Fungi Anhängsel

‡ Folgendes hat anthroposofische Einschlüsse ‡

“Fungi relate (soul) quality of thinking a lot about things/living in the psyche in such a way that one does not need much from the outside world but pumps everything out of oneself -, one will then again find that this

inner quality, which essentially points to the fungi, relates very closely to all problems that have headache character. This will guide us to relationships between fungi and headachetype conditions”/ Poisonous fungi

can make nerve tissue capable of regeneration”/Poisonous fungi can make nerve tissue capable of regeneration. Those with warty caps (Agar) act more towards the periphery, and those with smooth caps like Amanita phalloides (= Agar-b.) act more in the direction of the inner parts of nerve tissue. Fungi develop where the cosmic astrality influencing earth’s forces does not exhaust itself in developing the flowers of plants above

ground level but penetrates further, to just above soil level. Fungi then result. Development of the colour red is a counter action to this excessive astralization. ‘Where ever reddening occurs in a natural process, we

have powerful action against astralization” of damaged nerve tissue. Use is by injection via the rhythmical organism, as this is esp. appropriate for restoring harmony between astral body and ether body/“Algae and

fungi are the plants which are wholly immersed in the interactions between air and watery element. The peculiarity is that these plants have a powerful affinity to the sulphur which is today present everywhere in

small amounts - in the watery element and in air. This means that these plants, if brought into the rhythmical organism, are particularly suitable for restoring harmony between the astral body and the ether body”.

Exhibition to a relatively high potency (D 30) directs the action mainly to the neurosensory system.

Fungi often produce gases/relate more to the watery and airy rather than the heat element. This preference for the watery and airy elements may be the reason why they preferably attack the lungs and intestines in

human infections.

Mycosis (= Infektionskrankheit durch Pilze als Parasiten im lebenden Gewebe).

Intestinal mycosis given consideration in natural medicine (not possible to say if it is a primary or secondary disorder). There are indications that the presence of Cand. in intestinal flora may play a central role in atopic diseases: psoriasis/seborrheic dermatitis.

Fungi show tremendous variety in growth/characteristics. By nature they/the diseases associated with them reside in a cool/humid environment. They cause retardation in human metabolism (warmth organism).

Exist where the human being is unable to give his I-organization (= Ich-organisation)/his warmth and light organism adequate structure in the lower human being.

Treatment: should strengthen I-activity in the organism (intestines).

Different approaches:

A number of authors have referred to intestinal Candida mycosis as a distinct syndrome. Symptoms: alternating diarrhea/flatus/lowered resistance to infection/asthma/eczema/neurodermatitis/psychological symptoms

such as lack of drive/depression. Cand. said to be the main cause. (?Glutenunverträglichkeit?).

1. presence of Cand. in the intestines of healthy subjects proves that Cand. is part of the physiologic intestinal flora.

2. consider the presence of Cand. in the intestines to be a secondary phenomenon when the intestinal milieu is abnormal (food intolerance).

3. intestinal candidiasis has a role in neurodermatitis/urticaria.

4. pathological candidiasis only with a confirmed physiologic correlate as.

5. The absence of confirmed infection parameters does not permit the conclusion that Cand. in the intestinal flora is of no significance. Low-grade infections (intestinal mycosis) are often symptomless.

Some patients actually only realize that they had not been well before once they have been treated. Some authors assume that the absence of inflammatory changes is actually a characteristic of the syndrome.

We have to ask how "healthy" individuals with Cand. in their flora will feel in a few years time.

6. intestinal fungi were much more uncommon before antibiotics came in/primitive peoples/excess nutrition played a role (infants given formulas instead of mother's milk). Cand. is not part of the primary flora developing in the intestines of the newborn.

7. Cand. mycosis ist pathological believe there is a connection with a underlying disorder of intestinal homeostasis. Only yeasts and Bifidum bacteria remain when antibiotics reduce the normal bacterial flora.

Expansion of yeasts in the intestine may cause vitamins to be withdrawn. No evidence has thus been brought that Cand. is physiologic in the intestine.

The pathogenic Cand. factors causing infection are well known adherence, development of mycelia which may be invasive, enzyme production. It is not clear when and why saprophytic growth becomes pathologic.

The secretory activity of immunoglobulin A, acting as a mediator between mucosal cells and the inner intestine, is inhibited. It has now been shown that Saccharomyces boulardii yeast can be taken up into the intestine

like particles derived from lifeless nature. The situation may be expected to be similar with pathogenic yeasts. Authors agree that fungal infections indicate an area of least resistance in the host. It is also known that

small amounts of alcohols are produced in cases of intestinal Cand. mycosis. Treatment of intestinal Cand. reduces the blood alcohol levels, which are low in any case.

