I’ve wanted to write about this subject for a long time, in practice I have seen many homeopaths disagree on the “right” way to practice. These disagreements are usually lighthearted and well meant, and I feel as a profession, we tend to support each other, and the individual systems that practitioners use. Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy published 6 editions of the Organon, between 1810 and the last, published posthumously in 1921. During the years of refining his craft Hahnemann changed his mind a lot! On potency, duration and administering of remedies. Some hold the Organon up as an example of perfection and declare classical homeopathy to be the mainstream way to practice this traditional art. But is it?
I was classically trained, and I have an enormous amount of respect for Hahnemann, but life and health in the 1800s was vastly different from the life we lead now. Modern day stresses, toxicity from pharmaceutical medications and vaccinations prevail. Chemical overload from foods, artificial hormones and skin care products were not relevant in the 1800s. We live in toxic times and any form of medicine needs to understand this, to be effective. I see cases where a classical one remedy approach works, and this will always be the case, Hahnemann’s legacy prevails. But I also see many cases where this is not going to address the problem, where organs are struggling to cope, side effects from prescription drugs, ongoing chronic states of suppression from antidepressants, immunosuppressants, steroids etc. Hahnemann did not have these obstacles. Hahnemann’s work evolved through every edition of the Organon, and I believe that it should continue to evolve. There will always be a nod to this great man in every remedy I give, but homeopathy should not be frozen in time, I feel if he was alive in these times then he would be prescribing very differently. He was a pioneer and constantly changed his theories, as should we. We all agree that homeopathy is an individualistic form of medicine, this individuality should be reflected in our prescribing techniques too. It’s time homeopathy stopped segregating itself, our overall goal is the same:
“The physician’s high and only mission is to restore the sick to health, to cure, as it is termed” Aphorism 1 It should not matter how we do this, only that it is done.