A Trituration Proving of the Ostrich done by students of the South African Faculty of Homeopathy, in Cape Town
by Ann Haw
Introduction:
I wanted to do a proving from Africa, and for Africa. I was excited by the gift given me by these birds, because the general bird themes are of having greater vision, and delusions of being trapped. This sounded suitable for Africa.
The feathers were collected on a recent trip to a very remote part of the Karoo, the natural home of the ostrich. The ostriches were on a farm in a large field, so were partially in captivity. A male and a female were standing in a camp next to the road. We stopped, and I got out of the car, and asked these two beautiful healthy specimens for a feather, in the interest of health in Africa. They came right up to me, and when they turned and left, there were two feathers entangled in the barbed wire; the black feather from the male bird, and the female had donated the grey one. The feathers were entwined with each other, and in the barbed wire, which seemed significant.
The remedy was made from scrapings on the tip of both feathers where they attach into the skin, as well as clippings taken from the edges of the feathers. The students in the trituration group are all medical doctors, studying Homeopathy. There were 11 women and 2 men. Myself, and Beatrix ran the proving.
The Ostrich: Struthio Camelus
Introduction:
The ostrich is a bird that has adapted to the loss of flight, and has developed fast aggressive impulses to defend itself. No longer free to take to the heavens, the ostrich has to fight, and run for its life, and its food. Historically the ostrich feather was in great demand to adorn women of high society. Feathers are also used for such mundane things as feather dusters. In recent years, ostriches have been farmed more for their meat and leather, than for their feathers. These days, people are more concerned with being able to feed themselves, than adorning oneself. Ostrich eggs are large and have been used by humans for the past 6000 years. Used to carry and store water by the Bushmen, the eggs are also made into ornaments, lamps, and of course consumed as food.
Ostriches live in very dry arid regions of Southern Africa, where they survive on anything they can pick up in the field, mainly plants and insects. These birds swallow pebbles necessary to masticate the food in their stomachs. When approached, ostriches can be very aggressive; their kick can cause serious injuries. They do tolerate being ridden on by tourists, and raced in various parts of Africa. Ostriches live in large groups during the breeding season, but are more often seen in pairs. A male will have a harem of 2 to 7 females.
Many females lay their eggs in one nest. Hatched by the female during the day the male sits on them at night. Their colors are well suited for this. The nests are a simple hollow in the ground, and their colors are well suited to camouflage them. Ostriches are particularly attracted to bright shiny objects.
Proving:
Summary of C1 and C2 trituration proving
We only expected 9 students, but 13 turned up on that day
I had only prepared for 10 provers, but we found enough pestles and mortars for 12. The 13th student was going to share with a friend, but as the trituration started, she gazed around looking lost and lonely, and I felt obliged to take her a tiny pestle and mortar, and a teaspoon of lactose.
I had brought a very small quantity of alcohol to burn the pestles and mortars, and when we opened the matchbox, there were only four matches. I had not weighed out enough lactose for all these students, and for 3 triturations, so wasn’t sure how to handle this. Already, there seemed to be a theme of scarcity, yet things were just sufficient.
We managed to complete two triturations during the three-hour session.
By the end of the three hours, the provers were all extremely irritable, and anxious to get out. There was a great feeling of being hurried, that this was all a waste of time. We really battled to end the session properly, and to bring them out with a short meditation. I felt very uncomfortable during this time; I thought I had subjected the provers to something against their will, which of course was not true.
The weather during this trituration was quite extraordinary. At the beginning it was extremely hot in the room, and we opened as many windows as we could. During the three hours a strong wind came up, it clouded over, and eventually started raining. When we finished it was decidedly cold for a summer day in Cape Town.
When I did the C3 trituration at home on my own, this same changeable weather occurred.
There were also cycles of fatigue and energy, and of boredom and fun.
There was a feeling of frivolous activity: dressing up, playing in sand, the color red.
On the other hand there was the frustration, irritation, and aggression.
The physical symptoms were diverse; they are noted in the separate documents, and will need verification before they can be used.
C3 Trituration
All attempts at scheduling a time to do this trituration with the original group, failed.
I felt very disillusioned, and let down.
In doing the trituration alone, this feeling of frustration, and unfairness continued.
I just wanted to get this over and done with.
There seems to be a connection with dogs and violence, and the thought arose; “Maybe we need to triturate this remedy in every house in South Africa to dissipate crime and violence.”
