The Most Suitable Cases for Treatment

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Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 1 SIMILLIMUM

Editor: Melanie Grimes ND, DHANP Simillimum is a journal published by naturopathic physicians for all people interested in homeopathy. It is dedicated to the practice of classical homeopathy as formulated by Samuel Hahnemann in the Organon of Medicine. The editors encourage homeopaths of all professions and backgrounds to write. Accounts of cured cases, essays, articles and letters to the editor are welcomed. The journal is published bi-anually in June and December. Material must be submitted eight weeks prior to publication (the first of April or October) to be considered for the coming issue. General HANP membership is open to everyone, and includes a subscription to Simillimum and access to exclusive content on www.hanp.net..

Contact HANP Office: Kelly Wilkinson, Executive Assistant Melanie Grimes, Simillimum Editor PO Box 126 1217 W. Howe St. Redmond, WA 98073-0126 Seattle, WA 98119 [email protected] [email protected] Phone: 253-630-3338 Fax: 815-301-6595

Advertising: Neil Tessler [email protected] www.hanp.net

HANP Board of Directors: John Collins ND, DHANP John Millar ND, DHANP Gregory Pais ND, DHANP Manon Bollinger ND, DHANP Neil Tessler ND, DHANP Stephen Albin ND, DHANP Brent Mathieu ND, DHANP President: Neil Tessler ND, DHANP Executive Assistant: Kelly Wilkinson

Summer/Fall 2007 Volume XX Simillimum (ISSN 1526-1964) is published bi-anually by the Homeopathic Academy of Naturopathic Physicians PO Box 126 Redmond, WA 98073-0126. The HANP is a non-profit organization with no owners or stockholders. Subscription price in USA is $55 ($52 for subscription, $3 for dues), Canada $60 ($57 for subscription, $3 for dues) and outside North America $70 ($67 for subscription, $3 for dues). Periodicals postage paid at Kent, Washington and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send Address Changes to Simillimum, c/o HANP PO Box 126 Redmond, WA 98073-0126 • [email protected].

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 2 

EDITORIAL: Melanie Grimes...... 7 CASE OF HYPERPYREXIA: 107˚ FAHRENHEIT Dr Manish Panchal...... 9 PARKINSONISM: RISPERIDONE AND HOMEOPATHY Dr. Md. Ruhul Amin...... 15 KICKING ALL THE WAY: SUDI THE GIRAFFE Beth Murray...... 21 DRAWING CONCLUSIONS Iain Marrs...... 26 A STUDY OF LIKE CURES LIKE: SENECIO LATIFOLIUS George Lewis, Dr. Radmila Razlog, Dr. M Stewart, Dr. Marilena Deroukakis...... 43 BUTTERFLY, RAVEN, WOLF Beth Murray...... 51 PATIENTS WITH HYSTERICAL REACTIONS: thoughts on hysteria with a case by Massimo Mangialavori Krista Heron...... 63 IT CHANGES EVERYTHING a brief conversation with Rajan Sankaran Neil Tessler ...... 81

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 3 PROVING OF STANGERIA ERIOPUS, NATAL GRASS CYCAD Melanie Grimes...... 87 THE INSECT REMEDIES Peter Fraser...... 122 CASE OF HEARING LOSS Catherine Sharfstein...... 135 EARLY HISTORY OF HOMEOPATHY IN WASHINGTON STATE: 1855-1918 Melanie Grimes...... 146 HONK IF YOU LOVE HOMEOPATHY! Lucy Vaughters...... 151 HOMEOPATHY ON THE MOON Melanie Grimes...... 154 AMERICAN MEDICAL COLLEGE OF HOMEOPATHY: PROGRESS REPORT Lauri Grossman...... 155 BOOK REVIEW: vaccine free prevention and treatment of infectious contagious disease with homeopathy Writen by Kate Birch...... 159 BOOK REVIEW: the homeopathic treatment of lyme disease Writen by Peter Alex...... 162 BOOK REVIEW: looking back, moving forward Writen by Rowena J. Ronson...... 164 BOOK REVIEW: essentials of pediatrics Writen by Dr. Pravin B. Bains...... 165 BOOK REVIEW: an insight into plants volume iii Writen by Rajan Sankaran...... 166 SEMINAR REVIEW: the sensation method comes of age Rajan Sankaran in Vancouver June, 2007...... 169

DIRECTORY OF DIPLOMATES ...... 176

AUTHOR GUIDELINES & ADVERTISING RATES ...... 180

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 4 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 5 Editor: Melanie Grimes Production: Jason McMillan of Neosonic Design Corp.

Cover: Universum - C. Flammarion, Holzschnitt, Paris 1888: Heikenwaelder Hugo, Wein 1998 - © Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike 2.5 License

About the front cover: The image on the cover first appeared in Camille Flammarionʼs Lʼatmosphere; meteorologie populaire in 1888. The image depicts a pilgrim peering through a curtain in the sky to view the inner working of the universe. It depicts of he point where man precieves the connection of Earth and sky, and gains the knowledge that the stars are always present, even when they are not in view. This mirrors our homeopathic perception of the existance of the vital force, its tunement or mistunements, even when they aer not visible to the naked eye. –The Editor

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 4 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 5 ��

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Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 6  Melanie Grimes

Dear colleagues,

After fifteen years editing homeopathic journals, I am very pleased to be the editor of Simillimum. Homeopathy is undergoing great scientific advancement. It has always been my passion to ensure that the great knowledge gleaned by todayʼs homeopaths is recorded for posterity. Simillimum has a long history of scholarship under its past editors and I look forward to expanding its position in homeopathic publishing excellence aided by your contributions.

Working with Simillimum and the HANP is an exciting opportunity for me, as I was introduced to homeopathy by Dr. John Bastyr in 1972 when I was a student at National College of Naturopathic Medicine, where he was its Executive Director, and later, President Emeritus. Dr. Bastyr utilized homeopathy with over 90% of his patients, often combining homeopathy with other modalities, such as botanical medicine, nutrition and electrotherapies. He had no hierarchy about the healing modalities, using the health of the patient as his only guide. I have continued my ties to the naturopathic community by teaching at the college that bears his name.

As far as my philosophy of homeopathy, my perspective is broad, as my studies have been broad-based. I studied on my own for nearly twenty years before attending post-graduate courses with Paul Herscu, Jeremy Sherr, Vassilis Ghegas, George Vithoulkas, Lou Klein, Jan Scholten, Nandita Shah and the Sankaran group. This varied exposure keeps me open-minded, yet grounded in the core aspects of homeopathy.

My passion for journals stems from two rivers.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 7 One is a passion for writing itself and an interest in teaching homeopaths to write. The second is an awareness of the need for published work in homeopathy, because if we donʼt publish, much of our work will not survive to influence posterity. Published cases become incorporated into computer repertories, and thus help build our materia medica. The job of an editor is key to this process, identifying what important new ideas need to be exposed to the whole community, what new remedies, new aspects of old remedies. It also becomes important to sense the pulse of the homeopathic community, as any teacher does, to know what to present and when.

What you can do for the journal:

First and foremost, submit articles: cases, book reviews, proving results, news items, philosophy. I encourage practitioners to promote the journal in your offices. Have it available to read and subscription forms handy.

This issue of Simillimum presents work from our colleagues on four continents. Articles represent scientific research, cases utilizing classical diagnostic methods and cases demonstrating the so-called “new” homeopathy. It is my intention to represent curative homeopathy, as demonstrated by clear analysis and adequate follow-up.

I think this is a very exciting time in homeopathy and journals are at the center of it. I look forward to working with you to pursue the advancement of homeopathy.

Sincerely,

Melanie J. Grimes,

Editor

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 8   :  Dr Manish Panchal

We saw a twenty-five year old young boy in 1992 during my house-post in government homoeopathic hospital in Mumbai (thirty bed hospital). He was admitted to our hospital by his neighbour because he never had anyone of his own, both the parents were dead; doing some jobs here and there to earn his living. At present he was jobless and having fever with chills everyday for ten days. His kind neighbour, seeing him sick, brought him to our hospital for treatment. There was no one to take care of him except the resident house-physicians.

The patient spoke little, so we could prescribe for him only by observing him closely and encouraging him as much as possible to communicate with us about his illness.

He was having fever with chills everyday for ten days. The chills were followed by heat which remained till he eventually fell asleep. There was absolutely no sweat. He also had a severe headache (forehead) during chill and heat. There was body ache and languor, tiredness and wanting to lie down. The pain and tenderness in the chest (right) was due to coughing (worse lying on painful side).

Appetite: No desire to eat at all. Never ate any food provided in hospital. He would not even get up from his bed even when hospital attendant would remind him to eat.

Thirst: Increased during fever, half a glass of water every hour due to dryness of mouth.

Mind: He appeared very dull and apathetic. He never liked to be disturbed or spoken to. The whole day he would just lie down in bed and sleep without eating or talking with anybody. Never asked for anything or inquired with the physician about his health and recovery. Both his parents had died and he was living alone now. We could see the sadness and grief in his eyes but never saw him weeping at any time.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 9 We suspected enteric fever and advised Widal test, WBC count (for leucopenia) and Liver function test.

Reports: Widal test negative, LFT normal values, WBC 6300 (relatively leucopenia), Hb 11.9gm% and ESR 60 mm.

Remedy: My colleague resident doctor had taken the case and he felt Bryonia and Gelsemium were the two remedies which matched the case. He selected Bryonia 200 , single dose on 12th Nov. 92.

Response (13th Nov. 92):

There was no change in paroxysm of chill; it returned again the next day unchanged. His thirst was now decreased and he was now almost thirstless. No improvement in his appetite, no desire to eat anything. Severe headache with fever. Pain and tenderness in chest still persisting. On examination, spleen was slightly palpable, liver not palpable.

Since he was not better, I got a call from the nurse at noon to see him immediately. It was during this time, I personally spoke with him to inquire if I could get any information to prescribe a better remedy for him. After probing him for forty-five minutes, I finally got one characteristic symptom: his chills started every day at eleven a.m. and paroxysm with heat lasted until four p.m. He was very dull and apathetic, feeling very drowsy and now thirstless.

Rubric: Chill, time eleven a.m. to four p.m. - Cactus, Gelsemium (Kentʼs Rep.)

Looking at the other features of the case (low grade fever, dullness, drowsiness, thirstless, grief, aversion to being disturbed, indifference to his illness, weakness with lying in bed - in short a state of lack of reaction) Gelsemium seems to be better suited. Phatak materia medica describes Gelsemium as :

Generalities: General state of paresis, bodily and mental. Complete relaxation and prostration, wants to lie down quietly; half reclined. Dullness; dizziness, drowsiness.

Mind: Apathetic. Desire to be quiet or left alone. Indifferent regarding his illness. Answers slowly. Cataleptic immobility, with dilated pupils, closed eyes but conscious. Effects of grief, cannot cry; broods over his loss.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 10 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 11 Stomach: Usually thirstless.

Remedy: Gelsemium 1M , single dose at 1 p.m. on 13th Nov., 1992.

Response:

Fever gradually rose from 104 to 106.4 to eventually 107.4 at three p.m. At this crucial moment, I was trying to understand why the fever rose so high and whether I was on the right path. Previously he only had a low grade fever. There was much pressure from my colleague house-physicians and nurse to bring down the fever. It was a blessing in disguise that the patient never had any visiting relatives because it saved me from the further pressure of illness explanation. I decided to wait and advised only cold sponging for the fever. I thought it better to wait and understand what was happening rather than desperately try to bring down the fever and spoil the case.

Gradually the fever came down to 103.4 and then increased to 105 to 105.8 to 106 at five thirty p.m. Cold sponging was continued so that it decreased to 103.8 at six thirty p.m. He asked for water and drank one glass. He ate bread and butter and drank a cup of tea. Headache was only slight where as before it was severe throughout the fever. Dryness of mouth decreased.

14th Nov.92:

Paroxysm of chill much less. Maximum temperature was 102 at noon. Appetite improved, ate the food given to him in the hospital. Thirst improved, drinking water. Headache was less during fever. No pain and tenderness in the chest. Dullness and drowsiness as well as weakness was better than before.

15th Nov.92:

Chill started at eleven thirty a.m., but very mild with no rise in temperature. Appetite improved still better. Feels thirsty now. Sleep disturbed due to lascivious dream. Slight cough. Patient feeling better physically and mentally. He does not remain in bed dozing. Now he talks with other neighbouring patients and moves about in the hospital room and the garden below. Weakness is less.

16th Nov.92:

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 10 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 11 No paroxysm of chill or heat. Appetite returned to normal and also the thirst. Weakness, dullness and drowsiness absent. Sleeps better. Cough absent. The WBC count and ESR was normal now. We discharged him after a few days.

Subsequent follow up:

My term as house physician ended but I met the patient on three occasions on my way. I could not recognize him because there was no sadness and grief in his eyes but he recognized me and now he has a job. There was a smile on his face and feeling of gratitude. Last time I met him he had started a tea stall next to our hospital. He called me himself with smile and gratitude. I didnʼt see any sadness in his eyes. He appeared full of enthusiasm.

It was a satisfying experience for me to see him full of enthusiasm. There was a smile on his face even though he is trying to live his life without support from anyone.

Here was a case of lack of reaction with low grade fever, no appetite, no thirst, no sweat, dullness, weakness and drowsiness. When we gave the correct remedy it aroused a curative reaction in form of very high fever of 107.4 with visible improvement in appetite, thirst as well as other symptoms associated during fever.

Our duty as a physician is not to disturb this curative reaction of the body to cure itself. We are to interfere only if this curative reaction comes to standstill and then help the body by another dose of Gelsemium.

He needed only a single dose of Gelsemium.

U n d e r s t a n d i n g G e l s e m i u m:

Clarkeʼs Materia Medica gives a beautiful description of the remedy by quoting examples of two provers.

First Prover Mrs Logan describes her experience as follows:

1. An extreme feeling of restlessness, not able to be still for a second, turning and twisting all the time. (rubric: Restlessness bed, tossing about in ).

2. Intense pain over right eye, always the right as if my forehead would come over my eyes and close them.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 12 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 13 3. Then, a strong inclination to commit suicide. Want to throw myself from a height; invariably think of going to the window and dashing myself down, feel as if it would be a relief. (rubric: Suicidal - throwing himself from high, windows from).

4. This is succeeded by an inclination to weep and I generally have a good cry. (rubric : Weeping ameliorates).

5. In between wishing to throw myself from a height and inclination to weep, I clench my hands and nervous rigors or sensations run all over my fingers and toes; it seems as if I would lose my senses. Then a great dread of being alone seizes me and I am afraid what may happen; think I may lose all self-control (rubric: Fear, alone of being / Fear, self- control. Chills up and down the back).

6. The pain over the right eye still continues.

7. The back part of my head seems to have a spot about four square inches that is turning to ice (rubric : Coldness - occiput as if frozen).

8. Strong inclination to talk or write, very great exhilaration. It seems as if my memory was better, I could recall almost anything I ever read; even things that I read years before. I am writing this under the influence of the drug. I could not give symptoms so accurately at any other time. (rubric: Memory active / Exhilaration -can recall things long forgotten).

9. I had to urinate every few minutes as if I am getting over the effects of the drug. (rubric: Urination – profuse).

10. I like to have people in the room, have a perfect horror of being alone while suffering (rubric: Fear - alone of being).

11. Much exhausted, thoroughly tired and with a wish to be quiet. (rubric: Quiet, wants to be / Disturbed averse to be).

Second Prover, J.H. Nankivell, describes his experience as follows:

1.Walked a few feet with assistance. In another minute legs were paralysed. He dragged himself to bedside with his arm but they were unable to help him to bed. Had to be lifted to bed. Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 12 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 13 2. As long as he lay quiet no trouble but on least exertion there were excessive tremors. Vomiting occurred during the next 24 hours.

3. All the muscles of the eyes were affected especially voluntary muscles of right side the most.

4. Prolonged conversation involved paralysis of upper lip.

5. There was somnolence, absence of mental excitement and good appetite.

In conclusion, it is noteworthy to observe that the first proving of Mrs. Logan shows the state of excitement with restlessness, active memory, exhilaration, suicide from jumping, losing self-control etc. (this aspect is still unknown about Gelsemium). The second prover shows the well known paralysing effect with somnolence, wants to remain/lay quiet.

Dr Manish Panchal has been practising homeopathy since 1993 along with his wife Dr Phalguni. Presently teaching Repertory in a homeopathic medical college in Pune City and running full time five yrs degree course in homoeopathy. He is Associate Professor at Century Training Centre for Homeopathy, Dubai and Pebblehills University, Italy. He is firmly grounded in basic fundamental principles of Homeopathy. Apart from treating patients he advises them to adopt a natural way of living. His interest is in treating pathological cases and working to open a centre for treating renal failure.

Contact information for Dr. Panchal :

Dr Manish R. Panchal Dr Phalguni M. Panchal Centre For Classical Homoeopathy 39 /36 Erandwane, Prabhat Road, Pune City -411004 India.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 14 :    Dr. Md. Ruhul Amin M.D.

Abstract: The crude drug, Risperidone, can be used to manage natural diseases, such as Parkinsonism, after homeopathic preparation.

Introduction In 1996, at the opening day of the Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, the whole world watched the Olympic Stadium to see who would light the Olympic flame. At the moment that I saw the person holding the holy fire in front of the lamp, my breathing stopped, my heart beat rapidly and my eyes saw the living legend, the king of self esteem, the boxer, Mohammed Ali.

Three years later, I was doing post-graduate work at the Antara Psychiatric Center. One day I was working with the clients with schizophrenia in the acute ward. In this session, the clients were enjoying volleyball. One client took the ball in his left hand to serve. I remembered that image from the Atlanta Olympics: the same posture, the same look as that of Mohammed Ali.

How was this possible! The client was not suffering from Parkinsonism, but his symptoms were like that of the disease. After returning to the ward, I opened the clientʼs file and noticed that the he was being managed by the neuroleptic drug Risperidone. The side effects of this neuroleptic drug are more or less same as Parkinsonism.

Risperidone Risperidone was introduced in the second half of the 1990ʼs, and was later suggested to be effective in reducing the negative symptoms of 1 schizophrenia, as it is a potent antagonist of D2 receptor . It is a neuroleptic drug. The term neuroleptic denotes the neurological or motor effects of drug.

In the DSM IV classification, there is a group called “neuroleptic drug induced Parkinsonism.” Neuroleptic drug, antagonist of D2 receptor, so the availability of dopamine reduces by its action. Symptoms develop, but these drugs are not neurotoxins like MPTP.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 15 Experiment I potentized the neuroleptic drug Risperidone, according to the regulations of the HPI (Homoeopathic Pharmacopeia of India), to higher potency via dilution and succussion. Then I took this remedy myself, and observed the following symptoms. (1) Suddenly I discovered that I was taking maximum time to start my bike. My thigh and leg muscles became rigid and it was difficult to initiate any movement. (2) Depression—a feeling that I am alone in the world, no one is looking after me. Suicidal thoughts come and are very difficult to resist. All these symptoms are ameliorated by listening to music. (3) The fine movement of fingers is impaired, like counting notes or clicking the computer mouse twice at a time (repeated movements). (4) Resting tremor of right foot and right hand and gradually left hand and whole body. (5) After waking from day sleep at noon, the smell of burning papers comes usually (olfactory hallucination). (6) Head tremor and trembling of lips started. (7) Tongue movement became impaired; my speech tumbled up whenever I want to talk. (8) Impaired balance on turning. (9) Sexual desire reduced; for at least one month I have not had any sexual desire. Besides the above symptoms, many other fine symptoms appeared but were not strong. The olfactory hallucination was very strong and disturbing and remained the whole length of proving. Gradually the symptoms disappeared except for a bit of impairment in repeated movements, occasional head tremors and fine movements of the fingers. Mental symptoms disappeared totally.

Symptom changed by the proving (general symptoms): I was hot patient before the proving and after the proving became mercurial or ambithermal and it has lasted to this day, 02.06.2006.

After potentizing the Risperidone, I treated a patient who had suffered from Parkinsonism for fifteen years and theRisperidone (potentized in higher dilution) acted beautifully. Symptoms of hyperkinesias, trembling finger and difficulty in speech were reduced. This experiment was conducted at the New Life Nursing Home at Baruipur, Kolkata-700144, West Bengal, India, under the supervision of Dr. D. Roy (Block Medical Officer), West Bengal State Government.

Discussion The neuroleptic drug in crude form is able to produce neurological Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 16 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 17 symptoms that are like Parkinsonism. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV classifications are known as “neuroleptic induced parkinsonism”. The neuroleptic Risperidone is able to produce such type of symptoms. The drug when potentized and applied to healthy human beings, in higher dilutions not containing any molecules of Risperidone, is equally able to produce neurological symptoms.

Master Hahnemann stated in aphorism number 26 “A weaker dynamic affection is permanently extinguished in the living organism by a stronger one if the latter (whilst differing in kind) is very similar to the former in its manifestation.”

Note the two points: the “very similar” and “the differing in kind”. These two key conditions are fulfilled by the potentizedRisperidone . It is known that in homeopathic drug provings, symptoms gradually disappear. This was what took place in our experiment. I have mentioned only those symptoms that appeared both in the crude form and in the higher potentized dilution except for the “olfactory hallucination.” That symptom was strong enough in intensity and duration to be certain of its inclusion in the proving data. The potentized Risperidone is able to produce and reduce the symptoms of Parkinsonism. For a complete cure, constitutional treatment may also be required.

One can think potentized Risperidone is a deep acting remedy, because it changed my thermal reaction from hot into mercurial.

Conclusions There are many crude drugs that have various side effects, and can be used to manage the natural diseases (symptoms as well as the side effects) after homeopathic preparation of the drug (potentization). In the case of potentized Risperidone, it is applicable to the patients who are suffering from motor symptoms, such as difficulties in fine motor movement or coordinating problems in ambithermal patients. Confirmatory symptoms of depression and olfactory hallucination individualize the patient. In the future, one can use this procedure of potentization and application to combat natural diseases by using the side effects of allopathic drugs.

Acknowledgements I am grateful to my parents Begum Nurjahan and Abdul Hannan, my wife Nasrin Khandaker and my friend, Dr. F. Rahaman, for their continuous encouragements. I am thankful to Dr. D. Roy and New Life Nursing Home. I am also indebted to Chemist, B. Chakraborty, Hompaths, Homoeopathic Research & Development Centre, Kolkata 700144, India, for his help at the time of preparation of the manuscript. He answered all my queries with patience whenever I sought it. Finally, I am grateful to the Editor for his valuable comments to improve the article. Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 16 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 17 References [1] Oxford Text Book of Psychiatry. [2] Concise Text Book of Psychiatry, Kaplan and Sadock [3] Davidsonʼs Principles and Practice of Medicine [4] Organon of Medicine, Hahnemann , Trans. Dudgeon [5] Organon of Medicine, Hahnemann, commentary B.K. Sarkar.

Dr. Ruhul Amin MD: B.H.M.S. (Calcutta University); P.G.D. P.S.W (Jadavpur University), BMCP (Jadavpur University), Homeopathic Physician, mental health professional and research worker. Founder and Managing Director of HOMPATHS Homoeopathic Research & Development Centre, Kolkata 700144, India Practicing motto : Every Human being can change, can learn, can grow.

Appendix [1] Physiology of Parkinsonism It is an extra pyramidial disorder that has been tied to a degeneration neurone in the substantia nigra at the mid brain. The cause of degeneration in substantia nigra, discovered in 1983. N-methyle phenyle tetrahydropyridine ( MPTP) a neurotoxine could produce Parkinsonism like symptoms. The current idea is that a derivative of MPTP, namely MPP+ has the capability of destroying the substantia nigra neurone. Thus resulting low level of dopaminergic activity causes Parkinsonism. But it is a still mystery where the brain gets the neurotoxin. So we can say a dopamine related problem is the main cause of Parkinsonism—even where the disease comes naturally. [2] Neuroleptic Any of a class of psychotropic drugs used to treat psychosis, particularly schizophrenia ; includes the phenothiazine, butyrophenone derivatives and dyhydroindolones. The drug should be used by preference of physician to control psychosis, after prolonged use they are able to produce many side effects including motor symptoms, gradual withdrawal may be required to reduce these symptoms. [3] DSM—Diagnostic and statistical Manual. DSM-IV Classification: An American psychiatric Association Publication, which classified mental illness. Currently it is the fourth edition (DSM-IV). It was first published in 1952. The manual provides health practitioners with a comprehensive system for diagnosing mental illness based on specific ideation and behavioral symptoms. It has five axes, each axis contains a group of disorders. The DSM revision process consisted of three stages. 1. Reviews of scientific literature to use as data. 2. Data analysis to get information. 3. Twelve field trails to compare sets of criteria. Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 18 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 19 A twenty seven member task force assisted by one thousand psychiatrists, mental health professionals and other health care experts prepared the manual. It denotes, maintenance of uniformity of diagnosis of psychiatric disorder and psychiatric rating scale all over the world.

For further information, one may consult Concise text book of clinical psychiatry, Kaplan and Sadock, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins publishers, Philadelphia (2000 in Indian edition ). [4] Symptoms of Parkinsonism 1. Tremor: Rest tremor, both hands, leg, mouth, tongue, head tremor is rear. 2. Hypokinasia: Difficulty in initiating movements and rapid movements. 3. Slowness in gait. Poor precession of repetitive movements. 4. Rigidity: Cogwheel rigidity of upper limbs. Plastic type rigidity of leg and trunk. 5. Impaired balance on turning. 6. Depression (due to physical symptoms, not mental origin as the homoeopathic proving symptoms ).

HOMPATHS Homoeopathic Research & Development Centre, Osud Ghar, Baruipur , Kolkata- 700144, West Bengal , India

Permanent address: Khodar Bazar ( Near KNTS Club) , Baruipur , Kolkata- 700144, West Bengal , India E-mail: [email protected] (Footnotes) 1 dopamine type2 receptor

The Minimum Price Books A huge selection of professional homeopathic literature including textbooks, provings, tapes, journals, seminars, and rare self-published gems. For book reviews, tables of contents, and online orders, visit www.minimum.com To order books or free catalog, call toll free: 1-800-663-8272 Minimum Price Homeopathic Books, 250 H St., PMB 2187, Blaine, WA 98230

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 18 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 19 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 20    :    Beth Murray, CCH

I have the unique opportunity of practicing homeopathy at the Oakland Zoo. Though I also practice at a local holistic veterinary center, I especially love practicing at the zoo because the zoo keepers are very compassionate, and carefully observe each of the animals in their care. They are able to tell me what is unique about each animal in relationship to other animals of the same species, information which really helps the homeopathic prescription! I have worked extensively with the African hoofed animals at the zo, and their keepers, Amy Phelps and Melissa McCartney. Following is the case of Sudi the Reticulated Giraffe.

Sudi is ten years old; giraffes in captivity have a life expectancy of twenty- five to thirty years.

7/28/06 Observation: Sudi is short and fat. There are visible rolls of fat along her flanks.

Sudi is lame in her right foreleg. As of two weeks ago, she began laying down when on exhibit, a time when all the giraffes always stand. Prior to the lameness, Sudi stood with her legs crossed whenever she was resting. She can cross the fore or hind legs, or both sets at the same time, usually right over left. She is constantly lifting her forelegs and swinging and kicking them. Her keepers feel that this is both a response to the pain and a cause of it. For years she has lifted, swung and kicked her right foreleg. Amy, her keeper, has been expecting her to present with lameness for years because of this behavior.

Sudi was born in North Carolina and came to the zoo as a one year- old. The driver of her trailer said she kicked all the way from Colorado to California. When she arrived, her right, rear flexor tendon had a contracture, which made her limp. She received multiple surgeries. Her keeper expected she would eventually be lame in her left foreleg, as the pattern in four- legged animals is for diagonal afflictions, so it is unusual that it came up on the right fore. (Why I repertorized “generals/right.”) Her x-rays show

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 21 arthritis in the most distal phalange (P3).

Giraffes have two sets of phalanges, each divided into three bones, which form the hoof and pastern. Translating from human to giraffe anatomy, what looks like our forearm is actually their metacarpals (cannon bone). What looks like their front knee is actually their wrist. So translating into human rubrics, this problem occurs in her fingers, especially the most distal aspect. The lateral (inner) phalange is the worst. Sudi has no other physical symptoms that her keepers know of. She is on oral birth control, M.G.A.

Sudi was pregnant five years ago, and gave birth at three a.m., unaided. This is an unusual time for a giraffe to deliver. Her calf died shortly after. The necropsy showed that he had stood up and nursed but then collapsed. Sudi had a septic placenta. The vets conjectured that she had been fighting infection when pregnant and the calf was not strong enough to survive the infection. Both of her keepers feel that she wants a calf. When two calves were born to other females this year, she tried to herd them away from their mothers. She has been hyper-interested in the calves and is very good with them. Once she nursed from Tiki, another female, a very strange behavior for a ten year-old giraffe! Sudi and another female are the only females who have not had calves; they are outcasts from the herdʼs social system, and tend to team up and work together.

Sudi can chase the keepers. She is unpredictable, and they feel that her attitude says, “Donʼt forget, I could hurt you any time!” Amy says, “If something fits Sudi she will do it, but she wonʼt conform because you want her to – very stubborn, but in a funny way.” Sudi is Melissaʼs favorite giraffe, because of her “attitude”. They say she has a sense of humor; sheʼs crabby but can be sweet. She will thawp her leg down to intimidate the keepers, but she loves to have her butt scratched. She is pushy with the other giraffes. She keeps to herself on the outside of the herd, or teams up the other “outcast female”.

Melissa and Amy both independently described her as a “bitch”. She is intentionally destructive, will eat the walls of the barn and kick the fence when she wants treats (I asked if she might be eating the walls because she craves wood, but Amy said she always spits it out). She is destructive, will kill pigeons with her hooves, and then proudly stand on them, as if to say, “Look, I did this!”. She is pushy with the others over food, completely food-motivated and always hungry. She will run, but is awkward because of her weight. She is intelligent and “has you figured out.” She “knows how to cheat the system.” She also knows how to open doors with her feet, whereas most of the giraffes use their heads. She likes to flaunt her behind in front of the bull, offering herself, but doesnʼt like being mounted. She will squint her eyes during intercourse, like it is difficult for her. Melissa says she wants to be “first wife,” and is jealous Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 22 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 23 of the other females.

Analysis: Sudi is defiant in many situations: with the other giraffes (stealing the calves) , the keepers (stomping to threaten them and chasing them), other animals (killing pigeons), and by herself (destroying the barn). The symptoms that I feel should receive the most weight are her crossed legs, because it is unusual, and her stomping feet, because it both reflects her defiance and because it is the cause of the pain in the phalanges. I chose to include “sexual desire” as a rubric because I thought it was strange that she waved her behind around the male, taunting him, yet disliked being mounted.

When I left the barn after the intake, I was thinking of Caulophyllum because of its affinity for the joints of the fingers and ailments during pregnancy and labor. But I wasnʼt sure if it fit the strong mentals in the case, and the peculiar behavior of crossing the legs.

Repertorization: EXTREMITY PAIN; GENERAL; upper limbs; fingers; bones, phalanges (18) EXTREMITY PAIN; GENERAL; upper limbs; fingers (361) GENERALITIES; CROSSING; of limbs; amel. (7) EXTREMITIES; MOTION; motions; general; constant (16) MIND; KICKS; tantrum, in (5) MIND; JEALOUSY; general (71) MIND; OBSTINATE; headstrong (128) MIND; DESTRUCTIVENESS (52) MIND; DEFIANT (28) GENERALITIES; SIDE; right (234) FEMALE; SEXUAL; desire; increased (155)

Using this repertorization, the top remedy was Belladonna, followed by the nightshades, Stramonium, Hyoscyamus and Tuberculinum.

Though it did not repertorize in the top ten, Sepia is grade three in the rubric for crossing legs, but Sepia crosses the legs to hold the uterus in. When I asked Amy if there was an element of crossing vis á vis uterine instability, she thought not, because she crossed her forelegs as well. I also asked her if she thought it was voluntary or involuntary, and she thought that it was voluntary, her way to “relax”. I also didnʼt think Sepia would have the degree of sexual flirtation that Sudi shows. And instead of being averse to the calves, she is interested in them.

I considered Tuberculinum for her defiant nature and because Tuberculinum will stand on the edges of the feet for relief. Amy thinks crossing the feet is the giraffe version of that, repositioning them so as both Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 22 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 23 to be stable and distribute the weight on the hoofs differently. I think of Tuberculinum for all the animals in the African exhibit, given that they are animals that should roam but are confined, standing on hard surfaces all day. This remedy might prove of use in the future.

Belladonna was my final choice. Sudiʼs defiant, destructive nature fits Belladonna. Although Belladonna does not appear in the rubric for crossing the legs, the Vermeulenʼs Concordant Materia Medica lists “lies or sits with feet crossed”. Belladonna is known for stomping and constant motions of the legs. Stubbornness and belligerence are outstanding features of the remedy, as is an alternating nature (liking to have her behind scratched). Belladonna can be overly sexual and is often pudgy. It is a right-sided remedy, worse at three p.m. and sometimes three a.m. (the unusual time when she gave birth). Belladonna is worse from suppressed menses and Sudi receives birth control. Sudiʼs tearing at the barn with her teeth is a Belladonna behavior. Belladonnaʼs extremity symptoms are generally higher up the limbs than the phalanges. It was a bit of a gamble to give it to help the phalange pain, but given that it both addresses the etiology of the injury (stomping) and the response to the injury (swinging and other motions of limbs), I felt it was worth the gamble.

I decided on 200c, knowing it might aggravate her limb pain, but I felt it fit the intensity of Sudiʼs “attitude,” and because she seemed otherwise strong. The arthritis was not great on the x-ray, so there was little organic change.

8/11/06 Following the remedy, Sudi was slightly more lame for three days, then her lameness completely ceased for a week. After a week, it returned briefly. I instructed Amy to give Belladonna 200c again at that point.

8/18/06 Sudi has had one more dose of Belladonna since her last follow up. She shows no lameness.

10/4/06 Sudi has shown no lameness. She received Belladonna two times.

12/12/06 Sudi was lame twice, but the lameness stopped immediately after Belladonna 200c.

3/2/07 Sudi has been fine. No lameness.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 24 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 25 For all the animals at the zoo, the maintaining causes of lack of freedom, lack of exercise and standing on hard surfaces for long periods can make it difficult to see sustained results with homeopathy. Given these conditions, I feel that Sudiʼs arthritis has responded remarkably well to Belladonna. I believe that the need for dosing more than once is a result of the vital force being at odds with the conditions of captivity. I find it noteworthy that the lameness resolved so beautifully with a remedy prescribed largely on mental symptoms and the strange, rare and peculiar symptom of crossing legs.

Beth Murray, CCH graduated from the Pacific Academy of Homeopathy in 2005. Throughout her schooling she interned at Creature Comfort Holistic Veterinary Center in Oakland, California. Currently she has a human practice in Alameda, California and consults for animals at Creature Comfort Veterinary Center and at the Oakland Zoo. For more information visit www.wholehomeopathy.com for her human practice, and www.myanimalhomeopath.com for her animal practice.

