Theorie about proving

Misha Norland – the provings from somewhere over the rainbow

How is it possible that so many attacks have been made on homeopathy in the last couple of years? The answer is very simple. Modern homeopathic gurus have successfully removed any trace of the empirical method and

any trace of science and present their own rationalistic transcendental theories.

Let’s start with provings. Modern provings, do not comply with the Hahnemann protocol anymore. The authors and conductors of modern provings proudly clam that they are conducted according to Jeremy Sherr’s,

Paul Herscu’s. Kent’s or someone else’s proving protocol and methodology.

Indeed, it seems to be very fashionable to use the methods and approaches as defined by modern gurus. This fashionable approach holds more appeal than strictly scientific double blind trial methods used by modern medicine.

If these new methods are indeed better, the information from new provings should be even more reliable than ever before. Why is it then, that Roger Van Zandvoort, the author of the biggest homeopathic repertory, took it upon himself to remove 130.000 modern additions from the 2009 version of his repertory? This was almost one quarter of his newer source material. In doing so, not surprisingly, the repertory became more accurate in usage.

Modern repertories are often criticized as containing too many new remedies and some repertories even went as far as creating “classic” versions that disregard all new materials altogether. If the new provings were accurate

there would be no need for this.

Misha Norland is the Founder and Principal of The School of Homeopathy, Devon, England. Despite the fact that his proving methods are very unconventional and despite the fact that the conclusions he draws from the results

of the provings are even more controversial than the methodology, his school has conducted about 25 provings, which are now included in most of the modern repertories.

One of the early clues that make it clear that the reader should be very cautious before using the results of these “provings” is the stellar company of Patrons of the school – Jan Scholten, Rajan Sankaran, Frans Vermeulen,

Jeremy Sherr, Miranda Castro and Massimo Mangialavori. It comes as no surprise that the methodologies used by this school and by Misha Norland are far from Hahnemannian.

Proving of AIDS nosode

Before even starting to talk about whether this proving is Hahnemannian or not, let’s quote the introductory comments:

“The procedures for conducting a proving were laid out by Hahnemann in § 105-145 of the Organon and on the whole there has been little need to change them. They have been commented on and clarified by:

JT Kent “Lectures on Homœopathic Philosophy Lecture XXVIII”


Jeremy Sherr “Dynamics and Methodology of Provings”


Paul Herscu “Provings.”

Clearly, the methodology of Hahnemann was not strictly followed, but REPLACED by methodology of Jeremy Sherr, Paul Herscu and J.T. Kent.

The section The group proving gives us even more unsettling overview of the methodology:

“…There appears to be a teletherapeutic effect produced by the field generated by the assembled provers, their experiences being in resonance. The whole group is involved and those members who have not taken the remedy

may be as affected as those that have.

This means that the use of control provers who are given placebo is not possible as they are also likely to prove the remedy. Because of the group’s field effect It also means there is no need to repeat the dose if symptoms do

not occur immediately…”

So, in other words, the observation is, that regardless of whether the person is taking placebo or remedy, their symptoms will be the symptoms of the remedy.

How is this possible? A clue might be gained by the section The Proving:

“This stimulus, perhaps because it is amplified by the many co-experiencers, and is ‘reawakened’ at monthly gatherings when experiences are recounted, is sufficient to produce long range effects.”

It I understand it correctly, provers actually exchange experiences about the remedy on a monthly basis. It is therefore clear that this “teletherapeutic field” that mysteriously effects the group is simply interaction between

provers. The desire to succeed and to be special is one of basic human traits. If other provers hear someone talking about interesting transcendental experiences, you can bet that they will start experiencing something similar.

Mind is a mysterious thing and if you rely on dreams and mental images to give you the true meaning of an experience (things so easily influenced by wanting to experience something special), your experiences will be shaped

by your interactions with other provers and by a wanting to experience something special.

Interestingly, the proving starts with everyone talking about mental images and impression immediately after taking the remedy. So, if one of the provers knows the remedy (and some of them do, since in some of the proving

even the conductors of the provings take the remedy), this will set the tone of the proving and reveal whatever “essence” the conductors of the proving want to reveal.

This could also throw some light on another statement from the section The Proving:

“ Results, of the initial provings, though portraying some symptom pattern, did not convey the ‘shape’ of the remedy. Therefore, I sent some pillules to Mariette Honig in Holland who carried out a similarly exhaustive, yet, ultimately unilluminating, proving… However, the picture of the nosode emerged with flying colours when in 1994 we carried out two group provings amongst students at The School of Homoeopathy…”

Well this is now easy to understand. Is it possible, that the initial provings followed a more strict protocol and the provers were not influenced by experiences of other provers, so the results were “unilluminating”? Is it also possible that once we get a group of provers that is influenced by the gatherings, the symptoms will be more transcendental and more uniform? The symptoms will be closer to the symptoms that the conductors of the proving

want to see rather than the real symptoms.

How else could we explain the phenomena that people taking placebo experience the same symptoms as people taking the remedy? It has not been observed in clinical trials and the control group taking placebo is used effectively to disregard symptoms that are not caused by the remedy but are caused by environmental effects.

We have two different experiences.

Experiences from properly conducted clinical trials that repeatedly show that people taking placebo do not develop the symptoms of the remedy.

And we have “provings” following a different “method” which allows free exchange of impressions on meetings, where some of the provers know the remedy and where usually the proving does not include a control group taking placebo.

