Musing with a colleague about 505 and why a domesticated animal skull is used
https://www.natureinstitute.org/article ... -an-animal
Interesting that (some / all ??) domesticated skulls are noticeably different!!!
https://moodie.biz/product/commentary-o ... re-course/ p193
"Then we find the indication that the crumb-like bark must be pressed into the cranium of a domesticated animal. He specifies that it is of little importance which animal’s cranium is used, but he specifies that it must be ‘domestic’ and this, of course, can not be unimportant. The fact that an animal is domestic actually means that it has renounced its natural way of being, and its proximity to the human means it is acquiring a universal character. The old-time wild dogs preyed upon sheep and now, renouncing this way of being, have turned into shepherds’ dogs and protect the sheep. They have been able to adapt to the needs of man and become an indispensable support in a situation of objective difficulties, as in the case of dogs for the Blind. Similarly this preparation supports the plant to take within itself - into the area of flowering and fruiting - only those forces (quality) that will be able to be transformed in order to nourish the higher realms of nature, and not only enough forces (quantity) to produce the seed suitable for a new life cycle. We could say that 505 marks the transition between selfishness and altruism for a plant. It corresponds to the ‘Guardian of the threshold’ in human spiritual development."
Denis Klocek also has some insight into this preparation, ie that Calcium, usually the greedy grabber, in both the cranium and the oak bark has become peripheral and more silicious in its gesture. This reversal suggests some role in the transition from the etheric-dominated growth phase to the mainly catabolic maturation phase 'without shock'.
Thoughts invited ....
Domestication
Re: Domestication
Manfred Klett - The Foundations and Principles of the Biodynamic Preparations
According to Steiner, ‘the skull of any of our domestic animals will do – it makes little or no difference.’ This statement conceals a great riddle. In the case of the other preparations the organ sheath is taken from a very specific species of animal – red deer stag or domestic cattle. However, in the case of the oak bark preparation, the kind of animal is not important, only that it fulfils the role of a domestic animal. These vary greatly and distinguish themselves significantly from their wild relatives in terms of form and behaviour. What is it then, transcending of species, family and order, that makes an animal into a domestic animal?
Domestic animals exist thanks to the intervention of human beings. This is not simply a question of breeding in the way it is understood today, but of education: the domestic animal needs an education to become a domestic animal just as the human being needs one to become human. This educating of the animal into domesticity in a conscious and species-appropriate way is an art that enables the animal to grow beyond its inborn instincts. The domestic animal renounces, to some extent, the wisdom-filled instincts of its wild form. Human beings then have the responsibility to make up for this loss. Because animals have no personal self, they need the guidance of human beings. With the disappearance of traditional farming practices and the connections between animals and humans that formed part of them, a new understanding of animals is needed today that gives value to the working animal. Biodynamic animal husbandry is founded on this approach. If a deepened understanding of the nature and development of domestic animals is sought in this way, then it will be possible to find skulls that are suitable for making the oak bark preparation. .... The anatomical development of the body and skull of domestic animals is no different to those of their wild equivalents, yet there is a significant difference in the way they are formed. The facial skeleton stays somewhat shorter and the size of the braincase is significantly reduced, sensory capacity is less and metabolic activity is greater. These are all symptoms of a development held back in the domestic animal, of youthful forces retained in a more embryonic state. This preserved youthfulness is what distinguishes the domestic animal; human beings are responsible on an evolutionary level for this youthfulness. This fact makes us duty bound to train, manage, feed and care for our domesticated animals out of knowledge and with love.
No conclusive answers can be gleaned from the foregoing considerations as to why Rudolf Steiner recommended a skull from any domestic animal for the oak bark preparation. A likely answer is to be found only by focusing on the relationship of humans to animals since the last ice age. Humanity at that time lived in a dream-like consciousness from which flowed the folk myths and inspirations that came from a supersensible spiritual world still experienced as real, and they were led by the inspired priests of the mystery centres. This is the spiritual background against which the origin of domestic animals must be sought. It involved gradually replacing what had evolved in the animals as instinctive life with the guiding leadership of human beings. This transformative step, arising from the soul-spiritual consciousness of people at that time, was impressed upon the life bodies of the animals and from there to their physical bodies and the line of inheritance.
This helped domestic animals to retain their youthfulness and keep their bodily constitution open to variation.... This attempt at understanding oak bark preparation and the skull of the domestic animal needs to be developed further.
