Lachesis homeopathy type. LACHESIS - Lectures on homeopathic MATERIA MEDICA

The change from a warm, bright summer to lingering autumn rains and the first morning frosts is not indifferent to the psychological state of seven out of ten people - that is how many people, according to the latest scientific data, suffer from autumn depression.

This seasonal ailment manifests itself in the same way as depressions that are not associated with a specific season: a depressed mood with a feeling of anxiety or longing, a decrease in interest in life, a feeling of joylessness, hopelessness, apathy.

Often these symptoms are more pronounced in the first half of the day, while in the evening the condition improves. But there is also characteristics"Seasonal spleen": drowsiness and increased appetite, and you want more tasty, that is, - what is there to be surprised that the scales arrow is moving inexorably to the right?

But you should not blame yourself or the weather for this state: the main cause of autumn depression is a violation of the metabolism of serotonin (a biologically active substance responsible for a good mood). But the trick is that the hormone melatonin plays an important role in this metabolism, and its production directly depends on the amount of light. In the cold season, the sun's rays are not enough, and this creates an excellent soil for the blues.

homeopathic remedies

Fortunately, the autumn mood can be adjusted with the help of homeopathic remedies - they normalize metabolism in general and serotonin in particular, and at the same time restore energy potential and performance, improve general condition and mood.

All drugs listed in the table are taken in the morning 15 minutes before meals, 5 grains for three days (brush your teeth after eating). Repeat the course four days later. Complements homeopathic treatment taking vitamins (from natural plant materials) and herbal teas that improve the functioning of internal organs.

Table of homeopathic remedies

P.S. Depression does not occur without nervous exhaustion. Therefore, a comprehensive course of treatment (it is designed for 5-7 days, but if desired, can be extended up to 2 weeks) is like this. In the morning (from 9.00 to 11.00): Arnika-30; Ignacy-30; Veratrum album-30. In the afternoon (from 15.00 to 18.00): Hina-30; Berberis-30; Colocynth-6. In the evening (from 21.00 to 23.00): Aconite-6; Gepar sulfur-30. Put 2 grains of each drug in 100 ml of water, stir 50 times clockwise, 50 times against, drink 15 minutes before meals (brush teeth after taking

Gloomy and hopeless condition, especially after sleep or in the morning. The opponent of any constraint, the patient tries to free the chest, neck. Left-sided lesions, especially throat, mammary glands, ovaries. The inflamed parts are very sensitive to touch and are bluish or black in color. Great weakness, trembling, tongue trembles when protruding and clings to lower teeth. Bleeding is insignificant, wounds ulcerate, blood decomposes without clotting. Features: deterioration of well-being in the menopause, from compression, touch, pressure, from the heat of the sun, after sleep. Improvement - after discharge (suppressed or delayed discharge). Many complaints are associated with menopause: hot flashes, hot sweats, burning pain in the crown, hemorrhoids, bleeding.

Great physical and mental exhaustion, trembling all over. The patient collapses from weakness. The honor of studying the remedies of this snake venom belongs to Konstantin Gering. If he had done nothing but this, all the same, the world would owe him a debt of eternal gratitude. This alone gives him the right to immortality. And this despite the fact that Hempel wrote in pharmacology: "My mind was gradually seized by the conviction that the alleged pathogenesis of Lachesis, which arose in the attempts of Hering, is a great delusion, and that, with the exception of poisonous actions, the symptom complex is unreliable." It seems to me that in later editions Hempel somewhat changed his statements.

It is interesting to note that in Allen's Encyclopedia, the tested symptoms, and especially those in bold type, are the confirmation of the tests done with the 30th potency. Trials of polychrests made with the highest potencies are among the most useful and reliable. Some have sought to undermine the credibility of the 36 potency tests and their ability to heal. But for us, who know the value of these potencies, such efforts cause only regret.

Lachesis is a remedy with a wide scope. It acts alternately on the psyche and sensations, alternating excitation and oppression. The following symptoms are illustrative of the first: "Quick thinking, mental activity with almost prophetic perception, ecstasy, a kind of trance, exceptional talkativeness with rapid changes in subject, sudden jumping from one thought to another."

This kind of excitation can occur in acute and chronic diseases, in febrile delirium and in mania of a stable form. With depression, there are “weakening of memory, errors in writing, disorientation in time. Night-time delirium, muttering, drowsiness, red face, slow and difficult speech, sagging mandible. Extremely gloomy and depressed feeling. The patient feels unhappy and his mind is upset.”

“This condition is worse in the morning on waking, or rather, after every sleep, day or night. "Chronic illnesses caused by a depressing cause, such as prolonged sadness or grief." This oppression is found in acute and chronic diseases. Such opposite states may occur alternately in the same person, and are a fact worth noticing.

Of course, the causes of this state of mind are varied, but we often find it in old drunkards, in worn out subjects, and in climacteric disorders. Such persons are subject to sudden attacks of prostration, weakness, dizziness from congestion of blood to the head, causing apoplexy, or the opposite, arising from sudden anemia of the brain. In short, in Lachesis subjects the circulation is very unstable. This is what makes the remedy so valuable in sudden flushes of blood during menopause.

Lachesis has several outstanding symptoms for which no remedy can compare. It is one of the best remedies for sun headaches, although immediately after a sunstroke it is not comparable to Glonoinum. It suits well after Glonoinum has overcome the first effects. Headache troubles the patient whenever he is exposed to the sun, and the disease becomes chronic (Natrium carbonicum). Another characteristic feature is pressure on the vertex (Cactus grandiflorus, Glonoinum, Menyanthes). It occurs in menopausal women. In such cases there is also some burning on the vertex, which resembles Sulfur, but Lachesis is more suitable in menopause, unless there is a change of a psoric character. Lachesis has different types of headaches, but I know only two characteristic features, namely: very pale face and increased headache after sleep.

The patient is afraid to fall asleep because she wakes up with an excruciating headache. These two testimonies are very valuable. The headache extends into the region of the nose, and often appears in catarrh, especially when the discharge is suppressed or ceases after sleep. This type of headache is characteristic of hay fever with frequent violent paroxysms of sneezing. And if the paroxysm of sneezing in hay fever is decidedly worse after sleep, even during the daytime, then Lachesis 200 will stop this condition for a season. Being myself subject to chronic hay fever, I can say this with good reason.

We now come to the action of Lachesis on the digestive tract. The gums are swollen, loosened, and bleed easily. In doing so, Lachesis easily follows Sulfuris. If the gums are purple, then the indications for Lachesis are increased. One of the most characteristic symptoms of Lachesis concerns the tongue, especially in typhoid diseases, namely, the patient sticks out the tongue with great difficulty, it is very dry, trembling and clinging to the teeth. The tongue trembles and protrudes with difficulty in Gelsemium, but is not so dry as in Lachesis. This is a sign of debility, and in Gelsemium sempervirens it comes at the very beginning of the fever, while in Lachesis it comes later. Lachesis has bad breath, the whole mouth may be dry or with copious accumulation of viscid saliva. In this he also resembles Mercurius.

Lachesis is one of the best remedies for inflammation of the mouth in the last stages of consumption. This is sometimes a very painful phenomenon, and it can be very difficult to alleviate it. If Lachesis reduces it, then, in my experience, the patients also get great relief in other respects, and so much so that they think they will soon recover. This prompts me to point out what I have not said yet, namely, where recovery is no longer possible, it is best to use a homeopathically indicated remedy for temporary relief.

Lachesis has earned its laurels in throat troubles. "Sensitivity of the throat and neck to the slightest touch or pressure (Sepia), any touch on the throat is unbearable, even sheets." This is very typical. Another peculiarity is that the empty sip, and also the swallowing of saliva or liquid, is more painful than the swallowing of anything solid. Pain from throat extends to ears. There is a lot of mucus in the throat, coughing is painful. In tonsillitis and diphtheria, swelling of the tonsils begins on the left side and extends to the right (Sabadilla). The pain is worse from hot drinks (as opposed to Sabadilla). All these symptoms are worse after sleep. In persons with chronic angina, which always began on the left side, I often not only interrupted the aggravation of the disease, but also cured the very predisposition to it. Sometimes the throat takes on a gangrenous appearance, and this is an additional indication.

Lachesis is one of the first remedies to be thought of in any disease which tends to concentrate in the throat, as in typhoid fever, pneumonia, scarlet fever. If the skin becomes purplish or bluish, as if mortification threatens, then there is no other remedy like it. Lachesis is extraordinarily effective not only in acute diseases, but also in chronic ones. The same symptoms are characteristic, even in syphilitic lesions of the throat. We have emphasized the sensitivity of the throat to any touch or pressure, but that is not all, because, as Lilienthal puts it, "Lachesis is the great enemy of all constriction." "The epigastric region is sensitive to any touch or even to the pressure of clothing", "The patient cannot bear pressure in the hypochondrium, painful bloating abdomen, sensitivity of the skin”, “Clothes, especially in the stomach area, the patient is forced to wear unbuttoned, it causes anxiety, even in bed the patient dissolves night clothes to avoid squeezing, because of this, the patient cannot put his hands on his stomach”, “ The uterus cannot bear to be touched, the patient often lifts clothes that cause discomfort to the stomach.

"Sensitivity of the larynx to the slightest touch, which causes suffocation and a sensation of a lump in the throat", "During the heat, the patient is forced to unfasten the clothes around the neck, as he has a feeling that the clothes around the neck impede blood circulation and cause suffocation", "Intolerance to a tight bandage around the neck." I could not better express the peculiarity of this symptom of Lachesis, so I have quoted from the Guiding Symptoms. This is enough for a doctor. And the symptoms of aggravation from pressure in Lachesis and amelioration in Bryonia alba let him explain who thinks he is able to do it.

Lachesis has several stool and anus symptoms. There is an urge to stool, or rather pressure on the bottom, but the attempt to have a stool is so painful that the patient must sometimes stop it. There is a feeling that the anus is closed. It is like the constant, frequent, ineffectual urge to stool Nux vomica, the painful constriction of the anus of the Lycopodium clavatum, which obstructs the stool, or follows an incomplete and unsatisfactory stool. Another prominent symptom is that the stool is offensive, whether formed or not.

There is bleeding from the intestines of decomposed blood during debilitating acute illnesses like typhus. Guernsey says: "The flakes of decomposed blood have the form and appearance of charred straw, wheat, more or less crushed." I have seen such cases, and Lachesis has been very effective in changing the nature of the stool, causing a general improvement and complete recovery. This remedy is used for hemorrhoids with a feeling of constriction, whether the hemorrhoids are external or internal. Sometimes there is a pulsation or sensation of the beating of "little hammers".

These and other symptoms reveal the affinity of this remedy for the anus and rectum, and its power in diseases of the digestive tract. It is one of the best remedies in diseases of the female genital organs. It is an outstanding remedy in ovarian troubles, apparently selectively of the left ovary. Lachesis is useful in ovarian neuralgia, tumors, and even in cancer of the left ovary, if the disease begins on the left side and goes to the right ovary (Lycopodium clavatum - vice versa). There may be an increase, induration, suppuration, swelling or cancer of one of the ovaries.

Its action in diseases of the uterus is very pronounced. Here is a description of the condition from the Guiding Symptoms, which I often encountered during menopause: "Pain in the uterine region increases until the outflow of blood from the vagina, then subsides, but after a few days (or hours) everything repeats." In these cases there is almost always an intolerance to the slightest touch or pressure on the uterine region. The uterus prolapses, it is full of blood, the bleeding is persistent. There are hot flashes, especially on the top of the head, pallor of the face and weakness, displacement of the uterus, impaired capillary circulation.

All this is so common in menopausal women, especially bleeding (Crotalus horridus and Kreosotum). In all probability there are no three remedies in pharmacology so often indicated in the disorders connected with this period as Lachesis (Kreosotum in postmenopausal diseases). It is useful in cancer of the uterus and mammary glands. In both cases, the cancer takes on a bluish or somewhat purplish appearance and bleeds easily with dark, decomposed blood. Bleeding temporarily relieves pain and suffering, for example, in the case of uterine bleeding. Without Lachesis, we would feel a huge disadvantage in the treatment of various diseases of the uterus and ovaries.

The respiratory organs and chest are also affected by this remedy. Paralysis of the vocal cords with loss of voice, larynx sensitive to the slightest touch, which causes suffocation. Lachesis is one of the best remedies in cases of croup when the child is worse in sleep. Spasm of the glottis, sensation of something going from the neck into the larynx, stopping breathing. Great shortness of breath when walking, especially in old drunkards, and in heart pains. "The smallest thing, brought to the mouth or nose, prevents breathing, the patient tears off the collar and everything on the neck, throat, chest, because it creates suffocation."

Asthma with the same symptoms has sudden flushes of heat and blood. To prevent suffocation, the patient is forced to loosen his clothes. Threat of paralysis of the heart or lungs, sharp dry cough, aggravated by touching the throat or larynx, as well as coughing during sleep without waking and without feeling it. Lachesis cures obstinate cases of cough after Chamomilla, which has the same symptoms, has failed. Lachesis is useful for short, dry coughs associated with heart troubles. Cough with pain in the anus or sharp pain in the haemorrhoids. It is one of our best remedies for typhoid pneumonia or typhoid fever with lung complications.

Lachesis is one of the most useful remedies in acute and chronic heart troubles in which choking, coughing, and aggravation from constriction are the leading symptoms. No remedy acts more deeply on the nervous system than this. First of all, it causes trembling, not from fright or excitement, but from extreme weakness. In this respect it resembles Gelsemium sempervirens, both have great trembling of the tongue when trying to protrude it.

With both remedies there is trembling all over the body, but in Lachesis the patient feels faint, as if she would fall. This prostration is both physical and mental, and is not ameliorated by rest or sleep, but vice versa. Pain or other heart complaints, nausea, pallor of the face, dizziness are often associated with it. If this condition develops, then the next stage begins, which ends with paralysis. Like most diseases of Lachesis, paralysis is usually on the left side. This paralysis can occur as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage or cerebrovascular accident. If the latter is the case, there is still hope of a complete cure with Lachesis. If, in apoplexy, the lesion is too extensive, and the outflow of blood from the vessels is too great, then, of course, there is little hope. But some apparently hopeless cases are cured even then.

Lachesis is recommended for epilepsy, locomotor ataxia, but I have never seen it work well. There is, however, another condition in which I have seen it help, and that is debility and prostration from hot weather. It's not only headache- general prostration (Antimonium crudum, Gelsemium sempervirens, Glonoinum, Natrium carbonicum). Aggravation after sleep is the real characteristic of this remedy, not to be said by the opponents of Lachesis. There is a particular symptom in this respect to which I want to draw your attention, namely: "As soon as the patient falls asleep, his breathing stops." So writes Goering. I often found it in this form: the patient cannot go to sleep peacefully, because at the very edge of his sleep, breathing stops, and he wakes up gasping for breath. This condition often occurs in heart diseases, both functional and organic, and it is very painful. Grindelia and Digitalis purpurea have similar symptoms.

I once had a case of very obstinate constipation on the background of old syphilis. The patient had attacks of very severe intestinal colic. The pains always came at night and spread to the whole abdomen. After I had tried various remedies in vain and had become disillusioned, as the case had stubbornly resisted treatment, the patient uttered the following phrase: "Doctor, if I could only stay awake, I would never have a recurrence of attacks." I looked at him questioningly.