Investigation of the intestinal microecology presents methodological problems in time required (anaerobic organisms that make up the bigger part of the intestinal flora). Positive tests for Cand. in serum, stools or

biopsy material do not correlate with identifiable pathologic conditions, making evaluation difficult. It is also difficult to establish in which part of the intestine the yeasts are growing.

Not much is known about possible symbiosis of yeasts and the human intestinal mucosa. More data are available on therapeutic exhibition of Saccharomyces boulardii (= Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. Boulardii) eine

Hefe, verwandt mit Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Sie wird als probiotischer Arzneistoff zur Behandlung von Durchfall sowie vorbeugend während und nach Antibiotikagaben eingesetzt.

The effect of yeasts on the mucosal surfaces of the intestine/of enzymes secreted into the intestines is yet unknown.

Basically, evidence of yeasts in the intestine or stools does not call for treatment (in child this may be passing). Minor infections may quite often be followed by short-term fungal growth in the intestine and this is spontaneously reversible. With food allergies an elimination diet often reduces even massive yeast levels.

In the view of those who consider intestinal mycosis to be a definite syndrome, it involves chronic changes that are difficult to diagnose. One gets varied pictures of absent or mild symptoms and is not sure whether to

treat them or not. Fungi tend to be parasitic or saprophytic, their existence goes largely unnoticed. Symptomatic bactera are the exception, lack of symptoms with intestinal mycosis the rule.

Many people say after successful treatment that they feel much better. Consider that fungi in stool tests may give falsely negative results.

Unless we have a concept of "health", with criteria for "well" or "ill", we can only have opinions. The essential nature of the human being has to be considered as a whole (incl. soul and spirit) to know if one is dealing

with states of health or illness.

Simonis has giving a loving botanical description of the fungi as seen by a physician. He calls them retarded life forms that still have an echo of the ancient Saturn. period of human and earth evolution and have been

unable to relate to the more recent development of the Sun period. In terms of earth evolution they may be considered to belong to the Moon. period of earth evolution known as Lemuria.

The systematics of fungi cover many categories.

In medicine are epidermophytes [Microsporum (= Ringworm.)/Trichophyton (Ursache Hautkrankheit)]/molds [Mucor (verminderte Leucozythenzahl)/Fusarium cephalospores (Antibiotikum/allergen)/Aspergillus (Haut/Ohren/Nasennebenhöhlen/Lunge/Metastasen: Herz/Niere/ZNS/in Heu/Kompost/“Fluch. des Pharao.“)/Pen./yeasts [Cand./Cryptococcus. (= "Hidden. Sphere")]/Saccharomyces (= Zuckerhefen)/Trichosporum/Geotrichum (überal anwesend)/dimorph fungi [Blastomyces (many symptoms)/Histoplasma (in faeces birds/bats/lungs)/Coccidioides (flu-like/lungs)/Sporothrix (soil/hay/sphagnum moss/roses/enters through small abrasions in the skin/lungs/handling cats with the disease)].

R.S.: Forms living in the Moon region of the earth/originate in the element of warmth (pollen), but then go into the sphere of decay (saprophytes). Their fruiting bodies face the soil and not the light as in higher plants.

R.S.: algae and fungi strongly absorb the astrality of their environment.

Fungi may be considered to be unicellular/without chlorophyll. and therefore depend on nutrients in organic matter from another source/can live under exclusion of light. May form networks called mycelia. Some produce hyphae which then produce mushrooms (boletici/agarici). Spores shed in autumn, similar to the pollen of flowering plants.

Fungal spore allergy in autumn is the counter image in time of the seasonal pollen allergy in spring/do not produce fruit in the proper sense/their fruiting element are the asexual spores (Aspergillus).

Many fungi produce surface pigments to face the light (Agaricae). Their actual growth sphere is colorless, however. In this they differ fundamentally from many higher plants (pigments in the root).

Might say that fungi do the opposite of higher plants when it comes to color. A rose producing red in its leaves seeks to fend off astralization. In pigment-producing fungi, however, the color is part of the astrality they

seek to absorb (toadstools = mushrooms).

R.S.: diphtheria is fungus-like and suggested treating it with Cinnb, saying that this would tie up the astral body more closely with the ether body (Agar).

In many respects fungi hold a half-way position in nature. Their skeletal matter is the chitin of insects (not in yeast). In their great variety, the alternation of spore, resting stage and shoot form they are close to the algae.

R.S.: "and so everything that is fungal by nature has a close relationship with the lower animal world, bacteria and similar creatures, particularly with harmful parasites„. Fungi may thus be said to be a kind of chameleon.

in lower nature, adapting to any given situation.

Fungi grow at widely differing temperatures. In the human body they thrive at 37°C (low temperatures)/live in cool, dark space/in humid warmth. (Spores may be heat reSIStant/can tolerate COLD temperatures) retaining their germinative power for a long time.

