It is Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, and so an opportunity to reflect on the Māori language, and this year I am taking time to reflect on remedies through a holistic Māori lens. I have discussed Te Whare Tapa Wha before, (you can read the post here), it is my favourite holistic model of health. For a quick recap, it describes the four walls of a meeting house, all are equally important for health. Taha Wairua- Spiritual (and this …
Last week was World Breastfeeding week, so I want to discuss two important remedies that are to do with breastfeeding: Lac Humanum, and Lac Maternum. Both of these remedies are made from human breastmilk, but there is one key difference. Lac Humanum was made from the breastmilk of one woman, and Lac Maternum from the breastmilk of 9 Women at different stages of their breastfeeding journeys, from day 3 to 10 months. Lac Humanum has a theme about finding your …
Natrum Muriaticum (abbreviated as Nat Mur) is sodium chloride, or common salt. Found in every kitchen, it is an essential mineral for life, and homeopathically it also has a wide range of symptoms and is one of our polychrest remedies. Nat Mur is one of Schuessler’s twelve tissue salts, as well as a remedy we use in much higher potencies homeopathically. As a tissue salt, 6x potency, it is used for fluid balance. This means that too much moisture or …
This Friday we have a public holiday for Matariki. This is sometimes called Maori New Year, and is marked by the appearance of the Matariki cluster of stars in the sky. In Europe these stars are known as the Pleiades, but here, they are Ngā Mata o te Ariki Tāwhirimātea, the eyes of Tāwhirimātea, the god of the wind, who threw his eyes into the heavens in anger, after his siblings separated Ranginui, the sky father from Papatūānuku, the earth …
Bellis Perennis is the daisy, part of the Asteraceae family like Arnica, and sometimes called the common, lawn or English daisy to distinguish it from the cultivated forms of the daisy. Like Arnica, Bellis Perennis is a remedy for trauma. Specifically to trauma of the abdomen, reproductive organs, or spleen. It has an affinity for the reproductive organs so is particularly useful for after childbirth to support the uterus reducing back to a pre-pregnancy size. Even during pregnancy, if there …
It’s Pink Shirt Day, a day dedicated to anti bullying, so I thought I would discuss a remedy that is really useful for bullying – for either party. Lycopodium is a remedy made from the clubmoss. These plants are some of the oldest on earth, 410 million years old, and 300 million years ago there were club mosses that reached 100 feet, or over 30m in height. These days though, Lycopodium is a moss that looks a bit like a …
Easter is a time where we celebrate with chocolate and decorations of chickens and bunnies celebrating the new life of spring – even though in New Zealand, like the rest of the southern hemisphere we are actually in autumn. Keeping with that theme I would talk about a rabbit homeopathic remedy. Lac Oryctolagus Cunicilus is made from the milk of a white rabbit and was proved by New Zealander Claire Bleakley in 2002. Mammals are the only types of animals …
Yesterday I talked about provings, today I want to share about the remedy itself that I helped prove. Ganoderma Tsugae is a mushroom -Reishi is the Japanese name, and in China it is called Ling zhi. The Reishi mushrooms are found all over the world – Ganoderma Lucidum, Ganoderma Tsugae and Ganoderma Sichuanese describe different forms of Reishi mushrooms. However when buying them they can be mislabelled, often those labelled Ganoderma Lucidum should more correctly called Ganoderma Sichuanese (although fortunately …
Yesterday I talked a bit about sugar and the effect in the body. Today I want to discuss the sugar remedies, as there are a few of them, and then I will talk about the remedy I use most. There are two main forms of sugar – that from Sugar Cane (which is the form of sugar that Chelsea Sugar Works imports over a hundred thousand metric tonnes of each year), and sugar made from Sugar Beet, which is primarily …
In September for Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori (Maori language week) I did a post on New Zealand native remedies. I wrote about four, and then I had a number of people point out other remedies that I had missed and didn’t even know about! So this is the follow up, with a few more remedies. If you missed the first post you can find it here. First of all I want to start with the oldest New Zealand …
This is a remedy a colleague suggested for a case of mine earlier this year (thanks Anne!) and shared some materia medica with me. Since then I have used the remedy again and again with amazing results, so I really felt it was a remedy I needed to share. The remedy Apple Tree is Malus Sylvestris, and the write up is found in Madeline Evans’ Meditative Provings vol.2. There is also the remedy Malus Domestica, aka Malus Pumila proved by …
Dr Edward Bach’s work with flower essences was groundbreaking, and his technique has been used all over the world to extract the emotional and spiritual healing properties of flowers and plants. His original work he called “The Twelve Healers” which he published because they were so effective, even knowing his work was not complete. He went on to discover 26 other flower essences bringing the total number of Bach’s Flower Essences to 38. Flower essences are usually fixed in brandy …
It is quite well understood now that the gut is not only important in its own right, but also is important for immunity, general health and mental health. Dr Edward Bach was very much ahead of his time when he identified the Bowel as a leading cause of disease. When he started working with the bowel he cultured faecal samples and then classified them based on the way they fermented different sugars. From this he came up with seven different …
It is Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, and so an opportunity to reflect on the Māori language, and for me, time to reflect on remedies that we have from New Zealand. There aren’t many of them. There are obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi to protect our tāonga, including Rongoā rakau, our plant medicines. New Zealand native species are legally protected, and would require resource consent from the Department of Conservation, and also discussion with iwi for appropriate measures …
Sometimes Pulsatilla is dismissed as a women’s remedy, for hysterical, changeable girls, women who cry too much, those who need to rely on others. Children who cling, and whine when they are sick, babies who cry when they are put down. However, that is prejudice coming in, misogyny in some cases, and it is terribly unfair to others who may well benefit from this amazing polychrest. It is also a result of using text books that are over 100 years …
The diamond is made from carbon atoms, that have been compressed and heated and in doing so form the hardest mineral in earth, only another diamond can scratch it. They have a high value and are seen as a symbol of beauty and love- diamond is the symbol of the 75th wedding anniversary. In Homeopathy we have two remedies made from diamond, with slightly different pictures. Adamas was made from diamond dust procured from a jeweller in London and was …
There are some remedies that are more indicated at certain times of the year, and Dulcamara is one for now, for Autumn. It is a remedy that is often forgotten about, but they are worse when there is a change of weather from warm to cool, and the autumnal warm days with cool nights has the same effect. They are also generally worse for damp, or cold, damp weather, and from getting cold or even cold drafts. The main things …
Near where I live there is a walkway which is part of Te Araroa trail and connects up with the Rainbow Falls track. When we go for a family walk we usually pick this track as it is fairly flat, and walk just a short way to a bridge that we call the troll bridge – not sure who came up with it, but the 3 Billy Goats Gruff is sometimes re-enacted by my 3 children when crossing this bridge. …
Ledum is a remedy which is an essential first aid kit remedy for busy and active kids and outdoors people. The most common reason to take Ledum is a puncture wound – it is indicated for deep wounds that do not bleed much. Puncture wounds include animal bites and stings, garden wounds like thorns or prickles, other penetrating injuries like nails, and medical procedures like injections and vaccinations. One of the keynotes of Ledum is that affected parts of the …
This is the remedy made fromSunlight- and there are a couple of different forms, Sol Britannica which is sunlight from Britain, Northern Hemisphere and Sol Australis, from Australia, Southern hemisphere. Most of the written information is about Sol Britannica, although Phillip Robins noted in his proving document that he had also done a proving of Sol Australis which had similar symptoms but more intense. The increased intensity shouldn’t come as a surprise as we have a large hole in our …
This is one of my favourite remedies, excellent for supporting immunity, preventing and treating infection. If you are wanting to avoid antibiotics Gun Powder is an essential remedy to have in your arsenal. John H Clarke wrote about Gun Powder as a remedy in 1914, an article that caught the interest of many Homeopaths of the time. His booklet (published in 1915) had a history of gun powder as a treatment, including soldiers taking the crude substance to treat wounds, …
Despite being the one remedy that is known by most people even if they have never heard of Homeopathy, I have never written about Arnica on here, apart from the personal family stories of injury. So here it is 😊 Arnica is our number one trauma remedy, and indicated for any type of injury, including overuse or repetitive strain injuries. Predominantly the feeling with Arnica is sore, bruised, like they have been beaten. They are tender, the bed may feel …
This was my day yesterday – a school playground accident left my youngest not wanting to move his arm, so nurse, doctor, x-ray, doctor, nurse for a cast before being able to go to school. X rays were inconclusive so it’s a trip to the fracture clinic and probably more x rays next week. In light of this, I want to discuss X ray, the homeopathic remedy. This is an old remedy, and was proved in 1897. X rays were …
Bambusa is bamboo. A member of the grasses family, other plants in the family include rice, wheat, barley, oats, and sugar cane. The main sensation in this family is a feeling of heaviness and a need for support. Bamboo is used for furniture, building, scaffolding and even things like bridges. Up to 2018 there was a bamboo bridge across the Mekong River in Cambodia that was built every year in the dry season when the river was too low for …