MEDUSA (JELLY-FISH)

CARACTERSTICAS
By Rebeca Chapermann
Jellyfish. gua viva. Paralisa a presa.
Mitologia grega: monstros femininos alados de aspecto horrvel e petrificante. Os cabelos
eram serpentes. Transformava seus observadores em pedras. Perseu cortou sua cabea e
do sangue que jorrou, emergiu Pegasus.

Indicaes

Aparncia esttica importante; importante estar bela.

Pessoas frias na relao com os outros.
Ofendem-se facilmente.
dio das pessoas que apreciam a vida. [Blackie].
No gostam de muitas mudanas e preferem rotinas agradveis.
Relaes sexuais difceis [como outros remdios do mar].
Amam a msica e a dana [como todos os animais do mar]. Medusa e Spia gostam de
danar ss.
Necessitam de muito sono caso contrrio sentem-se inteis. [Blackie].
> Sono, movimento e comida. [ menos que Spia Blackie].
Secrees aumentadas.
Urticrias e vesculas.
http://www.homeopathy.healthspace.eu/mm/young.php
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 2
REPERTRIO GEHSH
81 Rubricas!
1. ANSIEDADE (anxiety) - [2pt 552r]
2. AVERSO_crianas ,a (to children) - [1pt 23r]
3. AVERSO_famlia , membros da - [1pt 49r]
4. AVERSO_mudar (2) - [2pt 13r]
5. AVERSO_responder - [1pt 89r]
6. CONCENTRAO difcil - [1pt 313r]
7. CONTRADIZER disposio = esprito de contradio (dispositon to contradict) - [1pt 58r]
8. DESEJO_solido (solitude) (gh) - [1pt 131r]
9. FALA_difcil - [1pt 134r]
10. INDIFERENA apatia (indifference, apathy - [2pt 335r]
11. INDUSTRIOSO mania de trabalhar (industrious) - [1pt 200r]
12. INQUIETAO nervosismo (restlessness, nervousness) - [2pt 568r]
13. INTROSPECTIVO introspeco (introspection) - [1pt 108r]
14. INTROSPECTIVO_introvertido (rz) - [1pt 39r]
15. INVEJA invejoso (envy) - [1pt 40r]
16. INVEJA_alegria dos outros, tristeza da (gh) - [1pt 4r]
17. INVEJA_felicidade dos outros (tristeza da alegria dos outros) - [1pt 4r]
18. MENTE_COMER_am. sintomas mentais (eating) (gh) (GN) - [1pt 31r]
19. PENA pesar mgoa sentimentos de (grief feelings) - [1pt 150r]
20. SENSVEL_msica (music) - [2pt 87r]
21. SENSVEL_ofende-se facilmente (offended easily) - [2pt 123r]
22. SUICDIO deseja a morte (suicidal) (gh) (GN) - [1pt 176r]
23. TEMA_reino animal (animal kingdom) - [3pt 140r]
24. TEMA_reino animal_mar (sea animals) - [3pt 21r]
25. TEMA_reino animal_radiata - [3pt 4r]
26. TRISTEZA depresso mental (sadness) - [2pt 573r]
27. DIO (hatred) - [2pt 78r]
28. BEBIDA_caf_desejo - [1pt 89r]
29. BEBIDA_cerveja_desejo - [1pt 82r]
30. BEBIDA_limonada_desejo - [1pt 50r]
31. BEBIDA_lcool_desejo - [1pt 90r]
32. COMER_aps_am. - [1pt 130r]
33. COMIDA_carne_averso - [1pt 166r]
34. COMIDA_chocolate_desejo - [1pt 76r]
35. COMIDA_condimentada_desejo - [1pt 92r]
36. COMIDA_frutos do mar_agg. (GN) - [1pt 25r]
37. COMIDA_limo_desejo (= bebida_limonada_desejo) - [1pt 50r]
38. COMIDA_peixe_agg. - [3pt 39r]
39. COMIDA_po_desejo - [1pt 72r]
40. COMIDA_quente_desejo - [1pt 31r]
41. COMIDA_sal_desejo - [3pt 107r]
42. CONSTITUIO_magra - [2pt 63r]
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 3
43. DOR em geral (pain sensation) (gh) (GN) - [1pt 833r]
44. DOR_pele (gh) (GN) - [1pt 139r]
45. DOR_pontada (stitching) (gh) (GN) - [1pt 385r]
46. DOR_queimante_externamente - [1pt 220r]
47. ERISIPELA (erysipela) - [1pt 166r]
48. ERISIPELA_face - [1pt 94r]
49. ERUPES pele (skin eruptions) - [1pt 540r]
50. ERUPES_descamando (desquamating) - [1pt 108r]
51. ERUPES_queimantes (burning) - [1pt 126r]
52. ERUPES_urticria (urticaria, hives) - [1pt 209r]
53. ERUPES_vesculas (vesicles; vesicular) - [2pt 252r]
54. ERUPES_vesculas_peito - [1pt 21r]
55. ESFORO_fsico_am. - [1pt 37r]
56. FRAQUEZA (weaknes = enervation) - [1pt 741r]
57. HIDROPSIA edema em geral (dropsy) (swelling) (GN) - [1pt 324r]
58. INCHAO em geral (swelling) - [1pt 524r]
59. INCHAO_edematosa (edematous, puffy - [1pt 200r]
60. INCHAO_lbios - [1pt 110r]
61. LEITE_aumentado - [2pt 41r]
62. LEITE_ausente (agalactia) - [2pt 62r]
63. LEITE_desaparecendo - [2pt 48r]
64. LEITE_mulheres no grvidas - galactorria - [2pt 22r]
65. LOCAL_genitlia_feminina (3) - [2pt 134r]
66. LOCAL_glndulas (& linfonodos) (3) - [2pt 120r]
67. LOCAL_pele (skin) (3) - [3pt 141r]
68. LOCAL_urinrio sistema (3) - [2pt 45r]
69. PRURIDO (itching) (gh) (GN) - [1pt 490r]
70. QUENTE quentura calor (sensao - objetivo) (heat) (gh) (GN) - [1pt 433r]
71. QUENTE_pele sem febre - [1pt 47r]
72. SENSAO_dormncia - adormecimento (numbness - asleep) (gh) (GN) - [1pt 346r]
73. SENSAO_dormncia_pele - [1pt 40r]
74. SENSAO_formigamento (formication) (gh) (GN) - [1pt 333r]
75. SENSAO_formigamento_externo - [1pt 213r]
76. SENSAO_queimao_pele ((burning) 3) - [1pt 124r]
77. SONOLNCIA (sleepiness) (gh) (GN) - [1pt 274r]
78. SONO_no reparador (unrefreshing) - [1pt 226r]
79. SUPRESSO_urina - [1pt 110r]
80. VERTIGEM (vertigo) - [1pt 479r]
81. VERTIGEM_movimento ,pelo - [1pt 89r]
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 4
MITOLOGIA BY HENRIQUE STIELFMANN
MITOLOGIA - Na busca do ncleo do momento nas vrias mitologias poderemos encontrar aproximaes
com a patogenesia e s vezes tal a coincidncia que espantamos.
Algo que deixou-nos surpresos foi constatar a relao de personagens de um mesmo mito, relacionados com
medicamentos. Ao estudarmos Lac Caninum o identificamos com a Medusa, que o nico medicamento que
teme cair de escadas e Palladium o nico que sonha subindo escadas, Pallas Atenas transformou uma bela
jovem orgulhosa em Medusa, por ter ousado competir com ela em beleza.
Muitas vezes a tarefa muito fcil, bastando procurar-se no ndice dos livros ou nos dicionrios de mitologia
nome do medicamento. Por exemplo: Venus encontra seu amado Adonis morto e chora, das suas lgrimas
nasce Anemon.
Outras vezes o caminho mais longo como por exemplo , para chegar ao mito japons de Am-terasu para
Camphora, chegamos por vias indiretas, procurando o significado de espelho que tem neste mito.
Elizalde diz que necessitamos conhecer ao mximo Ado antes da queda, recomenda que estudemos as
vrias funes de Ado no paraso (Ex: cuidar de si mesmo, cuidar e cultivar a terra, crescer, reproduzir,
conservar-se em estado de perfeio etc.) Utilizar Bblia, Cidade de Deus de Santo Agostinho, Paraso
Perdido de Milton, A divina comdia de Dante etc...
Os Ubaldianos (Pietro Ubaldi) falam da funo no Sistema.
Cada aspecto negativo que surge nas patogenesias corresponde ao reverso da ordem primitiva, quando tudo
era perfeito.
Objetivao da perda de valores transcendentes que antes eram sua propriedade.
O homem assistiu a toda a alterao da ordem dos trs reinos da natureza. Ex: cada, terremotos,
desordem etc...reflexos de uma ordem anterior. Assim Lyc. que foi uma rvore com alguns metros hoje
um pequeno arbusto e sonha com rvores e gigantes, como refletindo a perda da grandeza.
Muitas vezes procuramos um aspecto do pecado original e pode ser que algum medicamento tenha todo o
pecado.
15) a - O conhecimento de Anatomia e Fisiologia oculta pode ajudar-nos a compreender o
incompreensvel. Por exemplo, por que algum teria sensao de paralisia do sacro, quando um osso
quase imvel?: Atravs da Yoga sabemos que existe o Chacra Muladara, os dois medicamentos daquela
sensao so Conium e Phosphorus que comportam vrios sintomas da rea sexual e so os dois nicos que
tem 3 pontos em viso vermelha, que por acaso a cor atribuda a este Chacra.
b - Estudar a antogenese, fases de desenvolvimento Ex: Chamomila crise dos 8 meses. Aloe fase oral.
c - Como no temos de antemo as Perdas para estudarmos em grupo, fizemos uma proposta de estudo
filogentico como a Antroposofia faz, com a qual o Prof. Elizalde concordou. Comeamos com Liliceas, mas
para um futuro prximo pretendemos fazer uma sistematizao global a partir dos minerais.
16) Como j foi dito anteriormente esse mtodo por passos no rigoroso; no decorrer do estudo de uma
determinada patogenesia, vamos desenvolvendo uma certa ligao emptica com ela, ou seja, vamos
vivenciando o medicamento. Isto faz com que tenhamos no decorrer do estudo intuies, que comoj
dissemos devem ser lavados em considerao.
Tentar por empatia entender e sentir o que sentiu o experimentador, dirigir para o tema transcendente. Ex:
Cuprum em que atravs do sintoma pisar leve para no atrapalhar os companheiros mais a iluso de alta
posio social, Elizalde chegou ao tema da humildade. Se no quero atrapalhar porque os outros so
mais importantes do que eu.
Ao ler o material vrias vezes surge no mesmo uma determinada palavra que sentimos como sendo natural
que ela aparecesse durante o estudo
Observar como as pessoas do grupo sentem-se ao estudar o medicamento, pois s vezes ao vivenciar a
medicao processa-se no grupo como que um mimetismo do mesmo.
Lendo a introduo dos medicamentos em Hahnemann poderemos ver exemplificado em alguns deles o que
foi dito neste item. Nos cursos do Prof. Elizalde aprendemos a respeitar os seus momentos intuitivos em que
faz gestos e caras de surpresa e espanto, que frequentemente do-nos a chave do problema.
17) Complementar com material do item E.
18) Sintomas curativos muitas vezes j nos do algum aspecto. Ex: Conium - Free - Liberdade.
19) Ampliar material escasso:
a) Armar imagens vivas nas vrias modalidades miasmticas referidas ao tema central para ver matizes e
modalidades, usando oponncia de sintomas auxiliado por Dicionrios de Sinnimos-Antnimos.
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 5
b) Se no consigo armar um quadro completo deste indivduo, reporto-o poca de Ado. Isto porque na
vida temporal no tenho um relato completo com passado, presente e futuro, tenho somente o presente.
Em troca vendo-o como Ado tenho um relato com comeo, desenvolvimento e final. Ento digo : Em
qual faceta do pecado, sentiria Ado o que sente este homem? Por que a tenho um esquema completo,
ento posso substituir colocando este sofrimento em tal faceta do pecado e atender o que acontece com
este ser humano determinado; ento compreendo onde posso colocar alguns sintomas que antes no
se encaixavam.
c) Ao estudar Gelsemium, que no tinha sycose, Elizalde procurou as rubricas mais salientes, mais
caractersticas e viu quais os medicamentos que compartilhavam tal rbrica no repertrio pois pela
semelhana e comparao poderamos ter uma pista.
d) Comparar com a psora primria de medicamentos j estudados que compartilham da mesma temtica.
20) completar com casos clnicos, j que como diz Elizalde toda patogenesia um ato clnico e todo ato
clnico uma patogenesia.
Investigar nestes pacientes as hipteses feitas e completar as facetas que faltam.
Como seria este paciente nos vrios nveis da imaginao?
Opo poltica, religiosa, filosfica, econmica, escolha profissional.
Tipo de arte, fases histricas, pases, personagens ou obra que mais identifica-se ou marcou.
Se no tivermos um paciente imaginar nestes vrios itens.
21) Colocar os sintomas, que devero ser agregados ou corrigidos nos Repertrios colocando as fontes.
22) Devemos elaborar um Tema Sntese Final, com todo o restante do material a partir do item 2 at o item
20.
23) Bibliografia com xerocpias do material utilizado em anexo, devendo ser colocados junto ao material
que est sendo trabalhado. Ex: Matrias Mdicas Puras, antes do Temas Palavras relativos a este
material. Anexar tambm as pginas das obras que mostram as dinamizaes.
CONCLUSO
Este mtodo de estudo de Matria Mdica nasceu da necessidade de uma uniformizao mnima entre os
vrios grupos de investigao ligados ao Prof. Elizalde, que est dando este impulso novo a partir desta velha
concepo Antropolgico-Homeoptica.
Este trabalho um pequeno esboo, uma colcha de retalhos obtidos nos encontros com Masi e alguns
poucos observadores de nosso grupo.
de ressaltar-se que a cada novo estudo surge uma nova faceta do mtodo, por exemplo a partir do estudo
de Opium em 3/87 em So Paulo, Masi elaborou os itens de intoxicaes, dando-nos um mtodo de estudo
para as demais intoxicaes.
Por este aspecto optamos no Brasil pelo maior nmero de vezes possvel para a sua vinda porque a cada
novo encontro provavelmente surgiro acrscimos ao mtodo a partir do trabalho j realizado e a cada novo
estudo.
Rio de janeiro, maio de 1987.
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 6

