Mantis religiosa - Cosmic transformer

This is the case of a woman in her thirties, who presented with general health issues and who had epilepsy in her teens. Although I realised, from the description of her state, that she would need a remedy I had never prescribed before, and of which I had no knowledge, I was able to find the remedy after the first consultation by using Rajan Sankaran’s methodology. With this method, one goes beyond the story into the deepest sensation, into that which is “non-human”. By the end of the consultation, I was certain I was in the insect realm but that was only the start. The animal themes of victim versus aggressor and of survival are clear, the trapped and paralysed sensation, however, can indicate any realm. It was the descriptions of the transmutative energy, which is ascribed to the insect realm, as I have seen since in my practice, which pointed me in the right direction. In this case, her language took me into a hitherto unknown land.

The case notes are abbreviated to highlight aspects of the language used and for brevity. The case was first presented at the New Zealand Council of Homeopaths conference in Tauranga 2009.

G., a 30 year old woman, came to see me for general health issues in July 2007 and with a history of epilepsy in her teens. She described her symptoms as follows:

“My whole body and mind are scrambled. It is as though someone comes up behind me (left shoulder). As if energy grabs my whole body, overcoming my will, subordinating me. I feel raciness and agitation – internal quivering. I am still and the rest of world is fast (dizziness), I feel as if in a trance, as if looking at myself from a distance.

Travel

"I keep moving, happy in the car.”

Epilepsy

“I want to get out of this space, arms stiff, hands relaxed, I can only move my hands, as if in a straight jacket. I don’t want to be in this body, I want to get out. Internal tightening, as if rigid, paralyzed, as if trapped inside myself but I’ve lost control of my body. It’s tense, tingling and cold – but I can’t do anything to energise myself.”

The epileptic drugs caused night terrors:

“I was fighting beasts, fighting for my life. An animal was waiting to pounce on me, kill me; black animals with red eyes, black panthers, bats, man-sized rats. When something happens in the world there is nowhere to hide.”

Blood-curdling screams with epilepsy: “There’s nothing there except you. Dark, no light whatsoever, I can’t even see myself. There’s nothing there except me, so no need to hide. Where everything ceased to exist, I cease to exist.”

Feeling of being trapped

“I’m stuck, can’t get out, as if nowhere to hide. Inside me is disgusting – green brown slop. This stuff is stuck inside me, so I transmute the energy; put energy into changing it – metamorphosis. I take what’s bad and turn it into what’s good: what I am, a metamorphosis.”

Music

“The energy of the music is not healing, I can’t escape from it and it’s like oppressive dance music. I change the music, transmute it. If I let the energy come into me, it would come out differently. That feels really good, I’m not scared anymore, and it’s like singing. It resonates with the same energy from somewhere else, like from another planet or star, it creates a channel of energy. It’s like lightening but it flows in the other direction: in through the feet and out through the mouth. 

It’s as though a lot of forces are acting on me, adapting other energy. Previously, I would fall into another’s energy field and the interaction would be to my detriment. I’m energetically constrained by finite time, so I master time and eliminate the chaos. I’m embodying a certain energy, which defines how I am in the world. It’s torturous, I went through all of that and I survived: a battle of energies.”

“Since I was 7 years old I have been singing to the land and to the sea, as if praying. When I sang, the world would listen to me. It was a survival mechanism as if I was psychic.”

“I wrapped up a lot of my identity.”

What do you mean by ‘wrap up’?

“Paper wraps stone, the stronger is the winner. (Hand gesture: fist with left - wrapped by right, the dominant hand). Wrap means I can’t move, I’m hidden.”

“When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut, an explorer of outer space.”

