Homeopathy Tips Newsletter

In the course of chronic prescribing, many symptoms can appear during an extended time of treatment. One mistake that the homeopath can make is to start chasing symptoms. This can lead to a very confusing picture of the disease and extend healing indefinitely for the client. Here are a few reminders that may help you to avoid this mistake.

When a remedy has been selected, we do not know how the vital force will respond until we are able to observe the response. In the evaluation of the response, it is critical that we understand what is being expressed. Many times, the vital force will produce many symptoms during this healing time and one of the most common mistakes is to try to treat each of them. Often, the client will come and beg for a remedy for the symptom. It is imperative we understand what is happening before we treat any symptom.

One possibility is a return of the old symptom and we commonly call this the aggravation. If the aggravation is mild and there is not too...

By far the most common complaint I receive from my clients is stress. It is a condition arising from daily life especially here in America where the pace of life is so very fast. It can also come from more unusual circumstances but is the result of the person being challenged in ways that they find harder to cope with. But homeopathy can help.

Most stress arises from issues of work, family, health, and money. These for the underlying conditions that cannot be corrected easily or quickly thus leading to stress. Most often the condition is outside of any direct control the person has in relation to the problem. Yet these conditions can cause great suffering when our relation to the problem does not bring the solution. Then the problem does not go away and seems to weigh the person down. This is our stress response. If their relationship to the problem could change, the problem would then change as well. It all has to do with our ability to manage our emotional response, anxiety, and...

It helps to have a guide when receiving cases. It is easy to get lost in the process and miss a valuable opportunity to get to really know about your client. The hardest part is being an unprejudiced observer. It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking we know something that may or may not be true for our client. I find that letting go and asking for divine help to be the fastest way to get out of my own way. It is the most effective way to release our prejudice.

Here is a list of points to remember during the case. Following this will help greatly so you will not miss anything your client offers. Your clarity will be the difference between a perfect prescription and failure. The key is getting out of our own way. 

Case Receiving Protocol

1. Ask for help - Set your intention by aligning yourself with "Divine Help." Be an open channel so all will be revealed and to be a clear, unprejudiced observer. Do not attach emotionally to the person. You might as well be...

Hahnemann recognized the spiritual basis for homeopathy. He spoke about it often in the Organon and gave us a guide for spirituality as well as healing. He referred to the vital force as a spirit like dynamis that animates our body (Aphorism 15). As homeopaths, we must always remember that it is the outwardly manifesting derangement of the vital force that is recognizable as dis-ease. In every case, we should be diligent to keep this in mind. Doing so can be a constant reminder of our own spiritual essence.

Hahnemann also told us to be unprejudiced observers (Aphorism 6). This means to lay our prejudgment aside. We must not hold contempt for another and treat them with respect, dignity, and as if we have never seen or heard a story like this before. It is a good practice to be this good of a listener to all people. When we meet another, it is following the higher call of homeopathy if we meet them without prejudice.

Hahnemann also told us that our high and only mission was to...

There are many challenges for the practitioner of homeopathy. Probably the greatest is understanding what is asking to be healed for the client they are working with. One way to never lose your way in case receiving is to ask the questions, “What and Why?”

When a person is giving their case, it is the homeopath’s job to figure out what is asking to be healed. The best way to never lose your way is to ask very simple questions. The most common question I ask is "what." Please tell me what that felt like, or what were the circumstances that this person's story were taking place in. This really opens the door for further dialogue and better descriptions of how they feel.

Without understanding the story, the homeopath has nothing to really base the case on. It is one thing to know a few symptoms and quite another to have those symptoms make sense in the context of the person's life. Asking what...

Somewhere along the line of our human development, we learned to always try to do our best. Many times this is translated as "we need to do better." In many cases, as a person is healing they go through a phase of seeing their dis-ease as never before, as if finally the clouds parted and they can now see the sun. I often call this process "moving into the observer." But in the course of healing, I see another common pattern of thinking that people go through. As they become more consciously aware of their dis-ease, they often go into self-reproach.

We all have learned and probably taught our own children through discipline. When the toddler runs into the street for the umpteenth time after being told not to, eventually some discipline may come. After repeated attempts by the parents to discourage the behavior, the child learns (eventually) that discipline works. We often don’t see evidence of this until the child grows up and becomes much more responsible...

It is easy to become fanatical about homeopathy, especially when dealing with other modalities that can be suppressive or interfere with the healing process. It is one of the biggest challenges to homeopaths today in this world of allopathic medicine. What is the best way to deal with this when your client is seeing other doctors and using other modalities as well?

I have found that educating my client is a process that needs time and needs to be repeated often. I find during the initial interview and discussion that the usual client hears and retains about 20% of what was discussed. They will come with a list of all of the drugs being taken and all of the different modalities of healing they are using in their approach to healing. Some of them do not work so well with the homeopathic approach.

The first step is getting them to take responsibility for their own healing. I usually share what I know to be true about homeopathy and how it can help them. It is really necessary to get...

We have 37 acids in our Materia Medica that have wonderful uses in homeopathy. Let's explore what’s common about all of the acid remedies and learn a little more about a few of them.

The acid remedies all have a common theme; a person being worn out. All acids will burn and eventually will burn through substances. In the same way, the acid remedies are for those individuals that are burnt out. There is a certain self-destructiveness to these remedies.

There are many ways this burnt-out state can appear. It could be from too much work over an extended period of time. It could be from too much mental activity, too much sex, too much travel. The person does not seem to have a limit on the pattern of the self-destructiveness. Eventually, it leads to the complete breakdown of the system, either mentally, emotionally, physically, or all of the above together. Any number of things can add up to a depleted state for the person and the acid remedies are potential remedies for...

When we fall ill, it is often believed that we have caught something or been the unfortunate recipient of bad luck. This would indicate that maybe the vital force has made a mistake, that, somehow, it has gone against us. From a limited perspective, this may seem true. But if we look closer, it may be that the vital force is doing just what it should be doing: preserving life.

That may sound a bit over the top. How can a life-threatening illness be saving our life at the same time? We need to understand why we get sick. The way we get sick is never by accident and is ALWAYS the best solution to a mental or emotional conflict. When we understand a person's story and how they have seen their world, then the story and illness will make sense.

Hahnemann understood this when he wrote in Aphorism 9 that the vital force rules with unbounded sway. Those are pretty strong words to describe the vital force's strength. Unbounded sway. Unbounded indicates there are no bounds or limits to this....

As a homeopath, I am often asked to help treat an ailing animal. Prescribing for an animal is not a lot different from prescribing for humans but being able to have a conversation to understand them is different indeed.

I have found that the more domesticated and the closer an animal lives to humans, the more mental symptoms are recognized. This is because as animals live in close proximity to humans and their caretakers, their personalities and subtle moods are noticed more. Most pet owners of cats and dogs, in particular, have much to say about their animals. It is important to listen to their story about the animal to understand their mental, emotional, and physical states. Use any diagnostic evaluations from veterinarians in helping you understand the physical illness. If an illness is diagnosed, it will be very helpful in selecting a remedy that has an organ affinity to their condition.

Horse owners also know their animals well and can tell you a lot about...