Heroes Not Zombies

Learning the materia medica of homeopathic remedies teaches us about the kinds of ways different people experience the world and cope with life’s challenges. There are amazing parallels and resonances between these patterns and significant characteristics of the starting materials of the remedies.

Let’s take a look at Lycopodium. This is club moss. A delicate looking type of fern moss which creeps along the forest floor looking pretty insignificant. However, back in the Carboniferous Period this plant was one of the greatest trees in the forest. Imagine what it might be like to have a knowledge of your greatness, your superiority over others trapped inside body and personality which is small, weak and insignificant. This gives you a sense of the essence of the materia medica of Lycopodium.

People who respond well to this remedy are often quite haughty, even contemptuous of those who they consider to be their inferiors. But in the presence of authority they become quite obsequious.

There are some great characters from literature like this. Think of Dickens’ Uriah Heep, or Peake’s Steerpike. Or think of Grima Wormtongue. Here he is ……..

That video clip is wonderful. I’ve always liked that song and the way Anyathe has put together the clips from Lord of the Rings to this soundtrack is just superb. It gives us a more sympathetic understanding of this rather distasteful character.

The person who needs Lycopodium after all is just struggling to survive and get on in life as we all are. There’s a duality at the core of their being. Two understandings of the self, each of which expresses itself in different contexts. The child who needs Lycopodium is often as good as gold at school and a very disturbed, difficult child at home, or vice versa, depending on which authorities they respect. The adult who needs it usually reveals their dual nature when they are in the middle of a hierarchy. They are good employees but bullying bosses.