Classical Homeopathy is a holistic healing practice that uses the energy sources within Nature to reset the energy source within an individual so that the body and mind can heal itself. This article describes the development of homeopathy and the basic principles that continue to guide the classical homeopathic process for more than 200 years.
In the Beginning...
In the early 1800s, a German medical doctor by the name of Samuel Hahnemann founded the practice of homeopathy and defined the principles of cure in his publication “Organon of Medicine.” Hahnemann discovered early on in his career that conventional medical practices of the times caused more harm to the sick than it did good. So, he abandoned his medical practice but maintained a presence in the medical world by translating materia medica. Because he was dissatisfied with the results of orthodox medical treatment, he questioned the prevailing medical theories and proved their inaccuracy.
In one experiment that he conducted on himself, he took a regimen of an extract prepared from Peruvian bark (quinine). To his surprise, he develop symptoms that were similar to malaria, and when he stopped taking the extract, all the symptoms disappeared. This was a revolutionary discovery that was not found anywhere in the medical practices of the time. He searched for precedents for this affect and found them in the teaching of Hippocrates (460-377 BCE) who is regarded as the father of medicine. Hippocrates taught that likes can be cured by likes... that any illness caused by one means can be treated successfully by a similar means. * This discovery propelled him to investigate and experiment with a wide variety of substances, and dilutions of those substances, in order to understand the effect on human suffering. He devoted the rest of his life to researching and developing the principles of what we call today “Classical Homeopathy”.
Defining Homeopathy...
The term Homeopathy (sometimes spelled Homoeopathy) comes from the Greek words “homoios” meaning similar and “pathos” meaning disease or suffering. In short, homeopathy uses similar diseases or similar suffering to cure the sick. You're probably asking yourself... "What does that mean similar diseases?" First of all, what is the meaning of the word disease? When broken down into syllables, “dis” - “ease” is literally the opposite of comfort or calm. When a person is sick, s/he has a natural state of discomfort at the level of the vital force. The vital force is the term homeopaths use when describing our human, energetic source of life.
When an sick person is treated with homeopathy, s/he takes a homeopathic remedy which has an energetic similarity to the disease or discomfort they are experiencing. Let’s call it an artificial “hologram” of the natural disease. It’s not a real dis-ease but it has a similar energy of the natural state of the person. The hologram essentially attaches to the natural one, thus neutralizing it. Once the energy of the natural disease has been removed, the body taps into it's natural ability to heal itself.
Basic Principles of Homeopathy...
Hahnemann called this very fundamental principle of homeopathy the “Law of Similiars” or “like heals like”. Though Hippocrates understood this concept, it was not his original thought. In fact, we can trace this concept further back into Biblical text. In the book of Genesis, there are two specific references. The water known at May Mar - bitter water - was sweetened when a piece of bark was placed into the water. Why did the bark sweeten the water? The taste of the bark was bitter by nature, and therefore the bitter bark replaced the bitterness in the water thus leaving behind sweetened waters. In another chapter, there was a plague in the form of poisonous snakes causing death amongst the Hebrews. To bring about their salvation and cure, G-d commanded Moses to erect an image of a snake using copper. The word snake in Hebrew is “nechash” and the word copper is “nechoshet”; two very similar words with similar Hebrew letters. The copper image of the snake was the similar that cured the natural disease from the snake. It is interesting to note that this image of the copper snake became the universal symbol of healing throughout the generations.
In modern practice, a homeopathic remedy is prepared from any natural substance in creation. Most remedies are from elements, minerals, plants, and animals, but there are remedies from imponderables like electricity, the sun, and the moon, as well as nosodes which are from disease substances like malaria, gonorrhea, cancer and tuberculosis.
Hahnemann defined another fundamental principle of Homeopathy which he called the “Minimum Dose.” This principle was established after he discovered that the more a substance was diluted, the more effective it became and with fewer or no side affects. Today, remedies are prepared from crude substances which are diluted tens, hundreds and even thousands of times. The crude substance is pulverized (or in the case of solid minerals, soaked in a liquid over time) to create what is called a “mother tincture”. We often see these mother tinctures in the health food store sold as herbal supplements like St. John’s wort or Echinachea. In homeopathy, these mother tinctures are diluted and
succussed (shaken) until there is little to no molecular presence of the original substance. What is left behind is the energy print of the substance - that is, that “thing” or vital force which gives the substance it’s essences or character. This process is called dynamization and potentization.
How do we know that a substance has an energy print or a vital force? The same way we know that humans and animals have an energy force or vital force which gives it life. Take that away and we are nothing more than a lifeless mass of nothing. So too, with everything else in creation. An onion is not an onion if it doesn’t have the inner power or the energy to taste or smell like an onion, or to feel like an onion with all its layers, or even to affect us like onions do.
What happens when you cut up an onion? Your eyes start to tear, maybe your nose starts to run, your eyes burn, there is a burning sensation on the skin if the onion is really strong, and believe it or not there is a dullness of the mind when the aroma of the onion is left to linger. Now imagine a condition that has these similar symptoms: watery burning eyes, runny nose, and mental dullness. In practice the homeopathic remedy from the red onion, known as Allium Cepa, may be used in the treatment of some allergies or the common cold.
How does a homeopath know what symptoms can be healed by any particular remedy? It’s called “provings” or human testing. Hahnemann established the practice of testing or “proving” remedies by experimenting on healthy human subjects... specifically himself and his colleagues. After taking the potentized (i.e. diluted and succussed) substance, he and his colleagues would carefully document every physical, mental or emotion symptom that appeared during the experiment. The modern approach to “proving” remedies is carefully managed using double or triple blind experiments and placebos so that the integrity of the proving can withstand the test of clinical experience.
"The physician's high and only mission is to restore the sick to health..." Organon, paragraph 1
This statement is the first principle that guides the homeopath in his/her treatment of each and every client. Unlike other practices which manage and control illness, Classical Homeopathy presents an opportunity to "restore the sick to health" by stimulating a person's vital force based on his or her unique holistic condition which allows the body to naturally heal itself.
*Family Homeopathy - A Practical Guide for Home Treatment by Paul Callinan
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