Both of these methods yield different results and while the results of the clinical trials follow scientific protocol, and their results can be rationally explained, the proving method of Misha Norland must introduce the phenomena

of “teletherapeutic fields” and “telepathy” and other mysterious phenomena affecting other provers to explain the similarity of experience, when the answer is quite simple. If a group of people can have a free interaction and sharing of mental and dream experiences, it is conceivable that vagueness of these phenomena can be interpreted as having a similarity on a certain level. It is also conceivable that if there is a sharing of experiences, people

will consciously or sub-consciously have a desire to experience something interesting leading to similar experiences, dreams, etc.

Proving of the Dream Potency

Some of the problems with this proving are that the original potentized substance are unknown.

A bigger problem however is, that out of a fairly small group of 15 provers only one was taking placebo. Out of 15 provers 10 were women, so it is not surprising that a common experience of the provers was, that they felt feminine.

Proving of Salix Fragilis

Once again, the proving group is incredibly small and unbalanced. Out of 7 people, there is only 1 person taking placebo and interestingly enough, the person taking the placebo is the only man in the group. Yes, all the provers were women.

The worst problem is though that this starts as a meditative proving and the “symptoms” of the only prover taking the placebo are taken into account as well. To give you an example of his mental stability, the symptom that was included was: “During the proving my wife and I both experienced the presence of a ghost in our house.“ This “symptom” was recorded in the proving despite the fact that the prover was taking placebo and despite the fact that no other prover has experienced this. So despite a very dissimilar experience, it was recorded in the proving.

Proving of North Wales Slate

This “proving” is a dream proving, where the provers have recorded their dreams which could be of value if the proving would not be supervised by the very people who taking the remedy as well and might have influenced the direction of the proving by sharing their experiences with the rest of the group and even discussing the substance the remedy was made of. Since the methodology is compromised in this way, the symptoms gained from this “proving” are of little value.

I could go on discussing the problems in other provings conducted by Misha Norland and the members of the School of Homeopathy, but I would present only more and more of the same evidence. Evidence being, that information gathered in these provings should not be used in homeopathy, because it was gathered using controversial and questionable non – scientific methods which do not produce objective information but may be largely influenced by the people conducting the proving.

Group and Proving Phenomena

To outline the method followed by Misha Norland and the School of Homeopathy, let’s discuss the article Group and Proving Phenomena by Misha Norland published in The Homoeopath No.72.

“At the School we have achieved results using a variety of stimuli: using material substance, by holding it, looking at it, meditating upon it, as well as with the 30th to 200th potencies. We have invoked group provings by one member ‘holding’ the concept/image of a thing.”

In other words, aside from actually taking the remedy, other approaches are used. The “provers” either think about the substance, hold it or simply look at it. That’s right, there’s no need to even take the remedy. Apparently if

you look, hold it or even think about it, you will experience this elusive “essence” of the remedy. It is not surprising that the “essences” of remedies gathered in this way prove the doctrine of signatures. If you think about a falcon, or look at it, what other “images” can you get than flying, freedom, good vision, clarity of sight, predator, aggressivity, etc. Let us just compare the main ideas from the proving of Falco Peregrinus Disciplinatus. The main ideas are: Freedom, Focused, Clear Vision, Clarity, Above it all, Speed, Fierce and Passionate, Explosive anger, etc.

The proving has succeeded at simply brainstorming about the falcon and proves nothing, except the fact that if you know what is the remedy proven and you do a brainstorming session, results will be quite predictable. You will

get the same “essence” as you would think when you gather your thoughts about the particular subject. In order to actually prove the remedy, and avoid these brainstorming sessions, nothing else than the double blind trial will do. When analyzing the provings done in such a way or with a more objectivity, you can discern a lot of new information about the remedy, especially things you would not suspect when thinking about the substance. There are

plenty of examples in the old literature. Symptoms are discovered that seem odd and seem to have nothing to do with the original plant/animal/mineral, yet they are key to a correct prescription.

A quote from the same article will give us some clues about why the group of the provers experience similar things and why “essences” are closely related to the original substance.

“This stimulus, perhaps because it is amplified by the many co-experiencers, and its ‘reawakening’ at monthly ‘gatherings’ when experiences are recounted, is sufficient to produce long range effects“.

Not only do the provings contain people who know the original substance, they can freely influence everyone in these monthly interactions, so that it is made certain, that the proving will yield the desired result. There is no mystery why even the people not taking the remedy are included in the proving and experience similar symptoms. They are influenced by the recollection of other people’s experiences and placebo effect takes over.

“In addition to following Jeremy’s [Sherr] proving methodology, we record our experiences some minutes after beginning the proving. We get images (such as black grave stones, waterfalls, orange flowers, and responses to these images such as associated feelings, sensations or thoughts); feelings (such as joy, sadness, and their responses such as smiling or weeping); sensations (such as floating, burning, itching, and their responses such as restlessness or scratching); thoughts and concepts which in turn may evoke images, feelings and sensations. This then is our primary data. It would be in accordance with tradition to say that proving responses are headed up by image at the top of a natural hierarchy which proceeds down the levels, through thoughts to feelings to sensations.”

