Magic butter

My mind just goes to wrong places when I think about Magic Butter.

In the sidebar on Facebook a few minutes ago, I saw an ad for the Facebook page for Magic Butter. And yes, my mind went to a wrong place...twice in a row.

One, I live in Colorado where we have medical marijuana, and sort-of have recreational marijuana (large parts of the state is busy making sure that you can't buy it in their neighborhood).

Two, I write erotica--yes, go say Yecch! and complain to the world that I am a nasty person who should not be in Golden Dawn (exactly what do you want me to do for a living?).

Anyways, there is a point to all this...or at least, I think there is.

This botanical extractor makes medicinal butters, oils, and tinctures. And it costs one hundred and eighty dollars.

And I would need it why? (Yes, that is my point here.)

Oh, c'mon now--you thought it too.

All of us who have taken an alchemy class or an extended herb class know how to do this in our kitchens, right? Surely, I am not the only one that had a High Priestess cover the basics of this one, right? If hard pressed, I am quite sure that I could teach the method--and everyone knows that I am a lousy esoteric teacher--so I am quite sure that if you have someone in your lodge/Order who have taken a class, they can teach the class also. We should be knee deep in Golden Dawn magical butter, and probably are...

And if not, well, I guess you can buy a MB2...personally, I can't afford to buy one because my cats are eating me out of house and home.

But I will admit that I wonder how magical butter tastes on wheat-free toast.

You can use Magic Butter to make yummy food.

Green Alchemy

Can you use hops in green alchemy?

Today, on one of the Golden Dawn forums that I occasionally read, Steve Nichols asked if there was a way to substitute renewable substances for the toxic chemicals that are typically used in most of external lab alchemy.

Now, my long-time readers know that me and Steve do not get along. It is a combination of the fact that I am a card carrying member of Golden Dawn (honest, I carry cards that says that I am involved in the tradition) and the fact that I do not value his work with Enochian Chess and other esoteric games systems as highly as he does. In other words, it is for strictly business reasons that we do not get along; we are both writers working in conflicting areas of philosophy and magical practice---of course, we can barely stand one another.

But Steve is asking something that I have wondered about for years. Can we make alchemy more green and less toxic?

Honestly, I do not want to risk poisoning myself, the cats, or my wife. Nor do I want to worry about my god-daughter sneaking into my lab. There is also the little fact that the local police department (as well as the Feds) periodically do raids on meth labs and suspected terrorists---a mineral alchemy shopping list looks a hell-a-lot like a bomb or making list.

(It brings a whole new meaning to the term "turning lead into gold" when you stop and look at the bomb and meth "puffers," doesn't it?)

Now, I like to think that I do a certain amount of green alchemy already. I occasionally work at making plant tinctures. I typically use whatever herbs I can get to grow in my yard. I am forced to work with lemon balm a lot. Lemon balm might be a weed.

Of course, I am not a real alchemist because the lady who taught me my basic tincture making skills is not a card carrying alchemist who can trace her lineage back to the Ancient Egyptians. Therefore, my opinion that plant alchemy is green (planet friendly) alchemy is completely wrong. But it is my opinion.

Now, if I could only figure out something alchemical to do with the hops that doesn't end up tasting like beer.