RS said of Equisetum “If, without indulging in undue speculation, we realise the noteworthy effects produced by equisetum arvense upon the human organism by affecting the function of the kidneys.”
As an answer to this suggestion Dr Matthias Girke provides this answer on page 873 of his ‘Internal Medicine’:
“Rudolf Steiner mentions Common horsetail in different imnstances as a medical plant for kidney diseases. Its purpose is to support the anabolic forces of the kidney organisation. Equisetum relieves the astral body of the disease process, allowing it to focus on the healthy kidney function.
Equisetum is characterized in terms of its substance by the polarity of sulfur and silicon.
Silicon is absorbed by means of the strong flow of liquid that is extracted from the locations on fields and near trails. This is deposited in epidermal cells at the top of the main shoot and the silicon content increases with the age of the plant. In connection with this silicon process, lens-like bulges can develop that direct the light `onto the chlorophyll that is arranged in rows:46 In comparison to this, sulfur appears to occur `in a mineral like dissolved form’. Equisetum thus encompasses a substance polarity that is related to the neurosensory system via the silicon and to the system of metabolism and limbs via the sulfur. These qualities can also be discovered in the threefold organization of the nephron in the form of the glomerulus, which is responsible for excretion processes, and the tubular system of the kidneys, which carries out the anabolic resorption processes. Equisetum thus directs the light-like qualities of the neurosensory pole into the anabolic etheric area. Similar to the way in which sunlight is absorbed via the sensory organization in children and directed into the formation of the body and into their osseous metabolism, Equisetum appears to guide the Ego and astral entities into the anabolic life processes. This therapeutic gesture becomes immediately visible due to the formative processes of this medicinal plant that combine with the silicon and are carried into its life processes that are carried by the fluid substances. Equisetum is used specially for sclerotizing kidney diseases.
In these cases, the astral organization orients itself too much towards the neurosensory pole and needs to be `repatriated: This can occur via the relieving therapeutic principle since the special nature of this plant, which exhibits a solidification in its silicic mineral structure, allows it to take over the concordant disease process in the kidney. By means of the sulfur process, it reconnects the astral and Ego entities with the organism again. Rudolf Steiner mentions both this relieving principle and the efficacy of Equisetum in supporting the anabolic processes.”
The questions for us Biodynamic folk is ‘what is he really saying here’ and ‘how does this translate into ‘Biodynmics Speak’, and manifest as a cure for what fungal disease’?