(Translated by Katja Schütt and Alan Schmukler)
Miasmatic diseases in plants are a little investigated topic within agrohomeopathy. Conventional agriculture considers all diseases as acutes and external to the plant, omitting to explain the constant relapses and resistances of diseases and plagues affecting the plants and the soil.
Miasmatic expressions were not often observed in plants before the “green revolution”. Today, half a century after the application of agrotoxicals and continued suppressions there is hardly any plant which does not present destructive signs of a miasm caused by human intervention. Whereas psora was the predominant miasm before the “green revolution”, nowadays destructive sycotic and syphilitic manifestations are much more prevalent. Suppressive treatment can ultimately deprive mankind of sustenance. The yield of plants has diminished and the costs have increased tremendously due to the high cost of fertilizers and agrotoxicals, which are mainly derived from petroleum.
Agriculturists interested in ecological methods substitute allopathic, agrotoxical products with natural or homeopathically prepared substances. Their ecological utility is nil if they are not applied according to homeopathic principles. Their application can also suppress symptoms if applied allopathically, based on the approach of opposites cure opposites. It is a matter of fact that the “green revolution” has increased the risk for the occurrence of superplagues and endangers the source of sustenance for humans.
Accustomed to the allopathic way of thinking, most organic agriculturists still adhere to the prescription methods of agrotoxical substances: How to remove a certain bug ? Apply a certain remedy in water for a certain number of hectares and your ready! The bug is viewed as the disease itself, although it should only be considered a symptom of the disease. The different approaches to disease lead to different outcomes, with either resistance or true cure.
Considering the totality of individual symptoms, a bug on a potato will probably need a different homeopathic remedy than a bug on a cucumber. The application of the homeopathic remedy needs to be individualized. One cannot apply something universally for all cases. Each case requires a meticulous repertorization of the plant and soil. The same holds true for the farmer who asks for a homeopathic remedy to modify the pH value of his acid soil. The acidity is only one symptom of the dis-equilibrium. For a homeopathic prescription we need to know more about the cause and symptoms of the disease.
Correcting a problem allopathically, for instance by the application of lime, only removes the problem temporarily. It induces nutritional dis-equilibrium of the entire soil and dependency on subsequent lime applications, finally leading to the vital decline of the soil. The application of homeopathic remedies based on the allopathic approach only solves the problems of plants and soil temporarily and apparently. This procedure provokes suppressions in the plants and soil, and induces a chronic, miasmatic disease.
Holon or bioconstellation are terms used to designate a complex of interrelations which plants, insects, fungi, microorganisms and other creatures establish with the soil, air, water and geological-ecological system, to maintain a permanent or temporary unity of co-existence. A change in any part may have important implications on the remaining parts of the holon. Therefore, a successful agrohomeopathic treatment of miasmatic diseases ought to consider the plant itself along with the symptoms of the entire holon.
Samuel Hahnemann gave many examples of the suppression of miasmatic diseases in humans in his book The Chronic Diseases (1), and pointed out the dangers of such suppressions, which may even be fatal. Conventional agriculturists and some users of agrohomeopathy take the bait to apply Calendula or Ledum for psoric diseases of the epidermis of the plant, or even apply Sulphur powder to achieve momentary relief. This inevitably produces suppression, soil acidification, aggravation and death of the plant, and devitalization of the soil.
The same applies to repetitive “ecological” application of preparations of Neem (Azadirachta indica) or Bacillus thuringuensis to prevent the appearance of pathogenic insects in plants, which diminishes the plague for a short time, but leads to resistance and the establishment of a chronic disease in plants and soil in the long term.
Samuel Hahnemann pointed out the unsuitability of suppressing psoric affections. It is not sufficient to kill the microbes, to get rid of the parasites or to calm the symptoms with an acute homeopathic remedy. It is necessary to repertorize each case according to homeopathic principles and to consider the totality of symptoms, to achieve a permanent cure.
It is useless to clean the leaves of the plant with soap locally. The vital dis-equilibrium, which originates from a miasm, affects the plant profoundly. It consistently produces symptoms and attracts pathogens. Only the internal action of the miasmatic remedy, chosen based on the totality of symptoms, can solve the problem and re-establish homeostasis in plants and soil.
Sulphur leads the list of miasmatic remedies given by Hahnemann and his successors. It prepares and facilitates the action of other remedies, and expresses faithfully the relation between the organs and epidermis of the plant.
The same applies to the soil which is considered a living organism. The surface of the soil frequently shows symptoms of its miasmatic disease, often psora, but also sycosis and syphilis with increasing frequency.
Psora in Agave sp.
Some epidermic reactions in the plant and soil seem to represent eliminations indicating the cure of a miasm, but this is not always the case. Epidermic affections in plants are sometimes accompanied by eliminations, but rapidly lead to the death of the plant.
For example, morbid symptoms of the epidermis in elderly apple trees suffering from arthritic conditions, which were fueled by repetitive tree-cut, may disappear when treated with Calcarea carbonica 200CH, but at the same time induce the death of the tree.
In this case Berberis trifoliata in medium potency will solve the problem of the tree without many obstacles. Calcarea carbonica in medium potency such as 30 CH may be indicated in a young apple tree suffering from the same disease and treat the problem successfully.
According to Hahnemann the acute diseases are to be differentiated as either individual, sporadic or epidemic diseases.
He differentiated between the following chronic diseases:
1. Diseases with many symptoms:
1.1.1. Simple diseases like Psora
1.1.2. Complex diseases like Psora-Sycosis
These can be continuing, intermittent, or alternating.
