Praxis Andreas Valentien

Homeopathy

Classical homeopathy is based on the principle of similarity as discovered by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843): “Similia similibus solvuntur” – “let likes be cured by likes”. According to this idea, a homeopathic remedy is chosen in such a way that a healthy person would experience similar symptoms to those which the sick person is already suffering. For example, the dog nettle (Urtica urens), which causes burning and itchy skin rashes, can – in potentised form – help to treat genuine illnesses such as hives (urticaria). In addition, the personal character and the state of mind of the patient are taken into account when choosing the ideal therapeutic substance.

Basically, a homeopathic preparation can be produced from any substance that causes the symptoms of a disease. In the meantime, there are over 1,600 different homeopathic remedies available worldwide. As some of these substances are highly toxic, they must be strongly diluted to permit their safe use. Hahnemann called this complex process, involving various steps of dilution, shaking and grinding, “potentisation”. Homeopathic treatments obey the following rule: the higher the potency of a substance, the safer it is, but also the faster it develops its effect.

In general, homeopathists offer the following levels of potentiation:

D-potency (decimal) at a dilution of 1:10
C-potency (centesimal) at a dilution of 1:100
LM (or Q) potency at a dilution of 1:50,000

Through progressive dilution to create an increasingly weaker solution, the initial substance is said to be “dynamised”. Gradually, its “information” is communicated to the carrier medium (water, alcohol or lactose), which is said to absorb it “selflessly”. The mystery of homeopathy lies in this dynamisation of the medium. The effect cannot be verified at the level of the substance, as its critics have misunderstood; rather, we require a method of proof that can capture the effect of dynamism (i.e. crystallisation processes, capillary dynamolosis, distillations, appropriate study designs). In contrast to ordinary pharmaceutical products, we are clearly not dealing with some physical effect of the substance itself. In this respect, the fundamental criticism of orthodox medicine is, while understandable, nonetheless misleading, as it ignores the underlying concept of homeopathy.

Homeopathy and anthroposophic medicine

In anthroposophic medicine we sometimes use the same drugs or potentiated substances prescribed by homeopaths. Yet there are differences in our basic understanding of illness and health. While homeopathy investigates and treats physical and mental symptoms, anthroposophic practitioners take special account of mental and spiritual dimensions alongside purely physical factors. According to this view, an illness always encompasses some aspect of karma, i.e. the individual destiny, which only affects this one person in a unique way, and at the same time gives her or him the opportunity to develop. The illness brings with it this wider aspect and not just, for example, an irregular blood sugar level, which can be returned to normal through some highly technical and drug-intensive intervention.

As described in Rudolf Steiner’s vision of anthroposophy, the fourfold human constitution, which always appear ‘disarranged’ in the event of illness, is as follows:

the “I” or ego organization,
the soul body,
the time or etheric body, and
the physical body.

We have a range of medicines to bring a disarrangement of these back into balance. Any choice of anthroposophic treatments is based on the assumption of an evolutionary relationship between the human organism and highly specific natural processes. Hence, anthroposophic remedies are often compositions of substances sourced from metals, minerals, plants or animals according to their origin, shape and behaviour. Depending on the particular form of a disease, these substances are brought into greater alignment with the human organism in an often complex pharmaceutical process. The aim is to stimulate our self-healing powers; in other words, to bring the four elements of being back into harmony with one another.

A further core element of anthroposophic thought is the threefold structure of the organism, a discovery by Rudolf Steiner (1920) concerning the functional areas of living organisms which has not yet been sufficiently appreciated by scientists. Here the nerve-sense system is presented in all its structures and functions as the polar opposite of the metabolic-limb system, both of which are complemented by the rhythmic system (heart, lungs, circulatory system) that connects and separates them. The threefold structure of the human organism and the “location” of an illness as dictated by this structure play an important role in determining the potency of a remedy:

metabolic system: D1 to D6 – low potencies
heart-lung system: D8 to D15 – medium potencies
nerve-sense system: D20 to D30 – high potencies