On 26th December, 1898, Maria Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie announced the isolation of radium. It was only long after its discovery that the real dangers of radiation were recognized. Curie herself dyed of leukemia, which arose as a consequence of her frequent exposure to the incorporeal powers which so fascinated her (radioactivity is a spontaneous release of energy generated without a chemical or material reaction).
Curie had the option to patent the procedure she discovered to isolate radium, but refused on the basis of her belief that science should be kept free and open, and that her discovery be always available to anyone who wanted to use it. As Ulrich Welte has remarked, this unrestricted attitude speaks to the transpersonal dimension of the radioactive elements, which can be observed in various ways in the dispositional features of patients who tend to benefit from such remedies.
Radium is a remedy that has been used clinically for such issues as: “leukemia, bone marrow disease, splenomegaly, skin cancer, radiation damage, the effects of x-ray radiation, skin burns due to radiation, genetic damage, mytosis and muscle decay, etc” (Ulrich Welte). On the mental-emotional level, Radium patients can “feel guilty that they are special, that they have survived disasters where others are deceased” (Jan Scholten). Marked fears of the dark, of ghosts, and of being alone can be suggestive of this prescription. There can be apocalyptic dreams of trying to save the world, of hot air balloons, bombing, explosions, tidal waves and huge floods, disease, deformity and malformation, blood and premature birth. Prophetic and clairvoyant themes are also common, as they are for all of the radioactive remedies.
