BOOKS

The Synergy in Homeopathy by Rajan Sankaran

An Integrated Approach to Case-Taking and Analysis. Traditional Classical Homoeopathy,with symptoms, rubrics, and keynotes, has stood the test of time. Introduction of newer, more contemporary ideas - of kingdom, levels, miasms and sensation - have brought Homoeopathy into a new paradigm. Never before has the connection between the patient and the remedy source been as clear. These contemporary ideas have become very popular and have led to many successful cases. However, enamoured by success with this method, a whole new generation have started using it as a shortcut, and have sometimes neglected traditional knowledge. The profession became split, with conventional and contemporary homoeopathy sharply divided. The originator of the Sensation Method, Rajan Sankaran, has always maintained that symptoms and system are two sides of same coin and that success results from an integrated approach. It is like using both the left and right sides of the brain; both the factual and conceptual aspects of the patient and remedy have to be seen together. The knowledge and understanding found in old masters like C. M. Boger is now explained in detail in this book. Through illustrative cases, Rajan Sankaran demonstrates the secret of success with the integrated approach. Through a seamless blending of the old and new, the symptom and system, conventional and contemporary, the results are proof of a quantum leap in homoeopathic practice.

Into the Periodic table by Jayesh Shah

In this book, Jayesh Shah shares with us cases of patients who have done extremely well with remedies from the second series of the periodic table, remedies that for the most parts have probably been under-prescribed until now because we did not have a deep understanding of their core aspects. His comments and analysis of those cases reveal the essence of remedies in this row, and allow the reader to understand the subtle differences when one goes from one column to the next. br> Dr. Shah also introduces us to his clear understanding of the issue of structure in mineral remedies:
It is as if each of these mineral remedies on the periodic table has a sensation of a certain number attached to it. This number correlates to the atomic number in the periodic table. As you go from above down and from left to right in the periodic table the number increases. The sensation of 'self-weight' as I term it, increases. The amount of 'self-weight' or 'self worth' of a person is a reflection of the sensation of the structure within a person. There are many criteria that help us determine the structure-experience of a person.
This book provides us with new tools to understand what are those criteria and how to evaluate the ?self-weight? of each person so that we can prescribe a remedy that matches this 'sensation of the structure'.
This book is highly recommended for anyone who is interested in refining their understanding of mineral remedies. Jayesh Shah's vast experience, subtle case-taking and unique teaching style are felt throughout the book and will captivate the reader. Rajan Sankaran says it best in his foreword to the book: Jayesh brings into his Homeopathy a unique blend of curiosity, inquiry, patience, persistence, all of which arise from a deep and genuine desire to help the person in front of him.
His well-taken cases of remedies from a single row of the periodic table highlight the progress of the row and also the specific place of each element in it. His descriptions are deep and come from close observation and deep thought, carefully weighing and tasting each element as it were. With considerable clinical experience, his attention to detail, strong fundamentals, and painstaking enquiry, these cases and conclusions have a lot of value and will open up this row to all sincere homeopaths. Hopefully his work on the other rows will soon follow.

Structure by Rajan Sankaran

With Structure, Rajan Sankaran offers insights into the mineral kingdom. This is the second book of a trilogy, following on from the introduction to the plant kingdom. In the two volumes, he describes in detail the individual rows (series) and the various salts with case studies and a schematic overview.
After elaborating on his kingdom idea and the sensation level, Rajan Sankaran has been consolidating these with a look into each kingdom. Structure is the second of a trilogy on the various kingdoms, the first being an insight into plants and the third being survival (on the animal kingdom).

Just you see by Sunirmal Sarkar

Sunirmal Sarkar is one of the busiest practitioners in West Bengal. He was a professor of Materia Medica at The National Institute of Homoeopathy in Kolkata. He sees over 100 patients per day, with more than 50 cancer cases. In 30 years of clinical practice,  Sarkar's tremendous success in pathological cases has compelled the rest of the homoeopathic world to witness what he is doing and how he is doing it.
Surnirmal Sarkar is a dedicated and voracious reader of the Materia Medica, Repertory, and Clinical Medicine. He is a master of Allen's Keynotes, Boericke's Materia Medica, Kent Repertory, and Pulford's Materia Medica. His affinity and desire for reading, depth of understanding, innovative thinking and extensive clinical practice, have created a unique approach, which is inclusive of his case-taking method, follow-ups, and potency selection.
Jusf You See is the favorite phrase of Sunirmal Sarkar while he is teaching his students. The unique style and approach he adopts in his cases and lectures is remarkable and is summarized by this very phrase. He habitually gives examples of clinical situations, along with clinical symptoms of the patient. He then shows us where the peculiarity can be found, even in the black and white symptoms, and he reveals the hidden values in the pages of our Materia Medica and Repertory.
Jusf You See symbolizes a broadening of knowledge, which brings to light the countless amounts of symptoms and approaches that he uses in clinical practice. Aside from the traditional tools utilized in homoeopathic practice, such as the Materia Medica and Repertory, he uses several other interesting sources such as Indian Drugs, Potentized Allopathic Drugs, Sarcodes, and Organ Remedies to name a few.
For the first time, his ideas, approaches, and cases have been systematically recorded in an easy to follow style. This book is entirely based on homoeopathic clinical practice and is a must read for any homoeopathic practitioner.

