A Magickal Herball Compleat.pdf - Magicka School

Welcome
150
Homoeopathy
In this chapter you will learn about homoeopathy, what it is, how it's claimed it
works and some common criticisms of its ideas.
Continuing on, there is a research project.
And finally there is an appendix.
Introduction
No herbal can really be considered complete without a chapter on homoeopathy,
which makes extensive use of plant matter in its remedies (as well as other
substances), although it should be stated that its methods and practices bear no
direct relation to herbal medicine in general.
Here, though, we run into a problem for, unlike most types of modern herbalism,
homoeopathy deeply divides those who use herb by-products to promote health.
On the one hand we have those who state that homoeopathy is nothing more
than mere quackery, or, at best, that any of its positive results can be put down to
the placebo effect and, on the other, we have staunch supporters who claim to
have witnessed near miraculous turn-arounds in a patient’s health when
conventional medical science has failed. It can be very confusing to meet with
both views and the best that I can do for any student of this art is to lay out the
arguments for and against, and give them the tools to decide for themselves where
their allegiance lays.
First let us explore what homoeopathy is and a little of its development.
What is Homoeopathy?
The word homoeopathy derives from the Greek words hómoios meaning "similar"
and páthos which means "suffering" or "disease". It was developed by Samuel
Hahnemann (1755-1843) [1], a one time village doctor in the copper mining
district of Mansfeld in Saxony. During Hahnemann's early life medical practice
was primitive by today's standards. Purging, bloodletting and strange "medicinal"
concoctions were the order of the day that often killed rather than cured.
The young Samuel was appalled by the standards of medical treatment of the time
as the following quotations show:
My sense of duty would not easily allow me to treat the unknown pathological state of my
suffering brethren with these unknown medicines. The thought of becoming in this way a murderer
or malefactor towards the life of my fellow human beings was most terrible to me, so terrible and
disturbing that I wholly gave up my practice in the first years of my married life and occupied
myself solely with chemistry and writing. [2]