New Age Medicine: Homeopathy

Pastor David L. Brown, Ph.D.

Compiled & Edited David L. Brown, Th.M. -- New Age/Occult Researcher
This and other research reports are available from Logos Communication Consortium

Links to Topics:

Introduction
Elements of Homeopathy from the Mystical and Occult Realm
Animism, Hinduism, Confucianism and Eastern Religion
The Doctrine of Vital Force
Homeopathy is a Stepping Stone to Other Occult Activities

Would you go to see a witch-doctor to cure a physical ailment? There might be some reading this research report that would, but few Christians would seek help from someone that they knew practiced occult medicine, using demonic powers for healing. The problem is, there is a whole new breed of healers using occult means and occult powers for healing. They neither dress like nor look like the witch-doctors you see in the pages of National Geographic. They look like you and me. I'll never forget the time when a Christian woman came into my office and began pouring out her heart. She was going through "deep water" as it were. I asked her some questions and to my surprise I discovered she had been seeing a psychic. She came to me because her problems had dramatically worsened since then... nightmares, evil thoughts, depression, self-destructive thoughts. I told her that she was involved with the occult and God forbids all occult practices. I read and explained Deuteronomy 18:9-14. She protested. She said that the psychic had read the Bible to her, prayed with her and assured her that her gift was from God. This is not true. Acts 16:15-18 makes it clear that psychic powers are the result of demon possession. Further, Acts 13:10 gives us the Biblical evaluation of those who practice the occult --

And said, O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?

I then urged the woman to confess her involvement with the psychic as sin, repent and renounce all advice and association with the psychic reader.

My point is simply this, many New Age/Occult healing practices are disguised. Sometimes those involved quote the Bible and pray with their patients. But underneath the facade you will find the occult operating. That's what is happening with homeopathy. It is my sincere prayer that you will read this research report and see how the "Angel of Light" has cleverly disguised his lies. Because of this disguise, many Christians are buying into homeopathy. May you know the truth and may the truth make you free.

Homeopathy was developed by a German mystic physician named Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann who lived between 1755-1843. Although there are three different streams of homeopath since its development, homeopathy has changed very little.

The Traditional Homeopath -- This stream of homeopathic practitioners follows the occult theories of the father of homeopathic medicine, Samuel Hahnemann.
The Parapsychologically oriented Homeopaths -- Those who follow this homeopathic path try to update the traditional methods of the 1800's and bring them into the 20th Century. One of their "scientific Methods" is the practice of almost infinitely diluting its "medications."
The Demythologized Homeopath -- Those who follow this stream mistakenly think homeopathic medicines may work through unknown scientific principles, but questions the possibility that these medicines can really be effective in dilut ion so high that not even one molecule of the original medicine remains.

But, regardless of which stream one follows, the practices are still the same. In fact, "To his supporters, Hahnemann is the single genius in the history of recorded medicine."¹

This system bases treatment on Similia similibus curantur which basically boils down to what you might call, "like cures like." That is that the same substance causing symptoms in a healthy person will cure those symptoms in a sick person. One of the big problems is that homeopathy claims to correct an imbalance or problem in the body's "vital force" or life energy. These imbalances, they claim, will sooner or later cause disease. We will take a closer look at the issue of "vital force" later in this report.

But there are also other equally disturbing problems with homeopathy. Many of the basic elements that C. F. Samuel Hahnemann brought into homeopathy are from the mystical & occult realm. Let's consider some of them.

Elements of Homeopathy from the Mystical and Occult Realm

Freemasonry

To begin with, "We know that he was a member of a Lodge of Free Masons."² In my research library I have many old Masonic publications. They are filled with mysticism and the occult. In his studies for advancement in the Masonic order, Hahnemann would have been exposed to many of these ideas. It becomes obvious that Freemasonry influenced him, for on the title page of his "Bible of Homeopathy" are two interesting words -- Aude-Sapere. Where did that come from? What does it mean? The motto of Freemasonry is Aude Sapere which means, Dare To Be Wise. Hahnemann "borrowed" the Masonic motto and placed it on the title page of his "Organon".

