On 2^ndNovember, 4 Homeopathy (4H) launched its Homeopathy 4 Animals campaign, ‘Healthy animals, naturally’,which will run for 5 weeks. The campaign features dogs, a cat, a pony and even a chicken, who have all been successfully treated with homeopathic medicine.

The campaign launch stars were Claudine and her rough collie, Jackson and the posts have already reached over 26,000 views via social media channels.

Coming from a variety of backgrounds, included among the people interviewed is a gun dog trainer who regularly exhibits at Crufts and a racehorse yard owner. All had many experiences of homeopathy working in their lives and shared many more stories than were used in the campaign.

What comes across is how down to earth and practical all of them are, sharing their experiences of having tried conventional treatment for their animals but, having no success, how they turned to homeopathy as a last resort. All were all incredibly grateful to have found something that helped their animals.

4H is a collaboration between 10 of the UK’s major homeopathy organisations. It promotes and raises awareness of the benefits homeopathy can offeras a useful treatment method to help keep our animals healthy and well.

Following positive responses to the campaign, the 4H group are looking forward to sharing the rest of the videos and images with the world!

For more about the work of 4H: www.findahomeopath.org

Find a homeopathic vet: www.bahvs.com/find-a-vet-2/

Homeopathy, particularly for animals, has been in the firing line over the past year so any support you can give to the CAM4Animals team would be greatly appreciated – do check out their valuable work here: www.cam4animals.co.uk

You can see the first image here on Facebook: https://bit.ly/2RzzZa0or on Instagram: www.instagram.com/p/BprP0IvFNH3/.To view the first YouTube video, go to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8saisPel4U.

More coming soon – watch this space!

Do you know that NHMRC carried out its review of Homeopathy TWICE?

Do you know that it BURIED any evidence of the first Report?

The public has a right to know the TRUTH. We need your help!

We need as many people as possible, from as many countries as possible, to sign up to the campaign on releasethefirstreport.com.

· Sign up at www.releasethefirstreport.com/join-the-campaign
· Connect with the campaign on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

‘Release the First Report’ builds on its sister campaign, ‘Your Health Your Choice’, launched last summer which achieved huge success, generating over 87,000 signatures in Australia.

Now it’s time to go global!

The stakes could not be higher.

The recent High Court ruling to uphold a ban on homeopathic prescriptions in the UK, based primarily on the NHMRC report, sets a dangerous precedent.

As the formal investigation into NHMRC’s conduct has been going on for almost two years, it is time to show the Australian Government that the world is watching and demands that NHMRC explain themselves.

JOIN THE CAMPAIGN NOW!

There is the option to opt-in to the Your Health Your Choice campaign at the same time.
It will be of major political significance if we can simultaneously push the original YHYC campaign to reach 100,000 signatures.

Numbers are crucial, so please sign up and share widely.

It’s time to act!

Magic Pills UK Premiere, School of Pharmacy, April 27th, 2018

If you are part of the homeopathic community, either as a homeopath or as a patient, you may be aware that the cutting-edge film, Magic Pills, produced and directed by Ananda More, had its debut performance in London, last Friday evening. Social Media has been flooded with coverage of the event, which was a high-quality, trailblazing start to The Society of Homeopaths conference and AGM; and did, in my opinion, set the tone for an excellent weekend all round, of high quality presentations and a wonderful eclectic gathering of the world wide homeopathic community.



The event took place in an auditorium at the School of Pharmacy and was attended by over 160 guests. It was clear that many people had made a real effort to attend; it attracted world-wide attention, also, beautifully merging homeopaths from various registering bodies in the UK.Mark Taylor, the Society of Homeopath’s Chief Executive, introduced the event, thanking Ananda for coming and Marcus Christo for helping to facilitate. Having seen the movie many times, I was not prepared for how I would feel seeing it on ‘the big screen.’ In short, I was moved by the atmosphere and impressed by the quality and professionalism of the production, certainly on a par with major film productions anywhere in the world. The content of film has been discussed and reviewed before so if you would like more details and an analysis of the film read the full review here.



