Interviews

Robin Murphy N.D.

Written by Elaine Lewis

World famous homeopath, author and teacher, Robin Murphy, is interviewed by Elaine Lewis.

blue=Elaine Lewis,
Black = Robin Murphy

People are always saying nice things to me, like, “Your words seem to make things so much clearer,” or, “As always, you are the best teacher.”  If any of that is true, it can only be because of MY teacher, Dr. Robin Murphy!

Robin Murphy’s Course:  Open to Everyone!

The great thing about Robin Murphy is the amazing thing he’s done in making his entire course available to ordinary people–no questions asked!  Now, I know some of you are thinking, “Well, isn’t everyone’s course available to ordinary people?”  

No!  Except for acute prescribing, most teachers ask that you have degrees or certificates in certain things, that you enroll in their course, their school, that you plunk down hundreds or thousands of dollars up front, and if you don’t like it or can’t finish the course, you might get some of your money back but certainly not all of it, and if all you wanted of a certain famous homeopath’s course was his lecture on cancer, sorry, you can’t have it– unless you’re enrolled in his school!  And if you’re not a medical professional, no one will teach you any advanced prescribing ever–EXCEPT ROBIN MURPHY! 

If someone in your family has cancer, and all you want from Murphy’s course is his seminar on breast cancer, you can buy it without any hassle!  If someone in your family is mentally ill and all you want of Murphy’s course is his seminar on psychological problems, you can buy it!  No one asks if you’re a medical professional or how many years of college you’ve had or how many anatomy and physiology courses you’ve taken… So, Robin, why you?  Why are you the exception?

R. M.  Well, I don’t know…that’s a pretty big question, but, I was a lay homeopath first when I went to naturopathic school and I always felt that homeopathy, if it’s so safe, so natural, it should be available to everybody!  So when I practiced, for years, I always made available first aid kits, books and information to all my patients, so… my patients, instead of having just a “doctor-patient” relationship with me were having more of a “teacher-student” relationship. 

So, you give a first aid kit to people and then they start using it on their kids, their pets and their friends and then these people end up wanting to study homeopathy; so, I encouraged it; and, to this day, I still encourage that homeopathy should be available, like the air and the water, to everybody who wants to take the time to study and learn it.

You know, the name of our journal is “Homeopathy for Everyone”, so, I think we share the same philosophy!  What I’ve seen is that practitioners will make their acute case lectures available to the public but not their chronic case lectures.

But it’s kind of strange to withhold your lectures on subjects when all people have to do is buy the books!  I mean, there’s books out on all these subjects–cancer or whatever!  So would you rather that people read and study on their own with no supervision? 

And let’s face it, there are people out there who are desperate!  They’re looking for alternatives to standard medicine, there’s no homeopath in their city or state, they’re on their own…are we just supposed to forget these people?

I guess so…  (And by the way, I should probably mention that Robin Murphy’s course is available on his website:  www.LotusHealthInstitute.com  and I think on Dana Ullman’s site also, www.homeopathic.com   Start with the acute and emergency prescribing seminars and work your way up to chronic prescribing.  There are 32+ seminars on CD for you to buy, plus Robin’s Repertory, Materia Medica and other books as well.  Learning homeopathy is not necessarily what I would call “cheap”!)

I don’t see the world that way, I don’t see some “intellectual class” as being the only ones deserving of knowing homeopathy.  Sure, homeopathy does attract these super intellectuals; but, homeopathy is also a medicine from the heart and feelings, a mother’s intuition…I’ll say to a mother, “What remedy do YOU think it is?”

I do the same thing, really!  I’m always relieved when my client knows something about homeopathy because I know the outcome of the case is going to be much better than if he or she knows nothing!  But let me ask you about acute prescribing; people have a very hard time with acute cases because they’re not really sure if they’re supposed to be finding the person’s constitutional remedy.

Constitutional vs. Practical Homeopathy

Yes, people are emphasizing constitutional homeopathy and I am the exact opposite.  I emphasize clinical homeopathy which includes emergency prescribing, first aid, and acute prescribing…and that’s the way to spread homeopathy at the grass roots level–Arnica, Arsenicum, Allium cepa are really our calling cards, our way to spread the word.

Up to now, the emphasis has always been on the Kentian approach–one remedy to treat the whole person covering their whole life, it becomes very complex and very intellectual; so, I emphasize that every homeopath should have thorough training in emergency prescribing first and then acute prescribing and treating infections second, and then go on to epidemics and miasms and constitutional and chronic disease…it’s all homeopathy, but, as you learn any science, you learn at the front door.  The front door is emergency homeopathy and how to use the first aid kit!

And I know there are homeopaths, some of my friends, who don’t treat acutes, they don’t treat emergencies; and then their child has a chronic ear infection; well, if you had given Chamomilla in the beginning, they wouldn’t have chronic ear infections now!  ‘

We shouldn’t have prejudices, we should treat whatever comes through our door.  “Oh, this patient has cancer, he might die, I can’t treat him!”  Our goals should be to help people where ever they’re at.  Emergency, infection, epidemic, chronic disease, psychological problems…where ever they’re at we should use our remedies to help.  One of the prejudices is that we have to cure everything. 

We’re not cure-chasers, we’re trying to be healers and healing includes palliation, relieving the pain and suffering, helping people when they’re dying to leave more consciously and so on; so, homeopathy, to me, needs to be more practical and more clinical.

So, I consider myself a clinical homeopath, not a constitutional homeopath.  Going deep into the psychology isn’t the right thing to do all the time.  Someone comes into my office with a knee problem.  I have to fix the knee!  It’s an energy leak, they can’t go to work, now they’re depressed, they can’t sleep, because of the knee problem.  So, I’m supposed to give them a constitutional remedy that applies to none of that?  That’s prejudicial homeopathy–that you have to go deep in the psychology in every case.  

I have a knee problem right now so I’m very sympathetic to that!

Every case should tell us what’s the right thing to do–where the pain and the suffering is.  If the pain and suffering’s in the big toe and they have gangrene, our whole homeopathic treatment should be aimed at that big toe; and, of course, we’re going to take down the modalities, the sensations and any mentals that relate to the gangrene, but the clinical homeopath has to acknowledge that this gangrene is life threatening and they’re coming to us for that, not to fulfill some philosophy of homeopathy we might have.  If the patient is in a psychological state, you have to give a psychological remedy.  If they’re suffering from chronic fatigue, you have to give them a chronic fatigue remedy.

So, Clinical Homeopathy is really the most classical of all the homeopathic approaches because it’s using all the techniques and procedures and methodologies that have been used in the past, that have proven themselves effective. 

The teaching in a lot of the new schools of homeopathy is but one teacher’s idea about how to solve these cases; but I stand with all the homeopaths in history and that’s clinical homeopathy–whether it’s Burnett or Clarke or Boericke or Kent or Hahnemann or Hering…it doesn’t matter…how did they practice?  How did they prescribe?  And then we have a wealth of prescribing techniques, we don’t belong to one school.

I have lectured for years about the different ways of prescribing homeopathic remedies; but, people today still believe there’s only one way.  Emergency prescribing is different from Acute; treating miasms is different, you can’t just have one approach, you have to have mulitple approaches, there’s, like, 15 different ways:  tautopathic, isopathic…the first remedy ever given in homeopathy by Hahnemann was not homeopathic. 

Peruvian bark was an antidote to Peruvian bark poisoning!  It was tautopathic.  So Tautopathy is a big branch in homeopathy that I don’t see being taught anywhere:  Arsenic poisoning?  You give them Arsenicum, and it’s worked for two hundred years.  If I know someone’s been poisoned by a drug, I give the drug in potency! 

So do I.

I just came back from Haiti seeing 50 to 100 patients a day and I can tell you, constitutional homeopathy is worthless under such conditions!

Yes, I can totally see that; and by the way, just as an FYI, when we say “in potency” or “I gave the drug in potency”, it means “as a homeopathic remedy”, or “we made the drug into a homeopathic remedy.”

Right, I forget sometimes that our readers are at all different levels.  So, I have five minutes with each patient!  (In Haiti.)  And I’m told, “Well, that’s not good homeopathy!”  No, “not good homeopathy” is not helping these people!  And one of the biggest things that upsets me is that a lot of these new teachers are, for all intents and purposes, starting over!  We won’t know for a hundred years how truly effective their methods are.

