Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Rebirthing with Tinus Smits

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks within, awakens. Carl Jung

Muddy water, let stand, becomes clear. Lao Tze

This is sort of funny to say, but I experienced this past summer as I would normally the wintertime: as a time to regroup, nurture and heal and then come out of it as if I have been in a cocoon – emerging into the light of day renewed.

There are a few reasons that account for this: you may recall from my last Blog entry, I have a nice remedy newly in my system (& not a Butterfly one). Actually an understatement: a GREAT remedy; actually THE remedy of all remedies for me, my actual Miasmatic remedy. And as we can see happen with our patients, I have been integrating this deep acting remedy and have been relearning what my natural flow of being is all about – it’s all about being in your own skin as if you are a new born babe emerging into the world for the first time. Totally Deep.

There is also the fact that I have had the benefit of having holidays galore…I was truly blessed to get out into nature lots. I live in an urban jungle that is noisy, polluted, crowded and on the go 24/7, so to have been away from my city and got to another one in Canada that has a different vib and feels as if it is set in a postcard was a good thing: namely Vancouver, British Colombia. Did a camping trip that was on what is called the Sunshine Coast. This was great and gave me not only time to feel peaceful but to also think about my life: my priorities and my practice of my values, my “occupation” and such.

After a brief sojourn back to my home where I was able to have peace and quiet in a different way - thru organizing, purging of stuff for recycling or tossing things into the garbage or to yard sale…bye bye lamp shade we never even used, toddler toys, games and various trinkets (yes, I was on the verge of becoming a hoarder). My family was out and away most of the days, so it was peaceful without the regular routine of activities and meals to be cooked. After that we went again to be in the woods for another camping trip.

This time it was in one of the lovely provincial parks that my province, Ontario, has and it was with a campsite that we had to ourselves on the rocky shore of a beautiful lake, one of the deepest lakes in this Canadian province. And we were under what is called Mazinaw Rock that rises 100 metres above the water. It was no less spectacular than the awesome Sunshine Coast of the Pacific Ocean – so different, but, like, the ocean, the lake waters of Ontario are so cleansing and renewing for me. Whenever I get out of the city and go hiking, biking or just sit under the shade of many trees I feel calmer, stiller…centered.

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. Lao Tzu

More important than the quest for certainty is the quest for clarity. Francois Gautier

Able to experience the present: “Health, I realized, was man’s freedom to be in the moment and fulfill the purpose of life.” This from Sankaran’s Substance of Homeoapthy where he recaps his first foray into publishing his thoughts for the homeopathic world (namely in the Spirit of Homeopathy). It is apt that I re-cap this specific definition of health/disease for you…as it is where I feel that I’m at. Having started something: learning about and studying Homeopathy, getting immersed into it with a little bit of practice, a little bit of politics, a little bit of advanced study and clinical interning and even this, my Narayana Publishing connection I am now at a point in time that I am needing to regroup and redefine further what it is that I am doing.

Am I doing this Homeopathy thing as one should? Ought I to do it differently? Am I acting with my patients, the community, myself, anyone I encounter from a place of fully being present and, hence, empowered. I digress, but at this point I have to interject something that will make sense somehow in this renewal of mine. Gary Zukav of Dancing Wu Li Masters fame, in his Seat of the Soul (also dated but nonetheless what I have lying around and have read of late – coincidence that my purging is allowing for me to come across what I need to see again with new eyes? No, naturally not a coincidence as there are none;-)

Anyways, in the chapter on "Power", he speaks of the authentically empowered human being as being clear on his or her perceptions and thinking. “Clarity is the perception of wisdom. It is seeing with wisdom. It is being able to perceive and understand the illusion, and to let it play. It is being able to see beyond the activities of the personality to the force of the immortal soul. It is being able to understand what it is that is striving to come into being – the health and integration of the personality and the evolution of the soul.”

The above quote/train of thought on the part of Gary Zukav ends with this last little sentence: “It is the ability to recognize nonphysical dynamics as they appear within the world of time and matter.” This explains why we get recharged in nature, at least for me, cause when I sit in the woods and hear the silence as well as the call of the birds, wind, trees and even the inchworms and other little critters I think that is when my soul and the surroundings are one and the dynamic is non-physical…beyond time and space, but closer to pure energy. An energy transference happens and from that you can be at one with nature as best is possible while in the form of your personality/body and in this lifetime.

So, with all the camping and getting into the great outdoors I can say that I am having a homeopathic career crisis and feel great about it! Sounds crazy but I had to reflect on the subconscious and conscious level about my higher purpose – the trees made me do it!. Like, getting to the point in my life where I am empowered is where it’s at these days. Finally as this is the year that I turn the BIG 5Oh!! I could have just read crappy magazines in the woods – I recall the days where I would have read at the beach, listened to music and tuned out to “recharge”, but as of late, when I am out in the woods or at the seaside – Portugal’s Algarve is where I do my seaside – I do my best casework and/or best personal reflecting (that be a combined rubric;-)

This summer, as compared to the last few, has been the most subtle yet fruitful in the best possible way yet for me.

The other factor or last reason that I think that I truly feel renewed after the summer is that I was working on the case of a wonderful patient. The person and her case brought up for me the whole Rebirthing aspect of homeopathy. It, again, is full of synchronicity. When you need to learn something to move your practice forward the right patient always seems to come along.

Before I talk about the case as another reason for my renewal I want to say it’s in the context of the whole concept of Rebirthing homeopathically or of “manifesting onto the earth” as the late Tinus Smits terms it, that I am writing this Blog entry. That being said, what you’ll get today my dear friends is my journey of discovery on this topic’s literature that I personally have discovered and apply in my clinical work.

Actually, the case is still at a beginning stage: really the remedy is for a woman who came with a chief complaint of having her and her young children needing help to overcome traumatic/medicalized birth experiences – her prescription is one that encompasses her life history; the sense of being overwhelmed in the manner that she experienced is covered by the remedy – her children, to be treated still, will likely (at least one) be needing at some point to be cleared of the imprint of the mother’s state while pregnant/from labour. To be determined as of yet. Now, for me, the way I framed the case came right away due to my knowledge of the Rebirthing books - what is to follow.

It has been awesome to date to encounter some of the works that we have in our literature. But, what I am realizing at this time in my practice, is that as you go deeper into knowing about yourself the deeper you can use the materials at hand - ones that I started with a few years ago are now more meaningful to me as I get, in effect, Rebirthed – I tell ya, that Miasmatic remedy is doing wonders!

So, onwards: First things first, the conception of the whole Rebirthing thing for me started with this book: State of the Mind Influencing the Foetus (1999, B. Jain Publishers). Talked on this in earlier entry as you may recall.

In so far as Farokh Master stating that “This book is about the effect on the foetus of [due to] the mother’s state of mind.” in relation to one of my earlier cases whereby the mother’s state was so very obviously what influenced the state of the foetus there could be no mistaking it for anything else in terms of etiology as well as presenting symptoms. The case: a girl, age 3 at the time, was in a state of grief having had a shock from when she was in utero. This case was what I considered my first totally cured case but was really about my first encounter with the concept in practice of Rebirthing.

The patient having received Ignatia did exactly that. And once having manifested fully was able to live normally in terms of not having the imprint of the terrible shock her mother experienced in the last 2 weeks of pregnancy. It was a beautiful unfolding of the self, this girl’s healing – with her actually going through the motions of birthing herself in effect to get into the world – to come alive and be vibrant and to experience health as in Sankaran’s realization of being free to experience the present…as far as fulfilling her purpose in life, at her tender age we came to see that she was able to meet her developmental milestones…to just be engaged, learn, laugh and to have no more fears and anger.

The case is in Interhomeopathy here: http://www.interhomeopathy.org/ignatia-severe-trauma-in-utero

If you want to read the full write up just let me know and I’ll email it to you. I kept extensive notes and wrote up a summary so as to see clearly the unfolding of the cure.

Having obtained the book before this patient, I hadn’t used it. It was there as if waiting for the right moment to be read – to be birthed in effect.

Once, however, I realized the potential of the above case, the relevance of Rebirthing as a concept was clear to me for future suitable cases. I had a case of a child that was highly sensitive and had seemingly been in her state since birth, like the above case. A totally different situation as I had little to work with in terms of information on the pregnancy as I was not at the time of case taking asking on the details of pregnancy – as there wasn’t really a link in my mind as nothing traumatic happened/normal pregnancy, etc. But, once I got to using the book again for this case, I was well on my way of seeing the relationship of the mother/child and even the father’s role in the state of this and all other young patients (starting from conception). This child was already school age, so, maybe why initially I hadn’t thought of the pregnancy/birthing aspect of the case as being relevant...now I know better.

I have always had an interest on Attachment Theory and have thought at times to research on it in relation to homeopathy. With cases like the above in my career to date what I have learned so far, is that the bonds are formed in the womb and sometimes even long before conception! For now, I will stick to what happens in this lifetime - for past lives, the book that I am reading currently and will recommend is the Chakra Prescribing and Homeopathy by Grahame Martin (2007) - more another time.

I digress as I have a tendency to in speech and now in this Blog. So, what was I saying? Oh yes, with the next case that related to my Master book, I ended up finding the remedy, from the write up of a remedy based on the assumption that the pregnancy was instrumental to this state.

And get this, later, once the response was favourable – not necessarily cure (have to admit was hit and miss as to whether was working - it was definitely a good superficial remedy or one to get a layer off for me to see deeper into the case. Oh yes, it was cool cause with prescribing based on Farokh Master’s book it turned out that the state of the mother while pregnant with the patient, age 4 at the intake if I recall correctly, was heavily influential in the case. So, working backwards did the trick: i.e. - get presenting sxs then find out what the etiology was – common for me (I also drive backwards better than forwards – is there a rubric for that?). The next remedy that came up was the one that lead me to my next book on my Rebirthing journey…in terms of reading the literature.

I was working at the time at one of our city’s Homeopathic suppliers – we are blessed to have Riverdale Homeopathy, not just with remedies but with books!! – and it was Ananda, a colleague and very nice person, that told me that she thought that with my bent I would appreciate the book Inspiring Homeopathy: Treatment of the Universal Layers by Tinus Smits. It wasn’t exactly a book – it just now is one but was at the time a photocopied affaire and from what I could see it was just a pricey bunch of paper! This is a literally a “never judge a book by its cover” situations.

So, who is this Tinus Smits? What is this flimsy little thing masquerading as a book (actually it was substantial in terms of number of pages)? Why me, am I that flaky?? for Ananda to suggest I read a “book” about the Treatment of the Universal Layers?? Is it some Sequential Approach as in Rudi Verspoor’s work?? (not that I am totally adverse to aspects of this approach – however, what makes homeopathy so unique is its’ individual approach – esp with all the remedies we have to work with - we have no excuse not to find the patient’s remedy!! Unfortunately, there are many times we're not able to get the simillimum as we have perceived the case incorrectly and other factors that we all can improve upon…digressing again, sorry.

