Horsetail Herb–Equisetum Arvense–BD 508

Originally published 2024-08-02.

AB # 8, Summer 1994

by Hugh Williams 

Rudolf Steiner indicated that horn manure could, if necessary, be made with horse manure by wrapping the cow horn with the mane of a horse. Could horsetail, the old name for equisetum, carry more than a mere morphological analog? I support Hugh Courtney’s finding that equisetum is transformed into the ninth preparation by, in addition to boiling, fermentation and homeopathic extension. These steps transform it from an herbal tea into an instrument of specific dynamic activity.

In Australia we used She-oak (Casuarina littoralis) for the same purpose. It is a tree up to 60 feet tall, and grows as a relic of ancient silica forests—one can well picture dinosaurs wading around and ripping huge masses of them down into sulfurous wallows to eat, together with all other manner of algal slime (somehow, this talk of water and slime calls to my imagination another preparation, BD 505, oak bark).

The Australian Aborigines believe that powerful creation spirits called Wandjina give the rain. The people’s Dreaming must nurture and watch over the spirits’ well-being. If this is not done, and conditions decline too far, art is used: the people are inspired to paint the Wandjina.

I don’t know what has happened to you, but all your spirit has gone out of you. No men or women watch over you, for the people who belong to this place—my aunties, sisters, fathers and grannies—they are all dead now. Only I, that belong to another place, came to visit you, but you were lonely for all those people who died and your spirit has gone away now.

Because you were looking all dull–you’re not looking bright–I’ll try and draw you. I’ll try and put new paint on you people . . .don’t get wild, don’t send rain! . . . You must be very glad that I’m going to make you new—don’t try and get wild and don’t send the rain to me . .. . I made you very good now—I don’t know how I did it.

Very good! . . .You must be very glad, because I made your eyes like new. That eye, you know, like this my eye . . . I made them new for you people. My eye has life, and your eye has life too, because I made it new . . .

Don’t try to bring rain, my wife might drown with rain. The rain might drown her.1 

We read in Australian Dreaming–40,000 Years of Aboriginal History, that a most powerful Wandjina, Wodjin, “was able to bring heavy rain by stroking his beard.” This is a magnificent picture of the wind combing the She-oaks before a typical Australian deluge. Like many Australian plants, the She-oak is extremely tough and requires drastic measures to release its dynamic potency. In America, with equisetum, we have to get down on our hands and knees to get a similar picture. In ancient times these were also large silica trees. Still, the sporulating form, early in spring, gives an equally, if not more vivid picture of something ancient.

I must admit that my belief in the efficacy of BD 508 rested on faith until I began fermenting it and extending it homeopathically. At that point, I experienced BD 508.

Somewhere around 1987 I put the problem to Hugh Courtney: “How can I get enough BD 508 to treat my whole orchard ground?” He suggested at that time using Lily Kolisko’s formula for a D5 dilution. So, what follows is my version of the Kolisko-Courtney version (see below). This preparation can also be used at D2 or D3, which may be more practical in a small garden. On the other hand, plants can be watered with the D5. It is good to try different things, as long as we remember if we are not getting the desired effect, we still don’t have it right. It is important to remember that there can be different uses of the preparations than we may be used to, and it is important to develop a sense for that.

Regarding the application, I feel that the material should be used promptly, except in certain special applications. Such fine dilutions can be unwittingly neutralized, for instance, by the introduction of any other water at any stage. If the directions are followed carefully, it is a dependable and powerful instrument in managing the water household in farm and garden, especially preventing fungal outbreaks due to wet conditions, when the moon/earth (limestone) forces are working too strongly. The horsetail embodies silica in an idealized form.

