A Burn Remedy: Spanish Fly (Cantharis)

Cantharis is the first homeopathic remedy mentioned in the Castlewood Trilogy. In Love on the Vine, Lord Featherstone says to Fiona Fairmmont, the woman everyone thinks he should marry, "I burned myself rather badly during my travels. A scalding cup of chocolate found its way into my lap whilst I was in Leipzig. Several of Hahnemann's students happened to be in the same café, and one of them gave me potentized Spanish fly—Cantharis. The hideous pain diminished miraculously. I couldn't believe it at first, thought it was mere coincidence. But then the pain returned after a few hours, and I took a second dose the student had left with me. Well, the pain disappeared in the same way and this time stayed away. I haven't questioned homeopathy's validity since. I stayed on in Leipzig to learn as much as I could about it and met Hahnemann himself. A fascinating man. A genius, really."

[Samuel Hahnemann was a physician in his day but stopped practicing when he felt he was hurting people more than helping them with the blood-lettings, the blistering poultices, and the large doses of poisonous substances. He is the father of homeopathy.]

Constantine Hering, a renowned 19th century homeopath (and also a physician), is famous for saying that all skeptics of homeopathy should burn their fingers and then immerse them in a solutions of Cantharides. He felt certain that their skepticism would be cured along with their burns. He was a skeptic himself until he got a dissecting wound that was cured by homeopathic arsenic.

Lord Featherstone teaches Fiona much more about homeopathy, but does he ever marry her? Read Love on the Vine to find out....

I hope you have no need for burn remedies, but it's good to have Cantharis in your First Aid kit, just in case. For milder burns, Urtica urens, made from nettles, is also curative.

Did Charles Poldark need Asafœtida?

In Winston Graham's Poldark book, Charles Poldark was the squire of Trenwith manor, the head of the Poldark household ... and he also had some significant physical ailments. He could not control his belching (which made dinners with female guests an embarrassment) and he had several 'heart strokes' which finally killed him. In Season One of the most recent PBS Poldark series, Warren Clarke (pictured above) did a wonderful job of portraying the squire. And if Charles Poldark had gotten Asafœtida, perhaps Grambler mine could have remained under his management and wouldn't have been lost in a card game ... but then Poldark wouldn't be Poldark.

In Lectures on Materia Medica, James Tyler Kent, homeopathic physician in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, writes, "There is one class of patient you will find who will trouble you. Those cases that come into your office with puffed, venous, purple faces ... It is a dark red, dusky face; such a face we shall cure sometimes with Asafœtida.

... (the face) shows more or less cardiac disturbance and venous stasis. The venous side of the heart will often be involved, or be about to be involved, when you have this kind of face. I never like to see them come into my office, for they are hard cases to manage.

... in the stomach troubles, if you have ever seen a typical case of Asafœtida, you will wonder where all the air comes from; it comes up in volumes ... it is a condition that the patient has no control over."

It's fun for me to think of characters (or real people) when reading about a remedy. It helps to firmly secure some of that remedy's key symptoms in my memory. I will forevermore connect Asafœtida to Charles Poldark and Warren Clarke's portrayal of him. Another way to remember a remedy is to learn more about the substance. What exactly is Asafœtida? It is a plant that has yellow parsley-like foliage and produces a gummy resin, from which the remedy is made. The plant grows high above sea level, mostly in Iran and Afghanistan, and has a sulphurous odor. In powder or paste form it can be used as a substitute for garlic (in Indian cuisine, 'hing' – as it's referred to – is frequently used in curries). The plant is used for digestive issues and asthma in Chinese medicine, which is similar to how it is used in homeopathy.

Charles Poldark had no access to Asafœtida and ended up dying from his ailments. The characters in my trilogy have access to homeopathic remedies that help to keep them healthy and happy! If you haven't read the Castlewood books yet, I hope you'll give them a try.

Best wishes,

Lucille

Magical, Beautiful Snow

Even if slushy streets, missed engagements, and higher heating bills annoy, you must admit that snow is the prettiest thing about Winter. I took all the photos you see here a few years ago in the Greensboro Arboretum, one of my favorite places to take walks. I hope we get at least one good snowstorm in North Carolina this year. Even Texas got more snow than we've gotten! My memories and photographs will have to suffice until Old Man Winter grants my wish.

There are 30 remedies under the symptom, "Dreams; Snow" in the Complete Repertory 2023 (a homeopathic book of symptoms). Looking at repetitive dreams is one way that a homeopath can hone in on a remedy for someone. A good homeopath will not recommend a remedy based on that one  symptom, but it can be a solid clue if the dream is repetitive and other symptoms match.

Please write to me if you want to share your favorite thing about Winter. I'd love to hear from you! And if you want a fun read on a wintry day in front of a crackling fire, try one of the Castlewood books!

Stay warm!

Lucille