Meditative Provings 1

Review

This book review is reprinted from The Homoeopath with permission from Nick Churchill of The Society of Homoeopaths.

Reviewed by Peter Fraser

When publishing new provings there is always a trade off between the quality of the publication and the price that will have to be charged. Madeline Evans has opted strongly for quality; this is an attractive cloth-bound book with a thread-sewn binding and decent paper. The consequence of this is a high price that may be beyond many homeopaths. On the other hand the book contains more than fifty remedies and so they do come in at well below a pound a remedy.

Meditative provings are a contentious subject. They are exactly the sort of thing that causes George Vithoulkas apoplexy and for conventional science and medicine they are evidence that homeopathy is away with the fairies. However, the evidence is clear that the meditative process is important in ascertaining the true nature of a remedy. This has been shown by the way in which information from meditative provings and from meditations within conventional Hahnemannian provings informs and expands the information that has been discovered through traditional methods. Meditation within a proving tends to give the images and feelings that tie the proving together and open up its essence. These are also available through proving dreams but there they tend to be less pure and are much harder to separate from the prover's own issues and concerns. The information gained by the pharmacist running up the remedy can also be very useful, as is the effect on members of a group proving who do not actually take the remedy.

It is important to the integrity of homeopathy that we recognize, lay out the evidence clearly, and then acknowledge all that we can discover about our art. If the evidence suggests that meditative provings are useful then we must acknowledge this and defend them vigorously. However, it is also vital that we are absolutely clear and open about how our information comes about, we must be rigorous in our method. This is not to please or convince conventional scientists but so that we know what we are doing and can judge objectively the reliance we place on our information. My major complaint about these meditative provings and this book in particular is the lack of clarity and information about the process. Only in a few cases is the origin of the remedies and its means of preparation detailed. in many cases it is impossible to tell which of the remedies used were prepared in the conventional way and which were flower or gem essences. This is certainly important to me as I have found essences to be much more one-dimensional than remedies. I do occasionally use them palliatively but maintain an awareness of the dangers of suppression.

Madeline Evans states of jade: 'Will not work well if broken down in homeopathic form. Works best in gem essence or potentized gem essence.' This absolute statement defies two hundred years of experience and philosophy, yet she offers no evidence for it at all. Even more seriously, up to that point there was no indication as to whether she had been discussing the remedy or the essence. The provings were conducted by four different groups, one of which consisted entirely of female provers. Yet which group conducted which proving is not indicated. This might be important, for instance a lack of masculine energy in a remedy might be because it was proved by an all female group rather than because it was intrinsically missing from the remedy.

Most of these provings have been published already in Prometheus. Some of the original articles have been significantly cut to fit within the book's format. Much of the general and mythological information found in the originals has been discarded and, as the author acknowledges, 'the poetic metaphors have largely been chopped away in the interest of succinctness.' This is unfortunate as these are the most useful and reliable products of meditative provings, they are what bring the cruder symptoms together to create a complete picture.

A number of the remedies have been proved in other ways by other groups, Lac humanum is an interesting example. As well as the proving described here there is a full published proving by Houghton and Halahan and an extensive seminar proving by Rajan Sankaran which is included in his Provings. The Houghton and Halahan proving gave many clear symptoms but did not reveal enough to see where the essence of the remedy lay. The seminar proving not only brought up quite similar physical and mental symptoms but also revealed some of the disease out of which these symptoms come, particularly a conflict of will between doing and not doing, work and play, spirit and body, the individual and the group or family and even between being and not being. The meditative proving confirms many of the issues and the physical affinities and expands the conflict of will to include those between past and present and masculine and feminine. The three provings amplify each other and together they give an excellent understanding of the remedy.

Having participated in and edited Penny Stirling's proving of Crack Willow (Salix fragilis). I found the information on that remedy very interesting and entirely in keeping with what we had learned from the full proving. The perceptions from the meditative proving were concerned with the same issues and affinities and reading the two together undoubtedly gives a fuller and more complete picture of the remedy.

Having an interest in the new remedies and fairly direct experience of many of them 1, like Madeline Evans, believe that there is a new and different state of health and disease that has developed over the last fifty years and that we need new remedies and new informa tion about old remedies if we are going to be equipped to treat the diseases that our patients are presenting. This book includes a lot of very useful information about remedies that are likely to be important in the coming years. However, I find the underlying philosophy behind this work extremely disturbing.

There is an increasing move in homeopathy towards a more 'scientific', but really more allopathic, approach to homeopathy. Pretty well all the London schools are moving rapidly into this conventional model with a stress on degrees, allopathic medical science and a therapeutic or superficial understanding of disease and of remedies. The few strongholds of classical homeopathy that integrate science and spirit are now found in out-of-the-way places like Devon, Derbyshire and Wales. There is, however, also a movement towards another type of practice, one in which intuition is all- important and reason is derided or ignored. The Guild of Homeopaths is one of the groups that most strongly espouses this approach. Ironically this way of thinking leads to many of the same patterns and problems that are generated by the allopathic approach. These patterns can be clearly seen in this book.