A question and answer session with Dr Alison Fixsen, the Society’s Research Consultant and Ananda followed, which raised interesting points and stimulating discussion. Ananda went on to discuss how to host a screening, and generously donated 20% of the profits for all screenings booked over the Conference weekend, to be given to the Judicial Review Crowd Justice fund.  Cristal Sumner, Chief Executive of the British Homeopathic Association is running this campaign. The Judicial Review began on Tuesday 1st May and if you’d like to donate to this you can here: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-homeopathy-on-the-nhs2/. Please contribute if you can. We are hoping for a favourable outcome. The news so far (May 2nd, 2018) from the UK High Court is that there was 'ample evidence that homeopathy worked but the consultation had been "completely one-sided.’ (Richard Clayton QC)

How to host a screening of Magic Pills

Information on how to host a screening can be found here: http://magicpillsmovie.com/host-screening/. The process is really accessible; you can host a screening in your living room (she just asks for a minimum of 10 people), or hire a village hall, community area or cinema, whatever is easiest for you.

Funding and donations urgently required for the following projects.

Other issues of major importance were discussed,given that many homeopaths were in attendance, and could help to bring awareness, as these worldwide issues affect us all, our credibility and our livelihoods; also, our ability to create a heathier world, so please don’t feel overwhelmed by the pleas for support, just do what you can and share where you can.  It is seriously for the greater good.
The Australian Report is crucial, and they desperately need our support, so please sign the petition and circulate! It is vital to us all, as homeopaths and serious health professionals.    https://www.yourhealthyourchoice.com.au/

Funding and support is also needed for Camilla and Jeremy Sherr’s Homeopathy for Health in Africa Project. They are raising money to buy a CD4- and Viral Load machines to be able to do better data-collection for their AIDS-results: http://homeopathyforhealthinafrica.org/donations/

In short, Magic Pills, with its dynamic, compelling​, honest and engaging content, paved the way ​for an inspirational and uplifting weekend. ​The positive ​themes set out in the film are those of unity, integration and respect​; it inspires balance, fairness and justice, overwhelmingly counteracting, in my opinion the predictable negativity and ignorance of the sceptics. The film opens a dialogue and juxtaposes the criticisms of the sceptic community with large scale, real world use and success of homeopathy and presents some of the genuine scientific data.

Ultimately, it exposes ​a system of medicine which must be taken seriously, given the evidence presented​ and which is​, absolutely, at times, ‘magic’ in its healing potential.

Gill Graham

www.consultanthomeopath.com

For more details on the film, go to: http://magicpillsmovie.com/

 

‘I was born on the night of Samhain, when the barrier between the worlds is whisper-thin and when magic, old magic, sings its heady and sweet song to anyone who cares to hear it.’ ― Carolyn MacCullough, Once a Witch.

Halloween, a much lauded celebration, which has become massively commercialised over the years, particularly in North America, although there is a certain irony here as Halloween’s roots are steeped in Celtic and Gaelic culture. So what are its origins? What makes it real and keeps it so alive and vibrant now? I for one always insist on knowing why I am celebrating any international festival; it gives context and background to ‘special days’ and at times otherwise unaccountable behavior. In this case, why are we dressing up in all manner of weird and wonderful costumes, allowing our children to consume their weight in sweets whilst encouraging them to roam the streets in the dark? Some answers to these questions are briefly discussed in this article, many of which I found fascinating, covering the history and origins, and the reasons for pumpkins, trick or treating and dressing up and why it appears acceptable for boundaries to be pushed to their limits in every sense at this time! Recommendations for the use of homeopathic remedies to heal, before, during or after the festivities are given, should this be necessary, followed by adjunctive advice on how to avoid potentially dangerous behaviours which are known hazards at this time.

Brief History of Halloween, to put things into context

Commonly known as Halloween, it can also be ‘Hallowe'en’ (which is a contraction of All Hallows' Evening), Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve which is the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day, also known as All Saints' Day. The Halloween we experience today actually originated in the Celtic fringes of Britain, and was adapted over the decades by Christian traditions, immigrants' conventions and latterly, an unquenchable desire for confectionaries.

