Subject: Paramagnetic Rock Dusts

From: David Menne <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2002 07:01:38 +0800

Well the results are in, and Paramagnetic did not Win, and the popular views
on paramagnetism - derived from Callahan - and its effect on plant growth
appear obfuscatory.

In the results of properly constituted greenhouse trials(*) I have just
viewed, amendments with Quaternary Basalt of fairly respectable
paramagnetism 1350x10-6 cgs units very significantly outperformed amendments
with Metamorphic rock (hornfels) with an amazingly high  paramagnetism of
7750x10-6 cgs units.

(*)(a) Growing Media : 1:1:1 coco-peat:perlite:river sand.
(b) Amendment : 10 t rock dust/ha in the top 10 cm of the mix [plus
Nutratherm GR50 soil microbial treatments - contain organic carbon, fish
emulsion, kelp, humate, humic & fulvic acids, sugars, carbohydrates, amino
acids, digested organic matter and biologicals in heavy liquid form - Acres
Australia, 1999]
9 rock dusts with paramagnetism ranging from under 300x10-6 cgs units to
over 7000x10-6 cgs were assessed.
(c) Plant : Raphanus sativus [radish] cv. "Long Scarlet" as currently used
in the Australian Standard for potting mixes

Plant heights after 8 weeks were 230 mm for the modestly paramagnetic
Quarternary Basalt amended potting soil vs 170 mm for that amended with very
highly paramagnetic the Metamorphic hornfels. That is 26% LESS for the very
highly paramagnetic Metamorphic hornfels; 35% MORE for the modestly
paramagnetic Quarternary Basalt.

However, rightly, many would say : "height is not a meaningful measure ...
spindly etiolated ... mumble  bumble etc....  Plant weight... Actual biomass
production,   mumble bumle etc...."

So I looked at Plant weights, After 8 weeks they were about 35 g (wet), 2.9
g (dry) for the modestly paramagnetic Quarternary Basalt amended potting
soil vs 15 g (wet), 1.2 g (dry)  for that amended with the very highly
paramagnetic Metamorphic hornfels. That is 60% LESS for the very highly
paramagnetic Metamorphic hornfels; 140% MORE for the modestly paramagnetic
Quarternary Basalt.

???? ??? ?? ? [as the late Lee Falk used to draw in to the Phantom, "the
ghost who walks" - "you can run, but you can't hide"].

So I, "the ghost who sees all, knows all" - "you can obfuscate, but you
cannot confuse", sought out : what did Callahan really say ?

And came across the following "review" [
http://froebuck.home.texas.net/newpage3.htm ] which might be of interest to
some SANET [and BrixTalker] members :

PHIL CALLAHAN, THE GURU OF PARAMAGNETISM

The idea of using lava sand to add "paramagnetic energy" to the soil didn't
originate with Howard Garrett, the "Doctor of Dirt," although he has become
it's chief proponent. Rather, as he wrote in his column in The Dallas
Morning News on September 8, 1995:

"I learned about lava sand from Phil Callahan, the scientist who taught me
to add lava sand to the soil.To learn more about soil and plant energy, read
any of Mr. Callahan's books."

That seemed fair enough, so I took him up on his suggestion. I acquired the
books and read them from cover to cover. And, indeed, it was both an
education and an eye opener -- a foray into a world I previously believed to
exist only in the realm of fable and New Age superstition.

Philip S. Callahan, Ph. D., schooled as an entomologist, was stationed in
Ireland as a radio technician during World War II. He has written two books
dealing specifically with his discoveries there of the seemingly magical
properties of the ancient Irish round towers and of certain rocks and rock
powders. Titled Nature's Silent Music and Paramagnetism--Rediscovering
Nature's Secret Force of Growth, these books are available from his
publisher, Acres U.S.A. (P. O. Box 91299, Austin, TX 78709, telephone
800-355-5313, website www.acresusa.com).

Reading either of these books should be enough for any intelligent person to
learn all he or she would ever need to know about Dr. Callahan, lava sand,
and paramagnetism.

On the other hand, if you would like to know more about the pursuits and
conclusions of Dr. Callahan before purchasing either of these books, I'll
relate for you a sampling of what he has to say. And I'll include page
numbers in case you want to refer to the original texts and confirm that I
am not inventing any of this and that I am not, in any manner, distorting
his words.

On the other hand, if you're a devout believer in pyramid power, the magical
qualities of quartz crystals, and other New Age phenomena, you may just want
to skip the rest of this.
Nature's Silent Music (1992)

In Nature's Silent Music (page 32), Dr. Callahan tells us that the ancient
Hebrews and Egyptians understood and utilized the power which is in rocks.
Modern Jews still do this, he says, when they visit the Wailing Wall in
Jerusalem.

Furthermore, while traveling around Ireland, Dr. Callahan claims to have
located some magical rocks.
Presumably, he says (page 34), since long before the ancient Egyptian
civilization, man has attributed mystical and supernatural powers to rocks
and rock crystals. He adds that, according to his own measurements,
sea-green slate is the most magical rock of all. (Curiously, this conflicts
with his next statement, below, since slate is not an igneous rock. Rather,
it's a metamorphic rock derived from shale and is, therefore, not of
volcanic origin.)

