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HOMOEOPATHIC PROVING OF
VIBHUTI
By: Phillip Robbins Dip Hom. and the Northern Rivers Study Group. October 1995.
Vibhuti is the spiritual ash of ‘Shri Sachi Sai Baba’. Said to be manifest by him out of the air, and claimed to be from the ashes of dead saints.
His name translates as ‘Divine living Mother Father’.
Quotes from Sai Baba:
‘I am your divine parent.’
‘If you need me as a mother I will come as a mother.’
‘If you need me as a father I will come as a father.’
‘If you need me as both I will come as both.’
‘I do not heal people. I just give them confidence and encourage their willpower to heal themselves.’ ‘Vibhuti is a talisman of me.’
Proving Protocol:
The proving was conducted primarily as a dream proving. There were 10 provers and no supervisors. The coordinator also took the remedy, but did not know what it was until afterwards. Everyone took the remedy on a Sunday night before bed. The dreams were recorded for the next three nights. Several provers noticed and recorded symptoms during the next few days as well. The group met the following Wednesday evening and discussed the remedy and the coordinator drew together the themes. Then the substance was announced and further discussion and reactions occurred (see below).
Provers:
The provers are all homoeopaths or homoeopathic students. I will briefly describe each of them because I believe it is relevant & important in understanding the individual nature of each prover's dreams.
The Proving:
Themes:
The first thing to say about the effect of this remedy in our proving is that it seemed to have a POSITIVE EFFECT on most of the provers, rather than causing ‘dis-ease’ symptoms. It was as if the potency acted the same as the original dust was intended to - in a spiritual healing way. Thus we collected more positive indications for it’s use, than the usual (negative) symptoms.
1. It seems to help you access or find WHATEVER IS NEEDED AT THE TIME, DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU ARE AT: Eg.
- reconnecting with one's male or female side (where lacking).
- courage to stand up against oppression or injustices.
- contentment with self (where lacking).
- desire and ability to look after oneself (in someone lacking it).
- anger at wrongs done to you (in someone not normally angry).
- increased one's desire to meditate (in meditators).
Each person seemed to have dreams directly relevant to their own issues and/or difficulties (See Dream notes and Provers).
2. It gives you the ability to access resources (both inner and outer) to move towards emotional completeness within oneself.
Eg. could feel support from people or if no supportive people available, to feel support from nature.
3. It helps you find what you need in an easily digestible form. ‘The messages feel clear and fully learnt’. It seems to only gives you what you can digest at that time.
4. Imbalance in Male and Female energy because of lack of one parents input in the family of origin. One sex was not there (emotionally).
Eg. Women who have to play both male and female parts in family:
- have to disconnect from part of themselves to do it.
- creates anger at other side who was/is not present.
Unfinished issues with either parent.
5. Lack of nurturing and bonding with parents = disconnected and disinterested.
Unable to nurture themselves.
Nourishment - food; money; parental love; spiritual.
Not getting what they needed - the inner bonding.
- For those who can’t nurture their children because of their own lack of nurturing.
- Children from broken families who get neglected; emotional malnourishment; disconnected from self and inner child.
6. Disconnection from oneself by staying in the physical and keeping away from the emotions or spiritual.
Dull/stupid without emotional life.
7. Being here now:
- ‘feel a contentment with oneself just as I am’.
- ‘nothing else matters’ (except here and now).
- letting go of obsessive thinking and just being.
- has stronger boundaries of self (for someone who had few).
- more grounded; mud; red earth.
- no mind; a simple empty state of just being.
8. Pathological spirituality.
Possibly for someone who uses meditation to detach from their abandonment issues; become simple, empty but disconnected from their emotional self.
For those who are out of touch with their real spirituality.
9. When a prover was ‘stuck’ psychologically the dreams represented where they were at, and brought it clearly to the provers awareness.
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Dreams:
Prover 1: [Female; 40's, homoeopath who's constitutional remedy has been unable to be found; solid build; closed emotionally.]
Sucked into mud like stuff up to my waist.
