This book review is reprinted from The Homoeopath with permission from Nick Churchill of The Society of Homoeopaths.
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Autopathy: A Homeopathic Journey to Harmony, Healing and Self-Healing with Water and Saliva
By Jiri Cehovsky
Nakladatelsvi Alternativa, Prague, 2006
Paperback, 176 pgs, ISBN 8086936031
Reviewed by John Morgan
First of all, hats off to Jiri Cehovsky for the clear distinctive title showing that this is a book about autopathy, sometimes called autoisopathy rather than calling it homeopathy. We know autopathy best as the use of autonosodes using an isopathic principle of giving potentised exudate of one's own body fluids rather than using similar remedies. That is not to say a homoeopathic principle is at work here evoking the healing but Jiri recommends and uses the patient's own saliva as the preferred remedy. He states it 'carries detailed information of the state of the whole organism' and by subsequent potentisation in water at home 'can, using a precise resonance, cause the sick person's enfeebled fine matter creative sphere (dynamis) to reverberate again in its original frequency and bring about a return to the organism's original structure to health'.
Part 1 of the book goes into detailed homoeopathic philosophy drawing on the ideas of great masters such as Hahnemann; Kent, Swedenborg, Hermes, Hering and Buddha. It is simply delivered, easy to understand and very readable for both beginner and experienced practitioner. It is good sound stuff with a couple of case histories, showing how he started to use this method, to whet the appetite for what is to come. Part 2 goes into describing the autopathic principle, the history of potentisation, case taking and second prescription. He is rooted in a very good 'classical' education with the only really new part being the use of saliva as the only remedy and the potencies used, which are in multiples of 40, namely 40c, 80c, 120c, etc. The case management guidelines are very familiar and are the same as for any Kentian method with a single dose and wait approach.
The end of Part 2 gives the detailed method of making the autopathic saliva remedy and it is so easy you can do it at home. You simply spit into a previously heated 10ml glass bottle and fill with water, then empty it then refill it 40 times. This gives the 40c remedy from which you take a single dose. There is no succussion involved and it is analogous to Skinner's potentising methods of emptying and refilling a glass vessel to dynamise a remedy. The meticulous details of how to do this are fastidious and impressive, recommending rubber gloves and face masks to minimise contamination. If you really get into it there is a special glass apparatus which saves time by pouring the water through a funnel type apparatus creating a vortex and so a continuous fluxion type of potent is at ion. This vessel can only be used once and is available from: www.autopathy.info.
We have already been through, with Conte et al, a past promise that spit is the answer to our remedy choice problems and the healing of the planet so this book is bound to bring up some sceptic is. However Part 3 gives an impressive collection of chronic case studies brought to a speedy cure using this method, most within a few months and after more familiar polychrest prescribing. I suggest we keep a very open mind and even have a go ourselves to verify the benefits of this method, before writing it off as an oversimplified one size fits all impossibility. Jiri is very sincere and is obviously doing amazing work with his own patients and students. His autopathic method deserves to be taken seriously in the affirmation that the appropriate use of potentised material will always bring a beneficial result.