Classical homeopathy is a system of healing that is unequaled in depth, precision and elegance. It can be considered the medicine of the future, with its roots planted in traditional wisdom.
A true homeopathic practitioner is an individual who is uncompromising in the standards that they set for themselves. Their commitment is to a lifelong pursuit to uncover the cause of illness and suffering. The homeopathic practitioner is not satisfied with partial or temporary “cures” which mainly just hide symptoms.
That is to say, a substance that has the ability to induce an array of physical symptoms and/or change in mental/emotional states in a healthy person can cure them in a sick person.
The closer that the medicine can match all of the person’s physical and/or mental symptoms, the deeper, more complete and longer lasting the cure. In a homeopathic consultation,many things that are not usually considered symptoms for the purposes of a medical diagnosis or treatment can be useful and even crucial for prescribing the most effective remedy. Some examples are changes in temperature and taste preferences, specific body sensations, and what factors seem to make the symptoms worse or better.
Homeopathic medicines work dynamically with the person’s own healing energy. They are diluted and succussed many times. Paradoxically, the more they are diluted, the stronger they become, even when there is little or none of the original active ingredient remaining.
The minimum dose that can be used to generate a healing response is carefully prescribed.
Only one medicine, which is usually prepared from a single plant, mineral or animal source, whose effects are known, is given at a time.
The medicine is allowed to work undisturbed until it is clear that its effects have worn off or there is a change in the patient’s symptom picture.
From the earliest beginnings of Western medicine it was known that medicinal substances could work in one of two ways. A doctor might prescribe a medicine to work directly against the presenting symptoms of the patient (for example, emetics, purgatives, diuretics, etc.). Treatment was often dramatic but often tended to weaken the patient. Healing could also be accomplished with medicines that could mimic the symptoms of the patient and strengthen their overall vitality. After the time of Hippocrates, treating individual symptoms directly became the dominant form of Western medicine and the second method of healing “like heals like” was almost forgotten. Samuel Hahnemann, MD, (1755-1843) left the medical profession in dismay after seeing the side effects of the treatments that were in vogue. Patients were given large doses of toxic substances, such as sulphur, arsenic and mercury, as well as other extreme practices, which came to be known as “Heroic Medicine.” He himself felt much more in tune with more natural methods of healing and took seriously the Hippocratic dictum “Physician, do no harm.” To support his growing family Dr. Hahnemann began to translate old medical texts and there he found much support for his ideas about natural healing. One of his texts detailed the healing properties of the Peruvian bark from which quinine is prepared. Ever the scientist ,Hahnemann experimented on himself by ingesting a controlled series of doses. He recorded his results and was astounded to find that the same symptoms he experienced closely matched the disease that we know today as malaria! This confirmed his conviction that a substance’s curative properties are related to its ability to cause those same symptoms in a healthy person. “Like cures like ” an ancient idea, in the rigorous scientific hands of Dr. Hahnemann became the foundation for a whole new school of medicine. He went on to prove more than one hundred remedies by giving them to groups of healthy individuals in placebo-controlled, double blind, studies. This procedure is still followed today with most homeopathic remedies that enter the materia medica; which has now grown to approximately 5,000 remedies. He once again re-entered the medical profession, using many of the same toxic substances; but now, he began to give smaller and smaller doses. He found that in the case where the substance was homeopathic (according to the principles of “Like Cures Like”) it was effective without the toxic side effects.
Dr. Hahnemann continued to experiment with greater and greater dilutions, even past the point where his knowledge of chemistry told him that there could be nothing remaining of the medicinal substance. This was the point where many of his students and colleagues could not follow him. They were limited by the belief that a medicinal substance could be cured only by its physical effects on human physiology. This same belief is still held by most of the medical profession today. Yet, Dr. Hahnemann’s successes grew. He treated epidemics of cholera, typhus, and scarlet fever, mental illness and venereal diseases much more effectively than the standard medical practices of his time. His fame grew even as controversy surrounded his ideas. His services were requested by royalty and his students spread his work to most of Europe and parts of America. Later in his career he focused his efforts on learning how to treat stubborn and debilitating chronic diseases. Today homeopathy is widely practiced in much of Europe, Russia, India, and many countries in Latin America. In the US, the homeopathic profession thrived until the early 1900s, when it was almost completely destroyed by the political clout of the American Medical Association. Now thank G-d it is once again back in business.
