Heilkunst Explained
What is Heilkunst?
Heilkunst is a full system of medicine that is based on natural law which aims to address the underlying causes of illness rather than simply treat symptoms. Developed by Samuel Hahnemann in the late 18th century, Heilkunst is comprised of three jurisdictions: regimen (lifestyle, i.e. nutrition, sleep, hydration, and recreation), homeopathy (medicine proper, i.e. the destruction of disease using homeopathic remedies) and therapeutic education (the exploration of false beliefs about oneself and the world). Through these three foundational components of remediation, disease and imbalances of the body, mind, and spirit are addressed and the patient is brought back into a state of health. Heilkünstlers (Heilkunst practitioners) work with their patients to identify the root causes of their health issues through a detailed medical history which informs the patient’s unique needs,. As a system of medicine, Heilkunst is a comprehensive and personalized approach to achieving radiant health and wellness.
What is Homeopathy?
Homeopathy, the second most practiced form of medicine in the world is, by far, the most popular component of Heilkunst. It comprises the treatment of disease using remedies that are made from natural substances such as plants, minerals, or animal products. Homeopathic remedies are prepared using these substances through a process of serial dilution and succussion (shaking). This process makes the remedies safe and nontoxic while also liberating the curative properties of the original substance. They are non-addictive, do not have side effects and can be used safely at the same time as allopathic medicines.
Homeopathy is used to treat a wide range of health issues, including chronic conditions such as asthma, arthritis, and migraines as well as acute illnesses such as colds, flu, and injuries. Many people choose homeopathy because it is a gentle and noninvasive form of healing that strengthens overall the body’s immune system.
The Law of Similars
The Law of Similars, also known as the Principle of Similars, is a fundamental principle in Heilkunst. This law, Similia Similibus Curantur, states that “like cures like,” meaning that a substance that cause specific symptoms in a healthy person can also be used to treat similar symptoms in a sick person. For example, if someone is experiencing hay fever (itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing), a homeopathic remedy made from Allium cepa (red onion) may be prescribed because it can cause similar symptoms in a healthy person.
The Law of Similars comes to us from the ancient Greeks, who observed that an organism in nature could not have two similar diseases at the same time as one would always destroy the other. It took the genius of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann to discover how to make this law a practical, applicable one. He recognized that homeopathic remedies actually act as “artificial diseases” that are used to destroy those natural diseases that have the same symptom profile. A good example of the Law of Similars would be how settlers in frontier country would drink a tea made of poison ivy early in the season before clearing brush on the land. In this way, they naturally immunized themselves against being harmed by any poison ivy they would encounter while clearing the land.
The Law of Opposites
The Law of Opposites, Contraria contrariis curantur (Opposites are cured by opposites), is a natural law that is used to create homeostasis, or balance, within the body. While the Law of Similars is a core principle in the application of homeopathic remedies when curing disease, the Law of Opposites is a key underlying principle of regimen or lifestyle. As examples, if a person is lacking Vitamin C in their diet, then they must increase their Vitamin C intake. As well, if a person is drinking too much coffee, then then need to cut down on their consumption. While this law may seem simplistic, it is the basis of creating balance within the body which is a core requirement of a healthy, physical constitution and immune system. This, in turn, plays a key role in curing the patient. Once a homeopathic remedy is given to destroy a disease, it is then up to the body to complete the healing by detoxing the body of the negative effects of the disease. Having a strong and vibrant constitution is necessary therefore for the full cure and restoration of health within the body and it is the Law of Opposites that guides us in creating such a radiant, physical constitution.
The True Cause of Disease
Dr. Hahnemann observed that the force that animates all living organisms, the Living Power, was further divided into the Sustentive and Generative Powers. Moreover, he stated that the Sustentive Power was responsible for maintaining the physical body in a state of balance and fell under the jurisdiction of the Law of Opposites.
The Generative Power, on the other hand, was responsible for all creative processes of the organism, i.e. everything from cell division to self-expression to the creation of a masterful work of art. It is the conception of this second power that sets Heilkunst aside as a radical and revolutionary system of medicine that had finally come to a full understanding of the true cause of disease.
Just as Dr. Hahnemann observed that his homeopathic remedies were not physical but dynamic or energetic in nature, so too did he come to understand that disease also had to be dynamic and energetic in nature. He discovered that the true cause of disease is when the Generative Power has become weakened to the point that it is susceptible to the impingements or assaults of inimical or deleterious forces that are also dynamic in nature. This is when disease is truly engendered. As the problem is energetic or dynamic in nature, so must also be the solution, i.e. the use of homeopathic remedies, which have been diluted and succussed to the point where not a single molecule of the original substance is left. What does remain is the energetic, curative power of the original substance, which is able to dislodge the disease impingement because it is of a similar vibration.
From a Heilkunst perspective though, health is not simply an absence of disease symptoms but a vibrant, radiant expression of one’s Life Force. Just as the Generative Power is implicated in the engendering of disease, so is it also an integral expression of being healthy as it is the source of one’s creativity, joy, and love. This is essentially the ultimate goal of Heilkunst and a true portrait of health: to live life as a celebration of our creative impulse as the expression of our deepest meaning.
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.