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Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 24 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 25   Iain Marrs, BA Oxon., HMC

First consultation July 21 2000 - with the mother

The mother relates that the sinuses are blocked completely, the adenoids are over large. He had a fall at five years old, very serious. Wouldnʼt move after fall. Said he couldnʼt breathe.

Eats white bread, bagels, noodles, cheese, peanut butter, honey, apples, Cheerios, Shreddies, candy. He wouldnʼt eat chocolate for years, now he does. At Halloween, he gave back the candy: wasnʼt what he wanted, he was disappointed, insulted.

He makes cards for me saying he loves me. The most important thing, he wrote in school, is that ʻmy mother loves meʼ. He feels he blows it when he loses his temper. That itʼs a wreck, a disaster. Heʼs a loner, heʼs alone; has a hard time with his peer group; almost hopeless sometimes, crying.

Dave says, “Since I turned seven my life is hell. All my friends donʼt like me. None of my friends like me.” He has a limited diet and refuses to try anything new. He has a hamster: loves it, is very caring; his two older brothers have rats.

IM: The pregnancy?

I was shocked, horrified; right pissed off that I was pregnant. I resented it. I kept on going into labor, I was diabetic, had bad edema. I had a C-section, as with the previous two.

Dave is very sensitive to criticism; he desires comfort, sympathy from me. Strong willed, persistent, obstinate. Seething, he really yells loud. He removes himself, lies on his back, rolling on the floor, curls up into a ball, fists to his head. He punches, throws, hits, grabs.

He doesnʼt talk about his dreams. He collects series of things: watches, gadgets. He has a telescope, night vision goggles, a light saber. He keeps

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 26 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 27 things sorted, special things in a box.

He tries to be the perfect host. Serves others – and is angry if refused. He recently gave everyone at a BBQ melted marshmallows on salty, savory crackers. He hadnʼt tasted them – he hates marshmallows. No-one could eat them, of course…He was deeply offended. He plays drums. (Family: the mother is a weaver, as was a female ancestor of hers. The father is a set designer, making props for movies.)

Further phone call, as part of first consult, with confirmatory questions asked for the remedy

July 26, 2000 - with the mother.

IM: How did the allergy injections go? [Scheduled in between time of first conversation and the second]

They were a disaster. He didn’t… it’s barbaric what they do; I made them stop. To pin him down... They say he is mildly allergic. They want him on steroids, decongestants, antihistamines. The operation (adenectomy) is booked for September twenty-first. They say no oxygen is getting into the cavities, the adenoids are too swollen.

He has a pain in his head: he never complains about the pain but he gets grumpy, irritable. Never complains about the headache, except when he has a high temperature, peaking, then a completely sore throat, and his ears hurt. He mentioned a dream yesterday: dreaming of leprechauns, funny - having a good time, playing in the woods.

IM: Relation with him when born, or around time he was conceived?

Devastated. I wasn’t supposed to be pregnant, but then I got used to the idea when my sister-in-law became pregnant again. It was shocking, the physical pain - I couldn’t have children again. Tubal pregnancies – before, I lost two. I never thought of abortion. Not happy, but... when I was told it was a tubal pregnancy... it was a swing of emotions from one to the other. I was exhausted, tired in pregnancy: edema, gestational diabetes, my husband was away, I’m running a business on an island.

No one would deliver Dave on the island: previously Iʼd had trouble – with both of Daveʼs elder brothers the labors were ended by a C-section after days of labor. They were trying to keep me pregnant for the sake of Daveʼs lungs, but they couldnʼt stop the labor finally. He was a good size when he was born. I considered suicide a lot in the first six months. [My husband] left for a long work project three weeks after Dave was born.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 26 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 27 I was in a very bad state, depressed, I couldnʼt see the point, I was so tired, it was all because I was so tired. I thought of going - if I went and lay down on the road, someone would hit me, I wouldnʼt have to... I contemplated it... If I drive off the Coquahalla, the whole fucking world will end, and Iʼll take all of us with me. I realized if I was going to survive, Iʼd have to start saying ʻno,ʼ so I stopped doing a bunch of stuff; it forced me to stop. Extremes of emotion, despair or elation. Right pissed off at the world. Very seldom did I ever vent at my husband. Itʼs willpower; the irritation builds up inside. I enjoy people a lot, I get rid of stuff through work, Iʼm a workaholic. And physical things: walking works well. Gardening – solitary things, I crave solitary time. I donʼt have my husband around much, so I donʼt get much solitary time because of having three boys.

IM: Your relation with your mother[asking to rule out Mag-m]?

Pretty good. When I was a teenager, she was very religious, Iʼm not, - puritan, ʻsave yourselfʼ stuff, - I was wild - not a great adolescence. A lot of responsibility. When I was thirteen my father had a stroke. Grandfather – fatherʼs father – had a stroke also. My father stayed in a coma for eighteen months. I had to take care of grandfather, as a fourteen year old; his temperament changed – went mean and nasty. My father was dying, mum wasnʼt there to help me - she was there to help my dad. The older I get the more I understand my mother. Incredible stress. Now I know why a lot happened. She is incredibly stubborn, fiercely independent.

IM: Your response to any attack?

I generally walk away - because I think theyʼre idiots, I donʼt feel I need to justify myself. Sometimes I get mad, I have blown at people, but not often. Iʼm really knowledgeable, I can explain why.... I generally win. I suppress irritation, in my relationship. And Iʼve tried to walk away, but my tongue … Sometimes I have strong aggression. Iʼm passionate, I feel intensely.

IM: Control?

I do good parenting three weeks of the month, then the hormones take over and I get terrible PMS. And I can be a bitch to be around. I remove myself from the situation. I seethe till itʼs gone rather than unleash that at the kids. There have been incredible blasts from me. I recognize theyʼre coming, - better that I just run before I say something that can hurt and do damage. And as soon as I get my period Iʼm fine. Horrendous headaches - pressure building in head, neck and shoulders. Then the flow starts, and it all goes away after a day.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 28 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 29 IM: Dave’s fall?

He was in a fine mood: the upstairs balcony, a loft, has a railing ... he was leaning on the railing, standing on the top step. Dave wouldnʼt budge, his brother pushed him, he flipped, fell ten feet, landed on his side – his left side, including his head. I drove down to town with him in shock whimpering, saying ʻitʼs hard to breathe.ʼ He didnʼt want to move.

IM: His teeth?

Theyʼre fine – he lost one front, chipped it playing. He complains about legs aching.

IM: Swollen glands other than adenoids?

No – heʼs had very few sicknesses. Heʼs still on antibiotics, at present for the sinus infection.

IM: Foods?

He will not eat, will NOT eat anything other than what he wants. I try to fit it in, but peanut butter and jelly sandwich is his standard fare, and he eats grilled cheese nachos. It’s textures - he doesn’t like soft things, mushy, the texture of softness.

IM: School?

He says ʻyour rules are really stupidʼ.

IM: Chosen activities, pastimes?

Drawing. He draws volcanoes a lot. He did a drawing the other day - leaving pointedly … He pointed out to me a place for the lava to come out: he said, ʻthatʼs the place where the lava comes out.ʼ

IM: Describe it.

The lava is hot pink, painted grey black. The mountain is colored coral. He just got new paints. Thereʼs nothing else in the picture: a hot pink, big brush strokes to either side, a black frame. Thereʼs usually lots of water in his drawings. On the ferry coming home he drew a picture of a boat, an orange vessel shape for the boat. Pictures of the ocean, - a black shark chasing a pink fish.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 28 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 29 IM: Family history of Dave’s father?

My husbandʼs parents are dead - kidney failure and stroke. Maternal grandmother died of breast cancer.

IM: Trouble in Dave’s breastfeeding or teething? Anything else?

Teeth. He didnʼt like have his tooth fixed – he wouldnʼt let them give him a needle. He has nosebleeds – recently, more nosebleeds, in the last three months. We use a nasal spray for his sinuses, - to reduce the swelling. The sinuses have been like this since last fall, since November last year (1999). His weight is big for his age – heʼll be seven in June (2000).

IM: X-rays after fall?

Yes. But the not wanting to move was a protective mechanism – it turned out there was only soft tissue damage.

IM: Any bone-related issues in your history [asking to confirm the remedy choice]?

I had scoliosis and also my bones grew at different rates. Very uncomfortable a lot of the time. My father was struck by a car when he was eight years old. He went back to an infantile state and had to learn again to walk; his right side was damaged, left side of brain, his hand shriveled, his sides were different sizes; bone damage. He had an incredible will, my father.

IM: What does Dave want to be when he grows up?

He wants to be an astronaut and travel to the moon. And he wants to go to Hawaii.

Analysis I came to the remedy through pathology combined with simple language, - language which has not been translated into rubrics. From the simple language of the case I went to themes, and from themes to signature. The clinical evidence from the homeopathic literature supported the remedy choice. The pathology is sinusitis. Nose bleeds (epistaxis). Headache. Swollen glands (adenoids).

Rubrics for the ʻorgan of choiceʼ (cf. region and pathology) are as follows: *Generals, inflammation of sinuses Synthesis( ): ant-c., ars-i., aur., Calc., calc-f., calc-s., cinnb., eucal., fl-ac., hecla., Hep., Hydr., Kali-bi., kali-c., kali-i., kali-s., lyc., mag-c., mag-f., mag-m., med., Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 30 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 31 Merc nat-m nit-ac penic Phos puls pyrog Sil spig stann Stict Sulph teucr thuj. *Generals, Swellings of glands (Synthesis) is a large rubric which has all of the above remedies in, except: eucal hydr kali-s mag-f penic pyrog. *ʻNose, epistaxisʼ has the above remedies and, in addition: ant-c calc-f eucal fl-ac mag-f penic. The remedies coming through these rubrics are: ars-i aur calc calc-s cinnb hecla hep kali-bi kali-c kali-i lyc mag-m med merc nat-m nit-ac phos puls sil spig stann stict sulph teucr thuj.

A word search (using Reference Works, in 2000) for [sinusitis, bone, glands + swelling, epistaxis and headache] gave 105 remedies. The family themes include bones (mother, motherʼs father; bone deformities; a chipped tooth), cancer themes (the motherʼs responsibility as a child; self-control; puritan religion; suppression – mother; patient: collects, in boxes); spider themes. Dave had been given a spider remedy (probably Tarentula hispanica) by another homeopath at least three years before, - either wholly or in part because the child, on first meeting that homeopath, had hit the homeopath in the stomach. What disease state frames this pathology? Will is the strongest family theme: the child’s will, the mother’s will, the mother’s mother will and the mother’s father’s will. Stubborn, willful, independent, aggressive. Passionate, loud, intense, strong. Dave says at school ‘Your rules are really stupid.’ And so what are the themes of Dave’s state? 1. Anger, yelling, throwing etc. Willfulness. 2. Sensitivity when rejected; feeling humiliated; feeling angry if refused. 3. Hopeless, hell, alone. What individualizes these themes? The fact he ‘feels he has blown it when he gets angry, that it is a wreck, a disaster’ (mother’s words). This is where the action is: builds up, vents; blows, erupts. What is affected? In the mother’s version, ‘The whole fucking world.’ And in Dʼs drawings there is a shark chasing little fish (sharks live in warm water); the ocean - and volcanoes.

Volcanoes There is a build up and then they erupt though a vent. They are large and affect the whole world. When they erupt it is often a disaster - a ‘catastrophe,’ ‘devastation,’ ‘cataclysm,’ and so on. A volcano’s eruptions are often compared to labor - the labor pains of the earth, - a long period of labor is followed by a sudden and terrible eruption. Volcanoes are strong, aggressive, loud, willful; there are lots of them in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. A general similarity, then - but how does this accord with Daveʼs two main symptoms – with his sinusitis and his anger? In the phenomenological approach to language, the words used by all users Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 30 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 31 of a given language derive from root metaphors which are the ground of all particular instances. The root metaphors for anger are few: ʻanger is a burden,ʼ ʻanger is a dangerous animal,ʼ ʻanger is fire/ heat,ʼ ʻanger is heated fluid in a container,ʼ ʻanger is an opponent,ʼ and ʻanger is insanityʼ – that is a representative list of the root metaphors for anger as drawn up by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. The relevant metaphors in Daveʼs case are ʻanger is fireʼ and ʻanger is heated fluid in a container,ʼ one word for the combination of these two – fire and container - is ʻvolcano,ʼ a container that holds the ʻfire liquidʼ calledlava . The difference between volcanoes and containers like kettles or pots is that in one instance there is a functional top designed to easily let steam out, steam being the changed state of the liquid as the latter is heated. Only if the top is completely separated from the container (ʻhe blew his lid/topʼ) do we use approach the metaphor ʻvolcanoʼ. The main themes of the ʻanger is heated fluid in a containerʼ are as follows:

ʻThe container is the body. The heat of fluid is the anger. The heat scale is the anger scale, with end points zero and limit. Container heat is body heat. Pressure in container is internal pressure in the body. Agitation of fluid and container is physical agitation. The limit of the containerʼs capacity to withstand pressure caused by heat is the limit on the anger scale. Explosion is loss of control. Danger of explosion is danger of loss of control. Coolness in the fluid is lack of anger. Calmness of the fluid is lack of agitation.ʼ (George Lakoff, Women, Fire and Dangerous Things, p. 387)

By definition, any word that derives from this basic root cannot particularize a case, so what is individual about Daveʼs case? It is the root metaphor of solid changing to liquid. Dave relates to solids that have been melted by extreme heat: a melted marshmallow (which he dislikes) is topologically the same as lava, molten within a burnt crust. Also we should remember that ʻhot pinkʼ colour... His food desire (one of the few) is nacho chips – that is, melted cheese on chips. If a container of liquid is boiled dry then any continued heat will affect the container. This is not the case here. With Dave, the container does not melt, the contents melt. At one point in the cycle of a volcano heat causes liquefaction of a solid (cf. cheese; marshmallow) while at another point it involves the solidification of a liquid (cf. mucus or phlegm as a solid plug in the sinuses). The best metaphor for this combination – the liquefaction through heat of a solid matter and the solidification of a plug (a solid object blocking a channel) – is ʻvolcanoʼ. Just as the sinuses were blocked and the liquid turned solid, Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 32 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 33 so does lava petrify into stone. In terms of rubrics, recall that Hekla lava comes through the rubrics ʻgenerals, inflammation of sinusesʼ and ʻgenerals, glands, swelling.ʼ If terms of meaning, in Cirlotʼs Dictionary of Symbols we read that the volcano has antithetical powers: the extraordinary fertility of the earth in regions near to a volcano, and the extraordinarily destructive fire (connected with evil, the adversary, the dragon). This combination of creation and destruction resembles all primary forces of Nature. A second polarity - of tension and distension - is also relevant: compare the motherʼs tubal pregnancies, and the suppressed and recurring labor. ʻVolcanoʼ is a coincidence of opposites. As a species of mountain it is the earth meeting heaven; as a vent connected to the subterranean world of un- channeled primary forces it is our world meeting the underworld. It thus spans all three realms – beneath (underworld, demonic), middle (human, surface) and above (divine).

Hekla lava The homeopathic remedy Hekla lava is lava from the Hekla volcano in Iceland. This lava is a silicate of calcium, magnesium (for which some indicators emerged in the case-taking via the mother) and aluminum; the lava also contains iron oxide (Clarke) and fluoride. Choudhuri notes that this remedy is of utility with regard to syphilitic destruction of nasal bones. Clarke notes that deformation can impede breathing. There has been no proving of the substance. As to toxicology, on the slopes of Mount Hecla, as Garth Wilkinson notes, some of the sheep to whom the ash was fatal had abscesses, exostoses and tumors of the jaws. Clarke notes that ‘in some fatal cases a hole going down to the marrow was discovered under the swelling.’ Compare this latter to the volcanic vent: a vent going up to an eruption – abscess – and going down to the marrow, the earth’s crust. A word search (Reference Works) for [sinusitis, bone, glands + swelling, epistaxis and headache] gave 105 remedies with Hecla lava at the top of the list. If we add in to the word search [‘anger’ + ‘violent’] then that remedy remains at the top. If any other mental symptom (‘stubborn,’ for example) are added thereafter, the remedy Hekla lava disappears. We can observe that Hekla lava must clearly have cancer themes (emotional suppression, cancerous growths) but there are no mental symptoms anywhere in the literature - either in the repertory or in older cases. At that time I was able to find only one article, of which Frans Vermeulen gives a synopsis in Synoptic MM 2, where I could find references to cases by Mohammed Aleem, ‘The Rhythm of Volcano (Homeopathic Links, issue 1, 1994). Vermeulen’s summary is ‘outbursts of violent anger, and feeling of helplessness, no control.’

Aleem’s case Mohammed Aleem, of Madras, notes his use of the remedy in bone Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 32 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 33 pathology and dental pathology but comes to an understanding of the personality of Hecla lava through a case of recurrent osteosarcoma. The patient tells Aleem a story: ʻOne day he was walking along a main road with his elder brother. Suddenly a group of people carrying guns came from nowhere and started shooting his brother. Within a wink of time his brother fell down dead. Mr. X, was terribly shocked. He felt a sort of volcano erupting deep from inside him. But he was absolutely helplessʼ (Links, p. 39). The patient describes himself as a very calm and poised person. But when provoked he used to burst into violent temperʼ. He swears, has attacked others, and uses the phrase repeatedly ʻas if a volcano erupts deep within myself.ʼ Other aspects which Aleem reports from other cases (and which he frames with the signature of volcano) are: - stubbornness; - a feeling of helplessness (under certain circumstances); - an intense sensitivity (to admonitions, criticisms, injustices); - abrupt and violent outbursts (throwing things; beating others) combined with self-control, a peaceable nature, gentleness; symptoms coming and going suddenly, abruptly; - as etiologies, the suppression of anger, and shock; - intense burning; - cracks on the skin (over which cracks, in one case, ʻashy, fragile crusts formed,ʼ ibid.); Aleem considers (on the strength of the four cases he had seen) that Belladonna, Staphysagria and Proteus are related remedies.

A Summary of themes for Hekla lava

Helpless Helplessness follows from volcano: it is an overwhelmingly large disaster, in the face of which mere humans (animals, plants, trees, villages, towns…) are helpless.

Gentle, peaceable; triangle; container Dave has a peaceable, gentle aspect (nb. Carcinosin). Here, we should recall the volcano metaphor - this peaceable, calm and cool nature is itself part of volcanoʼs problem. Another aspect of the ʻangerʼ metaphor is individualized here and pushed to the extreme: the individual who is truly cool, calm and collected is self-contained - that is, the individual is a container. Thus, the first step in building your own volcano is to become contained. A container presses in from all sides and upwards, with the lid (the ʻdownwardsʼ suppression) being the trickiest part. Complete containment of energy would take us towards the radioactive energy realm and beyond simple geological forces. However, the triangular shape of a volcano does indicates that we are indeed some way towards the radioactive realm - a triangle is Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 34 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 35 the most stable of all structures and its destruction takes considerable force. The triangle is also the sign for fire in traditional cosmologies, a shape confirmed by volcanoes. Equally, the pathology of bone deformation (bones = shape holding = container) follows from this aspect of the root metaphor invoked by ʻvolcanoʼ (and thence Hekla lava). That is, in volcanology it is held that the more triangular (conic) the more violent, whereas the flatter (e.g., Mauna Loa in Hawaii) the less violent the volcano. Eruptions force the plates (bones) of the earth apart. Note that Scholten gives Yttrium (Silver series, stage 3 – a stage of which the triangle is characteristic) as having dreams of volcanoes, thus making it the only remedy thus far related by dream or delusion to Hekla lava.

Throwing Throwing and throwing outwards – which is the failure of holding in and holding down – is also part of fire. Fire throws itself across fire breaks. The Aztec fire god, the ʻOld Lord,ʼ Xiuhtecuhtli - from whose body flames emanated - had a throwing stick and spears (vide Campbell, The Mythic Image, p. 189).

Throwing and Spiders Mangialavori (seminar, Vancouver) notes a relationship between Hekla lava and the orange spider, Theridion: he mentioned a case where he gave Theridion for five years after which the patient presented with cancer of the bone. A theme in common is the region - the bones of the head (especially the jaws and the teeth). Another shared theme involves sound (vibration and spider; drumming, booming and volcano).

Etiology: Nature/Will controlled The most likely etiology is the motherʼs state. What was not included above in the interview was that the motherʼs labor contractions were suppressed so as ʻto avoid the disaster of too early a birth.ʼ Also, getting pregnant was ʻdevastatingʼ for the mother - she was shocked and horrified to be pregnant again. ʻAilments since a fallʼ may play a walk-on role. Dave was stubbornly standing in the way, was overcome by superior force (an elder brother) and suffered a fall which, everyone suspected, would cause damage to bones. But a pattern had likely been present in the motherʼs state even at the start of the pregnancy (ʻdisastrousʼ) and certainly in full, at the close (repeated labor, repeatedly suppressed to avoid lack of evolution of the birth process). Central to this case, in my analysis, is the fact that a labor was repeatedly delayed: this is the theme of a very strong natural force being controlled so that a disaster (a premature birth without proper development of the fetus) is averted. We customarily come to believe that we can outwit and overcome nature - that the child born through intervention is saved, and developmental Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 34 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 35 advance is assured. Dʼs relation to anger indicates an undeveloped will, specifically with regard to anger. The medical intervention merely played its role in this pattern - it did not and could not change that pattern. Intervention suppressed the development of labor so as to stop a failure to develop in the fetus. However, the failure to develop (and what failed to develop) was determined long before these ʻchoices…Volcanoes have very deep roots.

Some word roots (Latin) VL - volo, velle, valere (to will, to be strong), volute, volter, volver (spiral, to roll, turn round, to leap), the volt (a unit of power and intensity as regards electricity - from Alessandro Volta). VC: vocare, vox, vocalis (to call, voice, vocal), vexare (to shake, annoy, disturb, vex). VS: vis, vigor (force, strength, violence, virility). VLC: velox, veloce (swift, with great velocity and rapidity).

Additional thoughts

Guile-less We may note, also, that there is a strong likelihood of directness in the Hekla patient, in word, picture (symbol) or action. One axis of the case involves the success or failure (inability, powerlessness) to suppress. Does a volcano exercise guile? It does not. It is quiescent.

‘Geo’ ʻGeoʼ is from the root ge, meaning earth (geology, Gaia, etc). This implies a large (massive, big, monster, giant) natural force or presence. ʻGeoʼ is also short for ʻGeorge.ʼ This word, then, can combine the idea of a person with a force larger than a person, - ʻa big guyʼ is like Terra, Geo, Nature, Evolution, The Whole World. I suggest that Hekla lava is one remedy that exhibits this theme, and Dinosaur bone (Maiasaura) is another.

Cloak: palliation: hecla I suggest that suppression is a theme for Hekla lava. The name Hecla means ʻcloakʼ in Icelandic, whereas ʻpalliationʼ – which, if unthinkingly repeated, is what eventually becomes suppression - derives from the Latin pallus, cloak.

Sounds like ‘magma’ A remedy that came to mind was Magnesium muriaticum. Magnesium is an eruptive element and an ingredient of this lava. Was I stuck on this remedy for some time during the consultation because of this - or because the name Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 36 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 37 of the remedy – ʻMag-mʼ - resembles magma?

IM: Explosive?

Remedy examples: the nitrates, Drosera, DPT, Chamomilla. Idea: great potential energy within a small volume.

Daveʼs Case Remedy: Hekla lava, 30c (two doses), with 200c (one dose) on hand. Directions: to take one dose of 30c first and wait. First dose taken August 2nd 2000.

Follow-upʼs Aug 7 (phone call, and all following) He hasnʼt really got that incredible anger since. He came home yesterday from a ʻcontrol freakʼ family he had been visiting; he had had disasters, - over the choice of what foods he was allowed to eat. He said ʻI didnʼt lose my temper, I just said the dad was a jerk.ʼ He wants to know when he can have it again, when heʼll get the next medicine. Heʼs looking for it to solve the sinus, but the easing of his temperament was from the very first day.

Decision: wait.

Aug 14 Itʼs coming back, heʼs blowing his nose again, stuffed up again. Itʼs green, the infection is starting to rage again. Suppressed by being on antibiotics, I guess. Now he has not been on them for two and a half weeks. Usually it goes off and within three weeks to a month he is on antibiotics again.The remedy certainly helped with the temperament, maybe it doesnʼt help with the sinuses.If he cries, green stuff comes out; his nose is getting bigger with pressure; temper is building.A week ago, he wouldnʼt be ... blowing - a remarkable temper change - but now itʼs back.

Issue: Has the remedy at this potency been ʻworkingʼ only because the tail end of the antibiotics was there?

Decision: repeat remedy at 30c.

Aug 24 After the second remedy, there was a miraculous change. His temperament changed within the day. His nose started to run a bit. Before it wasnʼt running at all, he was getting Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 36 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 37 stuffed up again, blowing, getting dark again under his eyes, congested. He was getting very concerned about the surgery. Before the remedy from you he wanted his adenoids out, now he doesnʼt, - he wants to keep all his bits. Before it was ok. Heʼs starting to get a little more testy again... The nose is not running with abundance, still a bit, but it was more. Weʼre closer and closer to surgery day. Thereʼs yellow snot, every now and then - a big clump. Hard globs come out now and then - if thatʼs what blocking it… itʼs like having hard glue. Itʼs gonna take a lot to move that out. He sounds nasally in speech, sounds like somebody is plugging his nose when heʼs talking. Heʼs most stuffed in the morning. The operation is September 13th.

IM: Anything else?

His bones – he did complain about his legs aching, one day shortly after. The next day, he felt fine. I said to him it was growing pains. He didnʼt want to walk on them.

IM: Drawings?

Forest drawings, animals, trees.

Decision: Go to 200c. Take in spring water: one teaspoon twice daily, shake once in between each dose. Take first water dose, then wait one day (in case of aggravation), then daily, twice, thereafter (unless extreme reaction). Regime begun: August 24.

Sept. 8 The sinuses were X-rayed – thereʼs nothing in there any more. Itʼs been streaming out. Itʼs just like heʼs got a cold now. Iʼm giving one dose morning and night, in water, still. There was one day at the start it was bad – the second day - but not extreme.

IM: The pains in his feet?

He calls them ʻgrowing painsʼ now. His nose has a constant discharge, green and white. Heʼs fairly even tempered, - a little intense right now. Not as positive as at first; but not as volatile. He is so relieved: he wants me to tell everyone he doesnʼt need an operation; he doesnʼt want them to be concerned unnecessarily. The adenoids are shrinking in the doctorʼs estimation, from the evidence physically - from outside. No dreams.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 38 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 39 IM: School?

He had to sit outside second day. [Previously he was sent home on a continuous basis.]

Decision: curative - continue for now with water potency.

Oct. 4 His nose ran profusely; piles of crap came out. The symptoms of a cold are slowly fading His temperament is getting gentler, nicer. A huge improvement.

Decision: wait.

Oct. 23 A sore throat, fever; stuffy again. Stuffy, for a week; he took the weekend easy and fell asleep early; the fever seemed to break. He was becoming a bit more emotional, sensitive about position in the household (youngest of three brothers). He went to school today, throat still hurt a bit but he wasn’t as wiped out as on Friday and Saturday. And on Sunday he was much more lively.

Dec. 8 His temperament has evened off, but sinuses have filled up again; heʼs not throwing if off by himself. Temperament evened out again; his temper, - heʼs doing so well that way that people comment. Doing so well, doing better at school, maturing a little. But with the sinuses heʼs fighting it but losing the battle, canʼt eat without his mouth open, has a hard time breathing, can only breathe through his mouth. Heʼs still adamant that he doesnʼt want his adenoids out. The tonsils may be the key. Heʼs not exhibiting any illness, though: no temperature, no sore throat.

Decision: repeat remedy at 200c.

May 14, 2001 A good round with the sinusitis: heʼs done well so well this winter. He did get another bout now though, he canʼt seem to lick it, weʼve been using the salt-pot. Itʼs the first one now since midwinter; heʼs been clear.

IM: Personality?

Softening, blossoming, I think. Heʼs learning to control things. Been weepy this last little while.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 38 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 39 IM: And the sinusitis?

We have changes in our family: my husband and I are splitting up. Life changing for me; Iʼm feeling very positive about life.

IM: Dave’s feelings about this?

Fine with it - even just when we told him. He understood. His dad has not been here for most of his life. It didnʼt seem to bother him at all, perhaps because his dad has been away so much. However the night his father left, at the dinner table, I said to [the middle brother], ʻDo you understand what it means?ʼ Dave said to his brother, “Itʼs alright. Itʼs gotta be that way if itʼs gotta be.” The brother was angry, right pissed off. Then Dave immediately went upstairs and threw up. Instead of being angry. A year ago he would have been angry about everything. Now he weeps more, heʼs softer. I think this remedy made a huge difference. Lots of people notice it.

IM: Threw up, when?

Two weeks ago.

IM: Husband left?

He left two weeks ago. The kids knew about a month before. Dave had sinusitis I guess for about that same length of time, for four weeks. Iʼm thinking that now it could possibly be a lot better than what life has been like with us married.

IM: Dreams?

He doesnʼt talk of any.

IM: Drawings?

Doodling. Did a drawing for his dad, - a picture of himself. He goes around carrying notepads, - writes, draws, doodles, makes little people.

IM: Picture of self for dad?

Itʼs of him standing there, happy, with arms stretched out wide, a blue sky, a big smile on his face.

IM: Landscape?

Not really.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 40 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 41 IM: Doodling?

Looks like doors or windows, lots of circles. A puppy shape with a window in the centre. Circles inside circles inside circles. A circle with a square with a diamond inside. A drawing of a tree with red apples, and thick big animals climbing in it, an owl in it, a bird outside. A drawing of a spider: sitting with a big smile on its face, red, in a web. One of a snowman in an archway, with a tree, in red. Lots of circles everywhere. Drawings of spiders; of a plane, an anvil being dropped on a person’s head. The anvil is black. A cannon.

Decision: send remedy at 30c and 200c. Directions: take the 30c; keep the 200c on hand for a week later to take if the 30c is ineffective with the sinusitis recurrence.

May 30, 2001 Dave was falling apart a bit emotionally after the remedy. Sinusitis cleared up right away; his temperament also. Now he seems a little stuffier - the pollen, weʼre all sneezing. Heʼs doing great.

October 2001 Remedy repeated (by motherʼs choice) at 200c.

Jan. 5, 2002 (I called the mother before presenting her sonʼs case at a conference.) Last dose cleared the problems up immediately. Also, I just gave the second dose you included the day you called. His nose began flowing like mad, blowing lots of stuff out; it loosened it up, like last time. The remedy moves it out, because it gets all stuck in there.

Apr. 25, 2002 Got quite a good cold, a few weeks ago. Temper going sky high, like back before treatment. How marked the change is. I assume his sinuses are impacted. Was doing brilliantly. Woke in morning and I could tell it wasnʼt him. Woke grumpy which he never, never does. Didnʼt want to go school; recovered from grumpiness. Mad, angry. Some run-ins at school, mad at friends. Typical to how he would have been a year or more ago. Never woken grumpy in past. Built a thing that looked like a volcano in Supersculpy - a round base moving up to a point. Has been carrying it around for days. Only thing thatʼs different is heʼs grumpy. I always call him my little sunshine...

Decision: repeat Hekla 30c.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 40 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 41 May 3, 2002 When I give him the remedy, itʼs like night and day, - makes a huge difference. Before he could hardly breathe or eat. Was so grumpy. Was spontaneously combusting, melting down. It was a mess.

Postscript Everything that is not Hekla lava in this story looks set to be cured by Carcinosin, and everything that isnʼt has been addressed by Hekla lava. Dʼs story, and that of his mother, exists along the polarity ʻcivilized constraint <-> unrestrainable nature,ʼ of which these two remedies each have their respective versions. I sent a dose of Carcinosin but never received confirmation as to when that remedy was given nor the result.

This case was presented at the 2001 Case Conference of the B. C. Society of Homeopaths. As regards the extant literature on Hekla lava, in the January 2006 issue of Interhomeopathy an adult case cured by Hekla is presented by Laila Alberts. See: http://www.interhomeopathy.org/index.php/journal/cat/ C11/

Iain Marrs co-edited Simillimum from 1993 to 1995 and graduated from the Homeopathic Master Clinicians Course in 2004. His articles have been published in Links and American Homeopath. He practices and edits in Vancouver, Canada where he also teaches on combining homeopathy with the study of the enneagram.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 42      :   George Lewis, Dr. Radmila Razlog, Dr. M Stewart, Dr. Marilena Deroukakis

Abstract: Senecio latifolius can cause damage to hepatic cells due the presence of alkaloids known as pyrrolizidines. The study aimed to assess the effect of homeopathically- prepared Senecio latifolius on unpoisoned hepatocytes (Group A), on hepatocytes poisoned with the mother tincture of the herb (Group B) and on hepatocytes poisoned with the poisonous alkaloid derived from the herb, retrorsine (Group C).

Cell pathology was studied by measuring the viability of cells using the trypan blue method and by measuring serum transaminase levels of aspartate, a known indicator of hepatocellular damage. A time study was conducted at the following time intervals: 3, 6, 18, 24 and 48 hours. The potencies utilised were 5X, 10X, 15X and 20X. All data were recorded and statistically using the two-way ANOVA.

The outcome of the research was to determine whether homeopathically- prepared potencies of Senecio latifolius could protect the cells and enhance self-recovery. The study also indirectly examined the sinusoidal activity said to exist in homeopathic potencies.

The results showed that homeopathic potencies of the herb did not affect cells that had not been poisoned. At 24 hours, the cells poisoned with the mother tincture of the herb showed a statistically significant effect. At 48 hours there was a statistically significant effect on the cells poisoned with the alkaloid. These results suggest that homeopathically-prepared herbs have an affinity for the protection of the cells of the organ that mother tincture of the herb causes toxicity.

1. Introduction

Senecio latifolius, also known as Danʼs cabbage, groundsel or ragwort, has been used in African Traditional Medicine, as an emetic and an enema for chest pain. However the toxicological evidence supports the notion that the herb causes severe hepatotoxicity. This is due to the pyrrolizine alkaloids,

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 43 which although not directly toxic, once dehydrogenated by the liver, form pyrroles. These pyrroles bind to proteins and nucleic acids, damaging the liver. Patients who have ingested pyrrolizidine alkaloids present with hepatic vein obstruction, mimicking a condition called “Budd-Chiari” syndrome. Early liver necrosis is detected by the release of enzymes, such as aspartate (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) from damaged hepatocytes. A rise in these enzymes is a sensitive indicator of damage to cytoplasmic and/or mitochondrial membranes, even when there is no detectable impairment of hepatic function.

Homeopathy as Self-Recovery

The essence of homeopathy is the stimulation of self-recovery, by the application of the similia principle. The latter occurs when a substance, that is capable of producing a toxic effect in its natural state, is used to cure that same toxic effect, when used in homeopathic form, leading to self-recovery. Previous studies have been conducted whereby plants which have been poisoned by Arsenic, were treated with the homeopathic doses of Arsenicum album 45X, which led to a statistically significant difference in recovery between those treated, compared with those that were not treated (Betti et al, 1997).

