[Massimo Mangialavori/Hans Zwemke]
from “Bitten in the Soul”
The Myth
Few animals engender in humans the degree of disgust or irrational fear
that spiders do. It seems astonishing and absurd that neither the size nor the
danger of spiders, apart from some rare tropical species, justify the degree of
anxiety and panic that the spider causes.
The old term “hysteria” is an
appropriate term for this state. This human reaction suggests that it is the
spiders' special psychological significance, which is her real danger! What is
this significance, and what is this danger?
We do not have a valid answer to this question and will not attempt one.
Rather we are interested in the unique dynamic that exists between men and
spiders. We believe that mankind has formed an archetype of the spider with
certain stable elements.
This symbolism recurs and projects itself into the unconscious
structures of our thinking and feeling. C. G. Jung refers to “archetypes” as
preexisting an individual's personal experience of phenomena.
We firmly believe that recognizing and working with symbols and
analogies can benefit homoeopaths' study of clinical cases.
We approach that symbolism first from the psychological side, and then
look closely at the biological and ethological aspects of the spider that play
an important role in detecting a spider-case. We are aware that some people do
not fear spiders and may appreciate spiders as useful creatures or pets to keep
in terrariums. The symbolism spiders generate is what is important. We are
interested in the characteristics that people project onto spiders, which make
up the myths expressed in fairytales, sagas, and legends.
Fundamentally, man has the fantasy of being victim to the spider, an
absurd distortion of the biological reality. Spider images include the feeling
of threat, an insidiousness, and ambush-like action, being caught in the
spider's web, “a captivity in fetters.”
A second fundamental point is the extraordinary importance of the female
gender of the spider.
Since Freud, psychoanalysis has brought these two aspects together -
interpreting the spider's infantile, dream-like existence in man's subconscious
as the wicked mother of whom the child is afraid. For the psychoanalyst Karl
Abraham the spider represented not only evil but also the “phallic” mother. The
biological fact that the male spider' size is smaller than the female means
that copulation presents a risk to his life.
Abraham made the connection between a scientific fact and the existence
of a dreamlike symbol; the spider phobia was an expression of the fear of
incest on the one hand and the fright of the devouring vagina on the other
hand.
Analyst Erich Naumann interpreted the spider as a symbol for
“captivity,” the evil mother who threatened partial autonomy, and drew
parallels to the witch-character of the negative mother. With the notion
“captivity” he described the life situation in which the individual, who in the
course of natural development outgrows the forced dependence of the baby on the
providing mother, and fights for partial autonomy, which feels threatened by
the restricting and therefore, experienced-as-hostile, “evil” mother. Female
puberty is the life-stage in which these conflicts become most notable. The
pubertal girl's emotional world is marked by a double antagonism; on the one
hand the maternal parent is experienced as competing and hostile; on the other
her own burgeoning femininity is perceived as a burden and carrier of forbidden
Eros.
In the Greek mythology this ambivalence is wonderfully expressed in the
tales of Arachne (species of spiders is named Arachnidae), of Erigone (the name
of a dwarf spider, Erigone atra, which is carried away by the wind on a thread
extruded from its abdomen), but above all, of Io who we briefly sketch here
(for a detailed description see Ovid, Metamorphosis). The male variation of
this theme appears in the well-known story of Oedipus.
Arachne, daughter of Idmon from Kolophone, is motherless. So skilled in
the art of weaving, she arouses the vivid admiration of all those who see her
works. Instead of a humble pride in her skills, she haughtily challenges the
goddess Pallas Athena. Out of rage and revenge the defeated, jealous goddess
tears Arachne´s work to pieces, and converts the haughty girl into a spider.
Athena transforms Arachne in the moment, when, deeply offended and humiliated
by the destruction of her works that depict the
erotic escapades of godfather Zeus (what an offence to his virgin
daughter born from his head!), Arachne is committing suicide by hanging herself
on a tree.
