01.02.11 / Uncategorized / Author: Susan Drury / Comments: (0)
This book, one of a series the author is in the process of publishing on different organs and systems of the body, is a provocative read for those who would like to broaden their understanding of the physical, metaphysical and energetic aspects of these organs and their influence within the human system. Sonnenschmidt, whose curriculum vitae begins with a Doctorate in Musical Ethnology, Indian Studies and Egyptology in 1977, draws upon the wealth of her multi-faceted background in kinesiology, homeopathy, naturopathy, Chinese medicine and mediumship in exploring what these organs are, what they do, and how to consider their roles in health and disease on several different levels.
Just reading her brief forward, “About this Series,” is insightful, as while she endorses the role of therapist in the healing journey, she also clearly places the journey’s results in a realm greater than our ministrations: “For me, healing is the way towards freedom of the spirit, leading away from the restrictive energy of prohibitive rules, fears, constraints and suppression. A free spirit trusts in itself and the laws of nature, which the human body mirrors… The way that body and spirit heal together completely overshadows all the remedies and procedures that we in the healing professions have ever found.”
Those are powerful words, as they insist that true healing is beyond any man-made tradition or therapy. So while those in the healing professions continue to bring their education and insight to bear on the conditions their patients present, it is important to remain mindful of and in service to the greater laws of healing – which we disregard at our patient’s peril. In that Sonnenschmidt’s (and homeopathy’s) philosophy is all about looking to the totality, “perceiv(ing) and treat(ing) the varied levels of being of the person and his organs,” her books are designed to help us work within these laws of nature and healing more fully by placing the context of the presented organ dis-ease within the context of the entire person.
With the aim of broadening our understanding, Sonnenschmidt deliberately leaves any mention of homeopathic therapy until the very end – like the carrot dangling from the end of the stick. For the reader who is willing to take the journey from start to finish, it is well worth it! In large print with various pictures, diagrams and graphs, she explores the energy of the liver/gallbladder spiritually, alchemically, and from the viewpoint of Chinese Medicine, brushes up on anatomy and physiology (always a good exercise), contemplates a holistic view of liver function, explores diseases of the liver/gallbladder (including from a miasmatic perspective) and then finally offers a variety of holistic liver and gallbladder therapies.
While reading this book is enjoyable, the greater pleasure and utility will come in synthesizing the information with patients and their stories. The temptation may come to focus too exclusively on the part and lose sight of the whole, so it’s a delicate balance to forever walk – but having some insight as to why the system has manifested an imbalance in that particular organ and having a variety of ways to support it is helpful. As Sonnenschmidt writes, “The law of systematic correspondence and the relationship between organ, conflict and resolution have formed the basis of my work in homeopathy.” For her to share her broad understanding and experience through this series of books is a gift designed to inspire both the intellect as well as the spirit.
18.11.10 / Books, CDs / Author: Susan Drury / Comments: (2)
I stumbled across these two books recently and as with many other “chance” encounters in my life, their content is resonating with my own sea changes, both personally and professionally. Not everyone will find these of interest – in fact for some, they may represent a threatening and far too new-agey tangent far outside the bounds of true homeopathy. Although the provings themselves took place back in the 1990’s, the information and the basis on which they were received remains on the fringe so for those who find complete fulfillment and results using traditional homeopathic practice, stay with what works for you. As the author says, “It may be that some of the information in these remedies appears obtuse or irrelevant at the moment. However, these are the remedies of the future and as time passes and we become more familiar with them, their relevance will become more apparent as different ones among them come to the fore.”
Volume I includes 52 remedies and some appendices on Chakras, how to make gem essences and affinity of the different remedies to the chakras, different organs, systems and cancers. Volume II continues with 31 more remedies, as well as channeled information for homeopaths/healers on various topics including specific conditions, chakras, colors, cleansing (and exorcism – this may lose a few of you), the future and finally “the power of love.” There is no repetition of material from one volume to the next. While homeopathy is all about understanding the hidden energy within substances of our universe and applying them for healing, these books take the potential of substances further into the dimension of alchemy, capable of transforming personal and hereditary darkness into light.