When intact organisms or cells are exposed to low levels of toxicants, a reactionary stimulation of the gene expression occurs, as part of the general cellular adaptation syndrome. This is known as hormesis.

Hormesis The idea that low doses of a toxic substance could be beneficial dates back to Paracelsus. However, Arndt and Shultz set out to study this phenomenon scientifically in the 19th century (Stedman, 1990). “Hormesis” is the name given to the stimulatory effects caused by low-level toxic agents. This is a pharmacological law that declares a paradoxical relationship between dose and effect. A large dose of poison can destroy life, a moderate dose will paralyse and a very small dose will stimulate. However, from the homeopathic perspective, the law does not feature succussion. In homeopathic philosophy, it is well known that different potencies of the same medicine may have different effects on the patient. Contemporary drug investigations support this phenomenon, for example, the action of Digitalis is dose- dependent, presenting a sinusoidal curve. As Close (1996) has mentioned in his discussion of primary and secondary drug reactions, a primary reaction produces one set of symptoms, and a secondary a directly opposite set.

Few researchers have made the link between the fields of molecular stress biology, similia law of homeopathy and hormesis. The research undertakes to examine these three fields of research, using mother tincture of Senescio latifolius as the molecular stress, dilutions to test the similia law, and the Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 44 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 45 stimulatory effect of the poison, to examine hormesis.

2. Materials and Methods

PharmaNatura® prepared the homeopathic remedies from Senecio latifolius in the following potencies: 5X, 10X, 15X, 20X according to the German Pharmacopoeia, using distilled water. It was necessary to avoid alcohol in the extraction process, as it could interfere with the ability of the cells to divide and therefore, with enzyme measurement. The poison extracted from Senecio latifolius was retrorsine. It was applied to the human hepatocytes using aseptic techniques. All the experiments were conducted in a laminar airflow cabinet and an incubator. The cells were kept in a continuous culture and maintained in Dulbeccoʼs modified Eagleʼs medium (DMEM), supplemented with 5% foetal calf serum, 0.5% penicillin-streptomycin and glutamine (2mM). Culture maintenance involved changing the medium on alternate days.

The cells were subcultured into 6-well multiplates. The cells were removed from the 50ml flasks once the cells had reached 8—100% confluence. The cells were then washed with sterile phosphate buffered saline and then trypsinised. 20000-30000 cells (150µ) were placed into each well of a 6-well multiplate containing 3ml tissue culture medium.

The cells were then seeded onto cover slips in the 6-well multiplates at a density of 90,000 cells per wall. They were allowed to grow to near confluence and then the medium was changed to 3ml containing 330ng/ml of retrorsine. The hepatocytes were then incubated for a further 24 hours at 37 C.

Homeopathic Treatment: At this point 100µl of Senecio latifolius mother tincture was added to the 6 well multiplates. A time study was conducted at the following time intervals: 3hours, 6 hours, 18 hours, 24 hours and 48 hours.

Cell Viability Study: Staining with trypan blue was used to assess the viability of the cells. Trypan blue binds to the intracellular proteins of leaky cells. 100µl of trypan blue stain was added to 1.0 ml of 105 cells in 100µl of medium. The sample was then gently vortexed and placed on a haemocytometer. The number of stained cells represents dead cells and the remaining, intact cells were counted with a light microscope.

Determination of measurable enzyme range An untreated culture of hepatic cells was used to determine the lower and upper limit of measurable enzymes. The upper limit was determined by destroying the cells using liquid nitrogen. These samples were then analysed Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 44 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 45 for enzyme activity. The lower limit was determined by measuring enzyme activity in the culture medium.

Biochemical Analysis After 3 hours, 6 hours, 18 hours, 24 hours and 48 hours of incubation, 400µl of the culture medium was withdrawn and centrifuged at 15,000g for 5 minutes to ensure that all the cellsʼ debris was removed. The samples were then frozen and later assayed for enzyme activity.

ALT activity was measured according to IFCC recommendations. Reagent kits necessary for the enzyme determination, were obtained from Boehringer Mannheim. The enzyme activity was expressed in U/L.

High concentrations of toxic chemicals interact with proteins thereby blocking the receptor sites and enzyme reactions. The study examines how much exposure and under which circumstances, hepatocytes are damaged Statistics The mean and standard deviation were determined for all groups. The correlation between the different experimental groups was determined by the use of two-way analysis of variance tests, performed by Sigma plot version 3.0.

3. Results

Determination of Measurable Enzyme Range The lower range of enzymes was 0U/l AST obtained at 0 hours. The maximum value, 70 U/l was determined at 48 hours. The cell culture was subsequently destroyed, using liquid nitrogen, therefore ensuring maximum enzyme activity.

Determination of Instrument Error It was necessary to determine instrument error for the measuring equipment, in order to determine its standard deviation. The average standard deviation was 1.2 U/l and two standard deviations have been used in the graphs.

Group A: Cell Control and Homoeopathy The cell control group represents a culture that has no intervention, and therefore indicates the natural cell culture turnover. The homeopathic potencies of 5X, 10X 15X and 20X indicate dilutions, (a dilution of 1 in 100,000, 1 in 10-4, 1 in 10-14 and 1 in 10-19, respectively). 1x10- 24 is the limit by which no further molecules are present in a solute, and is known as Avogadroʼs constant.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 46 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 47 Time Cell control 5X 10X 15X 20X 3 hours 2 2 5 7 1 6 hours 6 2 2 2 2 18 hours 3 2 5 2 1 24 hours 3 3 6 2 3 48 hours 7 7 2 14 9

Table 1: Cell control and Homeopathic Potencies over time intervals. Values shown are the AST measurements in U/L. The same information is presented below, in Figure 1.

Figure 1:Chart depicting cell damage after time There was no statistical difference between the cells that had no treatment and those that had received homeopathic preparations of Senecio latifolius.

Group B: Time Senecio latifolius 5x 10x 15x 20x 3 hours 5 2 4 5 6 6 hours 5 5 7 4 4 18 hours 7 8 16 11 11 24 hours 24 10 13 14 9 48 hours 10 8 8 13 19

Table 2: Senecio latifolius (mother tincture) and 4 potencies of homoeopathic remedies. Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 46 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 47 As can be seen from the graph below, there is a gradual increment in the AST levels for all potencies, as time passes.

Figure 2:The effect of various potencies of Senecio latifolius on AST levels

Group C: Retrorsine and Homoeopathy

The third group under investigation examined retrorsine, a compound extracted from the alkaloid pyrrozidline. It was compared with homeopathic preparations of Senecio latifolius.

Time Retrorsine 5x 10x 15x 20x 3 hours 2 5 6 5 1 6 hours 1 1 1 3 3 18 hours 1 5 7 3 2 24 hours 2 10 2 4 1 48 hours 32 12 15 8 3

Table 3: Retrorsine compared with homoeopathic preparations of Senecio latifolius.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 48 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 49 Figure 3:The effect of potentised Senecio latifolius on AST levels when compared with retrorsine As can be seen from figure 3 above, there appears to be an oscillating effect on AST levels in time for each potency.

4. Discussion Group A: Senecio latifolius did not have a deleterious effect on the cells in homeopathic doses, compared with the control. Group B: In Group B, the results that were obtained have been from cells that had been poisoned by Senecio latifolius which were then treated with homoeopathically prepared Senecio latifolius. The controls had not received any homeopathic treatment. After 24 hours, there was a significant difference between the controls and all the potencies studied. This observation supports the hypothesis that the homeopathically-treated cells were protected from damage. Group C: In this group, the hepatic cells were exposed to Retrorsine and then treated with homeopathic doses of Senecio latifolius. The 48 hour time interval showed significant results with all the homeopathic potencies showing less hepatic damage than the controls. This verifies that homeopathically prepared Senecio latifolius could help in the self-recovery of hepatocytes poisoned with Retrorsine, a chemical that has the ability to destroy the hepatocytes in a similar manner as Senecio latifolius.

Conclusion: The notion that a similar drug may cure a condition that it can cause, has been shown in this small study, using only four potencies. The time-series effects

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 48 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 49 of these potencies was examined to show that time-concentration curves are by no means linear. Evidence of sinusoidal curves was found, however they varied according to the potency used and the time under examination.

References: 1. Betti, L., Brizzi, M., Nani, D., Peruzzi, M (1997) Effects of high dilution of arsenicum album on wheat seedlings poisoned with the same substance. British Homeopathic Journal, April, vol. 86, pp: 86-89. 2. Close, S. (reprint: 1996) The Genius of Homoeopathy, Lectures and Essays on Homoeopathic Philosophy. B. Jain Publishers, New Dehli, pp 184-249. 3. Stedman, T.L. (1990) Stedmanʼs Medical Dictionary, 25th edition, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, U.S.A. p.843.

Institutional Affiliations: Department of Homeopathy, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Contact Details of Main Author: [email protected] PO Box 9861 Edenglen 1613 South Africa Tel: 0927 11452 6908 Corresponding Author: Dr. Marilena Deroukakis [email protected]

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 50 , ,  Beth Murray, CCH

Following are the words of three patients who received animal remedies. The purpose of this piece is not to show complete cases, but to present the feeling of each remedy through the patientʼs own words. Each case ends with a selection of words that present a succinct picture of the remedy.

Butterfly Airʼs Flowing

Female late 50s

11/20/06 Easy to be lax, lazy.

Warm fuzzy growing up, loved being outside, tomboy, good childhood.

On Premarin, get hot flashes from toes coming up all through body, feel heat through head, scalp wet, then cold down, like surge – less intense ones from chest up, you can feel the heat coming out, now all the time, especially after wine.

Hard time getting to sleep. At 10:00 I rejuvenate, up until 11:30 or 12: 00, want to do things, come home from work tired, all of sudden not tired, rejuvenated.

When divorcing emotionally involved, like a cocoon, (makes circle around face,) into your own emotional state .

I wasnʼt surprised, she never dated. (eyes dart side to side)

Get headaches: periodic, in nape, three to four days, tight, laying head back the pressure hurts. Once in while eyes sore, worse moving, behind eyes.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 51 Crave sugar.

Sun: like it.

Wind: HATE wind, annoying, messes you up, annoying.

Claustrophobic, donʼt like small places, get closed in, (brings both hands to chest.) Airplanes are bad; I need air on me. I was in a glider, that was o.k., clear shield comes over but thereʼs air coming in. If I can see out itʼs ok. Can feel it now thinking of it, closed in, you canʼt get out, being held down, being trapped, like in coffin. I canʼt imagine being trapped in an accident. Feel it in stomach, closing in, coming in, my energy going in, not coming out, feel closed in, when a door opens, energy releases, calms me. When closes Iʼm tense, all my energy trapped in my body. Scary, something coming over you, closing you off. Love light, light and open. Airy open

As a kid I loved playing outside, made me happy. I was the only girl on the block playing with all boys -freedom feeling. I would hop the fence as a kid when had to stay in back yard, didnʼt like confinement, didnʼt like locked fence. I love my jeep. Put grandkids in back, freedom feeling, top off, airʼs flowing,bouncy, fun.

I like spiders. They are creepy, ugly, yet intrigue, me - watch movies of them, beautiful webs, they jump, they jump on me, going crazy. Used to like bugs, to turn rocks over. I like being afraid, gives me a rush.

Mom died four years ago. Felt presence of mom in dreams, awesome. Once felt her in back seat of car after her death. Hoping sheʼd go in her sleep. Three of us were with her when she died. She had last rites; she was breathing deeply. She took a deep breath, let it go. She passed so peacefully. I could feel her body leaving; priest said heʼs never seen such a peaceful death. We would lock heads, got closer as we got older, good to be her caregiver.

Stayed in one spot whole life, warm cocoon. Will dream going somewhere with kids, or back at house I was raised in.

My son when younger was sexually molested. This guy came the to house, the kind of guy you liked; the guy was convicted. You wonder what happens to a kid when that happens, all revolves around sex.

My parents never said they loved me. How do I tell them I love them? After I did, I felt so good the next day, easier from then on.

Limenitis bredowii californica 200c

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 52 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 53 12/8/06 Not as many hot flashes since remedy. They start and then vanish. Sugar craving less. Head pain less. Vision when took remedy: deep purple field, eye coming towards me,a womanʼs eye.

12/18/06 Hot flashes usually when first wake or from wine, but had none until two days ago.

1/13/06 I also used to dream of the house I grew up in: it had a cement path to the back of house. Mom had flowers growing there. At night I would go back there and look up and see all the stars forming figures, like animals; I was a kid looking up at the sky and it was awesome and almost surreal.

Climbing trees, where I got my freedom as kid, loved my bicycle. As a kid I was most rambunctious, curious, liked being outside, liked doing, being busy.

Grew up in a family that inhibited me; I didnʼt know how to express myself. I was told we donʼt talk about it. I was out there but I would restrain. I was curious. I wasnʼt aggressive. I like to do things, like to get involved. Like to be busy still. I donʼt like being stifled, canʼt do this, canʼt do that.

New Yearʼs Eve went out and had wine and no hot flashes.

2/16/06 Hot flashes still better. Occasionally start up but never develop. Cut Premarin dose to three days/week.

3/16/07 Had hot flashes, tookLimen-b 200c.

4/15/07 Hot flashes less.

6/1/07 Lost six lbs., have more energy.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 52 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 53 Butterfly: Lazy Fuzzy Rejuvenate Cocoon, (makes circle around face) (eyes dart side to side) Wind, messes you up Get closed in (brings both hands to chest) When a door opens, energy releases Airy, open Airʼs flowing Felt presence of Mom We would lock heads Warm cocoon Son, sexually molested Deep purple A womanʼs eye I didnʼt know how to express myself How do I tell them I love them? Looking up at the sky Climbing trees Freedom Busy

Raven Vehicle has everything I need – can see clearly

Male age 37

3/11/06 I was on a bike trip in Alaska, 1000 miles. On my birthday I decided to ride all night long, until the sun rose, then find a place to camp. It was powerful, coming down a long grade, over bridge, up into wooded area at 3:00 in morning. I felt an overwhelming sense of energy, spirituality - overwhelming, huge, beautiful crystal clear night, energy all round me.

Best is desert, low desert. In Israel it was raining, sheets of rain, 60mph winds and my destination was 40 miles away. I rode my bike down, got worse and worse, so in tune with weather and earth. The more I got into it, the stronger the weather got. I saw teens with a flat tire, and I had a revelation. I understood that some people are disconnected from their environment and donʼt have the tools to take care of themselves. I had all the tools for any breakdown. I had tools to take care of self, be self sufficient.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 54 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 55 Crazy. A lot of power when I was a kid, like a leader within neighborhood.

Carcinosinum 200c

4/29/06 Iʼm getting in good shape; I wanted to take my friend to the task yesterday and see what he had in him, (competing with his friend on a bike ride). Half of my body went numb for a second, it happened once or twice before, the right side. I think it was the right side before too.

Feeling clear-headed. At work Iʼm able to plan for my future. The situation hasnʼt changed; itʼs me.

Corvus corax principalis 200c

5/25/06 Achy, swollen in groin and scrotum, afraid of testicular cancer. Swollen glands for four days. Testes got bad a week ago. Now normal, but talking about it makes me feel it. Tenderness/swollen/sore in one pin point: right groin where testes attach. Had a hernia before; it feels like that. Also tenderness in the left testicle.

Tired, almost narcoleptic. I remember when I was 13 years old, it was my first time waterskiing; we were at a lake with a fancy boat. This guy says, “hold onto the rope and lean back,” itʼs my first time ever on skis. He and my Dad are talking, not looking back at me. I lean back. The guy gives it gas, I lean back, legs come up, rope comes under, grabs me. Iʼm under water being towed. My dad doesnʼt even notice; the rope is between my legs. One time I talked to him about it and he didnʼt realize how much I was affected by his not noticing what had happened to me.

Iʼve made so many suggestions to him about alternatives for treating his cancer; itʼs frustrating that he never follows up.

At work, Iʼve let it come, stopped worrying about planning. I come in and meet students, look them in eye, be there for them; that has worked.

(Noticing that he is wearing a silver bracelet with a ravenʼs head engraved on it, I tell that heʼs taken ravenʼs blood).

Itʼs a Tlingit or Heida story: Raven has human hands, golden eye, “Raven stole the sun.” Heʼs a powerful chief who liked the sun so much he took it out of sky and put it in a beautiful carved box, and only looked at it when he was alone. The land was dark for a long time. Raven went in and tricked his ass and put it back in the sky, so they could come out and enjoy the sunshine. My bracelet has a golden eye, a lot of raven bracelets donʼt have Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 54 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 55 that.

6/9/06 I can picture myself being a raven, flying through the air, getting perspective. I have a physical sensation of purposefulness, a sense of lightness and purposefulness. Everything is condensed into one, very purposeful and insightful, physical sensation that goes with it: like youʼre a raven and you can see clearly, you can feel it in your bones, youʼre tired, worn down, havenʼt shaved, have a bad outfit, but you can look at the bracelet, and picture yourself flying in sky. You can come back to your body and say, “ok. I can handle this.”

9/9/06 Took remedy on vacation, felt really good, felt strong and happy.

Numbness in half of body? No.

When I took it I had confidence. I was not afraid to move forward on stuff, moving through the world with ease.

Now I have this hesitancy where Iʼm afraid to move forward on stuff (motion of hand reaching forward.)

Not totally comfortable in my skin right now. My teeth and lower part of jaw are moved back. I have stress in my teeth, on both sides – upper jaw above lip and half way back in the upper jaw. I massage it, move it forward.

I want a motorcycle: I crave one classic vehicle that is a head turner. I do feel confident riding a bike, especially when Iʼm the one who fixed it. I was thinking if I die on the motorcycle, if Iʼm dead and my wife is depressed, I can come up and whisper in her ear. My wife keeps bringing up how dangerous it is, forces me to think of it. I see myself on the freeway, in an accident, then dead, looking down on scene. Itʼs not painful.

Iʼm frustrated, grasping at whatever I can to get (makes motion with hand of grabbing.)

10/14/06 I realized Iʼm happier now than ever before, even when I was a child. Itʼs a little scary. Can I always be this happy? What if you get to be this happy and then you will die because you are totally happy?

I feel successful, have energy I need to do things I want to do.

Teaching is awesome now. I have five kids, all making great progress, connecting on a very deep level, can look them in the eye and talk to them. Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 56 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 57 Productive, friendly, easy-going at work, we are taking care of each other, rather than kna, kna, kna feeling (makes motion of knocking on something.)

BM: Dad? I got through whole cancer thing, went through pitfall of emotional stuff, now Iʼm out on other side. Maybe I already dealt with his death before he even died. Iʼve done enough work for two lives.

Pain in thoracic-lumbar, right side. When wake up, it feels a little larger there. A low grade continuous pain, the bone feels larger than other vertebra.

10/21/06 Back feeling better, havenʼt been waking with it.

12/2/06 BM: What does a car mean to you? My self confidence, I need a car that represents me where Iʼm at now; when I got my Mercedes I call Bluebird, I was in a transitional place, that car needed work. I am more advanced now. My vehicle has everything I need now; I replaced everything myself for not much money. Itʼs this quest, to have it running perfectly.

Circle of tension, blocked place, connects in my teeth and nose, feel tension in gums, and top of spine at nape, energy flowing down, between and top and bottom teeth.

BM: When depressed, what do you feel like? Helpless, I canʼt do it. Shortness of breath at sternum, pressure at roof of mouth, like flow of air from top of roof of mouth and back. Eyelids fluttering.Energy in teeth like current. Hands stiff, surprised you can move them. Energy current in scalp. Little bit of raw nerve ending feeling on inside of teeth in gums on top row of teeth. Like vibration in teeth, like electrical current, telling you that you should be doing something else.

Corv-c 200c

1/27/07 My eyes point not too far off on horizon where you can see blurry shapes, getting closer and closer as you get clearer, not close enough to actually make out the shapes – my philosophy: “shift happens,” a tiny little shift you didnʼt expect makes everything clear, always looking for that shift.

BM: Tension/energy in teeth? Not feeling that.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 56 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 57 BM: Hands stiff? No.

BM: Holding in sternum to mouth? No.

Continuing with my morning workout routine, have not missed a day all year. Feel better as soon as Iʼm on my bike.

Laugh about stuff in the morning, look in the mirror and start laughing.

4/16/07 Took Corv-c 200c on his own.

6/9/07 Felt supported after took remedy. Finished huge project for advanced credentialing classes. No groin pain. No numbness in half body. No tension in gums. No back pain. No other physical symptoms.

Raven

Ride all night long Tools, tools to take care of self Power Half of body went numb Clear headed Tired, almost narcoleptic My dad doesnʼt even notice Tricked Purposefulness Can see clearly Dead, looking down on scene Grasping Focus Look them in the eye Kna, Kna, Kna (motion of knocking on something) Already dealt with his death before he even died Vehicle has everything I need Running perfectly Energy in teeth like a current Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 58 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 59 Connects in my teeth and nose Energy current in scalp Vibration, in teeth, like electrical current, telling you that you should be doing something else Point not too far off on horizon where you can see Everything clear Laugh

Wolf/Dog Eyes Dilated

4/7/06 I have bad dreams every night; that my animals are in danger and I need to save them from disasters like earthquakes or falling buildings. I feel like I have to be there to save them, from fire, falling down stairs . . . urgency to protect my animals, a lot of anger, anxiety, fear, that I will lose my animals.

Earthquakes freak me out, also going through tunnels, tight spaces, crowds, canʼt be around crowds or a lot of people. I have a fear of riots, being trampled on.

Almost drowned when I was six, so I fear anything that is water or tight spaces; I feel a pressure on my chest, not being able to breathe. If I watch a show on TV where people are buried alive, it trips me out, I get short of breath, feel heart racing, feel like Iʼm that person, trying to survive. I didnʼt go over the bridge for a year after the earthquake.

I get forgetful; not focused, organized, not really present.

I have headaches: menstrual, different than sinus headaches. It depends on season, but they are in the center of my forehead, before starting my period, better once I bleed, feels like someone knocking on my head, coming from outside, consistent, like driving nail through my head. With them I get irritability, Iʼm very sensitive to sound.

Have to wear earplugs at night; just one, have to be able to hear if I need to. I canʼt have any sound when I go to sleep. I could never sleep as a kid because someone could always go into my room. I would be woken up and assaulted.

I didnʼt ever stay in school for a full school year. Every six months I changed. I went to four high schools, never any consistency until now.

Not feeling good enough to be in job Iʼm in, relationship Iʼm in, society Iʼm in. When I see homeless people, drug addicts, they scare me, I can see me in Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 58 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 59 that, how I walk that line . . . anyone in prison, feel like self esteem is about as high as theirs.

I would have gotten breast cancer or something if I didnʼt leave there and find my niche.

Cramps come in waves, tightening, get bloated, very, very tired, three days before it starts. I get a warning cramp one week before, tightness of one ovary, cramps, tightness, sometimes band of tightness on both sides.

Now Iʼm shaking, sweating, whole body, knees, shaking, remembering this, re-living anxiety. My eyes are dilated, on fight or flight mode. When I leave tonight, I will have to ground myself, I get spacey when driving. Something could hit me. I have to ground. Being in an altered state, when journeying in shamanism, Iʼm way out. One time I didnʼt ground; I slipped off the stairs. Being intoxicated is like a dream, being outside myself looking at myself through a dream. If I were to see a car accident, it would be like a dream, I could see myself from the outside.

When you journey, what is your power animal? Wolf, sometimes a tiger, but mostly a wolf.

Lac lupinum 200c

4/24/06 I am not so panicked in dreams. Iʼm dreaming about people from my past.

I want to drink less, when I do have some, itʼs less.

My reasoning is coming back stronger.

Iʼm also more energetic.

Headaches are much better; donʼt have lingering headaches.

I have a tendency to over react around respect or disrespect, (lunges forward. ) I have to be very careful. I can step back more than before, though still emotionally charged.

I will always look over my shoulder, but my fear is not as strong, thatʼs changed quite a bit, I donʼt give it too much energy and thought.

6/3/06 No more dreams of animals in danger, even when my cat is sleeping near me. His presence used to make me feel protective and I would dream that they were all in danger. Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 60 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 61 My self esteem is coming up, know what Iʼm talking about and feel more confident at work.

Iʼve been watching the dog whisperer. I love the way he deals with animalsʼ energy. I have to remember I did a lot of energy work with dogs: I say to them, “itʼs me or you.” I have to tone that down now, work with the energy of the individual dog, not be so aggressive in my approach. But itʼs there if I need it. Thatʼs a good thing to know about myself; I can turn on when I need to.

9/9/06 Want to work on PMS. I get anxious, in a hurry; two weeks before start menses, Iʼm irritable. The last three nights Iʼve been waking at 2:00 a.m.

Right before starting, the pain is stronger on the left, but it travels across to other side. It feels like wringing in ovaries and uterus, always been like that.

Dream of snakes biting me at work, treating snakes and they are biting me on my hand and Iʼm prying them off. They are somebodyʼs pets and have fangs like a cobra.

Lac caninum 200c

11/2/06 I know Iʼm about to bleed because of the time of month, but Iʼm not having any pre-menstrual symptoms: no cramps in my ovaries, no breast tension, no premenstrual crabbiness, just a bit of irritability when driving. Havenʼt had any night sweats, normally I would have by now.

Before I had a trapped person inside, I wanted to get her out.

Donʼt feel as spaced out as I was.

2/4/07 Took Lac caninum 200c yesterday. Had been irritable and spacey at work. Felt calmer.

Wolf/Dog

My animals are in danger I need to save them from disasters Tunnels, tight spaces, crowds Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 60 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 61 I have a fear of riots, being trampled on Almost drowned Buried alive Get short of breath, feel heart racing Feel like Iʼm that person trying to survive I get forgetful Someone knocking on my head Woken up, assaulted Warning cramp Tightness of one ovary I would have gotten breast cancer Eyes dilated Looking at myself through a dream (lunges forward) I will always look over my shoulder Itʼs me or you Wringing in ovaries and uterus Snakes biting me I had a trapped person inside

Beth Murray, CCH, RSHom (NA) graduated from the Pacific Academy of Homeopathy in 2005. As a student, she interned for three years at Creature Comfort Holistic Veterinary Center in Oakland, California. Upon graduation she began practicing homeopathy for animals at Creature Comfort Holistic Veterinary Center, and at the Oakland Zoo. She has a human practice at Back to Life Wellness Center in Alameda, California. Prior to becoming a homeopath she was a naturalist, and has always been a poet. Her websites are www.wholehomeopathy.com and www.myanimalh omeopath.com.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 62    : Thoughts on hysteria with a case by Massimo Mangialavori Krista Heron, ND

Note: These thoughts on hysteria are based on my own study, and inspired by Massimoʼs insights. The case presented is Massimoʼs.

We all have patients who present with a myriad of symptoms, a long laundry list of complaints in many organ systems of their bodies. During their first visit they may describe joint pains, digestive complaints, periodic headaches, rashes, poor sleep and anxiety. Each symptom presented is as important as the next, but as the litany continues, we feel a sinking sense of fatigue. Where to start? How do we begin to make sense of this chaos?

The second visit we discover that some of the symptoms have improved since our prescription but now the patient has replaced those with a whole new set of complaints; in a practical sense dismissing their improvements by recounting a succession of new symptoms. Yes, my feet are better but now I have arthritis in my hands. I am no longer having diarrhea but now I have this odd pain in my back.

What we may be encountering is less about physical pathology and more about the psychology of the hysterical patient.1 Obviously, a presentation of complex disease patterns does not mean a patient is hysterical. However, we do need to understand the hysterical patient, and what her true needs are, in a different light.

Hysteria, a somewhat archaic term, replaced in DSM II and III as “histrionic personality disorder,” is still present in our repertories and materia medicas, but needs to be understood in the context of contemporary medicine. How do we perceive, diagnose and understand this complex reaction and how do we best serve our patients presenting with this somatizing strategy? Massimo Mangialavori recently discussed hysteria and a number of remedies associated with it at this last summerʼs Third Annual Summer Seminar in Seattle: Patients With Hysterical Reactions - Aug. 16-19, 2007.

What do we mean by hysterical reactions? Hysteria has long been associated with women and their uteri, but Freud secured its place within

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 63 Charcot demonstrates a case of “hysteria” c.1885 the psyche in the late 1800s. Freud and Charcot, the French neurologist, exposed the existence of male hysteria2 stepping out onto a dangerous ledge that was ridiculed by many, but opened the door to a greater understanding of this disorder beyond itʼs earlier feminization. Hysteria has been understood to be many things but Charcot presented the classic example of 19th century hysteria in “grande hystérie”: violent muscular contractions culminating in opisthotonus, paralysis, loss of voice, retention of urine, anesthesia, and blindness.3

Because hysteria has suffered from a history of chimeric clustering of symptoms; changing over the centuries, exposing its mutability, there has been persistent disagreement over its definition. Not only can clinicians not agree on what it is, they cannot agree on why it exists.4

There are many expressions of hysteria, but in this article I want to discuss conversion hysteria, or that condition which presents symptoms that mimic organically based illness. This type of hysteria is not to be confused with psychosomatic disease, which is caused, to a significant extent, by psycho- emotional factors with genuine dysfunction.5 Conversion hysteria, or conversion disorder, is defined as wandering and mutable symptoms that are more a product of mimesis or unconscious intention, than disease.

There has been much theorizing as to the cause of hysteria. Some believe it is a product of oedipal or preoedipal sexual wishes and conflicts -- Freud argued it was a result of sexual abuse, and later incestuous fantasy6; others

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 64 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 65 argue that hysteria provides a defense against and means to survive guilt7 -- that the hysteric presents with a collection of symptoms that serve to punish him. This theory contends the guilt causes the hysteric to “internalize the bad object8,” (Object Relations Theory), as persecutor, rather than externalizing it as does the paranoid schizoid.9

What we do see is that hysterics have disorganized emotions; they are missing an organization in their system that properly arranges and distributes information from their bodies. Most of us learned, as infants, to integrate a huge amount of sensations, perceptions and experiences. We learned to sort and prioritize, dismiss and emphasize incoming sensations; and without this integration we would feel suffocated by the chaotic mass of information our bodies receive.

But hysterics cannot do this sorting out. They are not able to regulate information and make sense of it. They cannot understand and interpret what is important. They list 100 symptoms, without any sense of priority -- all seem equally important and alarming. The hysteric may present with any myriad of diagnoses: fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, environmental illness, multiple chemical sensitivity, any of which could be true, but for the hysteric they present an opportunity to name and give meaning to their distress.

What is important to understand is that these symptoms and complaints serve a greater purpose: they provide the hysteric a stage. Whereas the schizoid withdraws from relationships, the hysteric tries to capture attention. Paranoia causes both to externalize the “bad object” into the persecutor, but the hysteric introjects him inside of him or her self, while the schizoid projects him outward.

The hysterical patient is seeking someone to listen; however, having someone listen does not solve his or her problems. He wants our attention, he seeks someone who can make sense of him, but what is more fundamental to his strategy is the production of one symptom after another in order to communicate distress, not to actually be heard.

The hysteric presents countless symptoms that change over time, but that also evolve and are replaced by new ones, escalating distress over her disorganization. She shape-shifts her symptoms all in the endeavor to, not only hold our attention, but to displace her anxiety and discomfort outside of herself. This dissociation invades her body with new and inexplicable symptoms.

Much has been made, in the psychoanalytic literature, of the sexualization of the hysteric; this remains a debated point. Whether hysteria arises out of the pre-oedipal or oedipal complex - which Freud considered was the Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 64 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 65 underpinning of hysteria, or in the lateral relationship between siblings, and thus sibling rivalry, as suggested by Juliet Mitchell10, we find sexual symptomatic elements within a number of homeopathic remedies associated with hysteria. The repressed sexuality of the Umbelliferae (Asafoetida, Sambucus, Conium, etc.) or the erotic hysteria of Latrodectus mactans and other spiders are two such examples.

These two poles of a sexual continuum are interesting when we consider the internalized ʻbad objectʼ of the Umbellifereae (“I am dirty, everything is dirty”). The Umbelliferae patient feels sex is a forbidden or unexpressed pleasure. She may experience the classic hysterical diathesis of numbness or paralysis as a means to deaden her instinctual feelings, and to limit expression.

“In the middle of the flanks of women lies the womb, a female viscus, closely resembling an animal; for it is moved of itself hither and thither in the flanks, also upwards in a direct line to below the cartilage of the thorax and also obliquely to the right or to the left, either to the liver or spleen; and it likewise is subject to falling downwards, and, in a word, it is altogether erratic. It delights, also, in fragrant smells, and advances towards them; and it has an aversion to fetid smells, and flees from them; and on the whole the womb is like an animal within an animal.” Aretaeus the Cappadocian, a Hippocratic writer of the second century

Spider patients often arise out of a family situation where there is an unempathic or cold mother. The “Spider child” then punishes the mother through destructive behavior. This externalization of the ʻbad objectʼ is seen in his malicious attempts to destroy the Other, but we can also observe an introjection of this “bad object” in some of the smaller Spiders, those that are more self-destructive.

The sexual expression of the spider remedies resembles, in some ways, the paranoid schizoid. They are devoid of feeling and so the spider patientʼs sexual relationships can take on the tone of sport rather than emotional intimacy. Sex, as is many things for the spider, a means to an end-- an end that results in the punishment of the external object.

Below is a case of a patient with a hysterical reaction from Massimoʼs clinical practice:

Silvano is 60 years old and a sales representative. He is a very thin and nervous man, and arrives at the clinic accompanied by his wife. He is unable to hide his deep anger towards her; he turns red at times, clenching

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 66 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 67 his jaw and fists with spite when she interrupts him. He, also, nervously drums his fingers during almost the entire consultation.

It is not easy for me to establish a relationship with him, perhaps because he thinks that I am on his wifeʼs side. Towards the end of the consultation I tersely invite his wife to leave us and suddenly Silvano changes his behavior, his tone of voice, and becomes much more cooperative.

His wife begins: The decision to come was mine because of a whole list of complaints that he had. The first thing he has is a marked deterioration in his vision. I shall tell you the other things if he does not make a move to speak...

Massimo: What can you tell me?

Silvano: Sheʼs done everything. I donʼt have faith in doctors and even less in doctors like you...

I had flashes of light, like yellow lightening and I went to see a specialist and they told me that I had to change my glasses. Then they sent me to see an Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist because my ears kept burning each time I had the flashes of light and he told me that I had a problem with my circulation.... Then they told me that the problem is that Iʼm a great smoker and at ER, on another admission they gave me myrtle... or pistachio… hell, I donʼt know...YOU say (he turns to his wife who makes a show of shaking her head when he mentions pistachio).

Then quite suddenly one day, I saw double and smaller and her head changed (his wifeʼs) with her mouth above the nose... her eyes were squinty and her arms were in the place of her legs... Then the image slowly went out of focus and after 2 to 3 minutes it came back to normal. Afterwards it happened again so often that it was a bother for me to focus on her (wife). So I went away on holiday and it stopped happening; that surprised her. The optician told me that itʼs got nothing to do with the lenses.

I WAS TERRIFIED one hundred per cent! I was afraid of going blind. Itʼs the most terrible misfortune that can happen. Iʼm terrified of pain and suffering and if Iʼve got the least ailment, I canʼt bear the pain. My pain threshold is at the lowest level.

Massimo: What do you mean by that?

Silvano: I had a serious car accident when I was young. My humerus was fractured at different points. I did have the rod inside and the bony callus wasnʼt forming. There was the danger that I wouldnʼt be able to use the arm. Then I SUDDENLY began to feel that the arm wasnʼt elastic anymore. Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 66 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 67 Massimo: What happened?

Silvano: My arm was under a car; they had spoken about amputating the arm and so I thought of committing suicide. Those dickheads were speaking like that while I was going mad with the pain on the ground with the car above my arm. It couldnʼt move because it was jammed inside a rock at the side of the road and I was bleeding like a dog.

(In his accident his car hit an embankment and then rolled on top of him, placing him between a rock and the car, with his arm squeezed between. The car was also wedged against another rock and so it was difficult for the rescue workers to move the car. They discussed amputation as a possible solution.)

IʼVE LIVED FOR SPORTS and I canʼt keep still for five minutes. You know, Iʼm a strong man, but I would never accept going blind! You canʼt even use a wheelchair if youʼre blind. OUT OF THE BLUE, I WHO NEVER HAD PROBLEMS...

Wife (interrupting in a nasty way): So why donʼt you tell him that you drove into the mountain deliberately and that you had argued with your mother?

Silvano: But what the hell has that got to do with it! It seems to you that you must say certain things in front of a complete stranger without even asking my permission...and they are things that people shouldnʼt say! I was young then. I wanted to impress my wife; she was my fiancée then, and damn the day we didnʼt remain that way.

Massimo: Can you please tell me more about this?

Wife: The other problems...tell him.

Silvano: A young Pakistani lad did massage on me and he told me that I had back pain originating from my kidneys and that I was very stressed. In the beginning the massage was only relaxing and then I suspected that he might be homosexual because of the way he touched me...

Now at the base of the spine, the part that supports the whole body and the weight, I have a pain that drives me mad as if there were a nest of termites chewing away inside my bones… I would break off that part if I could…the bones with all the nerves that there are in the middle of them and anything else if it was necessary. That way I wouldnʼt need to think about it anymore…

Since the accident my neck has become like frozen marble, and when the Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 68 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 69 pain is severe it ends up with me not feeling my neck anymore and my head floats. I also had a terrible pain at the sole of my foot but that got better after the massage. It recently came back again but Iʼve not been to the doctors since then…you canʼt trust them.

Iʼve also got a pain that goes to my knee and the heel too. They say itʼs sciatica but the toes of my feet feel worse too. Itʼs also worse under my sole. Iʼve had it for many years since after the accident. Itʼs awful…I suddenly feel my leg freezing and tremendous coldness that penetrates all my bones. Itʼs a maddening pain…

““I have cultivated my hysteria with delight and terror. Now I suffer continually from vertigo, and today, 23rd of January, 1862, I have received a singular warning, I have felt the wind of the wing of madness pass over me.” Charles Baudelaire (French Poet)

Massimo: What do you mean, a maddening pain?

Silvano: Itʼs a lancinating or tearing pain like touching an open wound and I donʼt feel it when I walk. At night I would tear off my flesh because the pain is so bad. And then I canʼt move in the bed because Iʼll wake up my wife, so I become even more agitated. But she doesnʼt even want to sleep in a room alone; she says that we wouldnʼt be husband and wife then. In the meantime, I donʼt sleep and she does.

The back pain appeared years ago and if I have to do exercise in the morning, the lumbar pain is enough to drive you mad! I no longer feel it as soon as I begin to move and go out of the house, but I canʼt stay like that. At night when Iʼm resting, it comes back again. I have to at least sit down and itʼs better if Iʼm driving the car. I really canʼt stand it any more…

(He was really depressed when he was talking about this pain, as if he was a complete victim of this situation and nothing can be done to offer him any relief. He looked sad, looking down at the ground, and his wife immediately started to nudge him again.)

Massimo: Go ahead… continue…

Silvano: I have pain in the spleen (he really points to the left iliac fossa)… as if someone was stabbing me and turning the knife in my guts.

Massimo: And is there any situation where you feel better?

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 68 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 69 All my pains disappear at the seaside because I donʼt think about them… lazy holidays by the sea. After seven days in the mountains I get anxious… you canʼt do anything there.

Massimo: What is the difference for you to vacation in the mountains or at the sea?

Silvano: I can go to the sea alone. Itʼs something we agreed on many years ago; but Iʼm checked on all the same because I go with my brother-in-law. I knew him before I knew her, and we have a passion for fishing. But then I donʼt eat the fish. I only like going out far, when you canʼt see the land anymore and youʼre alone in the middle of the sea… You could go away in a second when youʼre out there…but my brother-in-law never gets lost. I love working with nautical papers and the instruments on board…but itʼs no longer the same since the computer. I donʼt enjoy it anymore.

(The fellow and he were good friends first, before he met this manʼs sister. He does not particularly like to fish or to eat fish, but he enjoys feeling alone outside, completely lost in the sea, with his friend who always knows how to come back home. His main pleasure used to be working with the nautical charts - to plot the best route for returning home, but now it is no longer pleasurable because the computer does everything. He was a bit depressed in his demeanor as he spoke, and again, his wife cuts in.)

Wife: And then?

Silvano: Iʼve got a swelling that I never had before.

Massimo: Tell me about this please.

Silvano: I have lots of acid in the stomach and seeing that Iʼm NOT a big eater…my appetite has always been very little. During the periods of greater stress at work itʼs always like this.

I began vomiting when I was little and I havenʼt stopped yet. So if I eat a little, it keeps it at bay, otherwise… Thatʼs my best resort. It always works. Then I always feel bloated, even if I only eat a small amount.

I usually donʼt have much of an appetite and Iʼm not a lover of good things. So my wife complains because she says that she cooks for nothing. So I eat very quickly, and I chew with my front teeth.

(This is an expression in Italian - by chewing with the front teeth one does not have the pleasure of tasting the food.)

Massimo: Is there any special meal that you enjoy? Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 70 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 71 Silvano: I donʼt like any kind of first course, and pasta especially disgusts me. I like food that is basic. If it were up to me, I would live on fruit and vegetables or possibly lozenges. When my wife goes to the mountains, I buy precooked pasta or even the things that they sell in a chemistʼs. I could live very well like an astronaut… But I love wine and I wonʼt eat without it…itʼs like eating without meaning. I drink a lot of whisky but I canʼt stand grappa. I know it ruins my liver but if Iʼve only got one life…

(Again the same procedure, he was sad, looking down at the floor and his wife intervenes.)

Wife: Are you not forgetting something?

Silvano: I often feel my head spinning, SUDDENLY, with a severe sensation of nausea. Iʼve treated it for years but Iʼve had it for my whole life.

I am used to not having anything and the doctors who I saw terrified me. I think Iʼm indestructible… ITʼS ALWAYS VERY QUICK WHEN IT COMES…but the seconds are very long then. I feel worse during terrible stressful spells at work.

Wife: OH…FINALLY!

Silvano: I love my work but thereʼs conflict. Itʼs seasonal and then I donʼt have many people on my team, unlike many of my colleagues. I canʼt work with other people. Iʼm a brute. But I do seasonal work, without any mental or physical rest. And then I donʼt do a thing for months and I go there at the end of my tether.

In the past I was very nervous and I realized it from the fact that I spoke with a low voice…and my nerves were on edge and I had to control myself or end up killing someone. Iʼve been living in this state of tension for years…

(He has never been able to have a serious job; he and his wife are supported by money from his wifeʼs family. He enjoys cooking and cooked when he went to the sea. He is a kind of ʻpuerʼ who has enjoyed doing sports all his life.)

Iʼve done athletics since I was a youngster and scuba diving for years; then I discovered the sport I was made for and I became a parachute instructor.

Wife: He spent a fortune to get there…a miser like him!

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 70 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 71 Silvano: You would like me to end up squashed on the ground one day…eh?

Massimo: Do you have any other problems you have not discussed?

Silvano: Iʼve always had problems with my eyesight since I was young and my grandfather is blind…

Iʼve always had SUDDEN attacks of seeing brown dots as if they were appearing on the pupil out of the blue. Itʼs always during period of particular tiredness, like little starts that are planted on my eyes. However it happens even now if I suddenly get up.

Wife: But why donʼt you tell him everything? Youʼve been going around in circles for an hour…weʼre here precisely for this you know!

Massimo: At this point I ask the wife to leave. I have to insist because she says that without her, the husband will not remember even his birth date. I insist, and the wife leaves the room in obvious anger. Silvanoʼs expression changes completely.

Silvano: I love animals and nature because they are perfect… Only insects, which arenʼt animals, make me feel sick and spiders even more. But I would say that spiders almost frighten me really. If I were to find a spider in my room I would be paralyzed. I have to call my wife if one comes into the room.

Smoking is a pleasure for me besides the psychological thing. Iʼve not even made an issue of it because I know anyway that I will NEVER stop.

(This was the point that his wife wanted him to talk about; she wanted him to stop smoking.)

I wake up and I immediately light a cigarette and itʼs the last thing I do before sleeping. Iʼm a heavy smoker. And then itʼs company…Iʼve only got my cigarettes and the radio. But I love cigarettes more than music.

Massimo: What about music?

Silvano: I like that too and in the car I only ever listen to music. My wife doesnʼt allow it at home…and in the evening I always listen to a record with headphones rather than watch TV. My wife let me buy a dream sound system and then she forced me to listen to it with headphones…you know itʼs not really the same. You canʼt listen to the kind of rock that I like with headphones. You would need a stadium and she makes me listen to it inside of two little headphones that look like two little cups of coffee, but they are cups filled with cyanotic acid. My wife makes me listen to music through Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 72 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 73 two cups of cyanotic acid.

Massimo: What do you think about what your wife wanted you to tell me?

Silvano: Perhaps what my wife wanted to say is that…she thinks itʼs the second time that Iʼve had a serious car accident….and perhaps I didnʼt do everything to avoid it…

(In this moment he became very, very serious. He was almost unable to talk.)

Massimo: What do you think, is it true that you did this on purpose?

Silvano: Believe me, I thought it was the only way to make people understand who I really am. Perhaps youʼre right, it only lets people know who I was…but why should I bother now? Life is short!

When I think about it, I feel short of breath. It feels like my lungs are being squeezed, that my heart is going haywire and will stop thumping. But Iʼm well in the meantime and if Iʼm not well, I never will be anymore. I canʼt bear the unfit…itʼs better to get rid of them. And Iʼm telling you the truth because deep down I like you.

Massimo: What do you think about this act towards your wife?

Silvano: Perhaps I would like to have made her pay but I donʼt know…. I donʼt like this conversation!

Analysis

There are several elements in this case that can alert one to a possible hysterical reaction: first, Silvano produces many different symptoms that are chaotic and disorganized, second, his descriptions are extreme, and third, he needs to hold attention, creating a stage on which he can carry out his drama.

Silvano discusses many complaints and many different kinds of pain. Often we find a particular remedy has a consistent type of pain: Arsenicum experiences burning, Magnesium spasms, and Arnica soreness, but here we have a chaotic panoply of pain. He has burning in his ears, sparks of lightening in his eyes; he sees things upside down, and has the sensation that termites are chewing on his bones.

When he talks of his pains, the descriptions are far beyond what the pathology warrants. He says he is terrified, that he cannot bear suffering. He tells us that his pains are “maddening” and that relief could come if he took Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 72 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 73 a hammer and broke his bones. One symptom after another is expressed in this excessive and dramatic way, excessive because these extreme descriptions are not usually associated with radiculitis, nor with a patient who is an athletic risk taker.

We also observe that this man is unable to be independent, that his relationship with his wife is more like an adolescent living with his mother than a husband with his wife. In fact, he seems intent upon making her suffer as he did his own mother. He suggests he wanted to impress his wife by driving fast in the mountains, but his wife corrects him, stating he almost killed himself because of a quarrel with his mother. At 60 years old, he still had not become independent from his family, his wife, nor found work that truly satisfi ed him. He expresses a dependency with an intention to make others suffer-- others he perceives have caused his own suffering.

Silvano has many characteristics of a Spider remedy: malicious; wanting others to suffer, self-destructive aggression, fruitless restlessness, unable to become independent, the desire to eat little; desire for fruit and liquids. For all of these reasons Massimo fi rst prescribedLatrodectus mactans, but there was little response.

Repertorization:

MIND; FEAR; suffering, of (K47, SI-525, G37) (pain) (29) MIND; FEAR; blind, of becoming (SI-482) (5) MIND; ANXIETY; hypochondriacal (K7, SI-81, G6) (83) BACK; PAIN; tearing; lumbar region (K943, G790) (83) BACK; PAIN; gnawing; lumbar region (K928, G778) (16) BACK; NUMBNESS; Cervical region (K893, G752) (16) MIND; DESTRUCTIVENESS; self destructive (19) MIND; MALICIOUS, spiteful; vindictive (K63, SI-720, G50) (111)

He then gave Loxosceles reclusa Q1.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 74 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 75 As a substance Loxosceles reclusa, the brown recluse spider, is very close to Latrodectus mactans, the black widow, and was proven by Lou Klein. This patient can develop disease or situations that require, in a spiteful way, others to take care of them. They can be suicidal, but these are mostly ʻunsuccessfulʼ suicides. They can have destructive disease like Parkinsonʼs, or even become blind. They are malicious and demanding, keeping close those they want to suffer. Of course, their mate colludes with this drama, participating in such a way as to make this game possible.

In a general sense, Mygale, Aranea and Tarentula are more able to act maliciously against another, while the three little spiders - Loxosceles, Latrodectus and Theridion - are more self-destructive and more likely to do something against themselves to act out their aggression. The small spidersʼ venom is more poisonous than the larger ones, and so we find that their bite is far more destructive, and can be deadly.

“I have found it easier to identify with the characters who verge upon hysteria, who were frightened of life, who were desperate to reach out to another person.” Tennessee Williams

In Silvanoʼs case we find a man who is willing to risk his life to get attention, to assert his manhood, but most importantly to injure those closest to him. Suicidal gestures are less an act of melancholia and more an act of aggression and anger: “Letʼs see how they feel when I am gone!” and so we find that Loxosceles is willing to self-destruct in order to pursue their punishment and aggression against another.

Another way the spider patient injures those they believe to be responsible for her suffering is to refuse to eat. Usually Spiders are not true anorexics; however, Loxosceles reclusa, one of the most destructive spiders in our materia medica, is more likely than the others to present with anorexia.

Spider patients also avoid eating because he feels a lump in his belly after eating. He is fond of fruit and juice, preferring liquid foods to solid; he does not want to chew. He does not want to waste time eating with others, and often rejects whatever his mother offers him. He enjoys being lean and strong.

The Loxosceles patient has the feeling that death is breathing down her neck, that a sudden disaster awaits her. She is hypochondriacal and has many cardiac and ocular symptoms, including the delusion that she could become blind. This ailment serves her larger purpose to be dependent and punishing; “If I become blind, someone else will have to take care of me.”

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 74 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 75 Follow up

A few days after taking Loxosceles reclusa Q1 he had a strong pain in his sternum in the night. He was extremely frightened, but despite this he was easy to reassure. Massimo was surprised because he had told him, “I donʼt trust doctors, especially homeopathic ones.” Massimo told him that this symptom might be the result of his treatment, to wait a little bit, and that it could mean he was moving in the right direction because of the remedy.

Massimo told him, “Please, I need your support. You are a very difficult and interesting case and I would like to help you, but I cannot do anything without your help. I need your cooperation. So please keep me informed and take the drops once, twice or three times a day as you feel they best help you.” Silvano felt engaged and happy with this arrangement: he was not being “handled.” Massimo wanted to give him more responsibility for his treatment and engage him in the process.

A few weeks later Silvano: I feel much better. However, even if I donʼt drink much, my sleep is full of awful dreams.

(Unfortunately he could not remember his dreams.)

3 months later Silvano states he does not want his wife in the consultation room with him, indicating that he had had a discussion with his wife earlier and had told her that if she wanted to say something she had to phone Massimo before the appointment.

Silvano: I donʼt know why I feel so much calmer. This is really striking for me because I have no reason to feel better. Nothing is going better, not in my work, nor at home.

You know, what little money I make goes into a joint bank account and this account is always in the red. However my wife has her own bank account, but I never know how much money is in there. We got married years ago and she was already pretty well off. She was independent of her family. That was not my case; I had no job. If I am honest with you, I thought being with my wife would be a kind of financial security, but it has not turned out that way. A few days after our honeymoon she started to transform into a kind of viper and she made clear her social position compared to my own.

Massimo: What was your reaction to this?

Silvano: This really knocked me down, but even beyond this was that there was her mother. I am sorry to say this, but her mother was a gigantic tease Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 76 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 77 and a cheat who supported herself by stealing money from all the men who were attracted to her.

(He said something much worse in Italian, but it cannot be printed.)

Massimo: What do you mean, she was a tease and a cheat?

Silvano: She only teased, because I am sure she never had sex with anybody; she was too dreadful. In the end, there was a kind of divine retribution because she was killed by God by a cancer in her uterus.

(This gives an idea of how malicious Spider remedy patients are.)

I could never stand this woman. She considered herself very rich and was a snob. In the end she was just a bloody whore. She was the daughter of a poor man and a waitress, working all of her life in a nightclub.

I say, “worked” in a nightclub so that I donʼt have to say something else.

Massimo: What about you?

Silvano: I think I had some potential but I was never able to demonstrate who I am. I always had to spend all my energy to just get to the end of the day, the end of the month and sometimes the end of the season. But I was never able to do anything better. I am a cook at the seaside. I have always done seasonal work.

My mother wanted me to study to become a clerk, but this was for me. I made her crazy because she invested a huge amount of money in me in hopes that I could change our financial situation at home. I always disappointed her, but I did that on purpose. She wanted me to have a life that was not my choice, but I never had the courage to say no to her.

I do love to stay at the seaside. I love to stay among young people and I always stay with people much younger than me. I like to do a lot of sports; I was a champion. I had all the women that I wanted. My wife was interested in me because I wanted all the others, not her. My main goal was to make them all crazy, but, in the end, I was captured like a fly on flypaper, and have been trapped ever since.

Massimo: Why are you telling me this story?

Silvano: I donʼt know why I am telling you all of this. Probably I, too, would like to know why. My wife told me that if you see a homeopath, you must tell them everything, and I have always felt, when she sends me to the doctor, like a child going with his mother to the pediatrician. Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 76 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 77 Massimo: How are your eyes?

Silvano: The experience of lightening is much better. But I am still concerned about becoming blind. Last time you told me that it is one thing to become blind and the other to have a fear of becoming blind, and that you could possibly help with this fear. It was like you gave a sense of dignity to my disease rather than thinking I am just a person who is only being hypochondriacal. I felt respected.

Everybody said it was because I smoke too much, and that I am destroying myself by smoking. But, you know, I have been destroying myself from the beginning. I have thought about going blind so many times; I thought it might be better to kill myself instead of having this anxiety because being blind is being dead. My wife has been handling me since our honeymoon. What would happen to me if I became blind?

He also stated that the sensation of oppression in his chest and his back pain improved, as did his sciatica and vertigo. He also began to eat better.

“Pain is real when you get other people to believe in it. If no one believes in it but you, your pain is madness or hysteria.” Naomi Wolf

A few months later he sent a letter describing a dream:

“In my dream I was in front of a very tall, very beautiful fantastic woman in tight white dress and you could tell she was not wearing any underwear. This woman came close to me and I did not know where to start. I was so intrigued by her beauty I was paralyzed. She was so tall that it was impossible for my face to even reach her genitals, but the smell of her was so beautiful. I felt like I was a kind of bee close to wonderful nectar that I could not resist. I tried to get close and hug her but she took my face into her hands and, at that moment, I realized she could easily crush me like a little mouse. I woke up with such terror.”

He wrote that after the dream he had a quarrel with his wife. He told her that he had wanted to kill himself many times; that he had tried on at least two occasions but that he never had the nerve to actually commit suicide. He also told her that living as they have is like a slow death. “This situation is surely not good for me or for my wife; it is just a kind of play where one massacres the other.” He soon left his wife and began his life on his own.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 78 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 79 Conclusion

This patient was not cured, but has improved considerably over the two or three years that Massimo has been treating him. However, his dream indicates a person who has significant internal work to do. He no longer has the physical symptoms he had before, nor suffers from the fear of becoming blind. No doubt, however, a deeper healing would take many years.

* * * *

Krista Heron, ND, DHANP has been in practice in Seattle, Washington since 1989 and has taught at Bastyr University since 1997. She also teaches a course exploring the teachings of Massimo Mangialavori. She is the co-organizer of the Annual Summer Seminar series with Massimo Mangialavori in Seattle and attends his biannual course in Boston. Contact Krista Heron at [email protected] for information regarding next summerʼs seminar, or Betty Wood at [email protected] for the fall and spring seminars. Krista Heron, ND, DHANP 5502 34 Avenue Northeast Seattle 98105 (206) 522-0488 Email: [email protected]

Footnotes 1 A psychoneurosis marked by emotional excitability and disturbances of the psychic, sensory, vasomotor, and visceral functions [Webster 2007] A nervous affection, occurring almost exclusively in women, in which the emotional and reflex excitability is exaggerated, and the will power correspondingly diminished, so that the patient loses control over the emotions, becomes the victim of imaginary sensations, and often falls into paroxysm or fits. [Webster 1913] 2 Hysteria Beyond Freud, Sander L. Gilman, Helen King, Roy Porter, G. S. Rousseau, Elaine Showalter (As did Sydenham in the 1600ʼs) 3 ibid 4 Contemporary Approaches to the Study of Hysteria: Clinical and Theo- retical Perspective, Peter W. Halligan, Christopher Bass, and John C. Marshall 5 Fugitives From Guilt: Postmodern De-Moralization and the New Hyste- rias, Donald L. Carveth, Ph.D. & Jean Hantman Carveth, Ph.D.

6 Aetiology of Hysteria, Lecture Notes: Freud and the Literary Imagination, University of Washington 7 Fugitives From Guilt: Postmodern De-Moralization and the New Hyste- rias, Donald L. Carveth, Ph.D. & Jean Hantman Carveth, Ph.D. Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 78 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 79 8 “Bad object,” as defined by Object Relations Theory, is that person or relational object that is perceived as split, into either good or bad (in this case bad), rather than being perceived as an integrated and whole being who can hold both positive and negative traits. 9 The Schizoid character has not achieved symbiotic attachment and so experiences a negation of self and the “right to be.” He feels no sense of separation or unity of self with other. The schizoid lives in his head, not his body – intellectualizing and spiritualizing the contents of his life. He withdraws rather than approaches, and defensively feels ʻI am specialʼ all the while fearing annihilation. This negation may build the foundation for Borderline or schizophrenic adjustments. In the paranoid-schizoid position the main anxiety is paranoia and hypochondria.

10 Mad Men and Medusas: Reclaiming Hysteria, by Juliet Mitchell

                              

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 80    A Brief Conversation with Rajan Sankaran Neil Tessler ND, DHANP

This conversation occurred during an afternoon break at Rajanʼs recent five-day seminar in Vancouver. The interview with Rajan published in Simillimum Volume XVI Issue 4 Winter 2003, is still relevant and comprehensive. This conversation was more of a supplemental chat to the original discussion.

NT: Do you have any comments on the implications of this teaching for homeopathic education? How is this integrated without creating confusion or encouraging shortcuts?

RS: Originally I had the feeling that this should be taught only at the post- graduate level because I felt they should have a good foundation in the fundamentals of homeopathic education such as repertory, materia medica, Organon, and that knowledge should act as a foundation on which they can learn more specific approaches. But of late I have felt differently, because I think that the understanding of the kingdoms and the system is something that makes homeopathy very interesting, puts it in the proper framework, and it also acts as a very good place from which one can incorporate the discreet symptoms of our materia medica.

Therefore I believe that this approach should be taught in parallel to the traditional teachings and both of them will complement each other in the most harmonious way. When we study Tarentula from the materia medica we can study symptoms like restlessness and rhythm, cunning and striking, deceit and colors and such symptoms. But if one would know that Tarentula is a spider and one would know that spiders have this quality of deceit and restlessness and the striking and the hiding and the impulsiveness, etc., then it would greatly help to understand Tarentula better and at the same time our knowledge of spiders would be much enhanced by knowing the active symptoms or expressions of Tarentula which are in black and white. So I think that both of them, they feed each other, they complement each other and developed this way it should work out beautifully. It will maintain the interest of the students. It would make them visualize the thing, put it in the right context. At the same time it

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 81 would give them solid grounding in the actual nitty-gritty of our symptoms and our rubrics.

NT: What about case taking?

RS: Again both the approaches can be integrated harmoniously because I think in case taking all the symptoms are important, all the information is important. The only thing is that with this approach you go one step deeper into the sensations, but thereʼs nothing that is useless. The cravings, the aversions, the modalities, the sensations, the mind symptoms, everything is as relevant as before, only you can take it one step deeper.

NT: Are there implications for acute prescribing?

RS: I donʼt think so because again in acutes one looks at what the state is and if it is the same as the personʼs original state, long term remedy, then you give that in the acute as well. Sometimes it can happen that itʼs a completely different presentation on the whole and then you can use a remedy that is indicated in the present.

NT: So you can start this from the beginning of homeopathic education?

RS: I think that would be a very good idea and actually many people are doing it now and they are finding renewed interest in homeopathy because it does make things much more alive. The danger of it of course is that it can carry you away and you are not interested in learning the solid things anymore, which is something that one needs to be very careful about and to emphasize that one complements the other and its not exclusive. If it can be taught in this way then one can create even more interest in the materia medica by learning about the kingdoms because you read about a remedy in the kingdoms and you want to know more about what its expressions are. Many, many small remedies from materia medica come to light beautifully with this and youʼre not just left with thirty or forty polychrests all the time. You are curious to go and read it.

NT: How has this paradigm shift affected your way of thinking about health and human beings in general?

RS: Profoundly I would say because when you see that the one thing inside you (which is like the voice of something else in nature) and how profoundly it affects your life story, your pathology, your symptoms your emotions, the way you perceive. You see that itʼs all encompassing in a way. Then you see that what healing is, is the removal of that particular dynamic disturbance that is almost causing havoc in your entire life. It is very tragic in a way, how that one thing has colored everything, and not only the human being but everyone around that person is affected by that Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 82 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 83 energy state.

This way of practice changes everything; the way you live, the way you perceive things, the way you look at yourself, the way you look at other human beings. A lot of acceptance comes in and you learn to see people from where they come, rather then how they express it. You start leading life with more awareness. When you watch this happen again and again, you cannot just be an emotional being or just blame other people and say Iʼm angry with him or her because they did this or that to me, you start asking, what is my experience in the anger, and then you see how unique that anger is for you and how that is not related to the situation at all, but to who you are, and your whole life and what has dominated you and what has taken over you in a way. You stop blaming others and start looking at your inner story, inner song and that has included the way you look at things and thatʼs very calming. As you keep looking at it, something happens in you, something changes in you.

NT: You were speaking yesterday of the idea that if we were to truly allow ourselves the deep experience of our feelings, there would be little physical chronic disease. If we truly felt our sadness, our anger, our fear, from awareness, perhaps act it out, dance it out, music it out.

RS: Experience, not of the fear or the anger, but the experience behind all that which is expressed as fear or anger or happiness or anything in our life; our headache or whatever it is, if youʼre able to go into the experience of the pain, or the emotion, or the nightmare, and that experience will always be of necessity, a sensory experience; an experience that is felt in the body and mind together, not an intellectual understanding but an actual experience, and if we are more and more aware of that experience, it does give us a certain immunity from developing physical problems.

NT: Youʼve rediscovered Gestalt Therapy.

RS: Well, I donʼt know what I rediscovered but I guess the basis of truth is the same, whether you call it gestalt or you call it meditation or yoga or past life regression or synchronicity; its just awareness of experience without interpretation and without analysis.

NT: Your concept of the seventh seems to have evolved somewhat from where it was a few years ago. It has more distinct definition.

RS: Yes. I see that as the witness, which is the most important participant in the healing process. Without the witness one couldnʼt heal, because unless thereʼs a witness to observe the pattern and observe the turmoil, how would one become aware of it? You canʼt be in the pattern and still be a witness, you have to step back. But stepping back is still you as the individual but Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 82 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 83 the one who is unaffected by the pattern, THAT is the witness. Still it is the most important participant of the healing process; the innermost you. Itʼs the point just at the border of who you are and who no one is. Itʼs just the beginning of the individuality on which the pattern is imprinted. This then creates a sensation, then an emotion, a delusion, the symptoms and a diagnostic label.

NT: Somewhere I read that your favorite aphorism is the ninth, in which Hahnemann describes the healthy human state as freeing us for the higher purpose of our existence.

RS: The ninth is definitely a very nice paragraph and I like it a lot but my favorite is the eighty-third paragraph. It says, “…the individualizing examination of a case of disease demands nothing of the healing artist but freedom from prejudice and sound senses, attention in observing and faithlessness in tracing the picture of disease.”

That is the guiding philosophy, not only in case taking but in life also. Just to observe and be aware and then everything becomes obvious without having to know it, to state it or express it. Then you become a part of the flow, because youʼre not reacting, youʼre not judging, youʼre not wanting things to be this way or that way, and then you see what the world is and then you see your role in it automatically and then you just fulfill it.

Thatʼs the idea that he talks about in the ninth aphorism. Definitely I am nowhere near that idea, but hopefully with practice and with seeing patient after patient, seeing what they are going through, kind of reflects what we are going through in our own life, and thatʼs very, very helpful.

NT: So how do you personally understand this idea of the higher purpose of human existence to which Hahnemann gives reference?

RS: There is a kind of something that is beyond what we are able to see and something beyond the obvious, what we call as material things that we can see. There is a dimension that one has heard of or glimpsed of from time to time at least once in a lifetime. It gives you a little window into a new dimension. So hopefully we will utilize this lifetime to have a little more glimpse of that dimension. This is how I personally understand it.

Then again, Hahnemann could be talking of good wine.

NT: How I understand your idea of the non-human infecting the human is that human beings apparently embody a kind of limitless potential, a spectrum rather then a specific bandwidth. Whereas in disease we are dimensional, fixed within a limited dimension, a narrower definition, and that this condition has an analogy in the dimensional nature of a plant, Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 84 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 85 mineral or animal.

RS: Thatʼs it. Actually all of us have an animal part, a mineral part, a plant part. Itʼs absolutely necessary. When youʼre writing your account you should have a mineral part, when youʼre being romantic you should have a plant part, when you have to reproduce or are being sexual, you should be an animal part. Otherwise, it wouldnʼt work to be a mineral in a sexual situation. You canʼt say to somebody, “Lets make love from nine fifteen to nine forty-five”. All parts are within us and they are necessary but to get fixed in one thing, thatʼs disease. Thatʼs what remedies are, after all, fixities in certain states. They are fixed in aBryonia state, or a Natrum mur state, or a Sulphur state. Simply itʼs a mineral state, an animal state or a plant state. Itʼs very simple. To see the patterns is quite revealing and very useful in practice, unbelievably useful. Practice has become so much easier. But you have to know the patterns. You must know the whole classification and the patterns of the kingdoms and the sub-kingdoms. If you know that, you can see it every day. One has to practice to know it works.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 84 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 85 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 86    ,    Melanie Grimes

INTRODUCTION Stangeria eriopus one of the first seed plants on earth. It is a gymnosperm, dating back to Pangaea, and the Permian era, and still used today in Zulu medicine. It is biologically somewhere between a fern and a pine. It has been trampled by tyrannosaurus, lived through ice ages and thought to protect against lightning.

Synonyms: Stangeria paradoxa, Lomaria lagopus Common Names: Natal grass cycad, False fern

Plantae: Spermatophyta, Gymnospermae; Cycadopsida; Cycadaceae, Stangeria eriopus

Cycads * Division: Cycadophyta * Class: Cycadopsida * SubClass: * Order: Cycadales * SubOrder: * Family: Stangeriaceae

Cycads were the first seed plants on earth. Cycadales are one of the four major groups of gymnosperms and are the most primitive extant gymnosperm order. This ancient Cycads family (Zamiaceae), are known to have lived in the Pangaea and Permian era over 200 million years ago - even before the dinosaurs roamed the earth. The Age of Cycads, began during the Triassic Period of the earthʼs geological history, reached itʼs peak during the 60 million years of the Jurassic Period and ended during the Cretaceous Period, about 95 million years ago. There are 9 groupings of cycads: Bowenia, Cerotozamia, Cycas, Dioon, Encephalartos, Macrozamia, Microcycas, Stangeria and Zamia. There are about 300 species of cycads.

Cycads are dioecious (i.e. male and female reproductive structures are borne on separate plants). Though classified as woody plants, they have a

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 87 pachycaul stem, a thick, soft stem or trunk made up of storage tissue with very little true wood. The cycads have been classified as “gymnosperms” however recent studies suggest some members are closer to the flowering plants than to other “gymnosperms”.

Stangeria was first classified as a fern and named Lomaria lagopus when it was discovered in 1839. After plants that had been sent to England produced cones, it was reclassified.

Stangeria is a woody, long-lived, unisexual plant, native to eastern South Africa. The leaves are fern-like and the reproductive structure is a large cone. The seeds of Stangeria are light pink to brilliant scarlet and are radiospermic. The Cycadales and Ginkgoales are unique among seed plants in having motile sperm. The mature seeds are dispersed by both birds and squirrels, which eat the fleshy outer coating, but not the seed itself. It is a host of the cycad aulacaspis scale insect, while being resistant to deer. It was once part of the diet of the Maiasaura dinosaur.

ZULU Medicine: The Zulus use the Stangeria (which they call “imFingo”) as protection against lightning. If you plant a Stangeria alongside each corner of your house, your property will never be stuck by lightning. Traditional preparation is by chopping the trunk and allowing it to infuse in cold water for 24 hours. It is taken orally or as a suppository to induce vomiting which is thought to render the body invisible to harmful spirits. It can also be scattered around a property in order to ward off evil spirits. Burying the root of this plant by a house is said to protect it from lightning. Other uses include relief of congestion and to reduce blood pressure.

Medicinal properties: poisoning, congestion, high blood pressure, headaches, flatulence, arthritis. Parts of plant are poisonous if ingested. Stangeria contains Pyrrolizidine alkaloids, occurring in various roots and leaves, cyasin contained from extracts of the cycad nut, and safrole, a naturally occurring flavoring agent. It contains angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors.

Notes: It was part of the diet of the Maiasaura dinosaur. This plant is resistant to deer. Native to eastern South Africa. Reproduce by coning and has a caudex like other cycads. Seeds of Stangeria are light pink to brilliant scarlet and are radiospermic. The mature seeds are dispersed by both birds and squirrels, which eat the fleshy outer coating, but not the seed itself. Hosts of the cycad aulacaspis scale insect. Woody, long-lived, unisexual plant. Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 88 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 89 Only other cycad in Materia Medica is Macrozamia spiralis. The Proving: Proving was conducted in a double blind pure Hahnemannian manner. A group of 14 Provers on three continents, from five nations participated. Each Prover was paired with a supervisor. No one knew of the substance except the organizer. Notebooks were kept by both the Provers and supervisors.

