Medical Newsletter

Dear friends!

In keeping with the promise we made at the Christmas Conference to provide updates on the work of the Medical Section at the Goetheanum, we are sending this first newsletter to those associated with us in the field of medicine. It is inspired by the attitude that united us during the medical courses in the New Year. It would like to convey to each word something of the feelings for suffering humanity, from which not only devotion to the art of healing must arise, but also its real power.

It was in ancient times
There lived in the initiate's soul
The powerful thought that every man is sick
By nature.
And education was regarded
As the healing process,
Which, as the child matured,
At the same time brought health
For life's completed humanity.

It is good to let such powerful thoughts, gained from the contemplation of ancient instinctive wisdom, come before our soul when we want to prepare our soul in the right inner contemplation to grasp the healing effects.

Let us not forget that the healing process must be given a soul, since it must not only turn to a body but also to a soul. The more young doctors grasp such thoughts, the more that which the thoughtful doctor longs for when he perceives the limitations of the current state of his art will flow into medical life, and the patient will experience it as a blessing during the healing process.

Dear friends, you who were here in January, you accepted with open hearts what was offered to you with such good will. We will never forget how this shone in your eyes and how it was conveyed in your warm words. Our thoughts were with you, and today, for the first time, they are turning to you in response to the questions you have raised.

We are sending the following to individual addresses and ask those who receive direct mail from us to ensure that it is forwarded to the addresses we have provided.

Goetheanum, March 11, 1924.

Questions and Answers.

I. In response to a question about the difficulties that aspiring doctors today face in studying both conventional medicine and medical courses in the anthroposophical movement, we can only reply that it is precisely our intention, by communicating these circulars, to overcome these difficulties over time. The meditation referred to in the letter as supplementary is available from Dr. Ita Wegman for those who need it.

II. Regarding study at the Goetheanum.

Practical study should, of course, be provided for wherever possible, but we ask for patience in this regard. We will indicate in these newsletters the time from which registrations will be possible.

III. Regarding the request for the presentation of certain topics for co-workers in the Medical Section [of the School of Spiritual Science], we note that we would like to work in this direction. However, it will be more effective to discuss such topics in individual correspondence rather than in this newsletter. But here, too, we ask for a little patience; we will come ever closer to achieving our goals, but we can only proceed step by step.

We would also like to add that in the future, therapeutic questions that are asked for very specific cases will not be answered in the newsletter. We naturally welcome general therapeutic questions that arise in relation to the medical courses that have taken place, as well as questions that relate to physiological and anatomical problems, to the study, and to the physician's human and moral attitude.

IV. For those individuals who have asked us whether they can come here in the near future to participate in the work of the college, or who – after passing their exams, for example – have a desire to do so, we note that three to five further lectures are to be held immediately after the Easter lectures from April 19-22, in which those concerned can initially receive guidelines for their further work.

Topic: The nature of man and world orientation with regard to education and healing, as well as the particularly important human tasks in this area.

V. The establishment of home pharmacies with our remedies would of course be desirable, but cannot be implemented for the time being, as the law only allows homeopathic remedies to be dispensed by the city doctors themselves. Once we are in the same position as these homeopathic physicians (i.e. in terms of legal recognition), we will be able to do the same. For the time being, we have to be content with distributing the remedies through pharmacies.

VI. In answer to the question of whether information about the mode of action of the remedy should be given to the patient, it can be said that the effect is indeed impaired if the knowledge of it is absorbed in thought. However, the impairment is less severe if the thoughts are only intellectual, more severe if they are pictorial, and most severe if the patient is able to follow the entire course of the healing process within himself. But this should neither prevent the patient from being given any desired information about the mode of action nor prevent a knowing patient from being cured. For what is lost through knowledge can be fully regained if the patient develops reverence for the healing methods. Care must be taken to communicate this.

VII. Questions about the type of injections.

Injections should generally be made under the skin. Only if the patient does not respond to repeated attempts should intravenous injections be given, in highly potentized doses. In this case, the effect of the first injection must be awaited.

