About Classical Homeopathy
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SIMILIMUM
​The stream of knowledge is heading toward a non-mechanical reality;
the universe begins to look more like a great thought than a great machine -
Sir James Jeans (1877-1946)
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If you're new to homeopathy, you will have come across the Latin phrase similia similibus curentur which means ‘like curing like’. This is an ancient method of healing advocated by Hippocrates, the ‘Father of Medicine’. Prescribing the right homeopathic remedy, the ‘similimum’, is important if you want a successful outcome or cure. Let’s look at what this means.
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The first prerequisite is a potentised remedy. This is where we might say matter is taken back to its primal state of energy. I have used the term ‘energy’ in these pages because energy is what the recipient of a homeopathic remedy experiences when they have taken their similimum and it is energy that composes the primal state of matter. Potentially medicinal material is selected and crushed. Then it is diluted and shaken over and over again. After many repetitions of diluting and shaking there appears to be none of the original material left in the water. That is to say, there is nothing that can be detected by our present scientific instruments. The only thing remaining is what may be termed its intrinsic energy.
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This energy is inherent in all forms: for example in the elements, in animal, vegetable and mineral realms, in gases, in poisonous substances. Inherent energy can even be found within ‘imponderable’ things like electricity, x-ray, or the rays of the sun. Energy, then, is intrinsic within everything – in what your senses can perceive, and in what your senses cannot perceive. And this energy is brought to light, so to speak, during the course of homeopaths' provings.
​The empirical evidence that energy is latent in matter is clearly shown when, after a potentised remedy has been given to healthy recipients, a variety of symptoms on the mental, emotional and physical levels surface in provings depending on the provers' susceptibilities. For example Arsenicum Album may produce anxieties for some provers, Ignatia may produce hysteria, or Mercurius may produce an ulcerated throat.
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All these symptoms are then precisely recorded in exacting detail to give an accurate record of the effects of taking a particular potentised material. This is known as a proving of a remedy: a group of healthy people take a potentised remedy and any symptoms that consequently appear (mental, emotional and physical) are noted.
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These notes are published as homeopaths’ materia medica. A practicing homeopath gets information about a remedy from their materia medica books which are catalogues of the provings of single remedies. (Occasionally repetitive high-points appear in certain mental, emotional or physical areas of some remedies and these are known as the remedy’s signature which are very useful indicators for particular forms of prescribing.)
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The second crucial prerequisite of similia similibus curentur is to choose a potentised remedy that corresponds to, or matches, the symptoms of the ill individual. The mental, emotional and physical symptoms of a remedy from the materia medica should ideally match as closely as possible the mental, emotional and physical symptoms of the patient. If the match is right, after the similimum is given there will be a change in the recipient’s overall energy on the mental, emotional or physical level followed by an amelioration of their symptoms. Much like an oscilloscope, two similar frequencies brought together will cancel each other out. Note that homeopathy does not treat diseases per se, but addresses the symptoms only. The outcome of prescribing a homeopathic remedy will be dependent on the overall general health of the patient.
So based on an individual’s unique mental, emotional and physical symptomology, a homeopath will match the most appropriate homeopathic remedy in order to stimulate the patient’s innate healing abilities – their vital force. But not just any remedy will do. It must be as close a match as possible: the best success stories of homeopathic “cures” are due to exact, or close, matches.
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Thus homeopathic remedies are prescribed according to what is known as the Law of Similars. Of course the reaction after the potentised remedy has been given will differ according to factors like the individual’s energy level, general health, medical history, surgery, vaccinations, etc. A strong vitality with vivid symptoms, as seen in a healthy child, will generate a strong curative response. A weaker vitality with indefinite symptoms may respond slowly to a similimum remedy.
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Usually the presenting symptoms of the patient may be briefly enhanced at first (sometimes called an aggravation) before they experience an amelioration - or there may be just a gradual improvement in the individual’s well being and energy as their symptoms gradually diminish. Similia similibus curentur.
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MINIMUM DOSE
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The task is, not so much to see what no one has yet seen,
but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees -
Erwin Schrodinger (1887-1961)
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Newcomers to homeopathy may wonder what the phrase 'minimum dose' means. A homeopathic remedy only needs to be the very minimum dose because it contains intrinsic energy released from repeated dilutions and succussion. It becomes in effect medicinal energy. So only one application, one initial stimulus, of the similimum is usually enough to start the vital force’s movement towards curing itself. Much like rolling a ball... The curative effect can be profound because intrinsic energy in a potentised remedy covers many mental, emotional and physical symptoms and can gradually and gently heal many layers of disease over time. The greatest exponent of the minimum dose in homeopathy was its founder, Samuel Hahnemann, M.D (1755-1843).