Swedenborgianism

I am the Mid-West bureau chief for the INDEPENDENT TV/NEWS SERVICE of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and hold press credentials from a Wisconsin news organization. August 23, 1993 I covered the Parliament Of The World's Religions, held at the Palmer-House Hilton in Chicago. It was a smorgasbord of Apostate "Christian," New Age, Occult religions. Invocationary "prayers" were offered by many, including a Catholic, a Unitarian, a Witch who "prayed" to Isis and a Swedenborgian. The Swedenborgains were high profile at the PWR. They had a double-wide exhibit in the display area. A brief look at the material I collected from their display shows that they blend mysticism, the occult and Christianity together.

Perhaps you are wondering what this has to do with Hahnemann. Let me tie it together for you. Hahnemann was an ardent follower of Swedish mystic philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) and Swedenborg was his mentor. Since Hahnemann followed Swedenborg you need to know what the man's key teaching was. The key tenet of Swedenborg's doctrine was his method of arriving at truth. "As employed by Swedenborg himself, it consisted of a series of Revelations, by which immediate and indubitable [unqu estionable] intercourse [communication] with the spirit world was obtained."³ To put it simply Swedenborg taught his followers how to enter a state of consciousness that would put them in touch with spirit entities. He would claim that they were good spirits though anyone knowledgeable in the Scriptures would identify them as demons. Actually what you have here is what the Bible forbids as necromancy (see Deuteronomy 18:9-12). One researcher hits the nail on the head when he says Swedenborg was a "powerful spiritist and medium."⁴

How did this affect Hahnemann? "Hahnemann himself claimed to be 'inspired' in his homeopathic writings."⁵ Now this is not an obscure fact among homeopathic practitioners. In the Swiss Homeopathic Journal, #4, 1960 the president of the International League of Homeopathy noted this fact to a group of homeopaths when he said,

It's futile to reject this or that principle announciated in the 'Organ' [Organon]. There remains more than enough to recognize the unfathomable intuition and divinitory spirit of its author.⁶

Many homeopaths look at his book as a divinely mystical book. When a man claims divine revelation or inspiration as the source of his writings, that should immediately raise huge red flags in the minds of any Christian. It is only the Bible that is inspired by God (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

Paracelsianism

Martin Gumpert wrote a book entitled, Hahnemann: The Adventerous Career of a Medical Rebel. In this book it reveals that Hahnemann studied and delighted in the teachings of a Swiss occultic medical philosopher named Paracelsus (1493-1541). Paracelsu s developed a medical philosophy that combined the esoteric occult teachings of the Cabala with the facts and fancies of science. His "medical" philosophy was occult oriented without a doubt. The teachings of Paracelsus stimulated Hahnemann's thinking and he developed some of his doctrine based on the occult teachings of Paracelsus. Hahnemann was drawn like a magnet to occult ideas and the teachings of Franz Mesmer just added to the heap.

Mesmerism

Franz Mesmer (1733-1815) was a Swiss-German physician that founded the doctrine of animal magnetism, often called mesmerism. What Mesmer uncovered was actually an occult art that had been used for centuries by Shamans (witch doctors) to bring people under their control. Mesmer learned the technique that allowed him to produce an abnormal condition resembling sleep in another person. During this state, the mind of the individual remained passive and was subject to the will of the operator. Mesmer used this hypnotic state to heal patients that were sick. In fact, in his Homeopathic Bible, the Organon, Hahnemann compared the similarities between the practice of homeopathy and mesmerism. Consider this quote from the 6th edition of the Organon --

I find it yet necessary to allude here to animal magnetism, as it is defined, or rather Mesmerism. [...] It is a marvelous, priceless gift of God [...] by means of which the strong will of a well intentioned person upon a sick one by contact and even without this and even at some distance, can bring the vital energy of the healthy mesmerizer endowed with this power into another person dynamically [...] The above mentioned methods of practicing mesmerism depend upon an influx of more or less vital force into the patient [...]"⁷

Oh, by the way, what Hahnemann has just described is modern psychic healing.

