Radical Healing with Marketa & Me

“The reconnection that is the essence of healing is a process that reaches deeper and deeper, reshaping your consciousness and redirecting your energy so that your body is brought into greater and greater synchrony with the pulsing of the larger wholes of which you are a part. The farthest reaches of healing stretch the mind and stagger the imagination. It is a matter of cosmic proportions.”
Rudolph Ballentine, Radical Healing, 1999

My last year of self-reflection and reaching out about my progress has brought me to understand that balanced health always comes down to Awareness and the timing of it, Synchronicity. My last year has been one of  "Being" and "Action" in this regard. With Homeopathy its' amazed me how much I've managed to accomplish internally and externally.

Part I) On "Being" over the Last Year

"Being in the middle of it"; being at a "Standstill", in "The eye of a storm" or the "Vortex"...defined "...in Cartesian philosophy [as] a rapid rotatory movement of cosmic matter about a center, regarded as accounting for the origin or phenomena of bodies or systems of bodies in space". See the handy dandy online dictionary.com site for Vortex definition(s). Also, see the Kees Dam's Lac maternum piece in Interhomeopathy that has insight on potency* as well as timing for healing (at the end of the case, http://www.interhomeopathy.org/sweet_sweet_mothers_milk).

* - Something that I am contemplating and experimenting with these days is Potencies as "levels of awareness". So, please send me anything you find that links these two things. And for that matter, anything on Repetition of Dose as it relates to "synchronicity" too.

This place of stillness is not passive, but very active with rapid movement and change. In myself, over the last few years I have lived shifts weekly, granted mostly monthly, but at times almost daily. The state appears to be one of contradiction. It is and it is not. As you know, contradiction interests us Homeopaths. It's where we can get a hold of a patient's state. Often when there is discomfort with contradictions our patients come to us for help (even when they are not aware of it). I have concluded with experience, that there is a dis-ease with living with one's contradictions. Something akin to hypocrisy or, more precisely, the feeling of a disconnect in and to one's life. But, contradiction or being able to sit with discomfort can bring us closer to living in harmony in the end. For instance, there can be a co-existence of opposites: with darkness comes light, etc. With balance and, thus, health we can have polarities reside with each other in peace. In my case, I believe now with the help of Homeopathy that I live with healthy contradictions, not the ones that indicate I am hiding something - and, in fact when I was unhealthy I didn't even know that I was full of contradictions of the kind that couldn't really be integrated.

I feel the new Systems of Homeopathy that exist are what I am all about these days. They can seem contradictory as well, but they are in a good way. Systemizing something but having within the system a freedom to be creative is having things that appear to be polar opposites peacefully co-exist. This is what, I believe, appeals to so many of us with the systemic perspective now of our Materia Medica because it contextualizes the parts to make a whole...Starting with myself, I am a being who is a system: complex and, at last, coming to a simplicity, in that I am not a mass of confusion or parts that are disconnected. Rather my parts are now running together towards an end that makes sense of all the independent pieces. This is an example of the "reconnection" in the opening quotation.

Recently I read the words of the plenary speakers for a conference on "Aging and Spirituality" to



A mystical song from Marketa Irglova's Muna, 2014

be held in Los Angeles (the same weekend of Louis Klein's October Vancouver seminar, so no palm trees for me). "There are circum-stances that must shatter you; and if you are not shattered, then you have not understood your circumstances. In such circumstances, it is a failure for your heart not to break, and it is pointless to put up a fight, for a fight will blind you to the opportunity that has been presented by your misfortune." At times like these, indeed all the time as we grow older, author and gerontologist Jane Marie Thibault suggests that we think of our lives not as a journey, but as a pilgrimage. Mature spirituality is not just about smelling the roses on an endless path. The truth is that like it or not, we are all on our way to the same ultimate destination. "Dignify the shock," she writes. "Sink, so as to rise."(Leon Weiselter on Thibault. See Fierce with Age website for info.).  For the Homeopathy seminar that I am off to next month see here: http://www.homeopathycourses.com/louis-klein-master-seminars-2015/. It'll be all about the New Methodologies and how to actually apply them, always useful - clinically relevant as is Klein's trademark.


Part of the reason I am at last getting into my stride as a Homeopath is that I am integrating my own experiences/traumas - all the parts of my life...living an existence that has all my memories - experiences of them even at the cellular level - coming together to make a whole. Ahhhh, a whole manifested being! This is a big deal 'cause all the reading and attempts made in the past are now finally paying off. Thanks to the transformative power of Homeopathic remedies. Being both a patient and also having my own patients has afforded me the opportunity to witness healing that moves us to a reconnection with the cosmos, the "larger wholes", again from the opening quotation/book Radical Healing.

It is very much a time of transition for me. This is the stuff about me being in flux, but yet at a standstill (in the Vortex). I have had several years of practice with my patients, observing them. Moving from watching their hand gestures to their responses when sharing their stories during the Intake interview to seeing their miraculous cures.