Fungi live in a sphere of warmth and in an excess of organic matter. Going back to earlier stages of earth evolution they have a relationship to the ancient N and Cyanide atmosphere.

They do not generate heat energy in their quite considerable metabolic processes but consume it/will thus often maintain cold. Fungi often produce gases/relate more to the watery and airy rather than the heat element.

This preference for the watery and airy elements may be the reason why they preferably attack the lungs and intestines in human infections.

Bacterial processes on the other hand tend to generate heat (spontaneous ignition in haystack/compost stack).

Symbiotic union of fungi and the roots of plants produce mycorrhiza (= Symbiose von Pilzen und Pflanzen), a borderline region between organically structured plant matter and the completely lifeless mineral soil.

Such mediation between plant and soil prefigures life when excess N is present.

Substances produced in the mycorrhiza have a deadening effect on the surrounding area. Substances from bacteria inhibit fungal growth and vice versa (griseofulvin from penicillin). Modern antibiotics derived largely

from fungi from soil or originally from their substances.

Fungi produce toxins as characteristic of the whole group of fungi (Cand).

Bacteria relate more to warmth, algae differ from fungi in that they show a definite orientation towards light. With their Chlp. they draw the light down into the water, using it to produce matter in photosynthesis.

Binding of I by algae also relates to the light.

Fungi prefer the lightless sphere of humus and the roots of higher plants and thrive best under light exclusion. Occasionally they send the fruiting bodies we know as mushrooms up into the air from the damp rotting soil.

This would seem to be to seek the air, rather than the light, so that their spores may spread.

Fungi is a plant in the plant world that consists entirely in a kind of head/do not develop the leaf sphere which is essential in plant nature/they do not relate to the rhythmic processes connected with leaf development.

Instead they produce a "flower" at ground level.

R.S.: their development is peculiarly astralized/this would explain why they do not relate to the human intestinal system, which is based on plant leaf-type principles, but may become pathogenic in it, similar to the lung.

R.S.: spoke of the soil itself being the basis for fungal life, with fungi not rising above its sphere. It is different with trees. The powers of the earth make them grow beyond the soil, taking them up into the light. Fungal metabolism thus also relates little to light.

Unlike that of intestinal bacteria. Putrefying bacteria bind heat and light as into matt energy er in their high-energy metabolism/these processes integrate in the organism.

Parasitic fungi: generally use only partial stages of metabolism, leaving the rest to putrefaction. Their metabolism thus does not submit to the principles that guide the human organism, which relates strongly to light.

Fungi play an important role in dealing with dying matter in the soil. They show a preference for residues from living organisms that contain N and thus facilitate nitrogen metabolism for plants/contribute much to carbon conversion in the world.

Their capacity for converting large amounts of substrate makes them an ideal means of conducting metabolic processes in industrial context. They have the advantage that they do not on the whole bring about complete

lysis but perform only part stages. Another important advantage is that they finally yield the original substance again, either as a substrate or as a gas such as CO2.

Bacterial metabolism on the other hand not only converts matter to heat energy, as mentioned above, but this energy is often converted to high energy matter and stored in the bacterium. Fungi thus are selfless in their metabolism, releasing the substance they have been processing. On the other hand they are also toxic, releasing their metabolic products unprotected into the environment.

R.S.: characterized their growth, with degradation/decomposition/excess of matter as dying life. Compared to bacteria, fungi appear to take the degradation of matter only to a certain level. Fermentation, a self-limiting process with a relatively low energy yield, is a characteristic. They limit their activity in the conversion of matter, letting others take the process to completion.

Plants: constructive metabolism takes care of the soil

Intestinal bacteria: constructive metabolism takes care of the human intestine

in either case with the aid of light processes. It may be assumed that the attachment to dying processes seen in fungi means that humans suffering from mycosis are confronted with increased levels of toxic decomposition products/are colder/affected by cold.

Fungi prevent the complete digestion necessary for the human organism. Humans need to convert all matter into a form that is their own. "Anything taken in from outside must either merely be something that enables it

to develop its own activity; or it has to act in such a way in the body that the foreign activity does not differ from one of the body's own inner activities once it has entered into the body“. Fungi not only remain parasitic foreign bodies in man but also provide their host with a parasitic metabolism, at least in the intestine.

It has long been known that fungi grow more actively in sugar solutions. Vaginal mycosis thus develops quite often during pregnancy with its tendency towards pre-diabetes.

This still calls for more large-scale studies. It seems that one-sided excess of matter with high-level sugar consumption favors fungal growth.

Ways of gaining insight into intestinal fungal growth in the light of the anthroposophical view of man.

Behavior of I-organization and astral body

It is difficult to know if a fungus is:

commensal = "just there",

"mutualist" on the borderline to being pathogenic,

"parasite" = takes nutrients

pathogenic = producing toxins or infection.

