At the moment I am reading the Divergent series with my eldest. We read one chapter every night and currently we are two thirds of the way through Insurgent (book 2).
For those of you have not read the books or seen the movies, people are grouped into factions, members possessing certain qualities they mutually value and excel at. The factions are called Abnegation (selfless), Erudite (intellectual), Dauntless (brave), Candor (honest), and Amity (peaceful). Beatrice, the main character, was born into Abnegation, but she is concerned she is not selfless enough to choose that faction for the rest of her life.
Sometimes when I read books I like to think about what Homeopathic remedies would fit the characters (yes, I am a homeopathy nerd 🤓🤷‍♀️). With the Divergent series, where the factions are so defined I found myself assigning remedies to factions.
Abnegation- the virtue of selflessness over any other. Abnegation initiates, upon attaining membership, are forced to reject a life of vanity and self-indulgence, protecting themselves from greed and envy which are considered forms of selfishness.
My remedy suggestion for Abnegation is Staphisagria. They can be sweet and selfless, looking after other people. They suppress negative emotions and internalise anger. It can be because of abusive relationships or trauma, but often they are the archetype of “nice”. (Of course in real life Staphisagria may also have outbursts of anger when they cannot contain all that suppressed emotion any longer).
Erudite- dedicated to knowledge, intelligence, curiosity, and astuteness. It was formed by those who blamed ignorance for the war that had occurred in the past, causing them to split into factions in the first place.
In the books Erudite often come across as haughty, thinking that they know better because they are smarter, and for this reason (and reading about the leader of Erudite, Jeanine) I suggest the remedy Platina.
Platina is the metal Platinum, expensive and sought after, and the remedy Platina fits this with an inflated sense of their own worth, they can be very haughty and look down on other mere mortals.
Dauntless- values courage, bravery, strength, intimidation, and fearlessness. It was formed by a group of people who blamed fear and cowardice as the cause of problems that society faces. Dauntless travel around by jumping on and off moving trains, are adrenaline junkies, zip lining off sky scrapers, and must face their own fears and overcome them again and again. They value the joy as much as the bravery, and for this reason I think of the Nitricum group of remedies. Nitricum themes include enjoyment, desire for space and going out and explosive tendencies, and in Dauntless they revel in life, but have a well developed fight (not flight) reflex. There are a number of nitricum group remedies from Nitric Acid, to Argentum nitricum which also have properties of the other element – acids, silver etc- so Dauntless would probably best fit Nitrogenium, for their all or nothing approach.
Amity – values peacefulness, kindness, forgiveness, trust, self-sufficiency, and neutrality; as such, they are slow to anger and yet quick to forgive. Their government is by consensus, with everyone talking and coming together to agree. Because of this I think of Phosphorus, who are happy, bright and cheerful, love their friends and find problems with their friendships distressing. Phosphorus can also have anxiety about a range of things, but that would not be a problem in Amity as (spoiler alert) they have drugs in their bread to help with the happy and peaceful feelings.
Candor- honest to a fault, they are trustworthy, sound leaders, and able to read body language to detect lies. Even the building in Candor is black and white.
Kali carbonicum is the remedy where things are black and white, rules are there and must be followed. Sometimes in a family a Kali Carb will be known as the policeman because it is a duty to follow the rules. In Candor the rule is always tell the truth, and a Kali Carb would stick to that rule, always.
Of course all of the remedies above have much more to them than the small part I have plucked out and matched to a faction. Also, when we are searching for a remedy there are mental emotional and physical symptoms to take into account, how you react to things, your likes and dislikes and general things like energy and whether you are a hot or cold person.
My daughter has requested I do the same thing for Harry Potter houses and I have added it to my list. Any favourite series’ you think I should look at?