Brief Detail about AIDS Nosode Proving & Protocol in School of Homoeopathy
by
Misha Norland
THE PROVING OF THE AIDS NOSODE
The idea behind the proving arose from discussions between Dr Rajesh Shah and
myself during a visit to Bombay. We both undertook provings, however he was only
able to secure two volunteers. The proving was undertaken in 1988 using single
doses in either the 30th or 200th centesimal potencies of the blood of a man who
subsequently died of AIDS-related diseases. Results of the initial proving, mine
with a student group of ten and his, as written with two, though portraying some
symptom similarity, did not convey the ‘shape’ of the remedy. Therefore, some
pillules were sent to Mariette Honig in Holland who carried out an exhaustive
proving. The verified symptoms of these provings have been included in the
extraction presented. However, the picture of the nosode emerged with flying
colours when in 1994 we carried out two large group provings with students at
The School of
Homeopathy. One group received 30c and the other 200c.
At the School we have carried out all our provings with unit doses. This
stimulus, because it is amplified by the group and reawakened at monthly
gatherings when experiences are recounted, is sufficient to produce significant
and long-range effects.
During the course of the School weekend (Friday through to Sunday) we took stock
of thoughts, dreams, sensations, feelings and external world events, using
transcripts of tape recordings to ensure accuracy, and diaries kept by
supervisors and provers. Audio recording spanned a period of three months, while
some reports of cured symptoms continued to come in for the next two years.
Proving Protocol:
School of Homeopathy
September 2007
Proving procedures and guidelines for provers and supervisors:
On these experiments depends the exactitude of the whole medical art and the
welfare of all future generations of mankind. Organon §122
Introductory comments:
The purpose of a proving is to ascertain the exact pathogenic effects of a remedy and so to learn the nature of its healing power. In the School setting it also allows us to better understand the homeopathic process and to find out more about ourselves.
The procedures for conducting a proving were laid out by
Hahnemann in § 105-145 of the Organon and on the whole there has been little
need to change them. They have been commented on and clarified by:
1 JT Kent Lectures on
Homœopathic Philosophy Lecture XXVIII
2 Jeremy Sherr Dynamics and Methodology of Provings
3 Paul Herscu Provings.
The Protocols used by the School are based on the Organon and make use of codes
and refinements suggested by Jeremy Sherr. The main differences have arisen from
our observation of the particular dynamics of the group proving.
The group proving:
Having conducted regular annual provings at the School since 1993 certain
particular features of a group proving have been noticed. These observations
have caused us to modify the methodology to take account of them.
The proving of a remedy by members of a coherent group appears to cause an
amplification of the effect of that remedy. There appears to be a
teletherapeutic effect produced by the field generated by the assembled provers,
their experiences being in resonance. The whole group is involved and those
members who have not taken the remedy may be as affected as those that have.
This means that the use of control provers who are given placebo is not possible
as they are also likely to prove
the remedy. Because of the group’s field effect it also means there is
no need to repeat the dose if symptoms do not occur immediately.
Kent states that one or two members of a class of forty will make a proving from
a 30th potency. Our experience has been that substantially more than half of the
class will experience significant symptoms.
Provers therefore either take a single 30c dose, or, as in recent years, we have
run up the proving potency in class immediately prior to taking it. So as to
conceal the substance, we carry out potentisation in liquid dilutions.
The unit dose also ensures that primary and secondary proving effects do not get
muddled up and confuse or worse still antidote each other, thus nullifying the
proving.
Your role as a prover:
Your role as a prover is to allow your vital force to be affected by the remedy
and to carefully observe the direction and extent of that effect through
recording changes and symptoms with diligence and in
detail. Hahnemann says that a prover should be a lover of truth, temperate in
all respects, of delicate feelings and one who can direct the most minute
attention to her/his sensations. Naturally, you will
wish to give of your best. For this reason it is particularly important that you
stay in regular communication with your supervisor as many details and
subtelties may otherwise be lost.
Requirements to be a prover:
It is appropriate that you be healthy. In other words, your spirit, emotions,
mind and body must be in what is for you a good enough and stable state of
health. You should not be currently liable to
reocurrent acute episodes or suffering from severe degenerative chronic states.
Only when there is a degree of flexibility in your vital force (health) will you
experience worth while symptoms and clear yourself of them once the proving has
come to an end.
