3 / 16
EDITORIAL
Christa Gebhardt & Dr Jürgen Hansel
Chief editors
1
SPICE OF LIFE ¦
LAMIACEAE AND PIPERACEAE
EDITORIAL
SPECTRUM OF HOMEOPATHY
Dear readers,
The two plant families that we shall study in this issue represent
a typical attitude to life found in modern society. The kids
complain – “I’m so bored” – and demand to be entertained.
The parents are constantly checking their mailbox, Twitter feed
and Facebook to make sure they have not missed anything.
The desire for change, entertainment, and action, due to the
fear of monotony and boredom, is central to the homeopathic
remedy picture of the Piperaceae family just as much as the
Lamiaceae family.
This can clearly be seen in the cases of Piper nigrum, Cubeba
and Mentha piperita presented by the three representatives of
Sankaran’s Sensation method: Bhawisha Joshi, Sigrid Lindemann
and Dinesh Chauhan. Our authors show how it is possible to
differentiate these remedy families, which have a very similar
sensation. Ulrike Schuller-Schreib explains the subtle differences in
the vital sensation, also distinguishing them from the Rubiaceae.
Angelika Bolte and Jörg Wichmann supplement the Sensation
method with the perspective of plant evolution, from which
point of view the Piperaceae and Lamiaceae could not be more
different. In both Jan Scholten’s Plant theory and Michal Yakir’s
developmental table of plants, they are in fact diametrically
opposed. Often, in order to distinguish between these two
families, it proves necessary to understand their placement in the
developmental hierarchy of plants, with the Piperaceae belonging
to the more “primitive” plants, and the Lamiaceae showing the
more refined qualities of the more highly developed plants.
These two Spice families are therefore especially well suited to
present the different approaches to the Plant kingdom. With this
issue, you will have the opportunity to compare and contrast
the approaches and practical applications of Scholten, Yakir, and
Sankaran in relation to the same plant groups.
The Israeli homeopath Michal Yakir uses the spice ginger and
banana – both from the Zingiberales order – to show how she
views Plant remedies in terms of their place in evolution and
in relation to female and male aspects of human individuation.
The Indian psychiatrist Mahesh Gandhi has been working for
many years with Yakir’s Plant system, and his case of Scutellaria,
a highly developed member of the Lamiaceae family, shows the
value of this way of working for homeopathic practice.
The most comprehensive of the three approaches has been deve-
loped by Jan Scholten in recent years, based on the modern botanical
APG3 classification, using the series and stages of the periodic
table, plus a new concept, the phases. In his overview, the Dutch
homeopath first describes the composition and significance of the
remedy code. Then, together with Martin Jakob, he illustrates the
use of his system with cases from both plant families. The way
in which Jan Scholten is constantly refining his Plant theory is
vividly seen in this issue, when he describes the splitting of the
Lamiaceae into the subfamilies Lamioideae and Nepetoideae, the
subfamilies corresponding to different subphases.
The Plant theory provides Martin Jakob and Heinz Wittwer with
a satisfying explanation of the pronounced phosphoric aura of the
Lamiaceae. These are located in phase 5 and subphase 5, each
corresponding to Phosphorus. The double Phosphorus aspect can
be readily recognized in Heinz Wittwer’s case of Salvia officinalis
(sage). This remedy, as shown by Walter Glück, can obviously
also be successfully prescribed based on organotropism and
proving symptoms. Glück proved Salvia together with Reinhard
Flick, finding a clinical picture of tubercular pneumonia not so
dissimilar from Phosphorus.
Remedy provings are as ever the most important source of our
knowledge about homeopathic remedies, forming the basis
for all systematic classifications of remedy groups. So, we con-
sciously round off this issue with two new Lamiaceae provings:
Thyme by Reinhard Flick and Ground ivy by Gabriela Hoppe.
After all, Christian Weidl even undertook some remedy provings
of unknown Piperaceae remedies on himself as input to his
learned contribution on the king of the spices, supplementing
his homeopathic knowledge with insights from Ayurveda, folk
medicine, and cultural history.
You may have noticed that for the first time there are two titles
for a single issue of SPECTRUM. The spicy materia medica topic
is supplemented by a comparison of the three contemporary
approaches. The example of the Spice remedies clearly shows
the differences and overlaps of the three approaches. So, no
chance of boredom here, although we admit to a certain
amount of repetition, which is after all the basis of learning.
It can undoubtedly be a heady and entertaining adventure to
grasp the exciting developments in the contemporary homeo-
pathic cosmos of the plants, so unlocking new remedies and
paths to the simillimum. This requires us to comprehend novel
ideas and apply them in practice. Jan Scholten, Rajan Sankaran
and Michal Yakir have all played key roles with their pioneering
work in this area, ensuring that homeopathy – whatever else it
may be – is certainly not boring.