Homeopathic Remedy Pictures III: Ayahuasca Ayahuasca has been used throughout Amazonia for (perhaps) thousands of years, and continues to serve as an integral part of many indigenous cultural traditions. Today it is most commonly used in healing rituals, to help facilitate deep levels of insight and awareness, and in order to attain beatific and ecstatic states of being. Many indigenous mythologies emphatically associate the origin of culture with the use of ayahuasca.

‘Ayahuasca’ is a word from the Quechua language. Huasca is the word that is used in Quechua to refer to any species of vine.  Aya is used to denote a separable soul, implying the souls of the dead. From this, we can understand the two common English translations of the word: vine of the soul and vine of the dead. The use of Ayahuasca as a homeopathic medicine originated relatively recently, but it has come to be recognized by some practitioners as a crucial remedy for modern practice. As a potentized substance, Ayahuasca helps to foster self-realization and generates insight into longstanding problems in one’s life. This remedy has been referred to as a ‘spiritual umbilicus’ in that it assists in generating links with one’s relatives and loved ones, develops one’s understanding of their own past, their connections to their ancestors, as well as longstanding patterns of ancestral inheritance. 

The astral plane, from which soul life, sentience, and conscious awareness originate, is normally inaccessible to everyday waking states. At best, our higher emotional and spiritual body can be approached in sleep, through the activity of dreaming. Ayahuasca, in both its traditional form and as a homeopathic medicine, can magnify the astral plane so that it enters into the realm of conscious experience, allowing it to be engaged with through the medium of the senses. This results in a heightening, refinement and amplification of feeling, desire, meaning and sensation. Homeopathic Ayahuasca is thus indicated in cases where there are great feelings of oppression and sufferings of the soul that need to be brought to consciousness in order to find resolution. There can be a sense of being entangled in elaborate karmic webs, held down by dense emotional ties, and seemingly trapped in longstanding patterns of manipulation, lying, cruelty and deceit. The ayahuasca patient may exist in a state of utter hopelessness, forgetting who they really are and loosing sight of the aims and purposes of their life. 

Homeopathic ayahuasca can allow patients to recognize and embrace their inner freedom, to drop harmful inhibitions around personal expression, and assist in the process of finding one’s own voice. Ayahuasca works on the electrical signals that generate astral images within the brain, and hence is useful in some neurological conditions, which may include parkinsonism, alzheimer’s, dementia, and autism. It is being increasingly used with AIDS and cancer patients, as well as with those who have a long history of drug abuse. This includes the use of psychoactive drugs, which may have distorted and damaged one’s auric field.

Ayahuasca can be used in cases where patients suffer from perceptual distortions, doubt their senses, or conversely experience a debilitating heightening or overwhelming acuity of sensory information (this may include hallucinations and visions, as well as telepathic and clairvoyant phenomena). There may be chronic tiredness that is associated with a sense of detachment and faltering memory, where life may have taken on a sense of vagueness or indefiniteness. Complaints of numbness and tingling in various parts of the body, or a general sense of anesthesia, may also be part of the symptom picture. 

As an acute remedy, ayahuasca can help to heal injuries that are characterized by having an element of ‘twist’ in them as well as gastrointestinal complaints such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anxiousness and restlessness. It can be used in the treatment of infants and children who suffer from a variety of physical and psychic stresses.

From the perspective of Earth evolution, snakes were the first creatures to embody the process of separation, to initiate the incorporation of ego forces by way of a nervous system housed within a bony canal or vertebral column. As Rudolf Steiner puts it, “The snake is the first to enclose within a tube the selfless undifferentiated gaze of the Earth Spirit, thus forming the basis of ego hood.” The group soul that propelled the evolutionary development of snakes was more deeply connected to the physical form than it was with any other previous creature, hence their being horizontal and earthbound (or ‘fallen’), a characteristic that was never overridden. It is no wonder that the serpent was the tempter in the Garden of Eden: it is with the serpent that the independent ego, the I-forming capacity, finds its origins. That snakes repeatedly shed their skin can be seen as a symbol of the necessity of ego transformation (or as the presence of death forces in the ego structure). The serpent teaches us the importance of relinquishing outdated, obsolete material of the self. 

