"May the blessing of light be on you-- light without and light within.

May the blessed sunlight shine on you 

and warm your heart till it glows like a great peat fire."   

~Old Celtic Blessing~

WHAT IS A HOMEOPATHIC PROVING?

Each Homeopathic remedy is scientifically "proven" so that we can know what symptoms it will correct.  A proving requires supervisors and provers.  There is a one to one ratio.  The supervisors take an intake case evaluation on each prover to find out what symptoms are already part of that provers make-up and to eliminate people with chronic illnesses.  We want healthy males and females of different ages in our provings.  Then, these people are given a potentized substance.  Neither the provers nor the supervisors are told what is in the potentized remedy.

Over the next few days, the provers keep a journal of anything unusual to their general being.  No symptom is too small to record.  They may develop a fear of high places, performance anxiety; their dreams may change and have intense themes.  They may develop a dull headache in the left temple area.  The provers are often Homeopathic students who are willing to put up with a few days of discomfort to find new tools for Homeopathy.  Meanwhile, the supervisors are talking with the provers daily and keeping their own journal of the information they collect.

Then the journals are collected from the provers and supervisors.  All the common symptoms from the provers are studied and turned into useful rubrics, our name for symptoms.  We use a Repertory to list symptoms and the remedies that alleviate those symptoms.  The first Repertory of Homeopathic Materia Medica was published in 1897 by J.T. Kent, M.D.  It's a long, painfully detailed process but completely necessary to keep Homeopathy honest and a respected science.