Spectrum of Homeopathy 2021-2, Invertebrates

One would actually most like to dive down to them: for most invertebrates live in the depths of the sea and are of enchanting beauty. At the beginning of the evolutionary development of these creatures stand the colourful towers and architecturally astonishing building complexes of the sponges with their sophisticated filtration system. They are surrounded by the floral diversity of the 400‑million‑year‑old corals, which hold a mirror up to humanity’s sensitivity: in pollution caused by civilisation they fade and die. As remedies they help patients with dependency, anxiety and easily irritated vulnerability.

Similarly healing are the graceful sea anemones, which help fragile and vulnerable people to regain their footing. To the plant‑like, flower‑like animals join the medusae (jellyfish) with their graceful and elegant relatives, many of which possess a deadly toxin, the multi‑armed squids whose intelligent survival strategies are increasingly being studied, and the prickly echinoderms that inflict severe wounds and are themselves so wounded. Comparing evolution across the kingdoms of nature with the psychological stages of human development has in recent years not only contributed to a better understanding of the homeopathic materia medica, but has also brought into renewed focus the remedy groups associated with the beginnings of plant and animal development.

As a counterpart to the primeval plants “Mosses and Ferns” (SPEKTRUM 3/2020), this issue of SPEKTRUM presents the group at the start of the animal world with “The Invertebrates”, whose oldest representatives can even easily be mistaken for plants. Thanks to Ganshyam Kalathia and his Indian colleagues, we are able to become acquainted with the hitherto unknown remedies of the Invertebrata. Moving forward in evolution, further experienced authors introduce the well‑known and still unknown invertebrates that have partly or entirely made their way out of the sea: the crustaceans, mussels, snails and worms. The shared characteristics of invertebrates become apparent — their primitiveness and vulnerability, which make them in need of protection and dependent on support — and these traits are expressed by remedies from each animal class in entirely individual ways: in the physical symptomatology as well as on the psychological level and in life history. Frameworks such as the evolutionary model or personal experience at the level of sensation can, in combination with repertorisable symptoms, help us to differentiate this very heterogeneous remedy group. While we often do not even notice the inconspicuous primeval plants of mosses and ferns in nature, the colourful world of the invertebrates fascinates with its diverse forms.