Well, needless to say, it is up there with the best books I read in a long time and REALLY opened me up – to the Rebirthing concept outside of my little own perspective/experiences at the time of reading. Shortly after reading Smits I also had the opportunity to learn of other relevant books due to what was available to me on Riverdale’s bookshelf.

It was also just shortly before Tinus Smits passed away (April 2010) when I was reading the book. I also had the opportunity of meeting someone in my area of the country that was directly trained with him and that has since become a dear friend/colleague. For me, it was no coincidence (yet again) that I was able to have contact with the work of Tinus Smits while he was still alive. I think as I read Inspiring Homeopathy I felt his energy on the planet – I felt it as a sense of him struggling to ensure that his work would be carried on – & it wasn’t a frantic or panicked energy, it was, rather, an intense and higher energy that was necessary to ensure that his legacy would not be for naught.
As you may know, he was in the process of having his work with Autistic children of many years get published. This is Autism: Beyond Despair, which is about the approach of clearing imprints of toxic substances that have damaged the brains of children with Autism, known as CEASE Therapy. Summed up: use of Isopathic homeopathy in conjunction with using core remedies for support through the clearing of these imprints. He has a lovely son that is making sure that this work is getting out there and being accessible to families with Autistic children. Quickly to mention here is that he also was dedicated in setting up what is now a successful school in Nepal for homeopathy that is about access to the healing art of homeopathy. (see http://www.narayana-publishers.com/spectrum-homeopathy/tinus-smits-has-died?fromOverview=homeopathy-news along with this tribute: http://nepal-bihc.blogspot.com/2010/05/in-memoriam-tinus-smits.html).

It almost is a further extension of the Inspiring Homeopathy book – the work to bring back children that are cut off from the world – the ultimate state of being separate, unborn is to be Autistic (as well as being in a coma or insane, admittedly, there are different ways to be cut off). The extremes are all harsh and heartbreaking to witness in all their forms. But, at the very least, to be fully alive is simply to be born. But, from what I have seen and experienced first hand and have read in the 2 Smits books along with further explorations on Rebirthing there are so many people not manifested onto the planet.

According to Smits the Universal layers that need to be experienced if there is an unmanifested patient are different than what he deems as Individual Layers or Accidental Layers, the latter being caused by vaccination, accidents, allopathic drugs or important emotional afflictions. The Individual Layer is what we as homeopaths are usually trying to match to a remedy state: “…[Everybody] needs his individual remedy, but once arrived in the universal layers only a few remedies have to be used” (p. 1 of 2004 “book” – the flimsy little version*)

* - new book, the real book: http://www.narayana-publishers.com/Inspiring-Homeopathy-Final-edition/Tinus-Smits/b11560 Note- there are 57 pages of Exerpts, so Intro, Contents and “Theory” chapter – packed to the gills, which, incidently, we all have as a foetus while in the womb till our lungs develop as part of our trip down memory lane of human evolution – and all before we even go thru birth! & talk about digressing!)

When I read this stuff at first, I did 2 things: #1) I said, what the heck is this about and #2) I kept on reading and couldn’t wait to talk to Ananda – she and I live in the same town, but opposite ends, but given we saw each other lots and were on the same subway line, I thought, we must get together and talk on this…it never happened, other than at work. In the cute little shop we gabbed indirectly on the work of Smits and, well, just started prescribing based on what we were learning (she more on the next book and me on Smits and Assilem – sort of interchangeably).

My point being: read Smits with an open mind (no need to ask constantly, “what the heck is this?” cause you have this heads up that it’s all good) and don’t necessarily prescribe the remedies he does that go with his Layers (use the Layers as you would any part of the life history but with the added twist that some of the remedies are appropriate and some not the best that you can find to move your patients through the Layers – that being said, here is what he says on Rebirthing or what he calls manifesting for patients that need to come into themselves:

"So the purpose of life is not to be as healthy as possible and to stay in a stable balance during our whole lifetime, but to experience life in order to progress and to become more aware of who we really are...real health is dynamic and is characterized by a strong reactivity...Does this dynamic conception of health mean that mankind is condemned to be unhealthy and that health is an illusion? As long as we are still occupied with the resolution of our universal layers yes. But once we arrive at our centre, we are connected with the Source, once we live at a higher level of consciousness, we are able to grow in consciousness adjusting our energy also on the physical level in the way that we can avoid illness, at least chronic illness. At that level a person does not have anymore deep hidden traumas which can cause any disturbance of chronic nature. Because at that level we are linked with our Higher Self...".

One thing I really like of Smits’ is the distinction he makes of Classical homeopathy and Inspiring Homeopathy, which I would also broaden up and encompass modern progressive homeopathy in many ways *

* - not to say that our forefathers and mothers were not healers in much the same ways of our modern pioneers or that today’s groundbreakers are not basing their work on classical foundations while advancing the cause.

With the first he speaks of how the totality of symptoms was more the approach and with his system/work he is more process orientated. I lean towards this way, but it is not to say that a direct match of sxs in the case is forgotten in relation to the remedy selected. The ideal also is really to do what Smits does with his CEASE therapy in that one clears any Accidental Layer that the patient may have impeding them to really start on their healing journey – with this step being of course the first step, if necessary, on the path to cure. See website on CEASE for the details. As mentioned his son and others are setting up trainings to ensure the protocols and use of Isopathy based on current modern toxic substances can be cleared/addressed homeopathically – in actual fact really the energy imprints can really likely only be cleared this way and without the energetic work the bio-chemical work and supports that Smits writes about/his protocols will not work – as he had found with almost 300 cases of Autism.

His process is about looking at the roots of suffering and not just removal of symptoms. In our language it’s about getting to the core of the case, the essence of the remedy state. IMO, the one problem with his work is he’s made seven layers with nine remedies as the basis of the whole system. It is a little simple that way – in particular, for me, in relation to the number of remedies being worked with. Note- granted he often says that the core remedy initially was a unique remedy needed and then when the patient is moving into the broader human problems they are to move to the remedies he found to address the layers that all humans encounter in our existence here on this planet in this life time - the Rebirthing ones.

He had from his introduction in the second version of the book, not the newly Emeryss published book, planned to expand his system – not sure on the number of remedies. But as far as the Layers to manifest fully – I have used, for sure, the remedies for the reason of addressing a Layer in a case and had some success but I have found that I had to use other remedies as well – namely Matridonal remedies of Assilem – to be discussed next.

A little more on Smits: I think he wasn’t planning to add Layers – the newly published book does indeed have 7 Layers. The nature of the Layers being Universal means they are all that is needed…I do feel that he was bang on in his choice of the 7 issues or Layers he came up with.

Here are the Univeral Layers or in my way of speaking: The Issues of All Humans to become Complete. He did get to the crux of human existence nicely.
Layer #1): Connecting the Inner Force (Lack of Confidence)
Remedy 1) Carcinisinum
Remedy 2) Cuprum metallicum: Everything Under Control
Remedy 3) Carcinisinum cum Cuprum
Layer #2) Lack of Self-Love
Remedy 4) Saccharum officinale, the Magic Sugar
Layer #3) Lack of Incarnation
Remedy 5) Lac-Maternum, Mother Earth
See this on Smits bringing this Lac into our MM and comparing with Lac-h: http://www.patriciahatherly.com/published-articles/HL2007_2.pdf
Layer #4) Lack of Protection
Remedy 6) Vernix Caseosa
Layer #5) Victimized Forever
Remedy 7) Rhus-tox
Layer #6) Good or Bad
Remedy # 8) Anacardium
Layer #7) Disconnection with the Soul
Remedy #9) Hydrogenium

See this for little more: http://www.tinussmits.com/3845/inspiring-homeopathy.aspx

What do you think? Any Layer or issue to be taken away? Did he forget something – anything huge that’s staring you in the face and he just happened to miss it?? Not really, eh? I was impressed with his overall approach to healing and then with this, I certainly couldn’t argue that he was forgetting something. And I did try.

Smits reminds us to view the Layers or rather the working through of the Layers as something that is horizontal and not a vertical process – and that a person can go from one layer to another but may need to stay in one Layer for quite a number of months or a year or so…but with another Layer not stay long re- needing a remedy of a Layer or “skip” a Layer or not even need to go through it, etc. It isn’t necessarily a linear journey but a meandering one and one that is all about the timing and needs of the patient that is embarking on the trip to be a fully present human being.

What really is valuable for us as healers/homeopaths is that Smits exemplifies how in our work we must also focus on ourselves as homeopaths/humans/beings on our own path of healing to do good work; he always puts himself in the equation as he discusses his profound and amazing cases – he really was a brave and strong man and a person that was a gift to our profession and to the world at large.

He died of cancer – and because of this, I see one case of all the many in Inspiring Homeopathy to be of particular interest. It is a man in his early 60’s that came to him with a cancerous tumour -- I sense from reading the case it was many years ago. Smits, himself, died in his early 60's of cancer. This case is the basis for his discussion of cancer and of his explorations of Carcinosinum as a remedy and really as part of the Miasm or the grounds for getting into the state of cancer – I don’t think he uses the Miasm concept in practice from what I can see – more, just gets the Layer (I suppose with use of Isopathy and his 9 remedies, he feels he does not need in his system – he may have originally used as basis, as in the Harry van der Zee’s re-birthing concept/Smits published in Links from the start of his publishing his work and, hence, was well aware of van der Zee's work).

Basically, the First Layer is essential reading just for the fact that his homeopathic historical research and personal reflections on cancer as a disease is part and parcel of the symbolism of human dis-ease – and specifically his understanding of the formation of tumours can be seen as a microcosm of the larger internal struggles of ourselves. In this way, we can view Carcinosinum’s remedy state as the disease of us North Americans – as the Yersinia (Plague) Miasm or the Leprosy Miasm are more prevalent, for instance, respectively in Europe and India (see Louis Klein, Scholten and Sankaran for more on these).

“Health has not to be considered a stable state but as a dynamic state…Loss of balance is an invitation to resolve deeper underlying problems and to grow in consciousness to a deeper understanding of the purpose of life and life in general and to attain a higher energetic level…To be “cured” means the acceptance of the process and to dive in to the deeper perturbations that caused his illness.” Tinus Smits, p. 6 2nd Ed.

Further to this Smits gets into the details with his remedies and how to tell when a patient moves from one Level to another – broadly speaking, what happens is that a shift occurs when they move along in their journey with the aid of homeopathic remedies – this is essentially a shift from one Layer to another. And, yes, I think Smits pretty much captured it with his 7 layers – I can speak from my own experience to say that once I got through some issues (said with British accent or a lisp as one would say ‘Advertisement’ or ‘Sexual’, so ‘issues’, please, with a capital “I”). I certainly did have what he alludes to: “The remedy that was so helpful before then is of no use and the patient can sometimes feel a big lose of energy, sadness and physical problems, depending on what layer is coming up.”

He elaborates that before reaching a new stable state of good energy and mental and emotional balance some time can pass and “…this passage to a new and higher level of awareness has to be carefully and professionally accompanied by the homeopath”.

Having had an sort of incubation period this summer I feel I am slowly coming into the next level – for me my Miasmatic remedy is somewhat similar to the Inspiring Homeopathy rxs of Smits*

* - later when I get into Birth Trauma and Miasms in Labour of Harry van der Zee you will see that these systems – Miasms from modern advanced approach of Klein, Scholten and Sankaran as well as Smits., van der Zee and Assilem are not necessarily one and the same but, at the same time, can almost be superimposed onto each other as systems that are really about processes to move thru to attain healing/cure (with Klein being the biggest exception to this and Assilem being closest to Smits).

To finish up here I will give you some more of Smits himself on the homeopath’s role because he really stresses this and rightly so, because to practice with his system you need to be doing your work -- on your, you know what: Issues, which rhymes with “Tissues”…and, yes, you will need tissues for the tears that flow when you sit with your pain - your own Truth (gotta face the music/I had to walk in the shadows and it was not a pretty picture to see myself for who I really have been, behind my compensations/delusions).

“To prescribe successfully these remedies consultations have to be directed in a special way. There is a big difference between collecting symptoms and, repertorising and prescribing the most probable remedy on one hand and the deeper understanding of the patient that leads to the correct remedy – mostly with much repertorising – on the other hand….There are different levels of interrogation and prescribing. The patient will tell only certain aspects of his deeper inner self if there is some invitation on the energetic level of the homeopath, otherwise he will only present simple facts. It is important on what level the consultation takes place. This is a matter of resonance.”

He actually states clearly that without personal work and having gone thru the Layers yourself the resonance can not happen: I really haven’t gone into the Layers – which is the meat of the book…actual MM of the remedies which are the Layers, but Tinus Smits did from what I can see and he did in the end go to the Hydrogen Level or the disconnection with the soul. It may be that he actually was so able to resonate with the suffering souls of all his patients that he left the earth early and went into the cosmos to get re-energized by the Great Mother so as to be able to come back and continue his life’s journey re-intergrated so as to manifest next time and not to have to learn the lessons that go with cancer again.

As Harry van der Zee states “A disease is…both the problem and the solution” and further to this in relation to the passing of Tinus Smits, “Since diseases can function as teachers, suppressing diseases prevents the individual from learning the lessons diseases have to offer…it is not something that should not have been, but rather a welcome opportunity that helps the individual, or in epidemics the group, to learn a specific lesson.”. These are golden words really and for this reason the lesson Tinus Smits learned is one that can help us – homeopaths and all who are open to healing themselves and their communities; for we are here in North America a culture that is riddled with cancer and without facing the demons of this state we will not get to a place to heal from what this Layer is all about. Calling it the layer of "Lack of Confidence" is ironic considering that we seem on this continent to be so self-assured, but in reality if you scratch the surface, you get this: (quoted by Smits to illustrate the underlying theme of Carsinosinum):

People who see themselves as unworthy see others as unworthy.
Neale Donald Walsh, The New Revelations

Remember by his own admission: “To be ‘cured’ means the acceptance of the process and to dive into the deeper perturbations that caused his illness.” Perhaps, the ills of society – the prevalence of Autism, the abject poverty he saw in Nepal, and the indifference and ignorance all around us about these issues was too much and he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and not enough homeopathic professional support – he self treated at times from what he says and may not have had a homeopath guiding him along in his journey of healing. Hopefully, for him next time round – and there is no doubt in my mind that he will back amongst us – he will get the support of energetic medicine in the manner that he gave so lovingly to all his patients – you will see in his cases how present he was and how he resonated with the pain and suffering of the people he treated. He deserves the artistic guidance of a true healer as he was himself.

I eventually will talk on what are called the Matridonal Remedies brought into existence by Melissa Assilem and made up by Helios under her guidance – totally remedies that Rebirth us and have us resonate fully in tune with Mother Earth and the Cosmos. But firstly a side bar on the most amazing work of Harry van der Zee in his 2 books.

The first one of which he matches the Miasms with the stages of the birth of a human being: Miasms and Labour – from 1999 originally (English) and reprinted in 2003 in English as the demand was there to bring it back. The second book, which I read more in detail is his Homeopathy for Birth Trauma from 2007. I wept as I read it as it is deeply moving for me just as the work of Smits has been. I find that these two sensitive men are so beautiful and that if I meet Tinus in the future – when he comes back – or ever do get to meet Harry, the dedicated and wonderful Links editor, I’ll embrace them and ask that they hold me…and believe you me, I am not a huggy kind of person…in fact, I can still barely do the European kiss on the cheek thingy in greeting, even with my Mediterranean mother-in-law of whom I like lots. They are that special to me – men that truly have embraced the feminine energy of the Universe.

These books are literally about Rebirthing and with them I really was impacted in viewing each person in front of me differently. To this day each patient is someone waiting to come into themselves fully and I see that they suffer due to not being fully present. Due to van der Zee I will always factor in a) that their birth could have been traumatic and a process that took their reality/Self out of themselves and may, in effect, need to be re-done, b) that they are stuck somewhere along the way – wait till we get to Melissa baby (and the other woman will touch upon, Patricia Hatherly). Patients can be literally stuck in the birth canal or even still in the umbilicus cord (one of the actual remedies). Also, c) they are really a child of the Universe and if they are helped to be reborn then they can truly be connected to their soul, which I believe is part of the greater energy of the Cosmos.[1]

For details see here: http://www.narayana-publishers.com/Harry-van-der-Zee/en/a970

Reading these 2 books, I feel, are really important for all homeopaths. I wonder if the homeopathic community that is often so much at odds could come together on at least the basic concept of an infant needing to be treated for birth trauma/and or a parent for pregnancy and labour issues and that could be deemed worthy of prescribing on as is part and parcel of the presenting state.

Even if you are into pure Hahnemannian homeopathy, whatever that actually is, you may be able to relate on this. And, especially if you are into Sequential homeopathy, it could be a starting point and maybe if a lasting cure is effected it would be warranted to leave well enough alone for a period of time/let patient sit with remedy and realize that could be not just be about removing layer, but be the remedy called for based on the overall history of the patient and not just a phase to be treated. Its not to say that those practicing the new methodologies may as well forget about this body of work – Rebirthing and manifesting literature – has a perspective and treatment that is essential for real healing to happen in the fullest sense that can be achieved. I have found that even if someone is reading lots of the current literature that this body of work is often missed.

I will only say “Try it you’ll like it” and leave it at that. I think that the wonderful work of Harry van der Zee as editor of Links and in bringing the Materia Medica of Milks to us speaks for itself – his contributions to the advancement to homeopathy should alone have our interests piqued into what he has discovered in his explorations around the impact of conception, pregnancy, labour and birth on children and adults alike (based, you’ll see on many many cases that he either went back to re-open or started seeing from this new perspective – as if reborn himself).

All the great homeopaths that I love seem to come to their insights without having forced their experiences into a theoretical model…but have a sort of birth into their discoveries. They are simply open to what their patients bring to them and then once they see patterns they have shifts of awarenenss that then enable them to see what is happening – this is how any true explorer in any field really operates – true science is, afterall, discovering the laws of nature…it’s not making theories and formulas based on abstract thoughts…the abstraction is of something observed, material or otherwise.

So, let's move towards my last book in my journey of discovery on the Rebirthing rxs/experience. While I was reading all these books – including on the Lacs, in particular on Lac-m and Lac-h in Links, the available books, etc. I was applying them in practice.

As you all know when you can reference a patient or somethg in the flesh it makes for understanding the material better. This was the case for me once I started on Melissa Assilem’s Gifts of the Mother: Matridonal Remedies of the Humanum Family. This is from 2009 and, so it’s fairly new on the scene. I saw the cover of the book when I worked at good ol’ Riverdale. And, boy did I think it was some new age book and steered clear of it for the longest time. Having said that, again I have to credit Ananda for having getting around to reading it. And once I started to read it, suddenly either some stuck cases or new ones that were coming to me just in time it seems, started spinning around in my mind. Unexpectedly, I was embarking on taking patients through a Rebirthing that could not have happened without the remedies that Melissa Assilem brought into our MM.

These are the six remedies that she considers to be of the Matridonal or of the Humanum Family and the Summaries I gleaned from the book:
1) Lac humana - On becoming Human
2) Folliculunum - "The Forgetting of Self" hormone
3) Placenta humana - The Conflict Rx (this rx often follows Lac-h) (DD with Hydrogen and Helium)*
4) Vernix caseosa humana - The Protector Rx*
5) Aqua amniota humana - Fetal waters, Back to the Womb, Soul Recognition Rx
6) Umbilicus humanus - True Soul Retrieval Rx (DD Lac-m)

* - Tinus Smits as quoted by Assilem "Vernix enables us to stay in cintact with the outer world on all levels without being overwhelmed by it and to know what our own feelings are and what this of others are without mixing them up."

From the Introduction of the book: “These remedies are as old as we are. They have been responsible for our evolutionary journey. Born from our very beginnings. There is much we can learn from them. As in the homeopathic order of things, these remedies are arranged to go backwards in time…This is the story told- through these remedies – of connecting with the earthly journey of our soul…This book is about the insights these remedies give to us into who we are and how we were and are shaped. The knowledge these remedies bring to us is about our story as human animals, our evolution, our genesis, our struggle to incarnate and the possibility of a reconnection with our purpose.”

In her Introduction Melissa Assilem acknowledges the influence of the book The Descent of the Child by Elaine Morgan and also the work of Alice Miller (no one book of hers). I feel the Morgan book is essential to read – I happened to come across it just before reading the Assilem book and when I was just starting to read about homeopathic Rebirthing. Although non- homeopathic it just seems to fit perfectly with what Smits, van der Zee and Assilem are all discussing/writing on. See my description of it in Blog entry on the lovely book The Child’s World by Linda Johnston (the book that got me to Blog on books in the first place).

The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self by Alice Miller was originally published in German in 1979 but it's as though it was written just yesterday for those of us in the helping profession presently. It's very good to read to “get your shit together” as a healer – read in my past life as Social Worker/counsellor.[2]

I will end on the Melissa Assilem book and say it is really great in terms of expanding on Tinus Smits and Harry van der Zee as well as the Lactation/Mother’s milk work of Patricia Hatherly. Incidently, the brand spanking new Hatherly book is looking good from the peek I have had of it.

With the Assilem book there is a MM on the remedies. It is, rather, not just totally awesome but truly good homeopathy whereby you can prescribe based on the M/E and Physicals that you see in your patients. Again, another case of never judge a book by its cover. However, surprisingly, there are no children’s cases using these Matridonal remedies. That would be nice to see as in conjunction with the van der Zee birth trauma I’m sure the Matridonal rxs could be well used right off the bat and nip the effects of trauma from caesarian, forceps and other over medicalized situations that occur for infants all too often.