How can little sugar pills or drops of alcohol solution have such a dramatic healing effect? It can not be attributed just to the placebo effect. Studies show that homeopathic cures are usually more statistically significant than placebo. And homeopathy works quite as well with babies and animals. To understand it takes one to a totally different paradigm of health and disease; one that was better understood by Hipocrates than by the bio-medicine of today. It also takes one to some leading edges of molecular and quantum physics. Disease is not just something that enters the body, where a random or genetically predetermined dysfunction that disturbs the normal physiology. Disease is caused by a disturbance of a person’s “vital force”. It is this vital force that guides the proper functioning of the body. It is this vital force, in its clarity, that propels the human mind in the pursuit of knowledge. It is this vital force that when flowing properly stirs the highest yearnings of the human heart and spirit. This vital force does not avail itself to be discovered in a laboratory or in a dissecting room. This vital force does not show up on MRIs or blood tests. The state of the vital force makes itself known to the physician who is able to look at the whole picture. It makes its workings known to the one who has the patience to weave together all the seemingly disparate parts of a patient’s life. The family and medical history, birth and early childhood, cravings and aversions, all traumas, current work, social and family situations, can they sleep well at night or are they kept awake by unfulfilled longings or intangible fears. The vital force reveals itself to the physician who is open to non-judgmentally observing the unique tapestry that is before him. To gaze in awe at an individual creation that has never existed before and even tomorrow will not be the same. The vital force can be appreciated by one who understands that health and wellness is not just the absence of symptoms and pathology. Health and wellness is synonymous with vitality, satisfaction with one’s work and relationships, creativity and spiritual fulfillment; and it is everyone’s birthright.
After all the dilutions and vigorous shaking used to prepare homeopathic remedies, all that remains of the original substance is its “energetic” imprint. There have been some studies recently of how molecules of water “remember” and transfer energetic imprints. It is also known that a half of a bottle of homeopathic medicine can be refilled with plain sugar pills shaken vigorously and the entire bottle will be just as effective. The Jewish tradition recounts in the daily service how the voice of the spice grinder is beneficial for the incense. The vital force is an energetic phenomena. I believe that we have an energetic blueprint that we inherit along with our genetic blueprint. Distortions in the vital force, whether inherited with our energetic blueprint or caused by trauma or by unhealthy living, create imbalances in the physiology that can lead to physical pathology. Imbalances in the vital force do not usually respond so readily to physical, chemical or biological intervention (except by being suppressed). However the vital force does respond quite readily to energetic stimulation. Homeopathic remedies are “potentized” balls or drops of energy. When the energetic frequency of the medicine resonates with the energetic frequency of the vital force, healing begins, according to the principle “like cures like.” We can postulate two different ways that this works. One is that the resonance vibration of the remedy simply strengthens the vital force and the body-mind’s own g-d-given intelligence, now has enough resources to continue the healing process. Or you can say that the vibrational resonance of the remedy matches the disturbed state of the vital force. That is the same aspect of the vital force which is responsible for producing the symptoms. This remedy was chosen “davka” because it can produce the same symptoms in a healthy person. So the effects of the remedy replace the disattunement of the vital force which has produced the disease state. Then, after a short time, remedy wears off, leaving the vital force in a state of balance. There is a lot more I would like to say about the vital force and the healing process but that will need to wait for another article, or to the personal questions of the interested reader.
Yaakov Wieder, Lic. Ac., has been studying classical homeopathy for more than 12 years. In his integrative practice he discovered that placing a well-chosen homeopathic remedy in contact with the patient can dramatically change the acupuncture pulses and/or the craniosacral rhythm of the patient, even while the remedy is still in the bottle! This allows Yaakov to be more confident in the choice of homeopathic remedies he prescribes.