I don’t seem to have gotten out of the energy of this substance, and realize that I don’t really want to, because I think it still has a lot to teach me.
The alarm in the surgery room went off at 5 am, for no reason.
I was doing some gardening on the pavement, with my dog, a black man came past, and my dog attacked and bit him, never before has my dog attacked anyone. The man was terrified, and tried to hit my dog with a bag, this excited her even more, and I had great difficulty getting her back on the property. I cleaned and dressed the man’s wounds, but he kept demanding more of me. He said he couldn’t work, so I gave him the equivalent of a day’s wages. I think he was unemployed, and was just seeing how much he could milk out of me.
I have the dog for my own security. Vagrants wander the streets taking from us whatever they wish, and then the dog bites the vagrant, and I end up the victim!
I feel that this remedy might be linking in to the energy in South Africa. There is a great deal of crime and violence, but also self-pity, the desire for others to feel sorry for you, and to help you.
The frustration of getting this proving finished made me feel trapped. I felt especially trapped in Africa. I thought that if we were doing the proving on another continent, it would have been so much easier, to get people together, and to complete the process.
Dreams
I received these dreams by email from one of the provers. (2) They seem to fit into the theme that emerged about the light and dark side of this remedy:
Dream 1
This was an unusually vivid dream for me, very detailed and in deep colors. I was driving a car, with my dad and an uncle. I was taking them to a familiar place, my workplace. We were joking, and laughing when suddenly I found that I had missed the turnoff, and was on a wrong road. The road we were on was quite high and I could see far down to many roads; a semi-circle of turnoffs with complicated road interchanges below, and parallel to us. This included the road we were supposed to be on, but how to get back to it? I was sure that if we went along we would find a way back to the right road, the other roads were not so sure. We were flying down this road, going downwards quite fast. The fields around the roads were jeweled green. Suddenly the road disappeared at the bottom on the hill. I nearly drove into a deep, dark, and still lake. It was twilight. There was a lady in a car there too. She was trying to get across the lake in a weird flat black raft thing; it looked like it should float, to the house at the other end (lee’s lodge). We were able to look on her map and see the road back. On the map was a morgue marked out. We saw many roads going in our direction, all curved, but in parallel. We chose one road that would avoid the township in the dark. Not a scary dream, but slightly menacing feeling in the background, and the feeling of needing to get home before dark.
Dream 2:
I was walking in the bush that was quite dry brush. I spotted a snake, and told myself to be careful since I am barefoot. I am impressed with myself that I tread quietly so that they do not notice me. But the snake went past me and went straight for my good friend, Loveday. The snake bit her. Later we had put her in a bath and when I went to help her, something shiny along with a piece of shit was there. I did not want to touch it, so I went away somewhere to sort it out. I was in a big university, with loads of lifts, concrete and a canteen. I returned to Loveday with goggles and a costume, plus some equipment, but it was 3 days later, I thought “oh no” why was I so distracted to leave her, she must be dead by now. I felt guilty since I had forgotten about her, and anxious because I could not remember if the venom was cytotoxic, or hemotoxic. There was a lady there with me, we pulled her out and she was fine, we all went for breakfast, dripping wet.
Interpretations:
The first dream is all about going somewhere but being confronted by dangers, and having to find circuitous ways around them. Looking down from above is a theme of birds, but the ostrich cannot fly, which might explain why in the dream, they could not see which was the right road, and the road disappeared. Another bird theme, “Flying down this road, going downwards quite fast “, could also be that precipitous dive into danger. The lake and the water represent the unconscious and the danger associated with lack of consciousness. The fact that they could float, and cross it, would seem to indicate a reluctance, or fear of delving into these areas. Something that felt like encouragement, that the difficulties we are having in Africa, can be solved, if we persevere.
The second dream also had the menacing, life threatening vibe, but survival despite the academic distraction, (university, concrete, lifts, cytotoxic or haemotoxic ) which may have caused death.
I loved the goggles, it was as though the dreamer could then look under the water, into the darker side, and see that everything was fine.
Comment:
- I think that this remedy has many of the unique conflicts of Africa, and will be a great contribution to Homeopathy in Africa.
- I have a feeling that it is going to be useful to healers, and doctors in Africa.
Symptoms (confirmed by one of my patients):
Chronic Fatigue
Recurrent deep depression
Severe fibromyalgia, and wandering joint pains
Desire to leave Africa, but feeling trapped here
Threatened by violence and injustice