July 31, 1955 – Aug 15, 2011
Beth Rotondo
With a heavy heart I report the passing of Beth Rotondo, a fourth generation homeopath for over thirty years, wife and mother of five. She succumbed to cancer after a hard fought battle, having defeated it twice before.
Beth spent much of her life in the Swedenborgian community of Bryn Athyn, PA (U.S.) and had lived and worked in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She was the great, great granddaughter of Dr. E.A. Farrington, a protege of Dr. Herring. Her life was steeped in homeopathy from the beginning and her parents ran one of the first homeopathic study groups in America. Beth traveled the world and studied with some of the best homeopaths of our generation. She developed her own very intuitive approach and was one of the last homeopaths still repertorizing using books. Her empathic ability was renowned and she could often feel the remedy in her first few moments with the patient.
Beth campaigned against vaccines and, with Dr. Peter Prociuk, helped pioneer the use of homeopathic Thimerosal in treating autism. With this method she had turned around some of the severest cases and believed every case could be improved.
Beth helped start and nurture thirteen or more homeopathic study groups, including the one I ran in Philadelphia. When we were just getting started, she would be the guest lecturer, always radiating optimism, openess and joy. She was never confrontational and handled critics with gentle, disarming humor.
She also lectured at the University of Pennsylvania and Arcadia University, giving workshops on topics like Lyme disease, ADHD, pregnancy and birth. Beth and I had given evening lectures together at Arcadia and the students always crowded around her to ask questions at the end. She would stay and chat for a long time, even though she had an hour and a half drive back home.
Beth had a passion for connecting people, and helped build a huge community of healers. When I first got interested in homeopathy, and before I knew her, I called her and asked where the nearest study group was. Since it was far from my home, I jokingly said “Maybe I’ll start one of my own”. An hour later a woman called and said, “Beth said you want to start a study group, shall we get started?”
Literally thousands of us here owe our lives and health, even our careers to her. We will all strive to carry on her legacy.
You can read and listen to a marvelous interview Beth gave to Hpathy in May 2008: https://hpathy.com/homeopathy-interviews/beth-rotondo/
END
If I can just add, as someone who has seen Beth as a client and who bought her video introductory course, which I’m now going to conduct an archeological dig for in my basement, I have to say that the world, especially the world of homeopathy, is not a better place today for her passing! In fact, we have lost a lot of bright shining stars lately–Julian Winston, David Warkenten and Tinus Smits just to name a few, and now Beth. It’s a stunning blow! There was always a certain peace for me in knowing that Beth was “around”, somewhere in New Jersey, if I ever needed her, if the world ever needed her. Now, someone will have to step in and try to fill her very big shoes; I don’t know, really, if it can be done. I remember being at a study group meeting maybe five or so years ago, and launching into a long spiel about being honored to be in the presence of Beth Rotondo, and then I presented an asthma case after which Beth off-handedly remarked to the person sitting next to her, “It’s probably Blatta….” to which I suddenly replied, “It IS Blatta!!!!!!!” Well, that was the shortest case presentation on record! It’s after tragic deaths like Beth’s that I usually opine that life makes absolutely no sense whatsoever! Good-bye, Beth, glad you were here; see you later!
Recently I asked if Beth had a request of how I could hold her in intention. Her response was “laughing and dancing on the beach”. I still see her highest self doing exactly this as she makes her journey home.
Yes, I think she would like that.
Alan,
Beth’s life is certainly captured in the beautiful obit you wrote…. your heart and sould shines through with the gentle love we all feel for her, and the deep appreciation of knowing her in this lifetime.
I can see her smiling face the Thursday before she passed looking right into my eyes with that intense knowing she always had “” I’ll be seeing you missy” she said….
Yes I will .
I was so upset after reading this article, I had actually hoped that homeopathy was the answer to getting rid of cancer where do we go from here.
Dear Yasmin,
Beth had cured herself of cancer twice before. In this instance she waited a couple months before getting a diagnosis or beginning treatment. It’s quite likely that the outcome would have been different if treatment had begun sooner.
In addition to homeopathy, there are numerous effective methods of treating cancer. Here is one website that offers information on some of these:
http://www.cancertutor.com/
Alan,
Is it ok to ask if this was a recurrence of the same type of cancer? I think she told me long ago about curing herself but I forget what type(s) she said.
Respectfully,
Francie
Yasmin, to put it in Beth’s words (see the article with Beth that Alan refers to earlier):
“And I also have a very strong belief in life after death. I was raised Swendenborgian, and if you’re aware of your homeopathic history you know that many famous homeopaths, including Hering, Gramm, Kent, Boericke and Tafel were all Swedenborgian. So there’s a very strong connection with homeopathy and that religion, because the mind- body connection is very strong and there’s a strong belief in life after death. So having that basis, it really helped me understand that we as homeopaths are not God. Our goal is to give people the quality of life. We may not be able to extend someone’s life indefinitely like we would like to, but there’s a certain amount of knowledge that we’re here to learn, certain lessons we all need. And when we get that, we move onto a much better place. My goal is not to keep someone alive permanently, but to help the quality of their life, let them enjoy it, and when the time comes, to support them in their transition.”
Beth I Love you always! I can still feel your presence, hear your voice, and your wacky LEO Laughter!
If and when I cry, you step in to lift my chin up. I know you are still with us! OX
Beth,
Thank you. I love you. namaste. You saved helped me save my life in the first few minutes you met me. I am doing good things with the life you helped to save. You are and were angel and in my heart. Be joy in SPIRIT. *hugs*