Updated: Balneo Mary Bath

Hi SmoothAmbiguity,

I have only just started on Nick’s Elixir process myself in the last few weeks and I want to express my profound gratitude to Nick Collette for his generous heart in opening up this forum and his knowledge to the struggling alchemy lab students, particularly those who have been searching and experimenting and praying over decades, trusting that Nick’s guidance will lead many to the True Elixir that he claims.

Now a couple ideas, which seem to be working for me:
First re the Balneo Maree bath. I bought a Chinese-made domestic 3-well food heater at a local Australian K-Mart for about US$60. If we have them here, you should have them in the US. Each well has variable heat up to 100°c (212°F) but naturally the thermostat controls are a little dodgey compared to a precise lab instrument. However, have been able to keep the water bath (holds a 1 litre lab jar) to between 40-60°c (104-140°F), so I hope that this temperature variation is good enough to do the job, which “should be around 130°F”, according to Nick? The Chinese food heater is branded “Nostalgia” for whatever that is worth. Advantage is that you can run a sand bath at the same time next to the water bath. Photo below.



Secondly, re dew collection. I am successfully using what I call my ‘dew pond’ which is a 5 x 8 foot utility trailer lined with a plastic painter’s drop sheet. Almost any plastic tarp will do. Trailer is parked on slope so any dew runs to one corner. Edges are taped down and I use 6 semi-frozen freezer packs in the ‘pond’ as dew booster. I get 150-200ml each morning, but won’t get that as we get into the drier summer. Spring probably the best time to collect, depending on location. I’m in a moist little valley. Photo below.

Hi all,

nice way of collecting dew luce7

Some buckets with bags of ice (with salt up to -20°C) works as well.


Have a nice day.

Wilfried

Wilfried wrote:

Some buckets with bags of ice (with salt up to -20°C) works as well.

Mind explaining the salt part of this idea? Is that supposed to go into the bag with the ice?

SmoothAmbiguity wrote:

Mind explaining the salt part of this idea? Is that supposed to go into the bag with the ice?

yes, common salt into the icebag (it will melt the ice tho).
An ice bag should be ok during most of the year.


I also though about putting sea salt right into the bucket as well.


Wilfried

Wilfried wrote:

yes, common salt into the icebag (it will melt the ice tho).
An ice bag should be ok during most of the year.
I also though about putting sea salt right into the bucket as well.

What's a good salt to ice ratio that you find most efficacious whilst simultaneously being least wasteful for our purposes?

Hi Guyz,

NDC stated recently on eHow..... "If you use a salt to absorb the morning dew, then you need to distill the dew off the salt. When you distill the dew, there is a chance you will loose the astral spirit. So the process may not work like that. Right now I'm using calcium nitrate to absorb dew because it works 100 times better than potash."

This is another idea using this particular deliquescent salt to absorb the dew. I am yet to check it out myself.

..... LVX

luce7 wrote:

Hi Guyz,

NDC stated recently on eHow..... "If you use a salt to absorb the morning dew, then you need to distill the dew off the salt. When you distill the dew, there is a chance you will loose the astral spirit. So the process may not work like that. Right now I'm using calcium nitrate to absorb dew because it works 100 times better than potash."

This is another idea using this particular deliquescent salt to absorb the dew. I am yet to check it out myself.

..... LVX

Why not use the salt to absorb morning dew and collect MORE morning dew and just dump it in. The outcome would be no different provided that you made certain to supersaturate the water with salt.

SmoothAmbiguity wrote:

Why not use the salt to absorb morning dew and collect MORE morning dew and just dump it in. The outcome would be no different provided that you made certain to supersaturate the water with salt.

First of all I am not sure when you say "the salt", whether you are referring to calcium nitrate or sea salt (mostly sodium chloride)?
If you mean dry sea salt, then it will not absorb much dew at all from the air, and as for the anhydrous calcium nitrate, it would need to be completely separated once it had absorbed the dew, by very gentle distillation. But like I said, I still haven't tried it out yet.

hello everyone

luce7 wrote:

SmoothAmbiguity wrote:

Why not use the salt to absorb morning dew and collect MORE morning dew and just dump it in. The outcome would be no different provided that you made certain to supersaturate the water with salt.

First of all I am not sure when you say "the salt", whether you are referring to calcium nitrate or sea salt (mostly sodium chloride)?
If you mean dry sea salt, then it will not absorb much dew at all from the air, and as for the anhydrous calcium nitrate, it would need to be completely separated once it had absorbed the dew, by very gentle distillation. But like I said, I still haven't tried it out yet.

