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March 2011. Homeopathy Works: A View from Around the Globe (Vol. 14, #1)
Clarity and Intoxification: The Proving of Amethyst
The proving of Amethyst by groups of students at the Homeopathy School of Colorado.
Abstract
Five different groups of students of the Homeopathy School of Colorado proved this remedy over a period of five years (42 provers). A strong resemblance to the substance was evident in dreams of caves, crowded rooms, levels of high and low, up and down and openings with light. Mental themes relating to the substance include extreme clarity, a feeling of being drunk, and excessive mental energy. The list of physical symptoms is substantial; the proving showed Amethysts strong affinity for head pains, female symptoms and nerve involvement of the extremities.
Keywords: Amethyst, remedy, proving, clarity/confusion, headaches, environmental sensitivity.
Legends and Mythology
Artemis, the divine Greek huntress, worshiped as the goddess of the moon, wild animals, and hunting chose eternal chastity and the freedom to roam the forests forever over marriage.
To be spared from unwanted marriages, Greek women prayed to Artemis. The goddess saved young women by turning them into a tree, flower, or an animal. The ancient Greeks preferred to be an enchanted plant or animal to spending one’s life with an undesirable mate.
When Dionysus, an immortal, was angered by the insult of a mortal, he swore revenge on any mortal crossing his path. He created fierce tigers to carry out his wish.
Edward Whitmont, Return of the Goddess:
“He (Dionysus) embodies the play, aimless joy, and neediness of life, as well as the aggressive and murderous lust for destruction that lurks in all of humanity. ... Psychologically, the world of Dionysus is the world of embodied raw nature, of desire and of passion in its double aspect of rapture and suffering. … This is the archetypal force which Freud called libido … To the sense of order and meaning, Dionysus opposes the rapture of loosing oneself in irrationality, in pure emotion, in the drunkenness of passion, the abandonment of the ego sense. … In excess this dynamic can lead to madness, nihilism, and annihilation; yet its total absence means petrification, rigidity, and grim, joyless boredom” (1982, Crossroads Publishing, pp. 58-59).
The beautiful maiden Amethyst, on her way to pay tribute to the goddess Artemis, accidentally meets Dionysus and his tigers. For protection, Artemis transforms Amethyst into a pure white crystalline stone. A remorseful Dionysus realizes his viciousness and weeps with pity. Collapsing in sorrow, he spills wine from his goblet, which soaks into the white stone thus giving Amethyst its purple color.
Dionysus had introduced humans to the intoxicating beverage and was considered a god of double nature. The Greeks were well aware of alcohol’s mixed blessings and used wine to alleviate pain, to disinfect wounds, and to create happiness – knowing that too much could cause irrationality and insanity.
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