Why I will never be a Biodynamicist

Well it's decided, I will now devote the rest of my existence on this planet to fighting against productivist chemical agronomy in the service of the globalized agri-food industry and big exploitative capital. I should therefore logically switch to organic farming but the right-thinking and especially the “stars” of viticulture consider me a small player if I do not have the ambition, after my conversion, to become a convinced biodynamicist and do so. part of the big boys club. Overall, the most to do after the transition to organic and a period of exploitation of a few years to attest to the seriousness of my transition, before being able to fully identify myself with all the concepts of the anthroposophy of this dear Rudolf, c is to necessarily switch to horn dung! Indeed, the primary obligation to be certified by DEMETER (or BIODYVIN), after respecting at least the organic farming standards, is to use at least one application of preparation 500, the famous dynamized dung preparation. of horn. In biodynamics, the use of specific “preparations” is required. These aspects have not been retained by modern organic farming; they come essentially from currents of mystical thought fashionable in romantic Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. They are also found in homeopathy with the idea of ​​“vitalization”, even if it has a very different meaning in this specific case. The use of auxiliary products or hidden “preparations” is therefore mainly the specificity of biodynamic agriculture. These preparations, 8 in number, were dictated by Rudolf Steiner on the basis of his “intuitions”, and continue to be practiced in current biodynamics. There are six preparations to add to compost and two preparations to spray on crops, in a “homeopathic” dosage. These preparations must be charged with feelings and “cosmic forces,” according to Steiner. They are made of quartz, cattle dung, six plants and animal organs. There are two preparations to spray in the fields (horn dung and horn silica) and six preparations to compost (preparation of yarrow, preparation of chamomile, preparation of nettle, preparation of oak bark, preparation of dandelion and valerian preparation). These “preparas” are authorized in Regulation (EC) No. 834/2007 of the Council of the European Union which defines the objectives, principles and rules applicable to organic production. There are also preparations made from cremated animals, always used in the form of homeopathic dilutions. Anthroposophical preparations are for the most part obtained through a fermentation process in animal organs: bladder, mesentery, intestine and skull of domestic animals. But the cow, its dung and its horns represent a central element of the biodynamic mode of action. According to DEMETER, “applied in spring on warmed soil and/or in autumn on still warm soil, it is a powerful builder of soil structure, an activator of microbial life. It promotes the formation of humus and water absorption and can therefore reduce the need for watering. This preparation stimulates the ability to fix CO2 in soils and regulates soil pH by increasing that of acidic soils and reducing that of alkaline soils. It stimulates the general growth of the root system and particularly its vertical development towards the depth, the bedrock, where the minerals specific to the terroir are found. It is therefore particularly interesting for winegrowers, who seek to strengthen the intimate link of the vine with its terroir and to develop unique wines. It can also help fight against salinization phenomena. Horn dung is made by introducing cow dung into the horn of a cow that has calved at least once. Obviously, no animal is killed for the preparation of the preparations, nor even dehorned (prohibited by the Demeter specifications). The horns are collected from animals slaughtered for other purposes. The filled horn is then buried from the autumnal equinox to the spring equinox.” But why this obsession with cows? Interest seems firstly motivated by the unique digestive performance of the ruminant animal. But what is the point of his horn? “The cow has horns in order to send into its own body the astral and etheric formative forces which must deploy all their efforts in this direction to progress to the digestive system, in such a way that in this system an intense work by precisely through the radiation coming from the horns and hooves. » R. Steiner, Farmers' Course 4th conference. All this being stated, and notwithstanding the case of hornless cows which obviously continue to digest, why dung in horn? “The view of spiritual science on soil fertility” by Hueli Hurter (2017 Gœtheanum Agricultural Congress) finally enlightens us. “Human beings think. The material-organic foundation is our brain. The mass of the brain must be quite dead, so that thought is clear and self-directed. The inertia of matter and the clarity of the mind in the form of thoughts condition each other reciprocally. The cow does not think, in the sense of thoughts of which she herself would be conscious. The substance produced by its digestion and transported to its brain does not become completely terrestrial and inert – and this is why it grows horns. These send back into the organism the forces half-liberated from the flow of food, and the Self, in its sketchy state, remains linked to organic development. The cow's manure carries within itself this outline of the self. This is what we use to amend the soil. The outline of the Self present in the manure acts on the roots of plants so that “they can grow in the appropriate way, in the direction of the force of gravity” (GA 327, 8th lecture) – thus the Is agriculture an individuality in the making? » “As the animal does not need the forces that man requires to develop his consciousness, they remain available and he releases them. The ruminant, and in particular the cow, has, thanks to its four stomachs and its long digestive tract (40-45 m), a capacity for intensive digestion which can transform enormous quantities of food….This faculty allows it not only to satisfy the needs of one's own body and to ensure the production of milk, but also to produce precious manure. But what about the 500 preparation? “By introducing the dung into the cow's horn, and burying it in the ground in winter, we strengthen the forces released by the digestive processes and return them to the dung. The growth of the plant reflects the process of respiration of the earth: in spring, exhalation, in autumn, inspiration. In winter, the earth is ready to absorb new forces from the cosmos. With the help of the forces of the cosmos, the substances of the soil and air are transformed by the plant into living substances, animated by the animal in digestion, and fertilized by the cosmos in the horn which is buried in the ground . The forces contained in this substance are transmitted to the water through mixing, resulting in the formation of vortices. They will be brought to the soil and young plants to revive them during spraying. »… “Having buried the horn filled with manure, we preserve in them the forces that the cow's horn used to exert inside the cow itself, namely reflecting the etheric and the astral . » In fact, dung is not the imagined residue of digestion but rather… brain matter. Still according to H.Hurter “What is brain mass? It's simply fecal matter carried to term. Brain excrement that does not reach completion is eliminated in the intestine. Judging from the processes to which it is subjected, the contents of the intestine are of the same nature as the contents of the brain. » And to conclude: “In caricature terms, I would say that what is in the brain is a pile of dung in its higher stage; but the comparison is in all respects consistent with reality. » At this stage I feel a little nauseous... And if I decide to follow Rudolf's recommendation to the letter: "It is necessary to preserve our clear capacity for judgment, our capacity to judge external events, (...) not to not let ourselves be confused by all kinds of occultism. We need to judge clearly the processes of life, which protects us from falling into the murky trap of occultist charlatanry, particularly that which emanates from certain centers where goals far removed from any pure search for truth are pursued, for example. fishing in troubled waters. » Rudolf Steiner, Munich, March 18, 1916 – GA174a Without dung in my horn, I will never be a biodynamicist.