I can fully appreciate what a blessing it is that we can learn and grow ourselves as healers from their journeys towards being whole. As a patient myself I have had the benefit of the healing work of some great Homeopaths that have helped me make the shift that has then enabled me to be better at being there for my patients, and, of course, being a better individual for myself, my family and friends. I wonder which came first, the chicken or the egg? Did I already have an ability for being a Homeopath or did my patients impart this ability on me? My feeling is it's about standing still...long enough, in my case, as I am almost ADHD or at least very impatient at times;-)

Detachment (with compassion as in Buddhist teachings on Attachment) has allowed for a true connection with others. I am not talking here about taking on the issues of our patients, but, rather, hearing with self-awareness what is going on - again the state of the person, what they are about, their stories, their life's themes, their issues or the problem of their case (to be precise and according to Scholten). To paraphrase a Canadian author in an interview I just heard the other day: Empathy is not about pity or even compassion but about getting into the shoes of others, their lives. Good Homeopathy is like Art, a good novel or a beautiful painting with perfectly executed brushstrokes...and in so many ways...including being poor and starving, ha ha.

One aspect of my own case has been coming to terms with my Shadow, one that in the past put me into a state of shame (or guilt on a good day). But with Homeopathy, an acceptance of my Shadow is making it possible to move forward. Although I am not exactly aiming to embrace it, I want to come to a place of acknowledging it and integrating my past "shameful" or at least "regrettable" actions/patterns in order to move thru them to a new place (one that has me detached enough from them so as to be able to recognize in the moment when I am basically behaving in certain ways in order that I can shift gears and act differently). To change habits/patterns is hard, but with energetic shifts that Homeopathic remedies offer we have hope to do this...to be transformed and be closer to being Whole.

In just a sec I will touch on the concrete things I am doing with patients, using specific Families of remedies that I find extremely beneficial for this work, especially in times of change or transition. As many of you know, we see many of our patients at these times of what I see as a discomfort with their old ways. Even if they do not know it, this is when they often turn to Homeopathy. And do I not know it myself. I just had my case taken by an outstanding Homeopath because I too am at a time like this again; on all fronts of my life (or facets of my case). I am shifting and moving but in a still enough place - Hello Vortex or "Eye of the Storm" - so, this time not exactly stuck like I was several years ago. I think, therefore, a snapshot of my state is likely very clear...I certainly love it when I get a patient that comes to me in this state. I hope that my dis-ease is clear, but do hope it gets cleared up sooner than later too...Any day now I will take my remedy - just awaiting its arrival by post and then will hopefully get a nudge in the right direction.

Always a sign for me that a patient has moved from the primary reaction of a remedy - that sets the impetus into action but is doing most of the work - to the secondary reaction with their Vital Force or their own "innate healing action" doing its thing. This is about the inner core of the person...what energizes their actions because the self-awareness has kicked in:-) So, which came first? me witnessing this or me taking the lead to spot out the patient's state based on my own self-awareness? As you know, whenever we ask the chicken or egg question we can never know the answer. It would be about being sure of not only the causative agent(s) but also assuming we know what is the desired outcome. And this is not at all possible to know (even once it is supposedly a "closed case") nor desired...except when we forget to be humbled by the results we see in our practices...remembering to be amazed at the possibilities that unfold before our eyes.

Part II) On "Action" this Recent Year of My Life

When we see the secondary reaction we know it cause the patient is not the source or substance speaking any longer but comes from a place of "Doing" or "Action" (and not "Being the Source"). At the start of any curative action with a good remedy, we see an uncanny - almost comical - reaction of the patient that can only be described as a possession. There's a hold on them that is somewhat like a Proving. But because there are beneficial aspects like being energized, eating or sleeping better, having some meaningful dreams (huge!)...as well as their old symptoms coming to the fore (as in Hering's Law), we know it is not a Proving.

I personally need to see this clean reaction to know that the remedy is more than just good, but correct - as in the best possible fit I can get or match them to. For me, I believe it is at this place that self-awareness is finally truly possible and that's what is gonna to make it possible for healing to happen for them (myself included). This possibility allows for what we know to be the secondary reaction to kick in. I have come at last to this place: awareness is key and without it I realize I would not have any hope of moving out of a place of feeling ill at ease. I used to be on a path or journey stopping to smell the flowers along the way, but this was not much different from early on (when I had no inkling of myself as a person in need of help) when I was actually just distracting myself with, well, distractions (diversions or diverging off the path) - engaging often in self-destructive and harmful acts to avoid the core issues of my life. I have now shifted with Homeopathy to being a pilgrim.

