Lilac beauty (Apeira Syringaria): case and proving

The Proving: Apeira syringaria (The Lilac Beauty )

K-J Muller’s Proving; dream proving

Resumé of themes

Each theme is followed by some of the demonstrative symptoms from the proving, with interpretation and observation notes as appropriate.

* Powerless in wanting to help

- I ought to do something but I do not have the proper equipment and skill, so it was a failure

- I ought to cure my symptom but I haven’t the means, so I couldn’t do it

- I dream of beta-blockers. I wonder if beta-blockers are good for patients with thin blood vessels. They are not indicated for patients with a serious  pathology

- Later, I took my parents, on foot, to the family doctor, all dressed in black.

- I helped a friend sew in a zipper, for another friend, who was ill.

Interpretation and Observation Notes: The first four symptoms reflect the frustration of my patient. The last symptom is interpreted as the zipper symbolising the DNA string, which was the cause of the genetic disease concerned.

* Losing energy whilst trying to guide

- I dream that the bottom of my Renault Clio has fallen out, and I have to drive by running myself, like Fred Flintstone 

Interpretation and Observation Notes: This dream is symbolic of the collective unconcious because the dreamer has no personal association with the elements of his dream.. To understand it better it is worth recalling the nine Muses in Greek mythology, goddesses of inspiration and of the arts:

Kalliope - epic and heroic poetry

Clio  - history

Erato – love poetry

Euterpe - music and lyric poetry

Melpomene - tragedy

Polyhymnia – songs and hymns to the gods

Terpischore – dance

Thalia – comedy

Urania – astronomy

The muses were the daughters of Zeus. It is interesting to note, however, that King Pieros also gave his daughters the names of the Muses, which is a direct link with “Pieridae”, the butterfly family. The inclusion of “Clio” is also relevant to our patient, in that she was, at the time, struggling to finish her historical thesis….)

* Sensuality, beauty, strong colours. On the other hand, aversion to wearing jewellery, and looking through glasses smeared with faeces

* Responsibility – but failing because of forgotten tools or lack of skills. Then he notices that others have thought of themselves first, making the prover angry with himself. (Combining the previous two dreams was a dream where he only got attention from others when he was well-presented.)

* He can decide his own actions – and gets upset with himself if he does not follow his wishes. In one dream, a horse (symbol of strength) stamps on his leg at the dreamer’s command.

* Dreaming itself can get blocked. In one dream, everything that happened was incomprehensible – the summit of confusion.

The case: Lilac Beauty

Case history reported by F. Gassin, Paediatrician in Nantes.

History                

C. is a 14 year old girl brought up in an upper class family. The pregnancy was disturbed by violent conflict between the parents. Although the child was desired by both parents, the father left the mother, at the beginning of pregnancy. This abandonment was accompanied by an extreme explosion of violence, which is quite unusual in this type of social profile; conservative, well-to-do, and traditionalist Catholic.

C. was born full term and the birth was normal. She rapidly developed skin problems – Leiner-Moussous, then eczema – followed by an acute case of heartburn, and then whistling bronchitis, diagnosed shortly after as asthmatic.

She had a good development. She was, however, very ahead in many developmental aspects: walking, language, with a grasp of grammar quite unusual for a 2 year old! She displayed great artistic abilities very early; the mother’s house is a real museum; furniture, paintings, and superb dishes from the 18th century. C. is particularly attracted by singing and by music.

I started looking after her, as a paediatrician, when she was 18 months old, as her mother was seeking homeopathic care.  

C.’s primary health problems – asthma, eczema, allergy, and throat problems – resolved fairly rapidly, after using well known homeopathic remedies: Tuberculinum, Pulsatilla, and Phosphorus. 

She started primary school at the age of 5, in a private, very traditionalist religious school cared by nuns; a private school, reserved for girls. At the same time, C. entered the music conservatory and learned the violin, music theory, and singing.

