Welwitschia mirabilis: duality and transformation

In the Namib desert a very special tree is found, the Welwitschia mirabilis. Its South African name is Tweeblaarkanniedood (two-leaved and impossible to kill). This living fossil is an ultimate survivor. It grows to a height of only one metre, although the root can go down as deep as thirty metres. It has only two leaves, but these are giant sized. The tree is dioecious and has both angiosperm and gymnosperm character states. It is linked to the number Two, to duality and to the transformation of our age. 

Summary
The tree, Welwitschia mirabilis, Tweeblaarkanniedood, grows in the Namib desert. It belongs to a unique plant group, that of the Gnetophyta, a group that has both gynmosperm and angiosperm characters.

The homeopathic remedy is made using material from old female and male trees growing close to a site where uranium is found.

During the Welwitschia dream proving many participants had dreams featuring the number  Two. This is the duality we humans have to deal with – a choice between good and evil. We feel divided, in some cases even split up. We are looking for a partner in order to feel whole. This is reflected in the dream proving themes in the female-male duality (Yin-Yang), light and dark, above and below, old and young. Some of the provers experienced this as well and expressed their feelings using words like hate and love, Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve. The themes of far-sightedness and clairvoyance occur, both in dreams and in daytime experience. Physical complaints experienced during the dream proving were varied, for example, stomach problems and tension in the chest area.

Welwitschia can probably help in the transformation process in the duality field. The remedy will probably be most suitable for very sensitive (HSP), intuïtive, far-sighted and clairvoyant persons.

Botanical Classification
Some examples of local names of Welwitschia are Tweeblaarkanniedood (South African), Onyanka (Herero), Tumboa (Angola); Kharos (Nama), Khurub (Nama). Welwitschia is assigned to the Gnetophyta which includes one class, the Gnetopsida which in turn includes thee orders: Welwitschiales, Ephedrales and Gnetales. The three orders all have just one family, with just one genus. Here: Welwitschiaceae, with W. mirabilis the only species of the genus.

Gnetophyta have some Gymnosperm characters shared with conifers like Pinus and Thuja, but some Angiosperm characters – like wood vessels in the secondary xylem – as well. Welwitschia is not only pollinated by wind (like the gymnosperms) but also by insects. Both the female and male flowers produce nectar; the male flowers produce small quantities of pollen. Both characters are typical of insect-pollinated angiosperms (lit. 10). The male flowers are similar to some Angiosperm flowers (lit.10).

Two subspecies occur, differing in the male cones. The Swakopmund tree belongs to the subspecies Namibiana.

Botanical description
Welwitschia has a bole, two leaves and roots. The short woody bole is hard, hollow and obconical; it usually grows no higher than 50-80 centimetres. The two leaves are hard, leathery, ribbon-shaped, very long and make a tangle on the ground. With age they divide into strips which get frayed and die at the tips. They grow from the base and can be up to 2 – 4 metres long. By night, dew and fog condense on the leaves and drip down. Just below the sandy surface the many tiny roots take in this moisture, while the leaves take in water through their stomata. The taproot goes down as far as 30 metres and is able to draw water from this depth; it serves as an anchor, enabling the tree to survive in the fierce desert winds.

Male and female trees exist (dioecious species). The male cones are pinkish brown and smaller than the female cones, which are pink with some dark purple. The seeds measure 36 x 25 mm large and show white, papery wings. They are dispersed by wind in spring when the female cones disintegrate (lit. 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12). 

Distribution and ecology
Welwitschia occurs only in the Namib Desert, a narrow arid strip some 1,500 kilometres along the northern Namibian coast and of south western Angola.

The region is  extremely arid, the average annual precipitation is less than 100 mm and some years don’t see any precipitation at all. Most trees are found in the fog zone which reaches up to 80 kilometres inland. This fog is an important source of moisture. Temperatures differ greatly, between up to 45 centigrade by day while in winter night frosts occur.

Carbon dating indicates ages between 400 and 1500 years for these trees, while some are thought to be 2000 years old. (lit. 5, 8, 9, 10, 11)

The homeopathy remedy

The homoeopathic remedy Welwitschia mirabilis is produced from parts of female and male trees aged some 600 to 1000 years growing near Swakopmund, next to the Namib uranium mine.Moreover, the remedy Radix Welwitschia mirabilis has been produced. (lit. 4)

Use
No medical use of this tree is known.