Animism, Hinduism, Confucianism and Eastern Religion

During my research I became increasingly aware that this man rejected the Bible and God's "wisdom that is from above" and followed the earthly, sensual and devilish wisdom from beneath (James 3:15-17). Then I came across a quote that reveals his view of Christ! Hahnemann was offended by the life of Jesus Christ. He mocks Jesus Christ, calling Him "the arch-enthusiast" His biographers write --

He took offense at the arch-enthusiast Jesus of Nazareth, who did not lead the enlightened on the straight way to wisdom but who wanted to struggle with publicans and sinners on a difficult path toward the establishment of the kingdom of God. . . . The man of sorrows who took the darkness of the world on Himself was an offense to the lover of etheric [highly refined, heavenly] wisdom" [Hahnemann].⁸

How can a Christian follow the "inspired" teachings of a Christ rejecter like C. F. Samuel Hahnemann? In some cases is it because of ignorance. In other cases Satan has blinded their minds. Let's move on.

According to Martin Gumpert, Samuel Hahnemann was influenced by animism.⁹ And he was also into other Eastern religions. One biography reveals "he is strongly attracted to the East. Confucius is his ideal."¹⁰ This is well documented by a letter Hahne mann wrote.

"This is where you can read divine wisdom, without [e.g., Christian] miracle-myths and superstition. I regard it as an important sign of our times that Confucius is now available for us to read. Soon I will embrace him in the kingdom of blissful spirits, the benefactor of humanity, who has shown us the straight path to wisdom and to God, already 650 years before the arch-enthusiast...."¹¹

It is little wonder that Samuel Pfeifer says, "The reverence for Eastern thought was not just Hahnemann's personal hobby, but rather the fundamental philosophy behind the preparation of homeopathic remedies." ¹² In an excellent Christian book published in Northern Ireland, H.J. Bopp concludes after reading Hahnemann and other homeopathic writings that --

[...] the vocabulary is esoteric and the ideas are impregnated with oriental philosophies like Hinduism. The predominant strain of pantheism would place God everywhere, in each man, each animal, plant, flower, cell, even in homeopathic medicine."¹³

The Doctrine of Vital Force

Even if we were to exclude all the above influences that play a part in homeopathy (which we can't), there is yet one major, Major, major problem. That is the doctrine that underlies all homeopathic treatment. That is the doctrine of vital force. This was mentioned in a quote from Hahnemann on Mesmerism. But what does it actually mean?

"What Hahnemann taught was that mystical energies were at the base of both human nature and the medicines themselves, thus at the very base of creation itself. This is why many commentators, both sympathetic and critical, teach that Hahnemann was referring to new age spiritual or cosmic energy when talking of his vital force."¹⁴

If you know your New Age & occult philosophy you will recognize that what is in focus here is pantheism, that is, the belief that divinity or life force is inseparable from and immanent in everything. Leading homeopath Herbert Robert put it this way, relating homeopathy's vital force to a pantheistic deity in his Art of Cure by Homeopathy. He said the "vital force" of homeopathy was part of "the moving Energy, the activating Power of the universe," as being "passed on in all forms and degrees of living creatures," and as permeating the universe:

If therefore this force, this energy, actuates or permeates all forms and degrees of life from the most humble and inconspicuous to the very planets, we may reasonably assume that vital force is the most fundamental of all conditions of the universe, and that the laws governing the vital force in the individual are correlated with the laws which govern all vital force, all forms of energy, wherever or however expressed. [...] This energy [...] is responsible for all growth and all development in all spheres of existence.¹⁵

Daisie and Michael Radner see the connection between homeopathy and occult energy fields.

