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Autumn 2006 issue #10

The Spirit of Calcium by Cornelis van Dalen
PART TWO: Calcium, disorders and remedies

The movement behind the material manifestation of life in the human, the subtle and the spirit dynamis is where we should seek the spirit of calcium. In discussing any disease or disorder, modern science keeps within very narrow confines and admits into its consideration only these narrow material aspects. Even so, a mineral does not exist by itself but with others and more often dependent on others. Every manifestation is in concert with others, as you are too.

The blood and bones of the body must be seen as more than physical material. We have earlier indicated that the physical as such is represented as the mineral kingdom. Without minerals we would not be physical. Minerals are raised up by the vegetable kingdom through plants,  and are raised higher still into the animal and human existence by way of food and by breathing; in human life the mineral is a higher expression. This raising is possible through the warmth forces. Without warmth there is no life; warmth is the highest and primal expression of four formative forces; warmth is life. The sun represents the warmth element.

The fifth century B.C. Greek philosopher Empedocles was the first to notate the four elements (fire, air, water, earth) and who said that ‘everything that happens in the material realm results from the principles of love and hate ruling in them.’[1] In other words love and hate, warmth and coldness are the polarities which form physical existence.

The image of a corpse is one of coldness, as that of a bone or skeleton. That which gives life, the warmth is bound in our hearts. Through our hearts we love and in our bones we bear coldness  – the antithesis of love.  For as Empedocles informs us, everything is built out of love and hate.

One must take a few moments to marvel at the perfection of the body of man; truly marvel at it and the wondrous functions in simplicity and complexity, that no one today, whether engineer or other could construct. This is true for the bones and their mechanical assemblage and function, as well as nerves, heart, blood and so on, in the maintenance and evolution of consciousness.

The Chemistry
The calcium problem is complicated, says Gerhard Schmidt: we need to avoid a false evaluation of details which could cause us to lose our vision of the whole. [2] This is easy enough to do.

In iatrochemistry – the chemical nature of plants and living organisms – everything is reduced to single substances known as salts. The existence of these reduced substances, formerly called ash, is only the end point of the physical remains of a living process. Everything lives (including the hardened earth) and what appears as living is a salt process; Life is the constant state of formation and dissolution of salt. For example, when a flower emits fragrance it is that which wants to be a flower but remains in a dispersed state; fragrance is the flower in an unformed state. It restrains itself in the formation of salt, which is the physical expression of the flower. [3]

In the human organism, thought processes are linked to organs. Thinking of food when hungry promotes saliva secretion, as do thoughts affect milk, semen and urine secretions. The glands of the body, the endocrine and exocrine, are influenced by thoughts, and evolution of consciousness is greatly tied to the subtle development of the glandular system.

The lesser-known Frenchman Prof C. Louis Kervran (1901 – 1983) established a ‘fault’ in the calcium metabolism which seems to be linked to a modification of the thyroid and para-thyroid gland activity. This concurs with the orthodox hormonal view of osteoporosis. All endogenous formations of calcium seem to be connected with the thyroid and parathyroid gland. Potassium increases thyroid activity, as does Magnesium; Calcium does not. This should also be a hint of the treatment of (frequently diagnosed) thyroid disorders.

What is of importance in this discussion is that thoughts arise from salt processes. (See the ‘brain sand’ reference in Part One, NP Summer issue). The treatment of decalcification, how to re-calcify and hence the treatment of osteoporosis as one such example, needs to be viewed, too, in the thought processes. Here, homoeopathy shows the way in always considering the mental state of the patient.

Biological Transmutation [4]
Kervran in his childhood observed chickens producing hard (calcareous) eggshells, but their feeding area was devoid of limestone (calcium). When the chickens were let loose in the yard they scratched incessantly for fragments of mica strewn on the ground. He observed his mother when opening the gizzard of a killed chicken and saw that it contained small grains of sand but never mica. Where did it go?  Mica is a component of silica.

The formation of substance in vivo, meaning in the body, is different to the formation of substances in vitro, outside the body in a test tube. This continues to be the unacknowledged obstacle in modern scientific medical thinking, but for the true investigator of the subtle, the biological in vivo formation is an insight into the vast universe of life, an image of the cosmos.

