Frater Albertus and the plant alchemists of Salt Lake City
A Dresden poet, a Rosicrucian laboratory class, a thin handbook from 1960 and the Utah school that taught plant alchemy to the modern world.
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Albert Hofmann: ergot, Eleusis and the alchemist’s vision
A Swiss chemist, a poison fungus on rye, a bicycle ride in 1943 and a Greek mystery cult. The life of Albert Hofmann, the second of our modern alchemists.
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Angel’s trumpet: the Andean flower that left the wild
Brugmansia is gone from the wild and lives on in gardens. Its Andean story, its names, and how to grow it safely.
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Galbanum: the bitter resin in the Temple incense
A sharp green resin from the Iranian mountains, named in the holy incense of Exodus and argued over by rabbis, perfumers and magicians ever since.
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Dragon’s blood: one name, three resins
A red resin from Socotra, the Canaries and the rattan forests of Sumatra, sold under one name for two thousand years. Here is how to tell them apart.
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Esphand: Syrian rue smoke in the Persian household
Seeds that crackle on the coals against the evil eye. Syrian rue from Iron Age Arabia to Kabul’s smoke boys and a grandmother’s kitchen.
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Sasha Shulgin, the modern alchemist
A chemist in a hillside shed, a cactus at the root of his work, two strange books written with his wife, and why people keep calling Sasha Shulgin an alchemist.
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Kyphi: the Egyptian temple incense for nightfall
Sixteen ingredients, a perfume room carved in stone at Edfu, a lost book by a priest of Mendes, and the evening smoke that saw the sun into the dark.
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Kava: the drink of the Pacific kings
A girl’s grave on a Tongan island, Cook handing his cup to Mai, a Samoan bowl on many legs and Australia’s long argument over the chiefs’ drink.
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Henbane, and the Pilsner story that won’t die
Henbane really did go into old beer, but Pilsen was never named after it. Here is the plant’s true record, from Roman bone jars to a bishop’s rain rite.
Photo credits on each article.