Snapping turtle proving: I react to the most ridiculous things!

The Third Proving:

Snapping Turtle was the third modern proving conducted at the Northwestern Academy of Homeopathy, in 2004. Eric Sommermann, PhD, CCH, RSHom (NA) led this proving. He sent a clutch of 10-15 snapping turtle eggs to Michael Quinn at Hahnemann Laboratories, in San Rafael, California.

What’s in a Name?

Chelydra means “water turtle” from the Greek chelys, ‘turtle’, and hydra, ‘water’. Serpentina is Latin for snakelike, and ovum indicates the egg of this creature.

Proving Mental Themes include but are not limited to:

Abandoned, ignored, left behind, left out, forsaken, and a sense of isolation or of being shunned

Anger, fury, rampage, rage, extremely ill-tempered and irritable, with unfiltered aggression

Apathy, depression, gray-minded, and sad

Aversion to company

Confusion, slow-minded

Curiosity coupled with efficiency

Deceit, lying, stealing, taking advantage of another, and treachery

Desire to, yet fear of sticking her neck out

Disgust

Guilt and shame, long held

Homesickness, a sense of home, and homelessness; also, lost and trying to find her way home

Industrious, high energy

Possessiveness and territoriality

Primitive

Simpleminded and direct

Speech excited, loquacity

Victim and aggressor

Yearning for protection

Proving Physical Themes include but are not limited to:

Cold weather aggravates

Collapse

Head, heat (accompanying by anger)

Mouth, slurred speech

Teeth, pain

Jaw pain

Extremities, coldness, formication, and pulsation

Food cravings for raw meat

Formication

Lack of vitality

Naked, unprotected

Stomach, nausea

Tightness throughout

Vertigo, room turns in a circle

When to Give Snapping Turtle:

Snapping Turtle is given when you see a quiet person, seemingly calm, who is also hidden (believing that if they remain unseen, they won’t be attacked). They have behaviors and symptoms similar to people who need snake remedies; however, their responses are slow rather than quick, demonstrating a primitive aggression toward others accompanied by jealousy and fierce independence.

This individual’s reactions are often out-of-proportion for the situation. The patient appears slow, dazed and confused. The person needing this remedy is almost always defensive. They will experience tightness throughout their bodies, especially tightness of their jaws, grinding of their teeth, and have a great sensitivity on their necks. From clinical experience it has been observed that there is a long history of abuse, deceit, and treachery, as one patient reported, “no one has your back, so you’ve got to hunker down and protect yourself.” Finally, these patients will report, “I practically raised myself…” as their parents seemingly abandon them to work, or use drugs, or are off partying.

Excerpts from the Proving that are Representative of Snapping Turtle:

Failure to Communicate and Desire to be Left Alone:

The classic, “I want to be left alone.” One prover reported, “A huge communication failure; I would say that my response was that I did not even want to talk…and I didn’t…I didn’t say a word unless I had to.” Another said, “I have very little desire to socialize, and the mindless chatter of people is aggravating me more than usual.”

Slowness and Out-of-Proportion Reactivity:

In this proving of Snapping Turtle, the reaction time is slow, there is a trance-like movement through daily activities, and the reaction is often strikingly out of proportion to the actual situation. “I react to the most ridiculous things.” The response to this reaction is a desire to hide and rest.

Hurried and Industrious:

With a sense that time is running out, the provers hurried themselves, only requiring themselves to slow down and do their work with carefulness and attention to detail.

“I am feeling task oriented and industrious,” and “Now I must get to work. Industrious is a word I keep thinking of… I want to be industrious. If I am not I feel worthless.”

Dreams of Abandonment, Being Shunned and Hopelessness:

“I was so sure I would be kicked out of the proving! I couldn’t bear the sound of that. Why? Not being a part of the group. Not going to be a part of the bigger project. The accomplishment would go on without me. I would be left behind. A nothing. While they would go on to grand & great things, I would be this worm left behind. It was as if I could see them take off into the sky and I was left behind...”

