Page 5 - Summer 12

of holding on to treasures she had built up, manifesting as cracked teats and eruptions on the udder. Edward also said it can be appropriate for cats with territorial issues that lead to cystitis.
On the same farm he treated a cow suffer- ing for twelve months from “collapsing feet” with Sepia for 3 weeks and over 6 weeks brought her back to normal. At her core he saw not only her physical symptoms but that she was lost and wondering if it was safe to be with her group, no real support.
Next up was a timid Cotswold lamb, whose keeper wanted Edward to light her fire, which he did using Anhalonium. He saw her create within herself an absence of need for anything from the outside; some anhalonium dogs can be very attached, others completely detached from the family.
Edward then presented a case by Pierre Fromont involving a herd of goats suffering from gangrenous mastitis and diarrhoea, showing how vital it is to look at the whole sit- uation; Thuja helped but it was Carbo animalis that brought the farm back to balance. The symptoms seen were false acutes of an under- lying suffering. There was a theme of sacrifice and waste – a feeling being unable to give away without being reduced, having given everything but not being recognised for that. It was caused by the fact that the previous herd had been sacrificed. He gave us the mental image of English countryside during the foot and mouth outbreak with burning cattle carcases.
Our first Spark came from John Saxton who gave us a run through of “There’s a Hole in my Bucket!” and how we help the physical problem of the hole and the mental problems that this brings up for Liza! He took us through Triticum family, wheat, couch grass, steel (made of iron, plus nickel and chromium, also in the ferrum series, and carbon), perhaps some limestone, Calc fluor to sharpen the steel, water (Aqua marina here) to wet the stone. Sadly no bucket to bring the water so we are left with a hopeless physical situation but are we able to help the child with Lycopodium?.... going back to The Organon, Aphorism 3 tells us to perceive what is to be cured in this case – and solves the problem by using a material dose of something – ice cream! Through all this he wove the mentals and themes of the reme- dies to the problem in hand.
After the break we were treated to Mark Moodie who gave us an introduction to Agrohomeopathy. He linked Rudolph Steiner and the Biodynamic approach, Lily Kolisko and others who carried out experiments with the Biodynamic preparations and homeopathic potencies on plants showing remarkable effects. He talked about how to think your way into plants to find rubrics, e.g. Sepia for annual plants (“mate once, have child, die”). He intro- duced us to classical homeopath, Vaikunthanath das Kaviraj, author of Homeopathy for Farm and Garden and from Pakistan the homeopath, Dr Iftikhar Waris Shah who has done some very extensive trials on the effects of homeopathy on mealy bug infesta-
tions in cotton crops, in conjunction with “con- ventional” research centres. Mark also talked of the protective effects of potentised squirrel (5c) for walnut trees in the Forest of Dean. Mark’s on-line Considera Project brings together the experience of many people and it is a growing database and resource.
The first day’s presentations ended with Tom Farrington who gave a very detailed look at the relationships of remedies to Sun, Sea and Sand, to each other, to conditions, to the mind, to chakras, to bowel nosodes, to miasms and most importantly, the relationship between the remedy and the patient. There was such depth of knowledge and lateral thinking, high- lighting the complexity of so many types of rela- tionships in homeopathy, which I can’t begin to do justice here. He illustrated his words with cases such as Bengy, a dog with lung cancer. Starting with Lycopodium and Carcinosin, which were followed by some odd symptoms, chronic cough, Aconite, Bryonia, Ipecac; as the cough changed the remedies were changed. Eventually it emerged that Bengy was always better at the beach and Medorrhinum helped him enormously in slowing the cancer down. A human patient’s response when Mercurius sol- ubis was followed by Silicea taught Tom the importance of looking at inimical relationships between remedies and making sure you use a remedy in between them. A cat called PussPuss with cancer was treated topically with Hydrastis, Phytolacca, Calendula and Asterias, and oral Lac felinum which helped for 2 years. He spoke of Sepia helping infertile goats. A dog from a local rescue centre with skin eruptions noticed to be affected by sun- light, who responded to Sepia. Another dog responded every summer to Fucus vesiculosis (and thyroidinium) for her hypothyroidism. The Giants Causeway, composed of Basalt is rich in calcium and can be used to treat “hot, fiery Calcarea carbonica” patients.
