Homeopathy is a system of preparing and prescribing medicines, founded by Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) and is based on the underlying principle of “Similia Similibus Curentur”, which, as all those Latin scholars out there can explain, means: “Let likes be cured by likes”. What this means is that whatever symptoms a substance can produce, it can cure a similar set of symptoms.
This may sound confusing but a simple example can illustrate the principle.
Let us look at Ipecacuanha (Cephaelis ipecacuanha), commonly referred to as just “Ipecac”. This is commonly used in conventional medical practice to induce vomiting in cases of poisoning. This substance causes nausea and vomiting. In homeopathic preparations, Ipecac stops and treats nausea and vomiting.
Note that in conventional medicine, most of the medications are“anti” medications. They do the opposite. Anti-diarrhoeal to stop diarrhoea, laxatives to treat constipation, anti-fever to stop fever, anti-depressant to stop depression, etc., etc. This is why conventional medicine is called “allopathy”, i.e., “opposite”, as compared to Homeopathy, the same.
The next concept is “Provings”. Before we know what a substance can cure, we must know what it can do. Most homeopathic remedies have been “proven” (what this really means is “tested”) on healthy subjects. A group of healthy subjects take the remedy being tested and then record their symptoms, both physical and emotional. If a substance is too toxic, then records of accidental poisonings can be included. All this data is recorded in the Materia Medica, which is a book containing a collection of remedies, arranged alphabetically (Abies canadensis to Zinc) and the symptoms they cause arranged under various headings: Mind, Head, Eye, etc.
Once you know what a remedy can do, you can match a remedy to a patients symptoms. Since it is virtually impossible to remember all the proving, though many homeopaths do know some of the more common remedies very well, there is another book, called the Repertory and this is the opposite of the Materia Medica. It is basically a list of symptoms, arranged under Mind, Head, Eye, (like the Materia Medica) and next to each symptom is a attached list of remedies that can cause that symptom. Each group of remedies attached to a symptom is called a Rubric and the relative value is reflected in the print, i.e. Bold Type for the strongest, Italic Type for intermediate strengths and normal type for the weakest.
Repertorising is the process of stringing together of all the rubrics and finding a remedy that is common to all. The remedy is the Similium which covers all the symptoms and should be curative.
Most of the Repertories were written at the end of the nineteenth century, so the language is different. You have to be aware of the meanings of words and also you have to realise that the meanings may have changed over the years. The most recent Repertory is Phatak’s Repertory, first published in the early 1960s; this may be more helpful if you aren’t conversant with “olde English”.
This may sound complicated and, in some ways, it is! This does put a lot of people off the subject. It does take a lot of dedication and study and practice and does require looking at people not just from a physical point of view, but also an emotional point of view.
[Extract from There is Always an Alternative, by Peter Baratosy, MB BS PhD DipAcup DipClinHyp FACNEM]