More to compare with Smits and for you to see on Melissa Assilem: “There is no one way to use these remedies. Much of what I have described [in the book], is the energy of the remedies. Conveying their spirit, and their unique metaphor. Each person will have a different need for them. Each practitioner will have a different slant in them….These are universal remedies in that each of us has rubbed up against them…It seems to me that our job as practitioners is to listen to the words of our clients and feel out their yearnings, then to prescribe remedies that reflect all of this back to them”. Note- Like Smits, she gets into the nitty gritty of potency/dosing and also when one state is fading and next should be prescribed upon. Love this as we never can get enough of this!

See here for more on the book - an exerpt from Narayana: http://www.narayana-verlag.de/homoeopathie/pdf/Matridonal-Remedies-of-the-Humanum-Family-Assilem-Melissa.05335_2Introduction.pdf Also see her websiteand get the proving of Folliculinum article and Hpathy interview with her and loads more: http://www.melissaassilem.net/index.html

A Wise woman: like our honorary members of the Great Goddess Tribe, Tinus and Harry. So, with this I will say enjoy exploring the experience of Rebirthing for yourself and with your patients. You will travel down roads – or rather back up the Umbilical Cord – that you never thought possible to truly be with your patients as they manifest and heal fully. They will come full circle to who they are and reconnect to their purpose and you too will be a happy homeopath when you get the most amazing insights that you have ever had with your patients.

Although I would like to go on, I feel this is all you, gentle reader, can take of me!! I am also ready to continue regenerating and getting Rebirthed, i.e. – go to bed, LOL. But, will quickly squeeze in a few things FYI: a) in Homeopathic Links we have a wealth of information and don’t forget that if you subscribe you can get access online to nearly all the back issues, so you can see the formation of the work of Smits, Hatherly on their work with Lac-m and Lac-h…in a 2006 issue you get to see a Philip Bailey case of Lac-h...they all were brewing up their ideas, they were in incubation for a while before they actually published books. In the Links Lac’s book and now the new Hatherly Lacs book you likely will have everything you need (do not forget the Master and the Bailey books though to round off your collection).

Still squeezing in: In Spectrum of Homeopathy's last issue (Issue 5), Elements of Life the theme is not just on rxs of the Elements of the Periodic Table but, also, it has as a major theme in its' case that of Rebirthing. See the husband and wife team of the Joshi’s piece on Conception and Birth…like totally on my pet concept (it’s like they knew this is my thing these days;-). Also, there is a most amazingly beautiful case of a young suicidal woman that is Petroleum (by the Sensation homeopath of Belgium, Karim Adal). It is sensational, literally, and is literally as well about Rebirthing in order to manifest (as though the editors knew I would need to have a current case at my disposal to illustrate to you on the impact of birth trauma on a case…this is not exactly as it were (as in the Harry van der Zee books), but the case really shows that you have to be broadening it up to get the remedies our patients need. The cincher of this case is when the Adal leaves and asks in an off-the-cuff manner on the pregnancy and gets his etiology just like that (a must read).

So everyone, I wish the best to you in your work on all levels and I hope you all can manifest fully: I am aiming to during this lifetime as best I can with what I am working with. In the meantime I will get out in the woods one more time before Old Man Winter comes knocking at my door. A hike in the Autumn in my neck of the woods is the best medicine along with laughter – so a good chuckle at a campfire in the woods is really what I think I will self prescribe in the next few weeks (along with a glass of red wine or a hot chocolate to ward off the crisp air).

Oh yes, I am also aiming in the near future to start up a new Blog and it will be deep baby deep. I’m going to get into my own and my patients healing with homeopathy (with permission, including from myself!). It’ll be in relation to Rebirthing and Manifestation, so, actually any aspect of personal and spiritual/Universal growth and the development of us and the world.

Will keep you posted as to when I am due to give birth to this baby.

[1] Remember The Child’s World by Linda Johnston for reminding us that adults are often stuck developmentally in an aspect of childhood/development and need homeopathic remedy(ies) to move onward and manifest.

[2] Recommended reading as well is Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror (by Judith Herman from 1992). Note to self here, mention at end of this on my new Blog I am hoping to start in next few mths to touch on these books and others on Attachment Theory, trauma and other related topics.

On the Complexity and Simplicity of Miasms and Nosodes (or How I got Peaceful, Joyful and Liberated at Last)

“Homeopathy is simple until it becomes complicated.” So true and who isn’t tempted to keep it simple or stick to the basics when we have so many factors to abide by. ‘The physician’s high and only mission is to restore the sick to health, to cure, as it is termed.” Aphorism 1 alone is daunting. Really. Think about it.

Never mind that we have to deal with the details outlined in Aphorism 2. “The highest ideal of cure is rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of the health, or removal and annihilation of the disease in its whole extent, in the shortest, most reliable, and most harmless way, on easily comprehensible principles.” Like what if it’s rapid, but not gentle or vice versa or if it could have been permanent but was not rapid (here is where you lose the patient)? All the possible configurations are nothing unless you do the ideal cure which means what it says, cure. Nothing else will do for our master, the one and only Mr. Sammy H. (And forget that there are 291 Aphorisms in our beloved Organon and that these are essentially instructions for us to adhere to).

And, as well, since Hahnemann, that there are other experiences/interpretations of our principles that are often based on sound theoretical ideas and clinical evidence that we really ought to pay some attention to.
So, when do we take heed of something and when do we say to ourselves, “this is a phase and it too shall pass…”?

I am not advocating that we ride buckshot and just be happy to get the remedy and not worry if we’ve got the potency and dosing right. Or that we “just” get the right remedy and then wipe our hands of the matter as to whether we are really on target and progressing according to Herring’s Law and other such guidelines. No, not at all. I am really all about complexity and love a challenge.

But really, how to take into account the progress of homeopathy and still know that we are not going off on some tangent and getting lost along the way forgetting not only our roots, but potentially doing harm.

The opening quote is from the Preface of a nice little book that is quite well done: nice and neat really, yet, complex to a degree. It is Emlyn Thomas’s Homeopathy for Sports, Exercise and Dance. For laypersons, occupational therapists, along with homeopaths. I would recommend it as a great general quick reference for specific injuries to local areas and also, for treatment of susceptibility to injury and to enhance performance. This one replaces, for me, others to do with muscle-skeletal issues. Granted, they are all really welcome for this is where people essentially suffering from injuries may turn in desperation to our modality. The old last resort.
What I like about the Thomas book and why I am not afraid when I read it is that it embraces complicated or complex aspects of the patient, the complaint itself, and the remedy state but allows for you to make a prescription.[1]

Over the last couple of years –without this book – I never had success in treating any injuries unless they responded immediately to either Ruta, Hypericum, Arnica, Ledum or Symphytum. If there was anything longstanding about the injury or some underlying reason for it then it was nearly impossible for me to have any success. I was badly trained in this area – it was all about getting the Constitutional at our school…now, I am retrying and hope to do injuries as I do colds, coughs and flus (which I have always loved to do, despite an inadequate training in this area as well). I agree on the use of intermittents that Luc de Schepper and others speak of as a failing in our profession and feel that some modern homeopaths are bent on the one remedy for everything. Like, what if, in the meantime, your patient has a cough or cold they can’t shake – go for it with an acute remedy and, maybe, in the end it will lead you to the simillimum!

For me, the sign of a good clinical book is that I can apply it and not just have it sit on my shelf looking pretty. Now, with something that’s not so self-contained as in a topic or issue that we have to contend with in homeopathy, what happens when the issue already is complex and, therefore, by nature of its complexity is contentious. Cause, let’s face it, we homeopaths are all about a good argument – if there is something to debate we will argue our point….some of us like to hear ourselves talk for the sake of talking but really there is barely a topic that doesn’t stir up a good discussion for us.

One such topic that everyone automatically finds complex is Miasms. An issue that is contentious and has been from the start – even supporters of Hahnemann during his time thought that he was unnecessarily adding to a perfect system, even though it was their own master/founder of homeopathic medicine was proposing to use and classify remedies into Miasms. So, many just choose to ignore what he was establishing to be superimposed onto and later to, actually, fit the existing homeopathic system into: the theory of Miasms. BTW, that be my little take based on what I read in a few books that all have good introductions to the history of Miasmatic theory, especially Miasms and Nosodes. These ones in order of appearance and sophistication as they came into my life were Luc de Schepper, Grant Bentley and Louis Klein. A few others in between – namely Scholten and Sankaran being big in there for sure and classified by myself as being equally sophisticated to Klein and vice versa…but, I now place Klein in a league of his own on the Miasm front.

There have been numerous works on Miasms and, naturally, the above rest on the shoulders of the others. Bentley and Klein outline chronologically these previous authors that are the basis of keeping our community up to speed on Miasms and keeping alive an aspect of Hahnemann that would have been swept under the carpet if some homeopaths had their way. They reference them in relation to documenting the evolution of Miasmatic theory but also to put into context their own experience of using Miasms in practice.

Luc de Schepper from what I can remember really just outlines what is in Chronic Diseases. I leant out Hahnemann Revisited to a friend, but who?? So, I can’t really remark in depth here: this textbook-like book is a worthy cause, but since Hahnemann himself was already seeing that his 3 main Miasms may have needed to be expanded – hence, Pseudo-Psora or Tubercular Miasm already having some remedies under them. IMO, it is never a good thing to say that Hahnemann would not have approved of deviating from his own work. He himself was doing it all the time.[2]

In fact it is rather absurd to claim that one should only stick to the Organon and Chronic Diseases when Hahnemann himself was all about continuing to develop and grow in terms of his work thru experimentation/clinical experience. I learned just now in Louis Klein’s book, a nosode of Tuberculinum was in fact in use by Hahnemann himself before he died. Like many other progressive modern homeopaths I also believe that our master would have continued to find more Miasms in time. So, he essentially started with three Miasms but was on the verge of having a fourth one. And since we are all fond of speculating if he lived another 20 - 30 years (or more? Now we should be reasonable here – how old can one be and still be churning out new editions of a book? Talk about writers cramp, no keyboard…poor chap!)….Anyways, even another 10 years and I’d wager he would have added Malarial and, maybe…Typhoid or Pertussis as Miasms.

At any rate, despite my criticism, this is a good piece of work to supplement any course and Hahnemann’s seminal works: http://www.narayana-publishers.com/Hahnemann-Revisited/Luc-De-Schepper/b1055. When I get it back, I can see myself referencing it in future. Would have been good to have when doing my foundation education – along with keeping Kent’s philosophy and others on hand to keep on track/broaden things up a bit as Schepper can be somewhat narrow in purpose, but, definitely worth the read.[3]

The Grant Bentley book with its nice and neat historical outline really impressed me about a year ago. The Seven Miasms of Bentley are cool – but, interestingly enough Sankaran’s and Scholten’s work is not even mentioned in his work. (http://www.narayana-publishers.com/Appearance-and-Circumstance/Grant-Bentley/b3454) I would nonetheless recommend it as a read. I also hear his Soul and Survival is fascinating and will have a look at it in the future. It has a historical/evolutionary bent and I just love that kind of thing! (I would be a Warrior out of his 7 roles, definitely not a farmer.)

