Healing and transformation play an essential role in human evolution. This process is so significant that throughout history many symbols have emerged that relate to a life-altering change. For example, a Zen series known as the Ox Herding Pictures (at right) shows the journey of transformation from the first search for a desired path to returning to the world as a transformed being.

This transmigration occurs during many deep healing and transformative processes and is particularly relevant to the healing that occurs under homeopathic treatment, a time-honored healing modality discovered more than 200 years ago when a German physician was faced with a perplexing scenario. His dilemma? For all his medical training, he couldn’t help his family recover from the illnesses they contracted. The medicines of his day caused more harm than good, and he was unwilling to hurt his family or any of his patients in the name of medicine. This physician, Samuel Hahnemann, went on to discover an effective and nontoxic form of medicine that he called “homeopathy.”

Homeopathy was a radical discovery at the time because of its use of extremely dilute, so-called dynamic remedies created from natural substances. In an era where diseases were treated in a very mechanical way, homeopathy was exceptional, because its philosophy recognized the relationship between the mind, body and spirit. During Hahnemann’s time, heavy doses of toxic substances were used to remove lesions or purge the body. In contrast, homeopathic remedies gently and profoundly stimulated the healing process. For these reasons, homeopathy has continued to influence many other forms of holistic healing and has been called the grandfather of Western alternative medicine.

Since its early days, practitioners have experimented with other methods of utilizing homeopathy, including using combinations of many remedies for specific problems. But it’s classical homeopathy that adheres to Hahnemann’s guidelines. Using a materia medica of more than 3,000 remedies, the classical homeopath chooses the one that best suits the individual. In order to find this remedy, the practitioner of this art must develop the skill to comprehend the totality of the individual in relation to his or her disease.

Hahnemann wrote that it’s the homeopath’s responsibility to perceive what needs to be healed in the whole person (1). Therefore, the practitioner of this healing art must be able to recognize a pattern within symptoms exhibited by a patient that indicates an energetic disturbance preventing the individual from living in full health. Once this pattern is observed, it’s matched to a remedy that that can create a similar energetic disturbance. This similar remedy, or simillimum, stimulates the organism into a healing process on the mental, emotional and physical levels.

The simillimum provides the stimulus for a process that begins to unfold in an organic way. It’s not a mere elimination of symptoms, rather a multidimensional realignment of the organism leading to transformation of the mind, body and emotions. While homeopathy doesn’t make a change in the transcendental or spiritual makeup, it allows for greater access to this dimension.

In his Organon of Medicine, Hahnemann defined the underlying life force as that which enlivens the body. In health, he writes, it allows the organism to use this instrument (the body) for the higher purpose of our existence (2). This statement is interesting because he doesn’t define what is meant by the higher purpose of our existence, allowing the idea to remain open and become even more meaningful.

An experienced homeopathic practitioner who follows Hahnemann’s guidelines knows that an increased level of mental clarity and emotional satisfaction must accompany the disappearance of symptoms if the treatment is to proceed to cure. But how the individual expresses and creates from this state is a unique experience.

We all have our own deepest desires and inclinations. In health, we use our mental abilities, emotional qualities and training in our own way—whether in the creative arts, in parenting a child, or achieving a particular spiritual goal. There are infinite possibilities. What is important is that we are able to express and fulfill our deepest and purest impulses for both our own benefit and for the benefit of others.

Another vital dimension in the process of healing is the acceptance that life has its ebbs and flows, its joys and sorrows. To be healthy individuals, we need to become more resilient and adaptable, to not only be able to deal with difficulties but to grow from them. Then, our actions can be led from a place of centeredness and clear thinking, rather than impulsively springing from fears, addictions and previously ingrained negative reactions. Thus, in health, there is a deepening enrichment of ourselves as human beings.

The correct homeopathic remedy provides the stimulus, but once the healing process has begun, only time and contact with the challenges of living will create this depth of healing.

Sources: (1) Organon of the Medical Art by Samuel Hahnemann, edited by Wenda B. O’Reilly, 1996; (2) Ibid

Jane Tara Cicchetti has been practicing homeopathy for over 25 years and is the author of Dreams, Symbols and Homeopathy: Archetypal Dimensions of Healing. She currently practices in downtown Asheville and can be reached at 828-628-6715.

Sharon Oxendine is a Lumbee Indian who lives in Weaverville and helps to coordinate the Strong Roots department. She has studied with numerous Indian Elders and is currently a student of Malidoma Some; she is also a writer, and she conducts ceremonies and rituals and works at Mountain BizWorks. To contact Sharon with department ideas or questions, email submissions@newlifejournal.com with the subject line “Strong Roots.“

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