Unfortunately, I think I have to still sink a little more on this pilgrimage of mine. Shit. But, shit happens, and, therefore, I will hopefully be able to rise out of this shit and come out the other end with dignity: with some wisdom. Cross your fingers for me for the next several months. It is going to get ugly...again, but deeper and better in the end I hope. I am hoping that with early remedies and with "work on my issues" and all that stuff that it'll not be as low as in the early part of my pilgrimage. For me, turning to Buddhism has been helpful and not necessarily a crutch but a pillar of support that I feel has been loving and kind and brings with the meditation (and a sprinkling of yoga) that I've tried to do has rubbed off on me. And with this round, I will be more conscious about it as a practice in my life. So, again cross your fingers for me, cause I feel precariously perched and could easily fall off the wagon without an impetus such as Homeopathy.



More than Once makes this worth a listen...it's mystical
and magical music.

I have been listening to some lovely songs with very relevant lyrics...truly spiritual works. They are by Marketa Irglova on her second album called Muna. All the songs are simply sublime and I could listen to them a thousand times. I listen to music when I work on cases, not at first but once on a roll having found at least the direction I feel that is going to get a remedy for a patient. I listen to music when I clean house and cook as well. In the morning it helps me get grounded to start the day and then later on as a steady pulse of energy if I need to be driven and keep going when I am focused. I am listening to music right now as I type out thoughts to share with you. I feel connected to the planet with music...but not if I am in nature - either at the seaside or by big freshwater bodies of water or in the woods. I was fortunate to have a summer just now of all of these with the last being a trip north of Toronto to do some camping and canoeing ("I am Canadian" as one of our beer ads proclaims, lol). Nature and the music I am listening to these days helped me revive after all the activity of the last year (The new Blue Rodeo album In our Nature is excellent as well. Canadian stuff, unlike Marketa - who is in Iceland these days but from the Czech Republic originally - all prior to her Once debut at the Oscars and on Broadway).

Here's my list of what I did in terms of "Action":

1) Lots of great cases/patient work with an expansion of how I prescribe. Part of this focus on my practice came 'cause I made a decision to let go of being the book sales representative in North America for Narayana Publisher's - this was hard to do...but, now I see that I had to or I wouldn't come to where I am ready to go the extra mile - i.e.- full time practice...which enabled me to get good cases of Plants, new remedies (and old ones or ones that are very related/close to Polycrests on the Periodic Table (i.e. - Ozone) or close Botanically...as in new Plant remedies).

2014's 20th Anniversary Issue: The Past, Present
and the Future of Homeopathy

2) Plant System articles/cases, one for Simillimum and one for The American Homeopath (reflective of my coming home, as it were, as I often go seeking outside of my roots/self to connect, i.e. - get approval from outside of myself - so, local publications represent a shift for me).

3) Lacs reviews of books/cases for publication (another Simillimum piece- already published and also The American Homeopath again, this one pending - need that remedy to kick my butt into gear to wrap it up, especially an accompanying case of Lac delphinum).

4) Prescribing for Miasms and Chakras with new remedies -- New Nosodes (Klein), Colours (Ambika Wauters) and Gemstones (Peter Tumminello) -- with work on a curriculum for teaching other Homeopaths...

5) And for patients something I am doing: a Memoir Writing group - that will also be for myself to document my personal life journey (a Homeopathic Autobiography of sorts)...oops, pilgrimage. The latter is going to be made into my Thesis for Louis Klein's Master Clinician Course, as that is what is left to do to be a full graduate of it. What came first, the chicken or the egg here? for sure, it was the chicken in that it grew (albeit from the egg) organically (and free run, lol) so as to then become a proposal for being a Thesis. I will for sure share what I learn from running a group for patients that have had success with Homeopathy with me and who memoir write with me to give meaning to their lives - what the group is going to do over the next several months. I hope all the patients I invited are going to sign up in the next few weeks....many of whom are the ones that I have prescribed, intermittently, remedies for their evolution since doing well for a least a couple of years on their Constitutional remedies. These "intermittent" rxs are the Colour, Sound and Gemstones that I have been working with of late. Love 'em and will share with you all in future on this experience.

6) I will mention that I have on the back burner but always running though my mind (again, need the impetus of my remedy!) the idea or the makings of a Book Club for us Homeopaths. To keep us all up to date with the prolific authors/Homeopaths we have in our midst and that without we can not practice in a way that advances us and our work for the benefit of patients. So, slowly but surely it will happen...if you contact me on this or any of my cases or articles I will send you what interests you. Next I will either have condensed versions here in my Blog of cases or a write up on the Vancouver Klein seminar I attend in less than a month...or on credentials and staking my claim in Homeopathy as a practitioner (see below)...or on the above, #4) or #5). Um, so many ideas, so little time.

