Mods/Thaumcraft/Infusion

Arcane Infusion is the "advanced course" in Thaumcraft's magic, by which players can build the most powerful items available.

Starting Out
In order to proceed with infusion, you should have researched and built the following items and structures:
 * At least one gold-capped greatwood wand.
 * An Arcane Furnace (not to be confused with the Infernal Furnace). This will let you distill the various essentias used for infusion crafting.
 * A collection of jars and void jars, which you can stock with essentia over time.
 * Optionally, an Arcane Centrifuge.
 * At least 6 Arcane Pedestals (you can make more later). Note that one of these will go in the center of the Altar.  (See "Symmetry", below.)
 * A number of "stabilizer objects", try to start with at least 10 or a dozen. You have three options here:
 * Crystal clusters tie up your precious aspect shards, but you probably can make them already. Their elements don't matter, so feel free to use whichever shards you have a surplus of.
 * If you have additional mods providing mob heads, you can use those.
 * Magic Candles are most generic and cheap: You will need to research the Magic Tallow recipe, but then candles can be made with the Cauldron and the Arcane Crafting table.  They require only Rotten Flesh, Praecantio essentia, and string.  You surely have an excess of rotten flesh from fighting zombies, and can get string in the usual fashions.  You can get the essentia needed by distilling greatwood logs. If you somehow have no greatwood, you can scavenge some Praecantio by distilling magical junk from zombie and skeleton drops (enchanted armor, weapons and/or bows), and/or from fishing (enchanted bows and fishing rods).  If you have beaten a Nether Fortress, distilling netherwart gives a plentiful supply of Praecantio.  Over time, you should make more candles, for advanced infusions 100, 150, or more of them can be useful.
 * An altar area surrounding the altar This should be generally safe from mobs and other interference, but the central area (altar and pedestals) needs to be open to the sky.  You will certainly need at least a 9&times;9 space, but it's worthwhile to make the space larger: 13&times;13 is reasonable, and the useful area can extend up to 19x19.
 * It is good to have space beneath the altar for a "candle room" centered horizontally on the altar. Plan for a space at least 11 or 13 blocks on a side, and up to 6 or 8 blocks deep.  You don't need to dig that out up front, just make sure you have room to do so later without falling into a dungeon or somesuch.
 * And finally, the Infusion Altar structure itself, capped with its Runic Matrix and activated with your wand.