Repertory › Remedies in the repertory

Agnus castus (Agn.)

Agnus castus (Agn.) appears in 265 rubrics in the repertory. Of these, 13 are single-remedy rubrics listing only this remedy, and 16 are small rubrics with at most two other remedies. The emphasis lies on Delusions, Dullness, Erotic raving, and Despair, as well as on Sexuality and Death. The picture is that of a person whose mind, after sexual exhaustion and self-contempt, tends toward emptiness.

Sexuality, Dullness, and Despair

The core lies in the relation of drive and exhaustion. The small rubrics link Dullness with impotence, with pollutions and seminal discharge, Indifference with masturbation, Confusion of mind with masturbation, and Despair with violent sexual desire. Beside them stands erotic raving, which occurs in the morning on rising and is recorded as a single-remedy rubric. One can see in this a person driven by a desire that leaves him emptied afterward.

Self-Contempt and Contradiction

The mood fluctuates between exaltation and decline. Haughtiness alternates with discouragement, eccentricity with contempt for oneself; both alternating rubrics are single-remedy rubrics. Sadness, too, has an occasion of its own: "Sadness – milk, after drying up of". Added are the presentiment of death, the conviction of dying soon and of not being able to be saved any more, as well as fear of death after childbirth.

Delusions of Existence and Lightness

The Delusions concern existence itself: doubt whether anything exists, the conviction that the surroundings do not exist, the feeling of being nobody, and the impression that the air in the room is "oppressive and thick". After coition the body appears lighter than air. This can be read as a fading of weight and reality that follows the expenditure.

Summary

Agnus castus draws in the repertory a picture of depletion: a desire that consumes itself, a self-esteem that alternates between haughtiness and contempt, and an existence that dissolves into uncertainty. The rubrics on sexuality and mind stand so close together that both areas appear to belong together.

A reference work for professionals; it does not replace diagnosis or treatment.