A short story of the Matridonal remedies: Incarnation - from Heaven to Earth

My voyage of discovery with the matridonal remedies has led me to a world that is so confirming, so expansive, and full of wonder. I have always understood that our remedies have much to teach us, and this has been confirmed so often along the way. For me, it has been perpetually instructive. I was somehow led to these remedies and found a purpose to my journey that I did not realize or expect until nearly twenty years later, when the last remedy proofing was complete. It has strengthened my belief in trusting life’s journey, and listening to my instincts and observations.

I have come very strongly to the idea that these remedies have a pre-miasmatic feel to them. I put this forward for others to contemplate and perhaps expand upon as it is beyond the scope of this article. I do, however, touch lightly on it in the section on Placenta.

Although each of these remedies has a different flavor and focus, they all are members of the Humanum family and reflect a loss or lack of humanity. As far as we know and at the present time, we are the only species that has an awareness of possessing a soul, a sense of purpose and a unique identity for which we are constantly searching. We see it in these remedies.

It is a common practice among homeopaths to ask our clients about their birth process, but the travelogue begins at conception. The time spent in our mother’s womb sets up deep patterns for the rest of our lives. These remedies are all about the original journey into our earthly lives, and as such, can heal very deep wounds that were set during our fetal formation. These substances are made for the creation of our humanness. It is their sole purpose, as they are discarded as soon as we no longer need them.

 Just a note: I use the word “proof” because it says so much more than “prove”. To “prove” something sounds too much as if one is “testing” something which then smacks of a trial to see if it works. I think of a “proofing” as being about stepping into the energy of a substance and recording it. See more of this in the forward of my Matridonal book.

In all our proofings there is a mix of beneficial symptoms as well as distressed symptoms; cured symptoms as well as morbid symptoms, and along with dreams and images they make up the themes of the remedy. This is what I have come to think of as the metaphoric code.

The Matridonal remedies of the humanum family

Lac Humanum

When I came to the idea of Lac humanum in 1987, it was because I was treating so many cases of HIV and AIDS. I was searching for something very specific to allow the damaged immune system to be strengthened. I found that a similimum rarely held, as the immune system turned continually in on itself; eating itself like auto-cannibalism. My thinking at this point was if our mother’s milk is what helps to create a strong immune system, then perhaps a homeopathic dose could help bring it back into balance. At that time, there were no new proofings for the Lacs; we only had dogs, cats, and cows milk. (Later in the nineties and noughties, a beautiful menagerie of mammalian milks were introduced.) There were eleven lactating women in my practice at this time. The one I asked to be the donor had an amazingly close bond with her baby. A wonderful proofing was done by Jacqueline Houghton & Elizabeth Halahan of Lac humanum, and I also wrote about this remedy in my book The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, though still in its infancy stage and then much later in Gift’s of The Mother: The Matridonal Remedies.

Now, Lac humanum is widely used. The work that Tinus Smits did on it, calling it a universal layer, has so enriched and expanded its picture. He put into words what I could not synthesize from the knowledge I had. This is why the clinical usage of remedies is so needed to expand our understanding of them. Now, I see that it is the final mother-substance that guides us into our earthly selves, allowing a fuller incarnation, grounding (earthing) us, humanizing us, giving us the gift of empathy with an ability to bond with others and join in Life as a member of the human species. It brings empathy, puts us squarely into our bodies, and helps our soul incorporate itself into our physical being. All of these remedies have an aspect of this, but it is so clear with this remedy. It has helped many children with autism (as do many of the matridonal remedies) to reach out to others and join in the world.

I want to say here that in my experience, when the remedy is indicated it should not be eliminated if the client/patient was breastfed. This is a myth that I hear quite often.

Some Keynotes and Themes of Lac Humanum

Lacks humanity, not in body; physically awkward; clumsy; non-spatial; ungrounded

Feels alone; forsaken; isolated; lacks concentration; detached, alienated, yet with heightened senses

Difficult digestion of life and food

Folliculinum

This is a remedy I ran into in 1987; the same year I created Lac humanum. (Amazingly, at this point, I did not see a connection.) It was introduced by Dr Donald Foubister who was on the faculty of the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital. (He also introduced us to Carcinosin, also a member of the humanum family.) The Belgian Homeopath, the wonderful Dr Lea de Mattos did some very comprehensive clinical work on this remedy.

At the time, I had a large practice in London, of which about 95% were women. In so many cases, it became obvious that their etiology pointed to the birth control pill. “The Pill” was approved and released on May 9, 1960 after very shoddy research, later discredited, where many of the women in the trial stopped taking their doses because they became ill. The press and many women’s groups applauded it as a liberator of women, finally giving us control over our own fertility. When we look at some of the disempowering picture of this remedy, it shows us what a con trick that was.

Some keynotes and themes of Folliculinum

As if controlled by another, living out someone else’s expectations, emotionally and psychically sucked dry, addicted to rescuing people, a doormat, full of SELF-denial, forgets who they are, has no individuality, no sense of SELF, out of sorts with their earthly rhythms; never allowed to say “No”.

There is a very close relationship here with Carcinosin.

I believe this drug, given to a healthy population, has created a miasm. It certainly sends its poisonous bile down through the generations. I found it to be an astonishing remedy for undoing the harm of all kinds of hormone abuse. DES, postmenopausal doses of Hormone Addition Therapy, hormone treatment of acne, etc. I learned more and more about it. I presented my finding at the 1990 Society of Homeopaths Conference at Nottingham University in England. That talk was then published in their journal and can now be found on the internet at: http://www.homeopathyhome.com/reference/articles/follic.shtml

I found that so often, a woman who had been on “The Pill” did not respond to well indicated remedies, and often her symptoms were much worse at the end of her cycle before menstruation. After Folliculinum, she would come back into her power. It was as if her life force has been unshackled. A truer picture would emerge, and the more individualized remedies would do their work. It was only later after we did the proofings of Amniotic fluid and Umbilical cord, and I was researching human embryogenesis, that I learned that just before we begin our journey out of our mother’s womb, we are saturated with oestrogen/estrogen. This literally ends the continuation of the pregnancy, stopping the action of the progesterone that has kept the pregnancy viable. When looking at the picture of Folliculinum, with its very strong symptoms of loss of identity and feelings as if controlled by another, it becomes clear how it added to a loss of individuality, diminished life force, and the very dominant symptom: “They forgets who they are.” My thinking here may be considered a bit unusual, but these last moments of physical connection with our earthly mother, and the place our soul lived before conception, becomes obscured to allow the freedom of a new lifetime to begin without regret for leaving something behind. Forgetfulness might be seen as a gift, to overcome regret of separation. 

Placenta humana

The proofing was done at the Welsh College of Homeopathy under the guidance of their Director, Linda Gwillim. Linda’s integrity to her work is incredibly inspiring. She carries a depth of experience and knowledge rarely seen in such profound combination. She has attended over a thousand births as an attending homeopath. In my eyes, as a teacher, she is unmatched in the depth and insight she brings to her lectures. She participated in both the Amniotic fluid and Umbilical cord proofings in Greece, as well as our final one on DNA.

Fear of not having enough is the traditional lesson of the psoric miasm. I see this theme in Placenta, but in a sort of pre-miasmatic form of psora.  Not so much as fear but more as a knowing that there is not enough. This is not a fear state but one of inertia – “What’s the use” – resignation, and helplessness.

In human embryogenesis, up to the point when the placenta begins its job, the fetus is very much in charge of its own development, but the minute the placenta takes over the job, the new life loses its control. There is such a strong metaphoric code reflected in this remedy. When the remedy is given, it allows a feeling of purpose to return, the journey to self-reliance and self-hood begins again.

Some keynotes and themes; the proofing and clinical experience of Placenta

Passive acceptance but with discontent; apathy, powerlessness, always in the shadow of others

As if on a journey; allowing one’s self  to emerge; retrieval; awakening; cutting ties; finding potential

Individual; finishing up old business; improved relationship with mother, and a feeling of autonomy

Vernix caseosa

Vernix caseosa is the cheesy, waxy, greasy layer that is formed during weeks seventeen through twenty of gestation, and then commonly disappears before birth. Sometimes, however, the newborn is covered with it. This phenomenon is common in aquatic mammals, but we humans are the only land animals where our young experience this substance. It is made up of the same material extruded from our sebaceous glands that become active during puberty. As a remedy, it is a protector on so many level. On the biochemical level, it contains vitamin K and is antibacterial. However, the metaphoric code reflects this biochemical one on another level. It brings an array of gifts reflecting “protection”, the keynote of this remedy.