The Stangeria was purchased from a Cycad nursery. A leaf and thin root offshoots of the main root were sent to Hahnemann Pharmacy for potentizing. Proving began in January 2005.

The proving has been condensed for publication. Only the mental, dreams and generals appear below. For information on the rest of the proving, contact Melanie Grimes at [email protected].

PROVING SYMPTOMS Mind Plant Thereʼs a kind of “seed” energy in this. The dormancy and stasis, yet the enormous latent energy potential. Day 2, Prover 1

There were aspects of the energy that felt plant-like, though definitely not angiosperm (Lycopodium was closest), but there were aspects of the energy that felt much more solid, static, heavy, compressed. Those aspects felt much more mineral-like. Day XX, Prover 1

Think itʼs a plant; cheerful remedy could be a deep acting remedy. It could be a poisonous plant. Arnica. Makes me think of Arnica or Lycopodium. If you give Lyc to someone who needs it, the person feels better, as Lyc, it is deeply acting. If they are very sick and you give Lyc, they have a bad first reaction, but a normal person just says “I feel good again, I can drive my car at night, I can read again.” Silicea. Day 6, Prover 3

Cold, wet, enchantment, tremendous energy, darkness, apparent paralysis, issues around movement, tectonic plates shifting! The slowness of rocks, transformation, delicacy and precision, birth. Thereʼs the universe and the speck of cosmic dust. Day 2, Prover 1

General More than once or twice Iʼve thought of Stephen Hawking. The symptoms Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 88 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 89 of muscle weakness and clumsiness are conceivably in the right ballpark for the early symptoms of MND. Day XX, Prover 1

In an absolutely good mood. Feeling fantastic. Lots of energy. Sleep more than usual. Really fit. Actually better. In March weʼve got snow and cold, no spring. And people are getting ill with flu from cold. I should be morose like all the others with winter getting on nerves, but I feel just fine. I feel really, really good. Better than normal. Cheerful. A bit edgy first few days.

On second and third day of proving, lots of energy, and cheerful in good spirits. Good mood. Think itʼs a plant. Hallucinations make me think of plants. Animals are a lot harder. Darker, more sinister. If I wasnʼt driving car I would not have minded. I worry that when I step on the brake someone will bump into me because there was nothing for them to expect. Feeling wasnʼt scary, just odd. Seeing things that donʼt exist. Day 6, Prover 3

Surprisingly little on the personal level. Not feeling any emotional perturbation. In equable and contented state. Finding it very hard to focus on the level of the “personal”. Am either out at the universal – even the entirety of existence – or down to the level of the pixel. Nothing in between. Having to work very hard to keep commitments to patients, children, friends, etc in focus. Also having to work hard to observe and record anything on the personal level to do with the proving. Day 2, Prover 1

The proving symptoms developed from Psora (predominantly) to Sycosis. The symptoms (red line) I mentioned below were all Psoric symptoms. Head symptoms - the headache symptoms I described. Skin Symptoms - like flea bites in the upper part of the body. Explosive Stool with slight burning in the rectum. General weakness not better after eating. A high Spiritual state of calmness and serenity alternating with a sense of emotional fragility. Explosive anger lasting two minutes. The next stage of Sycotic symptoms were manifest by the: - 3 months of amenorrhea along with - The yellow staining indelible discharge My mental state also corresponded to Nat mur, which is a predominantly sycotic remedy: A feeling of deep grief like excruciating sadness that I had to keep within me and could not express or talk about with anyone. It was an underlying state that seemed to become very prominent by April. I think it was because of a decision I made in March to let go of a relationship that was a vital part of me. It was a decision that seems to precipitate this excruciating grief Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 90 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 91 within. (now I know what a Nat mur feels like!) This is a sycotic miasmatic state. After taking Nat mur, I realised that letting go of that relationship was detrimental (anihilistic) to my psyche and my soul and I have since maintained the bonds of that relationship. This was the decision that I said helped my mental state. My periods also came back. I think the proving remedy is Psoric-Sycotic with a predominant Psoric state. Day XX, Prover 4

Exploring the chestnutty-red colour. The divinity Ekajati whose skin is this colour. Ekajati has one eye, one braid, one tooth, one breast. She signifies non-duality. Chthonic, primordial. Has iron scorpions in her hair, her tongue emits lightning bolts, she rises up in flames, controls the 8 classes of demonic beings. Hades and Admetos rolled into one. Feel that all the explorations of whatʼs behind this energy have finally arrived. Day 6, Prover 1

Heavy/dark/down Thought pops into my head “this is like night and day” and immediately thought that very reminiscent of the Sulphur energy picture. Day 4, Prover 1

Down, down, sinking down. Want to lie down. HEAVY everything – head, chest, arms. HEAVY. CAVERNOUS and heavy. Immense crushing weight and nothingness. Head is empty. No brain. No thoughts. Slight ache in left biceps. Muscles all feel very relaxed, like they no longer have the strength to hold up. Pleasantly so though. Jaw is dropping. Salivary glands feel as if made of lead, quite painful theyʼre so heavy. Feel like theyʼre dragging down. Submaxillary glands are tender. Now weight is in bones of skull. Like the bones themselves are incredibly dense and heavy. [Cat sat on my chest at this point, like heʼs adding his weight.] Not an uncomfortable sensation. Quite relaxing. “Lay your body down.” The silence is gorgeous. Love it! Expansive feeling in throat, yet contractive. Like itʼs expanding to fit a container. Gust of wind hit the house. Hadnʼt noticed any wind earlier. Day 1, Prover 1

In speaking to supervisor, kept talking about researching stuff in terms of “following it down”. Day 3, Prover 1

What was very strong was the desire to constantly listen to the deepest note I could find. I spent most of the proving listening to De Profundis (Arvo Part) and the Tuvan throat singers. Day XX, Prover 1

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 90 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 91 Dark and silence. Felt like the remedy wanted to be taken in the dark. Day 1, Prover 1 Immediate sinking down feeling on taking the remedy. Going down. Chest, neck, arms. Weight and slowness. Empty. No thought. Jaw dropping. Salivary glands like made of lead…sinking. Day 1, Prover 1

Feeling of complete stasis, yet writing fluid and easy. Day 1, Prover 1

Daughter wanted the bedroom door closed last night. First time ever sheʼs slept without some light. Said sheʼd come to the conclusion that it was easier to sleep in the dark. Brother is delighted because he prefers the dark. Day 1, Prover 1

Daughter was very weepy at school today and when I finally got it out of her why, she said she was missing the kitten that was killed. Interesting. I had thought this energy might touch her. So weʼve got the DARK and LOSS again. Day 1, Prover 1

Not so conscious of the heaviness once Iʼm up and about, though there is a loss of muscular strength. Day 1, Prover 1

Tendency to sit. When I do, my head is quite simply empty. Get the impression itʼs slow and dark and deep. Day 1, Prover 1

Yeatsʼ “Second Coming” is reverberating -- Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand. Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight; somewhere in the sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 92 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 93 Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born? Day 1, Prover 1

The sunspot thing was to do with their numbers. This latest one -- 720 - - sums to nine. So itʼs like 9 is the “key” to revealing the sunspot energy release signature. If you divide 720 by 9 though, you get 80, and if you divide again by 9 then you get 8.888888 recurring, so this seems like 8 energy. Transformation and bringing the collective unconscious to awareness. The “number of transformation and timeless space “ (Norman Shine). Lemniscate – the sign for infinity. Seems pertinent. There are certainly echoes of timeless space in this energy. Cold, wet, enchantment, tremendous energy, darkness, apparent paralysis, issues around movement, tectonic plates shifting! The slowness of rocks, transformation, delicacy and precision, birth. Thereʼs the universe and the speck of cosmic dust. Day 2, Prover 1

Falling sensation I woke up with a strong sense of giddiness. Actually it was a sense of FALLING towards the LEFT side. I felt this as soon as I sat up from bed, and the sensation continued quite strongly for at least 15 minutes. It gradually tapered off in half an hour. The only thing different I did last night was that I had a small glass of beer. Day 6, Prover 4

Serene during stress/efficient Things seem in control and Iʼm not worried about getting things done. Day 3, Prover 4

I continued to feel a sense of efficiency. Day 5, Prover 4

I was not disappointed or affected by things that did not seem to be going too well, and not even very much affected by the tantrums of the kids at my daughterʼs birthday party. Day 5, Prover 4

It has been a very smooth day in general. I donʼt know whether this is a definite effect of the remedy, but considering what I was going though Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 92 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 93 SummerWinter/Spring / Fall 20072006 VolumeVolume XXXIX / / SIMILLIMUM SIMILLIMUM 9 1144 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 95 a few days back, Iʼd say the remedy is certainly having a very calming effect today rather than any agitation within me. I feel benevolent towards everyone, and feel like things are going right for me. Day 3, Prover 4

Today itʼs easier to accept that I may have to wait a long time for things to be resolved (with a relationship from the past). So today I donʼt feel sad about the present status. I feel more energy to send positive vibes of healing. Day 3, Prover 4

I can handle a lot of things going on without getting angry, impatient, overwhelmed, physically and mentally tired. I feel efficient and Iʼm doing what I have to do smoothly. My state of mind is calm in spite of how many things have to be taken care of. Day 3, Prover 4

I have been able to reach the remedy (for my patients) very quickly because Iʼm perceiving the state and the remedy very clearly. I perceive the problems and blocks in their life very easily. Iʼm able to understand and project the causes and solutions of their “states”. In short. Iʼm very high on “Inspiration” so there appears to be very little “perspiration.” Just now I have the backache (if I think about it) that signifies physical exhaustion. But Iʼm almost unaware of any exhaustion physically right now. There have been many times when Iʼve felt like this - and it is often related to getting into a deeply prayerful state, after Mass or a Spiritual Retreat. Today, it seems like itʼs very easy to be in this state of mind. It feels like itʼs my natural nature to be like this all the time. So I think the remedy must be assisting this feeling of being able to get into this state more easily, in spite of so much going on that would have distracted me in usual circumstances. Day 3, Prover 4

I am generally quite a perfectionist. So if things arenʼt going to plan, I “stress” out - get angry with people/inefficiency, upset with myself, worried about how little time there was to do everything, upset if people are not helping or doing what they have to do to help. Benevolence - I tend to be a benevolent person if you take away the times Iʼm impatient or angry with lack of efficiency or when my kids donʼt listen to me...I care about other people, at the same time I can be insensitive in my expectations. Today, I think Iʼm on a better balance of benevolence without much impatience or insensitivity. Day 3, Prover 4

I think the remedy must be giving me some ability to handle more than I usually can. Day 4, Prover 4

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 94 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 95 Merging with others I seemed to sense things about people more acutely, as in their internal feelings or how they were feeling. I seemed to sense the dynamics between elope more acutely. I was able in some way to respond to this more appropriately as well, in a helpful manner. Day 5, Prover 4

Manic talking. Saying things I would have held back on before. Prior barriers of ʻmyʼ sense of propriety lifted (not inappropriate). Day 3, Prover

I think I was understanding and supportive and able to see the other personʼs point of view. Day 5, Prover 4

Boundaries I wonʼt tolerate any more unnecessary emotional expectations beyond what Iʼm able to give. I refuse to stretch myself. Day 9-11, Prover 4

Iʼve decided that enough is enough regarding certain things. I decided that I did not want to give in to daughterʼs 4-year-old tantrums any more. It was time to set things right or I would go insane. I certainly felt like I was nearly over the edge on a few occasions while arguing with her. My response the last 2 days was to either scream at her to stop or just drop things and leave the room. The important thing though, is that Iʼve made up my mind just now that enough is enough otherwise itʼs my sanity that is clearly at stake. Day 6-8, Prover 4

Concentration/organization Cannot focus on anything but website programming. Feel the rest of my life is getting away from me. Scattered all over the place like the state of the house. Even forget to put the rubbish out for the bin men. Canʼt get myself to write proving log, though reasonably good at keeping in contact with supervisor – will have to rely on her record. Canʼt get myself to start on huge amount of work I have to get completed. Day 6, Prover 1

Still trying to get to this work I need to do. Simply cannot get started. There is an enormous resistance to this. Even the times Iʼve had to push myself hard to get things like taxes done pales into insignificance beside the amount of willpower Iʼm having to build up here to do this. Day 12, Prover 1

Hard to get going on work commitments again, despite thinking yesterdayʼs

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 96 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 97 start might have paved the way. Realise am overwhelmed by the amount of detail in what I have to work with. Itʼs too much. Needs condensing, distilling. Needs to be pared down to the essentials. Day 13, Prover 1

Hard work to stay focused and on task. Day 3, Prover 1

Still no inclination to get on with work commitments. Day 4, Prover 1

Yesterday I was missing lots of vowels out of words when writing. Today, when typing, Iʼm putting lots of extra vowels in. Day 2, Prover 1

Beginning to feel slightly more organised. Day 4, Prover 1

Still unable to make notes on this proving or get on with the other work on the computer that I need to. Becoming a little frustrated with all this. The frustration engages willpower. If I get frustrated enough about not being able to do something then Iʼll manage to achieve escape velocity. Day 9, Prover 1

This proving really does not want me to work on other energies, but I have to get this done in the next 2 weeks because I promised I would. Day 11, Prover 1

Several instances of discovering that Iʼd double-booked myself. Day 9, Prover 1

Determined to get to grips with work commitment, which is now becoming really pressing. Realise am able to see things in a non-dual way much more easily. Ekajati again? Day 10, Prover 1

Got down to work and managed 10 hours straight. So much so, completely forgot to go to local theatre event for which I had a ticket. Remembered it around the time the performance would have been finishing. Day 16, Prover 1

Next day discovered that one of the pieces of work Iʼd completed had already been done by someone else. Checked out next one on the list. Supposedly that was OK, but 2 days later heard back that this one had been done already too, after Iʼd managed to put in 3 hours work on it, though less

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 96 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 97 than Iʼd planned. Seems that whenever I fall behind with the work, then I donʼt have to do it anyway! Day 16, Prover 1 Need to get on with this work that I need to complete. Still finding it hard. As soon as I finally get started on it, tiredness returns with a vengeance. Can barely concentrate on what Iʼm doing. Losing the plot, forgetting things between the book and the computer. These are the symptoms Iʼm working with, so which energy is causing this? Day 19, Prover 1

Start to study XHTML and discover itʼs XML rather than HTML that is particular about nested commands. X marks the spot then? Day 20, Prover 1

Worked on new section of website all day, tinkering and fine-tuning. Sitting next to German people at a concert, and listening to the language found it entrancing and musical instead of coarse and guttural as usual. Momentarily thought about learning it. Day 24, Prover 1

Grief/detachment I woke up with a feeling of not being entirely happy, that I was incomplete and the situation is not perfect as it could be. A vague feeling of not being accepted. This passed off in a couple of hours. Day 2, Prover 4

I feel very calm this morning. I miss a particular relationship, but it seems easier this morning to accept it. Day 3, Prover 4

I have been enjoying (truly) reading stories to my kids about William Brown (by Richmael Crompton), truly feeling joy at that naughty little boyʼs ways. And in stark contrast is the grief I feel within (re: the relationship). Then the next emotion is detachment and acceptance. But with this situation it can only be temporary. A lot of this is new - like I said - there is also a concomitant Spiritual movement taking place. But Iʼm certain this remedy is facilitating things in this direction. Day 6, Prover 4

I am in the middle of a Spiritual transformation of sorts and have decided to do a meal fasting for this. AFTER TAKING THE DOSE: I was able to tolerate the fasting quite well. No problem with it. The spiritual response/ change has been very positive. I donʼt feel indifferent any more, but more like detached. Prover 4, day 1

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 98 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 99 Frailty After the sense of being easily able to reach a spiritual place, came a sense of Frailty or being more vulnerable or realizing my emotional limits. The feeling of mental frailty and limits was quite a clear demarcation the last two days. Day 6-8, Prover 4

Driving At 8:20 had to get daughter, by car. Dark outside, I was out of town. While driving, I saw a man, black trousers, tan colored jacket, running onto the street. I braked and man was gone. Like a hallucination. Further down, a field, saw something, it was a log of wood. Next, driving home, I saw a flash of light. I asked daughter what was the reflection. A tiny car plate, license place. On house to show car parking place. High up wall. Came to me like a flash of lighting. All traffic lights strange, lights very red. What shall I do with all that stuff? To smoke tobacco, I was told. Day 1, Prover 3

Delusions: As if someone shining a flashlight into my eyes, not white but yellow light. Light reflecting from metal on the wall appeared very bright. Day 6, Prover 3

Hallucinations while driving. Motorbike cast a violet shadow. Motorbike was real, light from the shadow appeared as blue/purple light. Day 7, Prover 3

While driving, awareness of the reflection of dashboard on side window. Day 7, Prover 3

More incidents with people not seeing me overtaking them and moving out into the middle of the road as I was doing so. Again having to use the horn. No adrenalin with this – knew they were going to do it. Just annoyance with them failing to use their mirrors. Like the annoyance with people who wonʼt look into the mirror of life and see their own shadows. Day 3, Prover 1

The same thing happened overtaking a slow motorist as had been happening before – overtook and as I drew up into their blind spot they pulled out into the middle of the road. Had to slam the horn on again. Knew it was going to happen when I came up behind them, at least a mile before I was finally able to overtake. Day 25, Prover 1

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 98 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 99 I am an excellent driver most of the time. But today, I had the car scratched because I did not see someone on a two-wheeler very close to the car on the left side, while I was concentrating on taking a right turn. This surprised me very much because I had not seen him at all! Of course he was in the wrong place but ideally I would have slowed and waited for him to move ahead before I looked for the right turn. Iʼm still a bit confused about what happened. Throughout though, the spacey feeing continued and a feeling of lack of accurate judgment while driving even though I was concentrating on my driving. Day 5, Prover 4

This energy seems to involve: shamanism, the chestnutty-reddish-brown colour, shadow issues, things sneaking up in your blind spot and stealing your energy. Realise that the latter exactly echoes whatʼs been happening while driving – people not seeing me as Iʼm overtaking them because Iʼve snuck up behind them and am sitting in their blind spot. Day 5, Prover 1

I parked the car and bumped against a tree in the rear. Fortunately nothing happened. Day 1, Prover 3

Almost get hit by a car while riding my bicycle. Scary- car came within inches. Day 18, Prover 5

Want to stop the proving (the bicycle incident scared me). Day 19, Prover 5

Can feel the energy departing from the driving seat in my consciousness. Itʼs still about, but sitting in the back seat now. Day 36-51, Prover 1

Went for drinks afterwards, which involved a long steep hill in the snow. The car acquitted itself impeccably. Not even a hint of wheel-spin, though I could see by the tracks that others had been spinning and sliding all over the place. Seemed to echo my mental state – sure-footed and confident. Day 11, Prover 1

Truth Strength in character/thoughts. More ability to stand up for myself and speak my truth than I have ever had the strength for in the past. (CURATIVE.) Day 2, Prover 3

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 100 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 101 Mind feels clearer than it ever has before, like I can see truth clearly. (CURATIVE.) Day 2, Prover 3

Still in a space of strength and clarity. Day 3, Prover 3 I know I canʼt be hurt because I am on the right side. It is hard to be sure if things will turn out right. I feel protected, cannot be harmed. I feel safe. Everything will turn out. Confident that truth will come out. Confident that the rights things will happen and truth will be revealed. Day 7, Prover 3

At night I was concerned about two issues. In both the issues it had to do with “truth”. One concerned a woman I was talking to. I was concerned that she understood the truth of what I was telling her and was not going away with a misunderstanding about me or what I was saying. The other was about whether I needed to be open about the truth of a situation with someone who was not directly connected to it. I was afraid that she may have found out the truth (which I hadnʼt really hidden) but she may be holding some sort of resentment against me with it. Both these are not new situations, but that they seemed to become issues last night may be significant. Day 1, Prover 4

Work going well- busy doing homeopathic cases and felt capable and energized. Glad for the opportunity to solve these cases. Also felt my inner strength and values were fortified and decided to end a dating relationship, which felt superficial and unfulfilling. Day 1, Prover 5

People behaving wrongly. Makes me not in a good mood. I donʼt speak up for myself. I was in a good mood in spite. In the end, truth will win. Hard to trust and rely on it and not fear, but instead I felt safe. Everything will turn out. Day 10, Prover 3

Confidence/clarity Iʼm still feeling very strong and clear and in really good spirits…a little higher than I usually am, like the first time I took a remedy, which was Ign. and it made me feel very ecstatic and bubbly. Day 4, Prover 3

Cheerful, more energy in high spirits, not exalted or manic, just feel really, really good. Day 6, Prover 3

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 100 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 101 Have lots of energy and clear focus. Strong determination in place “I can do it!” (CURATIVE.) Day 5, Prover 3

In evening went to charity fundraising ball. Normally would have felt self- conscious and out of place at such an event, but comfortable and confident being there and watching people. Also was not drawn to engage with people in the way that I normally am – no desire to establish empathy. Felt in a parallel existence to them. In the same space but on different tracks. They all seemed very ordinary and mortal. Day 16, Prover 1

Decided to add a whole new section to website, so spent day trying to find out how to program it to get it to work elegantly and properly. Stayed up until nearly 3 am doing this. Worked very well and the code validated first time! Damn! Iʼm getting good at this! Day 23, Prover 1

Clarity is waning. Day 6, Prover 3

All that beautiful conscious clarity is gone…sigh. I really enjoyed having it around L Day 7, Prover 3

The wonderful clarity and joy has now gone the opposite direction. Iʼm feeling lost, forlorn, like I canʼt find direction, and everything feels like itʼs just too much for me to figure out. Day 8, Prover 3

A nasty woman vanished from the staff room. I was on a committee and I realigned because people were talking of others behind their back. And they put a note out that I resigned for personal reason, and I laughed. I was not anxious when I resigned, as I would have usually been. Day 10, Prover 3

Finished website and take the huge step of putting it up. Feel a bit vulnerable and exposed – like this is a big step to be taking, and wondering if Iʼll regret it once the proving energy has subsided. In this state itʼs fine – feel so much more positive about my viewpoint, uncompromising, no need to pander to or make concessions to the prevailing “wisdom” any more. People will accept it if they resonate with it and can see it for themselves. If they donʼt, they donʼt. Thatʼs fine. But it needs to get “out there”. Supervisor suddenly realises that since she took my baseline case sheʼs been working on her website! She hadnʼt seen the connection because Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 102 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 103 sheʼd been working on the content, leaving the design and programming to someone else, but suddenly realised what she was doing. Day 9, Prover 1

Much freer that usual in singing lesson. More confident. Singing teacher very pleased. Enormous fun singing together. Day 11, Prover 1 At choir only 17 people (out of 50) turned up because of the snow. Normally this would have made me feel exposed and affected my singing, but not in the least bit bothered. Sang out loud and proud and enjoyed it immensely, particularly singing with the two others in my row. We worked really well together – just like this morningʼs lesson and singing the duet with my teacher – and the enjoyment was infectious. Day 11, Prover 1

Otherwise in a really good space. Enormous contentment. Good energy. Very happy with my life. This is like back to where I was before this proving started, but more so because there is more solidity to it. Day 12, Prover 1

Jinxed Overall, nothing has gone easily, feel Jinxed. Things go wrong or take a while to resolve. Day 4, Prover 5

Once again feel jinxed- a financial mess at work, felt almost betrayed by a former person who moved out of our offices. I have had an increased financial burden and she wants me to pick up more of it. Almost feel overwhelmed by it all. Day 18, Prover 5

Anger Couple of angry episodes over trivial things but they really made me upset; I couldnʼt control myself and stop shouting. The sudden anger. Then Iʼm fine. They mostly happened in the evening. I found my kids curiously and concernedly peering at my face wondering what was the matter with me. They probably think Iʼve flipped my lid finally. Day 20, Prover 4

The explosive, sudden anger episodes have passed I think. It may be because I went to mass yesterday evening and prayed as well. I continue to feel slightly detached from things. Day 6, Prover 4

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 102 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 103 It is midnight now. I had one or two episodes of losing my shirt in the evening - for exactly two minutes each time. I exploded/shouted a little too loudly for some things that were quite insignificant actually. I sort of observed this behaviour like a third person at a distance telling myself there was no need for me to do that, I could have said things differently and understood the situation differently. I was actually seriously trying to understand the situation from the other personʼs point of view. I was actually trying out in my mind different ways I could have responded instead! My anger resolved pretty quickly - but it usually does. Day 4, Prover 4

There continued to be outbursts of explosive anger though, where I give one sudden shout and then keep quietly angry to myself, which passes off in a few minutes. The anger is related to the feeling of my intentions not being understood, or lack of understanding on someone elseʼs part. Also in some way to inappropriate responses (childish) from others. The expectation is that they behave in a more “adult like” manner or understand the circumstances more clearly without preconceived notions. Then I feel that Iʼm tired of taking the burden of working things out, I donʼt need to take on additional responsibilities when it keeps troubling me to do so. Day 5, Prover 4

Anxiety about future About 7:30 pm: a feeling of apprehension in the epigastrium region. As if expecting some bad news or results. Lasted for about an hour. Day 3, Prover 4

Tired Completely mesmerised by the sight, sound and feel of the cat washing himself while sitting on my lap. Could watch (typed “wash” initially) him all day. Sends me to sleep. Day 3, Prover 1

Still mesmerised by cat washing himself. Heʼs very smelly today. Lots of farting smelling of hydrogen sulphide. Day 4, Prover 1

Went to bed at 11 pm, very tired. Day 3, Prover 1

Still some difficulty getting myself to get out of bed. Day 4, Prover 1

Still hard to get up in the morning. Just want to lie there. If I do, then fall back asleep at the drop of a hat, despite having apparently woken fully

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 104 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 105 beforehand. Seems just like the website thing – canʼt get away from it, keep getting drawn back to it and requires a huge effort of will to break away to do something else. Though when I do break away, itʼs fine. Can get on with what I need to. Itʼs like thereʼs a gravitational field around the website and around sleep. The willpower required to achieve escape velocity is considerable, but once free thereʼs no attraction unless I come within range of the field again (going to bed, or sitting down at the computer). Day 6, Prover 1

Hard to get out of bed again. Day 13, Prover 1

Being immersed back in the energy again noticed I had virtually nothing to eat all day and stayed up until 2.00am working on the web page! Day 52, Prover 1

Still entranced by watching the cat wash himself. Even more so if heʼs sitting on me or in contact with me while doing so. Day 13, Prover 1

Duality Tried to explain something of the non-dual perspective afforded by this energy and realised that they simply could not see it – couldnʼt step outside of duality to see what I was getting at. Like the cartoon of the two fishes with one saying to the other “so whatʼs this ʻoceanʼ you keep talking about then?” The more personally identified they were in the concepts I was talking about, the more disturbed and defensive they became. Day 14, Prover 1

Very tired all day. Completed the circle on the relationship between passion and patient. Have been working on this – both derive from the Latin pati to suffer/endure. Passion can be a suffering, but also an indication of strong feeling and vocation, as in “follow your passion”. Phrase of Ian Watsonʼs– “suffering serves to remind us to be true to ourselves” provided the link. Needing to see this in non-dualistic terms. Suffering without the usual qualities attached to it is simply to undergo (= endure). In this sense, it equates to the Buddhist idea of life (=suffering). In others words, life is an undergoing. Day 17, Prover 1

My notes for the seminar (only one side of a page) were quite different to my usual style. All the points Iʼd recorded are mapped out visually and relationally, rather than listed sequentially. Focused on the nested concentric circles used to depict Jungʼs levels of consciousness – personal conscious, personal unconscious, collective unconscious, and beyond that to the

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 104 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 105 “unknowable” (yet experience-able) non-dual ground of being or what Ian referred to as the Tao. Lighted on his emphasising that *it doesnʼt give a shit*. Fitted perfectly with what I had been trying to tease out from the phrases “universal unconditional love” and “compassion”: that the former is simply existing in a state in which the experience of the fundamental interconnectedness of existence is a constant reality, and the latter is “with anotherʼs undergoing”, nothing more, nothing less. Stripped of gooey sentimentality and all the attachments of virtue and personal projections, both ideas reveal themselves in their perfection. Day 17, Prover 1 Have this image of a vast double vortex within the consciousness-space- time continuum and the idea that we are travelling towards its narrow-point – hence the increased velocity and sense of compression many people are reporting – in order to pass through some interdimensional boundary. Day 28-34, Prover 1

Thereʼs still an aversion to this plodding linear sequential means of recording information when it feels like it should be visual, dynamic and relational. Day 36-51, Prover 1

A lot of the time feel almost as if I exist in some parallel dimension. Here but not here. Day 6, Prover 1

Color Lots of tinkering with programming of websites and the colour of a very rich reddish chestnut brown. Day 1, Prover 1

When I woke up this morning I had this thought just pop into my head “green is the colour of nature”. Also the day the remedy arrived, I had another parcel which was a book Iʼd ordered -- The Secret Teachings of Plants by Stephen Harrod Buhner -- which talks all about the heart as an organ of perception, specifically the perception of the energies of the natural world, which, at least in respect of plants, is predominantly green. Researched the role of Sulphur in plant metabolism and found that, aside from being necessary in protein metabolism, itʼs involved in maintaining the dark *green* colour in leaves. Also in stimulating seed production. Day 2, Prover 1

I kept saying “out of the blue” when talking about things that had happened. Day 3, Prover 1

This energy seems to involve: shamanism, the chestnutty-reddish-brown

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 106 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 107 colour, shadow issues, things sneaking up in your blind spot and stealing your energy. Realise that the latter exactly echoes whatʼs been happening while driving – people not seeing me as Iʼm overtaking them because Iʼve snuck up behind them and am sitting in their blind spot. Day 5, Prover 1

Music Music Bach, Mozart, Wagner, singing German opera. Day 1, Prover 1

Sitting next to German people at a concert, and listening to the language found it entrancing and musical instead of coarse and guttural as usual. Momentarily thought about learning it. Day 24, Prover 1

Listening to a piece of music with a very strong base rhythm and the word “fundamental” comes into my head, both in the context of the song and in the bottom resonance in overtone chanting. Entranced by the word. Want to be in fundamental resonance. Look up the word “fundament” and find: 1. The buttocks, the anus. 2. The natural features of a land surface unaltered by humans. 3. A foundation, as of a building. 4. An underlying theoretical basis or principle. [Middle English foundement, from Old French fondement, from Latin fundamentum from fundare, to lay the foundation, from fundus, bottom.] Interesting connections! The bottom/anus seems appropriate in view of slight constipation, but also realise a lot of my recent dissatisfaction and frustration with conversations on lists, etc, is that theyʼre not fundamental enough. Day 13, Prover 1

Decide on a whim to have a bath (usually only have showers). The first lines of Yeatsʼ “Second Coming” are in my head again – “Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer …” And Lewis Carrollʼs Jabberwock “ʼTwas brillig, and the slithey toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.” Itʼs that word “gyre”. Look it up and find i) A circular or spiral form, a vortex. ii) A circular or spiral motion, especially a circular ocean current; to turn round, to gyrate. iii) A round shape formed by a series of concentric circles. Seems resonant with these repeating dreams about nested objects/descriptions in some way. Also a thesaurus gives dybbuk in connection with gyre. Seems to connect with the exorcism theme that cropped up yesterday. Day 13, Prover 1

Misc Took the kids swimming but for the first time didnʼt go in with them. Didnʼt feel like it and particularly didnʼt want to end up even stiffer than I was after

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 106 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 107 that bath. Day 18, Prover 1

Wake up at 9:30am and realise I should already be at an appointment. When I get back find that there is barely enough electricity getting through to light a light bulb. Not enough to provide ignition for the central heating and hot water, the modem, the fridge and freezer, or to boil a kettle or cook my tea. Turns out thereʼd been a power cut earlier in the morning but it had triggered something seriously wrong with the power supply to this immediate area. The lights went out completely around 5 pm and didnʼt come back until midnight. They had to replace an overhead cable. Interesting, given this other-dimensionality Iʼve been feeling. So now Iʼve been rewired too!! Didnʼt phone supervisor because her number was in the computer and Iʼd crawled into my bed to keep warm and fallen asleep so missed our agreed time slot. Day 7, Prover 1

Couldnʼt use the computer, or clean the house so tidied up the childrenʼs bedroom and moved the guinea pigs onto the grass – both things Iʼve been trying to get done for some time. Seemed to break the spell of working on the website somewhat. After stone carving, realised that the same exacting attention to detail I was applying to the website I was also applying to the carving. Day 7, Prover 1

Electricity restored. Determined to give the house a good clean. Something seems to have shifted. The impetus to go hunting down the shamanism/ colour/nature of the energy connections has evaporated. Day 8, Prover 1

Wondered how driving on the motorway would be and remained extra vigilant for people not seeing me in their blind spot. Sure enough a transit van almost pulls out from behind a lorry in front of me, but sees me just in time. Day 8, Prover 1

Still large gravitational field around website and sleep. Day 9, Prover 1

The not-thereness and lack of coordination is back. Day 25, Prover 1

Up until 3 am tinkering with website again. Day 25, Prover 1

Thinking of way to summarise proving energy, hit on idea of web page. Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 108 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 109 Spent all day working on it including sound clips, working on trying to define the exact colour of the chestnutty reddish brown, etc. Rose scent around a lot. Day 52, Prover 1

DREAMS Unremembered Lots of dreams but couldnʼt quite catch them. Day 1, Prover 1

No dreams recalled though many. Day 5-6, Prover 1 Still unable to catch dreams. Day 9, Prover 1

No more dreams about nested descriptions for a while. Still canʼt grasp dreams. Aware that thereʼs another repeating element, but canʼt grasp it. Day 28-34, Prover 1

Family, I woke this very early this morning dreaming of my mom and dad. I dreamt that my dad was seriously ill in a hotel (hospital?) and we were desperately trying to find a cure for him. He seemed to be getting slightly better and would be coming home soon, but suddenly my mom gets seriously ill along with him in the hotel (hospital?). This was very upsetting, as my dad cannot bear my mom being ill. So he would probably deteriorate and die very quickly as well. The next scene is weʼre in the hotel (hospital?) gardens and my mom is in a plane on her way to Mumbai (?). Apparently the plane tried to take off but could not gain altitude. Then tried to come closer and inform us that there was a problem of crashing, then tried to gain altitude again. But again failed, with any number of weird and strong spins, and began to nose dive. I watched this whole process with a lot of other people in the garden. The plane was going to crash and of cause everyone on it was going to die, including my mother. As the plane crashed on the ground, someone tried to get to it and see if anyone could be saved, while I was working more to get all the people to run to the other side of the building. I succeeded, because my concern was to save their lives from a possible explosion in the plane. So though I was very upset about my mother being in the plane and possibly dead, I had to save the people around me first. Day 5, Prover 4

Homeopathy Dreams of treating a baby who I inherit as a patient from another homeopath. The baby had been prescribed Carc and, while feeling that itʼs not quite the remedy to hit the nail on the head, see no harm in repeating as Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 108 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 109 nothing else is coming screaming through. I even have the actual remedy the previous homeopath prescribed. Instead of pillules there are sugar sticks about two inches long, which the baby is supposed to suck. Two colleagues and previous tutors look at my case notes and say that they think the baby should have Saccharum officinale instead – sugar. Day 2, Prover 1

