A Short History of the Mother-Remedies: Incarnation - from Heaven to Earth

by Melissa Assilem

My journey of discovery into the mother remedies has led me into a world that is very empowering, expansive and full of wonders. I had always known that our remedies can teach us a great deal, and this has been confirmed to me many times along the way. For me it was a lasting lesson. I was somehow drawn to these remedies and only realised the purpose of my journey almost twenty years later, when the final proving was completed. It strengthened my trust in my life path, to listen to my instincts and to attend to my observations.

I have come to the conviction that these remedies possess a pre-miasmatic quality. I highlight this so that others might engage with the subject and perhaps extend it beyond the scope of this article. I will, however, touch on the topic again briefly in the section on the placenta.

Although each of these remedies has a different expression and focuses on different themes, they all belong to the human family and reflect a loss or lack of humanity. As far as we know today, we are the only species that possesses consciousness and a soul, a purposeful awareness and a distinct identity that we are constantly seeking. We can recognise all of this in these remedies.

It is common practice among us homeopaths to ask our patients about their birth; but the "travel account" actually begins with conception. The time spent in the womb forms deep patterns that affect the rest of our lives. The remedies discussed here all relate to our first journey into our earthly life and, as such, can heal deep wounds that occurred during our fetal development. These substances serve the development of our humanity. That is their sole purpose; we may discontinue them once we no longer need them.

Just a note: I use the word "prove" because it conveys so much more than "test". "Test" sometimes sounds more as if one is "trying something out"; that sounds like a study to see whether something works. "Proving" seems to me like immersing oneself in the energy of a substance and taking it in. More about this in my book on the mother remedies.

In all our provings there is a mixture of positive and negative, healed and pathological symptoms; together with dreams and images they reveal the themes of the remedies. That is what I call the "metaphorical code".

The Mother-Remedies of the Human Family

Lac humanum

That the idea of Lac humanum came to me in 1987 was because I had so many cases of HIV and AIDS to treat. I was searching for something very specific to strengthen a damaged immune system. I found that the similimum rarely helped, because the immune system kept turning in on itself and was engaged in a form of auto-cannibalism. I thought: if mother’s milk enables the development of a strong immune system, perhaps a homeopathic dose could help to rebalance it.

At that time there had been no new milk provings; we only had dog’s milk, cat’s milk and cow’s milk. (Later, in the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century, a whole menagerie of mammalian milk remedies was introduced.) At that time there were eleven breastfeeding women in my practice.

The woman I had asked for a milk donation had a particularly close bond with her baby. Jacqueline Houghton & Elizabeth Halahan conducted a wonderful proving of Lac humanum. I wrote about it in my book The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (although it was then in its infancy), and later in Gifts of The Mother: The Matridonal Remedies.

Today Lac humanum is a widely used remedy. The work Tinus Smits did on this remedy, which he described as a "universal level", has enormously enriched and expanded the remedy picture. He put into words what, despite my knowledge of the subject, I could not so clearly express. Clinical application is urgently required to further develop the understanding of this remedy.

I now recognise that this final mother substance is what leads us to our earthly self, enabling a fuller incarnation, grounding and humanisation; it gives us the gift of empathy and the ability to connect with others and to enter life as members of the human species. It endows us with compassion, fully incarnates us into our body, and helps our soul to integrate into our physical being. All of these remedies touch particular aspects of this theme, but nowhere is it as evident as in this remedy. It has (as mother remedies often do) helped many autistic children reach others and integrate into the world.

I would like to make clear here that, in my experience, the remedy should not be excluded just because the patient was breastfed. That is a myth I hear very often.

Some keywords and themes of Lac humanum

Lack of humanity, not properly arrived in one’s body, physically clumsy, inept, poor spatial orientation, not grounded.

Feels alone, abandoned; isolated; poor concentration, set apart, alienated, but with increased sensitivity.

Problems with the "digestion" of life and of food. 

Folliculinum

This is a remedy I stumbled upon in 1987, the same year I created Lac humanum (surprisingly I did not at that time see the connection). It was introduced by Dr Donald Foubister of the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital. (He also made us familiar with Carcinosinum, which also belongs to the human family.) The excellent Belgian homeopath Dr Lea de Mattos has worked very extensively with this remedy clinically.

