192
Subtle Agroecologies
disease in cattle. Q(I)A also recognises the information derived through, for example, farmers’
intuition, animal communication and nature constellations (Kieft, 2019; Lovel, 2014).
ECOintention offers an approach to monitor and increase the health of trees, gardens and forests.
This method was designed by biologist Hans Andeweg and X-ray lab technician Rijk Bols (Andeweg,
2009). Between 2003 and 2005, I learned about such energetic techniques to assess, balance and
optimise natural systems. 1 The theoretical framework of this approach is that health consists of a
combination of matter (the optimal amount of water, sunlight, balanced animal populations and so
on), its energetic frequency (resonance or vitality) and the degree of congruency of a system or how
well it is adapted to its circumstances and integrated with its surroundings. ECOintention combines working on levels of particles, energy and information. This is done through setting a clear
intention, 2 using pre-defned measurement scales, understanding subtle changes within one’s own
body and fnally communicating them with others. A large part of this method consists of learning
to read and interpret one’s body’s physical responses to the focus of inquiry. The body is the instrument through which information is received. Although personal responses are subjective, i.e. unique
to the person, the use of pre-defned measurement scales ensures a calibration of outcomes, so from
subjective data the observations become intersubjective.
In May 2005, I attended Soul in Nature, a 3-week residential and immersive course at Schumacher
College, Devon, UK, featuring three well-known teachers. Investigating the connection between
mind and matter, one of the teachers, Christian de Quincey, posited consciousness as the missing
link, present within every bit of matter beyond even the smallest atom. He argues that matter is
tangibly located somewhere in space (particles) and that energy spreads out through space (waves),
whereas consciousness, the third phenomenon, is ‘the process of matter-energy informing itself’
(de Quincey, 2002: 59). His work helped me to understand the connection with nature from a more
theoretical angle, using the three main elements of Q(I)A: particles, energy and information.
Teaching on the same course, Jonathan Horwitz introduced me to shamanic techniques to interact
with other-than-human-beings 3 in the natural world. I have continued to study with him ever since.
In an animist view, everything is imbued with an energetic quality, life force or ‘spirit essence’. 4
This includes stones and minerals; plants, trees and animals; natural features such as mountains or
oceans; and the four elements of earth, water, fre and air. Through techniques of rhythmic drumming to expand our consciousness, it becomes possible to contact and interact with those qualities.
As in ECOintention, the underlying aim of shamanic practices is to increase balance within systems, individuals and communities, again, guided by a strong intention (Kieft, 2018, 2020).
Finally, Movement Medicine, a contemporary shamanic dance practice, features (mostly) improvised movement as a deeply embodied activity to (re)connect with the world around us. Inspired
by spatial practices such as medicine wheels and mandalas as energetic representations of meditative focus, as well as family constellation theory (Cohen, 2006; Whittington, 2016), Movement
Medicine facilitates dancing ‘with’, ‘in relation to’ and ‘as’ any type of being imaginable. This can
include physical plants and animals, but also natural systems such as rainforests and oceans, as well
1 ECOintention was originally called ECOtherapy. Developed in the early 1990s, this method has since been successfully adapted and applied to other systems such as schools, theatres and businesses. See https://www.ecointention.
com/index_e.htm. Ubiquity University now offers an MSc degree in ECOIntention, https://www.ubiquityuniversity.org/
courses/msc-master-of-science-in-ecointention/ accessed: March 3rd 2021.
2 Setting an intention is done by clarifying the focus of a particular inquiry. This can be compared to picking up the
phone and dialling a specifc number: who are you going to ‘talk’ to? Are you ‘tuning in’ to a tree, a plot of land, a food
item? This clarity helps to zoom in on and interpret clues cleanly while not being distracted by interference of other
information.
3 For a discussion of the term ‘other-than-human-beings’, see Harvey (2003, 2014). Other disciplines work with related
concepts such as archetypes (in psychology), memes as independent and self-replicating units that transmit cultural ideas
and behavioural patterns (in cultural studies), and morphic feld resonance (in biology). They each address an energetic
quality or imprint of concrete and/or intangible phenomena.
4 Spirit itself is a diffcult concept to defne. The original Latin connotation of spirit includes ‘breath, life, wind, awe, mystery, and invisibility’, and early philosophers such as Plato and Augustine referred to it (Morris, 2006: 15). Horwitz uses
a description of spirits as “bundles of the energy of the universe, [that] appear to people in forms that they can recognise”
(quote from interview in E. Kieft, 2020).
