Welwitschia mirabilis = Tweeblaarkanniedood (2 leaves can’t die)
Vergleich: Siehe: Tracheobiontha;
A very strange plant - having characterisics of both the Gymnosperms and
Angiosperms. It has only two giant leaves, and the proving seems to reflect
many dualities and dichotomies (between male and female).
There were dreams about transformation - the most remarkable being the
transformation of gender.
Rubrics:
• DREAMS - SEXUAL
IDENTITY; ambiguous about one's
• DREAMS - MAN changed
into woman
• DREAMS - WOMAN changed
into man
[Marijke Creveld]
Namibian desert = Tweeblaarkanniedood (= Two-leaved and impossible to
kill).
This living fossil is an ultimate survivor. It grows to a height of one
metre only, although the root can go down as deep as thirty metres. It has two
leaves only, but these are giant sized.
The tree is dioecious and has both angiosperm and gymnosperm character
states. It’s linked to the number of Two, to duality and to the transformation
of our age.
Summary
Grows in the Namib desert. It belongs to a unique plant group, that of
the Gnetophyta. A group with gynmosperm and angiosperm characters.
The homeopathy remedy is made using material from old female and male
trees growing close on a site where uranium is found.
During the Welwitschia dream proving many participants had dreams
featuring the number of Two. The duality we humans have to deal with – a choice
between good and
evil. We feel divided, in some cases even split up. We are looking for a
partner in order to feel whole. This is reflected in the dream proving themes
in the female-male duality (Yin-Yang), light and dark, above and below, old and
young. Some of the provers experienced this by day as well and expressed their
feelings using words like hate and love, Cain and Abel., Adam and Eve. Besides the themes of
far-sightedness and clairvoyance occur, both in dreams and in daytime
experience. Physical complaints experienced during the dream proving were
varied for example, stomach problems and tension in the chest area.
Welwitschia can probably help in the transformation process in the
duality field. The remedy will probably be most suitable for very sensitive
(HSP), intuïtive, far-sighted and clairvoyant persons.
Botanical Classification
Gnetophyta have some Gymnosperm characters shared with conifers like
Pinus and Thuja, but some Angiosperm characters – like wood vessels in the
secondary xylem – as well. Welwitschia is not pollinated by wind only (like the
gymnosperms) but also by insects. Both the female and male flowers produce
nectar; the male flowers produce small quantities of pollen. Both characters
are typical of insect pollinated angiosperms. The male flowers are similar to
some Angiosperm flowers.
Botanical description
Welwitschia has a bole, two leaves and roots. The short woody bole is
hard, hollow and obconical; it usually grows no higher than 50-80 centimetres.
The two leaves are hard, leathery, ribbon-shaped, very long and make a tangle
on the ground. With age they divide into strips which get frayed and die at the
tips. They grow from the base and can be up to 2 – 4 metres long. By night, dew
and fog condense on the leaves and drip down. Just below the sandy surface the
many tiny roots take in this moisture, while the leaves take in water through
their stomata. The taproot goes down up to 30 metres, is able to draw water
from this depth and serves as an anchor, enabling the tree to survive in the
fierce desert winds.
Male and female trees exist (diodecious species). The male cones are
pinkish brown and smaller than the female cones which are pink with some dark
purple. The seeds measure 36 x 25 mm large and show white, papery wings. They
are dispersed by wind in spring when the female cones disintegrate.
Distribution and ecology
Welwitschia occurs only in the Namib Desert, a narrow arid strip some
1,500 kilometres along the northern Namibian coast and of south western Angola
The region is euarid, the average annual precipitation is less than 100
mm and some years don’t see any precipitation at all. Most trees are found in
the fog zone which reaches up to 80 kilometres inland. This fog is an important
source of moisture. Temperatures differ greatly between up to 45 centigrade by
day while in winter night frosts occur.
Carbon dating indicates ages between 400 and 1500 years for these
plants, while some are thought to be 2000 years old.
The homeopathy remedy
The homoeopathy remedy Welwitschia mirabilis is produced from parts of
female and male trees aged some 600 to 1000 years growing near Swakopmund, next
to the Namib uranium mine.
Moreover, the remedy Radix Welwitschia mirabilis has been produced.
Use
No medical use of this tree is known. Cones of female trees used to be
eaten by man. They were baked in hot ashes. The Herero name Onyanga, meaning
desert onion, originates from this use.
Larger animals like antelope and rhinoceros eat the leaves.
