Botanical elixirs have been used to promote health and wellness all over the world for centuries. As cultures learned to use the plants that grew around them, they were better able to understand their power and beauty.
Swiss physician Paracelsus is the famed alchemist from the early 1500’s we gratefully honor as the father of homeopathy. He discovered that a complete plant with its various components gives us clues to its curative benefit by the shape of each of those parts. In his Doctrine of Signatures, he declares that a plant’s parts have signals such as shape, color, and texture that serve as hints to which part of the human body a plant can treat. Because of the natural affinity between plants and animals, including humans, many of these energetic qualities and physical by-products of this intelligent action are useful in healing us.
Botanical alchemy, Spagyrics, was developed by Paracelsus and entails alchemical preparations of herbs and plants into elixirs. By meditating and preparing the mind, body and spirit, the alchemist transforms the plant into three parts: purified salt, essential oil and a distilled alcohol spirit. This practice draws out these most potent and “living” life force elements of each plant. A recombination of these three plant extracts tends to have a more powerful overall effect. Thus, the use of the whole plant harnesses its full power and offers a more magical herbal inclusion and sensory experience.
We are inspired by the history of botanical alchemy as we explore and share valuable applications of herbs, roots, and spices in our chocolates. A beautiful gift of wellness from Mother Earth.
