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Continued from page 13 The Lanthanides
the sense of challenge is gone, the person
may move on to other challenges.
Europium (9th): No longer needing to test one’s strength; what one lacks in capacity is com- pensated for in terms of sheer perseverance. A sense of “crawling through the desert” to
reach one’s goal.
Gadolinium (10th): Conscientious about the final
details of perfection; sensitivity to not being
acknowledged or appreciated for one’s talents. Terbium (11th): Full confidence in one’s inner capacities and talents (but nevertheless
thwarted in their full outer expression). Dysprosium (12th): Anxiety with respect to one’s slipping capacity for every manifesting one’s gifts. What one previously accom- plished in a mundane capacity takes much
more effort.
Holmium (13th): A definite sense of compro-
mise with repeated efforts to return to past performance capacity; a temporary return is followed by slipping back to the state of compromise.
Erbium (14th): A feeling of emptiness, going through the motions, a hopelessness that one will ever return to a state in which expression of one’s gifts might be possible.
Thulium (15th). Sentimental about one’s past; clinging to memories of a time when circum- stances might have allowed for one’s greater influence.
Ytterbium (16th) The dream of potential influ- ence exists only in theory—‘if things had been different, those gifts could have changed the world’
Lutetium (17th) All hope for potential influence has died, but nevertheless residual “last- stand resistance” to accepting the present reality remains.
After recognizing the particular column of con- fidence and respective Lanthanide, one needs to understand what “hangs in the balance” between a successful or “failed” performance. If the client speaks of gaining or losing personal value, self-worth, or the potential for generating or losing general value (i.e., money), then one could consider carbonicum as an anion, because carbon holds a central place in our world in relation to generating value (e.g, build- ing carbon chains in photosynthesis) or losing it (burning carbon fuels). Or if the person speaks of the fear of punishment, consequences for having done wrong or being perceived as hav- ing done something wrong, then one can con- sider bromatum. Other anions may be confirmed through their miasmatic qualities or keynotes.
As with any other salt (e.g., elemental com- pound), at times the anion (latter part of the compound) will be recognized first, and at other times, the cation (i.e, Lanthanide—the first part) is seen first. And at times the themes of cations and anions overlap (e.g, desire for appreciation with gadolinium or sulphur).
Therefore, all Lanthanide salts are distin- guished by very subtle differences, and one must be sure the gestalt of the salt is consistent with the total symptom picture. In other words, one should be very confident about the cation or anion (whichever is perceived more easily), and then work from that perspective to under- stand the other half of the compound.
Selected Anion themes
Arsenicum; Cold, fastidious; anxious emphasis on gaining or losing security
Bromatum; Avoiding persecution, punishment, embarrassment
Carbonicum; Value and worth in relation to pro- ductivity; general and personal
Fluoratum; Syphilitic tendencies; superficial appearance/connection, hidden decay.
Iodatum; Warm; high metabolism and activity Muriaticum; Connection/disconnection; nur-
tured/not nurtured, disappointment Nitricum; Anticipatory anxiety; fear of high, nar-
row and “out of control” situations Oxydatum; Sensitivity and imaginary fears;
inspired/inspiring; may feel victimized Phosphoricum; Sensitivity with imaginary fears
related to dark, thunderstorms
Silicatum: Cold, sensitivity to criticism, desire to
reflect a fixed image to others
Sulphuricum; Runs warm, disorderly, censori-
ous, ego, desire for appreciation
One final consideration–at the far right of the horizontal rows are Noble Gases, signifying a limbo-like dormancy between the completion of one stage of life and the beginning of the next. The language of Noble Gases can at times be confused with Lanthanides, but is distinguished by the fact that these remedies have gaseous qualities of very strong sensitivity to the envi- ronment, as well as problems with
bonding and sense of sepa- ration from others.
One may also
hear themes of
past and present,
relating to the elements on either side of the gas. Chemically, the Noble Gases, whose outer electron shell is complete and hence do not bond with other elements, may be better under- stood by viewing the periodic table in a spiral format, which helps to clarify their atomic posi- tion between the elements preceding and fol- lowing them.
To summarize, in recognizing a Lanthanide theme in practice, one may perceive:
1 mineral language—through words in the
history indicating structure and order
2 a performance theme—one is hoping to
refine or express their “performance”
3 “silver gifts” which the client wants to mani- fest in a “golden ideal”—to be “good as gold”, but for various reasons the full expres-
sion is thwarted.
The homeopath must then determine the client’s relative degree of confidence with respect to mundane challenges. This gives an indication of how confident they are relative to their inner potential, and in turn, determines the particular Lanthanide indicated for the client’s state.
Finally, the homeopath needs to under- stand the significance of the performance to the client. A client might say ‘I want my music to make a difference in the world, but it seems like only friends and relatives show up when I per- form, and that makes me feel worthless’ (car- bonicum?). Or ‘I want my vision of enlightened architecture to someday help preserve the world’s resources—I feel frustrated that people aren’t listening–I don’t feel acknowledged or appreciated’ (sulphuricum?). Or ‘I want my stories to inspire children through a universal language of peace—yet as hard as I work at it, I’m not any closer to realizing my dream—that makes
me feel deeply disappointed
and
alone’ (muri- aticum?). In most
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