Erigone, daughter of Icarius, is so beautiful and proud that even
Dionysus needs to transform himself into grapes to seduce her. He has the wine
passed to her father, who in turn offers it to some shepherds. They get drunk
and, suspecting a spell, kill Icarius.
When Erigone comes home she goes in search for her father whom she finds
dead. In desperation she hangs herself on a tree. Shortly afterwards, the mania
of suicide infects the virgins of Athens who all rush to hang themselves. On
the advice of the oracle of Apollon, this mass suicide will not stop before the
feast of AIORA, during which
“the swing of the virgins" has been instituted. Dolls, hung on
trees, are made to swing while some sing rhythmically. The feast is reserved
for sexually mature girls preparing
to meet the opposite sex. It symbolizes the desperate search for their
fathers and the suicidal refusal to accept their fate as women.
Io, Hera´s priestess, is tortured at night by voices in her virginal
bedroom. She is urged to yield to the burning desire of Zeus. Inaco, her
father, seeks counsel from the oracle and is advised to banish his daughter
from his house, condemning her to wander the world like a lost soul. Io leaves
her parents' house, but jealous Hera (sister and wife of Zeus and protective
goddess of matrimony) pursues her, converts her into a cow, and turns her over
to one-hundred-eyed Argos to guard. Zeus sends Hermes to rescue Io;
he puts Argos to sleep and kills him. But Hera then sends Oistros,
horseflies, to torture Io with their bites, driving her mad. From the
underworld Argos pursues her with hypnotizing melodies. The tortured one roams
all over the Bosporus (Cowford), finding peace only when she reaches the banks
of the Nile in Egypt. There. through a touch
of Zeus' hand, she regains her former shape and becomes a mother. In
ancient Egypt she is revered as the fertility goddess Isis.
Those stories illustrate of an ancient world's of ideas. These themes
have survived in the contemporary ritual of Tarantism (see below), in which
illustrate in a spectacular way the connection of spider mythology to the
timeless problems of menarche.
Anthropology
The origin of the Tarantism is in “Graeca magna,” which is ancient
Greece including South-Italy. Its symbolism comes to us from Greek mythology
(the fates of Io, Arachne, and Erigone). It is a mixture of old, pagan rites of
initiation and later elements of a Catholic-Christian exorcism. The cultural
origin of Tarantism was very religious and rigid. Everything related to the
sexual and instinctive sphere was suppressed as sinful and could only take
place secretly. But if one was “crazy,”
if she had been bitten by a spider and driven crazy, she was allowed to give
way to her instincts and behave in an “exhibitionistic" and openly sexual
way. If she were ready for a healing cure, for the exorcism provided by dancing
the Tarantella for days until exhaustion, purification would come. This was why
adolescent girls, but also widows, spinsters, and neglected brides and wives
pretended to be bitten by a spider. In Tarantism no men were bitten. The young
women usually came from a family with a very dominant “phallic” mother, who
controlled their daughters' every move with Argos eyes.
Once in a year, at the time of the solstice, which is the signal for the
Tarentula to leave its cave under the ground and come to the surface, the
adolescents escaped their misery, devoting themselves to the rite, able to move
freely, without any hindrance, living out in a symbolic way their rising
sexuality, purifying their souls from sin at the same moment.
The cult met a social need; the family, the village (the “society”) had
to witness and endure; the attention of all was directed towards the Tarantata.
She was dressed all in white and danced with a sword, a double-symbol of the
sting of the spider and the penis, with which she touched herself near her
vagina until blood was flowing.
The dance took place in a church; the Tarantata was sprinkled with holy
water to purify her, surrounded by colorful shining flowers, while she danced
grasping a white sheet hung from the ceiling. The music played a special part
in this healing, freeing the body from the poison of the spider. It was fast,
dynamic and repetitive in character, following the same simple melody and
rhythm repeated until ecstasy took place. The dance was considered curative
only if it was in rhythm with the Tarantata; she really loved it, and
it was played for her alone. Hours were needed to find the right rhythm
and melody, and days of a wild continuous orgy of dancing before the cure
finally took place with the Tarantata falling exhausted to the ground. The
purification from the poison was not possible unless the musicians found the
curative rhythm and kept playing it constantly.
