Category Archives: Miasms

A look at the chronic miasm : Sycosis (Medorrhinum)

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This week we are pleased to have a guest blogger, Jeff Korentayer from the Arcanum Wholistic Clinic.

I periodically touch down into the materia medica of the chronic miasms (inherited disease tendencies), and today is the perfect time to have a look at the Sycotic miasm, which is best known through the remedy Medorrhinum. The 8 universal chronic miasms map out over the 4 seasons of the year, 1 pair per season. The Spring Equinox marks the time of year when the daylight will start to overtake the night, and the many implications for new life and rebirth abound through nature.

This time of incredible manic expansion of life is the natural home for this miasm. Medorrhinum is full of extremes in all forms of physical, mental, and emotional symptoms. Here in Saint John, we are already seeing the seasonal extremes of this time of year — last week we enjoyed a couple of sunny 27°C days, while a grey, wet, cold weekend has led to a waking temperature this morning of minus 17°C with the windchill! This miasm is a strong root behind medical conditions such as bi-polar disorder, allergic asthma, and 3D skin conditions, such as warts or skin tags. It is also a very strong factor behind family histories which contain any forms of heart disease.

The general theme running through all the symptoms of this miasm is of an expansion caught by a restriction, which either causes pain, swelling, or inflammation, and a tendency towards exploding outward. In terms of the mental-emotional state and behaviour of this miasm, there are many extremes. Extremes of behaviour and mood punctuate a characteristically brilliant but unpredictable personality, as is often portrayed in the lives of certain creative artists. Aggression and even cruelty are not foreign to this state.

As an artistic impression, you could say that Medorrhinum is represented by the city of Las Vegas — the hometown of “sex, drugs, and rock ’n roll” — where every impulse and wish can be granted, no matter how perverse. It’s interesting that the expression “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” actually represents the emotional aspect of this state of mind. The case study I wrote about last month is an illustration of this state of mind of a guilty feeling which was hidden away inside a little girl.

A drive towards having extremely exciting experiences is characteristic of this miasm. Whether pressing down on the accelerator further than usual on a sunny day with the volume on the radio turned up, engaging in “extreme” and dangerous sports, or pursuing forbidden or perverse sexual experiences, you will recognize this same underlying theme. There is a degree of ‘armoring’ within the medorrhinum state which is attempting to break through at the hand of these types of extremes.

As with all of the chronic miasms, once you understand its most essential characteristics, it becomes relatively easy to identify it as the root of so many varied physical and mental-emotional symptoms. As part of an effective system of medicine, understanding the roots is so much more important than trimming the leaves or branches.

It’s a SAD World, but It Doesn’t Have to Be.

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Did you know…

that there is a cure for SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)?

Yes, you heard right. The sad thing about SAD is that it affects a lot of people, and comes up in February, creating a lot of disorder on and around Valentine’s Day. It’s no surprise that chocolates are one of the favourite gifts at Valentine’s as certain components of chocolate (the real stuff, not the pretend chocolate) help to alleviate the symptoms of SAD. But while chocolate may help, it can’t cure the underlying cause, which in Heilkunst, is often linked to another of the chronic disease archetypes we bring into this world with us, called Ringworm.

In Ringworm the state of mind is “wants to but can’t”. People suffering from the Ringworm chronic miasm would feel caught in things–that they couldn’t do what they want to do. Even just the thought of doing something immediately seems to bring itself down. They feel they can never meet the expectation of family, friends and society. They have strong dependence on someone they trust and they are very loyal. But then they depend on their loved ones to function. They feel trapped. This is the ‘February blah’s’ or seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Even the bowel movement shows the characteristic. It is bashful: wants to but recedes. They procrastinate and can never finish something. They are comfortable staying at home. Physically this is the misnamed “seasonal disorder” syndrome. It is a progression from the untreated chronic miasm Tuberculosis. It is caught in the incredible inertia of the winter month of February.

Classically, ringworm is well known as a skin problem. The skin lesion, which is fungal (people sometimes think it is a parasitic worm), is usually circular (but not always) and can be itchy. It used to be quite common in children and produces a characteristic eruption, a  round patch of reddish/purplish raised, rough skin that looks like it has worms in it. Ringworm as the skin problem has become rare in our days but continues nonetheless in the more suppressed form.

Acute ringworm skin problem can be treated acutely in various ways, drug and herbal related, including the simple use of apple cider vinegar, and, of course, using homeopathic medicines. But, the chronic form is less easily recognized and even less readily treated other than in Heilkunst.

Chronic ringworm can also manifest as a skin condition (not generally itchy), but more likely in psychological terms, such as a certain angry irritability that comes from the underlying keynote of ringworm, which is “wants to and can’t”. This means that the person is motivated to do something, but then loses all energy/motivation to carry out the wish, creating an internal frustration, but also a certain feeling of negativity that makes them feel and look depressed. It can involve constipation, lack of energy, and digestive issues as well (hunger, but difficulty digesting what is eaten).

