Homeopathy Tips for 3/08/11 The Repertory
Our best tool for homeopathy is the Repertory. It is a tool that no homeopath could really do without. This is a system of classification of symptoms that are indexed and organized in sub-categories. All areas of the body, the mind and generalities and sensations including vertigo, cough, expectoration, perspiration etc. are organized by chapter to identify the rubric and the remedies that have been proved to be useful for that symptom.
The pioneers in homeopathy created this system for their use and also passed these repertories on. Some of the famous repertories that are still very valuable and useful have been written by Kent, Boger, Bönninghausen, Boericke, Jahr. Today we have modern compilations of these repertories and newer additions by many modern authors. The Synthetic Repertory, The Complete Repertory, Murphy’s Medical Repertory and Synthesis, to name a few.
The organization of any repertory is really a working tool of the authors mind and observations. Some repertories were written that focused on sensation. Others focused on as many perceivable symptoms that could be included. Others yet had a more medical bias to the rubrics. But each has a valuable place in our homeopathic tool kit.
Using the repertory is one of the most critical parts of the homeopathic process. Correct selection of rubrics is essential. The repertorization of any case is only as good as the rubrics selected. Using a repertory that provides an adequate number of rubrics and remedies will help every homeopath. But the repertorization will be only as useful as the homeopaths choice of rubrics and his analysis.
Even after using the best of repertories and the best choice of rubrics the homeopaths challenge still exists to select the correct remedy. This is where having knowledge of Materia Medica is so important. Never will the repertory select the remedy for the homeopath. It must always be selected by matching the essence of what it asking to be healed in the case with a remedy that carries a similar energy. The repertory is only the guide, but an essential one.
In past newsletters I have given credits to The Complete Repertory for rubrics I have used that could be useful in particular conditions. Roger van Zandvoort is the author of the Complete Repertory and has done a supreme job in creating a modern repertory. He has used the additions of many authors from the old masters to those of the latest provings. This repertory is true to its name; complete. Some of the ways he has improved upon older repertories is by clarifying a system for remedy grading, identifying the authors, offering a bibliography of the authors so we know when the rubrics and remedies were added, and cross referencing rubrics.
Being able to cross-reference rubrics is so very useful. This gives us the information to select rubrics that really fit the case rather than being stuck with a rubric that is similar but not exact. This feature is, in my opinion, as useful as having the latest additions from modern authors is.
Roger van Zandvoort and his colleague Edwin van Grinsven have made his repertory available to everyone through their website http://www.completedynamics.com. You can use this repertory for free, although a donation is something all users should contribute. This repertory is active, alive and constantly being upgraded. Paying something is good karma for such a valuable tool available for homeopaths. Donation is available on the website.
You can also read more about this project and the CompleteRepertory by visiting Roger’s personal website at http://www.morphologica.com/english/repertory/introduction.htm
A tool is only as good as the person using it. Study the Repertory and Materia Medica. But above all else, continue to purify your life. Get clear in yourself so you can be the most unprejudiced observer. Only if you are able to perceive the case, selecting appropriate rubrics that reflect the case accurately, could you ever come to a list of remedies that may be useful. After this, continued study of Materia Medica is essential to select the very best remedy. We have the tools, now it is up to you.
Resonance School of Homeopathy's Forum 
It’s a very good information.
regards
GSRAO
Thanks Dr.Robert Field its your good and nice clarification.Materia medicat,repertory and rubricks are the best tool of a homeopath.Regards,yours truely,malaker
I find it sometimes very difficult to decide which rubric to choose: there are many rubrics in Repertory that sound rather similar, but you need the one that is the most accurate for the case. And it’s not easy.
Yulia. The correct rubric is essential. Studying the repertory, especially the mind section is essential. You always want to select the right rubric that has the remedy for the case in it. It sounds trite but is so very important. Learn what the words of the repertory really mean. Yasgurs homeopathic dictionary is useful.
Warmest regardS.
Robert
Dear Sir:
It is good to know about some rubrics. I will try to find more as given in tha website for comlete dynamic.