Lachesis is a homeopathic remedy made from the venom of the bushmaster viper. This is a remedy that has a great deal to do with survival, instinctual life, power, speech, sexuality, and passion. The lachesis patient is often highly expressive, strong willed and strong minded, exhibiting an unbounded intensity, or even mania, on many levels. They may be the type of person who experiences truly ecstatic states of being, which they wish to share with others and speak about incessantly. On the other hand, lachesis individuals can suffer from and have little control over their jealousy, tendencies towards anger or violence, paranoia, and a sense of persecution. Alcoholism and drug addiction may be a part of the picture, along with extreme lasciviousness. Characteristically, the lachesis patient sleeps into an aggravation (e.g. the patient’s breathing may stop as soon as they fall asleep, or they may wake up with crippling headaches in the morning). 

Complaints tend to be left sided and made worse from heat. The patient is also intolerant of constriction, especially around the neck (turtlenecks and scarves are unbearable). Swallowing can be difficult, especially the swallowing of liquids. There are several very interesting peculiar symptoms covered by this remedy, including the feeling that one is an animal, that the heart was hanging by a thread and would be torn off were it to beat violently, waking up with the feeling that one has no friends, and that all the day’s events were but a dream. 

The articles in this series are intended to help give you a sense of the beauty and scope of homoeopathy, a truly holistic system of medicine – the medicine of experience if there ever was one. If you’d like to learn more about what homeopathy has to offer, please feel free to be in touch.

Sepia is a homeopathic remedy made from the ink of the cuttlefish. The cuttlefish uses its ink to darken its watery environment, help capture its prey, and as an aid in concealing itself from its predators. The cuttlefish’s body cannot be extricated from its enclosing shell. This fact finds a parallel with the patient in need of Sepia, who feels the need to break free from constricting and inhibiting temperamental, sexual, and emotional patterns of thought and behaviour, but who finds herself utterly unable to do so. When well indicated, Sepia can assist a person who is suffering from such tendencies, which cannot simply be disowned and rejected, to gradually integrate and transform them. Sepia can promote the development of “a conscious understanding with which to complement the world of instinctive feeling” (Edward Whitmont).

One of the prominent mental-emotional symptoms of this remedy is a pervasive feeling of apathy, dullness, confusion, and stasis. The Sepia patient is well known to exhibit a strong degree of indifference and neutrality to those around her, especially those who are loved best. The desire for solitude is prominent with this remedy, along with an aversion to company, a feeling of needing to break free from mundane cares, worries and burdens, and a tiredness stemming from the many overwhelming and seemingly inescapable demands of life. Sepia patients can be tearful and weepy, and report feeling overwhelmed by an all-encompassing sense of dissatisfaction and uneasiness. A tendency towards anger and impatience may be present. Additionally, a high degree of intuition, even clairvoyance, may be suggestive of Sepia.Homeopath Richard Pitt describes the underlying idea of Sepia as follows: “my survival is dependent on my ability to move and to be active, to free myself from the restrictions of life and not be dragged down and suppressed by social and daily pressures. I need to be independent to know who I am.”

Bimala is an herbal formula developed by the 8th century Indian monk and Buddhist Dzogchen (Natural Great Perfection) master Vimalamitra. It is often prescribed in cases of persistent insomnia and night waking, mood swings, agitated and hostile dispositions, restlessness, lack of concentration, and faltering memory. Various states of depression, unshakeable and unexplainable sadness, muddled and confused thought patterns, chronic headache conditions, chest pain, lethargy, and an absence of mental clarity can benefit from this medicine. Bimala is also widely used by those who are engaged in meditative disciplines and by those who are seeking to establish and maintain a balanced and tranquil mind.