According to Steiner, ‘the skull of any of our domestic animals will do – it makes little or no difference.’ This statement conceals a great riddle. In the case of the other preparations the organ sheath is taken from a very specific species of animal – red deer stag or domestic cattle. However, in the case of the oak bark preparation, the kind of animal is not important, only that it fulfils the role of a domestic animal. These vary greatly and distinguish themselves significantly from their wild relatives in terms of form and behaviour. What is it then, transcending of species, family and order, that makes an animal into a domestic animal?
Domestic animals exist thanks to the intervention of human beings. This is not simply a question of breeding in the way it is understood today, but of education: the domestic animal needs an education to become a domestic animal just as the human being needs one to become human. This educating of the animal into domesticity in a conscious and species-appropriate way is an art that enables the animal to grow beyond its inborn instincts. The domestic animal renounces, to some extent, the wisdom-filled instincts of its wild form. Human beings then have the responsibility to make up for this loss. Because animals have no personal self, they need the guidance of human beings. With the disappearance of traditional farming practices and the connections between animals and humans that formed part of them, a new understanding of animals is needed today that gives value to the working animal. Biodynamic animal husbandry is founded on this approach. If a deepened understanding of the nature and development of domestic animals is sought in this way, then it will be possible to find skulls that are suitable for making the oak bark preparation. .... The anatomical development of the body and skull of domestic animals is no different to those of their wild equivalents, yet there is a significant difference in the way they are formed. The facial skeleton stays somewhat shorter and the size of the braincase is significantly reduced, sensory capacity is less and metabolic activity is greater. These are all symptoms of a development held back in the domestic animal, of youthful forces retained in a more embryonic state. This preserved youthfulness is what distinguishes the domestic animal; human beings are responsible on an evolutionary level for this youthfulness. This fact makes us duty bound to train, manage, feed and care for our domesticated animals out of knowledge and with love.
No conclusive answers can be gleaned from the foregoing considerations as to why Rudolf Steiner recommended a skull from any domestic animal for the oak bark preparation. A likely answer is to be found only by focusing on the relationship of humans to animals since the last ice age. Humanity at that time lived in a dream-like consciousness from which flowed the folk myths and inspirations that came from a supersensible spiritual world still experienced as real, and they were led by the inspired priests of the mystery centres. This is the spiritual background against which the origin of domestic animals must be sought. It involved gradually replacing what had evolved in the animals as instinctive life with the guiding leadership of human beings. This transformative step, arising from the soul-spiritual consciousness of people at that time, was impressed upon the life bodies of the animals and from there to their physical bodies and the line of inheritance.
This helped domestic animals to retain their youthfulness and keep their bodily constitution open to variation.... This attempt at understanding oak bark preparation and the skull of the domestic animal needs to be developed further.
Re: Domestication
Manfred Klett again from a previous publication
"Why do we take the skull from a domesticated animal? The latter can be distinguished from the wild animal because in its physical and mental being is kept back in a more embryonic state. A domesticated animal does not develop right into the wild. When we approach it it doesn't run away, It comes towards you. It is ever and again a most remarkable experience, which seems so obvious, to enter a cow stable and see all the animals standing or laying there somewhat expecting you to come to milk, feed and care for them.
Their being is open towards you, to your guiding ego and towards their group soul. Looking from a higher aspect domestication means that in former times people were able to keep the animal back in its evolutionary development - manifest in morphological and physiological features - and thus to open its soul being to the group soul and to the guiding consciousness of man. This is the reason why I think that the skull of a domesticated animal is used for the oakbark preparation."
"Why do we take the skull from a domesticated animal? The latter can be distinguished from the wild animal because in its physical and mental being is kept back in a more embryonic state. A domesticated animal does not develop right into the wild. When we approach it it doesn't run away, It comes towards you. It is ever and again a most remarkable experience, which seems so obvious, to enter a cow stable and see all the animals standing or laying there somewhat expecting you to come to milk, feed and care for them.
Their being is open towards you, to your guiding ego and towards their group soul. Looking from a higher aspect domestication means that in former times people were able to keep the animal back in its evolutionary development - manifest in morphological and physiological features - and thus to open its soul being to the group soul and to the guiding consciousness of man. This is the reason why I think that the skull of a domesticated animal is used for the oakbark preparation."