According to Dr. Callahan (page 38), the ancient Celtic and megalithic
peoples knew all about the energy emitted by granite and "other igneous and
metamorphic stone of volcanic origin." He says (page 39) that the early
Irish Celts also understood the healing forces in their highly paramagnetic
granite rocks. All over Ireland, he continues, there are "standing stones
utilized for healing and also as birthing stones for the Celtic lassies."

Where did these stones get this power? According to Dr. Callahan (page 56),
the crushing and grinding forces of the drifting continents caused great
quantities of cosmic energy to be trapped within the minerals that make up
stone and clay. And "one of these energies is the little understood force
called paramagnetism," which he says the ancients knew how to manipulate.

If you're not familiar with the terms "paramagnetism" and "diamagnetism,"
they are the positive and negative aspects of an electromagnetic property
described in many books used to teach elementary college physics. But Dr.
Callahan refers to them as forces or energies. To comprehend what he means,
he says (page 63), we must understand them as the ancients did. Of course,
he repeats, modern man doesn't understand them at all, despite the fact that
we have scientific names for them.

The Chinese call them yin and yang, he explains. And, although the ancient
Irish had no specific names for them, they "saw them in the abodes of
fairies and leprechauns." He says (page 69) he now knows that what modern
science calls paramagnetism and diamagnetism are, in reality, the magical
forces the ancient Celtic and megalithic peoples found in rocks and plants.

In later travels in the Far East and around the globe, Dr. Callahan became
aware of other mysterious phenomena. As an example (page 118), he describes
the magic of Sai Baba, an Indian mystic. Apparently, Sai Baba can
materialize "sacred dust" from his fingers. And, according to Dr. Callahan,
nobody has ever proved that he is practicing sleight of hand.

Using the "theory of materialization" and Einstein's formula, Dr. Callahan
goes on to explain (page 119) that Sai Baba's feat is entirely possible.
Einstein's formula (E=mc²) "demands light having speeds equal to or lower
than the energy," he says, and mass wouldn't exist at all "were not light
traveling at speeds equal to or slower than the speed of light squared."
(Check it out; I am not making this up.)

In a provocative footnote on page 120, Dr. Callahan explains that a particle
moving faster than the speed of light is called a tachyon, and a message
sent by such a particle would actually arrive before it was sent. He also
states that he published, in 1986, the first experimental proof that tachyon
particles actually exist. (One of the world's great unsolved mysteries is
why Dr. Callahan has never been honored with the Nobel Prize in physics for
such an amazing and historic achievement.)

On page 179, he reminds us again that the ancient Egyptians knew about both
human auras and silent forces in the rocks. Therefore, he says, they had two
separate hieroglyphs for stone. One represented "limestone types of rocks
that are diamagnetic, or very weakly paramagnetic." The other represented
"granite, porphyry, basalt and other highly paramagnetic stone."

In his own experiments (page 180), Dr. Callahan found that good fertile soil
is highly paramagnetic and that viable soil always comes from volcanic rock,
which he says is much more likely to be paramagnetic than sedimentary rocks,
such as limestone (and, I presume, shale, which is converted into his "most
magical of all rocks," sea-green slate.)

He then says (page 185) that construction engineers ought to be interested
in these two forces "since concrete (limestone) and clay (adobe) are highly
paramagnetic," and water is diamagnetic. (Personally, I found this statement
to be a bit confusing, since he had previously described limestone, on pages
179 and 180, as being diamagnetic or weakly paramagnetic.)

In any case, he claims that both the growing of crops and the hardening of
cement depend on the joining together of these "opposite yin and yang
forces."

In an epilogue, Dr. Callahan says (page 194) that the most important
principle he wants to impart is that we must "treat rocks, stone and even
the soil as antenna collectors of magnetic energy waves." He points out
that, in his opinion, the ancient Celtic round towers of Ireland are conical
antennas, that rocks are antennas, and that even soil is a flat ground
antenna if it contains enough volcanic, paramagnetic rock.

The other side is the diamagnetic force of the organic matter, which, he
assures us, is just as important. It stores the water, but the paramagnetic
forces control its evaporation.

So, how does one accomplish a balance? Dr. Callahan admits (page 195) that
filling the soil with magnets wouldn't be very practical, even though, he
says, magnetic energy controls root growth. On the other hand, he believes
that restoring "this paramagnetic energy collector.with truck loads of
volcanic gravel or ash plowed into the soil is a much more practical idea."

And Dr. Callahan believes this same approach is extremely practical for
small gardeners, "as is the building of six foot miniature round towers in a
garden." (I'll swear it once more; I'm not making any of this up.)

Finally, he sums up his approach by saying, "It is much better to do all
things as God intended by capturing the magnetic frequencies from the sun
with the paramagnetic soil or round tower antenna. In one sentence, make
your soil susceptible (resonate) to the sun, do not, with magnets, try to
bring the sun to earth."