We should be able to experience lime as a creature of many desires who wants to grab and take possession of everything, and silica as a noble aristocrat who carries everything wrested from the clutches of lime into the atmosphere and there gives shape to the plants. Silica lives either as if in a castle, as in the horsetail plant, or spread out over everything, sometimes in very homeopathic amounts. It is responsible for wresting away from the lime what must be wrested away. Here again we are confronted with extremely subtle processes in nature.” 2

The equisetum prep is really a kind of liquid manure to be sprinkled or sprayed on the earth. I prefer to apply it in the mid- to late morning when some freshly worked earth is exposed—in conjunction with cultivation. That is the ideal. The amounts are not critical. As with BD 501 (horn silica) on the leaves, I often have the impression that as soon as proper contact is made with the soil, the whole field or bed is done. As a rule of thumb, apply as for Barrel Compost, around 20 to 40 liters per acre. In addition, this version of the prep is a suitable tonic for drenching, washing, soaking or misting any plant or crop where fungus problems are suspected: that is, preventively. Volume is no obstacle. I am planting experiments with post harvest baths for fruit such as apples and storage squash. But the key use is on the soil. I strongly suggest routine rhythmic applications to the soil in spring at least three times for orchard, greenhouse, and in fact, many farm situations. The spray takes me about 15 minutes to prepare.3

Hugh Williams’ Recipe for BD 508 (Fermented Version)

It seems I hit on a true variant of this preparation: it is a sweet rather than a sulfurous ferment. Yet my experience conforms to that of Hugh Courtney: this is an extremely potent preparation. Because of the radically different outer appearance of our two products, Hugh Courtney asked me repeatedly to give away my recipe. Here it is:

Ingredients: Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) fresh or chopped dry herb; best drinking quality water; large stainless, enamel, or glass cooking vessel with cover or lid; coarse and fine strainers or cheesecloth; a room temperature storage space where the ferment can be monitored away from direct light; glass jars with good sealed lids such as canning jars.

Method: Put the herb and water in the pot in a proportion of 1:10 by volume.4 Bring to a rolling boil (watch it!) without boiling over, then reduce to a fast simmer. Maintain this until the characteristic aroma appears. This I find is quite sudden and unmistakable and takes about 10 to 20 minutes. Turn it off. At this point, the first cell breakdown has occurred. Time can do the rest. Cover the vessel (after taking a few deep inhalations of the vapors!) and set it somewhere safe at room temperature and, if in glass, out of direct light. The preparation is judged finished, again by smell, after 7 to 14 days, depending on the ambient temperature. A truly delightful, fresh, lemony clean fragrance will be detected. At this point, all the herb must be strained off with strainers and/or cheesecloth. If this is not done a sulfurous ferment will result as the herb begins to putrefy. The tea is now poured into the jars to the very top and capped. Store in a dark place as for the other preparations (i.e. in a box filled with peat moss). In this form it is very stable and will keep without deteriorating for months or even longer.

Diluting Materials: In addition to a sprayer, you will need a five-gallon bucket and two canning jars with water-tight lids: one small and one a two-liter size; a good stirring stick capable of vigorously agitating the last two steps.

Method of homeopathic dilution to obtain Equisetum D5, BD 508: Calculate the amount of material you want to spray (or water) with. For convenience, let us suppose this is 100 liters. D5=100 liters (this is unity). Put 100L of water into a sprayer or barrel. Take out precisely 10L and put it into the bucket (this is for D4). From the 10L bucket take out 1L (for D3). From the 1L, take out 100ml (for D2). From the 100 ml remove precisely 10 ml of water and discard. Using a dry measuring device or pipette, take precisely 10ml of the horsetail preparation and add it in one motion to the small jar with 90ml of water, close the lid and shake firmly for 3 minutes. At this size it is good to use a vigorous “dropping” motion that divides and combines the fluid in a special way. Theodor Schwenk designed special vessels to enhance this effect. With experience, you will know when 3 minutes is up, because you will feel the water “drop.” in the meantime use a clock. Now you have 1L of D3 equisetum. Add this, as before, to the 9 liters of water. Stir vigorously for 3 minutes without losing any. Spirals are best.

You now are ready to make the final dilution. Add the 10L of D4 to the barrel or sprayer containing 90L of water. Stir or agitate for 3 full minutes. (If your sprayer has mechanical agitation, switch it off to rest for a few moments until you are ready to spray.)

As you make the dilutions, notice at which stage the characteristic aroma vanishes. It may vary, but my experience is that it pervades the air until the last step, and then becomes highly attenuated or disappears. And that is what we want–now it's the dynamic potential of the original substance that is at work. At D5 we have a concentration of 1 part equisetum to 100,000 parts water. With each dilution, the dynamic potency is enhanced.