If you feel trapped and irritable especially around Valentine’s Day, chances are you might be suffering from this chronic disease pattern. Don’t want to be SAD any more? Consider getting rid of SAD, and getting Heilkunst treatment. And if you still want the chocolates, that remains an option. Valentine’s Day is not as far away as you think. There’s still time to take action!

Why Am I Always on the Move but Never Seem to be Satisfied? 

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Tuberculosis – Restlessness

Did you know…

that tuberculosis is also an inherited disease pattern, which we call a chronic miasm?

Just as malaria, which we are familiar with in an acute form, now mostly exists in its chronic, hidden form, the Malarial miasm, so tuberculosis has largely disappeared in its acute form, but still plagues man as a chronic miasm.

If you suffer from the usual ‘colds and flus of the season’, often making the Christmas holiday period and the weeks after more miserable than joyful, you are suffering from the underlying impact of the Tuberculosis miasm. Other lung problems, such as bronchitis, pneumonia, and various coughs, are also largely linked to the presence of this chronic disease pattern in your life, or that of family members. Tuberculosis (miasm) can manifest physically in any part of the body, although the key organ affected is the lungs. This relates to the fact that the issue of Tuberculosis is a lack of grounding and incarnation and lungs are the organ related to the earth element. They feel better at high altitude, but they are then caught in a conflict as their heart feels worse in the mountains. Tubercular children are active, restless, and destructive in a deliberate and selective way.

Tuberculosis has a characteristic state of mind – one of restlessness. Tubercular patients only seem to feel well if they are planning travel or change, preparing for travel or change or actually undergoing a change in routine.  Once settled, they seldom stay content for long, seeking again another destination to travel to (racking up the frequent flyer miles), another place to live, another job to do, a new hobby to follow. These are people seemingly on the move, but not with any deeper purpose than the move itself. For them it is more ‘change for change’s sake’. They can be constantly rearranging furniture, redecorating, renovating.

A darker side of Tuberculosis is a sudden impulse to break or destroy something. They can present as an ‘angel with a devil’s grin’ on occasion, usually more apparent in children, but discernible still, if more subtle and disguised in adults.

If you suffer from lung problems, constant or persistent ‘colds and flus’, particularly in winter, and feel restless, never really satisfied, suffering from ‘the grass is greener on the other side of the fence’ syndrome, then you would likely benefit from treatment for the chronic miasm we call Tuberculosis. Relief is as close as a Heilkunst practitioner near you (and now, with the internet and Skype, relief is just a nano-second away!).

Stay tuned. Next we will look at a little-know, but important and difficult miasm that often upsets Valentine’s Day.

For more information about Heilkunst treatment and studies please visit our website.

Malaria – Victimization

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Did you know….

that we have certain archetypal disease patterns that we bring into this world with us, and that lie at the root of many of our health problems? You did if you have been reading these blogs regularly. Our last blog spoke about the first of these chronic inherited disease archetypes, Psora. The theme of Psora is that of a poverty consciousness.

If you have been reading these blogs, you would also know that the chronic miasms have a certain order to them in the way in which they developed, and also how they are treated in most cases. After Psora, the first of the chronic miasms, we find Malaria.

Malaria used to be endemic around the world, including in Europe and North America, as an acute disease, but is now confined to only a few, mostly tropical places. In most of the world, acute malaria is gone, but has become a chronic,  largely unknown disease, producing and hiding behind many acute conditions that are given fancy names, from Greek or Latin, based on the main symptoms. These conventional ‘names’ aren’t very helpful as they don’t tell us or the person seeking to treat them what the cause is, so treatment amounts to suppressing the symptoms. But the underlying cause remains, and the disease(s) continue, just now deeper inside you and getting stronger as you get weaker. It’s ‘healthcare by proxy’ or ‘healthcare by hook or by crook’ – if you can’t get rid of the cause, then get rid of the evidence and pretend you fixed the problem.

Malaria produces many conditions involving the digestive system, in particular the liver. And the liver is the basis for our energy, our ability to digest food, but also life in general. With a weak liver, we also tend to feel generally weak, unable to handle the demands of the world, and psychologically, we start to feel like we are victims and the world with its many demands is oppressive and unfair.

The characteristic time for Malaria to manifest in most people is in the late Fall, from late October to early December, following the season of Psora (early Fall). The state of mind of Psora, of not having enough, coincides with the waning days of summer, the approach of the colder weather, shorter days, less sunshine, and the dying of nature’s vegetative cover of the earth. Malaria then follows, with the colder, damper and stormier days of late Fall, where we feel like nature is against us, the reprieve of ‘Indian Summer’ now gone and the harshness of winter soon to come upon us. Of course, these chronic miasms are not dependent upon the weather, and can manifest regardless of geography. To an experienced practitioner, the manifestations of each of the chronic miasms can be seen in the various symptoms that can flare up at certain times of the year. Every November, I used to get depressed by the damp, cold weather, get periodic fevers and feel very cold, seeking out warmth and feeling generally like the world was not a welcoming place. These symptoms were very familiar to me, as I had contracted malaria, the acute disease miasm in my youth when working and travelling in Asia and the Pacific. I had treated for the acute malaria, but the deeper, underlying chronic malarial miasm was still there. However, once I learned about it and treated for it, my seasonal malarial symptoms also ended.