Dream that night is disturbing. Dreamt I did not follow through on something I told a patient I would do. Felt badly- wanted to do what I said right away. Day 6, Prover 5

House Of being in a large house which is an ecologically sound self-sufficient construction. The house I am in is too large for my liking. There are two other houses, a medium sized one and a smaller one yet. Like Daddy bear, Mummy bear and Baby bear. I go to the medium sized one and find my neighbours there. Itʼs their house (in reality they have a ecologically- principled wooden house though it looks a bit different from the one in my dream). Iʼm seriously considering building one myself (in reality I plan to design and build such a house, but itʼs a long-term project) thinking that thereʼs no point in reinventing the wheel and I might as well go for the same Canadian kit they did. Iʼm asking them about the website address so I can find out more. Day 2, Prover 1

Confidence Impression of many more dreams all around proving themes and the message “Everything will be OK”. Day 2, Prover 1 Enormous number of dreams. Caught some and felt so confident of remembering them didnʼt specifically nudge myself awake enough to write them down. The minute waking mind started up, they were gone. Frustrated at this, but in just lying there, not falling back into sleep but with mind just still, all of a sudden, the dreams came back. Never had that happen before. Usually once theyʼre gone theyʼre gone. Day 2, Prover 1

Portions Many dreams but couldnʼt recollect any of them except the idea that a few revolved around the theme of portions – dividing things up into portions. Day 3, Prover 1

Finding somewhere to eat

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 110 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 111 Dreams: of being in Italy with a group of friends. Disjointed dream – friends and scenes kept changing, but a lot of it seemed to revolve around finding somewhere to eat. We were staying at a hotel which was full with some business convention which we werenʼt part of. A lot of men in dark suits. Mealtimes were about finding somewhere to sit at long crowded tables with a lot of people. There was talk of a man who smelled very bad and everyone was trying to avoid the possibility of sitting near him but nobody knew who he was and if, or when, he was going to appear. Only a few people seemed to know what he looked like. I hadnʼt yet found a seat and someone was saying he had just come in the door with a bottle of white Sauvignon. Day 4, Prover 1

Flood Another scene involved a flooded plaza. The flood was evidently a daily occurrence when the tide came in. The shops were only open when the tide was out. I was looking down into the water and could vaguely see a row of beautiful old arches, but when the tide went out the shop fronts were just wooden boarding. One of the shops there sold shellfish and kept them in the basement below the level of the water, but when we came back later looking forward to some shellfish a sign on the door said “frites and mayonnaise”, so we went elsewhere. Another scene involved finding our way through tiny passages in amongst the houses, discovering peopleʼs front doors in all sorts of unexpected places. The friend I was with at that time, an old school friend, suddenly sat down and started crying, but I couldnʼt find out why. Then the scene changed again. Another scene involved being in a record shop with my father. Day 4, Prover 1

Travel car Dream: disjointed, confused and chaotic, involving going all sorts of places with the car but in each instance there were obstacles and despite going with the flow of it all, nothing seemed to flow right. Day 18, Prover 1

Dreamt I hit the car in front of me while driving, Stopped before I hit him. Day 6-10, Prover 5

Recursion Many dreams, again mostly escaped me. Recalled one about translating the events going on into language – plain English this time rather than HTML or mathematical equations. Also one word – RECURSION. Day 25, Prover 1

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 110 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 111 Birds I am sleeping and two birds come to land on the bed. I look up and the ceiling has a damp spot that is becoming very wet. Iʼm concerned and wonder if my husband has seen this and how weʼre going to take care of it. More and more birds are entering the house and, when I look at the damp/ wet spot I see that it is now a perfectly large hole/entrance for the birds. Itʼs rounded, like the entrance to a birdhouse. Day 3, Prover 3

Snow, church Dream: Iʼm travelling and end up in a Church. I donʼt feel like I belong here, even though I know the people and even though I follow the procession to greet the minister, I prepare to leave. I take a plane to Switzerland and arrive where the snow is the most beautiful, and it is very cold. I meet a friend there, and await the arrival of my husband, who was in the church with me. Day 4, Prover 3

Html/geometry Dream: I am awaiting the correct Harmonic before proceeding and I observe my crystal self emerging. Day 3, Prover 3

More dreams of mapping reality into programming language. The chestnut brown colour resurfaces. Day 22, Prover 1

Woke up with fair bit of dream remembered but lost most of it by the time I came to record it. There was something about concocting a magic potion that needed a hair from a dog. A common theme running through seems to be scenes echoing the happenings of the previous day. Day 12, Prover 1

Know I have been dreaming a lot about programming websites and the getting of the hair of the dog echoed a friend pulling hair from their dogʼs coat last night. Day 12, Prover 1

Snatch of dreams – something about nesting commands within HTML, i.e. however more specific commands are nested within larger area definitions, etc. Day 13, Prover 1

Dream of a piece of artwork with smaller pictures nested inside larger ones and of trying to describe that mathematically and in computer programming

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 112 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 113 language. Wondering what this dream theme is about since it seems to keep repeating, and physicist David Bohmʼs concept of enfoldedness and implicate order comes to mind. Day 14, Prover 1

Dream: of watching and participating in a series of events which took place within a computer screen. At the top of the screen were the phrases of the programming language describing what was going on. There were so many nested clauses that colour was introduced to the text, one colour for each clause, so that it would be apparent where each began and ended and if any one of them hadnʼt been closed properly to allow it all to work as it should. Day 19, Prover 1

Water, salt I begin with my feet soaking in a tub of salt water. I find myself in a place where the salt is SO present that I can smell it, taste it, and even feel the grit between my teeth. It is a black salt and, as I put it into the water that my feet are soaking in, I see that my legs have become black salt coated almost all the way up to the top of my thighs. I take a hose to wash it off. Suddenly the bedroom is covered with the salt water, including the bed linens, a sleeping bag, etc. and I think that I will have to throw things out because they are getting covered with the salt water. Suddenly the water is flowing out to a lake, which is in the west corner of the room. When I awake from this dream, the salt was SO present in the dream that I am surprised that I donʼt taste or smell it in my waking period. Day 15, Prover 3

Dream fear Dream that night was fearful non-specific-do not remember details. Woke up feeling disturbed. During night felt like I could catch a cold. Day 3, Prover 5

Grief Dream of grief for my father who died 34 years ago. The grief was for now- present day. He died suddenly, just before I started medical school, so at that time had to keep going and it never sank in. Day 6-10, Prover 5

Pregnant I was pregnant. Very realistic. I even tried to figure out the due date. 1 year minus 3 months and a few days, calculating. I donʼt know how I got pregnant, who made it, as I have no partner at moment, but didnʼt bother about that. When was child due? I was about 5th month pregnant. Due date I figured out was May or June. When I woke up realized it canʼt be, the belly was gone. Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 112 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 113 Day 2, Prover 3

GENERALS GENERALITIES Heavy: Stool, Mind, Arms Dry: eyes, throat, nose, mouth, cough Left: Earache, knee ache, falling sensation, scapula, thigh, wrist, back Right: head, hip

Feeling of illness. Whole body pain, more in the calf muscle. Thirstless. Temperature is slightly increased. Day 32, Prover 7

Sides Left: Earache, knee ache, falling sensation, scapula, thigh, wrist, back Right: head, hip

All symptom have been left sided. Day 6, Prover 6

Ache Left. Fleeting sensation that there is going to be Earache, knee ache, inner aspect left knee. All on left side and donʼt manifest. Day 7, Prover 6

Itch Red itching spots all over the body. They look like fleabites. They itch for a while and I have to scratch which feels better or do I have fleas in my clothes??? I realized this morning I had about 20 spots all over the upper part of my body, arms, chest and abdomen. Day 20-22, Prover 4

Misc I think the sphere of action of this remedy must be: Head symptoms - the headache symptoms I described Skin Symptoms - like fleabites in the upper part of the body Explosive Stool with slight burning in the rectum General weakness not better after eating A high Spiritual state of calmness and serenity alternating with a sense of emotional fragility Explosive anger lasting 2 minutes Day XX, Prover 4

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 114 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 115 Weak General losing strength. Day 1, Prover 1

Thirst Thirstier. Day 1, Prover 1

Thirstier throughout day, especially evening (8pm ish). Also cold. Day 1, Prover 1

Still thirstier than normal, noticeable first thing in the morning and around 8pm at night. Day 9, Prover 1

Drinking more and urinating more. Little and often of both. Day 17, Prover 1

Still thirstier through the day and urinating more frequently. Day 18, Prover 1

Great thirst is back, dry mouth and throat. Day 8, Prover 3

Woke frequently. Hot and sweaty and thirsty. Drank all my one pint of water by morning. Not a great sleep. Exactly 28 days since this happened before. Still tired with sleepy feeling in eyes, though not as intense as previous two days. Day 19, Prover 1

Thirstless. Day 32, Prover 7

Heavy Heavy: Stool, Mind, Arms

Still heavy. Day 1, Prover 1

Pressure amel Pressure better, really big. Day 3, Prover 6

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 114 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 115 Light agg Strongest pain was headache after light. Day 3, Prover 6

Energy increased Energy improved overall, wrist feels better. Day 2, Prover 5

Freezing, shivering. Goosebumps. Day 1, Prover 3

Wine Glass of wine after evening meal gave palpitations. Quite strong, with a sense of tightness around the whole upper chest/heart region. Later had a glass of orange juice and the same thing happened. Coughing worse towards evening. Chest suddenly tightens in bronchial region, cough for a while (in same pattern as before) then it loosens again and I donʼt cough for a while. Day 23, Prover 1

Stiff- water agg On waking felt horribly stiff and arthritic and knew this was a result of the bath last night. Day 14, Prover 1 Stiffness continues all day. Day 14, Prover 1

Took the kids swimming but for the first time didnʼt go in with them. Didnʼt feel like it and particularly didnʼt want to end up even stiffer than I was after that bath. Day 18, Prover 1

Decided on a whim to take a bath, wondering how Iʼd react since havenʼt tried this out since the last time when it provoked quite a noticeable aggravation. Bath itself was enjoyable, but on getting out felt so completely drained of energy nearly collapsed and had to lie down on the floor for a bit. Day 52, Prover 1

Dry Dry: eyes, throat, nose, mouth, cough

Food I did not want to eat an egg, which I usually do because I felt it smelled a bit. I preferred to eat cheese and Chapatti (dry roasted pancake made from wheat flour) with a cup of tea.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 116 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 117 Day 2, Prover 4

Cold Felt cold from the inside -body was cold (rare- Iʼm usually VERY warm). Day 1, Prover 3

Sensitive Became extremely psychically sensitive/aware and that remained all night. Day 1, Prover 3

Heat Woke frequently. Hot and sweaty and thirsty. Drank all my one pint of water by morning. Not a great sleep. Exactly 28 days since this happened before. Still tired with sleepy feeling in eyes, though not as intense as previous two days. Day 19, Prover 1

Another hot and sweaty night but not so thirsty. Day 22, Prover 1

Coordination lacking Felt much better, not so uncoordinated and not-there. Day 24, Prover 1

Appetite diminished Being immersed back in the energy again noticed I had virtually nothing to eat all day and stayed up until 2 am working on the web page! Day 52, Prover 1

Iʼve not been able to tolerate the fasting /hunger. I feel very weak and some sort of body pain peripherally. I feel like Iʼm drained of energy. Day 9-11, Prover 4

I donʼt have a craving for food as such, but to take something to strengthen my energy that has drained out. So after the 8 hours, I eat a large amount. Even after eating this, I do not feel like I am strengthened. There is a residual weakness. Day 9-11, Prover 4

Night agg It felt like sinusitis or a cold coming up. Along with that I had a nasal obstruction, but no coryza. Just like having a cold. As if there was swelling inside the turbinates. I had to breathe through my mouth. This symptoms seemed worse at night after 9 pm

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 116 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 117 Day 19, Prover 4

Movement amel, vigorous Then wake up with headache and nausea. Expecting guests so finally get myself to go hoover up and immediately discover the vigorous exercise removes both the headache and the nausea. Day 28-34, Prover 1

Pain piercing There seem to be more symptoms in the evening. 4.30 pm: Pain right side of the head, just behind the ear. Slow, piercing pain that lasted for about 2 minutes. It moved upwards I think and disappeared. Day 3, Prover 4

Apprehension in stomach About 7.30 pm: a feeling of apprehension in the epigastrium region. As if expecting some bad news or results. Lasted for about an hour. Day 3, Prover 4

Flu-like Actually with the nasal obstruction and pressing pain in the head, I thought I was going to get bad sinusitis (there is some URTI/LRTI) going around. Day 19, Prover 4 It felt like sinusitis or a cold coming up. Along with that I had a nasal obstruction, but no coryza. Just like having a cold. As if there was swelling inside the turbinates. I had to breathe through my mouth. This symptoms seemed worse at night after 9pm Day 19, Prover 4

I have a feeling like before a flu. Head ache sore throat, pain in neck. Shoulders ache. Day 10, Prover 3

Monday, went to school to work, blowing nose all the time. Nose running dripping. Mon night, no work. Hopeful feeling stopped when flu came on. Day 10, Prover 3

I feel quite alright when I have the flu. I enjoy having the flu. Day 10, Prover 3

Feeling of illness. Whole body pain, more in the calf muscle. Thirstless. Temperature is slightly increased. Day 32, Prover 7

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 118 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 119 Tired Tired by 11 pm. Want to go to bed. Day 1, Prover 1

Again reluctant to get up. Heaviness gone, but bed is so delicious donʼt want to leave it. Day 2, Prover 1

Still tired in evening. Went to bed very early – around 10.30 pm. Realised this tiredness occurred a month ago. “Turning and turning in the widening gyre …” There is a very strong cyclical element here. Day 17, Prover 1

Still very tired. Would like to sleep. Day 18, Prover 1

Energy still low. Coordination still slightly off. Balance affected. More energy from going out and doing something. Day 26, Prover

Very little energy. Tired but still unable to go to bed at a reasonable time. Day 28-34, Prover 1

CURATIVE SYMPTOMS My eyes are not tired as they usually are at this time after working the whole day for most part on the computer. (CURATIVE.) Day 4, Prover 4

Right eyelid, upper, was swollen last summer, maybe from an insect. A tiny pearl remains upper eyelid. Like pepper seed size. Yesterday, it got raw, swollen, size of coriander seed. Big and red. Now it is the size of mustard seed. Not red. Not itchy. Smaller than before the proving. Day 2, Prover 3

Gave daughter a dose of this remedy for her 3-month cough based on symptom similarity. Long duration (about 4 months). Seemingly nervous in origin. Little or no expectoration. << first thing in the morning, last thing at night, cold air. Paroxysmal with tightness in bronchial passages. Abdominal muscles sore from coughing. (CURATIVE.) Day 21, Prover 1

Some months later, I gave it to a crow that had been visiting with his flock for over a week and coughing like that. He was coming right up to my window and sitting there coughing. I put the Rx out on the grass where the crow was eating the remains of some guinea pig food, figuring that crows being crows, heʼd take it if he needed it. He came back and continued eating Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 118 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 119 (I knew it was him because he was still coughing) and when I checked later the Rx was gone. He was back the next day but coughing much less frequently. (CURATIVE.) Day XX, Prover 1

AFTER TAKING THE DOSE: I was able to tolerate fasting quite well. No problem with it. The spiritual response/change has been very positive. I donʼt feel indifferent any more, but more detached. Prover 4, day 1 Have lots of energy and clear focus. Strong determination in place “I can do it!” (CURATIVE.) Day 5, Prover 3

The remedy must be giving me some ability to handle more than I usually can. (CURATIVE.) Day 4, Prover 4

THE NUMBER TWO Explosive anger lasting two minutes. Day XX, Prover 4

The feeling of mental frailty and limits was quite a clear demarcation the last two days. Day 4, Prover 4 I had the car scratched because I did not see someone on a two-wheeler very close to the car on the left side, while I was concentrating on taking a right turn. Day 5, Prover 4

At night I was concerned about two issues. In both the issues it had to do with “truth”. Day 1, Prover 4

I had one or two episodes of losing my shirt in the evening - for exactly two minutes each time. Day 4, Prover 4

Tried to explain something of the non-dual perspective afforded by this energy and realised that they simply could not see it – couldnʼt step outside of duality to see what I was getting at. Like the cartoon of the two fishes with one saying to the other “so whatʼs this ʻoceanʼ you keep talking about then?” Day 14, Prover 1

Left arm about two inches from the elbow and shoulder joints is where Iʼve

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 120 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 121 been feeling the sensation as of a finger pressing. Day 5, Prover 1

Still tired with sleepy feeling in eyes, though not as intense as previous two days. Day 19, Prover 1

Sang out loud and proud and enjoyed it immensely, particularly singing with the two others in my row. We worked really well together – just like this morningʼs lesson and singing the duet with my teacher. Day 11, Prover 1

Dream: Two colleagues and previous tutors look at my case notes and say that they think the baby should have Saccharum officinale instead – sugar. Day 2, Prover 1

Dream: I am sleeping and two birds come to land on the bed Day 3, Prover 3

Main other symptom is menstrual spotting-two weeks early. Turns out my period was starting two weeks before it was due. Day 2, Prover 5

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 120 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 121    Peter Fraser

The insects are the largest and most diverse group within the animal kingdom. It has been said that the creator had an obsession with beetles as there are more species of them than of all other animals put together and yet beetles are only one of 27 orders of insect. However, in the traditional homeopathic Materia Medica we have had only two major insect remedies: Cantharis and Apis, and even these are known more for their acute pictures and do not have strong or clear constitutional pictures.

This situation has changed quite dramatically over the last few years with a substantial number of provings of insects. There has also been a willingness to try unproven remedies based on the patientsʼ expression of a deep inner state and the signatures of substances and their relationship to known remedies. This has begun to produce clinical information, which can be used to supplement the proving information. There is therefore a first, if a little hazy, picture of the group of insects as a whole beginning to emerge.

Any remedy has features that connect it into the body of a wider group of remedies. These can be established by the nature of the substance, which will belong to a certain realm and kingdom it will also be part of a botanical or zoological family or have a place on the Periodic Table, it may come from a certain part of the world and it may be a certain part or form of the substance that is used. A remedy can also be affiliated to a group by the properties and nature of the symptoms that it produces and cures. The most important of these is usually described by homeopaths as its miasmatic nature and many use the circle of the Mappa Mundi to equal effect but the speed and depth at which it acts, its affinities to certain organs and diseases can all be used to group remedies. Whichever type of grouping is used, it provides what I call background information. The symptoms that lead a remedy to be a member of a certain group will be common to all members of that group. So, though they are extremely important in deciding which group the case belongs in, they are of no use in differentiating between the different members of the group.

It is sometimes possible to come to the indicated remedy by cross-

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 122 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 123 referencing two or more different groupings. The periodic table is the place where this is most applicable and the complete understanding of the series and stage in a patient points to a definite remedy. This is not surprising as this is a very mineral way of thinking. However, the patients are part of a continuum of possibilities and it is not possible to be sure of how that continuum matches the discrete nature of the periodic table. The situation with plants, animals and imponderables is much more complicated. For example almost all the Solanaceas have the character of the hydrophobic miasm, the bulk of the symptoms are common to both groupings and do not differentiate.

The thing that clearly differentiates between the remedies within a group is what I call the foreground: the dynamic and characteristic symptoms that define the particular patient and match the particular remedy that he or she needs. The foreground symptoms have certain definite qualities and so are clearly identifiable. They are invariably a point of animation in the patient, in talking about these symptoms, or issues connected with them, they will be more emotionally involved than at other times. They will be more interested and alive than at other times or they will be more distressed and upset. They are unusual symptoms, things that are not common among the general population and so are striking and say something special about the patient; these are the symptoms that Hahnemann describes as characteristic in §153. These symptoms will appear, often in different guises through the case and through the patientʼs life. Finally these symptoms contain contraries. There are two sides to them that seem to be in direct conflict and which appear to be irreconcilable for the patient.

These symptoms are invariably the most accurate in finding the remedy and especially in differentiating between remedies because they are the symptoms of the particular remedy and not of the group. However, these are also the symptoms that are most likely to be missing from the Materia Medica and the repertory. The only way to find these symptoms is through a good physical proving and even then the chances that one of the provers will have the necessary susceptibility to allow them to be expressed are not good. They can be discovered from clinical experience but because they are unusual they will often be ignored.

In some groups of remedies there is a point of change or transformation that is dynamic, extraordinary and which by the nature of change contains the contraries of what is being changed from and what is being changed into. In these groups of remedies one of the important foreground areas will therefore be flagged and easy to find.

Those animals that move and transform between different realms form such groups and because these are usually homogenous groups it is vital that we have tools that will help us focus on the important foreground issues so we can make a differentiation. Examples of groups of remedies that Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 122 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 123 transform between the realms include the birds that seek the freedom of the sky, the spiders that are suspended between the earth and the sky, the snakes that draw power from the underworld, the drugs that reach the sky through the underworld, the lacs that are grounded by moving through the sea to the earth and the insects that are escaping from the earth into the sky.

The insects are a particularly interesting group because in order to make this transformation from one realm to another, they must also make a physical transformation within themselves. Almost all insects undergo some form of transformation between their larval form and the imago (adult form). Some are hemimetabolous and undergo a series of changes through larval or nymph stages as they shed their exoskeletons, each one a little more like the adult form. Others are holometabolous and undergo a pupal stage in which they change, often into a completely different form. The common pattern involves a flightless larva and a winged imago. The appearance and feeding behavior can be completely different, the caterpillar and the butterfly being the most powerful expression of this.

Insects use a wide range of reproductive strategies. The adults are usually involved in sexual reproduction, though there are species that reproduce sexually at the larval stage. Some insects use a degree of parthogenesis, with the child a clone of the mother. Usually sexual and asexual reproduction are found in alternating generations but there are species that are only known to reproduce asexually. Sometimes the larvae reproduce asexually and only some generations reach maturity and then reproduce sexually. Insects are also often involved in the sexual behavior of plants. Some plants, particularly orchids, pose as sexually active insects to attract mates who will pollinate them.

Although it is not the absolute norm for insects, there are many that are social. They can establish enormous colonies with many different forms each suited to its particular role in the society. Behavior in such societies is often controlled by complicated systems of chemical signals. The result is that the colony behaves as if it is a single autonomous organism. Even insects that do not form social colonies often live in some sort of looser social arrangement. Many also form complicated parasitic or symbiotic relationships with other insects, plants and animals.

Insects are generally industrious. The main form found in any of the social insects is the worker. They are able to do enormous amounts of work, whether it be creative or destructive. They can eat their way through vast quantities of whatever it is that they eat and they can create substantial and architecturally impressive nests or colonies. The act of transformation itself also requires a great amount of work and energy to accomplish. Even the sounds that many insects make are the buzzing sounds of industriousness and activity. These sounds are also indicative of another Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 124 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 125 aspect that is common to many insects: their tendency to irritate. When Roman goddess Juno wanted to torment Io husband, Jupiterʼs lover, it was an insect, the gadfly, which she used.

The group of transformative remedies that has had the most impact on homeopathy in recent years is the birds. It is barely over a decade ago that the eagle, raven and falcon were first proved yet we now have several dozen bird remedies many of which are being widely used. The relationship between the bird remedies and the insect remedies is very close and I suspect that we are often seduced to prescribe the attractive birds more than the less exciting insects.

The birds and the insects are fundamentally similar in that they both move from the earthly realm into the realm of the sky. The important foreground symptoms will therefore be around similar issues. However, there are substantial differences between them. The most important difference is a subtle one but it is the one from which all the other differences arise. It is that the insects are escaping from the earth while the birds are escaping into the sky.

The aspiration of the birds, the desire and need for freedom and the desolation at being trapped and denied freedom is the most important thing to them. For the insects where they are going is unimportant, it is the shame or dirt from which they are escaping that matters to them.

The earthly realm from which the birds are escaping is unimportant to them; it is what they are leaving behind. You will find a range of similar origins to the feeling of being trapped in all the bird remedies and where it comes from will not differentiate the remedies. The sky realm is also no help in differentiating the remedies. Freedom is free; any attempt to define it immediately puts restrictions on it and so would make it no longer free. The bird remedies are defined by the thing which prevents them from reaching the realm of the sky and the freedom it offers. Because this is part of the important foreground of the case it will involve contraries. The very thing that promises and so allows them transformation and freedom will be the same thing that thwarts them and prevents it. In a pathological state they will tend to see only that side of it that thwarts them.

For the insects, the realm of the sky, the place to which they are escaping is not important. The thing that defines it for them is that it is not the earthly realm where they are subject to society and to dirt and shame. The sky is for them, if they consider it at all, a fantasy place where they are not subject to the things that they must face on earth. The things from which they are escaping are also not differentiated. There are many and varied things that they wish to escape but these are not greatly individualized to any remedy. It is not they but the feelings that they engender that are important and these Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 124 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 125 feelings are similar for all the remedies.

The differentiation lies in the way in which they escape the earth. Again this is different from the birds where it is what stops them that is important, while for the insects it is what they can or canʼt do that matters. It is about the way in which they apply their industriousness and the way in which they transform from earthbound beings into ones that have the freedom of the air.

The birds have the apparatus with which they reach the sky. Chicks need to mature before they can fledge but that is a straightforward and normal process. Even the flightless birds, which include the remedies: ostrich, penguin and roadrunner, have the means by which they obtain freedom but as it is not through flight they no longer have need of functional wings and so have lost them. This aspect does not form a part of their difficulty.

The insects are not born in the form that is able to leave the earth and move into the sky. They must work, usually through several larval stages and then through a transformative pupal stage and for some, like many parasitic wasps through several generations, before they attain the form and characteristics that allow flight. They have to work hard at this and it takes a great deal of energy, which is why many larvae are such prodigious eaters. It is their energy and industriousness that eventually promises them their freedom.

Many species of insect, especially among the hymenoptera, are social animals. These are ones in which the individuals have specific and different roles. The social unit acts as an entity and the individual plays a role as part of the whole to which its own interests are often sacrificed. The individual may not achieve freedom but must strive that the group as a whole can. The activities of the individual are regulated by the complicated interaction of many different hormones and pheromones.

The key indicator for the insect remedies is their industriousness. It is through the work that they do that are able to progress and so their work is always important to them in some way. They will put all their energies into their work and it will be among the most important ways that they gauge their success. This could be a little misleading as in the insect remedies it is the work itself that is important; there are many concomitants such as success, power and recognition that may appear significant but are really little more than markers of the effectiveness of the work. Though in the individual remedies some of these can be the markers on which the patient concentrates or depends and thus can be a point of differentiation.

Insect patients will also bring a work pattern and ethic to whatever they do. This means that they do things in a business like manner, even things where this is not appropriate and so they can appear to be unemotional, structured Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 126 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 127 and fastidious especially in personal relationships. They are better for activity and often specifically for work rather than just for any activity. They are restless and are often unable to rest or to settle into a calm or meditative state. However, their restlessness can be unproductive, just buzzing around getting nothing done.

It is only through effort that they are able to achieve and it is only through achievement that they are able to gain validation for who they are and what they do. It is achievement rather than success that is important to them and not so much for its own sake or even for what it brings but because it validates their work and their effort. The other side of this can be that in spite of the work they do and the effort they make they do not achieve as much as they feel they ought and they find this very depressing.

One of the areas that the insect remedies can direct their energies and activity is into benevolence. They feel that helping others can be very worthwhile and is another way of validating the work that they do. However, they also feel that others should reciprocate and should help them and they are disappointed that they seem to give much more than they receive in the way of help and support from the people around them.

The insect needs to metamorphosize, to transform in order to be able to do what he or she needs to do. It is not enough for them just to grow or develop or learn. The way that they are is not sufficient to achieve their objectives and needs. They feel that they need to be a different person and in a different situation in order to be able to move on. They might need to change their environment or the company they keep. They might feel they need to learn something more to gain new skills or to achieve some sort of qualification. At the same time there is a contrary reluctance to take the necessary steps to change and a feeling that in changing they will lose something of what they now have.

There can be a paradox arising from the attitude to transformation in that they must work and through work achieve something in order to transform but they also feel that they cannot truly achieve through their work until they are transformed. They feel this puts them in an impossible situation that seems to have no resolution and so they can despair of ever being able to make the necessary transformation.

Exhaustion is found throughout the insect remedies. It is a physical exhaustion that comes primarily from too much activity. One of the patterns found in many of the provings is a sense of physical exhaustion that comes with a sense of mental energy and alertness. It is as if the body canʼt keep up with mind. There are so many things to be done and so many ideas to be explored that the body runs out of energy long before they are done. This is further exacerbated by the fruitless nature of much of the activity, Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 126 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 127 which results in a great deal more energy being expended than is entirely necessary.

There is much laziness, ennui and a lack of motivation in the insect remedies. Some of this follows from the exhaustion, some of it comes out of a sense of despair that there is no progress and that enormous effort never actually produces results. However, there is also an innate laziness and a desire to do nothing. The restlessness also means that they are continually looking for something new and become bored very easily with having to do the same thing.

The insect remedies have a desire to be seen, to be looked at and to be recognized. It is partly through their work that they seek recognition but it also has a strong personal dimension. They want to look good and to be well dressed. They are vain and want to look at themselves in the mirror. They spend too much money on things and particularly on clothes and jewellery. Hair is a particular focus of this aspect of the remedies. They want their hair to look good and feel that it is a very important part of how they look.

Time and time again we find in the provings of insect remedies symptoms around hair falling out, alopecia and a fear of losing their hair. This is an example of how we cannot get to the detailed pictures of remedies without conducting provings on them. There is nothing in the chemistry or the signature of the insects that would lead to an understanding of how important hair is in the remedies but it comes through so clearly in so many provings that we know it is something to look for in insect cases.

There is in the insect remedies a duality. This is not the same as a contrary or a polarity. A duality is when there are two opposite things that are very important but which are, or seem to be, entirely incompatible. In a duality there is no possibility of compromise and no sense of a place in between where both aspects are accepted in some way. It is one or the other.

The common expression of duality is in the phrase “seeing things in black and white”, where the very concept of grey is excluded. The insect remedies do see things in black and white and they have a similar attitude to lightness and darkness, good and evil, being there and not being there and to gender and sexual orientation. This aspect of the insects together with their business like attitude to things makes them easy to confuse with the minerals: black and white attitudes and a structured approach to everything being generally accepted as the key indicators of a mineral remedy.

However, the “black and white” attitudes found in the two groups are significantly different. In the minerals we find the most primitive understanding of the world. It is an understanding that does not encompass complexity and so has no space for the grey areas. To understand the either/or Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 128 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 129 is both enough for them and all they are able to comprehend. For the insects this attitude is an aspect of their duality and is a much more complex thing.

Because many insects are able to be present in two very different and often contradictory forms: the larva and the imago, the caterpillar and the butterfly, their understanding of the world tends to also take two separate and often contradictory forms. Because both forms cannot coexist and because, just as their transformation is sudden and complete and does not include intermediate states, they do not work well with change that involves smooth development and have difficulty understanding compromise and the grey areas. They therefore enter into the state of duality the two contradictory states are either alternated between or held together in a state of active conflict.

A good example of the comparison can be seen in the confusion of sexual identity. This is found in the minerals in hydrogen and iridium. In hydrogen the spirit of the patient is unsure about coming to earth, about manifesting at all. Decisions that follow later, such as in what gender to manifest are addressed to an even lesser degree and so the patient is unsure as to what gender they are. It does not generally involve deep conflict it is merely an uncertainty, a confusion. Iridium is concerned with boundaries and with establishing difference and boundary. The Iridium patient is uncertain as to where the boundary lies between masculine and feminine and their struggle is to define and understand that boundary. In the minerals it is a confusion that is apparent and there is not so much conflict and what there is comes out of the confusion.

In the insects, the confusion of sexual identity is most strongly expressed in the housefly and this is the remedy in the repertory, but it is a conflict this is, I think, to be found in the insects in general. It is much more a conflict than just confusion. Masculine and feminine elements are both strong in them but they are unable to integrate them into some sort of compromise that allows expression of both. They feel that it must be a situation in which it is either one or the other. They therefore tend to create a duality where the two are expressed separately or in alternation and where there is a painful conflict between them. Sexual orientation can become an issue in the same way. They may have bisexual tendencies but the concept of an intermediate, compromised state such as bisexuality is anathema to them and they will be unable to adapt to it and will set up a situation where both homosexuality and heterosexuality are expressed but are in conflict with each other. This situation may be an internal one but it can also be externalized into the way that they are perceived by others. In particular their appearance or behavior may cause others to wonder if they are homosexual or even make homosexual advances to them and they find this very disturbing.

Confusion of various types is found in many of the insect remedies. There can be considerable confusion arising out of their exhaustion, although on the Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 128 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 129 whole it is a physical exhaustion and the mind often remains clear. The most commonly expressed confusion is around expression either in speaking or in writing, with mixing up of letters or words. Forgetfulness is also common in the remedy particularly for names and in several provings the names of close friends could not be remembered.

The insect remedies have a tremendous sensitivity. It is sensitivity to the environment in particular. Some or all of the senses are likely to be more sensitive and acute. All of the senses, particularly hearing, are likely to be on edge and the least sound will cause irritation and irritability.

The insects are what they eat more perhaps than other animals. The general naming of insects often involves the naming of the type of insect and of the plant that it infests. Several remedies are defined in this way; not only by the insect but also by the plant they live and feed on. These include the oak gall wasp: Galla querus robur, the aphid: Aphis chenopodii glauci and the cochineal: Coccus cacti. Many insects are poisonous and more often that not they accumulate the toxins found in the plants they feed on rather than creating their own. In the same way the symptomolgy of the plant is often grafted on to the picture of the insect. Coccus cacti for example has heart symptomology that is clearly similar to the symptoms found in cactus.

They can be sensitive to the feelings of other people but this is much less strong than it is in the birds, the spiders or the snakes. It is rather that they are sensitive to the presence of people as part of the environment. They feel vulnerable, not only to physical attack but also psychically. It is as if people are able to psychically invade their space and so to harm them.

Some of this feeling may be related to the importance of social interaction to the remedies. Many insects live their lives as part of a colony that acts as if it were a single organism. The individual is often under the control of the colony and not only its development but also its behavior is controlled by the pheromones and chemical signals that come from the rest of the colony. The struggle for individuality and recognition and the desire to conform are one of the important dualities and contraries to be found in the insect remedies. The need for company and the desire to be alone are likewise common, contrary and dynamic in many of the insect remedies.

Sexuality is an important aspect of these remedies. The insects are generally extremely prolific reproducing quickly and substantially. Many insects have developed very specialized and complicated mating patterns and rituals. Some social insects have only one breeding female and the others become infertile workers. Some insects use primarily asexual reproduction or alternate between sexual and asexual generations. On the whole there is an urgency to their sexuality. Some of the larval, nymph and pupal stages of the insect lifecycle may be very long but the adult stage tend to be very short Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 130 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 131 and so they need to mate and lay eggs as quickly as possible on reaching maturity.

