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Inner Harbor Marriott, Baltimore, Maryland
Notes by Douglas Hoff unless linked to Baltimore Study
Group
Kristy Lampe
Kristy welcomed an attentive crowd of about eighty people to the study group day on Friday morning at the Balitmore Marriott Inner Harbor hotel. She started by mentioning that study groups were first created about a century ago. The oldest group now is the Layman League of the Palm Beaches in Florida. There are 161 active Associated Study Groups (ASGs) with over 3000 members throughout the world. They provide referrals, education, study buddies, fairs and all sorts of other activities including activism. And last but not least they provide value to homeopathy because of the membership charge for the NCH.
Karen Alderson
Talking as a study group leader (Arlington, VA), Karen thought that we usually learn about the three principles and then move right in to learning remedies. Then it's learning about illness. She questioned whether we really get to know the three principles so we internalize them. In her group they now have several classes, one in the Organon and another for the Chronic Diseases.
In the outline below which she went through, Karen felt that working with the study group interactively was the best method so the group can add suggestions and talk about ideas.
1. Law of Similars
2. Potentization Law
3. Minimum dose
4. Individualization
Most books that teach beginners how to use homeopathy are arranged according ... [needs repair]
Harris Coulter, Ph.D.
Harris renamed his talk "The Past and Future of Alternative Medicine."
As a matter of correction to his introduction, Harris wanted to downplay his language abilities by saying that he wasn't fluent in all the languages that were attributed to him, but at least had to read them for the sake of studying medical history. His study started in 1962 after a preparation for a career in Soviet politics. But life turns out differently as we all know. His wife, a specialist is Soviet literature, had allergies of wine, cheese and bread while traveling in Paris and a suggestion was made for her to see a French homeopath. The doctor asked her funny questions, gave her some small pills and amazingly enough, she got well enough to enjoy some of the French cuisine.
Harris was impressed by the experience and after some research found that there was no history written of homeopathy in the 20th Century. He proposed a change in his dissertation from some Soviet topic to homeopathic history with a refusal for eight years. Fortunately, he was determined and the result is Divided Legacy. He recently published Vol. 4 which brings the history up to date.
After the book (now Vol. 3) was written, he started becoming interested in the philosophies that separated homeopathic from conventional medical thought. He found that Hahnemann's major contribution was the proving of medicines in a methodical way. Hahnemann reformulated other ideas such as the law of similars which sprang from the 4th Century mind of Hippocrates. The idea of the small dose came from Paracelsus in the 15th Century which was recognized then that the medicine acted not under chemical power but a spiritual one.
So the two schools of thought have always been with us. There is the Empirical thread based in experience and observation and there is the Rationalist side which is based in logic. The Empiricists believe in vitalistic similar medicines and is based around symptoms. The Rationalists are mechanistic, disease oriented and treats with opposing medicine. Hippocrates' corpus contains both empirical an rationalistic documents. And as far back as the 3rd Century B.C. the ideas have always existed just with different language.
Hahnemann's contribution to medicine is so great, according to Coulter, that he feels medical historians don't want to talk about it because it undermines their position so much.
Coulter also sees a cycle of popularity for homeopathy. The first cycle of about 80 years started when Gram introduced the science to the U.S. in 1826 and it grew until about 1900. Then it was in decline until about 1967 when the next cycle of popularity started. Medical students began questioning authority then. Harris expects the wave of popularity to grow and last until 2030. He just hopes someone writes the next volume to his Divided Legacy.
So what kind of conclusions did Coulter reach after chronicling the homeopathic past of America and before? He found that empirical medicine was the only truly scientific medicine. And conventional medicine or allopathy is at most a social science like anthropology and sociology which is totally unreliable. He thought that it made as much sense to put conventional doctors in charge of our health care as it would to abolish the Congress. It's like putting a bunch of sociologists in charge.
In empirical medicine, you must individualize rather than collect data and predict the possibility of a person having a disease through statistical methods. Acupuncture, for instance, can individualize for more people than have existed in the world in the last 2,500 years. Hahnemann said that homeopathy is the science of the individual patient. In contrast, allopathy is the science of groups and disease entities.
One of the failures that medical professionals are starting to realize is that we have all these disease definitions but the patient never really looks like it. Now in addition to the disease names, we're adding letters to it which Harris said he hadn't figured out yet. The M.D. is treating the diagnosis not the patient. The only individualization that they can provide is to say "Take four pills at four" or "Take six pills at six." Even in printed literature they are saying "except for the normal biological variation" the patient is virtually identical. But the normal biological variation is what the homeopath uses to succeed.
Coulter also had some puzzles that came up concerning homeopathy. Homeopathy is still practiced virtually the same as it was in the 19th century. Then they were using blood letting even on babies and the advantage in using a remedy was very significant. So why didn't all practitioners use homeopathy? There was political warfare up through 1870 when the conventional doctors abandoned bloodletting and started using medicines. By 1900 15% of the 100,000 practitioners were homeopathic but then the infighting weakened the art. Since then it has depended on the support of the lay minority. Even doctors would admit that their wives would seek treatment from a homeopathy.
In that time period of the turn of the century, the homeopaths and allopaths sought relationships. Homeopaths thought that the allopaths would take over the medicines and there would be a unified approach to medicine. The split between the low and the high potency folks, more of a philosophical attitude created a rift. The low potency people wanted good relationships with the allopaths and grew away from the lay practitioners. The high potency people, the more classical oriented ones, became the minority of the homeopaths and needed the support of the lay practitioners.
The split was so severe that John Rockefeller who wanted to donate money to a homeopathic hospital didn't because of the infighting. In 1910 he gave money to an allopathic hospital instead even though he had a personal homeopath.
Harris thinks that we should promote an attitude of tolerance seeing history and its mistakes. He believes that lay practitioners should have official status here like in Great Britain. In Germany, heilpraktik, started under Hitler, lets practitioners practice without a license.
In the question and answer session that followed people brought up several different but related themes. One mentioned the division of the us vs. them thinking. Another talked about the division in the ranks of midwifery over the last 600 years. One suggested that the opponents to homeopathy were usually atheists and the supporters were deists. Harris shot that down by saying he was agnostic. And he mentioned that all the double-blind testing that we do to further homeopathic research has its place but it's mostly for convincing the opposition and not furthering our knowledge of homeopathy.