VIII. In a letter, reference is made to two lines, one running in the direction of the spine and the other running down from the head, indicating the hyoid bone, mandibular arch, thyroid cartilage, and lateral part of the ribs. And the question is what the significance of this line direction is. The latter line corresponds to what is formed out of the most solid substances in the animal through the astral body. In the human being, this line is brought in that direction by the upright posture, in which it forms an oblique angle with the vertical. This is oriented by the ego organization, in such a way that in the course of the spinal vertebrae the earthly ego appears, so to speak, hypertrophically; the forming ego, which then remains after death, hypertrophically orients the cartilaginous part of the ribs and the breastbone. Because in such spiritual beings as Lucifer the human aspect is skipped, both the dorsal column and the cartilaginous part of the ribs with the breastbone must be omitted. Therefore, the questioner has a pointed chest and lateral rib tendencies in the Lucifer sculpture.

IX. Regarding a question about the cavities of the head and their significance, we have the following to say: The physical and etheric parts of the head are arranged in such a way that in certain places the physical, in other places the etheric predominates; in these places the cavities show themselves. They are the actual thought-carriers, while the physically full places are the carriers of life in the head and the suppressors of thought life. If their activity is too strong, fainting or hallucinations and the like occur.

X. Regarding the question of medial predisposition.

A person's mediumistic disposition is based on the incomplete engagement of the astral body and the ego in the abdominal and limb tract of the etheric and physical body in a trance state. As a result, the limbs and the abdomen are connected to the etheric and astral environment in an irregular manner, so to speak, as sensory organs. This results in spiritual perceptions; however, at the same time, the moral and conventional impulses that normally act through these organs are eliminated, just as they are eliminated by the ordinary sense organs. The eye sees blue, but not slander. It is extremely difficult to physically heal mediums. It could only be brought about by highly potentized tobacco injections into the part of a sensory organ, for example, into the interior of the Eustachian tube or into the cornea of the eye, which is of course very dangerous. A psychic healing requires that the healer has a stronger will than the medium except for the trance and that he can work through wax suggestion.

XI. Regarding the question whether an abortion performed to save the mother's life encroaches upon the mother's karma and the child's karma, it must be said that although both karmas are quickly steered in a different direction, they soon return to their own course in the corresponding direction, so that from this point of view it can hardly be said that karma has been encroached upon. On the other hand, there is a strong intervention in the karma of the person taking the action. And this person must ask himself whether he consciously wants to take upon himself what brings him into karmic connections that would not have existed without the intervention.

But questions of this kind cannot be answered in general terms, but depend on the specifics of the case, just as in many cases, even in purely mental cultural life, an intervention in karma means and can lead to deep, tragic life conflicts.

XII. A question regarding cod liver oil.

Cod-liver oil can be avoided if the causes of the corresponding ailment are diagnosed and the remedies we have indicated are used:

Waldon I: vegetable protein, vegetable fat.
Waldon II: vegetable protein, vegetable fat, silicic acid iron.
Waldon III: vegetable protein, vegetable fat, silicic acid iron and Calcarea carbonica.

XII. For injuries that have come into contact with the ground, Belladonna 30D together with Hyoscyamus 15D will be of use, even if only a single injection is given.

XIV. Regarding the case of a 35-year-old diabetic. For this diabetic, the rosemary cure would undoubtedly be the best. It could be supported by adding silica in the 10th decimal.

XV. A question about the treatment of ringing in the ears. For ringing in the ears, poppy juice to 6 decimal places is generally recommended. If the personality can muster sufficient strength to convert passive surrender to the buzzing into active imagination, as if one were causing it oneself, improvement can be brought about after some time. The ringing in the ears is due to a weakening of the astral body in relation to the etheric body in the bladder area.

XVI. Case of brain fever with after-effects.

We should try to inject the 38-year-old patient, who is not responding to the remedies used, with the consequences of the flu, with Fliegenschwamm D 30 and ensure that he is in a confidently cheerful mood after the injection.

Rudolf Steiner
Dr. I. Wegman