Symbolism
The ecology of the tree and the Afrikaans name Tweeblaarkanniedood
suggest that Welwitschia is an able survivor. In literature it has been
described as a living fossil dating back to the Jurassic age when gymnosperms
and dinosaurs were prevalent.
Welwitschia grows in the region where the San (Bushmen) live. They
possess the most ancient DNA of all humans, they are an old people that
survived all.
During my trek through Namibia I often had a sense of travelling through
the land of creation, of being close to man’s origins. This was a backdrop for
thoughts of Adam and Eve expelled from paradise on account of their lapse into
sin. The dualism of the choice between good and evil that followed, the
ambiguous world. The number Two and transformation are clearly present in the
tree:
it shows two leaves, is dioecious and is halfway between gymnosperm and
angiosperm. Material from female and male trees was used.
Welwitschia was named after its discoverer, Welwitsch, creating a
possibility for wordplay with well and witch, mirabilis meaning wonderful which
is nicely in tune.
Tweeblaarkanniedood is Namibia’s national tree; Namibian coins show a
coat of arms featuring this tree and an eagle.
Astrology
The time I visited Welwitschia to collect material was astrologically
significant. In mid heaven, Mercury, Venus and the Luck point were grouped in
Virgo; Saturn and Mars were found near the Sun.
Pluto was in the ascendant. In these times Pluto plays a major role,
being the transformer of the dark to light and love. Pluto also largely
features in the Diospyros kaki Creveld remedy (the plutonium bomb; at the time
of the bomb event Pluto and the Sun were together in Leo. In the Welwitschia
horoscope, Uranus is at the IC in Pisces (uranium nearby).
Neptune, along with the northern
lunar node (indicates the goal, the karmic) in Aquarius (the age of Aquarius)
on the cusp of the third house.
The horoscope confirms what I intuited: this tree can help us to survive
in this plutonic age of transformation. The tree offers a transforming power
for the new Aquarius age in which we can live more from light and love, using
major intuitive powers.
Proving
At the beginning of November, 2008, a blind Dream proving using
Welwitschia was held.
Dreams were clear and profound. Some dreamers felt slightly alienated and
had doubts whether these were dreams or thoughts. Some participants had
thoughts fitting in this theme during the day as well.
Dreams:
clear/profound/disconnected
Confuses on waking of a dream
Theme proving
In dream analysis I found several themes, partly general themes I found
in provings with other trees, such as above and below; clean-up and repair.
Some themes of the dreams
with Welwitschia were also found during the Diospyros kaki Creveld
provings and those with Pinus longaeva. Examples are light and dark; survival,
security, struggle, danger and death.
I only enumerate the themes which occurred in the dreams of several
participants. I list
some rubrics of the repertory and some parts from the dreams in italics.
Two, the number
Many dreams featured the number Two, the number of duality, the number
that figures in the tree’s anatomy and its Afrikaans name.
- With two other women.
- About two high.
- These windows consisted of two parts.
- We share everything fairly. My half bulb.
- Every time there was a contrast of
situations, like poverty alongside wealth.
Dreams: number two/divided in two parts/sense of duality
Female-Male
Some dreams deal with the female and male duality, or the union or
transformation of male and female.
- The woman undressed, and then it proved to be
a man. It had a penis! A beautiful man, but he should not be in our room since
that was reserved for women only.
- He suddenly becomes a she, and she is
laughing.
- S. is there as well, she looks beautiful. She
is wearing black clothes and ivory earrings in the shape of tortoises. I.
wanted to come too. (comment by dreamer: I feel that both colleagues are
rather
male-looking, not graceful like these tortoise earrings. The sturdy male parts
could be more integrated with the female parts. At work I want to be more
female, soft and pure).
- The women and men are sitting apart from one
another. There are many women and five men. We are really separate. I am
impressed by that.
- She took care of me, despite my being dirty
(male).
Dreams: Man changed into woman/ambiguous about one's sexual identitty
Woman - changed into
man/separated from man/merge with man/embraces man
Transformation
There are dreams which clearly have to do with transformation in various
fields, like
women – men,
light – dark,
old – young,
above – below;
cleaning up.
There are dreams featuring the word
transformation, or which are perceived as transformation dreamed by the prover.
A clairvoyant proving the remedy saw the Tarot card of Art which stands for
transformation, union of contrasting parts, creative power.
- First I hid myself on the roof. Later on I
was lying on a lawn in a very prim neighbourhood. I was soiled by earth or mud
(the dreamer experiences this as a transformation).
