HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES - WHAT ARE THEY MADE FROM?

The world of homeopaths is a strange one indeed, not only do we cure with infinitesimal doses but the doses are made from the most obscure to the most mundane of substances. Once homeopaths got it into their heads that they could potentially make a remedy from absolutely anything, from that moment on nothing was safe from being triturated, succussed and eagerly proved.

From the kitchen we have salt, a mundane thing, turned into one of the best known homeopathic remedies Natrum Muriaticum (Latin for salt). Pepper? Yes we have pepper! (Capsicum). We have Sugar (Sacc Off). We have skimmed milk (Lac defloratum). Do we have cornflakes? Thankfully no, not yet! But we do have Onion (allium cepa), Tea (thea), Coffee (coffea), Saffron (crocus sativus), and Nutmeg (nux moschata).

Enough of the condiments and comestibles. The earliest homeopathic remedies were made from medicines of the time (like quinine) and from poisons because as he was a doctor, Hahnemann knew about their sphere of action already and therefore their potential for homeopathic use. So the first remedy was made from quinine and then others from toxic substances like Arsenic, Mercury, Antimony, Lead, Carbolic acid, and from poisonous plants like Belladonna, Aconite, Fly Agaric, Nux vomica, Ipecac, and from animal poisons like snake (Lachesis) and spiders (Black widow) and bee (Apis).

You think that's bad? Wait 'til you hear what else is on the menu. How about one of homeopathy's best known 'antibiotics', a potentised product of the decomposition of chopped lean beef in water, allowed to stand in the sun for two or three weeks (Pyrogen)? Even yuckier, a remedy produced from scabies vesicle (Psorinum), or how about Ambra grisea, made from 'Morbid Secretion of the Whale'. Horses get a disease called 'Grease', and that's what the remedy Malandrinum is made from.

Shall I go on? You get the idea, remedies made from diseases - using disease to cure disease (not unlike vaccinations). Unpleasant to think about of course but they're prepared under clinical conditions, and diluted beyond the point where any of the original substance can be detected, (unlike vaccinations) and the important thing is, it produces highly effective remedies

On to friendlier ground. Herbs. Homeopathic remedies are made from herbs but don't be tricked into thinking they're the same as herbs in their action. In some respects they may be but not in others, (e.g. (Calendula, St John's Wort, Knitbone). Sometimes there's fine line between a herb and a poison (Chelidonium, Digitalis), or a herb and a food (Nettle), dependant on way it's used or the quantity given in tincture form, (not homeopathically)

Finally there's the obscure, the 'imponderabilia'. Remedies made from X-ray, electricity, magnet, and the like. A vial of alcohol is exposed to the source for a few hours then it is potentised. Bizarre but it works.

Fortunately all homeopathic remedies are diluted way beyond the point where any material quantity remains so even the most poisonous, vile, or noxious substance can be used safely as a homeopathic remedy.

If you object to taking some remedies, (because for example you are Buddhist and are concerned that animals suffer in making remedies) there is another way they can be made that circumvents most concerns, through a process known as radionics.