MASTERCLASS ARCHETYPES OF THE MATERIA MEDICA

Aurum by David Lilley

Argentum

Ferrum
Lac caninum
LAC CANINUM – BITCH’S MILK
Cuprum

Magnesium
carbonate

Phosphorus

Thuja

Lac caninum
Photo: istockphoto.com/Geoff Kuchera

In this series of masterclasses, I

will be considering eight major
remedies from a symbolic, mytho-
logical and homeopathic perspec-
tive to better penetrate the unique
genius of each substance and reveal
its emotional, psychological and
spiritual healing power. Studying
homeopathic remedies in this way For thousands of years, dogs and considered an antidote to deadly
opens the mind and heart to the humans have walked the same path as poisons, including snakebite. But, it is
intimate companions, in love and devo- only a homeopathic potency of the milk,
mysteries of life and the cosmos and
tion, in kindness and cruelty, in work given for purposes of proving or cure,
imprints the healing images at the and play, in adoration and contempt that can plumb the depths and play
deepest level. The use of the words and, oft times, in suffering and death. upon the keyboard of the deep
he or she in these articles refers Their entwined destinies have etched un conscious of the human psyche to
to the male or female prin ciples shared emotions, experiences and images fathom all that lies in the heart of
into the universal memory of the collect- “man’s best friend”.
present in all of us and is not rel-
ive, canine unconscious, which reflects
ated to gender. Certain remedies these parallels and are dynamically A portrait of inferiority and corruption
are more conveniently spoken of imprinted in the milk of the dog. Ancient In a medicine derived from the milk
as male, for example Aurum, and medical tradition recognised the of the domestic dog, we would expect
others as female, for example healing potential of bitch’s milk: Pliny a portrait of loyalty, courage, self-
Cuprum, however, when their char- and Dioscorides recommended it for the sacrifice, obedience, forgiveness and
removal of the dead foetus and Pliny unconditional love to emerge from the
acteristics match the picture of the further claimed that it could cure ulcer- provings: all those admirable and even
patient, they are suitable for the ation of the uterine cervix and ease and heroic qualities that dog-lovers revere
treatment of either gender. quicken the birth process; it was also and extol. Instead we are faced by a test-

MASTERCLASS ARCHETYPES OF THE MATERIA MEDICA: Lac caninum

 MASTERCLASS ARCHETYPES OF THE MATERIA MEDICA

imony of degradation, ignominy and or care for their young, natural instincts may be indicated for the emotional
abuse, resulting in retaliatory resent- are blunted or lost, and most are beset consequences, even many years later.
ment, rage and hatred. Yes, the nobler by diseases as diverse and as destruc- Likewise, we always need to bear Lac
traits are there, but so recessive they tive as those of the masters who warped caninum in mind when a person is
constitute a mere glimmer in the them. The genetic destinies of two obsessively dissatisfied with some body
surrounding gloom. The picture is species, that have escaped the purify- part, often the nose or breasts, and needs
threaded through with evidence of abject ing and ennobling influence of natural to “improve” their looks by cosmetic
humility, a pervasive sense of inferior- selection and survival of the fittest, are surgery.
ity, failure, guilt and shame and a feel- forever bonded. It is not surprising that
ing of being diminished and degraded. we find mirrored in the remedy picture A metaphor of contempt
The self-denigration can reach such a of Lac caninum so much that reflects Contrary to our personal experience with
pitch that it becomes revulsion, disgust human suffering, deprivation and abuse our canine friends, and in conflict with
and intense self-loathing. This was in a “dog-eats-dog” world; a world of our love and esteem, it is startling that
experienced by a female trialist who harsh and extreme polarities where afflu- inherent in our unconscious, archetypal
graphically reported the feeling as ence and want exist “cheek by jowl”. evaluation of the dog, invariably
follows: “She woke at daylight feeling expressed in our idiomatic, language
that she was a loathsome, horrible mass A disfigured identity patterns, is the same image that
of disease; could not bear to look at any Bearing in mind the transformations emerges from the provings: an image of
part of her body, not even her hands, required to change from wolf to dog, inferiority – something to be scorned,
as it intensified the feeling of disgust while still possessing the same DNA, disparaged and vilified. Habitually, in
and horror; could not bear to have any one can imagine the shock and horror our day-to-day vocabulary, we link the
one part of her body touch another, had
to keep even her fingers apart; felt that
if she could not in some way get out of
her body, she should soon become
crazy.” Such abhorrence can only be
matched by the Thuja archetype, which
experiences itself as soiled, tainted and
defiled. Both archetypes may need to

