I have a habit of appropriating words like “tincture” or
“sigil” and allowing their meanings to evolve from what most
people know into what I want them to be. Over time, and among
strangers, it sometimes feels like I'm barely speaking English. A
tincture for most people is an antiquated term referring to a single
substance concentrated through alcohol extraction. When you go to
the hippie grocery or nutrition store for tincture, you get a single
concentrated substance designed to be added to water or tea. But my
tinctures are magical mixtures of substances, and can often be drank
straight, because I use vodka instead of the more efficient and
powerful alcohols in higher proportion. And then there's all this
talk about sigils and magical process, which for me even differs
somewhat from the chaos magic theory that inspired much of it. So
oftentimes, when I'm offering someone one of my tinctures, it is
difficult to explain quite what it is I want them to drink.
Especially if I'm offering a recreational brew, dressed in a
ridiculous costume, or there's a line of interested weirdos waiting
to try a sample, I start referring to my herbal-alcohol-extractions
as magic potions, to save time. With something like the tincture I
finished yesterday, the third batch of a tincture I first created in
2011 called Feelin' Groovy, the phrase “magic potion” makes
perfect sense.
Most of my tinctures, Feelin' Groovy among
them, are designed to augment a few hours of experience, not as
medicine. The line is blurry, because each of these magic potions
contains powerful herbal extracts that can do wonderful things when
applied medicinally. There is very little chance that they will harm
you, and they may even help something. And some of my “recreational”
brews act quite medicinal. One, called “Peace Within, Peace
Without,” can be administered to calm and purify the body and
mind, especially if the user is having a bit too much fun and wants
to relax for a bit. But even Peace Within, Peace Without is mostly
designed for a good time. I'm not a doctor, or even a specialist in
herbal medicine, so I don't like to act like one. Whatever successes
I've had with brews like my Sinus Tincture, which is applied
medicinally, I am always aware that what works for me may not work
for someone else. I AM confident in my ability to make awesome legal
drugs to put in your face, however. And Feelin' Groovy is a great
example of that skill.
Feelin' Groovy based on a recipe I found on the website for the
Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine. Check out their “combinations”
here:
http://www.blueridgeschool.org/combinations.htm
. They suggest that their collection of herbs, including St. John's
Wort, Lemon Balm, Kava Kava, Spikenard Berries, and Lavender
“elevates mood without affecting clarity of thought.” I have
found that my Feelin' Groovy tincture does tend to elevate mood,
creating a warm tingly feeling throughout the body that is quite
pleasant, and lifting a somewhat leveled mind to explore the world
around it with new openness. But my brew does not leave clarity
unaffected. In fact, it can increase clarity where cloudiness
persists. When given to a new friend who had been enjoying himself
so much (with a non-alcoholic substance) that he could no longer
speak or focus well, Feelin' Groovy cleared his addled brain in a way
that allowed him to communicate effectively, but did not nullify or
reduce his altered thought processes. Several users, myself
included, have even experienced mild visual hallucinations (lines
wiggling, closed-eye patterns) after taking just Feelin' Groovy. The
general reaction, after recovering from the experience of drinking
this surprisingly bitter liquid, is all smiles and swaying and
wiggling. Groovy indeed.
Feelin' Groovy contains alcohol and water, plus:
St. John's Wort (60g)- I used a powder derived from the flowers
and leaves, purchased from Carytown Teas. This herb has been widely
recognized as an antidepressant comparable with pharmaceutical
varieties, though according to Wikipedia, studies have shown that St.
John's Wort generally has less side effects than the pharmaceuticals.
I find that it provides a stabilizing effect on my mood, leveling me
out somewhere in the “smiling gently” range. But for some people
St. John's Wort backfires, increasing anxiety. Care must be taken
when combining St. John's Wort with MAOIs, psychadellic drugs
(including MDMA), opiods, triptans, amphetamines and 5HT agonists.
Combinations could release more serotonin than you want released,
which can cause big problems (and sometimes death!). St. John's Wort
also reacts with some other medicines, including oral contraceptives
and cholesterol-reducers, making these drugs less effective.
Lavender (30g)- I used dried
flowerbuds purchased from Carytown Teas. Lavender soothes and
relaxes my mind. Even the smell reduces my anxiety immediately.
Many people make a tea with it to treat headaches and sleeping
disorders such as insomnia. It can be used to treat insect bites and
burns, though those with sensitive skin may have an adverse reaction
to the concentrated extract.
Kava Kava (30g)- Carytown Teas provided
me with a high-quality powder from the lateral root of this plant.
Kava is used socially in many Polynesian traditions for its relaxing
and mildly euphoric effects. I find that it sedates me a bit while
increasing my amicability. I also find that Kava makes playing music
extra satisfying, in part because I am relaxed and it is easier for
me to slip into a trance-like focus. Avoid drinking heavily and
taking Kava Kava, because this herbal can increase liver problems
damage caused by alcohol.
Verveinne (Verbena) (15g)- I used dried
leaves purchased from Carytown Teas. Verveinne imparts a wonderful
flavor when added to just about anything. It contains high levels of
anti-oxidants, and has many uses specific to women (for example, it
has been known to increase lactation).
Lemon Balm (15g)- I used a tincture
extract purchased from Ellwood Thompson's grocery. Lemon Balm calms
me and creates an uplifting feeling when consumed in tea or tincture
form. It has a beautiful aroma and flavor. The fluid from freshly
crushed leaves can be used as a mosquito repellant. It is high in
anti-oxidants, and is reputedly anti-bacterial and anti-viral. I try
not to use herbals that are already in extractions, the idea being
that the herbs can mix and extract together in the alcohol, but the
herbal suppliers in Richmond have a hard time getting fresh or dried
lemon balm. This year I planted some in my garden, which I will
eventually use in Feelin' Groovy Batch 4!
