Fungi occupy the liminal realm between world of the living and the world of the dead: decomposing and recomposing earthly environments in untold ways. Ongoing studies of mycelia and mycorrhizae (“fungal roots”, which are entangled in intricate symbiotic relationships with plants and play an integral role in soil structure and ecosystem multifuncionality) have opened the scientific mind to the reality that forests are superorganisms, woven together by vast, largely unseen fungal networks. The fungal mind is all around us.
Fungi are responsible for processes involving the transmission of information amongst living organisms; they do this by way of electrical impulses that are sent underground through long, thread-like structures called hyphae, which expand to form mycelial networks.
In homeopathy, fungi have come to play an increasingly important role in our materia medica. Fungi are related to the Uranium series of elements on the periodic table, which are united by the themes of limitless invisible power, magic, intuition, and decay. Fungi patients exist in-between worlds, carving out their own niches, dwelling in the liminal spaces outside of social expectation and convention. Their internal worlds are labyrinthine in their complexity, rich with highly sensitive capacities for feeling and perception. Hence, they can feel easily invaded, with unclear boundaries and a sense of vulnerability and awkwardness.
The network character of fungi are analogous to the billions of synaptic connections in the human brain, making fungi useful remedies for brain related pathologies (e.g. migraines, strokes) and dementias. When the biological networks of the body are damaged by trauma, infections, autoimmune diseases, radioactivity, and cancer, fungal remedies can help to restore organismic integrity and cohesion, reintegrating and re-weaving a fragmented corpus that has been subjected to the forces of breakdown and decay.