MEDUSA
ORIGEM: WIKIPDIA, A ENCICLOPDIA LIVRE.
Nota: Para outros significados de Medusa, ver Medusa (desambiguao).

Classificao cientfica
Reino: Animalia Filo: Cnidaria Classe: Scyphozoa
Ordens: Coronatae Rhizostomeae Stauromedusae Semaeostomae
As medusas, alforrecas ou guas-vivas so animais pertencentes ao filo Cnidaria e classe
Scyphozoa, mas tambm se usam estes nomes vulgares para os representantes das classes
Hydrozoa e Cubozoa. Quase todas as medusas vivem nos oceanos, como componentes do
zooplncton.
Como todos os cnidrios, o corpo das medusas basicamente um saco com simetria radial formado
por duas camadas de clulas - a epiderme, no exterior, e a gastroderme no interior - com uma
massa gelatinosa entre elas, chamada mesogleia e aberto para o exterior. Ao redor da abertura,
chamada arquntero, as medusas ostentam uma coroa de tentculos com clulas urticantes, os
cnidcitos, capazes de ejectar um minsculo espinho que contm uma toxina, o nematocisto. As
medusas usam estes "aparelhos" no s para se defenderem dos predadores, mas tambm para
imobilizarem uma presa, como um pequeno peixe, para se alimentarem. O corpo das medusas
formado por 95-99% de gua.
Uma das medusas mais comuns a medusa de lua (Aurelia aurita), que se encontra em quase
todos os Oceanos do mundo.
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 7
ONTOGENIA E REPRODUO

Medusas num aqurio

Os cnidrios passam por vrias fases e metamorfoses durante o seu ciclo de vida. Do ovo liberta-se
uma larva chamada plnula pelgica em forma de pera e completamente ciliada que, quando
encontra um substrato apropriado se fixa e se transforma num plipo.
Os plipos reproduzem-se assexuadamente formando gomos que so rplicas menores do plipo-
pai. Estes gomos podem libertar-se e fixar-se noutro substrato ou podem iniciar o processo de
estrobilao, dividindo-se em discos sobrepostos que se libertam como larvas pelgicas chamadas
firas que vo dar origem a novas medusas sexuadas.
Durante a reproduo sexual, as medusas libertam os produtos sexuais (vulos e espermatozides)
na gua, onde se d a fertilizao.
ANATOMIA DAS MEDUSAS
Como todos os cnidrios, as medusas tm nos tentculos clulas urticantes chamadas cnidcitos
que produzem os nematocistos, os tbulos urticantes. Quando uma presa entra em contacto com
um tentculo, centenas ou milhares de nematocistos so ejectados sobre a presa, paralisando-a.
Com os tentculos, o animal leva a presa para a "boca" - o arquntero - por onde entra na cavidade
central - o celntero - para ser digerida.

Tipo de medusa
Os cnidcitos so activados por um simples mas efectivo sistema nervoso, formado por uma rede
de clulas da epiderme. Os impulsos destas clulas so enviadas para o anel nervoso, assim como
os dos roplios que so verdadeiros rgos dos sentidos, incluindo ocelos, que no so verdadeiros
olhos, mas so sensveis luz.
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 8
Algumas medusas albergam zooxantelas, algas simbiontes que lhes fornecem energia - mas apenas
na presena da luz e, por isso, as medusas realizam migraes para aproveitar o mximo da luz
solar.
Estes animais no tm um verdadeiro sistema digestivo, nem sistema excretor - so as clulas da
gastroderme que executam essas funes. A troca de fluidos e gases efectuada atravs da
expanso e reduo do celntero, realizada por clulas musculares na parede do corpo, que assim
promovem a entrada e sada de gua, para alm do seu prprio movimento na gua. Por esta
razo, diz-se que as medusas tm um "esqueleto hidrosttico".
Apesar das cnidas, a maioria das medusas no so perigosas para o homem. Ao contrrio do que se
pensa, a perigosa garrafa azul (Physalia), no uma medusa, mas uma colnia de plipos da classe
Hydrozoa.
Ver tambm:
Cubozoa (medusas cbicas)

coral

RECURSOS EXTERIORES WIKIPDIA

The Jellyfish homepage - University of New South Wales, Australia

The Tree of Life - Cnidaria

Retirado de "http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusa"
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 9

MYTH
MEDUSA
There are many planes of existence on which life in its many forms may appear. Among these are
the Prime Plane, which contains a rich diversity of life (including dwarves, elves and humans), and
the four Elemental Planes of Air, Earth, Fire and
Water.

The Medusae are a race of creatures that made their

original home on the Plane of Earth. There, they take
the form of an ugly, writhing mass of ten feet long
tentacles connected to a small, lumpy and spherical
body. Several eyes on foot-long eyestalks also
protrude from the body and below is a mouth filled
with sharp teeth.