So, at last I start to finish up. To show you how slow change is for me and many of the people I see I will say, that also in the last year, I have moved from a place of being an outsider to wanting to be an insider: at last, acknowledging that credentials are a good thing and that it doesn't mean that if I join an association or society of Homeopaths or get licensed and such that I am a sell out. I have always been a renegade to a degree in all that I have done (even Social Work, how? who knows?). On one level it helped me to get a perspective that was unique in order to have insights not possible if I was too much on the inside. But now, I am again awaiting the magic of Homeopathy to do its thing so I can start again!! on my applications. This all is another story and another posting. Patience is a virtue and with the awareness of my own (slow) evolution I am able to at last see that I must be patient with my patients as well. At the start I was always like "Hurry up and heal" but now see it is time and time only that we need to give ourselves and others for healing...being pilgrims that are going at a pace that works for them, so as not to get blisters or end up hobbling or even crawling on the path. So, having said that, give me a few months to reach out again and blog a piece on something for you all.

BTW, my remedy has arrived just today - yikes!@#!! Wish me luck! Until next time, I wish you all the best in whatever capacity you are moving forward in your endeavors, or "Actions". If we all keep in mind, that "Being" is valid and that without it there is no movement/change, or "Action". As you know, it is just the other side of the same coin. Be well in all the ways that you all are able. Peace.

                                ____________________________________________

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and righting, there is a field. I will meet you there." Rumi
 

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

The Periodic Table in Homeopathy: The Silver Series by Ulrich Welte is The textbook on Scholten’s Element Theory and Worth it’s Weight in Gold

This book is excellent but is also a textbook example of a textbook in homeopathy – something we have very little of and are in dire need of. We need our Materia Medicas and Repertories. A given. We need our books that wax poetic on remedy states or on the beauty of our philosophy and the principles that we operate by. Given. We even need our books about the systems within our amazing System of Medicine that illustrate how we truly heal with science and with the touch of an artiste. Givens. Yes, we homeopaths do love our books. But, the trick is in having the right ones as there’s an inordinate number of them for such a precise and unconventional profession… and we only have so much of our hard earned money to spend!

What we have here is a Scholten’s Element Theory for Dummies of sorts. Kidding aside, this is a book with gentle wisdom and wonderful cases that speak for themselves. The book is practical and can be applied in practice immediately. It is clear and concise yet not simple – it is packed with information that is invaluable.

There are 63 cases and they all make the case for their remedy without being forced. Hate that don’t you? Like when you’re reading something, and you get inset box examples to illustrate something the author wants you to understand and you just know they are made to fit the point – this happens in pop psychology books all the time. This happens, as well, homeopatically all the time, as in when we try to get the patient to fit the remedy! It happens to the best of us. In the Welte book, each case is exactly what an intelligent reader wants…the essence of the remedy illustrated so as to be able to identify the remedy in practice.

You can read the Introduction and see the book's Contents, as well as, get a sense of a remedy write-up or what a Chapter is like: http://www.narayana-publishers.com/The-Periodic-Table-in-Homeopathy/Ulrich-Welte/b6604

In the Zirconium chapter – the first of three cases is a gem! Literally, it is not only Zirconium metallicum but also, Pearl – are pearls gems? Um. The other beautiful thing about this book, making it practical and textbook like for me is that the potency and dosing of each case is included. Soooo helpful as more often than not this is not even mentioned, never mind, expanded upon with the explanation behind the selection of potency, etc. (granted, not too in depth though – as it really is MM and textbook on Element Theory, but total bonus).

The cases are the equivalent of a textbook's inset boxes, used as examples of the theories of, say, Psychology or be it the history text from History 101. And, yet, they are, homeopathically speaking, modern takes on the old time pithy cases that often have to be read in volume to get a full picture of the remedy you are studying. Not that there is anything wrong with that – but, we as humans have gotten waaaay more complex than the Mrs. B of some little village – our ailments are, mind you, the equivalent of the patients seen by Hahnemann in his Paris practice, but instead of just the ailments from the abuses of the medical practices of their day, we have Miasmatic loads that have been compounded by complex lives that are constantly under stress 24/7. We have on top of this the medical abuses our patients also undergo that are so insidious in modern times. A truly sad state of affairs.

Yikes – this is now an inset box within an inset box! Ulrich Welte has made a 101 Textbook for anyone that wants to step into the Periodic Table. You can be a beginner/student or a seasoned pro that is wanting to stop jogging all over the Periodic Table each time you're working on a case. You will be immensely helped to get to the correct remedy using the “new methodologies”.

Although the book is based on only one Series of the Periodic Table, the Silver Series, it really doesn’t matter as Welte uses this Series by way of explaining the whole Table and how to use the Element Theory in whole, meaning all the Series and all the Stages in their full glory. One really gets the sense of how Scholten’s work was an amazing feat when the precision prescribing happens seemingly so effortlessly. In actuality, the thinking behind the choice of remedies is given in the analysis of each case – so perfect; so textbook! Incidentally, the history of the homeopathic use of the Periodic table is placed in context of the scientific development of the Periodic Table, as in Chemistry and Physics. An appendix of the book.