- Renovation of a building.
- I absolutely forgot what I dreamt; however, I
know that it had to do with transformation.
- A cathedral that Hitler had lined with a
layer of bricks on the inside; now there were three such layers and I decided
that all of it had to be removed again.
Dreams: Transformation
Clear
There were conspicuous dreams about far-sightedness, clairvoyance and a
clear understanding.
- He can see what everyone is in the house is
doing.
- I was at a ‘Non Violent Communication’
meeting. I suddenly get the structure. Suddenly I understood (which I missed at
the meetings in reality).
- D. has been a soothsayer.
- The mycelium in the ground under the leaves
was visible.
- There was no goal for him to point at.
Curiously, everyone knew whether it as a hit or a miss.
Dreams: Clairsentiant/- voyant/clearness of mind
Old and Young, past and present
Dreams occurred in which old/ the past and young/ the present were
contrasted.
Interpretation: this stands for the duality of the 4th dimension.
- The child is changing into my aunt, my
mother’s sister. She is old.
- Her father was a young man again.
- Two ages, past and present, were concurrent.
- How it used to be, and how it is now.
Dreams: Child changed into old woman/confused as to time/old man changed
into young man/two times past and present
Embracing, solace
Dreams of embracing, caring, being noticed and solaced occurred.
- I embrace him to show him that a deeper
connexion is not lost, after all
- She was very sad, she deeply missed her
husband and she was crying. I embraced and comforted her.
Dreams: Caring/consoling/hugging/not being neglected/sadness –
consolation
Light/ white and dark/ black
In many dreams, white and light featured, alongside dark and black.
Interpretation: this refers to the duality of good and evil.
- The cover was gently yellow and showed big
black letters Ilulia. (comment by dreamer: Ilulia made me think of Lucia which
means light).
- The house was very bright and spacious.
- The stone is very large and lit from the
inside.
- She is wearing black clothes and ivory
earrings in the shape of tortoises.
Dreams: Color – white/of light/black and white; of light
Survival, security, struggle,
danger, death
Many dreams dealt with danger, (in)security and survival.
Interpretation: Welwitschia is a tree that can help us deal with such
anxiety and trauma.
- The atmosphere was tense, there was much
tension.
- I did not feel free with that one. I felt
imprisoned in the house.
- A man is using me as a hostage. We are going
underground because he has just blown up something. In order to survive I’m
acting as his girlfriend. He’s very
dangerous. He blows things up and gets a kick
out of it. He always carries explosives…otherwise he’ll be killed by this
madman.
Dreams: Coffins/danger/of the dead/explosion/threat being
murdered/safe/survival/unsafe
Being naked, sexuality
Dreams featuring (partially) naked people. Sexually oriented dreams
which are not always a pleasant experience for the dreamer. These dreams often
deal with sex by
two differently aged people, the female being the older one.
Interpretation: in Welwitschia this is probably linked with the female
and male duality.
Female wisdom becomes important. Maybe this also refers to duality in
time.
- The mother is intensely kissing her son who
sits next to her with his upper body naked. The son clearly does not like it.
It does not appear as a loving action, it rather
looks grim. The son is a silent subject.
Another person says: ‘Things aren’t always what they seem to be.’
- My coat is blown aside, showing my bottom,
over which they make a comment, even if it’s said quietly.
Dreams: being sexually abused/incest/naked people
(woman)/oralsex/masturbation/sexual activity (between different ages)
Above and below
The large number of dreams featuring this distinction is conspicuous. In
dreams with Welwitschia, an intermingling of the notions above and below
occurs.
Interpretation: this reflects the connexion that trees have with the
earth and the cosmos/spirituality. Welwitschia brings the cosmos and the earth
closer together.
- I felt that I should not want to go up but
down; however, the escalator that could go down was rolling upwards.
- I wanted to look down.
- I use the elevator to go down.
- I have to climb up to get in.
Dreams: going down/lift descending/looking down/going up (and down/or
down – confusion about)
Clean-up, repair
Many dreams featured themes like cleaning, dirt and repairs.
Interpretation: this refers to the possibility of the remedy being of
good use in case of letting go old and dark matters; a transformation.
- Another woman I knew started cleaning the
window panes. They had not been cleaned for ages. I was under the impression
that this was because she wanted to
finish the alterations before she started
cleaning.