The tentacles are used for both movement and

combat, with successful hits designed to induce a
degree of paralysis in their target. While this
condition is unlikely to last more than a minute, it is
sufficient time for the tentacles to draw their victim
towards the awaiting mouth.

Many creatures that inhabit or appear on more than

one plane of existence take a different form from the
one used on their home.

Some medusae have been known to exist on the Prime

Plane and here take a form resembling that of a
human female. Instead of hair, however, the
creature's head is covered with a mass of live snakes that constantly writhe about, their small
heads grasping and biting at the air.

Some records depict a medusa's face as being that of an ugly old hag while others portray a
beautiful woman. The reason for this discrepancy probably stems from the power that has
become synonymous with this creature's name. Simply gazing at a medusa is sufficient to turn the
onlooker to stone.

There are tales that tell of individuals who have attempted to dispatch a medusa through either
the employment of a sword and mirror or merely wading in, weapon in hand, while keeping the
eyes tightly closed. Unfortunately, this brought them within range of the mass of snakes (which
are believed to be highly venomous).
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 10

MATERIA MEDICA
CLARKE
Medusa (various species). Jelly-fish. Sea-nettles. Class, Acaleph. Tincture of living animal taken in summer.
Clinical. Lactation, abnormal. Nettlerash. Urine, suppression of.
The effects of encountering jellyfish whilst bathing are well known. These have been studied
experimentally, and in addition the effects of drinking two cupfuls of a decoction, warm, by a
woman affected with disease of the stomach and leucorrhoea has been recorded. In this case
there was rapidly produced oedema, anxiety, and difficult speech. Secretion of urine, which had
been suspended for days, returned, and milk came into the breasts three years after the birth of
her last child. Pricking heat and numbness of skin of face, arms, breasts, and vesicular eruption;
followed later by desquamation.
Compare: Ast. fl., Homar., Murex, Sepia, Apis, Bombyx, &c.
SYMPTOMS.
1. Mind.Extreme anxiety with difficult speech.
3. Eyes.Eyes puffed and oedematous.
6. Face.Face (eyes, ears, nose) puffed and oedematous (soon).
14. Urinary Organs.Secretion. of urine, which had been suspended for twelve days, returned.
16. Female Sexual Organs.Secretion of milk re-established in a woman's breasts three years after
birth of last child; she had had twelve children and had not suckled any of them, having had no
milk (effect of two cupfuls of a decoction).
25. Skin.Desquamation.Burning sensation very soon after contact; in five minutes a slight redness;
then lentil-shaped elevations.Vesicular eruption.Pricking heat, numbness, and burning of skin of
face, arms, shoulders, and breasts (soon).
BOERICKE
Whole face puffed oedematous-eyes, nose, ears, lips.
Skin.-Numbness; burning, pricking heat. Vesicular eruption especially on face, arms,
shoulders, and breasts. Nettlerash.[Apis.; Chloral.; Dulc.]
Female.-Marked action on lacteal glands. The secretion of milk was established after lack
of it in all previous confinements. Compare: Pyrarara, Physalia (urticaria); Urtica, Homar.,
Sep.
VERMEULEN
Jelly-fish {medusa}
<Characteristics>Whole face puffed and oedematous; eyes, nose, ears, lips. {medusa}
<Female>[Objective]: Marked action on lactation; the secretion of milk was established after
lack of it in all previous confinements. {medusa}
<Skin>Numbness; burning, pricking heat. Vesicular eruption, especially on face, arms,
shoulders, and breasts. Nettle-rash [Apis; Chlol.; Dulc.]. {medusa} <Relations>Compare: Apis;
Aster.; Bomb-pr.; Hom.; Murx.; Sep.; 1Physal. [urticaria];
Pyrar.; Urt-u. {medusa}
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 11
MATERIA MEDICA REPERTORIAL
1. MIND - ANXIETY ( a1, c1 ) 1 359
2. SKIN - ERUPTIONS - burning ( br1 ) 1 110
3. SKIN - ERUPTIONS - desquamating ( c1 ) 1 87
4. SKIN - ERUPTIONS - urticaria ( br1 ) 1 115
5. SKIN - HEAT - without fever ( br1 ) 1 38
6. SKIN - NUMBNESS ( br1 ) 1 26
7. GENERALS - FOOD and DRINKS - fish - agg. ( bg2, sf1 ) 2 21
MEDUSA BY VERMEULEN - SYNOPTIC II

SIGNS
Meduse [various species]. Jellyfish. Sea-nettles.
Meduse, from Gr. Medousa, the Gorgon Meduse [literally, ruler], is na individual of the free-
swimming sexually reproductive generation of jellyfishes. The other generation is the polyp. The
medusa comes from horizontal constriction of the polyp or from special polyps in a polyp colony.
The medusa is the swimming variety, while the polyp is stationary.The medusa varies in size from
the hydromedusae of several millimetres in diameter to the large jellyfish, the biggest of which
has a diameter of a metre. Most members of the class Hydrozoa possess a dominant polyp phase
and a medusa, which is quite small. However, the Hydrozoa have no reproductive organs. The
bodies of species of the genus Hydra have bubbles that contain an egg cell. If a male cell in the
water comes in contact with an egg cell, an embryo is formed. The embryo creates a shell by
discharging a sticky substance. When the embryo breaks out of its shell, it forms tentacles.
Another type of reproduction occurs with the formation of lumps. Bulges form on the body, which
grow into tentacles. These lumps finally break off, attach themselves to an object on the sea bed
and grow into new hydras.
Large jellyfish belong to the class Scyphozoa, a group whose polyp stage is small and
inconspicuous. This class is also called the class of true jellyfish. Here, too, new medusae are
produced asexually in the polyp stage. A typical characteristic of the true jellyfishes is their
fourfold symmetry. For example, there are four stomach sacs, four mouth lobes, and all kinds of
small sense organs occur in fours or multiples of fours; there are also four sexual organs.
The jellyfish paralyse its prey using stinging cells. It uses cilia located near the lips to direct the
prey to the mouth.
The structure of the jellyfish is similar to that of the cylindrical polyp. The polyp has a long head
opening, with the foot at one end and the mouth and tentacles at the other end. The medusa
develops from this: it has a shorter head opening and the foot is extended horizontally, whereby it
has the shape of an upturned saucer.
The mouth is in the middle of the downward-facing hollow side and is linked to the central
stomach. There is a variable number of tentacles and sense organs along the edge of the 'saucer'.
These sense organs, actually organs of balance, are partly to preserve the correct distance from
the medusa's surroundings. Along this same edge, there is a ring of muscle fibres and a nerve ring.
By contracting the muscle fibres, the medusa squeezes itself, pressing water from the hollow
lower body. In this way, it propels itself by means of jets of water. The colonising character of the
medusa is a major facet of the creature's behaviour.
It is not clear which species of jellyfish is meant with the name 'Medusa'. The medusa described
above is simply the free-swimming sexual generation of a polyp colony. Medusa is not, therefore, a
generic name but the name of a stage of development!
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 12
Various manufacturers of homoeopathic remedies believe that the name 'Medusa' refers to a
jellyfish called Aurelia aurita . This belongs to the Scyphozoa and is a blue or pink jellyfish. The
animal is called ear jellyfish because its sexual organs are earshaped. The 5 to 10 centimetre long
creature has a free-standing flat shield, which is more or less transparent, and lives in the surface
waters along the western European coasts.
Physalia has been described separately by Clarke. Physalia physalis, Portuguese man-of-war, is
actually not a jellyfish but a colony of polyplike and medusa-like individuals that are attached to a
gas-filled, floating membrane. The hanging tentacles can grow to 12 metres long. Mythologically
there are some interesting observations to be made about marine creatures. Of the three Gorgons,
winged female monsters of horrible and petrifying aspect, Medusa was the only mortal but also the
most feared. With hissing serpents for hair, Medusa turned beholders into stone. She showed them
their blackest side. Her head was cut off by the Greek hero Perseus. He managed to do this by
turning his head and using Athena's shield as a mirror. From the blood that spurted from Medusa's
neck sprang the winged horse Pegasus.
Perseus used Medusa's head to petrify Atlas [hence the Atlas mountains].
Later he gave the head to Athena, who put it in the centre of her shield. Some thousands of years
ago another Greek hero, Hercules, battled with the nine-headed monster Hydra , the guard of the
underworld. While he was busy cutting off the monster's heads, he discovered that wherever he
cut off a head, two new ones appeared. This would seem to infer that the battle against evil is a
lost cause and invariably ends in humans being overwhelmed.
COMPARE: Sepia. Natrum muriaticum. Asterias rubens. Murex. Urtica urens.
REGION: Skin. Urinogenital. Glands.

LEADING SYMPTOMS
All symptoms derived from Mangialavori, unless stated otherwise.
Aesthetic appearance important; important to be beautiful themselves.
Cold people in relation to others. Easily offended. Hatred of persons who are enjoying life.
[Blackie]
"In looking at Medusa one must consider the two types of Sepia: [1] rather bright patients
who go off at the deep end at the slightest provocation and are exceedingly irritable, and
[2] rather stupid and tired out. Medusa is neither of these but fits somewhere in between.
They can be silent and do not want to talk, they never their history in one go and do not
want to answer questions. They always think of something else to add to their history."
[Blackie]
Do not like a lot of changes and prefer pleasant routine.
Difficult sexual relations [as with other sea remedies].
Love of music and dance [common to all sea remedies]. Medusa and Sepia like to dance
alone. Loves soft music of one or two instruments.
Aversion to change. [Blackie]
G Very thin; don't like to eat very much.
G Intolerance of fish.
G Craving for salt.
G Need a lot of sleep otherwise they feel useless. [Blackie]
G > Sleep, movement and food.
[But to a lesser extent than Sepia.] [Blackie]
G Secretions increased.
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 13
[milk; urine]
Or: Lack of milk production in breasts.
P Large area of urticaria - and vesicles.
Burning more than itching.
P Eczema of ear.
FOOD: Desire: Salt [1]. Worse: Fish [2].

