Homeopathy Tips Newsletter

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...

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....

A pattern I see happening in the world of homeopathy is an attempt to legitimize homeopathy and make it mainstream. This would be nice if homeopathy fit that model of medicine. Unfortunately, it does not. As long as the idea of materialist medicine is a mainstream idea, the real essence of homeopathy will not integrate very easily. And every attempt to do so will only dilute the power and effectiveness of this most wonderful medicine.

Hahnemann uses the word "spiritual" many times in the Organon. In Aphorism 9, he says, "In the healthy condition of man, the spiritual vital force (autocracy) the dynamis that animates the material body (organism), rules with unbounded sway, and retains all the parts of the organism in admirable, harmonious, vital operation, as regards both sensations and functions, so that our indwelling, reason gifted mind can freely employ this living, healthy instrument for the higher purpose of our existence." Here Hahnemann is very clear that the spiritual Vital...

When receiving cases, the homeopath listens and observes without prejudice. Often, this is a time that the client will share more about themselves than at any other time in their life. Aside from psychotherapy, there are few other modalities that ask the client to speak so much about themselves. This requires a safe place and great trust. The homeopath must earn this by listening intently and never judging the client's suffering.

Our job as homeopaths requires us to determine what is asking to be healed. Often, this is somewhat different from how the client sees themselves. As we determine what is asking to be healed, it often seems as if we must hold some judgment about the client’s sufferings. This is true in a sense. Many times, it is the seemingly inconsequential things they may report that will lead us to the remedy.

After their case has been given, I find that the person is in a very vulnerable place. They have probably shared something they have never...

One of the biggest hurdles I see my students having to overcome is hearing the case simply for what it is. It is very easy to get hooked into the person's story and want to extract many rubrics from the details. But this is the very act that keeps the homeopath from "seeing" the case clearly.

I often speak about getting to the understanding of what is asking to be healed. Without this understanding of the case, the very best selected rubrics and remedies may surely lead to failure. It is only when we fully understand where the vital force is disturbed that we can find the remedy that is best for the case.

The vital force is responsible for ALL expressions in a person's life; not just the symptoms of their suffering. Sometimes the details of the physical suffering taking place become the entire focus and we end up missing a bigger picture of the disease that is staring us in the face. When a person gives their case, they will often talk about many things seemingly unrelated to...

No one likes to be sick. Everyone wants to feel better. Suffering is common to every person on the planet. No one ever gets away without suffering. Everyone has a reason for their suffering. It is not without cause and an opportunity to heal. Everyone has an expectation about their healing, including the treating homeopath. But what we see and how people heal is not always what they or the homeopath wants. The bottom line is, we do not get to choose how, or even if, healing will occur.

If this is the case, then why would anyone ever want to be a homeopath or embark on a homeopathic healing journey? Because we see miracles often and healing does happen. It just may not appear as we might think.

Most people who have been raised in western society have been indoctrinated into the drug, surgery, or radiation model of treatment. Assuming the person takes a drug or has a surgery, the expectation is that the suffering will end and the person will heal. Increasingly, it seems that the...

One of the greatest challenges for homeopaths is to treat a family member or someone very close to them. It seems we have our greatest prejudices with those we are most familiar with.

When we know someone very intimately, it seems that because we know them better than others it would be easier for us as homeopaths to treat them. This is quite contrary to what really happens. Our familiarity can create a prejudice that is very hard to overcome. Treating family can be a real exercise in letting go of our preconceived ideas. It is not always easy though.

Knowing someone so intimately is like wearing colored glasses that we did not know we had on. Everything about the person seems familiar. We may have come to accept them just as they are. The little gestures or ways of thinking become second nature for us but can be challenging to see when we put our homeopaths' hat on.

We must be very diligent and fine-tune our awareness when treating family members. We must consciously take off our...

One of the most common questions I get asked is, "Is there a remedy for (insert disease)?" And lately, I've been hearing, "Is there a remedy for the coronavirus?" because we do in fact have remedies that when prescribed acutely or in an emergency are remedies that have a very allopathic reason for giving them. But anytime there is a chronic condition or an infection that has been diagnosed by identifying the bacteria or virus, then the general symptoms become a part of the person's expression of dis-ease and it is no longer appropriate to give a remedy based on the acute symptoms or diagnosis only.

Every expression of dis-ease is an expression of the vital force. Hahnemann says in Aphorism 9 of the Organon, "In the healthy condition of man, the spiritual vital force, the dynamis that animates the material body, rules with unbounded sway, and retains all the parts of the organism in admirable, harmonious, vital operation, as regards both sensations and functions, so...