Discussion SourcesSourcesIn this book many sources are used. Information for the pictures of remedies is manifold. The problem is to ascertain the quality of the sources. That is not an easy topic as there is no objective criteria to score the quality of the sources. Therefore the best indication is that of reinforcement of the sources and the confirmation of the information by other sources.
I have tried to show the source of information as far as is possible but it must be said that this objective was not attainable. There have been too many sources, often subconscious or forgotten. Mentioning every instance of a source would have made the book unreadable. I apologise in cases of having forgotten an essential source. I admit that it must have happened.
Materia Medica.The Materia Medica is full of information that is unreliable especially the big remedies, the so called polychrests have huge remedy pictures which are filled with symptoms of almost all kinds of patients. Those remedies have almost all known symptoms in their picture if one should believe the literature but it is more likely that those pictures have become muddled with incorrect information.
On the other hand of the spectrum one can find the “small remedies” that have very few or almost no symptoms. These pictures are very incomplete and lacking.
A peculiar aspect is that the remedy pictures of the past contained almost exclusively physical symptoms. In contrast the new remedy pictures are focused more on the mental and emotional field. The theory of homeopathy shows that the essence of the remedies lies in the mind, so that those aspects are more essential than the physical ones. This will be further discussed in the chapter on levels.
Herbalism.A second source is that of herbalism. This source is often looked down upon by homeopaths but it is a source of ancient and massive information and although a lot of the information is unreliable, there is a lot that is confirmed and has been shown to be objective.
Part of this source is the names of remedies. Names are not given by accident and show often essential information. One only has to think of names like that of Euphrasia, Eyebright, a remedy with prominent eye symptoms. Or a remedy like Arnica, called fall herb in Dutch, featuring the essential aspects of injuries of the herb.
There are also many new forms of herbalism. Bach flower
Remedies are first to be mentioned. I have often experienced that Bach’s pictures were correct, although they were too vague, lacking precision, they turned out to be right. In the flow of that development many other forms of flower essences were used. They also have valuable information. Aromatherapy is another form of herbalism. This form is often backed up by a lot of research to show the effects of those remedies in clinical studies.