Anti Matter (Positronium)
Proving date: 1998
Proving completed by: Misha Norland and The School of Homeopathy
Common name: Anti Matter
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Anti Matter (Positronium)
About Positronium
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee? *
*Extract taken from William Blake’s The Tyger (1794)
Starships in science fiction stories usually employ antimatter as their fuel. This material actually does occur on Earth, it is called positronium. It exists as an unstable configuration of electron and anti-electron. It is used in positron emission tomography, PET scans for short. Were it possible to harness anti-matter as a power source, because it involves complete conversion of matter into energy, such engines would be the stuff of legends. Even the nuclear reactions that power atomic bombs come with only about 3% of their mass converting to energy.
Positronium consists of an electron and a positron, that is an anti electron (a particle which has the same mass as an electron, but opposite charge and spin) orbiting round their common centre of mass, which being electrons, is almost zero. This configuration is similar to that of a hydrogen atom, but here the similarity ends, because positronium lacks a proton, and it is highly unstable. The potencies we used for the proving were run up from the decay radiation resulting from the annihilation of the electron and positron. It is an imponderable.
It has been postulated that at the beginning of time, the Universe was composed of infinite amounts of positronium squeezed into itself under the force of unimaginably powerful gravity: the original singularity. The idea is that quantum field interactions between electron and positron caused instability. They mutually annihilated one other, releasing their entire mass as energy. This was the Big Bang from which everything has emerged. As a result of primal bipolarity, it is speculated by Stephen Hawkins, the mathematician famed for his work on black holes, that somewhere there may be a parallel universe, identical to ours, yet invisible to us, which is composed of our antimatter. In the strange realm of quantum mechanics, irrespective of time and place, it is stated that entangled particles ‘recognise’ each other as eternal pairs of opposites. Were they to meet, they would self-annihilate, converting into energy.
Antimatter
Antimatter (positronium) is the opposite of normal matter. It is composed of a negatively charged electron and a positively charged anti-electron (positron), in mutual orbit, that are bound together due to their opposite charges. It has almost no mass. Peter Fraser comments that metaphorically, positronium is the alpha and the omega of the periodic table; in its beginning as the precursor of hydrogen, in its ending emitting radiation as do the radioactive actinides.
Comprising of the smallest particles of matter held together as a primary pair of opposites, self annihilating and transforming into energy, it is indeed the most basic and fundamental of forms: the primary dipole, as Yin is to Yang, or the power for good is to the power for evil.
Mythology
Devas and asuras: In established religions and in all courts of law, divisions are set up between good and evil that link to the relationship between matter and antimatter. It is reflected in Hindu scripts by the devas (gods) who govern heaven and represent the good, and the asuras (demons) who rule the underworld and represent the bad. In Hindu cosmology, the churning of the ocean – a struggle between the force of order and chaos – carried treasures to the surface, including amrita, the elixir of immortality. The devas and asuras fought for the nectar and it was finally consumed by the devas, whose strength was then restored.
History
Christianity: In Genesis it is written that in the beginning God separated the light from the dark. In the New Testament it is recorded that Jesus, facing the trial of 40 days in the wilderness, put Satan behind him. This was the Devil manifesting as the tempter, promising worldly wealth and glory, separating the unity of the one God, and creating a split where good is pitted against bad and pure spiritual aspiration is pitted against impure mammon.
Cosmology: If there had been equal amounts of matter and antimatter in the early Universe, the combined destruction should have led to a universe with no matter, filled only with radiation. Baryogenesis studies the origin of baryon asymmetry – the imbalance of matter and antimatter of the Universe. In other words, at the beginning there must have been the smallest imbalance that progressively increased as the Universe unfolded, resulting in the material structures we witness around us, and of which we are composed, in which time unravels from past to present. This allows for evolution, in which greater complexities of structures develop.
Early 20th century: The positron was first predicted by Dirac (1928) and discovered by Anderson (1932). This earned Dirac the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics. Mohorovicic (1934) predicated possible spectral lines of positronium in the light of certain stars.
Mid to late 20th century: Deutsch (1951) experimentally discovered antimatter where it became known as positronium. Canter (1975) first identified positronium lines. Outer space spectra of Crab Nebula were discovered by McClintock (1984). Modern science postulated that if the World was made of matter then logically an equal world composed of antimatter could be possible. Stephen W. Hawking in A Brief History of Time (1988) wrote, 'We now know that every particle has an antiparticle, with which it can annihilate. There could be whole anti-worlds and anti-people made out of antiparticles. However, if you meet your anti-self, don’t shake hands! You would both vanish in a great flash of light.'
Fiction: Antimatter has long intrigued writers. For instance, Star Trek's Starship Enterprise is powered by a matter–antimatter warp drive and in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons (2009), the villains plot to blow up the Vatican using a tiny canister of antimatter stolen from the CERN particle physics facility in Switzerland.
Medicinal uses: Positronium is readily produced in small quantities by the decay of radioactive isotope sodium 22 and is used in medical imaging technology. Positron emission tomography (PET) scans are used to examine the function of tissues and organs. PET uses a radioactive substance (tracer) to identify areas of disease. The tracer is generally injected but may also be swallowed or inhaled depending upon which tissue or organ is being evaluated, and collects in areas of the body which have higher levels of chemical activity (by monitoring the activity of tiny postively charged positron particles). The camera records the positrons that show up as colourful spots on the PET scan, thereby revealing disease.