The use of medicinally acive substances, especially drugs such as cannabis,
cause symptoms which might be mistaken for proving symptoms. It is best that
they be avoided, especially if you are unfamiliar with their effects.
It is important that you are in homeopathic treatment with an experienced
prescriber. “A proving properly conducted will improve the health of anybody; it
will help turn things into order.” (Kent) The
proving will often bring to the surface, and leave behind, issues that are yours
rather than of the proving. You will wish these to be responded to by your
prescriber in the context of your ongoing
treatment. Your prescriber, responding to your state and symptoms, is also there
to assist you shake off any residual and unwanted proving effects, should they
occur.
The proving is likely to provide numerous insights, and it might provoke
questions about the process of case taking and treatment. It is therefore
appropriate that you have an experienced practitioner in
place to whom such questions can be taken. In the event of proving related
queries being unanswered, the proving co-ordinators are there to offer advice
and guidance for you, your practitioner and your supervisor.
The role of supervision:
The role of your supervisor is to assist you in examining the symptoms you
experience and to make sure that every useful detail is recorded.
They make sure that you are clear about the exact nature of your symptoms. This
is done without making conjectures or asking leading questions.
The process involved in proving supervision is a mirror of the process involved
in therapeutic case taking. Furthermore, your supervisor will have a clinical
supervisor with whom personal questions and general insights about the process
can be discussed. The clinical supervisor may, in turn seek council with the
proving co-ordinators.
Instructions for provers:
It is important that you study the proving process and notice how provings look
in their finished state. An understanding of the proving process can be found in
§ 105 - 145 of the Organon and Kent’s 28th
Lecture on Philosophy. Examples of classic provings are best looked at in T.
F.Allen's Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica. This is the largest collection of
symptoms all of which are proving symptoms (hence the Pure). It and many other
classic texts can be seen on line at Homeopathy International
www.homeoint.org. Many
modern provings have been published. Some are available on line. The best index
of them is at the Homeopathy Home Page
www.homeopathyhome.com.
Click on Reference and then on Provings.
In the period leading up to the proving it is important that you book in to see
your regular homeopathic prescriber. It is not expected that you receive a
remedy at this time. Rather, the function of this
consultation is to establish your ‘base-line state’ as a reference point from
which changing symptoms may be understood.
The pre-proving diary:
Start keeping a diary a month before the proving begins. Keep this up for at
least two weeks. This establishes the habit, familiarises you with the typing
lay-out, and gives you a chance to note your base-line state. You should go
through this with your supervisor at least twice before the proving starts. It
may happen that you experience some new symptoms, not part of your familiar,
base-line, state. Just note these down in the normal way – they may be
precursers of the proving which are sensed by you through precognitive (etheric)
routes.
We suggest that you purchase a wallet sized book for this specific purpose.
Diary entries are best typed up daily and communicated by e-mail. Alternatively,
you can Fax or snail-mail them on a weekly
basis.
• Note down carefully any symptoms that arise on a daily basis, starting
with the date and at what time of the day or night they occurred and whether
they are old or new. (See next page for notes on
how to type up your report). This should be done as carefully as possible while
the symptoms are still fresh in your mind.
• On a daily basis run a check through your body zones to ensure that
you have observed and recorded all your symptoms. Write about what you
have thought and how you have felt.
• It is a good idea to keep your diary, pencil and a torch by your bedside
in order to note down dreams as and when they arise, because like morning mist
they are apt to evaporates in sunlight.
• Also keep a record of occurrences; anything which is out of the ordinary
is a symptom. Your partner, family and friends can also inform and elucidate.
• Be as precise as possible, writing your symptoms in your own language
(not repertory language of rubrics, please) in an accurate, detailed and concise
manner. Use general terms such as, ‘partner’, ‘daughter’, ‘son’, ‘town’ rather
than proper names. You might find it useful to use opposing pages in your diary,
noting symptom specifics on one page and ‘event’ texts on the opposite page.
• Do write on alternate lines, as this allows space to add further
comments, for instance, arising from discussions with your supervisor.
The proving:
Notes on how to type up your report If you have easy access to a computer, it is
best that you type up your proving notes on a daily basis. If you do not have
ready access to a computer, try and type them up or have them typed up as
regularly as possible.
The symptoms should be typed up in the following form exactly. This will allow
for the easy and accurate processing of the information.
• Day, (01 is the day you took the remedy; 02 is the second day etc).
• Time (24 hour clock; if not specific an X).
• NS or OS, etc. (see next page for details of these abbreviations).
• The symptom written out as you would describe it (not in rubric speak).
Examples:
01, X, NS, Woke three times in the night to pee. Felt frightened of the dark.
There was an unspecific threat out there. Solar plexus felt tight, like a hand
grasping and twisting.
03,13.30, NS, I had a terrible headache, it started after lunch and got worse
when I went out. The pain was hot and throbbing, was in the right temple and
extended into the right ear. My husband commented that the pupil of my right eye
was dilated.
The layout (eg. 03,13.30, NS,) with the commas is important and you should try
to follow it exactly, but the most important thing is that you are completely
consistent.
Do not use any other abbreviations or symbols (use worse or better not < or >,
etc.)
Do not use proper names, people should be referred to in generic terms: my
husband, my mother, a friend, my dog, the cat, etc.
Do avoid mixing up symptoms which can be separated unless they link together,
for instance, as concomitants do. If you can break symptom blocks up into
discrete parts, this is helpful. Do discuss any queries with your supervisor.
Symptoms can be found in four areas. Sensations that are experienced by the
senses, this includes pains, stiffness, etc. Feelings that are experienced by
the emotions: fear, isolation, joy, etc. Thoughts that are experienced by the
intellect: confusion, industriousness, etc.
Images that are found most clearly in dreams, fears and delusions but are also
found in the way that we describe the other three areas.
When noting a proving symptom it should be examined and expanded upon in the
same way as a patient's symptom would be. CLAMS is a useful mnemonic.
Concomitants: Any other symptoms that accompany the main symptom
and have a relationship to it because: they appear together; they affect or
worsen each other; or they have a common quality.
Location: The place that the symptom occurs. This includes the
centre of the symptom's effect as well as extensions, where else it affects, and
sidedness.
Aetiology: The things that cause the symptom to appear or the
things that reignite a symptom after it has been lying relatively dormant.
Modalities: The things that make the symptoms better or worse.
These can include weather, food and eating, exercise, rest, emotions,
concentration, etc.
Sensation: The nature of the symptom, what it feels like, any metaphors
that make its nature clearer, anything that would help a reader understand the
precise nature of the symptom.
Another way of considering the symptom is to ask: What? Where? When? How? Why?
Each symptom should be classified using one of these codes:
NS New Symptom. One that you have never experienced before.
OS Old Symptom. A symptom you have experienced before but not for at
least a year.
RS Recent Symptom. One you have experienced within the last year and it
is returning.
AS Altered Symptom. One you have experienced before but which is
slightly different. i.e one or more of the above CLAMS is changed.
IOS Intensified Old Symptom. An Old Symptom but one which you have never
before experienced with the same degree of intensity.
CS Cured symptom. A very clear, usually physical, symptom that you had
at the start of the proving and which has completely disappeared. A symptom,
particularly an emotional one that constitutes a change of state, even if the
change might be seen as healthy, does not necessarily constitute a cured symptom
- elucidate with your supervisor.
The symptom is the change from your normal state. Your base state is assumed to
be healthy and the change is away from the healthy norm and so morbid. When a
timid prover becomes less so the symptom being expressed should be seen as
something like ‘boldness’ rather than cured
timidity.
It is expected that you contact your supervisor on a daily basis for the first
two weeks. This can be gradually reduced as fewer new symptoms arise. The
supervisor will help you make sure that you have
noted all your symptoms and help you to check and expand the details.
The most effective proving co-ordination, thanks to e-mail, is for you you
cross-check your diaries with your supervisor on a daily basis. In this manner
you will both keep synchronised in present time and you will be able to
incorperate their comments as you go along.
If you are writing by hand and are not in regular e-mail corresponence with your
supervisor, then you should make sure that your proving diary is complete and
typed up once you feel the proving has run its course and is no longer producing
useful symptoms. Your supervisor will then look over it and make sure that there
is nothing missing from it. You will then add in anything that your supervisor
noticed as long as you agree with it.
