Homeopathic Mind Maps Remedies Plant Kingdom

Review

This book review is reprinted from Volume 25, Number 2 , Year 2012 edition of the Homoeopathic Links - International Journal for Classical Homeopathy

Reviewed by Olga Fatula and Leonid Anikeev, Russia

The new trilogy published by Alicia Lee has finally resolved the insoluble task of embracing the full picture of a remedy into a single printed page.

Every page of each book offers a condensed essence of a remedy. The author managed to fit every substantial detail relating to the remedy into one page named the "Mind Map" of that remedy. Each Mind Map is a clear and practical summary of the mental state of a remedy, or a group of remedies.

At a single glance, one finds the chain of links leading from the deepest sensation through the emotional level down to the physical symptoms belonging to the remedy. The diagnosis is tracked backwards to an emotional or a psychological trauma that has led to it.

The idea behind this work is quite remarkable; the remedies are presented as a "cause-to-result" relationship for a group and every separate remedy within it (see Fig. 1 for a sample page).

Each chapter is preceded by an overview of the Kingdom, the Family and the Order. Separate sections are devoted to the differential diagnosis within the Group or Family, on each level.

In building her Maps Alicia Lee collected an immense number of provings, from Hahnemann's to the most contemporary researches. Moreover, she managed to combine them into a single intuitively understandable Mind Map of that very remedy.

There are a few aspects to mention regarding the remarkable features of the books:

The books are very well systematized, grouped and organized, from Kingdoms to the Families and Orders, then separate drugs
-They are easy to read: one remedy = one page;
-There is no distinction between polychrests and small remedies; every source has its well-deserved full-page description;
-Every doctor is free to move the arrows in her Maps the way he/she feels is right, to comprehend the essence.

Each Mind Map is accompanied by vivid illustrations and the full references to the source of the information, for the convenience of everyone who wants to study the remedy in-depth.

Compact as a dictionary, at the same time the books are extensive as an encyclopedia. They are very helpful, handy and convenient handbooks, both for the doctors and their students.

Reviewed by Jenni Tree

Alicia Lee wrote to ask me for some technical advice some years ago, when this daunting project, begun as part of her Auckland College of Classical Homeopathy course, was in its infancy. I was interested to follow her progress and she sent me the proofs of each book, so that what I am reviewing may not be the final version.

In short, each book is A4 size, necessary for the visual mind map layout, and spiral bound to lie flat for ease of reference. The paper is a good quality semi-gloss to carry the photos, and a serif font is used.

Each medicine has one page devoted to it. The information is laid out with the most important mentals at the top, leading to the emotions, and the physicals lower down the page. ‘Thought’ arrows connect them, and Lee is at pains to explain that these are her personal connections. The books are her interpretation and understanding of materia medica, as she has been taught, and from her wide reading in many sources, most of which are credited. It is interesting to see a modern student’s eye view of ‘Maximum information in Minimum space’, and to understand the themes, connections, language and information felt necessary for a differential prescription now, in comparison with Vermeulen’s Silver Book, the Synoptic Materia Media of 1992. Lee’s Animal Kingdom in particular contains outlines of many medicines not available 20 years ago, such as the majority of the birds and snakes, the sea horse and salmon, to name a few.

The medicines in the Animal Kingdom are arranged alphabetically by family, from Bears through Birds to Spiders. This book also contains the Fungi and the Nosodes, which, it is true, are often characteristically animal in behaviour. The Mineral Kingdom starts with Acids, continues with the Halogens, and then reverts to Hydrogen, making its way down the periodic table in rows, with some magnificent tables of differentials for the salts in each series; and ending with Hecla lava, Natrum glutamate [monosodium glutamate], Sanicula, Aqua Camelford, Aqua Sulis and Aqua Taosca and a list of the Mineral waters. There are also overviews of the Lanthanides and Actinides. Plant Kingdom information is arranged alphabetically in families from the Anacardiaceae to the Violales, and ends with a section on Trees. Much of the Plant Kingdom layout follows the teachings of Rajan Sankaran’s Sensation Method, but is easily balanced by rubrics, delusions, physicals, herbalism, myth and pharmacology.

The running order of the books shows the influence of Scholten and Sankaran in that we are now expected to have a working knowledge of the Periodic Table, and some rudimentary understanding of which plants belong in which family, to say nothing of their miasmatic affiliation. Sherr and Shore have provided much new material and indeed kingdoms. Lee has drawn on a huge range of resources, from unpublished lecture notes, seminar material, online resources, and many old and new homoeopathic texts in order to collate this material into three extremely useful books, appositely illustrating each medicine. For those who like their information in a visual, succinct, full-colour, contemporary way, for whom mind maps make sense, these three books are a fascinating read for keynotes and clinic. There is nothing else like them on the market.

This book review is reprinted from Volume 31, Number 2, Year 2012 edition of The Homeopath
Reviewed by Ian Hamilton

How do we learn? When I was training teachers, the debate was all about how learning is a different process for all of us. Learning styles was the buzz phrase. Many models were offered, but mostly it was all about people identifying their preferred way. Very little of it ever seemed to percolate to schools and colleges. It was all about how the teacher wanted to teach. So in many schools of homeopathy, there were boring recitals of symptoms for materia medica and there were untrained teachers who carried on the practices used upon them, without thought of how learning happens.

When I first came across mind mapping it was through Tony Buzan's work. The concept is that word, image, number, logic, rhythm, color and spatial awareness are the building blocks of how the brain organizes information. I tried using it as one learning style amongst others. My surprise was that the people who learned best this way tended to be female. Why was this? Research has since established that males often learn better from rote learning of facts and females from the association of things. Could this be a connection with left brain/right brain learning? Emotional intelligence and multi tasking as "female" attributes? Or is it homeopathic thinking?

I think the reason why the mind mapping books Alicia Lee has produced are a so useful, is that she has captured the ideas of association which are essential to really knowing about remedies. There is always a need to know factual information about remedies, but the deeper learning comes from understanding why a remedy acts in a particular way. The mind maps in these books are not the whole answer to understanding in this way, but they contribute. Their great attraction is that they gather information of all types and connect it. There is no standard format so not all remedies have, for example, modalities or generals. But if these are vital to understanding they are given. In this sense I would say the books are adjuncts to learning.

The main strength of the three volumes is that they do approach the remedies within kingdoms, so that the idea of the kingdom's common factors and themes are discussed at the beginning. These are in themselves in mind map form and are very useful. The-way in which the theme of survival in plants and animals is expressed is indicative of the method. Survival in plants is about adaptability whilst for animals it's competition. Similarly, the themes of the families of animals, e.g. sea remedies, are presented as a mind map, which is very useful.

Sources are generally given, so that provings can be identified. For the more left brained, there are summary tables of, for example, the Ranunculaceae family. The elements are well illustrated, with remedies from each series represented and an excellent section on Water remedies as a separate sub kingdom.

This is a serious piece of scholarship and a good learning tool, especially for the multi-brained amongst us!