Treating for Malaria, as for Psora, and all the other chronic miasms we’ll talk about can make a large difference in your overall health, and prevent other problems from emerging later in life. Even if the chronic miasms are not affecting you seemingly now, they are latent, and waiting to be activated by some event, and once activated can cause significant health issues. Next time we’ll talk about the chronic miasm following on Malaria, Tuberculosis, behind all the colds and flus we tend to suffer from in winter. Stay tuned.

For more information about Heilkunst treatment and studies please visit our website.

Psora – Poverty Consciousness

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Did you know…

that there are certain archetypal disease patterns that we bring with us into the world?

Do you have one or more of these chronic problems: skin issues, low grade depression, a sense of there not being enough in the world, common acne, asthma, headaches, insomnia, allergies, colds, bronchitis, earaches? You likely are carrying around one of these archetypal patterns from birth, indeed the first one, called Psora. If so, treating the symptoms won’t get you much other than possibly some temporary relief, even if using herbs or dietary changes. Even treating for the secondary disease patterns as homeopathy won’t help that much. You need Heilkunst, which is the only approach I know of that can systematically address these inherited, archetypal disease patterns, and thus, get to the bottom of chronic, complex disease conditions.

Last week we talked about the chronic miasms in general. This week we’ll start to take a look at them in more detail. There are eight such archetypal disease patterns and they follow a particular sequence. There are four major ones and four ‘minor’ ones, just as in music we can have a major and a minor key. They follow the seasons roughly, but as each season is generally divided into an early and later part (early Spring and late Spring, etc.), we then really have eight ‘seasons’.

The first miasm to appear is termed, Psora. It was discovered by Dr. Hahnemann and traced back to the earliest recorded times through various skin manifestations, including leprosy. The word was taken from the Hebrew term ‘tsorat’, which had the meaning of a ‘fault’ or ‘error’. The two chief characteristics of Psora are dryness and skin eruptions, usually dry and scaly. The allopathic term ‘psoriasis’ for one of the many skin manifestations has the same etymological root. However, Psora covers a multitude of skin eruptions, as well as many other symptoms.

Although Dr. Hahnemann did not identify the origin of Psora, work by Dr. Batmangelidj on the chronic impact of dehydration suggests that this may have been the source of the emergence of the first chronic miasm. The nature of chronic miasms is that they can then, once acquired, be passed on from generation to generation.

Dr. Hahnemann also called Psora, the ‘mother of all chronic disease’ for two reasons. First, the other chronic miasms emerged from it, and second, because each of the chronic miasms also caused the emergence of secondary chronic diseases in a person. The chronic miasms are primary, fixed nature or tonic diseases, and they then give rise to any number of secondary, variable nature or pathic diseases over time in a given individual.

The symptoms of Psora are too numerous to list here, but it we can give an idea of the essence of the disease as it tends to manifest in people. Psora is mainly a disease of deficiency at all levels – deficiency of knowledge, thought, assimilation of ideas and nutrition. There are a host of conditions identified by the prefix “hypo” (hypotension, hypochondriasis, hypotrophy) associated with psora. It causes little or no structural change, but much disturbance of functions, feelings and sensations. It seems to involve largely the nervous and reticulo-endocrine systems of the organism.

The psoric state of mind feels it does not have enough (of anything, be it money, food, energy, love, warmth, etc.). You may be familiar with it if you know anyone who had to live through the Great Depression or a war. They may hoard food, toilet paper, rubber bands or twist ties, for no apparent reason other than, “You never know when you may need them.” The stereotypical street person illustrates this miasm well, when they are carrying with them every one of their possessions, while wearing virtually all of their clothing, including coats and hats, even in sweltering heat. It is not likely to manifest in such an extreme form in most of us, but the underlying traits will be there.

If there is psora in your family history, it will manifest, according to Dr. Roger Morrison in his Desktop Guide, as: Abscess. Acne. Allergy. Anxiety. Aphthae. Asthma. Boil. Bronchitis. Colds. Connective tissue disease. Depression. Dermatitis. Eczema. Headache. Insomnia. Otitis media. Pharyngitis. Phobic disorders. Psoriasis. Scabies. Sciatica. Skin ulcers. Upper respiratory infection (among other conditions).

Next week is the minor key of Psora, or the Malaria miasm. Stay tuned.

For more information about Heilkunst treatment and studies please visit our website.