Tarentula hispanica (tarantula spider)
Tarentula children have rhythm. Their active, climbing, jumping restlessness mimics animal behavior. They love music and rhythmic activities like dancing, tapping, or drumming, and it soothes them. Cunning and mischievous, they play tricks on their parents and other children, tell lies, and love to hide. They are very hurried and impatient. Often destructive, they have to be watched very closely, as they are capable of breaking anything they get their hands on. They are very impulsive and distractible. Twitching and jerking of the muscles is a common symptom. They are often attracted to bright colors.

Italy near the seaport of Tarent. A group of girls in the village suffered from a hysterical type of insanity which was only relieved when they danced in a type of frenzy and cut with knives or swords.3 Although it did not come up in Angela's case, many children needing Tarentula do have an urge to wildly cut clothing and other things during their rages.

Angela's mother called from Australia five weeks after she took the medicine. Angela had no further tantrums or extreme moodiness; "just the odd two-yearold stuff." Her mother had no complaints about Angela's behavior compared to before she took the Tarentula. Now she was much more easily managed when she became upset. She jumped up and down occasionally when her mother said no, but would settle down. Angela was much more easily entertained. It was much easier for her to sit in a car, which had been a major problem previously. Her teeth grinding, which her mother forgot to mention in the first interview, was 90 percent improved. The redness and scarring on her hands were also better. Angela's mother added that prior to the homeopathy, her daughter was forever tapping, teasing, and getting into mischief. These behaviors had also improved. "Looks like Miss Spider's working," her mother exclaimed.

Angela needed one more dose of the Tarentula five months later because some of her symptoms had returned, though to a much lesser degree than before the homeopathic treatment. Angela's dermatologist was quite surprised that the redness and inflammation of her fingers had improved significantly.

3 Pelt, M., "Spiders in Nature and Homeopathy: Mangialavore in Wageningen, Autumn 1993 and 1994," Homeopathic Links, 8(3), 1995, p. 45-46.

The Little Girl Who Couldn't Sit Still
Six-year-old Sumi was a very cute little girl with honeycolored hair, green eyes, and gold skin. Her striking features resulted from her Japanese and Northern European heritage. We first interviewed Sumi and her family at a poolside table at a California hotel where we were speaking at a conference on homeopathy. What was most notable about Sumi was that she could not sit still for more than five minutes. She ran around the table, became easily distracted by the children in the swimming pool, or whispered something into her mother's ear. It seemed literally impossible for her to stay in one place.