remedy insights - valerian

[Joy Lucas]

Didier Grandgeorge describes this rx as one who needs recognition. A child who is abandoned or ignored maybe and to compensate develops a hyper-excitable state to get them noticed. It would seem as though every conceivable remedy could have feelings of being abandoned and forsaken, such is the world we live in, sadness prevailing as well as a lack of nurture, along with all the other factors that help create these feelings of being unwanted.

But the fear of being alone and the abandoned rubrics are not too large one compared to some so we must assume that the remedies contained within this rubric are precious to the real meaning of being abandoned or forsaken. So, why is Valerian in this rubric?

Valerian is volatile and over sensitive, the nerves especially are affected producing such a transient changing disposition characterised by agitation and restlessless on the physical plane and on the mental and emotional planes this transience is portrayed by a sense of duality – one that changes suddenly and goes from one extreme to the other with an in-between stage that relates to a sensation of floating. it is another of those fascinating remedies that has 'levitation' within its sx picture. Commonly this could be the twilight zone when coming round from or going into a deep sleep.

Physically this is felt as vertigo, as if intoxicated without knowing what they are doing, but in the mind they are spinning between deep grief and total euphoria and this is such a giddy state to be in that opting for a floating midline position is favourable rather than flailing around in the wilderness extreme – it is a grounding device, albeit one that is still floating.

This is where the sense of being abandoned and forsaken arises – floating between a rock and a hard place. Therefore ‘isolation’ is, perhaps, a more correct understanding of being abandoned or forsaken. But whatever you call it is creates an excitable and agitated state rather than a passive/depressed one.

Much of this changing disposition is due to valerianic acid. This acid was identified from the oil of the dolphin (19thC) and was named delphinic acid and it wasn’t until later to be seen as identical to that found in valerian and was thus re-named. This acid is present in a number of plants including Sambucus, Anthemis (chamomile), Artemesia, Angelica, and Viburnum – all remedies that show an oscillation between euphoria and restless fear in some way or another.

Valerianic acid is inflammable and has an extremely nasty odour when mixed with water but odourless in alcohol – possibly one reason why there are illusions of smell and taste in the proving symptoms.

There are also mental and emotional hallucinations that pertain to the feelings of being isolated and abandoned.

They begin to believe they are someone else; as if all around were strange and disagreeable; as though the room were desolate and does not feel at home and so compelled to leave; lots of erroneous ideas; imagines animals and people and yet they dread to be alone and become hysterical and impossible to keep grounded – this might present during an epileptic fit or a huge behaviour tantrum but it will have the nature of passing from one extreme to the other.

These extremes are also noted on the physical plane with various pains that come and go suddenly, equally transient as the mental states. These too are abated by sensations that hold the person down, in a metaphorical way – in the throat there is a sensation as if a thread were hanging down and the limbs begin to feel like lead.

Needless to say, with all this excitement, Valerian is one of the remedies well known to promote sleep and induce a sensation of quiet and calm and thus this remedy is also known for its lack of reaction as well.

Typical physical states will be asthma, neuralgia, any affection that has a nervous origin, epilepsy, insomnia, worms.

Feel free to suggest other rx to highlight.

Joy

http://www.joylucashomeopathy.com

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