Robin Goes to Haiti

So Robin, you went to Haiti?  After the earthquake?

Yes, I went there with Homeopaths Without Borders.

Wow, you are really to be commended for that!  It must have been very unnerving, though!

Oh, it was fine.  The weather was very hot!

I’ll bet!  But, did you feel overwhelmed with people’s suffering?

I get more concerned with, How can I help?

What did you treat?

A lot of fungi, infection, diabetes…most of them were on allopathic drugs, and now they can’t afford them!  And we were in a hospital parking lot next to a pharmacy and all these people couldn’t afford to get their drugs–even though they were discounted by 80%.  So, homeopathy’s right there!

But the pressure seems overwhelming.

You Don’t Have to Be Perfect!

We have this idea that we have to have the perfect patient and the perfect method of saving him.  If we’re on the beach and people are drowning and we’re looking around for just the right thing to save the person with, and the exact right way to do it, that’s the wrong attitude, a lot of people are going to drown while you’re second-guessing everything you’re planning to do. 

Throw in whatever you have–sticks, ropes….  Throw yourself in!  There’s no one way.  Some of us are more concerned with doing things “right” than with helping people!  I feel that people talk themselves out of helping patients because the situation isn’t ideal and the patient isn’t perfect.  I feel that not to TRY to help is the only mistake you can make.

Beautifully said!!!  What kind of fungal infections were you seeing?

There were kids who lost all their hair, there were women with fungus on their legs–it’s a real tropical climate and damp.

And what remedy comes to your mind on seeing this?

Thuja’s a big remedy for that, Bacillinum, Sepia….  And there are tonics.  Hahnemann’s life as a physician did not begin with homeopathy.  Half his medical life was before homeopathy and that’s where the real treasures are.  And where did he get homeopathy from?  He distilled it from all the ancient knowledge.  He specifically traces it back to Greek medicine, Arabic medicine…and it all goes back to ancient Egypt.

I did not know that!  (Oh, wait; I should know, I took your course!)

(Ha-ha!)  Well, anyway… Aesclepius is the Greek god of medicine.  Before Hahnemann became a homeopath, he said the highest form of medicine was achieved by the Greeks and Egyptians, 2500 years before his time, and then he explains it this way:  they had Aesclepius in balance! 

Aesclepius had two daughters–Panacea and Hygea–and this reflects to me the whole condition of homeopathy today.  Panacea was the daughter who did nothing but find cures for people; so, she’s sitting around waiting for diseases to happen so she can cure them. 

But Aesclepius had another daughter named Hygea, whose only goal in life was to prevent disease!  So, to have “Aesclepius In Balance” means 50% of our work should be treating disease and the other 50% should be in preventing disease!  And that’s where homeopathy’s the weakest–there’s very little promotion of diet, exercise, a philosophy about life, approaches to staying healthy and so on; so, homeopathy, to me, is the greatest natural system of medicine that I’ve found in 40 years of research, but, people don’t know that after Hahnemann gave up medicine, he began following a French naturalist named Mousseau. 

So, for twenty-some years, Hahnemann gave tonics, wrote papers on vinegar, on charcoal, on using brandy as medicine, camphor and all this stuff, plus diet and fresh air and exercise; he was using home remedies before he became a homeopath. 

So, after we’ve used homeopathy to bring a person back to normal, we have to encourage them to eat better, exercise, get out in the fresh air, get better sleep, to keep them healthy!  We have to finish the cure.  Only Hygea can finish it and prevent it.

Have you seen my article, “Why Do We Have to Talk About Diet?”  It’s even truer now than ever because the staple food in our culture is (gasp!) White Flour!

And most people don’t know that white flour has a little chemical in it called alloxan, an allopathic drug.  It’s a drug they give to lab mice to cause diabetes!

Yes, I read that it destroys the beta cells in the pancreas!  And you’re saying they’re bleaching white flour with it?  Yet one more reason to stay away from products made with white flour!

So now I use alloxan in potency as a cure for diabetes!

Makes sense…

Antidoting Drug Layers

So, pesticides and other poisons–homeopaths have to address these issues.  I give lectures on environmental poisons, treating chemotherapy and radiation side effects, and all this is just simple antidoting.  If you include this stuff in your practice, your whole practice changes; versus just being this psychiatrist type of homeopath, now you have many more tools with which to help people. 

Some people just simply need an antidote! 

So true!

They’ve never been well since Prozac.  So, you make a remedy out of it, give Prozac 30C and it works!  We don’t have to look for this deep essence of a person all the time, I mean, it sounds great but, I feel I want to be a homeopath that’s on the front lines.  I never refuse to treat any patient–cancer patients, dying patients–everyone else has given up on these people, now the homeopaths are going to refuse to treat them too?  Who are they going to turn to?  Modern homeopathy is very narrow compared to what it was 100 years ago.

Acute Prescribing:  Yes?  No?

A very famous homeopath has made an amazing statement in his most recent book.  He says he used to believe that the acute complaint was irrelevant, but now he realizes that it’s IN the acute complaint that you can most clearly discern the constitutional remedy!  And when I first heard this, I thought, Wow!  What a break-through!  But later I began to realize: where does this leave acute prescribing?  

To me, the constitution shouldn’t even be discussed if a patient comes in with an acute!  If someone has a fever or a cold or an earache, that’s what has to be treated!  Every homeopath in history treated it.  The idea that we should ignore it or it’s going to interfere with our remedy…but it’s not “our” remedy it’s the patient’s remedy–and if they happen to be on a constitutional remedy and an acute comes out, you treat the acute; or else, it’s pure lack of compassion!

Acute prescribing is what I teach the families and the lay people first!  Here’s why–I usually only need to learn a lesson once:  A 12 year old girl came to me with a chronic bladder infection.  So, I gave her Staphysagria.  She was doing fine for a few days and then this horrible bladder infection broke out! 

The parents were calling me, they were freaking out!  I’m telling them it’s a good sign, I’m a good homeopath, this will pass, she’ll be better for it….  Then that night I had a dream about it and it was just like I was being ostracized!  “How can you let someone….”  I mean, it was like the child was on fire, and I, with my philosophy, was dismissing it–dismissing her suffering because of my beliefs, that this is “good for you”. 

Well, that sounds a lot like allopathy and side-effects, doesn’t it?  So, I lasted one day and then another day and I woke up and said, I can’t take it anymore!  She’s still suffering!  It was a real bladder infection:  burning, urinating every 10-15 minutes, screaming; and I go over there and I tell her to take Cantharis and in 5 minutes it all went away! 

So, she suffered for 3 days because of my philosophy–that aggravations are good, it’s necessary, it’s a learning experience, it’s karma, whatever people rationalize this as, but it’s nothing but lack of compassion!

Or people will say, “I’m too busy to treat acutes.”  Well, it’s untreated emergencies and acutes that create the chronics!  They’re the first line of defense.  So, I think homeopathy needs to be refocused on epidemics, diseases, etc.  as well as psychological problems.  Homeopathy needs to be more diverse than just one and two hour sessions, long cases and repertorizing.

I always say that if a psychological issue came with the complaint, then it’s very important and the remedy has to cover it!  But if the psychological issue is a constant and predates the complaint, then it has nothing to do with the complaint, and you can’t base your acute prescription on it!

Layers And Hering’s Law

Or, you have to clear the complaint out first and address the psychological issue afterwards.  And Hahnemann and Hering…everybody talked about layers!  As we go through life, certain remedy layers are laid on us.  So the idea is that if a Calc-carb. child has a grief at age 10 and picks up a Nat-mur. layer, and then later he injures his back?  He may now need Rhus tox!

So Hering’s Law dictates that we need to give Rhus tox as our first remedy (“Healing takes place in reverse order”), followed by Nat-mur, and finally the last thing you treat is the constitution.  That means you’ve cleared away all the stuff that’s accumulated in your life; now you have a clear shot at your constitution!  Today the word “constitution” just means “treat the whole person”.

Constitution actually means your genetic state, your healthy state, what you’re born with–it’s not a disease.  Treating the constitution is kind of a misnomer!

Yes, I can see that!

True constitutional treatment is hygiene–the herbs, the diet, tonics, lifestyle, exercises…that’s true constitutional therapy because it remakes the constitution–cleans it out, builds it up, strengthens it; but treating pathologies?  You’re treating stuff that’s been added on top of the constitution, and then to mix them all together and look for a remedy?