Cones of female trees used to be eaten by man. They were baked in hot ashes. The Herero name Onyanga, meaning desert onion, originates from this use. Larger animals like antelope and rhinoceros eat the leaves. (lit. 11)

Symbolism
The ecology of the tree and the Afrikaans name Tweeblaarkanniedood suggest that Welwitschia is an able survivor. In literature it has been described as a living fossil dating back to the Jurassic age when gymnosperms  and dinosaurs were prevalent.

Welwitschia grows in the region where the San (Bushmen) live. They have been shown to possess the most ancient DNA of all humans; they are an ancient people that survived everything.

During my trek through Namibia I often had a sense of travelling through the land of creation, of being close to man’s origins. This was a backdrop for thoughts of Adam and Eve expelled from paradise on account of their lapse into sin, and the dualism of the choice between good and evil that followed: the ambiguous world. The number Two and transformation are clearly present in the tree: it shows two leaves, is dioecious and is halfway between gymnosperm and angiosperm. Therefore, material from both female and male trees was used.

Welwitschia was named after its discoverer, Welwitsch, creating a possibility for wordplay with ‘well’ and ‘witch’, mirabilis meaning ‘wonderful’, which is nicely in tune.

Tweeblaarkanniedood is Namibia’s national tree; Namibian coins show a coat of arms featuring this tree and an eagle (lit. 7, 10)

Astrology
The time I visited Welwitschia to collect material was astrologically significant. In mid-heaven, Mercury, Venus and the Luck point were grouped in Virgo; nearby the Sun, Saturn and Mars were found. Pluto was in the ascendant. In these times Pluto plays a major role, being the transformer of the dark to light and love. Pluto also largely features in the Diospyros kaki Creveld remedy (the plutonium bomb; at the time of the bomb event Pluto and the Sun were together in Leo. In the Welwitschia horoscope, Uranus is at the IC in Pisces (uranium nearby). Neptune, along with the northern lunar node (indicates the goal, the karmic) in Aquarius (the age of Aquarius) on the cusp of the third house.

The horoscope confirms what I intuited: this tree can help us to survive in this plutonic age of transformation. The tree offers a transforming power for the new Aquarius age in which we can live from a place of light and love, using major intuitive powers.

Proving
At the beginning of November, 2008, a blind proving using Welwitschia was held. Thirty participants have slept with the remedy (200K potency) during the same three consecutive nights. Some of them have smelled the tube during the last night. Two of them ingested the remedy during the proving. Two weeks later, one person slept with the remedy for three nights. There were twenty-one females and ten males, aged between thirty and seventy-one. Dreams were clear and profound. Some dreamers felt slightly alienated and had doubts whether these were dreams or thoughts. Some participants had thoughts fitting in this theme during the day as well.

DREAMS - CLEAR
DREAMS – PROFOUND
DREAMS – DISCONNECTED
DREAMS – MIND, confusing of – on waking of a dream

Theme proving
In dream analysis I found several themes, partly general themes I found in provings with other trees, such as above and below; clean-up and repair. Some themes of the dreams with Welwitschia were also found during the Diospyros kaki Creveld provings (lit. 1,2) and those with Pinus longaeva (lit 3). Examples are light and dark; survival, security, struggle, danger and death.

I only enumerate the themes which occurred in the dreams of several participants. I list some rubrics of the repertory and some parts from the dreams in italics.

Two, the number

Many dreams featured the number Two, the number of duality, the number that figures in the tree’s anatomy and its Afrikaans name.

- With two other women
- About two high
- These windows consisted of two parts
- We share everything fairly; my half bulb
- Every time there was a contrast of situations, like poverty alongside wealth

DREAMS - NUMBERS; of - number two
DREAMS - DIVIDED, in two parts
DREAMS - DUALITY; sense of

Female-Male

Some dreams deal with the female and male duality, or the union or transformation of male and female.

- See complete dreams 1
- The woman undressed, and then it proved to be a man. He had a penis! A beautiful man, but he should not be in our room since that was reserved for women only.
- He suddenly becomes a she, and she is laughing.
- S. is there as well, she looks beautiful. She is wearing black clothes and ivory earrings in the shape of tortoises. I wanted to come too. (comment by dreamer: I feel that both colleagues are rather male-looking, not graceful like these tortoise earrings. The sturdy male parts could be more integrated with the female parts. At work, I want to be more female, soft and pure).
- The women and men are sitting apart from one another. There are many women and five men. We are really separate. I am impressed by that.
- She took care of me, despite my being dirty (male).

DREAMS – MAN – changed into woman
DREAMS - SEXUAL IDENTITY; ambiguous about one's
DREAMS – WOMAN – changed into man
DREAMS – WOMAN – separated from man
DREAMS – WOMAN – merge with man
DREAMS – WOMAN – embraces man

Transformation

There are dreams which clearly have to do with transformation in various fields, like women – men, light – dark, old – young, above – below; cleaning up. Then there are dreams featuring the word transformation, or which are perceived as transformation dreamed by the prover. A clairvoyant proving the remedy saw the Tarot card of Art, which stands for transformation,  the union of contrasting parts, creative power.

- First, I hid myself on the roof. Later on I was lying on a lawn in a very prim neighbourhood. I was soiled by earth or mud (the dreamer experiences this as a transformation).
- Renovation of a building.
- I absolutely forgot what I dreamt; however, I know that it had to do with transformation.
- A cathedral that Hitler had lined with a layer of bricks on the inside; now there were three such layers and I decided that all of it had to be removed again.

DREAMS – TRANSFORMATION

Clear

There were conspicuous dreams about far-sightedness, clairvoyance and a clear understanding.

- He can see what everyone is in the house is doing.
- I was at a ‘Non Violent Communication’ meeting. I suddenly understand the structure (which I missed at the meetings in reality).
- D. has been a soothsayer.
- The mycelium in the ground under the leaves was visible.
- There was no goal for him to aim at. Curiously, everyone knew whether it as a hit or a miss.

DREAMS - CLAIRSENTIANT
DREAMS - CLAIRVOYANT
DREAMS - CLEARNESS of mind

Old and Young, past and present

Dreams occurred in which old/ the past and young/ the present were contrasted.

Interpretation: this stands for the duality of the 4th dimension.

- The child is changing into my aunt, my mother’s sister. She is old.
- Her father was a young man again.
- Two ages, past and present, were concurrent.
- How it used to be, and how it is now.

DREAMS – CHILD - changed into old woman
DREAMS - CONFUSION of mind - time; as to
DREAMS – OLD MAN – changed into young man
DREAMS - TIMES, two – past and present

Embracing, solace

Dreams of embracing, caring, being noticed and solaced occurred.

- I embrace him to show him that a deeper connexion is not lost, after all
- She was very sad, she deeply missed her husband and she was crying. I embraced and comforted her.

DREAMS – CARING
DREAMS - CONSOLING
DREAMS – HUGGING
DREAMS - NEGLECTED being - not
DREAMS - SADNESS – consolation

Light/ white and dark/ black. In many dreams, white and light featured, alongside dark and black. Interpretation: this refers to the duality of good and evil.

- The cover was gently yellow and showed big black letters Ilulia. (comment by dreamer: Ilulia made me think of Lucia which means light).
- The house was very bright and spacious.
- The stone is very large and lit from the inside.
- She is wearing black clothes and ivory earrings in the shape of tortoises.

DREAMS - COLOR - white
DREAMS – COLOR - light; of
DREAMS - COLOR - black - white; and
DREAMS – LIGHT; of

Survival, security, struggle, danger, death. Many dreams dealt with danger, (in)security and survival. Interpretation: Welwitschia is a tree that can help us deal with such anxiety and trauma.

- The atmosphere was tense, there was much tension.
- I did not feel free with that one. I felt imprisoned in the house.
- A man is using me as a hostage. We are going underground because he has just blown something up. In order to survive I’m acting as his girlfriend. He’s very dangerous. He blows things up and gets a kick out of it. He always carries explosives…otherwise he’ll be killed by this madman.

DREAMS – COFFINS
DREAMS – DANGER
DREAMS – DEAD; of the
DREAMS – EXPLOSION
DREAMS - MURDERED – threat being
DREAMS – SAFE
DREAMS – SURVIVAL
DREAMS – UNSAFE

Being naked, sexuality. Dreams featuring (partially) naked people. Sexually oriented dreams which are not always a pleasant experience for the dreamer. These dreams often deal with sex between two differently aged people, the female being the older one. Interpretation: in Welwitschia this is probably linked with the female and male duality. Female wisdom becomes important. Maybe this also refers to duality in time.

- The mother is intensely kissing her son who sits next to her with his upper body naked. The son clearly does not like it. It does not appear as a loving action, it rather looks grim. The son is a silent subject. Another person says: ‘Things aren’t always what they seem to be.’
- My coat is blown aside, showing my bottom, over which they make a comment, even if it’s said quietly.