Little baby possums who have lost their mother. I feel really worried about them.
__________
Prover 2: [Female; 40's; homoeopath/crystal healer. HO abandonment issues; much counselling work done. A red-head. Primarily a Magnesium-phosphoricum constitution.]
First, a parenting dream. A girl child who had everything materially, but was emotionally unnourished; not recognised. Has beautiful satin dress but feels great aloneness. Her mother is neurotically cut off from her feelings and her child. I could feel the child's feelings. I knew she would escape.
Second part of first dream: A beach; child was content; connected with nature. A woman trying to climb a high wall to escape. Child felt disappointed and scorn for her parents.
Second dream: Women protecting each other from crimes of their mothers. Red head - luminous. Floating in water - laughter.
Talking about soul and love. Supporting each other.
Sense that the masculinity is missing - a gap.
I woke refreshed and felt good (unusual).
_____________
Prover 3: [Female; 30's; Qualified homoeopath who has not felt ready to start professional practice; sensitive, reserved, shy type. Natrum-muriaticum constitution.]
At a party with lots of people. A baby in my arms - holding close - big eyes. Overwhelming feeling of love and connectedness. Then the father is there and he acknowledges me. I am communicating telepathically with the baby - a whole connection; it feels as if part of me.
It gives me great comfort - still.
During the day I had to dance - felt very joyous.
_______________
Prover 4: [Female; 30's; homoeopath; ex drug user; has done much therapy and now counsells others in Narcotics Anonymous. Layered constitution, Thuja initially, then Hyosciamus and others.]
Looking in on a therapy group. Someone came in and asked horrible questions. I felt they were controlled and humiliating. Three people put their hands up. They were asked to come out. Only two came out. He asked ‘where’s the other one?’ I felt humiliation. The other person stood up. I felt their courage.
Then: outside scene under an arch of trees. Two people standing side by side. A group of friends around. The courageous person is standing next to someone who looks the same. A great feeling of completion - like a wedding with oneself.
I wake feeling dull, with a headache. The dream didn't affect me emotionally at that time.
_____________
Prover 5: [Female; late 30's; homoeopath specialising in animals; very small build; generous and sympathetic. Carcinosin constitution.]
Dream 1. Me and a girlfriend visiting someone. Then doing something else anyway. A lot of my friends had split up with men. One got really angry about re-arrangements. I felt very separate - I didn't take it on - felt comfortable.
Dream 2. At a market with another couple. Lots of food around. Lots of cleaning up to do. They wanted to piss off. I felt really annoyed and indignant (being left with all the cleaning up).
_____________
Prover 7: [Female; 30's; Bowen Hands Therapist and student homoeopath; sensitive/psychic abilities; not well grounded.]
Little, solid, blocks of stuff:
- they are green and brown
- everything else is dark
- smells like dried dog biscuits or blood and bone.
I think this is stupid, and left.
It felt peaceful being just in oneself.
_____________
Prover 8: [Female; 20's; student homoeopath; confused and shy; has taken many remedies; constitution uncertain.]
Dream 1. Hands going into the earth and pulled up red earth.
Dream 2. A fight or quarrel.
Dream 3. A journey - going to visit his mother. She wanted me to wear a pink dress. Got to go somewhere. Travelling: - lot of water - rough and dark. An army place. Had to dress in Kaki - anger - dark. Like on a mission against an evil force.
______________
Prover 9: [Male; 30's; homoeopath; intellectual; Lycopodium/Thuja constitution. (This prover knew what the remedy was.)]
Woke 100 times wondering if I had dreamed. Got confused if I woke or dreamed or dreamed I woke or dreamed I dreamed.
Woke wanting to reject that which is great.
Dream 1. Journey of a long way - determined.
Dream 2. In a helicopter flying around - over water like Greece.
Mothers and children everywhere enjoying themselves.
___________
Prover 10: [Male; 30's; homoeopath; yielding; introverted; Pulsatilla constitution.]
