What is Homeopathy?
Homeopathy is a Complimentary/Alternative practice to healing arts services. It treats a disease by the administration of minute doses of a remedy that would in larger amounts produce in healthy persons symptoms similar to those of the disease.
To be able to understand that statement we need to first understand what is dis-ease. A human being is an entity of vital
force that influences and is influenced by the surrounding. A disease starts due to the negative influences of the surrounding. It builds up into symptoms that could be physical or mental or even both. This building up of symptoms begin as minor symptoms such as constipation, diarrhea, pain, insomnia…etc; then as major ones influencing the crucial organs.
Homeopathy deals with our whole body. The way it was discovered and the way it is being practiced are all related to its name which comes originally from Greek hómoios, which means "like" and páthos, which means "suffering".
This brings us to the history of Homeopathy:
Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) the founder of Homeopathy was able to discover the therapeutic efficacy of the vital force of natural plants when he was studying the use of Cinchona bark (containing quinine) in treating malaria. Hahnemann spent six years making experiments on himself and his students applying a theory proposed by the father of medicine Hippocrates that “By similar things a disease is produced and through the application of the like is cured”. He used different minerals and plants and in different concentrations until he discovered that every time he dilutes a concentrated solution of a plant or mineral the therapeutic efficacy increases. Finally, he reached to a method of preparing the homoeopathic remedies by several dilutions in water followed by potentization (throbbing the liquid in order to release the energy within the substance). This process liberates the vital energy of the material into the water. Then the remedy is used to cure complaints that show similar symptoms that the material has given before its dilution and potentization. Therefore, homeopathy is based on the two principles of “let likes cure likes” and the principle of multiple dilution.