On May 1
st, I combined these
ingredients in a jar and poured alcohol over them. I wanted to yield
close to a liter of tincture, so I needed to use two jars for this.
I put equal quantities of the dry herbals into each jar, and mixed
them. Then I added the lemon balm tincture and poured in 900 ml of
40% alcohol (Wolfschmidt Vodka), again split between the two jars. I
mixed the two jars heavily, making sure that the powders became
saturated in the alcohol, and placed them in my cabinet.
The
two jars were shaken regularly over the course of a month. On June
4
th, I opened the jars and began the filtering process.
Because of the powdery nature of Kava Kava and St. John's Wort, the
solid waste in Feelin' Groovy compacts easily and I cannot force very
much liquid through my french press. Thus, I poured the brew
carefully through cheesecloth. When around 3 tablespoons of herbal
matter collected on the surface of the cheesecloth, I would carefully
create a bundle and squeeze this small amount of solids over a
coffee-filtered beaker before discarding the chaff. The finer
particles that passed through the cheesecloth occasionally gummed up
my coffee filters as well. When this happened, I would carefully
remove the old filter, bundle it and its solid herb matter, and
squeeze it gently over a new coffee filter.
In this fashion I used
three coffee filters and was able to yield 600ml of fine liquid
extract over a 3 hour period.
Feelin' Groovy is an extremely bitter
extract. I found that around a quarter of the people who tried the
brew at the Fall 2011 Playa del Fuego festival were put off severely
by the taste or could not drink it without heavily watering it down.
So to allow the user to better appreciate the flavor of this
tincture, I water it down a bit from the get-go. This time, I added
250 ml of water, meaning that the end product is around 28% alcohol
by volume.
I wanted to give a small bottle as a
gift to a friend who provides me with bottles from time to time, and
who is generally very interested in my tinctures. So in addition to
the large corked bottle which once contained Batch 2, I poured the
completed tincture into a smaller corked bottle with a rounded face.
The label for this smaller bottle
proved to be a bit of a challenge, given the complex nature of
Feelin' Groovy's sigil and the size and shape of the bottle. But I
think it worked out quite well. Feelin' Groovy's sigil is indicative
of those that appear on most of my tinctures. Batch 1, created in
May 2010, was among the first of my tinctures to be sigiled in this
fashion. From the notes to Batch 1: “Each color represents an
ingredient. [The] sigil explores and evokes ingredients interacting
with each other and communicates intentions to” whomever drinks
this magic potion.
Notice that in Batch 2, I added
Verveinne for the first time, and so I added a new color to the
evolved design.
The final sigil for Batch 3 is a
slightly different manifestation of the design and colors, mediated
by time, place, and the individuality inherent in this batch of
herbs. I tasted the batch before settling down to sigil the fresh
labels. I used the sigil for Batch 2 as a guide, though I never look
directly at an old sigil while I decorate a new one. A sigil on a
new batch is not a copy of a sigil on an old batch. I listened to
Jimmy Cousins' “Jazz June,” to Kenny Rogers and the First
Edition's first album and to Fern Knight's album while ritually
decorating each bottle. I started with brown (St. John's Wort),
decorating both bottles with each color before moving onto the next
so that the design and sigils were finished at around the same time.
This process took about 90 minutes.
Pouring myself a two-tablespoon dose of
Feelin' Groovy, I can already smell the Lavender, Verveinne, and
Lemon Balm. Upon deeper smelling, there is also a grainy and
astringent scent poking up through the alcohol. I take a sip and the
kava kava immediately begins to numb my lips and tongue. Bitter! I
swallow the first mouthful, which drops into my stomach as I make a
face. The bitter flavor lingers, but after the liquid goes down I
can notice the floral flavors again. A slight tingling spreads
slowly from my mouth, esophagus and stomach. I find myself already
starting to sway a little bit. My muscles and mind relax a bit, and
I feel lighter already. A second sip. No faces this time: I'm ready
for the taste (and a bit numbed, I'm sure!). I can feel the alcohol
burn as I swallow. My head begins to tingle, right behind the
hairline on my forehead. More tingles spread from the base of my
neck and over the top of my skull. My attention drifts to the
periphery, where the force of my typing is creating ripples in the
Feelin' Groovy still inside the bottle. As I type, I am accutely
aware of how the force of pounding out each word bounces around
inside the glass. I can almost hear it: a visual form of audio
reverb.
I burp. It tastes very flowery, and I relax even more into
the chair. I feel a bit heavier as my muscles relax and settle. I
close my eyes for a moment, slow shivers emanating from the space
between my shoulder blades. Today I was feeling a bit low, what with
the cloudiness and my being a bit sick, but I feel very calm and
clear now. I am aware of the things that have made me anxious of
late, but they are not affecting my mental or physical posture right
now. Right now I feel, well, groovy. After downing the last
swallow, I stop to regard the sigil in detail again. I can see how
the flower-like shapes represent the growing, slow-bubbling nature of
this brew, how ideas bleed slowly into each other and exist in a
bright and wiggly space. I smile. The spaces between or outlined by
different shades hold my attention longer than the shapes themselves.
Colors are brighter everywhere I look, and I am more attuned to
the way the light hits a wall, and to a sound that has all of a
sudden stopped, revealing more and more of those little things that
fill the airspace and for the most part, go unnoticed.
