We have quite a few customers who regularly purchase homeopathic remedies from our store, including patients of some notable local homeopaths. So, it is part of my job at Rainbow to have more than a layman’s knowledge of the intricacies of homeopathy. Some people who shop here aren’t even aware that homeopathy forms a distinct branch of natural medicine, almost entirely different from an herbal approach, either Western or Chinese. Briefly describing the medicine to these people often invokes a blank stare of either disbelief or confusion, or both.

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Homeopathy, in a simplistic explanation, is based on the idea that a substance that either directly or energetically stands behind a series of symptoms as a cause, can also be the cure for that set of symptoms. Apis mellifica, for example, is quite literally made from bees and, in most cases, would be the most appropriate remedy for beestings as well as quite a few other skin eruptions that present themselves in similar ways. Now here’s where a homeopath loses the staunch pragmatist, who innocently asks why she would want to consume dried up bees, or mercury, or arsenic, or any of the other potentially toxic homeopathic substances.

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Without beating around any bushes, here’s the answer: if you were to crush up the homeopathic pill called Apis mellifica and place it under a microscope, you would not find any molecular traces of the original bee. At most, you would find sugar and an edible binder of some kind. What was once the bee has been diluted in hundreds, maybe thousands of times more water than original material and then dispensed as a remedy, which, from my own experience and that of thousands of others, works wonders. Why? No one really knows for sure. But it most likely has to do with the essence of the bee, that energetic implant of the bee that is left behind, something of the bee that we cannot see.

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So, as you can see… with some particularly skeptical customers, or with those who need the support of “proof from clinical studies”, I have good reason to avoid this explanation. For those, I sometimes suggest a good introductory book on homeopathy, such as Household Homeopathy, by Vinton McCabe, or The Complete Homeopathy Handbook, by Miranda Castro, both of which we sell here in the store.

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Some final words of advice on purchasing homeopathics: it’s always best to consult a homeopath. But otherwise, prescribe remedies for yourself judiciously. You might come across something that in your own mind you are certain is the “right remedy”. After my “magical” explanation, people have a tendency to get reckless, thinking, “What harm can be done if all they are is sugar pills?” Even if you’re sure you’ve got the right remedy, start with a low potency. Too high a potency of even the right remedy could cause serious side effects.