Classical Homeopathy

The Principles of Healing Established by Christian Samuel Hahnemann, M.D. (1755-1843)

Classical Homeopathy - In The Beginning ...

In Leipzig, in south central Germany, in 1790, a family physician, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, made an astounding discovery. The bark of an evergreen tree from Peru called Cinchona was at that time a popular and effective treatment for malaria. He found that he could bring on temporary symptoms similar to malaria, in himself, by chewing the bark, and swallowing the juice.

With a small circle of colleagues, he assembled various substances, mostly from nature, many of which were used at that time to treat different illnesses, and began testing their effects on themselves, who were healthy. After cataloguing the details of these tests, they then used these plants, animals, and minerals to treat patients who had symptoms that matched the results of their tests. This stood in stark contrast with the practice of mainstream medicine then, which gave drugs based on no testing of any kind, and mainstream medicine today, which gives drugs each of which is chosen to oppose one symptom in the patient.

He coined the word Homeopathy, from two Greek words: homo from a word meaning similar, and pathy from a word meaning disease or suffering, because the principle which was working for them was to match all of the more important symptoms of a patient, to the symptoms of one remedy, that is, symptoms which that remedy could produce in a healthy person. Match those symptoms, and the person would usually get a little worse, and then begin to heal. Even deadly diseases like cholera yielded to their method.

Shortly after this, he began to reduce the amount of the plant, animal, or mineral that he was giving to his patients, to see if he could lessen the slight worsening of symptoms that usually occured, but then still get the improvements which followed. Again, he was astonished to find that the aggravating effect of the remedy could be extinguished by successive dilutions, with rigorous shaking at each step, while at the same time the healing properties of the preparation not only did not also disappear, but instead increased. The healing properties increased! It was as though a precious ancient secret had been delivered into their hands.

During the little over 200 years since his founding work, and the publication of the principles he discovered and developed, Homeopathy has spread all over the world. Today millions of people consult with Homeopaths to help them to heal, gently and naturally.

The principles developed by Dr. Hahnemann are called Classical Homeopathy. The primary differences between Classical Homeopathy and other natural healing practices are:

1. We use only one substance from nature at a time. Dr Hahnemann taught that it is inappropriate to recommend two or more remedies to use together.
2. How we choose that one substance is unique to Homeopathy. This was outlined earlier on this page, in general terms.
3. The method of preparing the substance is unique to Homeopathy. It is diluted in a prescribed way so that virtually none of the substance remains, and yet the restorative effect for the body does remain.

Candidates also are trained in basic nutrition and lifestyle, to help their clients to establish an optimal environment and conditions for healing.

Classical Homeopaths are trained in the United States and in other countries all over the world. Prestigious councils and organizations certify consultants who have met the rigorous standards of Classical Homeopathy, and have demonstrated competence in applying its principles.

The word Classical takes its meaning from the Latin classis, which was the highest order of Roman citizens. It means:
1. Pertaining to the highest rank or order.
2. Relating to ancient (old) authors.