- There’s a lot of rubbish in the garden:
leaves and paper. I’m going to clean it up.
- An old hotel, but it had been restored.
Dreams: Cleaning/dirty windows/hotels old and restored
Spirituality
Several provers experienced spiritual dreams.
- See complete dreams 1 and 2.
- We’re sitting at the bottom of a very high
tower. It really reaches up into the sky.
- I saw an army with very many golden shield.
The sun was reflected in them, giving the whole thing a very special lustre.
Then, I saw some golden boughs which were
plaited. The same colour, again with the sun
shining on them.
- I found a devil’s egg, an earthstar and a
kind of death’s head mushroom. A little wooden cross was found near these
mushrooms.
- We arrive at Glastonbury in England and I
have put the largest crystral I have at home on a kind of wall.
Flying
Several provers dreamt that they could fly or soar.
Interpretation: this is linked to venturing outside the body; the
spiritual world.
Dreams: Flying
Large size
This mainly deals with large buildings.
- I’m in a large house.
- Several large tents.
- A large shed where we (myself and two others?)
went to sleep.
- We’re at the bottom of a very large tower.
Dreams: big building/big rooms/big car
Physical complaints in the dreams
In the dreams relatively few physical complaints occurred. The word
‘disabled’ occurs with three dreamers. Some dreamers felt very cold by day,
another few felt very hot.
This appears in the dreams, just more than once.
- We’re looking at someone, a disabled person?
- A disabled woman lying in bed.
- I was covered by something against the cold.
- The sun is so hot.
Dreams: Disabled people/havind a cold/sun is hot
Physical symptoms during the proving
Some physical, psychological and mental symptoms were experienced by
some of the participants. There were some stomach problems; a different
sleeping pattern; some
chest problems, often coupled to stress, and some temperature problems.
Some provers felt they could think clearly, and even far-sighted.
Several participants had thoughts of duality and the number of Two. Some
felt they were exploring a deeper layer, more unity within themselves. A
feeling of freedom and
compassion occurred. Two participants thought of Cain and Abel:
- Adam and Eve were a team too; did they not
have two sons, Abel and Cain? (thoughts, not dreams)
- I get up that day with part two (of the dreams)
that I’m reconsidering. For one moment I felt my own angry self and during
these last days I’ve been working on not
judging. I make an effort towards my brother
who in daily life sometimes is like Cain and Abel. Hate and love. I seek
forgiveness and connexion (thoughts)
Mind: Mental - agile/clear/confused about identity
with sense of duality
Anger
Clairvoyance
Delusions – divided/is not safe/has to survive
Hurried, being
Independent
Irritated
Desires to being nursed
Optimistic
Sad
Senses acute
Thoughts of number two
Feels unsafe
Head: Pain morning on waking
Face: Excoriated lower lip
Throat: Dry (on waking)
Stomach: Sour eructation
Nausea
Thirst/thirstless
Vomiting – sour/burning
Abdomen: Pain (cramping)
Bladder: Urination – dysuria
Urine retention
Chest: pressing pain
Palpitation of heart
Pressure on heart
Perspiration on waking
Sleep: Deep
Restless
Waking – after midnight - 4 h/frequent (as from fright)
Generals: lack of vital heat/heat morning on waking
Tension
Two complete dreams
1. The front of the monastery was open
and when I stepped inside I seemed to go back in time. Two ages were
concurrent. Inside there was a modern desk with two women
standing behind it. In a bottle there was a piece of soft cheese
surrounded by a lot of fungal growth. A dead white mouse with a black eye cover
was lying there. It had a black
triangular hat and a little red shawl around its neck, it was barely
alive. It was on its back with its snout pointing upward. Alongside it was a
mole, a black one with its snout
pointing toward the earth. It had a white speck of fungal cheese on its
face (yin and yang)
Interpretation – in this dream the themes of the number Two, old versus
new duality, white and black, above and below, yin and yang (male and female)
occur.
2. We went down to a village we
could see far away: Sandrana. We descended some way by walking and some way by
a chair lift. The paths are narrow and the ravines are deep,
but not wide. You might be able to jump across them. I told a boy he had
to be careful not to fall into the ravine. Because – so I thought – you would
get to the bottom of the
earth. Once descended we had to go up again.
Interpretation – The woman who dreamed this said Sandrana made her think
of Shangrila, paradise on earth. The time before the Fall, predating the
duality between good and
evil, between man and woman; when there was unity. Moreover the above
and below theme features in the dream.
Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum