The Eye of the Cosmos: Viewing Soil Life through Chromatography
Originally published 2025-03-11. By Stewart Kahn Lundy, JPI Biodynamics.
Automated reading
Last chance for soil submissions
Are you interested in learning about chromatography? Perhaps you’ve always wanted to try it on your own but don’t know where to start. We are offering a hands-on soil chromatography workshop in Floyd, Virginia, from March 21-23rd, where you will get to experience making chromas, as well as learning how to read them, what materials you will need, the history of chromatography, and more. We welcome soil samples if you are able to send them — or bring them with you to the workshop! If you are unable to attend, we will be recording a condensed and edited video of the process — the video recording is available on a sliding scale. Please pay what you can and thank you for your ongoing support!
Chromatography is a way of taking a “photograph” of the invisible dynamics at work in soil samples. Rather than relying purely on quantifiable data, chromatography is situated squarely in the realm of aesthetic perception.
The Josephine Porter Institute - Applied Biodynamics is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Soil chromatography is simple enough to do in your own kitchen and affordable enough for almost anyone to do it. It relies on the human being and our personal relationship to these pictures.
The pictures produced from soil or compost (called "chromas") can be analyzed for soil organic matter (SOM), enzyme diversity, and overall integration. Some practitioners read these images on a subtler level, looking for signs of etheric vitality and astral dynamism.
Like learning a musical instrument or developing a feeling for art, "reading" these pictures requires practice. It is about developing an inner aesthetic eye. The first step is doing it yourself, so we invite you to join us at the JPI farm from March 21-23, 2025.
Join us if you can, or ask a question in the comments below so we can address it in the recording!
The Josephine Porter Institute - Applied Biodynamics is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