“I dreamt last night of seeing an abandoned child on the street and needing to help him because his mother was sick. I felt very sad when I woke up. The feelings I had about finding that abandoned child in my dream were very frustrating, but basically protective. ...I was sad because I knew his situation was somewhat hopeless...”

Dreams of Being Lost and on the Wrong Track or Disoriented:

“At one point we were on the wrong road. I just had this sense we were on the wrong track. I went to the map and I was right. It was dark and in the middle of the night, and the road just didn’t feel right. I remembered traveling that way before and the road didn’t feel right…”

“Losing my way. I was going to visit my grandmother, my dad’s mother. I have never dreamt of her before. Driving in this very old urban area of the town I grew up in, a very industrial area, with lots of railway underpasses, through the river valley. Turned onto what I thought was her street and parked the car. I began to walk to her house, and then remembered I brought something for dinner and had left it in the car. Tried to go back to the car, but could not find it. I had only walked maybe three houses down from my car, but I became very disoriented. I walked up and down the streets looking for the car. I couldn’t even remember the name of the street. I asked this woman for help. She said I could go to her high-rise apartment to see if I could see the car from there.”

Dreams of Becoming Enraged (Out-of-Proportion Reaction):

“Staying at my mother’s house. I went to shower, but she had left a lampshade drying in the shower that she had washed. Water went everywhere, all over everything, and I became furious. I raged around, throwing the lampshade and the bath mat.”

“I wake up thirsty – very dry in throat and mouth all the way down to my lungs. Some mucus in throat I am able to hawk up. Clear to whitish color, consistency of egg whites.”

“I feel pain in my left lower jaw like a toothache. The pain goes all the way up the left side of my head. I decide to lie on my left side, the sore side. This seems to make it feel better. I feel my heart beating strongly in my body and a strong pulsation throughout.”

Facts about the Common Snapping Turtle:

“The largest recorded common snapping turtle weighed 34 kg. Female snapping turtles may make considerable migrations to find a suitable nesting site, with the longest recorded round trip being a massive 16 km. The common snapping turtle’s extremely varied diet makes it a somewhat flatulent species. Although the common snapping turtle prefers shallow waters, it is capable of diving to depths of 2 or 3 m or more.

The common snapping turtle inhabits a wide range of water bodies, from rivers and lakes to temporary ponds and marshes. However, this species tends to show a preference for slow-moving waterways which have a sandy or soft mud bottom and an abundance of aquatic vegetation. The water bodies inhabited by the common snapping turtle are usually shallow, but this reptile can also be found along the edges of deep lakes and rivers.

Beaver lodges and muskrat bank burrows are an important component of common snapping turtle habitats, as this large reptile often uses such cavities for shelter.

Although considered to be a freshwater species, the common snapping turtle can sometimes be found in brackish coastal waterways, including tidal creeks.

Surprisingly, the common snapping turtle is relatively tolerant of polluted waters, and is one of relatively few reptiles which can regularly be found in acidic streams. 

Juvenile common snapping turtles usually occur in shallower, vegetated habitats, shifting to deeper water as they grow. This may be linked to a preference for taking larger prey as an adult.”[1]

Mythology:

“In the beginning there was only one water and the water animals that lived in it. Then a woman fell from a torn place in the sky. She was a divine woman, full of power. Two loons ?ying over the water saw her falling. They ?ew under her, close together, making a pillow for her to sit on. The loons held her up and cried for help. They could be heard for a long way as they called for other animals to come. The snapping turtle called all the other animals to aid in saving the divine woman’s life. The animals decided the woman needed earth to live on. Snapping turtle said, ‘Dive down in the water and bring up some earth.’ So they did….”[2]

 [1] Morgana’s Observatory: Creation Myths. 1997-2006. [Online] Available: www.dreamscape.com/morgana/umbriel.htm

[2] Wildscreen. ARKive: Common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina). 2003–2013. Wildscreen is a registered charity promoting conservation through wildlife imagery | UK charity no. 299450 | USA 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. [Online] Available: http://www.arkive.org/common-snapping-turtle/chelydra-serpentina/

Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Closeup of turtle eggs deposited by a female snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina); Moondigger; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license
Common snapping turtle; Leejcooper; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license