Homeopathy Tips Newsletter

I often get questions about the machines used in homeopathy, more specifically,  the electronic or computer instruments that are used to diagnose or treat patients with. There seems to be a bit of confusion if this is homeopathy or not.

In our modern world of homeopathy, we have many doctors who have been allopathically trained and want to do alternative medicine. Unfortunately for them, there are not many places in the USA that have an alternative medical board so they are not allowed to do anything outside of what is AMA approved. This really limits the doctor who is regulated by a state medical board that does not recognize alternative treatments.

In Nevada, we have a Homeopathic Medical Board that regulates homeopathy and alternative medicine. Many doctors come to Nevada to get licensed so they can legally use alternative treatments. Because the scope of practice is much greater than homeopathy and these doctors are allopathically trained, there are really no...

The big hurdle for the homeopath is learning how to receive the case. This is where the homeopath meets the client and all of the learning about remedies, rubrics, and homeopathy must be put aside to really hear the person and understand what is asking to be healed. If we do not perceive this accurately, then all of the symptoms and rubrics to help find a remedy will be diluted or possibly even wrong. Therefore, our success in determining the best homeopathic remedy depends on this process being done right.

Hahnemann stressed how important it is to be unprejudiced observers. This is the basis for the process of receiving the case. So how do we become unprejudiced to do this process? First, we must understand what our prejudices are. The biggest prejudice I find is relating to the client through our own experiences. This is the most natural thing we could do and we do this in all relationships. But as a homeopath, we have to listen and observe our client as if we have never...

The primary goal of any homeopath is to have a clear understanding of the case before us and find the best remedy to inspire a person's healing. This may sound easy but it is the one place every homeopath and most people struggle. The questions of doubt that come up in our minds like, ”Will I ever find the right remedy?” or “I don’t have a case” or “I’m running out of time” can be tamed and even overcome. It does take practice though.

These hindrances are created out of our own mind and insecurities. If we could approach every case with a clear understanding and confidence, then it would make our jobs much easier. We would be better homeopaths. In essence, we get in our own way.

Here are some tips that I have found that can help with getting out of one's own way.

• Set your intention – Before I come to any case, I take a moment to set my intention. This means letting go of any extraneous thoughts I have and visualizing how it will...

When doing homeopathy, it is very helpful to have a complete knowledge of the repertory, especially the mind section. Obviously, it is so large it would probably be impossible to memorize it all. But there are a few rubrics that come up often that are good to be familiar with. These rubrics can often be seen in case-taking and could help lead to the best remedy.

Study these rubrics and get to know the remedies they contain. Having these as one of the tools in your toolbox will help you immensely.

• Ennui – When there is a weary sense of dissatisfaction.
• Superstitious – When a person trusts in something; saying or action, a fetish, habit, amulet, ie. “knock on wood”
• Weeping; with sympathy for others – When they are easily moved to tears by the suffering of others.
• Stupefaction – A state where the person is unable to react or respond to a situation or life; either through shock and amazement or groggy and insensible.
• Sensitive; to noise...

As homeopathy has evolved since Hahnemann, there have been many new ideas about how to use energetic medicines. I hesitate to use the word "homeopathic" medicine since this would be in direct conflict with what Hahnemann has described. I use "homeopathic" in the sense of why we are giving the medicine and not the medicine itself.

In the classic Hahnemannian system of prescribing, we are searching for the simillimum; the single best homeopathic remedy, that single remedy that is homeopathic to the case. Homeopathic means similar – suffering.

Hahnemann described his system for prescribing very well in the Organon and it is still the "bible" for homeopathic treatment. Because it was written in German and has been translated into many languages, there is room for interpretation right from the start. And as homeopathy has evolved over time, others have added their observations and made changes to Hahnemann's original system. Indeed times have changed in the last 180 years...

Imagination. Now, what could that possibly have to do with homeopathy? Plenty, if you are guiding and inspiring your client to a better state of health.

Let's look at the role of imagination in healing. First, let's read what Webster’s New World Dictionary has to say about it.

Imagination:

• 1a. The act or power of forming mental images of what is not actually present.
• 1b. The act or power of creating mental images of what has never been actually experienced, or of creating new images or ideas by combining previous experiences; creative power. Imagination is often regarded as the more seriously and deeply creative faculty, which perceives the basic resemblances between things, as distinguished from fancy, the lighter more decorative faculty, which perceives superficial resemblances.
• 2. Anything imagined; mental image; creation of the mind; fancy.
• 3. a foolish notion; empty fancy.
• 4. The ability to understand and appreciate imaginative creations of others, especially...

When you are receiving a case and have a list of well-selected rubrics that has led to a list of remedies that are being considered for the case, how do you quickly learn about so many remedies that may have come up in the repertization?

It can be overwhelming to have 50 remedies to consider and you might only know a little about 20 of them. How do you quickly learn about the remaining 30 remedies that should be considered? This is where Materia Medica knowledge helps a lot. But honestly, you will never quit learning about remedies. There is simply too much to remember about thousands of remedies. So being able to evaluate a remedy to consider and put in your basket of possible remedy choices is a good skill to have.

First and foremost is knowing what is asking to be healed in the case. Without this, you do not have a case. This will determine the rubrics that are most important and influence your entire case. When you have chosen rubrics that best reflect what is asking to be...

How the homeopath perceives the case before them will ultimately influence the prescription. If our perception is wrong, even with all of the tools available to us with the repertory and Materia Medica, our prescription will fail. I find that at the very most fundamental level even a prescription made from well-selected remedies of a good repertization is rarely good enough to prescribe the best remedy in the most elegant manner. For this, we need different levels of perception to really see what is asking to be healed.

During case receiving, it is good to keep these ideas about what we are seeing and experiencing in the front of our minds. By this, I do not mean actively thinking about them but being willing and ready to perceive them as they unfold in the case. These levels will all be occurring simultaneously and if we come to the case with a crowded mind, then we will surely miss them. Let the different levels of perception paint a picture for us and we can then translate the...

Last week, I gave a quick overview of the kingdoms. Today I will share with you a bit more about the animal kingdom. The animal kingdom is all about survival. It is eat or be eaten at its basic level. So we find some of the most basic emotions in the animal kingdom. How we relate to another and compete for our existence is a basic theme of the animal kingdom. Because we have many species within the animal kingdom, there are equally as many different behaviors. Only a small fraction of the number of species within the animal kingdom have been homeopathically proven.

How an animal behaves in regards to its survival can be an open window into understanding the remedy. Because all animals behave similarly within their own species, knowing the themes of each is necessary to understanding the remedy.  Also knowing about the different behaviors of the sexes within the animal family can be a great insight into how the remedy can be applicable to our human condition.

• Mammals...

When we listen to a case, everything a person says, every gesture they make, including what they wear, will be an expression of the vital force. If we are unprejudiced observers, we can then see the language of a person's dis-ease. This language will many times tell us quickly from which kingdom their dis-ease resides. We can sometimes quickly discern whether the best remedy will be from the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, or the mineral kingdom. If we are clear about seeing the metaphor of the dis-ease within the appropriate kingdom, we can often make our remedy selection much easier by eliminating the kingdoms that the dis-ease does not belong to.

There are some general guidelines for understanding the kingdoms. I will give a few here but really each kingdom needs a book on its own. I will give a brief overview of each and a more in-depth look into them in later blog posts.

• The animal kingdom is all about survival. Animals are either killing or being killed. It is the threat...