It has been established by multiple provings, that the symptoms of the remedy start manifesting some time after starting the proving. It can be minutes, but usually takes hours and even days. It is debatable, whether all the people were affected by the remedy just minutes after starting taking it, or whether they are influenced by other factors, such as meal they have just eaten, impressions of the day or actually knowing the proven substance and wanting to experience something right away. This data is then used as the primary data for the proving.

“Naturally I felt obliged to run a proving of placebo. You see, I had speculated as to whether we were proving ourselves, our group psyche, whether a group’s theme or themes would emerge. The result was that no theme emerged within the group. This was a distinctly different experience from being under the influence of the proving of a thing, where common imagery, feelings and sensations dominate.”

No big surprise here. If provers know that they are taking a certain remedy, especially a substance that they are familiar with (a well-known animal or a plant) it is almost certain, that even before they start doing the proving,

they will have some mental images and preconceptions. It is then easy to understand why these images are experienced in the provings, especially, when simply “meditating” about the substance. Placebo (or an unknown substance) would be a different thing. Proving where provers do not know what to expect and when they cannot form a mental image of the substance they are proving. It could be argued therefore, that emergence of an “image” about the remedy is then actually a good indication that the proving is biased and its results should not be used. This would be the case for nearly all the provings and especially all the provings done by Misha Norland and the School of Homeopathy.

“A proving begins, in a literal sense, with the intention to prove a thing, with it being imagined, identified, obtained, and possibly potentised…It is common experience amongst provers that certain individuals … develop symptoms which subsequently are confirmed as belonging to the proving before anyone else had ‘taken’ the thing. I have parenthesised ‘taken’ because those who meditate upon the thing come up with results which are no less pertinent. Furthermore, we have found that those individuals within the group who wished to remain outside of the proving have been unable to do so; they are automatically included.”

This is true, the moment people know that something is about to be proven, they will expect something to happen and if they even know which remedy is going to be proven, they will form a mental image of the original

substance. It is then no mystery, that the moment they will think about the proving, they will get the “right essence”.

“It is only matter that is bound to space and time. The immaterial essence of the thing, actuated by the intention of the proving group constellates the action field. … the thing that we are dealing with is essence, spirit, … and is

not bound within the constraints of space and time. Those who key into it are part of it irrespective of distance or time; they know it telepathically.”

I would not call the phenomena telepathy. It is simply thought and mental image. The moment you know the substance, the mental image you form about the substance will determine your experiences. It can be hardly called a telepathy. If I tell to a group of people to avoid at all costs thinking about monkeys, they will not be able to stop thinking about monkeys all the time.

Similar in proving an interesting substance. If I announce that at some stage “condom” will be proved, guess what everyone will be thinking of? STDs, condoms, pregnancy, AIDS, HIV, bubble, trapped inside of something…

It is not surprising that the proving of condom has “discovered” exactly these “essences”.

“The spiritual dynamis of intention, having no material substance, is not bound to either space or time. Should we accept this, then it follows that proving experiences may not uncommonly predate a proving. However, the experiencer would not know what to make of these experiences for they must be held within the framework of the proving and given its context to make sense.”

This means, that the experiences are gathered even before the proving has begun and before anyone has taken anything.

The summary of key points from modern “provings” can be summarized thusly:

- taking the remedy is not necessary to experience the remedy

- it is not necessary for the proving to begin to start experience the symptoms

- it does not matter if you take placebo or not. You will experience valuable symptoms

- proving experiences are based on telepathy.

In the researched opinion of P & W, that all information compiled by the above methods, and called “Provings”, with its complete lack of scientific protocol and a lack of Hahnemannian compliance in which the data has been assembled, negates the ‘worth’ of the information and should be discarded completely and removed from Materia Medica’s and Repertories immediately.

When did we as a specialist therapy, exchange science for telepathy and spirituality and give away the foundation of credibility in modern homoeopathy? The only conclusion that can be made is that the teachers, gurus and

leading lights of modernistic homoeopathy are not homoeopaths.

What defines a homoeopath? For the answer, and against the trend of modern homoeopathic wisdom, we must look to the medical doctor, pharmacist, and scientist upon whose research, the accurate prescriber and homoeopathic physician should take his or her counsel from, in order to practice medicine properly. Homoeopathy is a medical therapeutic specialty, and as such, needs these words taken to heart.

Aphorism 285, 6th Edition, footnote”

A fundamental principle of the homoeopathic physician (which distinguishes him from every physician of all older schools) is this, that he never employs for any patient a medicine, whose effects on the healthy human has not previously been carefully proven and thus made known to him.

To prescribe for the sick on mere conjecture of some possible usefulness for some similar disease or from hearsay “that a remedy has helped in such and such a disease” – such conscienceless venture the philanthropic homoeopathist will leave to the allopath.

A genuine physician and practitioner or our art will therefore never send the sick to any of the numerous mineral baths, because almost all are unknown so far as their accurate, positive effects on the healthy human organism is concerned, and when misused, must be counted among the most violent and dangerous drugs. In this way, out of a thousand sent to the most celebrated of these baths by ignorant physicians allopathically uncured and blindly

sent there perhaps one or two are cured by chance more often return only apparently cured and the miracle is proclaimed aloud. Hundreds, meanwhile sneak quietly away, more or less worse and the rest remain to prepare themselves for their eternal resting place, a fact that is verified by the presence of numerous well-filled graveyards surrounding the most celebrated of these spas.*

* A true homoeopathic physician, one who never acts without correct fundamental principles, never gambles with the life of the sick entrusted to him as in a lottery where the winner is in the ratio of 1 to 500 or 1000 (blanks

here consisting of aggravation or death), will never expose any one of his patients to such danger and send him for good luck to a mineral bath, as is done so frequently by allopath’s in order to get rid of the sick in an acceptable manner spoiled by him or others.