Both photos: istockphoto.com/Eric Isselée

wash their hands compulsively to cleanse
themselves ritualistically or to absolve
themselves of some unconscious shame.
This form of self-revulsion indicates that
the sycotic miasm is dominant in the
constitution, which may externalise in
the pathological symbol of self-rejection:
an autoimmune disease (the production
of antibodies against one’s own tissues,
for example rheumatoid arthritis).

A distorted hybrid of a wolf, wishing to admire itself in dog to negative connotations. We speak
Prompted by the stimulus of the poten- a mirror, being confronted by the visage of “a dog’s life”, of being treated, feel-
tised milk, from the abyss of the canine and physique of a chihuahua or a bull- ing and working “like a dog”, of food
unconscious comes the anguished cry of dog. Significantly provings of bitch’s “not fit for a dog”, of being in “the dog-
the abused, a cry that stills protestations milk reveal: “aversion to herself”; house”, a worn book is “dog-eared”, a
of reciprocal love and companionship “contemptuous of self” and, most place that has fallen upon bad times has
and asserts the truth of accumulated telling, “feels she has somebody else’s “gone to the dogs”, we are “dog-tired”,
violation, humiliation and suffering nose”. Lac caninum subjects are known and, indeed, who has ever heard of being
experienced by a species, now far for “errors of personal identity”, often, “dogged by good fortune” or “hounded
removed from its wild, ancestral mould like Thuja, seeing themselves in a by success”? We are also inclined to
and exposed to the manipulation and distorted way. In practice, both medi- associate inferior human qualities with
exploitation of humanity. The collective cines have proved valuable in the treat- dog-like characteristics: “hangdog”
imprinting is not an image of friend- ment of anorexia nervosa and bulimia describes someone who is downcast and
ship and sharing, but one of domina- (the individual perceives herself as fat despondent or furtive and guilty in
tion, deprivation and bondage. The free, even when dangerously emaciated), appearance or manner; the craven
proud and fiercely independent grey- especially when there is a history of coward cringes and cowers, crawls on
wolf, the superbly efficient and far- abuse or victimisation. When the his belly, ears down, tail between his legs;
ranging progenitor of all dog breeds, physical identity has been traumatised the fawning sycophant “licks the hand
has been largely transformed by the by severe injuries to the face, by multiple that beats him” but may also turn on
Frankenstein-like manipulations of operations (often orthopaedic), or by his master and “bites the hand that feeds
breeders into an unnatural species – a procedures involving the reproductive him”. Even “puppy-fat” and “puppy-love”
distorted hybrid – a mutant wolf! Due organs, which leave the patient feeling are often derisory expressions, and who
to disadvantaging, anatomical changes, disfigured, mutilated or diminished, can doubt that “dog” and “bitch” become
some breeds are scarcely able to breathe, especially after mastectomy and hyster- extreme forms of insult, particularly when
others to conceive, give natural birth ectomy, Lac caninum, or Staphysagria, barbed with a sexual expletive.