Like Chinese medicine, homeopathy posits [assumes as fact] an energy field or 'vital force.' Disease is a disorder of the body's energy field, and the way to cure it is to manipulate that field. The energy field of the medicine stimulates that body's own fluid to induce healing. As with Chinese medicine, it is maintained that the energy fields are similar to those of modern physics. Again the principle cited is the interchangeability of matter and energy.¹⁶

So how is one healed by homeopathy? "The healing power", say the homeopaths, "is coming from cosmic power transferred to the remedy through the ritual of potentiation" (Organ 2:12). The "ritual of potentiation" is a reference to the diluting and shaking of the homeopathic medicines. That, according to homeopaths, enhances and increases the power of the medicine and that power is then transferred to the person. In fact, "some leading homeopaths have confessed that the energy they claim to manipulate in curing people is indistinguishable from that occult energy in general which has gone by a wide variety of names throughout history."¹⁷

What is frightening is the fact that one homeopathic Doctor, "Vithoulkas", openly reveals that the real purpose of homeopathy is "to help open the higher centers [of the brain] for spiritual and celestial influx."¹⁸

What's he talking about? Demonic invasion! Physician H. J. Bopp relates his own clinical experience: "The occult influence in homeopathy is transmitted to the individual, bringing him consciously or unconsciously under demonic influence. [...] It is significant frequently to find nervous depression in families using homeopathic treatments."¹⁹

Other homeopaths admit an occult connection. Homeopathic authority James Kent states that there are two worlds, the physical world and the invisible world. He says that the whole of homeopathy is bound up in the invisible world, which is indistinguishable from the spiritual world of the occult realm .²⁰

Perhaps Richard Grossinger, author of Planet Medicine: From Stone Age Shamanism to Post-Industrial Healing does the best of summing up the information I have just presented to you --

Homeopathy is neither the first nor the last attempt to develop a scientific Vitalist [occult] medicine. Alchemists, gnostics, animists, and other naturalist-magicians worked for millennia toward a cure based on the life force in the primal energy of nature. Goethe, Steiner, Jung, and Reich followed. [...] It [homeopathy] persists [today] as a clinical occult discipline.²¹

He further states,

Psychic healing, homeopathy, acupuncture, orgone therapy, and various shamanisms and voodoo all suggest that there must be an energy outside of contemporary definition."²²

Homeopathy is a Stepping Stone to Other Occult Activities

2 Corinthians 11:14-15

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Though many homeopaths attempt to "dress up" this mystical occult medicine in clothes of respectability, not all homeopaths play that game. Leading Swiss homeopath, Dr. Adolf Voegeli is one such person. When he was asked how he explained the working of the cosmic energy in homeopathy he responded, "You know, I believe in the power of the zodiac." He does not keep this belief a secret either. In an article on the mechanisms of homeopathy published in the Zeitschrift fuer Klassiche Homoeopathie (Journal for Classical Homeopathy) the bibliography resembles a collection of occult, hinduistic, and anthroposophical literature.²³

Many homeopaths diagnose on the basis of astrological signs or otherwise employ astrology in their practice.²⁴ For example, one homeopath confesses,

In homeopathy we have to put more stress on individual differences, and that leads us to an interest in such things as astrology and acupuncture"²⁵

Others use divination to find a cure. Dr. Voegeli, a famous homeopathic doctor, has confirmed that a very high percentage of homeopaths work with the pendulum.²⁶ Dr. Pfeifer, M.D., also notes the use of pendulums by homeopaths because "it is easier to take a short cut with the radionic pendulum."²⁷ For example, former Lutheran pastor, Bolte, got his "gift" of soothsaying by means of a radionic pendulum. Like many other homeopaths, he chooses the appropriate remedy for a patient by using the pendulum. In his booklet From Pendulum Research to Miraculous Healing he writes:

I would sit at the desk, take the pendulum out, let it circle over Schwabe's list of homeopathic remedies and then order the remedy at their pharmacy in Leipzig."²⁸

[Note that since homeopathic "medicines" are all diluted so far as to contain practically none of the original substance, it would logically follow that it should make no difference at all which one is prescribed. Bolte's claim of success as a result of prescribing random remedies only serves to support the fact that they are all the same... ordinary water.]