Repertory additons suggested by Mangialavori

CHEST; INFLAMMATION; Mammae; congestive
CHEST; MILK; caking
GENERALITIES; EXERTION, physical; amel.
GENERALITIES; FOOD and drinks; shell-fish agg.
MIND; AILMENTS from; love; disappointed, unhappy
MIND; AILMENTS from; love; disappointed, unhappy; grief, with silent
MIND; AVERSION; husband, to
MIND; CHARMER
MIND; CHILDREN; aversion to
MIND; DANCING; desire for
MIND; HOUSEHOLD DUTIES; aversion to
MIND; MUSIC; agreeable, is; concentrate, but cannot if there any music
MIND; MUSIC; amel.
MIND; MUSIC; carried by, sensation of being
MIND; MUSIC; desires
MIND; NARCISISTIC
MIND; SENSITIVE, oversensitive; music, to
SKIN; ERUPTIONS; urticaria; fish agg.
SKIN; ERUPTIONS; urticaria; fish agg.; sea fish
SKIN; ERUPTIONS; urticaria; fish agg.; shell-fish
STOMACH; DISORDERED; fish, after
STOMACH; DISORDERED; fish, after; decayed

MEDUSA - BOEDLER PSYCHIC CAUSES

Medusa, the jelly-fish, furnishes a medicine of hormonal power, prone to act in urticaria deriving
from imbalances in male/female interaction. The psychological indications are extreme anxiety
and difficult speech. The face appears puffed and edematous, involving the eyes, ears, nose, and
lips. The skin feels numb and hot, stings and burns. Vesicular eruptions, lentil-shaped elevations,
nettle rashes occur on the upper body mainly, particularly on the face, arms, shoulders, and
breasts, and are followed by desquamation. Concomitant with the eruptions, there may be
increased urination, and women may experience milk production in the breasts, though not being
pregnant or nursing (cf. Asafoetida). In low material dose, this remedy stimulates the nursing
ability after childbearing.
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 14