That’s what everyone thinks you’re supposed to do!  When you just treat the layer, which usually is the result of some trauma (physical or psychological), you can often see a clear picture of a remedy rather than the murky picture you get when you try to repertorize every symptom from childhood on.

Etiology Over-rules Symptomatology!

Etiology!  You’re always stressing the importance of that!

And that’s a big problem I have with a lot of the modern ways of teaching homeopathy!  Now, if someone comes to me with a head injury, it is not a symptom!  It’s a traumatic event that CAUSED the symptoms in the case. 

Now if I repertorize and add in “head injury” as a symptom,  I’ve totally lost the case.  The symptoms have to have a context.  If someone comes to me who’s had a head injury and they’ve been depressed or had epilepsy ever since, that etiology over-rides or is more important than the symptomatology!  We have a clear cause-and-effect:  This happened, then they got epilepsy. 

So, repertorizing all the symptoms of the epilepsy is one thing; but, I learned early on that giving Arnica or Nat-sulph. for the traumatic event would clear those symptoms away–without even repertorizing and looking into all the details!  So I found out that treating the etiology makes homeopathy so much easier!

Now let’s say you have someone with grief–never well since grief.  Well, the core problem that needs to be treated is the grief!  Grief is a state with various symptoms–depression, crying, not crying, worse from consolation and so on; but, this is what Hahnemann meant by “perceiving what has to be cured.”  We have to perceive that this person is suffering because of a grief and now she has multiple sclerosis.  So we find out which remedies are grief remedies that have multiple sclerosis. 

And I look in the literature and look for the top five or ten remedies that have cured this.  I don’t start over and give myself a 3,000-to-1 chance of finding the right remedy!  But, forget the 3,000-to-1 chance; we have a grief!  So now we look at that rubric.  Oh!  There’s 40 remedies/50 remedies there!  So, from 3,000, we’re down to 50 just by perceiving what has to be cured.

Case Management

Another thing is that people don’t know how to use these remedies; especially, they don’t know the ascending scale starting at 6C, 12C, 30C, 200C, 1M, 10M…and a lot of the cases I get from other homeopaths, the first remedy they gave was the right one but they spent two or three years looking for another remedy because they didn’t know how to keep the first one going!  And that was the first problem Hahnemann encountered, that people build up a tolerance to our remedies.

Meaning that the remedy stops working.

So, using LM’s or starting the case with 6C’s…

…in water with 5 or 10 succussions before each dose…

…which I’ve been teaching for all these years, solves numerous problems!  First of all, the person can be on drugs or drink coffee and the remedies will still work because they’re being taken daily!

Makes sense….

Secondly, there are fewer aggravations, thirdly you can manage the case better–you can speed the remedy up or slow it down according to what’s going on with the patient; you can stop it, give an acute remedy if need be, then go back; there’s so many advantages to Hahnemann’s approach.

As opposed to one-dose-high-and-wait!  And I would just add that, yes, the potency may stop working at some point if you’ve started with a 6C, despite giving it more often or raising the number of succussions; but, when that happens, you just go up to the 9C or 12C and it should work again.

So, I consider myself a clinical, Hahnemannian homeopath; and Hahnemann got it from ancient medicine but now we’re trying to be so modern, we think it’s beneath us to give an herbal tincture along with our remedies; but, Clarke, Burnett and all these people, that was their standard practice…Boericke? 

We can’t find one classical case in Boericke’s book!  Boericke never treated a person’s constitution, he just treated their disease.  And people say, “Oh, we don’t treat disease!”  Well, that’s a total delusion.  Then you’re in the wrong business.  Because there’s psychological diseases (“Oh, we treat the whole person!”).

 Nowhere in the Organon does Hahnemann say, “We treat the whole person.”  He says, “We treat the whole disease”!  Then he said you have to perceive what caused it–diet, stress, bad lifestyle, and then we have to work on that area.  Hahnemann was basically a naturopath.

So, when Hahnemann had that “Peruvian Bark moment”… already, in his mind, must have been, “Well, I know that “like cures like” because I read all the ancient Egyptian medical literature, so I’m pretty sure that the reason Peruvian Bark works so well for Malaria is because it’s similar and not because it’s astringent, as Cullen was claiming in his text book, which I am now translating!”  Am I right about this?

I’ve not found any culture that didn’t know about the law of similars; and, I’m not sure I would call it a “law” either; to be a law, it would have to be mathematically reproducible; but, it’s the Principle of similarities, not a law; otherwise, every matching of the symptoms would work every time! 

It’s a principle that like cures like, whether it’s “fight fire with fire”–or you can fight fire with water too, it’s a valid approach!  Allopathy has its place.  If there’s a broken bone, no remedy’s going to set the bone!  So, homeopathy is a part of a bigger system of natural medicine.  It’s a principle that guides us. 

We’re trying to find a remedy that’s similar to the patient, it’s not a numerical, technical, computational thing that whatever remedy gets the most points in repertorization is going to cure the case!  In fact, how often does it happen that that’s the very remedy that’s least likely to work?  We’ve all experienced that. 

The Repertory is just a tool to help narrow it down and then we read the materia medica and choose what seems like the best remedy; and, it’s very bad for perfectionists to get into homeopathy, because they want to find this ONE remedy (“Give me another week to study your case!”). 

Just try the remedy, you’ll know in a week or two if it’s right just by giving it!  It’s alright to have back-up remedies!  I say to the patient, “Here’s the remedy, take it for a week or two, if you don’t see any relief, call me and I’ll have another one there.”  I don’t have to try to figure it all out!  I went from 3,000 remedies down to 3.  I’m done!

What Is Science?

Now it goes back to, What is science?  Now, all this week in India, they’re trying to make homeopathy allopathic science, and it will never be that; but, science today is the modern religion.  It’s the dominant religion on the planet.  It controls war, economies, research, medicine, agriculture, everything; but, science is unscientific, the premise of science is unscientific. 

I was in Cairo and was sitting at a big dinner table with professors and doctors and they were talking about science.  I said that homeopathy is based on subjective science and they said, “That’s a contradiction in terms!”  So I asked them, “What are the most important things in your life?” 

They said their wives, children, their work, their jobs, helping others….”  I said, “Oh, all subjective things!” and they said, “Yeah….”  I said, “OK, so science, then, ignores all the most important things in people’s lives!”  So they were kind of taken aback by that. 

So, homeopathy’s greatest gift is that it acknowledges, supports, nourishes, treats and heals the subjective!  Now, subjective doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, it’s just the opposite!  We are more subjective than objective.  Our physical bodies are 70% water and we’re thinking, that’s all we are, just physical body; but it’s our vitality, spirit, our soul–all this is the reality of who we are, because if that leaves, there is no physical body; but, you can cut off someone’s legs and arms and they’re still there!

Still in there!

Right; so, we’re not the body.  We’re the subjective spirit-being in the body; this is all Hahnemann talked about, and we have to treat that.  So, to go out of our way to prove homeopathy to people who don’t even care about it is a waste of time.

I’m invited to all these various platforms to convert people; I say, “I’m not in the business of converting people, there’s millions of people out there looking for natural treatments and homeopathy; I don’t go out of my way to convert some medical doctor that totally has no interest in it.” 

So, a true scientist is one that looks at subjective and objective aspects of health without prejudice and that’s the definition of a homeopath.  So we can’t try to imitate allopathy for prestige!

The Philosophy of Modern Medicine

Speaking of the absurdity of imitating allopathy, there’s something you said in your lectures that has always stuck with me, and that is:  “Modern medicine has no philosophy, no laws, no principles about what it’s doing.”  Would you care to explain that? 

I’m reminded that we just recently had a big issue here in the United States about “health care reform”; and I gave a talk at Virginia Tech– they had a conference on “Earth Sustainability” and they asked me to give a talk on the “alternative medicine viewpoint”; so, they asked me about “health care reform” and I said, “First of all, ‘health care reform’ is three words:  The first word is ‘health’.  There is no health in ‘health care reform’!  There is no care in ‘health care reform’, and finally, there is no reform in ‘health care reform’!” 

