Article: Alchemical Gardening
by Rick Grimes
Reprinted from Issue 20 of The Stone
An accomplished graphics
artist, as well as an Alchemist and Alchemical Gardener, Rick Grimes is the
editor of The Stone. Rick is a member of the Board of Directors of the
Philosophers of Nature, serving in the position of the Director of External
Affairs. Rick studied Alchemy for many years with Frater Albertus.
The intent of this article is to establish not the last word about alchemical
gardening, but rather the first. By this approach I hope to stimulate an ongoing
dialogue within the worldwide scope of the STONE so that we may grow in our
understanding of natural, lawful, gardening.
Concern about the environment, overpopulation, earth changes, global disease,
and a dozen other serious issues, stalk our daily lives. Realistically, what can
we expect in 5, 10, or 20 years? It's impossible to say, exactly, but we know
we'll need to eat, and we'll need medicines, and we'll need a sound and
productive natural world. This is certain.
More specifically, increasing toxicity in our air, water, and soil, which
eventually seeps into our food, directly affects our health. Meats and dairy
products carry anti biotic residues and hormone growth enhancers; fruits are
sprayed; vegetables are radiated; and many prepackaged foods carry propyl
derivatives.
In view of these considerations, more and more people are taking the
responsibility of augmenting their food resources with back yard gardens,
organically grown food, stored food, and "controlled environment" food
production such as the biodynamic principles of farming. Yet, I dare say, the
vast majority of these well intentioned people are unaware of the nutritional
potential of adding Alchemically managed food production principles to their
methods.
I would hope that those of you who presently produce garden foods, herbs, and
flowers, either on a grand or modest scale, will lend your knowledge and
experience to this forum. It will make a great contribution to those interested
in following your example. So - let’s get started, shall we?
What is an Alchemical garden?
One might say that an alchemical garden combines traditional organic gardening
technique and practice with Hermetic principles and concepts. The Alchemical
Gardener (AG) follows the natural inclinations of their plants by managing them
consciously. Nature does not reject assistance in creating more perfected
products in her laboratory of sunshine, soil, moon glow, and dew/rain. The
gardener has only to fully understand the nature of the plant and its relation
to these four elements - fire, earth, air, and water.
Plants were not first evolved to feed man, but rather to perpetuate their
species. Then, perhaps it can be said, they glory in feeding beasts, bugs, and
human beings. An alchemical gardener succeeds by first, acknowledging the plant’s
particular nature within Nature, and secondly, by understanding its qualities
and characteristics - body soul and spirit, and thirdly, by forming an
interactive relationship with the plant. Do I mean, talk to plants? If that’s
what it takes, YES! Native peoples do, and they have forgotten more about the
spirit of plants than we will probably ever know. One will be well served to
commit to these basic principles in the ongoing production of one’s food and
medicine.
For example, the commercial approach to plant production is first focused on
quantity of yield per acre,. This approach necessitates an emphasis on faster
growth, bigger, heartier produce that will still look good when it arrives at
market. But there is a price to pay in the long term as soils deteriorate,
losing trace metals and minerals that are not replaced with commercial
fertilizers. Most commercial fertilizers infuse the primary plant nutrients into
tillable soils, but lack the 40 to 50 additional trace elements that are found
in naturally rich virgin soil. In the United States, for example, after 200
years of farming our top soils, and thereby depleting them, these nutrients are
largely lost to us today; thus the need for supplements in our diet.
To the alchemical gardener nutritional virtue is a factor, of course, but a
secondary one. They will first be concerned with the health of the plants,
secondly, with the quality of their reproduction, and thirdly, with their
perpetuation without diminution. Once these factors are addressed
satisfactorily, the AGs will then focus on their plants as food or medicine.
Speaking of medicine, the best medicine for Man is wholesome food. An old and
wise idea indeed, but how can we combat deficient soil, insects, plant diseases,
the plundering of birds and beasts, and still produce a wholesome yield? The
answer lies not only in combating such foes externally but also by helping
nature fight from within the plant itself. Nature is better at it than we are,
anyway.