DREAMS – ABUSED SEXUALLY; being
DREAMS - INCEST
DREAMS - NAKED people
DREAMS – SEX, oral
DREAMS – SEXUAL - own sex, having sex with
DREAMS - SEXUAL - sexual activity
DREAMS - SEXUAL - sexual activity between different ages
DREAMS - WOMEN – naked

Above and below. The large number of dreams featuring this distinction is conspicuous. In dreams with Welwitschia, an intermingling of the notions above and below occurs. Interpretation: this reflects the connexion that trees have with the earth and the cosmos/ spirituality. Welwitschia brings the cosmos and the earth closer together.

- I felt that I should not want to go up but down; however, the escalator that could go down was rolling upwards.
- I wanted to look down.
- I use the elevator to go down.
- I have to climb up to get in.

DREAMS – DOWN; going
DREAMS - LIFT - descending
DREAMS - LOOKING - down
DREAMS – UP; going
DREAMS – UP; going – and down
DREAMS – UP; going – or down – confusion about

Clean-up, repair. Many dreams featured themes like cleaning, dirt and repairs. Interpretation: this refers to the possibility of the remedy being of good use in case of letting go of old and dark matters; a transformation.

- Another woman I knew started cleaning the window panes. They had not been cleaned for ages. I was under the impression that this was because she wanted to finish the alterations before she started cleaning.
- There’s a lot of rubbish in the garden: leaves and paper. I’m going to clean it up.
- An old hotel, but it had been restored.

DREAMS – CLEANING
DREAMS - DIRTY – windows
DREAMS – HOTELS – old and restored

Spirituality

Several provers experienced spiritual dreams.

- See complete dreams 1 and 2.
- We’re sitting at the bottom of a very high tower. It really reaches up into the sky.
- I saw an army with very many golden shields. The sun was reflected in them, giving the whole thing a very special lustre. Then, I saw some golden boughs which were plaited. The same colour, again with the sun shining on them.
- I found a devil’s egg, an earthstar and a kind of death’s head mushroom. A little wooden cross was found near these mushrooms.
- We arrive at Glastonbury in England and I have put the largest crystral I have at home on a kind of wall.

Flying. Several provers dreamt that they could fly or soar. Interpretation: this is linked to venturing outside the body; the spiritual world.

DREAMS – FLYING

Large size. This mainly deals with large buildings.

- I’m in a large house.
- Several large tents.
- A large shed where we (myself and two others?) went to sleep.
- We’re at the bottom of a very large tower.

DREAMS – BUILDINGS, big
DREAMS – ROOMS, big
DREAMS – CAR, big

Physical complaints in the dreams

In the dreams relatively few physical complaints occurred. The word ‘disabled’ occurs with three dreamers. Some dreamers felt very cold by day, another few felt very hot. This appears in the dreams, just more than once.

- We’re looking at someone, a disabled person?
- A disabled woman lying in bed.
- I was covered by something against the cold.
- The sun is so hot.

DREAMS – DISABLED people
DREAMS – COLD, being
DREAMS – HOT, the sun is

Physical symptoms during the proving

Some physical, psychological and mental symptoms were experienced by some of the participants. There were some stomach problems; a different sleeping pattern; some chest problems, often coupled to stress, and some temperature problems. Some provers felt they could think clearly, and even far-sighted.

Several participants had thoughts of duality and the number of Two. Some felt they were exploring a deeper layer, more unity within themselves. A feeling of freedom and compassion occurred. Two participants thought of Cain and Abel:

- Adam and Eve were a team too; did they not have two sons, Abel and Cain? (thoughts, not dreams)
- I get up that day with part two (of the dreams) that I’m reconsidering. For one moment I felt my own angry self and during these last days I’ve been working on not judging. I make an effort towards my brother who in daily life sometimes is like Cain and Abel. Hate and love. I seek forgiveness and connection (thoughts).

MIND – AGILITY, mental
MIND - ANGER
MIND - CLAIRVOYANCE
MIND - CLEARNESS of mind
MIND - CONFUSION of mind - identity, as to his - duality, sense of
MIND - DELUSIONS - divided
MIND - DELUSIONS - safe; she is not
MIND - DELUSIONS – survive; has to
MIND - HURRIED; being
MIND - INDEPENDENT
MIND - IRRITATION
MIND - NURSED; being - desire
MIND - OPTIMISTIC
MIND - SADNESS
MIND – SENSES - acute
MIND - THOUGHTS - numbers; of - number two
MIND – UNSAFE – feeling
HEAD – PAIN – morning on waking
FACE - EXCORIATION - Lips - Lower
THROAT - DRYNESS
THROAT – DRYNESS – on waking
CHEST – PAIN – pressing pain
CHEST – PALPITATION of heart
CHEST - OPPRESSION - Heart - pressure
CHEST – PERSPIRATION morning on waking
STOMACH - ERUCTATIONS; TYPE OF – sour
STOMACH - NAUSEA
STOMACH - THIRST
STOMACH - THIRSTLESS
STOMACH - VOMITING; TYPE OF – sour
STOMACH - VOMITING; TYPE OF – burning
ABDOMEN - PAIN
ABDOMEN - PAIN - cramping
BLADDER - URINATION – dysuria
BLADDER - RETENTION of urine
SLEEP – DEEP
SLEEP - RESTLESS
SLEEP - WAKING - night - midnight - after - 4 h
SLEEP - WAKING - frequent
SLEEP - WAKING - frequent - fright, as from
GENERALS - HEAT - lack of vital heat
GENERALS - HEAT – morning on waking
GENERALS - TENSION