Thanks!
Robert Lal
“But above all else, continue to purify your life.”
is the most important lesson of the topic.
But can you help how to purify life.
Regards
Waqar Ahmed
Hi Waqar,
To purify your life means to always do the right thing. It means that we treat others with respect when it is due. It means we show up and make our life an examle of good. It is a constant job to do this. It will help you in all you do in life and especially homeopathy.
Blessings, Robert
May I add purify without prejudice?
Nice information. Thank you..
good informative,and as the very basics depend on the analysis
and evaluation of symptoms to rubrics.Excellent work.
Thank you ,hope we shall have more interaction,
Regards,dr daulah.
It is really a treasure you unveiled before us. Thank you Dr.
Thanks Dr.Robert,
Thank you very much that once again you tried to draw our attention to the fact that none can practice homoeopathy without consulting Repertory.You have given us a new idea about the updated Repertory and by disclosing a site to us–we shall be able to consult it whenever we need it. Thanks once again.
Dr. A.M Howlader.
It is a great treasure of information which can be gainfully used by a practising homeoepath. It is nice to see this. thnks
Thanks Dr Robert
Reporter y is very important to select remedy but it needs experiences and also deep knowledge on Materia Medica. your articles gives us enthuasm to proceed further. Regards. Dr Rahman Gazipur Bangladesh
please send homopathy tips for time to time by that i can serve the poor
sir your tips are very usefull for people it always helps the homopath so many many thanks for this work.It is a real work for human.
Dear Dr Robert: This is a very welcome article to point out the importance of Repertory. I have always wondered if Complete Repertory is fully complete? Probably yes, if the question is based on all available rubrics being consolidated from various written sources upto this point in time. But there are still many undiscovered species of plants and animals yet to be discovered in Amazon forest and so on. Such flora have not been “proved” yet. So, one day they could be future additions to the Complete Repertory. Also, while considering the existing rubrics, it baffles me how some rubrics came to be included? Example: Heart, Cancer of : Craetagus. How did the authors of Repertory make this rubric. First of all, Mayo Heart Clinic says that Cancer of Heart is so rare that in an entire average year, Mayo Clinic sees only 1 case per whole year and usually that case is in a critical pathological state (meaning tumors have grown in heart already and fatally). We know that rubrics in repertory often trace their origin to provings or to clinical experience. I am sure that proving of Craetagus was never conducted till heart tumors showed up in the prover (Homeopaths generally stop provings when any pathological signs appear). Secondly since this heart cancer is so rare, what were the chances that a homeopath enountered such a clinical case and cured it with Craetagus…..it would have to be “coincidence extraordinary”….Probably some animals that ate Craetagus were observed over a period of time and they developed heart tumors?. It is well known that goats who ate plants growing in volcanic soil often develop bony tumors of the jaws (a repertorial rubric thereby assigned to Hecla Lava or Volcanic ash). In conclusion, rubrics in a repertory often have a source tale to tell that traces to a proving, clinical experience, human observation of animals etc.
Or, in continuation fo the above article, probably the proving of Craetagus produced in the prover a sensation of having cancer/tumors in the heart….rather than an actual physical tumor of the heart. Never the less, if you look up Complete Repertory – Chapter – Heart & circulation, you will see the rubric Cancer, Heart: Craetagus. That rubric is there in black and white as plain as you can see. Thanks, Philip
its very nice and helpful sir.provide us such good informations regularly…sir pls suggest some medicine for gum boil…thanks
Dear Dr R
The pollen Allergy already started some areas, We also suffering this problem in ISLAMABAD-Pakistan
Need your expensive article on “POLLEN ALLERGY”
Thanks / Regards
Dear, THanks for very instersting ,useful information
If one studies 2 remedies in only 2 M.M.s, for example, Phatak and Wm. Boericke, the rems, to wit, Kali Mur.{KCL} and Kali Chloricum{KCLO3} one will find that, in spite both are Kalis,there is no similarity of symptom pictures of the 2.Also,Kali Chloricum is one of most poisonous of Kali group, except possibly Kali Cyanatum. Problem is , in my copy of Kent’s Repertory, Enriched Indian Edition, 6th Edition, most, if not all, symptoms of Kali Mur.{KCL} are wrongly attributed to Kali Chloricum. A few examples, pg. 33{my edition}Delusions-starve, he must-kali chloricum only rem. listed{ref. Boericke’s M.M. “imagines he will starve”};pg.39,Kent,eat, refuses to-kali chloricum in Capitals, kali mur not even listed.Pg. 285,Kent,-ear- catarrh-kali chlor. in italics; kali mur. not listed. Pg.643, Kent,stool- white -main rubric-kali chlor, italics, kali mur not listed. This observation , in no way, is meant to berate Kent’s Repertory, as confusion began with combining symptoms of both rems. at a time when kali mur. had not yet been proven{ ref. “Guiding Symptoms,Vol 6} For sake of brevity, will not mention any more examples from Kent,altho tere are more.Sincerely, William Fredric Vennard..
Dear William: You brought up a pertinent point in the overlapping or even incorrect replacement of symptoms of different remedies. It only shows that Repertories and Materia Medicas like any other written medium has some human flaws caused by genuine author error, publisher error, proof reader error, typographical errors and sometimes even non-diligence and printers’ devil. There is no doubt that Kent’s 3rd and possibly subsequent editions have errors despite Kent writing in his introduction that “The third edition completes my life work. I have brought it upto date……”. Kent did make 3 annotated corrected copies and his wife Clara Kent also made corrections, but they never made it to print. One copy was with Dr F.E. Gladwin, another with Dr J.S. Pugh, maybe the third ended up with Dr Pierre Schmidt of Geneva (not sure). Dr Ramanlal P. Patel labored for 45 years with Kent’s repertory and corrected nearly 10,000 errors and came out with his Corrected version of Kent’s Repertory in 1990 (of which I have a copy). I think Dr Pierre Schmidt also came out with a Final Corrected version. But even these corrected repertories may have outlived their usefulness as they don’t have the new remedies that The Complete Repertory has. Thanks for bringing up your valid point. But by always using a cross verification method of comparing Materia Medica by different authors, as you have so ably done, then one can avoid tripping over such errors. I often compare remedy pictures by different authors and books before deciding on a remedy. For example, most authors say Anacardium is generally worse by motion, but Sankaran clearly proves that it is generally better by motion. Thank You, again. Whew……so much additional work is needed in Homeopathy!
Dear Dr. Robert,
Thank you very much for the nice piece of article.
The message of the article will be very much helpful
to all particularly for the new comers and the students.
Repertory is the sheet-anchor in the occean of
Homeopathy & Materia Medica is its foundatikon. More than
3000 remedies are in use in Homeopathy.It is not humanly
possible to memorise thousands & thousands of symptoms
of these remedies particularly where common symptoms
under each remedy are enormous.During the early periods
of Homeopathy when there were limited number of remedies,
Dr.Hahnemann prepared a repertory by his own hand with a
view to ease his practice & give relief to the sufferings
of the patients as far as possible.So, the importance of
repertory is invaluable & imperative to all Homeopaths
to become a succesful prescriber.It may be mentioned that
his hand made repertory was never printed & published.
Thank you once again.
Kh.Mahbubur Rahman.
Dhaka, Bangladesh.
your good approach in repertory
Hello,
Has anyone tried to use various repertories available in the market now to find the simillimum in a particular case using the same and different rubrics?
Such an exercise will prove the accuracy of the repertories and the analytical ability of the homeopath.
I hope someone will try and do it ?
See ‘Learning Classical Homeopathy’ by Helmut Sydow.
he has 25 cases and most show the cases worked out with TPB by Allen/Boen., BB, Kent, and often with the smaller repertories of boger/phatak/sankaran[p.]. It is a gem of a book for tradtitional non-kentian basics.
esp. repertory.