Homoeopaths today. Should read and re-read this directive. It defines what a homoeopath is and what a person claiming to be is or is not. To give a MEDICINE to someone require intimate knowledge of it’s accurately, scientifically researched, and reproducible symptom producing capabilities.

In releasing the provings, as conducted, upon the homoeopathic medical community, Misha Norland has joined the ranks of pseudo homoeopaths, and his provings, along with other modern guru’s, are putting the lives of patients

in danger EXACTLY in the manner as described by Hahnemann.

Unfortunately, Nakhira died, because she did not receive the treatment she deserved. This outcome of this case resulted in a world-wide criticism of homeopathy.

We offer no criticism of the individual other than the practitioner claims to be a homoeopath and follows Hahnemannian standards. This is clearly NOT the case and needs to be stated publically, and real practitioners of Homoeopathy distance themselves from this type of practise.

Giving a prescription of a medicine, unknown to the practitioner, and without a proper proving, and with the unfortunate outcome, should have been warning enough to cease with the non Hahnemannian and scientific protocols

in his own flawed attempts to establish the action of substances for homoeopathic use.

As Hahnemann states: “A true homoeopathic physician, one who never acts without correct fundamental principles, never gambles with the life of the sick entrusted to him as in a lottery where the winner is in the ratio of

1 to 500 or 1000 (blanks here consisting of aggravation or death), will never expose any one of his patients to such danger.”

Elemental levels of being, including Ether

The idea of correspondence between heaven and earth was central to the alchemists. “As above, so below” is the primary statement of The Emerald Tablet of Hermes, a seminal text of the alchemical tradition.

‘As it is above’ – the journey of spirit into Earthly form

1. Etheric energy – is immaterial, revealing itself through non-verbal, telepathic resonance, and takes form as intuition.

2. Elemental Fire – almost immaterial, the energy of combustion, heat and light, reveals itself to us as images.

3. Elemental Air – dense enough to fly in, reveals itself as thoughts. These are products of the intellect, representing our discriminative awareness ‘playing over’ our experiences and memories. Also communication

of information and ideas, language and speech conveyed through air.

4. Elemental Water – yet denser, to swim in, reveals itself as feelings. These inform us of our likes and dislikes. Many memories, especially habits of preference, are ‘held’ at this level.

5. Elemental Earth – solid, to build with, reveals itself as sensations. These are experienced in the body directly by the five senses. Primal memories are also ‘held’ at this level. Physical pathology is the final

outcome of derangements of the above elemental levels.

‘So it is below’ – spirit grounded in matter

1st level – Elemental Ether

Elemental Ether is apprehended as direct, non-verbal experience. Like a telepathic resonance, Ether is related more to the ‘vibrating fields of energy’ referred to by quantum physicists, than to matter. At the Etheric

level we experience directly what is there. In the therapeutic setting, it is understood to arise out of the ‘seed-state’ of the disease and communicates its primal being, its disease signature spontaneously. This is

analogous to a remedy’s signature, which is expressed by the substance’s experience of being what it is. This is of course, the ‘like cures like’ principle in action – more than that; it is why homeopathy works – because signatures of substances and diseases match up in their original seed states, as “vibrating fields of energy”. In health, Elemental Ether manifests as intuitions and clairvoyance and gives us insights into these interior

seed states. In diseases these are the very features that we are in search of. We often get gestures from this level (that is from Etheric energy manifesting in lower levels), and images (from Etheric energy manifesting

in the 2nd level of Fire).

2nd level – Elemental Fire

Elemental Fire links to images. It is chiefly through intuition and clairvoyance (literally, ‘clear vision’) that spirit mediated through the Etheric level, unhesitatingly expressing itself in Elemental Fire as image.

This can be seen because Fire illuminates, as well as heats. The heating aspect is related to passion and desire, such as are enacted in religious rituals, where the holy image is revealed upon the altar, and participants reconnect with spirit. There is an equally compelling sexual expression, where the imagery is erotic. This aspect of passion (Fire) is easy to market and exploit in our society where attention is focused upon the material world. It is also in the form of images that many experiences and their associated sensations and feelings are stored as pictorial memories. References to images are mostly found in the Repertory in dreams, fears,

delusions and delirium sections. Here the boundaries of consciousness and sub-consciousness are blurred. Our dreams ‘speak to us’ in pictures, while we literally talk in images whenever we use a simile or a poetic

analogy. In drawings, especially children’s fantasy sketches, images abound. They are also expressed in adult’s doodles when exacting attention upon an object’s form is quiescent. As with dreams their significance can

be revealed using association and imaginative amplification. It is primarily through images that intuition, clairvoyance and the spirit world manifest to us.

Intuition and clairvoyance? Differentiate by reason. This leads to the next level.

3rd level – Elemental Air

Elemental Air links to thoughts. These are products of the intellect, that discriminative faculty which decides that something is this and not that. Examples of malfunction include confusion, being lost in thought,

deviations of memory and dyslexic communication. Delusions and delirium states give rise to distorted thoughts and confused awareness, while clear thinking helps us stay in touch with, and navigate according to ‘the higher purposes of our existence’ as stated in paragraph 9 in Hahnemann’s Organon.

Once we have established the truth of our intuition, we can respond appropriately, that is, in the way of Homo sapiens (thinking humans), and then cross the threshold (with human confidence) into the more primitive, survival-oriented, world of feelings. Feelings ascertain whether a thing suits us or not, whether we wish to accept it or not. This function has been developed and championed by animals.

4th level – Elemental Water

Elemental Water links to feelings that arise in response to energy, sensations, thoughts and their associated images and memories. Our empathetic resonance with each other and with animals is a feeling response brought

to us by Elemental Ether. Feelings include love, joy, rage, grief, jealousy, isolation – they manifest as emotion giving rise to actions (primary emotion). When suppressed, emotions turn inwards upon themselves

(secondary or compensated state). Secondary feelings and emotions are complex derivations of the primary, uncompensated source – this can make them difficult to navigate and of lesser value to the prescriber.

Just as intuition mediated by thinking and feeling, takes care of the soul, so instincts take care of the body. Instincts are experienced as sensations which in turn drive actions and gestures. The organs of locomotion and

in humans, the hands, are directly expressive of instinctive will and of feelings as emotions. I like to imagine that the energy ‘E’ of feelings plus motion equals e-motion. For this reason, gestures and body language are worthy of the case receiver’s closest attention.

5th level – Elemental Earth

Elemental Earth is experienced in the body physically as sensations, directly by the senses or indirectly through body memories. Sensations include descriptions of pain, such as clawing, shattered, as well as experiences

of the other organs of sense, such as reeling, red, shrill, sour or putrid.

The material level or corporeal Earth is where the five different elements all meet and manifest. As they play out into the body, if each is not balanced, physical pathology is the result, its exact expression depending

upon the imbalance of the different elements.

Group and dream provings and the five elemental levels

Increasingly, work has been done over the last twenty years in the field of dream provings in group settings. Here, remedies’ effects are noted specifically at level 2 (images). At the School of Homeopathy, we have regularly carried out full Hahnemannian group provings since the early 90′s. Obviously, provers respond according to their individual susceptibility, but those who do not take the pill and are susceptible, are also affected. This is best explained by supposing that the entire group resonate with the energy via the etheric field (level 1) of the remedy. We allow the group to sit with their experiences after taking, or not taking the pill. Within the first minutes susceptible individuals experience sensations (level 5) and images (level 2). Usually, it is only later that thoughts arise and emotions are felt. In other words, image and sensation are the primary data. We will return to this

finding later, when we discuss what is most useful in receiving and analysing a case.

On potency selection

Of particular value to the prescriber is the relationship of the elemental levels to potency. Of course there are other considerations which may modify this choice. At the very least, we should note the cautionary injunction to

lower potency where there is frank physical pathology threatening the well being of the patient. As Elizabeth Hubbard-Wright has written, “Do not blow the fuse with too high a voltage!”

We will begin our series starting with Elemental level 1: Ether, (MM and CM potencies), where spiritual influx directly informs matter, and move through to 5: Earth, (mother tincture and low potencies). We will be using the potency scale that was first propounded by Kent in reverse order. We are choosing this because it is the most familiar.

Level 1: elemental Ether, harmonise with the highest potencies MM and CM. Here the expression is instantly of spirit-energy into matter-body. Children and vital, un-medicated old people often operate at this level and respond well to remedies at the highest potencies. These may also be of service in the most acute situations, such as a life/death encounter, where maximum energy must be expended for survival, no matter what the later repair cost may

be to the organism. For instance, a high fever in a child may give rise to convulsions and destruction of innumerable brain cells, in the process of vanquishing invading bacteria. This expression of disease is direct and uncompensated. We see and intuitively recognise the signature.

Level 2: elemental Fire, also do well on high potencies: 10M and above. Elemental Fire communicates in images; intuitions are rendered visible, and as in the case of ether, the person experiences the world spontaneously. When questioning about a thing, they want to ascertain, “where did ‘it’ came from? Where is ‘it’ going?” They often see things in terms of connections. In health, they are passionate, ardent and motivated. If they are sexually active, then this expression is direct and uncompensated, likewise their connection with spirit is direct. HEAT (passion) and LIGHT (image) are the key concepts.

Level 3: elemental Air, do well on medium to high potencies: 200c to 10M. Elemental air is primarily associated with thinking – seeking knowledge through discrimination - working out that something is this and not that. They often ask, “what is ‘it’? How can I understand ‘it’?” They instinctively view things in terms of concepts and theories. This is not to say that they are necessarily gifted analysts, for stupidity and wisdom are no more than the – and + of a similar attribute. The dark side of elemental air, because it operates by division and subtraction (from the elemental Fire above it, where intuitions give rise to instant illumination), manifests in delusions of death, of separation, of fears and terrors, of the various realms of hell. In these instances communication (a primary Air function) breaks down and feelings of isolation predominate. COLD (as in cold reason, cold hearted, emotionally indifferent) and DARK (as in unconscious) are key concepts.

Level 4: elemental Water, do well on lower potencies: 200c and below. Elemental Water is primarily associated with feeling. These patients instinctively seek meaning by dissolving and merging; they exhibit alternating and varied moods and their lives are led by their emotions. They want to ascertain, “does ‘it’ suit me or not? Do I accept ‘it’ or not?” LIQUID or FLUID is the key-concept.

Level 5: elemental Earth, do well on low potencies: 30c to mother tinctures. These patients seek meaning by developing safe structures and adopting fixed attitudes. They present by knowing facts and details and by endlessly naming things. They want to ascertain, “is ‘it’ really there? Is ‘it’ a fact? What is ‘it’ called?” SOLID and FIXED are the key concepts.

LM potencies, starting low, begin to act at Earth level 5.

Regarding modalities: marked modalities indicate a dynamic vital response, in respect of accepting or rejecting. These indicate a level 4 – Water response. Therefore, whichever lower (than third) level a patient is on, their particular potency may be raised by a level. For instance, a patient with only physical symptoms and fixed attitudes who has a very marked food aggravation and time modality, may, on the basis of this, receive a potency higher than 30c, say a 200c potency. The obverse of this rule also applies. For example, a patient operating at Level 3 , an ‘air headed’, intellectual type with marked separation issues, fears and so forth, but displaying minimal modalities, would respond to a correspondingly lower potency, instead of 1M, say 200c.

Extracted from Miasms, Signatures, AIDS:

We will summarise our observations on the miasms and develop a sequential model of miasms based upon their evolution in pace and depth of invasion. We will begin by recapitulating Hahnemann’s three miasms:-

First miasm, Psora – eruption of the skin, which, if suppressed, becomes the developmental platform for all further disease. Psora has the fastest development from contagion to initial symptom production, but slowest overall evolution of chronic disease.

Second miasm, Sycosis – relatively quick development from contagion to initial symptoms and medium-paced overall evolution of chronic disease. Here the infectious agent, the gonococcus, inflames the mucous membranes of the urinary-generative tract before penetrating more deeply into the organism, typically developing iritis, rheumatism, warts and heart valve disease.

Third miasm, Syphilis – slowest development (a protracted dormant phase) followed by fast overall evolution of chronic disease. Here the infectious agent, the spirochete, destroys the interior of the cell, eventually attacking the most interior structures: the bones and central nervous system.

Hahnemann’s triad is fundamental and sufficient for an understanding of the further miasms posited by us and other homeopaths. It has to be understood that Hahnemann’s definition has been extended to include the taints of non-infectious, non-venereal diseases which are nonetheless transmitted by inheritance (genetic mutation), weakening the inherent susceptibility of the constitution. The further miasms are:-

Tubercular miasm – a mixture of Syphilis and Psora;

Cancer miasm – a mixture of Sycosis and Syphilis;

AIDS miasm – a mixture of Psora and Syphilis.

From a historical perspective, tuberculosis (famously a 19th century disease), cancer (which escalated rapidly in the 20th century) and AIDS (currently escalating, especially in Africa) have followed on each other’s tails over the last 200 years.

Rajan Sankaran’s miasm map is similar to this one. It differs primarily at the front end, ‘unpacking’ the Psoric miasm into Acute, Typhoid, Ringworm and Malarial miasms, while then it conforms, with Sycotic being followed by Cancer, Tubercular, and Leprous (which overlaps AIDS miasm). Sankaran places the Syphilitic miasm last in the series, while this model has Syphilis as one of Hahnemann’s first three miasms and subsequent miasms as mixtures of the first three. Sankaran’s concept of miasms (while elegant as well as practical) is different from the concept underlying the model in this book. For Sankaran, the miasms represent the pace, depth and desperation to which the vital sensation (uncompensated state) is experienced in any disease.

Miasms and signatures in three nosodes of mixed miasmatic character

Tuberculinum is associated with restless discontent. This situation might arise for an individual who feels trapped in a restrictive and inimical environment. His best option, given the suffocative feelings that he experiences, is to break free. Once he has done so, he usually feels that there is no going back – it is an irrevocable declaration of adolescent dissent. These assertions, give their destructive nature, are primarily driven by the Syphilitic aspect of the miasm. Tuberculosis is derived from a disease that typically arises in populations and societies that have been dispossessed. Their fixed posture, their stuck place, is that their home, land and culture have been irrevocably lost. Therefore, they are restlessly searching for a new resting-place, but cannot find it. This severance from the protective home is essentially a Psoric expression, characterised by forsaken feeling, poverty and longing. It has been altered by violent upheavals such as war and famine, giving the typically Syphilitic modulation for which Tuberculosis is known.

Carcinosin is associated with suppression of ego drives – the ‘unlived life’ syndrome which so often underpins the cancer patient’s story, the Psoric note – and striving for conformity (in this respect demonstrating its relationship with Lac humanum, human milk). In children, an uncompensated state often prevails, typified by difficult, contrary and defiant behaviour, while in adults, a suppressed state typified by fastidiousness and well-mannered behaviour is usually seen. It is common for patients requiring Carcinosin, should they be fastidious, to express it as a drive for matching things.

The nosode is derived from diseased tissue which is characterised by overabundant proliferation of cells of one type, like bricks in a wall. The cells represent a monomania of conformity. Cancers are only limited because their unruly proliferation destroys the host organism. Sycosis is the leading miasm, in the sense that the desire for more and more is expressed by the unruly growth of the tumour, with strong Syphilitic (destructive) tendencies.