The secret of our combat is to promote the survival of the fittest by helping
nature produce the fittest plant strains through conscious selection. Soils are
conditioned by proper preparation, composting, rotation, and recycling. Animal
and insect invasion can be reduced through proper plant association (companion
gardening), natural plant sprays, and mechanical devices. Plant disease
resistance can be strengthened by augmenting the plant’s immune system. Seed
selection, soil preparation, natural fertilization, and conscious harvesting all
have a direct bearing on plant immunity. Let’s start with an example: The
Tomato.
The tomato is a care package for the seeds it contains; it does not know it is
food for humans. When ripe, all of the sugars, acids, minerals, proteins, and
such as are required for its seeds, are contained therein and in the correct
ratio. Should the tomato happen to fall onto poor soil the pulp would provide
the proper nourishment to its sprouting seeds, which can then thrive until the
roots reach beyond the soil conditioned by the decomposed tomato. At this point
the plant is on its own to grow in the surrounding soil. Likewise, the seed
kernels are basically the first care package for the actual SEED which is a
minuscule vortex of Spirit smaller than an atom.
Soil:
The tomato’s soil should ideally contain sandy loams with a mix of ingredients
similar to those found in the tomato, plus those additional elements needed for
strong stalks and healthy leaves such as iron, potassium, sodium, nitrogen, and
so forth. If your tomato bed soil is deficient use the tomato as your guide.
They also grow well in any type of fertile, well-drained soil.
Plant Maintenance:
Regularly water, spray with garlic or other organic sprays, weed, fluff the
soil, and smile a lot while working. You may wish to play soothing music, sing,
chant, pray over your plants, or ignore them altogether (ignoring is NOT
neglecting). Then, when you are finished get out of the way, leave them to
Mother’s care, and just go have a nice cup of spicy tea and watch your garden
grow. There will be more practical maintenance tips in the next issue of The
STONE.
Harvesting:
Perpetuation of strong tomatoes is accomplished by always saving the best
tomatoes from each harvest for SEED - do not eat them! Eat the other tomatoes
but never eat the best and most beautiful examples. The selected tomatoes are
then carefully opened for drying.
Separate the seeds from the pulp and dry both in a dry dark place free of dust
and pollens. Once the pulp is dry grind it up into powder and save. You can use
a coffee grinder, a mortar and pestle, or any other method that will powder the
pulp. Skinning the tomato before drying may make powdering a little easier. If
the dry pulp exhibits some waxing when you attempt to powder it, do the best you
can. The waxing means there is the presence of the plant’s essential oil. Sort
the seed and remove any that appear deformed, shriveled, or discolored. At the
end of the first season you will have enough dried pulp and good seed to plant
the following season’s crop.
Save all stalks (with roots) and leaves, wash thoroughly and dry, then calcine
to a light gray ash. Save for the next season. Prior to reinvesting the ash into
your tomato beds, it is good to first mix your ripened compost mulch into the
soil. Alchemical principle suggests this be done in the fall in climates that
receive vitalized winter snows, while in milder climates one might prefer the
early spring before the spring rains; personal preference should dictate here.
Once the soil is enriched it is time to add the calcined ash (stalks, roots, and
leaves). Note that the ash contains the charged and refined mineral salts
selected by, and prepared within, the plants during the previous season.
Mix the ash with enough pure sun warmed water (rainwater that has NOT touched
the ground is preferred) to fully dissolve the salts in the ash; if desired the
water’s alkalinity can be checked with pH paper. This is then sprinkled onto
the tomato beds until it has all been evenly applied. The ash residue (caput
mortum) that may remain in the sprinkler container, devoid of soluble salt, is
then dried and evenly mixed back into the soil.
Planting:
Follow your own preferences as to planting time. From new to first quarter moon
is the preference of many. It is also recommended that your seeds be soaked for
10 to 15 minutes in rain water containing a moon-charged quartz crystal (do not
soak in direct sunlight). Soak no more than 20 minutes before planting. The
point of this is to augment the spiritual charge to the seed, but not soften
their kernels too much.
