[Tutorial] Making Natron (for Egyptian/PGM purification rituals)

Natron is a substance found in dried-up lake beds in Egypt. It's used for ritual cleansing (it was also used for regular, non-ritual cleansing).

It is extremely easy to make at home.

Mix 50% salt with 50% bicarbonate of soda (aka baking soda - NOT baking powder) into a heatproof container, eg pyrex. Shallow and wide is better.

I prefer to use sea salt or kosher salt because it doesn't have the additive that makes table salt flow better, but that's probably prissiness.

Grind up if salt is in chunks.

Pour a small amount of boiling water on top of bicarb/salt mix, stir until it dissolves.

Put in oven on very low heat until the water evaporates (that's why you don't want to use more water than necessary to dissolve it, and also why a wide shallow container is better). Or leave in sun. Takes 24 hours maybe.

When completely dry, take out and regrind if necessary to break up chunks. Put in jar.

You can tell it's worked, because if you put a spoon of natron in water, after a bit the water will have a 'slippy' feel like it has soap or conditioner in it, which you don't get from salt or bicarb alone.

There's never really a reason to use this instead of salt unless you're a nerd who likes to do little projects. Which I am!

(Oh PGM has a "carve this onto a piece of natron" rite - I've never done it, but I guess you'd pour the boiling water/bicarb/salt mix into a small mold?)

 

[Xenophon]

Natron is a substance found in dried-up lake beds in Egypt. It's used for ritual cleansing (it was also used for regular, non-ritual cleansing).

It is extremely easy to make at home.

Mix 50% salt with 50% bicarbonate of soda (aka baking soda - NOT baking powder) into a heatproof container, eg pyrex. Shallow and wide is better.

I prefer to use sea salt or kosher salt because it doesn't have the additive that makes table salt flow better, but that's probably prissiness.

Grind up if salt is in chunks.

Pour a small amount of boiling water on top of bicarb/salt mix, stir until it dissolves.

Put in oven on very low heat until the water evaporates (that's why you don't want to use more water than necessary to dissolve it, and also why a wide shallow container is better). Or leave in sun. Takes 24 hours maybe.

When completely dry, take out and regrind if necessary to break up chunks. Put in jar.

You can tell it's worked, because if you put a spoon of natron in water, after a bit the water will have a 'slippy' feel like it has soap or conditioner in it, which you don't get from salt or bicarb alone.

There's never really a reason to use this instead of salt unless you're a nerd who likes to do little projects. Which I am!

(Oh PGM has a "carve this onto a piece of natron" rite - I've never done it, but I guess you'd pour the boiling water/bicarb/salt mix into a small mold?)

Re: carving into natron, that's how I'd do it: a small cookie sheet or shallow mold. I grew up in a place with "saline seep" in some of the local land and you'd find what looked like flat pieces of dried white mud when the water in low places died up in summer. It was, I fancy, similar to the stuff in Egypt. Fairly brittle, but you could incise letters with a big needle or a knife tip if you're careful. (We kids just threw it at each other. Softer than rocks.)

Interesting recipe you have here.