Back when I first started using Homeopathy over 20 years ago, there were thousands of remedies. Today, there are thousands more!
At Homeopathy School we focussed on learning the polycrest remedies - those well documented, tried and tested remedies that have been used for decades and have multiple uses.
Examples of commonly recognised polycrests include Sulphur, Calcarea carbonica, Lycopodium, Natrum muriaticum, Sepia, Pulsatilla, Phosphorus and Nux vomica.
I remember the pressure, back when I was a student (20 years ago - where has the time gone!), to memorise as many of the key note symptoms of these remedies as possible.
Once I established my own practice, it became much easier to remember these keynotes as I was prescribing remedies all the time. One thing that hasn’t changed in 20 years though, is that pressure that many Homeopaths - myself included - feel, to keep up to date with the latest ‘thing.’
There has been some incredible work done in recent times by Homeopaths such as Colin Griffiths and Danica Appoline, with mediative provings, sacred geometry/energetic remedies and imponderable remedies. Imponderable remedies are remedies made from things that are not physical substances in the usual sense but have an energetic or non-material influence.
The benefits of these newer remedies are well documented, and I dabble with some of them in my own practice.
From a practical perspective though, and a question that Homeopaths often ask amongst themselves, is: “do I need to be using these remedies to have a successful practice?”
I think Ian Watson, Homeopath and author in his book, The Tao of Homeopathy (it’s a beautiful book by the way), answers this beautifully in this quote:
