and sweet
This is being offered and not to be seen as a definitive choice because for
obvious reasons a literary characterisation can only be speculated about.
I choose as the starting point a true diseased state, i.e. when there are
few compensating factors and the breakdown (ill health and the inability to
adapt) is in full swing. This goes somewhat, but not entirely, against Liz's
view of the so called constitutional picture where the 'tugs' of the
diseased state can be seen in the healthy state.
So, that starting point for me has to be when Frodo is at a point where he
seems unable to continue and he is captured and cocooned by the spider and
appears to be at death's door. He seems to be paralyzed, gone to sleep for
ever maybe but certainly he loses consciousness. He has been mortally
wounded and locked inside the spider's webbing.
What contributes to this breakdown is the almost unendurable quest he has
been sent on - the ordeal - without which he would not have got into this
state.
But he survives. Admittedly much of this seems to be due to Sam's unending
devotion and protection but it could also be that Frodo found it within him
a way of exerting his own will to escape the confines of the cocoon.
So far we have:-
Paralysis - rigid with total loss of power
Wounded
Overpowering sleep or loss of consciousness
Sensation of being constricted and tension (cocooned)
Ill effects of grief, emotions, injuries
Better for exerting the will (the mind is active even though asleep)
Physostigma is the Calabar bean, the Ordeal bean. From the poisonings there
are examples of dying without a struggle, without pain.
When the Calabari eat this bean they either purge or die. If they purge they
are seen to be innocent and if they die they are guilty.
Innocence and guilt is strongly connected to the cancer miasm which is where
you will find this remedy, and the 2 opposing judgements indicate a possible
conflict of interests = tension and constriction, will power and freedom,
bound up and escape, duty and liberation, achievement and failure, (add to
this whatever you like). Frodo survived so he must be innocent.
Physostigma is a bean and it has its seeds trapped inside the pod, fertility
bound up with a need to be both protected until ready and then a need to
escape the confines to bring about resolution - a job well done, survival of
the species. This is quite a task full of potential hazards, the quest could
be so easily lost, it is a big ask and that level of responsibility is what
places this rx in the cancer miasm.
Sometimes, when escape has been realised, an anxiety prevails as though
still guilty. There is anxiety about leaving friends at home but somehow
they manage to remain cheerful and happy through this. The duty is more
important than the friendship.
When they recover their consciousness they are still extremely frightened
and are easily startled.
The wrapping up (being cocooned) can be seen as an amelioration, a stage
that one has to go through to emerge a better person - caterpillar to
butterfly - to survive the ordeal and bring unity and health.
The only case I have had for this remedy was a woman who was so deeply
depressed she escaped to her small loft and wrapped herself up in a sleeping
bag and duvet and refused to come out.
For those of you who are Sankaran readers he describes the Legume family
sensations as being splitting apart or bound together, feel scattered and
confused, not together but needs to get things together, feeling together
and unified. "Split up is the main theme of the pea family. They split up or
remain bound. There is an external factor splitting them up (the quest jl).
The energy from outside is splitting them up and they want to be bound
together."
Not only was Frodo bound up within the trappings of the spider at his
weakest point but he was also inextricably bound up with his duty and also
his companion, Sam. Very important sensations and the binding can be
understood as both an amelioration and an aggravation.
Thanks for reading.
Best wishes, Joy
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