Vimalamitra describes the medicine as follows: “A special therapy for vata (wind/rlung) in the heart:when the nine wicked spirit siblings are rampant,no one will be unaffected by this disease.The symptoms are depression, mental instability, disturbed thinking, pain and tightness in front and back of the upper body,lack of mental clarity, poor memory,being sad for no reason, restlessness,hostility, lethargy and agitation, shortness of breath,acute fainting. Because various illnesses arise, the method of healing them with medicine is demonstrated.”

Celandine (Chelidonium majus) is an “herb of the Sun, under the celestial Lion… It is called chelidonium, from the Greek word chelidon, which signifies a swallow, because they say, that if you put out the eyes of young swallows when they are in the nest, the old ones will recover their eyes again with this herb. This I am confident, for I have tried it, that if we mar the very apple of their eyes with a needle, she will recover them again: but whether with this herb, I know not” (Culpepper). Celandine is in the poppy family (papaveraceae) and has the smallest flowers, or the most suppressed flowering process, of said family. It has abundant leaves, another unusual feature of the poppy family. The formative forces, which are typically localized in the flower of most poppies, have moved to other parts of the plant in the case of celandine. Celandine is well known for the fact that it exudes a yellow-orange latex; celandine is allegedly the only plant in the world that does this. This latex is a sign that there is a special principal active in celandine’s fluid organization, and is a well-known signature denoting an affinity for the liver, bile, and gallbladder. One of celandine’s indications is in cases of headache that are due to bile congestion and stagnation. Thick, stuck bile can lead to gallbladder inflammation and a blocked bile duct. Constipation is often part of the picture. Celandine is also highly esteemed for its ability to remove warts and other skin afflictions.

Schizandra is a herb that develops the primary energies of life. Michael Tierra writes that “schizandra restores vital energy and secures primal Qi so it doesn’t leak out of the body.” The Chinese name of this herb – wu wei zi – means “five flavours herb”, as it possesses all of the flavours recognized in Traditional Chinese Medicine, with sour being the most pronounced, revealing the herb’s astringing qualities and affinity for the liver.

Schizandra’s vitality enhancing effects are best noticed when used for a prolonged period of time. Ron Teeguarden writes that if used for 100 consecutive days “schizandra purifies the blood, sharpens the mind, improves memory, rejuvenates the kidney energy (especially the sexual functions in both men and women), and causes the skin to become radiantly beautiful.” Its uses as a skin remedy extend into the treatment of some types of hives and eczema.

Schizandra berries can serve to promote tranquility of mind and help to alleviate emotional and physical pain. In both Russian and Chinese herbal traditions, schizandra has been used to treat psychopathologies such as neurosis, schizophrenia, and alcoholism. Schizandra improves sociability and reduces emotional tension and disharmony. It is one of the primary remedies, along with hawthorn, that I consider for the treatment of ADD and ADHD; schizandra berries can greatly improve concentration and the capacity of attention, as well as sharpen hearing and vision. Schizandra is also quite useful in helping to improve coordination, to remedy forgetfulness and absentmindedness, and to reduce irritability.

In TCM schizandra is used to increase the water qi in the kidneys and the water of the genital organs [i.e. the sexual fluids]. Schizandra performs the function of balancing global fluid levels in the body, thus it can also be used to treat night sweats, excessive thirst and urination. These are only some of the many uses of this miraculous remedy.

Chulen in Tibetan means “taking the essence.” These pills help to restore prenatal or ancestral jing, which is the energy that allows for the possibility of human conception as well as what determines an individual’s basic constitution. Chulen pills serve to rebuild the most fundamental energy of life, the principal seat of one’s vitality, as well as serving to extend life and generally increase health and wellbeing. While in Chinese medicine this energy is said to be forever gone once it has been used up, these Tibetan pills are capable of restoring this most precious essence of life.

