Adamas – Diamond

Adamas – Diamond – is one of the most popular gemstones. Every girl wants a diamond! Yet it has been in use for a less time than other gemstones.

This is because lapidaries did not know how to fashion diamond until about the 15th Century when it was found that one diamond would abrade another.

Until the beginning of the 18th century the world’s diamonds came from India.

Until 1498 Venice was the link between India and Europe, and Bruges, where many Italian merchants lived, became Europe’s diamond cutting centre (Pryke, 1995).

Facts about Diamond

Diamond is the ultimate gemstone, having few weaknesses but many strengths. It is the hardest substance found in nature, four times harder than the next hardest natural mineral, corundum (sapphire and ruby).

However, it is not completely indestructible. Diamond has four directions of cleavage, meaning that if it receives a blow in one of these directions it will cleave or split.

Apart from this one flaw diamond has many strengths; it has

• a broad colour range, 
• high refraction, 
• high dispersion or ‘fire’, 
• very low reactivity to chemicals, 
• rarity and 
• extreme hardness and durability (Amethyst Galleries:1995). 

Diamond is composed of the single element carbon, and it is the arrangement of the carbon atoms in the lattice that give diamonds its amazing properties.

Diamond and graphite are both composed of just carbon but their properties are quite different due to the way the carbon atoms bond together. Diamond is one of the hardest and strongest minerals whereas graphite is one of the softest (May). 

Did You Know?

• In the Roman Empire there was a belief that diamonds could neutralise a magnetic force. 
• In medieval Italy Legrand states that “the diamond was regarded as the stone of reconciliation that would unite a husband and wife who had quarrelled” because for centuries magnetics was considered to be equivalent to a diamond. 
• In the West diamonds were worn by military men as symbols of power, courage and virility. 
• Adamas’ – Diamond’s healing power could be released either by holding it in one hand while making the sign of a cross with the other or by warming it by pressing it firmly against the body of a sick person. 
• Some doctors in the Middle Ages believed that diamond powder taken orally could be curative – with unfortunate consequences for their patients. Catherine de Medici (1519-89) is reputed to have used it to kill her enemies. (Pryke, 1995) 

A Homoeopathic View

Here is Uzma Ali’s contribution to the understanding of a recent proving. In due course we hope to add to this on a periodic basis.

Before you read it, you might like to reflect that the remedy is being looked at from a homeopathic point of view, and as you read through it, some of the homeopathic attitudes, ideas and ‘slang’ begin to appear in the text.

To someone without a background in homeopathy, some of this will be hard to accept, because the author is assuming that the reader has a working knowledge of the subject.

As a matter of interest, Uzma’s article is accessed by homoeopathic students from all over the world on a regular basis!

The Remedy – Adamas (‘Adam’)

A proving of adamas (ie diamond) was conducted in Aug/Sept of 1969 and was repeated in 1970 (Sankaran). The provings were somewhat fragmentary and it was thought that a thorough proving still needed to be carried out.

An outstanding symptom which was found in these provings was headache associated with sugar, ameliorated by eating. In one prover this symptom lasted for two years after the proving was over.

The most recent and thorough proving of diamond was done by Jeremy Sherr in 1994.

The remedy for the adamas proving was made by using diamond dust of 0.2 microns. Sherr states that

“this adamas proving has brought out a great deal more of the essence of diamond, and it will hopefully heal many that are infected by our modern social structure”.

It is very interesting to observe that in our “social Structure” we as people have begun to lose our individual vision and direction, and adamas – diamond – as a remedy from Sherr’s proving has great issues around a lack of clarity and vision.

Some individuals in the proving felt that they were “feeling like a cloud is lifting, world becoming clearer again and not feeling so irritable and grumpy” (Sherr 1997:33). 

Diamond patients can also be very clear in their thoughts, which are sharp and less fuzzy. Things seem less clouded to them and there can be great focus in their lives. Relating these symptoms to the mineral it is fascinating to find that diamond is a clear, sharp substance in its pure form. 

Through millions of years of pressure and heat upon the diamond structure we achieve the beautiful substance called diamond.