CASES
MEDUSA - MANGALAVORI CASES - CASE 1
The case of Gabriele It was in July 1990 that I saw Gabriele for the first time.
Even while he was in the waiting room, I could see that he appeared to be an effeminate young
man, dressed very elegantly and tastefully, without however being too conspicuous.
His gestures were harmonious and spontaneous without being affected.
When he visited me, he had just turned twenty-three, and he worked as a professional dancer.
He started to tell his story:
'I am a homosexual, as I discovered when I was still a child, but I consider myself lucky because I
think I am living well in my condition, although I have had to work hard to get where I am now.
For a few months now I have been suffering from a nettle-rash that is driving me crazy.
It is not so much the pruritus that bothers me, but the unaesthetic sight and the burning feeling -
that's what I can't stand. I am a dancer and am about to be admitted to one of the best dancing
schools in Europe if I present myself like this and they see that I am a homosexual, they will
think that I have God-knows-what and will not admit me to the school.
For years, I have studied to become a great dancer and I could not have something like this
happen, I would die inside.'
I asked him when the rash had started:
'I started to get the first problems after I underwent some treatment with antibiotics, which I had
to take because of blennorrhagia (gonorrhea) that I contacted some years ago: since then it has
been a catastrophe.
I asked him if he recalled other problems apart from the gonorrhea during the same period:
'I lost somebody the love of my life but should I talk about that?'
I replied that he was not obliged to answer, but that it would be helpful for me to know something
about other problems in addition to the gonorrhea:
'Perhaps it is better that I tell you. So far I have not mentioned it to anyone.
Until about two years ago, I experienced my homosexuality as something purely platonic: until
then dancing was the only thing important to me.
Then I met my love the only person in my life, it was the only time I gave myself to somebody,
because I really sensed that he understood me.'
I asked how he could be so sure that he had met the only love of his life at the age of 23:
'I am in an a position that cannot be understood.
I am not a you-know-what, I don't like the other you-know-whats.
I am not interested in making love with another homosexual I can have that whenever I want to,
easily I want to be loved by a real man, a heterosexual I feel totally like a woman inside, and I
want a man, not a you-know-what, a man who loves me for what I am and not for mutual
consolation of fellows that are in this desperate condition. That is not for me.
My love is a disaster.
It is not something I can realise, because I am also very jealous and it is not easy to catch a
heterosexual, I must compete with a woman, a woman who also looks like a woman on the
outside.'
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 15
I asked how his story ended:
'I got that disease, and I could not have contracted it at the end he had to tell me the truth and I
found out that he had contracted it from a woman, a coloured woman what's more, and that he
had not used a condom, whereas I had to fight to get him not to use one.
I could not have that I started to lose my concentration totally and in that period danced very
badly.
There was a lot of pain in my movements, but I am a professional and I must express my emotions
only for a short while and only on the stage I cannot destroy my career over a love story, that is
impossible dancing is everything for me, and I was destroying it for a man.'
I asked him about his relationship with music:
'It is something that I have had in my blood ever since I was born I remember that as a small boy I
used to dance for hours in front of the mirror there was a boy who lived one floor up who played
the piano I think he was my first love, he played Chopin divinely.
I remarked to Gabrielo that nobody would believe that, looking at him now:
'I was inflated as a penguin and fat as a walrus, a strange combination. I used to dream of
becoming a dancer and knew I could not, because I was fat, ugly and inflated, and my father
would rather have died than see me dance.
As a small child I often pretended I was ill, so that when they went out and I would have the house
to myself and could dance with nobody seeing me.
I fought ferociously against becoming what I am now and I changed, much like the ugly duckling
fortunately, my mother understood me and enroled me in a dancing class, without my father
knowing.
I immediately became good at it, and since then I have won many contests. I now go on tours, but
that is not what interests me I want to be able to dance all my life dancing is movement, it is
harmony, it is the breath of the things surrounding you it is movement and it is life. I don't dance
to music the music is already inside me when I move, and when I listen I notice that the music is
also surrounding me and that these two are in symphony I let myself be moved.
Dancing is an interior dimension, you have to have it in you. The school that I want to attend is run
by someone who thinks like I
do too much technique is not so good it is only the beginning it only serves to remind you that
your body has a limit.'
I asked about his relationship with death:
'I am not scared of death, I am scared of old age I cannot bear the idea of becoming old.. in my
thoughts it is impossible it would be worse than not dancing perhaps I like dancing for this sole
reason, because dancing is movement, I can never stop.'
I asked him to explain this:
'I cannot stop, I cannot remain where I am.
I examined Gabriele and noticed that he indeed suffered from distributed urtica-like eruptions,
and that the skin was very warm to the touch.
A large area on the right leg exhibited a dandruff-like desquamation. I asked for more information
about the gonorrhoea he had had in the past:
'That not the first sexual disease I had: for years, I suffered from herpes, without having had any
sex. I then got eczema at the end of a treatment for herpes.
However, I've never had good sex, I think I have sublimated by sexual feelings in my dancing.
But I do not blame myself too much for it, I am not so much in for sex, I think I still have to get
there.'
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 16
I insisted he tell me more about the gonorrhoea:
'I realized I had it because I almost never had an ejaculation during sex, and also because the
erections were short-lived I often had a full erection after sex, and often had a discharge after
sex, and therefore I did not worry much about the first drops that I noticed.
Since the antibiotic cure I have had a prostate condition and they said it could be chronic, because
I occasionally have foul-smelling secretions that appear to be just liquid from the prostate. When I
am very tired and go to the toilet, defecation hurts but it is something internal, a rectal pain.
When I feel these troubles, all I need to do is go jogging or dance to some rock music and I
instantly feel better.
I asked to tell me something about his eating habits:
'I am very careful about what I eat these days. I don't like to cook, and I eat only to stay alive. The
only thing I do crave is chocolate, but I never eat it.'
I asked him if he uses any particular condiments:
'I use vinegar and above all lemon. As a child I used to drink vinegar, andpeople lectured me about
of it.
I asked about the earlier homeopathic therapies:
'I took two different preparations of MEDORRHINUM, THUJA, and URTICA, and finally the last
homeopathic colleague of yours I visited, gave me SEPIA, which I took for a year without any
results.'
I complimented Gabriele on his memory, but was rather taken aback because I was just thinking of
SEPIA as one of the possible remedies that would result from my anamnesis, although I was not
very convinced.
Examining my list, I noticed that MEDUSA was one of the remedies that are worsened by fish, and I
remembered a case that also had had urtica-like symptoms.
Having checked the few remedies I could find in the list, I thought I should try MEDUSA 6 CH,
encouraged by the appearance of the patient and based on the few data I recalled from the life of
the medusas.
Four days after taking the drops, I received a telephone call from Gabriele, who told me that he
was seriously affected and was on the point of being hospitalized because on a sudden rash
distributed all over his body, accompanied by a swollen tongue and velopendulum.
I saw Gabriele a week later:
'The burning feeling was so intense that only when I was under cold water would I calm down.
Then I sensed a heavy feeling in the prostate, I think the pain was so bad that I could no longer
not ride a bicycle, and then for an entire day mucus came out of my penis.
Yesterday I got an earache (left ear) and a strong pruritus that would not go away, not even if I
scratched myself until I bled, and it also burnt inside, I scratched myself all night long and now I
can't stand it any more.'
I sought to calm Gabriele down and gave him a small flask of placebo to use when needed.
After about a month the cutaneous symptoms had completely disappeared and Gabriele stated
that generally he felt much better.
I saw Gabriele three months later, and in the meantime obtained other dilutions of the remedy.
He told me:
'I am enthusiastic, after more than a year I had lost hope but I think that the effect of the cure
has been limited to my skin because I feel better in general, and even the prostate trouble has
disappeared defecation is no longer painful, the heavy feeling is gone and I've ridden many
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 17
kilometres on my bicycle, whereas before I could not cover such a distance without feeling a sharp
pain halfway up the legs.'
I asked how he was progressing as an artist:
'I still don't know if I will be accepted by the school, but I stand a good chance of being admitted,
what with the preparatory courses I am taking.
My dancing is going very well, I feel lighter than before also because the blues are now gone,
fortunately.
The only problem is that the herpes genitalis has returned, but I've had that foryears and it does
not worry me now.'
I asked if he had been able to see his friend again:
'We are angry at each other but I cannot suffer so much any longer and only want to think of my
dancing, for the moment that's my only objective.'
I asked him if he had noticed any other specific things:
'The funniest thing in the world I started to get an appetite for clams, and I went to eat some
with my friends until a short while ago, they used to sicken me but I poured lemon onto them
and ate them it was not until afterwards that I thought about what happened to me as a child
but I survived it well, I even found the taste very interesting.'
I asked if he was still using a lot of vinegar:
'I know I should limit it, because I know it is bad, but I use vinegar with honey.'
I prescribed MEDUS 30 CH. Exactly two weeks later, I received a telephone call from Gabriele.
This time the problem was a dandruff-like flaking on his legs and skull.
I managed to calm him down, once I had learnt that in the past this scurvy had been a serious
problem for him, something from which he had suffered before he managed to lose weight.
The problem disappeared over a period of about three weeks.
I saw Gabriele again after about four months:
'Since my first visit, I have had no more prostate troubles and no more cutaneous eruptions. I have
also started to eat fish again, and with pleasure, and am enthusiastic because I have been
admitted to the school I so much want to attend.
What has struck me most is the difference in my dancing everybody has noticed there is
something different about me my gestures are even more fluid than before I feel as if some
heavy thing has disappeared, something that prevented me from utilizing all my expressive
capacities maybe it was my need to be successful, even though I believe I have never been
ambitious in the negative sense of the word
I feel as though I've been liberated from something, for instance from the need to have success in
my chosen field, because I could more feel like what I wanted to be it is difficult to explain it
is like a metamorphosis and I feel as if another dimension is showing itself inside.'
I asked how the herpes was doing:
'I haven't had any eruptions for about two months now. I had my prostrate examined, and the
urologist was very satisfied with the treatment he thinks I underwent, because the swelling has
completely disappeared, and he said it seems that I had not had a very serious form of
gonorrhoea.
I asked him if in the meantime he had made any other acquaintances or friends:
'I got to know another dancer, a Greek he is very good we have the samefeeling and his
presence has made me feel very confused, because I was not indifferent to it.
