8 minute read
Anthroposophical Views: In the search for times lost
iii: Anthroposophical Views
In the search for times lost
Advertisement
Dora Wagner
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943)
In my language, we call it Weißdorn— ‘Whitethorn’ —because these shrubs and small trees turn into nature's bridal bouquet when they flower in Spring. Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) blooms early in Germany: its opulent white blossoms appear in April, bursting with flowers grouped together in small panicles, its pointed thorns and small, diamond-shaped leaves barely visible between all the flowers. As a little girl, I was firmly convinced that the fairy who lives in the Hawthorn had put on her wedding dress, celebrating the reawakening of nature in the cycle of the year.
In anthroposophical medicine, the essential connections between humans and the natural world are always considered. This is deeply personalised— the plant communicates differently to different people, who draw on their own feelings, intuitions, memories and metaphors. For me, Hawthorn is resonant with family and fairy tale. It was my grandmother who taught me to distinguish between the Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and the Woodland Hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata), to notice the small, barely perceptible differences in the flower structure. I loved the tales she told me about these ‘fairy trees’, and how, in Roman antiquity, Hawthorn was the sacred tree of the double-headed god Janus, who— looking simultaneously into the future and the past —symbolises the passage of time. To my aunt, Hawthorn was ‘Christ's thorn’. In the legend she told, the crown of thorns— symbol of the mockery and suffering inflicted on Jesus by Romansoldiers —was woven from Hawthorn twigs,and the Hawthorn flower’s stamen received their red colour from the blood of Christ. Asa child my family took me to visit Sababurg,the original Sleeping Beauty’s castle, whereI sorrowed for the giantess Saba who wasmurdered after building it. I preferred thecastle as described by the Brothers Grimm, surrounded by a long and high hedge ofthorns. This hedge was probably ofWeißdorn— and the spindle with whichDornröschen pricked herself, so the talegoes, was made of hard Hawthorn wood.Her sleep was deep and peaceful, and shelived happily ever after under theHawthorn’s protection from villains, demonsand pathogens. In those circumstances, itmight be easy to sleep for a hundred years.
Crataegus lights up for a second time in autumn, when its small, roundish fruits turn blood-red. White in spring, red in autumn: this is how Hawthorn delights us all year round. But Hawthorn is not only a sensual heart’s delight— it has provided protection and security for people since they became settled. Its hedgerows, dense and thorny, was a natural protective fence for their livestock— and, as the animals eat the tasty young shoots, the hedge grows to become even tighter and more impenetrable. These hedges also provide food and shelter for many species of birds and mammals. Its flowers are important food for nectarsucking insects and the larvae of a number of butterfly species; its berries are a crucial food source for birds and wildlife in winter.
And not just for animals, either. For my grandmother, the Hawthorn in autumn became the ‘Flour-berry-tree’: the pretty little fruits she collected tasted like flour when they were ripe and, in the lean times of war, she had used them to stretch thelittle flour she had. She was also firmly convinced that the colour of the berries gave a hint of their medicinal properties and that the fruits had a special effect on the blood. She was not alone in this. In many cultures, people prepare food from parts of Hawthorn and, in numerous medical traditions, Crataegus spp. is an important and valued heart remedy. Across millennia and borders, the plant has been used for a wide variety of cardiovascular disorders. It is applied primarily in cases of hardened tissues in organisms or in parts of organs, including sclerotic changes in the coronary vessels in old-age heart complaints. The young heart, at constant risk of being overstrained, is also helped by this plant's strengthening and calming effect— even preventively. The generic epithet Crataegus is from the Ancient Greek κράταιγος (krataigos), meaning ‘strong’ or ‘firm’, which helps to explain these fields of application.
In anthroposophical medicine it is believed that you can only see and understand something’s true nature, its essence, if you approach it with feeling, intuition and care. The essential qualities of plants are significant in the art of healing and the preparation of medicines; whether treating with a single plant or a combination, it is less the individual active constituents that matter, but rather the entire synergy— just as the impact of a symphony does not result from the sequence of individual notes, but from the orchestral interplay of the musicians. To interpret the essence of Hawthorn, an anthroposophical approach can be found in contemplating the holistic form— the Gestalt —of the tree. This can best be perceived in winter, when its pattern of intertwined trunks and dense and impenetrable branches becomes obvious without its leafy covering. Whereas branches and twigs normally reach outwards towards the periphery, the structure of Hawthorn seems to be the expression of a struggle between two different forces. On the one hand, Hawthorn shows great vitality in its growth; on the other, it seems to be pushed back from the outside, the course of its twigs and branches reverting back towards the interior of the crown. It holds within it an energy that is held back and stored, erupting only sometimes. This accumulated vitality leads to a high degree of compaction and branching, and to an extraordinary hardening of the wood; conversely, it leads to outbursts of energy, expressed through the thorns. In animate and inanimate nature, pointy shapes have the important function of radiating and receiving energies, and thorns act as an antenna through which the plant absorbs and emits life force. Another expression of Hawthorn’s energy is its unrestrained blossoming in Spring, when its densely-packed white flowers almost envelop it entirely. The scent of these flowers is, however, unpleasant: rotten and somewhat fishy, it indicates a high content of nitrogenous volatile compounds and a process of decomposition still in progress. In the emotional realm, this corresponds to impulsive discharges of pent-up feelings that have not yet been digested (Kalbermatten 2019).
To understand the properties of Hawthorn and its tonic effect on heart activity, we must consider the dualistic processes expressed in its signature. The first process is shown in its early flowering that appears in the marginal zone: the whole shrub is gripped by a white floral fire that quickly turns to yellow and brown. Yet this vigorous vitality is pushed back as soon as it expresses itself, as, despite an initial intense leaf growth, the tree as a whole appears compact and spare. The shape of the leaves also reflects the alternation of these opposing processes: the leaf margin widens, but is at the same time notched and sharply retained to the petiole. Hawthorn shows great vitality and expansion with its density of branches and twigs, its strongly shaped, three-lobed leaves and its great floral splendour; at the same time, there is retraction and congestion in the marginal areas, leading to hardening in the wood and the formation of thorns. The essential nature of Hawthorn is expressed in this rhythm— a rhythm that echoes the activity of the heart, alternately and steadily contracting and expanding. Indeed, in terms of human physiology, Crataegus corresponds strongly to the heart and the regulation of the blood. Specific Hawthorn extracts relieve the heart when the movement of blood is overpowering, which can lead to trachycardia (increased heart rate) and angina pectoris (chest pain), and at the same time strengthen the processes that take place in the heart during breathing (Vogel 2019).
Crataegus preparations are used as active ingredients in numerous anthroposophical remedies. In the formulation of a remedy, attention is paid not only to what the plant itself reveals, but also to how the pharmaceutical process is carried out. In the pharmaceutical laboratory of the Arlesheim Clinic, founded by Ita Wegmann in 1921, a preparation is made from Hawthorn in which the flowers and leaves and the fruits are processed separately and then combined. In Spring, the flowers that are just beginning to bloom are extracted together with the leaves in an alcohol maceration. The delicate, slightly volatile herbal essences are extracted without any heat in order to better preserve their signature. Then, in Autumn, the fruits are processed with alcohol in a warm extraction procedure called 'digestio'. Both solutions are later blended and the compositum is administered to the patient, diluted as drops. The healing effect is intensified by the combination of processes: the leafflower maceration addresses the metabolic system and the nerve-sense system, while the ‘digestio’ addresses the centralising rhythms of the heart area. This harmonises the two contrasting forces— to compress and to expand; to be held in statis and to erupt —and brings a rhythmically-balanced harmony to the patient, centred around the heart (Spaar 2016).
We should also consider the spiritual dimension found in the nature of Hawthorn. When emotions become bottled up due to worry, emotional pain or ongoing stress, we feel a tightness and a heavy weight in ourchest. If this condition persists, our heart willalso be affected. By improving bloodcirculation, Hawthorn alleviates heartcomplaints that occur with nervous andpsychological overload. Crataegus preparations can relieve headaches,nervous tension, dizziness, insomnia andanxiety in people with feelings of tension inthe heart area (Kalbermatten 2019). It iseven said to help with lovesickness.Hawthorn gifts us a new impulse for life. Itallows our feelings to flow again, inspiringconfidence and thus releasing emotionaltensions and feelings of pressure. Thebalancing power of Hawthorn— positionedbetween shrub and tree, between pomeand stone fruit, and whose unbridled powerof youth is seemingly tamed with age —canhelp us to navigate through our ownthickets and to master our personalchallenges.
Images All images and collages by Dora WagnerReferencesde Saint-Exupéry, A. (1943) Le Petit Prince.Éditions Gallimard: ParisKalbermatten, R. (2019) Wesen undSignatur der Heilpflanzen. Aarau:Switzerland
Spaar, M. (2016) ‘Die Mitte beleben: Drei
Pflanzen bei Herzklappenerkrankungen‘.
Sourced from www.odilienzeit.ch
Vogel, H. H. (2019) Wege der Heilmittelfindung. Verlags: Bad Boll, Germany