The “new methodologies” BTW are what I am interested in these days for my reading material. I have, of course, an interest in Classical Homeopathy and will always have a love of the learning of how repertories and MM developed and have been used historically and currently.

But, the “new methodologies” are really just the use of science in our healing art/system: we would be operating in the Dark Ages if we did not move towards the use of generalizations/systems of categorization of the MM. Totality of symptoms vs essence is just so passé now isn’t it? – it’s all about what methodology to use for grouping rxs into certain categories.

A Given…that we are gonna group. We’d be crazy not to as we have just too many remedies to choose from and with pure reperorization we could not find the one remedy unless we use the old methodologies in conjunction with Schotlen, Sankaran and other progressive thinkers. It would be a shame not to advance as we can’t treat based on ways that can’t help us find the “unknowns” – case in point, Lanthanides were not used and only the correct remedy is going to cure, so fortunately we have pioneers like Scholten that diligently do their part to advance Homeopathy and strike out into new terrain, literally, ha ha.
.
I will mention here that Welte beautifully outlines in a footnote[1] the parallel journey that Jan Scholten and Rajan Sankaran took to get to their similar classification of remedies/states – similar but different, granted. Schoten used the Periodic Table and Sankaran used plant sensations Miasmatically but, in effect, the sensations of Plant families as a basis to grouping remedies into Miasms is very similar to the Stages of the Periodic Table – the difference was only by 2 years in terms of presenting their ideas to the homeopathic world. Jan Scholten’s Foreward to An Insight to Plants and Sankaran’s own Introduction on his process for developing his system of classification are remarkable examples of collaboration and how great minds think alike.

Independently they came to the same genius idea that remedies have reactions that can be grouped so as to not just have 3000 or so remedies to chose from but, rather, to have 10 Miasms or 18 Stages in order to view remedies by either Families and/or Series so as to be able to narrow our choices down.

See in the book's exert on the Narayana website what Welte calls the “Rise and Fall of the Silver Series” - the same idea as Miasms or Stages. He outlines the creation, preservation and destruction of a Series, which is based on the concept that everyone has this birth and death and then resurrection. He makes a great analogy with the building and decay of a house. With this you really see the Miasmatic parallels – with Psora at the beginning with planning/scanning thru to Syphillis with its’ mistrust, decline and destruction. [2]

To be clear here, it’s not about short cuts…saving time, etc. (but definitely a side effect of Classification). Rather, it’s about getting the one true remedy/accurate prescription. No siree, no short-cuts here as really the choice is not a) narrowed down to only 10 or 18 as there are the Families, Kingdoms, as well as, the Series combined along with the individual remedies within each of these. And, lest we forget, the initial perception of the patient/case taking that has to be done artistically and meticulously so as to be able to be working with the correct elements, so to speak, in the first place – so, really no such luck for us! Short cuts, smort cuts…and anyways, we wouldn’t want it any other way, would we now?

Text books aren’t about a little of this or a little of that – they are about organization of material as in “how to manuals” – be it the events of history or any topic of exploration for that matter. It's about having a way of using all the known data that is currently available…so, even something like History is made so as to be educational for the purpose of having citizens know their, well, history and then be able to be participants in a common, well, history.

Having said what I said about short cuts, I’d like to say that The Periodic Table: The Silver Series, is a in effect somwhat of a short cut somewhat to Jan Scholten’s book, Homeopathy and the Elements from 1996. It's not in anyway that it’s outdated or anything like that. I am revisiting it right now and enjoying it’s brilliance, but I think by sheer volume alone it is daunting and, therefore, unruly for me as a practitioner – it needs a textbook summary…and that is what Ulrich Welte has done.

I would recommend that all of you re-read the Foreward by Fernand Debats of Scholten’s Elements. It puts Element Theory in the context of Classical or modern conventional homeopathic practice. When you read, as well, the Foreward of Welte’s Periodic Table book by Jan Scholten himself you’ll see both how wonderful Jan Scholten is because he sees how the remedy pictures have grown since his cases/work on the remedies within the Periodic Table (a true learner/teacher) and, also, how mature this book is. You’ll be inspired, as practitioners, to be able to get at the correct remedy without having to be Scholten or Welte yourselves.

The test of a system: can it be replicated? So, can I use this in my practice – and the answer, (obvious to you by now, I'm sure) is a resounding “Yes”. This is because, as Scholten himself states “[Element Theory enables] us to grasp our patients’ problems as a reflection of the Element Theory, it has given us a more profound understanding of nature”. Welte’s book is truly a how-to book that you can put to use on your next case or that case that never was cured from last year!! I have to re-visit some of those myself….some of my prescriptions got an initial reaction, but so what? Just amazed the patient initially, but not what they deserve from us and from homeopathy.

