Homeopathy was discovered by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician who lived from 1755-1843. He first caught a glimpse of the principles of homeopathy when he tested the theory that Peruvian bark (the natural source of quinine) cured malaria because of its bitterness. After taking Peruvian bark repeatedly, he came down with malarial-type symptoms. This experiment showed that natural substances can change the state of people’s health, just as diseases do: Peruvian bark changed Hahnemann’s state of health in the same way that malaria would. From this, Hahnemann discovered that Peruvian bark (also known as China or Cinchona) could cure cases of malaria.

He learned that treating a disease with a substance that produces symptoms similar to that disease, will quickly and permanently cure that disease. Hahnemann successfully put into practice the Law of Similars, which was first discovered by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. Further experiments with other substances verified this discovery, equipping him with a pharmacy capable of curing most illnesses.
Using this newly discovered system of medicine, which he named Homeopathy, Hahnemann found he could free his patients from their mental, emotional and physical ailments by giving them a single remedy that acted most similarly to their state of illness.

When a person falls ill, he or she comes down with a set of symptoms affecting his or her mind, emotions, and body, to one degree or another. Homeopathy treats the person’s illness by giving him or her a remedy that best matches his or her state of illness, as dictated by the Law of Similars: a substance that acts similarly to a disease will cure that disease. The Law of Similars works for these reasons: The homeopathic remedy goes to the same place where the disease resides in the person. The remedy is given in a potency or strength that is stronger than the disease. With the aid of this remedy that is similar to but stronger than the disease, the person gains strength over and is freed from the disease, resulting in a recovery from his or her illness. We will more fully answer this question of how homeopathy works as we answer the questions appearing below.

Homeopathic remedies are highly dilute and yet very powerful medicines made from natural substances found in the animal, mineral and vegetable kingdoms. To turn these substances into homeopathic remedies, we take them through the processes of "dilution and trituration" or "dilution and succussion". They are administered by homeopathic practitioners in accordance with the principles of homeopathy-that is, laws of Nature.

Each remedy has its own unique symptom image, which is discovered through drug trials called "provings". In a proving, healthy people take a single remedy frequently until they start to come down with symptoms-just as Hahnemann did when he experimented with Peruvian bark. During a proving, a single remedy causes mental, emotional and physical symptoms to appear in the prover, revealing how that remedy effects the overall state of health of people. This overall effect the remedy has on the provers shows us the unique symptom image of that remedy. The symptoms the provers come down with are documented, and this documentation builds the homeopathic Materia Medica: the catalog of remedies used by homeopathic practitioners. Based on the information collected in the Materia Medica, the homeopathic practitioner is able to know how homeopathic remedies act. The practitioner is then able to find the remedy whose action or symptom image most closely matches the symptom totality experienced by the patient in his or her state of illness. The remedy whose symptom image most closely matches the state of illness suffered by the patient, will cure and return the patient to a state of health.

We do not know how homeopathic medicines work in the same way in which we know how telephones or cars work. This is also true of many, or even most, drugs in conventional medicine. A living being is still, despite all or our scientific advances, a mystery at many levels. Some drugs are known to have a specific chemical effect on a specific part of the body, This is called a "mechanism of action".

The mechanism of action for general anesthetics used to put people to sleep during surgery are one class of drugs for which no mechanism of action is known. In other areas of science there are still many mysteries also. Gravity, for example, does not have a mechanism of action which is agreed upon by the world’s physicists. Time cannot be proven to even exist. This doesn’t mean that we cannot use gravity or time in our daily lives. We can also use drugs which do not have a known mechanism of action. No one would have surgery without anesthetics just because we don’t understand their mechanism of action. Homeopathic medicines are extremely useful even though we don’t understand how they work at this time. It is often useful to discuss Homeopathic medicines as energetic or vitalistic medicines than in mechanistic terms, so we say that they are energetic or vital medicines because Homeopathic doctors agree that the effects of Homeopathic medicines are effects directly on the energy level of a person, directly upon whatever vital force underlies our shared understanding of that state of being we call Health.

We produce energetic medicines because homeopathy recognizes the fact that life exists due to a life energy, a vital principle. When a person falls ill, his or her overall state of health declines because his or her life energy has been compromised or has become imbalanced. To correct this imbalance in one’s life energy, an energetic medicine must be used.

