A compendium of essays pertaining to the Earth as part of a Living Cosmos. 168 page book which includes a supplement to Biodynamic Planting Calendars.
This book makes quite a few references to the agricultural practices of Biodynamics .... so what is Biodynamics anyway? What has this got to do with 'Betwixt Heaven and Earth'
There are many different answers to the first question - depending on who is asked, and the perspective taken. Many volumes have been, and still can be, written on agriculture. Biodynamics encompasses all that is agriculture .... but with a much grander view than is generally taken! The following picture endeavours to capture an essence, rather than give a prescriptive description.
If I were to go through life considering myself to be a conglomeration of atoms, piloted by a brain and having a heart for a pump - I would have a naive and unfortunate view of myself and the world around me. However, I am a spiritual being, ordered to a particular form, reflecting thoughts and ideas, and my heart beats to a life rhythm .... The Earth too, is a living organism, a being of body, soul and spirit .... In my view this is the essence of Biodynamics.
I am alive, and on that level I can compare myself to the Earth, and begin to draw analogies to life, as a step towards comprehending and finding a way to relate to her. Nobody thrives on a diet of pills. Real food has a quality of vitality which cannot be found in the separated chemical elements. Imagine you are the Earth, not just part of it .... would you thrive on artificial fertilisers? How about a sumptuous feast of life teeming compost, cultured from fresh manures, old plants and minerals all tended by a loving hand?
Mother Earth is around 49 earth years old. She is not so young any more .... no longer as fertile as she was in the Carboniferous times sprouting all that life of abundant forests, fish and amphibians. We still reap the benefits of that period in coal and oil, and no matter how much we endeavour to reclothe the Earth with vegetation we cannot relive that period. No more super-abundance of life to give us oil and coal for the future.
Consider the life cycle of another organism, the Human Being. Enormous physical changes take place in younger children. The rate of change then slows down in the middle years as their bodies become less plastic and more sclerotic. In the latter years with the physical dying process well under way; new possibilities can arise for their soul / spiritual potential, which were not possible in the main substantial growth phase.
Pests and diseases become more prevalent with waning life forces. Look and seek around you. Donít you see and realise that trees do not grow as big and tall as they used to, that many animal species are dying off, and that crops and livestock are more vulnerable? Certainly we have exacerbated the problem thoughtlessly plaguing an ailing lady ........... However these trends were already discernible before the advent of the chemical industry. An experienced B.D. (Biodynamic) farmer or gardener recognises these things and ěseesî the life forces, and consciously works with them. This does not necessitate having clairvoyant faculties. Life forces can be discerned through participation in the dynamics of form, colour, rhythm, smell and gesture of Nature. The farmer or gardener not only works with the laws of the mineral world (where general agriculture tends to stop), but actively engages in, and assists, the laws of life. Life in a moment of time seems invisible, but, looked at through the rhythm of time, is plain for all who wish to see and very, very real. The B.D. practitioner not only works with substance but also with energy. Substance is born out of energy, shaped and brought to life by the light and rhythms of the cosmos.
The Earth Mother is ossifying and her life force is waning, becoming detached from her substance. We have the task to nurture her (and we are part of her). She has another journey to undertake, beyond raising children.
We need to learn to work with all the energy and forces available to us .... food and medicine, in substance form, are becoming less and less effective. Our artificial fertilisers, in their one sided chemical activity, only stimulate the watery element of a plant, making it very unbalanced. (See article on ELEMENTS) . Plants growing in a devitalised medium are in themselves not vital. This carries over in to the animals and humans. This is not too much of a challenge - there is a lot we can do about it and ourselves grow in the process.
Hopefully the preceding can give one a sense of the evolutionary trend of farming (and culture) towards a biodynamic type of approach. Farming has to go in that direction. The situation has changed and will continue to change. We have been weaned, and now need to care for the Mother and wake up to realities facing us.
Other Biodynamic Planting Guides and Books available here:
Biodynamic Planting and Growing Guide
Biodynamic Planting Astro and Lunar Moon Phase Calendar
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