As soon as she started school, she was bored, refused to learn, and had no desire to work; she is a dreamer. She tended to disturb the class and the poor nuns did not know what to do with her. They would have liked to get rid of her, except that the school’s headmistress is a very close friend of C.’s mother!

During the same period, C. entered into conflict with her mother; strong opposition, refuses to eat, to sleep, swears, and also blasphemes against religion.

C. came to me at the age of 6, then 8, then 10, and so on. In the office she is strictly charming, smiling, elegant, wearing clothes of another century. She is really different from other patients of her age.

C.’s behaviour towards her mother has become so awful – aggressive, nasty, naughty; a real devil – that she is looked after by the grandparents, who live in a strange, disaffected castle.

Family context

The mother: from aristocratic descent, she is small in size, charming but strange. She has a very white complexion, reminiscent of Roman Polanski’s film: Dance of the Vampires.She has no profession but has trained in Paris to become a psychologist. Her whole life is devoted to the extreme hate she feels towards C.’s father and to the permanent conflict with her daughter. She has uro-genital problems that even very well known doctors in her town cannot cure; only one acupuncture doctor is able to relieve her) .

 The father: I have never seen him but his wife says that he is a ‘crap’. He is a shipshandler and despite being well off he has never supported his daughter financially. He writes to his daughter, at Christmas for example, but C. returns his letters without opening them. Indeed, during one consultation, she said to me that she had kept one of his letters, and that she would read it to me.

Grandparents on mother’s side: they live in an old Briton house, in the country, that was  used for a home for severely handicapped children, with heavy genetic disease, all coming from ‘good families’. C. has grown up in this environment the first five years of her life. The grandfather is a Briton aristocrat, very Catholic, with a very paternalistic image; the only man in the family. This grand father thinks that C. is possessed by the devil and wants a priest to perform an exorcism on her.

Result of the WISC III psychologic test

*  Very high level of intellect: average 153

-  QI verbal = 139

-  QI performance: 150

C. is very happy when she speaks, when she elaborates mentally, less when she acts. She is not emotionally well balanced; going from blockage to compensation.

* Inhibited tests (--)  
-  Capacity of concentration

-  Gets quickly bored at school and discouraged; “school is important but not interesting”; “it is easy to be good at school, and school is useless for me.”

* Adapted tests (0)

-  Logic, mental representation, abstraction

-  Maths

* Highly invested tests (++)

-  Information, general culture ,

- Adaptation to reality: C. observes a great deal, she is worried and is afraid to get on with things.

- C. tries to compensate her difficulties; exhibiting a bipolar attitude: adorable/horrible

Prescription/discussion

C. has always been looked after homeopathically. She is also followed by a psychiatric doctor, which has allowed me to take a little bit of distance with my approach, and reduce the very long consultations filled by the mother’s complaints.

Recently, C. told me that she does not like the consultations with the psychiatrist; she has something to confess (sic) to her but she would never be able to do so. I proposed to her to consult with another psychiatrist, who has not been chosen by her mother and with whom she might feel freer.

At the height of the conflict with her mother, in 2007 (anno horribilis), two prescriptions were made:  

January 2007: 1 – Iridium metallicum 1M

- C. is 11 years old and in the process of pre-puberty growth. She presented with exhaustion and was growing taller too rapidly. (Silicea)

- She was at the maximum of her realisation as an artist, for her age group: for the last two years C. writes music and plays it on her violin, if possible when the mother is not around. Nobody knows what she writes not even her teacher.

- One significant event: the school headmistress reported that C.was close to achieving good results and failed everything at the last minute; close to the objective she failed.

Note: Iridium metallicum could also be of good use for the uro-genital problems of the mother!

October 2007: 2 – Germanium metallicum

- Great exhaustion

- Family context: grand father, old fashion, “vieille France”, very dominant.

- War between mother and daughter and with an invisible enemy: the father.

Germanium 1M was prescribed one month after Iridium and had a good effect on her state of exhaustion, as well as on her school results; she concentrates better and is less agitated.