“I mean,” he said, “that I fall asleep in an attack and wake up in it.” I gave him Lachesis 200. He never had any more attacks of pain, and from the same day the intestines began to act regularly. I could provide other cases as well. I think I've said enough about various symptoms Lachesis, to show that it is one of the most useful remedies in typhoid fever. I will only add here that it is indicated mainly in the second or third week of the illness. This is one of the differences between it and Gelsemium, because the trembling and weakness of Gelsemium come on early, and if this is recognized, Gelsemium can abort the disease. It goes without saying that deciding between Lachesis and other remedies will help individual symptoms, which we have already discussed.

Now about fabrics. We observe tumors in various parts of the body, and one of the most characteristic features is their color. They are bluish, approaching black (Tarentula cubensis, Anthracinum). As soon as I see a tumor of this color, Lachesis immediately comes to my mind, and then if I find that it is painful to touch and it is so sensitive that even the poultice is intolerable, then I give Lachesis and am seldom disappointed.

The blood "breaks down", does not coagulate. This is often found in typhoid fever. The bleeding is very persistent, apparently from a tendency to hemorrhage, so that we find Lachesis one of the best remedies for hemorrhagic purpura. Even the smallest wounds bleed heavily. “Ulcers easily become gangrenous. Here Lachesis is able to accomplish a great deed. The cancerous tumor becomes bluish or black, bleeds frequently and profusely, and causes a burning sensation. In many diseases, blood appears in the urine.

I find that I have lingered too long on this medium, longer than I thought when I began to write. I also found this tool much more useful than I had imagined it to be in my student years or Charles Hempel's lectures. It is excellent for those who use it in the 30th potency and above. Remember that Lachesis is predominantly a left-sided remedy, just as Lycopodium is right-sided. Left-sided paralysis, diseases of the ovaries, throat, lungs, headache. Of course, when there are symptoms of it in right-sided affections, we do not hesitate to use it.

Lachesis is often a remedy of great value in skin diseases, malignant scarlet fever, measles, erysipelas, smallpox, malignant boils, boils, carbuncles, chronic ulcers, bedsores, hemangiomas. In diseases that appear on the skin, a black-blue color is present, otherwise one cannot expect an effect from this remedy. I have found it effective in all ages and all temperaments. But, perhaps, it is more often shown in thin people than in well-fed ones. Now we will say goodbye to this old and experienced friend and wholeheartedly recommend seeking acquaintance with him to all those who do not yet know him.

Lachesis (Lachesis), also known as snake venom, is one of the basic homeopathic remedies and has a fairly wide range of effects on the body, which allows it to be used to treat a wide variety of diseases.

On top of that, it is also one of the oldest remedies belonging to the group of homeopathic remedies.

The main active ingredient of the drug is the venom of rattlesnakes (Lachesis Mutus), which is an extremely potent agent, therefore, even when testing, its dose taken after the thirtieth dilution is used.

Pharmacological properties

The drug Lachesis structures and normalizes assimilation metabolic processes in cases where the patient's condition is accompanied by sluggish, acute, high-temperature, as well as chronic inflammatory processes, which are distinguished by a decrease in the ability of tissues to regenerate.

Indications for the use of Lachesis

Reviews of Lachesis by T.D. Popova, honorary president of the Association of Homeopaths of Ukraine, allow us to conclude that this homeopathic remedy can be used by doctors of various medical fields.

The instructions for Lachesis list a number of diseases for which this drug is used.. So, he is assigned:

• with diseases of the cardiovascular system;
• with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
• with diseases of the genitourinary system;
• with a number of surgical diseases (arthritis, phlebitis, thrombophlebitis, hemorrhoids, carbuncles, etc.);
• with gynecological diseases (the drug is also effective during menopause and in the presence of ovarian dysfunction);
• as a homeopathic remedy for the treatment of various kinds of tumors of the reproductive system;
• for pain relief of patients suffering from cancer (the effect of this drug is more effective than the effect of narcotic drugs);
• with impaired hearing, vision;
• to eliminate the manifestations of depression;
• for the treatment of alcoholism.

According to medical reviews of Lachesis and on the basis of a number of experiments, the drug is classified as a left-sided homeopathic remedy. This means that its action is focused mainly on diseases that occur on the left side of the human body.

Characteristics of the constitutional type of patients for whom Lachesis is recommended

The main group of patients who are prescribed treatment with Lachesis are people with pronounced mood swings, who experience sharp jumps in their state from extreme agitation to deep depression and back. These patients are talkative, have a pale complexion (may vary from sallow to purplish during periods of arousal). Their characteristic features are:

• frequent fainting;
• loss of strength;
• headache;
• sensitivity of the neck to touch and pressure (hence intolerance to scarves, high narrow collars that can compress the throat);
• cough (possible);
• swelling of the limbs;
• bad breath (possible).

Women of this constitutional type tend to feel very unwell during the premenstrual period, which normalizes with the onset of menstruation.

Since Lachesis, the reviews confirm this, is a very strong drug, when administered to a patient, the dose should be from two hundredth to one thousandth of its dilution.

Release form

Lachesis is available in the form of homeopathic granules.

Contraindications for use

According to the instructions, Lachesis is contraindicated in cases where there is an individual hypersensitivity to its components.

Lachesis instructions: dosage and methods of administration

Take Lachesis sublingually - the capsules are placed under the tongue until completely resorbed. Do not drink water.

The number of doses of the drug per day is from 3 to 5.

Adults are prescribed 5-10 granules per day, children - 3-5 per day.

Take no later than half an hour before a meal, or half an hour to an hour after a meal.

The duration of the course of taking Lachesis is determined by the doctor, depending on the individual characteristics of the patient and the nature of the course of his disease.

Side effects

To date, side effects from taking Lachesis have not been identified.

Storage conditions

Store the drug Lachesis should be at a temperature of 15-20 ° C in a dry place.

Sincerely,

Lachesis is one of the most complex constitutional types. Although this personality gives a picture of vivid physical and mental symptoms, experience is nevertheless required to understand its psychology and motives. But if this picture is clear, then it is already difficult to miss and not notice it.

The medicine is produced from the venom of the largest Brazilian viper, surucuku, one of the most venomous and aggressive snakes in the Western Hemisphere (hence its terrifying name - "lord of the forest"). She has poisonous teeth 2.5 centimeters long, and if she is angry, she will chase a person and attack him, which few snakes can do. The "father of American homeopathy" Constantine Hering discovered this remedy in 1828 and named it Lachesis, after one of the three goddesses of fate in Greek mythology who measure the threads of human life.

The 2 meter long snake is currently preserved in the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, entered in the registry books as number 7039 and listed as "Lachesis Mutus, found in Suriname by Dr. Hering".

He tested this remedy on himself and his students, revealed more than 3800 symptoms, and, taking doses of this poison of ever higher concentration, reached the point that his left hand was paralyzed for life. In order to obtain the invaluable information about the mental symptoms of this medicine that we now have, Goering, with the diligence characteristic of the Germans, took undiluted forms (tincture) of this poison, forcing his wife to remain at his bedside for several days with a notebook in hand and write down every word he said while delirious.

For several decades afterwards, Lachesis was made worldwide from a single portion of the snake's venom made by Hering. This continued until 1903, when homeopathic pharmacists in America decided that they could not continue to dilute the substance indefinitely and ordered a second surukuku viper from Brazil. When the animal appeared, it created a sensation in the homeopathic world: "Lachesis is coming to America!" - such were the headlines in homeopathic journals. Photographs of the snake, taken from various angles, have been published, and its habits and physical size have been described as lovingly as if it were the star of the screen!

Interest and excitement were justified. The remedy immediately made a strong impression on homeopaths. The dramatic properties of its effect have captured the imagination of physicians and earned respect; throughout the homeopathic world, Lachesis has since been recognized as one of the most useful and frequently prescribed polychrests.

The description of mental symptoms made by Hering from the very beginning embraced the features of a significant tension of nature, struggling with itself, as well as unstable mood and behavior of this type: “perfect happiness and cheerfulness are replaced by the extinction of spirituality; feels like an animal while the powers of the mind sleep: a voluptuous irritable state with which she struggles. Half a century later, Kent's study of Lachesis gave us a description of a more advanced mental pathology: "Nothing stands out more emphatically than self-consciousness, conceit, envy, hatred, revenge and cruelty of this type. All of this, of course, is… a wrong form of self-love. Mind confused to the point of insanity. All kinds of madness…”

Later, Whitmont gave a deep and penetrating analysis of the Lachesis personality, which seeks to express its instinctive urges, breaking through even under conditions of strong oppression; in these cases, the blocked energies find alternative outlets in some kind of mental overexcitation or physical overactivity.

Building on the foundations laid by these three masters, we have chosen the dualism inherent in this nature as the main theme of our portrait of Lachesis: that is, his tendency to follow opposite behavioral tendencies or impulses and conflicting emotions, and the effect of this struggle on the organism.

In Sulfur the polarity of the remedy is usually distributed among different individuals who are either the "selfish" or the "generous" types; in Phosphorus the polarity may appear in the same person, but at different periods of time - the opposite with time, difficulties or deterioration of health; in Lachesis the polarity may exist in the same person and at almost the same time. The two forces within one person are constantly at war (“feels like he has two wills”, Kent): participation versus temperance, arrogance versus modesty, love versus hate, faith versus cynicism – each of these desires tries to overcome its opposite. .

A divided psyche most of all confuses the person himself, who can never count on the stability of his feelings and his behavior. Feeling that his present mood may be overturned by another opposing current hidden beneath him, he is afraid of inconstancy and abrupt changes that he is not able to control.

The picture is complicated by the struggle for supremacy among the three levels of his being - conscious, emotional and sensitive. Lachesis can be a highly intelligent individual with a subtle, penetrating mind. For example, a man is often as strong intellectually as Sulfur, but "his mind does not weave a web of philosophical abstractions, it is an impulse inseparable from life, an inseparable libido," Whitmont concludes.

A pleasant, mild-mannered, middle-aged man was being treated for prolonged and severe earaches with nausea and vomiting. General symptoms several remedies were pointed to, but it was difficult to get a clear picture of the headaches themselves, since they were suppressed for a long period by allopathic painkillers. In order to help himself in choosing a similium, the doctor asked the patient to describe himself. He showed moderate Attentive attitude to himself and work, which did not give key symptoms. By at least, there was nothing "weird, rare, or special" about him. Then he was asked how he feels in life, did he achieve what he wanted, and was he able to express himself? As soon as he began to tell how he was trying to overcome his obsessive sensuality, Lachesis immediately surfaced.

“My outer life is not me. My inner life - the way I feel and think - does not want to be me. I'm into religion, but I don't really know if I believe in it. And if we are talking about this, then I don’t believe in anything at all. I live constantly in a state of psychological confusion, struggling with my sensual instincts, which are both necessary and unnecessary to me. In fact, he concluded, I don’t know which of my essences is really me - the correct one that I live, or the voluptuous one that I suppress? (reminiscent of Oscar Wilde's aphorism: "A man's real life is often the one he does not lead").

A dose of Lachesis 200X was prescribed, and the patient continued to take this remedy in increasing doses for several months until he was almost completely free of headaches. What was most interesting to the physician, however, was that the remedy gradually and almost imperceptibly helped the person to reconcile his troubled self with himself. “Now I have more peace with myself,” were his own words, “more self-approval and less torment because of my uncontrollable, racing thoughts.” Restored, if not complete harmony, then at least some coexistence between his dominant and subordinate ego.

Any constitutional type can struggle with his instincts in order to achieve his higher moral level. Lachesis is different in this:

2) its unrelenting character (it can drag on, without abating, throughout the life of an adult);

3) his awareness of this struggle.

In fact, a keen awareness of the potential inherent in his hidden self can, in extreme cases, force Lachesis to confess to committing crimes that he did not commit, or to some evil intentions or sins in which he did not take part (“makes confessions in something I've never done," Kent). This unfounded sense of guilt suggests that at some level the person feels the need for moral emancipation. He knows that he is in some kind of unstable balance and that if an opportunity presents itself, he may not be able to resist the temptation to commit some reprehensible act. Although this desire is suppressed, its intensity makes it almost equivalent to the action itself (this is the main tenet of the mystical worldview, which is that thought is action, since it gives action to movement). Therefore, Lachesis takes the blame for his thoughts while the frustrated mind mistakes the frightening possibility of action for reality.

One symptom suggestive of a depression in the personality is Lachesis dominant dependence, aggravated by sleep. Sleep is a state in which the subconscious prevails over the conscious, and emotions that Lachesis does not usually recognize, instincts that are usually in a calm state, as well as dreams that he cannot control, all come to the surface. The manuals emphasize that he probably feels worse in the morning (“feels extraordinarily sad, unhappy and upset when waking up in the morning; anxious, takes everything in a bad way”, Hering), and also waking up in the middle of the night or even after a short sleep in the afternoon. He may be reluctant to go to bed, afraid that when his breathing slows down or after some time, he may wake up gasping for air in an asthma attack or tachycardia, in great agitation or with a severe headache, worse pain in a paralyzed limb (with neuromuscular degenerative disease) or with an increased sense of discomfort from anything that hurts at the moment.

These people may need very little sleep. After spending half the night socializing, engaging in exciting conversation, studying, or reading (“no sign of sleepiness or fatigue,” Allen), after a few hours of sleep, they feel full of energy and show no signs of fatigue. However, some of them complain of "drowsiness and inability to sleep" (Goering), of insomnia until 1 o'clock or until 2 o'clock in the morning due to an agitated state of mind; to the inability to fall asleep again if awakened in the middle of the night, or to the fact that they suffer from "persistent insomnia, accompanied by restlessness ... or trembling and shaking" (Goering). Some of the most persistent cases of insomnia, in which the patient can go literally for months without sleep (!) or "do not sleep at night, sleep only a minute or two each time during the day" (Gering), occur only in Lachesis.

The key symptom of this constitutional type is that "mental work is best done at night" (Gering). The night is the time when Lachesis is in his most awake state of consciousness and really becomes himself with sharpened insight and his creative energy is at its peak. This contrasts with the picture of Arsenicum, which works best in the morning and is unable to act at night. Dostoevsky, as the purest Lachesis man that ever existed, maintained a daily routine characteristic of this type, sitting all night long (when the subconscious is most active) and working in frantic jerks with almost demonic inspiration in order to preserve the immediacy and brightness of his inner visions. Of course, he was forced to write under the pressure of circumstances, since his novels were published in series, but Charles Dickens, who also wrote his novels to tight deadlines, adhered to a completely different schedule: dealing with his external features rather than with the subconscious (as in Dostoevsky), he sat down every day after breakfast and wrote without interruption until two o'clock in the afternoon, in the typically unchanging disciplined manner of Natrum muriaticum.

The picture of repressed individuality is further enhanced by the temperature dependence of the remedy. Any form of heat which relaxes the repressive forces, as well as the body, aggravates the symptoms of this type: "aggravation from a hot bath" (causes palpitation, headache, or weakness), "from a warm south wind" (Kent), or from a hot room. Especially "sun exposure can cause severe headaches" (Goering, Kent), often centered behind the left eye.

