Hi All... I'm new here. Doing GW3.

I just started and I'm already a bit unsure what to do because I didn't expect the first day (4/17) of GW collection from first thing in the morning to precipitate little orange crystals in 24 hours... but that is what happened by the lapse of one day.

Then the next morning (4/18) I added more GW to the same container which is now full pretty much to the top and sealed with a lid. The next morning I had more crystals. (I'm not sure if keeping the lids on or having completely full containers is the best way or not, but that's what I did and it's still that way. After 4 more days (now 4/22) there are small orange crystals along the sides of the container and a small pile of them on the bottom about the circumference of a quarter.

The samples from the days in between (4/19, 4/20, 4/21) haven't yielded any crystals yet, except maybe a few tiny specs I can begin to see in the 4/21 sample.

So..... on page 43 of Nick's second edition it says "all that is important is to obtain the salt from dew [GW], then digest it properly with the rectified spirit which was distilled 10 times."

I understand that part, but I didn't think I'd have to know what to do with the crystals yet since I didn't think they'd show up until AFTER distillation and refrigeration... but here they are, and I'm not sure what to do with them.

The crystals that are forming are small like slivers or grains of salt. Do I filter out the crystals that have formed with a filter paper, re-saturate with water, and then refrigerate to get bigger, nicer crystals? Or, do I leave them in there for the 40 days? It also occurred to me to try just putting it in the fridge to see if larger crystals precipitate out, but I know that is out of sequence and I'm trying to do what Nick says, not just make stuff up. And, I don't want to mess up what looks like it's going in the right direction.

And, either way, should I keep the GW in sealed containers but only about half full to allow circulation during the putrefaction stage? Or at this point does it matter?

Thanks,
Aetherius

I think when Nick says that all we need to do is collect the salt from dew or GW he does not just mean any salt, but 'the' salt. Just because we are getting crystals does not mean they are the right crystals. For those of us who do not know as much about alchemy as Nick, it is important that we follow the instructions.

As for putrefying... I have been wondering the same things, how is the best way, sealed or unsealed, and should you leave room for air rather than filling. For GW I have been sealing the container and filling it but I think it would be better to leave a good amount of space. And for dew I think he said uncovered or covered with a cloth but that is without reading through stuff recently.

On this same note... I was going to test out this simple method of puting gold in putrefied GW in the sun, so I took some GW that had been closed up for more that 40 days. And of corse it smells horrible like death or something. As I understand it putrefying is letting the matter die or decompose so a smell of death is what we are after. But after oppening the container and it being exposed to the air for a day or so, it started taking on a fiery smell which I would equate with something living. So again maybe it didn't putrefy fully because it didn't have enough airspace in the container?

Hi Bluefloor,

I remember that the putrification forms ammonia and that could be definitely called a fiery smell.

I have tested the putrification of dew with some pieces of oak in a sealed container, covered by a cloth and covered by wood sticks.

Result: the water stays quite clear in the sealed container and gets medium brown in the cloth and wood stick covered ones. This proves that air is needed in the putrif. of dew.

I think that Kevin's way of putrif. in an sauna oak bucket covered by oak boards is best.

But you can't use wood for the putrif. of GW. For GW I think the container should be lightly covered by some cotton cloth to let the air in. I used 2 feet high glass vases. 40 days are enough because I got crystals after distilling off the spirit digesting it with the dried residue of GW and crystallizing it in the fridge. So it must have been right.

Frank

Aetherius, those aren't the correct crystals. It would be nice if you could use those and skip ahead in the process, but you can't.

And Frank, thanks for pointing out that note about the dew needing air to putrefy. That's why in my book, in step 2 of my own dew process I say to cover the container with a towel so it's not air tight and the dew can ferment properly. But it's also crucial to evaporate at least half the dew first, as I point out in step 1.

Aetherius wrote:

I just started and I'm already a bit unsure what to do because I didn't expect the first day (4/17) of GW collection from first thing in the morning to precipitate little orange crystals in 24 hours... but that is what happened by the lapse of one day...

Aetherius, like you, I have orange crystals precipitating directly from the GW in just a few days. It's a shame they are not what we are looking for, because they sure are pretty.


The lines at the bottom of the image are millimeters.

Click here to see what these look like when fluorescing under a black light.


Closeup, using reflected light (dark-field microscope).


Same as above, but using transmitted light (light-field microscope).

Aetherius, is this what your crystals look like?

- ramen

Thank you Nick, and all...

Yes, Ramen... that's what they look like, but now I know that is not what we are looking for.

I have allowed the "dew" to sit in jars for a couple months now, but some of them are quite full and they are all sealed... so I'm going to put them in one large container that will allow it to breathe and putrefy like Nick said.

Even though there is not much air inside the containers, which I now know is not correct, over the last couple months there has also appeared white salts along with the orange salts, and some with a fair amount of hazy white cloudy particulates settling.

So, I guess the best thing to do is collect fresh material to start another batch so it can breathe and putrefy from the beginning while I reconfigure what I already have so it can start as well. That way, if the original batch goes awry I'm not completely wasting time that could be used for more putrefaction.

Nick, Could you clarify please?: I gather from all this info that eventually ALL of whatever is precipitating out now will just be left in there and calcined with everything else? The only reason I question whether that is correct or not is because members have large quantities of the incorrect orange salts... Weren't they supposed to be left in the solution to become part of the caput mortem?

Thank you,

Aetherius