1.2. Non miasmatic
1.2.1. Diseases caused by faulty hygienic conditions
1.2.2. Diseases caused by the continued application of non-homeopathic substances (such as the repetitive application of chemical fertilizers)
1.2.3. Occupational diseases
2. Diseases with scanty symptoms
2.1. Enfermedades (diseases) of simple laterality
2.1.1. Mental diseases
2.1.2. Physical diseases
2.2. Local diseases
2.2.1. Chirurgical diseases
2.2.2. Non chirurgical diseases (2)
Considering the advances in immunology and cellular biology, it is evident that miasms are not easy to classify based on the external causative agent such as bacteria or virus, as these are only part of a complex of internal and external influences. Even if infection arises from the plants exposure to pathogens, the infection only becomes possible if the plant is predisposed towards it.
One of the characteristics of chronic miasms is that the vital force is not able to cure them. (3) Therefore, waiting for the vital force to cure a chronic miasmatic disease in plants or soil is just wasting time.
Chronic presence of “scales”, a psoric expression on the leaves of avocado.
Hahnemann originally distinguished between the three primary miasms psora, sycosis and syphilis. Newer approaches also include the cancer miasm, AIDS or tuberculosis etc. Presently, there is no unified theory which defines miasms unequivocally.
In a broader sense we can define three miasms in plants:
Psora: inhibition and loss of function, hypersensitivity with subsequent irritation or inflammation of tissues. Usually, these physiological changes do not destroy the plant, but may find their expression in the chronic presence of aphids for example.
Sycosis: dilatation, weakening of tissues, dropping of flowers and fruits, proliferative processes, prolapse, induration of tissues such as canker.
Syphilis: complete destruction of all plant tissues including the root, and their developmental and defense systems, secondary metabolites etc., with manifestations like putrefaction. (4)
Miasmatic diseases in plants are poorly investigated, but their expressions seem to show similarities to the miasms decribed by Hahnemann. For example, the alternation of psoric symptoms of the epidermis, with affections of the respiratory organs in plants, is similar to the alternation of eczema and asthma in humans.
Miasmatic diseases in forest systems arouse particular interest, as these currently express the known phenomenon of “dying forest” with trees dying massively, facilitating the desertification of the area as ecological consequence. The same problem occurs in protected areas due to the activity of humans and environmental pollution.
Even if the prohibited application of agrotoxical substances excludes medicinal suppressions, the holon is unable to recover health on its own. The reforestation initiatives in the affected areas fail, by disregarding the presence of miasms in the entire holon. Reforested trees are soon affected by the same miasmatic diseases and vital decline as their predecessors. Forest investigators believe that the phenomenon is due to a complex of influences and diseases for which they have no remedy or treatment. To treat the forests homeopathically is the only viable alternative.
The repertorization and homeopathic treatment of miasmatic diseases in plants and soil requires advanced homeopathic knowlwedge. Perseverance and patience are necessary as the cure of miasmatic diseases requires considerable time. Hahnemann wrote:
“Disease of long standing (and especially such as are of a complicated character) require for their cure a proportionately longer time. More especially do the chronic medicinal dyscrasia so often produced by allopathic bungling, along with the natural disease left uncured by it, require a much longer time for their recovery; often, indeed, are they incurable, in consequence of the shameful robbery of the patient’s strength and juices, the principal feat performed by allopathy in its so-called methods of treatment.” (5)
The successful treatment may well need one to three years until visible, measurable and durable results can be seen. This is a quite brief time considering that chronic miasmatic diseases need decades to develop, perpetuate and express themselves in the holon.
Some of the miasmatic remedies are the same as those mentioned by Hahnemann, such as Sulphur, Silicea terra, Cuprum, the groups of Carbo, Ammonia, Baryta, Natrum, Kali, Magnesia and Calcarea. There are others which are probably more specific for plants, but little studied and used in humans such as Larrea tridentata, Hunnemania fumarifolia, Nicotiana glauca, Karwinskia humboldtiana, Berberis trifoliata among others, or remedies made from fungi such as Suillus spp. or Cantharellus cibarius, Coriolus versicolor, Ganoderma applanatum or Ganoderma lucidum.
Karwinskia humboldtiana, the queen among the antimiasmatic remedies in plants.
Berberis trifoliata, one of the outstanding miasmatic remedies for plants.
Climatic change along with dangerous and obstinate interventions by humans, such as application of agrotoxic substances and the thoughtless experiments with genetically modified organisms, will further aggravate the already difficult ecobalance on earth.
Many of the acute infections leave chronic miasmatic sequelae in plants and soil, and are shifting their weight from psora to sycosis and syphilitic expressions. These changes and the diminished fertility of plant and soil will put the topic of miasmatic diseases in plants on the international agenda within a short time.
1. Samuel Hahnemann, Las enfermedades crÃ³nicas, Editorial PorrÃºa, EdiciÃ³n Sexta, MÃ©xico 2004
2. Harimohon Choudhury, Indications of miasms, secunda ediciÃ³n Jain Publishers 2006. pp.6 y 7
3. Samuel Hahnemann, Las Enfermedades crÃ³nicas, Editorial PorrÃºa , EdiciÃ³n Sexta, Mexico, 2004, p.41.
4. Radko Tichavsky, HomeopatÃa para las plantas, Ed.Fujimoto promociones, MÃ©xico, 2009 pp. 129 y 130.
5. Samuel Hahnemann, Organon de la Medicina, Editorial PorrÃºa 2002, pÃ¡rrafo 149 pp. 189