This sensitivity to hot temperatures may be one reason for the strong seasonality. Of all remedies, Lachesis ranks first in "aggravations in spring" (Kent, Boger). Just as a snake sheds its old skin in the spring to replace it with a new one, so the Lachesis individual often undergoes health crises and purges (allergic-like symptoms appear or worsen) at this time of the year when the weather becomes warmer before gaining new strength. .

Conversely, he becomes noticeably better from the energizing coolness and fresh air he longs for, from "cold water" (Hering) and from any activity that is under the control of consciousness, such as talking, writing, exercising or eating.

Alcohol, like sleep, brings to the fore dormant instincts and the subconscious. Therefore, Lachesis is often sensitive to strong drinks ("worse from alcoholic drinks", Hering), and even very small doses act negatively on him (for example, from taking communion in church). They can cause headaches and palpitations that keep him awake at night, his nose turns red, or the bridge of his nose and cheeks turn red, or his face flushes unpleasantly from flushes. He may also feel that the skin has tightened or peeled when drinking alcohol, or preexisting symptoms may worsen. Arsenicum may also be sensitive to alcohol, but this usually takes the form of hay fever: eyes, ears, nose, or palate are itchy, and the head is heavy from stasis of blood. Therefore, the patient often abstains from alcohol, either as a mere health precaution or as a matter of principle, because alcohol can cause the unwanted impulses that he is trying to keep under control and can weaken his control over them. Sometimes not content with his total abstinence, he can turn into a supporter of the sobriety movement, which views drinking as a moral offense.

Interestingly, another stimulant drink, coffee, which can be so detrimental to many constitutional types, is quite well tolerated by Lachesis ("there is a desire to drink coffee that he does not mind," Hering). Perhaps this is due to the fact that coffee stimulates the mind of a person's intellect in a way that can be called "sober intoxication" rather than influencing the subconscious. In fact, coffee can relieve headaches, dysmenorrhea and other disorders, and some patients continue to drink it during the entire course of homeopathic constitutional remedies without any negative effect on the remedy, while alcohol no doubt interferes. This effect of coffee on Lachesis patients is in contrast to its effect on the vast majority of other drugs, which are more affected by coffee than by small doses of alcohol.

As might be expected, the polar opposite exists among Lachesis patients: they may be hypersensitive to coffee (Ignatia, Nux vomica), they have "coffee-smelling headaches" (Boger) (also in Natrum muriaticum and Tuberculinum), or they can't sleep after a spoonful of coffee ice cream.

Since alcohol is one of the main outlets for repressed emotions, instincts and sexual energy, it is not surprising that Lachesis may show an alcoholic inclination. Although Nux vomica and Sulphur are better known as chronic alcoholics, Lachesis (Gering) type patients are often found among delirium tremens, especially among people who struggle with alcoholism, who alternately keep themselves under control, then give up. It is also a good remedy for those whose physical condition has been destroyed by alcoholism ("ex-drunkards," Nash), and it has even been successfully prescribed to injured spouses of alcoholics who have something erased under the influence of an unstable alcoholic state of mind.

Children of alcoholics often require Natrum muriaticum.

In addition, the Lachesis person shows a classic picture of how frustrated emotions find their way out in food, which is clearly insufficiently covered in homeopathic literature. Women especially love all sorts of celebrations and gorge themselves to satiety. “I can’t stop when I eat”, “I just can’t get enough”, “I really want something sweet”, “When I have already eaten enough, there is always a lot of it” - such phrases can be heard from them all the time. Pulsatilla likes to celebrate too, and these two types are different from Calcarea carbonica, which is always snacking rather than celebrating. One of the healthier hobbies is a love of fresh fruit or cold fruit juices: “It is better when eating fruit; generally feels better when he eats” (Goering).

Insatiable hunger can be caused by sugar, starchy foods, and other foods, and sometimes Lachesis can only control her appetite with a rigid juice diet for a period of time, or total abstinence if addicted to alcohol. Tight control, followed by complete intemperance, is a typical pattern of Lachesis behavior. He imposes severe restrictions on himself, feeling that otherwise there will be no limit to his appetite. Afraid to take risks, he retreats to safety.

But this propensity for complete intemperance can be curbed with the help of a homeopathic remedy that is able to moderate the appetites of passions. Almost like side effect treatment of some specific physical disorders, patients begin to wean themselves from their former excesses. They return to the doctor and report that their addiction, whether it be to alcohol, tobacco, coffee, sugar, or whatever, has lessened without any effort or conscious action on their part.

Another manifestation of the repressed emotions of Lachesis, seeking a physical outlet, is the symptom "ameliorated by discharge" (Kent) or "loose secretions" (Boger): runny nose, leucorrhoea, bleeding (nosebleed relieves headache or asthma attack), menstruation, bowel movements (“I just love when the bowels work”, “I never feel as good as after a good bowel movement”). Emotionally, tears relieve too much joy (“weeping of happiness,” Kent). And vice versa: "the patient suffers from the bad effects of excretions" (Berike).

This dependence is most common in women of the Lachesis type, who have severe backaches and headaches before menstruation, as well as fluid retention, tearfulness, depression, increased or uncontrollable irritability and anger, which disappear as soon as the flow begins. Patients vividly describe their impatience before the onset of menstruation, and some of the more ardent natures tell how they thank God in their prayers for each menstruation.

Usually a sweet, sensitive, and devotedly loving woman can completely change in character in the week or so before the onset of menstruation: “I'm not myself. It seems to me that I am going crazy and cannot control myself ”(“ I act like a madman ”or“ I completely lose control of myself ”are the key phrases of Lachesis when describing premenstrual states of the psyche); “I become aggressive towards my husband, tyrannize children and rudely insult everyone if something is not done my way. I either become absurdly extravagant and, on impulse, spend money we cannot afford on clothes and sweets that I love very much, or I feel poor to the point that I refuse to invite our good friends to dinner.” . This behavior may alternate with silent gloominess or severe depression. There are many variants of such a premenstrual state, ending in the same happy way - the onset of menstruation and the disappearance of all mental and physical symptoms as if by magic.

A marked improvement in this monthly pattern of failure can often be seen after the first dose of Lachesis. As one patient recounted on a follow-up visit to the doctor: “This month, I didn’t even think about the approach of my period. I was cheerful and free until the very day I sneezed and my period came, and only then did I feel them for the first time.

This medicine is often needed in cases of hormonal changes and menopausal disorders. With the cessation of normal menses (a form of suppressed flow), the body looks for other outlets, especially in the form of flushes (fake flush to the head), bursting headaches, high blood pressure, or heavy bleeding.

This may also be followed by weight gain, thermoregulatory disorders with areas of excessive sensation of heat or cold, cutting pains in the chest and ovaries, especially on the left. Because Lachesis is a left-sided remedy, just as Lycopodium is a right-sided one. Although there are exceptions (such as in sciatica), cysts, tumors, skin rashes, headaches, and other problems are overwhelmingly left-sided (Sepia and, to a lesser extent, Phosphorus), and any pain or symptom that "goes from left to right" (Kent) are the key to the appointment of Lachesis.

During the climacteric, the sexual instinct receives a final stimulus before it fades, causing disturbed emotions such as repressed or unsatisfied desires to surface. In this situation, "the vital forces and emotions produce something like the explosion of a volcano" (Whitmont). Sexual energy, released in an uncontrolled way, can result in a woman's unreasonable behavior ("I'm starting to act like crazy again"), and in some extreme cases - to real mental destruction. And finally, this medicine is indispensable for those women who have never felt well after the menopause.

Just as Lachesis feels better after a physical discharge, so his symptoms improve and he feels emotionally relieved after a "mental release." When very angry or deeply depressed, a person may vent (or unsubscribe). Often the best thing is to let him talk, and when all is said, the necessary calm will come again. Unlike similar condition in Natrum muriaticum, who may become worse after expressing anger or sadness, because by expressing them he incites his passion, which he did not feel before (in a patient in a troubled state of mind, this feature allows you to define his similium). However, in anger, Lachesis is able to show unusual malice and be extremely caustic, sarcastic and insulting (Arsenicum album, Nux vomica).

His deadly and unruly tongue, his tendency to cut people off and leave nothing unsaid often point to this remedy. It is difficult for him to learn that it is better not to let language express feelings in some cases, that words should hide thoughts as well as convey them. But in these cases, the patient is justified by the fact that the angry and insulting words are not thought out in advance, but are spoken spontaneously and against his will. He may struggle with this tendency, but still sometimes gratuitously tactless or hurtful remarks come out of his mouth at moments of waning control. “Something just forces me”, “I can’t help but say what I wanted to say”, “I just don’t control myself” - confessions characteristic of a person of this type.

Here we will deal with the well-known characteristic of Lachesis - talkativeness. Instincts and emotions that have not received a normal physical outlet can be replaced by excessive verbosity. An endless stream of words is a classic sign of an emotionally unexpressed and creatively unrealized personality. An overactive mind compensates for "greatly repressed emotions" (Whitmont), and what is repressed finds relief "in an extraordinary desire to be sociable" (Allen). This trait is more pronounced in women, perhaps because, until recently, women's sexual and creative energies were more depressed than men's.

Lachesis often expresses her thoughts in such a frantic flow of words, as if in a hurry to catch them herself before they escape her. Having begun to speak, she is no longer able to control the speed, is not able to slow down her speech: “hurried speech” (Bönninghausen), “talks a lot and quickly” (Goering). The patient can speak so fast that the doctor asks her to slow down her speech, because the tongue speaks faster than the ear can perceive, and certainly faster than the hand can write. Once she starts talking, she can hardly stop: “she wants to talk all the time” (Goering). If the topic is of particular interest to her, then it is already completely impossible to stop the flow of words and associations. The doctor can recognize Lachesis in a patient who, sitting upright, looks at him with a direct and penetrating gaze and, without being interrupted, not only pours out a full list of symptoms, but also digresses into various related and unrelated, themes: her family, her work, theories on homeopathy, her opinion of the last book she read or the trip she recently took - everything goes one after another, one thought bumps into another. A simple question, such as whether a particular symptom has improved, is likely to prompt a flood of explanations and digressions in response.

She can tire the interlocutor even on the phone. Talkativeness in a man is usually less pronounced. Although he is sometimes in a hurry in conversation, his speech does not look like a cascade of water breaking off a mountain, but like an even stream of water from a tap: a compelling voice that says ... and says ... (also Sulfur).

Individuals of both sexes can use dramatic effects in speech. A speaker who ignites listeners with his emotionally charged speech; a preacher who penetrates right into the heart of the listeners; a teacher who communicates knowledge on the verge of ecstasy, or just a person who is carried away on the wings of his own eloquence, speaks with unusual ease and conveys passionate conviction to the listener - all of these are often Lachesis. While Natrum muriaticum attracts with its high moral content, Phosphorus charms with its responsiveness, Arsenicum album commands respect with its knowledge, Pulsatilla awakens the instincts of the protector or parent, and Sulfur awes with its vast fundamental knowledge, Lachesis bewitches its voluntary or involuntary listener with its lively and figurative speech, his creative approach to the topic.

In addition to expressiveness in the conversation of Lachesis, mention should be made of patients with speech defects. As Goering notes, this medicine has helped many with stuttering, stammering, inability to pronounce certain consonant sounds or move the tongue freely in the mouth. Or when the patient, not being an alcoholic, swallows words indistinctly, like an alcoholic, and pronounces them with difficulty: "heavy tongue, makes mistakes and stammers, only partially completes words" (Kent) (so also Natrum muriaticum). There are also some interesting observations connected with the mouth: the habit of quickly sticking out the tongue and licking the upper lip during a conversation, or rapidly throwing it out and drawing it in (Kent); sometimes he spits when he speaks, and sometimes small droplets of saliva collect in the corners of his mouth.

Or some hypnotic qualities appear in the movements of his lips and mouth during speech.

Sometimes the mind of Lachesis works so fast (“thinks fast”, Kent) and the language keeps up with it so quickly that in a conversation he understands well the movement of the other’s thought, hurries to finish his sentences for him and literally “takes” the words out of his mouth. This habit can annoy the interlocutor. Even if Lachesis is receptive and accurate, his interlocutor sometimes wants to shout: “Let me say what I want, for God's sake!”

But not always a fast flow of words indicates a deep mind. Running unorganized thoughts may rather indicate the intellectual and mental confusion of a person who has lost contact with reality. Manic states with an obsession to talk endlessly often call for Lachesis. Or a stream of words that goes almost without sequence may represent automatic reactions of a person of a narrow mind.

Jane Austen's "Emma" provides one of the finest literary examples of such a dim-witted Lachesis, in the person of "incoherently speaking" (Goering), with unconscious associations, the sweetest, garrulous, pathetically grateful and endearing Miss Bates, a middle-aged old maid whose life was filled with financial difficulties. , low social status and the need to constantly take care of a sick mother. In the excerpt below, Miss Bates has just arrived for dinner, accompanied by her niece, Jane Fatzrfax.

“As soon as the door was flung open, you could hear the words (Miss Bates):“ Much obliged to you - no rain. Nothing remarkable. I don't think about myself. Very thick shoes. Ah, Jane... Well! It's really wonderful, well thought out, honestly. Nothing is required. Just imagine - so well lit, Jane, Jane, look, have you ever seen something like that? .. Much obliged to you for the crew! Great time - Jane and I are absolutely ready. You won't find neighbors like this anywhere. I told my mom, honestly. Thank you, my mom is doing great. Went to Mr. Wodehouse. I made her take a shawl, because the evenings are cool. My dear Jane, are you sure you didn't get your feet wet? Of course, I dripped one or two drops, but I'm so afraid. But Mr. Frank Churchill was so extremely helpful - there was a rug to stand on. "I will never forget his extraordinary courtesy."

Miss Bates' writing also reflected Lachesis's tendency to leave sentences unfinished. Like the tongue of a snake, which is quickly thrown from one side to the other, so its consciousness is thrown from one thought to another in phrases unrelated to each other: “quick change of topic, quickly jumps from one thought to another” (Goering). The word in the previous sentence reminds her of a new thought, and she improvises, suddenly digressing, and then may or may not come back to finish the original thought: “half-finished sentences; she takes it for granted that you will understand what is said” (Kent). Sometimes Lachesis gets lost among the many tempting topics of conversation and stops, asking herself: “So what am I talking about? What was I going to say?

A Phosphorus patient described her anguish at the small travel agency where she worked: although she enjoyed meeting new people and spending her holidays out of season, she found her boss difficult to deal with: “She is generous and quite well disposed toward me. , but the lack of any consistency in her speech makes it almost impossible to follow her thoughts. She says, "Don't forget to call Mr. Norton, who needs tickets to... Oh, by the way, you booked that flight to Venezuela for that nice man who... He reminds me not to forget... Oh, no! I think you've already taken care of… No!” I think I have already become a great expert at guessing unfinished sentences, although just the other day I booked Mr. Norton a ticket to Paris instead of the Bahamas. Could homeopathy be of any help in her case?” The doctor suggested that she offer her boss a dose of Lachesis IM, and during the patient's return visit her eyes shone with delight; she reported that the medicine had worked marvelously. Now her boss never leaves a single sentence unfinished. Allowance may be made for the enthusiasm of Phosphorus, but many times a single dose of this remedy has altered the patient's garrulousness or incoherent manner of speaking, even if not as radically as our Phosphorus patient claims.

