After “what is ashwagandha,” it’s the question we hear most at the market booth: “Your labels say spagyric — what does that mean?” Fair question. It’s an old word for an old method, and it’s the heart of everything we bottle. Here’s the answer we give across the table, written down.
The short answer
A spagyric is a tincture that gives the whole plant back. With a standard tincture, the herb is soaked in alcohol and water, pressed, and the spent plant material is thrown away — along with all the minerals still locked inside it. In a spagyric, that spent plant material is burned down to a white ash, and the mineral salts in that ash are returned to the tincture. Nothing the plant made is left behind.
An old word: separate, then recombine
“Spagyric” comes from two Greek words — spao, to separate, and ageiro, to recombine — coined by the Renaissance physician Paracelsus. That’s the entire recipe in one word: take the plant apart, purify each part, and put it back together.
The three stages
- Separation. Fresh herbs macerate patiently in certified organic cane alcohol and water — for about a year — drawing out the plant’s alcohol- and water-soluble compounds.
- Purification. After pressing, the spent plant material is dried and calcined — burned to a fine white ash — concentrating the mineral salts the extraction left behind.
- Recombination. Those purified mineral salts are dissolved back into the extract. The result is a tincture that carries the plant’s complete spectrum of constituents — minerals and all.
Old alchemical texts describe this as reuniting the plant’s body, spirit, and soul. Whether you take that poetically or literally, the practical result is the same: the whole plant, in the bottle.
Our twist: we start fresh
Most spagyrics — like most tinctures — begin with dried, imported herbs. Ours begin in our own field. We grow from seed, harvest at peak season, and press the herbs fresh, never dried, which preserves the root’s living botanical profile before the spagyric work even begins. Fresh plants and a full spagyric process is a slow, stubborn way to make a tincture. We think it’s the right one. (Here’s why fresh matters.)
What it means for you
A finished spagyric is designed for bioavailability — and it carries the mineral dimension of the plant that conventional tinctures discard. In practice: a little goes a long way. For our main Ashwagandha tincture, that’s a single 1 mL serving before bed. If you’re new to all of this, start with the beginner’s guide, or read how we make our tinctures on our farm page.
Every bottle in our collection is made this way — separated, purified, and recombined by hand, in small batches, with a year of patience in each one.
With Warm Ashwagandha Wishes,
Jeff and the Portland Ashwagandha Farm Team
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
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