At this moment in history, homeopathy is becoming ever more popular among lay people. Mothers are using it for their children, the books and remedies are selling well and students are signing up for homeopathy courses.
However, in a parallel reality, governments around the world are removing homeopathy from their health care systems, forbidding homeopaths to make health claims under threat of fine or imprisonment and threatening to ban the remedies.
It is during this strange state of affairs that the first major homeopathy research conference in U.S. history will take place October 20-22, 2023. It will be open to the public and is titled “Groundbreaking Science. Homeopathy and the Future of Global Health“.
Research validating homeopathy has been going on for many years and has become very sophisticated in terms of the advanced technology used. The research has been done on humans, animals, plants and in vitro. Anyone reading it would have to conclude that homeopathy is extraordinarily effective and safe. But who is reading it?
Most doctors don’t spend their evenings reading complex research papers. Nor do legislators or those in the media. Nowadays sound bites and summaries are the way they become “informed”. They need information distilled down to something easy to grasp (and maybe even entertaining).
Whatever information is gleaned from the research conference needs to be presented with models, images and metaphors easily grasped by doctors, the media, legislators etc. It needs soundbites and headlines.
The biggest stumbling block for grasping how homeopathy works still seems to be the idea of high dilutions having nothing in them. It just seems improbable. In Feb 2009, I wrote an editorial titled “A New Paradigm for Potentization – It’s Copies!” It was an effort to explain the dilution dilemma in a way that anyone can understand. I’m reprinting a portion of it below:
When a substance in water is diluted and succussed, the water molecules form organized clusters. The configuration of these clusters is unique for each substance. For instance, in a solution of common table salt, diluted beyond 10-7 and succussed, the molecules will form clusters characteristic of salt.
At the next stage of potentization, one drop of that solution is placed in 99 drops of water and succussed again. That one drop has the “salt” configuration and acts as a template, conveying this pattern (information) to the next 99 drops of water. That one drop thus creates a copy of the previous solution. Thus, when we make a homeopathic remedy, we are not just making dilutions, we are making copies.
So, when someone asks “How can something so dilute be a medicine?”, that’s the wrong question. The correct question is, “How many copies can you make of a something.?” Of course, there is no limit.
A homeopathic remedy is not, as some suggest, “one drop in the ocean”. Rather, it is like “two fish in the ocean”. They keep creating copies of themselves, ad infinitum. It’s important that we help honest sceptics understand homeopathy. We need to focus on this concept and make it a part of the dialogue. Let us keep repeating this idea of copies, to clear the muddy waters of that former ocean into which a mythical drop was placed.
Note: The research conference will be held at UConn Health, a major medical school and teaching hospital in Connecticut. For more information and Registration: https://homeopathyusa.org/homeopathy-and-the-future-of-global-health/
EDITORIAL
–– The Dilution Dilemma – Alan V. Schmukler
–– Letters to the Editor from the August issue
HOMEOPATH IN THE HOT-SEAT
–– Interview with Rachel Roberts – Chief Executive of the Homeopathy Research Institute (HRI).
