What Is Homeopathy?
The word homeopathy literally means similar suffering—from the Greek, “homoios” (similar) and “pathos” (suffering).
Homeopathy is a natural therapy, which uses potentised (homeopathic) remedies to cure simple disease. It was discovered 200 years ago in Germany by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843). Homeopathy was only part of his complete system of medicine called Heilkunst. In its entirety, the medical approach of Dr. Hahnemann included nutrition and lifestyle, along with the use of homeopathic remedies, for the treatment of acute and chronic disease including hereditary diseases called miasms. Specific remedies were also used for disease prevention.
Homeopathy is that part of Hahnemann’s medical system that addresses simple acute disease as well as symptoms whose origin is unknown. When we choose remedies based on symptoms alone, we are using homeopathy.
Like Cures Like and the Law of Similars
The Law of Similars, on which homeopathy is based, states that “Like Cures Like” or “that which causes disease can also be used to cure it”. In antiquity when this natural law was discovered, it was considered impractical because of the impossibility of using poisonous substances without worsening the problem.
It was Hahnemann’s genius that found a way to apply the Law of Similars without causing harm. He discovered that if a substance was diluted several times in water and succussed (shaken with impact, as in tapping the bottle on a surface), a new, potentised and highly active medicine resulted. The more it was potentised, the safer the medicine, the stronger its action and the deeper its effects.
Homeopathic remedies were given safely to people based on the Law of Similars, with amazing results and a lasting cure. Finally, humankind had found the key to applying this fundamental Law of Cure. With this discovery the medicine of the 21st century was born. An example of the application of the Law of Similars is the use of Allium cepa–red onion—in potentised form to cure head colds accompanied by burning eyes and runny nose. These are similar symptoms to those produced by the onion itself.
History of Homeopathy
The principle of “Like Cures Like” has existed since the dawn of medicine and we see mention of the Law of Similars in the times of Hippocrates, 4th century BC, as well as later in the 16th century by the renowned alchemist and physician Paracelsus who used it extensively.
Yet, the wider application and recognition of homeopathy was delayed by centuries until Samuel Hahnemann created the first potentised remedies. They no longer contained matter from the original substances and so the risk of poisoning which had previously prevented their application was avoided.
Dr. Hahnemann and Homeopathy
Early in his medical career, Samuel Hahnemann became disillusioned with the ineffective and violent healing methods of doctors of his time. There was bleeding, purging, and depleting the person until they either healed in spite of this torture or died from the treatments.
Upon reading a pamphlet on the healing properties of quinine, Dr. Hahnemann questioned the assertion that quinine cured malaria because of its bitter properties. He found this laughable as many other herbs had no effect on malaria even though they too were bitter. He decided to try quinine himself. Soon after taking a few doses, he became cold, broke into a sweat, ran a fever, and exhibited all known symptoms of malaria.
He experienced, first hand, the action of the Law of Similars. It was this experiment that started his long journey of discovery—a journey that started with homeopathy and the discovery of dynamization of substances, and which ended with Heilkunst—a complete system of medicine suitable for our advanced time and needs.
Hahnemann lived a long life and continued adding to his work until his last day. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the times and the magnitude of his findings, few people at the time and even to this day were able to understand his work in its full complexity.
Dr. Hahnemann understood well the risks to his work were it to fall into unscrupulous hands, and he did his best to help it survive into the future. He simplified his instructions to what was acceptable at the time by the medical profession. He also held back his more advanced findings, lest they be bastardized by a medical culture enamored of theories and glamour.
He prohibited the publishing of his latest work until after his death, hoping to reach a reader who would grasp its significance. To this day, his advanced conclusions are a cause for much debate and conflict among the homeopathic community.
Homeopathy in North America
Homeopathic medicine was very popular and well respected in North America in the 1900’s. In the USA there were 22 homeopathic medical schools. Some of them were: Boston University, University of Michigan, New York Medical College, Hahnemann University, and the University of Minnesota.
It was also a medicine highly acclaimed by many influential and cultured men and women of that time— Mark Twain, William James, John D. Rockefeller, Susan B. Anthony, Louisa May Alcott, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Henry David Thoreau, and Harriett Beecher Stowe, amongst many others.
