Minutus

Hi Shannon, anyone and everyone

I am really curious as to the way the Organon has been taught to those
who fully believe that 4th Edition prescribing is the way to go and just
as suitable as 5th/6th Edition prescribing:

Do the Homeopathic colleges have a large supply of the 4th Edition that
they lend out to the pupils? I ask this as it doesn't seem to be
available to purchase.

If they don't, and the teaching comes from the 5th/6th Editions, what do
they say when it gets to the parts where Hahnemann covers the water
doses and LM's?

Or do they not even bother to go through the Organon, aphorism by
aphorism, discussing its importance and the reasons for his making the
choices that he made?

Kerry

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who
are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain

I can only speak for my own classes. We were introduced to the water potencies some, and to LMs a bit, but advised that LMs are better undertaken after one has become comfortable with Cs, knows what to expect of a remedy, comfortable with case management, etc. That was about 15 years ago, and at that time and place the level of experience with LMs was less than it is now. (I suppose I should say "even less".)

As to where the instructions came from for the watch-and-wait part, and particularly the use of high potencies, obviously that did not come from Organon, since Hahnemann did not use potencies that high. So that would have been mostly Kent, if I remember right.

Yes we went through it aphorism by aphorism, and no I don't think any of us got a really thorough, in-depth saturation in all of its points! You may recall (if you've been through a formal homeopathy program) that there's quite a lot to cover!! But yes it was emphasized in the school I went to.

Hi Shannon

So I assume that you were taught from the 6th Edition not the 4th
Edition?

When you say that Hahnemann did not use potencies that high, what level
are you talking about?

I do appreciate that there is a lot to cover with regards to Homeopathy,
but surely the most important works are The Organon and Chronic
Diseases, and they should be the ones that students get a thorough
understanding of. If the basics are not taught properly then there is
no foundation for the rest of the education to build upon.

Kerry

Dudgeon edition, which is 5th, with 6th ed changes interspersed. (So it is both editions together.)

I've always been told that he mostly used only up to 30, tho in later years did occasionally use 200. He did so, apparently, for reasons largely practical (how the heck do you hand-make a 10M? But he preferred to always make his own remedies) and also theoretical, that apparently high potencies strained even *his* credibility. In a case which "needs" a 10M or higher, *could* you still manage a lasting cure with low potencies? I don't know, maybe. Or maybe that's why he felt / found the need to add all the restrictions on diet and etc., in order to wring every last bit of healing from his (admit it) comparatively limited toolchest? And to *that* limitation, LMs would seem to have a great deal of added advantage, maybe more so than to someone already making good use of high potencies? I don't know, only speculating. (And not in an original fashion, either.)

I fully agree about the basic importance of Organon and CD; as did our instructors.

Shannon

Hi Shannon

According to David Little there is documentary evidence that he used
potencies up to 1M. The reason he was initially against the higher
potencies was twofold: quality of remedy produced and the aggravations
caused by the dry doses of high remedies. The 4th Edition put a limit
of 30c on the potency level but that was lifted in the 5th Edition.
The water potencies overcame the aggravation issues and allowed the
individualisation of the dose. In his latter years he used all the
different potencies: high, low, C's and LM's - in water of course.

To me it seems really odd that a school uses 5th/6th Edition and yet
they teach the use of dry doses more than water. It seems that the
teachers lack a true understanding of homeopathy.

Kerry

They were taught by their teachers. Likely you're familiar with the outlines of homeopathy's history in the US, and do understand why that wound up leaving us mostly with 4th ed. practitioners. But if you're waiting for me to say Oy, I shall never use a dry dose again! I'm afraid it would be a long wait...

Does the idea of using single doses of high potency given in water make you feel less queasy? I mean, is it watch-and-wait you have trouble with, or only the idea of dry doses per se?

They might have been taught by their teachers, but they had Hahnemann's
words that they could have listened to. I have been taught by some
appalling teachers throughout my educational life but I went beyond that
teaching where I had access to educational material. Your teachers,
and any others who are still teaching 4th Edition prescribing, had/have
the ability to move beyond it, especially since the rise of the internet
and access to brilliant educators such as David Little.

I would look at the issue of dry versus wet dosing in this way: we have
two systems:

1) The Rolls-Royce: wet
or

2) The Skoda: dry

Why opt for the rocky ride of the second choice when you can have the
first?

As to having to use high potencies because they are animals that are
hard to deal with, well I disagree with that. I have been dealing with
difficult animals and used lower potencies (ever tried dealing with a
pig that weighs well over 300 hundred kilos, has tusks four inches long
and an attitude problem?). The thought that you will have to keep
repeating the doses at frequent intervals is not necessarily the case.
Again we are back to individualisation, and whacking in a 10M just
because the animal might be difficult to deal with is not necessarily
the best option. Any good stock person will be viewing their animals
at least a couple of times a day, even in large herds - I am surrounded
by farmers that do it, caring for over a thousand animals - and should
be capable to picking up on changes in the stock that they are caring
for.

It isn't a competition between dry and high and low and wet, it is
about individualisation using the method least likely to cause harm.
Hahnemann developed that method and details it in the 5th/6th Organon.

Kerry

Just to clarify, the dosing that my family is receiving has been all
Cs in water. We have not had to go to LMs at all at this point.

Sandy

I have been lurking for quite a while. I am a very new student of
homeopathy. I took Sheri's class and am now enrolled in on online
school. I find this topic so confusing as a new student. I began with
Sheri's class and my family's homeopath is a student of Dr. Luc and
we are all being treated using the remedies in water with lots of
follow up from our homeopath. I am personally happy with this
approach as I feel that I get a lot of support from my homeopath and
my daughter, who is extremely sensitive, can have her doses adjusted
- (she is now taking 1/4 tsp. in a second cup). The first school I
enrolled in seemed to endorse only dry dosing. For that reason and
others, I switched to another school. I am only two months into the
school so we have not covered potencies and dosing but so far, the
cases shown have been prescribed very low doses, dry, daily. Other
than this, I like this school, the teacher and the technology (as I
am taking it online). I am hoping that I can learn the basics of
classical homeopathy and if I decide that I would like to use the
water dosing, I can learn that elsewhere. We are using the 6th
edition of the Organon. But it is very disconcerting to discover that
there is so much disagreement among homeopaths. In my search for a
school, when I asked about dosing, most schools answered that they
use all types of dosing depending on the circumstances and would not
really commit to any method. As a newbie to homeopathy, I can only
judge by my own experience as a patient, I believe. We started with a
homeopath who gave us LMs daily and then pretty high potencies dry.
Both of my children were very aggravated and it was a rough
experience. Then he just stopped returning calls and emails.
Apparently he went out of the country for training and didn't let me
know. We were in the middle of these aggravations and so on so I
thought that was very strange. For some reason, I felt that
homeopathy would work for us (especially my daughter who has OCD and
aspergers) so I kept looking and tried again and am very happy with
the care that we are now receiving. Anyway, just my perspective as a
new student.

Sandy

Hi Kerry,

Thanks for your thoughts, but I don't have time to pursue this any more at present.

Best wishes,
Shannon