R.S.: the basic process we find in humans with intestinal mycosis has to do with conditions described under the heading of neurasthenia. Pathological processes may develop if the upper and lower activities in the human organization are not sufficiently in accord with each other, with the upper not intervening adequately in the lower, and head processes staying among themselves. The digestion is weak as a result, unable to assimilate

foreign food matter adequately. The individual's attention is too much on the outside world, allowing foreign processes to enter to excess and meeting this with an excessive secondary reaction. These are seen with

allergies.

Weakness of definition may also be due to the opposite condition, is hypersensitivity in hysteria. Metabolism makes itself independent, and wounds may be caused. An example of the excessive metabolic activity described by .R.S. would be Cand. diaper rash of short duration when infants are teething.

Relationship to allergy

Allergies arise because foreign processes are not properly perceived. Food allergies often in conjunction with intestinal mycosis. The intolerance often only shows itself with a careful elimination and re-exposition diet.

The human being is not able to register the foreign nature of the food nor the foreign fungal flora.

Cand.: allergic to milk protein, hen's egg white, almond and soya tend to attract Cand. rather than other yeasts. These are often people with an overweening immoderate metabolism/more inclined towards hysterical disorders.

Aspergillus: People in whose stools Aspergillus is been detected will often show a neurasthenic wyw component and have cereal grain allergies.

Fungal infection might be seen as a sign that the I-organization is not intervening adequately in the organism. Humans differ from animals in that foods must be thoroughly killed off and then built up again in a completely individual way. With both allergy and intestinal mycosis we may assume that the origin lies in a neurasthenic constitution. Metabolic predominance and hysterical wounding are then secondary phenomena. It seems likely that such foreign processes also appear temporarily in the course of acute diseases/pregnancy that weaken the constitution as a whole.

It is possible that fungi with their foreign substance are in themselves an allergen. It may also be possible that their presence "triggers" the actions of other allergens.

Patients with neurodermatitis do not always improve with diet and constitutional treatment but only when their intestinal mycosis has been dealt with.

Fungal growth in the intestine has its own dynamics. The I or the I-organization cannot integrate them into its own growth principles. The result is that an area in the organism which is not under control, is occupied by

other life forms with foreign activity. In connection with the "bacillus theory", R.S. repeatedly said that it was the soil which mattered and not the bacillus. Fungi also work against the I-organization in another respect.

They produce alcohols from higher fatty acids. These not only cause destruction and toxic effects but also make people sleepy, weakening the human I-organization.

The activities of the I depend on warmth and light. Abnormal fat absorption may cause too much (pathological heat foci) or too little fat to enter the organism (malnutrition). Thermography shows intestinal areas subject

to mycotic changes to be colder, possibly because the fungi act against the warmth organization. This would be another possible explanation of their negative effect on immune defenses.

Aspects relating to the treatment of intestinal mycosis

The main aim of treatment based on the anthroposophical view of the human being must be to give the I or I-organization and the astral body better access to the lower human being and intestine. Actual treatment of the mycosis is of secondary importance. The suggestions made below can only be general. Treatment has to be individualized.

Nutrition

Many authors refer to the importance of the diet. The negative effect of refined sugar is stressed by all. This is understandable, for the preparation of sugar is one of the central functions of the I-organization. Taking too

much refined and processed sugar, one relieves the I-organization of its function and thus weakens it.

A special diet always addresses a person's will. R.S. also spoke of the helpfulness of a diet chosen of one's own free will and of the way activity is reduced by a diet taken in a purely passive way. Many of the diets

suggested in the lay press unfortunately ask people to follow the advice of others blindly. It is difficult to see how a fungus can be "starved out". The opposite view, that a low-sugar diet to "starve it out" would give the

fungus an extra appetite for the intestinal wall, is equally difficult to understand. Many of the measures recommended in the literature weaken patients rather than strengthening them. Special diets are always "asocial"

and egotistical by nature, as R.S. made clear. They should therefore only be of limited duration.

A sudden change to a wholegrain diet which is difficult to digest may also prove harmful. High proportions of roughage containing cellulose may induce fermentation with negative consequences.

The foods we eat relate to some degree to our organs. Foods that influence the liver (artichoke and others) are recommended. A root diet with its mineral content strengthens the astral head powers in the upper human

being, with the result that he no longer has to be active in metabolism. Lactic fermentation products such as sauerkraut or yogurt strengthen the astral body.

Strengthening the I-organization medically

Quartz or silica remedies serve this purpose. R.S.: "silica is the external correlate, outward directed activity for the I-organization"/"the physical basis for the I-organization“. Cich. also comes under this heading

(Cichorium / Pancreas comp wa).