ARTICLES
–– Synergy of Methodologies: The Way of the Future, the Real Integrative Medicine – Joe Rozencwajg
–– Secale Cornutum: a Saggy Old Remedy or a Fundamental Life-Changing One? – Elizabeth Adalian
–– Beryllium Metallicum – Tim Couzens
–– Tapinella atrotomentosa Proving –(Velvet Roll-Rim) – Olga Fatula
–– Homage to Hahnemann – Drs. Subrata and Saptarshi Banerjea
–– Puerperal Breast Conditions and Homoeopathy – Rajneesh Kumar Sharma
–– Panic Disorder & Depression in a 30- Year Old Pregnant Woman – Erzsébet Túrós
–– Three Kinds of Obstacles to Homeopathy – Caroline Durieu
–– TIDBITS 103 –Homeopathy is For the Birds! – Elaine Lewis
–– Homeopathy Tips & Important News Sept 2023 – Alan V. Schmukler
CLINICAL CASES
–– A Case of Dengue Fever – Mansoor Shafi
–– Severe Shingles Followed by Neuralgia – Gina Tyler
–– A Rapid Cure of a Chronic Depression – J. Arnoldo Rivera
–– Breast Abscess in a Woman of 24 – Farhan Nadaf
–– Coughing Spell and Thyroid Problems – Urvish Parmar
–– Acute Kidney Pain in a Woman of 81 – Guru Charan
–– Diplopia in a Man of 68 – Jennifer Doan
–– Cystic Hygroma in a Boy of 5 Months – Jatan. J. Rajore / Sayali. S. Wani
RESEARCH
–– Research in Homeopathy – An Update – Robert Medhurst
BOOK REVIEWS
–– The Noble Gases – Argon – by Jeremy Sherr is reviewed by Vatsala Sperling
–– The Emotional Roots of Chronic Illness, Homeopathy for Existential Stress by Jerry M. Kantor is reviewed by Vatsala Sperling
–– A Homeopathic Love Story. The Story of Samuel and Melanie Hahnemann by Rima Handley – reviewed by Mansoor Shafi
VETERINARY
–– Ask the Holistic Vet – Sept 2023 – Deva Khalsa
AGRO-HOMEOPATHY
–– Ask the Plant Doctor, Sept 2023 – Radko Tichavsky
CARTOONS
–– Brazil! – Alan V. Schmukler
HOMEOPATHY CROSSWORD
–– Homeopathy Crossword – Sept 2023 – Alan V. Schmukler
SOLVE THE CASE QUIZ
–– QUIZ – Sharp Pains in My Stomach. Help! – Elaine Lewis, Shana Lewis
–– Revisiting: What Remedy Is Dale Gribble? – Elaine Lewis
Hola. Comentando la Editorial.
El investigador chileno Gebauer (qepd), aportó también en sus escritos que las diluciones en homeopatía enviaban una forma de «código» al genoma.
Este código estaba constituido por aquellos síntomas que la repertorización de cada sustancia incorporaba al interior del organismo al cual ingresaba.
Respecto del tema de la tendencia creciente de “buscar desacreditar la homeopatía como método de curación de enfermedades”, es muy alarmante. El punto “intelectual” de inicio —en cuanto a la desacreditación— se encuentra en la famosa Enciclopedia Wikipedia, la cual califica a la homeopatía como pseudociencia.
Ahora bien, también es evidente la oposición persistente que —desde los tiempos de Hanhemann— los laboratorios canalizan con ferocidad hacia este método de curación, eficiente, barato y no iatrogénico.
Por supuesto, el fondo de esta oposición es el materialismo intrínseco que mueve a las grandes corporaciones a mantener su predominio.
No creo que podamos alimentar una esperanza realista de cambio en lo arriba expuesto. Así, la homeopatía debe mantenerse, con honestidad, humildemente entregando la sabiduría de su método a quien lo tome: para su propio provecho, y de sus cercanos.
Dios nos asista.
Saludos cordiales.
AVF
Translation of the above into English:
Hello. Commenting on the Editorial.
The Chilean researcher Gebauer (RIP) also contributed in his writings that dilutions in homeopathy sent a form of “code” to the genome.
This code was made up of those symptoms that the repertorization of each substance incorporated into the organism into which it entered.
Regarding the issue of the growing trend of “seeking to discredit homeopathy as a method of curing diseases”, it is very alarming. The “intellectual” starting point—in terms of discrediting—is found in the famous Wikipedia Encyclopedia, which qualifies homeopathy as pseudoscience.
Now, the persistent opposition that—since Hanhemann’s time—laboratories have fiercely channeled towards this efficient, cheap and non-iatrogenic healing method is also evident.
Of course, the basis of this opposition is the intrinsic materialism that drives large corporations to maintain their dominance.
I don’t think we can entertain realistic hope for change in the above. Thus, homeopathy must be maintained, honestly, humbly giving the wisdom of its method to those who take it: for their own benefit, and that of those close to them.
God help us.
Kind regards.
AVF
Thank you Elaine for sharing that!
¡Gracias Arturo por compartirlo!