The Druidic Art of Divination by Jon G. Hughes

Author:Jon G. Hughes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Paganism/Magic
Publisher: Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
Published: 2020-04-18T00:00:00+00:00

Once the water has been collected, it may be stored in the same type of vessels as used above. If necessary, the water may be moon cleansed, as mentioned.

DISTILLING HYDROSOLS OR HYDROLATS (FLORAL WATERS) USING A VARIETY OF BOTANICALS

Using distilled hydrosols or hydrolats is undoubtedly the most advanced and technically complex method of sourcing a water medium for divination. It is used because practitioners can fine-tune the water medium to suit their individual requirements.

Hydrosols or hydrolats are more often known as floral waters and are commonly used in a variety of alternative therapies, such as aromatherapy and aroma massage, as well as in cosmetics, skin-care products, food preparation, and confectionary.

They may be obtained by a number of methods, some of which stretch back to a wide range of ancient civilizations. However, we shall focus on obtaining hydrosols by steam distillation, a method known to have been used throughout the regions of Druidic influence and the one maintained in the oral tradition I received.

The chosen hydrosol is distilled by allowing steam, produced by boiling water, to pass through the collected botanicals. The steam (distillate), when cooled, condenses to produce the hydrosol, along with the essential oil of the leached botanicals.

Both the hydrosol and essential oil “pass over” (to use the alchemical term) the distilling apparatus, and as they cool in the collection vessel the essential oil separates to float on top of the hydrosol. Both contain the virtues of the botanicals used, though they are more concentrated and intense in the essential oil. The benefit of this process, in the case of its use for divination, is that both these mediums are used in the divination working and, when using both together, a much more powerful medium is produced.

The distillation process used, as it is explained below, is a gentle, sympathetic process, carried out at relatively low temperatures, giving two distinct advantages. The first is that both the hydrosol and essential oil produced benefit from the calmness of the process, avoiding any harsh, bruising procedures that may leach other unwanted essences and contaminants from the original botanicals. The second advantage is that, as the process is undertaken at a relatively low temperature, it allows us to adhere more closely to the original Druidic method of distillation. To better understand this second benefit we shall take a moment to look briefly at the history of distillation in the Druidic lore of the region.

It may be generally believed that distilling is a relatively recent discovery, but there is considerable archaeological evidence to indicate that it is indeed a very ancient process. In the regions where Druidic lore would have prevailed, there have been a number of archaeological discoveries of ancient Stone Age sites containing, among other things, communal cooking hearths. Fortunately for me, one of these archaeological digs took place just one kilometer from my home, at a megalithic site now called Aghadoe, where a number of fire pits were recently discovered.

One of the intriguing aspects of these particular fire pits, or fulachta fia as they are known in the Irish, is their unique form and construction.

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