I told them I would translate it for them:  First, you cross out the word “health” and replace it with “disease”. You cross out “care” and replacement it with “management”, and in the end, what you have is:  “Disease-Management-for-Profit (Economic) Reform”!  This is what they really mean by “health care reform”.  So, allopathy’s paradigm is really:

Disease Management for Profit.

So, that’s their “philosophy”, then–or perhaps the reason they have no philosophy.  And no laws.  And no principles. It’s commercial, chemical medicine.  A “cure” is against the paradigm!

Got it!  Cure = no profit.

I go into a store, people ask me to give a dollar for breast cancer, and I say “No.”  It’s a waste of money!  First of all, they’re only required to give 10% of your donation to research!

I doubt that the average person knows that!

The other 90% can go to the people that raised the money!  But, it’s all about economics and synthetic chemicals.  A better word for allopathy would be “xenobiotic medicine”.

Medicine that’s “foreign to the body”, right?  I always ask people, “Where is it written that medicine has to be made of synthetic, artificial substances?”

Foreign substances, created by human beings, never before seen in nature; a synthetic chemical drug; so, when we give this to people, biologists say it takes 40 years to really determine its effect; but, every allopathic drug on the market is totally foreign to our genetic make-up and our constitution.  It’s never been seen before in history.  Why that’s important is because all of allopathy is based on one premise:

If we make a synthetic chemical drug, we can patent it and sell it!

It’s all about the patent!  Inventions can be patented and that’s where the money is.  A drug is a unique chemical formula–an invention!  It’s what they call “intellectual property”.  This is why the “medical/hospital complex” is not now, and never will be, interested in carrot juice–it’s not an invention!  No double-blind study, will ever be done on carrot juice!

The best way to describe the effect of drugs on the body is to use the example biologists use of Hernando Cortes.  Cortes went into Mexico with an army and 2/3 of the population were wiped out–not by war, but by disease (gonorrhea, syphilis and smallpox) because they had never been exposed to smallpox virus or gonorrhea or syphilis ever in their thousands of years of being there; so, it was totally xenobiotic to their constitutions.

Every drug on the market is equivalent to that!

Yikes!

Now, if you look at it from that point of view, all allergies, side-effects, all “never-well-since” (the drug) episodes, all toxic effects, etc., are xenobiotic rejections of these synthetic drugs that our bodies have never seen before.  So, this is where allopathy is–it’s commercial medicine, capitalism; they spend more money on advertising to non-doctors than they spend on research!  “Ask your doctor about [our drug].” 

I mean, come on!  And then they see the sales go up.  So, allopathy is not scientific.  They’re using data and computers and machines to give the illusion of science.  But anybody in Statistics 101 can teach you how to manipulate any research to make it look good. 

I actually remember Statistics 101.

Cancer research: any patients with severe side-effects are removed out of the study!  There’s a thousand tricks like that.  When money’s the motivation, that’s the death of healing; medicine should be non-profit!

I totally agree and tell me this isn’t ridiculous:  When a drug is presented to the FDA for approval, the testing the FDA relies upon is done by the drug company itself– the very drug company that stands to profit from its sale!  Why not just have students grade their own papers while we’re at it?

But leaving conflict of interest aside, just the idea that their concept of “medicine” is creating a substance that will stop the body from doing something that it’s supposed to do — like making stomach acid — is bizarre!  It’s a bizarre concept in healing.

That’s why I said “no philosophy”!  There’s no philosophy regarding what’s a cure or what’s a healing process.  I was taught in basic science that every symptom in the body is the body’s attempt to heal itself.  But every drug that’s given is an effort to stop that!  So we’re basically going to allopathic doctors to stop the healing process!

Hard as it is to believe!

Whatever you have, they have a drug to stop it.  We should be acknowledging that the sweating, the diarrhea, etc. are the body’s efforts to heal itself.  It’s very strange that there is no healing philosophy in allopathy, there’s just commercial medicine.  Drugs are the #1 killer of Americans.  There’s a book everyone should read by Carolyn Dean, it’s called Death By Modern Medicine.  She’s one of my students.

Really?  Then we should probably point out that Carolyn Dean has written articles for our ezine!  One of them is called “The Worst Crime of the 20th Century”:

The Worst Crime of the 20th Century

Tautopathic Prescribing

But back to homeopathy, this is why “tautopathic prescribing” is so important because so many people are toxic and poisoned by pharmaceuticals!

Absolutely!  And for the benefit of our readers, “tautopathy” is the prescribing of drugs in potency, as homeopathic remedies, to help detoxify a person.

Just this past weekend, I made up Oxycontin, Ambien, and other drugs to give to patients who are having severe side-effects.  I have one patient who’s flipped out over Ambien–horrible drugs!  But, side-effects are “provings”; so, it’s also showing us what Ambien is good for–what it causes, what it’s prescribed for–either one is valid in terms of prescribing it homeopathically.

Everyone you see nowadays is on a drug, it complicates every case; oh, and I have an announcement to make: please, don’t throw your drugs away!  People always do this!  “I didn’t want that drug in my house!”  That drug could be the very remedy you need!

The indicated remedy is based on etiology; if a drug caused the problem, who am I to question it?  This person is never well since Prozac.  They were mildly depressed before they were on Prozac, now they’re suicidal!  I give Aurum, I give Natrum sulph, they palliate; I give potentized Prozac and it cures!  Of course, when you see a clear remedy picture, give the remedy!  But when it doesn’t work, try to treat the cause; we have to learn to become antidoters–not just deep constitutional prescribers.

Miasms

Can we talk about miasms?  I’ve heard the phrase so many times, “I’m a miasmatic prescriber,” and, I’m thinking, What do they mean by that?

Yes, miasms, it’s a big subject and there’s homeopaths in India who only treat miasms!  But then, there are homeopaths who only treat the constitution, there are homeopaths who only use LM’s, there are homeopaths who only treat the deep psychology, homeopaths who only treat the disease–and they’re all right and they’re all wrong!  Every method is valid and that’s why they’re right, but, it’s not valid in every case!

Miasms: Hahnemann addressed it and that’s what the first crack in homeopathy was all about, it was because of miasms.  Homeopathy split when Hahnemann was in Paris because he came out with this idea about miasms and the LM potencies.  A lot of his faithful followers abandoned him and said he went crazy. 

To this day French homeopathy is based on this other branch of homeopathy.  This split broke Hahnemann’s heart, that they didn’t accept his theories of Psora, etc.  Now, I have my own view of miasms, they’re an important part of homeopathy, but again, I look at the case and the case tells me what to do! 

I only treat a miasm if the miasm shows itself.  I think it’s bad homeopathy to give Tuberculinum to a patient just because there’s tuberculosis in the family.  On the other hand, if there’s no tuberculosis in the family history and the child has Tuberculinum symptoms, I give Tuberculinum!  Of course, if there’s tuberculosis in the family and the child has Tuberculinum symptoms–that’s easy.  We just don’t have to second-guess ourselves with all this stuff!

So, miasm just means inherited or acquired susceptibility to get a certain group of symptoms or diseases. You can also think of it as a block in the case or an obstacle to the cure.

You have acute miasms, chronic miasms, inherited miasms, dormant miasms, awakened miasms and the problem with people who are over-zealous in treating miasms is that they often wake up these miasms that weren’t causing any problems!

We find when we peel away the layers, the homeopathic layers, we will turn up a miasm, and Hahnemann tells us how to recognize it:  indicated remedies don’t work or don’t hold, raising the potency doesn’t help, switching remedies doesn’t help and there’s a history that justifies that miasm, or some keynotes. 

So, now it’s time to give an intercurrent remedy (one of the 15 techniques of homeopathy):  You stop your chronic treatment, you give a nosode for a few days (or a week or a month) to clear out that miasm and then go back to your chronic treatment.

But miasms are real, it’s just an archaic word for damage done to the immune system.

Due to a suppressed infection?

That’s one way, or it can be inherited, or it can be damage from drugs.

So, you’re saying your parents had a suppressed infection and passed it on to you?

Or, it may not have been suppressed!  They could have just had it and never got over it!  So, that weakness was in the genes.  So if a father is alcoholic and destroyed his liver and then he procreates, that child’s going to have a weak liver–unless the mother’s healthier liver somewhat nullifies that. 

So, we inherit much more than just infections.  We inherit the beliefs, the life-style of our parents; but, miasms, basically, are based on suppressed infections; but, psora’s no infection….  Eczema…are they infections?