Baltimore Study Group also has a summary.
Rebecca Koeppen
Rebecca is a good communicator. She spoke about communication and about the lay practitioners and laid some of the groundwork that many people at the conference were starting to feel a need for. This was a good conference for her to speak to.
Her first question was that of how we get information and how it gets in us. Newspapers, TV, and all the other media forms are typical of the ways we get it, but how do we know that it's true? Is it because we've heard it everywhere else, or that we've heard it from one of the people in our camp? Would it be as truthful if we heard it from another person from another camp?
We all have pre-existing filters that help us manage the amount of information that comes at us every day. But we need to examine the filters that we currently use. For instance, what does it take to convince us of truth? Would it be an authority, a close friend, or visual proof? Maybe it's the quality of energy from the person or the type of clothes they wear.
It's also important, Rebecca reminded us, to remember that information can take action. It may not be immediate and it's possible that it could take many years citing one example of a woman who finally took action on something she heard in a homeopathic group 12 years later.
So it's important then that we have integrity. We are the leaders when we speak and must be aware of what we are saying. We are the unofficial ambassadors of homeopathy.
Using her skills in psychology and case-taking, Rebecca asked "What bothers you the most in allopathy?" Is it the negative emotionalism, or the inaccurate information, or maybe the misuse of drugs? She warned us to not use the same tactics. Those negative vibrations go far. So if we don't know the facts, we really shouldn't speak. Rebecca was reminded of a Rexall salesman who didn't know much about their own homeopathic products. It's essential that we have a knowledgeable lay community.
Rebecca questioned the nature of why the study groups didn't respond to the NCH's questionnaire recently sent out. Maybe the study groups don't need the NCH. We should think this over.
Turning to the past, Rebecca looked at the roots of pharmaceutical marketing by talking about the tribal healers who were also spiritual healers. We've changed today. Her concern is that we don't take on any of the harmful methods of the current pharmaceutical industry. Her teacher, Jacques Imbrecht was fond of saying that they "sow the seeds of fear to reap the harvest of panic." We are told not to trust our inner voice and just buy the product. But just because we are well adjusted to a sick system does not mean that it is a sign of health.
So is there an alternative model to the current health care system where we get sick, pay some money and get well? Just one, Rebecca thought. We must educate ourselves, and treat our family and ourselves. She acknowledges that lay certification is difficult but people should fight for the right to treat themselves. This issue is what brings out the sweat in many people. The ASG model is valuable is getting the info to people and much more can be done with it.
But, what can be done in the study groups? We can work on techniques to learn about health better. Rebecca said that it was hard work and mentioned how she was encouraged by her teacher to write out the rubrics in the repertory by hand to better learn it. If we pale in the face of the learning that needs to be done, then we shouldn't be practicing.
Since practicing counts for about 60% of learning, we can adapt the study groups to help us share our practice as well. We could meet more regularly when there are more acute illnesses such as in the winter. We could share our cases in writing, or tape family members' sessions for playback.
After hitting the positive constructive things, Rebecca went on to more critical items. It is most important, but also very delicate in nature, that we discourage incompetent people from prescribing. On a personal level, we shouldn't suggest a remedy even to a friend without doing the proper case taking, repertorizing and materia medica study. We should have more professionals in our groups so that we have more medical knowledge and encourage people to take first aid courses. We should do what it takes to become a professional including lay certification or stop trying to gratify ourselves by solving other people's problems.
We are a whole, not separate from our family system, from a community or from the earth. We're all interrelated. We can be in ill health and in denial, but never separated. Whereas the rest of the world runs on Murphy's Law, holism runs on the idea that everything is operating for the best interest. The forces of healing are at work all the time. We can choose to be healing agents or disease agents. Rebecca said "I believe that it is in the best interest to not keep malfunctioning parts alive" when referring to global plans such as immunization that won't be supported if we support the global system. In contributing to the world's health, we will get over our problems of cancer, allergies, or whatever.
In closing she quoted her teacher, Jacques Imbrechts again by saying "You must be better zan ze rrrest." The future of homeopathy depends on the integrity of us.
Harris Coulter asked a difficult question to the crowd about why the NCH didn't get involved with keeping all remedies over-the-counter since there was no chemical content over a certain limit. Harris pulled out of the NCH for awhile but came back. Mitzi Lebensorger said that she was trying to make a compromise. Joe Lilllard said that people just don't know the facts. Rebecca responded that this was the issue of communication and why people didn't respond back to the NCH.
The Summer School communication issues were started here with a complaint about not being able to get into the advanced courses. The issues constantly returned throughout the question time provoking the extra session with Stephen Messer, Dean of the Summer School. Concerning the information that the NCH was not getting out to people, Mitzi and Kristy Lampe said that they wanted to but didn't have the budget.
Another woman spoke about how we needed to support the lay community and get more Ullman-like books out there.
A valuable handout by Rebecca follows:
Here are some guidelines by which you can recognize when a situation is over your head:
I encourage you to find local medical professionals who will teach your group more about recognizing dangerous situations. Attending first aid courses is also useful.
Karen Alderson
Karen had a great idea for working with remedies in study groups. Show movies or talk about movies according to constitutional types. She found them a great source of specific types for illuminating remedies..
Constitutional types are not clearly defined in Hahnemann's writings so there's no clear consensus according to Karen. They are just how you interact with the environment, whether you are hot or cold, etc. She said you might think of them as a great shock absorber where any bump against your constitution is absorbed or like an intervening layer between life and what you inherited.
The movies that Karen suggested as constitutional examples are as follows:
Stephen Messer, ND, DHANP
Due to several people raising questions that needed to be answered in one of the lectures, a special session of question and answer led by Stephen Messer, Dean of the NCH Summer School was held before lunch.
Stephen started out by stating that the content of the two different types of courses, the professional and the lay courses, were virtually the same. He said that the professional courses are held so the instructor can talk in a different language. The lay courses are more advanced than the professional course because the professionals need more basic information. Concerning André Saine's not teaching lay courses, it is because of his desire to teach only the professionals.
