by Hugh Courtney, 2018 Celestial Planting Calendar

Given concerns about the quality of rainwater these days compared to rainwater in Steiner’s time, I started off with some doubt about the use of rain as a source when making biodyamic preparations. Then in 2000, I had the good fortune to read in Rudolf Steiner’s collection of his lectures to the workers at the Goetheanum, From Mammoths to Mediums, a marvelous description of what he claimed is involved at a cosmic level when the earth receives rain. To quote Steiner: 

“Looking at a flower, one is able to say: ‘There the universe – the cosmos is also the universe – fertilizes the flower.’ ... Don’t look at a plant now, but at the earth, how mists rise at a distance ... There the mists are rising. They consist of water. ... But the mists also open out as they rise. So look at the earth here. It is only water which is rising not the solid parts you get when a plant is growing. But the water is rising. When the plant reaches a certain point up there it is fertilized out of the cosmos. When the water, here rising as mist, reaches a certain point, it is also fertilized out of the cosmos. And what happens then? Lightning develops ... the water is fertilized with light and heat by the universe. The same process which occurs in the plant happens up there, and lightning makes it visible. And when the mist has been fertilized up above it comes down again as fruitful rain.  So when you see a cloud of mist rising it is really a gigantic but extremely thinly spread plant. This opens up its flower up there in the cosmos, it is fertilized, contracts, and the fertilized droplets come down again in the form of rain.” 

When I first read this, I suddenly felt a jolt of understanding that rainwater might be the best choice to use in stirring the biodynamic preparations.

However, what can be done about the many contaminants that are now found in rainwater? And what can be done to make other sources of water as pure as unpolluted rainwater which was likely the intention when such water was initially suggested as the desired source to use in stirring the preparations? It appears that the original instructions that Steiner gave for stirring the preparations are already a significant contribution to ‘purifying’ the water. In stirring, we first create a deep vortex and when we reverse stirring direction, the resulting turbulence and chaos serves to impart a cleansing aspect to the water in ways that those researching water quality are still trying to understand.
For too long humans have taken water for granted, and only in the last century or so, have we begun to study water in a more meaningful way. An excellent summary of the current state of water research can be found in Energizing Water: Flowform Technology and the Power of Nature by Schwuchow, Wilkes and Trousdell, 2010. Throughout this book several quotes from various researchers provide a revealing picture of where our awareness of water now lies. “Water is the carrier of rhythm 
and as such is the mediator between organism and environment” (Wilkes 2003). “Water responds very sensitively to cosmic influences” (Schwenk 1967). “According to modern chaos theory, life occurs at the boundaries between chaos and order, whereby so-called ‘strange attractors’ are formed, which indicate turbulence. Turbulences and vortical movement appear to be enhancing and life-sustaining qualities (Gross 2000).”

“The scientific community is giving greater attention to phenomena of rhythm, such as contraction and expansion, and their effects, as it becomes increasingly evident that rhythms play a major role in all human activities and in all life processes.” (Schwuchow, Wilkes, Trousdell, 2010)

Various flowform designs have now been created that appear to substantially improve the quality of water. Numerous quality aspects have been measured using a number of methods, including capillary dynamolysis, sensitive crystallization, the drop-picture technique as well as the effect on seed germination.  These tests seem to bear out the positive effect of energizing water through flowform techniques which imitate water movements which are observed in nature. The stirring methods originally indicated by Rudolf Steiner appear to be a straightforward way to enliven the water as well as to transfer the energy of a preparation into that water.  

Hugh Courtney - Writer, Mentor, Researcher 

In addition to contributing articles, Hugh Courtney has taken on the advisory role of forecasting favourable and unfavorable times for this calendar. He has devoted more than 40 years to perfecting the art of making biodynamic preparations. Taking a cue from his own mentor, Josephine Porter, who declared, “These preparations are no secret, I will teach anyone who wants to learn how to make them,” he has mentored hundreds of people on the finer points of making quality preparations. 

Ever concerned about keeping this special art form alive into the future, in 2009, along with his grandson, Jeremiah Proctor, Hugh founded Earth Legacy Agriculture, LLC to provide quality preparations for discerning practitioners. www.earthlegacyagriculture.com