Dream 1. My step children’s father is sharing out cottage cheese for sandwiches. He gives my stepdaughter (his daughter) very little - she gets upset. I later realise he was holding back her main share for some reason. In the end everyone gets enough.
Dream 2. About monkey’s cooperating. A calm, soft feeling.
Dream 3. My father (who is estranged and distant) showed me and my sister an investment accounts he has made for us. Started years ago with $400; it now has $62,000 in it. He said nothing - is a bit shy. He had never mentioned them. I was moved, but it is still awkward between us. On changing position my arm briefly (and accidentally) gets wrapped around him in a hug. It was really nice to know that he cared.
One and a half months later this prover took Vibhuti LM 0/1 intending to experiment with daily doses.
First day: My wife had a pain in the stomach and was feeling neglected and cranky with me. I did not react or retreat from her, but could be there for her and offer comfort (even when she appeared to not want it). This was new for me. In the evening I felt a sense of surrendering to giving to her, like a parent to a child. [Curative effect]
Dream: Sitting around a table eating. I gave some criticism of my mother. My older sister agrees with me and criticises her also. My mother criticises me saying I am a ‘consummate bachelor' ie. I do exactly what I want in my relationship. She said I have always been like that. I get really angry with her because she has never told me her real feelings. She is devastated; then becomes my wife, then a dwarf who is tricking us by pretending to be my mother/wife - playing a joke.
After the first day I noticed no more effects.
After five days:
A raw/tender feeling in the intestines.
> after eating.
Slight pressure headache in mornings - forehead and temples.
Stopped the remedy.
ISSUE ABOUT IT'S SOURCE:
After the proving when it was being discussed and the remedy was revealed several provers had emotional responses to the remedy's source.
Some women reacted to it being ‘a man made spiritual energy’. One woman knew of Sai Baba and likened his approach to Spiritual Imperialism or a Patriarchal approach. Thus, for her, the remedy was associated with the man who made it and brought along his shortcomings.
Another person had a bad feeling about it being manifest from dead saints. ‘Did he get their permission?’ she asked. The proving seemed to validate his claims about this substance so we tend to also believe the claim about it's source. It certainly seemed to have a kind of intelligence in the way it related to everyone individually.) Is it OK to use the energy and wisdom of dead saints as manifested by a particular man? Is the Homoeopathic remedy necessarily associated with any personal motivations Sai Baba may have in manifesting Vibhuti ash?
A further issue arose about the ethics of giving such a remedy to people without their informed consent. Some provers resented being given this remedy without consent. In using the remedy also, what if the patient's religious beliefs are in conflict with Sai Baba’s ‘Guru’ style of religion? Some (Seventh Day Adventists for example) would consider it the work of the Devil. Is it ethical to give an energy with such spiritual associations to people without asking their permission first?
I do not know the answers to these questions, so am presenting it all to the Homoeopathic community for discussion. Any comments are welcomed.
Finally, since doing another proving I have realised that this one may be somewhat deficient in that only one potency of the remedy was proved. We will be doing further proving of this remedy in higher potencies at some time in the near future and I may then be able to add to this information. For now, I think that it can be of benefit to the homoeopathic community to start exploring this wonderful new remedy, so I am publishing this information.
CASES:
After the proving I felt excited about the Universal nature of this remedy. However this same universal quality also left us uncertain as to how to use the remedy - on what indications. For me there was also the issue of whether it is ethical to use a remedy from such a substance. Finally, there is the issue raised above about the need for the patient's consent. I resolved to tell patient's what I was proposing to give them and ask their permission.
Case 1.
After several months a possible use occurred to me. A long term client had just come for a return visit and the case was not at all clear. In the past, she had received a number of remedies with varying degrees of success. One's that had worked included Carcinosin, Tarantula Hispania, Staphisagria and Phosphorus. Being a Homoeopath she had also self prescribed a number of other remedies recently. Rather than make her take nothing for a month and then return for another consultation (as I had done in the past) I asked if I could give her Vibhuti. I had decided to use it as an awareness stimulator, to bring up the issues that needed addressing.