I have been extracting The Deliquescence of Sea Salt for the last 9 months. My process is very simple. I use a 14 " by 8" Pyrex dish (Wallmart or Target) with plastic lid. I purchase my dead sea salt from Saltworks (on the internet) (straight up salt nothing added or nothing taken away). I place a 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch layer of salt across the entire bottom of pan Except for 1 1/2 inches on one end. This is where the dew collects. I then place the lid on the dish but I prop one end up with a couple of pencils or something that can allow the night moisture in. I set it outside in an area that is visible to the night sky and then let mother nature do her stuff. It usually takes 5 to 7 days (here in Texas) for enough moisture to collect in the salt to be able to start your extraction process. Once the moisture has built up in the salt you can extract from 10 to 20 ml. per night. I use a 1 or 2 oz dropper bottle and extract it from the vacated area at the end of the glass pan. I hold the dish up on a 60 degree angle and allow the liquid to drain from behind the salt. I set the dishes out at about 11:00pm each night and bring them in before sunrise every morning. The liquid that I extract is extremely active and has an oily feel to it win you rumb between your fingers. If you place a drop from the dropper directly on your tongue, it stings and burns. Surprisingly the salt taste is a lot less then would be expected.

I started taking this liquid at 3 drops per 20 oz. bottle of water per day. I gradually increased the dosage to 15 drops per 20 oz. over 3 months. You have to be extremely careful because this substance breaks down and removes the toxins in the body and it doesn't take much to overload you kidneys. The first sign of an overload is lower back pain (kidneys). If this happens just back off for a couple of days and allow your kidneys to catch up. It has some amazing effects on diabetes.

If you all have any questions let me know. I have some additional things that I am working on. I will post some later.

Kent

Sodium chloride and magnesium chloride are not deliquescent so they don't pull water out of the air.

Admin wrote:

Sodium chloride and magnesium chloride are not deliquescent so they don't pull water out of the air.

Actually, salt does, to some degree, attract moisture, through osmotic pressure . If you take a semi-permeable membrane (like those used for dialysis I imagine) and separate two spaces of respective volume, on one side place water and on the other side place a sodium chloride solution, when equilibrium has been achieved, the salt side will contain more moisture.

There is similar thinking involved when a physician has prescribed to you a salt gargle for a throat infection. When you gargle the salt water, a small amount of salt is left behind on the surface of the infected area. This salt layer aides to draw moisture from the infected cells, effectively dehydrating and subsequently killing them.

Admin wrote:

Sodium chloride and magnesium chloride are not deliquescent so they don't pull water out of the air.

OK, I'm thinking here. Does the liquid from the pyrex dish simply come from the condensation of the moisture in the air on the glass and then is absorbed by the salt. What is your thoughts on this.

Kent

magnum.opus1 wrote:

OK, I'm thinking here. Does the liquid from the pyrex dish simply come from the condensation of the moisture in the air on the glass and then is absorbed by the salt. What is your thoughts on this.

I would say Yes to this.

Also collecting dew around Full Moon needs to be checked out compared to other times. Even though NDC doesn't specifically mention it, the 'Actum Leyden' source doc does. Quotes.... "our Dew-water, which is thus to be had in the months of May or June: When the Moon is at the full, observe when the dew falls with an East or South East wind."
And.... "The full of the Moon is a good season, afterwards it will be hard."

It is irrelevant if sodium chloride attracts a little moisture through osmosis. The bottom line is, a container of table salt will NOT become liquid sitting in your house because it isn't a deliquescent salt, and therefor is USELESS for extracting the astral fire from the air.

If you do not obtain the water through proper deliquescence, then you must obtain it from dew which is water naturally condensed in a special way.

Putting the salt in the container and letting dew condense in naturally is no different than collecting the dew by itself and then adding the salt. Because the salt itself is having no effect on attracting the astral fire, because the salt itself is already packed with condensed astral fire it obtained from sun light.

Admin wrote:

Sodium chloride and magnesium chloride are not deliquescent so they don't pull water out of the air.

You are right. A material that is deliquescent actually goes from a Solid to a liquid
state as it absorbs moisture from the air. (The substance actually liquifies).
With the sea salt, all it is doing is absorbing the dew that is condensing on the glass
beneath it, the salt does not appear to liquify.


Kent

Hello,

In reading some of the recent posts and having some difficulty in collecting dew in such cold temperatures over the last week I tried setting out ice in four large buckets last night. The weather incidentally was warmer than normal and I put a small amount of unrefined sea salt along with the ice. Each bucket was about 25% full of ice and I set it out around 11:00 pm. I brought it in around 6:00 am and there was a huge amount of water on the bottom of each bucket, enough to fill a 2000 ml flask over half full. It is a bit murky, on the picture looks almost gold like so I cant help but think some of it is water melted from the ice, but either way it was way more than I expected, so I will try it again tonight. The salt I added was the grey type, and it settled a bit at the bottom once I filtered it. I tried to add 2 pictures but am still figuring out my new camera and how to uplaod these. After previewing this post they werent there. !!

