A Closer Look: How Homeopathic Remedies Facilitate Healing
The word "homeopathy" is a term derived from the Greek meaning “similar suffering”. Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, who is considered the Father of Homeopathy, postulated a revolutionary law for the medical community in the late 18th century: the Law of Similars. Later expressed as the doctrine of “like cures like," the Law of Similars states that two similar diseases cannot exist in the human body at the same time.
Hahnemann witnessed this phenomena of two similar diseases being unable to coexist repeatedly in his medical practice (for instance cow pox & measles), which he discussed at length in his exhaustive dissertation, the Organon. Hahnemann later witnessed that certain manifestations of diseases in a human patient would be cured when the patient received a vaccination of a similar disease. Thus the formation of the homeopathic principle, like cures like: diseases manifesting certain symptoms in healthy people will cure similar symptoms in the sick. As summarized Hahnemann: "Cure by symptom similarity!" (Organon, §50) This concept was new, but not novel. Hippocrates himself suggested this notion of a Law of Similars (and conversely the Law of Opposites, as used in traditional medicine) in his writings done in the 4th century BC. The discovery of the Law of Similars was curtailed only by Hahnemann's primary objective, which was the "restoration of health [for patients]... in the shortest, most reliable, and least harmful way." (Organon, §2) How could one utilize the newly expounded Law if doing so meant subjecting patients to other oftentimes more dangerous diseases? This same issue concerned Hahnemann in his employment of the drugs of the day -- herbs. Even the most effective medicinal herbs can have noxious side-effects. (Which is why our primary focus here at the Nourishing Herbalist is to obtain healing power from adaptogenic -- tonic -- herbs, which have no side-effects.) So commenced another experiment by Hahnemann: what was the minimal dose that would provide healing and yet be completely safe with no side-effects to the patient? After many years of study, Hahnemann reached the discovery of potentization; infinitesimally small doses of any substance were found to be of better therapeutic (healing) value yet with no harm to the patient. (For more information on this process, read about how homeopathic remedies are made.) How then, does this infinitesimally small dose become such a powerhouse of healing for certain ailments? Hahnemann claimed the "best opportunity for exercising [the] sense of observation and to perfect it, [was] by proving medicines ourselves." And that is exactly what he did. Once a remedy was potentized, Hahnemann would test the substance himself to find out which symptoms it was capable of producing, and consequently, curing.
In present day this process, called a "proving", is conducted on healthy volunteers who are unaware of the remedy they are being given. Doses are repeated until symptoms appear reflecting a changed mental, physical and/or emotional state. All details relating to these changes are written down and compared; those with similar "symptoms" are considered signature characteristics of the substance. Another method of proving comes through the identification of toxic symptoms, i.e. cases of accidental poisoning and the effects as reported by toxicological literature. Homeopathic medicine facilitates healing in a holistic fashion; that is, it seeks to heal the whole person mentally, emotionally and physically rather than just focusing on the physical aspects of disease. Disease pathologies can be unique to a person; the same disease in different people can manifest itself in varying ways.
It logically follows that the healing process varies person to person as well. This is true, yet healing also follows a universal order. Dr. C. Hering, another renown homeopath, identified this specific healing process and termed it the "Law of Cure" (known also as Hering's Law). The law observes that healing takes place in the following order: First, from the inside out. Thus in homeopathy treatment of an outward manifestation of disease (for example, eczema) will not necessarily be eradicated by a homeopathic remedy until inner healing of the disease pathology is complete. Healing on a mental/emotional plane will take place first and then the physical will follow. Using this example, a patient may claim a remedy made them feel better "in general" but their eczema is still present. Skin irritations, according to the Law of Cure, will be one of the last symptoms to subside.
As you embark on your homeopathic journey, it's valuable to keep this understanding of the healing process before you. Look first to the broad spectrum of your health when identifying improvements. Mental and emotional issues are just as important as physical. This is the value of true holistic medicine. It's the sound and balanced state of all three that define our vitality. And that, as you know, is what we're after. If you research homeopathy it's a bit unnerving the hostile and negative results that appear, especially on the internet. The beauty of freedom is that each can share their opinion…the only hitch is that one must have an opinion in the first place. And sometimes a poorly acquired opinion is motivated not by accurate information or personal experience, but by an agenda.
"There are none so blind as those that will not see." (Matthew Henry) Our goal at the Nourishing Herbalist is to provide quality information to our readers of the three effective forms of alternative medicine that truly inspire our journey to vitality. And as we've stated before, we highlight herbalism, homeopathy and aromatherapy because they're safe to use, relatively cheap to acquire, and effective for even the novice of practitioners.
Armed with that information, we encourage you to try homeopathy for yourselves. There are none that will argue the safety of homeopathic remedies, so you have the perfect environment for personal experimentation and opinion-forming. On a scientific level, there have been several recent studies on homeopathy that are definitely worth your time:
Why not give remedies a try for your next acute illness? What is there to lose? And you might discover an effective and inexpensive answer to your health needs! Should you have chronic ailments, be sure to take advantage of your local homeopath or contact the Nourishing Herbalist to apply for a free homeopathic counseling session. For a printable version of this informational page, select the link below.
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