A monthly meeting with the proving co-ordinators will be convened (on the
occasion of School weekends) in order to amplify and comment upon the presented
written material from your proving diary. Given your consent, these proceedings
will be recorded on video tape and will be
viewed by your supervisiors on their school weekend. This literally, keeps them
in the picture. These recordings may also be used for teaching purposes. (As
your written proving reports will be anonymous, so the video tape is
intended to show what you are willing and happy to publically share.)
It is important for the quality and credibility of the proving that you do not
discuss the nature of your symptoms with other provers outside of School
weekends.
During school weekends, however, it is expected that you will take notes as
these will enhance your growing understanding of the proving – the many speaking
as one. Towards the end of the proving it is hoped that you will write up an
overview of your experience during the proving. You will also be asked for this
as a School assignment.
The proving diary and overview should be saved as an rtf file (rich text format
which is a ‘save as’ option in all word processor programs) and sent by e-mail
or disk to the proving co-ordinator.
It is expected that you will consult your homeopathic prescriber who will be
able to make use of the insights you have gained during the proving and can
prescribe an antidote for any remaining symptoms.
Instructions for supervisors:
Before the proving starts it is advised that you speak with your homeopathic
prescriber. This will help them respond to issues that could come up for you
during the proving.
It is expected that you will be in contact with your prover at least twice
before the proving starts. You will need to look at their pre-proving diary to
run through their use of the typing lay-out. See back to, notes on how to type
up your report. You should assist them with this if necessary, as some provers
may have difficulty following the protocols. This will also allow you to gain an
insight into the prover’s base-line state. It may happen that they experience
some new symptoms, not part of their familiar, base-line, state. Just note these
down in the normal way as they may be precursers of the proving which are sensed
by them through precognitive routes. It is not expected that you take the
prover’s homeopathic case as this could constitute an breach of a professional
as well as personal boundary. The object here is to know where they are coming
from in terms of their general health and life situation.
During the first two weeks of the proving it is expected that you will
communicate with your prover on a daily basis. After that you can reduce contact
gradually as symptoms decrease and you both become more aware of their nature.
It is best that weekly contact be maintained until the proving has finally and
completely ended. Obviously, these timings may vary.
As a good enough case receiver, you will allow your prover to describe their
symptoms and keep notes of what you are told. This is done without making
conjectures or asking leading questions. You should then assist them so that
they Clarify, Verify and Enlarge upon the details of their symptoms. Make sure
that what the prover has written clearly and accurately reflects what has
happened. Make sure that all the details of the symptoms have been examined and
expanded upon in the same way as a patient's symptom would be. Try to get to the
core. Also, remember to ask for: Concomitants, Location, Aetiology, Modalities,
Sensations.
Symptoms can be found in four areas: Sensations, Feelings, Thoughts, Images. You
should run through each of these areas and run through the body from head to toe
to make sure that the prover has not missed anything.
Dreams can be particularly difficult and it is best to make sure that not only
the dominant imagery of the dream is clear but also that any sensations,
thoughts or feelings that it contained or provoked are
recorded. If it is a recurrent dream (OS) make note of any changes or
variations. The context of the dream should also be recorded because a dream may
be specific to ongoing events. It is of special importance to note this should
these events predate the proving. This is because the dream may have more to
with these events than the proving.
As the proving is progressing, you will be communicating your impressions to
your prover, encouraging them to incorperate your amplifications and
clarifications of their proving experience. These inclusions should be in synch
and current – it is best if you can work together regularly via phone and
e-mail.
Once the proving has ended you should re-check your prover’s completed diary and
point out anything that you have noted which is not in the diary.
At this time you could usefully write an overview of how you thought and felt
your prover was being and acting during the proving – how it affected them. You
could also note how it affected you. In an
assignment we ask you to send this to the proving co-ordinator within a month of
the proving’s end. This overview is of particular value both to gain an
understanding the proving itself, and to help you make a satisfactory closure.
The process of proving supervision is very similar to that of taking and
managing a patient’s case. It is therefore a valuable learning experience which
could usefully be amplified upon in discussion with
your clinical supervisor.
It is quite possible that you will ‘catch’ some of the symptoms of the proving.
If you are strongly affected, to the extent that you become an important prover,
then you should contact the proving co-ordinators.
You can also take these symptoms to your prescriber for whom they will be
invaluable in gaining a deeper understanding of your case.
Your prescriber, with reference to the proving co-ordinators, can nullify
residual and unwanted proving symptoms.
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