What Is Psora?

You say in your seminars something about psora that I’ve always found intriguing:  When people’s beliefs don’t make any sense or people lose their common sense, that’s “psora”.

Psora is lifestyle and beliefs that lead to bad health.  Psora is originally from scabies, and what is scabies?  It’s a poor hygiene external disease.  It’s not some infection or susceptibility of some kind, no, it’s a poor hygiene disease; so, right there it’s telling us that if we have bad eating habits and live in poor conditions, we’re more likely to get diseases; that’s what psora is about: poor diet, poor living conditions, poverty…all that stuff is psora and the beliefs that encourage it! 

In Europe, for hundreds of years, they believed bathing was bad!  And then we got the plague!  They only bathed once a year on their birthday!  All these famous people in history!  Columbus!  Shakespeare!  You know, if we could go back in time and see these people with pock marks and ulcers and matted hair….

Oh my God, I can just imagine!  I know what I look like after just three days of not washing my hair!

….don’t forget the rotten teeth!  And then you look at the statues of these people, I mean….

Yes, a complete whitewash!

That was Europe’s belief.  So, Europe suffered the psoric consequences of believing in poor hygiene.  And in modern terms–and people don’t want to hear this–the number 1 and 2 killers of Americans are prescription drugs and red meat. 

So, the belief that we need meat–which kills almost half the population (cholesterol, high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease)–we believe that we need it, we’re sold the idea through the media (total delusion–we get the meat from cows that eat grass!) and so half the population’s dying of heart disease and they know the cause is red meat.  That’s psora!

So, now they’re finding drugs–the statin drugs–to lower your cholesterol, and they’re the worst drugs on the market (liver damage, kidney failure, psychological problems…) all this to lower cholesterol because they know, instead of telling people not to eat cholesterol-rich foods, they can give a drug and make more money.  And the drug has side effects so they get to give, yet, another drug!

The gift that keeps on giving!

Now you’re in the system!  The chemical/drug-for-life system!  You just go down hill and down hill, and more drugs and more drugs….

Oh, I’ve seen it; I’ve seen it!

I have an aunt who spends $900 a month on her drugs.

Good lord!

She has sarcoidosis, diabetes, arthritis…her drug bill is more than her mortgage, and that’s what they call good medicine!  And health care reform?  “There’s 40,000,000 people out there who aren’t taking our drugs!”  There’s nothing in health care reform about preventive medicine or natural health care!  Insurance companies should be rewarding people who get massages, go to yoga classes, etc.

It’s really just Insurance Company Reform.

I know, and I talked about that at the conference and an insurance company person came back and said look, we represent 17 percent of all the medical bills, what about the doctors and the hospitals?  So, they feel like they’re being scapegoated; but, it’s only economic reform. 

There’s nothing in health care reform about reforming how we treat people.  It’s reforming insurance and making drugs more available.  There’s no evidence that this improves any population.  We’re 23rd in infant mortality…people still have this deep delusion that the United States has the best medical system in the world–that more technology and more drugs means better health care.  There’s no scientific evidence for that. 

If we regulated the pharmaceutical industry like we do the toy and car industry where if one child dies from a toy, the toy gets recalled or where one little brake problem or problem with tires and it’s a big massive recall, imagine what the drug industry would look like today!  Every drug on the market is killing more people than any number of bad toys and cars.  Over a hundred thousand people die every year from correctly prescribed prescription drugs!

And Robin, those are only hospital deaths!  If you died from a drug at home, it’s not counted!  Not to mention that hospital deaths caused by the medicine or the doctor are severely under-reported and covered up, for obvious reasons!  So the real number, I’m sure, is much bigger.

And this number is considered acceptable!  That’s psora!  Psora is that we accept poisons as medicines!  People in England were claiming homeopathy can’t be real because it doesn’t have side-effects!  So, “real” medicine, apparently, has to be toxic.  And by the way, that’s what “pharmacy” means in Greek–a place where poisons are made and dispensed.  A pharmacist is a “poison giver”!

Well, it’s no secret that these drugs are toxic–their TV ads seem to have no shame about saying so!

So, we need tautopathic prescribing to antidote these poisons and then get back on track with basic homeopathy!

Homeopathic Vaccinations

Robin, a lot of homeopaths advocate homeopathic vaccinations; for instance, Polio 10M, etc.  Where do you come down on this?

In this situation I use the Civil War analogy.  Imagine a group of Union soldiers, they’re in the woods, they’re worried about being attacked by the Rebels, so to prevent anyone from attacking them, the captain orders them to start shooting randomly!  So someone says, “But we’re not being attacked, we don’t see anyone!”  “Just shoot!  Just shoot!” the captain yells.  And this is what the homeopaths are doing with their so-called homeopathic vaccinations!  We’re treating something that’s not there out of fear! 

Vaccines of any kind are most effective if they’re given during an epidemic and around the time where you have evidence that they work.  Now, if I vaccinate a million people with a vaccine, and none of them gets the disease, they’d say, “We’re so proud of you!”  But, there was no disease for them to get! 

You give 100,000,000 people in the U.S. polio vaccine and there’s no polio epidemic, that’s a con game!  “See?  No polio!”  Now, we’re shooting in the woods, but there’s no one there shooting at us.  So, I’m giving Tuberculinum 10M and I’m giving Measles 10M to people, and there’s no measles epidemic and there’s no TB epidemic…you’re not only wasting your ammunition but you can stir up miasms, you can cause aggravations and provings, you’re treating something that doesn’t need to be treated!

Now, if there’s a flu epidemic, for example, I’m a big supporter of homeopathic vaccination, or prophylaxis.  Now, you’ve got a child in school, there’s a flu going around the school, then giving your child Influenzinum at that time is real homeopathy! 

Now, if there’s no flu, and I’m giving Influenzinum just because of something I believe … some of these people are going to prove the remedy; plus, there’s the fact — and everybody in homeopathy knows — that the remedies work for a while and wear off; so, how can these “vaccinations” be permanent?

That’s why they’re using 10M’s, Robin!

But there’s just no evidence for that– that Influenzinum 10M won’t do any harm, it will just last a very long time!  And by the way, what is the remedy working on if there’s nothing there?

Um…. I would suspect working on nothing, just lingering; I suppose that’s the concept, but, it can’t really be proven.

Or how are you evaluating the remedy’s action if there’s nothing to evaluate?  “Oh, see?  The child didn’t get whooping cough!”  Well, there was no whooping cough to get!  I mean, it’s just simple logic that it’s a waste of time and energy, people are making money off it and they’re playing on the fears of other people. 

But then I’m the first one to stand up and promote it  if there’s actually something going around, like the H1N1 scare–I was out selling kits, teaching classes on homeopathic prophylactic treatment and how to antidote the flu vaccine; I mean, this is the real world! 

This psychological/constitutional homeopathy is good for the upper class, the intellectuals, but, you can’t go to India, Haiti, or Colombia and try to do this type of homeopathy: long interviews, a lot of money….

My beef with homeopathic vaccinations is that they legitimize and respect the allopathic vaccination protocol, as if to say, “Yeah, this is a good idea, let’s imitate it!” when actually, it’s a very bad idea–here’s what it is, in fact: inept, inappropriate and crude “homeopathy”, and we’re imitating it! 

We’re imitating people who are imitating us!  Did people ever stop to think, “Wait a minute!  We already know how to do this; we’re homeopaths, the original “like cures like” people!  This is what we do!  

Advice From Robin Murphy 

What are the common mistakes homeopaths are making, Robin?

1.  Ignoring the etiology or treating it like just another symptom.  The etiology is what has to be cured.

Concentrating on etiology would simplify a person’s practice.  You’ve got all this complicated five pages of information…but ultimately, it’s a grief case!  Ailments from grief, “never well since” grief!  Which grief remedy fits all this information?  Putting symptoms above etiology is a big mistake. 

When I take a case, I’m only looking for the etiology.  If there is no etiology, then I do general homeopathy:  mental/emotionals, generals, physical particulars…but, in 80% of the cases, there’s some cause–even if they don’t remember it! 

One person I was treating had insomnia.  I said, “What happened?”  He said, “Nothing.”  So I said, “When did it begin?”  He said, “About 10 years ago.”  “Well, what were you doing 10 years ago?”  He said, “I was in college; drinking a lot of coffee, staying up late, studying….”  So, there it was!  But it wasn’t a direct shock.  It was an indirect cause. 

