by Fran Cudlipp
The 4th Annual Conference was held in Vancouver on 14 -15 May 05, and was attended by over 45 homeopathic practitioners and students – it was a sell-out!
Put on by the BCSH, as an event to foster community among homeopaths and to focus on promising results in clinical practice, the Conference offers a unique opportunity for dissemination of practice skills and for practitioners to gain experience in presenting cases before their peers.
The quality of the work presented has always been of a very high standard, and this year was no exception:
How beautifully Homeopathy can palliate symptoms, eliminating, or at least minimizing, the need for drugs, allowing a patient to approach death in a clear, calm state of mind, was demonstrated in two cases: Pat Deacon presented a palliative case of Plutonium Nitricum in which her patient was able to resolve longstanding personal and family issues before his death, and Janet Ware presented a very moving case of a terminal cancer patient. Using the plussing method of cancer treatment described in Dr. Ramakrishnan’s, A Homeopathic Approach to Cancer, Janet assisted her patient to die drug-free and in peace and dignity.
Tony Harding presented a cured case of Dolphin using the drawings of his three year old patient to show the transformation: initially the drawings were abstract circles, but gradually became more representational. The case broached the controversial topic of meditative provings: Tony was skeptical but open-minded enough to try the remedy. The final smiling self-portrait of his small patient illustrates the result.
Jonathan Damonte has a very busy practice, primarily using Bowen Therapy. He presented some case histories and talked about Bowen and how he sees its similarity to Homeopathy.
Homeopathy’s impressive history in the treatment of epidemics was addressed by Allison Douglas-Tourner, who presented a case in which Baryta muriaticum cured a stubborn case of C. Difficile, a modern contagion which the CBC reports as having approached pandemic proportions.
Kim Boutilier has done the difficult work of crunching numbers and phoning patients who have not returned. She had some thoughts to help the “Not So Busy Homeopath” become busier. Her presentation prompted a lot of questions and suggestions from the floor. I am sure that Kim’s presentation has inspired more of us to look into these difficult questions. After all, how will we find the answers if we don’t have the courage to ask the questions?
Monique Marcq had been looking for a strategy to use in “long-term case management” for patients with “chronic physical pathology.” Inspired by a review of Hahnemann’s Organon, Monique has treated many long-term cases very successfully and gently using 12C water potencies. Monique’s valuable presentation spurred some lively discussion.
Cynthia Shepard presented her proving of Calypte anna, the Anna’s Hummingbird. What a wonderful opportunity to learn about this new and meticulously proven remedy from Cynthia herself! Cynthia’s talk was laced with fascinating natural history information and luminously illustrated with photographs.
Finally, Iain Marrs presented us with a multitude of boxes, charts, maps and graphs to help us find our way to the elusive simillimum. If the curative remedy eludes you, perhaps you should try thinking in a different box? As always, Iain both entertained us and left us with plenty to think about.
A fund-raising raffle was held, thanks to the generosity of prize donors: Allyson Burden of WholeHealthNow; Jenny Calogeros-Smith of Kent Homeopathic; Greg Cooper of Minimum Price; NASH; Lou Klein and Luminos Homeopathic Courses, and the West Coast Homeopathic Society.
On the Saturday evening, the buffet dinner was superbly catered by Barb Roberts’ niece, Miley, and provided a great opportunity to chat and strike up new friendships.
Finally, a conference like this simply cannot exist without help from volunteers: so to Barb Roberts, Sandy Wheller, Pat Walker, Allyson Burden, Julia Mohrs, and all those others who stepped in to help – THANK YOU.
Related Readings by Allyson Burden
Here’s a list of background reference materials for those who wish to delve more deeply into the areas explored during the BCSH Conference:
1. PAT DEACON – CASE OF PLUTONIUM NITRICUM
The Homeopathic Proving of Plutonium Nitricum including the toxicology of ionizing radiation – Jeremy Sherr, printed in UK, 306 pages, paperback
2. TONY HARDING – CASE OF DOLPHIN
Animal Minds, Human Voices – Nancy Herrick printed in US, 407 pages, paperback.
Meditative Provings – Madeline Evans – printed in UK, 282 pages, hardcover.
Also consider information from the Meditative Proving folks who published Prometheus.
Prometheus ceased publication in 2000. Back copies may be available from
Diane Pitman: diane@pitman39.freeserve.co.uk or by mail from Hawthorn House, Barrows Hole Lane, Little Dunham, Kings Lynn PE32 2DP
++ 01760 722621
3. ALLISON DOUGLAS-TOURNER – CASE OF C. DIFFICILE
National Center for Homeopathy – Flu tracker http://www.homeopathic.org/flu_home.html
Homeopathic Treatment of Influenza, Surviving Influenza Epidemics and Pandemics…past present and future with Homeopathy – Sandra Perko, printed in US, 383 pages, paperback.
Homeopathy for Epidemics: Homeopathy in Times of Crisis – Eileen Nauman, printed in US, 414 pages, paperback.
Homeopathy in Epidemic Diseases – Dorothy Shepherd, printed in UK, 100 pages, paperback.
4. MONIQUE MARCQ – PRESCRIBING FOR CHRONIC PHYSICAL PATHOLOGY
Little Miracles – Carole Cook, printed in UK, 50 pages, paperback.
Fifty Millesimal Potency, Theory and Practice – H. Choudhury, printed in India, 88 pages, paperback.
Achieving and Maintaining the Simillimum – Dr. Luc de Schepper, printed in US, 370 pages, hard cover.
See also, website from New Zealand School of Homoeopathy where the Organon has been stated in plain English by students: http://www.homeopathynz.co.nz/spl_articles/organon_revisited/5/1
5. JANET WARE – CASE OF PALLIATION IN TERMINAL COLO-RECTAL CANCER
A Homeopathic Approach to Cancer – Dr. A.U. Ramakrishnan, US, 198 pages, hard cover.
Homeopathic Nurses Association
An international support organization for nurses who are studying homeopathy and using it in their client’s healthcare and education.
8403 Tahona Dr., Silver Spring, MD 20903. Tel.: 505-586-1166
wellnessnurse@5pillars.com
Secretary/Treasurer: Margaret Easter.
6. CYNTHIA SHEPARD – CALYPTE ANNA PROVING
The full proving data is available to download free at: www.homeopathycourses.com Go to the home page and select Provings at the header; you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read and download this (this software is available on the web free of charge if you don’t have it already).
7. IAIN MARRS – HOMEOPATHY BY THEMES
The Homeopathic Materia Medica – Alphonse Teste, printed in India, difficult to locate but is contained in most library packages of Encyclopedia Homeopathica.
Clinical Focus Guide to Homeopathic Remedies Volume 1 – Louis Klein, printed in Canada, 262 pages, paperback.
Evolving Homeopathy: Towards a Developmental Approach to Homeopathy – Phillip Robbins, printed in Australia, 243 pages, paperback.
The Second Simillimum, A Disease Specific Complement to Individual Treatment – Peter Chappell.
This book represents a giant step forward in homeopathic treatment! In his search for a homeopathic answer to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa, Peter Chappell discovered a new way of designing homeopathic simillima for epidemics and chronic diseases.
The Sensation In Homeopathy – Rajan Sankaran, printed in India, 732 pages, hardback.
Miasms in Labour – Van der Zee, printed in Netherlands, 176 pages, paperback.
Homeopathy in Reflexive Perspective: Applying ‘Theory of Process’ from Arthur Young: Volume 1- Frans Maan, printed in Netherlands, 385 pages
Mappa Mundi – Misha Norland
Stramonium – Paul Herscu, printed in US, 220 pages, paperback