Healing with metals

Mineral substances such as metals exist in extreme high dilutions in the air and atmosphere as well as in Water, and hence also in the fluids that make up eighty percent of the Human physical body. Well known examples are the iron or calcium in blood.

Hence the alchemical application of metals for healing physical ailments via the formative forces (of the Human etheric body and the double) has to be seen in a context of the principles of Potentization, Homeopathy and Transmutation that takes place in Man's metabolic subsystem.

"Whereas therapeutic substances from the plant kingdom can be used to remedy a disturbed relationship between the etheric and astral activities, such medicaments do not suffice when anything in the balance and relationship between the physical, etheric and astral organization of Man is disturbed. The I-organization must direct its activity to processes which are tending to become mineral, hence in cases of such illness, onkt mineral substances will be useful as remedies." (1925-GA027 Ch. 17)

Aspects

the relationship between rosecrucian wisdom spread as fairy tales in the middle ages (and/or their origin in ancient cultures with clairvoyant mystery center wisdom), and the healing powers of metals (and/or their unconscious workings as soul healing remedies) (see Schramm under references below)

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.138 provides a simple overview of the seven main metals corresponding to the planetary etheric spheres, and how they operate following a different alchemical principle on different areas of Man's bodily principles and physiology.

This is an initial draft with some references and by no means complete.

Lecture coverage and references

1916-09-30-GA273

[introduction with example] I have at my disposal a book printed in the year 1740, that is, in the eighteenth century, from which I should like to read you a short passage, and we may be sure that many seeking spiritual knowledge today, coming upon such a passage will say: What depths of wisdom we have here! Indeed, there are many who believe they understand a quotation of this kind. Let me read you the one I am referring to:
“The King's crown should be of pure gold, and he must be married to a chaste bride. Now, if thou desirest to work upon our bodies, take the Greedy Grey Wolf who, according to his name, is subject to the warlike Mars but by birth is a child of ancient Saturn, and found in the hills and dales of the world, obsessed by hunger. Throw him the body of the King that he may feed upon it.”
This is the way chemical processes were described in olden days, the way to which Faust alludes when he talks of how Red Lion is married to the Lily in the glass. We should not make fun of such things for the simple reason that the way we speak of chemistry today will sound to those who come later just as this sounds to us. But we must be quite clear that this particular passage belongs to a late period of decline.
Allusion is made to a “Grey Wolf.” Now this “Grey Wolf” stands for a certain metal found everywhere in the mountains, that is then subjected to a certain process.

“King” is a name given to a condition of substances; and the whole paragraph describes a chemical process.
The grey metal was collected and treated in a certain way; then this was called the “Greedy Grey Wolf”, and the other the “Golden King”, after the gold had gone through a process. Then an alliance was made and this is described: “And when he had devoured the King. ...” It comes about, therefore, that the Greedy Grey Wolf, the grey metal found in the mountains, is amalgamated with the Golden King, a certain condition of gold after it has been treated chemically. He represents it as follows:
“And when he has devoured the King, then make a great fire and throw the Wolf into it.”
— thus the Wolf who has eaten up the Golden King is thrown into the fire.
“So that he may be completely burnt up and the King released again.”
The gold once more makes its appearance.
“When that has happened three times the Lion will have overcome the Wolf, and will find nothing more of him to consume. Then our body is ready to begin our work.”
In this way then he makes something. To explain what he makes, we should have to describe these processes in greater detail, especially how the Golden King is made; but that is not told us here. Today these processes are no longer used. But for what does the man hope? He hopes for what is not entirely without reason for he has already made something. For what purpose exactly has he made it? The man who had this printed will certainly not have done anything more than copy it from some old book. But for what purpose was it done at the time when such things were understood? That you may gather from the following:
“And know that this alone is the right way thoroughly to purify our bodies; for the Lion cleanses itself by the blood of the Wolf; for the tincture of this blood delights marvelously in the tincture of the Lion's, for the two kinds of blood are closely allied.”
Thus he praises what he has been the cause of producing. He has invented a kind of medicine.
“And when the Lion is satiated, its spirit becomes stronger than before, and its eyes dart forth a gleam of pride, bright as the sun.”
(This describes the properties of what he has in the retort.)
“Its inner being is then able to do much, and is useful for all that is demanded of it. When it is made ready, children of men attacked by severe sickness and many diseases are grateful to it; the lepers run after it, hankering after its soul's blood, end all who have infirmities rejoice heartily in its spirit; for he who drinks of this golden spring, experiences a complete renewal of his nature, the removal of evil, strength in the blood, force in the heart and perfect health in all the limbs.”
This, you see, indicates that we are concerned with a medicine, but it is also sufficiently indicated that this also has to do with man's moral character. For naturally if a healthy man takes it in the right quantity then what is here described will make its appearance. This is what he means, and this is how it was with the men of olden days who understood something of these matters.
“For he who drinks of this golden spring, experiences a complete renewal of his nature”
Thus, by means of the art he describes here, he strives to discover a tincture that can arouse an actual stirring of life in man.
“Thanks to the strength of the heart's blood, and the perfect healthiness of all the limbs, they are either enclosed within or sensitive outside the body, for it opens all the nerves end pores so that evil can be driven out and good can peacefully take its place.”
I have read this aloud chiefly to show how in these ruins of an ancient wisdom one may find the remains of what was striven for olden times.
...
Now you know that in books of an even earlier date than this antiquated volume — that indeed belongs to a very late period of decline — you find

Sun and Gold indicated by the same sign ⊙; and

Moon and Silver by the sign ☾.