So etiology can have two branches–direct and indirect.  The indirect is circumstances in their life that help bring out the disease, like family dynamics–a domineering father can create a lycopodium child by destroying that child’s self-confidence.  So, ignoring etiology is the biggest mistake.

2.  And then, using the potencies, learning how to use all the potencies.  To me, you’re not a qualified homeopath if you go to one school and learn one way of doing homeopathy, you’re not a qualified homeopath; that’s like going to carpentry school and you only know how to work with one type of wood or one set of tools.  You’re not a carpenter. 

And a lot of people call themselves master homeopaths and they only use one or two techniques.  They haven’t mastered the subject of homeopathy.  They went deep in one or two techniques and they’re getting good results and I salute them for that but homeopathy’s much bigger than one person’s view of it.

3.  Another mistake people make is in not treating the acutes and emergencies and letting people suffer.

4.  Believing in aggravations, that they’re necessary and needed.  Hahnemann said in aphorism 243 in the footnote that that was a mistake in a previous edition of the Organon, that he was a brash beginner who wanted to see these reactions.  Hahnemann says any time there’s an aggravation it means you gave the remedy too strong or the person was too sensitive. 

So, either way, you adjust what you do.  Now, high potencies can’t be adjusted!  One dose of a 10M can’t be taken back.  It can’t be slowed down or speeded up.  You can let it run its course or antidote it if you can.  Low potencies, on the other hand, are way more flexible. 

They’re least likely to be affected by antidoting factors, can be given daily and you can keep them going and here’s how:  by how much of the remedy you give, the dose; the number of succussions you use, the frequency of the dose…I can keep a 6C going for a year if I have to. 

So, learning to use the different potencies is something people need to know.  You see in the books, “This remedy should be used in this potency.”  That’s all false teaching!  They see several cases where that remedy worked in that potency–but that’s not a rule to be put in books!  Unless you’ve tried every potency on hundreds of cases, you can’t come to any conclusion about that.

5.  Another is how to read and understand the materia medica.  That’s a big issue.  So, you read a remedy, like Arsenicum, and you’re reading its acute uses, it’s chronic uses, it’s emergency uses–from food poisoning to asthma, from Alzheimers to cancer–all this is mixed into the materia medica. 

So when you go to read a remedy, a big mistake is, “Oh, it doesn’t fit the patient!” because your patient doesn’t have food poisoning or doesn’t have asthma, etc.  This is not what you’re supposed to be doing!  We call it “negative prescribing”.  The patient has 6 symptoms and Arsenicum covers five of them really well, but in the materia medica, there’s five hundred symptoms for Arsenicum! 

You’re only supposed to be looking at what you’re looking for, you’re not looking at the whole Arsenicum materia medica and expecting it to match your case.  Homeopathy’s not astrology!  There are no stereotypes!  “Oh she can’t be a nat-mur, she cries easily!”  “Oh!  She can’t be Pulsatilla because she doesn’t want consolation!” 

I teach students how to positive-prescribe a case: matching what the person has with a remedy that covers that.  You’re not trying to match the whole remedy picture.  Sulphur has 110 pages of materia medica in Allen’s.  No one would have 110 pages worth of things wrong with them!  But if a person has 10 symptoms and sulphur covers 6, 7, 8 of them, it’s most likely the remedy! 

So, negative prescribing is talking yourself out of giving the remedy based on what the patient doesn’t have!  If he doesn’t have it, we shouldn’t be discussing it.  That’s like, “I can’t give Phosphorus, he’s not a red head!”  “It can’t be calc-carb, she’s too skinny!” 

It’s irrelevant.  She had calc-carb symptoms–sleeplessness, craving eggs, leg cramps, over-responsible…you give calc-carb.  Now it’s true that homeopathy does have personality types, but that same remedy has acute presentations as well that may have nothing to do with the personality!

6.  As far as treating chronic disease is concerned–diabetes and heart disease and all this–you can repertorize, you can do all this complicated stuff, but I just go in the literature and I find the top five or ten remedies that have been used to treat that condition in the past and that, to me, is solid ground–no speculation, no theories, no philosophy; you want to find that core group of remedies that have been known to cure that pathological state and start looking there

I look in the basket of cured remedies for diabetes first, instead of looking at three thousand remedies to find my diabetes remedy.  And I AM treating the person by treating their diabetes.  And then I treat the person again by treating the fundamental state that led him to the diabetes, AND I have to educate the person about what he ate that caused the diabetes or else we’re not living up to the 3rd and 4th aphorisms of  The Organon–know the things that cause and sustain illness and know how to remove them.

7.  Another big mistake is ignoring preventive things like diet.  Diet’s the biggest one of all, the cause of almost everything:  Colitis, Crohns Disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, food allergies, all this stuff; heart disease, high blood pressure, liver problems–all this comes from diet!  So, using more natural approaches along with homeopathy will round out a person’s practice. 

Homeopaths have to be into diet and exercise and hygiene–not only as homeopaths but as a lifestyle to be examples to other people.  We have to live a healthy lifestyle to be healthy homeopaths; if we’re healthy, we get better results in our practice.  People will believe what we have to say because of what homeopathy and diet have done for us.

8.  A big mistake in understanding symptoms and what to repertorize is that our repertorizing techniques are often based on false hierarchies. 

Everybody says mentals are more important than emotionals, etc., all that’s not always the case.  What’s true is the following:  What’s important in the case is what’s important! If someone’s dying of leukemia, that’s what’s important!  There may be no mentals in the case, or maybe they’re in a coma–where’s the mentals there?  So, what’s important here (perceiving what has to be cured) is giving a coma/leukemia remedy!

Now, this hierarchy of mentals, emotionals, generals and particulars is a hierarchy of healthy people, and we’re using that paradigm to treat people where that hierarchy got mixed up because of disease.  A healthy person has that hierarchy! 

But once you’re diseased…an example would be gangrene:  We’ve got this person, their whole life, all the traumas they’ve been through and now they’ve got diabetes and now on top of diabetes they have neuropathy and they’ve got gangrene. 

Now, if I don’t treat the gangrene, I’m ignoring what the patient is telling me is the most important thing in the case!  So, there’s two hierarchies–a healthy hierarchy and a pathological hierarchy.  Now, the latter says that the foot and the toes are the most important thing! 

The second most important thing is the diabetes that caused the gangrene, the next most important thing is the general state of the patient and their diet which caused the diabetes and then underneath that is the constitution of the person. 

So most of these diseases, as Hahnemann said, are psoric because they reflect lifestyle choices that made people sick, and if we can fix the sickness but we don’t address the lifestyle, we only did half our job.  And that’s what aesclepius in balance is all about.  So half our job is curing people, the other half is educating them.

Elaine:  Well, that’s what I try to do!  That’s what we all try to do here at Homeopathy for Everyone, and now you’re a part of it–thanks, Robin Murphy!

I just want to close by saying that you can go to Robin’s website (www.LotusHealthInstitute.com) or go to www.homeopathic.com and type in “Murphy”, and you’ll find (hopefully) all his books and all his seminars there, his whole course.  You can buy just one seminar or all of them or one at a time as I did, but you should know that there’s a logical order to buy these things in:  Emergency prescribing and Acute prescribing come first, followed by Children’s Health, Women’s Health, Fevers and Infectious Disease, Materia Medica, Musculo-skeletal Problems, Philosophy and Practice I and II–I’m doing this from memory!–Dental, Mouth and Throat, Gastroenterology, Skin Disorders….in other words, all the seminars relating to acute and pathological issues come first. 

Like he said, learning to alleviate suffering is at the top of our list, after that you can learn deep constitutional prescribing.  There’s no point in learning how to take a chronic case if you don’t know what to do for the suffering in these patients!

Also, we didn’t even get into Murphy’s Repertory!   This is the only alphabetical repertory of this scope and size on the planet!  Plus he’s added chapters; so, “Desires salt” is in the Food chapter! 

Worse 10 a.m. is in the Time chapter!  Diabetes is in the Clinical chapter!  He has thought of everything so that ordinary people can use the repertory!  Likewise don’t forget his materia medica!  What good is a repertory without a materia medica?  It is rare for me to need any books in solving a case other than the two just mentioned.