The remedy that best matches the life energy’s state of imbalance, as expressed through a totality of symptoms, is given in a potency or strength that is stronger than the disease. This most similar homeopathic remedy goes to the same places where the whole illness resides. The homeopathic remedy that is most similar to but stronger than the illness stimulates the life energy to free itself and recover from the imbalance of its disease state. This recovery causes the person’s mental, emotional and physical symptoms to disappear.

We give only one remedy at a time because we are treating one life energy that has fallen into a state of imbalance or disease-an imbalance that expresses itself through a variety of symptoms.

The "C" potency, otherwise known as the centesimal potency scale, is a particular degree and range of strength. The letter "C" is the Roman numeral for 100, meaning the dilution ratio of medicinal substance to non-medicinal substance is 1 to 100. For example, one part of salt, calcium, arsenic, or charcoal has been put into one hundred parts of milk sugar or alcohol. The number tells us how many times it has been diluted and succussed. For example, a "30C" potency tells us that a substance, diluted at the ratio of 1:100, has gone through 30 steps of dilution and succussion. 200C means it has gone through two hundred steps of the dilution and succussion process.

1M, 10M, 50M are marked with the Roman numeral "M" which stands for 1,000. This "M" is being used as a shorthand for 1000C, not for a dilution ratio of 1:1,000. Therefore, 1M is a 1,000C and means a substance, diluted at the ratio of 1:100, has been taken through the dilution and succussion process one thousand times. 10M is a 10,000C, and a 50M is a 50,000C. A potency of CM means 100,000C, a DM means 500,000C, and an MM means 1,000,000C. The centesimal potencies typically used are 6C, 12C, 30C, 200C, 1M, 10M, 50M, and CM. To put this into some perspective, the 1C has one 100th of a part of medicinal substance in it. A 2C has one 10,000th of a part of medicinal substance in it. A 3C has one 1,000,000th. The number indicating the amount of medicinal substance in a 30C is a 1 followed by 60 zeros. Imagine how many zeros are in the numbers representing the amount of medicinal substance in a 200C, a 10M, or a CM!

Because the process of dilution and succussion brings out the medicinal quality of a substance, the more a substance has been diluted and succussed, the more its medicinal quality has been developed. This means, the further along the scale we go, the more powerful the remedy is. A CM is vastly more powerful than a 6C, even though the CM has been diluted 100,000 times! The development of medicinal power lies not simply in the dilution, but also in the succussion. Each step invigorates the substance’s inherent medicinal power, developing it further as we climb the potency scale. While the CM has been diluted 100,000 times, it has also been succussed at each of the way, and therefore has gone through 100,000 steps of invigoration as well.

A tincture is an extract of a substance, for example, an herbal extract. Tinctures are made by steeping a substance in alcohol, extracting the properties of that substance into the alcohol. They are not potentized, that is, taken through the process of dilution and succussion. Tinctures are often used externally after dilution with water or saline solutions so that the alcohol does not injure or irritate the body. Tinctures are really herbal products and should not be taken internally unless recommended by a qualified practitioner for many tinctures are toxic. Never take a tincture internally unless you know it is nontoxic and have been directed to do so by your practitioner.

Homeopathy is capable of treating any type of illness which can be cured, since it works by stimulating the person’s natural ability to heal him or herself. Homeopathy views disease as the result of the life energy’s imbalance, thus it is the life energy that we are treating in every situation, not the diagnosed disease. However, serious illnesses do require greater attention and skill for treatment. Experienced doctors should always be consulted when faced with severe or chronic illness.

Yes. Anything that is alive can benefit from homeopathy, since it treats the life energy. The rules of taking the case of an animal are the same as those of people: get the totality of symptoms, for they represent the state of imbalance suffered by the individual animal. The pet owner who is sensitive to the animal’s state will be very helpful to the homeopath in selecting the proper medicine.

As with any other system of medicine, people seeking treatment are best served by consulting with a trained practitioner. Homeopathy is a complex and precise science, requiring expertise to do it well and safely. And since it treats the whole person rather than specific conditions, we ought not hunt for remedies that look good for such conditions. Homeopathy works best when it abides by its principles