“The highest form of human intelligence is the capacity to observe without judgment.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843)
“The physician's high and only mission is to restore the sick to health, to cure, as it is termed. The highest ideal of cure is rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of the health, or removal and annihilation of the disease in its whole extent, in the shortest, most reliable, and most harmless way, on easily comprehensible principles” From Samuel Hahnemann’s Organon (1842), Paragraphs 1 and 2
A few historical hints
Homeopathy was founded by Samuel Hahnemann, an extraordinary physician who lived from 1755 to 1843. During his life span he created a complete medical methodology, based on two universal principles: the law of similitude, similia similibus curentur (like cures like), and the law of dynamization or potentization, that allows to free the intrinsic vital energy found in every element, through succussion, a shaking action, and through dilution.
After 10 years of medical practice in Dessau, Hahnemann, being deeply disappointed by the medical view of those times, decided to quit. He declared to his patients that he was not able to treat them and that he was only stealing their money. Thanks to his great knowledge of languages (he could speak ten different languages), he was able to support his family by translating medical books. It was precisely while translating the work of Scottish William Cullen, Materia Medica, that he encountered the first law of homeopathy: the extract of the cinchona’s cortex (china) created the same symptoms of malaria on the workers that were processing the cortex. Cullen took the china for four days, twice daily, and developed all the symptoms of malarial fevers. These symptoms were showing up every time he took a dose.
William Cullen (1710-1790)
This phenomenon deeply struck Hahnamann and as the implications were still not so clear, he decided to experiment the substance on himself: he took 2 grams of china for five days, twice daily. He would precisely note down every symptom that would arise. He himself could confirm the onset of intermittent fevers always at the same time of the day. Hahnemann could experiment on himself that the china, used to cure intermittent fevers (and therefore also malaria), produced the same symptoms on healthy people. His intuition was suggesting him that behind this phenomenon there was a universal law: he experimented different substances on himself and on his children and students, systematically noting down the onset of the various symptoms.
The law was confirmed: the substances provoked the same symptoms that they could treat!
Hahnemann discovered one of the most important laws in the history of medicine and he coined it with the Latin phrase: Similia similibus curentur, like cures like. This means that every medical substance provokes in a healthy person symptoms that can be treated in a sick person. When a substance is applied with the law of similitude, it is called homeopathic (from Greek omoios, like, and pathos, disease).
Hippocrates of Cos (450-400 a.C.)
The principle of similitude was also taken by Paracelsus (1493-1541), who formulated the doctrine of signatures.
Paracelsus (1493-1541)
Also, the herbalist-astrologer Nicholas Culpeper distinguished the treatment as for sympathy and antipathy, specifying that true recovery occurs through the first principle, sympathy, that corresponds to the law of similitude in homeopathy.
Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654)
The brilliance of Hahnemann was of understanding the universal importance of the law of similitude and that it had a far greater effect than the law of opposites (that gave birth to allopathic medicine, from Greek allos, opposites). The law of similitude is in fact the same law that sustains the universe, that force that by resonance attracts the atoms and molecules. Like attracts like. Just like a string of an instrument starts to resonate when the corresponding diapason strikes its note. A homeopathic remedy just works in the same way. Following the law of similitude, the remedy is able to resonate the sick part of the patient that has the same wavelength of the remedy, shifting it from its pathological crystallization and triggering a therapeutic process. We can compare this law with the concept of empathy and compassion that is found in the Buddhist culture, and with the concept of love in Cristianity.
Once the law of similitude was discovered, Hahnemann was confronted with the problem of the toxic side effects contained in the poisons that were used. For this reason he started diluting more and more these substances and with big surprise found out that the healing effect instead of decreasing, was increasing. This phenomenon is described in pharmacology as the law of Arndt-Schulz: “small doses are stimulant, medium doses are indifferent, large doses block, paralyze, or kill”.
The brilliant German physician then made yet a third discovery: simply diluting was not enough, but dilution combined with succussion gave inert substances therapeutic powers, freeing and highlighting their latent healing powers. The combination of dilution and succussion was called dynamization (from Greek, strength or power) or homeopathic potency, or potentization.
Therefore, Hahnemann had the exceptional idea of diluting the substance to decrease its toxic effect and at the same time to potentize it in order to increase its therapeutic effect. Again this was not a new idea in the history of medicine. Paracelsus already recognized that the goal of medicine was to be as less invasive as possible to the patient, by taking minimal medical doses. But once again great merit has to go to the inventor of homeopathy who systematically transformed this law.
These discoveries led Hahanemann to a new understanding of human beings, of life and of diseases. Being aware that homeopathic remedies no longer contained any substance, but were nonetheless incredibly effective, he understood that the human being was not constituted by a physical body alone, but also by vital energy. Seeing that without vital energy there is no life, he formulated that every disease was in reality an alteration of vital energy. This conclusion is perfectly in harmony with the foundations of other healing philosophies, such as ayurvedic (Indian) or Chinese. These traditions also recognize in fact the existence of an etheric body, made of energy channels, “charkas”, “nadis” and meridians. These structures of subtle energy have the function of bringing vital energy (called prana, chi, or ki) to the physical organs. If one of these structures contracts, its correspondent organ gets sick. Also in western medicine this concept was already known. Hippocrates spoke about vis medicatrix naturae, the healing vital force found in nature, which is nothing other than the vital energy that permeates every living being.
Hahnemann consequently came to formulate the theory of miasms. Miasms are fundamental alteration patterns of the vital energy. The theory was able to explain the nature of chronic and acute diseases.
What the homeopathic remedy does is unblock this energetic alteration, thanks to the law of resonance, which in homeopathy is defined as the law of similitude. This allows to trigger a real recovery process, healing the causes that led to an unbalance and therefore to disease.
Official medicine, limiting itself on the physical plane, only describes the terminal effects of the pathology. For instance in a cinema theatre, a movie is projected on a screen. The image that we see in reality originates from a projector and a film. By intervening on the screen alone, official medicine cannot fix any defect of the film or projector, but only its final effect on the screen. One can therefore deduct that official medicine bases itself on the suppression of the manifested symptoms in a patient (screen), while homeopathy treats from the inside out (projector and film), reestablishing harmony in the patient’s energetic system, and consequently at a psychophysical level.
Further developments
Hahnemann created a complete therapeutic method, with precise laws, those of similitude and potentization, which will never change in time. His homeopathy is a complete methodology of extraordinary efficiency. This does not mean that there is no evolution and research in the homeopathic practice, on the contrary. Hahnamann after discovering the two laws, just mentioned, went on understanding chronic diseases and miasms, this could allow him to define the principles with which to apply the homeopathic remedies. Moreover he made all sorts of experiments on the possibility of potentizing the substances. In fact, besides the C potencies, he also developed the Q potencies (see Organon 6th edition). He then tried to figure out what was the right frequency to administer the remedies. Hahnemann condensed his results in the following three texts: Organon of the healing Art, Treatise on Chronic Diseases and Materia Medica Pura.
His work was handed down to his students and descendants.
James Tyler Kent (1849-1916)
J.T. Kent, eminent American homeopathic doctor, further developed the C potencies, going past the 30th potency, and created what is now known as the Kent’s scale, which mainly comprises the 30, 200, M, XM, CM and MM potencies. He defined the time of action of each single potencies, and developed some criteria to evaluate the accuracy of the prescription (cfr. Homeopathic philosophy lessons).
One also needs to acknowledge Kent for having created an extremely structured and wide repertoire. In the past Hahnemann and his student Bönninghausen, and also G. Jahr and Hering, had already tried to create some repertoire prototypes, however the work that Kent did was unprecedented. His repertoire constitutes the base for modern homeopathy and allows one to immediately find the right remedy for every symptom.
During the years, the greatest homeopaths have been continuously testing new substances of natural origin and have so contributed to the widening of the Homeopathic materia medica, which now includes about 3000 remedies. Of particular relevance was Constantin Hering, who introduced important remedies, such as the snake poison class of remedies and the nosodes.
Costantin Hering (1800-1880)
He defined three laws that allow one to assess the effect of the remedies and the therapeutic development. Furthermore he created the single glass method, the D potencies and tested new chemical substances, such as glonoinum.
The search for new homeopathic remedies is infinite, but it is interesting to notice that the main constitutional remedies are correlated to elements already found in the alchemic traditions. Such as sulphur, table salt (natrum muriaticum) or mercury (mercurius solubilis).
One cannot not mention P. Schmidt and J. Künzli, as key contributors to modern homeopathy.
Pierre Schmidt (1894-1987)
Through Hahnemann, Hering, Kent and others, came a pure transmission of the homeopathic knowledge. When Kent passed away, this lineage of homeopaths was about to be lost, but thanks to P. Schmidt it was maintained and continued. In London he studied from J. H. Clarke and John Weir and then in the United States from Kent’s students (Austin and Gladwin). Returning to Geneva he opened practice and started teaching physicians throughout Europe.
P. Schmidt published several works, and contributed to the edition of Kent’s final general repertoire. He translated Hahnemann’s Organon into French, and founded together with other homeopaths the Liga Medicorum Homoeopathica Internationalis (Liga o LMHI). He had a universal mind and was interested in many disciplines such as geography, iridology, palmistry, numerology, he had a great passion for India and its spirituality; he was a big traveler and loved art.
Jost Künzli (1915-1992)
Jost Künzli was Pierre Schmidt’s student and in 1946 he revitalized homeopathy in the Germanic areas after second world war. He brought purity back to homeopathy, and spread Kent’s General Repertoire, adding some notes on the value indexes. He also spread Kent’s questionnaire and translated the French version of Schmidt’s Homeopathic Philosophy of Kent into German.
As the sixth edition (last one) of Hahnemann’s Organon was published only 80 years after his death, Kent never knew about Hahnemann’s discovery of the Q potencies. Thanks to P. Schmidt and J. Künzli they got reintroduced into the homeopathic practice. Together they produced a series of remedies using the Q potency and taught their students how to use them, according to the indications found in the Organon.
Further developments in the last years have been mainly focused on the psychic understanding of the remedies and of disease. In a way one can say that the fruits of modern psychiatry have been integrated in the homeopathic practice. Various authors, such as Candegabe, Sankaran, and others, have highlighted the main conflicting mechanisms for each remedy, giving further understanding on how to best take homeopathic remedies. In fact this new understanding has allowed one to directly access the mental state, with the result of having a complete vision of the psychic and physical symptoms.
Nowadays homeopathy continues to develop and there is still a great deal to be discovered. New ideas are being integrated with great advantages, but with the danger of losing track of the foundations. It is the responsibility of each contemporary homeopath to bridge classical unicist homeopathy with its new developments.
Homeopathy at a practical level
Any system, whether biological or not, is fundamentally based on energy and information. One may get sick both due to lack of energy or due to wrong information stuck in the organism. The latter is by far the most frequent. Compared to other medical methodologies, homeopathy has the extraordinary capacity to restore incorrect information. This happens by taking a homeopathic remedy, which corresponds to the patient’s characteristics (called Simillium). The remedy is potentized according to the energetic level of the patient. The choice of the remedy is mainly based on the anamnesis and on the observation of physical symptoms (medical visit, laboratory analysis, etc.). The homeopaths’ attention is toward all those peculiarities that distinguish each individual from another, the so-called characteristic symptoms. In order to get this accurate knowledge of the patient, it is very important to establish a trustful and cooperative relationship.
In homeopathy one distinguishes the treatment of chronic diseases and of acute diseases. The first are treated with the so-called constitutional remedy. It is definitely the most important work. By taking the remedy, with a more or less 40 day frequency, not only are the chronic symptoms treated, but a preventative action is also occurring, on both acute and chronic levels. Before repeating the administration of the remedy one observes the evolution of the symptoms (medical report), in order to determine whether the effect of the remedy is occurring in the right way. It is very important to regularly take the remedy until a complete and stable recovery has been reached. Depending on the depth of the disorder, the treatment may be of variable duration: every process that deals with vital dynamics requires time and patience. Healing initially happens at the deepest level of the human being, and then gradually reaches the superficial levels (Hering’s first law). For example a patient with bronchitis asthma with eczematous afflictions will first find relief in his/her breathing, and only after at the skin level. The recovery has its own precise logic. That’s why already in the first days from taking a remedy, the patient can immediately perceive a general improvement of wellbeing. Additionally recovery happens according to other two principles: symptoms move from the top of the body downward (Hering’s second law) and symptoms disappear in reverse chronological order (Hering’s third law). For example a polyarthritis will initially start to heal in the upper joints and then in the lower joints. Concerning the reverse chronological order, the most recent symptoms are the first ones being healed, while the old symptoms are the last.
Sometimes, before recovery, a momentary resurfacing of old symptoms of the past may occur. Furthermore in the first two weeks after the administration one observes in 30% of patients a slight worsening of some symptoms.
During a homeopathic treatment strong acute ailments will become more rare.
When an acute symptom occurs, the patient will take a remedy with immediate effect, precisely aimed at curing the symptom.
In truth homeopathy does not directly treat disease, but heals the whole human being. Only a person who has a complete psycho-physical integrity will be able to face the various pathogenous threats that may manifest along his/her extraordinary journey of existence.
Experience, research and personal practice
I had the great privilege to attend the last teaching semester of Dr. J. Künzli in Zurich. Thereafter I followed the brilliant courses held by his students, including Dr. Hée, Dr. Righetti e Dr. Spinedi. In 1999 I opened practice in the department of oncological homeopathy of Dr. Spinedi in Orselina, Switzerland, where I worked until 2009. In those ten years I gathered a lot of experience in treating cancer with homeopathy (and other important diseases such multiple sclerosis). In the last several years I worked in the clinic of Dr. Spinedi as supervisor in the Italian section.
Thanks to Dr. Spinedi, in the clinical oncological work, we were able to thoroughly test the effect of Q potencies, that as mentioned earlier, were one of Hahnemann’s last discoveries, which were later resumed and spread by Pierre Schmidt and Jost Künzli. Q potencies are very appropriate to treat serious diseases, as they do not create any initial worsening of symptoms, they are easily adaptable, they allow a rapid change of remedy when necessary and they better cohabit with allopathy. This work has no doubt been of immense value for the clinic.
These years of therapeutic practice have allowed me to continuously research the causes of diseases and their solutions. The suffering experienced by the patient constantly stimulates me to explore beyond academic knowledge. The university allopathic doctrine only describes the effects of diseases, therefore their drugs are, fundamentally, palliative. The homeopathic teaching has brought a fundamental revolution, opening up an extraordinary therapeutic breakthrough. By integrating psychoenergetics and medical astrology made it possible for me to understand that illnesses, through their symptoms, are a perfect language of our psyche. Every symptom reveals an unsolved inner conflict, which may or may not be consciously recognized. It has now become very clear to me that true recovery has to allow the patient to reach the depth of his/her being, where there is a greater understanding of him/herself, giving the patient a chance to solve psychic conflicts. This understanding has given me the opportunity to discover new laws with which to apply homeopathic treatments. By respecting the basics of classical unicist homeopathy and integrating new techniques at the same time, have made the practice a lot more effective. Since I am working in this way, the therapeutic action is a lot faster, deeper and more complete.
Besides all the curable pathologies, whereof you can see some examples in the “clinical cases” chapter, homeopathy is extraordinary for the fact that when one treats a symptom, not only that particular symptom gets treated, but the whole organism gets harmonized, increasing the general wellbeing of the patient and consequently reaching a considerable preventative effect. In these years I have noticed that the onset of acute and chronic diseases in patients who are treated with homeopathy was far lower than usual. For example a child that would come for recurring otitis, after some time the infections were no longer recurring. Another example is that practically every child that is undergoing a homeopathic treatment has never needed to take antibiotics. And another very impressing observation is that the patients that are regularly being treated with homeopathy, so far not a single one has developed cancer. Seeing the great increase of cancer in the last few decades, this is a considerable statistical result.
…more follows…
Dr. Luc Montagnier (Nobel Prize of Medicine) proves the validity of scientific homeopathic principle
Luc Montagnier, Nobel Prize of medicine in 2008, publishes an article in 2009 on the prestigious journal of Physics (Journal of Physic) under the name DNA, waves and water:
In the article Montagnier explains his discovery where some sequences of DNA can cause low-frequency electromagnetic signals in highly diluted aqueous solutions, which are then ' memory ' of the same DNA characteristics. This explains quite clearly the scientific basis of homeopathy, where through diluition and succussion, you can potentize the therapeutic substance information, leaving trace of this unit of energy-information in the water. The link between the search of Montagnier and homeopathy is so evident, that the Nobel himself has publicly stated:
On December 24, 2010 the Nobel Prize winner has been interviewed by Science where reiterates its discovery and the subsequent scientific evidence of the veracity of homeopathic potencies:
In the article Montagnier also explains that he had to transfer its research centre in China, as the scientific and intellectual terrorism that prevails in France and Europe, does not allow research in this field. If a Nobel Prize winner must flee from Europe to do research, we can realize in which precarious situation lies today the modern scientific western community. We can safely declare that science and the search for truth is dead by several decades. The cause? Stratospheric, billionaires interests of industries, particularly those pharmaceutical. They are the ones who decide what is scientific and what is true. It is they who decide whether an article can be published on the primary reference scientific journals. Now is always the old refrain: money has a priority and a much higher value to the truth.
The scientific study of Montagnier will be yet another study which proves the veracity of the homeopathic method and that despite this is shamefully trashed. A further crime of the industrial mafia camouflaged from white coat. But the grotesque side of this event, this time to be trashed is not only a scientific study, but also a Nobel Prize of medicine.
