Editorials

Music and Homeopathy

music therapy
Written by Katja Schuett

Our editor Katja Schütt follows the evolution of music and of homeopathy.

In Greek mythology medicine and healing were associated with the God Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius. Apollo has been called the true paradigm of a Greek God. Apollo represents the principles of rational consciousness, wisdom, courage, clarity and truth, who shows people how to bring light to their minds and inner beings. He represented harmony, order and civilization, a bright and rational God. Associated with the cultivated arts of music and healing, he was a patron of intellectual pursuits and human development. Apollo was a gifted musician, who delighted the Gods with his lyre performances. He was also a master archer and a fleet-footed athlete, credited with being the first victor in the Olympic Games. He is said to have taught humans the art of healing. [1]

music1Music also played a great role in the life of the founder of the homeopathic healing art, Samuel Hahnemann. He enjoyed and played music with his family and opined that “occasional music is the best thing for cheering the human soul”. [2] When Melanie was invited for the first time to be the guest in his house, Samuel played the piano whilst Melanie showed his two daughters the prevailing Paris dance fashion [3]… and soon she won the heart of all three.

Music is the universal language of the world for many reasons. It touches everyone’s soul and bonds people thousands of miles apart. When the words fall short of expressing, there music can vocalize all that you ever wanted to say. Music is made up of seven main notes. No matter, what part of the world you are from, and what instrument you play, all the music created is one of these seven notes. Like any other language, it can express any and every type of emotion. Music has the power to say and heal in its own special way.

Popular music, however, is getting sadder, slower, and more sophisticated according to a study published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts [4]. As the lyrics of popular music became more self-focused and negative over time, the music itself became sadder-sounding and more emotionally ambiguous, say the researchers. Analyzing hits of the last five decades they discovered that popular tunes have increasingly been written in minor modes which associate with darker emotions, gloom and despair. More minor chords and slower tempos means a rise in sad and melancholy songs, whereas happy sounding songs are usually fast in tempo and in major mode.

In the homeopathic practice our patient’s musical preferences and reaction to music can give valuable information’s about their miasmatic make up, and also represent valuable characteristics and modalities for choosing the best remedy. As such, music can be an important diagnostic as well as case management tool. Last but not least music itself can support treatment by means of its soothing, relaxing or stimulating character, be it through listening or playing music.

music2Like music, homeopathy is an art in its own right – the medical art of truly curing people. Both have experienced a fundamental change during Hahnemann’s lifetime, a result of the development and occurrences in the world.

The eighteenth century with its associated Age of Enlightenment is known for “a desire for human affairs to be guided by rationality rather than by faith, superstition, or revelation”[5]. With the associated assumption of the human cognitive faculty, the “old order” was dismissed and the way for revolutions prepared. Men began attaching much more importance to individuality. The striving for social, economic and mental emancipation manifested in the establishment of the natural sciences, as well as in the areas of economics, politics, society, art and medicine.

European musical development shifted from the fading music époque of baroque into the direction of classical music, which culminated in the Viennese Classicism associated with composers such as Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn, whose accomplishments have had an enduring imprint on the continuing development of music. The influence of the literature phenomena of the Sturm und Drang period in Germany also left its traces and with it music became much more subjective, expressive and dynamic.

With Hahnemann’s discoveries and the establishment of the homeopathic healing art, medicine also experienced an about-turn, opposite to the prevailing trends of the time. Since then, homeopathy has spread all over the world incessantly, due to its successes and firm foundation. Many advances have been made in gaining a deeper comprehension of the homeopathic philosophy. Provings have been completed and many new remedies added to the homeopathic materia medica. New concepts help in gaining a better understanding of patients, miasms and remedy pictures and in making homeopathic prescribing more efficient. Learning homeopathy is a lifelong process in pursuit knowledge – not merely for the filling of a pail but the lightning of a fire [6]. Striving to master the art of homeopathy we may incorporate Beethoven’s saying: “Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets. For it and knowledge can raise men to the divine.”

I’m proud to present in this month’s issue a variety of superb articles contributing to the fascinating subject of music and its relationship to homeopathy.

In this issue:

In this issue we have a special presentation about Music & Homeopathy.

Interview – Our editor Katja Schuett interviews the German healing practitioner Dr.Rosina Sonnenschmidt who shares her valuable knowledge and wisdom with us.

The Music presentation includes articles and/or cases from Dana Ullman, Heinz Tauer, Annette Prollius, Gill Graham, Claudia Dias, Andres Guerrero Serrano, Valerie Lovelace, Jacqueline Smith, Cathy Lemmon, Peter Chappell, Thomas Leubin, Maja Letić.

You will also find articles and/or cases from Elizabeth Wright Hubbard, Elaine Lewis, Isaac Golden, Richard Pitt, Sunirmal Sarkar, Iman Navab, Tara Jensen, Aparna Joshi, Edmund Carleton, Sahista Memon, Robert Medhurst, Ruhul Amin and Biplab Chakraborty.

Be sure to see: Elaine and Shana Lewis’s solution to her May case quiz and her acute Quiz and Tidbits, the Plant Doctor Mark Moodie’s answers to questions (send questions), as well as Alan Schmukler’s new and fabulous Tips & Secrets, Crossword Puzzle and the Cartoon !

We always love to hear from you, send us your articles and let us know your thoughts at [email protected]

 

Resources

Iman Navab, An interview with Samuel Hahnemann, e-book, 2013

Angeline Bauer, Hahnemann’s Frau, Aufbau Berlag, 2007

Willibald Gawlik, samuel Hahnemann, Synchronopse seines Lebens, Sonntag verlag, 1996

Francois Duchateau, Der musikalische Sturm und Drang

 

Footnotes

[1]

[2] Iman Navab, An interview with Samuel Hahnemann, e-book, 2013

[3] Angeline Bauer, Hahnemann’s Frau, Aufbau Berlag, 2007

[4] http://www.psmag.com/culture/pop-music-getting-sadder-and-sadder-42382/

[5] Dorinda Outram: The Enlightenment (1995)

[6] “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” W.B. Yeats

About the author

Katja Schuett

Katja Schutt, Msc, HP, DHM, PGHom, DVetHom, has studied homeopathy with several schools, amongst which David Little’s advanced course stands out as it offers a really deep insight into homeopathic philosophy and materia medica (simillimum.com). Her current focus lies in working with animals and studying history, the old masters, and research.

7 Comments

  • Lovely issue Katja!
    I’m sorry I missed contributing to it.. and I hope I find that Moonlight Sonata proving sometime. It was quite a revelation.

  • Thank you Domenic & Leela !

    Anytime you find it, Leela, publish it ! I’m sure it will be read with enthusiams !

  • Dear Katja Schuett – Thank you for your great article, also offering s.o.o. much more to read, learn, and use.

  • like homeopathy,music too has both its science & art components. the same abilities that enable one to recognize a musical scale or note are required to recognize different remedy personalities and a keynote of a particular remedy for offhand prescription.
    The different scales ( or ragas in Indian music like yaman, bhairavi, malkose, bilaval,etc) form a spectrum of such scales and their number is finite though not few. homeo remedies also form such a spectrum of remedies such that every remedy is related to one another in some way and their number too is finite but not few. this forming the science part of both music and homeopathy. ability to recognize for example rag yaman may ensure one to be able to recognize, say, a pulsatilla personality when seeing & talking with one. learning either classical music or homeopathy is a good exercise to learn the other.
    Being food for the mind, like good food hastening the healing process, music capable of bringing about a healthy change in the mental makeup of patients is undisputed.

  • Thanks for the research i have received lots of insight.I am yet to receive more am also writing my thesis for masters.

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