Traci

Traci wrote:

I brought it in around 6:00 am and there was a huge amount of water on the bottom of each bucket, enough to fill a 2000 ml flask over half full. It is a bit murky, on the picture looks almost gold like so I cant help but think some of it is water melted from the ice, but either way it was way more than I expected, so I will try it again tonight. The salt I added was the grey type, and it settled a bit at the bottom once I filtered it. I tried to add 2 pictures but am still figuring out my new camera and how to uplaod these. After previewing this post they werent there. !!

Traci

Did you put the ice in a sealed plastic bag before you put it in the bucket? You're collecting the condensation from the side of the bag that drips down into the bucket, similar to what happens when you have a glass of ice water on a table. The water should be clear.

I will (put the sealed bags in). The weather is perfect for the next two days here to collect dew directly off pine trees, so I am planning that for this coming morning. I should have known with that, there was so much water/dew it surprised me..

Traci wrote:

I will (put the sealed bags in). The weather is perfect for the next two days here to collect dew directly off pine trees, so I am planning that for this coming morning. I should have known with that, there was so much water/dew it surprised me..

A similar thing happened to me. When the ice melted and I collected the very, very tiny amount of dew that I had, I would take the bags full of melted ice water and put them back in the freezer. I put my dew into a jar for storage during the day, and would later pour it back in the bucket at night as I collected more dew. I was doing this just in case there is some weird *** with the moon beams or ozone presence being involved in the process. Anyhow, one night, when I pulled the frozen bags back out of the freezer, one had stuck to something but I didn't realize that my removing it had caused a small hole to tear in the membrane. When I woke up the next morning, the dew was mixed with ice water which had leaked out. Instead of discarding and starting over, I just went ahead and used it. We'll see if this affects the end-product. I intend to start my dew process over in the spring when it's easier to collect. However, my having done this is good since it will tell us if it's totally necessary for the water to be dew in the first place. Nick is also employing the assistance of a sonic humidifier to see if we can collect functional dew that way as well.

We'll see what happens.

I'm now on day 12 of my Balneo Mary Bath. I have detected a very, very small amount of greyish tan colored sediment beginning to drop out, but by no means has it covered the bottom of my flask. I wonder if this is normal, and how much of this to expect.

I will do quite a bit more dew collection as the weather warms as well, but as luck has it is 60 degrees here right now and great for collecting. It will be good to compare your two outcomes..

Quote :

You are right. A material that is deliquescent actually goes from a Solid to a liquid state as it absorbs moisture from the air.
Kent

Actually, that is not always the case. Calcium nitrate is one of the best absorbers of water from the air, and yet it doesn't dissolve in the water; the water just collects above it. This makes it possible to just filter out the dew and leave the calcium nitrate behind so no distillation is required. In contrast, calcium chloride absorbs water but then also dissolves into it, so it must be removed by distillation.

Traci wrote:

I will do quite a bit more dew collection as the weather warms as well, but as luck has it is 60 degrees here right now and great for collecting. It will be good to compare your two outcomes..

Yeah, I was just reflecting on this post earlier today. I was thinking that if I produce the elixer to no effect as-currently-is, and report 'suchly', Nick will probably argue that I didn't follow the directions to a "t". On the other hand, if I do obtain results from this adulterated process, then I will be left wondering if it's a placebo effect, dew=irrelevant or something else. Later, I figure, with the dew correctly made, what if in fact I get the same results? I guess I need an unwitting agent in the matter; Someone without bias needs to be fed both elixers. Gah. This is a difficult test indeed.

Smooth,
If you don't succeed, then you will be the first to have failed. Everyone I've helped with this process hasn't had any problem making it work. There is nothing complicated about it. Just follow the instructions and don't deviate from what is written. And all you need to do for testing your final elixir is dissolve gold with it. If it passed that physical test, then obviously you have succeeded. Testing the effects it has on people is not a good way to prove anything because it affects everyone differently.

Admin wrote:

Smooth,
If you don't succeed, then you will be the first to have failed. Everyone I've helped with this process hasn't had any problem making it work. There is nothing complicated about it. Just follow the instructions and don't deviate from what is written. And all you need to do for testing your final elixir is dissolve gold with it. If it passed that physical test, then obviously you have succeeded. Testing the effects it has on people is not a good way to prove anything because it affects everyone differently.

My dearest Nick

It is not you that I question, it is the nature of myself that I am. Moreover, it is not enough to experience the result, it must also be understood and then mastered. Like a yogan who appreciates initiatory surmounting of pranayama, he must also own the process and reverse it. I will, I am.