Catherine R.

Coulter
Portraits of Homoeopathic Medicines Vol.3 - Imperfect
copy
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Portraits of Homoeopathic Medicines Vol.3 - Imperfect copy
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 Aurum Metallicum
The Legacy of Homoeopathic Gold

A URUM METALLICUM, or potentized gold, comes to the ho-

moeopath more heavily laden with associations than any
other medicinal substance in the entire materia medica.
Throughout the history of recorded civilization a rich and variegated
gold legacy has been handed down to mankind in Biblical parables
and Greek myths, folk tale allegory, and poetic imagery; by way of
similes and metaphors to portray man's spiritual welfare, and me-
tonymy to signify the wealth of nations.
The precious metal has been linked with sovereignty, leader-
ship, and authority, whether secular (the royal brow is crowned with
gold) or religious (the pope's miter is adorned with gold); and gold
has ever been symbolic of worldly achievement and success. Gold
medals are awarded for courage as well as for superior performance;
the finest master of any craft is said to possess "golden hands" or the
"golden touch." Similarly, the very highest praise that can be accorded
a singer is to describe his voice as "golden" (how many golden-
voiced tenors has this century produced?). In addition, the child
smiled upon by fortune and favored above others is referred to as
the "golden-haired boy."
Gold is likewise symbolic of stability and solid value. The gold
standard guarantees a healthy national economy, and a country's in-
fluence and power are largely calculated according to the amount of
bullion in its possession. Certainly, from time immemorial, gold cur-
4 Portraits of Homoeopathic Medicines

rency has been honored as the most reliable legal tender. Even in a
less material sense, it is no accident that this precious metal, unaf-
fected by the ravages of time and connoting as it does imperishable
value, is the preferred choice for wedding rings. And in the imagery
of myth and fairy tales, gold signifies hopes and wishes come true,
when stars—symbols of hope—fall to earth in a shower of gold
coins.
Gold also stands as a metaphor for rectitude, integrity, and
moral worth. No sounder encomium of a person's character can be
proffered than to say that he is "worth his weight in gold"—while,
conversely, glitter (or false gold) is the pretense that conceals the ab-
sence of true worth. Furthermore, gold is associated not only with
kindness and generosity (as in the expression "a heart of gold") but
also with balance, reason, and good judgment—as perceived in the
urgings of the classical philosophers to seek and cultivate "the gold-
en mean" (Horace).
In the realm of the spirit, gold has ever been illustrative of man's
highest moral aspirations and has been equated with spiritual en-
lightenment. The saint's halo is of gold, angels are represented with
wings of gold, heaven has been denoted as the "City of Gold," and
the time when humanity, recognizing its errors, will shed its false
values and begin to honor the proper ones—a time when all cre-
ation will live in harmony with universal beauty and truth—is
looked forward to as the Golden Age. Furthermore, it is as the Gold-
en Rule that the most fundamental guiding principle of ethical con-
duct, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you," is
honored.
And so on, ad infinitum.

The Regal Personality

The classical homoeopath honors the extensive network of
"correspondences" existing between the homoeopathic medicines
and the material world (correspondences which, as Hubbard causti-
cally remarks, "hold much light for those into whom they can pene-
Arum Metallicum

trate").* Thus, all these images and associations of gold, together

with well-attested listings in the provings and oft-observed char-
acteristics in clinical practice, have given rise to a certain picture
of the Aurum metallicum patient. He is a serious, conscientious,
self-respecting individual of solid values, who harbors delicate
scruples and a strong sense of responsibility and is the personifi-
cation of trustworthiness, sound understanding, and innate au-
thority.**
Hahnemann states that Aurum "is anxious to reflect deeply
about this or that subject" and that one of his principal delusions
is that he is "neglectful of his duties"; Clarke, that he has "exces-
sive scruples of conscience"; Kent (in his Lectures on Homoeopathic
Materia Medico), that "his intellectual nature is intact; he has been
sound in his business affairs . . . He has been a good father, he
has been observed by others around him to be intelligent." Build-
ing on these foundations, Whitmont elaborates:

The type of people that require gold as a medicine are

would-be rulers, "kings" in their own limited domains, who feel
responsible for the destinies of their "subjects" and for the rig-
orous carrying out of the responsibilities they themselves have
assumed. They tend to be active, strong people, in the center of
things, executive types, heads of families or businesses •who take
on or feel [that] they bear heavy responsibilities, often more
than they can or should handle.

The Hubbard quotations in this chapter have been taken from two
articles, "The Planets" and "Mental Portraits of Remedies Familiar and
Unfamiliar," found in the volume of her collected writings,
Homoeopathy as Art and Science.
**Once again the reader is reminded that for stylistic purposes (to
honor the King's English so to speak) the masculine gender is em-
ployed throughout this volume when referring to patients in general,
as -well as to the physician in charge of a given case.
6 Portraits of Homoeopathic Medicines

