"So long as one feeds on food from unhealthy soil, the spirit will lack the stamina to free itself from the prison of the body" --Rudolf Steiner

Secrets of the Soil: New Solutions for Restoring Our Planet, companion and sequel to The Secret Life of Plants by the same authors, is a compendium on the science and metaphysics of soil, agriculture, and the environment. Going beyond the rudiments of biology, the authors demonstrate that the inherent life force woven through all plants, stones, soil, water, and air is central to our survival, and our relationship to the soil is of vital importance to our future.

If you want to look beyond Miracle Grow, or even organic cow manure and fish emulsion to help your garden thrive, then this book is a treasure trove of practical as well as esoteric information. Innovative techniques being used with and in the soil are described with scientific accuracy that any reader will find understandable. From the proper use of rocks to attract healing and growth powers inherent in the earth (Chapter 15), to instructions on proper composting to increase necessary bacteria and enzyme composition (Chapter 4), to understanding how important microbes and earthworms are to your dinner plate (Chapter 5), you will increase your understanding of your garden, and how to work with the magnificent energies of nature.

If the subtle, vibrational aspects of growth and renewal tease your mind, you will be fascinated by this book’s discussions of the use of sound, radionics, magnetic rock dust, free energy and more. There is information on earth magnetism, stored energy in water and its use of vortexes, and the use of sound vibration to produce record crops. I will not spoil the descriptions and explanations of the round towers of Ireland (Chapter 21), whose primary use is as a paramagnetic energy antenna to revitalize soils. These conduits that funneled cosmic energies into the soil would grow grasses so rich that farmers brought their cows by barge to the islands that sported these towers.

Every child should know the "Secrets" of this book, and be familiar with nature’s inherent self-nurturing and self-healing powers. After sharing the secrets of weeds, in Chapter 13, our family became more attentive and interested in the "reasons" our weeds came to the garden. The premise of the chapter is that weeds grow in the soil, not just because soil conditions are good for weeds, but because weeds are nature’s way of rejuvenating and restoring the soil.

Weeds also alert us to when the soil is in decline. Knowing the exact weed in place in your garden can tell you what to expect in the soil. Take a good long look at your garden this year, and listen to the weeds crying out to you what your soil conditions are, before you casually rip them out. Hard ground needs a certain weed to bring about loose fertile soils, just as a sandy light soil attracts another kind of weed. Weeds are sentinels that give us warnings, which we should heed.

There are some heavy duty spiritual corollaries, as well. For example, the authors maintain that the "weeds" in our own lives are designed not to choke us out, but to bring about the right "soil" conditions for our own growth.

Whether you are interested in biodynamic farming, composting, revitalizing dead soils, increasing crops with the use of sound, growing and saving seeds, the value and proper use of weeds, releasing paramagnetic forces in rock dust, applying radionic principles to crop growth and pest control, or other approaches that blend physics with metaphysics, this book is the primer for casual gardeners and professional farmers alike.

A Hindu saying, "God sleeps in stone, breathes in plants, dreams in animals and awakens in man," may be an apt subtitle for Secrets of the Soil, as it reveals step by step how to turn stones into bread, by teaching how to feed the hungry, prevent disease in animals, reduce epidemics in man and make agriculture profitable by releasing the forces of nature inherent in rocks, air and water.

Order Secrets of the Soil from your local bookseller or from http://www.earthpulse.com, where you can also obtain Dan Carlson’s growth stimulating Sonic Bloom, as discussed in Chapter 11. If you have access to the Internet, look up http://www.biodynamics.com/, or http://igg.com/bdnow/menu.html. If you are seeking out biodynamic preps for your garden this year, check out http://igg.com/bdnow/jpi/, although anyone will tell you that the preps you make for yourself will be more effective.

Read this book and check out the sources of information above, and you and your garden will never be the same!