Digression on how to study the remedies: Sep.

George: I will try to give you the idea of how you study the remedies in the materia medica and things
that are important to remember.
From my observation in seeing how you deal with cases, I have noticed that there are certain aspects
of Sep. which are not clear yet. And I would like to say that perhaps we have not talked about the
whole thing. We may never be able to talk about the whole thing, but anyhow ...
I would like to be able to talk about an aspect of Sep. which is the first stage of Sep. - let's say when
the person developed first into a young girl or a young boy. YOU WILL NOT SEE THE SEP.
WHICH WE HAVE DESCRIBED SO FAR IN THESE YOUNG PEOPLE. YOU WILL SEE
EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE. You will see that they are over-excitable and nervous, thin and pale
children. They are bothered by noises. They are bothered by quarrels, much more so than their age
would justify. They are little girls and they will look almost like Phos. They are very active and
usually you will find a tendency in them to want to dance. They have a talent and flair for dancing. It
seems that dancing expressed that extra excitability which is there and makes them more quiet and
balanced. They tend to be apart from the other children and they tend to go by themselves and enjoy
that. They do not need actual social company though they do not like to be by themselves. They are
like the Lyc. in that respect. They want people around as long as they do not have to have personal
contact and as long as you don't talk to them personally. There are people who say that they feel okay
in a group as long as they are not confronted on a personal level. They have inside them the idea of
being a "loner".
Question: Is this the same as in Lyc. where they want to be in a room alone, but with somebody in the
next room?
George: Yes, but this is for another reason. In Lyc. they want to do that because they are afraid. They
have a kind of fear and where they come together is with the fear of ghosts that they both have. As we
advance in seeing Sep., we will see that it is very sensitive. They feel easily hurt in case something
goes wrong. They are excitable to the extent that they may fear ghosts and things. The children may
say, "I don't want to go into the next room alone because I feel the presence of something". They may
express it with the words ghosts or spirits, or whatever.
Later on, the same symptom will be seen in the grown-ups, especially those who have been quite weak
in vitality. They go into a state of mind which is very dull. The books say dull and stupid, but it is not
dull. It is a state of mind where the mind does not work quickly. But at the same time there is this
sensitiveness and there is a kind of mediumship which eventually develops. You know how the
mediums look? Their eyes are a bit far away. They have that kind of a look. There is an air of
spiritualism in them - in Sep.
When they go away from that exciteable state into a state of more progress towards Sep., they will be
like ... you see, when one is very quiet in his mind - because the mind does not work fast in Sep. - they
have the look of being burnt out. This state is very sensitive to other people's feelings and thoughts.
And because of that state they are able to understand the feelings and thoughts of others and be
affected by them. So if you progress with this idea, you will see finally a medium there. A medium,
who understands how you feel and think, how others think and feel, and so on, not because they have
developed a specific talent for that, but because the sensitivity of their organism brings them to that
state and that is not dullness or stupidness. It is something else.
From their physique you always have the feeling that they are going to be a sensitive person. They are
not stout or fat usually. They are lean and they give the impression of being fragile. So when you say
stupid and dull and things like that, we say it is for a different remedy. You have an entirely different
understanding for each one of them.
So the first is the exciteable state in which they have a lot of sexual energy and appetite. And during
that state they will act on that sexual appetite, not promiscuously. In order to have a relationship, they
have to have a kind of deep relationship. So if a man or woman gives you his case, 21 or 22 years old,
and they are excitable and they want sex, but they want a different relationship which will not hurt
them. They cannot understand a relationship which is superficial, such as a Lyc. You see how you go
away on the one time where it touches Lyc. because it is spirit-like and there is fear of ghosts and
spirits and the presence of spirits which they feel, like Lyc., but yet on the other hand they will go
entirely away from Lyc. In the repertory it says they are better when alone. They will tell you that
from their headaches and pains, but mainly they will give you that symptom on their mental and
emotional level symptomatology. Their mental and emotional level is in peace when they are alone.
Why ? They are sensitive and when they get all of this impact from the people, it will tire them,
especially when they have personal transactions. That which is excitable in the beginning is eventually
going to break down and we will have the opposite state in all directions.