Mantis Religiosa  Praying Mantis

N.O. Dictyoptera. Family: Mantidae

From Greek : Prophet. Praying / Preying

Carnivorous and cannibalistic, the female eats the male after mating if hungry. She guards her (≈200) eggs against weather and predators. She strikes with lightening speed – invisible to the human eye – and seizes her prey in a vice-like grip with her front legs, which possess sharp spines – ‘raptorial graspers’. The praying mantis deceives her prey by swaying, mimicking the motion of leaves in the wind. She changes colour to intimidate her predators and keep them at bay. She camouflages herself by blending with foliage. She stands on her hind legs. Some species have a hollow chamber in their body, which enables them to pick up certain sound frequencies and to flee from predators. The most feared predators of the adult mantis are bats, spiders and birds.The praying mantis is an asocial insect, which remains secluded.

Analysis and prescription

The remedy was prescribed on the insect realm’s common characteristics: victim-aggressor, the agitation, the desire to travel (Tubercular miasm?), the desire to “hide” – camouflage - and the need for “survival”. G’s descriptions of metamorphosis gave a definite confirmation; her “disgusting green slop” is transmuted (into the adult form).

Mantis religiosa fitted the sensation of being both the victim and the aggressor, G. described; the sensation that her whole body is “grabbed”, the epilepsy, and the victim trapped by the mantis’ grip and unable to escape. G. acted out the position she would use; hands held before her as if in the praying mantis position - “I can only move my hands.” I researched all the insects I could from lecture notes and from Vital Quest to confirm my thoughts. The Mantis’ predators show up in G.’s night terrors. My own understanding of the insect realm was confirmed by her beautiful description of transmuting the negative sound energy and her singing.

Rx: Mantis religiosa  200c SD. 7/2007,  Repeats: 3/2008, 12/2008

She took Apis on the 6th of August for an acute while traveling; swelling and redness of legs with infected blisters. (Another insect remedy, which >.)

Follow-ups

8/2007: After the remedy, G. felt as if she had been in a 24 hour solitary confinement; in prison. She experienced deep grief and howled for a long time. Her head, however, was “clear like a mountain river”. No remedy was given.

3/2008: G. expressed that she is beginning to feel like an adult and is feeling supported by her family. She had previously stated: “I take on a lot of responsibility” and “everyone is potentially an abuser.” The relevance to G.’s story here, with the sensation method, is the victim/aggressor description related to the animal kingdom, which permeates the case.

“Since the remedy I’m experiencing an amazing transformation: I’m master of my destiny, not at the mercy of someone else. We are all powerful like giants, superhuman.” Here, the polarisation between the insignificance of the insect and the bulk of the giant is manifest.

05/2009: G. is concerned by the appearance of new symptoms: a twitch, an involuntary spasm that is reminiscent of epilepsy. She has the same feeling of energy escaping; a jerking, as going off to bed. Stiff neck, locked; used to walk around with left shoulder raised and is experiencing feelings of being trapped, cheated, tricked, and lied to in her daily life.

Against my better judgement, I was persuaded that Mantis-r was not the simillimum and I prescribed Mygale on keynotes and Mangialavori’s indications. In hindsight, I realised, as with all my cases that the true simillimum takes its time and a repetition of doses to fully work through all levels and attain a state of healthy equilibrium.

Rx: Mygale 1M. Spider remedies for trickery and sexuality. Main symptoms: twitching limbs, convulsive uncontrollable movements of arms and legs, tremulousness. Head jerked to one side (an old symptom from teenage years.)

07/2009: G. felt great right after taking the remedy but it did not hold. Twitches went but return after about a week. Her dreams are anxious; war, planes come over shooting at us, armies advancing in. A gang of kids, somehow we were being invaded. Working and personal relationships are causing stress, which she experiences as ‘trust issues’; “at (their) mercy, threatening, like working in a vacuum.”

She is passionate regarding her “life purpose”, which translates into “a commitment to planetary well-being.”

Rx: Mantis-r 1m SD.

10/2009 G. is fine and has no need for a remedy. She just came for a follow-up. “I get to a point of desperation and despair then I find a well of strength; no-one will have power over me. I fight for the life I want. What is certain is that I’m OK, strong, and hopeful.”

Dreams:  “I see eagles flying. There is a tsunami, nowhere to escape to. I morphed into a seagull and escaped.  The transformation into a bird is essential; i.e. the ability to transform.”

