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SPECTRUM OF HOMEOPATHY
Jürgen Weiland
¦ Amethyst
6
STONES
¦
MINERAL COMPLEX MEDICINES
My first encounter with the homeopathic remedy
Amethyst
ten years ago was painful. Together with Anne Schadde I gave
a seminar of children’s cases at the Homeopathy International
School
1
in Boulder, Colorado. During animated discussions over
supper we swapped experiences of the new remedy provings.
The principal, Barbara Seideneck, told us of an
Amethyst
remedy
proving conducted at her school. She also stressed the mytho-
logical connection to wine, which really caught my attention
because I had recently published my study of Grapevine,
Vitis
vinifera
2
, at around the same time as the American proving of
Amethyst
. The Greek origin of the name amethystos, meaning
“not drunken,” clearly hints at the connection of the violet mi-
neral to red wine, from which the healing stone is said to derive
its colour. Barbara’s comments on her remedy proving fascinated
me greatly and I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the
healing effect of potentised Amethyst.
Painful experience of being shut in:
At this stage Barbara
was unable to say much about the clinical use of
Amethyst
.
True to Hahnemann’s motto that the changes one observes
in oneself are the most useful
3
, I decided to order the remedy
from the original manufacturer, Helios
4
, and take it myself to
get to know it better. So I took the 30C on three consecutive
days. By the third day I had developed an unbelievably painful
paronychia on the right big toe.
The nail bed turned violet blue and I could soon see the
enclosed pus shimmering through. This painful condition,
associated with trapped tissue, troubled me for several days.
I did not want to end the process with an antidote remedy,
such as
Hepar sulphuris
– I initially wanted to wait and watch
what would happen. With the help of footbaths and creams,
the tissue then gradually opened and the pus was released.
At that time I was not yet aware how strongly the stones
are connected to the themes of being trapped and inclusion
(of water, tissue, secretions) – not just locally but also at the
general level. So after this chastening experience I returned
the bottle to the cupboard with new-found respect for this
remedy.
CASE 1: 35-year-old woman, PMS
It did not take long for my advice to be sought by a family in
which the chief complaints and central issues quickly led to the
first prescriptions of
Amethyst
. The mother was the first to come,
with severe premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
EXTRACTS FROM INITIAL CASETAKING
The patient:
“Before my period I’m very irritable. Then I just want
to withdraw. It’s like collapsing in on myself. There are lots of
self-reproaches. I’m totally unyielding. I just sit around stiffly on
the sofa. I’m totally shut in, abandoned by everyone, helpless. I
don’t want to accept any help. At such times I lose touch with
the children. I feel empty and want to be far away. I feel small,
alone, abandoned, and cursed by fate. Unjustly treated but wit-
hout enough attention. I just want to crawl away and sleep.
I’m totally apathetic. I’m completely inside myself – I myself am
the boundary. It’s totally stiff. I’m really caught up in it, feeling
tied down. There’s something in me that won’t let go. At this
time no one can step over the boundary – that would be like
an attack. I’m isolated and lonely with a longing for closeness
but any attempt to get near me just drives me up the wall.
Physical closeness is too much. I want to exclude everyone and
everything. I don’t want to move outwards. Then I feel helpless,
dead, like being frozen in.”
The patient’s keywords and sensations, derived from the
recording of the initial consultation:
•
Withdrawal
•
Perfectionism
•
Intransigence
•
Totally shut in
•
Collapsing in on oneself
•
Self-reproaches
•
Abandoned by everyone
•
Get stuck (in a situation)
•
Lose touch (with the children)
•
There’s something in the way
•
Completely inside myself
•
Wedged, stuck
•
Boundary
•
This far and no further
•
Not reaching out to someone
•
To shut out
•
Decide on my own, not wanting anyone else to impose on
me in any way
•
Helpless, frozen in
•
As if dead
Rubrics / repertorisation (Complete Version 2013)
mind; IRRITABILITY; menses; before (76)
mind; COMPANY; aversion to (428)
mind; IRRITABILITY; husband, towards (24)
Analysis and understanding of the case:
The patient’s words
and sensations prompted me to consider a mineral remedy. But I
was surprised to see a total of three stones in the repertorisation:
Adamas
(diamond) and
Turquoise
(a green crystal with a high
copper content) as well as the
Amethyst
. Since the theme “ir-
ritability towards husband and children” appeared prominently
in the American proving of
Amethyst
, I first prescribed this.
Prescription:
Amethyst
1M
Follow-up after ten weeks:
The patient talks about the change
after the first dose (summary): “Even the first period afterwards
was different. I still needed quiet and withdrawal but I reacted
much less when my husband or children approached me. This
boundary was somehow not so totally important. I didn’t feel
the need to defend myself so strongly. At the second period
this was even clearer. If the kids bothered me or wanted me, I
didn’t take it so much as a disturbance. The need to withdraw
was even weaker and I didn’t feel I had to do it.”