At that time I had a large practice in London; about 95% of my patients were women. In many cases it became clear that their complaints went back to the contraceptive pill. "The pill" was approved and licensed on 9 May 1960 after extremely sloppy research – later discredited, as many study participants had stopped taking it because it made them ill. The press and many women’s groups welcomed it as a liberator for women, finally giving us control over our fertility. But when we consider the weaknesses in the remedy picture, it becomes clear what a fraudulent trick this was.

Some keywords and themes of Folliculinum

Ruled and influenced by another, living out others’ expectations, emotionally and mentally drained, helper syndrome, a doormat for others, full of self-denial. They forget who they are, lack individuality, have no self-worth, are not fully in tune with their earthly rhythms, and unable to say "No".

There is a close relationship to Carcinosinum.

I believe this drug, given to a healthy population, created a miasm. Its toxic bile will infect generations. I discovered that it is an astonishing antidote for all kinds of hormonal abuse. Hormone treatments in post-menopause, hormonal treatment of acne, etc. I learned more and more about it. I then presented my findings at the "1990 Society of Homeopaths Conference at Nottingham University" in England. The lecture was later published in their journal and can now be read on the internet at: http://www.homeopathyhome.com/reference/articles/follic.shtml.

I very often found that women who had taken the pill did not respond to well-chosen remedies, and often their symptoms were much worse at the end of their cycle, before menstruation. On Folliculinum their strength returned. It was as if their life force had been liberated.

A clearer picture emerged, and individually chosen remedies did their work. Only later, after we had carried out the provings of amniotic fluid and umbilical cord and I was studying human embryogenesis, did I learn that just before we begin our journey out of the womb we are pumped full of oestrogen.

This literally ends the pregnancy by stopping the activity of the progesterone that had maintained it. Looking at the remedy picture of Folliculinum with its strong loss symptoms such as loss of identity and the feeling of being dominated by another, it becomes clear how it contributes to loss of individuality, diminished life force, and the dominant symptom: "They forget who they are".

My ideas may be a little unusual, but these last moments of physical connection with our earthly mother and the place where our soul lived before conception are hidden so that we can begin our new life in freedom and without regret at leaving something behind. Forgetfulness can also be seen as a gift to cope with the pain of separation.

Placenta humana

The proving was carried out at the Welsh College of Homeopathy under the direction of the director Linda Gwillim. Linda’s integrity in her work is incredibly inspiring. Such a profound combination of experience and knowledge is rare. As an accompanying homeopath she has been present at more than a thousand births. From my perspective as a teacher, the depth and insight of her lectures are unique. She participated in the two amniotic fluid and umbilical cord provings in Greece and in our final DNA proving.

The fear of not getting enough is the traditional lesson of the psoric miasm. I see this theme in Placenta, but in a sort of pre-miasmatic form of psora. It is not so much about fear as about a knowing that there is not enough. This is not a state of anxiety so much as inertia – "What’s the point?" – resignation and helplessness.

In human embryogenesis the foetus is responsible for its own development until the placenta forms; but the moment the placenta takes over this task, the new life loses its self-control. The strong metaphorical code is reflected in this remedy. When the remedy is given, it allows a return, and the journey to self-confidence and self-assurance can begin again.

Some keywords and themes; the proving of Placenta and its clinical application

Passive acceptance, but with dissatisfaction; apathy, powerlessness, always in the shadow of others.

Like being on a journey; allows one to regain, recover, awaken one’s self, to break one’s chains and find one’s strength.

Individuation; finishing old activities (the past); improved relationship to the mother and a sense of autonomy.

Vernix caseosa

Vernix caseosa is the slimy, waxy, greasy layer that forms in the seventeenth to twentieth week of pregnancy and then usually disappears before birth. Sometimes, however, the newborn is still covered with it. This phenomenon is common in marine mammals, but we humans are the only land creatures whose offspring develop this substance.

It consists of the same material that comes from our sebaceous glands, which become active during puberty. As a medicine it is a protection on several levels. On the biochemical level it contains vitamin K and is antibacterial. The metaphorical code, however, reflects this biochemical substance on another level. There are a number of gifts associated with the theme of "protection", the key concept of this remedy.

