Literally, the "Bath of Mary," it is the original name for the common double boiler used in cooking. The "Mary" in this instance was a Jewish woman who lived in ancient Alexandria and was known to be one of the earliest practitioners of alchemy. It was used to slowly heat substances, a practice necessary for alchemy.
Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Pamela Chen and Samantha Blossom, authors of the new The Mandarin Tree.
As modern Asian American mystics, we love to work with the heavenly creatures, or what you may know as mystical beings in...