So it is the same with the Sep. And that which is excitable is very refined in the love element. They are
not ... and that is a very prominent symptom because Sep. acts mostly on the hormonal system which
is connected with sex. So what they want is a relationship which is deep and harmonious. Why do they
seek that? Because they do not have the energy, the power, or the strength in their emotional level to
communicate on a level which is superficial. You have to have a superficial heaviness... you have to
have a person who is quite insensitive or insensitive to a certain extent, to have a superficial
relationship without being hurt.
And so Sep. has very much love, but it is a quite refined love. The affections are strong and stronger
than other remedies. You see now the idea for Sep. thus far is falling apart in the younger ages,
although it can be a man of 40 or a woman of 40 who has remained as a child. They have remained
with that attitude of mind and spirit. We are not talking about the real age. We are talking about an
experience and a state of affection which is young and inexperienced. And of course that state of
affection is a much more healthy state than that in which they go eventually after crashes. And what
brings about a Sep. state mostly?
Response: They are overwhelmed by the demands.
George: Yes, but it starts at the physical level from abortions.
Response: Abortions? And hormonal imbalances.
George: Yes, And what is an abortion? You discontinue the hormonal patterns and the organism
cannot find its rhythm again. Therefore you will see after an abortion that the woman immediately
loses sexual urges and drives and she even goes into the opposite where she will have an aversion to
sex. She does not want to be involved with it. Many times you will see the woman has become almost
flat - chested. This can be within 24 hours. Or within 3-4 days you will see this tremendous hormonal
change taking place and the woman becomes wiped-out from all energy and suddenly she has become
irritable and she does not want to see anybody. She wants to stay by herself all of the time and she is
without appetite. She is nauseated. Everything has gone wrong.
Now what is another state in which Sep. also is very prominent?
Response: During pregnancy.
George: During pregnancy. You will see the nausea and the aversion to sex, the feeling of isolation
which comes about during pregnancy where the hormonal system also has not been able to regulate
itself. You will see the same phenomena or rather similar phenomena. Then you will see the nausea,
the same as in pregnancy especially in the mornings, coupled with an aversion to sex. One more
keynote will be leucorrhoea. Leucorrhoea during pregnancy, coupled with nausea in the morning and
aversion to any sexual contact is only Sep.
So this is on the physical level and these are the usual causes which can bring about a Sep. state. Now
on the emotional level we have distresses on emotional problems. The Sep., because of our society,
will tend to form relationships. They will remain apart and say that it is not good for them. They
withstand all the pressure, but the society or the family will wonder what is wrong with the person
because she does not have a boy-friend, etc. And there is a pressure. Then she goes into a relationship
without feeling anything. The woman can act without feeling anything.
Okay, so they are less protected than men. You will hear a Sep. story where the girl will say, "I never
felt anything in the sexual intercourse." This is usual. Why? Because she was pressed by society and
circumstances to go into relationship in which the circumstances were not ideal for her.
That means that she did not have the right person, but she was pressed and all appetite and sexual
desire were lost. The trauma of the experience with Sep. becomes powerful and she cannot overcome
it. It becomes the background theme in Sep. after that. That is how the Sep. has developed. So there is
actually a weakness on the emotional level and especially of the affections. There is a weakness of the
affections which is easily hurt and going into a stasis. There is a sort of inertia of the affections. There
is no power behind the affections and that is when they say, "I do not love my children", and that is the
time where the irritability becomes tremendous. If you analyze behind irritability there is a lack of
affection. By the warmth of affection we feel connected with others. In Sep. there is no warmth,
therefore she feels isolated - not connected. Therefore the outside world is a foreign world. So when
anybody makes ANY kind of contact, there is an irritability. Sep. becomes very irritated. You will
hear the story: "I love my husband, he is very nice. We have been in love all these years. We have
been very much in harmony." After an abortion, will then come the state in which she will say, "I do
not feel anything, not only in sex, but in affections." Then the children become so noisy. She cannot
really hold herself. The irritability is so great that she cannot control it. And she tells them to shut up.
Sep. together with Nux-v. burst out in hitting the children. If you ask them, "Do you feel like taking
the child and throwing it out of the window?" They will say, "Exactly". This is the confirmation if they
say it themselves. Many times they will say that they really feel like taking the child and throwing it
out of the window. This is a state where they have lost their emotions. Their affections are nil. And
when we come to the mind, what are the cases which bring about a Sep. state?