They used homeopathy for their own health and they also helped create and support the homeopathic hospitals and schools in order to help develop it further and to make it more accessible.
AMA and the Destruction of Homeopathy
In spite of its growing popularity or perhaps because of that, with the creation of the American Medical Association, a campaign for the destruction of homeopathy began in the US. It was driven partly by the interests of the newly emerging drug companies whose profits were threatened by the inexpensive and low profit homeopathic remedies. But an equally serious threat was the success rate and popularity of homeopathic doctors who cured disease quickly and painlessly and who were making a good living compared to the less respected traditional allopathic doctors who stubbornly adhered to the old ways of practicing medicine.
The public was riveted by the emergence of new drugs, promising the quick eradication of all disease. At the same time the AMA threatened to revoke the license of any medical doctor who still practiced homeopathy. Along with many useful scientific and holistic discoveries, homeopathy was soon declared illegal and all competition to allopathic medicine and the drug industry was removed.
Revival of Homeopathy
In the 1970’s a new revival of homeopathic medicine was initiated all over the world and to this day its popularity has been growing. It is now possible to practice homeopathy without the threat of persecution and ruin. Many new discoveries in quantum physics and advanced sciences are lifting the veil of mystery as to the action of homeopathic remedies.
Homeopathy Today
To a great extent homeopathy today is limited to what is known as “Classical Homeopathy”. Although widely practiced, this form of homeopathy has failed to evolve with the times, remaining focused on the limited application of remedies, as outlined by Hahnemann for only certain situations. Hence the sketchy success rate of homeopathy at times.
Very little attention is given by most classical homeopaths to nutrition, hydration, toxicity and other factors that can also be the cause of symptoms. The brilliant discovery of heredity as a factor in disease (miasms), which Hahnemann also contributed to humanity, is largely ignored or not well understood in Classical Homeopathy.
Perhaps part of the problem, as is the case in most professions, is the rigidity that sets in due to an overzealous guarding of the purity of the profession. This leads to the detriment of its advancement by ignoring the innovations of science and advancements in the profession itself out of fear of losing the legacy of the master.
Homeopathy in the World
In other countries of the world it has become part of the medical system and is not even considered “alternative medicine” anymore. In Europe many doctors use both western and homeopathic medicine in their regular practices. One often quoted is the fact that the British Royal family, as well as many other state figures in Europe, India and South America have been using homeopathy for more than a century.
In the case of the British royalty, they have been using homeopathy since 1830. India and Pakistan have universities teaching full homeopathic programs. In India homeopathy is a popular form of medicine. Indian homeopaths have clinics and see thousands of patients daily. South America also accepts homeopathy as part of daily life and in Mexico and Brazil it is part of the regular medical system. In Canada homeopathy is currently regulated and therefore given more validity so it is easier for homeopaths to offer their services.
How Does Homeopathy Work?
Scientists cannot yet explain the precise mechanism of action of homeopathy. Nevertheless, there is a growing body of literature, both specialized and mainstream, documenting the validity of the application of homeopathy for medical purposes. Although many believe that it works by stimulating the healing capacity of the body, this still reflects mostly the materialistic view of health.
With new developments in the research of the wondrous properties of water, of the invisible energies and ethers in our environment, with the advancements of quantum physics and the exploration of nature and the cosmos, we are beginning to see a more complex and far-reaching picture of life. And homeopathy fits perfectly into that picture. It offers us the precise tools we need in order to apply all these exciting discoveries in our daily life.
Information Medicine
Homeopathic remedies contain information codes and energy patterns that can affect the functions of our body without using physical impact or chemical substances! The remedy works like a piece of information that gives our body instructions to activate certain forces, to trigger its natural capabilities for healing in the right direction, leading to immediate, subtle and seemingly miraculous changes that cannot be achieved by physical medical science alone.
Homeopathic remedies are informational medicine, a most advanced and developed tool, ready for application today. They also carry the pattern or imprint containing information about the original substance and its properties. This is information that our body uses to rectify its own informational glitches.