The facial diagnosis thing is warranted and comes closer to what I see in Klein’s work as logically the closest we have to incorporating Hahnemann’s Miasms and modern science. As far as hereditary and genetic predisposition along with up to date biological theory that our founder certainly didn’t have access to we jump up a big step with the Bentley system – as with Sankaran and Scholten for different reason – and really, big time, with Klein. With Miasms and Nosodes: Orgins of Disease I we get the missing link.

I understand Schepper not touching on Scholten and Sankaran as he’s somewhat of a polycrest prescriber, with not much more than Hahnemann’s remedy kit to draw on. To give the man credit, I had bought and used intensely all his books for a period of 6 – 8 months…and it was totally great as needed to switch from the centesimal scale and dry dosing only (now I do a bit of everything, depending on what is called for in each situation, I am adaptable if need be…so, sorry friends that I ranted on about the Paris notebooks and how you were ignorant for not reading Luc de Schepper just because he was my Gura and all that – in fact, I think I was channeling his energy – as he is to Hahnemann, I was to Schepper…it was a crazy phase).

But with Bentley not emphasizing through remedy selection in the end...that there are Miasms based on different diseases that we have genetically/energetically is something very different considering that he opens with the facial features based on actual diseases of our ancestors. But, I feel, that his work is not really much more than what Hahnemann had come up with; four of his seven Miasms are really just combinations of the three initial Miasms that Hahnemann discovered/used.

Granted the combination Miasms have their own distinct MM. He’s classifying remedies under his seven Miasms by success in cases and seeing what facial features the patients have had. If there is a match with a set of features that matches what he has determined to be of a certain Miasm then those are the facial features of that Miasm. When a patient did well on a remedy then that remedy gets placed into the Miasm – and in this way he sees that certain facial features are similar with people of certain remedies. Now, I am getting mixed up cause I can’t remember which came first – it’s the old chicken and egg dilemma…but, really, again limited remedies in use is my issue with this.[4]

Nonetheless, I was certainly sold – I recall doing it with movie’s that I thought I could classify as being in a certain Miasm – Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky was totally a Tubercular and Cancerous film in terms of the 2 main characters and the colours (Bentley has colours that go with his Miasms and the colours in the film around these characters were always a match). Also, the feel of the characters matched the Miasms. The tubercular like one was fruitlessly busy/aimless - not unlike the pace of the case referred to by Sankaran and his way to get at the Miasm re- reaction to stimulus, problem, sensation, etc.

So now, I bring you to Miasms and Nosodes by Louis Klein. But, having been thrilled with Bentley (not that I was applying it in practice – do the films count?) it wasn’t without a fight that I went to this book.

I will say though that I am so glad I did because when I read Chronic Diseases it was like a death sentence. When we read Hahnemann on Miasms it really can be a total downer.

You may recall the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach as well when you read his words: “All chronic disease of mankind…show much constancy and perseverance, that as soon as they have developed and have not been thoroughly healed by the medical art, they evermore increase with the years, and during the whole man’s life time, and they can not be diminished by the strengths belonging even to the most robust constitution. Still less can they be overcome and extinguished. Thus they never pass away of themselves, but increase and are aggravated even till death. They must therefore, all have for their origin and foundation constant Chronic miasms, whereby their parasitical existence in the human organism is enabled to continually rise and grow.” (p. 9)

Quick aside to note: a couple more books that I came across in my search in applying Miasmatic theory. The above bummer situation was addressed for me in one little book that I still like – so sweet, although like Chronic Miasms really is a litany of goo, pus, and other discharges. When I discovered Indications of Miasm by Harimohon Choudhury (2005, 2nd edition) I was thrilled for a few weeks. But, now I can see that like Bentley and also, least we forget, the Henny-Heudens-Mast work[5] – it really did not address how to prescribe beyond some very basic remedies to aid your patients in overcoming and extinguishing their Miasmatically based conditions. The Heudens-Mast book was cool at the time I found it though: I recall liking the details on potency and dosing in relation to Miasmatic prescribing that only is in her book – ever the practical woman, it appears…very responsible and caring, as well as, a strong classically trained homeopath. Sort of simple though and this, as in a lot of areas other than Miasms, is the problem we can often face with our literature.

Where ever I turned it kept coming up for me: How to treat using the range of remedies that we have available to us but to match with the basics of Hahnemann?

Well the answer came to me once I got my hands on the Louis Klein book. Thank God…well, not God, but, actually Narayana as they mailed it to my door. If they hadn’t I might not have cracked open the binding on this book for even more time.

I have been well aware of the book by Louis Klein, Miasms and Nosodes: The Origin of Disease, for the last couple years. In fact, even before publication because I have been in his course here in my hometown, Toronto – the Homeopathic Master Clinician Course (HMC). He has spoken to us, his students here and elsewhere, of his use of Nosodes and refers to Miasmatic prescribing at times when lecturing on a remedy in a family of remedies and how it’s classified Miasmatically and otherwise by either himself or by others.

We, his students call Louis Klein, Lou. So, the author of the book, from here on in, will be referred to as Lou – he really is a Lou, a nice name that reflects his warm and engaging mannerism…he’s really a very approachable man: grounded, interesting, caring and with a great sense of humour – he plays us Will Ferrell and other comic’s skits after breaks and you’re practically in the aisles rolling around with the antics of the SNL crew (which is a good neck stretch after being hunched over your laptop for hrs). Just to be clear he, also, is a studious and serious man that is scholarly/learned but open to hearing what you think about his ideas and theories – not in an ivory tower in anyway.

Lou even once carried a copy of his book to the class for me - from across the country… from his Island no less (Bowen Island, British Colombia). This was upon my request and than I balk and tell him he can sell it to someone else. He must have wondered about my state. A person that can’t make a decision as to whether they can purchase a book or not…and although we homeopaths are i) hesitant to spend too much on books and ii) we don’t need to know the why of some things, he just might have wondered if this was a case of a) a cheap person or b) a disinterested student. I would have wondered on someone like me making out like they wanted to read the book I wrote after years of hard work on it (I’m sure it’s a major endeavor in one’s life to put down in writing what they have learned, especially if you run a practice and teach). So, when I go and say “no thanks” just like that and at the last minute, as he asks to the class, “Was it you Laura that wanted this copy?” he would have no idea of my inner turmoil over this purchase.[6]

“A teacher cannot give you the truth. The truth is already in you. You only need to open yourself - body, mind, and heart – so that his or her teachings will penetrate your own seeds of understanding and enlightenment. If you let the words enter you, the soil and the seeds will do the rest of the work.”
Trich Nhat Hanh in The Heart of Buddah’s Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation.

When I finally started to read the book I did have to wonder why now and not before? I had ample opportunity to read it – it was all around me, everyone in town that was anybody or somebody was reading it. There was a study group that was reading it about a year ago I now recall. I was in the course. I worked in the local homeopathic supplier that had it on its’ shelves. I was practically tripping on it everyday.

What did enable me to finally get down to reading it. Well, it helped I must confess when I had it delivered to me as a gift from Narayana last December. It sat on my shelf looking pretty (scary) for months, right in my home!

It was scary to me for a number of reasons. I was scared to acquire new knowledge and not know what to do with it for one. Silly (actually “bad homeopathy”) you say…and who is to blame you as it is the acquisition of knowledge that furthers us as practitioners. I know this, but here, it was really a state of fear…cause I knew deep down that I would have to be changed by this book. Also, I remember sensing as well that I may see something into myself that I don’t want to see. So, all in all, it was a feeling that it would be like opening Pandora’s Box - and than what?

My worst fears did came true. However, I am happy to report that by reading the book I have overcome them and, in fact, they have just vanished into thin air. Poof. Sort of like how a remedy works with ones physicals and it’s, like did I ever have that problem? How this came about is due to the fact that the book has solved a number of problems for me that are all tied into improvement in health for my patients for example: from getting to remedies in stagnant cases that I would not have prescribed without Lou’s book. And it also was a blessing as it allowed me to get to a homeopath that in the end prescribed for me a Nosode (more later on this).

Basically, a shift in taking the case and case analysis to the overall potential feeling of confidence in my practice can be accounted for because of this book.

Funny cause that’s what is stated about Lou’s Master Clinician course by its’ graduates: if you take it you’ll hear from those that are repeating it to the newbies that immediately they “…prescribe with more confidence” and such. Or that you will go to small remedies that you would not have thought to use, etc. That was ever so slightly happening for me while in the course, but now, somehow I see myself being able to do this from now on in a big way. It has the same effect as being in Lou’s course, but, for me, with regards to Miasmatic prescribing the book was the cincher. So those of you not lucky enough to be in the Homeopathic Master Clinician Course this is your chance to have some of Lou’s infectious spirit (not bacterial or otherwise) catch hold of you.

Am I getting carried away here - as it is textbook like book on one level. But, really, on the subtle level it does have an infectious quality that makes you really want to open up all your patient’s files and start to broaden your thinking on them. There is not a dull moment.

This is what Louis Klein does: he gets your neurons all fired up…to ponder and to rack your brain out, but, at the same time, to involve the core of yourself in thinking on your patients. This is something that you get to read about in his book too – because he will spell out in his cases of the remedies (BTW not all are Nosode remedies for Miasmatic prescribing) how he dug into case/pathology and came up with using a potencized bacteria (Vol 2 will be viruses by the way, and more bacterial based diseases to be treated…with the reminder here that we’re not talking about always having the pathogen involved directly but having the bacteria energetically involved too).

So, gentle reader, in order that you get a sense that this book has meat to it I’ll highlight a few areas that are just the best! One, as already mentioned, is that you get a juicy history of miasmatic prescribing from Hahnemann’s time of the development of the “theory”, which in keeping with his way, was experimentally based, i.e. – based on his work with patients. And then Lou goes on in a succinct but filled out and expanded manner to give you the evolution of Miasms in homeopathy. I love how Lou, as he does in his course, gets to the point or makes points that are useful for us clinically and in our evolution. So, if you ever wondered why some practitioners are into Miasms and some not but had nothing to work with (historical data or otherwise), you get it here.

Extra, extra read all about it: On page 17 of the book Lou theorizes and quite correctly I think (cause I sure couldn’t come up with any idea!) that it is based on the footnote of Aph 1 in the 6th Edition of the Organon that it is a big NO NO to postulate or speculate on “…the interior Wesen of the life process and the origins of disease in the invisible interior of the organism (on which so many physicians mongering for fame have hitherto wasted their time and energy).” I love our Hahnemann’s dramatic use of words; with “mongering” you sense that there is frothing at the mouth as these egotistical physicians, including mongrel homeopaths of course!, were all just scrambling to keep at this theorizing to prove that they knew something someone else didn’t. In fact we homeopaths of modern times seem to take pride almost as we state to potential patients (or anyone who will listen to us) that we don’t need to know the why or how of a pathology or the symptom’s expression in our patients…but are treating the vital force and how it just outwardly shows it’s imbalance.[7]

So, this has been the basis of the contentious issue of Miasms because even though Hahnemann himself speculates with the introduction of the Miasms as the causative agent – either as pathogens or as energetic imprints that could not necessarily be linked to the original disease in someone at first impression – so, scabies was the basis of Psora was really, before the advent of genetic science….was huge advance…he was ahead of his time baby! Lou shows us how Hahnemann “…saw a familial thread in the nature of chronic disease.” Or that he was aware of “….the underlying infectious nature of disease”.