Rx Vibhuti 30 one dose and report next week.
Lots of dreams:
My step mother told me she had cancer. She was very melancholic.
I was very positive about it.
I had to sort something out with my sister. If my step-mother died then we couldn't sort out our problems. I got negative and felt hopeless and helpless.
Talking to E (who had died of pancreatic cancer). My father got involved with unsavoury people - I was just an observer - didn't get involved. Like I can't reach him.
This dream brought back memories of a woman who looked after us as children - Mrs. B.
Her husband had died of cancer.
Her sister died of cancer.
Her son has now got cancer.
Now my husbands brothers wife has cancer.
Cancer is all around me!!
It wasn't hard to prescribe Carcinosin 1M after this.
Although she had had Carcinosin before amongst the other remedies, she reported that it worked the best and longest this time.
Case 2.
19.4.96
Been seeing this client for five months for Homoeopathic treatment and counselling. She lost her baby immediately after birth in July 1995 from a combination of heart defects. Since then she had been severely depressed, having come close to suicide by threatening to shoot herself on two occasions. I first saw her November 1995 and prescribed Anac 10M (and keep Aur 10M in case it is needed). She took repeated doses (about six doses in 24 hours) of the Aurum to bring on depression and it had to be taken from her. After this though the Anacardium worked well.
February 1995 she fell pregnant again. She could not let herself enjoy the new baby unless the same thing happened with this one. After several doses of the 10M she had needed Anac CM and then Anac MM for relapses. While the remedy was working she was well, but it was not lasting long enough. I became worried that we would run out of potencies of Anacardium before she was cured. In the hope of helping her learn and change faster I prescribed...
Rx Vibhuti 0/1 to be taken twice in one week.
She reported the following dream after the remedy:
My husband and I are on our property overlooking the valley. Suddenly we heard a horrific sound, and instantly in the trees we saw a large beautiful pale brown tiger, with the most beautiful eyes - coloured aqua-green. The tiger took great interest in us and began jumping from tree to tree to reach us. As I began running up to the house, the tiger leaped to the ground, and as it landed it transformed into a large black animal of no known description (but like a black bear). It was angry and wanted to kill us. It came at us with huge fangs many times, My husband used an axe against it's attack and only once made a strike, and with one last try he threw the axe at the animal and missed. I put my fear aside and picked up two branches to thrust into it's eyes; when I realised it had no eyes, only deep empty sockets. It was horrifying. So instead I grabbed his paw and began spinning him in circles until I let go and it spun off and disappeared. It was like dancing, and it felt enjoyable. We began walking up to the house and on the way saw a small baby animal like the one I had fought. It started following my Husband to the house. I wanted to strike it from behind with the axe, but due to it's innocence, could not. And as I followed behind the animal, intent now to look after it, other people appear walking beside us, pleased with my decision.
26.4.96
To her the black animal represented death and she had enjoyed dancing with it. [Mind: Death, thoughts of, give joy: Aur only remedy.] From this dream interpretation I gave Aurum CM (I did not want to repeat the 10M potency she had attempted to prove). At this stage in her pregnancy her foetus's heart was just developing so it seemed like the last chance to influence that. I was well aware of the risk of using such a high potency on a pregnant woman with a developing foetus, however the benefit seemed to outweigh the risk.
After this she stopped thinking about wanting to be dead in order to be with her dead baby. She required two more doses of Anacardium before she ‘said goodbye to her strong side’. At twenty weeks of pregnancy she had a special Ultra sound of the new babies heart and they found no defects. On December 3rd she successfully faced the hospital again (with lots of homoeopathic help) and gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
The Vibhuti had brought to the surface the most important issue she needed to deal with, and in a most vivid way through her dream.
Case 3.
A young woman of 25 years first consulted me in January 1994 for giardia, confusion and paranoid fears since several LSD and Ecstasy trips in 1990. The Ecstasy in particular had affected her; causing delusions of evil spirits around her. She said the drugs ‘opened me up to all things’ and she was oversensitive to everything including homoeopathics after that experience. All the fear affected her abdomen and she had digestive symptoms. Her fears included other people; being alone; claustrophobia; the cold; the dark; of dying; going insane or getting lost; loosing control; hospitals; and being sick, as she may have to take drugs [3].