Stibium (= Antimon) supports delimiting processes in the intestine [allergy (Antimonite D 6 w)/Kalium aceticum compositum dil. w/Plumbum Ix/Stannum D 14 trit. (W)] facilitates I-organization intervention or its delimiting function. All mercury preparations help the mercurial process in which the I-organization is active in the small intestine. Respiratory function in the lower human being can be encouraged with an iron silicate preparation [Nontronite D 12 w]. Treatment with roots containing pigments or extracts of these would also go in this direction carrot juice/beetroot.

Phosphorus and sulfur based medicines to strengthen the lower abdomen

R.S.: The relationship between phosphorous flowering processes and the lower abdominal organs was shown. All medicines based on flowering plants have this effect, wormwood for example, with the flowering green

part of the plant used (Absinthium D 1 dil., w). Treatment with Aloe (1x dil., W), Resina Laricis D1 w, Propolis extract, evening primrose oil (Epogam), Gammocur or similar), borage oil, garlic (All-s. D 1 w) or onion

(All-c. D 1 w) or Myrrhinil intest (Cham. ex florae/Betu/Myrrh). Fern and bracken. spores, Digestodoron w or Aquilinum comp. (Wala), have the sulfurous character of the spores as their active principle. R.S. referred to

their action as strengthening the catabolic principles in the digestive tract.

The effect pigments have on the astral body is also an important aspect of diet beetroot, carrots, roots, leafy vegetables. The common aspect to this treatment is that the powers of light are enhanced in the intestine.

Suggested treatments for intestinal mycosis thus resemble those for warts or worms., the weakness of the astral body towards external influences increased. (Thuj.).

The phosphorus process exists also in the antimycotics used in conventional medicine. These contain either pigments such as gentian violet with its surface action, or they may be regarded as pigments, azoles, for instance (miconon-/ketokon-/fluconazole)/may be chemically converted to pigments. Tonoftal (Bei Pilzerkrankungen der unbehaarten und der behaarten Haut, wie z.B. bei Hautpilzerkrankungen an Händen, Füßen und am Körper sowie bei Kleienflechte (Pityriasis versicolor)] is not a pigment but a high-energy substance. As their action is purely physical, the effect often lasts only for as long as they are given. Etheric activity has to take over.

If this does not happen, or we do not aim to make it happen with treatment, the danger of resistance developing is great also with fungi, though this was not considered possible in the past. Instead of giving chemical antimycotics one may also try relatively high vitamin C doses, ½ tsp t.i.d., starting low and gradually going up to this. Sanddorn (= sea buckthorn) original or "low sugar" elixir w have a similar effect.

Sugars, bitters, tannins

Roots with sugars/bitter principles/tannins directly stimulate I/astral body/physical body activity. This strengthens the totality of the upper human being's activity in the digestion. Instead of a pathological head-development in the lower human beings, as in the case of malnutrition, one has penetration of the digestive functions. [Gentiana lutea Rh 5% dil. w/Gentiana comp. Wala/Geum urbanum w].

There is a point in focusing on particular organs in treating different forms of intestinal mycosis. In his experience, treatment with the emphasis on the liver is effective with Cand. mycosis, giving Hepatodoron (Frag. / Vitis), Chel./Tarax./Cich.

Aspergillus mycosis appears to be more of a kidney problem, Carbo betulae (= Carb-v.)/Equis-a. may be considered (Equisetum cum sulfure tostum D 6 trit. w).

Pancreatic extracts or bitters to encourage secretion are also helpful, Pancreas D 1 trit. w. Cichorium/Pancreas comp. (Wala)/Cich. D 3 dil. w. Treatment with pancreatic enzymes may sometimes serve the purpose, possibly in combination with bile acids, or also gastric acid substitution.

Antagonism between bacteria and fungi

R.S.: antagonism between bacteria and fungi in 1924. A wide range of preparations is now available that contain Bifidum bacteria, lactobacilli, Bacteroides or Bacterium subtilis. Though widely used, data are not really adequate in this field. Many preparations contain lactose or milk protein, which has to be taken into account if there are allergies in this direction. Treatment has to be long-term, which means it is more costly. If the choice of substitution is right, the method does frequently prove effective.

Guided symbiosis is said to influence immune functions. Again it has to be continued for some time.

One often starts with a preliminary phase using metabolic products of E. coli (Pro Symbioflor, Colibiogen, Rephalysin, Hylak).

The next phase is with lactobacilli or coccal preparations (Symbioflor 1, Acidophilus, Eugalan, Paidoflor) to stimulate the acid-producing flora.

Thirdly one would try substitution with Coli bacteria to restore the milieu (Symbioflor 2/Mutaflor). Others recommend Coli substitution only, to match the development of the first flora in the newbom. Some laboratories specialize in producing individual symbiont preparations based on an analysis of the intestinal flora. These methods, too can be effectiv.

