If you’ve worked with me, you know I love homeopathy. It is effective for adults, children, pets, plants… heck, I haven’t found anything that can’t benefit from a homeopathic remedy (assuming it muscle tests for it or matches the symptoms)!
If unfamiliar, homeopathic remedies are made by taking small amounts of substances and then potentizing them by diluting and adding kinetic energy. Huh? Yeah, it seems a bit complicated and counterintuitive. Let me try to clear the waters some.
History
Homeopathy was founded over 200 years ago by Samuel Hahnemann. It’s primary philosophy is “like cures like.” Homeopathy treats the whole person, not just a disease or symptom. Homeopathy works on the body, mind, and spirit and is a holistic therapy. The remedies do not do the curing, they simply stimulate the person to heal him/herself by stimulating the vital force of that person.
How does homeopathy work?
Consuming certain things creates symptoms in our bodies. For example, if your child ate the berries of Deadly Nightshade, he would become very ill with spots, a fever, and delirium. These symptoms look like Scarlet Fever. In fact, if no one saw the child eat the berries, it would be assumed he actually had Scarlet Fever.
With the principle of like cures like, Scarlet Fever symptoms match Deadly Nightshade (also called Belladonna) and can be cured by giving a highly diluted dose of this substance.
Homeopathic remedies come from the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms and have been tested to see what they do in provings. These provings list all the symptoms healthy persons exhibited when given the substance. These symptoms, in turn, guide the homeopath in what to recommend to a client for a specific set of symptoms.
The real key to homeopathic remedies is that they are diluted medicines used to gently nudge the body into action. Rather than hitting the body over the head with a club, dragging it to a cave, and forcing it to behave the way the drug thinks it should (which is the way all over- and under-the-counter medications work), homeopathy says to the body, “Hey. If you did this and this, you’d feel better. Here is the blueprint,” and then lets the body do its work. The body can override homeopathy and have no response or it can listen and make the changes. This is very different from our Western-medicine trained expectations where the drug should knock out the problem. When the correct remedy is given, the body will cure itself.
How homeopathic remedies are made
Remember, homeopathy is all about the dilution. In fact, a principle in homeopathy says that the remedy is stronger the more it is diluted. There are several theories about this, ranging from a thought about nanoparticles to an idea about the succussion phase breaking off bits of silica from the container, to the idea of epitaxy; however, this is a discussion for another time.
To make a homeopathic remedy, a part of an active substance (animal, plant, or mineral) is taken and added to a greater number of parts of an carrier substance like water or sugar. The amount taken varies by the potency made.
- X potencies are diluted 1:10
- C potencies are diluted 1:100
- M potencies are diluted 1:1,000
- LM potencies are diluted 1:50,000
Each of these done exactly as above would create a 1X/C/M/LM potency. Then, a part of that new blend is taken and added to a new batch of carrier. This means a 6X remedy (known as a cell salt) is one of the least diluted and least potent. It is made by taking 1 part of the active substance and adding it to 10 parts of a carrier substance. Then, 1 part of that new blend is taken and added to 10 parts of a carrier substance. This gives a 2X strength. Next, a part of this 2X is added to 10 more parts of a carrier substance leading to a 3X. This is repeated to get to the desired strength.
Potentization and Strength Information
Now, there is one step I didn’t mention above–the step of succussing the remedy at each new step up in strength. Each time the remedy is diluted, it is vigorously shaken to blend the ingredients and increase the energy. This succussion is vital to make a homeopathic remedy. This is because homeopathic remedies work from the outside energy layer inwards to the physical body. Unlike herbs or foods or drugs, homeopathy starts its action on our energetic level first to affect change in the body.
This energy is why the more diluted the remedy, the more potent it is. It has been potentiated by succussion dozens or hundreds of times! The dilution is important too for potency, but I have found it is often easier to understand homeopathic remedies for clients to first look at it as stored energy.
Side Effects and Precautions
Homeopathic remedies are remarkably free of side effects. Yes, really. Even eating an entire bottle doesn’t give enough of an active substance to cause a problem. Even if I ate an entire bottle of 250 pellets of Belladonna, I would not have a response to it–especially if I wasn’t exhibiting any symptoms indicating I needed Belladonna in the first place. This hearkens back to how homeopathy is a nudge in the right direction and you’ll understand why they are among the safest preparations known to medical science!
Dosing
With homeopathy, less is more. The remedy should be taken under the tongue. You only need enough that it has good contact time with the saliva, so usually only 1-2 pellets is what I recommend (some people say 4 or more, but I have had good results for myself, my family, my pets, and my clients with 1-2 pellets).
In general, the lower the potency number, the more times you can take it in a day. These are loose guidelines.
- 6X can be taken 4 times a day.
- 12X, 30X, and 9C can be taken 2-3 times a day.
- 30C can be taken 1-2 times a day.
Please don’t hesitate to schedule an appointment if you need further assistance.
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Note: Everything here is for information only. This is not meant to treat or diagnose any medical condition. Seek a qualified medical professional.