Dear Colleagues et al,

I have already made my opinion of "essences" fairly clear in the past. I am of the opinion that it is extremely difficult to reduce all the symptoms of a remedy to one single cause because this process can easily lead to stereotyping and narrow vision. That is why it is important to study the portraits of more than one experienced homeopath as one patient seems to suit one picture and another a different picture. If we could see the Esse this would not be a problem but what we see are different facets of the Esse through provings and clinical confirmations on living human beings. What we record are relative observations subject to the time and circumstances of the prover-patient and the view of the observer.

I have been asked how I look at the psychopathology, archetypes, complexes, etc, My approach is to try to "psychoanalysis" the entire remedy-Gestalt like we do a human beings. The paradigm I use is Jungian philosophy because there is a large body of experience behind these observations not just my own concepts. This means that I look at the Psyche of remedies and patients through its components Persona, Shadow, Anima-Animus, Collective Unconscious and Self. The persona is the mask the person wears on the outside and the shadow is the compensation for this mask. The Anima-Animus makes up the personal unconscious, which is polarized opposite to the sex of the individual's body. The self is the deep integrative aspect of the Psyche which is always working for individuation and Self-realization. As one can see the Psyche is based on component parts and functional polarities not a monolithic structure.

It is far beyond the scope of this post to try and explain what each of terms mean but one can read about them in published works on the subject. I have chosen to work with the traditional body of Jungian information rather than introduce my own personal Neo-Junigan ideas as many are doing in Homeopathy. This is because I can discuss experiences within the exact same paradigm with colleagues and those with great knowledge in the field and we know exactly what each other is talking about. I also have access to a massive amount of theoretical and clinical material on the subject. I also find some of the new age versions of archetypal psychology a bit simplistic and incomplete. Some people using terms and changing a system they did not really understand in the first place.

Images from the Unconscious manifested through spontaneous actions, dreams, fantasies and altered states of consciousness that share certain religious, mythological, philosophical, literary, and alchemical motifs that are expressions of the collective unconscious. These themes that reoccur in all cultures and all time periods are called Archetypes. One cannot see the absolute essence of the archetypes but one can observe their relative Gestalt phenomena through their dynamic characteristics in living human beings. These Archetypes are part of the structure of the Psyche and give human life their meaning. They seek to reach the surface through every avenue of human activity.

When I review a remedy I generalize the characteristic symptoms by common threads (with sensations, modalities, etc..) as much as possible and study very closely the dreams, delusions and deliriums. I try to interpret the dreams and delusions as one does with living patients in psychology. These are message directly from the Unconscious. I look for common themes as well as atypical symptoms that seem different than the main threads. I consider these very important. The I review the remedy symptoms in terms of classical psychology as if I was looking at a patient.

I study the symptoms related to mood affective disorders like mania, depression, manic-depression and melancholia and see how each individual remedy would act if suffering such a state. I take a good look at the symptoms of the 12 personality disorders like obsessive compulsive, passive aggressive, narcissistic, hysteria, antisocial, avoidant, dependent, borderline, schizoid, etc., and review the symptoms related to anxiety, obsessive compulsive, hysterical, hypochondriacal and phobic neuroses. I study at the fears related to paranoid disorders very closely. The fears, imaginations and anxieties are very important as they show problem areas. I look at all the rubrics of our remedies in relations to these classes of psychopathology and try to judge them in accordance with the four stage of pathology, the pseudo functional, the early breakdown stage, the neurotic stage and the psychotic stage.

I review the mind/body/postural relationships in terms of infantile orificial activations. I look at sex in accordance with Riech's function of the orgasm teachings as well as archetypes and complexes..I look at the potential psychosexual disorders like exhibitionism, Pedophilia voyeurism, nymphomania, satyriasis, impotency, frigidity, etc. I also study possible gender issues. When speaking to patients I sometimes investigate sexual and masturbation fantasies as they also are a door into the deeper state of the Psyche. The repression, suppressed, mistreated, frustrated, distorted power of the sexual libido is a source of very deep symptoms and a power behind many neurotic and psychotic states as well as physical diseases.

At the same time, I study the psychosomatic channels and possible conversion diseases affecting to the body and what they might mean psychologically. I take all this material into account and attempt to integrate it in a homogeneous portrait that bring out the grand characteristic but also maintains the more complete individual symptoms that are strikingly, uncommon, rare and odd. I find many essences are too over generalized and use common symptoms that incomplete rubrics without sensation, modalities or concomitants. Everything is reduce to the lowest common denominator instead of the most unique, individualizing characteristic threads. This is how I study remedies and patients. So when I say that our deep acting remedies can reflect more one undigested archetype, complexes, neuroses, personality disorders, etc, I have these classes of psychopathology in mind. I am using these terms in relationship to classical psychology.