Each remedy’s information is separated into different sections, reminiscent of more traditional formats but with an esoteric flavor – such as “affected chakras”. There are brief major themes for some remedies whereas others seem more universal in their affects and we are told can be given to anyone – for instance, in the chapter on the Pink Rose: “Remedy will do whatever we want it to do. An infinite picture. Changeable in its qualities and adapts more than any other to energy of person who receives it. It will do whatever is right for that person at that time.”
Such prescribing seems to contradict a basic law of homeopathy – giving one remedy based on the totality of symptoms – and in the introduction to Vol. I, we are also told “The new remedies work well alone, in combination with themselves and combined with the old remedies. The different vibration of the new remedies makes it possible for them to be combined without affecting each other harmfully. In fact they enhance each other’s action in combination as well as creating a powerful remedy that is more than the sum of its parts.” Reading on, it seems that in using these “new remedies,” there are no laws – as long as our intention is one of love, we cannot mis-use them.
No matter what your take on the actual information and methodology behind the provings, we can all benefit from being reminded that no matter how we practice, healing requires us to work from loving intention, consciously striving to be as free of negative or self-serving energies as possible. Along with tending to our own inner work, Evans does pay tribute to expanding our intellectual understanding and knowledge: “(The remedies) are very open to be used intuitively but ‘intuition’ cannot be used as an excuse for sloppiness or carelessness. The compassionate intuition of the heart needs to be used with the mental acuity and single-pointed detachment of the brow.” Perhaps this is the challenge these books offer us: by combining loving intention with the motivation to further learning and understanding, we not only grow in the ability to discriminate and dispense healing substances to others but continually triterate and refine our own selves to new and finer levels in the process.
Susan Drury, RSHom(NA), CCH is a practicing homeopath in N. Vancouver, B.C. Her website is www.healinglifehomeopathy.com and she can be reached at druryperry@shaw.ca. You can also check out her on-line blog for the Vancouver Observer Newspaper at www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/homeopath.
29.09.10 / Books, CDs / Author: Susan Drury / Comments: (0)
This is a very handy little book to pull out as a nice compilation of how 56 traditional as well as more contemporary remedies can present themselves in our younger patients. In this day of prescription “methods” (Sensation method, Element Method etc.), there may be times where in pursuing the method, we miss the basic remedy pattern the child in front of us is expressing. When we can no longer see the forest because of the trees, this book will bring us back to the basics of how a specific remedy looks in a child. Kusse breathes fresh life into what traditional “childhood” remedies (Calc carb, Pulsatilla, Silica, Phosphorus and so on ) will look like while his chapters on less widely known but frequently prescribed remedies (Lith-phos, Beryllium-met, Helium, Hydrogenium, Manganum-met and Saccharum to name a few) are very helpful in depicting their images in children.
Kusse assumes this book will appeal more to parents or other lay people as a means to understand why their homeopath prescribed that particular remedy for their child. And certainly any homeopath would be happy to pull out this book as an aid to further educate their patients’ parents, as he writes clearly and without judgment, even when presenting the darker sides of the remedies. He also gives a short, simple explanation of homeopathy, how it is suitable for children and what we mean by assigning “children’s types” even while keeping in mind each child’s total uniqueness. While I have never met Dr. Kusse, he comes across as a wise, understanding and kind professional of vast experience and this book would indeed provide comfort both to parents and homeopath alike.
Notwithstanding this book’s value for parents, as a practitioner I am personally happy to have this book close at hand. Although he characterizes the remedies with fairly broad strokes, I still found little jewels in many of his chapters, offering new insight into the remedies. With his concise but thorough descriptions, I expect to consult this book whenever considering one of them for a particular patient. There are other longer, more detailed and complicated books geared towards matching remedy materia medica to our children patients but for me, this is one of the books I would reach for first once I am ready to differentiate between remedies and finalize a prescription. Thank you Dr. Kusse, for sharing your experience with us in such a user-friendly, accessible way!
