Introducing Homeopathy: The Film

Roll out the red carpet! On April 18, 2024 a movie about homeopathy entitled Introducing Homeopathy: The Film will premiere in Virginia, a day before (and at the same venue as) the 2024 Joint American Homeopathy Conference. This professionally produced movie will give insights into homeopathy, explaining it in terms that someone unfamiliar with homeopathy can understand, and giving many examples of homeopathic success stories. Click the image above to watch a trailer about several animals whose homeopathic treatment improved their quality of life. Visit the movie's website to see a second trailer about a woman, Casey, whose homeopathic treatment allowed her to conceive after standard medicine provided her with no solutions.

A primary goal of the producers is to get the film into a major streaming service so that the number of people who hear about (and begin using) homeopathy expands exponentially. Since you, dear reader, are on my mailing list, I know you've heard about homeopathy through my books ... but have you used it yourself? Have you experienced good results from it and wished that more people knew about it? If your answer is 'yes' to any of the above questions (or even if it's not), you can take part in this exciting project! You can go to the film's website and give a donation that will contribute to its final stages. Your gift, small or large, will be much appreciated!

Returning to the Regency period for a moment, where my characters reside, Fiona and Lord Featherstone (Henry) try their best to get the word out about homeopathy in their era of no movies, no internet and no telephone. Henry gives talks in London about homeopathy, and in Love from the Past Frederick agrees to take part in one of Henry's talks after his back injury is healed with Arnica. Fiona uses homeopathy whenever the need arises, and her successes reach people's ears through word of mouth. Fiona and Henry both recognize that homeopathy is an excellent healing modality, and they do their best to see that as many people as possible get the homeopathic help that they need.

How wonderful it would be if the understanding and use of homeopathy could become widespread today; if the chronic illness seen nowadays could begin to decline with the help of homeopathy. This film, the brainchild of Kim Elia, homeopath and founder of WholeHealthNow, is a huge step towards making that happen!

Autumnal Woes are helped by Homeopathy

Goodbye Summer 2023! It is with much sadness that I see you give way to autumn.

In homeopathic repertories, you will find symptoms for "aggravations in autumn." They can be very general symptoms, meaning that multiple body systems are affected in the autumn, or very specific, such as asthma is worse or constipation arises or neuralgia in the arms happens every autumn. Of course the other seasons are covered in the repertories as well — winter, spring and summer. Not everyone is affected by seasons, but take a minute to think about your own body. Does periodicity play a role in your symptoms? Do you dread certain seasons and, if so, why?

Homeopathy is all about taking notice. Forget diagnostic terminology because what are those terms but manmade labels that distract us? Instead, place focus on what your body is actually doing. Instead of saying, "I have eczema," consider saying something like "a rash appears on my hands and is very itchy in the morning. It is worse (meaning itchier or redder or more scaly, etc.) from being uncovered, and it feels better (meaning symptoms improve) when I use ice cold applications - either cold air or cold water." These details are called "modalities" and homeopaths need them to come to the correct remedy for your specific condition. A person whose eczema is made better by heat, and whose itchiness is worse in the evening would need a different remedy than one whose eczema is improved by cold and itches more in the morning.

Being observant is the key to finding a good remedy. And understanding what is different or unique about your symptoms is also important. For instance, everyone who has eczema has an eruption, so using the symptom "Skin, eruptions" is not overly helpful. It can be taken, but the more detailed symptoms are needed too, especially since "Skin, eruptions" in the Complete Repertory 2023 has 1,217 remedies in it. How would you decide which of those 1,217 remedies is needed if you do not get more details? The good news is that the symptom "Skin, eruptions, cold washing/bathing ameliorates" only has 12 remedies in it (in the Complete Repertory 2023), and when you combine that symptom with a few other highly focused symptoms, about the itching or the scaliness etc., you can find the remedy that is the best fit.

Focused observation is the "art" of homeopathy. Some homeopathic practitioners—the most successful ones—intuitively know which symptoms are critical to choose, and therefore pick the most fitting remedies for their patients. Although I have my CCH (Certificate of Classical Homeopathy), and therefore have good knowledge about the science of homepathy, the art has been more difficult to master. I write about homeopathy since I haven't yet found a level of consistency with its art that satisfies me.

Autumn and winter are my least favorite months. I recently noticed that all three books in the Castlewood series take place in the spring or summer, so autumnal woes are very real to me. It's funny how our preferences come out in so many ways!

Start learning homeopathy

I encourage everyone to start learning homeopathy because it's a great way to take charge of your health. But which book should you buy first? The question is daunting because there are many homeopathic books, some better than others, so I'm happy to make some suggestions.

Learning homeopathic first aid is a wonderful place to start. It's relatively easy and comes with an added bonus: You can buy many of the first-aid remedies in your local heathfood store. I recommend getting Dr. Dorothy Shepherd's Homœopathy for the First Aider. (*) She not only covers every concievable remedy for first-aid situations, but she also shares cases from her many years in practice.

But if you're ready to go beyond first aid, what then? You will need to understand the philosophy behind homeopathy. George Vithoulkas' Homeopathy—Medicine of the New Man (*) is a concise but thorough introduction that is written in easy-to-understand language. Vithoulkas is still alive today, so the antiquated language of the 19th century homepaths is bypassed, removing that barrier to learning.

Once you understand homeopathic philosophy, you will be ready to get your first repertory so that you can begin to group symptoms and see which remedies fit that grouping. Which Repertory should you buy? I personally love Boericke's Homeopathic Materia Medica and Repertory since it contains not just symptoms, but a detailed description (materica medica) of each remedy. It also contains a therapeutic index, connecting ailments to remedies to consider, and so much more! The book was written in the 19th century, which means that it doesn't contain the newer remedies—those that have been added to the homeopathic materia medica since then. But it contains hundreds of remedies—all those tried and true remedies of Hahnemann, Hering, and Lippe's time, which successfully treated a multitude of conditions—everything from toenail fungus to tumors.

What do you do with the symptoms that you gather from the repertory for a particular case? If you're not ready to invest in a software program that will organize the symptoms for you, you will need to enter your gathered symptoms into a chart by hand. I have a chart that I used before I got a software program, and I'm sharing it with you HERE (you will need to print it out). The "Case" is the name of the person for whom you are repertorizing; the "Rubrics" are the symtoms you have found to use for the person's particular problem.

(*) If you don't feel like buying a book, you can also search the internet to find information about homeopathic first aid and philosophy. There's a lot of free information to be found.

I hope you have fun exploring homeopathy! If you have even half as much fun as I've had over the years (and continue to have), it will be well worth your time and effort. And don't hesitate to write to me if you have any questions about anything you've read here today.