I have met a lot of Sep. people who have been going from one spiritual practice to the other. And they
have tried every kind of spiritual practice. What they have been able to do is to subdue the emotions.
Usually in spiritual practices they - the gurus - say detachment is the important thing. So sublimation
and detachment. For Sep. it is very nice and they can do it easily. They sublimate and kill their
emotions easily because there is already a weakness on the emotional level, and the weakness which
exists on the physical level in regard to the sexual urge. You see this weakness and there is no power -
animalistic power - in sex. They have refined ideas about sex. It is not this instinctive power which
usually drives a person.
Question: In the days before abortion, there were not the same causes. How do you explain that?
George: Yes, but another cause can be that while the woman ...
Question: Could it come from birth control pills?
George: Yes, and from cutting down the lactation of milk abruptly. The child may die and the milk
dries up.
You go and have an experience in life and if it is a positive one you will integrate and then another
level will show up as the remedy. Or if the experience is negative it can lead you to a destructive kind
of life. Neither can we avoid negative experiences, through drugging, whether homoeopathic or other.
Neither must you expect that you will change the characteristics of a person because every personality
is unique. Even if you wanted to you could not save every personality. You have a very nice vase -
ancient Greek. You drop it and it falls to pieces. Now you want to put every piece in its place. It takes
all of the pieces to make the vase whole. This is the function of every piece. There is going to be a
whole there when you are finished. In every work which we do as a group, as a family, as a nation,
everyone has his own function which is absolutely unique. You cannot say that I am the teacher and
you are the student and therefore I am greater. Forget it! I am not great and I have said it many times. I
don't feel it towards you and many of you of course do not feel this way. But sometimes the idea will
come to our mind, "You can do things which I cannot do. And if you were not there to do those things,
we could not do the whole thing altogether." This is a great thing if we manage finally to do that which
is whole and complete. So everyone has his own personality. To say why this man is so closed or this
one is so open. He is so open because he must be because he was created like that. The other one if he
is open like that, he would not stay and study for 12 hours a day. He would go out with a woman and
do this and that. He would disperse his energies. He should be closed then in order to sit and work for
hours and do the job. But I believe as healers that we want to be. Our job is doing what we are doing
and no more or less. So let's continue with Sep.
Question: I had a Sep. suppressing emotions and becoming sublimated and detached. I became
detached with what was going on.
George: The spiritual attitude of the person that goes from one guru to the other and mixes things up.
The guru says that you sublimate and detach and eventually a Sep. patient is much more prone to
putting into practice what she thinks should be done. Eventually you have a mind which is confused
and not able to apply and concentrate. They become dull.
But at the same time they are perceptive. It is perceptive on another level - on an intuitional level. That
is why they say that a Sep. can really hurt if they want to.
It is interesting that in order to move the emotions she will hurt exactly those whom she loves the
most. She will find by intuition what is the most painful spot for you and she will say it at the right
moment. Even though she has been dull in her mind and not able to think clearly, but understanding
what is going on in the situation around her, especially with those she is close to. She picks up
feelings.
That is why in the books it is described as "spiteful".
Question: What do these people come complaining about? Do they usually come complaining that
their mind is not clear?
George: They will complain about the memory and the lack of concentration, and you will notice a
kind of spirit-like attitude of the person. When a person's eyes are shining and bright, you have the
picture of a clear mind. Then when it becomes more and more withdrawn you will have more and
more the picture of a mind which cannot work. So this is where the mind of Sep. belongs and you will
get this kind of sensitive person, especially in women, who have been doing spiritual practices for
years and then they have that look. Their symptomatology is weak.
Question: You said people who have a spiritual look about them?
George: No. It is not that the people are spiritual. There are people who have been doing practices and
have suppressed themselves.
Response: It is a far away look?
George: Yes, it is ethereal, spiritualistic. Far away. They are not present Sep. will be more withdrawn
and detached. And that is due to a slowing down process on the mental and the emotional level. And
then this process goes towards a stage which is beyond the neutral point. That means in emotions.
They go into neutral emotions. They feel indifference and then they keep on going towards a state
which is negative. Then the young children become suicidal. The grown-ups also think of suicide.