Information is not limited by time and space. They cease to have a meaning in the usual physical way. Homeopathic remedies applied in present time can reverse the effects of past trauma, including hereditary trauma. They can literally reach into the past and work on a level that is unreachable by any material means.
This has opened a whole new realm of medicine called Sequential Therapy. This is a simple but profound approach to clearing past negative impacts on our system on all levels. And all this is made possible by the discovery of potentised remedies and their application on the principle of similarity to disease.
So how DOES it work? The mechanism of action of remedies still remains to be explained in a way that will satisfy material science. This is not easy because by its nature, material science limits the scope of its investigation only to what is measurable by its own instruments and narrow theoretical premises.
In a way, homeopathic remedies impact us on the level of bio-electrical signals, on the level on which our body tells its parts to do one thing or another— the subtle level at which all action and perception occurs, below our level of awareness and in a swift and instantaneous pace.
The Law of Similars
Similia Similibus Currentur (Lat.): ‘Let likes be cured with like’
To understand how homeopathy works, we have to start with the natural principle of how all cure happens, the Law of Similars. It states that what causes a disease can also cure it.
This is possible due to another fundamental law of nature: no two similar diseases can exist at the same time in the same organism. When that occurs, the stronger one will displace the weaker one. With that in mind, we just have to take a dose of a slightly stronger disease similar to ours and our original disease will resolve. We then have to get rid of the stronger disease and we will be cured.
It seems complicated until one finds out that a potentised remedy is a form of “artificial disease” which can be created at the strength of our choice. In other words, we can create a remedy that matches and is slightly stronger than the real disease. Once ingested, the remedy will displace our real disease and we are cured.
And what about the remedy for “artificial disease”? Well, remedies will lose their effect naturally after a period of time. Due to this brilliant process, we end up resolving a real disease by using a potentised remedy, which dissolves in its turn leaving us healthy!
To select the correct remedy, a homeopath has to evaluate each individual person and their particular disease and then select a remedy of a high enough potency to exceed the disease in strength and thus cancel it out.
Homeopathic Remedies
Homeopathic remedies are created from a variety of natural substances through a process of serial dilution and succussion (shaking with impact on a hard surface). They are prepared by specialized pharmacies under controlled conditions. The remedies are diluted up to and beyond the point where no molecules of the original substance remain. This means that they are not toxic, no matter what the original substance was that they were derived from.
Remedies come in two forms: dry granules or pellets made of sugar and coated with the remedy, or in bottles in liquid form. This allows for versatility of use and for a variety of ways of applying remedies when we want to achieve different effects. From the more concentrated effect of dry doses, to the gentle effect of liquids and sprays.
Provings are a way to know how a remedy will work
The simple experiment of taking a substance in order to experience its effects is called a proving in homeopathy. During a controlled proving, healthy people ingest small doses of a substance repeatedly until they feel symptoms. Dr. Hahnemann conducted such tests on himself and his students and documented the results. Out of the copious notes of many such provings, we have today comprehensive catalogues (Materia Medica) of homeopathic medicines listing all their symptoms. There are thousands of substances of plant, animal and mineral origin, known and used today.
The difference between conventional drugs and homeopathic remedies is that traditional medicines are crude substances that create a serious toxic effect while homeopathic remedies contain no chemical substances and have no side effects.
Drugs are used to suppress or palliate symptoms and generally to manage the disease, but seldom do they lead to a cure. Homeopathy is applied based on the natural Law of Similars which does lead to a cure and which enhances the body’s own healing efforts.
Adverse effects of medical drugs are so many and so dangerous that sometimes the medicine is worse than the disease it aims to heal. Knowing that medical errors are the third leading cause of death in North America should tell us something about the efficacy of these methods.
Homeopathic remedies are safe and cannot cause death through overdose or by the wrong remedy. They can safely be used by children and pets.
Homeopathic principles in western medicine
Immunizations and allergy treatments are two of the very few applications in modern medicine today that use homeopathic principles of similarity in the prevention of disease.
For example, in the area of vaccinations a small dose of disease is used to mobilize a defense against the real disease. Radiation, which can cause cancer in large doses, is used to treat cancer.