Kervran’s most amazing and profound work on the fact of biological transmutation holds the observable key: in biological systems of plants, animals and humans, it is the living organism that transmutes elements into others. For example, Kervran determines that calcium’s origin is potassium [K39 + H1 → Ca40], magnesium [Mg24 + 016 → Ca40] or silica [Si28 + C12 → Ca40]. [5]

Specifically, in accord with our topic of calcium and calcification, here are some pertinent quotes from Kervran:
• ‘The production of limestone by organic silica, as explained by the reaction Si28 + C12 → Ca40, has only recently attracted the attention of modern scientists…. even though the phenomenon was generally known in antiquity. The therapeutic method of recalcification has been used only rarely, for the most part by doctors who are traditionalists, healers and homoeopaths, etc, believing in natural remedies. Wasn’t it heresy to say that silica could recalcify? It was a denial of Lavoisier’s chemistry, still official. That is probably why plants rich in silica, such as horsetail, were very recently erased from the pharmacopoeia in France.
• ….Nature has many ways to prevent a deficiency resulting not from the lack of an element but from an insufficient production of the enzyme that carries out the transmutation. Calcium is not assimilable, at least not for man – unless it is proved otherwise. Decalcification may occur when there is a deficiency of the enzyme which transmutes sodium into magnesium. It is much better to recalcify with potassium and organic silica.
•  Decalcification can then occur when saltless diets are prescribed, especially diets without chloride.
•  There has never been a counter-indication for the use of silica, except in excess as with any kind of food; however, the body’s silica tolerance is great.
•  Organic silica’s action is fast: nails cease breaking and become normal in after fifteen days if extracts are used; a longer time is required for horsetail decoctions. …I shall demonstrate that fractures are repaired and healed faster with organic silica extracts than with the administration of calcium.
•  Mineral calcium is a residue and the organism does not assimilate it; it is found in the terminal stage in man and in higher animals. However, plants have the opposite reaction and can use calcium directly. For man, organic silica (which can only be found in plants in the springtime) must be used, because mineral silica has the opposite effect: it decalcifies.’ [6]
 
Very often the patient is asked by the doctor or encouraged by an article in a health magazine or daily media, to take a calcium supplement. Generally this is Calcium Carbonate, which is chalk or lime by another name. Up to 1500 mg of chalk is advised. This is unusable by the body, as Kervran observes, worsens the available calcium, and has various negative effects, some dramatic, others subtle. Only in some patients where calcium carbonate is homoeopathic to them can this be prescribed, but better to offer it attenuated (D3 or D6). One case came to my attention – that a calcium supplement improved the patient’s heat – they stopped feeling cold.

Silica – the calcium re-organiser
Silica’s relation to calcium is the most important consideration that comes from the homoeopathic-naturopathic world. Homoeopathically silica has proved valuable in cases of decalcification. Examples of decalcifying processes are tuberculosis and other lung ailments, as well as skin diseases, cracks and fissures. Falling hair and brittle nails, white spots in the nail, is an early sign of decalcification.

It is with the treatment of these minor but irritating conditions that the organism is set on a healing path. The appropriate remedy early in the life of patients, who show such symptoms of minor decalcification, will prove valuable in the longer term. Some constitutions and temperaments will be more susceptible and the practitioner must educate him or herself in this. [7]

Silica in its crystalline form is often termed solidified light. Thinking and thought is also light within and leads us also to consider silica in the treatment of nervous disorders, so apparent in today’s world. Nervousness, stress, fear all call on calcium as previous article suggests. But the treatment is silica, especially in dietary form. The best-known high silica content plants are oats (Avena sativa) – eat whole oats (groats) or your porridge daily and drink tea made from oat straw and horsetail (Equisetum arvense). Readers requiring specific recipes for herbs and oats, please ask.

For bones fractures, thin and brittle bones, Calc Phos D6 trituration [8] has seen brilliant results. For the aged, the higher potencies are given. The herbs Symphytum (comfrey), Ruta graveolens (complementary to Calc Phos), are used for the healing of bone injuries, factures, and sprains. One will need to determine which are the most similar to the patient, with respect to symptoms, to have these healing herbs work with the inner being, the spirit dynamic.  