The sexual behavior of insects and of the flowering plants are often deeply intertwined. The plants may require insects to pollinate them and this is often integrated into the sexual behavior of the insect. This has come about through a long history of coevolution and many plants and insects have become completely specific to each other. Each species of ficus (fig trees) has a single specific species of wasp that is required to fertilise it and whose sexual behavior requires the fig. Other insects live on animals and often eat from the animal, particularly by drinking blood. For many this is tied into their sexual and reproductive behavior. The female mosquito must have a blood meal before she is able to lay her eggs.

The insect remedies are often very sexual with sexual behavior, promiscuity and many sexual dreams. The concern with appearance and with being noticed already mentioned often has a sexual element to it. Sexual perversion came up in many provings, particularly in the dreams and it seems to be an important factor in these remedies. In some ways this is a conflation of the importance of sexuality with the feelings of dirtiness, shame and disgust.

The insects are escaping from the earth and their view of it is of dirt and shame. Many insects, especially in their larval forms, are among the creatures most likely to arouse deep disgust and hatred. Cockroaches, maggots, fleas and lice are all considered indicators of dirt and many insects are common vectors for disease. There are in the insect remedies diverse attitudes to dirt and disease but in some way they are usually important. Cleaning and tidying are therefore a common expression of the industriousness found in the insect remedies. There is a tendency to notice dirt and foulness around them and dreams often involve dirt, decay and shit. The most important expression is one that is internalized; the patient feels that they are dirty and that people react to them with disgust. A feeling of shame and of being despised is therefore common in the insect remedies. It is interesting that the only insect that has a strong sense of self-confidence seems to be the ladybug, which is probably the only insect that we have a powerful love for. Even the lovely butterfly is also the despised caterpillar.

The insects escape the earth by flying. Many insects are now either wingless or flightless but in evolutionary terms all of the pterygota are descended from winged ancestors. If they have lost their wings or the ability to fly it is because they no longer have any need for them. The ability to fly is not therefore something that they strive or yearn for. However, most larval and nymph forms do not fly usually they must develop and transform before they are granted their wings. A sense of lightness and flying and dreams of floating or flying are to be found in many of the remedies. The opposing feeling of heaviness and of being trapped and held back or held down are also Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 130 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 131 representative of the remedies.

Insects breed very quickly and prolifically but they also form the diet of many other species and are consumed in great numbers. The sense of vulnerability is very strong in almost all insect remedies and all of them have dreams of war, violence and being attacked.

The earthy nature of the remedies is expressed in the main physical symptoms. This can be clearly seen in a comparison with the spider remedies. The spiders live on a nervous energy and so do not express the symptoms usually expected with restlessness and high levels of activity. The insects work on a more physical plane and so very much express the symptoms that normally go along with excessive activity. They are physically tired while mentally alert, they have great appetite and are generally hot.

The insect remedies generally have a strong appetite and are looking for the food to sustain their activity. There can be a loss of appetite but on the whole appetite is increased. It tends not to be a discriminating appetite, so it is canine or ravenous and they will eat anything. If there are desires expressed they are for energy foods, carbohydrates and particularly sugars. It is more likely to be a capricious appetite in which they do not know quite what they want. They are often very hungry but feel full after eating only a little.

The expending of energy in activity tends to create heat and excess heat is a common part of the insect pictures. There is general heat and especially flushes of heat, indicating that they might be useful at the climacteric. The pains found in insect remedies are characteristically burning and this is perhaps one of the consistent indicators for insect remedies. Because they are already overheated they are usually worse for heat and they like open air and feel better for it even when they are cold.

The way that the heat and burning are expressed varies from remedy to remedy and can be a differentiating factor. So in Cantharis it leads to blistering while in Apis it is watery and linked to edema. In Culex it is irritating and more like urticaria.

Irritation and sensitivity are general concomitants of heat, as opposed to numbness, which usually accompanies coldness. Irritation and irritability are found throughout the insects but there is also the other side of this in that they can be extremely irritating to those around them.

Inflammation, irritation, urging and burning pain are pretty well universal in the insect remedies and they are often associated with an irritation and excitement of the genitals. There is also urging and incomplete evacuation of the rectum.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 132 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 133 Swelling and constriction in the throat appears in almost all the remedies and in many of them there is swelling of the glands in the neck and they can be remedies for mumps. The voice is hoarse and often lost.

The picture of the insects as a whole is now quite extensive and reliable but differentiating between them is not as simple. Although we now have good provings of about a dozen and some knowledge of several more, the differences are quite subtle and are easily lost amongst the similarities. An understanding that the important foreground symptoms will be around the issue of working to transform themselves so that they can escape the trials of the earthly realm is a very useful tool.

There are twenty-seven orders of insect. We have remedies from ten of them but most of the important ones are covered, the Orthoptera, crickets and grasshoppers perhaps being the exception. There are undoubtedly features that are more important in certain orders, for example sexuality is particularly strong in the Cleoptera, the beetles. However, we generally have only one or two well-proven remedies in each order and so not enough information to draw conclusions.

The remedies of which we have at least some picture include:

Odonata, the dragonflies and damselflies; Enallagma carunculatum Damselfly Calopteryx splendens Damselfly Mantodea, the mantis; Mantis Religiosa Praying Mantis Blattaria (or Blattodea), the cockroaches Blatta orientalis Asian Cockroach Blatta occidentalis American Cockroach Phthiraptera, the bird lice and true lice Pediculus capitis Head Louse Lepidoptera, the butterflies and moths; Bombyx processionea Procession Moth Inachis io Peacock Butterfly Lomonia obliqua (Lepidoptera saturniidae) Limenitis bredowii californica California Sister Butterfly Diptera, the mosquitoes, gnats, and true flies; Culex musca Mosquito Musca domestica Housefly Siphonaptera, the fleas; Pulex irritans Flea Coleoptera, the beetles; Cantharis vesicatoria Spanish Fly Coccinella septempunctata Ladybird Doryphora decemlineata Colorado Beetle Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 132 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 133 Lamprohiza splendidula Firefly Hymenoptera, including the ants, bees, wasps, hornets, and ichneumons, the chalcids; Apis mellifica Honey Bee Vespa vulgaris Wasp Cynips calicis (Galla quercina ruber) Oak Gall Wasp Formica rufa Ant Hemiptera, the bugs; Aphis chenopodii glauci Aphid Cimex lectularius Bedbug Coccus cacti Cochineal

Peter Fraser has been a homœopath in Bristol, England for ten years. He has a particular interest in the provings of new remedies and has been involved in some twenty which can be viewed at www.hominf.org. He is the Director of the Institute of Homœopathy and the author of The AIDS Miasm, Using Realms in Homœopathy, Using Mappa Mundi in Homœopathy. Books on Miasms, Archetypes, Philosophy and Correspondences are in the works. A Supplement to Clarkeʼs Dictionary is an on going project with the first entries, including several insects, available on the website.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 134     Catherine Sharfstein

Male, 67 years old. November 12, 2004:

A medium built man, medium height, conservatively dressed, balding, walked in. He started talking without waiting for a question. He was in his late sixties.

I suffer a loss of hearing in my right ear. I had a head cold. I visited hearing specialists. We bought hearing aids. They did not do much good. It magnified the echo. My right ear is stopped up, like there is a plug in it. My hearing dropped from eighty percent to fifty percent. They did all kind of tests. Nothing was medically wrong. I stopped using the hearing aids. It was a cold in my ears. I went to an acupuncturist once a week. He did what he could. When I am under pressure and working hard and fast, there is a feeling of pressure there. When it is colder in the fall, it isnʼt serious. You sneeze several times. It keeps it under control. Taking grape seed seemed to help. I do not hear as much as Iʼd like to. It is not that the quietness of the speaker contributes to my poor hearing, although that adds some problems. It got occluded and then it got better. It was stopped up. I could hear people, but I could not hear all the words.

CS: Stopped up?

I feel under the pressure. It feels stopped up, but nothing is there. (The patient stopped talking. It was a long pause. Then he continued.) It is pressure. (He picked up right hand). It feels like it is stopped up, and I am not hearing as well. Some days you can hear and some days you cannot. Like you have a pipe and it is not quite open. My nose is stopped up. It is the same thing. It is a blockage.

CS: Blockage?

When a pipe has something in it, the water cannot flow freely. It is a similar situation. Pressure. In certain circumstances, I have no problems. With noise, I have more problems.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 135 CS: How does it affect you?

You feel dumb, you cannot respond. You can talk, yet you cannot respond to a judgeʼs question. You do not hear him, or donʼt hear him correctly, yet you approach the bench. Nothing works quite right. (He picks up two hands just a little bit.) They scream at you (two hands). You lose control of the situation. Like in silent movies, you are not able to understand them. It could be threatening, or it could be non-threatening.

CS: Threatening?

Then you have to find a way to deal with it. It is a bad dream. You feel very inadequate. You let your client down. You may be stupid. You are very angry and frustrated, rightly or wrongly. Most of the time you are not threatened. I remember being threatened when I had a bad dream.

CS: Tell me about the bad dream.

Nothing special. I used to dream about wolves when I was a child. I have no recollection. I remember, sometimes, a crazy dream -- I kicked someone. I woke up and went back to sleep. I dream when there are too many blankets on me and it is too hot. It induces dreams. It is amusing, the fact that I had that dream. I have not felt threatened since high school. One bully used to chase me. It was a situation when I had …nerve racking, mostly sailing situations. The situations sailors always have. Before you get into port. I remember, you have to turn sharply before you go onto rocks. Then you are safe. Turn and get out. Sailing adventures.

CS: Sailing adventures?

I have been sailing since high school. I was a paid crew for my first summer of graduate school. I was scraping up the ship. We dragged our anchor a few feet off the bay, at the other end of the harbor. We decided to move the boat. My employer could not move it. It was a strong wind. We raised sails, and passed a few other boats. It was an advantage. I had my finger crushed. We survived. I was the lightest one on the boat. I was raised to the top of the mass. I had to fix what was not working. I finished oiling it. I had to make sure I did not fall into the sea.

CS: What is there for you?

I like ships, I like boats. It is a nice quest. It is a pleasant way to spend a day, waves are crashing. It is exiting. It is fun; you have to know what are you doing. It requires skill. It takes you where you want to go. It is an adventure to ride with the waves. It is a controlled adventure, running a boat. Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 136 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 137 CS: Running a boat?

It is fun; you set the sail, and the wind is constant. On a bigger boat you do not have to adjust it. If the wind is blowing harder, then you are biting. You have to bite against the wind. When the wind is blowing harder, you have to head towards the wind.

CS: Biting?

Bite to the wind, when the wind is coming to the direction where you are coming from. You have to go on a forty-five degree angle. If the wind is coming from the other end, you go to the other side and you flip around. You bring the ship head into the wind. The wind is going to shift; you have to get the sails into the other side. You let them loose on one side, and tighten on the other side. Sailing is unique. It is a nice sport, like skiing and golfing. It requires skills. I was exhausted changing the sails. When you are not in the fog and not on rocks, it is fun. It is a matter of skills, eyes and coordination.

CS: What if there is wind, fog, and you windsailing?

It is tense, and you do things cautiously. You have to be cautious with what you are doing, so you do not run into a rock. There is a risk level, or confidence level. All sorts of risks. It is a question of recognizing the risk. A marine in Iraqi….pausing.

CS: Being a marine in Iraqi?

People shoot at you; it is a huge risk. Courage. Some people like adrenaline going through them. X-cop. You crash through the door. You never know what is on the other side of the door. It is nerve wracking. The body is very tense. I am fortunate to have avoided military combat. When you drive through a snowstorm, you have to be careful, not to end up in a ditch. Cautiously. In the woods. If the body is not hurt, keeping warm, getting rescue equipment to pull you out. Not getting hurt. A car going over a cliff. It is an accident, falling down the stairs. Some are more serious situations. Car rolls over. Threatening and cautious.

CS: Threatened and cautious?

Reacting to a threat. Someone comes to you with a gun, and says, “Give me your money!” Just give him the money. You have to accommodate the situation, so the person who holds the gun does not hurt you. The person feels his life is being threatened. He will take precautions. He may not effectively react to the situation. He feels scared and threatened, he feels violated and angry. He wants to turn around and shoot the person. I would Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 136 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 137 be very angry. No one wants to be robbed. It is a sense of adventure or control. They have to be punished and put in jail. They have to be kept behind, out of society. They are a threat to the society. I saw movies about them. It was Shawshank Redemption. It takes place in the prison, down south, the man was wrongly convicted. He goes to jail, survives the jail. The warden is corrupted. Person being in jail is the subject of control of the guards. They may hurt some captives and control others.

CS: Captives?

Prisoners. A person is being controlled by someone else. In a prison situation, you do not want the other person tell you what to do. You are in captivity.

CS: Captivity?

When the person is in captivity, someone else controls him, he cannot get out. Frustrated. It is hopelessness. It is like being kidnapped.

CS: Kidnapped?

Terrorized, beheaded. Most prisonersʼ situations are unlawful, not mentally balanced. Kidnapped to extort money. Threatening, that they will kill you. You may try to find a way to escape. You have been captive; you can be a prisoner of war, a kidnapped victim. Subjugated by someoneʼs physical will. Involuntary situation.

CS: Victim?

Someone who is been abused by someone else in some way. Rape, robbed, whatever. Anybody could be a victim. Victimized by someone else. Physical... who has been robbed, by physical violence, by a threat. Physical force, of someone who defrauded you.

(The interview moved very slowly. The patient did not volunteer information. I had to ask many questions. He also closed his eyes frequently. Like he fell asleep for a moment and woke up. It was hard to understand his speech. There was no clarity in the way he talked. He finally made it to, “being a victim by someone outside, using physical force”. This topic obviously aggravated the patient, and I decided to change the topic.)

CS: Tell me about your fears?

No one wants to die. It is number one. You want to postpone that as long as possible. We are all threatened by the possibility of terrorist attacks, or bad economic decision. I do not have any particular fears. Maybe only of a high Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 138 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 139 school bully.

CS: High school bully?

He did not like me; he was tougher and bigger than I was. I avoided him. I wanted to be sure he would not get into a fight with me. I did not want to get into a fight with a guy who is stronger than me. I was scared of him. He made me nervous. I did not go where he was. I did not want to fight. People were hitting each other over a head. Inflict damage to others. I do not like these people. They are trying to do something to someone else. (This information brought me to the animal kingdom, so I asked him about animals.)

CS: Animals?

I like them. I like animals. We had pets, dogs, cats; they are very nice. Some were domestic, live stock. I think they should be treated with respect. They have their place in the environment. They are very amusing. Monkeys are cute. Do not get between them and their banana. They are wild animals. When they want a banana, they want their banana. We all like to eat, but we should not kill an animal. My favorite animals are dogs.

CS: Are there animals you are scared of or do not like?

There are certain animals that are bloodsuckers. Fish type of things that comes to you, and latch on to you. They are small, an inch long, like small fish, with the round head and teeth. They are designed to suck on hand( gesture). Leaches. They bite; dig their teeth into you.

CS: How do you feel about them?

They are not pleasant creatures. (hand gesture). You may be scared at dusk. Twilight. You do not want to be in shallow water with a shark or crocodile. I would be scared of poisonous snakes. I would be up on the chair. (There was energy in the voice of the patient.) Cobra, rising with its hood, with the fang, rattlesnake, ready to strike. Coral snake, Sidewinder, we have a garden snake. Black snake is not poisonous. Water Moccasin is not prevalent on the North East. Copperhead is a poisonous snake. Rattlesnake, and then the Coral snake. (The patient became more energetic in his voice, the speed of his speech increased. He knew many snakes and about them.) Coral is a desert snake; it is quite picturesque, brightly colored. Coral snake is more deadly, more poisonous. I am picturing it …. With their fangs. It zaps you. (The patient made an energetic movement with his right hand towards the calf of the right leg. It was sudden, unexpected and forceful.) Snake moves quite quickly. They unleash. They do not give a warning, and a rattlesnake will. (Long pause. The patient decided to change the subject.) Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 138 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 139 Some animals are more pleasant. Like wolves. Good-looking animal. They hunt in packs. I have seen a wolf. They look like a dog- part dog, part wolf. A big dog with a bushy tail. That was a great movie, “Dancing with the Wolves”. The person studied them. They are territorial; they will mark their territory with their urine. They hunt within their territory. The are dangerous and sophisticated animals. They have a great pack order. Interesting group. Like any predators.

CS: Dangerous?

Some animals are more dangerous than others if you are on the street with them. You do not want to be a part of the food chain. Poisonous snakes are very dangerous, as long as you respect them, you are OK. Do not do anything stupid. Black bears are fine animals. You do not want one in your tent. They will mess you up.

(The patient was tired and did not want to talk about issues, which were not related to his cold. He felt he said enough. So he paused and started talking about his cold again.)

I have a mild cold. It is in my head passage. I sneeze. I feel that I have this mild situation. It stays around, it gets more active. It has something to do with the hearing loss. I sneeze. It drips into my throat. It makes me tired, it is annoying and it interferes with what you do. You cannot pull off a conversation when you sneeze your head off. No one wants you in court, you take a modern medicine, and it takes away the symptoms pretty much. You feel tired, not up to par. Sometimes, you are under tension, you are doing things quickly, and there is pressure in my ears. It is a little, like any other pressure. It is outward pressure, things are pressing in and out. It is a membrane in one ear. Building up. It could be in one or both ears. Not from interior.

No other problems. Tonsils were operated on as a child. Prostate. At one point, I had a blood test. The doctor thought that I have to see an urologist. Doctor offered to have a biopsy. I take vitamin E pills. I used to get up once a night. I did a PSR test. I had a spring ligament – Achilles tendon, two years ago. My left knee was twisted taking a wrong step somewhere. I dislocated my right shoulder while skiing. When I ski, I always wear preventive gear. It stops my arm from going too high.

CS: Tell me about yourself?

I was born in a rural area. I lived on a farm. It was a lot of fun. I played in the barn. We went to the ocean for the summer. My parents had a house there. I went to law school. I am a lawyer. CS: What do you do as lawyer? Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 140 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 141 Mostly litigations. There are different aspects to it. It is even fun cross- examining. To watch them squirm and wiggle. (His voice was raised and I felt that the patient enjoyed the “squirm and wiggle,” hand gesture.) When you make someone uncomfortable, they cannot answer your question, and you donʼt let them go where they want to go. Squirm and wiggle – move about, uncomfortably. Now I do securities altercations for people who are unhappy with their brokers. Arbitration and commercial litigation.

CS: What is there for you?

I try to represent the truth. I represent the good guys. It is nice when you can cross-examine someone. They may not tell the truth. Some things they donʼt want to admit. You force them into a position, which is not helpful to them. It is an indoor sport. The biggest sport is cross-examination. You are with your enemy who is against you. If you are effective, it gets the aggressive juices running.

CS: Aggressive?

It is both being a cop and going through a door. Your adrenaline is up, and you are basically being very alert, as you take the person through the questioning. When you play a game and you want to win, you feel some aggression towards the enemy. This is not a physical aggression. (The true nature of the patient was coming out easier and faster through talking about his work, which he enjoyed very much.)

If they do not want to tell the whole story, or a more truthful side, they show their prejudice side. People will lie. How far they will lie? You have an opportunity to test that. They say one thing and the document says another thing, you confront them with the document. You have to bring out the truth. The bad guy does not tell the truth. My cases are civil cases. People steal other peopleʼs money. People do not want to pay the money they own. A guy retired. He got a bonus and he put it into a brokerage firm. They lost it all. They put the guy on high margin, in volatile stocks. He got wiped out in four months. The person who did it is without a conscious. They do what they have to do, just to make a buck. They achieved what they wanted to achieve by making money at other peopleʼs expense. One stole from another. He is a cheater. No honor. I do not respect them.

CS: Could you tell about what affected you in a bad way?

I had a second wife; she happened to be very obnoxious. The marriage did not last long. She was nice sometimes, and when she was bad, she was horrid. She was impossible, and nasty to people when she decided to be nasty. She screamed and yelled. Lack of consideration for people. The first Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 140 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 141 wife was the most difficult woman. She had very strong points of view. She could lose her temper easily and be nasty. I was angry with them. (The patient did not want to go into his personal life.)

Rx: Elaps 12c x 4

December 30, 2005

CS: How do you feel?

I feel pretty good. I feel everything is better. I sleep through the night. Overall it is better.

CS: Hearing, overall?

It is hard to say on that question. I still have slight hearing loss. I have difficulty-hearing people who talk to me in a soft voice. Overall I feel better. I have to say, it is better. It is much better. In general, I have less pressure there. I started to take magnesium. My doctor told me, that I was borderline high blood pressure. I started taking magnesium three or four months ago. My blood pressure was 140 and it became 120.

CS: Pressure in the ear?

It is not there. It is a just bit of pressure. It will go away as soon as I take the remedy. I have it here with me. (Pulls out the envelope with the remedy from the pocket. The patient did not use all the doses of the remedies I had given to him.) I do notice some pressure when I am under tension.

CS: Prostate?

I do not get up much at night, and I have less need to go to the bathroom in general. Overall it is better, much better control. Everything seemed to work better. Even you have a PSR higher a bit then the norm.

CS: How is your health compared to when we started to work?

It is good, it is improved.

CS: How is your work?

I cannot say that I am more or less productive. I think, I forget frequently. I think it occurs more than it used to. Other then that I am good.

CS: What bothers you now? Everything is OK. I feel healthy; nothing is bothering me. I am taking a Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 142 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 143 few supplements. The prostate is much better, the pressure in ears is less, and hearing gets better as I take the remedy. Blood pressure was 140 over something, it is 120 over something. It went down by twenty points. (Took a flu shot several weeks ago.) My left eye had spots in it. I did make an appointment with the eye doctor. I may have some floaters in the eye.

Rx: Elaps 200c Took the remedy in the office on December 30, 2005

February 25, 2006

CS: How are you?

I do fine overall. My wife says that my hearing is not 100%. Everything else is pretty good.

CS: How is your hearing since you initially came to me?

It is improved. I think I hear much better.

CS: How is your energy?

I feel pretty good. I was skiing; that was great.

CS: Energy?

I am doing well. Even in the prostate area. Most of the time I sleep thought the night. If I have a bit more tea, I may go once to the bathroom. My prostate is much better. It is definitely improved. I am absolutely improved. Definite positive improvement.

CS: Pressure in your head?

I do have a little bit of pressure, but not much. Nothing that I would think about. I think of taking more vitamin C. It may be good in general. I take two supplements in the morning and a multivitamin.

CS: Have you been sick lately?

No, I have not been sick since we began working together. I feel good. I can say, in general, I am a very healthy person. My health has improved. I am a good skier. I hold on for the moment to keep in shape. I feel good. I am happy and healthy.

CS: Blood pressure?

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 142 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 143 I went to the doctorʼs office in October. The blood pressure had gone down 20 points. I felt it was due to your remedy and the magnesium; it is a good idea to take them together.

Recommendation: Wait. Elaps 200c to take with him

ELAPS Rubrics

MIND; THREATENING MIND; SELF-CONTROL; general MIND; SELF-CONTROL; loss of MIND; SELF-CONTROL; want of MIND; DREAMS; animals, of; MIND; CAUTIOUS MIND; HURT other peopleʼs feelings, inclination to. MIND; VIOLENCE, vehemence; MIND; EXCITEMENT, excitable; desire for MIND; EXCITEMENT, excitable; amel MIND; DECEITFUL, sly; corrupt, venal MIND; DECEITFUL, sly; fraudulent MIND; DECEITFUL, sly; perjured MIND; KILL, desire to MIND; ESCAPE, attempts to MIND; FIGHT, wants to MIND; QUICK to act MIND; ATTACK others, desire to MIND; DULLNESS, sluggishness, difficulty of thinking and comprehending MIND; PREJUDICES, traditional

NOSE; PLUG sensation

HEARING; IMPAIRED; right

EARS; STOPPED sensation

EXTREMITY PAIN; GENERAL; upper limbs; right EXTREMITY PAIN; GENERAL; lower limbs; left

BLADDER; URINATION; dribbling by drops BLADDER; URINATION; feeble stream, slow, weak

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 144 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 145 MIRILLIʼS THEMES; ENEMY MIRILLIʼS THEMES; HUNTER MIRILLIʼS THEMES; FLOATING MIRILLIʼS THEMES; CRAWLING

BLADDER; URINATION; unsatisfactory

Catherine Sharfstein earned MS in Metallurgical Engineering in 1972 from Steel and Alloys Institute in Moscow, Russia and MBA in Finance in 1987 from Fairleigh Dickinson University, NJ. She immigrated to USA from Ukraine in 1979 and started a homeopathic practice in 1994. Her published cases have appeared in LINKS, Simillimum, and Homeopath, UK. She practices in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

5 Kossuth Place, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 201 - 791 - 8396 [email protected]

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 144 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 145       : - By Melanie J. Grimes

In 1860, the number of homeopaths in the U.S. was over 2,000, more than 5% of medical practitioners.1 The entire population of Seattle was a mere 1,107 even 10 years later, in 1870, with two of them being homeopaths, a total of five residing statewide.

By the time Washington was granted statehood in 1889, the fledgling state boasted 18 homeopaths. Ten years later, in 1896, there were 43, and by 1904, 58. At that time, four were in Dayton, fourteen in Seattle, eleven in Spokane, five in Tacoma, and three in Walla Walla. In 1889, both the Washington State Homœopathic Medical Society and the Homœopathic Medical Society of King County (Seattle) were first convened. 2

The first homeopathic physician in Seattle was Dr. Alven Bagley, a graduate of Western College of Homeopathic Medicine, who moved to Seattle in 1855. Dr. Herman Beardsley Bagley learned homeopathy both from his father and at the Homeopathic Medical College in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1872, he became a surgery professor at Michigan Medical College where his father was also in practice. In 1875, he relocated to Seattle and lived at the northeast corner of Spring St. and Fourth Ave., now the location of the Pacific Plaza Hotel. Numerous dates are given for Bagleyʼs arrival in Seattle, but the dates recorded in 1929 book appear to be the most accurate.3

In 1879, Bagley was given a seat on the City Council. In 1889, he was elected president of the King County Homeopathic Medical Society, and the next year, to the presidency of the Homeopathic Medical Society of Washington. Active in civic affairs, Bagley was also president of the Seattle Improvement Company, and a director of Washington National Bank. He championed a plan to connect two lakes inside the city limits, in order to provide a fresh water harbor for the booming seaport and was considered “one of the communityʼs core of brilliant boomers.” Bagley died “too suddenly to cure himself” on Feb. 8, 1899.4 “His service and worth to the community as a physician and as a promoter of public projects can scarcely

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 146 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 147 be overestimated and thus his name is inseparably interwoven with the history of the northwest.”5

First County Hospital in Seattle is run by homeopath: The County Workhouse (Poor House) When Seattle was but 24 years old, with a population of about 2,000, the County Workhouse or Poor House was established on May 11, 1877, as the first county hospital. Three members of the Sisters of Providence sponsored by the Church of Our Lady of Good Help, were recruited to care for the “linen and the sick.”6 The hospital, located in what is now known as Georgetown district in Seattle, was a two-story building, 50 by 60 feet. Six rooms on the second floor accommodated up to 10 patients. The first patient admitted died three months later. Annals of the hospitalʼs first year show 25 county patients (those paid for by the county government), six private patients, two operations performed and 131 “night watchings”. 7

The county quickly outgrew this first hospital, and a year later, the sisters and their four patients were relocated to a large residence on 5th and Madison Street in the city proper. The name, Providence Hospital was suggested by a judge and a sign announcing this name was nailed on the building. The building, which cost $25,000, installed the first elevator and was lit with gaslights. Dr. H. B. Bagley was awarded a contract to “supply medical and surgical attendance for the county poor of said county confined in the county hospital and for the prisoners of the county jail” from February 14 1881 for a period of one year. He was paid $150 quarterly. 8

The county death rate was reported at 18% per thousand, and the population was about 5000. One of detriments to the founding cityʼs health was the sewer, which were connected to the open water in the port, and flushed in or out depending on the tides.9

Health care at turn of the century A number of homeopaths were in practice and known to be on staff at area hospitals shortly after the turn of the century, among them C.P Bryant, Williard and Ashley Palmer, and Charles Littlefield. Bryant was the head of St Lukeʼs Hospital, and the Palmers were on staff at Northwest.

Spanish flu By 1918, the population of Seattle was nearly 400,000 when the Spanish influenza arrived, purportedly via sick soldiers on a train from Philadelphia. By October 4, over 700 people were sick, and the city added $5,000 to aid in control and treatment. Four people died on Oct 7, and anti-spitting ordinances were enforced. Citizens were required to wear masks while walking in the streets or riding in streetcars. Churches and other public institutions closed for six weeks. Most of the 1600 deaths (80%) from the Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 146 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 147 flu were due to pneumonia.10 Two local homeopaths reported excellent recovery in their patients treated with homeopathy.

“I treated over 100 cases of influenza and pneumonia, lost two cases, one who had taken Aspirin for a week when pneumonia developed before I was called; the other a very malignant case with very high temperature from the onset.” Remedies: Gelsemium, Eupatorium, Bryonia, etc. — C. P. Bryant, M. D. I treated approximately 500 cases, which included pneumonia, lost two cases; never used Aspirin nor permitted it to be used. Chief drugs were Belladonna, Gelsemium, and Sticta for the throat symptoms, Mercurius, Natrum muriaticum and Kali muriaticum.--Ashley B. Palmer, M.D 11

(Endnotes) 1 Whorton, James C., Nature Cures: The History of Alternative Medicine in America, Oxford Univ. Press, 2002, 63 2 King, William Harvey, History of Homeopathy and its institutions in America Vol 1., 422 3 Bagley, C. P., History of King County, Washington, Vol.2, S.J. Clarke Publishing CO, 1929, 147 4 Dorpat, Paul, Seattle Now and Then, Vol 1 and 3. Tartu Publications, 1988, 77 5 Bagley, C. P., 148 6 Board of County Commissioners, Beginnings Progress and Achievement in the Medical Work of King County, Wa., 29 7 Board of County Commissioners, 31 8 Board of County Commissioners, 34 9 Board of County Commissioners, 33 10 King County Medical Society, One Hundred Years, KCMS, 1988, 7 11Dewey, W.A., MD, Homeopathy in Influenza - a Chorus of Fifty in Harmony, University of Michigan, The Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, May 1921, taken from http://www.homeopathicmedicalclinic. com/flu/dewey.htm

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 148 ��

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Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 149 ��

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Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 150      Lucy Vaughters, PA-C, MA-T, CCH

Thereʼs so much to be said about whatʼs right with homeopathy…and whatʼs wrong with the way most of us learn it. Iʼve been on both sides of the educational fence, teacher and student, for over twenty years, and Iʼm saying it: thereʼs a Mack Truck in homeopathyʼs living room, but nobodyʼs honking.

My kids get a major portion of their learning from sound-bites and rapid on-line reads. I prefer bumper stickers. Then, when traffic is jammed—as it often is in Seattle—I have plenty of time to pore over all the rear-end wisdom thatʼs out there. Since Iʼm in the midst of organizing a homeopathy school these days, they all seem to speak of homeopathic education.

To wit:

1. Visualize whirled peas. This sloganʼs relevance to the overall state of homeopathic education seems self-evident: mish-mash. Confusing. Most of us—except the lucky ones who attended the rare systematic three and four- year programs -- have pieced together our homeopathic schooling willy- nilly, flying coast-to-coast or round the world. Maybe we got the “basics” of homeopathy; maybe not. More likely, it was up to us to make sense of the Organon, Kent or Case. If your experience was at all like mine, at your very first homeopathic seminar, you sat next to a frequent flyer whoʼd already logged a thousand seminar hours. Or else, after twenty years of practice, you were following Divyaʼs subtle and abstruse logic ʻround the circle to the confluence point alongside someone who had just recently learned to pronounce homeopathy. What we need is systematic education; what most of us get is whirled peas. It all ends up saddling each of us with the task of finding a red thread in the homeopathic haystack, to piece together approaches as diverse as “Cycles and Segments,” “Mappa Mundi,” or “Vital Sensation.”

2. When you hear hoof beats, think of horses, not zebras. OK, I confess, I havenʼt seen this one on a bumper recently, but like all my medically-trained peers, I had this homily ground into me. Its relevance

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 151 to homeopathic education is all too clear. We need a standard, common language—we could call it “Classical homeopathy!”—and we could require basic standards of fluency before crossing certain borders. (In fact, organizations like the CHC and HANP already thought of this! So why arenʼt all homeopaths doing it?) Thereʼs no shame in learning A-B- Cʼs (Aconite-Belladonna-Chamomilla) before learning X-Y-Z (Xenon, Yohimbe, Zinc valerianicum). Or painstakingly learning how to recognize “in perceptible signs…the true and only conceivable portrait of disease” (who said that?) before learning the Materia Medica of everything under (and including) the sun. What happens more often is sort of like sitting through calculus before youʼve mastered the language of algebra. Amid our polyglot, we need a clearly articulated lingua franca, if we are to ever gain credibility as a profession. I need not remind you (if you ever were taught homeopathic history) of what happened in the early 1900ʼs to American homeopathy, as “mixologists” and infighting so diluted our standards and weakened our ranks that the mother ship nearly sank.

3. Dyslexic Devil Worshippers Idolize Santa. How effectively are homeopathic teachers reaching their students? Studies show that the majority of learners utilize some combo o f visual and kinesthetic modes to process incoming data—so why are the majority of our teachers still talking heads? Thereʼs a wide, wonderful field of teaching methods and techniques besides lecturing--yet how many of our teachers are teaching to heart and hands, as well as head?

How many times in homeopathic seminars have you been intimidated--and thus remained passive and silent, assuming that you could not possibly be as qualified to contribute as that outspoken fellow in the front row, who has been to Alonissos twice and Mumbai four times? As homeopaths, we too often have classrooms whose power structure is top-down and lopsided—a cult of the “expert”, which fosters lack of confidence and passivity in the rest of us dummies. I am alarmed by the epidemic of not-practicing among people who do lots of homeopathic seminars, and even entire school programs. Perhaps their training forgot to train their heart—the seat of courage—along with their head. Our classes need to nurture and inspire students to want to practice, and not just end up a cult of homeopathic idol- worshippers.

4. Where are We Going…and What Are We Doing in This Handbasket? Fellow homeopathic learners and teachers, the time is now—not next year, nor in the next half-century, if there is another half century. What we have in homeopathy is nothing short of THE paradigm to save the planet. I am not making this up. Homeopathy is not merely to be confined to healthcare offices and the transformed psyches and somas that emerge from them; it is much more all-encompassing than that. Homeopathy is nothing short of THE minimalist, spirit-like paradigm to save a planet maxed out on a Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 152 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 153 maximalist, materialist one. It offers a fundamental paradigm of “working with,” where the “working against” paradigm has done an extraordinarily thorough job of working against life as we know it—be it in Iraq, in the Middle East, in Sudan, in the inner city, or in the inner workings of the human gut. Homeopathy can transform not just how we do medicine, but how we do psychology, agriculture, education, childrearing, international relations, and everyday conversation. But we all know the inconvenient truth, that time is getting short. If you are not comfortable shouting from rooftops or standing on a corner soapbox, or even asking Melissa Etheridge to write a song about homeopathy, perhaps you can write one class handout, or sound bite, or bumper sticker. Or just teach someone how to save a few hundred million colonies of human-friendly bacteria by preventing another round of antibiotics from entering a human bowel, or the neighborhood groundwater. Itʼs an Al Gore kinda thing.

