From Beryllium to Zingiber - Report on a

presentation by Anne Schadde

April 5 - 6, 2002 • New York - October 2002
With enthusiasm and vibrancy, German homeopath Anne Schadde presented an enriching seminar, "Perception and
Understanding," sponsored by The School of Homeopathy New York. Using Jungian philosophy and Hellinger's
family theory to inform her analysis, Schadde reviewed cases of Prunus spinosa, Zingiber, Beryllium, and Stannum
and discussed her proving of Ozone. Schadde has proved several new remedies, among them, Gingko biloba,
Lithium, Cowrie and Lapis.
"Homeopaths often feel the full weight of cure on their shoulders," Schadde reminded us, "but cure is a process
and takes years." Jung says that all parts need to be in place for cure to happen. One dislocation, Schadde believes,
is disorder of the patient's family, which can be what Hahnemann cites as an obstacle to cure. In a disordered family
the energetic generational flow is stopped, such as when the child acts out the parents' issues or when a child fills the
role of a parent. Often the clue for the child's remedy may be found in the larger constellation of the family. As an
example, Schadde related the case of a child whose painful constipation was mirroring the mother's resistance to
falling in love outside of her marriage. After a consultation, the mother embraced the "shadow" feelings of guilt about
her infatuation, and after a dose of Ignatia, the child released her stool.
Prunus spinosa
Exploring the Rose family of homeopathic remedies, the class viewed a video of a man suffering from eye pain
following an injury, in addition to neuralgic headaches, which caused him to tighten up his face, and overall
nervousness. None of the typical neuralgic remedies had worked. Schadde explained that the key to the curative
remedy, Prunus spinosa, came in his dream about blackthorn plums. This dream reminded him of his childhood
experiences collecting the plums, which produce a scant amount of a very sour juice. The juice is so tart that it makes
the face pucker. Prunus spinosa, made from the blackthorn plum, has several neuralgic eye pain symptoms.
Schadde identified the themes running throughout the Rose family of remedies: stitching, sharp and stinging
pains, easy excitability, constriction, atrophy, shrieking for help, memory lapses, sensation as if full of water. Roses
are traditionally associated with love, Schadde pointed out, and the Rose remedies all have heart symptoms such as
dropsy in heart disease and sensation that the heart would cease during palpitations. While some of the themes are
common to many of the Rose remedies, differentiating among the remedies depends on the pathology. For instance,
while Rosa damascena has an affinity to hay fever, Prunus is especially for neuralgic conditions.
Zingiber
A video case of Zingiber (ginger) was a study in contrast to Prunus. Eyes downcast, voice soft and low, the patient
described an onset of sciatica the day after her husband told her they couldn't afford to go on future vacations. The
patient, who liked to travel, felt sad. She was unable to rise from sitting because her muscles had no tone at all. An
EMG had confirmed the lack of muscle tone. On the emotional level she wasn't standing up for herself either.
Schadde prescribed Bryonia and then Causticum, but they offered no help. The repertory rubric "back pain, rising
from sitting almost impossible" seemed to fit the symptom, but the remedies in this rubric didn't fit the overall
symptom picture of the case. Schadde then used the rubrics "back pain, drawing, lumbar, sitting erect aggravates"
and "back pain, lumbar, standing aggravates" to best represent the lack of tension in the woman's muscles. This
repertorization led her to prescribe Zingiber.
The roots and bulbs are the most important parts of the Ginger plant, Schadde explained. (Roots creep and don't
stand up, like the patient above).Ginger in its natural form has an affinity to the stomach and respiratory system. It
invigorates the person who has flat energy, enriching the inner fire. It is used as an aphrodisiac. Based on the natural
characteristics of this substance, one might expect the homeopathic remedy Zingiber to have symptoms of burning
and heat. But in the provings of Zingiber, we find the opposite is true. There is emptiness in the stomach, difficulty
swallowing, and stiffness and weakness in the body reflecting the theme of no energy and lack of tone.
Beryllium
Beryllium was prescribed to a woman whose tonsils were so swollen that her airway was blocked causing her to tilt
her head to the side to breathe. As a child she had tuberculosis of the bone and was confined in a body cast for four
years. During that time, she felt that she had no home and dreamed of having wings to fly and falling. Sometimes the
dreams continued into waking. A complicated history included scarlatina (she'd never been well since), kidney
infections, tinnitus, sensitivity to noise, and tonsillitis, as well as estrangement from her parents.
Using Scholten's schema of classifying remedies, Schadde evaluated the patient as being trapped in childhood or
in the second row of the Periodic Table of the Elements where the emphasis is on "me" and "who am I?" The
remedies from that level are Lithium, Beryllium, and Neon. Beryllium has an affinity to the lymph system, lungs, liver,
spleen, kidneys, and nasopharynx. The throat symptoms are similar to Lachesis. After treatment, the patient suffered
no more tonsil infections and a dramatic reduction in tinnitus.
Ozone
Schadde's Ozone proving reveals the duality of the gaseous element, the "black and white" roles of destroyer and
defender. In the 1990s, Schadde pointed out, ozone was a threat to the world. What had been highly safe in the old
ages was now a threat to the planet. On one hand, poisonous ozone is generated on the streets of earth by
automobile exhaust; on the other, ozone is the main component of the protective atmospheric layer preventing the
planet from destructive sun rays. When she began the proving, Schadde received a threat from a pharmacist who
warned her that it was illegal for her to prove this substance in Germany. The feeling of doing something wrong and
the fear of going to jail remained with Schadde throughout the proving and appeared in the provers also.
Ozone's odor can be experienced in two ways. In large amounts the gas smells acrid like chlorine, while in small
amounts it is sweet like hay and carnations. In its natural form, ozone is composed of two molecules of oxygen joined
by a third under conditions of heat and pressure. This causes instability, which in the proving is found in the theme of
connection and easy disconnection in relationships.
The themes of Ozone were clarified further by a patient who came to Schadde for treatment two years after the
proving was completed. His primary complaint was a loss of his sense of smell, which occurred suddenly after being
exposed to a strong noxious odor. This sensory loss was especially traumatic for him because as a fearless wildlife
explorer and rescuer, he had lost part of his defense mechanism and was afraid of dying. He could no longer sense
danger in his life. In his relationships to women he said he had no way to determine whether a woman was good for
him, because he couldn't smell her. Furthermore, he described a feeling of being "castrated" by the threats to the
earth, fearing that people "would generate so much rubbish they would destroy our earth." Having cared for and
protected his invalid mother for 20 years, he had relationships only with married women to whom he had no
obligation. He idolized women, envisioning in one of his dreams a woman lying high up on a plateau while below, he
was paralyzed in his attempts to reach her. He felt no connection to money, "I lose money; I spend it easily."
The audacity of this patient was similar to that of the provers of Ozone who climbed mountains without fear,
Schadde related. Like the patient, the provers were panicked that the earth would be destroyed by the environmental
disregard of its inhabitants. The provers felt that they could not rely on people ("Company, aversion to, unpredictable,
that people are") and that everything was connected on a big level with great eternal truth ("Delusions, imaginations,
connected, everything is," "Delusions, imaginations, influence, is under a powerful"). One prover viewed white snow
covered in black and described it as purity cloaked in danger. Some provers felt euphoria, as if tipsy or on speed,
which can be related to Ozone's nature as a gas and its volatile molecular structure. Conversely, there was hopeless
despair and sadness alternating with positiveness. Many provers' senses of smell were altered with extreme
sensitivity to odors of exhaust, of chlorine, and of strange odors.
Stannum metallicum
Two cases portrayed different views of Stannum metallicum, the final remedy discussed in the seminar. The first was
a man who alternated between weakness and strength. As a child he had asthma, fear of dark, and enuresis. He
became a leader and protégé of a famous drummer, which changed his life and fortune. A respected performer, he
traveled the world believing his mission was to build bridges between cultures. Meanwhile, he felt restricted in fulfilling
his musical ambitions because of the need to make money as a welder to support his family. This frustration had
manifested in depression and extreme tiredness. Again referring to Scholten's theory, Schadde determined that this
case was in the Silver series of the Periodic Table of the Elements, which relates to the theme of performance.
Stannum is one of the elements in this series.
The second case demonstrated another dimension of Stannum. The patient had suffered a severe love
disappointment, feeling that his heart had been torn out of his chest. This woman was the love of his life, the essence
of purity and innocence. After swearing that he would never cry about a woman again, he developed a cough,
weakness, and an empty feeling in his chest. Schadde pointed out what she believed was the key to understanding
this case. The loss of his lover was equivalent to a great financial loss, for he had considered her precious and
valuable and had placed her on the high altar. Stannum has aggravation descending from a high place, just as this
patient became ill after losing the mate who embodied his high ideals. A tubercular remedy, Stannum patients can
suffer such respiratory weakness that they cannot talk or read aloud and may faint. As shown by this patient, they are
very sensitive and easily wounded.
In closing the seminar, Schadde entertained the group by showing an excerpt of the film, First Knight, the story of
King Arthur and his protégé Lancelot. Schadde explained that the movie vividly portrays the homeopathic principle of
like curing like. As each character reveals their emotional susceptibility (e.g., fear, guilt, jealousy), they suffer an
incident reflecting that emotion. Each character chooses to face their deepest fear, proceed through a healing
process, and experience personal transformation.
About the author:
Tina Quirk, BS, MS, PCH, practices homeopathy in New York City. She is the Year 1 Core Teacher at The School of
Homeopathy, New York, and writes articles for homeopathy journals and books. She recently researched and wrote
"Toxicology of Thallium" and "The History of Syphilis" for a new publication by Jeremy Sherr, Dynamic Materia
Medica: Understanding the Syphilitic Miasm through Remedies. She is practice manager and assistant to Jeremy
Sherr. She studied in the Flexible Learning Program of The School of Homeopathy, Devon, UK, and is a graduate of
The Dynamis School.