We have projected our carcinogenic patterns into the world around us, for is not a vast monocultured field of one species of plant a perfect expression of a cancer? On a molecular level, the monomers that make up many plastics are similar to tumours, being macro-molecules made up of smaller molecules that seamlessly join themselves up in three dimensional structures. Used for everything from food packaging to furniture, plastics are cheap, ubiquitous and manufactured in vast quantities. The children’s toy, Lego, which enjoys such universal appeal, is made of plastic bricks. Lego-land housing estates designed with standardised computer programs are also an expression of the conformity of the cancer miasm. Mass communication has granted certain TV programmes worldwide popularity, providing the basis for common thinking and responding. Conformity, wherever it rules, belongs to the cancer miasm, while when the note is that of invading personal boundaries, keeping you glued to the screen against your better judgement, and then the Aids miasm is invoked.

Aids: The AIDS nosode is associated with boundary issues: keeping what is in, in; and what is out, out. The disease is characterised by a complete breakdown of the immune system.

In health, the vital force through the medium of the immune system reacts homeostatically to morbific influences, throwing them off: keeping what is out, out. Examples on the physical level are acute displays such as fevers, discharges, diarrhoea and pus. Examples on an emotional level include shouting, hitting, moaning and tears. However, should the individual become encumbered by disease through a deficiency of acute responses, due to miasmic predisposition, social suppression or drug use, and then chronic disease will settle in. In this aspect, the AIDS nosode, because it is failing to externalise, is similar to Carcinosin. Underpinning both nosodes is the ubiquitous Psoric influence.

The relationship between AIDS nosode and Lac humanum is noteworthy. In Rajan Sankaran’s provings of Lac humanum, as in the AIDS proving, themes of houses, self-loathing and rejection came prominently into the foreground. Not surprisingly, milk and blood have features in common. Milk is derived from blood. As blood circulates through the body, it ‘touches’ every cell, bringing to mind the AIDS nosode theme of belonging and its opposite of feeling outcast. The key common theme of AIDS nosode and Lac humanum is relationships, how we nurture and how we touch or don’t touch. Part of the Lac humanum idea is ‘good mother, bad mother’ (partly because the mother’s influence helps to socialise us); the AIDS idea is that of blood brothers, ‘good brother, bad brother’ – trust and its opposite, betrayal. Blood brothers can be a group or tribe, like the gay community. However, gay anal sex involves touching blood in a potentially disease-creating way.

In Lac humanum, the central issue revolves around individuality versus conforming to the group; self-interest versus helping others; going off and doing one’s own thing versus staying at home and attending to family obligations. The opposite of Lac humanum’s individuality theme is universality. This, as we have already posited, is similar to the AIDS theme: “I flow into you and you flow into me.” The opposite of Carcinosin’s theme of conformity is “I shall not do what you want of me – get out of my space!” The opposite of AIDS’ theme of no barriers is “I am completely separate from you”. As Lac humanum is about the price of individuality, Carcinosin is primarily about the price of conformity, and AIDS is about the complete breakdown of defences and barriers. The key concept of AIDS is chronic weakness at the boundary. The positive outcome is freedom to experience love, while the negative is feeling excluded, rejected, isolated.

Following the theme of blood brothers, the ideal of the Aquarian age is the brotherhood of humankind. Here the barriers between us are dismantled and we learn to provide for each other. The ‘Global Village’ ideal of fair play and fair trade becomes established. We come to understand the implications of sharing the planet’s resources: the air that we breathe, the oceans, and the land. We share the information of all nations via optical and electronic means. What we do and think is transmitted via satellites into our homes, providing us with the choice of staying in touch, and staying in agreement with one another. This democratisation of information could result in a giant step in human evolution.

On the negative side we note that the collapse of the immune defence system is mirrored in world ecology by such phenomena as the ozone hole. The analogy rests upon the fact that a healthy upper atmosphere acts as a barrier to harmful radiation. Ecological homeostasis gone awry, as evidenced by the current crisis of global warming, is another aspect of the AIDS miasm – the biosphere heats up because it cannot let out enough of the heat it absorbs. The barrier has become too impermeable. (The homeopathic proving of Germanium reveals a remedy with a similar theme. Peter Fraser suggests that Germanium is to the AIDS miasm, what Sulphur is to the Psoric miasm, or Thuja is to the Sycotic.) On a smaller scale, the rampant diseases of crops in a monoculture are similar to immune system breakdown. They are combated by agricultural chemicals in a manner which is mirrored by multiple drug therapies employed in the conventional treatment of AIDS related diseases.

Increasingly, crops are being genetically engineered to confer selective resistance to pests and herbicides. Genetic engineering, like HIV, subverts not only the barrier of the cell but its very centre, the nucleus, and thus may be immediately recognised as related to the AIDS miasm. In a healthy ecology, plants, bacteria, insects and animals interact for the benefit of the whole. This wide-ranging symbiosis represents a ‘make love, not war’ attitude in nature. The barriers protecting individual species remain intact because they are not threatened by the overcrowding of monocultures. In human terms, any war where land boundaries are breached is an expression of the Aids miasm, as is personal abuse, whether sexual or other abuse, because the boundary of the self has been violated.

It is worthy of note that AIDS was becoming rampant in 1983, when Pluto had entered Scorpio, an event associated with plagues by some astrologers. We could unpack the meaning of this slow-moving astrological configuration as personal and ancestral shit hitting the fan! During this period the world was uncovering child abuse. Also around this time, Chiron, the asteroid associated by astrologers with wounding and healing, was discovered. The primary significance of Chiron could be summed up in the phrase, “suffering is the passport”. As a colleague, Ian Marrs, put it, “the flaw is the floor”. In other words, the wound forms the basis on which healing can take place. The wound of the AIDS miasm is also the foundation of its healing – the breakdown of the barrier allows love to come in.

The proving of the AIDS nosode

The proving was undertaken initially in 1988 using single doses in either the 30th or 200th centesimal potencies of the blood of a man who subsequently died of AIDS-related diseases. Results of the initial provings, though portraying some symptom patterns, did not convey the ‘shape’ of the remedy. Therefore, some pillules were sent to Mariette Honig in Holland who carried out a similarly exhaustive proving. The verified symptoms of these provings have been included in the extraction presented. However, the picture of the nosode emerged with flying colours when in 1994 we carried out two group provings with students at The School of Homeopathy. One group received 30c and the other 200c.

At the School we have carried out all our provings with unit doses. This stimulus, because it is amplified by the group and reawakened at monthly gatherings when experiences are recounted, is sufficient to produce significant and long-range effects.

During the course of the School weekend (Friday through to Sunday) we took stock of thoughts, dreams, sensations, feelings and external world events, using transcripts of tape recordings to ensure accuracy, and diaries kept by supervisors and provers. Audio recording spanned a period of three months, while some reports of cured symptoms continued to come in for the next two years.

Major themes in the proving

Because the AIDS nosode is a relatively new remedy, insufficient clinical evidence exists as to the ‘AIDS type’ of patient. However, some consistent themes emerged, many with strong motifs of boundaries (houses, walls, rooms, shell, contamination, popping seeds and bubbles), rejection, and isolation:

Content. Serene. Relaxed. Confident. Elated.

Sensation of things coming out; of flying gently, of floating, of being uplifted; of love and companionship for everyone; of growth, of blossoming.

Playful. Remembered childhood.

Expansive. Extravagant.

Wanton. Invulnerable. Reckless.

Sympathetic. Sensitive.

Massive. Passive. Slow. Can’t be bothered.

Fragile. Weak. Exposed. Shy. Dependent. Can’t cope.

Confused. Forgetful. Making mistakes. Concentration difficult.

Restless. Frustrated. Irritable. Easily offended. Insensitive. Violent. Desire to kill.

Feeling rejected; “… does not belong”; “… felt excluded, lied to”; outcast.

Feeling betrayed. Suspicious. Persecuted.

Withdrawn. Wants to be alone. Isolated.

Frightened. Loss of identity.

Loss of protection/shell/wall. “I felt that I had lost my wall and my shell, and there was a free flow of emotions both in and out. I was exposed, almost naked, with no control.” “… uninterrupted flow between self and group”.

Feeling contaminated and fear of contaminating others (always washing).

Self-loathing.

Responsibility for others; responsibility for children.

Left-sidedness.

Curative response to the remedy proving

I think the curative action of the proving [of the AIDS nosode] is that I did have a sense of feeling that I belonged with people that I had never had before. I had always felt like I was outside and unacceptable, so all the while, whilst I might look like I was part of the group, I actually felt myself on the outside.

The night of the proving, I slept really well, like I haven’t slept in ages. Very comfortably. I remember my dreams were very colourful, I remember a whole load of flowers. [A number of provers in the initial stages of the proving reported images of flowers and seeds.] Usually my dreams are very unlike that, basically very dark, very violent, as if there is something following me, there is blackness and I don’t know what is going on. Constant nightmares rather than dreams. The nightmares have completely stopped. And one more thing that has stopped is that I no longer always feel crushed, like there is a heavy weight and as if I am being sexually tortured in some way.

And the other thing that went after the proving, is a lot of anal bleeding and vaginal pain, which I realise dates back to tearing.

I don’t throw up when people hug me. It’s quite an advantage actually, it’s kind of detrimental to relationships! But yes, I used to be very nauseous around touch and my osteopath really noticed it, that she was able to work on me much more. Before I would have a delayed reaction to the session. Over time we had found a way of working but I would still vomit afterwards, maybe even a day later.

I feel a bit like a small child. I think before, I felt that there was this small child in this adult’s body, screaming its head off to be heard. That was one of the things I felt I carried, this giant scream around in me all the time. I don’t have that now. I guess it’s the difference between vulnerable and open. I feel like a more open small child who will be able to receive and take things; whereas before, I just felt completely vulnerable, and terrified, making sure that I kept people out, and yet desperately wanting to be in contact with them as well.

Dream themes

For the provers of the AIDS nosode the most striking and reoccurring image to appear, particularly in dreams, was the form of a house. More than half of the dreamers had this. This image was reiterated in many different configurations and can be used to describe the wider picture of the remedy. We will offer interpretations of this imagery when we come to it towards the end of the proving. Dream themes included:

Huge houses, vast rooms, small outside, huge within;

Houses or things richly ornate, jewelled, gold, beautiful interiors, colours stunning and rich;

Big, grand houses, ornate, ramshackle or both;

Staircases and corridors;

Wood, metal, water;

Colour: red;

Violence;

Panic;

Responsibility;

Anger, irritability;

Fear;

Teeth;

Snow;

Septic state;

Children;

Transport, travelling, buses, cars, trains, airports, bus station, train station;

Lots of people/being busy/rushing about.

Vorwort/Suchen. Zeichen/Abkürzungen. Impressum.