History of European Healing Methods

Every tribe and/or nation is proud their tradition.

Naturopathic medicine in different European countries has a long tradition. Reports about naturopathic methods are found in old scripts all over the world. There was a profound knowledge about how to treat sick people for example in in China, India, Egypt, USA  and Europe.

In Germany,  the "Bader"  a professional mixture of hair stylist, dentist and naturopath,   would not only cut the hair of their clients,  but also extract bad teeth and heal wounds or other ailments.

At all times, there have been wise men and women, who knew about the right cure for almost every disease. Later in Middle Ages, those wise women  often were hunted by witch-hunters and burnt at the stake. That time was the darkest part in the history of the Catholic Church and the worst blow against Naturopathy in general.

There was already  a big variety of healing and diagnostic methods with which  assigned healers (or in some cultures the priests ) tried to help the ailing . Healing Methods like Phytotherapy (healing with herbs) , Aromatherapy (healing with essential oils)., Healing with healing stones or by means of  cupping, blood letting to name some of them. These methods are still used until today with excellent results. Iridology and Foot Reflexology are also proven diagnostic helpers.

Healing was one of the main businesses in ancient monasteries.

Medicine as we understand it today did not exist. There were knowledgeable laymen who had been taught by their  ancestors how to treat illnesses.

Medicine in the past ( and often today ) is on base of trial and error

When medicine was brought to the universities, medicine diversified into conventional medicine and naturopathic (alternative) medicine.

As it seems today, conventional medicine has come to look more for alterations on the cellular level, whereas naturopathy has the more holistic view.

My vision is, that both branches cooperate for the best of the patients. May these pages help that all people can understand  Naturopathy better.

It heals,  it is right

the old fight between empiric and dogmatic thinking practioners is as old as conventional medicine exists.

Who ever tried to publish a new healing method

first was ridiculed

then he was antagonised

then the method became adopted as "common sense"

Even such  (nowadays) common sense things like the  discovery that hygienic conditions in hospitals can save lives,  was first criticized and opposed heavily. Instead of being praised for his findings, Semmelweis first was considered being  a denigrator of the medical trade and was heavily mobbed.

When Pfarrer Kneipp (1821-1897)  came to the conclusion that water was a strong healing agent,  he was cited before his bishop and  was forbidden to tell  what he had found out.

Dr Dinshah who had sensational findings on light and color therapy was banned completely in the US.

Nothing has changed so far.

When recently in the 80s the Heliobacter Pylory was detected as cause of stomach ulcers,  the idea of a bacterial infection  was first rejected unanimously by all professionals at the universities.  It took some years until this theory became standard knowledge.

This list could go ad infinitum...

Right now, Naturopathy  in the Western World is experiencing a renaissance, because people, who are  disappointed with the side effects or inefficiency of the conventional medicine, are more and more looking for  soft, save and efficient treatments.

German doctors recognized the new trend and are flocking into weekend classes about naturopathic methods, as they see it a chance to make some extra money with it, since the over and over reformated health system does not pay them adequately any more.. 

German Health Politicians ( where  pharma lobbyists are sitting  in the ministries writing laws - this is sad but true)  have proven to be the worst threat to traditional Naturopathy. In the last decade, some thousand herbal and homeopathic remedies are not manufactured any more, because the German government made many stupid laws.  Now the ignorance of the German government is only topped by the ignorance of the authorities of the European Union.

Tests became obligatory, that were so expensive, that a lot of small companies with excellent products were forced  out of business. 

To give you a picture:

In the early 90s,  the state ordered that for every remedy there should be brought a so-called  "synergy test"

This meant, that for instance each ingredient of every tea had to be tested for  synergistic effects.

For a tea with 25 different herbs, that would have resulted in 2

5! = 25x24x23x22...x1= 155,112,100,000,000,000,000 tests 

to keep a well proven  herbal tea on the market.

Six ingredients would have   needed  "only"  720 tests.

Only tests from universities were recognized.

Just these figures show how ridiculous these ideas were. And it got worse. Now there are  many restrictions on homeopathic remedies as well. Companies are not allowed to produce their old recipes any more and it is not allowed any more to tell what a certain homeopathic remedy is good for . Some names of homeopathic remedies had to be changed as one could have deducted the effect by the name. It's really a shame.

I did not want to put up with this.

I created a website in Germany 

www.naturheilkundenetzwerk-de.com

where I still list all the ingredients of the old remedies, so that they are at least not forgotten and con be used by  practioners and patients likewise, once they are custom made by pharmacists.

Homeopathy for example had to undergo clinical tests. That is contradictary in itself.

For instance: if child A has an earache it might need Eupatorium,

the other child B, that also has an earache  might need Chamomile . That is, because Homeopathy remedies are chosen due to the remedy picture. (see section ancient healing methods) If homeopathic remedies  are tested  under clinical conditions they never  focus on the reaction type resp. the remedy picture. A and B get the same remedy and the result shows only 50 % efficiency or less and is thus not allowed on the market...