Here also is the same idea in the physical level of the prolapses of the internal organs. Whether it is the
stomach or the kidneys or the genitals. There is a prolapse which is painful.
Question: I would like to ask something further about this spiritual look you are talking about. If you
have somebody who is going from being a hyper-sensitive person into an actual negative kind of
phase, and they are involved in spiritual practices and groups and have an intellectual mind that will
indicate that they are not to express negative emotions, and that will come out, so ...
George: Usually the spiritually inclined people will stay in that neutral state which is very close to a
really spiritual state. It is a state which is not negative or positive, a state which the yogis call an
emptiness of the mind. But emptiness of the mind which is quite good may bring Samadhi; but
emptiness of the mind which is not coupled with maturity and the healthiness of the body, may bring
about destructive tendencies. In one case the person becomes very whole and in the other case the vase
breaks into pieces. It is the responsibility of the spiritual leaders today to know what they are doing.
They must know how to handle a Sep. case, a Nat-m. case, or a Phos. case. In a Phos. case, you say
detach, and he will do it in moderation. In a Sep. case, tell them to attach and know the feeling of
human love first. These are just my ideas and if does not mean that they are correct. This is the way I
understand them.
Nobody is perfect and therefore there is disturbance and therefore we are here to help every time we
can.
Question: What does he say to the Nat-m.
George: They need contact and expression - the Sep. and Nat-m. That is why they are closed and they
go from one state into another. They interchange their states. The loneliness, or the desire to be alone
of Sep. and the aversion to company of Nat-m. are the same thing with a little difference in the state.
Sep. wants to stay at home alone and feels better. The Nat-m. does not want company. It is not
necessarily that he stays in the house. He is antisocial. But without these people we would not have the
scientists, the poets, etc.
Question: Are they antisocial or asocial?
George: It is asocial. They are not actively against society. They don't want to destroy society. Caust.
wants to destroy society. So we have the prolapse state which is characteristic. Another characteristic
of Sep. is the amelioration by violent exertion. It seems that the stasis which has been created in the
body starts moving about and creates more the idea of life in Sep. A Sep. will feel that life is lost, does
not exist. They may say, "I don't care if I die." There are all the stages and in this mind which is hazy
and dull they feel that they may be going insane. And it is in the state of mind that they have fear of
presences in the body. A great relief for Sep. is the leucorrhoea. You may have a great leucorrhoea,
white, yellow. These are the colours of Sep. This is thick and profuse. And it will be cured by Sep.
You have another case where you have stomach trouble or kidney trouble or whatever it is and you
give Sep. and produce that, don't give Sep. again to stop the leucorrhoea which came about after you
have given Sep. When you have the leucorrhoea person who wants to be treated for that specific
condition, you give Sep. But if you bring about the leucorrhoea by relieving the different elements in
the body, then don't succumb to the person who says, "Give me a remedy. I now have too much
leucorrhoea". The leucorrhoea may last for from 1-6 months or even a year. And unless you have a
good picture, don't prescribe it. In this state, they last quite a lot and there is where you will have
trouble because they will want to see a gynaecologist. And then they will take Flagyl and this and that.
This will destroy the case. Every husband will have ailments from this because the woman has
leucorrhoea, even if it is trichomonas. Sep. also has certain symptomatologies which you may confuse
with Lach. There is a lump in the throat, and they cannot sleep on the left side because there are
palpitations. The person will go back to sleep and then trouble will come. She will wake up in the
morning and there are all the troubles. They are very similar to Lach. But where Lach. is plethoric and
vital, Sep. is sedate and quiet. You will have a loquacity in Lach. and a taciturnity in Sep.
They will say very few words and will just answer your questions with yes and no. They are silent,
taciturn people. And they are unpredictable. Before you reach that stage which is really dull, they will
jump from one state to the other. They will be nice and sweet, and will talk and then they will go into a
tacitum state where they will not talk and they will be withdrawn and want to stay by themselves.
They don't want company. And depending on the shocks they have, finally they will withdraw.
Question: Do you say that they withdraw and stay withdrawn?
George: Yes, they will stay withdrawn. And if you have a case which has stayed in a Sep. state for a
long time and they become very grounded and a kind of philosopher. "I believe it is better to be
alone". That is a way of life and they integrate it into their way of life. When you see Sep., they will
say that life is coming back and they are enjoying life, and they have started going out with friends as
they did ten years ago. This means that this state is now a pathology and not the real character of the
person. They have warts, especially around the genitalia. Sep. is one of the best remedies for vitiligo.