Some themes and keywords of Vernix

Great permeability. A feeling of being unprotected and being overwhelmed, even poisoned.

Feels overwhelmed.

As if there were no boundary between them and the world.

I have used Vernix in cases of abuse where all normally existing boundaries were violated and replaced by terror. Vernix is particularly helpful in environmental illness, chronic fatigue, allergies and various forms of autism. It is as if there is no boundary between them and the outside world, and they become vulnerable to attacks from outside, however subtle they may be. As with all mother remedies, we are dealing here with loss and missing identity.

"Vernix enables us on all levels to remain in contact with the outside world without being overwhelmed by it, to know our own feelings and to distinguish them from those of others without mixing them together." Tinus Smits

Aqua amniota humana (amniotic fluid)

This proving was carried out during a week-long seminar on the Aegean island of Lesbos. As with all our water remedies, a deep element of sorrow runs through this remedy, a feeling that something is missing, something unresolved, a longing to return to something, to be lost or abandoned. The case I presented in my book illustrates this well.

When a woman feels that she has done something wrong, she wants to go into the water—not to die, but to disappear with her shame. It is a repetition of what happened when she was still in the womb. This remedy, to me more than any other, is like a "soul retrieval"; it brings us back to something we have lost, that was stolen or forgotten, to the place where our demons hide. Even when they are hidden they can control us as an undercurrent of threat. In the mentioned case the remedy gave her a voice she could hear and brought about a profound healing.

As with all these remedies it can be difficult to define rubrics, because they apparently possess a universal spectrum that is too large to be completely squeezed into a single rubric; yet their connection to our earliest development cannot be denied.

One symptom that stood out particularly in the proving was the notion that she could breathe underwater. There were images and drawings that were either womb-like or depicted foetuses in the womb. Naturally it was not exclusively about the journey through the uterus, but perhaps also about another time in her life when she had lost an important part of herself and afterwards did not feel whole.

Some themes and keywords of Aqua amniota humana

Deeply rooted feeling of grief.

Sensation of being able to breathe underwater.

Feeling of being in the womb, being underwater.

Self-recognition.

Being encapsulated, protection, withheld, repressed feelings.

Increased sensitivity (a common symptom of the mother remedies).

Time distortion, breathing problems.

Umbilicus humanus (umbilical cord)

This remedy proving was carried out in Greece as an expanded proving similar to that of amniotic fluid. (see Chapter 6, page 70: Gifts of The Mother - The Matridonal Remedies)

This is the mother remedy that has the closest connection to the soul. The double separation from our earthly mother and the place we came from can produce a sense of deep disconnectedness and severe separation anxiety. This remedy is full of broken attachments, loss of places one felt belonged to, and a longing for reunification and integration.

A deep grief is released, and the wonderful healing through self-acceptance and the uncovering of important themes can take place. This remedy has many "metaphorical codes", and if we think about what this connection-code means we can recognise everything very clearly, no matter how it is worded. One prover described it as the feeling of "being able to spread one’s wings".

Some symptoms and keywords of Umbilicus

Questions of identity, self-worth, belonging and not belonging, mistakes one has made.

Connections/links that have broken, lost things.

Loss of libido, (perhaps this is the longing for life itself).

Aversion to one’s own body, and learning to love one’s body, feelings of being disfigured.

Images of angels, spiritual language and the theme of innocence.

In conclusion I would like to say that my journey through the mother remedies was a deeply spiritual journey. I often think that I have a guardian angel, and that was his gift to me. Our improved provings have given us participants the wonderful experience of contact with a universal energy of which we are also a part. We experienced it on a magical and metaphorical level. Homeopathy has enriched my life immeasurably. Thank you dearest Samuel!

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This article was published on www.interhomeopathy.org

Photos: ©shutterstock.com - mother feeding baby, aboikis

Newborn baby in labor room, Naypong

Category: Families
Keywords: mother-remedies
Remedies: Amniotic fluid, Folliculinum, Mother’s milk, Placenta, Umbilical cord, Vernix caseosa