Goethe´s nature observation and Materia medica methods crossing-over: a systematic tool to formulate homeopathic preparations for environmental purposes

Abstract

Anamnesis, classification of symptoms and repertorization are the usual techniques for establishing a homeopathic treatment. However, the approach to be used for plants and the environment is still a challenge. In this paper, a new technique is proposed to select treatments for ultra-complex living systems that include several interconnected species (ecosystems), potentially significantly facilitating the practice of environmental homeopathy. Based on the crossing of two classic methods, Goethe's observation of nature [1] and homeopathic materia medica, this technique has shown promising results in promoting environmental recovery and regeneration. The foundations of the first method lay in a way of observing nature proposed by the German philosopher Goethe and systematized by Rudolf Steiner, in which an observer identifies discrepant elements that appear in a given living system after a stressful impact, representing a mimesis of suffering. The approach uses the same clinical tools for diagnosis, hierarchizing symptoms and identifying similarities between humans and animals. The first step is to take a long, detailed look at the affected area, without preconceptions or preconceived notions. The items to be observed are the climate, wind and lighting patterns, the characteristics and vitality of the soil, the remaining vegetation, the type of crop, the presence and appearance of water, changes in the local fauna and flora and the presence of indicator plants, which are elements of the biome itself capable of showing changes in the composition of the soil [2].Next, the type of aggression is described (logging, poor farming or grazing, frost, drought, flooding, soil pollution, leaching or compression).The third step is to observe the natural processes still present in the area (ecological succession, interaction between species, pollinating insect behavior and other characteristics that reveal the recovery of the local environmental archetype).This step allows the observer to gain an in-depth understanding of the process of environmental disturbance.The second method is based on identifying keywords in different homeopathic medical materials related to the response of various species of local fauna and flora to the same stressor, establishing the convergence of both methods. A table made up of the keywords, the corresponding remedies and the respective Materia Medica used as a reference is built to indicate the best treatment options to be used alone or in a complex. The last items to be defined are the potencies, forms of administration and dosage.For example, an area of degraded pasture was identified in the Pantanal biome (Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil).The following parameters were listed: a high degree of desertification following drought, the presence of nitrogen-fixing plants (an indicator of a lack of nitrogen in the soil), such as Mimosa pudica (“Malicia”) and Mimosa farnesiana (“Aromita”) [3], and confirmation of the soil's condition by chemical analysis.The keywords identified were exhaustion and dryness, leading to homeopathic carbonic ammonium after cross-referencing the materia medica.The potency chosen is 6cH, once a month, taking into account the structure and time of the grass to germinate.The result was a rapid regrowth of the native grass, which had been absent for more than a decade, enough to recover an ideal grazing condition.The combination of the two methods was useful, as it allowed a deeper and more conscious approach to the whole environment and stimulated the potential vitality, adaptive abilities and self-regulation resources of its elements.