The last two times that Jan Scholten was in here in North America, I was struck at how simple it was made to seem. Like, it just came down to placing the patient onto either the Right or Left side of the Table than getting the Row or Series. We were all doing it with the video cases and not as off as one would think one would be when one isn’t Jan Scholten! Once we got the side - from there it was about getting it down to a range of 2 or 3 remedies in a Series, such as the Silver or Lanthanides. Jan Scholten was presenting on Plants - lots of beautiful Tree cases for instance (Scrubby tree or Old Growth Tree?)…Anyways, whatever Kingdom, Element Theory can be the backbone of what one uses to get at the remedy. It was inspiring to be there last November and see a true master of their art in action. In 2006, when he was last here, I didn’t think I could use the Periodic Table and get consistent results. But now with my new Welte textbook and having seen video cases presented by Scholten just a few months ago I do feel that I can – just do it!

Another cool thing that is part of the Welte “textbook” that makes it invaluable: there is a Differential Diagnosis of the Stages (Also, done for the different Series as well – this book is the best!). Similar to the D.D.’s of the Plant Families that Sankaran did.[3] Therefore, we can see the subtle differences between a Doubting/Undecided person in Stage 2 as compared to Stage 1 and 3 and 4…simply priceless! The DD’s of the Stages and Series are each respectively “chapters”, actually Appendices of the book. These are something you will flip to and use over and over again. Also, there are summary Charts and Tables that you will use just as one uses their Schema and plasticized summary card of the Element Theory. With this book and, of course, your Software you are going to rock!

The book is worth its weight in Gold or, rather, Silver!

So, to conclude, I would recommend this book as there is no other like this currently and won’t be for a while. Mind you, we have to hope that the other Series will be done so as to have the cases of each remedy of each Series. Lathanides are covered well by the man, Scholten, that brought them into Homeopathy so, no need Ulrich Welte, wonderful human being to do that for us – just get your cases of the other Series published for us.

Wow, I feel so much gratitude for what we have been given, these gifts are treasures that we can mine and use for helping those that are resonating with the substances all around us that are so amazing. BTW, Mr. Jan Scholten when is your plant book coming out?! FYI: it would seem that he is working in one.
Note- in the meantime as we await publication of these books (uh hmm, guys....hint, hint) we do have the wonderful Interhomeopathy started by Scholten, Welte and Klein…and our beloved Links so as to be able to see modern cases of remedies…searchable online now).

PS - Next time Scholten is here in North America, you might just see me run up to him and hug him….and Ulrich Welte as well. If I happen to meet him, I hope I can discuss some of his “textbook” cases without getting giddy about how happy I am to be a Homeopath at this point in time. It is all being handed to us on a Silver platter, as it were – lucky us!

[1] so, Hahnemanian and German like – but, only time really folks, so no need to panic – it’s not an Organon text-book like book!)*
* Thank God as I did study Philosophy and, boy, those Germans were difficult reads no matter how lovely their ideas – Emmanuel Kant was simple now that I compare him with Hahnemann! At the same time the Organon is simple if you shift your perception, non?

[2] The translation of the book is somethg to mention because along with the original ideas/work it’s brilliant and makes for very smooth reading. Unfortunately, even though charming, a lot of Homeopathic works are difficult to get through due to awkward language; this one’s translation is wonderful and due to Welte’s Silver series creativity and sensitive nature nothing is left to be desired on the language front…a joy to read, really.

[3] Done also for Snake remedies in Table format – Tables/charts are what textbooks are made of! – in this great book: http://www.narayana-publishers.com/Insights-Into-the-Consciousness-of-Snake-Remedies/Sadhana-Thakkar/b4220 (gold standard for MM writing – cough up some more of these, please Sadhana and others that are into ‘tables’)

The Child’s World: New approaches to the homeopathic treatment of children is not just a book about treating children or ‘source’ prescribing or other things that one may, like I did, think it’s about. For me I found it such a great read for various reasons including that it was about treating children and about ‘source’ prescribing! It is, however, so much more.

Before I expound on its’ virtues I would like to put it in the context of the ongoing tradition of homeopathy as practiced in America.

I am talking about when our great healing art was introduced on this continent by the likes of Hans Burch Gram (founder in America, arriving in 1834 on our shores) and Herring, Kent, Wright-Hubbard and so forth. These were, like Linda Johnston, medical doctors that were learned people and, yet, understood how healing truly was done.

Linda Johnston, IMO, practices as they did as many have continued to do – with care and attention to detail the enables them to understand the patients and cure them of what ails them. The same principles of cure are being used and in her book Johnston does a fine job of getting us to see that health and disease are what we must initially understand just as much as the patients even before we can move towards using any of the new methodologies she presents thru great cases.