The practice of taking Chulen is a practice of essence extraction – extracting the essence of the elements or “drinking the vast space of Dharmakaya.” Taken with proper care (which involves, in the most basic sense, refraining from the excesses that result in depletion) and in combination with physical yoga practices, chulen can lead one to “recognize the nature of awareness and its relationship to the pure essence of the elements” (Joseph Wagner). One is thus cared for and “fed” by the Dakinis (Khandros in Tibetan), “sky-goers” or “space-dancers”, ethereal awakened beings with a female form who play in the vastness of open space, the field of pure awareness. With their guidance dualistic vision can be overcome.

Namkahi Norbu describes the delusion of karmic vision as a sate of apparent “radical separation between our person – body, speech, and mind – and that which we take for an external world.” When the illusionary misperception of self and world as absolute, self-existing realities is dissolved, as Norbu continues, “the individual experiences his or her own nature as it is and as it has been from the very beginning: as an awareness free from any restriction and as an energy free from any limits or form. To discover this is to discover the Dharmakaya or ‘Body of Truth’, which is better rendered as ‘Body of the True nature of Reality.’”

That chulen can lead one to drink in the vast space of Dharmakaya was revealed to me a few weeks after starting on these pills. I had a dream that I was in the mountains of Tibet with one of my herbal teachers. She was showing me how to subdue the demons and elemental spirits that were appearing before us. This resulted in an initiatory vision of these various malefic beings being transformed into glorious rainbows that extended into infinity – a light of bliss that pervaded the entire universe and reached all sentient beings.

Oneirogens (óneiros meaning “dream” and gen “to create”) are a class of ethnomedicines which are dream inducing. Oneirogens are rarely discussed or studied for, as Jonathan Ott observes, “phytochemical investigation of such oneirogenic plants is hampered by the fact that dreams occur naturally, spontaneously, and unpredictably, rendering difficult the development of suitable psychonautic bioassays to guide fractionation.” With that said, working with onerigenic plants can lead us to deepen our understanding of the purpose, function, and meaning of dreams in our lives. Dreams are not directly intelligible, the way in which ordinary language usually is. Dreams speak to us in a peculiar language, comprised of images and symbols. Carl Jung wrote that “dreams are a spontaneous product of the unconscious soul. They are pure nature and therefore an unadulterated natural truth. They represent a communication or a message of the unconscious of the all one soul of humankind.” Is there a symbiotic intersection of the language of dreams and the language of plants? How and in what ways can oneirogenic plants affect the process of symbol formation that characterizes the activity of dreaming?

One of my favourite onierigens is Albizia julibrissin (Mimosa, He Huan Pi, collective happiness flower, sensitive plant). Albizia is an extraordinary remedy for unshakeable depression, melancholia, severe loss, broken heartedness, anxiety, and chronic grief. Taken before bed, albizia can help us to process difficult emotions that we are resistant or otherwise unable to work through. It can make us aware of the underlying contours of our psychical and emotional landscape and gently show us a way through. It can be used to help calm individuals who fall too quickly and easily into bouts of anger, frustration, and rage as well as those who tend towards excessive worry and fear. Albizia contains Acetylcholine, a vitally important and multifaceted neurotransmitter that is also found in the human nervous system (“every human, like every plant and animal, is one of the infinitely many neurons in the nervous system of Gaia”). While albizia is not as widely utilized as some of the well known mood-elevating and antidepressant herbs (such as St. John’s Wort and Kava Kava), I believe that it is the most effective and widely applicable botanical remedy that is available to us for working into this complex of psycho-emotional issues. In the Chinese Materia Medica albizia is understood as a superior Shen tonic, a calming spirit herb. Both the bark and the flowers are used; the bark is said to ‘anchor’ the spirit, the flowers to ‘lighten’ it. Ron Teeguarden says that a medicine made from the flowers serves to “lift the spirit, calm the emotions, stabilize mood and point our psyche in a positive direction.” The bark has a strong affinity for the heart and liver meridians and can be helpful in some cases of muscular discomfort and swelling. The leaves of the mimosa tree fold and unfold under the influence of the Sun, and are also sensitive to being touched. As Julia Graves elaborates from this: “We will not be surprised to find they are healing plants for nerves and sensitivity, and to know that these leaf movements occur from electrical impulses running through the plant tissue in quasi-nerve-like fashion. The Cherokee call the sensitive plant /bashful/; it is used in formulas for people who are too shy.”