Subtle Agroecologies
disease in cattle. Q(I)A also recognises the information derived through, for example, farmers’
intuition, animal communication and nature constellations (Kieft, 2019; Lovel, 2014).
ECOintention offers an approach to monitor and increase the health of trees, gardens and forests.
This method was designed by biologist Hans Andeweg and X-ray lab technician Rijk Bols (Andeweg,
2009). Between 2003 and 2005, I learned about such energetic techniques to assess, balance and
optimise natural systems. 1 The theoretical framework of this approach is that health consists of a
combination of matter (the optimal amount of water, sunlight, balanced animal populations and so
on), its energetic frequency (resonance or vitality) and the degree of congruency of a system or how
well it is adapted to its circumstances and integrated with its surroundings. ECOintention combines working on levels of particles, energy and information. This is done through setting a clear
intention, 2 using pre-defned measurement scales, understanding subtle changes within one’s own
body and fnally communicating them with others. A large part of this method consists of learning
to read and interpret one’s body’s physical responses to the focus of inquiry. The body is the instrument through which information is received. Although personal responses are subjective, i.e. unique
to the person, the use of pre-defned measurement scales ensures a calibration of outcomes, so from
subjective data the observations become intersubjective.
In May 2005, I attended Soul in Nature, a 3-week residential and immersive course at Schumacher
College, Devon, UK, featuring three well-known teachers. Investigating the connection between
mind and matter, one of the teachers, Christian de Quincey, posited consciousness as the missing
link, present within every bit of matter beyond even the smallest atom. He argues that matter is
tangibly located somewhere in space (particles) and that energy spreads out through space (waves),
whereas consciousness, the third phenomenon, is ‘the process of matter-energy informing itself’
(de Quincey, 2002: 59). His work helped me to understand the connection with nature from a more
theoretical angle, using the three main elements of Q(I)A: particles, energy and information.
Teaching on the same course, Jonathan Horwitz introduced me to shamanic techniques to interact
with other-than-human-beings 3 in the natural world. I have continued to study with him ever since.
In an animist view, everything is imbued with an energetic quality, life force or ‘spirit essence’. 4
This includes stones and minerals; plants, trees and animals; natural features such as mountains or
oceans; and the four elements of earth, water, fre and air. Through techniques of rhythmic drumming to expand our consciousness, it becomes possible to contact and interact with those qualities.
As in ECOintention, the underlying aim of shamanic practices is to increase balance within systems, individuals and communities, again, guided by a strong intention (Kieft, 2018, 2020).
Finally, Movement Medicine, a contemporary shamanic dance practice, features (mostly) improvised movement as a deeply embodied activity to (re)connect with the world around us. Inspired
by spatial practices such as medicine wheels and mandalas as energetic representations of meditative focus, as well as family constellation theory (Cohen, 2006; Whittington, 2016), Movement
Medicine facilitates dancing ‘with’, ‘in relation to’ and ‘as’ any type of being imaginable. This can
include physical plants and animals, but also natural systems such as rainforests and oceans, as well
1 ECOintention was originally called ECOtherapy. Developed in the early 1990s, this method has since been successfully adapted and applied to other systems such as schools, theatres and businesses. See https://www.ecointention.
com/index_e.htm. Ubiquity University now offers an MSc degree in ECOIntention, https://www.ubiquityuniversity.org/
courses/msc-master-of-science-in-ecointention/ accessed: March 3rd 2021.
2 Setting an intention is done by clarifying the focus of a particular inquiry. This can be compared to picking up the
phone and dialling a specifc number: who are you going to ‘talk’ to? Are you ‘tuning in’ to a tree, a plot of land, a food
item? This clarity helps to zoom in on and interpret clues cleanly while not being distracted by interference of other
information.
3 For a discussion of the term ‘other-than-human-beings’, see Harvey (2003, 2014). Other disciplines work with related
concepts such as archetypes (in psychology), memes as independent and self-replicating units that transmit cultural ideas
and behavioural patterns (in cultural studies), and morphic feld resonance (in biology). They each address an energetic
quality or imprint of concrete and/or intangible phenomena.
4 Spirit itself is a diffcult concept to defne. The original Latin connotation of spirit includes ‘breath, life, wind, awe, mystery, and invisibility’, and early philosophers such as Plato and Augustine referred to it (Morris, 2006: 15). Horwitz uses
a description of spirits as “bundles of the energy of the universe, [that] appear to people in forms that they can recognise”
(quote from interview in E. Kieft, 2020).