Two complete dreams

1.The front of the monastery was open and when I stepped inside I seemed to go back in time. Two ages were concurrent. Inside there was a modern desk with two women standing behind it. In a bottle there was a piece of soft cheese surrounded by a lot of fungal growth. A dead white mouse with a black eye cover was lying there. It had a black triangular hat and a little red shawl around its neck, it was barely alive. It was on its back with its snout pointing upward. Alongside it was a mole, a black one with its snout pointing toward the earth. It had a white speck of fungal cheese on its face (yin and yang)

Interpretation – in this dream the themes of the number Two, old versus new duality, white and black, above and below, yin and yang (male and female) occur.

2. We went down to a village we could see far away: Sandrana. We descended some way by walking and some way by a chair lift. The paths are narrow and the ravines are deep, but not wide. You might be able to jump across them. I told a boy he had to be careful not to fall into the ravine. Because – so I thought – you would get to the bottom of the earth. Once descended we had to go up again.

Interpretation – The woman who dreamed this said Sandrana made her think of Shangri-la, paradise on earth. The time before the Fall, predating the duality between good and evil, between man and woman; when there was unity. Moreover the above and below theme features in the dream.

Literature

1.     Creveld, M. Diospyros kaki, Tree for the World. Homeopathic Links 2002; 15: 177 - 182

2.     Creveld, M. Diospyros kaki Creveld.  Helps us to survive many traumas of our time: radioactivity, chemical substances, war, disasters, and fire. Marijke Creveld publishers. 2001-2006

3.     Creveld, M. De Methuselah tree, Pinus longaeva. Homeopathic Links 2007; 20: 47 – 50. Sonntag Verlag Stuttgart

4.     Creveld, M. The healing power of Tree Roots, triturated with Silicon. Homeopathic Links 2008; 21: 96 – 99. Sonntag Verlag Stuttgart

5.     Lewington, A. en E. Parker, Eeuwenoude bomen. Bomen die duizend jaar leven. Elmar B.V., Rijswijk 2000

6.     www.conifers.org/we/index.htm

7.     www.namibweb.com/welwitschia.htm

8.     www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/earle/we/welwitschiaceae.htm

9.     www.wikipedia.org

10. www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/2285/we/welwitschiaceae.Edited by Christopher J. Earle

11. www.plantzafrica.com/plantwxyz/welwitschia.htm

12. Meyden, R. van der, Heukels’ Flora van Nederland. 23e editie. Wolters – Noordhoff bv, Groningen/Houten 2005

The remedies Welwitschia mirabilis and Radix Welwitschia mirabilis in 12K, 30K, 200K, MK and 10MK(Korsakov potencies) can be ordered at the Hahnemann apotheek (Tel.: +31 72 5325 373; E-mail: recept@hahnemann.nl) in the Netherlands or Denys apotheek in Belgium (tel: +32 9 225 20 69; e-mail: info@apodenys.be).

For information: Marijke Creveld Ph.D.; m.creveld@planet.nl; www.creveld.nl; 0031 38 454 2687

The complete proving of Welwitschia mirabilis, Diospyros kaki Creveld, Radix Diospyros kaki Creveld, Pinus longaeva and incomplete proving of Radix Welwitschia mirabilis are published in the book: Three Trees, survivors on earth.

The complete proving of Welwitschia mirabilis, Diospyros kaki Creveld, Radix Diospyros kaki Creveld, Pinus longaeva and incomplete proving of Radix Welwitschia mirabilis are published in the book: Three Trees, survivors on eart.

Can be ordered from Merlijn bookshop tel.: +31 23 5511991 or from Marijke Creveld.

Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Welwitschia mirabilis, Naukluft, Namibia; Sara and Joachim