Although this traditional picture by no means fits every patient

requiring Aurum as a constitutional remedy, it is sufficiently accurate
to serve as a starting point for the present analysis.*
A gold imbalance may thus occur when a fundamentally capa-
ble, reliable, stable person finds himself discouraged in a worthy en-
deavor. Typically, Aurum was the hard-working man who suffered
from digestive disorders and high blood pressure. From a sense of
duty and good citizenship, he had left private business to lend his
managerial skills to a municipal job, specifically to manage a sector
of the New York City Department of Transportation. There he found
himself in the thankless position of always pushing himself to work
harder than was good for his health, yet always conscious he was
not doing enough. No matter how scrupulously he applied himself
to his duties and fought bureaucracy—how diligently he tried to
keep within the budget and still provide adequate public transporta-
tion to a city teeming with restless millions—his Herculean efforts
were merely palliatives, and one difficulty overcome inevitably gen-
erated another even more insurmountable. But he was committed to
his job and determined to persevere ("At least no one can fault me
in idealistic fervor!").
For a long time he resisted taking the radical step of consulting
a homoeopath ("Whatever that may be!"), but eventually he suc-
cumbed to the importuning of a colleague and allowed himself to be
dragged to a doctor who prescribed for him Aurum metallicum 200c
together with a change of diet. By adhering to the diet and receiving
the remedy at judicious intervals, both the digestive symptoms and

* Aurum metallicum (like Ignatia or Thuja), while undeniably a "con-

stitutional" remedy in its own right, is frequently prescribed to patients
of other personality types who, at a given point in time, are passing
through an Aurum phase or temporary emotional state. Throughout
this chapter Aurum's two roles (both as a chronic and an acute reme-
dy) are addressed interchangeably since their distinction is, to all in-
tents and purposes, irrelevant for a fuller understanding of the nature
of homoeopathic gold.
Aurum Metallicum

the hypertension of the patient improved, despite the continued

pressure at work.
Discernible in this case are three additional characteristic fea-
tures. First, as befits the "regal" personality (or one in a position of
sovereignty), Aurum tends to be conservative in his tastes and pref-
erences. The male, especially, respects the status quo, with its con-
ventional values, and is far from eager to espouse anything that sa-
vors too strongly of sedition or "New Age." In contrast to, for exam-
ple, Natrum muriaticum, the type is, as a rule, well-adjusted to this
world and marches in step with the rest of humanity. Second, since
framework and regularity are clearly fundamental to the authorita-
tive individual, Aurum functions best within a structured environ-
ment (organizations, corporations, institutions; cf. Lycopodium in
PT). And third to be noted is his dedication. This attribute is the
healthy expression of an inherently devotional nature (the wnhealthy
expression being the type's well-known religious melancholy or
anxieties of conscience) and further strengthens his desire to pro-
tect the existing social order.
In general, the type does not actively seek power or prestige.
There is no need for him to do so. With his aura of rectitude and au-
thority it comes to him naturally.** But by the same token, not hav-
ing had to struggle seriously for his position, he is the more shocked
by losing it.
Such was the case of the self-respecting businessman in his for-
ties who was laid off with a pension when two oil companies
merged. There was no hint of blame; it was the inevitable conse-

*To avoid repetition of character traits already discussed in greater de-

tail in this author's Portraits of Homoeopathic Medicines, volumes 1
and 2, henceforth the symbols (PI) and (P2) refer the reader to the
volume where the remedy appears.
"As Shakespeare says of Greatness in Twelfth Night, "Some are born
great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon
them," and Aurum is one of those seemingly born to power or, at least,
prestige.
8 Portraits of Homoeopathic Medicines

quence of a major recession. However, the shock to the man's pride

was severe, particularly in view of a gross misjudgment on his part.
When he learned that he was being called into his superior's office
he had told his family and colleagues that he sensed that he was go-
ing to be offered a promotion (so secure felt he of his position). This
error of judgment gave rise to the classical Aurum self-condemna-
tion: "I am entirely to blame. I don't seem to do anything right these
days. It's not surprising I was fired. I deserved to be. And now I've
let down my family . . . " and so forth ("imagines he deserves re-
proach": Hering).
Furthermore, with the loss of a lucrative salary and a job that he
liked, the man's life became devoid of all meaning. He was unable
to sleep, hardly touched food, and could not exert himself to combat
his apathy and try for another berth in the business world ("Why
bother? What's the use of trying? I'll just blow my next opportunity
the same way I did this one. Might as well live off my pension for
the remainder of whatever days I have left"). Like a native of the
Polynesian Islands who makes up his mind to die and then curls up
and does so, this patient seemed to be settling into a self-imposed
decline.
Daily doses of Aurum metallicum 30c for one week, then less
frequently as improvement in sleep and appetite set in, helped the
sufferer to curb his overactive self-reproach and rally his spirits suf-
ficiently to carve out for himself a satisfying (if financially less remu-
nerative) niche in a friend's accounting firm.
Gold is one of the principal remedies for individuals suffering
from a blow to their self-esteem or threatened with loss of face,
whether merited or not ("mortification": Hahnemann). Indeed, the
hermetic tradition equates gold with the ego:

In the alchemist's view, metals influence or represent differ-

ent planes of the human economy: Aurum the [masculine] Ego
. . . When the Ego needs fortifying [Aurum] brings it in, strength-
ens the spirit. (Hubbard)
 Catherine R. Coulter
Portraits of Homoeopathic Medicines
Vol.3 - Imperfect copy
Expanding Views of Materia Medica

338 pages, hb

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