The origin of the festival is disputed. It appears there is ‘no right’ definition’ and as is often the case, people interpret as they wish.  Many people believe it hails from the Celtic pagan festival of Samhain, which literally translates as ‘Summer's End' signifying the end of the harvest season. There are no original written accounts of this festival in existence from the ancient Celts, but there is some reference to it in Roman records from when the Romans conquered Celtic lands around AD 43. The Gaels believed that it was a time when the walls between our world and the next became thin and porous, allowing spirits to pass through, come back to life on the day and damage their crops. In order to welcome and calm the spirits, food and drink would be offered by the Gaels and bonfires lit to ward off the evil spirits. Christians who did not want to celebrate pagan festivals honoured the saints and martyrs, which encouraged positive spiritual values.

Trick or treating

Trick or treating is said to have its origins in a tradition called ‘souling.’ This dates back to the 11th century and was adapted from the Celts idea of dressing up with black and white faces during the festival of Samhain to trick the evil spirits they believed to be roaming the earth before All Saints day on Nov 1st. The children would go door-to-door, asking for soul cakes in exchange for praying for the souls of friends and relatives; at this time they dressed up as angels, demons or saints. The soul cakes were sweet, with a cross marked on top and when eaten they represented a soul being freed from purgatory. In the 19th century, ‘souling’ gave way to guising or mumming, when children would offer songs, poetry and jokes, instead of prayer, all in exchange for fruit or money. This gives us a great basis for why we trick or treat, and why sweet foods are involved. The actual phrase was first used in America in 1927, with the traditions brought over to America by immigrants. Guising gave way to threatening pranks in exchange for sweets.

Dressing up - The ‘Mask.’

Most experts believe that the tradition of wearing costumes on Halloween hails from the Celtic festival of Samhain, where participants lit fires and wore costumes which would be ghoulish and terrifying in nature, to scare away the ghosts and evil spirits. Since then, costumes have evolved; a ‘mask’ has become a way of dressing up to take on a different persona, often a way of giving oneself permission to indulge in a look or behavior which would otherwise be taboo or conventionally unacceptable on a ‘normal’ day. This evolution has occurred since Victorian times from the exotic dressing up as Egyptian pharaoh’s, to pop idols and more recently has become sexualized.  Any thing goes, it would appear, to express identity and allow for freedom of expression. Halloween has always been synonymous with the unknown which invites a wonderfully creative, liberating approach.

Why do we carve pumpkins?

The carving of pumpkins once more hails from the Samhain festival, when the Gaels would carve turnips to ward off spirits and stop fairies from settling in houses. With the influx of Irish immigrants in the 1840s to North America, turnips could not be found so they used the more readily available pumpkin into which they carved scary faces.

Remedies

Clearly, from what has been described above, there are many potential situations surrounding the festivities which could be helped by homeopathic remedies, not least, fear, anticipation, anxiety and overindulgence

• Stramonium is a great remedy for fear and terror. Children in particular can easily be upset and become anxious from being exposed to the dark, with frightening figures or monsters looming ahead of them.  It is also useful in anxious restlessness and any violence, even witnessed in a playful way that affects a person emotionally. Often indicated where a person is literally paralysed by fear.


• Arsenicum album: Arsenicum is particularly useful at this time, for those who become anxious, particularly at night and alone. It is indicated for those that find their safety and security threatened.


• Phosphorus: Phosphorous is always indicated for those who are normally sensitive, emotional and friendly. They fear the dark, ghosts and thunderstorms and have vivid imaginations together with being highly suggestible. Loud noises such as thunderstorms and fireworks can be terrifying. Recommended for those who are easily vexed, fear that something is creeping out of every corner and sensitive to external stimulus, with a great tendency to start; meaning Halloween could prove to be overwhelming for them.


• Aconite: For acute situations when sudden fears overtake us, if we are in shock. Intense fear (or ­presentiment) of death, as well as ­palpitations, shortness of breath, flushed face, and trembling.


• Carbo veg: For those who already have an aversion to darkness and a fear of ghosts, with a disposition towards being easily frightened.


• Pulsatilla: Generally, sensitive, easily upset, changeable people who thrive on consolation and reassurance. Children in particular often have over active minds with a fear of ghosts, which can trigger nightmares. Together with the physical symptoms shown in those requiring this remedy such as worse for rich foods, this could easily be an indicated remedy at Halloween.


• Nux Vomica: For those that have digestive problems caused by overindulgence, whatever the source, but in this case probably sweet foods. It can restore harmony to an irritable bowel and many of the problems associated with a ‘sugar high.’ It is hugely helpful in calming the mind as well as the body thus helping to promote a deep, calm sleep.


