest to support the healing of that archetype. So pay attention to what’s happening around you, as life will start to set up opportunities and experiences to heal things from your past that will help you move forward on your life journey healthier, stronger, and rejuvenated.
These are some simple recommendations for how we suggest working with your spagyric remedies. The simple answer is essentially to take this time to focus on your healing process by letting go of bad habits, living a healthier lifestyle, and attending to your heart, mind, and soul through intention, meditation, and prayer. The ultimate goal of spagyric therapy is transformational healing, meaning that you are healed in such a way that you have changed for the better, more vital and strong in the body, open in the heart, clear in the mind, and in tune with your purpose and truth.
