We have all experienced feelings of loneliness at some point in our lives. At these times we may feel isolated and alone, or dejected and not understood. Or, we may have a constant feeling of being uncared for, or neglected by a friend, relative, or fellow worker. We may, at times, also feel morally abandoned, deserted and desolate.
All these states can be summed up by the term forsaken and fortunately there are two classical homeopathic remedies that are useful in addressing the state. These two — Aurum metallicum and Pulsatilla nigricans — show two very different manifestations of the term in their symptom patterns.
The Lonely, Forsaken Feeling Of Aurum
Aurum is derived from the metal gold. At a symbolic level, gold is solidified sunlight. It is the ‘sun’ of the mind and represents the heart and the will. An Aurum patient lingers in the failed state of gold wherein the mind and heart have been turned to darkness. The sun has gone down.
The patient needing this remedy lives without warmth and nourishment, is isolated and lonely with no will to live. They loathe life.
Gold, the metal, does not form bonds with other metals and as such can be seen as independent and isolated from the other elements. Aurum patient parallels this in their separation and loneliness.
Those requiring the remedy are people who feel themselves quite separated from the world. They have been fixated on one thing and/or overinvested in life, love, career, etc. The more they have invested, the more they have to lose.
What they have put into these things, they have taken away from their own hearts. They become increasingly isolated and undernourished. Their loss leaves them devastated and impoverished.
Patients needing Aurum become depleted. They have put so much effort into things, or persons, other than themselves that something is missing in them. As a result, those needing the remedy become dejected and full of grief. They seek solitude and imagine that they have lost all friendships and affection.
They are dissatisfied with everything and see obstacles everywhere.
The Aurums are melancholic, feeling their state is partly their fault. They imagine they are not fit for the world and long for death. They are detached and remote.
There is a deep sense of loss and separation. There is no light, or hope, in the life of the Aurum patient for they have been forsaken, deserted by all they have cared and worked for.
The Lonely, Forsaken Feeling Of Pulsatilla
Pulsatilla, the remedy is derived from the windflower, a spring flower, that requires a sunny well-drained position and does generally better in chalk soils.
Most notably, the flower changes directions in the wind and the Pulsatilla patient is similar — mild, yielding, gentle, and of a changeable nature.
Pulsatilla is about separation and loneliness. Its strongest aetiology is abandonment.
The child fitting the Pulsatilla profile is one when left by their parents for a short period of time is in tears when the parents returns.
They need affection to feel secure. They are mentally, emotionally, and physically soft.
The feeling of being forsaken, or abandoned, hangs over the adult life of a Pulsatilla like a dark cloud. If left alone, they can become traumatised and ill.
Pulsatilla is the dependent one who wishes to be consoled; who desires company; who is afraid to be left alone; who remembers the most minor forms of abandonment; who feels forsaken; and who craves attention and someone’s presence. Always.
NB: It is imperative that a specialist homeopathic physician, with good clinical experience in mind disorders, is consulted to treating loneliness issues and symptoms. Self-treatment is a big no.