Susan Drury, RSHom(NA), CCH is a practicing homeopath in N. Vancouver, B.C. Her website is www.healinglifehomeopathy.com and she can be reached at druryperry@shaw.ca. You can also check out her on-line blog for the Vancouver Observer Newspaper at www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/homeopath.
08.08.10 / Books, CDs / Author: Susan Drury / Comments: (0)
This is a very interesting book and is a good resource for parents of autistic children as well as homeopaths with such children in their practice. Dr. Smits explains in mostly layman’s terms the flexible program he has developed where he uses homeopathic isotherapy along with some classical homeopathy, and/or his system of “inspiring homeopathy” (and a small amount of dietary supplementation) to bring children diagnosed as “autistic” into a place where they are fully present to develop and function normally in the world.
He makes a compelling case that the cause of autism is not a single source, but is the culmination of many toxic exposures a susceptible child receives, including pharmaceutical drugs, vaccines or environmental toxins, not just since birth but also in utero or even before conception. Rather than focusing on a single cause of autism, he theorizes that it is the overload of these different toxic exposures which sets up energetic blocks that prevent the children from normal development. His program addresses not just the mental healing, but also the other physical /emotional symptoms frequently present in autistic children, such as dietary sensitivities, digestive disturbances and aggressive behaviors.
For classical homeopaths, this may seem like too systematic a program that overlooks the importance of the individually prescribed constitutional remedy. However Dr. Smits’ viewpoint is that the constitutional remedy alone will not be sufficient to undo the blocks these substances have created and therefore they need to be addressed and removed individually in order to allow constitutional treatment to be valuable. He gives many case studies of children, most of whom received homeopathic isotherapy, often in conjunction with other homeopathic remedies (including the constitutional prescription) and the healing that resulted. So while his program may seem formulaic, on the other hand it is tailored primarily on the exposures the individual child has had and secondarily on their symptoms (many of which are general to autistic children). Because we cannot know which substances carry a greater energetic imprint than others, some isotherapy remedies will instigate greater improvement than others but over time, all toxic exposures may need to be addressed. One thing that is clear from the many cases is that this program requires considerable flexibility from both the parent and homeopath alike!
As autism cases continue to increase, Dr. Smits has given us a general protocol we as homeopaths can include in our toolbox. Working with autistic children can be frustrating; many parents in their desperation move from one therapy to another and without an overall vision of progress, parents and practitioners can get swamped in a morass of symptoms and questionable results. Reading this book helps us all acknowledge that to “cure” an autistic child is not a quick fix but requires time, commitment and a willingness to weather some bumps along the road without running off in another direction. My own concerns come from the different and sometimes extreme reactions many of these children have from the isotherapy and it would have been helpful if Dr. Smits had given some advice on the best ways to deal with those reactions – other than simply saying to not suppress the eruptions, discharges, fevers etc. The line between a manageable aggravation and a frightening one is very personal – not every parent or homeopath may be comfortable riding out some of the scenarios in the book.
If you are a homeopath or a parent of an autistic child considering homeopathic isotherapy, this is a must-read both to understand and be comfortable with the process, as well as become more educated in the effects our drug- and toxin-riddled society seems to be having on our youngest members. Working with such individuals is daunting, but this book shows a method that with time and patience, offers not just a possibility but a probability of cure.
Susan Drury, RSHom(NA), CCH is a practicing homeopath in N. Vancouver, B.C. Her website is www.healinglifehomeopathy.com and she can be reached at druryperry@shaw.ca. You can also check out her on-line blog for the Vancouver Observer Newspaper at www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/homeopath.
19.07.10 / Opinion / Author: Greg Cooper / Comments: (1)
Tags: homeopathic, homeopathy, homeopathy clinical trials, homeopathy research, homeopathy science, homeopathy scientific research, homeopathy skeptics
Scientific research has investigated homeopathy using randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials (RCTs), which are the same type of experiments widely used to test modern drugs. In these trials, two groups are compared, one group that gets the treatment and one group that gets a placebo, with neither group knowing if they are getting the actual substance being tested or not.