Robin is truly the “People’s Homeopath” for sure!  Thanks again, Robin!

————————————–

*Carolyn Dean, “The Worst Crime of the 20th Century”:  https://hpathy.com/homeopathy-papers/the-worst-crime-of-the-20th-century/

Dr. Robin Murphy studied at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine (NCNM) where he was awarded the Hahnemann Scholarship. While at the school he studied with Dr. Ravi Sahni and Dr. John Bastyr. He directed the homeopathy program at NCNM from 1980-1984 and also taught at Bastyr University. He published the Homeopathic Medical Repertory in 1993 which is now in its 3rd edition and the Lotus Materia Medica in 1996 which has been updated three times and is currently titled Nature’s Materia Medica. He is currently the director of the Lotus Health Institute, a health education, publishing and research organization dedicated to the promotion of Clinical Homeopathy and Prana Medicine. Dr. Murphy sponsors seminars around the world and has produced over eighty books, audio tapes and papers ranging from M.M., Repertory and Organon studies, to Ancient Biological Cycles, Egyptian Medicine, Herbal Alchemy and Qi Gong. Visit www.LotusHealthInstitute.com for more information on Dr. Murphy and his Clinical Homeopathy Certificate Course.

About the author

Elaine Lewis

Elaine Lewis, D.Hom., C.Hom.
Elaine is a passionate homeopath, helping people offline as well as online. Contact her at [email protected]
Elaine is a graduate of Robin Murphy's Hahnemann Academy of North America and author of many articles on homeopathy including her monthly feature in the Hpathy ezine, "The Quiz". Visit her website at:
https://elainelewis.hpathy.com/ and TheSilhouettes.org

61 Comments

  • Thank you, Elaine and Robin, for this very interesting interview and the wealth of knowledge !! A job well done, Elaine 🙂

  • Robin Murphy is a Super Star! We all love Robin. Thank you for putting together this incredible interview, Elaine. I hope to see Robin again some time soon. Blessings, Debby

  • Tautopathy is a big branch in homeopathy and needs further exploration. A well written piece providing an insight into the amazing work of Robin Murphy and Homeopathy without Borders.

  • Great job. Very useful interview article. Always thought that there is another way of practising. But never got any guidance from teachers in mumbai, because most of all my teachers practise constitutional medicine. AS robin murphy states, if you are not confident enough to cure a back sprain, how can you move further in homoeopathy? Besides constitutional prescribing takes a lotttttttt of time and still you are not confident that the remedy will work because every homoeopath has a different constitutional remedy for the same person. Thanks a lot elan and homoeopathy for everyone. My salute to Mr Robin Murphy. Hope i keep getting his guidance in life to practise homooeopathy well

  • It is truly an eye opener for young and old homeopaths alike as how homeopathy should be practiced as on today to make ourselves absolutely free from the various schools of thought and understanding Samuel Hahnemann as he would have thought the way to practice homeopathy on that till today and tomorrow.Thank you Dr.Robin Murphy for your masterly picturesque portrayal about homeopathy and Madam Elan for your purposeful interview.God Bless you all

  • Hi
    This is the best article i,ve ever read on homeopathy. I totally agree on treating acute problems first, rather than finding constitutional remedy.In my personal case, both my parents had multiple problems of old age, eg. CABG, diabetese, osteoporosis, etc.I was the only son to take care.My mom was on bed for a year.She had renal failure as well. In the meanwhile, my glucose levels increased & I also joined the diabetic club.A classical homeopath prescribed cupr ars but it didnt help much even after 6 months.One of my friend is also homeopath .I discussed my case. He the gave me phosphoric acid .He just opened a mind rubric,in kent,s repertory, he found rubric—-ailments, care from.There,s only one remedy i.e phos acid. I improved a lot.Sugar levels went down . The classical homeopath made me suffer for six months!!. A low profiled homeopath made a brilliant cure.
    usman

  • A really excellent article. Vintage Robin Murphy, whose hair is still not greying, unlike mine – dash it! I have loads of his Powerpoint presentations. His and Ian Watson’s material are the best. I’m forwarding this conversation to the Homeopathy Groups I belong to, and to potential students for homeopathy courses.

    • please can you forward me the some of his powerpoint presentations as well ?? If yes, i will be grateful to you. I will give you my email id, if you reply on the same comment. Thanksss a lottt.

  • While I have much appreciation for Robin Murphy, the “ain’t it awful” tone of this article I find complacent and not particularly helpful. Also, the inferred criticism of other homeopaths without naming names. Where there is disagreement, why not identify the parties so we can better understand or investigate what you are referring to. Open dialogue over differences surely provides more opportunity to grow our profession in a spirit of highest personal regard.

    • Margaret Ann, I’m sorry the interview struck you as negative. Robin was the first to acknowledge that he was once one of the very people he was criticizing. But you must admit that this psychological homeopathy is confusing a lot of people! People don’t know how to treat acutes or emergencies or simply refuse to, saying it will interfere with the constitutional remedy, and so allow patients to suffer. There’s a lot of false teaching and some of it is very harmful as I think we’ve shown. In fact, most people are relieved to hear that they CAN do the things that make sense to them and feel appropriate. As for naming names, I started to, actually, but thought better of it for the simple reason that the person isn’t here to defend himself; plus, there’s no value in a clash of personalities when what’s at issue is an idea or philosophy.

      • Perfect reply Elaine. The point is the principles and their effects on those being treated w/ our methods – not personalities.

        And thanks for doing the interview! I tried to line one up w/ Robin off and on for a while last year or so, once I had his MM and Rep [3rd editions] and had read through his Organon and Case-taking/analysis Books – all of a sudden Homeopathy seemed capable of living up to its potential in .

        One thing we do not have is a primer in Clinical [or 6th Organon homeopathy as I think of it.] Homeopathy that is up to date.

        In most other areas of standard Homeopathic practice – but a sort of primer [like Clarke’s intro to the prescriber] or more so like Dr. Elizabeth Wright’s a Brief Course in Classical Homeopathy and Phyliss Speight’s ‘ A study Course in Homeopathy’.

        Robin’s Case Analysis and Commentary on the Org are great but somewhat chaotically transcribed, unedited, missing a few sections from tape turnover etc. No less valuable for all that, but not a replacement for a more systematic, streamlined primer of clinical homeopathy!

        These and phatak sized MM and REP for beginners that are not 45 years now out of date.

        I don’t know if Robin has a mind to condense his MM and Rep into a ‘pocket manual’ ala boericke or boger’s synpotic key, in addition to having full versions, but that would be awesome – especially since he already has it on computer – and anyone starting from scratch…

        Thanks again elaine!

        I have read the interview a 3rd time, and I am going to photocopy a few sections for clients. Thanks so much.

  • Dear Sir

    I have great regards and appreciation also for the services of Dr. Robin. This interview is very informative. My special thanks for Dr. Robin for his knowledge and experience and sharing them with all of us. God bless him.

    With best regards

    Sincerely yours
    Dr. Sayeed Ahmad

  • “Its untreated emergencies & acutes that creats the chronics. They are the first line of defense” I want quote it.
    This article change my view about confusing decisions.Thanks Robin sir

  • Great interview Elaine. Thanks for mentioning the website. It is very informative. I am currently enrolled in Robin’s Certificate course.

  • Thank you Elaine for this useful interview with Robin Murphy. He’s a trully people’s homeopath and you and the Hpathy.com team are just great! I Hope have all of you for a long time,so I can continue to learn homeopathy with you.
    Bless you all and my best wishes for the new year.

    FaMa

    • FaMa (IF that’s your real name!) long time no hear from! Let me know how you are! I’m glad you liked the article.

  • Dear Dr.Elaine
    Your interview with Dr. Murphy is beyond praise. It has really shaken the shells of our orthodox concept of homoeopathy and has helped us open our eyes to the concrete reality rather than confining to the philosophy itself. Thanks Dr.Murphy and thanks Dr. Elaine…….

