INTRODUCTION
I gave this remedy a new name to distinguish it from the Lac humanum that was already in use and is made from the milk of only one woman. Besides, Lac maternum sounds better to me.
The main focus of this remedy proved to be incarnation in current life. The process of incarnation that takes place during pregnancy is surely not complete at birth and the mother's milk helps the baby to come down gradually. The cure of a nine-year-old boy using this remedy and a dream-proving in the USA (New Mexico) with two very similar dreams by two different persons put me on the path to understanding the deeper significance of this remedy.

The  dreams are as follows.

I. In the dream I (the dreamer) was standing in a house, up high, maybe on  the second storey, looking out of a large glass less window; below is a pond. The water is stony green - it looks cold. I hesitate, wanting to go into the water - but am not sure exactly how, as if my mind can't channel my energy into my body, or doesn’t know how. Now I'm swimming in the water, I see a black snake - I think maybe I should be afraid - I decide just to keep swimming along and act as if I'm not afraid; instead I decide to enjoy what I see, there are so many interesting things in the water I am a part of. Downstream I see my daughter Faye playing with a fuchsia and a darker purple snake. The snake has a large yellow stripe along the middle - Faye looks as if she is enjoying herself. It seems safe for her to play with this colourful snake. Now I'm up on the bank, at the side of the river, Faye emerges from the water with a black snake, I am concerned: I'm not sure this black snake is safe, maybe it’s dangerous. I notice a mark like scratch on her left shoulder, I thought the snake might have bitten her. Suddenly my husband was there; he was angry with me for letting Faye play with snakes. My mind told me I was irresponsible, but in my body I felt content. I awoke with a sensation of floating. I also had this sensation before I fell asleep. I was awake a lot, feeling my mind detached from my body, almost a sense of being uncoordinated. It was an interesting night.

II. My dream was of my daughter and myself on a cruise. We were on the small boat waiting for the other passengers to arrive so we could be shuttled to shore. The natives decided to tip the boat so we could get used to the cold water (which both my daughter and I dislike). After being dumped into the water we got used to it and began laughing and having a wonderful time.
There was also a third dream that I didn’t understand at that time, but that became clear later when the remedy had divulged its secrets.

III. My husband and I were going to visit a friend of mine. We were carrying boxes of something through the backyard into her house. My husband set down his box and began to urinate in her backyard. I said: “John, I am sure they have a toilet inside.” My friend told him not to do that in the yard and grabbed his penis to stop him.
The house is the symbol of our physical body and the backyard its energetic protection. It is important to have boundaries and to let nobody violate that space. So urinating in the garden is not respectful to the person that lives there and one must behave as a good friend when entering someone else’s house. The boxes have to be put inside, not in the garden. Her friend defended her territory and didn’t allow anybody to violate it (curing reaction of the remedy).

ESSENCE OF LAC MATERNUM
The basic problem in this remedy is a lack of incarnation from several deeper causes, such as anxiety in accepting the physical state, apprehension of the difficulty of our task during this incarnation, homesickness for the astral world, refusal of the child by its parents at the beginning of pregnancy or anxiety for the responsibilities of a new life, etc. This lack of incarnation causes a deep unawareness of the true identity; the person is not centred and the energy is easily disturbed by the energy of other persons and of the surroundings. There is no real clarity of mind; thinking is muddled and defences against the outer world are lowered. All this becomes clear when the person has taken Lac maternum and becomes aware of the difference, e.g. realising that nobody respects him, that people abuse his kindness. He becomes increasingly aware of his own needs and of what he really wants for himself. This remedy helps the person to become aware of his own frontiers and makes it possible for him to cleanse his own energy from all that is ‘not him’. In the beginning I thought that entering into the centre of the body was one part of the process brought about by Lac maternum and that becoming aware of one’s energy and frontiers belonged to the next remedy that I was seeking, which proved to be Vernix caseosa, but in reality both incarnation and protection appeared to be part of the same process. Patients reported not only that the floating sensation, the dizziness, the muddled thinking, the fainting, the unreal feeling etc. were gone, but also that they became more conscious of their own needs, more able to say ‘no’ to other people and were no longer willing to be used as a drudge. So we can say that the main disturbance that causes problems in this patient is a lack of incarnation in the physical body and that he is therefore unaware of the barriers between himself and the outer world. A good example of this unawareness of boundaries is the case of Maria.

