The One Ring

Summary

Homeopaths have for years surmised the constitutional pictures of the characters in the wonderful Tolkien tale of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien is concerned with telling a story and tale of great bravery, and with recounting a story of how evil and the desire for power from the Ring affect a simple person. In this essay Liz looks at how the characters of Frodo and Gollum reflect the remedy pictures of Anacardium and Mancinella.

Key words

Anacardium - Mancinella - Tolkien - Lord of the Rings - Frodo - Gollum.

References

• 1 Bailey P M. Homeopathic Psychology. Berkeley, California; North Atlantic Books 1995
• 2 Boericke W. Pocket Manuel of Homoeopathic Materia Medica. New Delhi; Motilal Banarsidass Publishers 1996
• 3 Grieve M. A Modern Herbal. Middlesex, England; Penguin Books 1980
• 4 Hahnemann S. The Chronic Diseases. New Delhi; B. Jain Publishers 1995
• 5 Kent J T. Lectures on Materia Medica. New Delhi; B. Jain Publishers 1994
• 6 Kent J T. Repertory of the Homoeopathic Materia Medica and a Word Index. New Delhi; B. Jain Publishers 1994
• 7 Morrison R. Desktop Guide. Nevada City, CA; Hahnemann Clinic Publishing 1993
• 8 Sankaran R. The Soul of Remedies. Santa Cruz, Bombay; Homoeopathic Medical Publishers 1997
• 9 Schroyens F. Synthesis. London; Homeopathic Book Publishers 1997
• 10 Tolkien J RR. The Lord of the Rings. [The Lord of the Rings is comprised of three books - The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.] London; HarperCollins Publishers 1994
• 11 Vermeulen F. Synoptic Materia Medica. Vol. I. Haarlem; Merlijin Publishers 1992
• 12 Vermeulen F. Prisma. 2nd ed. Haarlem; Emryss bv Publishers 2002

1 In a lecture I attended with Rajan Sankaran he commented on the fact that in his clinical experience a lot of Anacardiums he knew had made the choice to become Buddhists precisely because the strict rules of Karma had held their “cruel” part in control.

2 Vermeulen Prisma = “Extracts of the nuts display a strong cytotoxic effect; a fraction of the aqueous methanolic extract of the nuts has been proven active against nasopharynx carcinoma cell cultures.” Vermeulen in Prisma considers the origins and history of remedies. This has been an important book for me because within the herbal or chemical history of use, there is a lot we can learn about the characteristics of the behaviour of a remedy picture.