We cannot be totality "conscious" of the Unconscious because the nature of the Unconscious is to be UNCONSCIOUS. This is like trying to look at the entire ocean from the beach. We can only experience the the waves, currents, colors, reflections, smells, etc., that are observable to our senses but the ocean is much greater than this. It has unseen plant and creatures, plants as well as floor with volcanic vents, etc. The ocean is an image of beauty, expansiveness as well as danger the unknown. This is why the Ocean is one of the timeless symbols of the Unconscious. Every Psyche is based on primordial Archetypes. Religion, mythology, philosophy, fables, superstitions, the arts, history, even physics is an attempt to make sense of the dynamic fields of this Priori. The problems arise when the energy of these Archetypes is undigested, distorted, and deranged in such a manner that it produces complexes that disrupt the integration of the fivefold Psyche.

For example, Dionysus was an ancient Pelasgian divinity representing natural life, death, resurrection and eternal life. In his pure form Dionysus was first identified with Zagreus, who was a Cretan divinity. He was the son of Zeus, chief of the Immortals, and Demeter, the Earth Mother. The other gods were so jealous of his beauty that they tried to kill him. The Titans tore Zagreus to pieces and threw his remains into a cauldron. Athena rescued his beating heart and took it to Zeus for resurrection. Zeus then gave him new life in the form of Dionysus and struck the Titans down with his thunderbolts. From this point on Dionysus, "the twice-born" became a divinity of everlasting life. The remains of Zagreus were reconstituted as an underworld god who welcomes the souls of the dead and helps them with their purification.

Plutarch wrote that Dionysus is a "god who is destroyed, who disappears, who relinquishes life, and then is born again". The Dionysus Archetype teaches that one must use titanic effort to tear to pieces the false ego until only the beating heart of the Self remains. Then one can be resurrected in the eternal life of the spirit. The myth of Dionysus shares many symbols with Osiris, Asclepius, Orpheus, Jesus, etc. The inner meaning of the life of Dionysus was presented as a sacred drama showing his birth, passion, death and resurrection. This mystery play is the origin of western drama and tragedy. The term tragedy literally means "goat song" in reference to the sacrifice of Dionysus's animal form. Tragedy was a religious experience that was designed to purify the participant through awe and sympathy. Dionysus became one of the first in a long line of "scapegoats" for the human consciousness.

Dionysus is associated with wine, vegetation, moisture and natural living. Wine is a symbol of divine intoxication. Everyone wishes to feel the bliss of divine intoxication but they do not know how to attain it. Therefore, rather than seeking the wine of the spirit within they look to the outer world of drugs and alcohol to alter their consciousness. This, of course, can never satisfy the soul so they fall into the vicious cycle of addiction and abuse. Vegetation, moisture and natural living are symbols for fertility and procreation. Self-sacrifice often involves the violent and chaotic destruction of the false ego and an aggressive restructuring of the psyche. Dioinysus represents the forces of nature.

The temptations of intoxication, abuse of sexual energy and angry aggression are so powerful that even a god can become trapped in this cycle. After Dionysus discovered the grape vine he traveled all over the world and became a civilized man. It was only when Dionysus became a god of civilization (rather than nature) that drugs, sex, and violence got out of control. This is analogous to the fall of humanity. The fallen followers of Dionysus reveled in uncontrolled drunkenness, frenzied sex orgies, violent rampages and human sacrifice. Dionysus inflicts madness on those who misunderstand or deny his proper manifestation causing them to tear to pieces their loved ones, especially their children. Drug addition, promiscuous sex, and violent rampages are being more and more common.

I have seen the undigested Dionysus archetype destroy of the lives of many persons who were creative and inspired but could not control their addictions, sexuality, and violent impulses and committed conscious or unconscious suicide. Even if they wished control themselves the undigested power of the Dionysus complex drove them further and further toward death with a false idea of resurrection. One might say that the entire "drugs, sex and rock and roll and punk culture" is a manifestation of the Dionysus complex. . In the 1960s their arose a cultural Dionysus mystery drama on a mass scale. The is the story of Jim Morrison and the Doors is only one example. Some integrated the archetype and moved on and others did not and were destroyed. Glimpses of the undigested Dionysius archetype can be seen in remedies like Anac., Androc., Fl-ac., Cant., Hep., Hyos., Iod., Kali-br., Lach., Lyss., Med., Nux-v, Phos., Plat., Stram., Sulphur, Tarent, Verat and other remedies. Aspects of this archetype appear in psora but reveal themselves more fully in sycotic and syphilitic miasms.

I hope this offers a view into what I mean when I speak of undigested archetypes, complexes, personality disorders, neurosis, etc. I am writing about all these classifications in detail and composing specialized Materia Medica of psychopathology with physical concomitants for my never ending book project. My daughter just told me "Dad, STOP stop writing! You have been writing since before I was born." Is 12 years too long? Gosh, talk about obsessive-compulsive disorder!

Similia Minimus,
David Little