Some themes and keynotes of Vernix

Great porosity. feelings of being unprotected and assaulted, even poisoned.  

Overwhelmed 

As if there is no barrier between them and the world.  

I have used Vernix in cases of abuse, where any barriers that might have existed had been breached or violated, and terror had replaced them. It has been especially useful in symptoms of environmental illness, chronic fatigue, allergies, and autistic spectrum syndromes.  It is as if they have no boundary between them and the outside world, and they become vulnerable to any attack, however subtle they might be. As in all the Matridonal remedies, there is a loss and a lack of sense of identity.

“Vernix enables us to stay in contact with the outside world on all levels without being overwhelmed by it and to know what our own feelings are and what those of others are without mixing them up.” Tinus Smits

Aqua amniota humana

This proofing was done in a weeklong residential seminar on the Aegean Island of Lesbos. As in all of our water remedies, there is a deep element of grief flowing through this remedy; a feeling of something missing, something unresolved, a longing to go back to something, of being lost, even abandoned. In the case in my book, it is well illustrated. When the woman feels she has done something wrong, she wants to go under the water, not to die, but to disappear with her shame. There is a replay here of what happened when she was in the womb. This remedy over all the others is to me like soul retrieval, taking us back to something lost, stolen or forgotten, to a place where our demons hide. Though hidden, they can rule like a silent menace. In the case I have mentioned, the remedy gave her a voice that she could hear, and brought a very very deep healing to her.

As in all these remedies, defining rubrics can be difficult, as they seem to have a universal width that may be too broad for complete rubric capture, but their focus on our early development is undeniable.

The symptom so strong in this proofing was one of a belief that they could breathe under water. There were images and pictures drawn that were either womb-like, or fetuses in the womb. Of course, I want to say here, that it does not only have to be about the journey through the womb, but might be about some other time when they lost an important part of themselves, and ever after were no longer whole.                     

Some themes and keynotes of Aqua amniota humana

Deep underlying feelings of grief

Sensation has the ability to breathe underwater

Sensation as if in the womb, underwater

Self-recognition,

Feelings of containment, protection, constrained feelings,

Heightened senses (a common matridonal symptom)

Time distortion, breath issues

Umbilicus humanus

This remedy’s proofing was done in Greece using the same enhanced proofing as amniotic fluid. (see chapter six, page 70 of: Gifts of The Mother- The Matridonal Remedies)

This is the matridonal remedy that is the closest connection to the soul. The double separation from our earthly mother and the place from whence we came, can be one of deep disconnection. This remedy is full of broken connections, loss of a place of belonging, longing for reconnection and inclusion. A release of deep regrets, and the wonderful healing symptoms of self acceptance, and bringing issues into the light. The metaphoric codes of this remedy are many, and when we think about what this connecting cord means, we can see it all very clearly, no matter how it is put into words. One proofer described it as being able to “spread her wings”.

Some symptoms and keynotes of Umbilicus humanus

Issues of identity, self worth, belonging and not belonging, mistakes made

Connections/disconnections, things lost

Loss of libido; (perhaps this could be described as Life’s longing for itself)

Dislike of own body, and learning to like own body, feelings of being disfigured

Images of angels, deeply spiritual language, and issues of  innocence

In conclusion, I would like to say again that my journey through the Matridonal remedies has been a deeply spiritual one. I often think that if I have a Guardian Angel, this was her gift to me. Doing enhanced proofings has also allowed those of us who participated, the awesome experience of touching into a universal energy that makes up our entire universe and of which we are a part. We have experienced it on a magical and metaphoric plane. Homeopathy for me has enriched my life in more ways than I can express. Thank you dearest Samuel.

Photos:
Flickr; My sweet baby is one; Paxye; Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic
Wikimedia Commons; Postpartum baby; Tom Adriaenssen; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license