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| Hpathy Ezine - Aug., 2004 | |||||
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Jane Cicchetti<-- Interviewed by Elaine Lewis |
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Are you ready to boldly go into the world of dreams? If so, meet your navigator Jane Cicchetti; author of Dreams, Symbols, & Homeopathy. After reading this book, I have to say that I never knew dreams could be such a ponderous subject! I was merely hoping to find an explanation for that dream where you can't find the bathroom? Or the bathroom doesn't have a door? Instead, Jane has written an intelligent book that demonstrates knowledge of ancient medicine, ancient Greece and Rome, the beginnings of Christianity, the Reformation, alchemy, Jungian psychoanalysis....As a matter of fact, I had to start over at page one several times--let's just say this is not a book you can read at the bus stop! But, I think I've got the full trajectory now, so, here we go, Jane, with some carefully-considered, high-level questioning! Question #1: What is homeopathy? Oh no, wait a minute, that's the question I've been saving for George Vithoulkas! How could I have mixed these questions up; I've got your questions here in a mayonnaise jar--hermetically-sealed--and guarded by the Goddess Minerva, whose references, come to think of it, I never checked, and who may not even be a goddess! Let me just look at her resume...Minerva Schwarz; Hackensack, New Jersey; Domestic Goddess. OK, this seems to be in order. Minerva, the first question please! The book seems to be saying that dreams are not only a look into our past, but also the past of our whole species! Or maybe even every species from the beginning of time, as our dreams evince knowledge of things we can't possibly know. Am I on the right track here? Carl Jung called this knowledge "the collective unconscious". What's the significance of this for us?
You’re definitely on the right track. The symbols in dreams can be related to themes or myths that are part of the collective unconscious and can be related to something that the dreamer is completely unaware of on the conscious level. Dreams can contain imagery that is primarily individual and personal or can contain archetypal imagery, meaning that they contain symbols that are associated with the vast well of knowledge that makes up the collective unconscious. Archetypes are impulses that make up the collective unconscious and have no form per se but stimulate certain universal images. Dreams that contain archetypal imagery are often the most important dreams to indicate the simillimum. The group of characteristic symptoms that we use to find the correct remedy is very similar to what Jung called a complex. This complex is a group of symptoms, from the mind/body that surrounds an archetypal core. Here Jung indicates that our problems are rooted in a reality that is greater than the personal- that at our core we are all connected to the collective unconscious. It should not be difficult for homeopaths to understand this because Hahnemann came to a very similar conclusion when he developed his theory of miasms, particularly when he spoke of psora. Psora indicates an underlying disease common to all of humanity. (I find it amusing that Hahnemann excluded himself from that group.) As classical homeopaths, whenever we treat chronic disease we are treating a miasm-- i.e., the underlying collective disease. Therefore, dreams that tap into the collective unconscious at the point where the individual complex is connected to an archetype, will be most likely to reveal a substance that will be successful in treating the miasmatic disease. What is also important is that, to be useful for the homeopath, the dream cannot be used outside of the totality of the case. The totality of the case is the group of symptoms that surround the archetypal core indicated by the imagery seen in a significant dream. By the way, the archetypal symbol may be also seen in a person’s language, bodily symptoms, fantasies and delusions, and in their likes and dislikes as well as in dreams. Dreams are an important, but not the sole portal through which to view these symbols. The more general implication of the collective unconscious and Hahnemann’s theory of miasms is, of course, that we are not as separate and individual as we sometimes think. It is more likely that the delusion that we as human beings are separate from one another and from other members of the animal, plant and mineral kingdom increases depending on the degree to which the vital force is deranged. Jung tried to stay away from this subject with Freud as much as possible. The main argument between them was around Freud’s theory of sexuality. As Jung’s mentor, Freud saw Jung as someone who could extend his lineage and often asked him to not abandon the theory. Although Jung felt the theory of sexuality was valid, he did not feel that it was relevant to all neuroses. There is a new biography of Jung by Deirdre Bair (Jung: A Biography) that goes into the relationship between Jung and Freud in great detail. On reading it, I was amazed at the difficulty and conflict that existed between them and how they struggled with their relationship. One has to have compassion for these two great men, who developed theories that had such a significant impact on our understanding of the psyche while dealing with their own inner conflicts. They were each so far ahead of their time that there were very few people who could help them. My purpose in writing the book was to help homeopaths to use dreams in a way that was appropriate for the current time. What was particularly difficult was to take the writings of the Alchemists and of Jung and make them understandable to most readers. These writings are notorious for being difficult. My book is quite a bit easier to read than those sources but, you’re right, it’s definitely not beach reading, except, perhaps, for people who write books with subtitles like "Archetypal Dimensions of Healing." Since Hahnemann and others of his time had little understanding of the psyche, and that era had rejected the ancient wisdom about dreams, our homeopathic literature did not contain much information about how to actually use dreams in practice. All we had were the dreams that were dreamt during the proving with no information as to whether they were dreams that were typical of the prover when not under the influence of the remedy. Once I started writing, I realized that, in order to accomplish the goal of making dreams useful to the homeopath, I would have to include a history of dreams in medicine and an anatomy of the psyche as humanity has attempted to understand it up to this day. |
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