One of the overriding principles of homeopathy is that of holism, the treatment of the patient rather than the disease, and the taking of the disease picture as an integral and indivisible whole, the totality of symptoms. Allopathic medicine chooses the medicine for the disease, not the person, and that is also the approach suggested by this book, where diseases and pathologies are listed in the remedies rather than the characteristics of the remedy that apply across countless different diseases. Not only is Moonstone' probably the only remedy so far to combat Mad Cow Disease', but the exact way in which it must be used is spelled out as it would be in a pharmaceutical textbook.

Polypharmacy and the combination of remedies are another manifestation of a non-holistic approach. Throughout the book specific combinations are advocated. We are told that' The different vibration of the new remedies makes it possible for them to be combined without affecting each other harmfully.' However, we are given no evidence or philosophical reason for why this should be so; rather we are expected to discard homeopathic philosophy and experience because we are told to. Surely the reason for proving new remedies is because the old ones do not cover all aspects of new disease pictures and we want single remedies that will work instead of having to alternate between partially indicated remedies. The acceptance of combining remedies also causes confusion in the provings. In the Okoubaka proving a Wheat remedy was taken at the same time. It is therefore impossible to tell whether the symptoms listed are really Okoubaka ones or come from the Wheat, especially as some relate to wheat allergies.

Holism requires an individualisation of symptoms, a search for what is characteristic. This book, like allopathy, advocates the reverse and tends towards generalization. Holly 'will control haemorrhage of any kind'. Oak 'dispels all negative forces on every level'. jade 'can be used like a homeopathic tranquilliser'. Lac humanum' should be given to all patients who have not been breastfed'. In some cases generality becomes universality. Lotus 'will bring peace and forgiveness to all humanity' and it, like Caesium and other remedies, should be 'put into the water supply'. To me this seems to come from the same arrogance and ignorance that drives allopaths to put fluorides in the water.

Hahnemann is clear that only perceptible signs and symptoms constitute the disease. This is why symptoms are always firmly grounded in the present and we prescribe on what we can perceive. In this book there is an emphasis on what the remedy does curatively rather than what it does symptomatically. This leads to prescriptions that are based on what the practitioner decides is best for the patient. This is an allopathic approach that imposes the practitioner's idea of what should happen and disempowers the vital force.

The blurring of difference between what a remedy does symptomatically and what it does therapeutically is particularly dangerous in provings where there can be a temptation to make value judgements and from them see symptoms as curative when they might not be. Thus if a serious person becomes less serious this is often seen as curative and so the remedy is one for serious people. In fact the remedy has caused the person to become more frivolous and so it is a remedy for frivolous people. In conventional provings at least we have the opportunity to look at the original symptom and make our own judgement as to what it means. In these meditative provings we are not told how the information came about. It is impossible to tell if during the meditation people became more serious (which I would regard as an excellent indicator), if serious people became less so (an unreliable indicator which probably indicates the reverse) or if it was revealed to the meditators that it was a remedy for serious people (an interesting but not necessarily reliable indicator).

Not only does this type of prescribing imply a prejudice about what should happen to patients, but the book contains all sorts of prejudicial value judgements. Rather than listing greed or avarice as symptoms, the phrases 'too materialistic' and 'too acquisitive' are used. jade ,can be used for those who are too poker-faced and too serious'. The practitioner seems to be making a moral judgement as to when a behaviour is too much, when it transgresses the practitioner's idea of what should be and so becomes sinful. This is very different from deciding when something prevents the patient from freely employing the material body for the higher purposes of our existence, that is, the thing is pathological.

The normal homeopathic practise is to use observational, descriptive terms such as' mannish' and 'effeminate'. In this book judgmental terms are often used: 'men who are wimps, women who are too masculine'. The attitude to homosexuality expressed here is also clearly judgmental and denies the individuality of the patient's personal experience. Gender diversity becomes gender confusion and is identified as a physical pathology.

'Homosexuality is ... a state which represents a lack of balance and a state of confusion. 'The author's claim that these statements are outside morality values and come with love only make them patronizing and more judgmental.

The thing that I find most worrying about the attitude to practice expressed in this book is a refusal to take responsibility. Statements made are ipso facto true and do not need to be examined let alone supported by evidence or philosophy. There is a vain and unreasonable belief that the practitioner is always right. 'Remedies will adapt to what is needed by the individual. "If we use homeopathy with love and an open heart, we cannot give any wrong remedies or do anything harmful.' if anything does go wrong then it must be the patient's fault, for 'anyone who experiences this kind of prescribing has attracted it and has asked for it at a soul level.'