The proving
In the Summer of 1997, Misha was approached by Chris Kurtz, whilst running a workshop in San Diego for North American students of the School of Homeopathy. Chris, who was completing his PhD at San Diego University, and also on the School's distance learning course, offered to bring along a vial containing antimatter. 'You cannot be serious!' Misha exclaimed. 'Quite serious,' he retorted. Naturally, Misha said, 'Yes'. The remedy Antimatter was prepared by exposing ethanol to the gamma radiation of decaying positronium (with approximately 1,000,000,000 annihilation events being captured over a 24 hour period). The proving began in February 1998, and the group was videoed a month later when they reviewed their diaries. In the morning, before anyone had arrived, Misha played back the recording and found that the images began to break up as the tape progressed. Whilst a prover, who had initially experienced increased energy and positivity, described her sensations of contraction – as if squeezed into impossible denseness and having had a sense of touching pure – the video image blanked out entirely. Her disembodied voice however, continued to describe her descent into this dark place. Misha stopped the tape, running forwards to the end, and found the last proving accounts were technically fine with perfectly clear images. He inserted another tape – no problem – then reinserted the proving tape and rewound it to the position of the blanked-out prover. As before, there was sound but no picture. When the group reassembled in the classroom for the morning teaching session, they discussed the physics of positronium – from Big Bang to antimatter and matter – connecting the physics to the proving and investigating the signature. Misha related what had happened to the video tape and concluded the session by playing it. Something remarkable happened. The video tape image, although still breaking up somewhat, had begun to heal itself. The image had re-emerged! Of course, there is a materialistic explanation for this phenomenon, namely progressive contamination followed by decontamination of the video head after repeated playings. However, this was the first time the head of the camcorder had clogged up and it went on to play tapes perfectly, which mitigates this explanation. Be that as it may, there must be a material component for the spooky phenomenon to occur! The threefold state of positronium – particle, antiparticle and the pulse of pure energy it becomes when it decays – was experienced by some provers for whom the number 3 was prevalent in dreams and waking experiences.
Annihilation and destruction featured strongly in the proving. The pharmacist at Helios Homeopathy ran up the 30c potency and recorded her experiences:
The Hunter. Being hunted. Running scared. Fear and fascination of death. Heart pathology; breathlessness from irregular, inefficient, or weak heart beat. People suffering lingering disease. People with repeated strokes or heart attacks, whose life force is withdrawing and they are waiting for the next attack. Facing my worst fear: being trapped, as in a basement or cell, with a man who is going to torture and kill me slowly with great malicious delight. I cannot escape it, no way out. This is it. (This is a deep unconscious fear that has come up for me in the past. It manifests only when a man wants to commit to me in relationship. Therefore I have "escaped" so far, since I have chosen not to commit to anyone yet.) Final acceptance of being slaughtered or killed, like a rabbit or a lamb, something innocent; a sacrifice. Fear, anticipation in pit of my stomach. Weakness, trembling of the hands, loss of power. As if I am in a situation where a member of my family has been brutally killed or dismembered. Shock that another human being could do such a thing.
Sinking feeling; downward pressure on the head, particularly pressure going down the back of my neck; base of skull; downward pressure. Collapse; I could pass out. Very difficult moving my limbs; feel greatly restricted, powerless.
Self mutilation; slow fascination with watching a knife cut through my skin, or an artery, watching the blood; watching myself bleed to death.
Within half a year of these proving experiences (having lost her fear of being bound, trapped and sacrificed) she married. So surprised was she at the changes wrought in her being, which she attributed to the depth and intensity of the potentisation process/proving experience, that she begged to be told the name of the proving material, which by then we had proved. You have only to imagine the dawning of comprehension as the significance of anti-matter and matter in conjunction, struck her!
Peter Fraser writes, 'Psora is the first and the most basic of the miasms and the remedy is a powerful anti-psoric (itching, coldness, restlessness and a sense of struggle). It is also Syphilitic (murder, sex, shit and the end state miasm leading to destruction of the organism)'. At the start of the proving, many provers felt connected to Spirit – 'I have a desire to be a spiritual person and to live in a spiritual world' – but then came a dizzy restless energy as provers plummeted to the depths of Hell. One prover wrote, 'Feel I've got the devil inside me ... Feeling evil and malevolent. Feel as if it would be a pleasure to hurt people and things.'?In this state, there was vexation, rage and aggression. It was a heavy deliberate state which brought about issues of matter, with feelings of earthy weight and solidity. A heavy sense of oppression and isolation was experienced by many provers, and in this alienated and friendless state, provers felt vulnerable and unsure. Prover 2 expressed this as, 'Conflict between daughter and partner. I feel totally powerless to do anything. The feeling of being pulled in two. A heavy powerless feeling where I cannot feel what I want. Just feel resigned and heavy'.?This state is explained by Peter Fraser, who writes, 'Figuratively speaking, it could be said that Positronium is heavier than Plutonium and lighter than Hydrogen. There is a differentiation in that Positronium has a stronger yin energy, while Plutonium seems to have a more masculine, yang energy.' This aspect of the remedy carries a passivity – the energy of the archetypal Mother – as recorded by Prover 2, saying, 'This feels like what mothers are supposed to do. Endure and suffer and put down their own needs for the benefit of everyone'. In this role as Mother, they are organised and homely, and juxtaposed to the destructive 'flashes of anger' recorded by Prover 2.
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The Hunter - Destruction - Matter - Oppression - Spirit - Organised - Unsure - Energy - Aggression - Passivity - Isolation
Proving Themes
Composition
In folklore, religion and mythology there are expressions of phyiscal reality and the difference between good and evil. The feeling links to the relationship between matter and anti matter.