MASTERCLASS ARCHETYPES OF THE MATERIA MEDICA: Lac caninum

 Lac caninum
Despised and rejected Wotan – the god of wolves and dogs
It is not surprising to find in Lac In Norse and Teutonic mythology, the
caninum symptoms which evidence ter- wolf is sacred to Wotan (Odin), the king
rible feelings of inferiority: “feels of the gods. Two ravens and two wolves,
despised, diminished, smaller”; “feels Skoll and Hati, repulsion and hatred,
insulted; as if she is being looked down always accompanied Wotan into battle.
upon by everyone” (unique to Lac He is often depicted riding a huge wolf.
caninum); “he is dirt”; “he is dirty”; It was believed that these wolves persist-
“despondent, hopeless, thinks her ently pursued the sun and the moon
disease incurable, has not a friend attempting to swallow them so that
living, could weep at any moment”; that the world might be plunged into
they feel incapable and incompetent: primordial darkness. They achieve
“everything is doomed to fail”; “he is partial success at the eclipses and it is
a failure”; “doubts her ability and said that they will finally succeed at
success”; “want of confidence”; that Ragnarok, the Norse Doomsday, when
they fear life and those in it: fear of Wotan will close in mortal combat with
violence, abuse and rape; “fear and the monstrous wolf Fenrir, his own dark
mistrust of people”(humanity); certain aspect, and die.
people, men, authority figures, strangers; Although primarily a god of war,
“fear of ridicule and humiliation” and Wotan was a multifaceted deity with a
“fear of rejection, abandonment and rich diversity of roles. He displays
separation”. What a sad litany coming multiple personalities and was capable
from the deep repository of canine of seemingly endless transformations,
heartache and what a sad commentary revealing a complex and often contra-

Photo: istockphoto.com
on the distorted pattern of human think- dictory nature. In keeping with its
ing, both unfortunately stemming from ruling deity, Lac caninum can be indeter-
life experience. From constantly enter- minate and fluctuating in behaviour,
taining such ideas of mediocrity and emotions and character, showing a lack
powerlessness, depression and despair of fixed identity; a tendency surely due
are never far away, and are vividly to the selective breeding methods that
portrayed: “chronic, ‘blue’ condition, is essentially dark. It is equated with have produced such glaringly different
everything seems so dark that it can the devil – fierce, insatiable and evil. breeds that they could easily be confused
grow no darker” and “heavy dark clouds As incarnating all the dark, destructive as different species. Certain Lac can-
seem to envelop her”. It is a heaviness aspects of nature, the wolf, when wor- inum types are able to don different
of spirit; even “the clothing seems too shipped, becomes one of the dread personas to suit the company and
heavy”. This despondency is increased deities, embodying ferocity, cunning, circumstances they find themselves in
by the short days of winter and by grey, greed, cruelty, and wickedness. How- – people of many faces and many masks,
dismal, overcast weather, especially if ever, its fierce, noble qualities can also human chameleons – able to be what-
it appears interminable. be protective, loyal, courageous, and ever and whoever the other person
victorious, and therefore venerated. Lac would like them to be, or what would
A symbol of duality caninum, the remedy, covers the entire ingratiate and profit them best. They
In myth and symbolism, the dog is also spectrum of these great contradictions are often troubled by an inability to
portrayed as a metaphor of extreme and opposites, all of which lie within sense who they truly are. Others are very
duality. Christian and Celtic traditions the sphere of sycosis. This duality, or susceptible and over-impressionable,
revere the dog as the embodiment of double-sidedness, is symbolised in the easily influenced by dominant individ-
fidelity, unswerving devotion, compan- wagging tail, hallmark of both the wolf uals, even to the point of adopting their
ionship, protective vigilance, nobility and dog, which is carried forward in identity, personality traits and manner-
of spirit and love that survives death. the cardinal modality of Lac caninum: isms (Pulsatilla). These role models may
In Semitic iconography, however, it symptoms and signs move from one be idealised even when intrinsically
accompanies the scorpion, serpent and side of the body to another (often wicked or evil. This resonance is an
other baleful reptiles, and is evil and commencing on the left – the side of the important quality of the archetype,
demonic; in Judaism the dog was held emotions, creativity and imagination). further evidenced in the frequency with
in contempt as an unclean scavenger, But, the starkest paradox and duality which a breed is unconsciously and pref-
an eater of vomit, associated with of all lies in the capacity of the dog to erentially selected as a projection of
“whoremongers, sorcerers, fornicators either heal or kill. In Hellenic times, the some dominant trait of the owner, so
and idolaters”. Islam sees in the dog all ill and infirm would travel, in search that owner and dog look alike.
that is vile in creation, a term of oppro- of a cure, to the shrine of Asklepios, the
brium for unbelievers, the very symbol God of Medicine, at Epidauros. At the God of wisdom and frenzy
of uncleanliness, greed, gluttony, and sanctuary, sacred snakes and dogs were Most important in the mythology of
gross materialism – the sole exceptions used to lick the wounds and ailing parts Wotan was his great initiation, when,
being the saluki and the greyhound, of the sick and many instances of healing pierced through his side by a spear, he
which were used for hunting. On a were recorded. Yet, it is the domestic hung suspended on Yggdrasill, the
profounder level, the dog shares in the dog and its near relatives that are World Ash Tree (the Norse Cosmic Tree
ambivalent symbolism of its ancestor, particularly responsible for propagating – like Thuja, an arbor vitae) for nine
the wolf. Its image in the human psyche the dread disease rabies. days and nights without bread or water.