5. My karma ran over your dogma. Or as bumper stickers on Walden Pond no doubt once read, A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. We live in a diverse, multicultural world. If we are to save humanity—or one small profession in it—we will need to travel, or at least respect, the many roads that lead to Rome— or to Koethen. If we donʼt teach, and respect, our diversity of traditions—once weʼve mastered a lingua franca—we are doomed to stay stuck somewhere around 1800 in provincial Germany, smelling the masala, pesto or spanokopita, but never sharing in their nourishing richness.

Let us teach what works—be it Hahnemann, Henny or Herscu, Klein or Chabbra, Scherr, Sankaran, Scholten, Farrington-- or Fred or Freida, your hardworking neighborhood homeopaths. Amid all the debate, may we never lose sight of the star of the show, the suffering patient. Itʼs a first aphorism kind of thing.

Lucy Vaughters is founder of The Homeopathic Community School, opening in Seattle in September, 2007 (www.homeocommunityschool.com). She is a veteran of public alternative education, and has taught homeopathy in every way she can think of since 1986, including as part of Bastyrʼs homeopathy faculty from 2000-2004. She has practiced homeopathy in Ithaca NY, and then Edmonds WA, since 1990. She is in search of the perfect sticker for her own vehicleʼs bumper.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 152 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 153     Melanie Grimes

Dr. Prashanta Banerjee, his father Dr Prashanta Banerjee and Dr S Daswere were recently invited to a symposium on Lunar Settlements organised by Rutgers University, New Jersey, on June 3 to 8, 2007. The symposium, called “Return to the Moon”, was endorsed by NASA and organized by the Center for Structures in Extreme Environment at Rutgers. Other speakers included Harrison Schmitt, part of the Apollo 17 mission and the last scientist to have stepped on the moon.

The homeopaths made a presentation on the “possible use of ultra-diluted medicines for health problems during lunar missions.”

“Main line treatments like allopathy have not been effective cures on lunar missions. This is because of problems related to absorption and solubility of such medicines in extreme environments, where there is no gravity,” explained Dr Pratip Banerjee.

“Moreover, when we talk of a lunar settlement, one should remember there is a problem of recycling wastes. Conventional medicines release toxic byproducts, which is not desirable at all. This is where our ultra-diluted medicines could come up as a possible substitute as they are easily absorbed by the body,” added Banerjee.

Encouraged by the positive response to their presentations, the team had outlined other homeopathic treatments for symptoms that space travellers are confronted with, like headache, osteoporosis, insomnia, etc.

“We have proposed a complete package of medicines to be administered during pre-flight, on board, lunar settlement and post flight phases of the trip. These have been drawn up based on simulated conditions on earth,” said Banerjee.

Complete text of the newspaper article can be found at: http://cities.expressindia.com/ Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 154        Lauri Grossman

Alternative medical facilities are growing exponentially as people discover better health in a way that is safer, more affordable and curative of chronic disease. This has led to the project of building an alternative medical school in Phoenix, which will produce more practitioners to help even greater numbers of people reach good health and maintain it.

The name of this new school is the American Medical College of Homeopathy (AMCH). It is a four-year, full-time medical school in Phoenix, Arizona. The graduates of this new program will be licensed to practice homeopathic medicine through the Arizona Homeopathic Licensing Board and will practice as doctors of classical homeopathy (DCH). The medical sciences curriculum (2000 hours) in the first two years will be similar in scope to the naturopathic schools. The remaining 3rd and 4th years will focus on homeopathic medicine (2300 hours). To accommodate already licensed NDs, MDs and DOs, there will be a separate track option for just homeopathic medicine. Similarly, for those already having their CCH and who want medical licensure there will be a separate track offered in the medical sciences. This medical program hopes to attract students nationwide who seriously wish to study homeopathic medicine. We see this program as a critical next step in the growth of homeopathic medicine and the practice of alternative medicine in the United States.

In addition to the establishment of a full time medical school, the new campus will also house the following entities: • American Museum of Homeopathy • American Medical College of Veterinary Homeopathy • Free or Reduced Income Clinics • Homeopathic Public Information Center • Homeopathic Public Library • Homeopathic Research Center • Regional Pharmacy and Bookstore

What accomplishments toward this goal have been made so far? There is now a formal structure with a board of directors and a strategic plan.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 155 Formation of advisory and honorary boards is complete and we are happy to announce the participation of esteemed physicians, naturopaths, chiropractors, nurses, and acupuncturists. We invite you to visit http: //www.amcofh.org/About_Us/Admin.html to look over the growing lists of board members, department chairs and 50+ faculty who represent many well-known names within the professional community.

Curriculum, post-graduate, marketing, fundraising, and legislative committees have begun their work, as have the committees for research and technology. A diverse curriculum has been drafted (including a department of integrative medicine that brings together a variety of methods of healing) and the program is now fully accredited through the Council for Homeopathic Education and the Council on Homeopathic Accreditation. (The American Medical College of Homeopathy is the only comprehensive training program in the United States to achieve this.) Salient features of the program include Departments of Humanistic Studies and Community Medicine, classes aimed at developing the physicianʼs capacities to perceive and to observe, and classes that impart methods to remove obstacles to cure.

As for the instructors of our program, most department chairs and faculty members have been named. AMCH faculty training and a national teacher- training program (for instructors affiliated with homeopathic colleges across the country) were launched this year, too.

The school catalogue and student, employee, faculty and clinical training handbooks are complete as well as a library with a computerized database of books, journals and medical references. Included amongst 2,000 volumes of homeopathic and health related volumes are the donated Dean Crothers, MD and Hahnemann College of Homeopathyʼs rare books collections. AMCH students will be able to use these texts as well as those belonging to a second holistic health library in Phoenix as the college is one of many organizations committed to the development of a traditional medicines library now in the initial stages of development in the area. This library, anticipated to be the largest alternative medicine library in the country, will contain collections from all the major traditions of alternative medicine in the world today.

With all this in place, the AMCH post-graduate training and distance learning programs are up and running. The collegeʼs research team has begun to work together, too. They have completed a number of provings, compiled and published this year in The Desert World: A Homeopathic Exploration by Dr. Todd Rowe. Not lagging far behind, the American Medical College of Homeopathyʼs School of Veterinary Medicine (the nationʼs first homeopathic veterinary program) will open its doors in February 2008 with a 500-hour training course spanning two years. Richard Pitcairn, author of Dr. Pitcairnʼs Complete Guide to Natural Health for Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 156 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 157 Dogs and Cats, will serve as the director and students will attend classes for three days each month.

To the delight of those who are working on the project, the medical college has garnered the support of well-respected leaders in the integrative healthcare movement and partnerships have been made with medical programs and teaching institutions (both alternative and conventional) at the state and national levels. These include Dr. Andrew Weil and the University of Arizona Department of Integrative Medicine, the Phoenix Institute of Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture, Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, the Arizona Consortium of Complimentary Healing Organizations, the Academic Consortium for Complimentary and Alternative Healthcare (ACCAHC) and the National Education Dialogue (an organization working to promote integrative healthcare in the United States).

The Phoenix Institute of Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture (PIHMA) is so enthusiastic about AMCHʼs curriculum that efforts are being made to create an innovative program that will provide training in Asian and homeopathic medicines together (just one example of the way in which the American Medical College of Homeopathy hopes to remain inclusive in its approach). Serving as a second example, the AMCH will provide preceptorships for many of the other medical schools in the region.

AMCH also established a community health service partnership with Las Fuentes Clinic this year by providing homeopathic services to the lower income Latino population and Yaqui Indians. This clinic site will also serve as an internship opportunity for current AMCH homeopathic students. Alongside this effort AMCH is also launching its own Infertility Clinic by offering a selection of homeopathic, naturopathic and Asian medicine services as a 6-month treatment package.

In order to address licensing issues, lobbying efforts are underway through the Arizona Medical Licensing Board, the Arizona Medical Association, the Arizona Osteopathic Licensing Board, Arizona Naturopathic Licensing Board, and the Arizona Naturopathic Association. And as far as the physical structure of the college is concerned, an architect was hired who created renderings of the collegeʼs main building and surroundings. Campus plans include the college, medical, research, and public information centers, a library, pharmacy, museum, and public gardens. Additionally, initial purchases of furniture, equipment, and the pharmacy are complete.

Obviously more work still needs to been done. Although we are on target for our fundraising to date, this is a big year for the college since our goals for fundraising are higher now that the preliminary organizational work is complete and we are into the initial stages of the land acquisition and Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 156 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 157 building plan.

Now that the American Medical College of Homeopathy Research Team has completed its national survey of practitioners, it will continue its practice based research with a survey of patients that is expected to conclude by the end of the year. An educational survey will be conducted next year. Annual provings are planned for the future as well.

The college is also beginning a process to create an Institutional Review Board, which would provide ethical input into research projects. The formation of a homeopathic IRB would serve the American Medical College of Homeopathy and the homeopathic community at large since many journals refuse to publish research unless it was done under the auspices of an IRB.

As for you, the reader, we can always use contributions of time, energy, money and names for our database. Simply staying abreast of the collegeʼs activities is a start. The support of homeopaths in the field and patients near and far is invaluable. Dialogue with physicians, naturopaths, nurses, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and body workers of all backgrounds is welcome. For this reason, we encourage you to sign up to receive our quarterly newsletter, The AMCH Letter by visiting our website at www.AMCofH.org and clicking on “Sign up for emails” on our home page.

Send us your suggestions and feel free to write to us with your concerns. Letʼs instill a sense of community into this project and allow the American Medical College of Homeopathy to reflect the high standards and reverence for humanity that has been a part of the profession since Hahnemannʼs time.

Dr. Lauri Grossman, DC Homeopathic Consultations 201 West 72nd Street #4M New York, New York 10023 212 787 4445 www.homeopathycafe.com

American Medical College of Homeopathy Dept. of Humanistic Studies, Chair 2001 West Camelback Road, Suite 150 Phoenix, Arizona 85015 602 864 1776 www.AMCofH.com

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 158  :           : A Manual for Practitioners and Consumers Kate Birch RS Hom (NA), CCH, CMT Paperback, 411 pages. $39.95 Trafford Publishing 2007 ISBN: 1-4251-1869-0 Reviewed by Neil Tessler ND DHANP

There is an issue that is of great importance to the homeopathic community and that is our relationship to the larger world of science and the science within homeopathy. However much science or the notion of “evidence-based” is subject to abuse, the fact remains that the standards of scientific discourse are the invaluable norm within society, and when not otherwise under the boot heel of industry, work for the general benefit of the population as a whole. Some cultures have suffered immeasurably when science is pushed aside by an ideological agenda emanating from politicians and theologians. In recent years we have seen how this same tendency has grown in the U.S. Society suffers the loss of a rational foundation for its forward progress and degradation in intellectual standards infects even the educational system. Suddenly we find ourselves mired in myth, imagination and superstition far more rapidly then we would have imagined. The only advantage accrues to those who would manipulate popular opinion, which is always easier when intellectual standards are compromised.

Hahnemann was a scientist first, and the inductive science Hahnemann applied to his endeavors is the rational basis for homeopathic practice. Science, whether inductive or deductive, whether in vitro or in vivo, is a rigorous discipline with a specific approach to language regarding findings, and specific requirements to support assertions of fact. It is critical that our homeopathic educators teach this rigor and invest our students with these concepts and this language. Non-dogmatic phrases such as “These findings would tend to indicate…” go a long way to establish the open-ended nature of scientific inquiry, as opposed to dogmatic assertions of fact. The use of footnotes and references is also a basic aspect of rational discourse.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 159 Unfortunately, despite various worthwhile qualities, Vaccine Free Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Contagious Disease with Homeopathy: A Manual for Practitioners and Consumers suffers from serious errors in exactly these areas. Yes, there is much well organized information on homeopathy, acute case taking and assessment, primary and secondary action, vaccine injury and its homeopathic treatment, etc., that may be of use to practitioners. However, Kateʼs presentation of the delicate issue of vaccination traverses various scientific issues and discussions and this is marred by sometimes outlandish assertions and presentations of alleged fact, both scientific and philosophical, that are inherently questionable or in other instances require footnotes or references that are conspicuously missing.

In a discussion of “epidemics and collective susceptibilities” we find the following: “The homeopathic perspective is that acute epidemic diseases are an attempt of Mother Earth to heal a certain ailing aspect of the population: lust, gluttony, slothfulness, pride, envy or wrath for example.”

I guess I donʼt go to that church. If this is what is meant by “collective susceptibilities”, we have gone far from the science of homeopathy, into the realm of theological doctrine. These puritan categories conjure images worthy of Hieronymus Bosch rather than Hahnemannʼs homeopathy. If you replace “Mother Earth” with “God” the problem becomes even clearer. Asserting that this alleged association between biblical sin and the vengeance of Mother Earth is “the homeopathic perspective” is a grave mistake and a danger to homeopathy. It is bound to invite derision from any discerning non-homeopathic reader who might happen upon it.

The author then writes, “The epidemic disease that comes has a similarity in character to the diseased state of the population.” Are we then to imagine a direct relationship between say, “slothfulness” or “envy” as a diseased state of the collective population, with a specific type of epidemic? This is far into a very murky realm of imagination and speculation. The author must plainly state that these are her personal views, not “the homeopathic perspective”. Furthermore, a statement of this nature should be supported by example after example.

A little further on, Kate discusses the “main program” of homeopathic prophylaxis as involving twenty-eight remedies given over five years and asserts that its “efficacy of protection runs at 89%”. The reader hangs in suspended animation waiting for the references to support this astounding assertion! Alas, we wait in vain. In the meantime, can anyone seriously imagine actually attempting to treat a child homeopathically amidst this meteor shower of remedies?

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 160 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 161 Elsewhere she attributes to Hahnemann the notion of using nosodes as prophylaxis for epidemic diseases. Maybe everyone else knows this, but I donʼt and searched in vain for a reference. Assertions of this nature must be supported by references. In the meantime, this was by no means the known practice of Hahnemann in epidemic disease, which was invariably based on the genus epidemicus.

One section discusses the various components of the immune system. Yet the discussion of innate immunity tells only part of the story, though it does so as if it were the whole story. Various physical barriers of the body are listed as defining innate immunity, but the critical elements of cellular innate immunity such as the complement system, phagocytes, eosinophils, basophils, mast cells and natural killer cells are forgotten. This is a significant omission in a discussion of immune response, leaving the reader/ student with an incomplete and ultimately incorrect definition.

The last sixty-five percent of the book is a compilation of epidemic and infectious illnesses, their conventional prevention and treatment and detailed indications for homeopathic remedies in each condition. More or less identical lists can be found in many other books old and new.

In my opinion, the author, having done an enormous amount of work, was ill served by her reviewers, who might have pointed out various instances like those I have cited, that significantly effect the value of the entire presentation and make this volumes intended use as a textbook unsupportable. We are not happy at all to have to write a critical review and it was a very strong consideration to say nothing. However, this is not only a significant issue that can have serious implications for our profession, but is a general social issue affecting a significant public debate. It brings to light that which is valuable, if not critical to society in rational thought and the philosophy of science. Yet it also reveals the startling fact that this is a rather thin veneer over a the far more primal and powerful world of supersition, imagination and emotion, so easily and regularly subject to manipulation and distortion. This also has relevance to the great controversies within the homeopathic community that often relate to the character of homeopathic training and the need to instill basic mental disciplines arising from the inductive science of Hahnemann. These issues requires greater consideration by those who run homeopathic training programs for lay students where there may not be the foundational education in the philosophy of science. Addressing these issues at the educational level is important for the students and the profession.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 160 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 161  :       By Peter Alex Translated from the German by Doug Smith PhD, HD HomeopathyWest Publishing (2006) ISBN 978-0-9754763-1-4 $29.95 Reviewed by Neil Tessler ND, DHANP

This is an outstanding homeopathic manual that should be owned by every practitioner. Lyme disease is a very serious condition that now infects much of the Northern Hemisphere and is associated with tick bites. Parts of North America and particularly Germany have seen a dramatic increase in infections with great physical and cognitive suffering, and very little to offer from the allopathic side of the medical fence. On the other hand, careful work by homeopaths in North America and Europe have brought to light several remedies of inestimable value in this condition.

Dr. Alex is both thorough and concise. He provides an overview of the subject of infectious disease and the symbiotic relationship between the human being and the bacterial environment. He points out the astounding fact that the human body is composed of ninety one percent bacterial cells and only nine percent animal cells, leaving aside the organelles, such as mitochondria, that have a very great similarity to bacterial cells with which we have an ancient symbiotic relationship.

His discussion progresses into the arena of homeopathic prophylaxis and offers a chart of infectious diseases and their associated prophylactic remedies. He then goes on to discuss at some depth the spirochete family, of which Borrelia burgdorferi, the agent of Lyme disease is a member. The significance of this is that there is a marked similarity with the notorious spirochete Treponema pallidum, that causes syphilis. The author provides a detailed discussion of the progress of Lyme disease and its symptom presentations. This is a prelude to the core presentation on homeopathic research and experience in the prevention and treatment of Lyme disease.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 162 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 163 The major remedies that he discusses are Ledum and Aurum arsenicum, also offering a proving of the latter. Alex believes from his experience that Aurum Ars. is of special value in both prevention and treatment. The balance of the book is a series of cases from a number of practitioners, demonstrating the successful treatment of Lyme disease with homeopathy. Easy reading, both alarming and very highly informative; this is a book that should be digested by every practitioner as it may have important practical utility in the clinic.

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Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 162 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 163  :  ,  

Reviewed by Neil Tessler ND, DHANP Looking Back Moving Forward Rowena J. Ronson Food for Thought Publications London 2007 Paperback 498 pages $85.00 ISBN: 978-0-9547033-3-2

If thirty-two conversations with thirty-four British Homeopaths, spanning almost five hundred pages, intrigues you, this is your book. Naturally it will be of particular interest to the Brits, where it has been received with a lot of enthusiasm, but of course, the vast majority of the issues that are addressed are of relevance to all of us. Besides, who couldnʼt gain something from the insights of so many well-seasoned practitioners? Only a few are well known outside the UK, but many are highly regarded there, and this is the first chance the vast majority of us have had to hear their thoughts.

England has a leg up in the sense that the first great wave of modern homeopathy was a tad larger and a tad earlier. Sometimes it is the historical material that is interesting and mirrors the American experience: the new wave of interest in the seventies, the development of schools (they were definitely somewhat earlier in this regard), the advent of Vithoulkas, followed by a decline in his direct visits, followed by a wave of new influences and a simultaneous backlash.

As you can imagine in a volume of this size, there is just about every angle and in between. In fact, this is not only a great repository of modern British homeopathic history, but is loaded with prescribing tips and food for thought that can be appreciated by anyone. Light reading is a blessing always and here there is a lot to be appreciated here without straining the brain. Recommended.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 164  :    Reviewed By Neil Tessler ND, DHANP Dr. Pravin B. Bains Nitya pulications, Mumbai (2004)

This is a very well thought out pediatric homeopathy manual. Dr. Jain spends a considerable amount of time systematically reviewing the healthy physical and psychological development of children, as well as various emotional conditions, their causes and usual expressions. Dr. Jain gives quite a bit of time to the discussion of the Motherʼs pregnancy, obstetrical care and feeding practices. He also offers a variety of valuable tips on pediatric case taking, useful rubrics, as well as a flow chart for differentiating remedies according to certain common states of childhood.

The balance of the book offer the materia medica of around a hundred remedies, structured according to the behavioral axis presented in the flow chart, the childʼs life situation, possible causative factors, mentals, generals and clinical indications.

The remedy presentations vary in depth and value, but are best seen as a quick schematic for handy reference.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 165  :       Reviewed by Neil Tessler ND, DHANP An Insight Into Plants Volume III Rajan Sankaran January 2007, Hardcover, 1878 pages Homeopathic Medical Publishers Mumbai, India $110.00 ISBN-978-81-903378-4-7

This present volume is the capstone of Rajanʼs work on plants. As with previous editions, each plant family is extensively illustrated by cases. The new volume covers a number of new families, case contributions from his own practice and cured cases from many contributors around the world using his method. Each of the contributors is given a brief biography in the beginning of the book.

Rajanʼs introduction: The discovery of the sensation level, which is deeper than the delusion level, came because that was the only way in which the plant families could be understood. The discovery of the seven levels completely revolutionized the process of taking cases and opened up new horizons in practice. This has been elucidated in the book The Sensation in Homeopathy.

The earlier two volumes of An Insight Into Plants described twenty-one families with how to come to the common sensation of each family and how each remedy in a family could be classified into a specific miasm, thus making a kind of grid of the families and miasms enabling practitioners to choose a remedy. Consequent to the publication of these volumes, several colleagues from different parts of the world have applied these remedies using this method in their practice with very encouraging results. They have been sharing their cases with me and these cases along with my own have not only helped to confirm the ideas in the earlier volumes but they have also made the understanding of these families clearer and more comprehensive. We also could add some more remedies

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 166 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 167 into the tables thus filling some of the gaps.

I felt it would be really worthwhile to bring out these cases along with the more updated understanding in a book form. Meanwhile, the understanding of some other families has been developing and getting confirmed in practice. And there was a demand that a third volume of Insight be brought out with the newer families. The volume that is presently in your hands includes the more updated understanding of the earlier families along with some illustrative cases, especially of rare remedies, from myself and my colleagues as well as new families with their sensations, miasms and illustrative cases. I have included my own comments for many of these cases. I have also included “Alert words”/”Source words” for all families including the families from the previous volumes. These words are very useful in practice.

At the end of the book, I have included a table of all the families with their Sensation, Active reactions, Passive reactions, and Compensation; there is also a Miasms and Remedies table.

A new reader is strongly advised to read the books The Sensation in Homoeopathy and An Insight Into Plants Volumes I and II before embarking on this volume in order to have a sound foundation in this new methodology.

I have noticed that many beginners and even some experienced practitioners tend to read only the tables and not the text. I must strictly warn that this is very risky. Understanding of an experience cannot come by merely reading some discrete words. The words are very useful but cannot by themselves convey the whole experience its context and how it can manifest in people. That can only happen when you read the actual text, the derivation, the quotations from materia medica and cases. It is then that you know clearly what the experience is and you are able to identify it in your patients and also differentiate it from similar sensations. Without this groundwork, merely looking at the tables and prescribing is often a recipe for failure. It is for this reason that volumes I and 11 and now volume III have been written. Only after reading these and absorbing them, can the tables be very useful and effective.

* * * *

So we see that Rajan is not in any way supporting a superficial approach to his work. It was very evident at the recent seminar that the more the homeopath is grounded in general materia medica and philosophy, the better the foundation for the assimilation of this new approach. If it werenʼt for their highly advanced knowledge of homeopathy, the Bombay School would not have been able to take this massive leap forward. Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 166 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 167 Let no one doubt the brilliance and utility of this work. The concept of the single sensation and its opposite, as a fundamental indicator of plant remedies, is a revelation with tremendous clinical application. While the details are still evolving, the extensive information attained to thus far, so well illustrated in the present volume by examples of practical application, is an incalculable contribution to homeopathy. One of the most important thoughts from the seminar, was Rajanʼs assertion that while a plant is always a fundamental sensation and its opposite, the animal is always a series of sensations. This tremendous clue has had breakthrough consequences in my own practice. We are in such a different position today with the rapid development of systems of classification that can be a great aid in knowing where we are in the case and in the materia medica. This is a critical volume for those hoping to truly understand these developments and their successful application.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 168  :       Rajan Sankaran in Vancouver June, 2007 Reviewed by Neil Tessler ND, DHANP

Rajan Sankaranʼs six day Vancouver seminar was an outstanding opportunity to come face to face with the radical evolution of homeopathic method and materia medica offered by the Bombay School. Over the years this approach has stabilized into a complete and coherent method, while details and the depth continue to sharpen and clarify with accumulating experience. The Vancouver seminar systematically revealed the necessary steps to practice the sensation method effectively, as well as the typical problems encountered.

Rajan has been the focus of tremendous controversy and opinion. Yet spending any amount of time with him, watching his cases and listening to his discussions, it becomes clear that the critics, for the most part, have not gone deeply into his work, but instead judge superficially. Similarly my years as Editor of Simillimum demonstrated that there are many who practice what they imagine to be his methods with the same superficiality. Nevertheless, after five days of immersion, it is hard to escape the conclusion that what the Bombay school is offering is a critical evolution of the art and science.

Rajanʼs brilliant presentation, punctuated with his outstanding sense of humor always makes his courses a special delight. At the close of the seminar, Rajan received a standing ovation, expressing the appreciation of the attendees for the sheer brilliance, heart and practicality of what had been offered. Here we will offer some sketches and excerpts from the seminar.

The major portion of the course was taken up with video cases and presentation emphasizing the method of case taking. This is based on Sankaranʼs map of the seven levels of a case. Keeping the seven levels in mind, it is possible to know exactly where you are in the case taking process and what is required to move deeper. This is not small contribution in itself. Whether one applies the entire method or not, this is a valuable map to gauge quite precisely in what aspect of the being the case is moving.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 169

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the case taking process is the patientʼs words and gestures can be used to shepherd the patient into ever greater depth, ultimately to decouple the patient from the context, to literally separate the sensation from the person, in order to highlight that which is “global” rather then “local”.

It is a subtle game wherein once a certain depth is achieved, the patient is blocked from going back. Yet this is done without at all disturbing the pure expressions of the patient. “The emphasis in direction must be the patientʼs, not yours. Allow the patient complete room to move.”

“Open ended questions: ʻTell me more about this.ʼ No direction at all.”

“Connect to that which is the energy in the case. Allow the patient open space to describe symptoms. When they go to an area that has no energy, go back to the place where the energy was last seen. ʻWhat is it that comes to you in the moment that you made this gesture.ʼ”

“Once the sensation has become clear, it is necessary to prevent the person moving back to superficial areas. ʻNot when and where or how, but what is it you feel - what it felt like, what is the feeling.ʼ You donʼt want to know about the person but about the sensation.” This is a very strong movement away from a tendency to become lost in the story, to attemp to find the remedy through a psychoanalysis of the patient. Rajan shows a very clear homeopathic path out of this common point of confusion in contemporary homeopathy.

“You can start with anything that has the energy in the moment but the first ten minutes are vital. Allow the patient to go where he wants to go. You let the direction come from within and together observe where the energy is going. The first ten minutes is most spontaneous. The purest form of energy comes at this time.”

“Keep the patient in the present even if the experience was in the past. The sensation is present, continuous and constant beyond time and space. Isness means complete totality of phenomena, examined in the deepest possible way. The complete phenomena in the moment, is the truth. Every ʻwhyʼ is a theory, we avoid the question why in any form.”

“Move as the patient moves. If the patient gives importance to something, you give importance to it. The ability to move with the patient is the main quality of case taking.”

In video cases, sometimes Rajan would say directly to the patient, “Iʼm not interested in you or your brothers, Iʼm just interested in the Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 170 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 171 word ʻboycottʼ.” This is seeking to find the energy beneath the story, to disconnect the sensation from the patient.

In his discussion of the kingdoms, a point that I found new and interesting was his description of animal cases as involving a sequence, a pattern. Whereas in plants, it will always come back to a fundamental sensation and its opposite, each animal patient will describe a story as a sensation, though it will all boil down to survival, a struggle with self or a situation, competition or comparison. Whereas in plants, the sensation is the endpoint, in animals the sensation leads to a sequence of animal related issues.

Back to the case taking process: “What is it about a verbal expression that repeats in the whole being of the patient.” Sankaran terms this “the global in the local”. “Search in every local phenomena and you should come to the same sensation.”

“However, in the animal, there are many sensations, you wonʼt be able to bring it to one.”

A few points on the subject of gestures: “What is it that comes spontaneously to the patient when making the gesture? Wait until the gesture comes without words to utilize it in the case.”

“ʼWhat does this gesture mean? What comes to you when you do this?ʼ The patient at that stage is in a semi-hypnotic state. You have got rid of the mind.”

As with dreams, he emphasized that we never interpret the gesture. It is a matter of recognizing its presence as a very pure expression of the energy of the patient, especially when a very acute questioning has pushed them to the point of using gestures without words as reference, the semi-hypnotic state referred to above. The gesture itself is then asked after, its meaning sought through the patients own words. It becomes a potent new tool in itself for deep inquiry.

Rajan commented, “I canʼt believe I practiced for over twenty years without utilizing the gestures.”

Materia medica during the seminar ranged more or less according to the cases. Interesting presentation were made on birds, mollusks, minerals, with a special emphasis on row three of the periodic table. There was also a fairly detailed discussion of the noble gases.

In terms of birds, the key ideas are responsibility and freedom, group and

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 170 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 171 family responsibility. Earth and sky. Bound and free. Words such as close, shut, caged, shackled, bound, chained, trapped, lured, confined, fly free, take off, to rise, openness, wind, escape, floating, light, soaring, buoyant, weightless. There are various other features that he described in relation to the raptors specifically.

Mollusk words: Pull, contract, draw in, drawing, withdraw, blank out, shut out, caught up, stuck, restrain. Some of the specific characteristics of different categories of mollusks were discussed.

In discussing a Magnesium case, he talked about the third row and identity. This was an extremely insightful look into the modern perspective on the materia medica of the minerals. The main feeling of the third row is the desire to be cared for and the need to establish identity. The main fear is fear of separation from the one who cares for you. By contrast, in the second row the fear is to come out of the shell or to be stuck in the shell.

The feeling of being different and fear to be different, this is Natrum and Magnesium. They donʼt want to be different, they want to blend in. They are not ready to be different. “I should not have my own opinion.” They may say, “I have to do it and I donʼt have any choice.” There is a fear of being different. They are obligated to do as they are told, left they be left behind.

After Natrum and Magnesium comes Alumina. “Should I blend in or not?” This is the classic confusion of identity. In Silicea it is the impression that is important. Identity is fixed. In Phosphorous and Sulphur they want to be different and assert their identity. Chlorine develops a completely opposite identity, “I am the opposite of you”. He feels betrayed, hurt and let down by the identity given to him, so wants to break free from that and assume the opposite identity.

A case was given of a remedy from Column 18, the Noble Gases. These have a dizzy, floating feeling. Hovering, not grounded. Dispersed, diffused.

Cut off disconnected in my own world, no interactions, detached, separated. Neutral, peaceful, content unaffected, self-sufficient, insular, whole, safe: “I was left in my own universe.”

Incomplete and chaotic. The compensation is to go to the opposite side of being complete with it. Total sense of incompleteness/total completeness. In column 18 there is no one to complete the structure.

Rajan also discussed at some length the problems in the application of the method.

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 172 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 173 His first point regarded prejudice and prejudgment in the mind of the homeopath. Once the mind is fixed on something we hardly see anything else. “See what does not fit in with what you observe in the characteristics of the patient. If you donʼt look for what is not included, you will stay in your prejudice.” Search for the bit that doesnʼt fit.

We seek to discover what is in the local that is global. Dig in the local till you see the global.

The story is important if the energy if there.

Another problem he identified was the need to distinguish sensation and delusion. “Delusions is the image, the sensation is the experience, often very unexpected and always global. It applies to whole being and for his while life. Delusions apply only to the mind and are not common to the body and mind.”

Rajan laid great emphasis on the three levels of kindgom, subkingdom and source as a critical map in finding the patients remedy. This was discussed early in the seminar at some length and was a particularly valuable aspect of the method. Once you come to sensations, you need to go through the kingdom first, then the subkingdom, then the source. He described the source as having three aspects: approximations, characteristics from repertory and proving, and the exact qualities of the sources or source language.

Approximations are family themes applied to the specific substance and often the remedies found in his charts are approximations. Rhus tox for example has the crisis of stiffness. This is an approximation and not exact. The approximation will be the global in the case and connect the human to the source, but is somewhat less precise. I particularly appreciated this term, as it is often a point of criticism of Rajanʼs work, whereas here we understand that he understands that this is imprecise.

Characteristics from repertory and provings are often exactly the symptoms of the source. Lastly are exact qualities of the source and are rarely fond in materia medica, but rather are best found via google! These are specific expressions of the source alone and the human filter is removed. It includes the inexplicable, attraction or repulsion to particular things, colors, patterns, diverse qualities that may pertain to the inherent physical nature of that particular substance.

In discussing the problems of application he cautioned not to stop at the kingdom or subkingdom level and then go to the repertory to differentiate. He urged us to go further into the subkingdom aspect of the case, to find if the source indications might emerge. Here you need knowledge of the Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 172 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 173 subkingdom in order to have a sense of where the case is positionally.

On hand gestures and his more recent work with doodles, he said to look for what comes up spontaneously and not to seek for what it is or what it means. Look for the experience and watch whatever comes in the moment.

Another problem is over reliance on a single word or expression, when the sensation is not one word. The sensation is an experience that is conveyed by a whole group of words. Some will be more prominent. Do not let these words mislead. We should see the experience conveyed and not the words alone. Too much emphasis on a word without looking into the experience is misleading.

For example, a patient says “explosion” and we think of an explosive, but this is likely wrong, as it is not the word, it is the experience. Words are deceptive but how to know this? When asked further about injury or explosion, the patient does not give more words around explosion or injury but talks more of victim aggressor and sudden, lethal attacks. This leads in an entirely different direction. Do not chase the words, rather go quickly to the experience.

He mentioned a case we had viewed, where the person had gone into talking at some depth about a temple and there had been indications for a bird remedy. He pointed out that the temple is human specific and therefore not important. “Otherwise, you will start thinking of birds that fly around temples and be completely misled.”

Another problem is the everyday state of the patient. The more superficial the more difficult to go more deeply, requiring more patience, care and specific application of what Rajan terms “bypasses”, in order to direct the patient into a deeper plane of expression.

A further area that was identified as a problem, is the importance of differentiating the story and the sensation, as they are often different. The story is local, the sensation is global. The story may be one of disappointed love but the sensation could be one of exhilaration (Coffea), incompleteness (Beryllium), or rivalry (Cencheris).

“There is no thing called love, there is only the experience. Itʼs all individual experiences, which is global. What is true about one individual is not true for the other.

All the pieces come to the same thing, the universal experience of that individual. Nothing exists objectively, only experience is, only the isness of the individual in that moment.”

Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 174 Summer / Fall 2007 Volume XX / SIMILLIMUM 175 Towards the end, Rajan developed his philosophy of the healthy human being:

The human song is the song that is the nature of the human. He is a social animal and he is a being with his own will and individuality. He wants to blend in, to belong and to give to the group. At the same time, he seeks development of the self and progress and an individual.

Knowing that his ego is temporary he seeks to find deeper more permanent truths. Thus he balances spiritual seeking with material desires in a harmonious way, recognizing the reality of both aspects. So, he is partly self-seeking, partly selfless.

Health is to be in a human state, not in any other state.

When you handle a situation as a human, and not in your diseased state (which is the fixity of an animal, mineral, or plant. See the interview in this issue – NT), there is a certain ease, a sense of now that is there. It doesnʼt get hooked on to your so-called perception. Itʼs like the ease with which you breathe when you donʼt have asthma.

Health is when man becomes natural: easy, spontaneous, without effort.

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