Heilkunst treatment varies depending on the acute nature of the ailment being treated as well as whether the disease has been long-standing or chronic. Many acute or intense diseases revolve very quickly. Those ailments of a long-standing nature require deeper treatment as well as more time for the remedies to peel back the layers of disease that have accumulated within the patient so that the root cause may be addressed.
Similia similibus curantur (like cures like) is a law of cure that was first formulated by the ancient Greeks. They observed that an organism in nature could not have two similar diseases at the same time. One disease would always destroy the other. Much like how a tuning fork shatters a glass whose structure is of a similar frequency, diseases of similar natures shatter each other. The only problem was that this phenomenon occurred rarely and, even then, only in nature. It was not until the advent of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann that this ancient law of cure finally became accessible and practical. It was in fact, the initial phenomenon that Dr. Hahnemann observed from personal experience that would lay the cornerstone of an entirely new, and revolutionary, system of medicine, Heilkunst.
Contraria contrariis curantur (opposites cure opposites) is an ancient Greek law whose jurisdiction is the domain of regimen. This law is the basis for creating balance and healthy homeostasis in the body. As an example, if a person is deficient in Vitamin C, then it is important for them to increase their intake. Conversely, if a patient drinking too much coffee, they will need to decrease how much they are drinking. While this law seems simplistic, it is important to differentiate its jurisdiction, regimen, from that of the Law of Similars, the cure of disease. When treating very serious illnesses, regimen plays a role but can be limited, thus requiring the use of medicine proper, i.e. homeopathic remedies, which falls under the Law of Similars.
As mentioned previously, the ancient Greeks observed that in nature, an organism could not have two similar diseases at the same time as one would always destroy the other. They then postulated the Law of Similars, like cures like. It was not until the advent of Dr. Hahnemann that this ancient law of cure finally became practical and applicable. Dr. Hahnemann first noted that the remedies he created through serial dilution and succussion (shaking) were in fact dynamic or energetic in nature. He then realized that disease was also dynamic or energetic in nature, which was why homeopathic remedies were able to cure. He finally concluded that homeopathic remedies acted as artificial diseases that destroyed natural ones which shared the same symptom picture thus demonstrating, and validating the Law of Similars in action.
Homeopathic remedies are not contraindicated when using allopathic medicine. Both forms of medicine work on different principles that are not mutually exclusive. While allopathic medicine works on the basis of biochemistry, homeopathic remedies are dynamic or energetic in nature. A homeopathic remedy contains the healing frequency of the origin substance with which it was made without (in most cases) containing a single molecule of the substance, i.e. it is purely energetic in nature. As both forms of medicine work on different bases, they do not contraindicate each other as long as they are not working at cross-purposes to each other.
Sometimes, usually 7 to 10 days after taking a homeopathic remedy, a patient may notice an aggravation of the symptoms of the disease the remedy was intended to cure. This is actually a positive sign as it means that the remedy has destroyed the disease and the patient’s body is throwing off the last vestiges of the ailment. This can appear as a recurrence or worsening of the disease but it is healthy expression of the final resolution of disease and is nothing to worry about.
Every homeopathic remedy has a very clear symptom profile. This includes exactly how the remedy affects various parts of the body as well physical functioning. Part of this homeopathic remedy profile is how it affects a person emotionally and mentally. So, just as remedies can be used to treat physical ailments, they also treat emotional and mental symptoms.
The process of finding out which diseases homeopathic remedies can cure is called a “proving”. If there is a new remedy, for which we want to determine the curative effect, a large number of healthy people agree to participate in taking the remedy each day. They then make notes of any deviation in health they experience from the beginning of the experiment. All of these notes are then combined and when comparing these notes we see a clear profile emerge of the diseases the remedy can cure. Homeopathic remedies are in essence quick acting “false diseases”, so when taken repeatedly by a healthy person, they reveal the disease states they are capable of causing and thus, those diseases they can cure in a sick patient (like cures like). There is no fear that they cause any harm to the people participating in the “proving” as the remedies are of short duration and any symptoms they cause will cease once they are no longer taken.
One of the big differences between Heilkunst and Classical Homeopathy is the use of combination remedies. Classical Homeopathy tends to give patients one remedy at a time while Heilkunst has recognized that for most conditions, the patient requires several remedies to address each of the disease states the patient may be suffering from. For example, if a patient has had dental surgery, they will require separate remedies for each separate trauma they suffered during the procedure, i.e. the puncture wound from any needles, the nerve damage that the injection cause, the use of anesthetic etc. From a Heilkunst perspective, treatment for this one event would not be complete until each of these specific traumas from the event are dealt with, hence the use of combination remedies.
What most people know today as homeopathy is actually Classical Homeopathy, not Heilkunst. It is important to make this distinction. Classical Homeopathy stems from the understanding of Dr. Hahnemann’s work that existed after the publication of the 5th edition of the Organon of Heilkunst (Dr. Hahnemann’s main treatise in which he laid out the full foundation and principles of Heilkunst). Dr. Hahnemann had actually written a 6th edition of the Organon, but its publication in the English-speaking world only came 78 years after his death. It was in these intervening years that the principles and practices of Classical Homeopathy took root. With the publication of the 6th edition in English, and a brilliant new translation by Steven Decker, which brought into sharp relief a depth of understanding of the dynamic philosophical underpinnings of Dr. Hahnemann’s work that had never been perceived before, Heilkunst, as a full system of natural medicine, was reborn.
Having said this, there are huge differences in both philosophical and practical application between Heilkunst and Classical Homeopathy. Suffice it to say, a Heilkunst practitioner may prescribe several remedies at the same time, will utilize homeoprophylaxis, makes the distinction between jurisdictions of disease, understands that homeopathic remedies act as “artificial diseases” that destroy natural diseases (not simply boost the immune system of the patient), and makes use of traumatic timelines to treat the many layers of disease a patient has accumulated over a lifetime while a Classical homeopath will not. These are simply a few of the differences in application and understanding make for qualitative and quantitative differences in treatment between Heilkunst and Classical Homeopathy.
For a deeper dive and to learn more about Heilkunst, please see the “What is Heilkunst?” tab of the FAQs for the International Heilkunst Association.
