Repertory › Remedies in the repertory

Cannabis indica (Cann-i.)

Cannabis indica (Cann-i.) appears in 1,060 rubrics in the Repertory. Of these, 156 are single-remedy rubrics in which only this remedy is listed, and 113 are small rubrics with at most two other remedies. The main emphasis is on Delusions, which dominate by a wide margin, and also on Fear, Time, Memory, Thinking and Speech. The resulting picture shows a person whose perception of space, time, body and identity is stretched to the immeasurable and whose thinking moves between elation and disintegration. No King-Pin symptom is listed for the remedy.

Dissolution of the body's boundaries

The body loses its shape. The legs appear too long, one leg is like a tin can filled with stair rods, the eyelashes are lengthened, the fingernails seem as big as plates, the right side is enlarged. The head becomes a pendulum, or its parts are scattered to the corners of the room. The spine is considered a barometer, as the single-remedy rubric "Delusions – spine is a barometer" records. The dissolution of boundaries can extend to the whole: the body would cover the whole bed or the earth, passersby are expanding, and the person himself is gradually swelling. The opposite is also listed, namely being transparent or weightless. Pointing in the same direction is a fear of individual limbs floating, which is likewise listed as a fear.

Transformation into things and beings

Identity dissolves into an unusual number of embodiments. The person takes himself to be a giraffe, a hippopotamus, a dwarf, a gnome or a ghost, a locomotive, a giant saw, a pump handle, an inkwell or a chopping block, a marble statue and a bottle. Even the conviction "Delusions – vegetable – leading the existence of a vegetable, believes he is" is listed, along with that of a plant existence; companions are considered half human, half plant. Beside these things and animals stand roles of power and splendor, namely emperor, queen, princess, commander, heavenly bodies, but also Jesus and the Virgin Mary. In this one can read a dissolution of the firm boundary of the self that goes in both directions at once, toward the small and toward the great.

Doubling and doubt of existence

Doubling recurs several times: sensations appear in double form, there are two existences, a double consciousness, and one part controls the other. Beside these stand doubt of one's own existence and the idea of a formless existence: "Delusions – existence – formless existence in immeasurable space." Reality itself also becomes uncertain. The fear concerns the split itself: "Fear, phobia – of the real and the unreal." The person considers everything unreal, feels transported to another world or flees into a dream world, and believes himself to be at home although he is elsewhere. What is familiar seems strange to him, even ridiculous; even his own voice sounds strange and seems to resound like thunder.

Time and space

Time expands. A few seconds seem an eternity, as the rubric "Time – passes too slowly, seems longer – eternity, a few seconds seem an" records; at night the course slows once more, near events appear far away, and the sense of time can be lost entirely. Corresponding to this is a delusion of having lived an eternity or of being in eternity. Space follows: it expands, the person is carried into outer space and must describe an orbit there, walls slide toward each other or collapse, the room falls apart, and an immensely large square opens between houses a hundred stories high. Equally frequent are spaces of confinement, being surrounded by high walls. The rubric according to which everything is exaggerated fits here.

Images, sounds and visions

The senses produce an abundance of unusual images. Seen are giant flowers, a giant beer mug with dragon pictures, an ichthyosaurus, fireflies, stars in the plate, dancing satyrs and nodding mandarins, soldiers marching silently past, and a horde of Tartars. Water appears as a flood, as an inundation or as delicious nectar. The sounds are no less peculiar: the howling of the wind in the chimney sounds like a gigantic wheel, and even colors have a sound. Music is overwhelming, for it carries the listener away and causes fainting; the single-remedy rubric "Unconsciousness – piano music, on hearing" names the sound of the piano specifically, and candlelight, too, can cause unconsciousness. Whoever hears choirs imagines himself in a cathedral.

Night, death and persecution

Opposite the shimmering side stands a dark one. At midnight, on waking, demonic shadows from hell, dead persons and wrinkled old women appear, and the person believes himself strangled by ice-cold hands. He sees a monstrous head on the wall of the room, takes the world for a terrible mystery or fears annihilation. There are also rubrics of threat: he will be murdered, people have been bribed to kill him, he will be dissected or lies on a bier. The fear has corresponding objects: drowning, the coal bucket, using the voice and, not least, antidoting one's own homeopathic remedies. The feeling of death appears especially during chill.

Thinking, memory and speech

Thinking shows two faces. On one side stand sublime thoughts, a clarity of mind after urinating, wealth of ideas and the feeling of boundless knowledge, along with creative powers and clairvoyance at midnight. On the other stand the breaks: thoughts are disconnected when the person speaks, he forgets thoughts, what he has just heard escapes him, childhood lies in darkness, and he cannot think long about one subject. When writing he does not know how to begin a letter, when spelling he ponders over the little word ›how‹ and does not form proper words. Behavior alternates between reason and unreason. Speech is thick when the person is tired, with emphasis on the last syllable and a shrill voice, then again enthusiastic, especially when it concerns the sciences.

Hilarity and intoxication

The mind is marked by elation and laughter. Listed are exultant jubilation, bliss, eccentric cheerfulness, puns, joking alternating with seriousness, and laughing at every word spoken. The elation has counterparts: sadness is followed by excitement, a panic anxiety is listed, and the person feels as if crazy.

Summary

In the Repertory, Cannabis indica is a remedy of dissolved boundaries. Body, space, time and self lose their measure and become images of the gigantic and the minute, of eternity and the moment. In between lies a thinking that swings between genius and lapses, and a mind that laughs in intoxication and in the next moment is overtaken by fear of the unreal. Read with caution, the picture describes a person from whom anchoring in ordinary reality has been withdrawn.

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