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ME AND YOU
EDITORIAL
SPECTRUM OF HOMEOPATHY
1
EDITORIAL
Christa Gebhardt & Dr Jürgen Hansel
Chief Editors
Dear Readers,
The third row of the periodic table, the Silicium series, contains
in almost every stage elements or compounds that Hahnemann
proved and which have therefore been used successfully du
ring more than two hundred years of homeopathic practice.
Yet in this issue of SPECTRUM we are not so much concerned
with the well-known remedy pictures of
Natrium muriaticum,
Phosphorus, or Sulphur
. Instead our authors are concerned
to observe and explain the familiar polychrests from the per
spective of the periodic table, which was interpreted by
Jan
Scholten
in terms of human developmental periods, phases,
and stages.
Scholten assigns the Silicium series to the teenage stage of life
with the central theme of relationships within the family and
with friends. The childish body-related I, represented by the
development of the Carbon series, is supplemented in the third
row with contact and communication with a you who I wish
to please, who I love or hate. The position that we adopt in
a relationship and the feeling of belonging to a group denote
the respective stage in the development of the ‘you’. In his
contribution Jan Scholten describes these individual phases of
the Silicium series and shows parallels to the plant world.
Martin
Jakob
examines the similarity between the themes of the Liliales
plants and the Silicium series.
The equivalence of these themes to the animal world is a
secondary aspect of
Markus Kuntosch’s
introductory article.
His cases of the Natrium through Sulphur salts clarify the
development of the relationship theme. The breadth of this
becomes clear when we – as in
Renate Paschmann’s
descrip
tion – contrast the poles of Natrium and Argon. Virtually the
entire Silicium series is encapsulated in a single complex remedy,
Terra
, as presented by
Friedrich Ritzer
and
Hans Eberle
. The pro
ving symptoms encompass five different stages, corresponding
to the mineral components of
Terra
, potentized soil.
The structure of this issue does not so much follow the stages or
phases from left to right but can rather be grouped into those
authors who more closely align themselves with Scholten and
those who are followers of
Sankaran
. Particularly in the third
row of the periodic table, the focus of these two pioneers of
systematic materia medica diverges. Sankaran does not assign
this row in developmental psychology terms to teenagers: he
compares it rather with the years between three and six, when
children are starting to make their own decisions. For him too
the basic theme is “I and you,” although he focuses on the
development of identity. This approach is found in the authors
starting with
Bhawisha Joshi’s
overview article. „How much I
need others or how well I can set my boundaries“, determines
the developmental stage of identity in Joshi’s view. This process
is illustrated with case histories: in “I Want to Be Like You” for
Natrium
(
Jörg Wichmann/Angelika Bolte
) through to “I Am Not
You” for
Phosphorus
(
Rajan Sankaran
).
We see the elements of the
Silicium
series in various combi
nations, thereby getting to know them better:
Nat-mur.
from
Dinesh Chauhan
,
Nat-s.
from
Tali Levi
,
Mag-s.
from
Bob Blair
,
other Magnesium salts from
Ose Hein
and finally the com
pound of Magnesium and Silicea in
Talcum
or
Sandstone
from
Wyka Evelyn Feige
. The question of identity – “who am I?” –
is especially significant in
Ulrike Schuller-Schreib’s
fascinating
study of
Aluminium
. Scholten places it in stage 3 but the
element is conventionally located in stage 13 of the periodic
table.
Schuller-Schreib
finds homeopathic indications to both
stage 3 and stage 13. So even in its unclear position in the
periodic table,
Alumina
confirms its well-known confusion
about its own identity.
The typical hand movement of
Alumina
is a ‘to-and-fro wave’
between two points. Using the dimensions model of the pe
riodic table,
Andreas Holling
can easily assign this gesture.
According to his theory, the
Silicium
series corresponds to the
second dimension of line or path as the physical basis of the
relationship between the two points of ‘me and you’. With
each higher period, another physical dimension is added: space
(Iron series), time (Silver series), and causality (Gold series). This
understanding of the periodic table enables the prescription of
mineral remedies on the sensation level. We are very glad that
Andreas Holling’s model – over twenty years in the making and
tried-and-tested in practice – is first published here in
Spectrum
,
illustrated with a case of
Natrium phosphoricum
.
With the study of the Silicium series, a remedy group composed
of well-known polychrests, we hope you find a great deal to
discover and savour afresh.