On the other hand, Dr. Callahan has recently joined forces with Nature's
Alternatives to tout the mineral magnetite as a soil amendment because it is
"the most paramagnetic of all rocks." This is, in effect, adding magnets to
the soil, since magnetite is a permanently magnetic form of iron ore,
commonly known as lodestone. As such, it is ferromagnetic and not
paramagnetic at all. So maybe he has changed his mind since writing this
book. But he still doesn't understand what paramagnetism is.

Paramagnetism (1995)

Much of this same information is repeated or summarized in his second book,
Paramagnetism, but Dr. Callahan introduces an additional aspect when he
describes (pages 80 and 81) the need for an inexpensive, hand-held meter for
measuring the paramagnetism of soil samples. It turns out that he, working
with others, has developed just such a device. (Surprise! Surprise!)

Dr. Callahan's meter is named the P. C. Soil Meter (PCSM), which, he
explains, can be interpreted as either the "Paramagnetic Count Soil Meter"
or the "Phil Callahan Soil Meter," whichever you choose. The wonderful
thing, he says, is that this meter can be bought for only $400, instead of
the $4,000 to $5,000 cost of other meters of this type.
If you want to buy a PCSM for your own use, or if you're interested in the
plans for building miniature round towers for your garden, I feel sure you
could contact Dr. Callahan through his publisher, Acres U.S.A. Or maybe the
"Doctor of Dirt" can help you.

As a final thought to ponder, on page 270 of the 1996 revision of
Eco-Farm-An Acres U.S.A. Primer, written and published by Dr. Callahan's own
publisher, there is a curious, but revealing statement. "Phil Callahan," it
says, "is a bug man and a generalist of sorts. We wish he were also a soils
man." 'Nuff said.

Addendum

It turns out that Phil Callahan wrote a book in 1984, which preceded the two
discussed here. That book, Ancient Mysteries, Modern Visions, was previously
out of print, but Acres U.S.A. reissued it in the latter part of 2000, so
it's once again available.

In this earlier work, Dr. Callahan explains, with considerable "scientific"
detail, his theories of paramagnetism and the round towers of Ireland, the
"real" meanings of Egyptian hieroglyphics and of the pyramids, the
relationship between cathedral towers and the antennae of insects, and how
he "proved" that particles moving faster than the speed of light (tachyons)
actually exist, using only an "electrometer" and a Benjamin ficus tree.
Furthermore, he explains how ancient Egyptian priests levitated people,
lists the requirements for levitation and for levitating a person or object,
and explains how levitation is directly related to paramagnetism.

This book is quite entertaining and, at a cost of only $16.00, is certainly
worth what amounts to the price of a couple of movie tickets.

And the good olde solid scientific method [controlled trialing, measurement,
replication] appears to be resolving the confusion  : This 9-rock amendments
test series using rock dusts ranging in paramagnetism from under 300x10-6
cgs units to over 7000x10-6 cgs has confirmed my conclusions - a few small
secrets - regarding the actual drivers of rock dust effects which were first
intimated in some of my 1995/6 field experiments at production level.

David Menne : http://www.plantsfood.com

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we
created them" - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

"Only the small secrets need to be protected. The big ones are kept secret
by public incredulity" - Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980)

.

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From: Steve Diver <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2002 19:47:28 -0600

Here is another viewpoint on paramagnetic rock dusts.

Rock Dusts  in Agriculture:  Insights on Remineralization and
Paramagnetism
http://ncatark.uark.edu/~steved/rock-dust.html

It has pointers to the emerging concepts and practices
associated with ORMUS elements, which also need
to be examined.  Read Barry Carter's articles and papers
for a in-depth explanation of the energetics behind ORMUS.

Separately, I wrote to David Menne to get clarification
on his pot trials.

I'm pretty sure we'd both agree on the value of rock dusts
to provide bioavailable minerals and trace elements, and
the essential activity of microbes to result in solubilization
and mineralization through organic acids, enzymes, and
chelation.

To me, this is by far the most important contribution of
rock dusts.  It is why organic farmers add rock phosphates
to compost piles to increase bioavailable P.  It is why
rock dusts are added to compost teas and foliar blends
and bioponic solutions.  Put the minerals and biologicals
and organics in there together and let the frothy brew
of life work it over and re-arrange it and come up with
something new... a chelated compound, a biotic-mineral
complex, and so on.

On the other hand, I have attended workshops by Dr. Phil
Callahan on several occassions and in my view and those of
many others in eco-farming his work on paramagnetism is
*significant* and worthwhile.

In the instance where plants grew better with Rock
Dust+Lower-PM than Rock Dust+High-PM, it probably
means that the Rock Dust+Lower-PM was of better
quality in terms of balanced minerals, trace elements,
and bioavailability.

It made the plants grow better.  The agronomic effects
of bioavailable minerals and a trace element mix had a
greater effect than a weak electromagnetic field.  So use
that brand.

Good agronomic husbandry is the common sense approach,
even when you are working in subtle energy agriculture.

Steve Diver

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