The other thing, besides the main body of the book that is very nice and necessary – is that Lou gives us 9 pages packed with info on how to basically identify and prescribe Nosodes. This is huge, as it really is hands on or useful clinically unlike some of the works mentioned above. And unlike these others even when applicable in practice, we get to up it a notch and move to a very sophisticated next section: the actual Miasms based on the bacterial Nosodes with a Materia Medica for the Miasm and also for the remedies suggested (and their DD’s) that is very, very good.

There is an excellent review of the book by Pat Deacon, a Canadian homeopath as well, in Interhomeopathy. It will help you get a good sense of the book and, like all Canadians, is very sensible (I am exception to the rule as I only wear sensible shoes).

Also, on the Narayana site you can see the contents of the book and get to see an excerpt from the book. So, suffice it to say here by little ole me that if you haven’t experienced Lou in person nor read his Clinical Focus Guide believe you me you are in for a treat with this book, cause this baby is a template of what a good remedy write up should look like. I would say that the Klein book on Miasms and Nosodes is in a class of it’s own as far as what great clinical pictures are all about. More and more of our great homeopaths are setting the bar nice and high - so they have to live up to their own standards each time they produce something for us as members of the homeopathic community.[8]

So, even with a well known Miasm, such as the Tubercular Miasm, we get waaaay more information. More is about quality here, as it is all relevant in relation to how one selects which of the known remedies (there are 14 for us to draw upon!). Incidently, this Miasm is actually a sub-Miasm of The Mycobacterium Miasm. Lou classifies the Miasms under the actual Bacterial classifications. The Mycobacerium are part of a larger family known as the Actinomycetales. Along with the Tubercular Miasm there is the Leprosy and the Johne’s Miasm under this sub-family of the Actinomycetales. The last one having the Johneinum Nosode as it’s corresponding remedy and it is what can, if covers symptom picture/prescribed correctly – see those packed 9 pages mentioned above – can address Crohn’s Disease.

The bacteria has been isolated in conventional research but what differentiates Louis Klein from the allopaths is that he shows us the energetic resonance of the substance as played out in provers of the remedy. Lou did a proving in 2002 upon the suggestion of one of his students and in the book we get the mind set of the remedy. Interesting how really matches with what seen homeopathically with patient’s who have Crohns. In the book we get this one remedy proving as it is illustrative of how a Nosode has a full picture and exemplifies the Miasm nicely. Actually more than nicely – it is mind blowing.

The cross over with Leprosy and with Leprosy with Tubercular all really shows that Klein’s classification by actual causative substance is warranted – those Mycobacerium are really a nasty lot. They all “…overcome adversity, through activity” (p. 261) and what is cool is we see how the source influences: these bacteria are all “acid-alcohol fast” (p. 164). As with all the remedy states you get to see how they correspond to the source or how the source’s traits are played out in the Nosode and, therefore, the patients needing the Nosode.

Here is the review that will be helpful for you (in our beloved Interhomeopathy): http://www.interhomeopathy.org/book-review-miasms-and-nosodes-by-louis-klein
Okay, I was subconsciously influenced by this it seems – just reread it and see that Pat Deacon’s choice of what to highlight is what I did…but, folks, there is sooo many more things that I could have mentioned re- biological classification and other remedies or views and experiences on practice...all very deep but accessible (a total Lou thing).

The number of actual bacterial groups that are in this book are 5, but under these there are some sub-groupings, as mentioned with the Myscobacterium being under the Actinomycetales. And then, under these are the Miasms – some with names we are familiar with, such as Typhoid or Tetanus Miasm…but, there are headings such as the Yersinia Miasm, responsible for the Plague – with 2 Nosodes under it and, as well, the remedy Rattus in use to clear this Miasm…could be good to deal with this as the patients needing this Miasm dealt with would definitely be suffering as anyone around them would be as well.

From the book:
“Just as the actual bacteria practices pathogenic deception to avoid phagocytic destruction, the individual who needs homeopathic remedies of the Yersinia group at first idolizes the host to seek to overcome, before attempting to destroy that host, mainly through covert and destructive sabotage. They will idolize a successful person or even an authoritative body such as a teacher, new country, new school or organization – and then attempt to sabotage, destroy, and overcome it – mainly through covert and aggressive behaviour. These individuals can have “borderline personality disorders” or live on the shadowy fringes of society.” (p. 407). Note- there is a Parasitic Miasm too and it is juicy and really wonderful that we have now to draw on for our patients.

This is the great stuff you get thoughout the whole book…just non-stop action really. Not a dull moment. Your brain has to do mental gymnastics, but will be invigorated and ready to take on the world! Just as Pat Deacon said (I see this referenced in her review! Boy, with my once over I really did absorb her words! Oh well, I haven’t claimed I was original…just want to express here what I love reading these days. This book was the best to date (yeah, yeah, what I said last time!)).

The definitive version of a recommendation is in the Foreward by Jan Scholten: http://www.narayana-publishers.com/Miasms-and-Nosodes/Louis-Klein/b4531

Also, what you get on the Narayana website, in pdf’s from the book are: the full Contents, the Introduction, and the Rattus write up. The latter is what Lou call’s a remedy write up: the Clincial Focus Guide (like 2 pages in total are there for you to check out on the website). This really gives you the picture of how Lou does a remedy.

So, there you have it – I took Miasms and Nosodes off of my shelf and grappled with my demons. As far as I am concerned Pandora’s book can now just stay open.

One thing that was happening for me all through my struggle to just read the book…Let alone integrate Miasms into my practice fully and into myself (fully as well) was that I went to a homeopath – my new one – and she put me on a new remedy based on an intake that was thorough and well done…like went to the core and quickly too. And guess what? without my knowing what came out of it initially, I got my first Nosode! And all along I had thought I was of one Miasm – since I started my studies. This was despite having a remedy originally that shifted me in my health and not having it fit within my romanticized Tuberculr Miasm (yes, I delude myself even about my Miasm): I thought that I was the lovely insect-like Tubercular Miasm…but, in the end I got a Nosode of a different Miasm. But, what is super cool, is it is the one that follows well that one remedy that I have had. The remedy that was hugely curative (chronic allergies and asthma) and the Miasmatic remedy were prescribed without knowledge of each other – that is the homeopaths were just going with what my state presented. So, this Miasmatic prescribing works – and like a charm at that. I know this personally.

So, Lou for all your efforts in writing this great book, you can feel joy in knowing that all the benefits that we as homeopaths with our legions of patients in the world will all benefit –reaping the rewards with better health. And more in line with what homeopathy really can offer, deeply, but, of course in the gentle, rapid and permanent manner that Samuel H. prescribed for us! Your book can help us all transform suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation.

The gentle Spring rain permeates the soil of my soul. A seed that has lain deeply in the earth for many years, just smiles”. Trich Nhat Hanh, from “Cuckoo Telephone” in Call Me by My True Names.

On this note I will say if you are lucky enough to ever have the chance to attend one of Louis Klein’s seminars do…and if you actually are able to attend the HMC course he runs in various locations, the Master Clinician Course, really do consider it as his way of perceiving and working out cases/MM and just teaching are lovely – he brings out the best you can be as a homeopath…and not just by being a great human being and modeling what a practitioner can accomplish, but by giving you really great material to really refer back to all through your work with patients. Here is the website: http://www.homeopathycourses.com/

Peace, Joy and Liberation to you all, readers, and to you, Louis Klein as well (& just plain Thank you as well).


[1] http://www.narayana-publishers.com/Homoeopathy-for-Sports-Exercise-and-Dance/Emlyn-Thomas/b2996

[2] The book that I like to really see this played out is In Search of the Later Hahnemann by Rima Handley of Homeopathic Love Story fame: http://www.narayana-publishers.com/In-Search-of-the-Later-Hahnemann/Rima-Handley/b2997
I thk that this book and a look at the Paris Notebooks warrants more reading/thking about for our profession when we want to discuss any thing that are considered deviations from the Organon or Hahnemann’s works.

[4] This is a great piece to help get one’s head around Bentley: http://hpathy.com/homeopathic-interviews/grant-bentley-and-louise-barton-2/ The similarity between him and Klein lies in the reference of the latter to disposition and the first to the distinction of the Vital Force and the Soul, with the latter of these being about the individualization of the patient being here and the Vital Force is what needs to be treated when deranged (the derangement of the Soul is not what we treat – this is how I interpret what I have read at least. Just as disposition for Klein is not what is to be cured, but pathology. “The nature of the indications for a nosode remedy is not for the effects of the disease, but for the disease itself.” (p. 42 of Klein). And now for a totally Hahnemannian thing to do – a footnote within a footnote – see this great piece by Jan Scholten in Interhomeoapthy: http://www.interhomeopathy.org/jans-column-what-does-it-mean-homeopathy-treats-the-patient-not-the-disease?jn32a44d03=1#jotnav32a44d034860970661cdc84c720b6454

[5] http://www.narayana-publishers.com/The-Foundation-of-the-Chronic-Miasms-in-the-Practice-of-Homeopathy-paperback/Henny-Heudens-Mast/b2496 This book and the Choudhury book go well together as each are lacking what the other has to offer – so, good to have on hand really to compliment Hahnemann’s works. But, when you need remedies to work with, there is not much on offer in that department. This is almost like a pamphlet: http://www.narayana-publishers.com/Indications-of-Miasms/Harimohon-Choudhury/b13 Would say it could be used in a class on Miasms…at our school we went straight to Sankaran but this in conjunction with Chronic Diseases would have been good basis to start us off on the idea that the actual pathogens are relevant and to clear that avenue prior to just looking modern approaches to Miasms that really must go hand in hand with the biological aspect of our health.

[6] This is where I see parallels with Klein and Kent, more so than with other homeopaths. In the many tributes to Kent at the start of the Lecture’s on Homeopathic Philosophy it is C.P. Thacher that he speaks to the “Homeopathic Trinity” of a homeopath being “…a fearless investigator and writer, a thorough conscientious teacher and leader, and a marvelous practitioner” (p. 6). These words on James Tyler Kent, I feel, are applicable to Louis Klein with Lou being more, well, Canadian –as well Kent’s bushy moustache gave him an edge or austere presence that I feel Lou doesn’t have...seems though Kent was gentle and kind too – that old way of writing just makes everyone from long ago seem so serious.
[7] See again the Scholten piece in Interhomeopathy mentioned in Footnote 4.

[8] http://www.narayana-publishers.com/Clinical-Focus-Guide/Louis-Klein/b385 (Total great book. Really we need every remedy done up like this combined with Welte’s succinct case write ups he did for Periodic Table book on Silver series.)

A Meditation on Massimo Mangialavori

“A complex system presents properties which amount to more than simply the sum of its component parts…a complex system can be composed of only a few elements, but the interaction of components on one scale can lead to complex global behaviours on a larger scale that in general cannot be deduced from knowledge of the individual components.”
Paolo Bellavite and Andrea Signorini, The Emerging Science of Homeopathy: Complexity, Biodynamics and Nanopharmacology, 2002

Massimo Mangialavori is a soft spoken man, yet is very clear about what he thinks. He is a complex system. The components of the seminar I recently attended being like a hologram – each part reflected the whole: his whole system was illustrated thru 2 cases that held everything together (running thru the case, if you will). If you intersected at any point you saw in one part his whole Self. This lovely man was represented in his approach to case taking or, for the purposes of teaching us in the seminar, how he presented his 2 cases as paper cases (well, actually written powerpoints)…consciously not as video cases. His whole Self was captured with his philosophical discussion on historical healing traditions from Western to Asian and Shamanistic ones in between. His whole Self was made evident thru all the facets of what he discussed, from the remedy to his thoughts on different aspects of homeopathy.

A mission-like statement from Massimo’s website:

“I hold it to be true that the story of medicine is begun by man, each and every time that a patient seeks for a remedy: in something, in someone, in something suggested by someone. Yet this dynamic interaction expresses itself therapeutically in a way which we are still far from understanding in its entirety, and which has to do with Medicine - all of it.” Dr. M. Mangialavori

He also can use the F word (very appropriately and only once) and is lively and animated, but not hurried…Um, more of a man with a quiet determination or, more to the point, with integrity. Yet, you totally experience him as being flexible and open enough to see that his experiences are just that, his own experiences.

Massimo referred to Hahnemann’s beautiful words by way of illustrating his appreciation of our founder and to discuss health and disease as an underlying theme of his lecture. I would say he undoubtedly is living his higher purpose:

“In the healthy human state, the spirit-like life force (autocracy) that enlivens the material organism as dynamis, governs without restriction and keeps all parts of the organism in admirable, harmonious, vital operation, as regards both feelings and functions, so that our indwelling, rational spirit can freely avail itself of this living, healthy instrument for the higher purposes of our existence.” Aphorism 9, Organon, 6th Ed., S. Hahnemann

It was a real privilege to see him in a seminar. It was my first time and I was very impressed indeed. I sat right up front (due to wearing the wrong glasses that day). It was wonderful as I felt the Vib and not just watched; it was as if he spoke to me! There were about 100 - 150 people (who knows as they were behind me! lol). I was one of the first 10 to sign up (on FB, so, maybe in top 50) as he was my first love in Links – which really helped me to get to know the names of the avant-garde in our field. Sort of like the Polycrests…they get presecribed and with more usage they are the one’s that we get to know. In this case, it is warranted as they, like Massimo, are not names but, they are human’s having experiences that have evolved with careful thought and intentions going behind their cases. Why are they presenting them publicly in the first place? They are advancing Homeopathy…MM for sure and our practice in order to ensure that we are all going along with them on a journey down the road to the best that we can be. These are the Stage 10 of the Silver Series people, and it’s in seminars where they shine.

It was a most enjoyable seminar in the same way that I enjoyed Jan Scholten before and how I experience my wonderful Master Clinician Course (HMC) with Louis Klein. Yet, it was completely different from anything I have experienced before. He was not teaching Materia Medica and we did not watch cases as we do with the other evolved teachers. He was worlds apart from Farokh Master, that was last May. Different from Rajan Sankaran and Divya Chhabra (who I also have seen personally here in my hometown a few years back*) and who, no doubt, are “big names”. Master, a “big name”, I would say maintains the status quo, but I have a place in my heart for his love of detail – I feel I need him on my bookshelves just as I need to read Sankaran but don’t practice the Sensation Method.

* - Sorry to brag, but we here in Toronto just have to step out our door these days and it’s raining world class Homeopaths – Paul Herscu and Peter Fraser are here next, both in April. We don’t say “April showers” for nothing!

This seminar was about Massimo’s own journey to get to his Method of Complexity and then how it works in cases – basis of the books Praxis Vol 1 and Vol 2. He signed these so lovingly as everyone lined up to chat with him. It seemed to me that he was in a Zen like state (even with the use of the F word in the mix). Did I mention he gave the finger in a story he told, sort of as though it were a koan. It was about an allopathic doctor who was going to sue him when he hung up his shingle in a small Italian town he once resided in. When he described for us how he responded in his thoughts to this threat he gestured using the middle finger of his hand, oh my! Funny guy but, to be clear, not comical. Sort of like the Buddhist monks I’ve heard speak on life’s lessons.

The seminar was in fact like getting on a tour bus but with Massimo Mangialavori as the guide. He took us on a trip back in time and then returned us to our present place in time and space in the Land of Homeopathy. I love organized tours as long as there is still a sense of adventure. We certainly did go exploring. He can field questions and give his views without losing the thread of the whole lecture he was giving. I recognize it might not have been everyone’s cup of tea, but, for me, it was great! I love this type of off the wall stuff – but, it could have been a situation where you were either on the bus or not…I sensed that there were some wanting off the bus, but there were no bus stops to disembark as Massimo was invited to present this seminar and had no idea that some were only prepared for the “usual” type of seminar – MM with cases and smatterings of philosophy and ideas about practice as side bars, not the other way around.

I will add that I feel there is no such thing as a typical seminar as all great homeopathic teachers have a philosophical framework that is applicable to practice. In a good seminar and in their writings these evolved homeopaths share this as they teach us MM. Their philosophy isn’t airy fairy…but, rather, it’s something that you can sink your teeth into, bite it off, chew it and then swallow and digest it to actually gain nutrients from it to create energy that is forever growing and useful to you in your practice. I always end up chewing with my mouth open as I bite off more than I can chew when I’m excited…but, I also, go back to thinking of Buddhist monks that chew their food 50 times per mouthful. In this way, I try to remember that it is all good – there will be plenty of food for thought for years to come, so no need to panic and gulp down the mouthfuls all at once.

In my opinion, it is a luxury to take time out of our busy schedules to have a holiday; I felt like a tourist in my own city with Massimo. This journey was one where you got to step back in time, in life really, and take a breather to view the big picture. To reflect on the historical context of homeopathy – we were guided through its evolution. His explorations on his journey led him to the unique place he holds in our modern homeopathic history. Needless to say, his books are now on the top of my reading list. The contents of Praxis and Preface and Introduction can be found here (I haven’t peeped as still savoring my tour with Massimo): http://www.narayana-publishers.com/Praxis-Volume-1-and-2-English-edition/Massimo-Mangialavori/b7934

Any sensitive, creative person that has an inquiring mind, I believe, would actually end up somewhere close to where Massimo (Louis, Rajan or any other “big name”) has on the Homeopathic map. Massimo did use the description of a terrain and a map as an analogy in his description of MM - of remedies and how we see them in the state of patients.[1]

What I see as common with the homeopaths that have shifted Homeopathy from the earlier times of Kent, Herring and, of course, Hahnemann, is that they, like their predecessors, had to step it up so as to make a quantum leap. They had to make advances in their practice that matched, as it were, the patients and their ailments that were “advancing” with the times. Even in Hahnemann’s lifetime he saw this when comparing the conditions in small communities in Germany to those with his patients in Paris. Instead of doing this in relation to allopathy or conventional science/medicine the homeopathic vanguard of modern times had to do this in relation to other homeopaths who still steadfastly believed that Hahnemann and a few others had mined the territory fully.[2]

Without too much research but upon a quick recall of what I know, I would say George Vithoulkas was the first to do this inadvertently. Maybe some others, but for arguments sake do just go along with me, okay? Next, we got the likes of the above named homeopaths and many others…like Alize Timmerman, Frans Vermeulen, Harry van der Zee, Jeremy Sherr, Jonathan Shore, Nancy Herrick, Paul Herscu….who else is there?? Others that we can think of, Misha Norland, who else? Irene Schlingensiepen-Brysch and Melissa Assilem. Others, at any rate, who are advanced yet have a strong basis in our foundation: hip and happening really, like…jazz musicians that use the musical scale to play some really innovative jazz.

I would recommend this lecture if the opportunity arises for you to attend – he has given this lecture before (seems designed to go along with the publication of Praxis) and we were lucky to have him at our doorstep to present his method – I even drank a glass of wine with him and his son at a social on the Saturday night! (no talk of homeopathy though - we talked about skating as a pastime in Canada). In this 2 day lecture you will get MM of a great remedy, but it will be to illustrate and tell the story of Massimo’s journey of how he both makes the MM of a remedy and how he forms Families – not mere classification (notice the suspense I am creating – “What remedy, damn it, did he do?” you ask. “Oh, you’ll see….” ).

This he argues is what is homeopathically useful, as all the other progressive homeopaths do as well: families/systemically grouping based on experience with the remedies in clinic. He gave the example of conventional botanical classification. So what? Massimo says: we can classify, as does science, but really it is just an innate human trait to classify. The botanical world is classified, but this is somewhat useless to us as there are shifts based on reorganization that continuously happens. In ancient times plants, for instance, were classified by flower colour.

I should mention here that I am interested in what Stephanie Nile’s speaks to in her book, The Structure of the Plant Kingdom. Also, we do know that Scholten’s plant Families based on sciences classification are different than Sankarans, but there is order…and, not just a chaotic or random system (just as his findings with the Periodic Table paralleled the actual scientific classification). From what I can see in the huge amount of exerts on the Narayana website of the Nile's book, she is part of the next generation that Massimo talked about. He declared that the next generation of homeopaths will take over the work of himself and others like Scholten and Sankaran (to use what they have discovered and then move on with the job of classification re- Families and to cross Kingdoms). See excerpts here for those so inclined to take a detour at this time: http://www.narayana-publishers.com/Structuralism-and-the-Plant-Kingdom/Stephanie-Nile/b9756

There was so much spoken about, very complex, haha…but, quite simple at the same time. We were continuously all brought back on the tour bus to the town square to get our bearings. Everything was grounded in the reality of the whole point of homeopathy: to cure patients of their ailments/imbalances. For me, in the town square (breaks) there was time to sip tea and to digest what was said – it was interesting though that the participants did not really chat on the contents of what Massimo said – it was either a case of being in a state of shock or there being lots of inner reflection going on. It was hard to gage what was the reaction of the crowd, again it was a situation of my lack of the correct prescription glasses that contributed to what was happening for me!

Another facet of the seminar was the idea of what substances to use as remedies in the first place. According to Massimo there were 3 things of interest as the basis of why we should bring into homeopathic usage any substance in the first place. They were: its use to humans, the substance’s source characteristics, and also the myths and lore of the substance. The clinical usage, however, is what Massimo finds to be even more important then the proving results of a substance. He spoke to this and put provings in the context of Hahnemann and others, including medical practitioners and healers from European and non-European cultures. His view boils down to this on Provings:

“With the universe of knowledge about the substances, it’s limiting to exclude all the information beyond that which arises from the homeopathic proving.”

He moved towards discussing and illustrating that remedies and their Family classification are only useful from what we see in our patients. So our MM and Reps are useful only if we can get a picture of a remedy based on patients cured with the remedy in question. He is working on his own MM based on what he preaches, cases – 10,000 he has in his data bank (This is what I heard, my glasses don’t effect my hearing…I just wanna know if all of these were his patients over the last 30 yrs, or included are cases of his students and colleagues as well?)!

The remedies are grouped in Families, as most of you would know if you have read his works, unlike myself. He groups around themes that are seen in all the clinical cases that he personally has seen in his 30 years of practice. I do, nonetheless, know this from the great seminar titles/emails I get that Betty Wood sends out – Sigh, I would love to have been attending those over the last few years.

Quick aside – I’ve noticed all the “big names” got underway 30 years ago. Anyways, this seminar had as its foundation or running thru the case! an exploration of 2 cases of Oleum animals. Ahhh, the remedy finally revealed, and what a remedy, folks. The cases were amazing. I wonder if they are in Praxis – will have to wait till my books arrive from Narayana.

Anyways, how he came up with the 3 themes/parts of the remedy were from these and a number of other patients that he saw who were cured with the remedy. A cure, as he states, is when after at least 5 years follow-up there is no more pathology – at a deep level, so not just a superficial cure. A great discussion was had on the merits of Hahnemann’s beautiful aim of cure, Aphorism 9 as referred to above.

He also stated something that some would consider contentious:

“We are looking to treat the patients, their deepest anguish. We have to look at what is not treatable and what is curable in our patient – when we think we can cure that is our delusion. It is bullshit – the most that we can do is to help our patient to be compensated successfully of their state. We can help our patient to better cope and to compensate [their] situation, but whenever in life the difficult situation arises….they always break in the same place [like a crystal vase]…if we treat with a remedy and are helped with deep treatment then they can deal faster and better in the future [with what is their issue]…Best we can do is help with DNA problems, but we can’t change DNA.”

I recall that the main teacher during my initial study of homeopathy gave us lots of Massimo stories. Even though I never finished with the school where it all began for me, it was, nevertheless, my foundation to launch off into the world of Homeopathy. I am still grateful for the awareness that I got of the wider world of homeopathy, the global picture of it. We got stories galore and that is how I best learn, so that school was a good match in that way for me. The Massimo stories were always the best. I must say I had the impression that his presence would be stronger in more of an eccentric way, but this was not the case at all – he’s a philosophical and artsy dude really, but really meticulous and into exacting science of Homeopathy as well. Also, a computer nut who is all about keeping and sorting the vast amounts of data that he plays with to make useful summaries or classifications for us all. I am Left leaning (politically as well) and so, the doubt is too great to move to doing this, but our guys and gals that are centrally located on the periodic table do this important work for us;-) Massimo told us that each morning he spends about 30 or 40 minutes reading over past cases in relation to new Families he comes up with and to compare with his current cases.

The themes of the remedy were given initially to show us that his themes are precise or small but broad as well.
They were:
Withdrawal
Over trying, frustrated as know can’t succeed to be accepted by father due to own inadequacies
Feel deformed/ugly
He used the term as summary, “professional loser” for this remedy. Not that he felt the patients were that – you sensed that he really felt compassion for them in their anguish.

But, what Massimo was telling us was that with the first theme, there are huge number of remedies, right. As with the other themes. Withdrawal is there in lots of other remedies and Drug Family remedies – not all, but many, right? Well, his point is that only with this remedy do you have the constellation of these 3 themes together. And with each case, patient, you see that is Oleum animales you will see the emphasis differently within these 3 themes.

The first case, a 16 year old boy, the second a 45 year woman. Similarities yes, but wonderful expressions (sad and with pathology, granted) of Oleum animales. We also got a DD of a Carbo-veg case and in this 41 yr old woman we could see the commonalities, but once you read over and felt the case we broke off into small groups. We looked at aspects of the cases/sxs and you could distinctly see differences even though there was so much in common on the M/E and physical levels.

The remedy we did is made from Stag’s horn and in line with the criteria of Massimo since it was used as far back as 3000 years ago by the Egyptians and has been used in other forms throughout human history. Chinese medicine for instance: my grandmother who lived in a healthy and vibrant manner right till she was 101 used this ground up in a Chinese herbal concoction that she regularly took. So did my grandfather and he lived until 87…and was vital up to the end too. Admittedly, my grandmother used more tiger bone ground up…totally illegal and not a renewable source like antler horn.

Massimo’s work on the source was cool – the antlers are regenerated each season (we saw shots of the growth rate of the full antler sets – amazing)…Also, about the symbolic fight to mate of the stag, the head is where all the energy and blood go to grow the antlers which are symbolic of male power. The masculinity here is the issue of falling down, though. It should be noted that the horns are made stronger when the stag’s fight, they need to lock horns to actually make more vascular tissue. In terms of falling down, the horns fall down to the ground at season’s end – so, the remedy is not about the erect penis. It is a flaccid penis. The ex-phallus of the animal. Let’s see what else is in my notes: oh yes, a phallus is a symbol of power and so, the antlers are what remain of the power, they are not powerful. Physically the bones, structure of patients are weak.

This is what is seen in the Family of volatile carbons (Clark’s early classification was good said Massimo for this and good DDs) and in this remedy in particular you see in the slow movement, the chill (1/2 of body or parts and with numbness or loss of sensation of parts – physical expression of the withdrawal from world, as is the constant long sleep of the patients – 15 hrs and no dreaming and no sense of being rested when wake). Note- there is more affinity with this group and with the oils, like Oleum jecoris than with other horned animals, such as deer or cows. I did share with him from Louis Klein’s Clinical Focus Guide the write up on this remedy and he was keen to have and read. Massimo told me that he always meant to look at Louis Klein’s work but just hadn’t had time before. Broad minded, for sure, would be a theme in his remedy!

The theme of ugly/deformed was experienced by the 16 year old as having the sensation of an enlarged head/seeing himself as a monster as if he was Frankenstein. In the remedy one often sees head deformity of some sort – as Massimo did in nearly all of his cases with exception of just one, if I remember correctly. The woman had a situation where her jaw could get stuck always in the open position. For her whole life, she never allowed herself to laugh or even smile so as not have her jaw end up unhinged. She also was extremely embarrassed (mortified) of her bad teeth which no one would fix. And, the parent(s) in the remedy/cases of Massimo always are not emotionally available or even physically present that much – so, it takes a drastic health issue really to alert them that their child needs care, even basic medical attention.

In the boy’s case, he had acne that was not really bad, but because his father was scarred from acne he was actually afraid of this for himself – but, the CC of the father was the boy’s slow learning and psychological problems – very slow (all patients have extremely slow movements) and withdrawn (as in 1st theme). He was finally getting help as he was failing at school and the father was at wits end about this as an educator. The boy was more pronounced, clearly obvious in this as opposed to the case of the female case – she was less compensated is what Massimo pointed out. At this point, the tour bus took a great detour and we had a nice discussion on compensation as a concept. At this point Massimo gave his view of health and disease and what is to be treated with homeopathy.

Last tidbit on Oleum animale that is super neat but relevant is that the substance was originally used in modern times by chemist/doctor, Johann Conrad Dippel of Dippel’s oil fame...made from the substance – the stag’s horn. It was in the employ of the Frankenstein family and in their Castle – yes, the basis of the movies and was the place and this inventor, made into mad scientist of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel. And here in the case, totally played out in the life of the 16 year old boy. His father actually showed him the funny version of the film with Mel Brooks in hopes of having him overcome his fears about Frankenstein, but to no avail as he ended up finding and watching the serious version with Robert De Niro. He resonated with the monster in it and ended up feeling even more sad/depressed and isolated, more of a monster himself. It was one of those homeopathic moments – yet, another Massimo story to add to our canon!
(More juicy stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Conrad_Dippel)

So, to finish up my meditation on Massimo I’ll give this to you word for word in honour of him:

“On the concept of simillimum…can be seen in many different ways…according to your expectations. If we are homeopathic doctors means we use homeopathic remedies…we all have different expectations, ie – in the child (16 year old boy) – decent level of treatment would be to not have difficulty with skin and discharges – for the lady would be the backache…could have considered a lot of other remediess – and the remedies would have helped and you would be satisfied and they happy…what your expectation is the key there!!

Define Disease –if start from what Hahnemann said…the aim of good therapy is to have patient achieve their highest purpose of their existence…means you should be able to help person in their evolution…so with the lady not only the back and ear – but to have a more satisfactory life – to be more creative to blow out in her office, to recognize she could have a better life.

You could not expect to come out from school and do this at beginning – I think more then sufficient to help little by little the patient…honest to help the state of the patient – I think the state is the whole of the patient.

When cholera of Europe with Hahnemann – I do best that I can and I am honest, this is better then they take antibiotics…
If you have more symptomatic approach with the patient - superficial then enough to stop the poor kids [of developing world] not to have such diarrhea. If you can take more time to see them and you are interested to do more. [To do] better then possible – not be intimated by idea that [you may] not find a constitutional remedy at first, just try best…

If you treat acutes with [the] constitutional it should work for a few years [for you] to know it is constitutional…with chronic disease need, [such as]MS, need many years of improvement, with a crisis then know is the constitutional…”

In closing, it was inspiring to hear from this lovely human being in his prime (not like the stag horn, haha) that you can simply be honest in your intentions and start small and evolve in getting to the depth of our patient’s states. Knowing MM in a deep and evolved way, as in his Method of Complexity, is essential – but, together, skill and knowledge can go a long way. I would say that due to his genuine interest in us, those of us in the seminar listening to him, I left feeling good and if there had been “I Love Massimo” t-shirts available for purchase I would have bought one.

This is for you Massimo:

Heaven goes on forever.
Earth endures forever.

There’s a reason heaven and earth go on enduring forever:
Their life isn’t their own
So their life goes on forever.

Hence, in putting himself last
the sage puts himself first,
and in giving himself up
he preserves himself.

If you aren’t free of yourself
How will you ever become yourself?

From the Tao Te Ching (#7), Lao Tzu

[1] As it so happens I presently am reading Louis Klein’s Miasms and Nosodes, so can’t promise a review of Praxis and, hence, why I am not allowing myself to read even excerpts from Narayana’s website…and, incidentally, Klein’s book as well meets my criterion of an evolved teacher/homeopath big time! Thoughts to follow one day…for an actual review see: http://www.interhomeopathy.org/book-review-miasms-and-nosodes-by-louis-klein
NB - the comments posted afterwards are interesting as they address my current fav topic: new methodologies vs. traditional classical homeopathy.

[2] Good example of this adherence to original classical homeopathy in our times is in a Master book from 2008. I own it and love it as a dear little friend. Like an old friend that warms the heart and is there when you need them, but they tenaciously stick to romanticizing your past life together, without acknowledging you have changed as a person and, that maybe, it is time to move on...but, at the same time, who better to reminisce with then those that know you from back in the day? http://www.narayana-publishers.com/Understanding-Posology-in-Classical-Homoeopathy/Master-Fernandes/b5368