The Potency - Fibonacci Series

Review

This book review is reprinted from Volume 104, Number 2 Summer 2011 Edition, with permission from American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine.

Reviewed by Jay Yasgur, RPh, MSc

In The Potency... Rozencwajg makes the case for applying the Fibonacci constant (1.1618), also known as "The Golden Ratio' to the development of a new homeopathy remedy potency scale.

Tracing the evolution of potency scales, he includes several graphs devoted to Kentian harmonics and the French series, etc., before ending with the work of Beal and Dupree (JAIH, 93:2, Summer, 2000, pp. 89-93) dealing with Kent's Octaves. These two noted American veterinarians suggested that 135C and not 200C should be the next potency in line after the 30C.

After this introduction, Doctor Joe, as he is affectionately known in New Zealand, builds the case for his novel scale and offers cases to show his successes.

In this beautifully produced volume one manages to acquire a fair amount of general insight into the good doctor's homeopathic thought.

There are not chapters per se but lively sections, e.g., The Quest, The Revelation, The Fibonacci Series, Safety of the Method, Wrong remedies, Timing of the Remedies, Depth of Action, Silica: A Personal Encounter, What Did I Learn? ... Of these, I found the one on Silica to be of special interest.

Rozencwajg has formulated three potency scales based on the sources: plants, minerals and nosodes. To all, he applies the Fibonacci constant, but he starts each series at the 3C, 5C and 8C levels, respectively. The pharmacy he uses runs the potencies (one hundred succussions at each step) up to 233C (the highest level in his scales) in each level. The 3C scale has nine levels (here the 233C is equivalent to 180MMMM), the 5C scale has 8 levels (233C is equivalent to 61MMMM) and the 8C scale has 7 levels (233C is equivalent to 12MMMM). You will have to purchase the book to get the more details.

Though his ideas go from the enlightening to the radical; e.g., his plasma potency chords are even more radical than the 'normal' ones, this book does not fail to broaden horizons.

To end, I offer one of his cases (pp. 150,1):

"Here is another case illustrating the 'filtering' effect of a first remedy and what an apparent aggravation can in reality be.

"F.M. is an 8 year-old boy. Mum brings him in because he picks his nails when underpressure and has itching haemorrhoids. He needs to do things absolutely right, in a very structured way; otherwise he cries and becomes desperate. He has a very acute sense of smell. At night, he wakes up claiming he is hearing footsteps and sees spirits coming out of his closet and talking to him.

"Calcarea silicata 5C to 89C was the first prescription. Mum then describes 'some fantastic stuff happened': within one hour of the very first dose, F. had the biggest tantrum in his whole life! Same but less intense with the 8C and with each subsequent dose there was a little tantrum, but nothing with 55C and 89C. The spirits did disappear with the 5C, as did the fingernails picking, but they reappeared after the 55C. He is less stubborn, his sense of smell is normal; no haemorrhoids.

"Clearly Calcarea silicata was an 'almostcorrecticum,' but not a 'goodenoughicum'. Some symptoms disappeared, but the spirits were back, the nail picking was back and what do I do with those tantrums? I keep digging and soon I am told he just had a big splinter in his foot; how can we remove it? I ask to see it and although he shows me his foot reluctantly, at the same time he becomes clinging, whining, and bursts in tears... 'he has been like that lately' says Mum.

Reworking the previous repertorisation, removing the symptoms that are now gone and adding those new ones, confirms the immediate impression of Pulsatilla. Calcarea silicata unravelled the Pulsatilla layer that was very well hidden. The tantrums were not an aggravation of Calcarea silicata but were the nasty side of Pulsatilla suddenly revealed. Indeed, Pulsatilla was there in the first repertorisation (not the highest ranking), and, yes, Pulsatilla has the delusion of seeing phantoms, ghosts and specters, but so did many other polychrests; his Pulsatilla state is the 'nasty' one we do not see often, and his need for structure, order and doing things only the proper way led me to think more of a mineral remedy; hence the choice of Calcarea silicata. Bad first prescription or layered case? Who knows? But now he is cured."

The Potency: Advance Prescribing in Homeopathy

Reviewed by Manish Bhatia

Potency selection is an issue that has remained ambiguous for nearly every homeopath. We are all taught about the three scales - Decimal, Centecimal and 50 Millecimal and get to know the frequently used potencies from each scale. But how many of us have pondered deeply enough on the common potencies that we use - The 6, 30, 200, 1M, 10M series of Kent or the French series of 3C, 6C, 9C, 12C, 15C and so on? What justifies these potencies and these large jumps from one potency to another? Nearly every homeopath has thought about these issues at some point of time but how many of us have found any answers?

For a change, Joe Rozencwaig, the author of 'The Potency' has succeeded to find some answers. He has been able to relate the progression of homeopathic potencies with the Fibonacci series. So the obvious question is - What is the Fibonacci series?

In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in the following sequence:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144...

By definition, the first two Fibonacci numbers are 0 and 1, and each remaining number is the sum of the previous two. Some sources omit the initial 0, instead beginning the sequence with two 1s.

In mathematical terms, the sequence Fn of Fibonacci numbers is defined by the recurrence relation

Fn = Fn-1 + Fn-2

with seed values

F0 = 0 and F1 = 1.

The first 21 Fibonacci numbers (sequence A000045 in OEIS), also denoted as Fn, for n = 0, 1, 2, ... ,20 are:

F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 F10 F11 F12 F13 F14 F15 F16 F17 F18 F19 F20

0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144 233 377 610 987 1597 2584 4181 6765

The Fibonacci series seems to be omnipresent. It can be seen in nature in the mathematical proportion of shapes of flowers, cacti, vegetables like Brassica, Pineapple, Nautilus Shell, Butterfly, inner and external human ears etc. It is also used in many mathematical, accounting and trading formulas. It is even present in art and music. This rhythm found in nature led Joe to using the same rhythm in homeopathic potencies and the series of centecimal potencies thus used were called the Fibonacci Potencies.

Joe has used these potency series for many years and in this book he has outlined his journey to this discovery and the experiences he has gained so far. This book is unique because it provides mathematical answers to many questions related to our remedies and potencies.

There is only one thing that I feel needs to be modified in this work. The examples relating to the presence of Fibonacci series and the Golden Ratio have been given before these terms are explained in detail. So while you go through the examples, you do not understand what these examples mean. The detailed explanation only comes later. Apart from this, the book is pretty thorough and with decent print quality.

How useful this series is in wider practice, only time will tell but if you are interested in reading some new thoughts about homeopathic potencies and want to know how to use Fibonacci potencies in your practice, then this book is for you.