Alchemical Recipes

Compiled by Dr. Victor Frankenstein

Substancess
Oil of Vitriol

Modern: Sulfuric Acid

The oil of Vitriol is produced from sulfur, oxygen and water via the contact process.

(1)In the first step, sulfur is burned to produce sulfur dioxide.

(2)This is then oxidized to sulfur trioxide using oxygen in the presence of a vanadium oxide catalyst.

(3)Finally the sulfur trioxide is treated with water (usually as 97-98% H2SO4 containing 2-3% water) to produce 98-99% sulfuric acid.

Notes: Directly dissolving SO3 in water is not practical due to the highly exothermic nature of the reaction, forming a corrosive mist instead of a liquid. Alternatively, SO3 can be absorbed into H2SO4 to produce oleum (H2S2O7), which may then be mixed with water to form sulfuric acid.

Abu Musa Jābir ibn Hayyān, also known by his Latinised name Geber, and Vitriol's works were translated into Latin and became the basic texts for European alchemists. Several technical terms introduced by Jabir and Vitriol, such as alkali, have found their way into various European languages and have become part of scientific vocabulary. Jabir also wrote in his Book of Stones how to create humans with laboratory equipment, which is what I based some of my own experiments on.

Oil of Abramelin

Modern: Abramelin Oil or Holy Anointing Oil

(1) Take one part of the best myrrh, half a part of cinnamon, one part of cassia, one part calamus, and a quarter of the combined total weight of good, fresh olive oil.

(2) Make these into an ointment or oil as is done by the chemists.

(3)Keep it in a clean container until you need it. Put the container together with the other accessories in the cupboard under the altar

Notes: Oil of Abramelin, is a ceremonial magical oil blended from aromatic plant materials. Its name came about due to its having been described in a medieval grimoire called The Book of Abramelin written by Abraham of Worms. The recipe is adapted from the Jewish Holy Oil of the Tanakh, which is described in the Book of Exodus attrbuted to Moses.

There are many recipes for this oil. The one listed above is simply my favorite. It seems to be closer to the original recipe than the others.

Oil of the Lizards

(1) Take 1 part Salamander oil, 1 part snake oil, and 1 part dragon blood

(2) Add half a part of swamp water and let sit for 13 days

(3) Strain or blend the substance until an even consistency is reached.

Notes: The substance, if applied to skin during stressful times or in battle will turn into a temporary living armor. It will bend and flex with the user until adrenaline stops flowing to it.

Ambrosia

Modern: Food of the Gods,

(1) Take 13 parts of Ichor, or the blood of a werewolf or vampire and 1 part of honey

(2) Distill the mixture

(3) Add 1 part of powdered quartz and the nectar of a flowering tree gathered during the first full moon of an epoch

Notes: In ancient Greek mythology, Ambrosia (Ancient Greek: ἀμβροσία) is sometimes the food, sometimes the drink, of the gods, often depicted as conferring immortality on whoever consumes it. Ambrosia is very closely related to the gods' other form of sustenance, nectar. The two terms may not have originally been distinguished, though in Homer's poems and later works, nectar is the drink and ambrosia the food. On the other hand, in Alcman, nectar is the food, and in Sappho and Anaxandrides, ambrosia is the drink. Both are fragrant, and may be used as perfume.

It is my belief that Ambrosia, the Holy Grail and the Elixir of life are interrelated but I need to do research.

Deadly Nightshade Poison

Modern: Poison of Atropa belladonna

(1) Don a pair of gloves. This is a highly toxic poison

(2) Take 5 parts of a relatively fresh plant of Deadly Nightshade and grind with a mortar ans pestle until a fine powder is formed.

(3) On the day of use, mix with 1 part water.

Notes: The only known cure to this is a Batrachite, or toadstone. Batrachites are found in the carcasses of toads that have committed suicide.

Elixirs
Basic Elixir

Modern: Potion

(1)Take 1 part pixie dust and 2 parts water

(2) Add half a part of sugar

(3) Allow to ferment for one cycle of the moon or 28 days Notes: This is the base for all other potion. It can relieve most small physical ailments but others are more specialized.

Elixir of the Crocodile Tongues

Modern: Crocodile Tongues

(1) Take Take 1 part pixie dust and 2 parts water

(2) Add Long, slimy crocodile tongues boiled in the skull of a dead witch for 40 days and 40 nights.

(3) Add the gizzard of a pig, the fingers of a young monkey, the beak of a parrot and ¼ part of sugar

(4) Let the moon do the rest

Notes: This elixir has questionable uses but has been confirmed to do something.

Elixir of Love

Modern: Love Potion

(1) Take Take 1 part pixie dust and 2 parts water

(2) Grind 3 strands of the targets hair with 1 red rose, an Atta laevigata, 1 leaf of arugala, and the roots of one ginseng plant and add that to the mixture

(3) Add half a part of sugar and allow to sit in the light of a full moon for at least an hour.

Notes: This is a strong aphrodisiac, but there is no guarantee that the first person the recipient falls in love with will be the giver or even the first person they see at all.

Elixir of Invisibility

Modern: Invisibility Potion

(1) Take Take 1 part pixie dust and 2 parts water

(2) Add 1 cow eye and 1 part of carrots

(3) Puree the mixture, add 1 part of water and half a part of sugar

(4) After drinking, sit in the moonlight until invisible.

Notes: I know for a fact that this elixir works and have used it many times.

Elixir of Flatulence

(1) Take 1 part of tarts made of jingle berries and grind them up.

(2) Then take 1 part of faerie dust and 1 part of water and add that to the mix.

(3) Shake thoroughly.

(4) After the mixture is completely mixed, add half a part of sugar.

Notes: This elixir can induce much flatulence. Do not use under high temperatures or near open flames.

Beings
Humunculus

(1)Take a bag of bones, saliva, skin fragments and hair from any animal, of which the chimeric homunculus will be a hybrid.

(2)Bury the ingredients 1 ft underground on the first day of the March lunar cycle

(3)Pile an amount of horse manure equal to 13 times the weigh of the ingredients

Or:

(1)Take on mandrake picked on a Friday morning by a black dog

(2)Wash it

(3)Float in a pot of water at 400 degrees Fahrenheit

(4)Daily, add 1 cup of cow milk and 1 cup of honey for 13 days.

(5)On the 12th day, add 1 cup of human blood to the mixture.

Notes: The term appears to have been first used by the alchemist Paracelsus. He once claimed that he had created a false human being that he referred to as the homunculus. The creature was to have stood no more than 12 inches (300 mm) tall, and did the work usually associated with a golem. However, after a short time, the homunculus turned on its creator and ran away.

Cockatrice

Modern: Basilisk

(1) Take a freshly laid egg from a hen house facing north

(2) Lay it out in a swamp

(3) If a frog or snake comes, trap the two under a glass dome and take back to your workplace

(4) The frog or snake will eventually incubate and hatch the egg

Notes: The cockatrice will resemble a rooster but will have scaly skin and a long lizard-like tail. The cockatrice was first described in the late twelfth century based on a hint in Pliny's Natural History, as a duplicate of the basilisk or regulus, though, unlike the basilisk, the cockatrice has wings. It is said there and in other medieval bestiaries that the weasel is the only animal that is immune to the glance of a cockatrice. It is also thought that a cockatrice will die instantly upon hearing a rooster crow. According to legend, having a cockatrice look itself in a mirror is one of the few sure-fire ways to kill it. The cockatrice is also able to fly with the set of wings affixed to its back. Its reputed magical abilities include turning people to stone or killing them by either looking at them — "the death-darting eye of Cockatrice”— touching them, or sometimes breathing on them. The Cockatrice is probably a genetic mutant formed from a mutation of a snake .It is generally supposed that it is related to the cerastes, or "horned viper," a very poisonous serpent about a foot long. Others think it to be the yellow viper (Daboia xanthina), one of the most dangerous vipers, from its size and its nocturnal habits (Isa. 11:8; 14:29; 59:5; Jer. 8:17; in all which the Revised Version renders the Hebrew tziph'oni by "basilisk"). In Prov. 23:32 the Hebrew tzeph'a is rendered both in the Authorized Version and the Revised Version by "adder;" margin of Revised Version "basilisk," and of Authorized Version "cockatrice." Being a mutation of a snake would also explain the thought that only the weasel is immune to the death glance.