Stephen also wanted to make clear that he had a strong feeling that diagnostic categories are of extreme importance in homeopathy. "You need to understand medicine to do good homeopathy."
The audience, in the voices of several people, had a feeling of exclusion and wanted to choose their own courses whether they were professional or not. Several people charged Messer with giving priority in answering questions to the "initialed people." Stephen was quite taken aback by the accusations and didn't have a response. Another person offered that the split was necessary to eliminate "the snotty doctors."
Stephen responded with what was probably the best response of honesty he could standing in the face of hostility. He mentioned that it was marketing that drove the split of professional and lay courses since the goal was to get licensed practitioners participating in the school. The medical professionals would probably not participate as much if they were lumped into one class with everyone.
Thereafter, many people spoke up with various comments which included that there should be more respect for the lay practitioners including listings in the directory. It was noted by Anjali that there was virtually no response to a questionnaire that was sent out looking for solutions recently. Another person encouraged everyone to take down the walls between us and them in their thinking. Another mentioned that the NCH training manual was a dissappointment. Jean Hoagland said that the Board was not hearing from the groups and needs material for columns.
Michael Somerson, also a Board member, tried to use his experience as a way to answer some of the questions. He said that initials mean dealing with death and emergencies. Although in his experience where he found that he was the barrier to understanding about what it's like to be a professional was interesting, the audience had a hard time relating. Michael said that the issue wasn't about initials or licensure but about integrity and when he went from lay to initialed (DO) he found the solution for himself.
Mitzi Lebensorger took on the issue of the directory by saying that there were legal issues to deal with in having lay practitioners listed. People look to the NCH as the spokesperson for homeopathy in the country. So they feel that their presentation of lay people practicing medicine is a problem. She apologized for having cut people's bios out of the conference brochure leaving only the initialled people in.
Lynn Bernard, speaking last, was passionate about her desire for resolving these issues but thought that the NCH was acting more out of fear than out of support.
David Kent Warkentin
David started by going over some of the history of the origins of the repertory starting with Jahr's handwritten version going on to Boenninghausen and finally Kent. One of the problems with Boenninghausen's Pocket Repertory is that the it didn't have enough peculiars. When Kent took over the repertory he generalized some of the sections more than others. His version became very popular because of the way it was organized in print. David disagreed with the grading of symptoms that Kent uses though. He thought that there should be two ways to grade -- for intensity and for commonness.
Of course, David said, the repertory is hopelessly incomplete. We really don't know a person so we really can't match them up in the repertory exactly. There are many different types of fastidiousness. Arsenic has a "fear of death" fastidiousness, whereas Natrum mur. has a "keeping my emotions protected" fastidiousness.
He stated that he has stopped prescribing on peculiars. It's because he got really frustrated that polychrests came up so often. Now he just includes a few large ones.
Leading in to talking about the inclusion of MacRepertory's new feature of analysis by type of original substance or botanical family, he gave us the example of how a botanist wouldn't be able to recognize a young tree in the Rockies versus an older tree grown around pollution. In the same way symptoms would appear different in a young boy than they would in an older woman. A botanist would look in families for similarities so he thinks that homeopaths should look in groups also.
He brought out a periodic table of the elements and related psychological traits for each row and the different sides. Then David went into how botanical families sometimes match their traits according to the Doctrine of Signatures. Throughout the lecture he demonstrated the features of MacRepertory.
Vinton McCabe
Vinton is one of those individuals that must be seen to be appreciated. His voice continued to echo throughout the conference as one of those that not only spoke with convincing words but brought an emotional impact to bear on the need to join together as one spirit to promote homeopathy. Certainly he picked up ways to help change lives through his association as screenwriter for Oral Roberts, but more importantly he has been contributing the last ten years as the president of the Connecticut Homeopathic Association changing people's lives through education and building one of the strongest homeopathic groups in the nation.
One of the first questions that he asked the crowd was "How has homeopathy changed your life?" Several people offered answers like they had a change in attitude or they don't feel stuck with allopaths. But when someone said that they had gotten more spiritual, Vinton responded with "Now we're talking change." He brought a comparison of energy medicine and spirit medicine out of that and combined the concept with Hahnemann's vital force.
Another important concept Vinton put forth was that curing and healing are two different things. Curing implies that something is wrong. Healing is a process that lasts forever. None of us has the ability to cure and homeopathy is not an end result. He mentioned that Paracelsus saw healing as a process like warming yourself by a fire. You first strike a match and as the fire grows the warmer you get. All healing implies change and all healing requires change.
Another question he asked of the crowd was "Why do you give the remedy?" Several people offered some plausible answers but Vinton was stirred up and gave us the answer he sought. It's because you believe healing is possible, he said.
He tugged at our non-logical strings with all sorts of ploys to try to help us become better homeopaths. He applauded that we had the passion to stand up for our convictions when things got somewhat emotional earlier in the day. And he wanted us to be able to let go if we are to become healers. Vinton thinks that we are remedies for each other in that we give each other insights and teach other.
Vinton preached to us that the most profound change is an educational one. Kent taught an entire generation and was very influential in creating change because of that. To create change we all need to be a part since all of us have talents of some sort. There is no one absolutely talentless. We have to honor everyone in this process of change. And we have to let people set their own level of commitment.
"What's with this volunteer crap!?" Vinton asked a rather stunned crowd. "Why are the educators the last to be paid?" He wants to put a value on education and honor the people that do the work of education. Money is energy also. His Connecticut group has flourished with this attitude by selling lectures and syllabi that they developed and now has a doctor on the board. "The age of a ragtag bunch of people in the vegetarian restaurant sitting in the back on rice bowls is over!"
Vinton's group identified three roles that are desperately needed today. There are the homeopathic educators that have the skill, the clarity and the energy. Then there will be the homeopathic counselors. They recommend practitioners, work for patient rights as advocates and help people know what to do when you can't get your practitioner. And finally, there are the political activists. These people will work for civil rights in an inclusionary way rather than exclusionary, bringing people together to get along. Of course, there is the group of practitioners who are damn good that are needed also. We have to create a safe space for them, come to an accord together, and move forward.
So, "where do we go from here?" Vinton asks of us at the end. With his motivational style of answering the question, he says "Anywhere we want." Just let it happen and it will happen for you. Seek excellence, let it go, and believe that it's possible.
Vance Dietz MD, MPH, & TM, Medical Epidemiologist, Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA
Red Schiller, MD, Chairperson, Department of Family Medicine, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York
Edward Chapman, MD, DHt, President, American Institute of Homeopathy
Monica Miller, NCH Legislative Consultant
Dana Ullman, MPH, Moderator
Racing back into the hall after a hurried dinner, this reviewer managed to pick up at the start of the first talk even though a half hour had transpired. It was the only time that I was able to sample the regional fare of Baltimore and leave the hotel since so much activity was going on. The hurried pace didn't stop with dinner as the speakers launched into what was probably the most dense informational talks at the conference. The talks could have easily been expanded into several hour presentations each but time constraints kept them to about a half hour each.
In grabbing a seat at the front where few people like to sit, a woman with a camera and tape recorder caught my eye as she had a press ribbon and I didn't. What made her rate was the fact that she was reporting on the conference for Internal Medicine. It looks like someone has noticed that homeopathy might be worth checking out.
Vance, a quiet soul who had much to talk about concerning public health, was tasked with answering the question "What role should homeopathy play in preventative medicine and public health, and what can advocates of homeopathy do to interface with government agencies?"
His talk concerned basic public health education starting with what public health is. He defined it as the combination of sciences, skills and beliefs that is directed to the maintenance and improvement of the health of all people. There are three principles of prevention. The primary principle is the preventing of the occurrence of disease (e.g. water treatment, car seats). The secondary principle is early detection and intervention (e.g. periodic checks for colon disease). And the third principle is minimizing the effects of disease and disability (e.g. bladder control in mental patients, foot care in diabetics).
Homeopathy and public health interact when you are thinking in terms of public health and you complement public health with homeopathy. This means that you go beyond a strictly clinical approach to medicine. You have to recognize the role of lifestyle in health and address underlying psychosocial and behavioral issues as a cause of disease. There should be health promotion by providing information and encouraging responsibility. As an example you would make sure that a clinical encounter also assessed an individual's diet and weight, alcohol use, tobacco and drug use, exercise, sexual behavior, stress levels, forms of relaxation, and sleep patterns.
Dietz felt that homeopathy could contribute much to expanding the view of public health. He encourages public health people to go beyond what they have, to measure the quality of life which includes satisfaction with life, job, family and self.
He also saw several potential roles for homeopathy in public health and prevention. One was complementing prevention strategies with homeopathy. Another was evaluating the role of homeopathy in important public health issues of safety, efficacy and cost effectiveness. Another might be development of standardized protocols for case series and controlled clinical trials.
Some examples Dietz gave were in antibiotic drug resistance for overuse of antibiotics, whether homeopathy could assist the body to overcome infections, and what role that homeopathy takes in the treatment of conditions with AIDS. He also mentioned low birth weight, asthma, chronic conditions, cryptosporidium, and measles/varicella complication rates also.
In international public health issues there is a need also. Malaria is having increased drug resistance throughout the world. Dengue, a virus transmitted through mosquitoes is seeing success using Eup. as a remedy. Homeopathy can have an impact on recovery times and on complication rates.
Several ways that homeopathy can integrate with public health are to work with public health clinics as part of the holistic medical sessions or work with public health officials so it is included in the community needs assessments and make them aware of the use of homeopathy in the community. Also it is important to link up with the public health schools that are either teaching or doing work with alternative medicine.
Strategies for public health hold potential for homeopathy. In primary prevention strategies we can apply concepts of constitutional treatment and enhancing immunity. We must develop our information data bases and demonstrate the effectiveness of homeopathy. Activity is underway for official associations to incorporate homeopathic and other alternative medicines into their plans.
Red outlines his own professional journey with homeopathy with the restrained intensity of a New Yorker. He identified himself as a person who has a compulsion to integrate their interior chaos and now tries to bring the chaos in health care to order. In this crisis he sees danger and opportunity like the Chinese ideogram is formed out of those two symbols.
Red talked about how it was a hard time for the white-coat reductionist and how there were an oversupply of physicians and specialists. In this crisis of health care he was drawn to the integrated approach or family medicine. Part of his program of family medicine is to educate and give responsibility to the underprivileged people.
He wants us to pay attention to the shifts in the wind of the marketplace so that homeopathy can have the advantage. As an example he mentioned that in the early 90's he was asked not to identify himself with the institution when speaking and now questions that come to his institution are directed to him.
Some of the big questions are about how to integrate these practices into our lives. The homeopathic program in the hospital makes clinicians somewhat uncomfortable. Some questions he raises are whether someone who uses homeopathic medicines has to believe in them and whether there is a primary care homeopathy or not.
He doesn't want homeopathy to be an academic study in primary care. It's more like psychosocial care which is integrated or crisis intervention. If homeopathy were to take too much of a high road it would drift into oblivion like psychoanalysis and be totally academic. The results at his facility have been very successful where he lets his clinicians practice and still be skeptical. He asks whether it has to be interpreted as a philosophy or just a technique to be used.
The residents at his hospital in the three year program get lectures on materia medica. And he has found that homeopathy is often the most difficult to understand and get interest in. His goal is to help residents who are interested in using these procedures. So far in his hospital, 48% of the 50,000 per year are using complimentary medicine of some sort.
Ted wanted to bring managed care into the 21st century with homeopathy through research, education, and accountability. Managed care, he said, is interested in cost savings, patient satisfaction and being effective. In extrinsic research we want to answer questions for other people which is what managed care is most interested in, while in intrinsic research we learn how to make homeopathy better.
Accountability was a factor in managed care which related to the licensure of providers, certification of providers and accreditation of educational institutions. Of those educational institutions he said that only one, Bastyr University, was starting a masters degree in homeopathy.
The funding of the homeopathic effort is dependent on the pharmaceutical industry, professional associations, public funds and the homeopathic community councils. Working together is the most important function here.
Ted closed with a quote from Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has."
Ending with an enthusiastic Monica Miller on the panel was a good idea. She started with a bang and declared that health freedom was on the rise. Of course, she is one of the good reasons that we have to celebrate that increase in our freedom due to her political efforts. She outlined the different state and federal legislation most of which will be appearing on her web site at http://www.healthlobby.com/.
She was happy to announce that in Colorado, the Health Freedom Act was just passed that day and would be assumed to be signed by the governor. The trump card in the Act was the intervention by Adolf Coors in pushing it through. Besides Colorado, Monica mentioned eleven other states with legislation in the ranks.
Monica said not to make her out to be a troublemaker even though she has been noticed by many people as having an impact in alternative health legislation. She said it's about our ability to determine what we do with our health. "It's from the grass roots that the concrete gets broken."
Kamau Kokayi, MD
Certainly one of the more unassuming powerhouses of homeopathic prescribing at the convention was Dr. Kokayi. His rigid adherence to the fundamentals of homeopathy combined with his gentle spirituality made his talk one of the most interesting at the conference. Kamau described his first experience in homeopathically truthfully as a lucky hit using Mercury. After seeing oozing and swelling decrease on a woman over two days, he said that "it blew my mind."
There are different kinds of homeopathy, Kamau said. You have the health food store homeopathy with the first aid kits and the remedies with the indications on the label whether they're single or combination. The combination remedies may attract some people to homeopathy though. Then there is the clinical homeopathy. In that kind, you must apprentice if you are to get to a place of being able to prescribe easily. Kamau studied with Francisco Eizeyaga where he saw him look at the complaint, summarize for the top remedy and give it. He said there is more than that when you look at the modalities and for the cause of the disease.
Combining his spirituality with his classical homeopathy, Kokayi talked about the interview as a dance where he shares with another person in a non-verbal way. Here is an attempt to get beyond your five senses and resonate with the person's spirit. You acknowledge that person's feelings and energy. You look for where the person is stuck in the physical shell through the life force. Is the part that they are stuck on an animal, vegetable or mineral kind of expression limited in their means? Which part of the world is their spirit resonating with?
The ability to discern what is relevant, unique and characteristic to that individual case.
Methods/tools to analyze and organize the important characteristics of the case into a meaningful totality.
Bringing it back out of the spiritual realm he started talking about pathology and what was relevant. He acknowledged the importance of doing paper cases so that you learn methods of getting the totality of symptoms through organizing the information and selecting the right symptoms.
On the topic of learning materia medica, Kokayi said that it was probably the least important. He encouraged us to learn in our own style whether it be writing or in what he was best at -- lecturing. No matter what, the knowledge of materia medica will come through practice.
The ability to be able to see a remedy picture which addresses the totality of symptoms that you have identified.
But when trying to get at the totality of symptoms, you really need to apprentice. Kokayi took us through a case to demonstrate how important it is to see into the case beyond what is given to us. He said that the common symptoms are non-relevant because they are always in the complaint. You need anatomy and patho-physiological knowledge when determining when the complaint is serious, common, or unusual. And the mental symptoms help to give you the greatest distinguishing features.
One of the last bits of information that Kamau gave us was that working in New York, he has learned that you don't have to buy into people's belief system but you do have to respect their beliefs.
Wenda Brewster O'Reilly, Ph.D.
With the publication of Stephen Decker's new translation in combination with the hard editing and annotating work by Ms. O'Reilly of Hahnemann's Organon, homeopaths finally have an edition that is easy to understand (relatively speaking). It's certain that this edition with its comprehensive index, definitions and hints throughout will not be outdone even in some new medium like hypertext.
Wenda waxed optimistic about the future of homeopathy calling our time a time of change and revolution. The drive for more alternative medicine is coming from the patients. Surely, she said, if it is a scientific revolution happening, then homeopathy can become the reigning paradigm. A paradigm is just a scientific method in the larger sense with all the underlying assumptions built in. It's how we look at the world. A scientific revolution happens when the paradigm changes. Einstein forced a paradigm change after the world was so patched together that it started falling apart. Wenda sees allopathy in that same state today.
Allopathy is failing us. Drugs are failing us. Office visits don't work. Our doctors are just partially informed specialists and not experts. There is a tremendous financial burden. And the coming paradigm that is waiting is one that is not just another alternative medicine. It's a complete medicine. The allopath will just use a pill or surgery whereas in the complete medicine of homeopathy we look at the totality. Suppressing a single symptom just causes another expression of it in the whole.
Homeopathy will become the new paradigm because allopathy is fading, the homeopathic paradigm is waiting in the wings, and recent advances in high-energy physics are starting to validate our thinking. With that Wenda launched into superstring theory which requires ten dimensions to work with. We're not in three dimensions anymore and scientists are looking for a complete model again just as Einstein, whose peers thought him loony, was searching for the Unified Theory.
The reason Hahnemann has been so hard to understand according to Wenda is that he was a 21st century thinker in a Newtonian world that had his texts translated by Newtonians. The concepts were there but the words weren't. The German verb wesen has lots to do with multi-dimensional thinking where is means the essence of disease sometimes and a thing or entity other times. Her glossary takes up two full pages trying to explain the nature of the word. A portion reads like this:
A wesen is not an abstraction; it is a dynamic, self-subsisting presence even though that presence is not material and has no mass. A wesen is also not a property; it permeates the whole of something and is indivisible from it. The romantic philosophers of the nineteenth century (such as Coleridge) used the word 'genius' in the same way that Hahnemann, Goethe and other German thinkers used the word 'wesen.'
Hahnemann used simple language and prided himself on that. The Organon is full of simple language that describes things in the simple terms of music and art. In translating and editing the work, it was important to Wenda to keep things simple and explain her choices of words so that the meaning would not be hidden.
During the translation, Wenda learned a few things. Medicine, she found, was both a science and an art. It takes both book learning and experiential knowledge. You learn by reading materia medica but also have to feel it through proving remedies on yourself. You participate in the healing by emerging your conscience in the experience and observing. Sometimes you learn by being aware of what emotions that are being elicited from you by the patient rather than through the patient directly.
"The time has come for the medical community to break out of their shell," Wenda proclaimed. She has the ability to champion something which has been too neglected for the value that it holds in her new edition of Hahnemann's Organon. "The Organon continues to be the best presentation of the homeopathic paradigm ever! If you read it and reread it, it will be a remedy of the highest potency for you."