In allergy treatments, the injection of small amounts of known allergens, is supposed to create a natural protection. The biggest problem with all of these approaches is the crude substances used. All of them are toxic and potentially harmful. Our body does not like them and it will constantly try to get rid of them causing us much discomfort in the process.
The idea of the use of toxins in Western medicine is correct. The problem is the form is crude. It is wrong and could easily be avoided if science were to observe the success in these same areas when potentised remedies are used.
Homeopaths have used remedies to protect people from many diseases for years and with great success.
Remedies preserve the environment
Very little base substance is necessary for the production of almost endless amounts of remedies. This is wonderful news for the preservation of the environment. One plant can heal the entire population of the earth for centuries to come.
Inexpensive production makes remedies economic and affordable. Their shelf life is potentially eternal as there are few dangers of a remedy being destroyed.
Homeopathic remedies create no environmental pollution. There are no byproducts, toxic waste, or other energy expenditures in the production of homeopathic remedies and all packaging is easily recyclable for continuous use.
No interactions with drugs and herbs
Because remedies are not chemical in nature, but energetic and informational, they do not interact with herbs, medical drugs or any other substance. They can be taken during medical treatment and alongside supplements and vitamins, whose action they will enhance.
Reduce suffering
Taken alongside medical drugs and invasive treatments like chemotherapy or radiation, homeopathic remedies are brilliant for the reduction of adverse reactions and to keep the body healthier during such ordeals.
Detoxification
Homeopathic remedies are also widely used for gentle detoxification and for organ support in the case of liver stress, kidney weakness or colon problems. Special formulations are prepared by several companies specifically to strengthen an organ and to facilitate detoxification.
Emotional support
One of the most wonderful applications of homeopathic remedies has been in the field of emotional and mental issues. Their action is subtle but powerful, allowing for deep healing of emotional wounds and a successful transformation of negative thinking.
Today, in a world overwhelmed by stress and tension, homeopathy has proven an invaluable tool for coping and for turning a situation around toward health and balance.
With homeopathy, life CAN be clean, balanced and safe.
What kinds of conditions, symptoms, and diseases can homeopathy cure?
Homeopathy is best suited for acute, self-limiting diseases like the simple cold and flu, symptoms due to an irritation or due to injury like fractures, sprains, stings and other first aid situations. And also for diseases whose origin is not known but which exhibit clear symptoms that can be matched to a remedy.
Homeopathy or the matching of symptoms to a remedy based on similitude, is also used in situations when we do not know the cause of the symptoms and we want to provide relief until we are able to deal with the underlying causes in a definitive way.
For all other chronic or complicated diseases, it is best to use a complete medical system like Heilkunst, including Sequential Therapy in order to address the many levels of disturbance and the many different diseases that may have already developed.
When homeopathy is used to release symptoms, one usually sees one of two typical effects: a swift improvement of all symptoms or a brief worsening of all symptoms, called an aggravation, after which health is restored.
Since homeopathy is adequate only for the treatment of simple and self-contained disease, the correct remedy should bring swift and permanent resolution to all symptoms. If that is not the case, then we are looking at a disease that has deeper roots and not at a simple daily situation. For that, Heilkunst and Sequential Therapy are more adequate approaches to treatment.
Final thoughts …
As in any profession, homeopathy over time has created its own dogma. In our application of homeopathic remedies, we have chosen the best methods available today. Without subscribing to any particular style, we put together the benefits of many styles in an attempt to break away from dogma. In applying old methods in a new way we hope to create fertile ground for future innovators to build on.
Consultations
The following are homeopaths available for consultation.
Wendy Knight Agard, Doctor of Medical Heilkunst and Homeopathy can be contacted at:
reception@truehealthholistic.com
Irma Boyle, DMH, B.A. Psych., Heilkunst Physician
Health Dynamics, Heilkunst, Homeopathy
Inergetix CoRe System
www.healthdynamics.ca
info@healthdynamics.ca
Skype: healthdynamics 613-295-5979 | 416-767-4846
“Treating health issues with natural medicine”