Indications for the Animal Family

Victim/aggressor. Pursued, hunted, chased.

Threat: me versus you – one thing doing something to another– a threat to one’s existence. Power versus vulnerability

Survival – attack or flee. Competition. Dominance / inferiority

Indicates a hierarchy- a survival of the fittest – I am cleverer, stronger, or richer than you, a comparison to others (mineral = I am clever…etc, with no comparison)

Dependence versus independence

Food/Water/Sleep

Jealousy and revenge

Encroachment of territory – feeling invaded

Alert/quick reaction

Non-human.

Insects Common Themes–compiled from Sankaran seminars etc.

Fast pace, busy, restlessness, agility, constant movement, hasty talk. Flying, running and jumping

Industriousness – need to be occupied at all times

Constant need for change

Perseverance

Sudden aggression, sudden death – fear of death especially by suffocation

Crushed, squashed, smashed, reduced to a pulp, pounded, downtrodden

Insignificant, small feeling, in comparison to larger animals which prey on them.

Dirty

Invasion and intrusion. Intolerance of disturbance of privacy – react in irritation and annoyance.

 Suffocating – live in colonies

Shelter / home – caves, nests, cocoons, cracks, tunnels

Pests – persistently annoying.   “Stop bugging me.”   Parasites, allergic reactions

Sucking, chewing, voracious eaters.

Attraction to bright colours, smells and fragrances

Attraction to nature

Insects moult and undergo a process of metamorphosis: egg, larva, pupa to adult.

This is seen in patients through their language: transformation, cycle, complete makeover, shedding, layers reborn, complete dissolution of self (“I cease to exist”)

Hibernation, lie dormant

Total disconnection. Isolation, withdraw, retracted

Delicate, fragile

Hiding, mimicry, camouflage, disguise. Playing dead  

Defence / venomous / poison

Stinging / biting / piercing / burning

Adapting to change is crucial for survival. Insects may live on land, water, air, on hosts, and co-exist with other animals including humans and are one of the most successful life forms.

Society – group mindedness    Concerns re welfare of the community and co-operation– live with thousands of others to do the designated task.

Individuality non-existent, which leads to jealousy and rage.

Lasciviousness - high sexuality

Vital Quest Rubrics / Chabbra

Ailments from DOMINATION BY OTHERS, A LONG HISTORY OF

WOMEN SUPPRESSSED BY MEN

Delusion he is pursued

Dreams amorous / perverse:

            anger, angry

            brutality

            children

            escape

            lewd, lascivious

            mutilation

            rape

            violence

            war

Unfeeling, hard hearted (Androc)

Ego

Hurry, haste, speed

Wait, seize, devour

Disguise, conceal

Not let your presence be known

Hold, grab

Clasp, grasp, grip

Powerful arms

Firm, vice-like, tight

Bite head off

There are 6 million species of beetles, how close are we able to get to the simillimum? “As close as possible! - any beetle in a beetle case will give significant effect.” (Sankaran, Goa 2006)

INSECTS; suggested additions following several themes emerging from insect cases.

Channelling energy

Awareness of universal consciousness

Responsibility for planetary welfare

Guardianship of the natural world, of earth energies.

Entities

Good and evil

The void

Finite and infinite

Chaos and order

Light and sound

Singing and Music

Singing as prayer

Communication

Mythology

Issues about individual identity / I want to be me

Soul journey

I exist / I cease to exist 

Insignificance versus giant

Power, “take over the world”

Comparison with Bird family themes

Ravenous appetite

Communication

Hidden Messages

Spiritual awareness

Life and death – raptors

Speed

Responsibility

Intuition

Freedom and Travel

Suppression of identity, being allowed to be who I am

Perfectionism 

Pauline Wilson BA Hons; LCH; RC Hom graduated from the London College of Homeopathy in 1985 and has been in practice in Wellington, New Zealand since. A tutor at Wellington College of Homeopathy and President of NZCH, Pauline’s homeopathic passion stems from inspirational teachers, such as Misha Norland, George Vithoulkas and the Bombay School.