Primum Ens Melissa - Materia

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
― Benjamin Franklin



The method which we will be detailing here will, of course, be the one that we have personally employed, which comes from Franz Hartmann's The life and the doctrine of Paracelsus. It is this particular method which we have followed over the years with good results and possibly the clearest. It is relatively simple, however, it requires some experience to get it right as it involves some knacks or little tricks which we have come to learn from a couple of failed attempts.

Therefore, if you are embarking on making this wonderful rejuvenative, do not be put off by failures, for even in failures you will learn many valuable lessons, essential lessons in spagyrical techniques.

Before we start on the process, let us begin by looking at the raw materials we should gather.

Melissa Officinalis

Lemon Balm Plant

Commonly known as Lemon balm, it is an perennial herb which has a wonderful nice lemon scent. It can grow quite easily under temperate conditions and can spread very quickly, almost weed-like, in your garden if left unattended.

An infusion made with fresh lemon balm leaves is a wonderfully refreshing drink in the summer. It is a favorite tea of ours, as it helps to calm and soothe the nerves, it is most comforting when you are having a cold or flu.



If you do not have the luxury of space to grow this herbs, you will have to check your local nursery. We will require fresh lemon balm leaves for this particular preparation, so if you are buying from your local nursery, try to make an arrangement with them to harvest it on the morning when you are going to collect. After harvesting, they wilt quite quickly, so we have to work fast.

We will need a minimum of 500 grams of fresh lemon balm leaves for this endeavour to worth any while.

Contraindication: Lemon balm is believed to inhibit the absorption of thyroid medications, such as Thyroxine.

Potassium Carbonate

Also known as Pearl Ash or Potash. Chemically K₂CO_3, it is a white salt, highly hygroscopic and soluble in water forming a strong alkaline solution. We have personally used lab grade and industrial grade potassium carbonate, both in our opinion, are comparable and can be used. We will need a minimum of 2 kilo grams of it.






Besides the above, you will also need a number of 500ml to 1.5 litre airtight jars, a distillation train set as well as a good supply of alcohol such as brandy or red wine. We would recommend high proof alcohol, so if you can get hold of grappa or as a last resort everclear, it would be easier to have at least 1 litre of  alcohol at 98% strength, for that is the minumum amount we would need to have at hand.