Lion’s Mane mushroom (Hericium erinaceus), double extraction tincture. Lion’s mane is most well known for its ability to induce brain tissue regeneration and to enhance perceptual capacities. As you can see in this photo, lion’s mane often takes the shape of a brain – a clear signature. It is used in the treatment of such issues as dementia, Parkinson’s, & diabetic neuropathy. The polysaccharides & polypeptides in these fungi help to enhance immune function and have proven useful in stomach, esophageal, & skin cancers. Lion’s mane can pass through the blood-brain barrier and as such is quite valuable for targeting Lyme disease spirochetes that have invaded the brain. Lion’s mane directs the spirochetes into the bloodstream where there’s a chance of their being eradicated.

As the days grow shorter and colder and the embrace of the night deepens, some of us may find that our inner sun is also waning. St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum), which Matthew Wood has held up as perhaps /the/ “archetypal healing herb” and Father Sebastian Kneipp has called the “perfume of God” and the “flower of the Fairies”, can help some of us navigate the states of all pervading darkness which take hold as we approach the Winter Solstice and the rebirth of the light.

In the symbolic language of Alchemy, the metamorphosis of a black bird into a white bird stands for the albedo, or whitening, process – a transformational movement of the psyche out of “its dark and depressive leadened state into a reflective sublimation that lightens the soul and is thought to bring a greater sense of consciousness and freedom. It is a kind of purification process and catalyzes psychic development” (Marlan). While holistic herbal medicine does not simply prescribe St. John’s Wort for unspecified “depression” but always rather searches for the root causes underlying such a state of body and soul, I do see the “primary yellow flowers” of St. John’s Wort, as Rudolf Steiner described them, as a potential catalyst for this “whitening” process. For Steiner, Hypericum works to combat the malnutrition that stems from an overburdening of the organs of the rhythmic system – “There is the rhythm of the breath, the rhythm of the circulation, the rhythm manifested in sleeping and waking, and countless other rhythmic processes.” St. John’s Wort helps to carry the anabolic processes into the sphere of the nerves and senses and to aid the astral body’s inner mobility. The astral body is linked to the Manipura or solar plexus chakra and Hypericum is an important remedy for treating conditions of the enteric brain or neural gut.

In the words of Julia Graves: “Flowers that shape tufts such as St. John’s Wort (a star with a tuft) point to nerve endings and sensitivity. St. John’s Wort is one of the finest nervines available. All of its starry, sun-yellow flowers look up; they facilitate the prana flowing in through the crown”.

One may do well to imbibe in the herbal sunshine that St. John’s Wort offers when, as Hölderlin has it in his novel Hyperíōn, it is necessary to “call on Fate to give me back my soul.” Hypericum is a herb of spiritual and emotional protection, as is attested by a traditional use of the oil noted by Deborah Frances: “Recognizing that women are more sensitive and open during menses, women in traditional cultures in Europe painted their labias with an oil of Hypericum for protection during moontime.” One need only look at the flowers of St. John’s Wort, with their “golden five-petalled blooms radiating like small sun-wheels around a shower of bobbing stamens” (Fischer-Rizzi), to realize the magnanimous beneficence of this remedy. Fischer-Rizzi continues: “our forbearers saw in these flowers the captured power of the sun, each five-pointed star a sign of the benevolent powers. Ancient druids saw a resemblance to their sacred pentagram while Christians felt it symbolized the five stigmata of Christ.”

Lastly, let us note that the first part of the Latin binomial Hypericum perforatum is a derivation of the name of pre-Olympia God of the Sun Hyperíōn, which literally means “The High-One.” That the yellow flowers of St. John’s Wort turn blood red when placed into menstruum and processed as a tincture or oil reminds us of the life giving power of the Sun, the Sun which gives without receiving.