Potions 101: Brewing in a Muggle World

My deepening of my Potions experience has been quite an adventure. Unlike in the Harry Potter series, in which "Potions" seems to be a fairly defined field, we've got a lot of leeway here in the real world. Undoubtedly, J.K. Rowling's vision of Potions is much like the precise art of Muggle chemistry, owing to her speckly relationship with her own chemistry professor... as well as having a mother who was the lab assistant of that same professor (John Nettleship).

What about Potions in the real world? The closest approximation I can find to that of the Harry Potter-verse would be somewhere between the vast umbrella of chemistry, regarding reactions and volatility of ingredients(!), and Chinese medicinal herbalism, which uses such wonderful ingredients as scorpions, sulfur, aconite and "dragon bones", and whose preparation method is often by decoction – that is, brewing in a ceramic cauldron of sorts (typically about an hour). Both chemistry and Chinese herbalism can be incredibly precise in their formulas, in measured amounts of ingredients. And both require much experience and caution in order to master.

Additionally, my studies have led me into a number of delightful, cross-disciplinary areas that can be invited under the blanket of the term "potions". These include Western herbalism, which can be used in both an intensely medical and analytical fashion, or a holistic one in the style of Culpeper, Avicenna, and Paracelsus, and the hundreds of unknown – yet no less important – European village healers, midwives, and herb doctors. Of these, many were persecuted horridly, yet thankfully the traditions of herbal medicine and brewing were kept alive by monasteries.

There are potions purely magickal in nature, based in folk belief, Shamanism, Southern rootwork and country Witchcraft. There is the minute-portion method of Homeopathy and Bach flower essences, in which an über-dilute solution retains only the energy imprint of the original substance – like the coded information on a CD. Alchemy combines deep archetypes, astrology, and analogies of spiritual enlightenment with the chemistry of heavy metals and combustion. There is the art of extracting plant oils, then combining those to create scents that influence the mind – Aromatherapy. There is the vast arena of "potions for pleasure", often partnering with medicine – the fermenting of beer and wine, distillation of liquor, and the ever-creative art of bartenders' Mixology. And of course, Toxicology, the study of those particularly dangerous animal, mineral, and plant substances – again frequently medicines in their own right, and the right dose – and their antidotes.

And that is only the beginning. Combining fields produces infinity upon infinity of possibilities, a tapestry as intricate as life itself. Just as no one can ever know everything about magick, an enthusiast of "potions", or Potistry as I like to call it, will be graced with an abundance of never-ending discoveries, if he or she should decide to remain open to them. That is the beauty of this subject, and others – there will always be more to learn! ...Merlin's beard! I sound like Hermione.

Join me, then, as I commence. Class is in session. Don't be late.