To the modern man the application of the one sign used for Sun and Gold, and the other used for Moon and Silver, two faculties of the soul he necessarily has himself, is naturally sheer nonsense. And it is sheer nonsense as we find it in the literature that often calls itself “esoteric”. For the most part the writers of such books have no means of knowing why in the olden days Sun and Gold, Moon and Silver, were characterized by the same signs.

Let us start from Moon and Silver with the sign ☾. Now if we go further back in time, say a few thousand years before the Mystery of Golgotha, before the Christian reckoning of time, men did not only possess the faculties later in ruins; at the time when such things came into existence they possessed still higher faculties. When a man of the Egypto-Chaldean culture said ‘Silver’ he did not mean only what we mean when we say ‘Silver’. In the language of that time, the word signifying a ‘Silver’ was quite differently applied. Such a man had the spiritual faculties, and he meant a certain kind of force-activity found, not only in a piece of silver that actually spread over the whole earth. What he wished to say was: We live in Gold, we live in Copper, we live in Silver. He meant certain kinds of living forces were there, and these flowed towards him especially strongly from the Moon. This he felt that something sensitive and delicate that was in its coarsest, most material form in the piece of silver. He really found these forces flowing from the Moon, but also spread out over the whole earth, materialized in a particular way in the piece of silver. Now, the enlightened man of today says: Yes, of course, the Moon shines with a silvery light so they believe that it consisted of silver. It was not so, however, but rather men had an aerosol experience, lost today, in connection with the Moon, in connection with something dwelling as a force in the whole terrestrial globe, and materialized in the piece of silver. Thus, the force lying in the silver has to be spread out over the whole earth. Naturally when this is said today it is regarded as absolute nonsense, yet, even from the point of view of modern Science it is not so. It is not nonsense at all, quite the contrary.
For I will tell you something that science knows today although it is not often mentioned it. Modern science knows that rather more than four lbs of silver, finally distributed, is contained in a cubic body the length of an English knot that you may imagine out of the ocean. So that, in all the seas surrounding the earth, there are two million tons of finally distributed silver. This is simply a scientific truth that can be proved today. The oceans of the world contain two million tons of finely distributed silver — distributed in an extreme homeopathic degree, one might say. Silver is actually spread over the whole earth. ... And this was known to the ancient wisdom through those delicate, sensitive forces originating in the old clairvoyance, at that time still in existence. The old wisdom also knew that the earth should not be looked upon merely in the way of modern geology, but that in this earth, most finally dissolved, we have silver.

I could go further; I could show how gold is also dissolved, how, besides being materially deposited here and there, all these metals finely dissolved are really present. Ancient wisdom, therefore, was under no misapprehension when it spoke of silver; it is contained in the sphere of the earth. It was known, however, as a force, a certain kind of force. The silver sphere contains certain forces, the gold sphere other forces, and so on. More still was known of the silver that was dispersed throughout the earth-sphere; it was known that in the silver lies the force controlling the ebb and flow of the tides, for a certain force animating the whole body of the earth lies within this silver and is relatively identical with it. Without it there would be no tides; this movement, peculiar to the earth, was originally set in motion by the silver-content. It has no connection with the Moon, but the Moon is connected with the same force, and hence ebb and flow appear in certain relation with the movements of the Moon, because both they and the tides are dependent on the same system of forces. And these lie in the silver-content of the universe.

1922-06-30-GA213

discusses the healing properties of metals

1923-02-03-GA348

talks about silver counteracts lead poisoning

1923-02-10-GA348

'the relationship between the planets and the metals and their healing effects'

1923-02-17-GA349

talks about silica, mica and feldstar as medicines, and limestone used medicinally for malnutrition

1924-07-24-GA319

We have a certain remedy continually present within us. The being of man requires healing all the time. The natural inclination is always for the I-organisation and the astral body to press too strongly into the physical body and the etheric body. Man would prefer to look out into the world, not clearly, but always more or less dully; he would prefer to be always at rest. As a matter of fact, he suffers from a constant illness: the 'desire to rest.' He must be cured of this, for he is only well if his organism is constantly being cured.
For the purpose of this cure, he has iron in the blood.
Iron is a metal which works on the organism in such a way that the astral body and I are prevented from being too strongly bound to the physical and etheric bodies. There is really a continual healing going on within man, an 'iron-cure'.

The moment the human organism contains too little iron, there is a longing for rest, a feeling of slackness.

Directly there is too much iron, an involuntary over-activity and restlessness sets in.

Iron regulates the connection between physical body and etheric body on the one hand, and the astral body and I-organisation on the other. Therefore if there is any disturbance of this connection it may be said that an increase or a decrease of the iron-content in the organism will restore the right relation.
... [and continues in the context of treatment of migraine]
This we can do if we administer a substance of which I spoke in the earlier lectures, namely, silicic acid. If, however, we were to give only silicic acid, we should, it is true, send back the I into the central nerves-and-senses system in the head, but we should leave the surrounding part, i.e., the grey matter of the brain, untouched. Thus we must at the same time so regulate the digestive process of the grey matter that it no longer ' overflows,' that it incorporates itself rhythmically into the whole organisation of the human being. Therefore we must simultaneously administer iron — which is there in order to regulate these connections — so that the rhythmic organisation shall be placed once more in its right relation to the system lying at the basis of spiritual activity.
At the same time, however, there will be irregularities in the ' digestive ' processes in the larger brain. In the organism, nothing takes place in one system of organs without influencing others. Therefore in this case, slight and delicate disorders will arise in the digestive system as a whole. Once more, if we study the connections between outer substances and the human organism, we find that sulphur and combinations of sulphur work in such a way that starting from the digestive system they bring about a regularising of the whole process of digestion.
We have now three standpoints from which migraine can be considered:

(1) regulation of the digestion, the disorder of which is evident in the irregular digestive process of the brain;

(2) regulation of the nervous and sensory activity of the I by means of silicic acid;

(3) regulation of the disordered rhythm of the circulatory system by the administration of iron.
In this way we are able to survey the whole process. As I have said, migraine is an ailment somewhat despised by ordinary medicine but it is by no means so complicated as it appears when we really penetrate into the nature of the human organism. Indeed we discover that the organism itself calls upon us to administer a preparation of silicic acid, sulphur and iron — combined in a certain way.

1925-GA027 Ch. 17

full extract, see: Working of substances and their forces#1925-GA027 Ch. 17

By the use of therapeutic substances from the plant kingdom, we shall thus be able to remedy a disturbed relationship between the etheric and astral activities.
But such medicaments will not suffice when anything in the physical, etheric and astral organization of Man is disturbed, in connection with interplay with the organization of the I. The I-organization must direct its activity to processes which are tending to become mineral. Therefore, in these conditions of illness, only mineral substances will be useful as remedies. In order to get to know the remedial effects of a mineral, we must discover how far the substance can be broken down, for in the organism the mineral introduced from outside must first be broken down and then built up again in a new form by the body's organic forces. The healing influence must consist in this breaking down and building up process. The outcome of it must lie in the direction that a deficient activity of the organism is taken over by the activity of the medicament given.
Take the case of menorrhagia. Here the power of the I organization is weakened. It is expended one-sidedly in the formation of blood. Too little is left of it for the power to absorb the blood into the organism. The path, which the forces in the organism that incline towards the lifeless realm should take, is unduly shortened because these forces work too violently. They exhaust themselves half-way. We can come to their assistance by administering calcium in some combination to the organism. Calcium cooperates in the production and formation of the blood. The I activity is thus relieved of this sphere and can turn to the absorption of the blood.

Discussion

Related pages

References and further reading

Alla Selawry
- 'Zinn und Zinn-Therapie' (Tin and Tin-therapy) (1963)
- 'Silber und Silber-Therapie' (1966)
- 'Metall-Funktionstypen: in Psychologie und Therapie - Zur Therapie mit Silber, Merkur, Kupfer, Eisen, Zinn, Blei und Gold' (1986, 2nd edition 1991, reprint 2017)
  - the main reference work of over 500 pages, PDF of table of contents and more info here
Hilma Walter: 'Die sieben Hauptmetalle : ihre Beziehungen zu Welt, Erde und Mensch ; als Hintergrund zum Verständnis einer Sammlung von Krankengeschichten mit therapeutischen Hinweisen von Rudolf Steiner' (1965 or 1966)
- book of 319 pages
Victor Bott: 'Médecine anthroposophique : Tome II : Planètes et métaux' (1976 in FR), also in NL 1986 as 'Antroposofische geneeskunde : Deel 2 ; Medicamenteuze therapie ; De werking van metalen'
Henning M. Schramm
- 'The Healing Power of Planetary Metals in Anthroposophic and Homeopathic Medicine' (2013 in EN, original in DE in 1991: 'Metalle und Mineralien in der Therapie. Heilmittel-Kompendium zur anthroposophischen Medizin')
- Märchen und Heilmittel: Eine imaginative Einführung in die anthroposophische Metalltherapie (1993)
- Von Heilmitteln und Märchen der Gebrüder Grimm - Band 2
Eugen Kolisko: 'Lead and the Human Organism'
Eugen and Lilly Kolisko: 'Tin and the Human Organism'