Page 18 - Summer 18

Hyoscyamus niger
world might be plunged into primordial darkness. They achieve partial success at the eclipses and it is said that they will fully succeed at Ragnarok, the Norse Doomsday.
Here again the solar and lunar, right and left, masculine and feminine polarities are apparent, as also a destructive energy. Wotan, the pagan Teutonic equivalent of the Norse Odin or Wodin, was known as the Lord of Ecstasy [Dionysos, the God of Hedonism, is the Greek equivalent; hedonism and destruction combined reveal the syco- syphilitic miasm]. The priests of Wotan carried a leather pouch that contained hallucinogenic herbs for use in the rituals associated with the god. Chief amongst these was Black Henbane [Hyoscyamus], the antirabies acute of Lac-can. We find loops within loops as we delve deeper into these correspondences.
In homeopathy the wolf represents primarily the shadow side of Lac-can. Not only has its true image been distorted by hybridisation, worldwide the wolf has been hunted, persecuted, imprisoned, and destroyed. Its inherent ambivalence has been attenuated, and under the weight of abuse the evil aspect has been thrust into relief. Repressed resentment, anger, and hatred move it to seek revenge, often transpersonal, or by scapegoating. It stalks society in many forms, always in league with the devouring, destructive miasm, syphilis. It is the mutant or shadow wolf! It can be a Hitler, or, like Charles Manson, the leader of a pack, who wore many faces and was known as the chameleon or the coyote.
Lac-can is the only archetype that has delusions of spiders. That has to be significant. It confirms many of the
correspondences that we have already noted. Like the snake, the spider is one of the most powerful creatures in myth and symbolism. It is a lunar and female symbol, an attribute of moon goddesses, and depicts the Great Mother in her awesome aspect as weaver of human destiny [Lachesis]. It is therefore also associated with divination. Athene [Sepia] reappears in our picture. As the Goddess of Arts and Crafts, she is the patroness of weavers and the spider is one of her creatures. It was Athene who maliciously transformed Arachne into a spider when she was judged to be Athene’s equal in a weaving competition. In Hinduism and Buddhism the spider is the weaver of the thread of illusion, maya – the fragile and mortal world of appearances. In Africa the spider is the trickster, wily and cunning, and up to no good. In this he must be compared with Hermes [Mercury] who was the trickster of Greek mythology, master of deceit, facile tongued, persuasive, and a consummate mimic and impersonator.
Like Lac-can, Mercurius is a shape shifter and the disease for which it is the archetypal remedy, syphilis, was known as “the great masquerader” because of its diversity of form.
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Tarent-hisp – European wolf spider