There are other cases where a patient follows one theme so rigidly that she cannot be diverted from her chosen course. She does not even seem to hear when her interlocutor inserts some remarks into the flow of conversation, even if he does it in response to her explicit question. When she asks her about something during a conversation in his office, the patient either just continues talking without answering, or says: “Let me finish what I wanted to say first,” and only then agrees to build a conversation like a doctor conducts a survey.

In sum, we can say that snake venom should be remembered in any case of excessively hasty speech or an uninterrupted verbal stream, whether it be from alcoholism, premenstrual syndrome, depressed emotion or sexuality, a manic state, or the onset of menopause (the time at which a previously silent woman becomes suddenly talkative) or simply in the case when a healthy, sociable, cheerful person is excessively talkative.

There is also a laconic Lachesis type, although it is not so easy to recognize. This is a person who silently perceives everything that happens around, only periodically inserting his precise remarks. “Like a serpent carefully watching everything” (Gutman), she lies calmly, curled up in a ring, but ready to hit her target. A clear direction of speech with a modest demeanor, a laconic manner that hides a sharp mind, or the child's ability to use words with deep insight (with sharpness similar to "snake teeth") - all this may indicate the presence of Lachesis in the picture (also and Arsenic album).

Although it is more common that this child is hyperactive, loves to jump and likes to talk endlessly, but his desire to quietly listen and observe is also characteristic of this type. Shyness, reserve and sensitivity mask a greedy inquisitive mind and a desire to learn and discover, especially through conversations with other people. And if he has already begun to speak on a topic of interest to him, then usually a laconic child can pour out everything he knows in an uncontrollable outburst of well-formulated phrases.

Hering was the first to note the sensitivity of Lachesis to language, referring more than once to a patient who "builds her speech out of carefully chosen phrases, uses exalted (or sublime) language, is unusually picky in her choice of words, often corrects herself after using a word and replaces it with another with similar meaning. He wrote about mentally disturbed patients, but a deep awareness of language and attentiveness in the use of words can be observed in a healthy, intellectually inclined individual.

Patients confirm that there are symptoms of "weeping while reading" and "weeping while reciting tender lines of poetry" (for the first of these symptoms, Kent, somewhat surprisingly, listed only two snake venoms, Lachesis and Crotalus horridus (rattlesnake - right-sided Lachesis ), and for the second symptom, only Lachesis), which speaks of a subtle understanding of the beauty of the language even more than the sentimental response of Pulsatilla to its content.

Sexual impulses are usually very strong in both men and women ("amorousness, dispose to love, sexual desire causes great excitement", Hering), with "many voluptuous thoughts" (Allen), and patients report an extraordinary, pleasurable sexual desire. activities of its Lachesis partners. But if this increased sexuality does not find satisfaction, then it can become obsession. Without the calming action of a normal sex life, deep depression (Natrum muriaticum, Staphisagria) may set in. There are also cases where the patient can combine manic behavior with sexual passion "exalted to the extreme level; completely insatiable and free from all prohibitions" (Goering).

This constitutional type also figures prominently in all sexual disorders and deviances, including homosexuality (“disgust of men towards women”, “falls in love with a member of the same sex”, Kent), an abnormally strong attraction of older men to adolescents and very young girls, or an elderly woman to men fit for her sons.

At times, an aura of controlled or repressed sexuality emanates from Lachesis patients: "a heavy smell of repressed ... and sultry ... sensibility" (Whitmont). It can be expressed in a look: a very special, penetrating, stimulating (and at times disempowering) look from under half-closed eyelids, which is immediately perceived by the opposite sex. In a person with repressed sexuality (whether by choice or by pressure of circumstance), a still active sexual feeling can be detected by an exaggerated disapproval of the whole topic. He or she is hypersensitive to allusions to and oblique allusions to sex, has an aversion to flat jokes and vulgar language (Natrum muriaticum), and may even regard sex as degrading—something that draws people down to animal instincts (“aversion of the woman”). to marriage, Goering).

A middle-aged or elderly woman leading a virtuous life may be overly concerned with the morality of others, arguing passionately that free sexual morality and promiscuity are the cause of the downfall of society. If she is advised not to worry about the sexual behavior of others, but to do what she thinks is right herself, then she will consider it heartless. How can anyone not be worried? But, in fact, Lachesis' extreme disapproval of sexuality, or his puritanical concern for "moral standards," often reflects a warped focus on the subject and a fear of his own repressed sexuality. This judgmental attitude may also mask a subconscious regret, an unsettling feeling that life is passing her by, denying her something undoubtedly vital.

According to the biblical and mythical traditions, the snake symbolizes both sexuality and the realm of higher knowledge: “the snake is an image of the original, autonomous and impersonal life energy that underlies and creates existence and consciousness ... the desire to experience the taste of life, to know and grow through the sensation of life” ( Whitmont). Thus, sex, containing in itself the seed of spiritual development, for the dualistic consciousness of Lachesis acquires the features of religion, and this person seeks in sexual passion the mystery and heat of revelation usually contained in religion. Therefore Lachesis immediately comes to mind when the patient has a tendency to confuse religion and sex.

A historical example of the failure to judge where spiritual love ends and sexuality begins seems to have been the attitude of Henry Ward Beecher, brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe (who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin). He was the founder and revered pastor of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, New York. He was an inspired shepherd of his flock, possessing an excellent rhetorical talent and many high ideals: even a decade before the American Civil War, he proclaimed prayers from his pulpit for the abolition of the slave trade and raised money in order to buy freedom for escaped slaves. But with his excess of Christian love, he seduced the attractive wives of his two best friends and devoted financial supporters. The ensuing scandal shocked everyone. American society, and his case went through several never-ending lawsuits.

Whatever people's views on sexual sins, they undoubtedly represent a true Lachesis mixture between religious and sexual love - when love for God, love for humanity and love for the opposite sex begin to imperceptibly pass one into the other and become narrower. not distinguishable.

Lachesis is essentially a religious nature and needs some kind of strong faith or spiritual commitment as a suitable outlet for his overflowing emotional energy and susceptibility to "ecstasy" or, in extreme cases, "trance-like" states (Gering ). The Lord is an almost concrete living presence with which he connects, it is also a practical guide to morality and ethics in the endless struggle of his spirit, and those of them with a philosophical bent love nothing more than heated discussions about "the nature of God", or "about good and evil", which stretch until the morning.

When asked if he shares his problems with others or solves them himself (a common question in homeopathy), Lachesis answers more often than other constitutional types: “Neither one nor the other. I share them with God, and do not need anyone else, ”or some other words with the same meaning. His perseverance in sickness or other trials often comes from his unshakable faith. Lachesis is often a man of great intelligence with an exceptionally subtle psyche and high moral positions, or even righteous by nature, who is well aware of the paradoxes and weaknesses of human nature. He passed the tests of fire and emerged victorious from his inner struggles and doubts, reaching a level of compassion and clarity of spirit, which little can affect.

The reverse also happens: the mental and emotional problems of Lachesis often stem from a misunderstood and misapplied religious ardor. He is besieged by religious fears (“fear of being damned”, Goering), the horror of falling under the influence of Satan (“thinks he is under the control of the supernatural”, Kent), or sees only evil around him and is convinced that God will punish everyone, including himself, for sins.

In some individuals of Lachesis, the strength of faith is adjacent to the narrowness of views, as a result of which his worldview acquires a "dogmatic" character (Bönninghausen), rigid or even "fanatic" (Borland). A woman, a follower of some small religious sect, who vigorously imposes her faith and lifestyle on others, expresses the impulses inherent in the constitutional type of Lachesis, as well as a middle-aged man, formerly a sybarite and a rake, and now fed up with his unrestrained actions, who submits himself to strict religious discipline in order to control his already unacceptable traits of character, as well as the individual who turned to religion because of his deep grief and disappointment; and the one who grew up in a strict religious atmosphere and broke with it, however, continues to retain the features of the dogmatism that has taken root in him.

Since the presence of a strong impulse in one direction leads to the expectation that an equally strong impulse can be directed in the other direction, it is not surprising that the most ardent and militant atheists can be found among Lachesis types quite often - those who are strong and cynical hates everything connected with religion (and Lachesis may hate more violently than any other type, except perhaps Natrum muriaticum), its institutions, or God himself. Even during the first visit to the doctor, patients express bitter regret about their past involvement in religion and use the slightest pretext to return to their painful issue in conversation. In fact, on a certain level, it hardly matters anymore whether he is for or against religion, since passionate denial also focuses his attention and feelings, just as faith does.

The Jesuit-trained Voltaire, the brightest representative of the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century (whose nature of Lachesis can easily be discerned from his lengthy letters and the commentaries of his contemporaries on a carefully prepared public speaking into which he liked to make his life), who spent most of his life attacking the Church and with his sharp tongue and evil pen or thunder and lightning on the very existence of a moral or merciful Lord betrayed by this obsession, lasting his whole life, his the fascination characteristic of the Lachesis type with this object. The story that he pleaded on his deathbed for a final remission of sins may be only a legend, but, in any case, such a turn would be quite in keeping with his nature.

Thus Lachesis may either be an exceptionally devoted and devout follower of his religion, or, if he has strong traits of independence and anarchy, may vehemently defend the view that an organized Church and a religion entrusted with maintaining sincere religious impulses actually quench spontaneous and the connection of man with God, filled with meaning, as it reduces revelation to dogma, and mystical knowledge to rites and rituals.

The protest of Martin Luther, which led to the Protestant Reformation, can in the light of what has been said be seen as a passionate reaction of Lachesis against Thomas Aquinas' intellectualization of the direct connection of man with God and against the too ecclesiastical formalization of man's faith in church services.

The same deep emotionality is noted in the beliefs and beliefs of Lachesis, not associated with religion.

For example, Sigmund Freud had a lifelong horror of everything connected with religion, and sexuality took the place of religion in his mind. He expounded his views with a dogmatism that did not allow any deviation from his true doctrine (see the chapter "Sigmund Freud" in C. Jung's book "Memories, Dreams and Reflections"). In fact, Freud's sexually saturated psychology, with its notion that religion, spirituality, cultural and creative activities are basically transformations of sexual neuroses or repressed sexuality, is truly Lachesis.

The actions and reactions of Lachesis may be driven by a militant hatred of a particular ideology, idea, or even an individual. A schoolgirl, for example, may have a strong dislike for one of the teachers, family members, or classmates. It happens without visible reasons; this person may not have done her any harm, it just looks like her acute emotionality is looking for some kind of negative outlet for itself, for lack of a positive outlet. It is not surprising, therefore, that subconsciously she may like the one whom she hates, as it seems, with a clear and pronounced hatred, although she cannot admit this even to herself. Therefore, for example, she may show a strong dislike for any subject at school or for some extracurricular activities. Then the next year it takes the typical Lachesis turn and comes out on top or simply comes to the fore on that very subject or that very rejected activity.

Consequently, Lachesis needs constantly new grain for her emotional mill. If her personal life lacks passion or religion, then this bright nature will seek moral indignation or just despair in return.

A woman came to the homeopath with a complaint of pterygium, which was becoming more and more exciting to the eye. The growth in the form of a yellow film spread from the inner corner of the eye and already captured a good quarter of its surface. And although this disease is not very well known to American physicians today, the patient’s pronounced seasonal dependence, the spring exacerbation of asthma and hay fever symptoms, as well as her mental nature, quickly indicated necessary remedy.

She could talk about her illnesses without undue excitement (Lachesis is often resilient even in the face of the most serious illnesses). And what really upsets her, as it turned out during the conversation, is the disastrous state of the world. Every morning she pounces on The New York Times, reads it voraciously from cover to cover, and then despairs about the future. Let's say the New York Times (or any other media) is filled with important and serious news, but if she cares so much, then why does she continue to read all this? Especially if she can't really change anything? However, terrified, carried away and indignant, she continues to read.

The prescribed remedy was Lachesis 200X and she was advised to abstain for a month from reading all news, especially the New York Times. she eventually agreed to take the doctor's advice.

After two months, her pterygium disappeared and she weaned herself from her attachment to The New York Times (now she could read it or not) and no longer viewed the world in terms of the imminent danger of Armageddon. Overall, she already had a healthier outlook on life. , she was already calmly accepting things that she could not change and saving her energy for what she could do.

Tension of feeling like Lachesis or conviction is found even in highly intelligent and highly educated people. An Oxford graduate who worked in the radio news department came to seek help from homeopaths for a pronounced shingles (herpes zoster) on the head, neck and body with severe neuralgic pains. Ranunculus bulbosus is a remedy almost specific for such conditions, and this remedy did greatly improve his symptoms, but the zoster continued to reappear in spite of the additional help of Sulphur, and so the physician was compelled to look further. Fortunately, the patient presented an almost complete portrait of the constitutional type. The rashes were left-sided, he was afraid to go to bed, because he often woke up from pains that worsened at night; in addition, he was a "night" personality, preferring to work in the very late shifts. But, being Lachesis, he could feel good after that.

To confirm this picture with deeper mental symptoms, the patient was asked to describe his hobbies or interests outside of work. It turned out that he was obsessed with the moral-political question - whether the fall of Western society would come and be forced to undergo a Stalinist form of repression (or some equivalent episode) in order to acquire the political maturity and moral understanding that guarantee the viability and effective democracy . "Can't humanity," he complained, "learn from the examples of history, so as not to be doomed to repeat it themselves?"

The doctor tried to reassure him: “Perhaps this pessimistic political analysis does not apply to the West, which, having survived its Renaissance, Reformation, civil wars and the Technical Revolution, does not need to again learn the hard political lessons of recent Russian or Chinese history.” But it turned him on even more. Soothing phrases are not what he needs. It is useless to protest or argue with the resolute Lachesis; rather, it is worth encouraging him to speak out and soften the force of anger or indignation that has accumulated inside him. In any case, the patient was convinced that Western society must undergo the "Fall" in order to be spiritually ready for an enlightened Democracy ("Redemption").

Such impassioned eloquence was rather strange for a reserved, correct Englishman to whom the doctor was a total stranger, even if it was required to confirm his choice of Lachesis as a constitutional remedy.

After two weeks of treatment, his shingles completely cleared up, but what happened to his grave political concerns and views is not known, since, having recovered, he no longer went to the doctor, and later left for England. Pure Lachesis is not a stubborn hypochondriac. His vision is wider than his health, and if he is successfully treated, he is already kept out of the doctors.

This patient demonstrated the motivating quality of Lachesis beliefs. This type may be so strongly influenced by any particular idea that he may even dismiss any possibility of disagreement. He forgets to take into account the fact that different people are differently prepared for revelations at different periods of their lives, or that they may be bound by their own particular philosophy and therefore be closed to others.

His own opinion must be, always has been, and always will be right for all mankind, and he continues to apply it to mankind in the manner of Procrustes.

We have already mentioned Dostoevsky and Freud as examples of the typical Lachesis consciousness. They correspond to a picture of this type also in terms of the strength of feeling, reaching, in fact, to revelation. Both felt like visionaries and actually ventured into previously unexplored areas of the soul, opening up new horizons for understanding the subconscious and anticipating the deep interest of the twentieth century in psychology. The work of both authors is a kind of intellectual seduction and exhibits the obviously inciting subjective style typical of Lachesis, which makes one think that the proposed theories cover the whole truth, and not just some segment of it.

The intellectual power of Sulfur, as I would like to recall, is based on the analytical objectivity of his style.