My first prescription was Ecstasy 0/1 one drop in water daily.
She took it for one month, but then started feeling confused and depressed and so she stopped it. She returned and only complained of digestive symptoms with bloating, burping and nausea and low self confidence.
I then gave her Giardia 30 once/week for one month and Lycopodium 6c patient dose; once daily in water for one month.
She did not return for two years, in which time she did an intensive course in rebirthing. This brought up lots of fear and delusions and she said ‘I forgot how to be myself’. She had a nervous breakdown, was hospitalised and given ECT and tricyclic antidepressants for 6 months.
She still had the same digestive symptoms and fears, with more worry about being sick and more fear of hospitals. In the hospital she was afraid of living and dying; thought she was totally evil and thought she was Hitler in a past life.
After trying Stramonium 0/3 and then Lycopodium 0/3 one drop in water once daily, which both aggravated her I decided to try Vibhuti 30 one dose, to see if it could make her state clear to me through her dreams.
She reported the dream she had the night after:
A women I met - her big house - huge and exaggerated; 100s of children of all ages there. I came at breakfast - a massive production line of pancakes. I go down into the basement - junk and people everywhere. The bottom of the house has been left open as I stayed there. Wolves and bears come in. I felt I had to close it. A big wolf there - bright red - I just stand there and one grabbed me - I realise I have meat in my pocket and so I throw it over the fence. The wolves and bears turn into humans and begin to walk around ignoring me.
Another part of dream: Wild dogs come in - I tried screaming out to the woman owner but she couldn’t hear. I was worried about them getting the children.
Another dream: About wanting something fixed by someone. They couldn’t come because they were so sensitive to electricity and couldn’t face my place.
We agreed that the house represented her psyche and in the basement were fearful animals (energies) because she was too open at that level. A vivid representation!
I suggested that the wolves and dogs were part of the picture of Stramonium.
She decided that she needed the remedy I had previously given her for fears (Stramonium) but less of it as she is so sensitive (as represented in the second dream).
Rx Stramonium 0/3 one drop in a whole glass of water , a spoonful into a second glass and one sip from the second glass, once daily.
Three days later:
Been sleeping well. (had been sleepless from anxiety of not sleeping)
Feel a bit more independent. Not hanging around boyfriend so much.
One month later:
Getting > except digestion.
Not so emotional in my reactions; more level.
Being more independent; subtly less afraid.
Sleeping well - 8 hrs.
Started Uni again yesterday.
The Stramonium seemed to calm her fearful state and removed her hypersensitivity to remedies.
Three months later she went on to need Carcinosin which she did quite well on, and which she could take in normal doses.
In another difficult case where the patient was very attached to her Anorexic state and would not talk to me about her past, I gave Vibhuti 30, one dose and asked her to report her dreams the next week. However, she could not remember her dreams and so I did not get any help from the technique in this case. This made me wonder about exactly what the requirements were for successful use of this remedy. It seems to me that a certain level of willingness to become self aware on the part of the patient is necessary for the remedy to be useful in this way. I also think that the state of the relationship between the homoeopath and the patient is of some importance. The situations where the remedy has worked well for me have all involved a state of mutual recognition of our inability to see the correct remedy picture and a willingness to explore oneself in order to find it. In other words I am wondering if this remedy responds to the need of the present situation in some way and maybe even to the request of the homoeopath to the patient to come back with some dreams that will describe their state. It may also be that we don’t yet know the full remedy picture of this remedy, and so I plan to do a further proving on it this year.
The remedy can be obtained from Helios Pharmacy in England (Ph: 1892 536393. Fax 1892 546850). If you use this remedy in some way and obtain results, I would be pleased to hear from you about it. Maybe we can collectively work out how to use this interesting remedy more effectively.