Quoting Cody Noconi, The Psychedelic History of Mormonism, Magic, and Drugs (2021): As related by 19th-century author Julius Sachse, the Brotherhood of Zion’s new temple seemed to be strategically designed to achieve a particular application of dose, set, setting, sitter, and support:

“This unique structure was erected on an elevation or hill within the bounds of the Lager, which became known to the brethren as “Mount Sinai,” while the Chapter-house itself was called “Zion.” This curious house was three stories in height, the lower floor consisted of one large room, known as the refectory, connected with which were three small ante-chambers two of which served as pantries for storing the provisions and necessaries for use during the forty days’ seclusion, and the remaining chamber constituted the receptacle for such paraphernalia as was used by the brethren in their ceremonial. The second floor was arranged so as to form a circular chamber, without any window or means of admitting external light. In the center of this chamber, there was a small table or pedestal, on which was placed a lighted lamp, which, during the practice of the rite, was kept burning continually.

Around this pedestal were arranged thirteen cots or pallets, like the radiating spokes of a wheel. This chamber was used by the secluded votaries as their sleeping room and was known as “Ararat,” typifying that heavenly rest which is vouchsafed by the Almighty exclusively to his chosen few, visibly instanced when the Ark of Noah settled down on the mount of that name, there to rest forever. The third or upper story was the mystical chamber where the arcana of the rite were unfolded to the secluded. It was a plain room measuring exactly eighteen feet square, with a small oval window in each side, opening to the four cardinal points of the compass; access to the chamber was obtained through a trap-door in the floor. It was in here that the ceremonies of the rite was performed by the thirteen brethren who were striving for their moral regeneration and seeking communication with the spirit world.

Thirteen adepts who had passed through the physical regeneration were necessary for this latter ceremony, which lasted forty days....The ritual further states that at the end of the thirty-third day of seclusion a visible intercourse commenced between the brethren and the seven archangels, viz.: Anael, Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, Uriel, Zobiachiel, and Anachiel; this visible communion lasted until the end of the fortieth day, when the labor was finished, and each of the adepts received from the senior archangel a parchment or scroll, on which was the seal, or the sacred pentagon, containing the ineffable name. The attainment of this great treasure completed the “ moral regeneration,” or, as it was known among the Bruderschaft the “ state of primitive innocence.” The fortunate Adept who had thus successfully completed the ordeal, with physical body as clean and pure as that of a new-born child, his spirit filled with divine light, with vision without limit, and with mental powers unbounded, would henceforth have no other ambition than to enjoy that complete rest while waiting for immortality, when he should finally be able to say to himself, “I AM, THAT I AM.”...the candidates for the state of perfection accompanied by a single attendant, is to retire to a hut or cave in the forest, on the night of the full moon in the month of May, and for the following forty days is to live secluded, according to the strictest and most austere rules of the order, mortifying the flesh and passing his time in fasting and prayer, his meals consisting merely of broths deprived of fatty substances, comprised mainly of laxative and sanative herbs, and no other drink being used than rain-water which had fallen during the month of May.

A piece of hard ship-biscuit or dry bread-crust was allowed, but the repast invariably commenced with a liquid. On the seventeenth day of this abstemious life, the recluse, in order to further reduce to subjection the physical nature, had several ounces of blood taken from him, after which certain white drops were administered; six drops of this elixir were taken at night and six in the morning, increasing the dose by two drops a day until the thirty-second day. The composition and preparation of this elixir was a secret known only to such adepts as were admitted to the highest mysteries, and so securely was this secret guarded that the component parts were never even revealed to the votaries on the Cocalico. On the thirty-second day, as the first rays of the rising sun gilded the horizon, a further quantity of blood was drawn from the brother who was undergoing the ordeal, who was then to retire to his couch and there remain until the end of the quarantine. At sunrise on the thirty-third day the first grain of materia prima was to be taken.

This materia prima is the same substance which God created to confer immortality upon man when he was first made in paradise, but which, by reason of man’s wickedness, was lost to the race, and at the present time was only to be obtained through or by the favor of such adepts as were within the highest circle of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood. The effect of this grain of elixir was that the moment it was taken the neophyte lost his speech and power of recollection; three hours later convulsions and heavy transudation set in; after these had subsided, his bed was cleaned by his attendant or serving brother, and a broth made from lean beef and sundry herbs was given. On the next day the second grain of the materia prima was taken in a cup of this broth; the effect of this dose was that, in addition to the above-described symptoms, a delirious fever set in which ended with a complete loss or shedding of the skin, hair and teeth of the subject. On the thirty-fifth day a bath of a certain described temperature was taken. The following day the third and last grain of the materia prima was taken in a goblet of precious wine, the effect of which was a gentle and undisturbed sleep, during which a new skin appeared, the hair and teeth, which had been shed two days before, were also miraculously renewed. On the awakening of the subject he was placed in an aromatic herb bath. On the thirty-eighth day of the ordeal an ordinary water bath in which saltpeter had been dissolved was taken, after which the votary resumed his habit and exercised his limbs. The next (thirty-ninth) day ten drops of the elixir of life, also known as the “ grand-master’s elixir “ or balsam, were administered to him in two large spoonfulls of red wine.

With the end of the fortieth day, which ended the period of perfection, the votary completely rejuvenated and restored to the state of innocence of which mankind had been deprived by reason of original sin, now leaves his cell with the power to lengthen his earthly existence to the limit of 5557 years, and live in a state of health and contentment until it should please the almighty Ruler of the Universe to call the perfect adept to the grand chapter above the skies.”