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Hahnemann was appalled at the sufferings and deaths of so many patients as the physicians of his day tried to heal them with high doses of medicinal substances. So Hahnemann experimented with smaller and smaller doses of single remedies in order to minimise the side effects. He developed a new method of dilution (a vigorous shaking called succussion), and the resulting product he called a ‘potentised remedy’.
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Hahnemann found that not only did he have a remedy without any side effects but also that the more he diluted it using succussion, the better his remedy cured; succussion released the energy inherent in the substance, with none of the toxic effects. He then numbered the remedies according to the number of times they had been diluted. The sequential dilution of the substance along with succussion is known as potentisation.
To make a potentised remedy Hahnemann took one drop of the substance liquid (tincture) and added it to ninety-nine drops of alcohol. Then he’d shake the sealed container against a solid hardback book to succuss and release the energy. This potency was called a 1C (centesimal). Then he’d take one drop of the 1C solution and add it to ninety-nine drops of alcohol and succuss again. This became 2C.
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Hahnemann initially used remedies diluted up to 6C strength. Then he experimented with higher and higher potencies and achieved even better results. The most common low potencies in the centesimal scale are the 6C, 12C and 30C. Experienced homeopaths use 200C, 1M (one thousand dilutions), 10M (ten thousand dilutions), LM (fifty thousand dilutions) and CM (one hundred thousand dilutions).
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Classical homeopathy, then, involves treating an individual with extremely dilute substances, usually in saccharum lactis tablet form, with the aim of triggering a person’s natural healing abilities. Above the homeopathic potency of 6C there is nothing left of the original material, only what appears to be its intrinsic energy. It should be noted that it is only a matter of time before science develops the technology to accurately measure the inherent energy within potentised remedies. And as science advances and curiosity grows about homeopathy, the homeopath’s minimum dose will reveal that an infinitesimal amount contains much healing power. For instance, science has detected nano-particles in extreme dilutions.
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For acute (short-acting illnesses) and most first-aid self-prescribing the 30C potency is recommended as it is within the low-potency range. However, if you’re consulting a classical homeopath the potency chosen and the dosage will be tailored according to your specific requirements. This is because the homeopathic medicines are so infinitesimally dilute they will act according to your biophysical or energetic paradigm. Only an extremely minute dose is needed to encourage the vital force to start healing itself.
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SINGLE REMEDY
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We may therefore regard matter as being constituted by the regions of space
in which the field is extremely intense ...
There is no place in this kind of physics both for the field and matter,
for the field is the only reality -
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
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With homeopathic remedies prescribed in the classical manner, only one single remedy is given at any one time. This is because with the stimulus of one dose of energy, it is only necessary to use one homeopathic pill, or one drop. This is more than enough to encourage the vital force to start healing. Much like rolling a ball ... Because homeopathic remedies are usually proven singly at a time, they are usually prescribed singly at a time.
The reason is that if two or more different remedies are taken at the same time, or an unproven combination remedy is taken, a classical homeopath cannot ascertain which of the remedies has been the active ingredient - either positively or negatively (some remedies antidote one another). However there are always exceptions: for various medicinal reasons some remedies have been combined before dilution and succussion. However these remedies have gone through the potentisation procedure simultaneously from their material beginnings and have therefore been proven as one remedy.
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In a proving, a single homeopathic remedy usually produces a plethora of symptoms on the mental, emotional and physical levels. This means a single remedy can also re-balance an ill person’s whole dynamic system including symptoms on their mental, emotional and physical levels. Even if the symptoms of the ill person are localized, in effect it is the person’s whole system that has lost equilibrium and is trying to regulate itself through symptoms. So, as a rule, not only physical but also mental and emotional symptoms are taken into consideration when prescribing: they are all evidence of a unified effort to resolve an inner disturbance.
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Thus in prescribing homeopathic remedies only one single remedy is taken at a time, followed by observation of its effects on the person’s energy. By waiting and observing you will see the single similimum remedy instigate change.