Furthermore, the people to be tested are randomly assigned to either the control group (which gets placebo) or the treatment group (which gets the substance being tested). The substance being given to each person is coded, so even the clinician does not know whether they are giving the tested drug or the placebo. In this way, researchers try to keep initial conditions, on the average, as similar as possible between the control and treatment groups, so that any differences noticed after the experiment are more likely due to the treatment and not due to some difference in the initial conditions.
With widespread use of this experimental design, modern medical research has removed much of the bias and error in science, and supported fast progress in many areas. Yet it has been difficult for researchers to get consistent, reproducible results using RCTs on homeopathy. Some RCTs show homeopathy works and some show it doesn’t.
Rather than support homeopathy by reporting all the ‘favorable’ RCTs while ignoring all the ‘unfavorable’ ones, I will support homeopathy by explaining why RCT results on homeopathy cannot and never will be conclusive, though when homeopathy is evaluated with another type of research called outcome studies, there is conclusive evidence of favorable results.
The reasons homeopathy cannot be properly evaluated with RCTs are:
1) that homeopathy works in a different way than conventional medicine, a way that is extremely sensitive to initial conditions. This makes it very difficult to get the initial conditions of treatment and control groups similar enough, so that the result of the experiment can be attributed to the homeopathic treatment and not to different initial conditions, and,
2), that RCTs do not measure side effects, which for conventional medicine are usually bad and for homeopathy are usually reported as good.
Understanding these reasons you will be able to feel more confident about homeopathy, even though conventional medical RCTs cannot conclusively prove it.
First, it should be understood that, although homeopathic remedies are named according to some physical substance, there is usually no significant amount of this physical substance in the remedy taken. When you take a usual homeopathic remedy, you are actually taking some alcohol/water mixture which has been placed on a pellet of sugar. Yes, chemically that’s all you are taking, and that’s why there is so much controversy about homeopathy.
Why then are homeopathic remedies named according to some physical substance? It is because of the way the water/alcohol mixture is prepared.
The pharmacist starts with the physical substance, say some Calcium phosphate, for example. The substance is dissolved in the water/alcohol mixture, and the mixture is diluted and mixed vigorously. The process of dilution and mixing is repeated several times, until there has been so much dilution that there is little or none of the Calcium phosphate remaining. What remains is the water/alcohol mixture.
Homeopaths believe this remaining water/alcohol mixture has been ‘potentized’ by the repeated dilution and agitation with Calcium phosphate, and that the water/alcohol can produce a specific therapeutic effect when taken by certain patients.
Using different physical substances from the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, homeopaths have produced thousands of chemically identical water/alcohol mixtures, each thought to have a different therapeutic effect, when used in the right situation, without side effects.
What’s the catch? It is that the homeopathic remedy will only act in specific contexts. In other words, a lot of conditions about the case have to be appropriate, in order for the homeopathic remedy to have any effect.
Since homeopathy involves taking such a tiny amount of alcohol/water mixture on a sugar pellet, we would expect the results, if any, to be sensitive to very small stimuli. Small stimuli may include, besides the homeopathic remedy itself, other conditions in the patient’s life at the time. Such other conditions include the mental attitudes of the doctor and patient, their relationship, the therapeutic setting and other environmental factors during treatment. These other conditions, not considered important in conventional medical research, are believed to affect the action of the homeopathic remedy.
Homeopaths believe the process is very delicate. They might compare it to other subtle phenomena with proven physical effects, such as applied intentionality (4), prayer (5) or plant sensitivity (6). The delicacy of the homeopathic process could leave research results susceptible to any subtle disrupting influence from the initial mental states of the researchers themselves, or from the treatment or control groups.
An ideal homeopathic RCT would have the researchers as well as the treatment and control groups selected to have matching initial mental states. But as this is never done, any differences in outcomes, or lack thereof, between treatment and control groups in homeopathic RCTs, may be because of differences in the initial mental states of the researchers, or of the treatment or control groups. Since RCTs on homeopathy normally do not take initial mental states into account, consistent results of RCTs on homeopathy are difficult. In my opinion, this lack of matching in initial mental states is the main reason for the inconsistency of homeopathic research results.
The problem of having similar enough initial conditions is especially serious when a group of RCTs on homeopathy is compared to a (hopefully matched) group of RCTs on conventional medicine, as is done in a meta-analysis, a study encompassing many other studies.
In the case of homeopathy meta-analyses, the researchers give little consideration to matching on the basis of mental states of experimental and control groups. For them, the main part of the challenge is to find, for each RCT on homeopathy, a match in a conventional drug RCT that is similar enough to the homeopathy RCT in size, quality, disorder studied, and outcome measure, for the comparison to be meaningful. The matching is necessary so it will be clear that any difference found between the homeopathy and conventional groups is due to the different treatment and not due to other differences such as study size or the particular disorder looked at.
Without this kind of matching, a meta-analysis may base conclusions on comparisons between homeopathic and conventional RCTs that are only partially similar, for example, similar in study size and quality, while remaining different as to which disorder is involved.
This was a serious limitation of the 2005 study (3), which suggested that homeopathy is a placebo. To learn more about this and other limitations of the 2005 study, refer to the article by Rutten and Stolper(2). In my article here, I will focus on the lack of matching when homeopathy and conventional groups were compared in the widely accepted 2005 study.
Of the 8 RCTs on homeopathy and the 6 on conventional medicine selected for comparison in the 2005 study, only 2 of each (4 of 14 RCTs) are matched with an RCT of the same disorder, while all the others are unmatched – they report on different disorders. Therefore, for the most part, (10 of 14 RCTs), this study bases its findings on a comparison of homeopathy for some disorders, with conventional medicine for different disorders. Since homeopathy and conventional medicine may each work differently for different disorders, to properly compare homeopathy with conventional medicine, you must compare them with each treating the same disorder.
The conclusion of this 2005 study, which stated that the effects of homeopathy are compatible with the placebo hypothesis and the effects of conventional treatment are not, was based on these 14 selected homeopathy and conventional RCTs that were, for the most part, treating different disorders. Their finding, therefore, could have been due to those different disorders, rather than due to the different treatment. Understanding this limitation of this study, I have become quite skeptical of its ‘placebo’ findings on homeopathy.
If you too are suspicious of the 2005 study or of the use of RCTs for homeopathy, then you’ll be happy to know that there are other ways to formally study the benefits people experience from homeopathy. It fares well under large-scaled outcome studies, which are uncontrolled group studies that try to “measure health effects by global, patient-centered outcome measures” such as quality of life and severity of complaints. While it may be difficult to duplicate specific results of a RCT on homeopathy, it is easy to show through outcome studies that “homeopathic treatment as a whole may serve to help people with long standing severe chronic diseases.” (1)
This is because in homeopathy, treatment is holistic, meaning that there are often unexpected, general effects which are quite beneficial, while in contrast, with conventional drugs, there are often unexpected effects which are undesirable, commonly called side effects.
Positive results of outcome studies in homeopathy are more consistent than results of RCTs because outcome studies measure the various general effects while the RCTs measure only predefined, specific effects. These valuable general effects of homeopathy and undesirable side effects of conventional medicine, both un-measured by RCTs, are the other reason I believe homeopathy’s value cannot consistently be replicated in RCTs.
I expect that in future, more carefully prepared RCTs and meta-analyses will be done, and these may be more likely to confirm the outcome studies and the holistic therapeutic effect experienced by homeopathic practitioners and patients. In the mean time, let’s understand the facts and not doubt our experience.
Sources:
1) Witt C, Albrecht H (eds) New Directions in Homeopathy Research. KVC Verlag, 2009;
2) Rutten ALB and Stolper CF. The 2005 meta-analysis of homeopathy: the importance of post-publication data. Homeopathy 2008; 97: 169-177;
3) Shang A, Huwiler-Müntener K, Nartey L, et al. Are the clinical effects of homeopathy placebo effects? Comparative study of placebo-controlled trials of homeopathy and allopathy. Lancet 2005; 366: 726-732.
4) Tiller WA, Science and Human Transformation. Pavior, 1997.
5) Dossey L, Be Careful What You Pray For…You Just Might Get It. HarperCollins, 1998.
6) Tompkins P, Bird C, The Secret Life of Plants. Harper Perennial, 2002.
09.07.10 / Books, CDs / Author: Susan Drury / Comments: (1)
For me, Peter Fraser’s wonderful little books (“Spiders – Suspended Between Earth and Sky”; “Snakes – Drawing Power from the Underworld”; “Insects – Escaping the Earth”; and “Birds – Seeking the Freedom of the Sky”) are often the first sources I reach for whenever I am considering a remedy from any of those groups for a patient. His writing is concise and remarkably illustrative, both in giving an understanding of the family (spiders, snakes, insects and birds) and then briefly differentiating each member in the individual descriptions. Although you won’t find any cases in these books, what you do find are thoughtful, thorough depictions that while short, cut right to the core of both the family and the homeopathic remedies available within each family.
There are many good sources of information on snakes and a fair number on spiders; less so on insects and fewer still on birds so particularly for the latter two groups, these books offer a well-priced, informative resource for anyone prescribing on a constitutional level. But even his books on snakes and spiders are helpful, as again he encapsulates both family and individual descriptions so clearly that in one short read, you can gain the same understanding (and maybe even a greater understanding) that plowing through longer books filled with cases could provide. In a way, his books are like the Cliff Notes some students would resort to reading in English Literature courses in University – neat summaries of the plot, characters and motivations, without all the additional padding that while satisfying, isn’t crucial to gaining an overall understanding.
We have many wonderful books beautifully bound in hardcover and highly priced, all vying for our money and while I usually find something of value in almost every book I read, for my money these books offer some of the best value you can get. Although paperbacks with simple covers, they are attractive and have distinctive matching green stripes – easily found on my bookshelf, where they sit in a prominent place, well within my frequent reach.
Susan Drury, RSHom(NA), CCH is a practicing homeopath in N. Vancouver, B.C. Her website is www.healinglifehomeopathy.com and she can be reached at druryperry@shaw.ca. You can also check out her on-line blog for the Vancouver Observer Newspaper at www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/homeopath.
23.06.10 / Books, CDs / Author: Susan Drury / Comments: (0)
This is a lovely book for any homeopathic practitioner whose patients include little ones (from infants through older children) and would like to improve their comfort and homeopathic expertise in approaching such cases. For me, the greatest strength of the book is in delineating:
1. The very precise physical, mental and emotional evolution a human being goes through right from conception;
2. How the outer world and external experiences influence the developing human; and
3. The idea of the “other state” which is very much alive and experienced by the child, and is the source of illness.
Dr. Johnston beautifully shows the homeopathic practitioner how to bring these aspects together to support an accurate assessment and understanding of a child in a therapeutic way. Reading this book is a delight, as the author is remarkably articulate in marrying homeopathic understanding to the development and treatment of children; she puts words to ideas most of us feel but may not have verbalized so clearly. She openly tackles touchy subjects such as the current vaccination protocol and I may memorize her words verbatim when trying to explain the homeopathic viewpoint to anxious parents grappling with that question!
Dr. Johnston has become an experienced practitioner of the Sensation Method of prescribing and while this book gives strong support for that method, for me that information was not as user-friendly as other parts of the book. For practitioners not familiar or comfortable with the Sensation Method, those chapters may be more intimidating than encouraging as the cases she cites were all difficult ones that required small and obscure remedies (but I did enjoy reading the materia medica on them!). While we all aspire to find the simillimum, the Sensation Method takes time and mentoring to feel confident with and as always, every case needs to be approached without prejudice – meaning the sensation method might not be the most effective tool to understanding what needs to be cured. Nevertheless, whatever our preferred method of case taking and analysis, this book encourages us to keep honing our senses in order to enter into the child’s world, engage with them there, and become more finely tuned to all that they are showing us.
Use this book to increase your understanding of how to approach children’s cases, how to work with the child within the context of the family, and how to realize that not only do children have their own homeopathic state, but that childhood itself is a state – one which we adults may have forgotten, but is very much the ocean within which the child still swims.
Susan Drury, RSHom(NA), CCH is a practicing homeopath in N. Vancouver, B.C. Her website is www.healinglifehomeopathy.com and she can be reached at druryperry@shaw.ca. For the past eight months she has attended a number of seminars on the Sensation Method given by Dr. Sunil Anand and has a healthy respect for the method, and its challenges!
18.05.10 / Books, CDs / Author: Susan Drury / Comments: (0)
While these books aren’t the kind you will necessarily sit down and read straight through (although it wouldn’t hurt!), if you want to get a feeling of tree remedies in general or have a client who you think might need a tree remedy, these are indispensable books for the professional homeopath’s reference library. Dr. Steve Olsen has done a great job of bringing together a rich amount of material for 5 tree remedies in the first book and another 6 in the second volume. He opens up with a discussion of conducting provings and how to both supervise as well as compile the material in a way that ensures the outcome is true to the remedy itself, away from the provers’ underlying constitutional state or symptoms. As he has conducted provings for some of these remedies, it is nice to feel confident about the high standard to which his provings have been held.
For each remedy with proving information, he gives the central themes of the remedy and goes through the different areas of symptomatology. He also includes comparisons to other non-tree remedies (a very handy thing to include), rubrics for the repertory and then a number of cured cases. For remedies where there is no proving, he includes several cured cases, materia medica for the remedy and again remedy comparisons. All useful information, although if you think you need a tree remedy but don’t know which one, you will have to go through both books and look at each one individually. It would have been handy (maybe too handy, akin to spoon-feeding?) to have an overall chart summarizing each remedy’s central theme or main spheres of symptomatology for easy reference.
The only other thing I would have liked to see included would be a brief discussion on overall characteristics of tree remedies in general and possible commonalities within the different families.
My one big complaint – and while it may seem petty, it continued to distract me mightily – was the very poor editing all through the books. Missing punctuation, wrong spelling, poor type-setting, pronouns mixed up in the cases (a male patient would be referred to as both ‘her’ and ‘him’ in the same sentence), and no differentiation between the patient’s words and the homeopath’s thoughts all within the same paragraph – it felt as though the case notes were simply dumped into a word processing file and printed directly without any attempt to correct or edit. So despite the conscientiousness around proving protocol, excellent interpretations and comprehensive information on all the remedies, the continual editorial flaws kept interfering with my full appreciation. Given the care that went into the material, why was the editing so sloppy? While I know these books were self-published and therefore without the resources of a professional editorial staff, they are still expensive to buy and I wish someone with an attention to spelling, grammar and punctuation detail would have stepped in and cleaned the text up before going to press.
But apart from this little peeve, I am very happy to have these books in my library and expect to call on them as needed. When it looks sort of like Thuja but isn’t, the key to the correct remedy may be found within these volumes. Thank you Dr. Olsen, for bringing the material for these remedies together so comprehensively.
29.07.08 / Books, CDs / Author: Greg Cooper / Comments: (0)
As an established world leader in homeopathy, Louis Klein continues to chart new territory with this exciting new work, Miasms and Nosodes.
The publisher says, “According to him, [Mr. Klein], miasms are nothing more than resulting chronic states of infectious diseases, and nosodes are the remedies derived from these infectious diseases. On the basis of his broad clinical experience he attributed many known remedies to miasmatic states. Those states become the core idea around which similar remedies are grouped.”
If you wish to reserve a copy, please call 800-663-8272 or email orders@minimum.com
Louis Klein can be reached at http://www.louisklein.com/
29.07.08 / Books, CDs / Author: Greg Cooper / Comments: (1)
Minimum Price Books is fortunate to be able to offer a limited number of the rare title “24 Chapters in Homeopathy” by respected homeopath Joseph Reves. It covers homeopathic philosophy and methodology, including some material on the dynamic balance of fire, earth, air and water in the human being. You can find the table of contents and ordering information here.
