Homeopathy 105: Mary’s Materia Medica of the most important first-aid remedies

I am currently studying beautiful Mary Aspinwall’s free Homeopathy course for beginners, and making cliff notes on it. We already know that there are currently up to 3000 proven remedies in Homeopathy, which are produced from five major sources: minerals, plants, animals, disease tissue (called nosodes), and conventional drugs.

Some of these remedies actually have thousands of symptoms for which they can be used. I recently read a story about a homeopath who prescribed a certain remedy for an elderly lady’s hot flashes. She phoned him later, furious that he had apparently made fun of her by prescribing a remedy which according to its lable was “for bedwetting”. Of course this was not at all his intention, and the remedy was suitable both for her situation, as well as that of some bed-wetting children. But the law requires homeopathic remedies to have indications printed on the lable, and there are only so many that can be fitted on.

Nobody could possible memorize thousands of symptoms for thousands of remedies. This is why homeopaths use two types of reference books (nowadays also available as software). One is an encyclopedia of remedies in alphabetical order with their remedy pictures. These are all the symptoms that were collected from the observations of provers (healthy volunteers that took the remedy) in order of head to foot. These books are the homeopathic Materia Medica.

The second type of reference book is arranged according to symptoms such as head ache, fever, skin eruptions and so on. This book is called a repertory.

Mary recommends the free Homeopathy app available at www.rememdyseeker.com, which lists both remedies and symptoms.

In order to be able to use Homeopathy one must get to know the key remedies well. Mary recommends

starting with first aid remedies, as most people react in quite predictable ways to “outside-in events” such as injuries, dental work and surgery. This makes matchmaking easy and builds confidence in Homeopathy’s reliability, and one’s own ability to use it.

Therefore this article introduces Mary’s 42 number-one-remedies with their most important first-aid uses. At first the names will be unfamiliar, but you will see them pop up everywhere in homeopathic literature or Youtube seminars. This is because they are “polychrest” remedies – they cover a great many different situations.

I have marked those remedies proved by Hahnemann himself with a √ to show that most of the remedies on this list were incorporated into Homeopathy’s arsenal pretty much from the beginning and are therefore well-known the world over.

When you read that Arg nit was proved by Hahnemann, and helps people with a fear of flying, you will realize again that these remedies are not at all restricted to the first-aid use listed here (Hahnemann lived in the age of horse buggies). But there is only so much we can learn at a time.

Here are the remedies in alphabetical order, first in their common abbreviated name (colour coded according to their plant, mineral or animal origin) and then the full Latin name in brackets, and finally the emergency application (I did add a few from Dr. Norbert Enders’ book):

Out of these 42, Mary calls Arnica “Homeopathy’s gateway drug” – to be used not only for physical shock, bruising and trauma (especially head injuries), but exhaustion and fatigue (including jet lag), as well as postpartum troubles.

I marked tissue cell salts in orange. These salts are usually in “X” potency, since they often used to address more material level issues, for instance bone and teeth development. The more highly diluted “C” potencies are further away from the material realm, which enables them to communicate more strongly with the body’s own healing energy.

While acute illness (that comes out from the inside) call for only a single best-fit remedy, Mary recommends making tailor-made remedy mixes for “outside-in symptoms” due to sudden accidents, and scheduled invasive treatments such as surgery or radiation.

To make an INJURY REMEDY MIX, pick any of the following remedies as needed according to the specific situation and add one pillule each to a container of filtered water.

• Aconite (eye injury, violent injury or assault, fright)

• Arnica (trauma, bruising, shock, bleeding, nose bleeds)

• Bryonia (fractures, broken bones, dislocation, rib injuries)

• Calendula (wounds, cuts, grazes)

• Cantharis (burns and scalds)

• Ruta (injury to ligament/tendon, shin, skull, bone surface)

• Rhus tox (sprained muscles)

• Silica (to force out splinters and shards)

• Staphisagria (assaults, rape, injury to orifices, violation)

Give a drop or sip as one dose. Do reassess the need for each remedy daily.

Here are the possible ingredients for a DENTISTRY REMEDY MIX:

• Aconite (fear of the dentist)

• Arnica (trauma, bruising, shock, profuse bleeding)

• Calendula (wounds, cuts to the gums)

• Hepar Sulph (painful, pus-filled abscesses)

• Hypericum (nerve injury, shooting pain)

• Ledum (puncture wounds from local anesthetic)

• Phosphorus (detoxing from anesthesia, profuse bleeding)

• Ruta (intense dry socket pain following tooth extraction)

• Silica (to force out broken tooth shards, painless pus-filled abscesses)

• Staphisagria (surgical incision, violation of an orifice)

And finally, the SURGERY REMEDY MIX.

• Aconite (restlessness, anxiety and fear of dying)

• Arnica (physical shock, trauma, bruising)

• Bellis perennis (if deep tissues is affected – breast or abdomen)

• Calendula (speeds healing of wounds, reduces risk of infection)

• China (painful trapped win, weakness, dehydration)

• Hypericum (surgical wounds, amputations, shooting nerve pain)

• Nux vomica (irritability and toxicity after anesthetic)

• Phosphorus (nausea after anesthesia)

• Staphisagria (surgical wounds, feelings of violation)

The next thing to do is buy a Homeopathy kit (a “home pharmacy” as they say in German), so I can start experimenting with my new knowledge – to see if it really works, of course (I very much hope it will, and don’t see why it wouldn’t vis-a-vis all the success stories) – and if it does, reap the benefits!

As Mary says, kits are economic, less bulky and therefore easy to take along. You can see the kit Mary put together here (https://Homeopathykits.com/), but there are many others.

When considering situations where first aid might be needed it is important to stress that modern medicine shines in the emergency room, where speed and special knowledge and equipment are needed. It is also important to know when to go to the ER, so Mary provides a list of serious symptoms I will reproduce here:

• Backache or fever with a urinary infection

• Heavy bleeding

• Difficult breathing

• Severe burns (larger than your hand)

• Severe chest pain

• Lost/impaired consciousness

• Confusion after over-exposure to the sun

• Severe headache

• Severe dehydration

• Persistent high fever with a stiff neck

• Fluid from ears/nose after head injury

• Puncture wounds near vital organs

• Red streaks running towards the body

• Severe swelling in the mouth/throat

• Lost/impaired vision

• Repeated vomiting

You can download Mary’s free e-book “A basic guide to homeopathy” from her course website, which includes both a short list of common complaints as well as a “mini Materia Medica” (with more information than my basic chart above). There is also a guide on Homeopathy in pregnancy.

Sources:

Aspinwall, M. (n.d.). Mary’s FREE Homeopathy Course. Retrieved on Feb 12th, 2020 from https://maryaspinwall.com/

Enders, N. (2012). Enders Homöopathische Hausapotheke. Stuttgart: Haug