Question: Does it stop or reverse it?
George: It reverses it, but not always. When you have a vitiligo which has been present for 5-10 years
and it is extensive, don't expect to reverse it. But if it is just starting and there are only little white
blotches for about a year, you may expect that it will disappear when you give the remedy.
Question: The pigment tends to go from the white spots to the surrounding spots and that makes it
appear more white.
Question: One of the books says that Sep. "dreads to be alone".
George: I have not seen that in Sep. There is a state in which they want people around and the state of
mind is that they have a kind of fear about ghosts. When that fear comes into a kind of spiritualistic
kind of state, then they want people around, but not company. They do not want somebody to talk to.
It is similar to Lyc. in that respect.
Question: How does this fit in with the 19th century idea that the woman who works in a damp
laundry or someplace like that and becomes tired out and then becomes angry with her children?
George: That is a good point. I don't know who asked that. Kent? The woman used to bend to wash
like this. Whatever needs that position of bending forward and putting pressure in the arms, then
pressure is put on the inner organs and the tendencies which Sep. has for prolapses is exaggerated.
And then they will feel exhausted and have pain. And they have prolapses of the uterus and sometimes
there is a dull pain with a feeling that the intestines will fall out. There is a heavy feeling together with
pain, as if everything was pulled down. And that is why you will see that the best position for Sep. is
to sit cross-legged.
They usually have feeling of a lump in the rectum or in the perineum which is ameliorated by sitting
like that and keeping the legs tight. This same tendency of prolapse is depicted also in Sepia's
tendency to lose urine. They have to go fast, especially the women, otherwise they will lose a portion
of the urine and if they don't, while they are talking with somebody and they have an urgency, they
cannot stop the discussion, they have to keep their mind constantly on the sphincter so that they will
not lose their urine. So with coughing, laughing, sneezing, they are apt to lose urine.
Somebody brought me such a case and I said Sep. What was that?
Response: It was a lady with constant dribbling. She had pressing pain on bearing down.
George: Sep. is aggravated in the sea. Okay? That is one of the main remedies. The others are Tub.,
Nat-m., Mag-m., etc. Their condition is aggravated before and during menses and during pregnancy.
They are worse with cold.
I forgot to give you more tips about the eruptions - psoriasis.
One of the prominent ailments is lupus erythematodes disseminata. I have seen it as a very fine
discolouration of the skin above the nose. There is a fine discolouration of the skin. You will definitely
see that it is a different colour. I have seen it only once in a man.
Question: Do you see it in a woman fairly frequently?
George: No.
Response: And all of the books have it. Everybody knows about that, but nobody has ever seen it.
George: I saw it once in a man in my lifetime and it was very slight.
Question: Does Sep. have pains which go up from the vagina and rectum and radiate straight up?
George: No, this will be Ign. mostly.
Question: Do you see the start of Sep. problems with taking birth control pills?
George: No, I have not seen it. Abortions, yes. I said that when you disrupt a pregnancy.
Question: You said that when an infant dies and the milk stops, that there is a disruption.
Question: I have heard people talk about Sep. as some of these women who are very aggressive and
emasculating like Woman's Liberation people trying to outdo the men and that sort of thing.
George: Sep. would be that type of woman, but not a masculine sort exactly. She will be thin and flat,
and that is not masculine. It is nervous energy and it is because they do not have experience in sex. A
Sep. woman may have sex for 30 years and never experience an orgasm one time. Not even once. So
you expect that such a woman is tending to be towards the type who would be such suppressed and
dominated by men. They just don't want that. What is it for? That is the idea. And therefore they
become champions of these kind of situations.
And they are very irritable of course. I told you that they could just throw the children out of the
window.
There is another point where you will find Sep. indicated in people who have taken drugs or those
who have taken a lot of allopathic drugs and homoeopathic drugs, mostly allopathic drugs. These and
recreational drugs will create a mental state which is more or less similar to Sep. Also you will see in
the books that Sep. is indicated after antibiotics or whatever drugging has taken place. The case has
been mixed up and don't give Sep. just because someone has taken a lot of drugs. It has to have this
kind of confusion. There will be weakness, no vital force to go out, no sentiments, no mind which can
go fast. Everything has come to a stasis. This is the time when you are justified to give Sep. But not
otherwise.
