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/

 

Homeopathy Awareness Week is coming soon. The week, starting with the anniversary of Hahnemann's birthdate runs from the 10th-16th April 2018. To celebrate this year we've...

4 things to do: 1. Make a movie - share your homeopathy story 2. Create links - support HAW 3. Join the march - 16th April in London 4. Watch the documentary - live stream Just One Drop Make a movie Share your homeopathy story #HomeopathyWorksForMe For HAW2018 we invite you to share your homeopathy story – make your movie and spread the word! The project will be ongoing through the year and to get started we’re celebrating Hahnemann’s birthday and HAW2018 with some mini movies – starring you (or your friends, family, children, babies, animals or pets)! This year World Homeopathy Awareness Week focuses on mothers, babies and pregnancy. To help inspire new patients, let people know about the benefits of natural health, film yourself talking about how homeopathy helped you, then share and/or send the movie to us to share on the Homeopathy Worked for Me page www.facebook.com/HoWFMe/. Click to read further guides. Click to view other Homeopathy Worked for Me movies. Click to donate to the 4Homeopathy campaigns. Create a Link Together we are stronger Help promote Homeopathy Awareness Week by sharing the HAW websites on social media and by linking your health website to the HAW websites. www.homeopathyawarenessweek.com www.homeopathyawarenessweek.co.uk www.homeopathyawareness.com Join the VETs march March4animals Join the March in London with hundreds of other homeopaths and patients on Monday 16th April 2018 12.30pm. Demonstration in support of Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM) Meet 12.30pm Parliament Square Gardens, London March starts at 1pm - Expected finish 3pm. All are welcome British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons For more details please contact us at: www.bahvs.com Click to find out more about the march. Click to sign the petition. Click to donate to the campaign.

Watch Just One Drop Live stream the 90 min documentary about homeopathy. Three live streams of the film. Followed by discussion. As many of you might already have heard, in honor of World Homeopathy Awareness Week, Just one Drop is hosting a live stream events of the film in three continents/time zones: North America, UK/Europe, and Australia. Each stream will be followed by real time Q&A's with different panelists for each continent. UK/Europe Monday, April 9th RSVP HERE 7pm UK (BST) 2pm EST Moderator: Laurel Chiten (filmmaker) Panelists: Rachel Roberts (CEO Homeopathy Research Institute) Dr. Peter Fisher (MD/Homeopath to the Royal Family) Click to find out more about the live stream. Homeopathy Awareness Website The School of Homeopathy's awareness website. Many people today are confused about homeopathy. The School has created a new website in an attempt to address the need for better information, evidence and facts about homeopathy. The Homeopathy Awareness Week website covers four key areas: about homeopathy, homeopathy on the NHS, the evidence and research and how it works. www.homeopathyawareness.com

VOTE NOW!

We have less than a week left to reach the target and push for a debate in parliament about homeopathy and herbal medicines on the NHS.  The consultation which prompted the petition is being challenged legally and the more signatures the better visibility of the issue by those reviewing the case and MPs.  Importantly this does not just concern current users of NHS facilities, but also everyone who might be in need of these services in the future.

If you believe in free choice in health care and want to see options available for people who can’t be helped by conventional medicine, and could never afford private care,  vote now and please pass the link on as widely as you can.

Petition: Stop NHS England from removing herbal and homeopathic medicines

NB: Your vote will not be counted until you have received an email from the petition organisers and clicked back on their link. It appears that these emails are going in to the junk folders of many people and so the votes are never confirmed. If you do not receive an email within a couple of minutes of voting please check your junk mail.

'The RCVS’ position statement on homeopathy and other complementary therapies has set a “dangerous precedent” that limits the clinical freedom the veterinary profession has always enjoyed, it has been claimed.'

Recently published in the Vet Times, David Woodmansey shares his, and others' concerns that the RCVS failed to consult with homeopathic stakeholders before releasing their recent statement on homeopathy.

You can read it in full here:

www.vettimes.co.uk/news/serious-implications-in-rcvs-stance-on-homeopathy-claim/

If you, or your animal has benefitted from homeopathy and you would like to have your voice heard in support of homeopathic vets then please sign and share the petition here:

www.thepetitionsite.com/219/768/240/we-need-to-stop-the-rcvs-from-banning-homeopathic-vets-from-treating-animals

Want to find out more?

The Council of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) issued a statement on the 2nd November 2017 effectively threatening legal action under the Animal Welfare Act if a vet, and potentially the owner, use homeopathy or other complementary medicines before using conventional pharmaceuticals.

Suspicious?? You should be. The intentions of the Council of the RCVS are clear. After Brexit complementary medicines won't be protected by EU law and the corporate pharmaceutical industry could reign supreme.

Amazingly the RCVS Council made this statement without consulting any homeopathic vets, academics or researchers. Instead the council were influenced by a group of sceptics, non of whom have ever studied, qualified in and practiced homeopathy. There is poor evidence for much of conventional veterinary practice and procedures. However the basis of this RCVS council statement is that homeopathy does not have a recognised body of evidence. This is totally incorrect.

Do you believe in your right to decide what is best for the welfare of your animal and your right to complementary medicine?

Ultimately do you believe in freedom of choice?

Please join many thousands of others and sign the petition below, share to Facebook and send it to all email contacts.

www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/219/768/240/we-need-to-stop-the-rcvs-from-banning-homeopathic-vets-from-treating-animals/

If you have any expertise or resources and want to help the campaign, please get in touch with the British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons (BAHVS) www.bahvs.com/contact-us/

You can view the response of the British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons at www.bahvs.com/rcvs-statement/

Join the support group on Facebook - We Support Veterinary Homeopathy and Complementary Therapies

 






 

‘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