The musicians periodically took turns to avoid becoming exhausted. This
rite was repeated annually until the Tarantata's marriage.
The basic themes of the Tarantism are found in the details of
homoeopathic cases of Tarentula hispanica and other spider-remedies.
Most homeopathic observations of the spiders refer to one frequently
used spider Tarentula hispanica, a species living mainly in Mediterranean
climates all over the world.
It was proved and introduced into Homoeopathy by Nunez and others. His report in the homoeopathic literature
brought about some serious misunderstandings, though we will prove that these
errors were fruitful! They document that a clinically successful remedy-picture
can contain elements and observations, which do not find their origin in
a proving conducted on healthy people alone, but also come from cultural
history!
Historically homoeopaths have understood many of the symptoms of
Tarentula that Nunez related were effects of the bite of that spider, so to
speak as if they were proving symptoms. It is as if Tarantism, with its annual
ritual of healing through ecstatic dancing of the Tarantella, was a
toxicological effect of a bite. Allen’s Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica
cites Nunez in this respect, as does Clarke in his Dictionary of Practical
Materia Medica, who copies. But not Hering in his Guiding symptoms; his
critical review of the material does not mention those observations. These
errors are still spread through copying!
There are big differences between the homoeopathic remedy-picture of
Tarentula hispanica and the toxicological effect of this spider’s bite. All
that is common is the fact of local irritation and abscess, which are slow to
heal. Everything else stems from the
homoeopathic proving of the potentized spider but in most essential parts
arises out of cultural history. For us this is really exciting! There is much
evidence about a strong similarity between the anthropological and
psychoanalytical investigation of the phenomenon of Tarantism and the
homoeopathic remedy picture of Tarantula hispanica, and all spiders in general.
The similarity exists between the cultural background and symbolic meaning of
Tarantism, the behaviour of the “hysterical” women who took part in this ritual
of exorcism, and the clinical observations from people who need a spider remedy
in homoeopathic potency.
Another obvious analogy, far from the proving symptoms in homoeopathy,
is given between certain biological and ethological elements of spiders (their individual and characteristic
expressive forces) and the characters, ways of living and pathology of patients (their individual and
characteristic expressive forces) who respond
to a spider remedy. This is a
very interesting and striking relationship; it creates a completely new dimension
of homoeopathic similarity and prescribing on an analogical level relating
to empirical data.
One is seduced to “explain” such relations between the expressive forces
of spiders and human beings with “the doctrine of signature”, a theory of
Paracelsus that has
become so popular in some homoeopathic circles nowadays. But we are far
away from a satisfactory explanation of these phenomena, and actually don´t
need them.
We shouldn´t forget that it is only our human perspective that
creates such analogies and metaphors
and not the spider itself that is “speaking” to us!
Characteristic Homoeopathic
Themes of Six Spiders
As said above, the homoeopathic Materia Medica about spiders is
comparatively small. Not only in
relation to the huge amount of different species which constitute the
zoological family of the Arachnida. Few
provings have been carried out so far and the rubrics in our repertories mirror
mainly clinical evidence from bites, some successfully treated cases and esp.
for Tarentula hispanica cultural anthropological material!
The reader might ask why we didn´t include other spiders into this book
like Tarentula cubensis, Lathyrus katipo and hasselti, Aranea ixobola or the
scorpion Androctonus.
The answer is simply that we don´t have enough experience with these remedies. In case of
the so-called Tarentula cubensis it is moreover very unclear which spider it
was that reached North America, rotten in a broken glass!
