Giving birth to
a new medicine
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For over 200 years homeopaths have been using themselves
as guinea pigs…
By Mary Aspinwall, Registered Homeopath
In 1995 I was doing a post-graduate training course in Homeopathy
in London. Part of the course involved taking part in a proving
(or testing) of a mystery substance on the group. There were
forty of us. Half would take the mystery pills and the other
half would monitor us on a daily basis to make sure none of
our symptoms, including dreams, thoughts and feelings were
missed.
Homeopathy is based on the ancient idea of “Like cures
like”. In other words, substances that can produce symptoms
in a healthy person can cure those symptoms in an unhealthy
person. For over 200 years homeopaths have been using themselves
(and sometimes their friends and family!) as guinea pigs,
to find out what symptoms substances are capable of producing
and carefully recording all the data so it can be used to
treat people.
Initially only substances that were known to produce symptoms
such as poisons and toxins were tested. Early homeopathic
provings were of Belladonna, Arsenic, Hemlock, Lead, Mercury
and so on. However, over time, it was realised that every
single substance will produce its own distinct set of symptoms.
At that point homeopaths began to try to test as many substances
as possible from the animal, mineral and vegetable kingdoms.
The great advantage of Homeopathy is that only a tiny amount
of the mother tincture( the original undiluted substance)
is needed to make thousands and thousands of doses, which
means the impact of Homeopathy on the environment is minimal.
In fact many medicines are sourced from animal milks, so the
animal is not harmed.
Another great advantage is that the preparation of homeopathic
medicines involves succussions (a fancy word for shaking and
bashing) and very frequent dilutions. So although the medicines
produce a host of symptoms in the provers, once the medicines
are discontinued the symptoms stop and there are no lasting
ill effects. Once all the data is collated the medicines can
then be used to treat people.
Nevertheless, as you can imagine, it was a bit daunting to
be taking a substance with no idea of what it was or how it
might affect all of us. We were all trying to guess what it
could be. Just for fun, I will tell you some of the symptoms
and phenomena surrounding the proving and see if you can guess
what it was we took:
12 of the provers moved house or moved countries, either
to return “home” or to a place that they felt
more at home in.
Others dreamed of journeys and the sea, or longed to go swimming
or to head for the mountains.
Some sat for hours in cool baths, but the bath had to be
scrupulously cleaned first.
Many felt they couldn’t get enough oxygen and sought
out fresh air.
People got lost and literally went around in circles, or
moved their hand around in circles.
Many of the group conceived or fathered children including
a grandfather, a woman aged 45 and a couple who had been infertile
for 12 years and had had previous failed IVF attempts.
Many provers spoke of the need to find their “soul
mate” and felt strong desires to conceive, many dreamt
of pregnancy and babies.
Others felt totally cut off from the world, terribly isolated
and alone.
At least 3 provers had major floods in there homes, many
more had dreams of flooding.
People dreamt of places they had lived years before.
People used the language of struggle and battling against
things.
Since then the medicine has been prescribed and it has been
shown to be clinically effective in cases of infertility;
endometriosis; ovarian cysts; fibroids; goiter; head lice
infestation and slow labours.
Have you managed to guess what substance in Nature could
produce these effects?
The medicine was made from the egg, semen and a blood sample
from Onchorynchus tsawytscha, the largest and rarest of the
five species of Pacific Salmon, also known as the Chinook
or King Salmon. They travel up to 1,500 miles returning to
their “home” estuary to spawn often having to
overcome enormous obstacles in their struggle to get there.
They are very sensitive to oxygen levels and need clean water
in order to thrive, in less than optimal conditions they are
prone to parasite infestation.
Salmon is just one of many homeopathic medicines that have
helped previously infertile couples to conceive. In order
for a homeopathic medicine to work effectively it has to match
your individual symptom picture as closely as possible.
If you would like to discuss how Homeopathy can help you
with infertility or any other health issue please write to
Mary Aspinwall via the contact page.
© Mary Aspinwall
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