Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have focused my blogs on the deteriorating emotional effects of repeated lockdowns and lack of autonomy induced by the restrictions which have been imposed as a result. More divisions are appearing in society than existed before the pandemic. This is a phenomenon being observed, within not only the individual, but also the collective.
Remedy pictures which previously may have seemed too morbid to contemplate are now coming to the fore. It is as if the level of fear which has been induced has not only unleashed a new miasm - still to be fully revealed - but is also tapping into established ones (often going right back through the generations). This only goes to compound primal wounds in many cases observed today.
Here, I would like to explore how the shifting sands of current times infiltrate our homeopathic perspective and bring forward ways to more precise resolution of cases seen in practice today. (1) It should not be forgotten that many converging factors are contributing to the distress - not least the rapidly encroaching threat of climate change.
In this article, I have selected three different remedies which have appeared in my blogs over the course of the pandemic as examples of which are now emerging as potential new polychrests. These include:-
Helleborus Niger - the ‘new’ Sepia,
Picric Acid - the ‘new’ Phosphoric Acid,
Plutonium Nitricum - the ‘new’ Nitric Acid,
Helleborus
This remedy works well across the ages and is often indicated at the extreme end of life. However, when considering the life cycles more recently, I have seen its indication post-pandemic - especially during the lockdowns - in birthing women and their resulting offspring. Women going through pregnancy carry the same strains as the rest of the population at this time. However, added to this is the awareness of their aloneness during the whole process. This includes the pregnancy itself and the birthing process, when isolation is often the order of the day. At a time when one expects to have one’s close family members close by, one finds oneself alone.
Added to this is a masked world which awaits the new infant. Children usually learn from a young age to read facial expressions and copy language from those around them. Is it any wonder that in practice today one sees so much post-natal depression and, as a result of the mother’s experience, children who fail to thrive or communicate in the expected way? It is therefore possible that States on the Spectrum are set to rise as a result. In the case of Helleborus, this could stretch right through from autism to Alzheimer’s at the more extreme end of life. It is possible that a head injury has been suffered in the past by a patient needing this remedy and this too could contribute to the compromise in the brain structures.
Sepia is the routine remedy often given to women who remain depressed after childbirth. However, when one considers the degree of stress, as described above, which has been induced lately, one can realise that, as a result, the actual brain structures may have been affected. Helleborus is a remedy which can reach back and address this potential damage on a longer term basis and covers all the different brain structures. The patient may present in a coma-like way, so deep has been the impression of their disappointment (‘disappointed love’ being a major trigger to their locked-in state).
Picric Acid
It used to be the case that the word ‘burnout’ applied to the effects of over-study or over-work. This may have nothing to do with study or work within the new paradigm. Although ‘burnout’ is not a clearly defined medical condition, it should still be taken seriously as it can lead the way towards deeper mental states and seems to be raging since the pandemic. The sufferer finds it increasingly impossible to feel any sense of accomplishment or take any action to address their newfound state - hence they are rendered helpless in a rapidly altering scenario which is being played out around them. For example, I have discovered patients complaining of poor concentration, sluggishness preventing exercise, and withdrawal to the point of social angst.
Even in cases where sleep is plentiful, the sufferer often complains that energy is completely lacking without any incentive. Being forced apart from loved ones over such an extended period of time renders the sufferer indifferent and disinterested in any household tasks which may need carrying out. Younger and younger people are suffering the consequences of lockdown and pre-existing mental states have been exacerbated to the point of extreme manifestation.
Here one sees the remedy - Picric Acid - step up to the podium to match the level of burnout created nearly two years on from the outbreak of the pandemic with notably dire effects on the functioning of the brain structures. By introducing this remedy in these cases when indicated, one can circumvent a decline into Alzheimer’s disease and related syndromes which otherwise could easily ensue - given the level of protracted duress endured by the sufferer during these extraordinary times. In fact, any of the three remedies highlighted in this article could apply here.
It is nevertheless early days to take an overview of the impact of Covid-19 and the upsurge in Alzheimer’s disease but, as my earlier articles (2) and (3) illustrate, the writing is on the wall for later epidemics afflicting the functioning of the different brain structures.
Phosphoric Acid is a more superficial remedy than Picric Acid but, with the Acid component, it also covers extreme weakness in its presentation. In the case of Phosphoric Acid, there is usually a definitive trigger in the shape of disappointed love from the emotional angle (mirroring Helleborus) or loss of fluids on the physical level (mirroring China Officianalis on the physical one). I consider Picric Acid is more likely to act on the brain structures which may have been damaged in the case history than Phosphoric Acid. This is because the latter is a less deep-acting remedy and often needs to be followed up by a related remedy. This is not so much the case when Picric Acid is the chosen simillimum, unless one considers the related nosode Syphilinum as a backup.
As the picture of Picric acid comes to the fore, it reinforces the concept that with the new paradigm presented by the pandemic, lesser used remedies and deeper-acting ones are now coming out of their wraps. This is because they are starting to emerge with a startling degree of similitude in their pictures of suffering to what is increasingly being presented in the homeopath’s consulting room and beyond, as deep and ancient traumas are awoken.
Plutonium Nitricum
When it comes to considering possible remedies which represent the emerging miasm since the pandemic, Plutonium Nitricum is one I consider because it helps to build resilience in the patient to the impacts of the key pressures being felt psychologically. (4) Apart from what has been mentioned about it above, this stems from the main message of the pandemic relating to division and separation.
Plutonium Nitricum is at Scholten’s Stage 8 of the Periodic Table (5), which centres around:-
Perseverance
Force, Push, Pressure
Struggle
Calculate
Heavy
Compress
Obstruction
(Breaking) through
It has an atomic number of 94, relating to the themes of:
Pressure of the unknown
Struggle for control
Where Plutonium is indicated, there may well have been an ancestral history of exposure to war, statelessness, or some such extreme influence. This has often remained dormant and unexpressed till this time. When so much further down the line persistent and repeatedly oppressive stressors build up, as have been the case since the outbreak of the pandemic, often, these hidden triggers are evoked to a parallel degree.
One of the features of the pandemic is the feeling of loss of control by members of the population. With the degree of lack of transparency in the policies made at this time, many people feel confused and overwhelmed as a result. These combined feelings align with the main theme of Plutonium. In regard to this remedy, of course, Plutonium is noted for its extremely poisonous and radioactive features - little else needs to be said about it at this juncture in our human history!
Plutonium shares with Nitric Acid the Nitric element but clearly acts much more deeply. One could attribute this to its very material being so explosive, but also that often it is given after other indicated remedies have failed to act or complete their action. Both remedies are likely to worry about their state. However, like the two other main remedies discussed here i.e. Helleborus and Picric Acid, Plutonium is much more likely to address damaged brain structures due to the extreme level of stress which has been accumulated since the start of the crisis.
In conclusion, as Steve Jobs said: You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. (6) This article is written in the hope that the information which has been accrued can be built on so, as the pandemic continues to wreak its damage, more insights can be gained and, in the process, the degree of suffering can be reduced.
References:-
Adalian, Elizabeth, Summer 2021. Picric Acid: Redefined in Covid Burnout, New Homeopath.
https://www.adalian.uk/post/re-igniting-your-spark-with-helleborus-niger
https://www.adalian.uk/post/pandemic-mayhem-no-off-switch-picric-acid-for-cortisol-untamed
Scholten, Jan, 1996; Homoeopathy and the Elements. Stichting Alonissos
Jobs, Steve, 2005. Stanford commencement address.