Page 11 - Summer 18

Lac Caninum
An Archetypal Study by David Lilley
The mythos of Lac caninum is a revelation of the mystery of the remedy and is richly threaded through with clues to its nature,relationships, and indications.
Repeatedly we witness themes of ambivalence, duality, alternation, opposing or separate halves, stark polarities, light and dark, the sacred and the infernal, the interplay of good and evil, hidden dimensions, psychic forces, weird delusions and the ever-present, beneficent or insidious serpent. There is evidence of rejection, abandonment, neglect, betrayal, infidelity, repressed emotions, jealousy, suspicion, revenge, hate, aggression, paranoid rage, cynicism, deceit, corruption, inordinacy, lust, debauchery, abuse, persecution and even murder, all enacted against a background of fear, inferiority, and self-rejection. A rich, multidimensional, miasmatic picture, which encompasses all that humanity can create, aspire to, fear, suffer, and perpetrate.
The belief that the dog and its milk possesses both spiritual and physical healing power originated in ancient
times and in many cultures; this image was woven into the fabric of myth and incorporated in the ritual of cult. The Greek God of Medicine was Asklepios. His sacred symbols were the serpent and the dog. He was the son of Apollo, the Sun God. One tradition tells us that his mother Coronis gave birth to him in the shrine of Apollo at Epidauros. Having no love for either Apollo or his child, Coronis rejected the baby and exposed him on Mount Titthion, which subsequently became famous for the healing properties of the herbs growing there. The divine baby’s survival was owed to his being suckled alternately by a goat and a shepherd dog, which also stood guard over the infant, sheltering him from harm.
Searching for his stray she-
goat and the missing bitch, a shepherd found the abandoned child. He was about to lift the baby up when
he became aware of the resplendent rays of light that surrounded it. Realising that he was
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