CHAPTER SIXTEEN

UNDERSTANDING THE HORN MANURE AND HORN SILICA PREPARATIONS

As a farmer, horn manure and horn silica preparation are the two preps that I have worked with most. They are relatively easy to make and most years I could cover the whole farm two or three times with my spray rig.As I described earlier, the horn manure preparation is made by stuffing the manure of a cow into a cow horn and burying it for the winter. When you dig the horns up in the spring, the manure is completely transformed and loses its manure smell and consistency. Four hundred horns took up a lot of space, so I would use the bucket of my skid loader to dig a hole about two feet deep, eight feet long and six feet wide. Into this I would layer my horns, with earth between each layer. When the horns are dug up in the spring, the prep can be stored in clay pots that are then placed in a special box that is lined with peat moss. The peat moss stops the energy or forces from being dissipated into the surroundings. When you use the prep, you need about a handful per acre, or less if you are spraying a big area, and you stir this into the water for one hour. The stirring is important because it transfers the imprint or information of the prep into the water. If you are stirring by hand, say in a five-gallon bucket, you need a nice straight stick about eighteen inches long which you use to create a vortex in the water by stirring vigorously. When you have a hole in the water that nearly touches the bottom of the bucket, you stir the other way. This at first creates chaos but you keep stirring until you have achieved a new vortex. So you stir back and forth for an hour and then you can spray the desired area with a Wisk broom or backpack sprayer. As I had over five hundred acres to cover, I used a stirring machine, with an electric motor, that stirred about ninety gallons at a time. This I would then transfer to my spray machine which was attached to my tractor and I could cover about thirty acres. Usually we could do two loads an afternoon or about sixty acres. As much of my land was either in hay or pasture, I would try to spray these fields in the Spring and Fall and when possible after making hay. The cultivated ground, where we were going to plant annual crops such as corn and cereals, would be sprayed before planting.Of this prep Steiner says “By burying the horn with its filling of manure, we preserve in the horn the forces it was accustomed to exert within the cow itself, namely the property of raying back whatever is life giving and astral.…Thus, in the content of the horn we get a highly-concentrated, life-giving manuring force.”The cow is a ruminant with four stomachs that can hold over fifty gallons of digestive juices. The plants that she consumes are permeated with life forces to which she adds her own sentient forces so that the manure is a very lively substance. When you look at a cow, you can see that she is a very inward, dreamy being. In her digestion, she is reflecting the whole cosmos and this energy is retained by the manure. All living beings have energies that are steaming in and out, which keeps them connected to their environment. The horns and hoofs, which are made from layers of skin, ray all the cow’s forces of digestion back into her stomach. Thus when you watch a cow eating or chewing her cud, you experience this total absorption that she has in her digestion. Even after you take the horns from a dead cow, they retain their function of raying the cosmic forces into the manure that is stuffed into the horns. When you use this preparation on the bare ground before planting, or on hay fields and pasture, you stimulate the forces of germination, root development and growth.
Horn Silica PreparationThis prep also uses the cow horn but, instead of the manure, we use Silica which comes from quartz crystal. The crystals are finely ground; water is added to make a paste and then the paste stuffed into a horn. The horns are then placed into the ground for the summer and dug up in late fall. The Silica prep is sprayed early in the morning, preferably soon after sunrise. This made it difficult to use this prep as we started milking at five. Usually it meant giving up my mornings to sleep in but it wasn’t all bad. I could set everything up the evening before, such as filling the stirring tank with water. Then at five in the morning, I’d flip the switch to the stirring machine while I enjoyed a cup of tea and the beginnings of sunrise for an hour. Spraying is a relatively simple operation, so driving through the fields and watching the world wake up was enjoyable work. The Silica spray compliments the horn manure preparation. In the human being, silica is found in the skin and other sense organs such as the eyes. It is a carrier of the light and formative forces; it helps to make the plant sensitive to the forces that bring quality and form. Whereas the horn manure helps with reproduction and growth, the horn Silica prep enables the plant to attract the forces that make for good nutrition and high quality.How Does a Plant Feel in a Biodynamic Soil?A fertile soil that has been treated with the biodynamic preparations is imbued with life, is sentient and has a desire to become plant-like. A plant is so close to the earth that there is not a great distinction between the root and the surrounding soil. When the seed, which anchors the spiritual archetype within it, is placed into the soil and encounters moisture and this desire to become plant, the plant can than grow in a healthy way. The forces of growth and reproduction are available to it as well as the forces that produce good nutrition and excellent qualities of smell, color and good taste. When the Biodynamic compost is spread on the soil, the soil is enlivened and the plant is led to incarnate through the planets, starting from the periphery, Saturn, and working to Moon, in an orderly and balanced fashion. In more detail;the Valerian prep is connected to Saturn. This planet is the gateway to the constellations of the zodiac that bear the blueprint of the archetype of the species. Through this prep, the soil is waiting to become the plant type carried within the seed. As the plant starts to die, it also allows for a healthy development of the new seed for the next generation.The Dandelion prep is connected to Jupiter. Jupiter fills out the archetype or idea of the plant. It allows the plant to become sensitive and attracts to itself, out of the surrounding environment, what it needs for its growth. This prep strengthens the nutritive quality as can be experienced in good taste and aroma.The Stinging Nettle prep is connected to Mars. This prep further encourages growth into space and the forming of substance, again for good nutrition. It does this by making the soil sensitive, so that it makes available to the plant what it truly needs.The Yarrow prep is connected to Venus. This prep enlivens the soil so that the plant can absorb the incarnating forces coming from Saturn, Jupiter and Mars into physical substance. It does this by making the life or etheric body of the plant sensitive, so that it can accept the imprint from the planetary formative forces.The Chamomile prep is connected to Mercury. This prep brings everything into fluid movement so that the spiritual can adapt to the physical world. It also strengthens the life or etheric body of the plant so that it does not get overpowered by the spiritual.Oak Bark prep is connected to the moon. The moon influences growth and reproduction. If these forces become too strong then disease can occur. This prep helps with the further stabilizing and balancing of the etheric and astral bodies so that the plant can be healthy.The two field sprays, the horn manure and horn silica preparations help the plant to be balanced between growth and reproduction (coming from the moon) and good nutritive quality (coming from the sun).(Need end paragraph to finish)