More information about the book can be obtained through organon@igc.org.
Monica Miller
Monica Miller didn't start out to be a political activist. She was happy to be with her kids and paint. But in 1988 when her homeopath came under scrutiny by the New York investigators, something snapped in her and now she is virtually everywhere you look when it comes to alternative health legislation. In 1994 the Alternative Medicine Practices Act was passed and now she has a consulting practice in about 16 states.
She took us back in history to when the unlicensed practitioner became licensed and the opinions of the people that formed the law. Monica said that the health care people got licensed to distinguish themselves between the itinerant practitioners. It was related to the puritanical roots in that the law discouraged abortions and extramarital sex (no treatment for venereal diseases). The counties registered them so that they could tie them to the community. It provided accountability for the community and market share for the practitioners. The hospitals then were no more than about five or ten patients and eclectic in their practice.
Early boards were pluralistic including the regulars and the homeopaths. But the osteopaths pushed the limits of law and there was a need to consolidate the law which happened between 1910 and 1917. The language of the law then was gorgeous in that it was open and worked with so many types of practitioners. However, there came the Flexner report and after 30 or 40 years most of the homeopathic laws disappeared..
During the McCarthy era, we had the Korean War and polio. Licensing and standards of care became more stringent. That was when a continuity of thought was lost. Then in the 60's and 70's people started seeing unlicensed practitioners. Now in the 90's there is the National Institute of Health with their Office of Alternative Medicine and the growing acceptance in educational institutions of alternative health. Lawmakers are open to alternative health bills. And the Council Against Health Fraud is freaking out because we're making progress.
Just ten years ago, the language of who could prescribe and who couldn't was very distinct. Now we have nurse practitioners and doctor's assistants and these are very big in rural areas. The laws are getting fuzzy about who has the right to prescribe and diagnose. A Yale law professor says that in 20 years the pendulem will swing back to more delicensure.
Three words are very important to law makers concerning health care. These are conformity, accountability and liability. We must conform to requirements and community concepts of acceptance. We must be accountable to the protocols that exist. And concerning liability, even the licensed professional can get into trouble regardless of harm over such a thing as poor handwriting. The license to practice is not a right but a privilege.
Monica went through the different states that license homeopaths and naturopaths as well as those that have passed a Health Freedom act. She also tried to describe the odd situation in Texas where unlicensed practitioners can educate for self-treatment but a medical professional can be liable for using a homeopathic injectable with the patient's consent.
The problems with medical discipline cases are noted as follows: record keeping (usefulness to others), physical examinations (not noted and not given), history taking (interpretive values), referrals (complementary caregiving), informed consent (incorrect assumptions), testing and prescribing (appropriateness), billing practices (upcoding), advertising (non-medical descriptions of practice), and application for privileges (fraud).
More information concerning Monica's practice can be found on her web site at http://www.healthlobby.com. She also recom mended sites at http://www.naturalhealthvillage.com/townhall/federal/access2med.html and http://www.naturalhealthvillage.com/townhall/federal/center.html.
Even with a non-existent budget but with talent and creative skills, the dinner party night was a very successful event. Warming up to appetizers and a cash bar, attendees got in the party mood. Outside the windows of the Marriott we were able to gaze on the twenty-story clock tower that spelled out Bromo-Seltzer around its clock face. The baseball stadium was silent across the street although it had been filled to the top by Baltimore fans watching the Orioles whomp the Kansas City Royals several nights prior. It didn't really matter that the last game I had attended in Kauffman stadium proved that the Royals were still just as good. I was waiting for the doors to open and music to start playing.
Once we entered and got seated in the festive hall surrounded with balloons and other decorations, the hungry crowd was treated to an almost completely vegetarian buffet. With the Royals in town, I almost expected some form of greasy food on the line whether it be fried chicken or BBQ. Marriott catering did an excellent job in preparing the wide variety of food and desserts and had everyone full in no time.
Dana Ullman, master of ceremonies and wearer of a really bad wig, kicked off the 60's Beatles do while quizzing the audience on trivial Beatles questions. (Q: Who was one of the writers on the Yellow Submarine movie script that later became a romance writer? A: Erich Segal) We were treated to a sing-along version of American Pie with new words called Homeo Pie that was a hit at last year's party. It could stand another few years of repetition easily.
And then the music played. Of course, it was mostly old Beatles but you can't stop the Macarena. Fortunately it was only played once. Serious aggravations can occur with repetition. And everyone had a great time including people I wouldn't have guessed would like all that stomping around in close proximity to fast-moving shoes such as Harris Coulter who kept his wingtips jumping for most of the night.
People kept dancing even after they closed down half of the room until after midnight. A seriously energetic woman, a Tarantula I guess, managed to keep going until the last Beatles medley. I'm not so sure that square dancing would have provided the same amount of energy release so I hope that Dana continues his successful parties next year. Maybe a disco party so he can break out those old polyester pants I know he keeps in the closet.
The Annual Meeting is a time for members to hear from the entire Board of Directors and vice versa. Some people not attending were likely victims of hardy partying the night before at the Beatles bash and the daylight savings time switch - a deadly combination.
Mitzi Lebensorger, President of the Board of Directors of the NCH had many nice words to say at the beginning including good-byes to Andrea Sullivan, Michael Somerson, and Julian Winston as they ended their service to the Board. Julian will now be a Board of Directors Emeritus member as they hate to let him go. He will still be publishing Homeopathy Today from his home away from the NCH's home, in New Zealand.
Welcomes to the Board were in store for Joyce Frye, Andrew Rosenberg and Todd Rowe. And thanks were said to the NCH staff of Mary Ellen Clagett, Jane Hansen, Margaret Foote, Anjali Nagpaul, Fatoumata Coné, and Diane Damitio.
Sharon Stevenson, Executive Director, also spoke her thanks to everyone participating and wanted people to look to the year 2000 for the Crystal City meeting and next year in San Diego.
