Adansonia digitata

Description

In 2008, Camilla and I set off on the journey which was Homeopathy for Health in Africa. While travelling between rural clinics, we often saw the great baobab trees on the side of the roads, at times majestic, full of power and life, and at times ragged and tattered, shredded to the bone by the elephants who loved to scratch their back on them. Our African colleagues often told us what a great remedy its fruits were, that they contained many minerals and vitamins, and that they cured a variety of diseases including AIDS. We learnt that the baobab was the largest succulent on earth. We remembered its role in ‘The Little Prince’. And of course we wondered, what if….

The ‘what if’ was supplied by our colleague Sagit Ben-Yehuda Kessel, an Israeli homeopath who was living in Africa and working with us at the time. She picked the fruit and had it prepared by ‘Neot Shoshanim Pharmacy’ in Israel.

The proving was conducted during a seminar I taught at the ‘Swaziland Homeopathy Project’, headed by Barbara Braun, and included students from Swaziland, Botswana and Malawi.  After the proving, we found out that the baobab was the symbol of the ‘Maun Homeopathy Project’ in Botswana. One might say that Baobab is the first Pan African proving.  The remedy was later re-proved by Sagit in Israel, who also researched and collated it. Sagit contributed the substance report as well and compiled all the themes. Final edit, illustrations and preparation were by Anne Baker.

While the proving was a short seminar proving, and may need further proving, the themes are fairly clear to see. We hope that this African giant will bring some healing to the world.

Jeremy Sherr 2016