Also in that sense I feel a difference I am more open to other things in my life.
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 18
I cannot dance to express myself without communicating with the outside world, because I would
become withered and that is exactly what I am afraid of.
I have other ideas about old age now I think that even if you dry up you can still express the
essential things as in principle music can be reduced to a single sound, also dancing could
become a single movement.'
Gabriele is now living in Germany, and periodically I receive notes from him about friends of his
who are my patients.
So far, no symptoms worth mentioning have recurred, and I know that he is successfully using
MEDUSA 30 CH even during acute periods.
I received a telephone call after Gabriele had sprained his groin during an exercise. MEDUS 6 CH
worked, whereas Arnica had only slightly alleviated the pain symptoms.
MEDUS2 - NICOLETTA, 35 YEARS, EMPLOYEE.
Extremely skinny, she presents herself in a very elegant, entirely black dress, and also the make-
up on her face is all done in dark shades.
She walks with much grace and she moves in a very harmonic way, that she can only have from
dancing, artistic gymnastics or something of the kind. She consults me for a skin allergy and
dysmenorrhoea.
She reports spontaneously:
"Since more than two years I suffer from a skin allergy, that will only disappear with cortisone. I
had already started swelling, but then decided I didn't want to use a medicine for so long that was
not able to really cure me. Very suddenly I get blisters with a strong burning and an insupportable
itching, all over my body. Even when I scratch it will not go away even cortisone won't take it
away immediately. In the meantime
I had good results when I rub myself with ammonia, but I cannot do that every time and besides, it
is not a real solution"
I inquire who advised her to use ammonia:
"It was an advise given to me by an old woman who works as a herbalist near Ravenna, she says it
helps, and it is true, but it hardly seems an orthodox approach to me."
I ask her when the first manifestations had appeared:
"I felt the first trouble on the seaside, about two years ago, I was in Sardinia and I went to hospital
because my whole leg was swollen. The doctor who saw me said it must have been a "sea-tomato"
??? or a medusa, but I hadn't been in the sea yet, so we quarrelled because he kept insisting on his
idea.
Since then I have done God knows how many allergy tests and always something different comes
out in theory I should be allergic to nickel, but I can wear any kind of ornament without any
trouble."
I notice a touch of criticism regarding the diagnoses that had been made and I ask her how her
relationship with doctors is:
"I will not go to a doctor unless I am on the verge of dying. I have a definite antipathy against
these medics who make you well on one side and worse on the other and then, it is two years
now that I am like this and nobody can tell me what it is."
I ask her whether there are other things that trouble her, apart from the things she has told:
"I suffer from my menses. They have been a torture ever since they started. When I was young
they had to carry me home from school and sometimes I even fainted in the classroom that
happened to me also in the office last year"
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 19
"I get pains in both the ovaries and then, the menses are always very scanty and they last at most
one or two days."
"When I have the pains, I cannot be still, I have to move or walk if I start playing tennis right
away then the pain relaxes, but if I wait I can only go to bed"
I ask her whether she has underwent any major examinations:
"They found that I have micropolycystic ovaries and I had to do a treatment with the pill, but I
have already tried and I swell up. I have also been treated with SEPIA and I was a bit better, but I
stopped several years ago"
I wonder what she means by a bit better:
"I always had the whites before the menses, smelling badly and it looked like old rags they
disappeared with the SEPIA and if I remember to take it again, I have a bit less pain, but it has
never been better than that"
I inquire when was the last time she took SEPIA, and in which dilutions:
"The last time it was six months ago, it was prescribed by the homeopath whom I went to see
before, but I didn't have great results. I took the 200CH several times and also the 6LM, but
without success. I went back to your colleague to have my allergy treated, but I've had no results."
I ask her how her work is going:
"That is a problem that is bigger than my life I am the best of employees I started out as a
simple worker and now I do the administration for the whole factory, I should be very satisfied,
but I don't like this kin d of work."
I ask her what she would prefer to do:
"My dream was to be a ballerina. I started classical dance as a child, but I had an accident with my
back. When I was fifteen I had already started with my dance teacher. It was a great trauma for
me I love to dance, but alas "
I inform what has happened:
"I was knocked down with my moped and I hit my back against the sidewalk, I broke my fourth and
fifth lumbar vertebra although I really got well again, I still cannot make certain motions. I
started to teach children, but it was too painful for me I ended up being mean to them, but it
wasn't their fault that I had problems and so I decided to stop
Now I go to another city, where nobody knows me and I go to a gym where they do jazz-dance I
can do jazz-dance, but of course it's not the same thing."
I inquire how she gets along with children in general:
"I hate them with all my heart, in fact they never come near to me. To tell you the truth, very few
people come near to me at all I know that I am not an ugly girl, but I don't have very good
relationships with men."
I invite her to be more precise:
"I have so many problems, also with my boyfriend now I get along with him well but he shouldn't
start talking about sex too much, 'cause then I change entirely. At times I am ferocious, especially
before the menses " I ask her why it is a problem for her when her boyfriend talks about sex:
"I make love in a very violent way I have caused lots of problems for the men I was with, because
they said that with me they didn't succeed because I make them come too quickly. And then I am
never satisfied in the end."
I invite her to be more precise:
"I think I don't like so much to make love, perhaps that's why I am so violent. I never had a real
orgasm in my whole life If I were different I could easily work in a night-club I don't mind being
with a man, I even have fun showing them how stupid and incompetent they are that is why I
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 20
make them come so quickly like that the intercourse is short and they don't put me under stress
so much. After all, they are to blame because they ejaculate too soon."
I ask her how her relationship with food is:
"The only thing that I don't eat is fish I hate that shining metallic and flabby stuff apart from
that I eat everything, but only because one has to I feel swollen very easily and I don't want to
become fat."
I ask her whether there is any seasoning that she uses especially:
"I go crazy for lemon, when I was a child I used to eat it with bread, now I also put it on the rice.
And I use a lot of aceto balsamico, I like all the acids."
I invite Nicoletta to lie down on the couch and I notice a certain embarrassment, although I do not
ask her to undress.
Immediately after lying down she crosses her legs and arms and becomes all rigid.
During physical examination I find that the eruptions are mostly on the arms and legs and appear
like a typical urticaria, the skin is warm and somewhat raised in several confluent areas or in spots
with a diameter of several centimetres.
I am impressed by the striking similarity of the symptomatology with that of SEPIA or ASTERIAS,
but considering the fact that the patient has already been taking SEPIA and remembering a very
similar case that I saw several month before, I prescribe MEDUSA 30CH.
I see Nicoletta again after three months:
"I have to admit that I was in a better state: At the beginning my leukorrhoea returned, and I
hadn't had it for a long time. It didn't have any relation with the menstrual cycle. I wasn't alarmed,
because I knew that these things can happen in this kind of treatment. I hardly noticed the
beginning of the menses, and I could continue to do any sport I wanted without the slightest
problem"
I inquire after the urticaria:
"I think it is obvious that it has disappeared, because otherwise I wouldn't be here again "
I insist to have more information about the evolution of her skin symptomatology:
"I have been scratching all the time when I had the whites, and then, nothing anymore it
disappeared in the same way that it had come" I ask her whether she has noticed anything else:
"I started to dream again and it was months ago that I remembered any dream"
"I remember my last dream vividly:
I was in a very humid cave and in front of me there was a gigantic stalactite.
The surroundings were warm and the stalactite was warm, too. Then a priest of some strange
religion appeared, he told me that I had to dance for an idol, that was inside this stalactite and I
couldn't because of the pain in my back and because my legs were blocked.
This man put himself in front of me and threatened me so much that I ended up crying so I
shouted at him to go away and he presented me a beautiful dress: transparent and with a long
skirt that touched the ground. It was a dress that was especially made for dancing because it
moved in a beautiful way and it allowed you to observe all the motions of the body and to be
aware of the moving shapes. I put on the dress and started to dance and then I kissed him"
I ask her what effect this dream had on her:
"Interesting and very liberating it has made me think a lot about my interest in clothing and
lingerie things that are of the greatest importance to me"
I ask her how her relationship with food is: "Very well it stands there and I am here we meet
every now and then and make each other happy the food realises itself as food and I nourish
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 21
myself!"
I inquire how things are going with her partner:
"I start to feel more interest in it, also because I am less hysteric and I put him under less stress.
We had the opportunity to have some holidays and after spending so much time together many
things have eased down I felt a strong desire to have intercourse when I had the whites and,
being together for so many hours, I had to lower my defences and with much patience he could
enter"
She adds spontaneously:
"The only big nuisance is that my breasts are swelling before the cycle and I wouldn't like to loose
my figure I could never stand women with a balcony in front!"
I prescribe MEDUSA 30CH and see Nicoletta again after another four months. My curiosity is
sparked by the fact that she has put on weight and is dressed in a more lively way:
"The problem of the urticaria is completely solved, only a bit of leukorrhoea has returned before
the menses, and I have also noticed an increase in my sexual desire in the same period. Perhaps
these things belong together"
"My menses do not cause any problem and I do not feel nervous anymore like I always did when
they came"
"I feel more calm in general but the most important thing is that I have taken up dancing again
I went to see my teacher because all of a sudden I had this desire to see her again it was very
moving for both of us. She said that she had expected me and she had even kept my old shoes I
had left them there after I had stopped teaching children.
One day I just didn't show up and sent no messages. I decided to restart doing the things that I
can, for myself and when I can even more for other children who want to learn I think there is so
much that I can teach, I have been through it all and I believe I have understood that just like in
sports everything can be done by the pleasure of doing it???"
I ask her how things are going with her boyfriend:
"Better! He is very happy that I started to dance again and most of all that I have put on some
weight. We have been working together on our respective problems and now we are starting to
really like each other I am getting the taste for being together and I feel that he does not only
desire me in order to possess me, but because we both feel well when we come together."
I still see Nicoletta regularly since more than four years, in the sense that I treat her present
husband and other members of the family. Until now there have not been any particular problems
in her health and in as far as I can judge from what her husband tells me and she reports in some
brief talks, their life as a couple seems to get on well.
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 22

MM REPERTORIAL
SYNTHESIS 6.0
1. MIND - ANXIETY ( a1, c1 ) 1 359
2. SKIN - ERUPTIONS - burning ( br1 ) 1 110
3. SKIN - ERUPTIONS - desquamating ( c1 ) 1 87
4. SKIN - ERUPTIONS - urticaria ( br1 ) 1 115
5. SKIN - HEAT - without fever ( br1 ) 1 38
6. SKIN - NUMBNESS ( br1 ) 1 26
7. GENERALS - FOOD and DRINKS - fish - agg. ( bg2, sf1 ) 2 21
MEDUSA - ZANDVOORT REPERTORY
1. Mind; ANSWER, answering, answers; aversion to (K3, SRI-47, G3) (81) *
2. Mind; ANXIETY (K4, SRI-54, G3) (565) *
3. Mind; CHANGE; aversion to (5) *
4. Mind; CHILDREN; aversion to (K11, SRI-103, G9) (15) *
5. Mind; COMPANY; aversion to, agg. (K12, SRI-144, G10) (221) *
6. Mind; CONCENTRATION; difficult (K13, SRI-155, G11) (332) *
7. Mind; CONTRADICT, disposition to (K16, SRI-183, G14) (51) *
8. Mind; DREAMS; remembered; are (SRIII-341) (38) *
9. Mind; EAT, EATING; amel. mental symptoms (SRI-433) (15) *
10. Mind; HATRED (K51, SRI-570, G40) (59) *
11. Mind; HATRED; persons, of; enjoying life, who are (1) *
12. Mind; INDIFFERENCE, apathy (K54, SRI-609, G43) (355) *
13. Mind; INDIFFERENCE, apathy; sadness, in (7) *
14. Mind; INDIFFERENCE, apathy; agreeable things, to (K54, SRI-611, G43) (11) *
15. Mind; INDUSTRIOUS, mania for work (K56, SRI-630, G44) (131) *
16. Mind; INTROVERTED (34) *
17. Mind; IRRITABILITY; general (K57, SRI-653, G46) (549) *
18. Mind; IRRITABILITY; general; trifles, from (SRI-672) (84) *
19. Mind; REST; desire for (SRI-835) (27) *
20. Mind; RESTLESSNESS, nervousness; general (K72, SRI-835, G57) (590) *
21. Mind; RESTLESSNESS, nervousness; general; internal (K74, SRI-851, G59) (42) *
22. Mind; RESTLESSNESS, nervousness; general; tremulous (K74, SRI-858, G59) (8) *
23. Mind; SADNESS, despondency, depression, melancholy (K75, SRI-864, G60) (605) *
24. Mind; SUICIDAL disposition (K85, SRI-974, G68) (150) *
25. Mind; SUICIDAL disposition; throwing himself from; windows (K85, SRI-981, G68) (20) *
26. Mind; BOENNINGHAUSEN; amel.; eating; after (6) *
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 23
27. Vertigo; MOTION; from (K101, G83) (101) *
28. Eyes; SWELLING; general (K267, G224) (235) *
29. Eyes; SWELLING; general; lids (K267, G225) (182) *
30. Eyes; SWELLING; general; edematous (41) *
31. Eyes; SWELLING; general; edematous; lids (K267, G225) (38) *
32. Ears; SWELLING; general (K318, G266) (105) *
33. Nose; INFLAMMATION (K339, G285) (136) *
34. Face; ERUPTIONS; urticaria (K372, G314) (35) *
35. Face; ERUPTIONS; vesicles (K372, G314) (149) *
36. Face; ERYSIPELAS (K373, G315) (108) *
37. Face; SWELLING; general (K392, G332) (357) *
38. Face; SWELLING; general; nose (K352, G282, G295) (174) *
39. Face; SWELLING; general; lips (K393, G333) (119) *
40. Face; SWELLING; general; edematous (K393, G333) (85) *
41. Face; SWELLING; general; edematous; nose (K342, K349, G288, G293) (19) *
42. Kidneys; SUPPRESSION of urine, anuria (K666, G570) (131) *
43. Speech & Voice; SPEECH; difficult (K419, G355) (148) *
44. Chest; ERUPTIONS (K830, G701) (159) *
45. Chest; ERUPTIONS; vesicles (K831, G702) (22) *
46. Chest; MILK; non-pregnant women (K837, G707) (25) *
47. Chest; MILK; absent (K837, G707) (62) *
48. Chest; MILK; disappearing (K837, G707) (49) *
49. Chest; MILK; increased, too profuse (K837, G707) (43) **
50. Extremities; ERUPTIONS (K986, G825) (393) *
51. Extremities; ERUPTIONS; vesicles (K987, G826) (154) *
52. Extremities; ERUPTIONS; vesicles; upper limbs (K989, G827) (127) *
53. Extremities; ERUPTIONS; vesicles; upper limbs; shoulders (K990, G828) (11) *
54. Sleep; SLEEPINESS (K1248, SRIII-82, G1030) (621) *
55. Sleep; SLEEPINESS; forenoon (K1248, SRIII-88, SRIII-89, G1030) (92) *
56. Sleep; SLEEPINESS; forenoon; ten am. (K1248, SRIII-89, G1030) (7) *
57. Sleep; UNREFRESHING (K1254, SRIII-186, G1035) (268) *
58. Sleep; UNREFRESHING; morning (K1255, SRIII-187, G1035) (30) *
59. Sleep; WAKING; frequent (K1255, SRIII-199, G1036) (259) *
60. Chill; CHILLINESS (K1264, G1043) (318) *
61. Chill; EATING; after; amel. (K1267, G1045) (22) *
62. Skin; ERUPTIONS; desquamating; general (K1311, G1081) (110) *
63. Skin; ERUPTIONS; urticaria, hives (K1321, G1089) (232) *
64. Skin; ERUPTIONS; vesicular (K1322, G1090) (228) *
65. Skin; ITCHING (K1327, G1094) (448) *
66. Skin; NUMBNESS, insensibility (K1330, G1096) (44) *
67. Skin; PAIN; general (267) *
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 24
68. Skin; PAIN; burning (K1303, G1075) (235) *
69. Generalities; EVENING, six pm. - nine pm.; amel. (K1342, SRII-11, G1108) (41) *
70. Generalities; AIR; open; amel. (K1344, SRII-28, G1109) (226) *
71. Generalities; EATING; amel.; after (K1357, SRII-168, G1120) (130) *
72. Generalities; EXERTION, physical; amel. (K1358, SRII-177, G1121) (40) *
73. Generalities; FOOD and drinks; alcohol, alcoholic drinks; desires (K483, SRII-217, G413) (99)
*
74. Generalities; FOOD and drinks; beer; desires (K484, SRII-221, G413) (71) *
75. Generalities; FOOD and drinks; bread; desires (K484, SRII-224, G414) (52) *
76. Generalities; FOOD and drinks; bread; desires; dry (K484, SRII-225, G414) (4) *
77. Generalities; FOOD and drinks; chocolate; desires (K484, SRII-229, G414) (69) *
78. Generalities; FOOD and drinks; coffee; desires (K484, SRII-231, G414) (60) *
79. Generalities; FOOD and drinks; fats and rich food; aversion (K480, SRII-241, G411) (71) *
80. Generalities; FOOD and drinks; fish; agg. (K1363, SRII-242, G1124) (34) **
81. Generalities; FOOD and drinks; meat; aversion (K481, SRII-253, G411) (145) *
82. Generalities; FOOD and drinks; salt or salty food; desires (K486, SRII-266, G415) (70) *
83. Generalities; FOOD and drinks; spices, condiments, piquant, highly seasoned food; desires
(K485, K486, SRIII-264, SRII-272, G414, G415) (56) *
84. Generalities; FOOD and drinks; warm; food; desires (K486, SRII-279, G415) (22) *
85. Generalities; FORMICATION, crawling; external (K1364, SRII-283, G1125) (211) *
86. Generalities; PAIN; general (648) *
87. Generalities; PAIN; stitching (SRII-454) (304) *
88. Generalities; WEAKNESS, enervation, exhaustion, prostration, infirmity (K1413, SRII-693,
G1165) (809) *
89. Generalities; WEAKNESS, enervation, exhaustion, prostration, infirmity; eating; amel.
(K1416, SRII-713, G1168) (12) *
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 25

APNDICE

MEDUSA
Her Name and Origin
Medusa means "sovereign female wisdom," in Sanskrit it'sMedha, Greek Metis, Egyptian Met or
Maat.
Medusa was actually imported into Greece from Libya where she was worshipped by the Libyan
Amazons as their Serpent-Goddess. Medusa (Metis) was the destroyer aspect of the Great Triple
Goddess also called Neith, Anath, Athene or Ath-enna in North Africa and Athana in 1400 c. BC
Minoan Crete.
Medusa was originally an aspect of the goddess Athene from Libya where she was the Serpent-
Goddess of the Libyan Amazons. In her images, her hair sometimes resembles dread locks, showing
her origins in Africa. There she had a hidden, dangerous face. It was inscribed that no one could
possibly lift her veil, and that to look upon her face was to glimpse ones own death as she saw
your future.
Medusa as an Archetype
Medusa has historically been seen as the archetype of the nasty mother, however she is far more
complex. She symbolizes the following:
Sovereign female wisdom. The female mysteries. All the forces of the primordial Great Goddess:
The Cycles of Time as past, present and future. The Cycles of Nature as life, death and rebirth.
She is universal Creativity and Destruction in eternal Transformation. She is the Guardian of the
Thresholds and the Mediatrix between the Realms of heaven, earth and the underworld. She is
Mistress of the Beasts. Latent and Active energy.
Connection to the earth. The union of heaven and earth. She destroys in order to recreate
balance. She purifies.
She is the ultimate truth of reality, the wholeness beyond duality. She rips away our mortal
illusions. Forbidden yet liberating wisdom. The untamable forces of nature. As a young and
beautiful woman she is fertility and life. As crone she consumes by devouring all on the earth
plane. Through death we must return to the source, the abyss of transformation, the timeless
realm. We must yield to her and her terms of mortality. She reflects a culture in harmony with
nature.
Images of Medusa
In her image alone we can find this constellation of archetypal meaning. Throughout archeological
history, there have been patterns of correspondence of her image around the world as the
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 26
ancients translated the powers of the natural world into an organic image that was accessible,
practical, ceremonial, mystical and potent. In the beginning, her images represent a powerful
natural force that is worshipped and revered by cultures as sacred and holy as she was a symbol of
the full potency of the Great Triple Goddess.
In the Beginning:
Medusas' images in Old Europe begin several thousand years prior to her reinvention in classical
Greek Myth. In the Upper Paleolithic, her power is represented in labyrinth, vaginal, uterine, and
other female designs. Throughout the Neolithic, her forces are symbolized by the female figure
positioned in holy postures and gestures of empowerment, with the presence of animals, primarily
birds and snakes whom she is intimately connected with. These images appear in the
Mediterranean area and continue to extend into the late Bronze Age of Minoan Crete,(1600 BC)
where she is represented as the refined serpent-goddess-priestess. (modern copied image of the
serpent goddess-priestessAriadne and the original serpent-goddess-priestesses found at the Palace
of Knosses inivory and gold,and infaience)
Birds are appear on her head or shoulder, signifying her generative as well as death wielding
powers of her dark, crone aspect. They also represent the heavens of the sky.
Snakes coil around her arms, legs or are entwined in her hair and are shown whispering into her
ear. The serpent is a totem of the cycles of life, death and rebirth and the seasons. It is the
connection to the fertile earth and to the underworld. It also symbolizes immortality as it was
thought to shed its skin indefinitely.
Because of this the serpent was placed in relationship to women throughout antiquity as they
correspond to the immortal properties of the blood of menstruation. Back then menstruating
women were feared by men with holy dread as they inexplicably bled without wound or pain
synchronized with the moon-tide cycles.
The serpent is also an emblem of the ocean as the sea was known as an earth girdling serpent.
Centuries later, the myths of classical Greece cast the serpent as an evil, deceitful, revolting
character associated with "witchy," (wise), women.
In 750 BC, the full-bodied image of Medusa in Greece is a central piece on their oldest surviving
temple, that of Artemis, one of their oldest gods. She is the Lady of the Beasts who carries with
her memories of Crete and Angolia. Like Medusa, she kills in a sacred manner so that life may
continue. In this image of Medusa, snakes are tied around her waist in the sacred healing knot as
they were used for medicinal purposes. She retains spiraling hair, large bird wings on her back and
even on her feet that sometimes have claws. The wings symbolize her freedom and dynamic
movement between the worlds. There are even surviving images of Artemis wearing the mask of
Medusa, also called the mask of the Gorgon or Hecate.
The Mask:
Medusas' ancient, widely recognized symbol of female wisdom was her threatening, ceremonial
mask . It has wide unblinking eyes that reflect her immense wisdom. They are all knowing, all
seeing eyes that see through us, penetrating our illusions and looking into the abyss of truth. Her
mouth is deathly; it looks like a skull. It is devouring of all life, returning us to the source.
Sometimes she has the frightening tusks of a boar which is meant to scare men, yet these hearken
back to the pig, an ancient symbol of the uterus of rebirth. Her tongue protrudes like a snakes' and
her face is surrounded by a halo of spiraling, serpentine hair which symbolize the great cycles and
her serpent wisdom.
The mask was used to guard and protect women and the secret knowledge of the Divine Feminine.
It literally warned men to "Keep Away! Female Mysteries." It was erected in stone,(corresponding
to her look of stone), on caves and gateways at sacred sites dedicated to the Goddess. It also
appeared on stone pillars erected in honor of her deceased lovers. Even after the degradation of
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 27
Medusa Athenian culture after 7th c. BC, her mask image continued to be used until the reign of
Christianity.
Her defilement began in Greece in the 7th-6th c BC, yet at this time there still exist images that
revere Medusa in her full power. There was found a Cretan-like image of the Gorgon Medusa in a
war chariot flanked by lions. It looks much like the Great-Mother Goddess Cybele, goddess of wild
beasts and fertility of nature. At the same time there was found a relief of a woman wearing the
Gorgon mask while in the menstrual/birth/erotic position, a posture of women's power in Neolithic
imagery. But her face and mask continued to be used in temples and sanctuaries, and to be
commonly placed on columns, doorways and gateways, signifying her role as the guardian of the
thresholds and mediatrix between realms. (Medusa's face at Didyma, Temple to Apollo and a
description of her image as it appears at the temple at Kalaaktepe)
Medusa in Patriarchal Greece
Patriarchy began in the bronze and iron age of first millennia Greece. In this mind the world is no
longer born of a sacred mother deity but from a supreme father. Earth and heaven are split
eternally. In myth heroes and gods are created to dominate and subjugate the female and natural
forces over and over again in various forms, the most common of them being gigantic snakes and
serpent monsters. A prime example of this is the serpent dragon called Eurinaes who is
overpowered by Apollo.
The god Apollo represents the rising patriarchy and the contemporary male interests. The Eurinaes
is a dynamic female force representing the old, matrifocal civilizations, and the female values
that pre-date the Olympian gods. The Eurinaes is subordinated, mastered and tamed by Apollo as
she is forced to leave the sanctuary so he can establish his shrine at the temple of Delphi. Through
domination the hero constantly conquers the cyclical pattern of nature and tries to make it linear.
He tames the wild feminine forces and makes women conform to male-servicing gender roles.
Soon the holy image of the Gorgon Medusa as an ancient symbol of female power and wisdom
became totally unacceptable. By the 6th c. BC her rites were disrupted, her sanctuaries invaded,
the sacred groves were cut down, her priestesses were violated and her image defiled. Her
images, (as well as women), are mastered and domesticated. Her mask was used on elaborate
Etruscan lantern fixtures and stoves, probably for her relation to alchemical fire. Although the
mask was widely used by country-folk, her female wisdom, natural forces, powers of creativity,
destruction and regeneration were demonized and made evil. She was made into a horrid, ugly
monster, (most monsters were female or born of the Earth). Her most popular image became that
of her defeat in the Athenian myth of Perseus.
In Archaic art the moment in the story most often depicted is the chase after the beheading, when
Perseus flees with the severed head pursued by the Medusas' Gorgon sisters. In 550-450 BC,
painted mainly in early and proto-attic black figure vases was the image of the hero sneaking up
on his victim while she sleeps or cutting her throat while the gods look on. On these she is
represented as a hideous snaky monster. (vase image of Perseus beheading Medusa while Hermes
looks on and its description, also,a description of the slaying on another vase) At his time the
remaining rituals of Medusa were allowed only for military function and her image was reserved
for armor, on the breat plate or on their shield. (description of her image on a sacred sheild)
In the course of the fifth century, she will emerge again as a beautiful woman in her maiden
aspect. But when the Persians introduce the plumed serpent, her powers are transformed yet
again into a dragon which is phallicaly speared into its mouth, an image that is highly popular
throughout the Middle Ages.
Medusa-Metis-Athene in Classical Myth
Athenian Myth fragmented and reduced the Libyan Triple Goddess Athene to Athena, Metis,
Medusa and her Gorgon sisters. Gorgo, Gorgon, or Gorgopis was the `Grim Face'- and besides
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 28
Medusa (Metis), was the title of Athene as Death Goddess. The eldest sister was Medusa, who
represented Female Wisdom, her younger sisters were Stheino as Strength, and Euryale as
Universality. All were born of Ceto and Phorcys, but Medusa was the only mortal. They were
originally beautiful. Like Medusa, they had wings on their back and ankles, and wore the mask of
Hecate, the mask of the Gorgon. (an image of a Gorogn sister wearing the mask while chasing
Perseus after the murder)
In the 7th c. BC, Athenians recreated Athene as their patron Goddess. Through myth the Greeks
severed her ancient roots in women's culture by dividing her from her dark aspect as Medusa and
Metis. In the seperation of Athene from Metis and Medusa, the two were overlaid; Metis became
her mother and Medusa her enemy.
Her mother Metis the shape shifter was said to be the original mother as well as the wisest and
greatest of all the gods. To Athenians, she was raped and swallowed by Zeus. Thus Zeus gained his
power over the other gods by consuming her ancient lineage along with her immense wisdom. [He
used her shape shifting ability primarily to seduce/rape females]. Metis's wisdom was so great that
it impregnated Zeus's head and from it sprang the new Athena.
Betraying her ancient lineage, traitor Athena became the dutiful daughter who retained only her
virginal, fertile aspect. She was the municipal goddess of Zeus's intelligence, in service of the
male-solar ego, making men into heroes who dominate women and nature, and representing the
patriarchal values, roles and ideals of Athens. She offers women a new blessed role; absent from
the public sphere, and in the service of the male. Women are prescribed the role of virgin, wife
and mother. As virgin, proof of his fatherhood is confirmed. As mother, she is the nurse of his
children. And as wife she is in devoted service of her man.
In 458 BC, she blatently rejects her mother Metis in Aeschylus's Oresteia , as she also justifies the
priority of men over women; "It is my task to render final judgment here...There is no mother
anywhere who gave me birth... I am always for the male with all my heart, and strongly on my
father's side. So, in a case where the wife has killed her husband, lord of the house, her death
shall not mean most to me."(p.161)
Yet Athenas' character contains many contradictions that show the struggle of the male order to
manage her potent past. One example is that her favorite animal is the owl, an ancient symbol of
bird of death and regeneration, as well as female wisdom, darkness, night, the moon and mystery.
However, Athena never uses the darkness to realize her self.
Athenas' new enemy Medusa rivaled her in beauty and power. Even Perseus was said to have
admired Medusa's beauty while she was dead, which is why he took her head with him to show the
Greeks. When Medusa became a mythological monster, it was Athena herself who made Medusa
ugly. According to Ovids' Metamorphosis, when Medusa was a virgin, she was raped by Poseidon in
Athena's temple. Athena blamed Medusa for the sacrilegious act and punished her by changing her
loveliest feature, her hair, into snakes, (at this time snakes were considered revolting). But even
the monster Medusa responds to the abuse with rage- a burning charge of a fiery vitality to protect
life. From then on she forever uses her powerful gaze to turn her male enemies to stone, among
others, Atlas is turned into a stone mountain.
[See list of the polarized seperation of Athena and Medusa][1]
The Myth of Medusa the Monster
In the Athenian myth of the Greek hero Perseus, Medusa's female wisdom along with the potential
of women in general is silenced and the forces of nature are conquered in an ultimate act of
domination and vengeance.
Perseus is sent on a quest, by King Polydictes of Seriphos and Athena herself, to retrieve the head
of the Gorgon, a deed said to require the maximum of heroic-male courage and skill. He is given
magic winged sandals, a cap and a pouch,(a kibisis), from Hermes. Guided by Athena the entire
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 29
time, he flies over the ocean to Lake Tritonis in Libya where makes his way through rough, thick
woods. On the way to Medusa's palace he sees several statues of men and beasts. There are also
stone pillars erected in honor of her deceased lovers. Perseus comes upon the sleeping Gorgons.
While Athena holds out a shield as a mirror, Perseus decapitates Medusa with his crescent sword,(a
harpe). Enraged, the Gorgon sisters chase after him but to no avail as his cap makes him invisible.
Perseus could not have completed this task without the help of the traitor warrior goddess Athena.
It is she who guides and instructs him throughout his journey and slaying. Since the myth
symbolized the usurping of her powerful roots in a culture where she and Medusa were one, it is
appropriate that only she would know the secrets to find and defeat Medusa. (Apollodorous's
Perseus myth andPausanias's rational version of the myth)
The Blood of Medusa:
Even in death Medusa's blood retains its powers. It gives life to Pegasus, the winged, militant steed
of Zeus that creates serpents in the earth with the touch of his hoof, and who also introduced
Dionysiac worship to Athens. Also Chrysaor, the golden bladed giant, is born from her bleeding
neck. Medusas' blood is drained from her body and later used to raise the dead, (making Asclepius
a great healer). Used from her right vein it heals and nourishes life, from her left serpent it kills.
The snakes, her dreaded face, her look of stone, and her magical blood all correlate with the
ancient menstrual taboo. Primitive folk believed that the look of a menstruating woman could turn
a man to stone. Menstrual blood was also thought to be the source of all mortal life and also of
death, as the two are inseparable.
The Head of Medusa:
Perseus puts Medusa's head into his pouch. He uses her head as a weapon during other exploits and
when he reaches home he returns it to Athena. The head of Medusa is then wrought onto the
center of Athena's aegis and Zeus's shield which is given to Athena. (description of Athena's aegis
at the Parthenon) Even after her defeat, the face of Medusa forever maintains its Gorgon power to
protect the Goddess from enemies by turning them to stone. It is the striking, central image on
renderings of Athena. Medusas' face continues to symbolize her fierce strength in military ritual
and in battle on the warriors' armor.
[See encyclopedia entry of Gorgon Medusa in classical Greek literature][2]
The Symbolism of the Myth
The mythological beheading of Medusa symbolizes the ultimate silencing of female wisdom and
expression. It is the act which stops her growth, limits her potential, movement and cultural
contributions. She is obliterated and her severed head is flaunted on the Acropolis and other works
of art in pride of her and all women's subjugation by violent men. She is broken and her body
enslaved. Her spirit, her mind, her spiritual powers are killed. Her once honored forces of female
creativity and destruction are halted. Her role as dynamic mediatrix degraded. Her life-giving,
death-wielding powers and wild forces of nature are controlled, tamed, and mastered by the male
order. The cycles of life and nature are made to conform to his linear perspective.
The Motive Behind the Myth
The Perseus myth was invented to explain the appearance of Gorgon Medusa's face, or mask, on
Athena's shield and aegis, the image of Athena that was inherited from the pre-Hellenic period. It
is not surprising to learn that the earliest images of Athena had a striking resemblance to the
revered Cretan serpent-goddess-priestess. Although Athena changes, in art she is consistently
associated with snakes as they appear on her shoulders and on her armor, along with Medusa's face
as the central image.
The Perseus myth was also an attempt to conceal Athena's roots in the Libyan Amazon Serpent-
Goddess-Trinity-Athene, (a deity that was also present in Minoan Crete). In pre-Hellenic myths
 Sinopses de MATERIA MEDICA - 30
Athena was said to have come from the uterus of Lake Tritonis, (meaning Three Queens), the same
place that Medusa is said to have ruled, hunted and led troops in Athenian myth. The older myths
are more specific, they say that Athene was born of the Three Queens of Libya themselves, the
Triple Goddess, with Metis-Medusa as her destroyer aspect.
Bibliography
Barbara Walker: TheWoman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, and TheWoman's Dictionary of
Symbols and Sacred Objects
Marija Gimbutas: The Civilization of the Goddess
A special thanks to Joan Marlers' Celebrating the Gorgon slide lecture and workshop at Interface,
in Cambridge MA, March of 1996.