Diamond and Patience

One might assume that with this slow process over time the diamond character would be slow in nature, and very patient – snd this seems to be true.

With this remedy the person can be very patient. One prover in Sherr’s proving waited patiently in the freezing cold and then sat in a traffic jam for a couple of hours where they usually would have blown their top.

However, on the flip side they can be very impatient, intolerant, sharp and critical. The patient can say such things as “everything was irritating me”, “I needed to pick on someone” (Vermeulen, 1998: 24).

In Sherr’s proving the provers felt that they were rushed and some also felt hyperactive. This gives one a sense of impatience and intolerance. 

Some of the characteristics which came through in the proving done by Jeremy Sherr are clarity, sharpness, hardness, positiveness and the ability to make a decision.

Diamond and Worthlessness

On the other side the diamond patient can also seem to have feelings of worthlessness, weakness, not being good enough, not being recognised, and they can feel that their work is not being perceived by outsiders. This is similar to the substance graphite which is a weak carbon structure, and can be dark, misty looking in colour, just like how the weak diamond patient can seem to have a misty, and cloudy perception of their vision and lack clarity.

It is intriguing how in the presence of a catalyst graphite can be converted into diamond (Vermeulen, 1998:23) and how when the “worthless, graphite patient” is given the remedy adamas they can be converted into that clear, strong, “diamond” individual.

This imbalance of power between strength (diamond) and weakness (graphite) can bee seen in an adamas patient’s relationship with her partner. A diamond wife can live her whole life through her partner. The wife gives everything for her husband’s career: he receives all the glory, shine and vision and she has nothing. Diamond types can have this rivalry between dependence and independence, power and powerlessness (Cara). 

A very characteristic symptom which diamond types can experience is a feeling of sparkling. The patient can feel sparkly, things can look sparkly. In Sherr’s (1997: 35) proving provers “felt sparkly – definitely not sluggish”, “delusion of being a prince, with a turban and jewel on his Third eye”. Sherr (1997: 35) stated that provers also used a lot of words which one might connect with crystals e.g. clear, cold , shining, gem, jewel, incisive, penetrating, sharp. 

Diamond and two/four syndrome

Another dilemma which adamas types can have is the two/four syndrome! Just as carbon can make bonds with four other carbons to form the strong carbon structure, the patient has an affinity to number four.

For example, in a Tai Chi class, while proving the remedy adamas a prover was asked to get into a pair, but instead formed a foursome which felt more comfortable. The prover needed to be a four, just as carbon needs to form four bonds with other carbon atoms (Sherr, 1997:36).

In addition, the patient can have a delusion that he can see four sides, as if four faces. Delusions such as ‘he has two pairs of arms, sensation as if doing the work of two, feels like doing two things at once all the time’ can also be experienced by adamas patients (Vermeulen, 1998:25). 

As a substance diamond does not combine with any other substance and interestingly the diamond patient can demonstrate an aversion to company (Vermeulen, 1998:25). In Sherr’s proving some provers experienced a feeling that they wanted to be alone and felt better for being alone. 

On the physical and general level adamas patients can seem to have a dryness about them, they are thirsty and have an increased thirst, they can have dryness on all levels – head, nose, face, mouth, throat and skin.

They can experience pain in the throat which is drying. Perhaps therefore diamond is better for replenishing fluids in the body. This dryness is understandable as diamond is formed in very hot, dry conditions, therefore some form of dryness on the physical level may be expected.

Other symptoms, headache and hunger

A characteristic symptom, which was stated earlier, was headache and hunger; headache with hunger ameliorated by eating (Vermeulen, 1998:25). 

There can be an urgent desire to pass stool:’in the morning has to rush for stool and while going to sleep gets sudden urging for stool’ (Vermeulen, 1998:25).

An aversion to cream, fats, milk and white wine and a desire for cheese, coffee, fish, fruit, seafood, smoked salmon, vegetables and fizzy, sparkly drinks.

They can be worse for alcohol and cold drinks. In Sherr’s (1997: 81) proving one prover felt << alcohol: it made the prover feel very nauseous.