Extractio

“In an extractio, one seeks to extract what is often a higher principle from a matter by using a menstruum. In herbal alchemy, this occurs when pure alcohol is poured over the plant material through an imbibition, i.e. slowly and with great sincerity so that the material gradually imbibes and absorbs the liquid. The process involves the herb’s soul element or sulphur leaving the increasingly dying plant mass to join the alcohol’s mercury. In alchemical works one can see how the soul element is extracted from the dying prima materia, often portrayed as a dying hermaphrodite in a sarcophagus, so that the soul can thus draw the power of the spirit from the higher Self or the guardian angel. From a metaphysical perspective, the operation requires responding to the call or light of inspiration from above. One discovers the worlds beyond and allows oneself to be infused by the light of the spirit so that the soul can then return down and, with renewed abilities, meet the old matter or the old self that is dead in and of itself.” - Alchemy: the divine work