Displacement treatment using apathogenic yeasts

This has been used in a particular section of natural medicine in recent times. The yeast referred to as apathogenic which is generally used is Saccharomyces boulardii (Lichee/Mangokern).

As fungi are connected with the ancient Moon stage of earth evolution, man must let go of that aspect and take his evolution forward. [Monil. D 30 (Staufen)/Albicansan D 5 dil./Nigersan D 5 dil. (Sanum Kehlbeck)].

Cand. infections increase (immune deficits/in premature infants/epiglottitis). Fungi are also getting resistant to antimycotics, probably by selection of resistant strains after antimycotic treatment. ‡

Comparison.: Fungi + Lichen + Galls + Plants

Frei nach: L. R. Twentyman, M.B., F.F. HOM.

Comparison.: Fungi + Galls + Lichen + Plants im Internet suchen

Metabolism of fungi is mainly catabolic. Their activity is largely a breaking down of organic substance to inorganic matter. Enormously complicated processes come about through the cooperation of different fungi together with bacteria. They tend together towards disintegration, they are in the main death processes.

The relation between the realm of fungi and the system which in the human organization carries preeminently the forces of death - the brain and nervous system? The nerve fibers run as threads throughout the organism. The brain and nerves live fundamentally as parasites upon the organism. Only in the embryo do the nerve cells multiply; probably after birth or early childhood they lose the possibility of reproduction. The fungi of course retain this capacity and the hyphae are composed of long chains of cells, unlike the nerve fibre arising from a single cell. In the embryonic stage of life, and even to a great extent in babyhood, we are almost all head with a small appendage of trunk and limbs. Gradually we grow down from this head, as a plant grows up from the root. It has often been noted that plant and man stand in inverted relationship to each other. A man would have to be turned upside down and planted with his head in the earth, trunk, limbs and genitals pointing upwards, for the correspondences between man and plant to become clear.

So if there is a possible relationship to be discovered between brain and nerves and the realm of fungi, it would point again to the earth as the home of these strange forms of life. In the embryo and baby, the head is still concerned with growth, and consciousness is obviously not yet imprisoned within the witches cottage of our head. But as the death processes gradually take over in our brains, we wake up in our heads.

Can we get any further by looking at the drug pictures and medical experiences in relation to fungi? The very nature of fungus activity leading to fragmentation and disintegration, even to atomization, is echoed in the intellectual activity based on the brain. This too in its one-sided analytical and abstracting activity leads to information of ever increasing complexity and chaos, the information explosion.

So it is understandable that synthetic grasp of the phenomena is particularly difficult in this study of fungi.

In the homoeopathic Materia Medica we find the following representatives of the fungi:

Agar-e.:

Agar.:

Agar-ph.:

Bol-s.:

Bov.:

Sec.:

Ust.:

Thlas.: (added, mostly covered with Fungus)

The lichens, a symbiosis of an alga and a fungus are:

Cetr.:

Clad.:

Stict.:

Usn.:

Antibiotics. The huge range of diseases arising from fungus invasion is outside the scope of this essay. It is worth noting, however, that poisonings and provings have been due either to eating the mushrooms or fruiting bodies

or in the case of provings, taking tinctures of these. In the case of fungus diseases, mycelial invasion of tissues takes place. The first are usually called mycotoxicoses, the second mycoses. Allergic reactions ("farmers lung").

Agar-e.: vomiting and severe vertigo relieved by copious cold water.

Agar-ph.: cause of 90% of deaths due to mushroom poisoning

Bol-s.: together with Bol-la.: and Bol-lu.: appear in the Materia Medica with severe symptoms of gastroenteritis. Little else is mentioned.

Bov.: “As if the head were enlarging”/distensive headaches. Clumsiness, drops things, mixes words up, weakness of limbs.

Skin symptoms are marked, urticarial and eczematous in type. Hemorrhagic tendencies mainly related to the uterus are also reported.

Sec.: In Homeopathy found its main use in peripheral arterial disease. Raynaud's Syndrome, Scleroderma, and arteriosclerosis leading to severe circulatory obstruction, intermittent claudication, and

gangrene have all on occasion been greatly ameliorated. The modality of pain < heat runs through the symptoms. Paralyses of indeterminate type are mentioned with cramps and the notable symptom

of the fingers being spread out wide.

Ust.: similar action as Sec. It has, according to the provings, a strong relationship to the genital organs and functions. In women, it produced hemorrhages and has found a main use here in menstrual, climacteric and post-partum bleeding. Animals have shed their hoofs and hair and shedding of nails and hair in humans is recorded. Headaches with vertigo and double vision and scotoma point to migrainous phenomena. So in this little known or used remedy the same directions of action as in ergot have been noted.

Thlas.: an account of its almost normal symbiotic invasion by a fungus. The main use of this remedy has certainly been in relation to uterine hemorrhages, profuse menstruation.

It remains a most valuable remedy in these conditions.

DD.:

1. Common features, spheres of action. Like most severe poisons they produce gastroenteritis. This symptom might be dismissed as merely typical of acute poisoning in general but for the

phenomena resulting from eating Amanita Phalloides. In this case the patient or victim feels perfectly well for hours after eating the mushroom. It may be up to 24 hours before the symptoms commence

with severe abdominal pain and diarrhea and vomiting. The poison must have been absorbed, perhaps metabolized, before manifesting specifically in the abdominal and alimentary symptoms.

2. Varying skin manifestations.

Agar.: chilblain-like itching, burning, red-purplish discoloration > warmth.

Sec.: discoloration and burning progress to gangrene, the pains being relieved by cold.

Bov.: varied skin eruptions, eczema, urticaria the most common.

Ust.: loss of hair with associated eruptions of the scalp, scald-head, are typical.

3. Headaches run through the pictures, there are in any case few drug pictures without headache. But migraine comes to the fore with Ergot and its use in orthodox medicine for this condition.

In Agar.: various headaches are described and the ice-cold needles is a feature. In Bovista there is headache and sensation of enlargement of the head. Vertigo also is a marked feature in

these drug pictures.

4. Hemorrhages are another common characteristic in Sec.: Bov.: Thlas.: Bol-s.: and Ust.:. In Agaricus it occurs but is not so marked a feature.

5. Actions on the nervous system which have been most studied in Agar.: "Spinal irritation", twitchings and tics, chorea and spasms all point to actions on the nervous system. Then there are disturbances of the sense, everything becomes very beautiful, small things appear large and the sense of balance is disturbed. The mental faculties are retarded, the emotional balance labile. The symptoms may intensify to mania. In Ergot the mental symptoms have come under scrutiny of recent years owing to the use or abuse of L.S.D. Intensification of sensory impressions and dissociation come about leading to schizophrenic-like experiences.

Psillocybe species has hallucinogenic effects, used by Mexican Indians in religious rituals.

To summarize, we may point to the main spheres of action in the metabolic and sexual organs on the one hand and the nervous system on the other. The lungs seem unaffected (if we consider the Mycosis caused by Aspergilla separately). However in lichen Stict.: lung and respiratory and rheumatic symptoms dominate the picture.

The fungi, as we have noted, have no leaves or proper stems, no chlorophyll. They lack the middle realm of the plant between root and flowering process. This middle realm of leaf is related to the lung in inverted fashion.

The leaf takes in carbon dioxide, photosynthesizes it into carbohydrates and gives off oxygen. The lung gives off the carbon dioxide and takes in oxygen. They both belong to the rhythmic middle realm between the polarities of

head and abdomen, or root and blossom.

In the fungi this polarity is not established, flowering fruiting have, as it were, collapsed into the root or perhaps better stated, have not yet emancipated themselves.

In the lichen Stict.: this middle realm is provided by the algal part of the symbiosis. What is more, we know that lichens which are particularly hardy in respect of climatic extremes, are particularly sensitive to

atmospheric pollution as indicators of this pollution. The lichens therefore seem to be particularly sensitive to the realm which the fungi alone do not care about, the realm of air and light.

We have still to consider the application in modern medicine of substances derived from this fungal underworld, the antibiotics. Starting with Penicillin, an ever increasing variety of these substances are available. Used in

controlling bacterial infections, inflammations. Their antipathy to certain bacteria is based on similarities in their metabolic processes, competition between them resulting in blocking the bacterial growth. This is of course a

homeopathic action on a very selective narrow front. Looking at the problems more broadly, from the periphery towards the center rather than from the center outwards, more holistically that is to say, what can we see? On and around

the roots, in the soil, flourish the vast multitude of fungi, devoid of chlorophyll. In the upper pole of trees grows another parasite or semi-parasite, the mistletoe. This plant is full of chlorophyll even into its sinker which penetrates the parent tree. It is not subject to gravity in its growth, nor to the usual earthly rhythms. It has not come to earth. In some ways we can therefore see it as a polarity to the realm of fungi and it has an influence on carcinomata, themselves

the polarity to inflammation. From mistletoe, substances can be prepared with the unique combination of cytotoxic and immuno-stimulating properties. We have a polarity in disease processes between inflammations and tumors and

a polarity in the sources of remedies working on these diseases.

