"As a rule, when one pulls a plant out of the ground the vital fluid involved in its life process returns to the Earth, just as, on the death of a human being the soul returns to purgatory to be purified. But when one carries out an operation such as the one we have described, taking over both the physical and psychic energies of a plant, it is possible to retain that which would normally return to the ground. Furthermore, it is possible to do this without producing an imbalance in the life surrounding the chosen plant. In books on magic one finds mention of gnomes and astral entities which seek to vampirise the vital fluid. So that these entities, whether or not they actually exist, should not manfiest themselves, grain is smeared with honey and inserted in the hole in the ground from which the plant has been removed. This is called the offering, in a sense an exchange designed to maintain an eqilibrium of forces and to allow the operation to proceed under the best fluidic conditions."
