Homeopathy Tips Newsletter

Remedy keynotes play a big part in any prescription but they must be used with care. Often in the course of learning homeopathy we are encouraged to study the keynotes of many remedies. This is a good way to learn a little about remedies but never speak to the totality of the remedy energy.

     Yasgur, in Homeopathic Dictionary, describes keynotes as "a symptom that is so apparent, or striking that it strongly suggests or points to a single remedy. For example, pain in the right shoulder blade points to Cheledonium."  Guernsey describes the keynote as "the predominating symptom which readily directs attention to the totality."

      Rarely in case-taking will the client give his story and all of the sympotoms fit in the totality of a single remedy. Often during repertizing we will have 10 or more remedies covering the symptom of a case. If we were to prescribe on keynotes of the remedy only we would still have to choose one or two remedies that cover the most predominate symptoms.

To understand the dilemma of destiny in the human condition one needs only to study the lives of our ancestors. Hahnemann recognised our inherited and acquired tendencies and wrote about this in Chronic Diseases. He described miasm as noxious influence. This is something that affects the vital force. It is spiritual and dynamic in it's influence. We only need to look to many different traditions to see this idea is not new.

The bible quotes in Lamentations 5:7, "Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities."  This means that we have inherited the inequities of our fathers. The American Indians recognised that seven generations pass before their errors are corrected.

More recently the work of Marc Frechet, a brilliant French psychologist and researcher, is being recognised. He proposed that the entire time around a child's birth, from conception to birth and later until the child separates it's identity from the mother (around the age 27 months) form the pr...

You can not have missed all of the press that Ebola virus has been given in the last two weeks. It seems that everywhere you turn there is more fear being spread through the main-stream media. I felt it is important to address some of the issues around Ebola and how homeopathy can help.

Ebola is a virus in the Filoviridae genus of viruses. There are five strains of this virus and four of them are transmittable to humans. These strains were first identified in Africa in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now called the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since then there have been several outbreaks over the years with up to hundreds dying from the disease. This year alone there are over 4,000 known cases and upwards of 8,000 suspected cases. The sudden rise in infection has caught the attention of the world.

The virus is a bundle of DNA that can attach to a cell, breaking the cell wall down, injecting its DNA into the cell to replicate. As the viral load count goes up in humans the health...

The disaster at Fukushima is a global disaster.  It is amazing to me that the interest in this is so minimal. Possibly it is the nature of radiation because it is silent, and can't be seen, smelled, tasted, or felt when the exposure comes in the form of nuclear fallout.

I also have another idea that is based on the principle of normalcy bias. Normalcy bias is the mental state of people entering a disaster. It causes people to underestimate the possibility and the effects of a disaster. People with normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something that is unfamiliar. They tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible. They will tend to infer a less serious situation from any ambiguities in warnings.

Due to the fact that the Fukushima disaster is not being reported with the mainstream media and a normalcy bias existing within the population, it seems that it is not on many peoples minds.   There is limited research being conducted and our government does not seem t...

Morgellons disease is the name for a new unexplained skin disorder that seems to be effecting more people all of the time. I have seen 5 cases of this in the last few years but I have an observation that may shed some light on this strange disease.

Morgellons disease is characterised by sores and lesions on the skin that itch intensely. This is accompanied by a crawling sensation on and under the skin. Often this is described as like a worm or a bug. The most recent case described it like a particular starfish with many tentacles extending all around the body. Every person has also claimed there are worm like threads or fibers that come out of the lesion. They each brought these fibers to the appointment for inspection. Each of them looked like a human hair.

Other symptoms include confusion and lack of concentration. It effects short-term memory, but interestingly the patient can remember intimate details of the disease. Often there is severe fatigue.

The CDC has researched the dise...

When Hahnemann started to experiment with dilutions and potency he used the 10X dilution (1 to 10 dilution) in creating the potency. He found that his medicines were equally as powerful if diluted to the one to one hundred dilution ratio or C potencies. After having sensitive clients who would have severe aggravations he was perplexed as to how to help them. In the final edition of the Organon he described the LM potencies. These have been diluted to the 3C potency and then after this to the one to 50,000 dilution. With all of his potencies he did succussions after each step of dilution. He described the LM potencies as very strong, yet gentle. This has been my experience also.

I rarely prescribe the X potencies except in cases of very gross pathology. These are cases of infection or acute inflammations. I find them to work well at this acute level.

I prescribe the C potencies in the low range (6C,9C and 12C) on a daily basis in starting most chronic cases. I will prescribe the highe...

Some responses to the last newsletter left me very encouraged about who we are as homeopath's. Sometimes it is easy to get lost in our "role" as health care providers and miss the bigger task at hand. There is a model I teach all of my students that I want to share with all of you that helps define who we are as homeopaths.

     Every science is based on a primary assumption. The primary assumption in homeopathy is there is a vital force that is non-material; spiritual. If we recognize this as the foundation for our healing art then a spiritual model becomes necessary for a greater understanding of our part as the homeopath. 

     Another assumption is that there is a creative energy animating and bringing all things into existence. This creator we have historically given the name G-d. So if G-d is creating all things then I (homeopath) and my client (suffering client) are an extension of G-d's creation. In essence there is really no separation other than our ego identification of se...

The last time I wrote about influenza was back on May 5, 2009; Influenza Pandemic?  Since then we have heard much about the influenza pandemic. One of the comments I had then and still do today is if there is a pandemic, meaning mass populations around the globe of people who are suffering from the flu symptoms, why haven't I seen any cases of influenza locally? Well in the last two weeks there have been 7 cases of influenza that I have seen. This does not seem like a particularly high number of people suffering, compared to any previous year. But I must say the fear around the suffering has been extreme. It seems the media blitz is having it's effects.

There have been 3 remedies that have been most useful so far. Two cases required Arsenicum, two cases Bryonia and 3 cases needed Gelsemium. This is about average in terms of common remedies necessary during the flu season. I differentiated the remedies based on their symptoms. One thing common to all of the cases was the question, "Is ...

Maybe all of you have heard of Qi or Chi. It is the name of our energy in Chinese Medicine. Qi is an energy that circulates in our being and is throughout our being. It is not just in our physical body but also a part of our being. Wei Qi is a particular kind of Qi that amounts to our defensive Qi. It is somewhat akin to our ability to ward off psychic attack as well as our immune system defence being able to ward off a viral or bacterial attack. Homeopathic healing provides a similar support when we are inspired through our response to a remedy.

During recent international travel I found that there was a cough that was epidemic in Northern Europe. Many people in public places had a very wet cough with much mucous rales. This cough was deep and persistent. After many days of exposure to this cough I was being challenged to keep my Wei Qi up.

People were not at all courteous or practicing good hygiene. They would not cover their face or even turn away. I was amazed at this. If I were ...

The skin being the largest and least vital organ of our bodies has probably the very most symptoms for people in general. There are hundreds of diagnosed skin conditions and you would have to be a dermatologist to even begin to recognise their differences. But the most common skin conditions are urticaria and eczema. These effect more people than any other conditions and are usually acute and self resolving.

Eczema is sometimes referred to as dermatitis. The word derives from Greek meaning to boil over and is quite descriptive of the condition. Principle symptoms are redness, swelling, sensations of heat and itching.  The causes of eczema may be internal, external or a combination of the both. As with urticaria the causes are usually an allergic response that the body is finding a way to resolve. Food allergies, detergents, plant or mineral contact can all play a part in the development of allergic responses. Most common are foods including milk products, eggs, nuts, wheat products, f...