• Sulphur: Where there is abdominal pain following overindulgence, generally worse on the left side, extending to the stomach, chest and back, making breathing difficult. Often worse at night time and better for bending forwards.


• Lycopodium: People who need lycopodium generally crave sweet foods and suffer the consequences in the form of bloating and indigestion, accompanied frequently by anxiety. There is also dyspepsia due to farinaceous and fermentable food with excessive hunger. Sour eructations are often a feature and the person is easily full, much flatulence and burning sensations in the pharynx and stomach.

Adjunctive advice

Some tips to make for a smoother Halloween experience:

• Pedestrian deaths. According to statistics in the US, by far the most dangerous day of the year for pedestrians is Halloween. New analysis of U.S. government data shows that 115 pedestrians under 18 were killed on Oct. 31 over a 21 year period from 1990 to 2010. That's an average of 5.5 deaths each Halloween, compared with an average of 2.6 on other days. Clearly, children need to be highly supervised.


• Accompany your young child. A responsible adult should accompany young children on the neighbourhood rounds


• Check the route. If your older children are going alone, plan and review a route acceptable to you all.


• Timings. Agree on a specific time your child should return home.


• Stranger awareness. Teach your children to never enter a stranger's home or car.


• Security in numbers. Instruct children to travel only in familiar, well-lit areas and stick with their friends.


• Food safety. Tell your children not to eat any treats until they return home.


• Fire resistant clothing. All costumes, wigs and accessories should be fire-resistant.


• Be seen. If children are allowed out after dark, fasten reflective tape to their costumes and bags, or give them glow sticks.


• Non toxic make u When buying Halloween makeup, make sure it is nontoxic and always test it in a small area first.


• Pumpkins. Use candles with care. Place candlelit pumpkins on a sturdy surface away from curtains and other flammable objects. Never leave candlelit pumpkins unattended.

Hopefully, the above advice and information has been helpful in giving a comprehensive guide to a safe and healthy Halloween.  Should you wish to contact a homeopath to discuss homeopathy further for you or your family, search www.findahomeopath.org.uk.

Happy Halloween!

“Tis the night—the night
Of the grave's delight,
And the warlocks are at their play;
Ye think that without,
The wild winds shout,
But no, it is they—it is they!”
― Arthur Cleveland Coxe, Halloween: A Romaunt

Gill Graham: www.consultanthomepath.com

As part of our Save Homeopathy and Herbal medicines campaign, we know from feedback that the consultation response portal on NHS England’s website is not very helpful and is actually obstructive in easily providing feedback. Many questions are optional, meaning you can skip to the questions you want to answer or feel confident in responding to.

Once on the website (NHS England: Items which should not be routinely prescribed in primary care):

Page 1: You will be asked for your name and email address, you can choose to remain anonymous but if you feel comfortable it is best to be a named individual or organisation.

Page 2: Is an equalities and health inequalities question—if you feel certain groups of people are at risk or disadvantaged from the cuts proposed, please specify or just move on to the next question.

Page 3: Is a question about evidence for potential impact on health inequalities. Again, answer if you feel you’d like to or skip to next question.

Page 4: Asks about the proposed process for identification of items for removal. If you can provide views please do so or skip to the next question.

Page 5: Select ‘Yes’ in response to “Do you want to provide views on the proposals for CCG commissioning guidance?”, and select homeopathy from the list. You have the opportunity later to add comments on other treatments if you wish.

Page 6: You’re now asked, in two questions, if you agree that there should be no new homeopathy prescriptions, and if you agree that those currently receiving homeopathy should be transferred to a different treatment and the prescription ended.

You can select:
o Agree
o Neither disagree or agree
o Disagree
o Unsure

By selecting disagree you are letting NHS England know you would like to keep homeopathy in the NHS.

You also have the option to provide a further comment on your answer, or on the availability of homeopathy on prescription in general. Remember, some of your comments may be anonymised and published as part of the consultation outcome, so please make sure any comments are respectful and relevant to the consultation.

If you’d like to leave comments on another treatment, you can select it from the list below such a herbal treatments; otherwise, select “I would not like to provide further feedback on any more of these medicines”.

The rest of the questions are self-explanatory and optional.