The California Homeopath
Journal of the California Homeopathic Medical Society

The actinides, or radioactive elements, belong to the 7th and final row of the periodic table; they relate to extreme or final stages of life, and the ailments of these times. In physical form, these substances have immense capacity to destroy, either by inducing serious or fatal illness or from the effects of nuclear weapons, or from their capacity to pervert the course of natural existence via damaging genetic change. Yet, paradoxically, they can too offer hope for life, through radiotherapy treatment for disease, medical imaging for pathology that would otherwise be hidden, and in homeopathic usage. These extremes of life and death are part of actinides’ themes. The realms they are used for may not be physical: their challenges may involve extremes of emotional or psychological suffering, the quest for spiritual survival in the face of enormous odds and when the costs are huge. If the battle is won, however, the gains are great, releasing the patient from a life that is lived on the edge or in shadow, captive to conditions that may seem hopeless or insurmountable. Often, they can emerge with greater resilience or creativity; sometimes their emergence from the suffering is miracle enough in itself.

By Dierdre Holmes

Deirdre practices homeopathy in Christchurch and Wellington, New Zealand.