The information that we are giving below has been derived from proven clinical experience made in the
treatment of patients. The experience
for each remedy comes from between10 and15 cases, which were cured with each
remedy alone and observe a minimum of two years. From this material we
“extracted” the essential themes, which are given below as an introduction to
the cases which make up the second part of the book. These cases have been
chosen because in our opinion they fulfill best the purpose of our book – to
inspire our colleagues!
Activity: People who require a spider remedy
(PSR) need to do, to work, to perform, but for them it's simply much more important
to do anything than to reach a certain goal. Their work serves mainly as a way
to be recognized or appreciated by the people in their environment (family or
companions) as somebody who is very busy, industrious and an efficient worker.
For this reason they need their activity seen; they must be done in front of
others. Overdoing and overstressing demonstrates they are different, especially
with the speed they perform. And they can do all this with a lot of energy but
eating very little. (See Eating)
Complaining: PSR have a strong desire to be seen,
to be watched, and in case of suffering, to be pitied. Showing others how much
they are suffering makes others feel guilty. They have the idea that they
suffer because of the family and the society that never allowed them to show
and express their basic needs. By public suffering they take revenge. Their
sadomasochistic drama is a way to handle the essential problem of their
existence - to live together with, rather than leave, the people who they feel
are responsible for their suffering.
They may also lament they their own body is not working perfectly. So
any health problem is perceived as gigantic, something that could lead to
death. And the idea of death is very frightening, a place where you are alone
with nothing to perform, no activity, and no public!
(See Hypochondriasis and Persecution)
Hypochondriasis: PSR are hypochondriacal and often
exaggerate their complaints, giving the impression of severe organic pathology
where there is none. They need to complain and dramatize their suffering. Often
feigning sickness is an attempt to catch the attention of the doctor or another
person. This puts them at risk of having their complaints dismissed as "psychological," further supporting
their expectation that no one takes cares of their needs seriously. The real
problem is often, not their chief complaint about which they are lamenting
loudly, but an emotional wound about which they are silent!
Persecution: PSR are oversensitive to bullying
and averse to being forced to do things they do not want to do. They present as
tenaciously stubborn. It arises in the child’s from the feeling that their
mother and family are trying hard to suppress their basic needs to eat,
urinate, defecate whenever they want, and to have physical contact
(later sexual) whenever they need it. As adults they recognize society
and its rules are responsible for this suppression, and may project the role of
enemy on anyone.
They feel different and misunderstand, and resent those who want to put
them into a cage like their family and mother did.
Nolimetangere: PSR are suspicious. Returning to the
theme of PERSECUTION, they have difficulty trusting others. Because they felt
misunderstood by their own family, later it becomes difficult to trust anyone
else. They have a difficult relationship with their own instincts, which are
not integrated. They perceive as a sin the pleasure coming from satisfying
their physical needs. To touch, to arouse the senses by having physical contact
becomes dangerous and can cause a violent reaction. They project this feeling
of danger on people, who are then experienced as enemies that they must
to keep far away from their off-limits area, and consequently may get more
attention than they do! This avoidance of close contact and territorial
feeling, leads to isolation from others. Their isolation, on the other hand
increases their general misanthropic attitude and the sense of being surrounded
by enemies, and on the other serves as a justification for their strange behavior
and ways of existing.
Hypersensitivity: The excitement of PSR senses leads
to an experience that borders on painfulness. They not only over-move and
over-do, they also over-feel. A person with a sense of persecution is always in
a state of alarm, and all his senses have a lowered threshold where stimulation
is perceived as noxious. The hypersensitivity also relates to the theme of Complaining and Hypochondriasis, because the enhanced sensation of pain is
perceived dangerous and life threatening.
Stinging Pains: Very often PSR perceive pain as a
"sting". The idea of penetration, of being wounded and penetrated is
strong and difficult to integrate because of their adolescent, immature state
of sexuality, which limits their ability to handle instincts in a relaxed way.
(See Persecution and Nolimetangere.)
Dyskinesia: PSR have an altered sense of rhythm
in life, they are speedier than others. To adjust to the pace of others, PSRs
have to move with the hand brake constantly pulled up. Their movements tend to
be exaggerated, analogous to their over-activity in general. Their kinetic
energy, difficult to regulated, leads to an impulsive pattern of movements.
What we see is like a motion picture in which a surplus in kinetic energy is
combined with an element of over-control. Moving excessively and then
controlling the movement too much is an inefficient way of utilizing energy and
results frequently in strange motion patterns, which can be quite comical. This
involuntary motion fulfills their strategy for public attention and contributes
to the general idea of "hysteria" in these remedies. The exaggerated
motion is similar to patients with Parkinson’s Disease who lift their leg too
high for a normal step, and who have difficulties initiating movement when
excited, especially if somebody is watching them. In this state music is
helpful, because when they tune into the rhythm they move more easily. (See Music)
Periodicity: PSR experience a rhythm in their
life and feel everything should be connected to this rhythm or periodicity.
Corresponding to the periodicity and rhythm in their chest, (the heartbeat, the
breathing in and out) which is the centre of their perceptions, emotions, and
somatic sensations, which they cannot escape from. They feel themselves subject
to strange fate, which repeatedly punishes them for their sins. It's
interesting that this theme was strong in the Tarantula, women who pretended to
have been bitten by a Tarantula and repeated the ritual of exorcism each year.
Time: PSR have an altered sense of time.
Many describe an inner restlessness and definite have the impression that they
are running out of time. This leads to a strong inner driven feeling and a
great urge to do things in a hurry. Because their movements are much faster
than others, they tend to become impatient when others can’t match their speed,
or if they find obstacles in their way. For PSR slowness means standing still;
for them and standing still means death. They feel well only when moving.
Music: The pathology and vital energy of PSR
are ameliorated by hearing music. But music alone is not enough. They are
attracted to a specific kind of music. It has neither
to do with melody or harmony, nor the highly elaborated classical music
or the inner dimension. For them music has to be a rhythmic, loud, and
repetitive. Only this kind of music gives rises to the experience of being in
tune with their surroundings. With this music they perform well on all levels.
But here also their need to be seen articulates itself, especially when they dance.
Here society allows them to be as wild as they want, where they can let go
their instincts without a bad conscience.
Food: For PSR the relationship with food
is a problem because eating interferes their need for independence. Eating
creates emotions closely connected with the mother;
the refusal of nourishment symbolizes the rejection of the control of
the mother. During childhood PSRs often must cope with very ambitious,
masculine mothers, who restrict their childrens’ basic needs creating great
strain, instead of protecting them with a loving attitude. As we said when
discussing the strategy of Complaining,
refusing any food shows demonstrates their suffering due to maternal control
and presents a picture of “pseudo-anorexia.”
We say "pseudo" because
their goal is not really self-destructive. They do not risk death otherwise the
game is over. Their aim is to make the mother suffer for her controlling
behavior.
Later in life, not eating, or eating ever so little, demonstrates
efficiency in maintaining their high energy, and their independence from the
source of nourishment, symbolically the mother. The idea a very efficient body
is like having a “light-weight, performance, racing-machine, ”a term from the
world of the racing-bikers, one full of PSRs.
They will not eat too much. Any food must be light, easy digestible, and
give a lot of immediately available energy. They are averse to the perception
of a heavy lump in the belly.
Thirst: PSR have a strong desire to drink,
but more so to take in food in a liquid form. They want to fill their stomach
by drinking instead of eating solid foods. (See Eating)
Tobacco: It is a common observation and also
reported in our literature that smoking tobacco ameliorates PSR. What is most
astonishing about this phenomenon is its appearance in a pathology for which
the contrary would be expected, conditions like in angina pectoris or asthma.
Smoking, they say allows them to feel better, and often its the truth. This
indicates that not only do they feel different subjectively, but objectively
they are different.
Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum