The Repertory of the Elements shows the information from the books of Jan Scholten Homeopathy and Minerals and Homeopathy and the Elements, combined with numerous additions from later discoveries. Its a very valuable source of information to find the information in these books. Furthermore its a good tool to learn the way of thinking of the Element Theory. It helps you to differentiate between the stages and series by showing the different nuances of them.
Families
This repertory has some special features. Most of the entries are families instead of remedies. For instance the rubric Homesick has the phosphoricums as an entry instead of phos. It helps you to think in families, which gives you a wider range of applying homeopathy. The second is the arrangement of the rubrics. Its done on the most informative concept, for instance mother instead of delusion.
Theory
Included are some articles on the theoretical background of repertories and symptoms. The concept of Basic Symptoms makes makes the structure of symptoms clear and understandable. And the retrieval of symptoms more efficient.
Introduction
A repertory is a list of symptoms connected to remedies.
This repertory has been in preparation for a long time. At first it wasn't my intention to write a repertory.
There are good repertories in use. And the structure of Homeopathy and Minerals and Homeopathy and the Elements is such that a repertory wasn't needed, I thought.
New repertory
So why a new repertory then? The first reason is that many homeopaths are working with repertories as their basic tool. Some homeopaths even think and speak in repertory language, for example 'Delusion, confusion, others will see'. The presentation of the information in the form of a repertory makes it more accessible. The information in Homeopathy and Minerals and Homeopathy and the Elements is more available and can be used in repertorisations.
New Rubrics
Another reason is that there are many new rubrics in this repertory. They are new in the sense that they're not found in existing repertories. The new information is predominantly actions from the stages, family members and professions.
Families
New in this repertory is the fact that most entries are families instead of single remedies. This is the consequence of group analysis, classification of remedies. Many symptoms are common for a group, a series, stage or an element of the periodic table. In those cases it is easier to see the family as an entry instead of having the whole list of them. For the computer versions of this repertory the families will be replaced by the single remedies, in order to have a working version.
For most of the known remedies the names and abbreviations are unchanged. For new ones I've systematised them. Explanations about names and abbreviations of remedies and families can be found in the chapter Remedies and Nomenclature at page 11.
Considerations
In preparing and constructing this repertory some ideas and concepts have been formed. A crucial concept is that of the 'basic symptom'. An explanation of it can be found in the chapter Basic Symptoms at page 7. This concept also influenced the arrangement of the symptoms. Other considerations about the arrangement can be found in the chapter Arrangement at page 9. Hints for better use of the repertory can be found in the chapter Use at page 13. The Colour preferences are only indicated by codes and descriptions. For the colour tables one has to look in 'Colors in Homeopathy' by Ulrich Welte.
Conclusion
This repertory is far from finished or complete. All knowledge is in progress. But I have the impression that this repertory can have its place in the homeopathic literature. I foresee that it will help many homeopaths to become more familiar with the way of thinking in my books. The repertory can even be used as a study of Materia Medica, especially in the form of differential diagnosis. I hope you, as a reader will enjoy it.
- Author: Jan Scholten
- ISBN: 9789074817158
- 352 pages
- Hardback
- Published in 2004
- Printed in The Netherlands
Reprinted with the permission of The Society of Homeopaths (from "The Homeopath" Journal Summer 2005 edition). Reviewed by Alistair Dempster.
The Repertory of the Elements shows a visionary at work, providing connections to remedies within Jan Scholten's familiar conceptual framework of the periodic table of elements. This Repertory is unlike any that I have encountered before. It is a synthesis ai Scholten's thinking.
I approached this review with anticipation and excitement because I felt that this represented a gap in Scholten's work that had been filled. Initially, I was disappointed because it did not live up to my expectations of a repertory (based on my experience of previously published repertories which all conform more or less to a specific format, with limited additions and variations). It is amazing how often expectations can form the parameters of prejudice and stop us from being objective; clearly I had much to learn before I could use this book effectively. The presentation of the material in repertories appears to be changing to reflect the diversity of contemporary methodologies. The thematic approach is what this repertory is all about.
As the back cover notes suggests: "It is a good tool to learn the way of thinking of the Element Theory. It helps you to differentiate between the stages and series of the periodic table by showing the different nuances of them." Ideally, the reader needs to be conversant with Scholten's concepts. Secondly, the reader needs to know how to apply remedy concepts -such as Families, Series and the Stages of the periodic table.
Lack of familiarity with Scholten's body of work may cause the reader to struggle with this repertory. However, for those who have kept up to date with Scholten's teaching and publications over the past decade, the Repertory offers the opportunity to perform a differential diagnosis, within the context of the periodic table of elements.
Since receiving the book for review, I have used it to analyse cases. As is often the case with a new repertory, I started out struggling. My impression was concept book. In order to fully reap the benefits of this repertory, I would say you need a flexible, open mind that makes good use of imagination and creativity, since the use of language can be crucial to case understanding. Scholten has gone to some length to describe his philosophical approach in relation to the use of language, and its homeopathic interpretation within the repertory. How useful the repertory is depends on how well you can use it. Herein lies the rub. Using this Repertory took me some practice, even though I am familiar, to a large degree, with the Elements theory of Action, Subject and Object to sentence construction of subject, verb and object. To provide a symptom of real value there must be a relative connection of these parts, otherwise there is no relationship and therefore no symptom. I found distinction between the Subject and the Object ambiguous at times.
I found a lot of things unexplained, mostly about the differentiation of words in different areas of mind and their relative relationships. This probably connects to the philosophy regarding the relativity
The organisation of the book is in sections that differ from previous repertories:
Mind: Action, Thematic
Mind: Subject, Setting
General: Object, Dynamic
Body: Action, Thematic
Body: Subject, Setting
Each of the above sections is split in to subsections, for example the General: Object, Dynamic section further splits into Time, Weather, Food, Motion. The Mind: Subject, Setting section gives us: Abstract; Mind; Family; Person; Animal; Nature; Body; Thing; Region.
There are the listings of Families and Names. The Families section, from Acanthaceae to Zygopyllaceae consists of a long list of Family names, a list of remedy abbreviations related to that family, and their code within the repertory, as described in the nomenclature framework within the Introduction. The Names section is also a list of remedy abbreviations, full name and their code within the repertory as described above.
A shortcoming of the book is its organisation and sometimes its lack of correspondence to the Table of Contents. It is not immediately obvious where one section ends and another begins, whilst some sub-sections are missing from the Table of Contents altogether. More attention to detail in this respect would be helpful. Clearer demarcation of the sections would help, perhaps even a thumb index. This might add to cost but may aid quicker access to relevant sections. Another problem for me was the lack of rigorous proof reading. Further editing would have enhanced unnecessary anomalies and spelling mistakes in the text. Some Dutch words crop up where there should be an English translation.
One has to wonder and be amazed at the intellectual prowess of this innovative, committed homeopath who has taken homeopathic theory into areas that some find uncomfortable. Hahnemann was, of course, beleaguered by his medical peers. Some find Scholten's ideas challenging, unprincipled, even heretical; many others have solved cases as a result of his brilliant work and marvelled at the scope of his homeopathic thinking. Scholten's approach to homeopathy has provoked many questions and will no doubt continue to do so. Whilst there is room for fine-tuning, this new repertory promises to be a good tool for those who understand and use Jan's work in their practices.
Reprinted with the permission of Homeopathic Links, Volume 18, Summer 2005 edition. Reviewed by Joseph Rozencwaijg, New Zealand.
Oy Vey! Another repertory!
This one gave me a headache, I must admit. But. to be honest, it is probably because of my own limitations, as I am far from having mastered Scholten's way of thinking and his concepts.
Reading the introduction is absolutely necessary to understand the functioning of this repertory, and even then I found it easy to get lost unless the mind gets into pure Scholten mode.
The repertory itself is divided into Mind: Action, Thematic; Mind: Subject, Setting; General: Object, Dynamic; Body: Action, Thematic; Body: Subject, Setting, reflecting Scholten's classification of problems, situations and symptoms as developed in 'Homeopathy and Minerals' and 'Homeopathy and the Elements'.
I must admit some (indeed many) rubrics do not make sense to me, like 'Mind, action, calculating, brother, with the additional explanation "I am calculating for my brother/my brother is calculating".
I read his books, sat at a few of his seminars, but I am lost...
I think for those of us who have a good understanding of and master the Scholten approach, this repertory will probably be very useful, providing a good shortcut to finding the proper remedy according to his way of practising.
But I would certainly not base my prescriptions on it, only use it to check, if I can find an appropriate rubric, what remedies are there that might have been hidden in my more "conventional" repertorisation.
The author himself warns us that it is not complete and indeed only minerals and elements can be found in this repertory.
As far as I am concerned, I certainly need a good, long seminar with Jan where we would go through this repertory and learn how to use it properly; without this, I would rather not use it than misuse it.
Well, maybe I am getting old...
To summarize, I would say it is probably a very good tool, but I need an instruction manual to be able to use it.