Also when we have disorder in a person. But not always, for it has to have this element behind it. The
essence which I described to you has to be here - this kind of spiritualistic, euphemistic look, brought
about by many druggings. Then you give Sep. and there is going to be some response. She is going to
sleep better and she is going to be a bit better in that, but don't be in a hurry to prescribe another
remedy. You have to leave that case for six months, even if you have to give a placebo. Don't go and
throw another remedy on top of it. The person has been weak and that is why they were brought into
that state. So every other remedy will tend to create confusion again.
It is also said that Sep. will clear up a confused case of malaria. You see, we don't see these cases
anymore. I have seen the drug addicts and the people who have taken a lot of drugs and they have
brought about this state. They will be very much ameliorated by Sep.
Question: So it was not the malaria, it was the drug used to treat it?
George: Yes, it was the drug used to treat it. It brought about a disorder.
What are the desires?
Responses: Sweets, sours, bitters.
George: Which is the remedy which desires coffee very much? It starts with A ...? Ang. You should
have that in mind because sometimes you will get the person who will be in a tremendous catastrophe.
They will take a remedy and they will tell you that they have had no effect, but they will drink their
coffee. Ang.
Question: Will it stop the craving?
George: Yes, and it will cure the person. It is a remedy which is indicated in rheumatoid arthritic
conditions, conditions which affect mostly the cervical region and the joints. It brings about a kind of
irritability which is similar to Nux-v. and a kind of dullness which is similar to Cimic.
Response: You are getting in over our heads.
Question: They like vinegar?
George: Very good! They like vinegar, yes. But acids in general such as vinegar and lemon, should be
withdrawn from Sep. That information is very good. When we give Sep. to a patient we tell him to
stop vinegar and lemon, or anything which is sour. They have to stop it because they are somewhat
antidotal to the remedy.
Question: You have seen that?
George: I don't remember because I have been in the process of telling them.
Response: I have never told them to stop and they always stop automatically from the remedy. They
just lose the desire. I have noted it many times.
George: I have been a little bit careful with that because it is a pity to have a remedy which is correct
but which is not working because they are taking vinegar.
Question: Is that true with allergic things?
George: Desire for vinegar now, which is the remedy?
Response: Hep.
George: For lemon?
Response: Ars. and Benz.
George: Yes, Benz. is a gasolene like you use in the car.
Response: Merc. and Sabad.
Response: Nat-m. and Bell.
George: Bell. had this characteristic - not only of lemon, but the juice. It is very prominent in acute
cases. You may differentiate between Bry. and Bell. by that. They will say, "Yes, I want that."
Question: Is that true of other remedies as well? That you should suggest to them that they abstain
from ...
Answer: No, with Sulph. we suggest not to take Cham. tea. With Nat-m., not take menthol or
peppermint. Mint in general.
Question: Aren't you supposed to stop strawberries with Ox-ac.?
George: No. Kent writes that sometimes his patients were very much allergic to Ox-ac.
Question: With Puls. you should stop fats?
George: Yes. Why? Because you will have reactions. If you have a Puls. case where she can take fat
with immunity, most likely after taking Puls. when she eats fat she will have diarrhoea from it.
Question: Not because it antidotes it?
George: That kind of reaction may antidote if the person has diarrhoea for 4-5 days.
Question: What about Arg-n. and sweets?
George: The one that I am REALLY afraid of is coffee. All the others you can't avoid, but there is
going to be a time when you will need to know that. You will give the remedy and it will act for a
certain period of time. Then there is a relapse and you do not know why. Because of taking one of the
things that we were talking about. In Rhus-t., for instance, you may see a relapse because he is taking
a cold bath. Or even if he has a bath twice a day, you may see that the remedy does not act. So you
have to have all of this in your mind.
Question: Could you antidote your remedy by taking something you are severely allergic to?
George: Yes, I believe so.
Question: Oysters and Lyc.?
George: Yes. I have seen big reactions from oysters. Also with Lyc. if you hear a story that the person
has been repeatedly poisoned by oysters, most probably it is going to be a case of Lyc.