MASTERCLASS ARCHETYPES OF THE MATERIA MEDICA: Lac caninum

 MASTERCLASS ARCHETYPES OF THE MATERIA MEDICA

He was rewarded with a vision and Lac caninum. Both recreational drugs Repressed traumatic memories
understanding of the runes, which and alcohol can lead to licentiousness, Sometimes a history of sexual abuse is
embody the esoteric knowledge of the promiscuity and sexual frenzy, none of responsible for their fears and phobias.
northern tradition, enabling him to which are foreign to either Wotan or In both Thuja and Lac caninum, this
access the wisdom of the underworld Lac caninum. The Lac caninum subject may have been suffered repetitively and
(the Shadow) and travel freely through is hypersensitive to touch, especially to over an extended time, often at the
the dimensions of spirit. He became a the throat, breasts and pelvic region, hands of those who should have been
necromancer capable of summoning the all of which are powerful, erotic zones. protective care-givers. In some Lac
shades of the dead in order to obtain They are very sensual and easily aroused, caninum victims, the memory of the
arcane knowledge. Myth also relates even to excessive levels of sexual abuse may have been repressed in
that on another occasion he sacrificed transport and rapture: “hysteria and amnesic response to experiences too
an eye (the eye of intellect) in order to madness during sex – worse at the height terrible for the young mind to hold in
attain wisdom. Wotan’s sacrifice on the of orgasm”. the light of consciousness. Only dreams
tree echoes the passion of Christ on the and imaginings remain: “visions of
cross. He, like Jesus, became a fount of Heightened senses; intense emotions; creeping things”; “horrible visions;
all wisdom, which he sourced from the powerful urges afraid they will take objective form”;
realm of the dead. But, at the opposite Lac caninum is hypersensitive and over- “dreams of snakes in her bed” and most
extreme, swinging from the sacred reactive on all levels. Their desires and significantly – “feels she is lying on a
to the profane, Wotan was also God impulses can be canine and therefore large snake” and “sees faces in the dark;
of Frenzy and Lord of Ecstasy. In inordinate in a human being. Like the the face that haunts most is the one she
1936, Carl Jung wrote an essay Wotan wolf, all their faculties are keen. They has really seen”. This unconscious
in which he prophesied the return of are intensely alert to their environment repression of unwanted memory may
the ancient god, re-activated “like a and the people in it, gifted to pick up impair normal recall, causing them
dormant volcano” from the collective instinctively on “vibes” and atmosphere, to make mistakes when speaking or
unconscious of the German nation under their sixth sense enabling them to writing, and to become absent minded:
the Nazi party, which was soon to lead apprehend thoughts, emotions and leaving behind items they have bought
it to a disastrous war. He saw the frenzy motives. They are intensely passionate in a shop, or forgetting to retrieve their
of Wotan manifest in the rabid ravings and the emotions they experience are credit card after a purchase.
of Hitler, delivered whilst seemingly in excessive and extreme, out of propor-
a state of possession. tion to circumstances and context and The homeopathic guide dog
too prolonged, lasting even a lifetime. Lac caninum is a remedy of indispens-
Artistic, religious and hedonistic rapture Their fear is terror, their dislike is able value to the practitioner of “depth
