The California Homeopath
Journal of the California Homeopathic Medical Society

The Miasm as a concept may relate to a disease that has been previously experienced, by the patient himself or by earlier generations, and never cleared from the system. However, just as other, corresponding systems of thought can be used to inform and develop the theory of miasms; so the miasmatic concept can be used to inform our understanding of  other areas of thought where there is some basic correspondence.

An example of this is looking at the history of society through the theories of Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan noted that any technology or invention had the property of extending one of the faculties of the people who use it. This extension of one faculty is at the expense of all the others that are left behind. The body and psyche attempt to restore a balance by numbing the extended faculty and enhancing the others. This means that any technological advance has a profound effect on the society in which it occurs that reaches far beyond the practical use of that technology. The technologies that have the most profound effect are those involving communication. The changes in humanity and in human society that were caused by, and came with, the inventions of speech, of writing and of printing permeated every level of human action and ways of thinking. The changes brought about by these three “inventions” share in the most important qualities of the three classic miasmatic diseases. The one for which we have complete historical information, the invention of printing, can be clearly seen to have led to the industrial society, the Protestant religion and the nation state, which encompass qualities that correspond to the destructive qualities of the syphilitic miasm. Not only this but the actual disease of Syphilis came to Europe in the years that closely followed the invention and spread of printing.

By Peter Fraser

Peter Fraser practices homeopathy in Bristol and London, England.  He is the author of many provings, working with the The School of Homeopathy, Devon and author of a number of books, including The AIDS Miasm, books on Snakes, Spiders and Insects and the series of Using Maps and Systems in Homœopathy, which includes: Miasms, Realms, Mappa Mundi and Philosophy. He is currently working on a Supplement to Clarke’s Dictionary of Materia Medica that extends it to cover many new homeopathic remedies. He is especially interested in the diseases of our times: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Allergic Reactions, Hyperactivity and Concentration Disorders, Auto-Immune Disease and HIV. Visit his website at http://www.homoeopathist.info/.