Sometimes you can find the most amazing things on internet. And this is one of those things. My previous article reported on the sharp increase in Rhino poaching, partly caused by the increased need for raw materials in order to fuel the pseudoscientific TCM market, and the role that Western Sydney University might be playing in all of this. You can find it here. But how to solve the Rhino poaching crises? Well, help is coming from an unexpected corner.

I asked myself a simple question; do Western pseudoscientific healthcare systems (e.g. homeopathy) also use endangered animals in their “medicine”? Why not? Using their groundbreaking principle of ‘like-cures-like’ they diluted pieces of the Berlin wall, which made people depressed, to infinity and made “medicine” for the treatment of, you guessed it, depression. So why not use endangered animals? One can argue that these animals are becoming lonelier and lonelier, as they are being hunted to extinction, so maybe a good opportunity to develop a homeopathic medicine for the treatment of loneliness!

Therefore, to solve the Rhino poaching problem look no further than the ancient pseudoscientific Western healthcare system called homeopathy. Believe it or not, just as TCM is growing in popularity in Western countries, so is homeopathy growing in popularity in Asian countries, especially in India. Below is a description of a wonderful new book where the solution to Rhino poaching is eloquently described. Apply the homeopathic principles of diluting a single rhino horn into oblivion in order to save the Rhino – problem solved! Hence, one horn would be enough to supply the whole world of this much needed ‘medicine’ – indefinitely. And you only have to kill one Rhino instead of the current 1200 per year!!

Start of book description:

“It is with great joy that I welcome the arrival of this groundbreaking book about one of the world’s premier healing traditions, Practical Homeopathy by my colleague Prof. Steve An Xue and his assistants.

The comparative introduction of homeopathy to China via the lens of classical Chinese medicine is a natural one, for the following compelling reasons:

Chinese medicine and homeopathy share similar philosophies, such as the belief in the healing power of nature, and the resonance between macrocosm and microcosm (tian ren heyi) Both systems employ sophisticated methods of pattern differentiation (bianzheng); centering them around the individual and the signs and symptoms s/he presents, in contrast to the modern focus on diagnosing disease (bianbing) Both are centered around the concept of energy medicine, rather than the more matter oriented concepts of modern medicine such as anatomy and biochemistry Both are highly practical, and reflect the four principles that the Qing dynasty physician Wang Qingren once proposed as the hallmark of true medicine for the Chinese people: it must be easily available, affordable, and effective at the same time. Both abide by the guiding principle of safety: “first, do no harm” (as the beginning of a naturopathic medicine physician oath goes). Many progressive European and American mothers have a homeopathy first aid kit at home, often supplemented with Chinese herbal cold/flu remedies (i.e., Yin Qiao San) and herbs for external injuries (i.e., Yunnan Baiyao).

As a type of “energy” medicine, the field of homeopathy is not without controversy in the context of Western medical discussions. However, similar to the process wherein Chinese medicine was able to stand the test of modern science, the clinical efficacy of homeopathic medicine has been validated by a host of clinical research during the last 30 years. Furthermore, just like educated Chinese felt drawn to the profession of traditional scholar-physician, it were especially the brighter minds among Western doctors who were captivated by the theory and practice of homeopathy. It appears that the endeavor of discerning the laws of nature by way of cohesive pattern differentiation has been found to be both aesthetically pleasing and intellectually stimulating by illuminated minds in East and West.

As a much younger medical science that does not have the same extensive theoretical underpinning as classical Chinese medicine, homeopathy can surely benefit from a comparison with the traditional knowledge systems of China. On the other hand, the clinical practice of homeopathy reflects the core principles of Chinese medicine in the most radical way—a way that is progressively being forgotten in China itself—and thus can potentially reinvigorate the future path of Chinese medicine. By witnessing the often astonishing clinical results of homeopathy and understanding that the power of this modality is intimately connected to the same principles that Chinese medicine was once founded upon, Chinese medicine practitioners in the age of East-West Integration Medicine (zhongxiyi jiehe) can hopefully be inspired to take a fresh look at the most ancient and most fundamental theoretical principles of their own profession.

As Prof. Xue will explain in detail in this concise volume, it is one of the prime characteristics of homeopathy that its remedies are most powerful when administered in high potencies, when an herbal remedy has been diluted to the point that no trace of matter can be detected in the tincture or pellet anymore. This is a most dramatic manifestation of the traditional Chinese concept that consciousness governs energy, and energy governs matter. Homeopathy, in essence, administers the energetic and spiritual essence of a plant or mineral or animal substance to affect a patient’s physical and emotional health. Furthermore, it is a typical feature of homeopathy that it will only work when the remedy and the individual patterns of the patient are a complete match. This trait realizes the core belief of Chinese and other ancient medical systems that nature and the body express itself in a consistent pattern language. If that pattern language can be correctly deciphered—an art that is progressively eroding—every disease pattern can be neutralized by a corresponding pattern in the natural world.

In addition, the integration of homeopathy into the deep spectrum of natural healing modalities in China holds the following promises:

The power of strong acting natural compounds can be harnessed safely. Few traditional physicians have the knowledge and confidence anymore to prescribe toxic ingredients such as arsenic (peishuang), realgar (xionghuang), aconite (fuzi), (badou) and (qiyeyizhihua). Homeopathy can deliver the energetic pattern of these ingredients without the toxicity that resides in the chemistry of these substances. Chinese herbs tend to be prescribed at ever increasing dosages, causing extinction and availability problems. Through the dilution method of homeopathy, rare or valuable ingredients such as rhino horn (xijiao) or bear gallbladder (xiongdan) can be used inexpensively without threatening natural resources. America’s largest laboratory for the production of homeopathic remedies, Hahnemann Labs, for instance, recently made an exceedingly rare fungus that grows only on 1% of 1,000 year old coffins and is used successfully in Southern Chinese folk medicine for the easing of pain from bone metastases into a homeopathic remedy—making it available for generations of practitioners to use. The marriage of Chinese cosmology and homeopathic prescribing has unlimited potential. To give an example: On the organ clock of Chinese medicine, the shaoyang gallbladder system is located in the position of midnight and the 11th lunar month of the year, a point that traditional Chinese science has marked with the earthly branch Zi, or the corresponding animal symbol of the Rat. Based on this uniquely Chinese insight, an accomplished American homeopath I know often uses the homeopathic remedy Rat’s Blood for certain manifestations of shaoyang disorder, and achieves excellent results. While the materia medica of Chinese medicine represents a science that features unprecedented detail in comparison to other natural healing systems, homeopathy can further enhance this knowledge base by its unique descriptions of how a substance’s therapeutic effect changes at different potencies–what happens when a mother tincture of an herb is diluted 6 times, versus 30 times, versus 200 times, versus 1000 times. The recent development of electronic homeopathy, utilizing digitized vibrations of human tissues, pathogens, and pollutants, has made it possible to diagnose and treat certain diseases in a quick and minimally invasive manner. This method can help to treat most specifically while a simultaneous Chinese medicine treatment can treat the more general and systemic reasons for disease, for instance by neutralizing a certain virus directly while Chinese herbs address the “toxicity” of the body’s terrain.

Finally, I would like to repeat my strong conviction in the creative genius of the Chinese people, which I have already mentioned in the preface to Prof. Xue’s previous book.

Due to the symbol-oriented nature of homeopathy—originally a key feature of Eastern thinking—many of the world’s best homeopaths are already of Eastern descent. Greece, and especially India has boasted a vital homeopathic tradition for years, featuring many master practitioners and specialty hospitals. For a variety of complex reasons, possibly including the presence of a native healing tradition of sheer inexhaustible depth, the clinical master science of homeopathy has not yet made inroads into China. I trust, however, that the time is ripe to see the combination of China’s human resources and the clinical genius of the Chinese mind thrive to give birth to some of the worlds greatest homeopaths, benefiting both the health of the Chinese people and the world.”

End of book description

To list all the things that are completely wrong/misleading/misguided here would take me a lifetime. But a negative multiplied by a negative gives a positive. In this case multiplying the nothingness of homeopathy with the decimation of the rhino population at the hands of TCM practitioners, equals the survival of the Rhino. But then again, how many people will die because of homeopathy or the believe that Rhino horn is an ‘effective’ medicine? Well, that number will remain the same.