Columba palumbus

Columba palumbus [Colum-p.]
The Ring-Dove (Columba palumbus)
Those huge trees were ancient and their branches almost reached the ground. The river Ilmenau was flowing quietly and with leisure through the medieval town of Lbneburg. We strolled through the peaceful park to throw a glance at the idyllic landscape. 'Here is a greeting from a ring-dove” says my girlfriend and puts a beautiful feather in my hand. We had talked in detail about the eagle trituration and it seemed as if the dove was supposed to be the next bird in our program.

The blue-gray ring-doves have a length of about forty centimeters and belong to the biggest native population. They can be easily recognized by their white neck and white spots on the wings. They live mainly in open tree stocked landscapes, but can also be found brooding in parks and gardens, since they lost their shyness towards humans to a great extend. Other than in Europe we can find the ring-dove on the Azores, in North Africa, Asia up to West Siberia and India. We can hear them through their famous calling ”coo-coo-roo-coo-coo” and also by their clapping take-off. The flight of the cock pigeon during mating season is conspicuous. He soars up, loudly flapping his wings, then slows down, glides towards the ground to soar up again.

Most of the ring-doves in our region brood twice or three times per year. Their nest, mostly built on top of trees, is made out of grass and straw mixed with brushwood and put together loosly. In the clutch of eggs we usually find one to two purely white eggs. Both parents brood for sixteen to eighteen days. The little ones are fed by both partners first with crop milk then with seeds. Crop milk is a fatty milky secretion coming from the dove's crop walls that solely serves the nourishment of the young ones. Slowly more seeds are fed. The young doves take the milk directly from their parents' beaks. The hormone prolactin controls the production of the crop milk just as it does with mammal's milk. Within five weeks the young birds are fully able to fly. Especially in autumn, the ring-doves can be seen looking for food in big swarms over fields. Their food consists mainly of seeds but also of fruits, leaves, different buds, vegetables and clover. Ring-doves are partially migratory birds in mild and low-lying areas but also spend the winter in big hordes. At the end of the mating season ring-doves adopt swarm habits and fly in large groups.

Doves belong to the order of columbiformes (flying birds) and they show characteristics of a special naturalness that indicate that they developed themselves much earlier than one would assume from fossil findings. The loose fit of body feathers is typical for columbiformes. They detach quite easily, which might be a protective mechanism against enemies.

Contrary to all other birds doves drink by sucking the water through their beak. They don't have to lift their heads everytime because they can close their nose holes. There are about three hundred different kinds of doves around the globe. They live in all temperate and tropical zones of the world.

The trituration took place about a week later. Four interested people got together in a house near a forest. The big trees around the house were inhabited by ring-doves. In two days we triturated up to C4. During the C1 three people absolutely wanted to triturate outside in fresh air. I preferred a more protective environment (dove-cote). During this time we treated each other friendly and lovingly. There was a strong feeling of belonging together and community. "I always have to serve” said the dove, when we invited the spirit of the remedy during a brief meditation.

Who are these people who are keeping up a dove-cote? By accident, I saw the end of a television program on doves. They were flying within their group in a beautiful formation to return to their master. This maybe sixty-year-old man billed and cooed tenderly with his doves. He was marked by a difficult life and the love he put out to his animals could have made some human creatures quite happy. Where there is no homeopathy, nature heals or lets better call this force existence. A colleague told me that she suffered from severe festering skin rashes during her childhood. At her parents house the plant viola tricolor, which is an important remedy for children's eczema, grew only under the window of her room. When we get neither recognition nor love from the people around us, we sometimes address ourselves to the "remedy animal” to create a balance for our soul's needs. In a world without symbols, myths, and God, the child's soul seeks help from nature. Modern fairy tales like "The Bee called Maya", "The Jungle Book", and "Lion King" are created to fill a gap and to be able to stand the loss of naturalness.

The dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit and of divine inspiration. This soul image has grown over thousands of years. However, the image of the peace dove has been created artificially, which means a new meaning had been falsely attributed to an original symbol and was supposed to serve the collective. Only a dove puts up with that!
When a symbol falls down to simply be an image, it looses its power. Those who participated actively in the peace movement know what I am talking about. In the old testament the dove with the oil branch is a real symbol. As a sign of reformation and happiness, the dove brings Noah the message that the danger of the Flood is over. Renovation could begin.

In antic mythology, the dove belongs to the love goddess Aphrodite (Venus). Purity, innocent love, and spiritual connection gave the dove on a personal level the symbolic value of a peace dove, which refers to a peaceful marriage and family life. A white dove couple is a very popular love symbol. In Christian mysticism, we find the dove depicted in numerous forms. The effusion of the Holy Spirit at Whitsun is probably the best known one. A dove is gliding above Jesus during the baptism in the Jordan river. In the moment of announcement, the Holy Spirit comes down to Maria in the form of a dove.

Since there are more than three hundred different kinds of doves known around the world, we could continue this presentation forever. One other aspect seems essential to me. When a martyr dies, a white dove is supposed to leave the body. After a life of sacrifices, the soul bird finds its divine peace.

The closeness to carcinosinum becomes obvious. The fairy tale ’Cinderella" belongs to carcinosinum and in this fairy tale, the doves are helpers in many ways. In addition, doves are dedicated to all mothers and heavenly Goddesses, they are a symbol for femininity and motherliness (symbol of fertility). Peace, forgiveness, and redemption are
the highest values shown by the dove. Naivetii, harmlessness, innocence, humility, and honesty are noted in the old testament as characteristics. Ambiguity with this holy symbol becomes obvious when we hear the words "my little dove" as an erotic name for the lover but also as a nickname for prostitutes.

Finally, we should not forget the role the dove plays in oracles. Divine inspiration and prophecy were related to the dove. Dove meat was known as an aphrodisiac as well as dove’s eggs. Meat, inner organs, and blood were supposed to have therapeutic effects. Even, dove's dung was used for preparing bandages…Yet, I think that a homeopathic
dove remedy would have had a stronger effect.