Example: This six-year-old has no frontiers, says the mother. She gives everything away. Once she let herself be bound with a rope and have her knickers removed. She wants to be a baby and drink out of a bottle. She fantasises frequently and is unaware of the difference between fantasy and reality. She can weep hysterically when she is not given what she wants. She has a green leucorrhoea.
Prescription: Lac-m 200K every two weeks.
Results: Two and a half months later she has a strong need to defend herself vigorously and establishes very clear boundaries. She is much more in touch with reality and tells clear and real stories. She no longer wants to drink from the bottle and her hysterical behaviour is completely gone; she is approachable now. The leucorrhoea has completely disappeared. She is really growing up now, but relapses from time to time and wants help with dressing. When she takes the Lac-m these symptoms disappear again.

NEVER TOO LATE TO INCARNATE
This lady is 66 years old when I see her for the first time. She is 'horribly' depressive since eight years, when she changed home. She didn't feel home in her own house. Whole her life she has been rather dispirited. She is worrying about everything, especially that something will happen to her grandson and to her husband. She is unable to enjoy anything, there is no joy of life, no engagement. Nothing can excite her, everything is too much. As a child she was already a dreamer, but there are no important events in her childhood. Whole her life she procrastinated, thinking really to enjoy life when her husband would have 60 years and then when he reached that age she postponed it to 65.  She took many years antidepressive drugs and still takes Seroxat (paroxetinehydrochloride) 20 mg a day. On the physical level she is suffering from deforming rheumatoid arthritis in her fingers and red, scaly eruptions on her head and forehead. So my conclusion is that she suffers from lack of incarnation and my prescription is Lac maternum 30K, once every week. After two weeks she starts to feel slowly better and after four weeks she feels better then ever in her life. She has more energy, a better physical condition and she really feels the urge to engage in activity. But the 200K did not have the wanted effect, she became depressive again and restarted Seroxat. Because she feels like not having a home, not feeling home in her own house, feeling insecure, I prescribe her Vernix caseosa 30K once a week to give her more protection and to make her feel home. Then she ameliorates progressively without any relapse over a period of three years. She feels good at home, she can enjoy life again, has a good energy. She is not that fragile woman any more that she was before. Her rheumatoid arthritis is nearly gone.

PHYSICAL COMPLAINTS

The physical complaints we expect with this remedy are obviously complaints associated with this lack of incarnation: the energy is too high in the physical body and causes headache, migraine, dizziness, vertigo, an empty feeling, flushes, loss of hair etc. and, from lack of energy in the lower body, coldness of the extremities, weak libido, lack of feeling, awkwardness and general chilliness. The unawareness of one’s frontiers leads to skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, molluscae, etc, the skin being the margin of the physical body. This makes Lac maternum a very effective remedy against skin diseases.

Case: Denise is ten months old when I first see her. She has terrible eczema all over her body, even on her face and scalp, with thick dirty yellowish-brown crusts. She scratches herself constantly. Everything started at four months, but she had not yet been vaccinated, otherwise the first step would have been to detoxify the child with the potentised vaccines in 30K, 200K, MK and XMK (the English translation of ‘The Post-Vaccination Syndrome, diagnosis, treatment and prevention’ is available now). These vaccines were postponed because she was behind in her growth. Her mother had a toxicosis during pregnancy and Denise was therefore delivered by Caesarean section  at 35 weeks, birth weight 1910 grams. She remained in the incubator for ten days and was not breast-fed. She sleeps on her back with her arms over her head and she has almost constantly a protruded tongue. Her forehead is relatively large and somewhat protuberant. She observes people very attentively and likes or dislikes people very decidedly. 
Prescription: Lac-m LM6 every day or less when any aggravation.
Results: In six weeks her eczema has completely disappeared, but the itching has a tendency to return, probably because the parents passed very quickly to one dose every six days. Two years after the start of the homeopathic treatment she has made enormous progress. Her tongue is in a normal position and she no longer gapes all the time. She is growing normally now and food is passed to her stomach normally. Her digestive system seems in balance now without pain in the abdomen or eructations. Her skin no longer bothers her and the itching has disappeared gradually. She still takes Lac-m LM12 every three days.

When I was working on the picture of Saccharum officinale (published in Homeopathic Links 3/95: saccharum officinale, The Magic Sugar) I expected  this remedy to cure almost all eating problems such as obesity, boulimia, anorexia and consuming a lot of sweets, but in reality only half of the patients given this remedy resolved their eating problem and often the underlying cause proved to be in a deeper layer, i.e. the Lac maternum layer. It is not surprising that this remedy is also associated with eating, because the mother's milk is (or should be) the first food we take  after our arrival on earth. As the milk helps us to incarnate, eating and drinking can become a problem that is linked with incarnation. This has been confirmed in practice. A lot of patients have been  able to resolve  their bad relationship with food and eating with Lac maternum.

EXAMPLE OF LAC MATERNUM
This instance illustrates how symptoms and the essence of a problem can change completely in the same patient when the shift to another layer takes place, in this case from Saccharum officinale to Lac maternum.