For climates that experience an early frost date the more experienced gardeners
often field plant their tomatoes. Mix and mound the soil in your tomato beds,
make a hole with your finger, sprinkle about a quarter teaspoon of red pulp
powder into the hole and drop in your tomato seed/s, and press the hole closed.
When all the seeds are planted mix the remaining pulp with (rain) water and
evenly sprinkle all of it on your tomato beds.
For northern climates that have a late frost date you may prefer sprouting your
tomatoes in your house / greenhouse before planting in your beds; this is by far
the most common way of working with tomatoes. Simply follow your traditional
methods and procedures using the alchemical processes where appropriate.
Normally the young plant will survive transfer to the outside beds when they are
about eight inches tall. When placed in the beds the plants should have ample
room to mature without depleting the soil, perhaps 12 to 18 inches between each
plant.
Follow this routine for 7 seasons; selecting only the best examples of your
tomatoes for SEED. Re-cycle the salts each year, which will increase the potency
of your soil, and at the end of the seventh season I suggest you trade about 25%
of your tomato seeds with another AG who is also on their seventh season. You
want to introduce new, but equally evolved, genetics into your tomato strain. Do
this each seventh season so your strains contain the full component of a 7-year
cycle. In this way you will eventually produce extremely fit, beautifully
nutritious, tomatoes that are inherently better able to resist disease.
Generally, you would follow these same principles with your other plants while
at the same time following the particular requirements of those plants. By
involving yourself in this way you will eventually develop a psychic feel for
your garden and what’s in it.
Following installments will include tips on garden designs, tools, tricks,
natural methods of insect control, seed collecting, non toxic disease control,
beneficial plant associations, and more. My hope is that much of this
information will come from you, our readers and fellow alchemical gardeners.
Remember what I said at the beginning; I’m presenting the first word on this
subject, not the last. We need your help in making this feature a valuable asset
for all STONE readers. This is practical alchemy at work, and it will be a lot
of fun as well.
--- Rick Grimes
Bibliography:
I recommend three books
that I like; What do you recommend?
· Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew - ISBN 0-87857-341-0,
· The Complete Book of Plant Propagation by Graham Clark & Alan Toogood -
ISBN 0-7063-7079-1
· The Practical Handbook of Plant Alchemy by Manfred M. Junius - ISBN
0-89281-485-3
Web sites you might enjoy:
· HERBWEB (Tim Johnson) http://www.herbweb.com/
· Michael Moore’s site: http://chili.rt66.com/hrbmoore/ManualsOther/ManOther.html
· Southwest School of Botanical Medicine http://chili.rt66.com/hrbmoore/HOMEPAGE/HomePage.html
· Life Extension Foundation http://www.lef.org
· Biodynamic Gardening http://www.tiac.net/users/seeker/biodyn.html
· Virtual Garden http://pathfinder.com/vg/ {This link now broken}
· BLOOM includes The Plant Encyclopedia {This link now broken}
Technical Notes:
1. The charged rain water will more completely open the salts, especially those
salts that would tend to be insoluble in grounded water. The recycled salts
attune the soil of the tomato beds with the signature vibration of the previous
crop which includes your energy. An evolutionary process has begun here.
Sunshine and spring showers will add the final touch to your soil’s readiness.
2. The ashes should be mixed into the charged (ungrounded) rain water in earthen
pots set on a wooden table or plastic containers - never metal containers which
could ground and thus discharge the water. Always stir the mixture with a wooden
stick or spoon, or a plastic stir. Again, if you stir with metal the charge will
go through the metal stir, into you, and into the ground. If you only have a
metal rod to stir with you might wear rubber gloves or rubber boots to prevent
the charge from escaping. We want to put that divine fire (the electric charge)
into the ash (salt) water that will then carry the charge to the specific ground
in which the tomatoes will grow.
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