First off though, I need to let you know that I have the Didier Grandgeorge, have Herscu’s Children's Rxs and, check, have Master’s Children’s rxs and, as well, have Roberto Petrucci’s Children’s MM with rubrics. Also, recently read the wonderful Le Roux Butterflies and Kusse’s Children’s Types along with, of course, the Child Psyche issue, the first one, of Spectrum of Homeopathy. Albeit I have not really sat down with Catherine Coulter’s Children’ Types and many others that I may not even know of. Over the last few years – since being a student and reading Links right from the start – I always went out of my way to find children’s cases by various international homeopaths.

Despite having used all of the above, I have noticed, as a beginner prescriber/practitioner, that what many of these books have in common is they assume that children are either a rx type or that the influences of modern times, as spoken about so well in the Spectrum issue, can still be dealt with in terms of using remedies that are not only the usual suspects but, that we can treat "constitutionally" even with all the new manifestations of pathology that we are seeing in practice.

Louis Klein in his Spectrum piece said we are dealing with what he terms as the “new child”. I love this term – it captures everythg so well, the times, the children themselves…Autism spectrum, PDD-NOS and ADHD and aggression are all part of what we see more and more of along with just more disturbed behaviours all together in what everyone seems now to be accepting as normal (here “all” refers to some and not really all, but teachers, parents, doctors and the children themselves are all, for instance, taking constant runny noses/never finished coughs & colds, as well as, ticks, tapping, even public self-soothing, even masturbation publically thru to constant talking back/rudeness, whining and tears/tantrums along with sleep disturbances and eating & elimination problems for granted (whew, that list was long!)….Are we to accept all of these as part and parcel of normal childhood?[1]

What I observe as a parent (noticing maybe a little too much as I am a homeopath after all!) is that individual parents/families try to address the outcomes of parenting and nurturing without adequate supports as so they turn to interventions from the medical or educational world that can even be harmful never mind helpful. Solutions really are not getting at the root cause of the imbalances we see in children, families and the institutions.

What is great about Linda Johnston’s book is that it does look at causality along with solutions...it puts the child in equation - into a context of development and in society, for instance. It reminds me of the homeopathic version of The Descent of the Child: Human Evolution by Elaine Morgan. A book, by the way, that, IMO, any homeopath would love. They both speak to the nurturing of children developmentally…both come from a children's psychological perspective but with the homeopathic one having a look at the inner world as it relates to both the developmental milestones AND the source that the child(ren) resonate with (hence, “source” prescribing) and the latter one relates to the evolutionary growth of the child(ren) of the species.

It should be noted that despite Johnston’s use of “source” prescribing or what she calls the “new methodology” really a practitioner that doesn’t subscribe to or practice this method - based originally on the Sensation method of Rajan Sankaran - will truly have their eyes opened as to the possibilities of how we can reach into the world of a child and learn what it is that they experience – as this is still really what our casetaking and even analysis of a case is based on: understanding the patient.

Linda Johnston is truly an artist and healer and from her pediatric medical practice that uses homeopathic remedies you can see she is like what Melanie Grimes refers to with traditional allopathic doctors of days gone by that treated with a gentle bedside manner the children, families in their care…with trust and compassion. I Should quickly mention that what Grimes meant about medical doctors is that this is what she went into conventional practice based on as this was her ideal - we know and as she found out that this is not what really goes on - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZsAfxWcsW0&feature=player_embedded

Anyways, the book outlines how the core of our work is about understanding the child from their perspective and how Johnston helps us get to where we will be able to address the “new child”, all children, by viewing each patient, including adults, as having an inner world that they experience daily – day and night. So, we must get into that world to feel it, to understand what it is about.

After reading the book the one case that exemplifies this and that is ingrained in my brain is the Sunnil Anand case of the 9 yr old girl that had allergies and asthma and experienced it as a brick in her throat that spun horizontally. I have always loved reading word for word what doctor and what patient say in the Intake and here we have transcription of the Interview…Massimo Mangialavori’s cases in Links were always like that and they really helped me so much at beginning see what went on and, therefore, how he came to the remedy – sort of, sometimes, it was if out of left field, but later, with little experience, made sense!

This Sunnil Anand case, one of a few, is an outstanding example of how detailed the inner world of the patient is – with the 7 Levels of Sankaran, this would be at the levels of Delusion and Sensation. Reference to Sankaran is given again, and rightly so, but not really for the choice of the remedy, but more for the method of choosing the remedy by Family and Miasm – so, the remedy in this case was from the Hamamelidae botanical family that is Tubercular is Juglans cinerae, the butternut….which would have been difficult if not impossible to get at without the “new methodologies”…I think the work of Jan Scholten, not referred to here, would have led to the remedy as well in that the Stage and Row of Periodic Table would have gotten to a rx and then the equivalent that he and others are finding in other Kingdoms could have been reached…at a recent seminar with Scholten here in Toronto a couple mths ago he went particularly into the links of Plant Families with the places on the Periodic Table…beyond what he also has written about/worked on: The minerals…metals and salts in plants.