Jay Borneman, Secretary, presented the crowd a slide show showing how homeopathy is a growing market as well as showing the increase in media stories which the NCH tracks. He identified the goals of the NCH as information, getting the message out, increasing health care providers and educational opportunities. That was the good news. The bad news was that the NCH ran a slight deficit this year,
Stephen Messer, Treasurer, mentioned that he thought people that were starting out with the knowledge of homeopathy were less committed than usual. Monica Miller, consultant to the NCH for political activism, took advantage of an audience wondering how to help out in the time of need, and issued a challenge to all to match her act of power by writing out a check to the NCH for $100. Monica has a way with words and checkbooks and got results.
Jean Hoagland, Board member, spoke up to mention the need for better study group handouts, encouraged everyone to read the Homeopathy Today newsletter, and focused on the need for communication within the NCH. Mitzi replied that they were working hard to improve Homeopathy Today and needed people to write articles.
Sharon Stevenson took the mike again to applaud the efforts of the Associated Study Groups (ASGs) and announced each of the different regional coordinators. She also presented certificates to the NCH volunteer staff. Mitzi followed with presenting Sharon with a plaque for her ten years of service often in the office at six in the morning and leaving at six at night. Vinton McCabe thought she should have a vacation in Hawaii instead.
Other organizations were then given a chance to garner some support such as the Public Council on Homeopathic Education. Joel Kreisberg said that they were evaluating programs in the U.S. and could be federally recognized in as little as a couple of years. Ted Chapman spoke for the American Institute for Homeopathy. and the North American Network of Educators. Basil Ziv took the mike for the North American Association for Homeopathy which is busy creating standards for practitioners. Harry Swope spoke for his Council of Homeopathic Certification which is developing education that sets and meets standards and determining a program of homeopathic education that practitioners will think important. He asked that practitioners consider taking their exam.
Monica Miller, not being shy, was moved to get up again and mention how very different she saw us acting from any other group that she has been a part of. In awe she said " I have not seen where an umbrella organization embraced other organizations and did not minimize them. I am amazed."
Vinton McCabe, president of the Connecticut Homeopathic Association, also spoke about developing educational materials that would codify and simplify homeopathic education. He thought the marketplace was more competitive and that the NCH had to get on the bandwagon and use marketing to survive. It was our duty to continually reinvent ourselves so that we stay current and exciting. In his activism he encourages those who couldn't write checks to at least serve in some way.
By far the most interesting time at the annual meeting is when the members get a chance to air their views at the microphone. Theresa Camilli from the Homeopathic Society of Northwest Pennsylvania had questions concerning the Cox fund which was for education of young homeopaths in Pennsylvania and wanted details. Mitzi explained that Mrs. Cox gave the money several years ago. A survey was sent out to the members in the state for feedback. Jay Borneman clarified the use of the fund as an investment fund or seed money that could be used for matching or a legacy. As an endowment, it could be used to generate an ongoing benefit.
Susan Wilcenski, a study group leader in West Virginia, was both pleased and disappointed in the NCH newsletter, Homeopathy Today. She thought the media presentation was not effective and would rather have more case studies for learning tools. She also thought that the list of members was a waste of paper. She also expressed a desire to somehow get money from the homeopathic pharmacies. Harry Swope later gave a convincing argument that the pharmacies, through the participation in the vendor hall and buying advertisements, gave generously enough. Straw polls were taken to determine the membership's feeling on the newsletter. Slightly more liked the media capsules and members were about evenly divided on publishing members names in the back.
Jay thought we might be able to use the web site as a way to communicate some of the information more efficiently and Mitzi thought we could just cut the information down temporarily to determine the response. Stephen didn't think that members should have the web site as the only option and the NCH shouldn't immediately support that. The members agreed with applause.
Karen Alderson from the Northern Virginia Homeopathic ASG suggested that the local study groups around the conference location should be given a free vendor table at the annual conferences. Mitzi agreed.
Jim McGarrick of the Homeopathic Society of Northwest Pennsylvania offered his help concerning the Cox fund management as he was a certified financial planner. He also thought that putting information about the trust funds into the newsletter would be a good idea since that would generate more support for them.
Finally, Rebecca Koeppen, a lay practitioner and speaker for the Study Group Pre-Conference day took the mike for an insightful summary of what she has been seeing. She thanked the Board for their work, agreed with the title of the conference that they were at a crossroads and restated the financial problems that came up this year.
Rebecca divided the membership into two groups: the learned professionals and the homeopathic consumers who want to just learn about self-care. She understood that in order to stay afloat the NCH needs money and tries to get funds. The NCH must also look into the future and foresee possible legislation that will have to be addressed. The NCH, she understood, must entice the licensed medical professional into the fold that might vote for or against alternative medicine in the future. And it has been in the Summer School where that enticement has taken the form of preferential treatment because of the need for more homeopathic professionals.
Asking hard questions, Rebecca thought that maybe the NCH couldn't meet the needs and should shift their focus. It could be possible that the non-initialed members should work with NASH and other groups. But, those people who are supporting the NCH and don't want a degree but just a good education, find that the Summer School is a good way. If the NCH wants to be an advocate for them, then the open-heartedness needs to be extended to the lay community during the School as well.
A question was asked about the current state of the Homeopathy Without Borders in North America project but, David Warkentin, a member of the board of that group, didn't remember what was happening.
The results of the silent auction of a Cara Lite, a Similia, a Radar Lite, and three MacRepertories were announced bringing in over a thousand dollars. A raffle prize of cash was won by Michael Quinn who immediately used his windfall to respond to Monica's $100 challenge by giving Stephen part of the cash. The other half of the cash ($326) also went to Stephen for the NCH. And three door prizes consisting of Marriott hotel comps were given out, one to the "I'm-having-a-lucky-day" Michael Quinn.
Dana Ullman
Dana does know his research and ably traversed the scientific knowledge that we have accumulated concerning homeopathy today. He discussed many controlled studies concerning homeopathic medicine and not surprisingly found that the research was generally positive. The negative research did have some problems with it and Dana was able to clarify what problems were found.
Because Dana has a web site with his information on research already posted, it would be best to visit it and grab his article there.
André Saine, ND, DHANP
(Picture: André really didn't sleep through this one. It's just the luck of having one chance to take his picture.)
