This is my first comment on this website. Infact i made an account just to participate in this conversation.
I am interested in experimenting with the process outlined in the book of aquarius, right now my circumstances doesn't allow me to pursue my interest but as soon as I get the opportunity i am planning to build a laboratory out in the woods, the laboratory i am planning to build will either be a wattle & daub type structure or something like a cob building which i will build in my spare time and i am also planning to build all the necessary equipment by hand ( including manual glassblowing of the retort )
If i remember correctly the author recommend using some modern tools particularly the use of electricity for heating rather than using wood like the historical alchemist/chemist were most likely to use. Personally i am planning to go completely "old school" and use chopped wood & twigs in an earthen athanor that i will build.
I won't have the opportunity to constantly attend and inspect the work ( the urine ) so i am planning on juggling between experimenting with the alchemy and working at a job that i will soon be starting out. i am planning to go and check upon the work every morning and evening before and after work every single day of the week without fail and i will also attend to the work and record it's progress whenever i have the spare time. it's likely that because i won't have the opportunity to inspect and adjust the athanor or the cooking at any time of the day ( like having to wait after work before i can refuel the athanor) that the work will take even more time to complete than it already does, but i will try my best.
The author of *the book of aquarius* said something to the effects that after slowly cooking the urine for a few weeks, it will crystalize or turn into small white globules of sort and this is the first preliminary step before attaing the "black stage". If i can make the urine crystalize in the way he described i will take that as a good indicator that i am doing the right thing and it will also work as a trial on the author to see if he indeed have real insight about alchemy or if the book is just deceit. Admittedly i have little knowledge about chemistry and this may just be a normal chemical reactions of the urine.
I am planning to document the process both in a personal notebook but also online for the whole world to see in either livejournal.com or some other inconspicuous website.
if i fail i will eagerly document the whole thing and either give suggestions for what i think i did wrong and give advice for other alchemist to be aware of things that can hinder or spoil the experiment or warn everyone to stay away from this author if i suspect the whole thing is just rubbish.
but if i actually get a sense that i am getting extraordinary or supernormal effects instead of ordinary or normal chemical reactions i will probably be more prudent with how much information i will be willing to give out.
i am willing to document my progress up to the black stage (if i attain it ), but i am actually debating if documenting the actual stone ( either the red or white version) is sacrilege and shouldn't be openly or undiscriminately exposed. all the alchemical authors (including Issac newton who failed) were against openly giving or sharing the stone as it were seen as a blasphemy against God, many of the alchemist would supposedly pray and sing in their laboratory because the work wasn't seen as a completely mundane and normal chemical experiment but as an godly or occult mystery that deserved reverence and pious respect from whoever would try to attain gold and longevity.
some may say that there is no need to be secretive about this since the author after all gave the book freely for anyone to read. Yes this is true but there is still a great necessity for some secretiveness after all why didn't the author give out his full name and address instead of writing anonymously? Why didn't he contact world governments and universities instead of putting all his ideas in some obscure book that will only be read by a small niche circle of alchemy enthusiast and with an even smaller circle of people actually taking the ideas to Practical and experimental scrutiny? so even if the whole process of attaing the stone is outlined in the book, alchemy will still remain a secret although an open secret.
I hope some of you will reply to this lengthy message (and pardon any grammatical mistakes) . I want to get into regular contact with anyone who are actually serious about this and regularly ( and i am thinking of a weekly or monthly basis here ) message and correspond with me online either over some email or on a website like livejournal.com or anything else.
I want to correspond with serious alchemical practioner in the same spirit that the old alchemist themselves did when sending letters to each other, now due to the internet we can write to each other from around the globe!
Please reply me for further discussion.