It seems impossible to reconcile these detestation, their anger is rage and their homeopathy”. The ancients quite rightly
contradictions of the god and the arche- love is adoration. They can hate with understood the dog to be guardian of
type, either morally or logically, unless an alarming intensity and a vengeful- the underworld (Cerberus), guide of
one understands the contrasting energies ness that is dogged, vicious and fright- souls from one realm to another, and
of the sycotic miasm and of Lac ening. They gnaw at their grievances, the intermediary between different levels
caninum. The “frenzy” of Wotan, and their hatred and their desire for revenge, of consciousness. When a patient’s
therefore of Lac caninum, is not just the like a dog gnaws at a bone, never emotions and feelings are deeply
battle fury of the Viking Beserks, which satisfied until they have destroyed the repressed, when dreams have ceased or
rendered them invincible, it is also the object of their enmity or vented the never been, when the personal shadow
passion of the creative mind: of the poet, energy transpersonally on society or by is heavily burdened with unresolved
the artist and the musician. In the pagan scape-goating others (Hitler). Their fears emotions and experiences, it is often the
world, myths, heroic exploits and noble and phobias are intense, often dominat- dog that leads the physician into the
deeds were extolled by bards at the ing their lives. Snakes, spiders and dogs, deepest realms of the unconscious and
courts of kings and chieftains through particularly large dogs, terrify them and releases the pains of the past. Lac
the medium of poetry and song and re- they are haunted by fear of disease, caninum can rescue the wounded child
enacted through dance. These were as especially cancer, and the dread of dying. in the depressed adult. When in doubt,
important vehicles of communication Thunderstorms petrify them, the flash give Sulphur we are taught, but more
and knowledge as the media are today. of lightening and the crash of thunder frequently, when we stand non-plussed,
Religious and magical fervour was also causing them to cringe with fear. They before a complex, emotional state due
connected to Wotan, often assisted by are so imaginative that the images born to past or present trauma, a severely
chanting and dancing and the use of psy- out of their fantasy assume reality, repressed state, a paucity of symptoms,
chotropic substances and alcohol. The appearing before them, threatening and an ever shifting presentation, or a con-
priests of Wotan were known to carry terrifying. They have only to think of stitutional picture simulating various
a leather pouch that contained hallu- their ailments for them to be intensified. polychrests and revealing the influence
cinogenic herbs used in the rituals asso- Even their natural urges tend to excess: of more than one miasm, Lac caninum
ciated with the god to induce psychic insatiable thirst, often for milk; craving is often the remedy which, true to its
states and vision of other dimensions. for salt and spices; an appetite that canine nature, will open up the case and
Chief amongst these was black henbane cannot be appeased; and an insistent, guide the physician with devotion and
(Hyoscyamus), the anti-rabies acute of sexual hunger. fidelity out of the darkness into the light.

David Lilley MB ChB FFHom is an internationally renowned teacher of the materia medica who has developed
his practice in South Africa over the last 40 years after training at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital.

MASTERCLASS ARCHETYPES OF THE MATERIA MEDICA: Lac caninum