Anthroposophical Views

Anthroposophical Views

A temporary shelter

Dora Wagner

Everything is seed.

(Novalis, 1798)

The origin of life is an enigma that has preoccupied us since ancient times. The womb— the nurturing nest in which our own lives begin —is a powerful metaphor for new life. Yet, for a long time, the female body and its functions were tainted with myths and taboos. According to theories of ancient Egyptian medicine, the womb was permeated by a system of blood vessels that connected it to the entire body. It was believed not only that ‘excess’ menstrual blood accumulated in the body and caused abscesses, but also that the uterus was free to change its position, travelling throughout the female body. This view was also held by Hippocrates, Paracelsus, Galenos, and even Leonardo da Vinci. In the Corpus Hippocraticum, we read that ‘the uterus is to blame for all diseases [in women]’ (Buse, 2003). Plato wrote in his treatise, Timaeus: The uterus is an animal that ardently desires children. If the same remains barren for a long time after puberty, it becomes enraged, pervades the whole body, obstructs the airways, inhibits breathing and...produces all kinds of diseases (in Kollesch, 1979).

The womb was described in more detail by Galenos, although still not anatomically correctly. He saw it as divided into two parts— warmer on the right than on the left —which thus provided a humoral-pathological explanation for the development of male offspring in the right uterine chamber (Nickel, 1971). Galenos also believed that the absence of menstruation, or suppressed vaginal secretions, led to hysteria (Mentzos, 2003)— this is an umbrella term for various mental disorders which today we might know as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, or psychosis. The healer and mystic Hildegard von Bingen was one of the first scholars to separate gynaecology from superstition and to declare ‘female disorders’ a medical specialty for which curative treatments existed.

In the eighteenth century, a new theory on the cause of female ailments emerged, and with it a new description: ‘vapeurs’, or vapours. Meyer’s Konversationslexikon (1909) explains this was ‘formerly the name of a fashionable disease of ladies, complaints supposedly caused by flatulence rising to the brain and hysterical moods based thereon’. These ideas are reproduced in the Oeconomische Encyclopädie (Krünitz,1850): Vapeurs appear in women at the onset or absence of the menstrual period, but also in addition when sitting a lot, eating flatulent food, and when the digestive powers of the stomach are not appropriate...they proceed from the nerve plexuses of the abdomen.

By the twentieth century, this theory had been abandoned, but medicine continued to hold to the idea that nerves directly connected the female genitals to other organs: The female reproductive system is extraordinarily rich in nerves and at the same time has very extensive...relations with the organs of the intestinal canal, the heart and the brain, in so far as it is the seat of the psyche. Accordingly, pathological conditions of the genitals are transferred to these organs by way of nervous reflex and are documented here as various kinds of disorders and functional disturbances. In the broadest sense, therefore, a good part of the nervous and emotional disorders known as hysteria also belong to the field of women's diseases (Meyer, 1909). Treatments for female hysteria ranged from the bizarre to the drastic. Until the 1930s, immediate marriage and pregnancy were commonly recommended. In gynaecology, surgical interventions such as correction of the position of the uterus, or full hysterectomy, were used as therapy. Indeed, the ovaries— seen as the trigger of hysteria —were often surgically removed without further examination (Buse, 2003).

In today’s understanding (Aumüller, 2010), the uterus is known to be a pear-shaped, hollow organ made up of three layers: an outer, protective layer; a middle, muscular layer called the myometrium; and an inner layer, the lining or endometrium. The whole organ is about seven centimetres long and five centimetres wide, two to three centimetres thick, and weighs 30-120 grams. It has three main sections, the lowest of which is the cervix, which surrounds the cervical canal and is connected by a very narrow transition zone— the uterine isthmus —to the body of the uterus, the corpus uteri. On either side of the womb, and connected to it by the fallopian tubes, are the ovaries. These contain hundreds of thousands of oocytes waiting for a chance to embark on the long and risky journey into the uterus. Each lunar month, following the hormonal stimulus to ovulation, the ovum that is growing faster than all the others bursts out of the ovary into the abdominal cavity, heading for the fallopian tube. There, should the fates align, it meets thousands of sperm, one of which may break through the egg’s membrane to fuse with it. The fertilised ovum begins to divide, becomes an embryo, and— after another fourteen days and twenty centimetres of travel —finally reaches its destination. Here, in the uterus, it may nestle and grow for ten lunar months.

Between menarche and menopause, the uterus prepares for the creation of new life over the course of each lunar month. Following bleeding, between the fifth and fifteenth day of the cycle, the blood supply increases, causing the mucous membrane on the inner wall to grow. In the secretion phase, between the sixteenth and twenty-eighth days, the lining is completely rebuilt and enriched with nutrients. If no ovum implants, this part of the mucous membrane dies off, and is shed between the first and fourth day of the following cycle. This bleeding ensures that the remnants of the mucous membrane are flushed out of the body. This whole cyclical process is controlled by hormones from the ovaries, and regulated by messenger substances produced in the brain and the hypophysis. The concentration of

oestrogens— the most important of the female sex hormones —changes considerably in the course of the cycle. Oestrogens promote the growth of the vagina, uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes, as well as the formation of secondary female sexual characteristics, such as breasts. They support the maturation of ova, help to supply the uterine lining with blood, signal the maturity of the eggs to the pituitary gland (and thus indirectly trigger ovulation), open the cervix, and make the cervical secretion permeable to sperm. In addition, oestrogens also act on the bones, have a stimulating effect on our immune systems, and are essential to the storage of memory and sounds, including speech. Thus, after menopause, a reduced oestrogen level in the blood may lead to loss of bone density, and to a deterioration in hearing.

In anthroposophical medicine, the Breeding Plant (Kalanchoe pinnata) is used to treat symptoms relating to the female fertility cycle. The first tropical specimen was introduced into Europe in 1800, arriving at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from Calcutta. At this time, it was referred to as Bryophyllum calycinum. In 1817, the Botanical Garden in Weimar received an offshoot, which was soon admired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He called it Wunder-Blatt (Miracle-leaf), Lebenszweig (Branch of Life), and Brutblatt (Breeding Leaf). Its most common name in Germany is now Goethepflanze (Goethe’s Plant).

Goethe-plants are remarkable for their unusual reproductive behaviour. New, complete plants of the next generation form directly from the leaves, without the need for flowering, pollination, seed formation, or a dormant period in between (although it is also possible for it to reproduce this way). New plants emerge from the mother plant— sometimes at the edge of the leaf, or where it touches the ground, sometimes from the wound of a torn leaf, or like pearls from all corners of the margin. Occasionally, even a grandchild generation appears.

The poet was so fascinated by the incredible ability of this thick-leaved plant to reproduce itself that he began to experiment with it, placing the germinating leaves on moist soil, and being delighted each time new plant life sprouted. In the spring of 1826, he began an essay on Bryophyllum calycinum, and, in autumn of the same year, a poem: As from a leaf innumerable Fresh life-sprigs sprout, May you, blessed in love, Enjoy a thousandfold delight (Goethe, 1826). For Goethe, the Breeding Plant was evidence that the leaf is the central organ of the plant, from which all other parts, including the flowers, emerge through metamorphosis. He sent cuttings far and wide, to all his beloved. It seems reasonable to imagine that my own plants may even originate from that initial Goethe-plant.

It is not surprising that such a vital and peculiar plant can also be a powerful remedy. Kalanchoe pinnata has been used in the areas of its origin for a long time, apparently with considerable success (Kamboj et al, 2009). Its main habitat is Madagascar, but the plant is also widespread throughout tropical Africa, Asia, India, China, Australia, Hawaii, and tropical America. The leaves are used for the treatment of jaundice, inflammations, infections, and hypertension, as well as problems in the bladder-kidney area. There are indications that extracts from the leaves may act as analgesic, sedative, central nervous system depressant, muscle relaxant, gastroprotective, anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, anti-anaphylactic, anti-cancer, antiulcer, immunomodulatory, and wound healing (Taylor, 2005; Joseph et al, 2011). Extracts from the whole plant have been shown to have hypoglycaemic properties, which could be helpful in the treatment of diabetes (García-Pérez et al, 2020).

In Europe, the use of remedies derived from Kalanchoe pinnata is almost exclusively limited to anthroposophical medicine. Rudolf Steiner’s concept of supporting the selfhealing powers of human beings hypothesises a connection between the pathophysiological processes of the human, and the physiological processes in the plant. Thus, K. pinnata, introduced by Steiner in 1921, is thought to have many valuable properties in the field of gynaecology. Anthroposophical physicians refer frequently to the German Commission C, which provides expertise in the field of alternative therapies. It states that K. pinnata preparations can be used to prevent premature labour; as a relief during childbirth; and to avoid miscarriages (Commission C, 1992). The Commission even supports implantation of K. pinnata to promote fertility, as intake results in the prolongation of the last half of the cycle, in a general increase in the basal body temperature, in calming and relaxing, and in support of ovulation and implantation of the egg. Herbal preparations of K. pinnata can also be helpful in the treatment of premenstrual syndrome and menopausal symptoms, as well as certain types of dysfunction and recurrent infections related to metabolism. K. pinnata can be used in emergency situations for alleviating anxiety, and associated sleep disorders; numerous preparations combine K. pinnata with other herbs to alleviate mood disorders, restlessness, and exhaustion. Although K. pinnata preparations are available over the counter, or online without prescription, and side effects are rare, intake should be discussed in detail with a doctor.

For me, the mere sight of this undemanding houseplant, with its vitality and joie de vivre, has the power to bring happiness. It is, as Goethe wrote, a ‘thousandfold delight’.

Images: Pictures and collages made by Dora Wagner from Creative Commons

References:

Aumüller, G. (2010) Anatomie. Georg Thieme: Stuttgart

Buse, G. (2003) Als hätte ich ein Schatzkästlein verloren: Hysterektomie aus der Perspektive einer feministischtheologischen Medizinethik. Lit Verl: Berlin Commission C (1992) Monographien, Kommission C, Bundesanzeiger 121:S. 272– 277

García-Pérez, P. et al (2020) From Ethnomedicine to Plant Biotechnology and Machine Learning: The Valorization of the Medicinal Plant Bryophyllum sp. Pharmaceuticals: Zürich

Goethe, J.W. von (1826) Goethe's sämtliche Werke. Band 6, S.162. Trans. Dora Wagner. J. G. Cotta: Stuttgart

Joseph, B., Sridhar, S. Sankarganesh, J. and Edwin, B.T. (2011) ‘Rare Medicinal Plant— Kalanchoe Pinnata’, in Research Journal of Microbiology, 6: 322-327

Kamboj, A. et al (2009) ‘Bryophyllum pinnatum (Lam.) Kurz.: Phytochemical and pharmacological profile: a review’, in Pharmacognosy Reviews, 3(6)

Krünitz, J.G. (1850) Oeconomische Encyclopädie. Paulli: Berlin Kollesch, J. (1979) Antike Heilkunst. Ausgewählte Texte aus den medizinischen Schriften der Griechen und Römer. Reclam: Leipzig

Meyer, H. J. (1909) Konversations-Lexikon. Bibliographisches Institut: Leipzig

Nickel, D. (1971) Galen: Über die Anatomie der Gebärmutter. Akademie-Verlag: Berlin Novalis ([1798] 1946) Gesammelte Werke; Fragmente II. Ed. Carl Selig. Buhl: Zürich Mentzos, S. (2004) Hysterie: Zur Psychodynamik unbewusster Inszenierungen. Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht: Göttingen Taylor, L. (2005) The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs. Square One Publishers, Inc.: Garden City Park, NY