The reverse side of the portrait of this absolutist of deep faith and conviction is a chronic skeptic. Constantly feeling the two polar forces within him, this subtype of Lachesis is keenly aware of his duality and the resulting neutrality of the whole phenomenon. A typical representative of this variety is Hamlet, whose sophisticated mind disassembles and examines motives, actions and ideas in his passionate moral-philosophical search and finds comfort in the relativity of everything: “there is neither good nor evil, but only the way we all understand it” .

Because of his tendency to constantly reconsider his own motives, this person may think something like this: “When I help my comrade, I look merciful in the eyes of people, but inwardly I am proud of myself. Perhaps I do this more to extract praise than out of true kindness. And in the same way, when I do something reprehensible, I later sincerely repent and, therefore, become morally better. Therefore, I don’t know what is better - when you do good and are proud of it, or when you do wrong, but repent of what you did. And then, with a new turn of thought: “However, I really don’t know if I’m actually humble and repentant when I do this, or if I’m just pretending to be modest ...”, etc. This vicious circle is completely fruitless, this introspection is useless (it is psychologically exhausting) and leads to the fact that the aspirations acquire the characteristic of their opposite and are well expressed by the symbol of the snake biting its own tail.

Thus the Lachesis patient may begin to wonder with his divided mind whether he is not exposing himself to unnecessary sorrow by creating difficult situations for himself or by refraining from allowing himself to act out of devotion to some higher ideal, and whether he would not be in better health, if he was more selfish and thought more about himself.

Moral confusion and intellectual conflict are hardly typical of any other constitutional type. But when an adult considers his religion, vocation, or life experience, doubting his ideals, his marriage, or his own judgment (“sudden doubts arise about the truths of which I was fully convinced until then,” Allen), then Lachesis pathology must be assumed. Even people who are not of the Lachesis type often need this remedy when faced with some kind of severe disappointment or reassessment of their own life paths. That is why this medicine is considered a remedy for "mature" people and why many patients (especially women) need it at some point in the middle of life.

In order to resolve their moral or intellectual ambiguities, some individuals begin to adhere to strict behavioral limits or carefully limit the limits of their thoughts and truths. Lachesis can resolve his moral conflicts by giving up intellectual flexibility, emotional malleability, and the awareness of this paradox, by not being willing to admit or acknowledge that which is at odds with his beliefs.

Towards the end of his life, Dostoevsky followed a policy of studiously restricting his thoughts. Concerned about the destructive impact of his writings, he stopped writing fiction entirely.

The ideas and moral precepts of his novels turned against themselves in a strange way, allowing polar opposite interpretations of what he really intended to express, and undermining the foundations of the moral values ​​\u200b\u200bthat he defended. Instead of continuing to write the second volume of his intended trilogy, The Brothers Karamazov, for which a fully detailed plan had already been completed, he is increasingly focusing on working with The Author's Diary, which raises the complex philosophical questions so subtly addressed in his novels. , but in a clear, even simplified and fanatical form. He died quite suddenly a year or so from pulmonary hemorrhage, a condition in which Lachesis is one of the main remedies (as is Crotalus horridus; Kent). Can this sudden death be interpreted as a tragic example of " negative effect from the suppression of (psychic) ​​discharges", from the fact that his genius was not allowed to express itself in full force?

Or Lachesis may do the opposite: not having strict moral obligations, may fall into relativism and cynicism to an even greater extent. He may, for example, decide that the institutions of civilization are inherently worthless or even evil. Thus the institution of matrimony, theoretically established to preserve love, serves only to destroy its sincerity and spontaneity (compare with Lycopodium's point of view), while the defects of the social institutions it upholds do not lie in administrative or legislative defects, which can eventually be corrected (Lycopodium's point of view), and not in the individuals who represent these institutions that can be replaced (Natrum muriaticum's point of view), but in their very nature: they tend rather to establish themselves forever than to guard the value of what they defend they were originally installed.

This nihilism of Lachesis - his innate "internal suspicion" (Kent) and mistrust - is, to a large extent, a projection of his own internal contradictions on a world scale. If a person is weak, selfish and easily corrupted (as he knows, because this is one side of his personality), then how will these traits not be embedded in the functioning of institutions in which, as it is notorious, the dregs rise to the top or where the importance and impersonality of the majority erases everything that is moral and ethical in the individual?

The third variety of type oscillates between the extremes of intellectual stubbornness and skepticism, when both of these traits exist simultaneously in the same person. This divided psyche, with its erratic shifts in attitudes and behavior, is like a small sea boat that is tossed and beaten in strong winds to right and left while it tries to stay afloat and makes its way to the harbor.

Only the mind of an adult can engage in a moral conflict, recognize a paradox, or appreciate intellectual relativism, and Lachesis children may be overdeveloped compared to their peers, who usually do not ask moral or intellectual questions. These children (especially girls, who mature faster than boys) often say they were "born old" because from an early age, for better or worse, they have something akin to the wisdom of a snake.

The youngest member of this constitutional type treated with Lachesis was a four-year-old girl with severe temper tantrums.

Of course, this remedy also finds application in acute diseases of the ear, sore throat, boils, etc. in children.

The usually peaceful girl suddenly underwent some kind of incomprehensible transformation and opposed her brothers and sisters like a real snake. When she was reproached for this, she attacked her parents, shouting out venomous words to them: “You are all animals and nothing more, only wild animals. You are even worse than animals. Animals at least love their children and don't punish them the way you do. You are not just animals, you are real animals!” (Notice how she differentiates between the two words.) She was beside herself, and this could go on for weeks. At one point, when her disobedience and blatant negativity caused her parents to threaten her that Santa Claus might not be pleased with her this time, she responded with a defiant statement: “I don't care! I hate dad, mom, god and Santa Claus!” However, the internal struggle was quite noticeable: “I want to be good. One part of me wants to be good and tries its best, but something in me makes me be bad. I hate this bad side, but I can't help it…" she sobbed, as if some inner force was pushing her into this destructive behavior.

Since this is similar to the symptom described by Hering: “feels as if in the hands of some strange force; feels as if she has been bewitched and cannot get rid of the spell," or Kent's description of "she hears commands ... which she must obey," then the girl received a dose of Lachesis 10M. Her parents reported that an hour later she came out of her room and announced calmly and simply that her temper tantrum had passed and that she would now be well-behaved ("I'll be good forever"). Indeed, she kept her word and her temper tantrums never returned. Whatever the nature of the destructive power to be cleansed, one dose of Lachesis did it quite effectively.

The second case was a nine-year-old girl who was brought homeopathically for epistaxis and excessive bleeding from minor cuts and scrapes (Lachesis, like Phosphorus, has a predisposition to hemorrhagic diathesis). A similar case of wild temper tantrums has been cured by a single dose of the homeopathic remedy Tarentula hispania. In addition to the pronounced struggle of consciousness in the strange adulthood of the patient, she also rushed furiously from one corner to another, like a spider. These two potent poison seemed to almost clear the possessed children.

“Like all snake poisons, Lachesis decomposes the blood, making it more liquid; therefore, a tendency to bleeding becomes noticeable ”(Bericke).

She was a seductive, pretty, heavily dressed girl. Phosphorus in appearance and behavior, but under this externally attractive shell, serious defects of behavior slipped through, which manifested themselves both at home and at school. In class, she was a schemer, inciting others to break the rules, and when they were often caught in the act, she cleverly avoided punishment herself. She thought with hatred, even insulting, and invented ways to anger her parents (once wrote on their birthday gifts) regardless of the consequences that awaited her. She also stole money, jewelry or watches and even tortured her dog by biting its tail until it howled in pain.

It's not Phosphorus, but Lachesis testing its environment: "What happens if I bite a dog's tail? Can I steal? What happens if I piss off my parents? The Sulfur boy steals to test his nerves and show off his masculine character, or to satisfy his hoarding instinct; the girl Lachesis steals without telling anyone about it, and tests herself to see if she is capable of "evil" (Lachesis's own words), and if she can sneak out afterwards. When this patient was reproached for torturing a defenseless dog for no reason, she answered in her own defense: “I'm not all that bad. The dog is fat, old and half-blind, and no one in the family paid any attention to her until I did something bad to her. Now everyone takes pity on her and treats her better.” At the age of only nine years, she does not have a deep dualistic understanding that every action contains its opposite: just like good action carries a charge of evil, so a cruel act can carry the potential for good.

In addition, the alert eyes of this girl had an expression characteristic of Lachesis, as well as a quick glance thrown to the side (Lachesis can also look from under her brows or from under half-closed eyelids for a long time). Her piercing gaze was full of disbelief ("suspicious look", Kent).

The course of treatment in ever-increasing doses produced a profound change in this girl, diverting from evil a daring and desperate energy towards constructive study.

The third case represents a completely different facet of this constitutional picture. An 11-year-old girl came to be treated for a post-school headache and persistent bladder dysfunction: frequent need to urinate when she went to bed, with little urine output (she had to jump up ten times during the first two hours of sleep). There was nothing specific to Lachesis in her symptoms, nor did any other remedy come to mind. True, she had "disturbed areas" of the perception of heat and cold (Nash) and she always took off her clothes, then put on a whole heap, but some addictions were contrary to this medicine. It was one of those hopelessly uncharacteristic cases.

Otherwise she was an obedient and sensitive girl, and she got Pulsatilla, Calcarea carbonica, Natrum muriaticum, Sepia, Nux vomica, Sulphur, and Tuberculinum in succession, all without success. Her headaches and urinary problems continued for months. So the doctor tried to delve more deeply into her mental symptoms, returning to the conversation about the school. In the treatment of a child, much can be ascertained by her or his manner of discussing or not discussing a subject. On the first seven visits, the girl was more like Natrum muriaticum and Calcarea carbonica: reserved in her answers, gloomy and unwilling to give much information. But on the eighth time, she took control of herself, and everything she heard or taught began to convey simply and accurately.

Especially characteristic of Lachesis was the girl's fascination with the moral problems that arose in the process of studying medieval history: the paradox that the ideas of Christianity had both beneficial and harmful influence at the same time, the moral ambiguity of the crusaders. She was tormented by the question, was this time ultimately progressive for European civilization, spreading culture, knowledge, civilized behavior, or was it a time of progress that nurtured ignorant superstition?

All these really difficult questions the child felt and tried to understand - so it is not surprising that she had headaches after the lessons! Also, since she articulated these questions (often under the superficial shyness of this type lies a huge store of knowledge), even if they were first formulated by her teacher, it all spoke in favor of her Lachesis consciousness. She received a highly potent dose of this medicine and her condition improved. Subsequent doses of Lachesis finally and completely cured her.

Classical homeopathic literature, which necessarily describes the character traits of unhealthy patients, emphasizes their incredulity, jealousy, malice, vanity and hatred displayed by Lachesis in relationships with people. But since our portrait seeks to show the traits of the healthy Lachesis, as well as its attractive aspects, the friendliness, generosity and nobility of this type will be given equal attention in our pages.

Devotion and self-denial of this type of people is manifested in a very high degree. Doctors and nurses work with full dedication with patients that take so much strength, in a completely sacrificial way, which is amazing to watch! Sons and daughters care for their sick parents with unsurpassed exactingness. The altruism of these bold souls contains little self-pity (Pulsatilla), little desire for proteic effects (Phosphorus), even less guided by offended commitment (Natrum muriaticum). They do their duty with angelic humility and seem to have no thought of recognition as they are supported by the conviction that God gives them strength and help. Others, following their inner moral principles, display noble self-denial in many personal matters. One patient, herself barely well off, was firmly convinced that the inheritance left to her by her late husband should rightfully belong to his children from his first marriage, and passed on everything received by him.

If they are praised for their actions, they hardly understand what is meant, taking their actions for granted and not thinking that any other behavior is possible. This most unselfish devotion can be directed to the cause, which they rigorously promote at the expense of their own interests.

Lachesis is a true friend in personal relationships and emphasizes this quality very much. If he has already chosen a friend, partner or protégé, he will always strive to limitlessly maintain these relationships and help his friend in everything, and in professional and business life he plays a significant role in team cohesion. The woman's devotion takes the form of successfully assisting in the education of her children or the career of her husband (Arsenicum album), but she is also exceptionally hospitable and kind to anyone she chooses to be her friend. However, she may demand the same devotion from others, at times to the point of destroying those relationships, as other people may not have her emotional energy or willingness to give back as much as she does.

The Lachesis woman may have the same softness of manner as Pulsatilla and the emotional sensitivity of Phosphorus. She doesn't say anything unkind to anyone and is overprotective of others, always upholding their self-respect. Her liberality and friendliness can even be somewhat promiscuous towards people, and she treats almost everyone with equal emotional generosity, and sometimes she even depresses with her kindness.

But although she is "soft", but not "weak". She can fight back if provoked, especially when her interests are threatened. Gentle, submissive Pulsatilla seeks to avoid conflict, while Lachesis, the snake, stands right in front of danger and is ready to strike.

Despite the great difference between these types, their projection in people overlaps to a large extent. The overall picture is of a gentle, soft-spoken woman who comes in for treatment for headaches, menstrual disorders, or an inability to bear the sun. Her physical symptoms equally distributed between the symptoms of Pulsatilla and Lachesis. In the discussion that followed the introduction of the patient, two physicians, a woman and a man, decided which of the two remedies should be chosen. The male doctor, more responsive to the patient's femininity, insisted that Pulsatilla should be prescribed for this lovely woman, while the female doctor felt a hidden "vigilance" and declared that Lachesis was hiding under this soft exterior. The decisive symptom in this case may be a symptom determined by the answer to the question, how would she behave if she heard criticism or confrontation, especially at home. Pulsatilla would most likely have gone away and wept, feeling a sharp resentment for herself. Lachesis would have fought back furiously, not thinking of backing down and holding back her emotions.

However, the opposite should also be taken into account. Since the doctor also has a strong element of subjectivity in relation to the patient (remember, for example, that a man reacted to Pulsatilla in a woman, while a woman more readily chose Lachesis) and, since the patient in turn is subject to mood changes or reacts environmental pressure on his nature, it is clear that the physical symptoms and addictions are more "objective". They, therefore, acquire paramount importance in this case and indicate the best way to the similium corresponding to the patient.

There is often a combination of the extreme harshness of Lachesis manner with an almost clairvoyant insight into the feelings of others and sensitivity towards them. At such moments, it seems that understanding and her behavior are adjusted. She can be direct and strong, as is traditionally expected of men, and her sharp mind is able to strike. In a conversation, she can be sharp, she can continue her line of conversation and not answer the interlocutor. But in the end, it becomes clear from the steps she herself takes to keep the conversation going that although she doesn't seem to be listening, she is well aware of the other's concerns, and her retreats and seeming lack of interest in the subject I mean, it wasn't all by accident.

So, although not always soft, but generous, creative and "cheerful" (Kent) Lachesis can be unusually attractive.

The dual nature of the nature of Lachesis creates an ambiguity, an ambiguity that does not lend itself to simple analysis: this is a person about whose "true" nature two people cannot agree on a single opinion.

A sweet, generous and attentive person suddenly turns into an insidious deceiver, and then again becomes sweet and kind. A woman who to some seems like a hurricane of energy and noisy bustle, is perceived by others as a soft summer breeze. Or a good-natured, loving and reasonable family member becomes vindictive and unreasonable with a sharp change in his usual mood. A teenage girl may spend hours with her retarded friend helping with her homework, and then at the slightest provocation she may attack the friend with violent words. The hostile forces that had been dormant within her suddenly became dominant. Such behavior for her victim, who is not Lachesis, is completely incomprehensible: what could induce her "best friend" to act in such a way? This constitutional type, by the way, forms strong teenage (and adult) friendships, and in relation to her girlfriends she is a great owner, inseparable from them, protecting them and insisting on their unwavering devotion. Her behavior and jealousy seem to suggest that she is indeed "in love with a member of her sex" (Lachesis boys are less likely to show this possessive stance towards their boy friends).

As a rule, disagreements, quarrels and disagreements do not unsettle a person of this type, as it happens with others. Like Sulfur, he can put all personal troubles aside and move optimistically to other matters.

In fact, Lachesis gets energized in conflicts and can sometimes gravitate toward them. A warlike confrontation like the aforementioned strong passions only pours water on his ever-working mill of emotions and only encourages him to go even further, to higher achievements.

A Lachesis personality with high ideals may try to suppress his instincts for vindictiveness and cunning. One friendly and open patient of the Lachesis type, masquerading as Pulsatilla, told the doctor that she hated gossip and intrigue the most, because she knew their power to influence people, their ability to harm people. When she was a young girl, she easily quarreled her family with each other, and currently hates this sly trait of hers and vowed to herself that she would never again let her caustic and such an influencing tongue loosen up. “At times I feel that it is very difficult,” she concluded, “but now, as soon as the desire becomes strong and insistent, I just take a dose of Lachesis, and this urge evaporates.”

On the other hand, a highly potent dose of Lachesis can bring to life hitherto dormant emotions and behaviors. A kindly man, a soft-spoken patient suffering from arthritic pains, told the doctor that after taking the first dose of Lachesis, for several weeks he made extremely low remarks to everyone around. “Once I was wittily evil with an instinctive desire to choke, but I thought that was all in the past. It's just scary,” he added, “how easy it is to be sarcastic, to point out people's weaknesses and then laugh at them. Better find some antidote soon, or give me back my arthritis!”

Knowing his ability to act surreptitiously, Lachesis is extremely suspicious of the actions of others: "he ascribes the most disgusting significance to the most innocent things" (Allen). Trusting no one, he suspects that others are going to harm him and are plotting his downfall: “imagines that he is being pursued by enemies who are trying to harm him” (Goering). For example, a sixteen-year-old girl who was treated for menstrual disorders (severe migraines 2 days before the onset of periods and intermittent flow), smart and attractive, trying to be super-excellent in school and in extracurricular activities, could not talk about anything other than intrigue, vindictiveness and envy of her success on the part of her friends. This all clearly reflected her own feelings and behavior, which she projected onto her classmates in self-justification. The snake venom cured her physical suffering and changed her paranoid attitude towards others.

Many types are suspicious (see this rubric in Kent), but to sum up, there are differences for which homeopathy can be admired. Arsenicum album and Lycopodium generally suspect others of lack of understanding and competence, trusting only themselves. Pulsatilla suspects a lack of sincerity in someone who is caring: "You say you care, but do you really?" Lachesis is more suspicious of the behavior of others and is always afraid of betrayal.

Including direct opposites in his spectrum of qualities, this type can combine blind obstinacy with cold and clear calculation, super-violent intellectual passion and cold precise logic. In a woman, a sharp "masculine" mind is combined with emotional femininity, or dictatorial directness is interspersed with bouts of painful "indecision" (Kent). At critical moments she begins to hesitate or hesitate, showing helplessness, weakness, dependence (like Pulsatilla or Sepia), or autocratically changing her mind. She seeks advice, but refuses to act on it.

But if in Pulsatilla or Sepia indecision is a manifestation of weakness, a sign that a person is not in control of his own destiny, then in Lachesis it may be a form of control. A literary example is Queen Elizabeth I of England, who used her indecisiveness to consolidate her power and hold on to the throne.

She could not decide whether to marry her and, if so, to whom; her advisers and subjects fell out of favor with her and lost her favor; she constantly could not decide whether to take decisive steps against the Roman Catholics and Queen Mary of Scots; what position to take in religious conflicts, reassuring both sides; sign an agreement with other countries or declare war on them. She shamelessly and arbitrarily retracted her word in personal relationships and in government negotiations. This hesitation drove her advisors to despair, but helped her survive both as a person and as a ruler in dangerous and conflict-torn times.

Further exploration of the dichotomy reveals this type's ability to be both open, direct, and treacherous at the same time. On the one hand, he has certain principles, and a pronounced intellectual integrity prompts him to take a firm stand when these principles are challenged. Even if by chance he is not faithful to these principles in some small matters, then in big cases and in relation to values ​​that are important to him, some essential part of his nature remains true and does not lend itself to corruption: “I can contradict myself, but I cannot contradict the truth,” this statement of Montaigne expresses a conscious credo of this type.

Voltaire, infamous for his deceit and lack of remorse in personal relationships, tirelessly fought for political justice, individual freedom and freedom of opinion and speech; he was inflexible in his struggle against every form of despotism, obscurantism, prejudice, or short-sighted ignorance; he tirelessly defended those who were oppressed in all countries, such as the persecuted Huguenots and the serfs.

Lachesis can be honest down to the smallest detail; some even give the impression that they are somehow aggressively honest or harsh, perhaps out of a desire to overcome the internal dishonesty that constantly threatens to surface. On the other hand, Lachesis can actually be belittling his honesty to a great extent. His "I can't lie", "I always tell the truth", "I never lie" hide a certain cunning, which sometimes surprises the speaker himself. His mind takes such a tortuous and unstable path that he is surprised to find that sometimes he does not act in the way he intended.

However, Lachesis can also be a complete liar. With a strong and "vivid imagination" (Goering) he can find himself in a position where one lie leads to another, and he falls into a state of intellectual intoxication. Simple facts lose their meaning, and truthfulness is replaced by credibility in his exciting speeches. Such artistic impulses are not only ways to alleviate restless energies or dormant instincts in someone that require intellectual activity, but also a reflection of some kind of "artistic pride" (Clark) and the conviction that any story worth telling deserves to be told. tell her well! The cases are told in carefully chosen detail, full of shades of "credibility" that only the truth can give, but which, in his case, are only the products of a subtle imagination.

However, although Lachesis may use his forked snake tongue to resort to hypocrisy or lies, he does not deceive himself. Being in close contact with his subconscious, he is not deceived in much, differing in this from Lycopodium, and also from Phosphorus, who, starting to enchant another, becomes fascinated by his own version of reality. “The snake knows itself,” says the old saying, and Lachesis knows quite well what is what. He does not always choose an action according to his knowledge, but he has it.

A typical sense of self-awareness was experienced by one well-adjusted patient, a middle-aged woman, who came to homeopaths complaining of a chronic sore throat.

Located approximately halfway between the brain (intelligence, logic, self-control) and the heart (passions, instincts, uncontrollability), i.e. symbolically at the point where mind and emotions come into conflict, the throat is one of the most vulnerable places of this type ( Goering in his "Key Symptoms" has symptoms on 8 pages). A lump in the throat, a syndrome experienced by patients under conditions of great emotional stress, can be considered a physical manifestation of the patient's reasonable attempts to control the rising passion, anger or hysteria (Ignatia, Natrum muriaticum): in maintaining control over oneself with the influx of emotional and especially sexual forces ”(Whitmont).

The patient in question had had tonsillitis in her childhood and described her typical symptoms of Lachesis as larynx sensitive to touch, better from eating and worse from hot drinks, pains radiating to the ear when swallowing, sensation of constriction in the throat as if from a lump (“when I swallow, I feel like I'm trying to swallow a whole mountain!"), the pain starts on the left and moves to the right. Mentally, however, she showed no signs of split consciousness or depression of emotions. She was like Phosphorus in her sensitivity and benevolence, and like Lycopodium in her pleasantly cool reserve and aloofness.

But when she was asked questions about her personal life, she showed typical Lachesis honesty and lack of illusions. For example, when asked if she was sociable and friendly, she replied: “I think I can be considered sociable because people come to me with their sorrows, maybe because I can listen. Although my husband says I can't be a good listener because I talk too much myself." And when asked if her husband was too critical of her, she said: “A little. But look at me, I'm 55 years old, I'm fat, I don't have any talents and I don't have any attractiveness. You can hardly blame him for finding some minor flaws in me. In fact, her husband was an overly grumpy and obnoxious gentleman who constantly created all sorts of difficulties in her life, but during her treatment she never mentioned this. When asked if she was selfish or generous, the patient replied: “I like to think of myself as generous, and I play the role of a generous person. However, by chance I was unpleasantly struck by myself, showing what I would call an extreme degree of selfishness. When I feel like I own something or someone, or I feel like my territory is being violated, the steps I take to protect it can actually be downright terrifying.” Finally, when asked if she considered herself tolerant or critical of people, she replied, “It's hard to say. I am constantly surprised by how my friends and my family behave. Not at all the way I would have behaved. But, dare I say, and they are also often surprised by the way I behave.

Her honest understanding of herself and her lack of self-delusion were in this case the key symptoms for choosing Lachesis.

Even a teenager, faced with uncomfortable truths about themselves, might say, “At first I got angry and completely denied what I was told. But then I tried to understand why the person told me that I was being arrogant, and what exactly he meant by telling me this. And now I see that he had every reason to say this, if you understand my behavior in a certain way. So I'm really grateful to him for pointing this out to me. I can now work on myself in order to change ... ”, etc.

But a person can also be destroyed by the consciousness of his subconscious side. Healthy-looking patients may express a fear of losing their minds under the pressure of excessive self-control: “I am always at odds with myself, always holding myself back; I don't know how much longer I can hold out like this." Nothing in the behavior of these people outwardly indicates such a threat, but Lachesis himself feels with alarming clarity the threatening signals of loss of control and fears a turn in his instability.

In a patient who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, the fear of losing his mind is accompanied by a feeling of his own uselessness, the commission of some kind of crime, the horror of the sinfulness of the world or his excessive sexuality.

One woman confessed to an almost uncontrollable urge to act in a cheeky or humiliating way to show her emotions and doubted whether she would be able to withstand the impulse if it washed over her. A man who had never worried about his antisocial behavior in any way before, suddenly managed to overcome the cause of this behavior. He is afraid that his energies, if exploded, will be directed in all directions. The moment the balance swings from self-restraint to "the degree of destruction of self-control" (Whitmont) and the patient becomes aware of what a fine thread keeps his balance, then Lachesis will miraculously come to the rescue and establish a delicate balance of consciousness (also Ignatia). And this is precisely the moment when this type can be best observed and understood, when both sides of human nature become apparent.

The ability of Lachesis to experience opposite feelings often manifests itself in love. A passionate nature can move from love to hate with more suddenness and force than anyone else - turning 180 degrees for a minute, and then returning to its original state again. It could be said that opposite emotions coexist, except for those moments when the feeling that prevails at the moment takes possession of the person so completely that it leaves no room for any ambivalence. And then, these feelings do not have to be opposite, since they all come from the same source of tension (both Dostoevsky and Freud, for example, insisted on closeness, if not actual identity, love and hate).

Not all Lachesis individuals oscillate between these two feelings. For example, he may be one of the most devoted husbands throughout married life directing the whole force of the emotional and sexual nature to one woman (Natrum muriaticum). An example of this attitude was the behavior of one elderly patient who complained of undiagnosed, non-specific pain in the groin, but otherwise healthy. He went through many tests that could not establish anything, except for the fear of cancer somewhere in the far corner of his consciousness. In order to determine the similium, the homeopath had to orientate himself in the mental symptoms of the patient. Among other things, he said that during all years marriage, he did not regret for a single moment that he had married his wife. In fact, he woke up every morning and went to bed every evening, "thanking God for a successful marriage." It was very touching and obviously true, since his wife was like a religion to him. But he was also very possessive of her, not allowing her to say even a good word about another man. Hearing all this, the doctor prescribed him Lachesis 200 X. The pain was gone in two weeks, and no one ever knew what caused it.

This picture of one-pointed devotion is even more in line with a woman. She can be passionately in love with her partner all her life, even in the most difficult moments of her life (we can recall that she was a faithful wife who protected even her alcoholic husband). However, she herself is not a person with whom it is always easy to live, because she is possessive to an inappropriate degree and is subject to unreasonable feelings ("crazy", Goering) of jealousy ("as stupid, how irresistible", Kent). She is suspicious of any letter or phone call her partner receives and fears that he is cheating on her every time he comes home late. Even if she does not arrange an interrogation and does not make scenes, she is tormented and experiences an unceasing horror of betrayal, which haunts her. And if she thinks that she is being neglected or betrayed, then the modesty and selflessness of love quickly turn into its opposite - unbearable humiliation and uncontrollable jealousy. These traits can only appear during the premenstrual period, when she really may not be fully responsible for her actions. A wounded Lachesis can then, like Medea in her rage, act on a frenzied impulse or say something venomous without thinking of the consequences. Romantic jealousy can even cause epileptic convulsions (Bericke, Kent).

This well-known jealousy is by no means limited to sexual love, but extends to friends, siblings, colleagues, and even parents, causing headaches, hay fever, asthma, dysmenorrhea, skin rashes, and other pathologies. In one teenage girl who suffered from severe bouts of hay fever, which manifested itself only at home, it was possible to trace the jealousy of her young pretty mother, who captured all the attention of her father. Pictures of jealousy, which turned into friendship, then underwent a sharp turn in the opposite direction, often speak of the presence of Lachesis in nature of a constitutional type.

This individual may also be possessive of his ideas and may be jealous of a rival's professional success. Many different forms and varieties of jealousy can be greatly relieved with this remedy.

Francis Bacon, who served as the earl's adviser for many years and from whom he received many thanks, can serve as a historical example of what has been said. This, no doubt, is caused by jealousy of the earl's success with Queen Elizabeth, while he, Bacon, did not achieve this success. In his touching response to Bacon's scathing accusations during his treason trial, Essex exclaimed defensively, "I urge Mr. Bacon to stand against Mr. Bacon." He summoned at that moment the suppressed faithful and noble side of his former friend and mentor to testify against the treacherous side that triumphed at that moment. Interestingly, the mesmerizing and always elusive Lord Bacon, with his quick eyes, was described by his contemporaries as a man with a "serpentine character" and with a "viper's eye".

At times, however, what looks like jealousy turns out to be actually anger or resentment that his colleague has strayed from his straight path and entered his territory. Lachesis requires loyalty not only personal, but also ideological, as well as solidarity (Freud's relationships were typical in this respect, and he was highly valued by the students of Carl Jung).

At the basis of many of Lachesis' tormenting relationships (to a large extent at the basis of his physical pathologies) lies an infringed or oversensitive "pride" (Hering). The "arrogant" (Kent) or conceited individual seeks recognition for some extraordinary achievement in life. If he cannot do anything remarkable in a positive way, then he can, in his desperation, do it in a negative direction. Thus, for example, the theme of vengeance often appears in his speech, and an honest individual may confess: “I am going to deceive him in the same way that he deceived me, and drive him into a corner in the same way” or “I will make her dependent on me and she regret what she did. And if I let her go, it will be the last resort.”

He can be a fearsome foe when he feels threatened or is looking for an opportunity to assert himself ("evil, vindictive," Kent). A man in his mid-thirties, suffering from a constant feeling of pressure in his sinus region, was, in his opinion, unfairly demoted by a corporation he helped establish. He was talented and could easily find a job in a rival firm, but decided to remain in his subordinate position to give vent to his vindictive impulses in the form in which he was given the opportunity: "I'm going to make them respect me again," he said. doctor, and his eyes were heavy and dangerous. He was prescribed Lachesis 10M and the patient was scheduled to come back in a month. By this time his sinusitis was gone (within a few days thick, green, rotten-smelling mucus was pouring out of his sinuses in large quantities), but what was even more important was that his energy was now directed towards constructive solutions. He decided to leave the old firm and found his own, in which he could do everything himself. The homeopathic doctor didn't know if there was anything else besides the medicine that could affect his attitude and cause such changes, but there were changes.

This patient showed another aspect of this type. While he was "selfish" (Kent) and full of contempt in his past job, in his new position he became kind and patient, modest and unassuming. Parenthetically, the appearance of "modesty" in a person of power, eminence, or influence often hides behind it an extraordinary pride, hidden from view or under the control of a personality dominated by the Lachesis or Arsenicum sides; Sulfur and Lycopodium openly celebrate their power. The dominant desire for power in this individual, being satisfied, turned into its opposite and awakened his greatness. Lord Acton wrote; “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” but Lachesis, when given power (whether in the world on a large scale or in a family), often demonstrates the opposite: self-control, integrity and modesty in relations with those whom he leads. These qualities may outweigh all others, but cannot erase his original egoistic impulses. When not in a position of power, Lachesis can be rebellious, deliberately arrogant, doing what pleases him, disdainful of leadership, and willing to disregard rules and regulations.

teacher of English language sought help from homeopaths "for intercepting and spasmodic pains" of the heart (Goering), as well as for tearing and throbbing headaches.

“Some symptoms are valuable in that their associations are often repeated, and when such appear, then the interconnections accompanying them become great importance. Heart symptoms are often associated in Lachesis with headaches... A weak pulse or pulsation felt throughout the body is more or less closely associated with severe headaches in Lachesis (Kent, "Lectures on the Homeopathic Materia Medica, Lachesis").

At the time of her visit to the doctor, she was not working, but she was sure that she would find a job. "I've never had any trouble in that regard," she assured the doctor. And this was not surprising: she radiated intelligence, cheerfulness and a clear tendency to inspire others through her charming manner. But she could never work in one place for more than three years. The reasons she explained this were as follows: unreasonable managers, envious colleagues, unsatisfactory contract terms, or her particular restless nature: “I am like a plant in a pot that needs to be replanted every few years.” Further questions and the ability to read between the lines showed a slightly different picture. In the first year, she was a common favorite, a blond child, adored by everyone. In her second year, she grew weary of the prescribed teaching plans and began to teach the way she liked, not the way she was required to. She brilliantly portrayed the alternating pleading and threatening tone of the tutors: “We want less of your deviations from the course, madam, and more words of English grammar, more of Melville and Milton. Our children should be able to get into the best colleges, as has been a tradition in our school for the past seventy years." But she ignored directions, continuing her studies on her own inspiration, analyzing the works of authors as she pleased, flaunting her power and influence over the students who admired her, and all the while flaunting an attitude like, “I don’t care what you or anyone else thinks.” about me” (“a contemptuous mood when no one hurt her,” Allen). She behaved so defiantly, even arbitrarily, that her dismissal was a foregone conclusion. And at the same time, her devotion to her calling and her students were clearly visible. She simply could not bear to be forced or directed in any way to work.

Many constitutional types do not tolerate power very well, curtailment of their freedom, or pressure from another person to comply or agree. But in Lachesis, the intolerance of psychological barriers finds its physical parallel in the sensitivity to pressure on any part of the body and especially around the throat (Gutman points out that the snake's throat is really the only vulnerable part of it, "any strong grip around the neck renders the most venomous snake helpless") . A woman does not like tight dresses and jewelry around her neck and wears blouses and dresses with an open collar or constantly pulls back a sweater with a stand-up collar, as if trying to relieve pressure in this place. The man loosens his tie and unbuttons the collar of his shirt: "he does not tolerate a shirt or shirt collar around his neck" (Goering).

In an intriguing coincidence, Hering's innate dislike of tight-fitting clothing was further enhanced during his research on Lachesis; since then, this trait has been considered one of the key symptoms.

Even bed sheets, curling around the neck, may cause Lachesis nervous state, discomfort, or suffocation (in Lycopodium and Calcarea carb., the dislike of pressure is physically manifested in an unwillingness to wear a belt or tight garments around the waist or hypogastrium). But sometimes a patient whose "stomach is sensitive even to the simple weight of clothing" (Goering) does not object to a tight belt, because strong pressure does not worsen well-being. In fact, many of his symptoms and pains are relieved by intense pressure (Bryonia, Ignatia); a sore throat, for example, feels better from swallowing solid food than from simply swallowing or swallowing hot liquids, which aggravates the pain. Aggravation from light touch or "oversensitivity to touch" (Kent) in conjunction with amelioration from hard pressure always suggests Lachesis.

Whitmont notes that this physical symptom symbolically reflects a latent mental state: “When you are pressed or hit psychologically, you deviate, but when used soft methods then you are "touched". Your feelings overcome your defenses and come to the fore. And this is something that a person like Lachesis with her suppressed life feelings and emotions cannot afford ... But strong pressure improves, because you react to it with composure and readiness to accept pressure ... ”An analogy can be drawn here with the already mentioned deterioration in the spring warmth, which must aggravate the condition more than the heat of summer. The fact is that a softer effect is worse than a strong one. As the weather gets warmer, certain instincts wake up in the classic "hay fever" while Lachesis "gathers up" and puts up protection from the summertime heat.

On an intellectual level, this positive response to pressure may explain why he performs well within tight deadlines. In contrast to Calcarea carbonica, Pulsatilla, or Silicea, which respond to pressure with "discord," weeping, or a bashful withdrawal, respectively, "heavy pressure" and emotional stress stimulate the Lachesis psyche and bring out its best qualities. Arsenicum album and Natrum muriaticum also respond to intense pressure, but it must be appropriate, from a regulated and unpredictable character, while Lachesis responds best to sporadic intense pressure.

Notably, Harriet Beecher Stowe, who also had a distinct Lachesis streak like her brother, wrote her only significant work under the intense pressure of extreme hardship: illness, financial hardship, emotional distress when she was able to work. only at night, after the performance of all their family and household duties. As she herself later admitted, this story came to her with an “almost tangible vision” not just under inspiration, but was “dictated by God” (in a “trance-like state” characteristic of Lachesis). Of course, her next nine novels, written under relatively easy conditions, after Uncle Tom's Cabin, which brought her success and fame, are unremarkable.

A not very unusual manifestation of restriction intolerance in Lachesis is a woman's resistance to marrying a man whom she loves devotedly and with whom she may be sexually involved, simply out of fear of the psychological limitations imposed by marriage. Thus, the symptom of "aversion to marriage" may reflect an aversion, not to sex, but to the emotional bondage of the marital relationship.

As befits a person who loves power, Lachesis can show a fascination with money as a symbol of power. He likes to talk about wealth, more about rich people than about money as such (for example, about the prices of things), and he is almost as passionate about the wealth of others as his own. But he does not cling to his wealth (Arsenicum album, Sulfur) nor is he careful with money (Sepia, Lycopodium). In his understanding, money should be spent, not accumulated. He can exemplify liberality and sudden generosity, even squandering his fortune in part because it gives him a sense of power. The Lachesis woman may make extravagant purchases of clothing. While all women love to spend money on clothes, with Lachesis it can be excessive and out of control.

Money also exists to be risked, hence Lachesis is more inclined than other types to gamble. Even at home card games, he always gambles with his pile of chips as collateral. In contrast, the competitive but cautious Arsenicum plays with tense and stern seriousness, even when only a few cents are at stake.

Despite skepticism, moral relativism, and internal conflicts, Lachesis individuals show such inexhaustible vitality that others call them "tense", "overexcited", "addicted", "obsessed", not only in a sexual sense, but also for their knowledge. , experience, understanding, passion for work or faith, passion for life itself!

The incredible energy of this type manifests itself physically and emotionally, as already mentioned: a strong pulsation in the whole body or in some part of it, a rapid heartbeat and blood pounding in the temples, little need for sleep, strong attachment, strong sexual desire (“emotional and sexual charged” Whitmont) and mentally at a high level of intellectual activity: the mind acts quickly, “the tremendous power of originality ... in any mental work ... writes with the greatest freedom and great power about everything that he knows” (Allen); when he writes, before he has time to come up with one idea, his creative energy immediately arises, which acquires an electrical property: “a state of exaltation that causes a desire to perform intellectual work” (Clark). In everyday life, the more he does, the more energy he has. At work, he can do so much work that when he leaves for another job or retires, it takes three people to do it. He does not get sick, he does not slow down, and it seems that there are more hours in his day than other people.

For example, a familiar figure is the schoolteacher of the constitutional type Lachesis, who not only loves her job, but never gets tired of the same subject, giving it new and interesting coverage every year, which is only possible thanks to her inextinguishable enthusiasm. She always has so much to say that she can never finish the lesson on time. If she needs to check thirty works, she will give them back the next morning. She will have to stay up all night checking papers, but the next day in class she is full of dynamism again, showing no signs of sleepiness as always, and seems to pay undivided attention to even the most demanding student. Lachesis in full combat readiness is working at full capacity, and the observer has only to wonder where all his energy comes from.

Voltaire, who worked 18 to 20 hours a day (and night) on his various literary works and on correspondence that amounted to a thousand letters, and who dictated so quickly that his secretary could barely keep up with him to take notes, at the age of 64 years said about himself: “I'm as flexible as an eel; as lively as a lizard and as tireless as a squirrel." And so he remained for at least twenty years (but, no doubt, his energy required daily reinforcement in the form of almost forty cups of coffee throughout his life).

When Lachesis' energy, passion and fruitful ideas are given the right outlet, then his creative accomplishments are hard to beat. However, quite often, despite all his abilities, he lacks a true ability to make a distinction, because he tries to do a huge amount of work, starts a lot of things; he needs to be busy, "without permanence" (Allen).

His creativity is chaotic ("can't do anything in an orderly way," Allen) and his inspiration comes in sporadic bursts, so that the quality of his work is unevenly original but lacks a system. This is in contrast to Arsenicum's orderly, continuous improvement in performance level.

This inextinguishable vitality is also visible in the doctor's office. Patients with horrendous illnesses or personal tragedies that would devastate or overwhelm the ordinary psyche still face life with extraordinary brilliance, vigor and spirit, completely defiant. In fact, it's hard to believe that they feel as bad as they say they do. Like Phosphorus, Lachesis can be much more ill than it would suggest. Not only does their vitality not diminish in the face of danger (“It seems to me that I have been at war all year, but I still feel great”), at times it seems that the stronger the trials, the more powerful they cause these people manic reaction to stress. In general, both mental and physical illness in Lachesis takes on certain properties of restless overexcitation: the patient is always alert, "wants to be somewhere far away" (Clarke), doing anything more than usual, talking all the time, and these are impulses that generate energy.

In fact, his dynamism can be transferred to others. His energy is so powerful, his vitality so strong, that he cannot manage it in a constructive way and cannot direct it in a way that does not harm himself (“Sometimes it scares me how much energy I have. I don’t know what to do with it how to manage it!”). Patients requiring Lachesis describe an increase in their ambition, sense of power and drive to take action, and even feel the need for increased control of their impulses.

However, the "shadow" side of this vitality is also found in the patient, who demonstrates "complete dullness, apathy, despondency, lack of understanding, satiety with life and the desire for death, hopelessness, disgust for life" (Goering); as well as aversion to any intellectual activity; “slow, unable to complete his usual work, incapable of abstract thought; something like losing ideas” (Allen). It looks like someone turned off all his energy. On the physical plane, Lachesis helps with serious disorders in the immune system.

The heightened affirmation of life in Lachesis can perversely turn into powerful self-destructive forces, taking on the forms of alcoholism, drug addiction, foolish decisions to undermine one's own success just when everything is going well; or "sudden and irresistible suicidal impulses" (Goering) that suddenly arise immediately after a completely carefree outlook on life that prevailed only an hour ago. Or this person begins to destroy his relationship with other endless demands or super-possessive claims. Fearing to lose friends or those he loves, he coils around them, causing them to want to escape his too heavy and all-encompassing emotions, and, ultimately, this leads to what he most feared.

This particular vitality of Lachesis plays its part in creating a wonderful aura of impassivity that surrounds him, as if, on some particular emotional level, events have ceased to affect him in the way that they affect others. To all manifestations, he seems to have neither the excessive vulnerability of Natrum muriaticum, nor the hypersensitivity of Phosphorus, nor the clinging dependence of Pulsatilla, nor the emotional fragility of Ignatia, nor the weak character of Silicea, nor the agony characteristic of Arsenicum album over the loss of control over one's health and destiny. These factors, which the physician extracts almost by force, are usually absent in Lachesis, whose misfortunes are intellectually intriguing but do not require heartfelt participation. He does not cause pity, because he does not require it!

It's not that he's insensitive to emotional trauma or suffering. On the contrary, this remedy is often used in cases of "complaints arising from prolonged sadness or grief, disappointment in love, after injury, loss, etc." (Goering).

Although the actions of Natrum muriaticum, Ignatia, and Staphisagria are better known in such cases, Lachesis must never be forgotten. This individual suffers and may suffer severe physical or mental loss, but it looks as if a distance is being maintained between him and his misfortunes; he shows some kind of philosophical acceptance of the fate that is assigned to him in the inevitable whirlpools and streams of this world. This acceptance of trials and tragedies, as if he were an observer in the drama and not a participant in his own life, is partly the source from which he draws his ability to persevere in the face of difficulties; and the pathos of some especially brave souls who have gone through severe trials has some property of “shine” and “bring purity”, which give this pathos objectivity and detachment. In time the physician develops a sensitivity and begins to distinguish between this Lachesis "dispassion" and Lycopodium's aloofness and emotional detachment, in which events simply do not touch or traumatize Lycopodium. They should not be confused.

Whitmont believes that frequent cases of cancer during and after the menopause in women may be a retribution for the unfulfilled needs of life: "Lachesis is the punishment for an unlived life" in women of correct "Victorian" morality. By suppressing their sexual desires, they deprived themselves of normal emotional development, which led to abnormal development in the form of tumors. Without a doubt, Lachesis is the main remedy for cancer in middle-aged women, and it has been found that the source of the disease is often a disturbance of the sexual senses.

An unbiased approach to oneself favors a humorous attitude towards one's surroundings, and, despite the misfortunes of some situation or illness, Lachesis often mixes humorous with pathetic overtones. Even when experiencing true sympathy and a desire to help, the doctor may feel that he cannot help smiling at that extraordinary picture, almost a caricature, that the patient (or more often the patient) draws for him.

Sometimes the patient herself contributes to this impression, emphasizing the comic side of her failures and reinforcing the absurdity of the impression. She can deliberately create a distance between herself and her misfortunes, using humor (perhaps with her vulnerable pride trying to secure a position for herself when they laugh with you, and not at you). One patient said of herself: “My name is Miss Weird. I was born on April Fools' Day, and the absurdity marked me as its relative. My life is one long parody of what was meant to be life." She then went on to talk humorously about the whole series of extraordinary accidents and bizarre misfortunes that seemed to follow her at all times. Perhaps her character shaped these misfortunes, or perhaps it is her mindset that is so specially disposed to note and highlight all the funny things from the whole variety of the daily string of affairs, or, perhaps, on the contrary, an endless chain of failures and ridiculous misfortunes left their mark in imagination of Lachesis. In any case, fate seems to often give these people more than this share of half-funny and half-tragic adventures.

Indeed, humorists and satirists often display Lachesis traits (“tendency to mock, laugh, and ironize,” Goering), as this type quickly grasps the absurdity of situations, notices everything funny in the behavior of others, and perceives weaknesses in their speeches. It can be a joker, whose unintelligent wit gives out one joke after another with humorous comments about the incidents in everyday life, compensating for difficulties or even tragedy in life. Ultimately, the humorous and the tragic view of things complement each other in order to express the conviction of the futility and vanity of worldly affairs. Therefore, a gloomy or bitter attitude towards the world may underlie his humor. Whereas the humor of Lycopodium or Arsenicum comes from their possession and control of the situation, the mocking Lachesis looks more like a victim, a person who has been defeated in some way and for whom humor has remained the only way out of an unbearable and unchangeable situation. Conversely, a visibly serious person who is always "underhand chuckling" (Hubbard) and always ready to drop a laconic humorous remark can also be a Lachesis. Mark Twain, whose humor is so often tinged with “misanthropy” (Kent) or bitter pessimism (“Why do we laugh when someone is born and cry when someone is buried? Is it because it didn’t happen to us? ”) is a perfect example of the Lachesis type in his personality and in his literary works. The passionate internal struggle that dominated everything in his life of tragedy and comedy made him a cynic and a hardened moralist, as you might expect, speaking out most against his hidden self.

He could not stand moralizing in others and more than once criticized his fellow authors for it. However, much of what he wrote is also corrupted by too strong and too passionate preaching, more suitable for the pulpit than for the press. And at the same time, as it should be in the spirit of Lachesis, he, with tireless humor, subjects to inquiry all the ethical principles of the time and society in which he lives.

Few places in literature offer a more charming depiction of the ambiguity of conventional morality than in the scene when Huckleberry Finn, feeling he must pass off black Jim as a fugitive slave, finds "his educated but deformed mind" struggling with "his a sober heart" (Twain), and ends up deceiving his pursuers by pointing them in the wrong direction.

“They left, and I got on the raft, feeling bad and low, because I knew very well that I had done badly, and I saw that it was useless for me to try to learn to do the right thing; an organism that did not begin to live correctly when it was small will not be able to manifest itself as it should when an emergency comes. He cannot, finds nothing to support him in his work, and thus he fails. And then I thought for a minute and I said to myself: “Wait, suppose you did the right thing and gave them Jim, would you feel any better than now? No, I said, I would feel exactly the same as now. Well, then, I say, what's the point of learning how to do the right thing when it's also hectic to do the right thing, and the pay is still the same? I got stuck. I couldn't answer it. So I decided to worry more about it, but after that, always do what I feel comfortable at that moment.”

In addition, Twain ridiculed literary sentimentality (see the chapter on Pulsatilla), but he himself was not completely innocent of this, especially in his later writings. And besides, being a true American Democrat, with an aversion to anything that smacked of class privilege, he liked nothing more than to be received by the aristocratic royal families at the courts of England and Russia when he visited those countries. He despised the greed for wealth and in many of his writings denounced the "cursed human race" for its reverence for money. But he himself, nevertheless, was fascinated by wealth and decided to marry the richest heiress in New York, where he lived, Elmira. The way he sought the consent of his future father-in-law is just a classic.

Twain: "Did you notice anything between your daughter and me?"

Father-in-law: "No, I didn't notice."

Twain: "Well, take a closer look and you'll notice."

He also had the characteristic Lachesis inability to resist gambling or getting involved in some get-rich-quick schemes that inevitably ended in failure. He spent money generously and was generous to friends who remained friends in need, having experienced several great successes in life.

Few could surpass Twain in brevity and poignancy of style:

"Clothes make the man, the naked man has little or no effect on society", "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated", "Wagner's music is better than it sounds", or when asked for an opinion on Christianity's idea of ​​paradise and hell, he replied: “I better not express my opinion. I have friends in both places."

He is also responsible for the worst pages of literature among major writers. Since the emotional chaos characteristic of Lachesis can, as we remember, take over the realm of the intellect, and the damage caused by it is complicated by the inability of this type to behave with caution. So sometimes Twain was verbose and repetitive, endlessly rambling on his favorite thoughts in typical Lachesis erratic fashion, oscillating back and forth between pages of genius and writings of second-rate prose. Even within the same work, brilliant passages are drowned among boring verbiage and inexpressiveness.

At times, Lachesis's strange shifting of the pathetic and the ridiculous happens quite unintentionally. A common example would be a friend or relative who brings confusion everywhere and offers her help too willingly and incompetently, all accompanied by an endless or absurd stream of chatter. These unfortunates definitely "repel people" despite their best intentions. The more conscientious of these patients remark: “My friends avoid me. I don't seem to be able to communicate with anyone at work. Although I do a better job than other people, I don't get any promotions. So I realized that something in me was causing it all. Apparently, for me there is a problem of communication. Strictly speaking, this is a personality problem. They surprise others with too much tension, too much chatter, too much interference and self-imposition.

In addition, too much tension, unrelenting internal conflict that a person can neither realize nor control, loneliness, unmarried life, etc. can cause a slight "mental breakdown" (Goering). These people are able to carry out their function in society, but still remain somewhat strange. Their aura of "dispassion" accurately reflects the lack of "contact with reality and with themselves when they laugh foolishly" (Kent) or speak and respond almost like automatons. All this intellectual and emotional energy, unfortunately, never finds an adequate cause for the application of its forces and turns against itself, causing a mental loss of balance.

In conclusion, I would like to say once again that much of the disharmony of Lachesis arises from the struggle between his internal opposing egos. Inside his divided psyche, pleasure struggles with morality and intellectual self-restraint, skepticism with devotion, emotions with logic. Hostilities are not easy to calm down, and therefore the doctor is forced to deal with a split and tormented personality, looking for some kind of "singularity" in himself, some kind of integrity, within which he could resolve everything, or at least mitigate conflicts and collisions. his dualistic nature.

True harmony may elude him until he finds firm support in some worthy faith, vocation or science, which gives a higher combination of spirituality and intellect. In the meantime, a homeopathic remedy can help the patient to find in the confusion some effective stability between too tight control and too much self-indulgence, between repression and too much excitement. And then both sides of nature, each of which strives to gain the upper hand, will no longer be in a state of constant confrontation, but will be able to coexist in a more peaceful, albeit at times unreliable, state of truce.

There is intense internal stimulation or agitation that must be expressed through physical symptoms, behavior, or speech. His mind is overflowing with ideas, and the patient cannot keep them inside himself (which is manifested in talkativeness). Emotions are extremely passionate, and often the patient expresses them with frightening intensity. At the physical level, a painful state of internal excitation is noted, which is expressed in the form of pulsations,
bleeding, flushing and discharge.
Intensity. The Lachesis patient is passionate in all his manifestations. He works hard, competes intensely, loves jealously. The patient is almost always characterized by the word “active” around him. He is often very selfish and arrogant. The Lachesis patient notices the weaknesses of others and is able to strike at those weak spots without embarrassment. He has a sarcastic wit and can make "pungent" remarks even to his friends or the doctor.
Jealousy. Lachesis is a very sexy and passionate subject. This patient is in dire need of an outlet for sexual emotions, so he becomes very attached to his partner and feels possessive towards him. Lachesis can be tormented by completely groundless suspicions about their partner. Suspicion manifests itself not only in the sphere of romantic relationships, but also in general
condemning the intentions of others. If the process goes too far, then the patient's condition can develop into real paranoia.
Loquacity. Lachesis is the most talkative of all our patients. He can't bring himself to shut up. There is so much to express inside that he can't keep it to himself. Often the patient is so talkative that no one can put in even a word.
Introvert. If the output of these strong emotions is blocked in the patient, then the characteristic features of the Lachesis type are not noticeable at all. Then the patient looks soft, pleasant, but somewhat withdrawn. His strong emotions are hidden deep inside and he does not express them. When this happens, then he develops an inferiority complex with hidden envy, timidity and a rather critical
relation to almost everything around. In such a depressed state, the patient may develop destructive anxiety and phobias.
Children. The Lachesis child is usually unable to effectively control his overly strong emotions. Often parents visit a doctor because of behavioral and emotional problems, which usually begin immediately after the birth of a new child in the family. The child is terribly jealous of his parents for a new brother or sister (,). Often this intense jealousy develops
physical pathology - for example, asthma. In fact, the child will say that he hates his younger brother or sister. A Lachesis boy can be very jealous of his father. The child may also be strongly attached to his friends and demand that they communicate only with him and not be friends with anyone else. It seems that such a child develops an understanding of those around him very early.
of people. He is able to find your most vulnerable place and painfully “bite” with words, like a snake. The child cannot bear the power of another person over him; he does not allow himself any restrictions. This feeling can pass into adulthood and the aversion to authority will be manifested in the fact that he will refuse to carry out any orders from his boss at work or requests from his wife to help her do something.
CONSCIOUSNESS
Passionate, active people.
* Jealousy. Envy.
Suspicion to the point of paranoia.
* Loquaciousness.
Anger. Aggressiveness. Hatred and a passionate desire for revenge.
* Sarcastic.
Fears: * snakes. Poison. Heart diseases. Madness. Vomiting. That someone is standing behind him.
Pangs of conscience.
Illusion of deep guilt; ready to confess to "any crime except murder."

Depressed and anxious, worse in the morning on waking. suicidal tendencies.
Fantasizes about his own funeral.
Severe anxiety and deep-seated phobias.
Illness from experienced grief or disappointment in love.
Manic states with assertive speech, aggressiveness, insomnia.
The state of humiliation and depression (see above - "introvert").
Alcoholism or drug addiction.
GENERAL
"Hot"; aggravated from warmth (although in some cases there will be "chilly" patients.
* General aggravation during sleep or on waking; sleep worsens the condition.
* General deterioration before the onset of the menstrual cycle.
* General improvement as soon as (or after) menstruation begins.
* General deterioration during menopause or during pregnancy.
General aggravation from suppressed discharges.
* Left side symptoms.
* Symptoms begin on the left and move to the right.
General deterioration in spring and autumn.
General aggravation from suppression of sexual activity.
Flushes of heat (heat).
* General aggravation from lying on the left side.
* Purple color (face, skin lesions, boils, hemorrhoids) is accompanied by a feeling of fullness, plethora, or a feeling "as if it were about to burst."
Aversion to touch or pressure.
* Hypertension.
NERVOUS SYSTEM
Coma and delirium due to stroke, alcohol intake or fever.
Seizures. Eclampsia. Paresis. Hemiplegia. Acute cerebrovascular accident.
HEAD
Migraine. Throbbing headaches. Bursting headaches.
Headache on the left or in the vertex.
Headache, worse from heat, worse before menstruation, better during menses, worse during pregnancy and during menopause, better from pressure.
Flushes of heat in the face.
left hand otitis media, strong pain worse at night.

Retinal hemorrhage.
Hair loss, especially during pregnancy.
Bleeding from the nose
Trembling of the tongue when protruding it.
THROAT
Left-sided pharyngitis or moves from left to right.
Tonsillitis.
Sore throat, worse when swallowing, especially liquids or saliva, but better when swallowing solid food, worse from warm drinks; better from cold drinks.
Sore throat, radiating to ears when swallowing.
Choking on swallowing.
Sensation of a lump in the throat, temporary improvement on swallowing.
Difficulty swallowing, especially swallowing liquids or saliva.
* Does not tolerate tight collars, turtlenecks, necklaces.
* Cannot bear being touched on the throat.
GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT
Desire: flour. Oysters. Spicy food. alcohol.
Cannot bear the pressure of tight clothing on the stomach.
Colitis with relief during diarrhoea.
Hemorrhoids - swollen with strangulation, purple.
Diarrhea before menstruation.
Hepatitis. Jaundice.
URINARY SYSTEM
Kidney stones. Jade with dark or black urine.
Tumors of the ovaries or ovarian cysts, especially on the left.
Pronounced dysmenorrhea, cannot bear tight-fitting clothing; better from discharge.
* Premenstrual syndrome - irritable, jealous, depressed, headache, hot flashes.
Increased sexual activity, nymphomania. Masturbation; excessive, early sexual development.
BREAST
* Asthma after an attack of jealousy or strong emotions.
Asthma, worse at night, worse during sleep, worse in the morning on waking, worse from the warmth of the room.
Asthma, better outdoors, better in the cold, in a sitting position - bent forward ( , ).
Should tear the collar of a shirt or nightgown during an asthma attack.
* Wakes up feeling suffocated at night, especially when falling asleep.
Angina. Congestive heart failure.
Myocardial infarction with a feeling of constriction in the chest; pain radiating to the left arm.
* Palpitation, worse lying on left side; worse at night; worse when sleeping.
Chest tightness, worse lying on left side.
MUSCLES AND BONES
Spreads fingers; can't stand it when they touch.
Sciatica, right or left, with hyperesthesia in the legs - even the touch of a sheet is unbearable.
Sciatica during pregnancy.
Varicose veins, especially on the legs, they are usually pinkish or may be black.
Ice limbs.
Rarely sticks his feet out from under the covers.
Herpes zoster on the left side of the back.
Ulcers on the legs. Lameness.
Wounds and bruises easily occur. Purpura.
Melanoma. Skin lesions become black or purple in color. Erysipelas.
DREAM
* Sleeps on the right side; cannot sleep on the left side.
* Starts in sleep - as from suffocation. Sleep is accompanied by apnea. Nightmares.

CLINICAL PICTURE
Alcoholism. Angina. Arrhythmia. Asthma. behavioral disorders. Violation of cerebral circulation. Lameness. Colitis. Connective tissue diseases. Diarrhea. Addiction. Emphysema. Endometriosis. Nose bleed. Tides. Hysterical lump in throat. Hemoptysis. Bleeding. Haemorrhoids. Hepatitis. Shingles. Hypertension. Hypertensive crisis. Hyperthyroidism. Kidney stones. Malignant neoplasms. Affective insanity. Menopause. Uterine bleeding. Migraine. Myocardial infarction. Nephritis. Nightmares. Otitis. Ovarian cyst. Paranoia. Peptic ulcer. Pharyngitis. Polycythemia. Purpura. Retinal hemorrhage. Scarlet fever. Sciatica. Seizures. Thyroiditis. Toxemia. Bleeding from the uterus. Damage to the heart valves. Phlebeurysm.
ADDITIONAL . . .
COMPARE
Hyos - Loquacity, jealousy, hypersexuality, paranoia and symptoms of brain stroke, mania.
Crot-n, Naja, snake venoms- Cardiac symptoms and circulatory disorders, bleeding, ecchymosis, sepsis and left-sided symptoms.
Cimic - Loquacity, migraine and menstrual disorders.
Lac-C - Fear of snakes, sensitivity to touch and craving for alcohol.
phos. SuIph. Apis. Med. Plat. cact. Zinc.