There is much useful and important information to be found in this work, but it is to be found within a framework of thought and practice that cannot be reconciled with the classical tradition of homeopathy.

Meditative Provings

Madeline Evans

Second opinion by Jerome Whitney

Systematic structured meditative provings represent one of a growing number of cutting-edge technologies that are being explored and researched. In so doing, they are actively contributing to the growing remedy chest of homeopathy. As with any new methodology, meditative provings have evoked strong reactions from traditionalists just as did the introduction of Kentian constitutional prescribing into England in 1903.

From those strong responses both positive and negative, it is evident that the topic of meditative provings needs to be placed in perspective before a meaningful review of Meditative Provings may be achieved.

During the early years of homeopathy, Hahnemann, Hering, et al were potentising and prescribing remedies which had yet to be formally proved. Many times the proving came later or was an accidental poisoning, as in the case of Lachesis. in fact a significant number of traditional remedies in the materia medica have yet to be proved. Instead much of what we know has come to us from the curative qualities of substances which were learned from repeated positive clinical experience. Further, many remedies have been introduced into the materia medica as a result of their known effects from traditional herbal and folk medicine usage. Rhus tox and Hamamelis are examples of remedies that went from herbal usage to potentised remedies and clinical results prior to being formally proved.

Another means of sourcing potential remedies for homeopathic prescribing was and is the use of the associative metaphoric tool: sign, signature, and resonance, drawing again from practices of the herbal and folk traditions.

It is important to keep these realities regarding the evolution of the materia medica in mind when addressing the issues and methodology of the meditative proving approach and its role in contemporary homeopathy. Homeopathy is an empirical medical science. The ultimate test is: Does the remedy bring about cure? The means by which the remedy became listed in the material medica is far less important than the curative result it achieves when prescribed to the patient.

Meditative Provings is a materia medica compilation of 52 remedies which have been proved by the Guild of Homeopaths proving circles during the period 1992 to 1997. The mineral, vegetable, animal, human, and vibrational kingdoms are represented in this series. Examples of the range include: Moldavite, Sequoia, Earthworm, Medorrhinum americanum, and Rainbow. Many of the 52 remedies have previously been published in the semiannual journal of the Guild, Prometheus, since its first edition in June 1994. In addition clinical responses to the remedies and case histories demonstrating the practical considerations in prescribing them are a regular and vital section of each issue of the journal.

The challenge in establishing a rubric structure for a materia medica based on the data from intensive meditative provings is that categories of remedy information are being gathered which do not appear in existing materia medicas. This means that Madeline Evans has, of necessity, had to introduce subtle energy categories in addition to those of traditional materia medicas. These include, as examples: essence, endocrine system, throat centre, connections, miasms, chakras, and many more. One might argue that Madeline has introduced too many categories. However it needs to be kept in mind that systematic meditative proving as a methodology is only ten years old. During that time the Guild's proving protocol has been modified and revised based on experience and practice. The work of the Guild is in the same situation as was homeopathy in the early years of the 1 9th century. The structure of the conventional materia materia medica that we all use today took well over one hundred years to evolve. There is no doubt that subsequent volumes of the Guild's provings will show a similar evolution.

In order to judge and understand the headings category rationale utilised in Meditative Provings it is necessary to understand the working model of a human being that is being utilised in the Guild proving protocol. This includes not only the spirit, mind, emotion, and biochemical body categories but a classification of human subtle anatomy as well. In this model the vital force is seen to permeate and surround the body utilising the ductless endocrine glands and the energy centres (chakras) which surround them as communicating links between the spirit-will of the person and their dense biochemical body. With such a model and utilising traditional homeopathic understanding it can be seen that derangement of the invisible vital force can occur any where along the chain from the most abstract aspects of being to the most physical. The intent and attempt of the Guild is to provide, through meditative provings, remedy rubrics which address the various points and levels along that chain. Further, the intent of the work of the Guild is not to replace existing homeopathic materia medica data but rather to add a dimension to it that has not been systematically addressed up till now.

It is evident that Meditative Provings may be used in two ways: i) It can be utilised by those who subscribe to the subtle anatomy model of a human being to treat the endocrine glands and subtle energy centres along with traditional mind-emotion-body rubric data, and ii) It may also and is being used by those who find specific symptom pictures for various mental and emotional issues which have not been adequately addressed by tradi- tional remedies.

The test then for the value of Meditative Provings is: Does it provide for those who choose to use it, the goal intended by its author and the Guild? One does not expect a pioneering work to necessarily be a finished work. Refinement is the duty of those who follow the pioneers. What the Guild has done in both this work and its journal Prometheus is to submit to its peers and the homeopathic public for their application and verification in practice, a series of remedies which its members and students have found, where indicated, to produce results consistent in quality to that of traditional remedies.

The Homeopath
Winter 2001, Number 80