How can one little pellet…

It’s not magic. It’s not sorcery. Despite what people might tell you, it’s not “just a placebo”. So what are these mystery little white sugar pills and how can they be so transformative?

Let’s start by answering, “What’s in a homeopathic remedy?” Homeopathic remedies are made from dilutions of plants, minerals and animal products (e.g. ink of a cuttlefish). When a substance is diluted past material form, it retains some residue, some memory of the substance. It’s like an energetic imprint of the substance that was there before it was so highly diluted and potenized (but potentization is the subject of another post).

When a substance is highly diluted, it bi-passes the primary action of that substance and what’s left if the secondary action in the body. Translated into plain English, let’s consider this example. If you ingest the plant, Belladonna, it has serious poisoning side effects such as high fevers, burning pains, dilated pupils, even hallucinations. In its homeopathic preparation, which conforms to regulated Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia, Belladonna can be used to treat those very symptoms.

In homeopathy, like treats like. So if there is a patient with a raging fever who has diluted pupils, excess heat and hallucinations, a few pellets of Belladonna can go a long way. The homeopathic remedy is like ingesting an energetic dose of the same illness the patient has. It works by stimulating the patient’s own system to rally more effort to bring the patient back to homeostasis, or balance.

A homeopathic remedy acts like a trainer who is encouraging you to exercise harder. The remedy pushes the body/mind out of the pattern it’s holding by stimulating a stronger response. In acute illness, there’s relief and quicker resolution. In chronic disease, which is actually our main focus as homeopaths, we are treating one layer at a time, gradually stimulating the patient to health.