Attacked by ghosts

Near to my clinic in Pakistan, lived an old man, who was famous for dealing with evil spirits. Many people, especially women, used to visit him regularly for their problems, which all concerned evil spirits and ghosts. Sometimes, he would come to the clinic for a chat. One day, he came to the clinic with his limbs bandaged. I could also see some bruises on his body. He told me his story: two days ago, he attended a religious gathering and while he was busy praying, another person, his ‘jealous enemy’, who was also famous for dealing with evil spirits, cast a spell on him. He fell down wounded and lost a certain amount of blood. He added: “I am now being attacked by ghosts.”

I found his story very interesting, so I asked him a few more questions: “Tell me how you felt when the ghosts attacked you?” He answered: ““Ghosts come in the night when I lay down and they try to take my soul out through my calves. One ghost sits on my chest and puts pressure on it; he even tries to block my breathing, it is almost impossible to stand up because the ghost is so heavy. I feel so tired after fighting with them the whole night.” I then asked him about his stomach condition and he told me that his digestion was slow and that he had heartburn after eating (dyspepsia) and belching.

Analysis and repertorisation:

- Cramps in calves
- Problem after loss of vital fluid (blood loss)
- Pressure increases on upper side while lying 
  down due to gastric problems
- Heartburn
- Dyspnoea
- Night aggravates and lying aggravates.

Due to his physical symptoms, I decided to prescribe Carbo vegetabilis 30C. I had, however, a problem on my hands: I needed to find a way to motivate a person, who only believed in spiritual treatments, to use a homeopathic remedy. I brought him the remedy mixed with oil and told him: “This is a holy oil, which was prepared by a holy man after special request.” I also told him to remember one Arabic prayer by heart and read it daily.

Follow-up:

After two days, the patient came back looking happy and told me: “Ghosts tried to attack me but they couldn’t succeed; they tried to touch my calves and even tried to sit on my chest but I was saved.”

His stomach condition had also improved and he expressed a strong desire to meet that ‘holy man’, who gave me that ‘holy oil’. As I told him that this was not possible, the old man asked me to send his humble greetings to him.

At the time of the consultation, I solely relied on the physical symptoms for prescribing Carbo vegetabilis and I did not consider any other aspect of the case. My vision was not broad enough to include an amazing facet of this case, which opened a door to a very interesting topic. Later on, I read in the repertory that Carbo-veg is listed in bold letters under the mind section as follows: “being possessed”, under delusions, aversion to darkness, fear in the dark, and “fear of ghosts with sleeplessness”. Carbo-vegetabilis is a remedy famous for ailments from loss of fluids, exhausting diseases, and old age problems (especially stomach issues); worse before sleep and lying down. In Gibson’s Materia Medica, however, you can read about Carbo veg that “a striking characteristic is the fear of ghosts.”

Mehmood Abdul Hayee   abdulhayee.m@gmail.com

Illustration by Vicki Mathison