Example: This woman is 33 years old. She lives alone, has no children and has a steady boy-friend. When I first see her in October 1995 she is exhausted, not able to work, subject to all kinds of infection and uses Ventolin (Salbutamol), Lomudal (sodium cromoglicate) and Lomusol (nose-spray containing sodium cromoglicate) for asthma; she is subject to  frequent headaches, pain in the abdomen and nausea. She gave up working eight weeks before, but without any benefit, even shopping is too much for her.  She makes a very waif-like impression on me, her length is 1.80 m and her weight 57 kilos. She can only eat small quantities without becoming nauseous. So she has to eat frequently to avoid dizziness and trembling. She is hardly ever thirsty and only drinks orange-juice and tea. She is allergic to sugar and loves chocolate, but because of her allergy she cannot eat it. She also has an intolerance to milk. She feels exhausted in the morning on waking and has to force herself to eat, because of a complete lack of appetite. She feels very restless and her mood is  changeable with sudden bursts of anger and aggressiveness if life is too demanding. She is aggressive  before her menses, with a desire to strike people, and has swollen and painful breasts at this time. During ovulation she has pain in her back. She perspires copiously at night and wakes up completely wet. In general she feels chilly and has cold feet, but under stress she gets too hot and opens the windows. She salivates heavily at night. She does not have any special anxieties and likes playing the guitar, singing, reading and aerobic dancing, which she has had to stop from lack of energy.

Fifteen days before her birth her maternal grandmother died. She grew up as an only child and loves play-acting. She was not breast-fed, never sucked her fingers or bit her nails. She was homesick. About her mother she says, “She had never time for me, was nervous, panicked easily, was cuddly but could stay angry for a whole week; you had to be nice, otherwise .....” About her father she says, “He was a quiet person, severe but reasonable; he didn't understand me and had wanted a boy.” Her father has skin cancer, and on her mother's side of the family there is also a lot of cancer and cardiovascular disease; the father of her mother died of cancer.

This state clearly indicates a Saccharum layer and because of her frailty and low energy I prescribe a LM6 of  Saccharum officinale every day or less if there is any aggravation. During the first two weeks she suffers several aggravations: diarrhoea and pain in her abdomen, but soon her stomach and her bowels are better, she is able to eat and drink much more without nausea, she is really hungry now and is less susceptible to all kinds of food. Her whole left side is painful, especially the wrist and ankle. From the second day on she has paroxysms of sneezing with itching in the nose and eyes, stitching pain in the trachea and asthmatic respiration. But she soon feels better, has more energy and can gradually stop the medication for her asthma. She continues to take Saccharum officinale every other day. Then two months later she feels tired again, has paroxysmal vertigo and her legs feel like jelly, as if they had become soft and dissolved. She is no longer hungry and can remain the whole day without eating. She is again very restless and sleeps badly for that reason. Her restlessness drives her to go outside, she cannot stay indoors. She is extremely awkward and lacks concentration, knocking herself  against the table, the door etc. She is oppressed again.

It is quite obvious to me that this is a completely different state no longer corresponding to the Saccharum layer. Her main problem now is that her energy is too high, that she is not in her body and has almost lost control over her body. So she changed in a very short period (two months) from the Saccharum layer to the Lac maternum layer. Already  knowing that this state is very frequently seen after  resolution of the Saccharum layer I was only surprised  that this happened so quickly after the beginning of the treatment. Normally the resolution of a complete layer takes one to two years. I prescribe Lac maternum 30K every week and see her again six weeks later. She feels very poorly.  She is extremely thirsty for any sort of fluid, feels very restless, aggressive and angry towards everybody and everything, displaying fits of weeping and throwing things. She is oversensitive to everything: odours, noise, music which can make her nervous. Her right shoulder is set and cramped and she feels an enormous tension in the stomach which makes her nauseous, she has cramps and pain in her stomach as before examination. She is oppressed, needs open air. Her thinking is muddled. The first days after the Lac maternum 30K she feels dizzy and feels as if floating, and is unable to concentrate. Her awkwardness is worse now, she drops things, uses wrong words, etc. She says: 'I'm not myself, I don't have boundaries, I feel transparent, everybody can penetrate my energy; people don't see me, and hurt me with their trolley in the supermarket, the world seems unfriendly to me; I hear myself talking as if someone else is talking for me, my thoughts go faster than my voice and I make mistakes; my feelings are gone and I feel as if things don't touch me any more, but I get angry about trifles, even about things that happened in the past.' She has headaches because her neck feels stiff and her sleep is unrefreshed. She says: 'Life is a burden to me, full of things that I have to do and I don't want to do; I am apprehensive of everything, even agreeable things and I am afraid of being incapable; I merely survive, I have the feeling that there is nothing enjoyable to live for.' Brushing her teeth and odours make her feel nauseous. She has no appetite in the morning.