Does this not lead us to question the relation between this realm of fungi and the system which in the human organization carries preeminently the forces of death - the brain and nervous system? The nerve fibers run as threads throughout the organism. The brain and nerves live fundamentally as parasites upon the organism. Only in the embryo do the nerve cells multiply; probably after birth or early childhood they lose the possibility of reproduction. The fungi of course retain this capacity and the hyphae are composed of long chains of cells, unlike the nerve fibre arising from a single cell. In the embryonic

stage of life, and even to a great extent in babyhood, we are almost all head with a small appendage of trunk and limbs. Gradually we grow down from this head, as a plant grows up from the root. It has

often been noted that plant and man stand in inverted relationship to each other. A man would have to be turned upside down and planted with his head in the earth, trunk, limbs and genitals pointing upwards, for the correspondences between man and plant to become clear.

So if there is a possible relationship to be discovered between brain and nerves and the realm of fungi, it would point again to the earth as the home of these strange forms of life.

In the embryo and baby, the head is still concerned with growth, and consciousness is obviously not yet imprisoned within our head. But as the death processes gradually take over in our brains,

we wake up in our heads. Historically, it was only in Greek times that thinking began to be experienced as related to the brain.

Can we get any further by looking at the drug pictures and medical experiences in relation to fungi? The very nature of fungus activity leads to fragmentation/disintegration (atomization), is echoed

in the intellectual activity based on the brain. This too in its one-sided analytical and abstracting activity leads to information of ever increasing complexity and chaos, the information explosion.

So it is understandable that synthetic grasp of the phenomena is particularly difficult in this study of fungi.

The lichens, a symbiosis of an alga and fungus.

Consider also, in broadest outline, the antibiotics. But the huge range of diseases arising from fungus invasion is outside the scope of this essay. It is worth noting, however, that poisonings and provings

have been due either to eating the mushrooms or fruiting bodies or in the case of provings, taking tinctures of these. In the case of fungus diseases, mycelial invasion of tissues takes place. The first are usually called mycotoxicoses, the second mycoses. There are also allergic reactions, such as "farmers lung"???

Main actions found in the changes of consciousness and the nervous irritability showing itself in hypersensitivity along the spine + tics/spasms/choreiform movements. In addition chilblains and bunions with the marked

modalities as above.

The questions arise as to how far the changes in consciousness are brought about by changes in the nervous system itself. And how far the nervous symptoms such as spinal sensitivity are hysterical.

The brain and nervous system normally function in adult life in an inhibitory manner. The expression "to keep a cool head" is highly indicative. Bergson, at the beginning of this century, showed that our senses screen from

us the multitudinous incoming impressions so that we become conscious only of a tiny selection, those needed for our action. It would seem then that the fungus represents the brain and nervous system at an earlier, more

embryonic stage of development before it has been overwhelmed by the death or dying processes characteristic of the adult stages. Sense impressions in our drug picture are therefore described as more vivid, more full of

life, beauty and springtime.

When we look back even as far as the Greek civilization we are enchanted by the freshness of their thoughts which are still full of life and perception. They have not yet been killed off into the abstractions of modern thought

life.

So under the influence of Agar. the Lapp’s and Siberian Shamans find it easier to re-enter states of consciousness of a dreamlike clairvoyance.

We may further question whether the movements of uncoordinated character also reflect in some degree the uncoordinated movements of the baby before it has learnt to still the unnecessary, useless movements and permit

only the useful ones to occur.

Use in mental retardation where there is a failure of the child to wake up in its mental functions and a persistence in a consciousness of babyhood.

Used in organic diseases of the nervous system: Parkinson/general paralysis/M.S./epilepsy (chorea).

Recently Bromocriptine ??? and several allied substances from Ergot have found use in the treatment of Parkinsonism.

In lichen Stict.: lung and respiratory and rheumatic symptoms dominate the picture.

Fungi have no leaves/no stems/no chlorophyll. They lack the middle realm of the plant between root and flowering process. This middle realm of leaf is related to the lung in inverted fashion. The leaf takes in Carb-diox.,

photosynthesizes it into carbohydrates and gives off oxygen. The lung gives off the Carb-diox. and takes in oxygen. They both belong to the rhythmic middle realm between the polarities of head and abdomen, or root and

blossom.

In the fungi this polarity is not established, flowering fruiting have, as it were, collapsed into the root or perhaps better stated, have not yet emancipated themselves.

In Stict. this middle realm is provided by the algal part of the symbiosis. We know that lichen which are particularly hardy in respect of climatic extremes, are particularly sensitive to atmospheric pollution. They are indeed

used as indicators of this pollution. The lichens therefore seem to be particularly sensitive to the realm which the fungi alone do not care about, the realm of air and light.

Antibiotics: Pen. An ever increasing variety of these substances are available/used in controlling bacterial infections/inflammations. Their action against bacteria is based on similarities in their metabolic processes,

competition between them resulting in blocking the bacterial growth. This is of course a homeopathic action on a very selective narrow front. Looking at the problems more broadly, from the periphery towards the center

rather than from the center outwards. On and around the roots, in the soil, flourish the vast multitude of fungi, devoid of chlorophyll.

Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum