Materia Medica

The Actinides

actinides in the periodic table
Written by David A. Johnson

Homeopath David Johnson discusses the characteristics of the Actinide remedies and provides some comparative materia medica.

Actinides are an important new frontier of remedies in homeopathy. These radioactive elements are pictured beyond the gold series of elements, near the bottom of the periodic table. As a group they possess very characteristic features, and are playing an increasingly important role in today’s world. The actinide experience of fragmentation and disintegration is opposed by strong efforts to hold things together: one works to prevent seemingly heavy and “out-of-control” situations from falling apart.

Many, many people are experiencing actinide states, and not surprisingly, the world we live in reflects the same general state. Large, “heavy” institutions—e.g., political, religious, medical, and educational–strive to impose and maintain control, and intrinsic, uncontrolled forces of “entropy” create an opposing sense that “it could all fall apart”. The person in an actinide state may be engaged in heavy gold responsibilities, but they’re also suppressing the “entropic” joy of free, spontaneous and creative expression.

Actinide states can result from at least two general sets of circumstances. First, the childhood experience may have been unstable, chaotic and possibly “shattering”. The child recognized there was little predictability or safety in the environment, and their open, spontaneous and child-like expression was sacrificed in exchange for “adult” control over their inner and outer worlds. Second, ‘sins of the fathers’ passed through the generations–the heavy familial shadow was imprinted on the child, and the “newly-born adult” assumed the same burden. The child didn’t just pretend to be an adult, but rather functioned as an adult.

A person needing an actinide may not be immediately aware of the depth of their state, because they’ve become so accustomed to heavy internal control that they don’t consider it out of the ordinary. Likewise, their outer facial expression may not convey the intensity of their inner experience. Two general symptoms common to the actinides are: 1) the sense of inner heaviness and 2) needing to control things so they don’t fragment or fall apart. The reason for these symptoms is a global suppression of the “divine spark”: potentially explosive states result from the tension between heavy “suppressive” control as a means for survival that’s overwhelmed by even stronger “expressive” instincts of spontaneity, growth and freedom.

The actinides currently available to homeopaths range from elements 89-98. Like the lanthanides that sit prior to gold, actinides—sitting beyond gold–are found at both the 3rd stage of elements, as well as a second position aligned with the respective stages above. And so actinides as a group have a 3rd stage dilemma–a block in self-expression, spontaneity and joy–and a second level of confidence with respect to one’s inner capacity, matched with the respective stage of each individual actinide.

actinides_in_the_periodic_table

Actinides may already be engaged in high levels of responsibility (gold), or irrespective of any role, they may place heavy “gold expectations” on themselves, engaging in strong self-reproach. Their inner “magic” is contained: habitual and global self-suppression conflicts with one’s innate instinct to joyfully express in the here and now. In contrast, lanthanides can be stuck in terms of how to express their voice (silver gifts) in a way that is “heard” and carries a bigger influence in the world (golden ideal). And when the person also fears retribution for doing something “wrong”, self-expression is tempered to avoid “punishment” and bromatum may be the indicated anion.

As with the lanthanides, the anion often reflects how the actinide state is perpetuated and reinforced. For example, muriaticum is a common anion for the actinides, and includes conflicts related to bonding, connection, sadness and feeling alone. ‘I feel like I’m carrying the weight of the world, but I can’t let it all go—if I don’t hold the family together we’ll fall apart.’

And just as with the lanthanides, actinides also have a perception of their inner capacity to take on new challenges. As stated above, that level of confidence is matched with the respective stage in the table. If a person is reluctant to take on a new challenge, they’re likely at stages 3-7, and if they enjoy challenges, then 8-11. If they speak about returning to a previous capacity, then one looks at stages to the right of 11. (At this time traditionally created actinide remedies end with Californium 252, matched with column 13.)

If not resolved, the actinide state continues throughout life: the vital force is stressed and imbalanced in its efforts to prevent oneself and outer circumstances from falling apart. The suppression of joyous spontaneity is experienced as a very heavy state, and as the atomic weights increase from left to right, there’s an increasingly unstable, reactive and potentially explosive state. This is manifested in the outer world by the need for strong containment over external circumstances and details that threaten to spin out of one’s control, and when they do, there can be very powerful expressions of anger.

The desire for control in actinides (e.g., preventing internal and external circumstances from falling apart) should be distinguished from the control seen in: 1) carcinosin, where it relates to a pleasing sort of conformity and presentation; 2) nitrogen remedies, which have more of an ungrounded, excited urgency, a sense that things could explode, and relatively less of an overt sense of heaviness or that things could “fall apart”; 3) arsenicum, where the need for control is more of a restless insecurity, that the world is an unsafe place and one’s mortality is at stake; and 4) “performance” remedies, where the control is related to one’s confidence and competency in taking on and completing challenges.

Margriet Plouvier-Suijs states in her book “The Last Series” that as a result of self-provings, curium 244 belongs in the 10th column (perfectionism; desire for acknowledgement and appreciation) and curium 248 belongs in the 11th (holding on to the peak; maintaining control at the top; responsibilities keep growing “horizontally”). She also states californium 249 and 252 belong respectively in the 12th (crack in the foundation, can still perform but it’s more difficult than in the past) and 13th columns (definite compromise with repeating recovery and relapse). Interestingly, Debra Collins notes in Spectrum (2013, Vol. 2) that after an actinide stage is resolved one may return to remedies higher up in the table, reflective of the integration of spontaneity and freedom into one’s daily life.

So in choosing an actinide, it’s helpful to have experience with:

1)    Understanding mineral salts and understanding how to differentiate between the anions, especially muriaticum and nitricum. Arsenicum, bromatum, iodatum, oxydatum and sulphuricum are also part of some actinide compounds.

2)    Understanding copper, silver and gold series themes, and especially the progression of confidence and intensity from the 3rd through 13th columns

3)    Lanthanide themes of conflicted self-expression (3rd column) and a sense of the existing inner capacity (3rd thru 13th), matched with an anion theme of how or why the lanthanide state is persisting

4)    Being sensitive to the possibility of a “hidden” inner heaviness and desire for control over perceived chaotic internal and external conditions.

There are numerous ways in which a person will describe the actinide state, but the following are example phrases from numerous histories:

Common Themes of Heaviness and Darkness:

– Dark, heavy, dense
– Super-heavy
– Pulled into deep pools of regret
– Trauma has me looking at a black hole
– Diving into the darkness
– Downward spiral
– My system has learned to grab the heavy feeling and stay there
– Life or death
– Hopeless despair
– Things are in a desperate, desperate place
– Things are very serious, important

Themes of “Holding it Together”:

– If I didn’t hold it back it could overwhelm me
– Things are falling apart
– Holding it together; have to keep this together
– Have to hold myself together
– Takes all my energy to hold it in
– I’ve got to hold it together
– Chaos
– Top’s off the popcorn maker & everything’s going everywhere; you can’t contain it
– If I uncover the trauma, it could be too much
– Overwhelming

3rd column Themes of Confusion re: Autonomy, Self-expression:

– I want to be more sure of who I am, what I am, what I know
– I wouldn’t know how to begin
– No direction
– What’s the next step? A lot of unknowns right now . . .
– Didn’t know who I was
– Who am I as an adult?
– I’m not assuming an adult leadership role
– Oh my God, I have to step into full adulthood
– What is the key to my power, using all my gifts?
– I can’t be the teacher because I can’t hold all the pieces together

Column 2: Working within a structure (not an actinide but has similar “radioactive” themes)

Radium bromatum, iodatum, sulphuricum

Column 3: First step into autonomy—confusion—‘which way do I go?’

Actinium nitricum

Column 4: Plan is made but soon loses momentum before any progress is made; soon a new plan replaces the old one

Thorium met, Thorium nit

Column 5: Feeling as though one needs to make efforts to be so much more than one is right now, but those efforts eventually collapse and the person has a feeling of 2 steps forward, 2 steps back

Protactinium met

Column 6: Sink or swim—feeling of weakness relative to the challenge at hand, but person ends up succeeding, in spite of their strong anxiety. If challenged by someone else, they will want to prove their competency. Feeling of being forced by circumstances to perform; not able to back out

Uranium aceticum, Uranium met; Uranium mur; Uranium nit, Uranium ox

Column 7: Group process, cooperation, desire to get input from experts and all concerned in order to insure a successful outcome. Strong sense of needing to control the process in order to insure success.

Neptunium mur; Neptunium nit

Column 8: Desires to take on the challenge to test their capacity. Understand they could fail, and can be nervous about that, but still a feeling of needing to try, to “throw their hat in the ring”. Will get bored if the sense of challenge dwindles, at which time they look for a new challenge.

Plutonium mur; Plutonium nit

Column 9: Perseverance to the end; what one is lacking in experience or a perfect situation they make up for with sheer force of will; “crawl through the desert” to get to the end

Americium met; Americium mur; Americium nit

Column 10: Acknowledgement, appreciation; Curium 244;

Column 11: Holding on to power: Curium 248 (per Margriet Plouvier-Sujis)

Curium mur: Curium nit

Column 12: First sense of decline; “crack in the foundation”; still getting things done but not as easily; needing to take extra measures: Californium 249

Column 13 Two steps beyond “peak performance” from the past: 1 1/2 steps return, followed by two step return to compromise: Californium 252 (per Margriet Plouvier-Sujis)

Californium mur; Californium nit

 

These remedies can be found at Freeman’s, Helios, Remedia, Leonardo Apotheke (Hamburg), Shubham’s in India. (If no source is available for a particular remedy, some homeopaths have used other means to produce the desired energetic pattern, e.g, Homeodynamics.)

This article first appeared in the 2013 journal of the North American Society of Homeopaths.

 

References: The Last Series: Margriet Plouvier-Suijs

The Actinides in Homeopathy: Patricia LeRoux

Spectrum 2013, Volume 2 Life and Death: Radioactive R

About the author

David A. Johnson

David Johnson, CCH, RSHom(NA) is a homeopath residing in the southern Wisconsin area of the US. He is the author of “Radiance, Resonance and Healing: The Homeopathic Periodic Table” (Emryss Publishing) which is based on his 20 years of experience of matching the theoretical schema of Series and Stages with the words of clients. His email is [email protected]

8 Comments

  • Very very interesting: “Debra Collins notes in Spectrum (2013, Vol. 2) that after an actinide stage is resolved one may return to remedies higher up in the table, reflective of the integration of spontaneity and freedom into one’s daily life.”

    Somewhere in the middle a person is more spontaneous, creative and enjoys more family and friends. The extremities of the chemical elements suffers most, but they have more special insights or abilities.

    Lanthanides for example are typical remedies for “homeopaths”. They desire autonomy and to learn how to help others. But the radioactive and heavy elements are able to acquire this great insight how to lead a nation or the world, but they feel that everything falls apart. This is not just because they feel it, but I believe that the world really falls apart (the system, not the earth).

    Than heavier the element, than more bigger the responsibility and the feeling of loneliness.

    • Thanks for the feedback, Peter. Yes, as the elements get heavier, in many respects they’re incorporating the experiences of the elements above. At the extremes, the lightest are related to incarnation, while the heaviest have “forgotten” how to be child-like.

  • Radium active elements are also helpful and this may require mare experimentation with patients

  • David,
    Thank you for this information on the Actinides. I have been “declining” in a personal sense of core stability, strength, joy and experiencing bouts of foreboding, depression and oppression since the ’16 election. As a novice homeopath it felt imperative to go beyond the traditional. Fortunately, we had Plutonium and Curium on hand (CM) from Helios. Within moments … I was “back” … when the remedy is right it is a miracle. Then I looked on line and found your info.
    Many thanks for your clarity. Will be researching more.

  • Nice article! Thank you for writing it. In my practice I see it as the lighter elements have a more narrow perspective and as the elements get heavier they have a broader perspective. For those in the Uranium series states, they are able to see issues at the universal perspective/ big picture. They can sense that things can fall apart but when in an imbalanced state, say in a Thorium state, may feel they are the ones that have to keep it from falling apart and that is where the imbalance is. Some Thorium dosing and they can see that it’s ok if it falls apart and they are not responsible for having to keep everything in the world together. This then allows more spontaneity and joy in their life, as well as, less worries and anxiety. People in theses states are very intuitive and have universal perspectives though they may not outwardly express this.

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