The failure of successful cases is the result of defective things, André Saine said in his charming French Canadian accent. In about 70% of the cases a defective doctor can be blamed. In those 70%, it can be divided up into mostly poor case taking (40%) and then poor case analysis (25%) and poor materia medica knowledge (10%). The rest of the failures in cases can be ascribed to poor tools (10%), a defective patient (less than 10%), the illness (less than 5%) or an incurable case (less than 5%).
Concerning the defective doctor, above all it is the fault of not having the proper education. Those older gentlemen such as Dr. Lippe that stuck to a consistent philosophy and created a unified faculty such as Lippe's school in Pennsylvania which turned out such luminaries as Farrington, Bradford, Swan and James and influenced Allen and Nash, had the greatest successes and fame. André said that in the past he would teach a course on how to take a case and it would take him several days. Then he extended it to four and then to six and now he's up to ten days.
Case analysis is also very important even when you have the proper training. He mentioned a case Dr. Hering took for three hours and then took several more in just analysis. And Lippe was only good, Saine said, because he worked hard to find the remedy. It wasn't that he was quick. It was because he was good at perceiving the simillimum. In this, Saine was definitely telling armchair prescribers to take a good case and look at it closely before suggesting a remedy. And it is important to keep educating ourselves, because the more we know, the more we know how to distinguish the common symptoms from the peculiar.
There are three basic steps to homeopathy. The first is case taking, the second is case analysis and the third is case management. Within case analysis there are four basic phases. There is classification of the symptoms, valuation of the symptoms, finding the genius of the disease, and then finding the simillimum. And with an open mind he asked if this was not the right paradigm to follow since he is open to suggestions about the best way to analyze a case.
With an onslaught of overheads that kept people asking André to slow down when moving to the next, he launched into the breakdown of case analysis. He went back to Hahnemann's Organon to reclaim the idea that the symptoms are classified by diseases if the patient has more than one dissimilar disease.
The classic example is the existence of a chronic disease with the development of a more recent (acute) dissimilar disease such as:
There are other situations beside a chronic disease followed by an acute disease where two dissimilar diseases coexist such as:
Otherwise, all the symptoms of the patient form one totality.
Saine took issue with James T. Kent when he questioned his theory on valuation of symptoms found in Lecture 32 of the Lectures on Homeopathic Philosophy. He said that it just doesn't make sense because of a combining a different paradigms when working with the difference between general, particular and common symptoms. With all the grading, he felt it didn't fit reality.
George Vithoulkas in his Science of Homeopathy (p.142) separates the common symptoms from the peculiar and again André didn't think that it made a lot of sense. He had devised an even more complicated chart to try and determine the significance of each symptom by having weights and divisions between mentals, generals and local symptoms. But then as soon as it was on the overhead and people were trying to figure out how to copy it down, André whisked it off with his statement that he had gone beyond that ten years ago.
Now, he just follows several rules for valuation of symptoms:
There are two types of characteristic symptoms, Saine said. There are the leaders or guiding symptoms and there are the differentiating or confirming symptoms. The most characteristic symptoms are called leaders or guiding symptoms. They are used to lead or guide us to the most similar medicine. As an example he mentioned finding a person getting off a plane with the guiding symptoms of red hair, six feet two, and having one leg. No problem there he said having a picture that would distiguish this one person from the rest of the people on the plane.
But then what if we were looking for a male with those symptoms and the person that we wanted was female? The characteristic symptoms of lesser value (male/female) are still very important for differentiating a remedy from the others or confirming a remedy. The normal characteristic aspects of temperament morphology and physiognomy which tends to be permanent are the last differentiating or confirming symptoms to be considered.
In the last part of the lecture before this reviewer had to run to catch his flight (get the tapes, they're worth it.) Saine talked about the genius of the disease. The genius, he said, was found by two steps:
All the characteristic symptoms of a disease are assembled in one totality.
These symptoms are ordered by their characteristic value with the most valuable symptoms (the guiding symptoms) on top, and the least valuable (the differentiating symptoms) at the bottom.
The totality of ordered symptoms constitutes the genius of the disease.
photos to be added
Larrick Stapleton and Edward Conway Jr. of Arrowroot Standard Direct enjoy talking to convention goers about getting their Standard remedies via mail order.
Michael Quinn was in good spirits and good remedies during the convention while talking about his pharmacy.
Boiron's booth had charming women and interesting new books.
Jay Borneman and "Lucky" Michael Quinn enjoy a break after the Annual Meeting.
Dolisos' William Nicoletti gives everyone a smile and a friendly introduction to his remedies.
Joe Lillard of Washington Homeopathic Products, Inc. is one of the main reasons that Associated Study Groups are as strong as they are today.
Françoise Becquey of HomeoVia puts the power of Radar to work in repertorizing.
David Kent Warkentin and his band of Kent Homeopathic Associates put convention attendees through the paces of MacRepertory.
Repertory programs were showing off their new duds such as CHIRON's Cara Lite.
Basil Ziv spoke at the Annual Meeting concerning support for the North American Society for Homeopathys (NASH).
Dana Ullman got to take his share of photos at the dinner as well.
Harry Swope, MBA, ND, CCH, cornered many people in order to persuade them to join in the effort for better education through his Council for Homeopathic Certification.
Joel Kreisberg, DC, DNBHE, expounds on the Council on Homeopathic Education to the Annual Meeting attendees.
Harris Coulter and Mitzi Lebensorger say "Good night" after an energetic party night.
Paul Mittman, ND, DHANP (left), gets lectured after one of his lectures.
One of Baltimore's sights from the hotel that most people never got to see.
Mitzi Lebensorger gives guidance for one of the lectures or where to find the best crab cakes.
Anjali Nagpaul was most helpful in getting things organized and facilitated through her presence at the NCH table.
Stacks of books used to be much higher the day before on the NCH vendor table.
An attractive movable sign for conventions anchored the back of the vendor hall.
The NCH staff was honored in the Annual Meeting.
Dana Ullman enjoys talking about homeopathy whether it's in his Homeopathic Educational Services booth or at a dinner table wearing a wig.
Vinton McCabe and members from Karen Alderson's study group. (Notice the keen web browser)
André Saine lectures non-stop for those willing to take in more homeopathic education at the Canadian Academy of Homeopathy booth.
