Q. Sal ammoniac (extracted with alcohol) should be distilled three times in making KM. Each time you distill there is a very dark residue left in the distillation flask. Even when the sal ammoniac is sublimed three times and then distilled there is still a dark residue left. Over a period of two or three years I saved this dark residue from distilling sal ammoniac until I had a 250 ml flask almost full. I never knew if it had any use or value but saved it as some people save string - reluctant to throw it out but skeptical of its value. Comments please!

A. Save it but don't use it for anything at present, except for charging the KM by adding pure alcohol to it and redistilling.

Q. My understanding is that an alcohol tincture of a mineral is beneficial and circulates through the body quickly because there is an affinity between the blood and the spirit in the alcohol! What is the purpose of striving for the "Dexterous Distillation," or the oil of antimony, when oil and alcohol do not mix! Doesn't just a tincture suffice for our purposes?

A. In most cases a tincture suffices, but the oil of antimony does indeed mix with alcohol in its first stage, similar to an ethereal plant oil that mixes with alcohol.

Q. Mineral tinctures made with ether have considerable impurities! Can a mineral tincture be made with nitric or sulphuric acid - then wash out the acid and then make an alcohol tincture? And would this tincture be an unfixed tincture?

A. It would be an unfixed tincture but not a pure mineral tincture per se, as one would work with nitrates and sulphates of the mineral in question.

Q. What compound of chemical elements or what element most closely resembles Gur in nature?

A. Alkaline substances.

Q. When the acetone menstrum over the antimony fume has been precipitated with a supersaturate solution of an alkali base and filtered and this filtered residue dried and the oil of antimony extracted from this by alcohol in a soxhlet extractor, will the remaining material in the soxhlet thimble yield any vinegar or fixed spirit after this material is dried and a dry distillation is attempted?

A. No.

Q. What is the sulphur of Mars? Magnetite? Lodestone? Pyrite?

A. In iron pyrite and those mentioned here it is crude sulphur, in parachemy it is the oil (alchemical sulphur).

Q. Would Pitchblende be more or less significant, alchemically speaking, as say Galena?

A. Pitchblende would yield radium, Galena lead, but both would have the alchemical mercury.

Q. For alchemical operations can we purchase aqua fortis, nitre, vitriol, rectified spirits of turpentine?

A. Yes, you can but it would be necessary to know how they were produced in the first place.

Q. Are quartz crucibles and flasks used in alchemical operations?

A. Yes, they can endure more heat.

Q. How closely related, if at all, are turpentine and amber?

A. Both are from the pine and fir trees originally.

Q. Is a Leibig straight condenser better than a coiled condenser when extracting The Alkahest?

A. A liebig condenser does not cool as much as a coil condenser in this case.

Q. Can I lute a crucible so that it would be air tight in a strong fire?

A. Yes, but it depends on what's in it that could burn.

Q. Is there any difference between philosophic mercury and what some Sages call animated Mercury?

A. No.

Q. In Prima class it was given that Sun = Sol = the Giver of Life. I also have written in my notes that Sun = that which keeps you alive Sulphur. This is also supported by the fact that the first three letters of the word Sulphur is almost Sol. Since Mercury = Life of Spirit, we draw the following conclusion: Sulphur is the giver of Mercury. Is this correct?

A. Your conclusion has merit.

Q. Is the water, the 'Flood' obtained when you don't use a menstruum?

A. Yes.

Q. You have been asked many times about the Philosophical Mercury, I am sure of that. I would like to know, can it be made out of anything or is there something special required to produce the Philosophical Mercury from - or, by any chance, is it a substance known already, perhaps only under another name, or names?

A. The Philosophical Mercury can be obtained from any metal. In some metals the mercury is unripe, as some alchemists called it, whereas in gold it is most ripe.

Q. When Von Bernus attempted to produce the Philosophical Mercury, he observed a poisoning effect - "the flies are falling down dead." The same is mentioned in the article in the Encyclopedia Britannica. Volatile lead compounds may distill over and escape into the air. Could you please point out the danger?

A. It was not von Bernus but Richert in the Black Forest who had this experience. There is grave danger working with lead and its compounds if one does not know how to handle them.

Q. When you speak of the Prince of Peace returning in 1986 in "The Alchemist of the Rocky Mountains," do you refer to Jesus or a great Avatar having attained the Christ consciousness?

A. No, this was not indicated in the quotation from the "Alchemist of the Rocky Mountains". A prince of peace can be anyone whose mission it will be to help in the establishment of peace on earth at a given period. +