Real change in health problems requires SEEING the difference in situations which look very similar.
Walking the dog today, I came over the breast of the hill and was met a sea of yellow. Lovely, you might think. But it’s a poisonous plant which happens to look very like a medicinal herb that is also very helpful in homeopathy. It’s so easy to confuse the two plants that I have seen pictures of one posted as the other even on a plant website.
It made me realise that making a difference really does begin with knowing enough to see the difference.
The sea of yellow was ragwort (Senecio jacobaea). Ragwort looks quite like St John’s wort, but my goodness me do you need to be able to see the difference. Ragwort does attract insects and is the food of the cinnabar moth (see photos), but it is poisonous to grazing animals, and needs removing from areas where animals will graze or from grassland which will be made into hay.
St John’s wort (Hypericum perfoliatum), on the other hand, has long been used herbally. Homeopathically it is a particularly important remedy: known as Hypericum: it is a great remedy for injuries to nerves, especially fingers, toes and nails and the coccyx. It’s one no first aid kit should be without.
But even with Hypericum ready in your first aid kit, you have got to see what it is that needs addressing.
If we are considering injuries to fingers:
- are they bruised? (in which case possibly Arnica)
- are they damaged by cuts?(in which case maybe Staphysagria)
- do they have insect bites or puncture wounds? (in which case you might need Ledum) or
- are they tingling, burning or numb? (in which case Hypericum will help).
The right remedy will help your body to get on and do the right repair work, but the wrong one won’t address the issues at hand.
The same is true of mental states. Somebody might feel worn out and stressed, but to properly address the problem and help bring things back into balance, we need to know a bit more. Is it
- anxiety?
- grief?
- overwork?
- lack of self-confidence?
- a need for perfection that means you can’t ever finish things?
- or something else?
When (and why) did it start? What tends to trigger it? Does anything make it better or worse?
And if the person finds it hard to describe what’s going on, physical characteristics will help us a lot:
- Do you get cold or hot when you don’t’ feel OK?
- Do you want to be outside or inside on the couch?
- Do you get thirsty – or not at all?
- Do you eat to feel better, or completely lose your appetite?
Because the mental, the emotional and the physical are all you, what is going on at the physical level is often a big clue. So it’s not always necessary to dig into all the personal stuff to be able to move forwards.
With the remedy that matches you and what is going on for you, we can provide just the right stimulus to help your system to rebalance so you start to feel better. This is not catch-all: it’s a very far cry from simply suppressing the symptoms with a blanket medication, because with homeopathy your system gets a nudge to actually sort itself out so you start really getting better.
Homeopathy really does make a huge difference.
And it all starts with seeing the difference.
My Nain (grandmother) taught me to tell St John’s wort from ragwort when I was about 11. I wish I had known about homeopathy in time to share it with her. She was a marvellously knowledgeable countrywoman – and she would have loved homeopathy.
St John’s Wort photo credit Getty Images/Westened61 from homesandgardens.com
Cinnabar moth photo credit by Mark Pike from dorsetbutterflies.com
Uncredited photos taken by me. The yellow of the two plants is different, but not as different as these photos imply. St John’s Wort is a more delicate yellow.