An insight into Plants by Rajan Sankaran

This work by Rajan Sankaran conveys the essential idea or the “sensations” of 20 plant families such as: Anacardiaceae - Cactaceae - Compositae - Fungi - Labiatae - Liliflorae - Magnoliales - Malvales - Ranunculaceae - Rubiaceae - Solanaceae - Umbelliferae. Here, Sankaran develops for the first time a kind of “periodic table” of the plant remedies, schematically arranged using a dual-coordinate system of a botanical family theme modulated by a miasm. It is already clear that this approach enables less well-known plants to be prescribed with success.
This book is a breakthrough in the homeopathic systematization of plant remedies. In its importance for a new view of the plant kingdom, it is aptly compared to Scholten’s vision of the periodic table for the mineral kingdom. Although many authors have worked previously with the concept of botanical families, Sankaran has created a new approach, which unifies the families and the miasms in one new system for the first time. He calls the theme of each plant family as a ‘sensation’, and the individual way of reaction in disease is identified with the particular miasm the patient is in. These two parameters make up the whole two-dimensional system. It is easy to apply as soon as the two parameters of sensation and miasm are understood in depth. The book contains the ‘sensations’ of 20 plant families, deducted by a unique search and sifting technique of the materia medica programs, which he describes in this book. We thus find the hypothetic themes of Anacardiaceae, Berberidaceae, Cactaceae, Compositae, Coniferae, Euphorbiaceae, Fungi, Hamamelidaceae, Labiatae, Liliflorae, Loganiaceae, Magnoliales, Malvales, Papaveraceae, Primulaceae, Ranunculaceae, Rubiaceae, Solanaceae, Umbelliferae, and Violales.The work on this book led the author to elaborate on another multi-dimensional system. This new step is taken in ‘The Sensation in Homeopathy’.

JUST OUT!

Spectrum of Homeopathy - Insects

Have you heard of Anax imperator or Schistocerca gregaria? The first one is the emperor dragonfly, a particularly magnificent specimen from the dragonfly group, which comprises a total of 5,680 species. Like all its fellow species, it has sophisticated abilities technically equivalent to a combat helicopter – despite its dazzling beauty, it uses its hooked feet to snatch its prey in mid-flight.

A young lad with a developmental disorder and severe restlessness could unknowingly draw this species, as it strongly resembles his favorite Star Wars character: a robot with two hooked talons and four green-blue illuminated laser swords. The striking similarity of the boy's robot sketches to Anax imperator led Markus Kuntosch to the potentized but so far unproved dragonfly: the successful progress of the case indicated that his hunch was spot on.

What about Schistocerca gregaria, the desert locust, which can mutate from a strange loner to a swarm weighing several tons, able to strip whole landscapes bare? Only a few of you will have heard of this insect remedy but it has been proved just as thoroughly as the related Schistocerca americana. Despite the solid homeopathic data, Jonathan Hardy and Heinz Wittwer additionally make use of insect themes and the particularly “locust-like” nature of their patients when prescribing Schistocerca.

Themes and signatures in the sense of a species' biological peculiarities always play a key role in the homeopathic approach to this ancient and most species-rich class of animals. This is also true of such well-known remedies as Apis mellifica, Formica rufa, or Coccus cacti, as shown by the cases presented by Sigrid Lindemann, Rajan Sankaran, and Shekhar Algundgi. Ulrich Welte gives us a glimpse of the impetuous, erratic charisma of Cantharis vesicatoria, primarily known as a bladder remedy.

The work with themes and signatures also enables an initial homeopathic differentiation within the confusing kingdom of the insects. A fascinatingly original approach is taken by Peter Fraser with his contribution on the style of nutrition found in the insects. “You are what you eat” is his motto and, indeed, the differentiation between blood-sucking insects, cannibals, plant-eaters, coprophagous (feces-eating), and nectar-sucking insects is a rich vein of new homeopathic knowledge. The same is equally true of the question of parasitism, which Jörg Wichmann and Angelika Bolte address using Coccus cacti and Hirudo medicinalis, and Jean-Thierry Cambonie with Sarcoptes scabiei. Ulrich Welte supplements these observations with information on bugs, fleas, and other nuisances. The equally annoying housefly, Musca domestica, and the mosquito, Culex musca, are carefully analyzed in terms of their stress patterns by Andreas Richter.

Turning to the large crawling insects, we must not forget to examine the common cockroach, which is reputed to be so tough that it can even withstand a nuclear catastrophe. In her contribution on the Indian variant Blatta orientalis, Bhawisha Joshi first provides an overview of the general themes of insects, seeking overlaps with other remedy groups, such as spiders, rodents, or the fourth series of the periodic table.

For an ardent illustrator, the insects are obviously a real godsend, if not always terribly appetizing – see Fraser's remarks on cannibalistic and coprophagous insects. Disgust is an important theme of these animals, as is beauty. When in doubt, we have chosen beauty for the illustrations! Accordingly, we chose a butterfly rather than a cockroach to grace the cover of this issue. Lepidoptera represent this theme for the entire class of insects. Patricia Le Roux's book drew our attention to the use of butterfly remedies for hyperactive children who lack a sense of orientation. With the contributions of Jonathan Hardy, Alize Timmerman, and Jenna Shamat, we can see how these remedies are also connected to adult themes, such as love and metamorphosis, death, and rebirth.

Even this multifarious issue with its wide range of example cases can come nowhere near representing the stupendous breadth of the insect spectrum. For the moment, we have to accept that this is still largely unmapped terrain for homeopathy, in which themes and signatures can play an important role in orientation, but without replacing the need for new remedy provings. With this issue of SPECTRUM, we would like to give you a feeling for the special energy of the insects and encourage you to engage more closely with this intriguing kingdom.