So she is in a rather bad state and she needs help to get out of this depression. There are enough symptoms for a remedy to be found with the help of the repertory, but what we need is a clear understanding of what is happening to her. Her condition seems without any doubt to be a Lac maternum condition to me. The problem is that the 30K is too powerful for her and that she cannot handle the enormous transformation that she has to face: to incarnate really on earth and to accept her body as her home. It is important to respect her rhythm and to give her the time and opportunity to undergo this process fully. So my prescription is Lac maternum LM6 every two days, or less as she feels  she can handle it.

The first two weeks she does not improve greatly, but then things go slowly uphill. Then four weeks after the LM6 every four days she suddenly has the almost delirious experience of being completely in her body: 'I feel really in my body, the whole day, I have a lot of energy, I am so excited that this is possible; I am really there, feel calm and am able to read a book; the aggressive feelings are gone; it is quite an exciting sensation really to feel things; I get up refreshed in the morning and life seems a challenge; I have the feeling that nobody can stop me; I have a clear opinion about things and I feel that people have to respect me; everything becomes clear; when I am listening to music I can feel an ambience and it makes me tremble from emotion; I am less vulnerable to what other people say, it's like having a filter now; my awkwardness is completely gone and I don't make mistakes any more when talking; my concentration is also good.' Not all her complaints have disappeared. She still has an excessive thirst, sometimes also at night. Her right shoulder and her stomach are much better, but she still has diarrhoea from time to time. She still feels oppressed, especially in the morning and her head feels stuffed up. Her headaches are better but have not disappeared. Often she is confronted by sudden emotions from the past. She is apprehensive that she will lose her state of well-being again.

So I decide to continue the same treatment: Lac maternum LM6 every four days.

EFFECTS OF LAC MATERNUM ON THE CHARACTER

1. I feel happier, more confident when perturbing things happen, less negative
   
2. I am gentler and more amiable/warmer
   
3. I am more aware of what I feel myself
   
4. I distinguish clearly between what is agreeable and disagreeable to me; I distinguish clearly what are my sorrows and problems and what those of other people; I am able to stay out of their problems now
   
5. I have deeper feelings, I express my likes and dislikes more clearly
   
6. I feel stronger, more positive, happier
   
7. I care more about my clothes, how I look
   
8. I feel more open, less anxious; I realise that only I can improve my condition; I'm doing what I feel that I really want to do
   
9. I am more efficient, no longer procrastinate; I get on and do it
   
10. I rearranged everything in my house
    
11. I am more conscious of what I see, I watch better, I am more aware; I experience the outer world as more real; I participate now in what happens and do not just let things happen
    
12. I finally have the desire to live
    
13. I have more common sense, seeing things more clearly, more as an adult
    
14. I'm doing what I feel I really want to do; I distinguish clearly between what is agreeable and what is disagreeable; I clearly indicate my frontiers; before an examination I feel much less that I have to prove myself, am very relaxed and study efficiently; I feel more structure in my thinking and doing; I am capable of distinguishing the essentials from the side-issues; I have a deeper observation; seeing not only things and people but also feeling them; I feel more in touch with everything
    
15. I feel more adult towards my mother: this is my life, don't interfere with it
    
16. I am more easy-going, less fastidious; no longer have the urge to finish everything the same day
    
17. I accept myself better and have less anxiety about not being accepted by others; I am less sensitive to what others say about me
    
18. I feel more in touch with reality, more conscious of good relationships around me; I have started to clean up the house, more than ever before; I am more silent, feel less urge to talk
    
19. I feel as if reborn; much more independent, easy-going and stable
    
20. I am more stable, the chronic fatigue is gone, I have much more energy; I am much more self-confident, I have less sensation of being the scapegoat, more capable of leaving others to sort out their own problems
    
21. I feel less easily disturbed; I no longer feel anxious about my children and husband; the sadness has completely left me; I feel quieter and my concentration is much improved
    
22. I am more introspective, I feel more free, more profound, more self-aware, I can be more vulnerable; my feelings have deepened, I feel things in my belly instead of in my throat; I feel closer to other people; I say "I love you" with my heart instead of just with my mouth
    
23. I am fulfilling my own needs now, and no longer have the sensation that other people are usurping me
    
24. I am more conscious of my boundaries; I am more aware of my feelings, I was too cerebral; I feel better in my body
    
25. I can say "no" more easily
    
26. I am more alert; it is easier to manifest myself; I feel more harmonious inside; inner chaos and restlessness have disappeared; I am able to see auras.