In Child’s World there also is a wonderful history outlining how traditional classical homeopathy started off with prescribing on Symptom Picture moved to the Family/Miasmatic and Doctrine of Signatures and has even further broadened to really see that the source is the patient and the patient is resonating with the source and speaks, breathes, and lives their source – this is beautifully done. So, if you haven’t read all of Sankaran – like the newer Sensation, Sensation Refined for eg...you can skip these (but, note there are great descriptions of remedies a la Soul of Remedies – and the cases add to our MM, so do thk of them as reference books too).

Something to mention that makes the book truly worth having on your shelf – it is lovely read, but can it hold water as reference with one’s limited book budget?? – is that it has the best outline and details on Childhood Development that I have seen in a long time, and I have been reading stuff on this for Psych and Social Work courses along for my own interest for years….so, believe you me, it is the tops! In conjunction with a couple of other resources, such as the evolutionary book, The Descent of the Child, a practitioner has everything they need to gage what is common in a child(ren) at certain ages. Milestones and markers are not explicitly laid out as much as the expectations/goals of certain developmental phases – which, really is much more intelligent a read/reference for us to have on hand.

Oh, BTW, back to one little thing I mentioned earlier – the book is good for thinking and treating our adult patients as well. Linda Johnston states herself: "All homeopaths have had adult patients whose illness involved some unincorporated childhood stage of development or traumatic event that was still overmastering their life. In treating those cases, knowledge of childhood development, stages of growth and normal milestones will be of inestimable value."

Moreover, by way of saying The Child's World is essential, the whole state of pregnancy and birth trauma is part of this book as well (w/cases). Only in the last year or so, did I discover Harry van der Zee’s books on these topics by reading Tinus Smits (Inspiring Homeopathy) on manifesting into self/planet and also work of Melissa Assilem with her Matridonal remedies.
I had all along used Farokh Master’s State of the Pregnancy as my reference and was limited as I had no awareness of more work done that really expanded our horizons on what can be the source of the problem in a case. Linda Johnston is excellent…she covers it all and well. The term, incidently, that really is on the lips of modern homeopaths is “rebirthing” – even children may need to come back again after trauma of previous life time, as a foetus, or from birth is cleared…I will address this all in upcoming blog entries as there are great books on this and cases to read and learn from.

All in all, if you already know and practice incorporating all the stuff mentioned above, I would still say that Linda Johnston’s book is a unique take and presentation on working with children AND adults. It is a book that you will likely read quickly, a real page turner, but go back to for reference in thinking on the world of your little patients.

Although this last quote is about the state of health versus disease it can be applied to getting stuck in our ways/knowledge as homeopaths. Linda Johnston again: "All life has an innate drive towards expression, growth and development. Every advance necessitates leaving a state of stability and familiarity, thus, initiating challenge and risk. Despite the often felt desire to hold on to what is successful and familiar, in nature there is no possibility of staying static, resting on one’s laurels content with the status quo."

So true, and for us it is truly about taking on the responsibility to be healthy and not be fearful about the so called “new methodologies” – the growth and development in homeopathy will be the future of how we work and how we can get results for our patients. I’m sure I will be writing further on this: it’s about the use of all possible substances/remedies, the use of all possible ways of seeing.

PS - If you read this book let me know and feel free to send in your experience of this book. I’ll post on the Blog so others will get another perspective on the book – call me on this as I may be able to swing it so you get a complimentary NEW book to read as well, so as to get reviews from YOU on it!! With the line up of slated books to come out of Narayana ther will be lot's to discuss:-)

Few last things to mention FYI:

This article on history of Homeopathy in the International Diaspora by Peter Morrell is fabulous and not too long: http://www.homeoint.org/morrell/articles/pm_outli.htm

In America: http://www.homeoint.org/history/king/2-01.htm (this is long but chock full of the data you may need for talk/backgrd for discussion at a dinner party, LOL – how to put a damper on a family gathering!)

As for Canada – do we not often get our history & even our culture inadvertently from South of the boarder?? but I will make an effort to get my school notes out as we had a great lecture on homeopathic history here in Ontario – as for the rest of Canada…if anyone has info do send to me and I will follow-up to get the Canadian content up to speed!

Bedside manner with compassion and the medicines, homeopathic remedies, are what we need as a foundation; I feel good fitting myself into the history of our healing art here in North America. Stay well, but do Dare to be Better! Hugs to all of you, gentle readers.

[1] Great piece for practitioners to share with parents is in the Introduction of this book, you can read it here: http://books.google.ca/books?id=h4NukJS7X84C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Edward+shalts&source=bl&ots=gqFgMQTJOZ&sig=rF6kiuIZ4dNLPnHoxeWB0NxXT7M&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false