Still others use even more hard core occult means. There are groups whose [homeopathic] research is carried out during seances, through mediums who seek information from spirits. The testimony of a person who worked in an important homeopathic laboratory of high standing in France is very interesting. She tells about the interview she had with the former director and founder of the establishment with a view to her recruitment. After a short introduction, this director asked her which astrological sign she was born under. He then wished to know whether she was a medium. As this was so, he confided to her the secret of the practices of the place. New treatments were researched there during seances, through the agency of persons having occult powers -- mediums by which to question spirits.²⁹

The frosting on the occult cake comes from a former new age healer and psychic who says "it is a fact that many homeopathic practitioners try to make sure their remedies are working by putting a magic spell on them".³⁰

In conclusion I issue this warning to all Christians. Homeopathic practices can and do open the door of your mind to demonic influences. Though the occult influence in homeopathy is often disguised, nonetheless it is there. Allow me to share a second time this quote from one Christian researcher -- "The occult influence in homeopathy is transmitted to the individual, bringing him consciously or unconsciously under demonic influence [...] It is significant frequently to find nervous depression in families using homeopathic treatments."³¹ Ephesians 5:11 instructs us, "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."

Footnotes

Richard Grossinger, Planet Medicine: From Stone Age Shamanism to Post-Industrial Healing, Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1980; p. 162-3
H. J. Bopp, Homeopathy, Down, North Ireland: Word of Life Publications, 1984; p. 3
Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary; 1913; p. 2437
Ankerberg & Weldon, Can You Trust Your Doctor; Wolgemut & Hyatt; p. 315
Ibid. p. 318
H. J. Bopp; p. 3
Samuel Hahnemann, Organon of Medicine, 6th edition, reprint, New Dehli, India: B. Jain Publishers, 1978; p. 309 & 311
Samuel Pfeifer, M.D., Healing at Any Price?, Milton Keynes, England: Word Limited, 1988
Martin Gumpert, Hahnemann: The Adventerous Career of a Medical Rebel, New York, NY: L.B. Fisher, 1945; p.20
Samuel Pfeifer; p.68
Ibid.
Ibid.
Samuel Hahnemann, The Chronic Diseases, Their Particular Nature and Their Homeopathic Cure -- Theoretical Part, Louis H. Tafel - Translator, New Dehli, India: Jain Publishing Company, 1976; p.7
Ankerberg & Weldon; p. 321
Herbert Robert, M.D., Art of Cure by Homeopathy: A Modern Textbook, reprint, New Dehli, India: B. Jain Publishers, 1976
Daisie Radner, Michael Radner, "Holistic Methodology and Pseudoscience"; p. 154
Ankerberg 7 Weldon; p. 324
Jane D. Gumprecht, Holistic Health: A Medical and Biblical Critique of New Age Deception, Moscow, ID: Random Press, 1986; p. 150
Bopp; p.10
James Tyler Kent, Lectures on Homeopathic Philosophy, Richmond CA: North Atlantic Books, 1979; p. 75-76
Richard Grossinger; p. 162-163
Ibid.; p. 128-129
Pfeifer; p. 68-69
Bopp; p.5
Evelyn DeSmedt, et. al., Life Arts: A practical Guide To Total Being -- New Age Medicine and Ancient Wisdom, New york, NY.; St. Martins Press, 1977; p. 142
Bopp; p.8
Pfeifer; p. 73
Ibid., p. 19-20
Bopp, p. 8
Pfeifer, p. 81
Bopp, p. 10
E-mail: logos@logosresourcepages.org