The other famous, or infamous Frenchman, who has dealt with the important role of silica in life, is Loïc Le Ribault. His work was as France’s top forensic scientist, but he is also the discoverer of an organic silica product he now markets LLR-G5 Organic Silica – with outstanding success in its consumption. [9]

The Spirit of Calcium
In any discussion on osteoporosis, we need to address the body as a profound organism. The deficiency of calcium in the bone structure may not necessarily be addressed by having the individual ingest crude calcium, or perceived calcium rich foods. This is very ‘allopathic’ in approach and may simply worsen the situation. 

The formation of bones (and teeth) in the intensive mineralisation process is dependent on the presence of other minerals and especially enzymes, as Kervran pointed out. If new or renewal of bone mass is to take place, then the key minerals in an available form must be considered. Kervran shows the importance of silica as a calcium former and reorganiser, but also magnesium and potassium. This is also connected to the homoeopathic use of silica, and related remedies. What is also singularly ignored most often is the evidence of calcium blockers – that is, those foods and activities with hinder the uptake or assimilation of calcium in the body, in other words, the in vivo processes.

‘Feeling there is no support left in life.’
Mental and emotional conditions should not be passed over as incidental in the patient with calcic disorders. Poorer nutritional quality of modern foods cannot be ignored in the role of diminished bone mass – but there is a concomitant to this – a change in social and spiritual outlook in people. The excessive desire for materialism (which manifests in part as living as sensual beings, and as wanton consumerists) means that an individual lives outside of himself. One often hears the phrase that people are everywhere ‘off their heads’ and the need for ‘being centred’ or ‘grounded.’ This thinking, and those conditions which engender nervousness, destroy the bone.

Thinking that is sensual and material is outside of the body to the detriment of the integrity of the body human. This means that the cause per se of osteoporosis may well be embedded in our worldly view, which is inappropriate to the future harmonious development of humanity. Expressed in other words, people given to decreased bone mass need to carefully consider their antipathies, their coldness or hatred which may have given rise to this. In a homoeopathic case taking, states of mind are generally sought of the patient. Only in this way can remedies which are homoeopathic (similar to the totality of symptoms) be prescribed and heal the patient.

To this extent, then, the patient with the guidance of the physician can undertake nutritional alterations based on appropriate whole foods, so called lifestyle changes to incorporate walking outside in the open air and gentle movement (depending on the patient’s condition); mineral therapy in low attenuations (based on silica as the calcium precursor), and herbal teas to augment; and the homoeopathic remedy based on the constitutional case and the presenting symptoms. In addition to these, one should undertake inner exercises and meditations which teach the patient to feel the bones – to actually be inside the bones. In the previous NP (June 2005, issue #5. Pp 16-17) I gave the Chinese Bone Breathing Exercise. This is to warm the bones and live. The inner experiences are with the bones and not the brain.

© Cornelis van Dalen 2006

Endnotes:
1. Rudolf Steiner, Gospel of St. Mark, Anthroposophic Press, USA, 1986, p. 12
2. Gerhard Schmidt, Essential of Nutrition, Bio-Dynamic Literature, USA, 1987, p. 244
3. Rudolf Steiner, Introducing Anthroposophical Medicine, Anthroposophical Press, USA, 1999, p. 118
4. Prof C. Louis Kervran, Biological Transmutations, English translation Michel Abehsera, Happiness Press, Asheville, NC, USA, 1998 edition.
5. Chemical elements are symbolised with letters: K=potassium; H=hydrogen; Ca=calcium; Mg=magnesium; O=oxygen; S=Silica; C=carbon; the numbers are the given the atomic weight of an element (the number of protons in a single atom of chemical element. This is based on the Periodic Table of the Elements devised by Dmitri Mendeleyev (1834-1907 ) grouping elements by weight and properties.
6. Kervran Pp45-46
7. See Part One – the Spirit of Calcium, Summer Issue #9, and the School of New Physis lectures on The Four Temperaments and The Human Organs & The Four Elements.
8. D6 = 6X, decimal dilution, D is used in Europe, X in UK.
9. 'The Persecution and Resistance of Loïc le Ribault' by Martin J. Walker published in Nexus Magazine Volume 12 #3 & #4, 2005. Ribault’s webpage at http://www.loicleribault.com

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