During the year 2008, I had no contact with her as the psychiatrist had taken over.

C. came back - with her mother- in spring 2009. The conflict between them is on the go again and C. is vomiting. All her energy seems to be consumed in the fight with her mother, and the mother continues to take her own energy from the hate that seems eternal towards the father. It seems evident that “the devil that is in her”, which the grandfather wants to exorcise, is no one else but the father himself.

2009 February

C. comes back and the conflict with her mother is at a high level. She still has concentration problems and is highly concerned with aesthetics; particularly with her looks and her music.

On the following key notes, I consider a butterfly prescription.

Energetic: permanent loss of energy in the fight. Source of creative energy in music and dreams, especially at school.

Artistic and beauty : C. has grown up 13 cm and is becoming very beautiful, with a princess attitude. She is very involved in music; I was lucky enough to be invited to listen to her, one Sunday afternoon, when she was interpreting one of her own compositions.

Genetic : C. was brought up (partially) among genetically disabled children, in her grandparents’ castle.                       

Animals and relations: C. had to ride a horse at Easter and hated it; she also dislikes all type of animals, except what flies at night; owls, bats, and moths.

Level of energy: suffering from loss of energy; too much chanelled into  family problems.

Prescription: Lilac beauty 200C

Reaction: the reaction after the remedy is spectacular regarding her concentration and her agressivity towards the mother. She calms down and settles at school; the nuns have now accepted her. She is very keen on the violin, which she continues to play with passion.

Follow up two months later: after seeing her father, she comes back for a consultation, obviously disturbed by the event, and asks for a repeat of the remedy.

Repeat: Lilac beauty 200C 

Follow-up 6 months later: she is stable again, happy in life, and doing really well with the violin. She seems to have taken some distance from the conflicts around her.

Materia Medica

Dr Patricia Le Roux; characteristics of the Lilac Beauty 

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order Lepidoptera

Family: Geometridae

Subfamily: Geometrinae

Genus: Apeira

Species: Apeira syringaria

A moth from the Thorn family, it is not brilliantly coloured, but the edges of its wings are prettily crimped. This, combined with a subtle colour scheme, gives the impression of a crumpled leaf. It flies between June and July, and is found in England, Ireland, and Wales. It prefers hedgerows and edges of forests and woods. The caterpillar eats honeysuckle (Lonicera) and privet (Ligustrum) amongst other plants. Its wingspan is from 38-42mms (Linnaeus, 1758).

The key paediatric symptoms of APEIRA

1/ Sensuality, beauty, pleasure, aesthetics

These are artistic, aesthetic patients, with ideals.

2/ Suffering from loss of energy; chanelled too much into  family problems

As children they feel responsible for family issues erupting around them and over which they have no control.

3/ Attracted by animals, especially butterflies

They are lively, active people, looking for pleasure and amusement.

4/ Often confronted with serious genetic illnesses

This was the case of my 14 year old girl.

 Analysis

Interesting butterfly prescription considering the artistic surroundings and the severe family conflict!

There are several good reasons for this young girl to receive a butterfly remedy at this stage in her life. Firstly, the experience of dramatic abandonment, secondly, her aesthetic surroundings; social and also physical. The sensation of beauty and harmony, and the yearning for beauty is always present when a butterfly prescription is needed. Thirdly, her upbringing among severely handicapped children (genetic disease) is a key point that must be taken into account. Lastly, the agitation and instability, which occur in such cases. This young girl is for ever loooking for harmony and anything that prevents her from doing so, causes anxiety and agitation.

This type of prescription can really foster the patient’s development and help her to settle in her aesthetic aspiration.

Patricia Le Roux is a pediatrician with a homeopathic practice in Marseille, France. She is the well-known author of Homéo et Juliette, Homéo-pitchoun, Hydro-Homeopathic Energy, Metals in Homeopathy, and Butterflies.