The 7^th Organon

Hahnemann used his most advanced methods with the C and 50 millesimal potencies for around a 3 year period spanning 1840 to 1843. This was the time that he was writing the 6^th Organon. I have used these C and LM potencies in the medicinal solution for over 25 years. Although I am not qualified to write a “7^th Organon”, I do have many years of experience with bringing Hahnemann’s final methods up to date for practice in our times. With this in mind, I do my best to share with students and colleagues the fruits of my endeavors in the fields of research and clinical practice.  First of all, I would like to say that the medicinal powers of the C and LM potency are complementary opposites that greatly expand the therapeutic horizons of Homoeopathy. For this reason, there are cases that do better on the centesimal potencies and cases that do better on the 50 millesimal potencies as well as cases that need both the C and LM potency during the process of cure. If the homeopath can gain experience in the characteristic actions of these two potency systems they will be able to customize their treatments to suit the circumstances in a manner that is just not possible by the older 4^th Organon methods alone.

The centesimal potencies are aggressive in their onset, promote rapid aggravation and produce a long curative secondary action. The Kentian system is based on seven major degrees of the potency degrees from 30C to 200C to 1M to 10M to 50M to CM to MM. These very large jumps of potency produce a rapid vertical arc in degrees of power. The aggressive nature of the centesimal potencies is similar to strong exciting causes, accidents, trauma, strong acute diseases, virulent acute miasms, chronic diseases that begin with an intense crisis and progress quickly and acute-like flare-ups of chronic states and miasms. The prolonged aggravations caused by using the higher potencies at the start of treatment can be counterproductive in cases of organic pathology and lack of vitality.

The 50 millesimal potencies are gentle in their onset, reach aggravation slowly and produce a deep enduring curative action in stages. This scale utilizes 30 microtonal degrees of potency that reach their full remedial power in gradually increasing increments. The arc of potency is similar to a gentle ascending plane that moves upward in a gradual manner. The ever-increasing nature of this scale is similar to conditions produced by prolonged maintaining causes, long-term degenerative diseases, old one-sided states, pathological conditions and protracted chronic miasms. The LM potency tends to produce aggravations at the end of the treatment when the pathology is healed and the vitality is restored. This quality can be very useful in cases where organic pathology and weakened vitality makes the centesimal potencies difficult to use without complications. The Paris casebooks show that Hahnemann tended to use the C potency for acute conditions and crisis and the LM potency for chronic diseases and miasms although not exclusively.

The methods of the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th Organon represent the evolution of a similar technique rather than a contradictory change in methods as they are sometimes portrayed. If the practitioner has not really understood the wait and watch method of the 4^th level of Homoeopathy they do not really understand how to judge the action of single doses over time. Nevertheless, those that have not evolved to the 5^th and 6^th level of Homeopathy imagine that the single dose is suitable for all cases. In aphorism 245 of the 5^th and 246 of the 6^th Organon Hahnemann makes it clear that the hallmark of the single and infrequent dose cures are an observably progressive and strikingly increasing amelioration. Many do not understand that cases that respond to single or infrequent doses with a slow improvement are perfect candidates for the repetition of the remedy to speed the cure. These more rapid intervals must be selected in accordance with the nature of the remedy, the size of the dose and the degree of the potency; the patient’s constitutional sensitivity and vitality, and the nature and magnitude of the disease state. If these factors are understood the time of cure of these slow moving cases can be reduced tremendously.

On the other hand, there are those that imagine that using Hahnemann’s “new method” means that one should repeat the remedy at rapid intervals all of the time for long periods. They have a tendency to administer too many doses too quickly, which produces aggravations and accessory symptoms of the remedy. Some of these individuals make it a standard practice to give the remedy daily for up to a month without reassessing the action of the remedy on the patient. They tell others that this is how Hahnemann practiced in Paris but nothing could be further from the truth. They do not realize that Samuel still used the single doses (usually by olfaction) when using the C or LM potency and often gave a short series of medicinal doses followed by placebos while he waited and watched. They do not understand that the daily dose should only be used “when necessary” and only as long as it is truly required. For this reason, they cause medicinal symptoms that have given split-doses of the medicinal solution of the C and LM potency a bad reputation in certain circles. All of these problems are caused by using a mechanistic approach that more often than not leads to overmedication in the long run.

The six editions of the Organon embody the evolution of a method over a 33 year period in which Hahnemann sought to perfect the homeopathic healing art. The last 10 years of Samuel’s life (1833-1843) represent an epoch in which the Founder introduced his most advanced techniques. In the final Middle Path approach the dichotomy between the single dose wait and watch method and the repetition of the remedy at specific intervals is removed. What appears to some as a conflict of interests is replaced with a system of flexible response that offers maximum individualization according to the time and circumstances. Hahnemann stated that by using these techniques he sped the cure of protracted cases by ½, ¾ or even less the time it took with the methods of the 1820s. This is especially true for those who have mastered the complementary opposite actions of the C and LM potency. Shouldn’t this extraordinary statement by the Founder be tested by a new generation? Should we just continue to use the same old methods year after year without testing Hahnemann’s hypothesis in the clinic? What is needed to carry out this experiment is a “beginners mind tempered with the wisdom of experience”.

During the period of the 5^th and 6^th Organon, Hahnemann introduced his most sophisticated delivery system for dynamic potencies, i.e. the medicinal solution and the methods of adjusting the dose. Nevertheless, we often hear that the size of the dose and the nature of the delivery system make “no difference” in Homeopathy. Should we just continue to mechanically repeat the same old concepts rather than study the final experiments of the Founder for ourselves? Shouldn’t we test the methods of the medicinal solution with both the C and LM potencies as Hahnemann did in his final years? Is clinging to past methods really the way forward to the medicine of the future? I think not! I call on all those with an open mind to carefully read the aphorisms of the 5^th and 6^th Organon and test the Founder’s final methods in a clinical trial as I did all those years ago. Since that time, I have guided hundreds of people through a similar process and they have found that the Founder’s observations are most certainly true. I have seen that those who take the time to truly investigate Hahnemann’s advanced methods never regret the experience.

Similia Minimus

Sincerely, David Little

http://www.simillimum.com

David Little has studied Hahnemann’s Paris casebooks intensively and is considered a leading authority on the way in which the Founder used the C and LM potencies in his final years. He is currently at work on The Homoeopathic Compendium, which is a six volume 4000 page textbook spanning the history, theory and practice of the homeopathic healing art.