Samuel Hahnemann died in 1844. At the time of his death, miasmatic theory remained incomplete, and was often rejected by homeopaths, or used only as a supplement to practice.
In the early part of the 20th century, a Dr Nebel added to Hahnemann;s original three miasms, with a fourth, tuberculinism. This miasm was characterized by emaciation, romantic fantasies, exhaustion and chronic lung diseases.
During the long sleep of homeopathy in the twentieth century, very little thought was given to miasms in general, or homeopathy at all. However, beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, interest in holistic medicine, and homeopathy began to rise again. At this time, a new group of thinkers such as my own teacher Gerard Geuniot, Vithoulkas, Jeremy Sherr and other began to emerge. Along with these figures came an influx of ideas from german trained nature doctors, who had maintained a more active tradition across the atlantic.
One of the most major ideas to emerge from this period was a reinterpretation of the idea of miasms. In the light of the work done earlier in the century on drainage, and the methods the body had for dealing with toxins (to be explored in another blog).
In this light, the traditional miasms of psora, sycotic and syphilis combine, with the new miasm of tuberculosis, to form an integrated model of the human bodies’ journey through health and disease.
According to this model, most people start life in psora, which is assumed to be the healthiest state. These beings will periodically purge their body of toxins, and disease products via rashes, diarrhea, and other discharges rapidly. These people tend to get short lived violent illnesses, and then rapidly recover, feeling better than before. If the toxic load in their bodies exceeds what they can excrete, they move on into the second miasm, sycosis.
Sycotic patients tend to store their toxins in areas where they cannot cause damage, such as joints, fat and connective tissue. This tends to cause joint pain, and often issues such as water retention and increased weight. Issues with emotions, such as holding onto negative experiences and thoughts, also tend to occur.
If the body cannot store any more toxins, it will begin to cannibalize its own resources, such as minerals to excrete the toxicity. This is known as the tuberculinic miasm, mentioned above. These people also tend towards chronic fatigue, exhaustion, and lung pathologies.
If the body runs out of resources, it moves into the syphilitic miasm, and blow wounds and ulcers within itself. These wounds usually leak fluid, which contains the toxicity that the body is attempting to dislodge. However, since our society does not permit open wounds to leak fluid, these sores and wounds are usually sealed surgically. At this point the toxicity that the body has been dealing with by various means is fully present for the first time. Now the serious degenerative diseases of cancer, mental illness, autoimmunity and death soon result.
In my next blog, I will be discussing drainage, and the relationship of Geuniots miasms to drainage.
Take care of yourselves!
Sources: Geuniot, G. From Natural Medceine to Medecine of the Individual. 2010. Editions Amyris. Brussells..