  • Excellent interview, through and incisive. I liked these phrases of Dr. Murphy:
    -Disease Management for Profit.
    -When money’s the motivation, that’s the death of healing; medicine should be non-profit!
    Wonderful, Dr. Elaine, but tell me if Dr. Murphy’s hair is black because he is a vegetarian, yours are grey!
    Nisar

  • dear dr
    DR ROBIN MURPHY HAS WISELY EXPLAINED HOMEOPATHY IN PRACTICAL FORM. HE HAS RIGHTLY STATED THAT IN EMERGENCY WE SHOULD NOT THINK OF CONTITUTIONAL REMEDY. AS FOR EXAMPLE THE INJURY GIVES PAIN AS WELL AS SHOCK. SO THE MENTAL STATE OF EVERY PATIENT WILL BE SAME AT THE TIME OF INJURY. SO INTERNAL INJURY ARNICA 3OR 6 IN REPEATED DOSE IS THE BEST. I WILL CALL IT THE 1ST PRESCRIPTION WHICH SHOULD BE GIVEN TO PATIENT WITHOUT ASKING MUCH QUESTIONS. IN ACUTE CASE ALWAYS I GIVE LOWER POTENCY UPTO 30 ONLY RARELY 200 AND ABOVE.
    ARNICA, CUP MET AND NAT SULF FOR INTERNAL INJURY
    A,CEP, NAT MUR FOR CORYZA, RUNNING NOSE
    MERC COR-BAPTISIA FOR LOOSE MOTION
    ANT CRUD -HEP SULF FOR SKIN ELERGY
    HEP SULF FOR COUGH
    BELL-SPIGELEA FOR HEAD PAIN
    NUX BELL FOR STOMACH PAIN
    ARS -PULS FOR INDIGESTION
    THERE IS A LONG LIST I WILL LIKE TO GIVE SEPRATELY IF DR MANISH APPROVES OF SUCH METHOD
    THANKS
    DR SHEKHAR

  • I just love Robin Murphy’s lectures. He seems to me the most down to earth, most reasonable and wise teacher, and has the most usable information for homeopaths and lay person alike. His book/lecture Case Analysis, Materia Medica, and repertory are my 3 most used books.

    Thanks for contributing this article Elaine.

    Best Wishes

    Domenic

  • This is an epiphany! I told my teacher this article is the most important thing I read in almost four years study. People worry that homeopathy is attracting increased public anger and opposition. At one stroke Murphy creates a homeopathy which stands up to public scrutiny: it is honest and sincere and free from the ego and new age nonsense that blights the art. He even manages to include some real remedy with the use of low potencies! To be fair George Vithoulkas also says there is no such thing as a set constitution, but that vision somehow sits awkwardly with his adherence to Kent. Somehow Murphy make a coherent philosophy that rings true to itself.

  • Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I now feel grounded again after freaking out a bit post qualification. I am happy to say that many of the things Robin mentioned were taught on the course I attended in the UK (BSH). Some things that need pushing more are the points about the healthy constitution & how to keep it healthy i.e. lifestyle. I agree, we treat disease (& sometimes dis-ease)!

    Point 5 in the ‘mistakes’ part has been a massive grumble of mine! Not until someone pointed out how materia medica was all mixed up did it start to make any sense as a student and then I realised I had to sort it out myself.

    & the point about causation – I always look for it – remove the cause! You cannot cure anything if you don’t remove the causation and sometimes that means a chat about lifestyle & no remedy. E.g. people who don’t drink water – so basic, so simple and so easily missed. Dehydration is a massive cause of disease.

    Thank you again for a very down to earth interview.

    • Hi Erica, I will just throw in here that common sense has to prevail in water- drinking too. A secretary doesn’t need as much as a football player! Eight glasses of water a day can’t possibly be appropriate for everyone. Inappropriate amounts of water can harm the kidneys just as under-consumption can.

  • The article is very good & written openly of his practice which will be useful for other upcoming homoeopaths. It throw lights to a various subjects like tautopathy, miasms, potency selection etc.etc. Such open minded articles will safeguard the originality of Hahnemann’s homoeopathy.

      • I’m sure I’ll get the notice if he does. Go to his website, scroll to the bottom and put your email address into the subscribe window so you’ll receive updates on seminars.

  • Wow is all I can say! This has to be the best written, most useful interview by Elaine and Hpathy yet! Straightforward, common sense homeopathy which anyone can understand. Keep up the great work and continue to educate as you are both amazing teachers!

  • I am a chiropractor and I know first hand the attitudes of many people about “natural” health care. I became a chiropractor because of a book called, “Chiropractic: a modern way to health, by Dr. Dintinfass.” If you can get well naturally why would you take drugs that are poisonous or have surgery that guarantees that you will not get better? I’m not saying don’t see a medical doctor, I’m saying try chiropractic first. I feel the same about homeopathy now that I’ve read a little about. Essence makes sense. You won’t die or be poisoned from it and it may help, naturally…

  • I think this interview-article that Elaine conducted with Robin Murphy is one of the best I have ever read, extremely rich in its content. Dr Robin Murphy is a real present day homeopath free from all shackles, dogmas conventions and traditions. He is very much in tune with the times and understands today’s requirements. He offers himself an example of ‘following what he preaches’. Elaine Lewis has pertinently revealed that he is 60 years old, a vegetarian, still having natural black hair and taking no drugs. All credit goes to Elaine for eliciting the maximum out of Murphy for the benefit of readers. Elaine richly deserves all gratitude and abundant appreciation for this marvelous interview.

  • Its a really amazing interview with one of the greatest masters of homeopathy. Such useful and understandable material for the students. I’ve learned so much from it.
    Many compliments to Elaine!

    Dragana

  • Kuldip, you are waaaaaaaaaaay too kind!!!!! But you’re right about one thing, Robin does set an excellent example of how to live.

  • A very Practical Right and Correct approach. A must read article/ interview for the Homeopathy Fratinity in general and Budding and Future Homeopaths in particular.
    Please give more articles from Robin Murphy.
    Thanks Elaine.
    Mehra

  • sir today i am greatfull because I read dr murphy interviw but what he say about psora there origine thats from scabs itch and unhiginic condition I am not satisfieing to that Ill thinkinking is main base behind psora like RAGA & DAWESHA .

  • It is really important for all homoeopaths to read this article n I’m sure we all relate to it in some way or the other in our practice of homoeopathy . thanks for all enlightenment.

  • can we please have more lectures of such a master of homoeopathy .
    this kind of a practical approach n clarity of understanding are the virtues of a master only.
    these teachings can take homoeopathy further.
    thanks again .

  • Wow, what a brilliant person he is. His lectures, articles, books all are the treasure, not only for the Homeopaths but for all mankind

  • Dear Dr. Robin Murphy.
    My name is Sanina Vera. I am a Director of Homeopathic Centre “Classical Medicine” (the School of Classical Homeopathy and Publishing House, Moscow, Russia). I call you again to make a request to allow me to publish in Russian your book «Commentary on «Organon» оf Medicine”. We can conclude a contract with you concerning edition and payment of the fee to you. I have read many of your articles and I appreciate deeply your professional knowledge and skills and right understanding of homeopathy. I will be very grateful to you if you can give lectures on classical homeopathy in Moscow.
    As for me, I studied homeopathy at International Academy of Classical Homeopathy of G. Vithoulkas. Now there is a serious situation in homeopathy in Russia. Some government officials are trying to ban homeopathy as a method of treatment. They support allopathy and allopathic pharmaceutical industry. But there is another problem. It is a weak and uncoordinated homeopathic education in Russia in the last 20 years. Before this time there was not development of homeopathy in the Soviet period.
    With best regards,
    Sanina Vera (Moscow)

  • Woke in the middle of the night and was taken to your website.
    The spirit of the bird calls. Listen to her song. Listen, listen, I am your friend. Be not afraid, I come to help. Listen to your heart, listen, let go of your head. The remedy is right here, take it and trust. Fly with me, let spirit guide you on the path ahead. Smile, smile, feel it flowing around, you are reconnected now to the light of true love. Oh thank you Robin, for helping me trust. Wow, it’s truly wonderful, look up you might just see soaring above.

  • Great article!
    So so sad to hear Robin has passed. He was my first teacher at Bastyr in homeopathy and his words continue to resound three decades later. He was so down to earth and had a quick smile and sense of humor. I wish I had interviewed him for my podcast Dr Heather Uncensored!
    RIP Dr Murphy!

    • Thanks, Heather. I will be writing a tribute to Robin in the December ezine. Yes, his death; so unexpected, so devastating. But he has left so much behind! Books, CD’s, videos, articles… so much information, his voice should echo long into the future.

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