After dinner the entertainment on the beach went ahead with music, dancing and singing from all over the world.
Saturday morning started with Sue Armstrong giving a clear and beautifully illustrated picture of “A Grain of Sand” and helped us see the world in it – “sand that looks so uniform and simple is rich in diversity, beauty and unique- ness”. She spoke of the importance of going back to the source of the remedy and original provings rather than relying on a condensed form in a materia medica. The difference was pointed out, between Silicea terra and Silicea marina which was introduced by Clarke, the source of which was sand taken from a beach. We were challenged as to the source of the Silicea we use in practice. In the Silicea state, animals can be mistaken for other polycrests; they are not always the stereotypical weak, pot- bellied and shy individuals. Sue described an itchy racehorse that lost her hair in patches from spring until the end of summer. Conventional vets had done a lot of tests but not come up with a solution. Sue was brought in the second year this happened and noted
that a new delivery of sand for the school was made just before this happened. The horse became irritable and anxious (even when well, silica types are often peevish, naggy and irrita- ble). This irritability is strongly represented in the proving, less so in materia medica. After working the case up, silica came up very high. Sue chose Silicea marina in this case, and the problem has never recurred even when the horse is turned out onto the sand school.
Arnie presented with epilepsy, onset within 3 months of vaccination, fitting every 3 – 4 weeks. He looked like a silicea patient – a thin, sensitive nervous dog, jumping at sudden noise, easily startling, obstinate, chilly, hot head, icy cold feet, diarrhoea or constipation, stool rarely normal, gave Silicea terra split dose, brought fits frequency to 1 every 3 – 4 months. Repeated dose then increased poten- cy – he was then fine, with no fits until he went to the beach where he kept eating sand, caus- ing severe diarrhoea then constipation, and on return home had a severe fit so Sue gave Silicea marina, and he has only had 2 more fits since, both associated with overheating, the first after a vaccination. Here there was a big difference between Silicea terra and Silicea marina.
Sue asked “How important is oxygen, “the silent partner” in Silicea? When we look at our whole relationship with oxygen – we rely on it - but too much can kill us. Oxygen, inflammation and cancer are intimately related hence silicon dioxide is an important cancer remedy as opposed to silica metallicum which has a differ- ent effect.
Silicea has warm blooded acute states, hot heads, fevers, menopausal flushes in the head and feet; it is not always chilly – although has cold blooded chronics. Pulsatilla and Thuja have lovely relationships with Silicea – which will often complete each others’ actions. Silicea is multimiasmatic, strongly sycotic, sitting between Calcarea and Phosphorus, with lots of syphilitic sides to it. Sue confirmed that we should not forget the inimical relationship between Mercurius and Silicea.
Sulphur and Silicea can enhance each other’s action. There are intimate relationships with Calcarea, Alumina and Natrum mur which is not surprising when we look at their relation- ships in nature.
When looking at the constitution, it is easy to get stuck in the materia medica and pheno- types rather than going to the provings. In Silicea there is a lot of correlation with structur- al fineness but it doesn’t have to be. Some of Sue’s best Silicea cases look more like Calcarea, based on the phenotypic expression; or they can look like Phosphorus. They can behave like Nat mur and Lycopodium, being withdrawn, not wanting consolation. Head- aches – many angry horses have restricted movement of the head, Silicea can look very much like Nat mur, maybe less anxious. Silicea cases are not always anxious until something happens to frighten them. Lycopodium has a lot of Silicea in it as a plant. Silicea was the consti-
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