Sea Remedies by Jo Evans, Review

published in Spectrum of Homeopathy 1/2011

Sea remedies; evolution of the senses

Sea remedies; evolution of the senses

by following the development of the senses through the evolution of  the sea creatures, Jo evans provides unique insights into the sea remedies. The remedies take on a new light as one understands how the creatures perceive and react to their environment.

The reader will be surprised with the wealth of spectacular insights and knowledge of the biology of the invertebrate sea creatures, focussed on neurology and the senses. this fascinating world of information is often touched on and for those who are not versed in biology or the science of philosophy, this is a welcome introduction. the book is enriched with stunning photography and sensitive texts, of-ten prose, which help to bring across a sense of beauty and wonder. inspired by david abram’s “spell of the sensuous”, the idea of this book is to find a new way of presenting homeopathic material medica. in the introduction, there is poetic reference to philosophical terms from literature; the importance of the senses in a homeopathic remedy picture is emphasised through the associations and interpre-
Reviewer: Maarten van der Meer
tations of symbolism that are made. the author quotes well-known materia medica concerning “sea remedies”, starting from the chapters referring to the senses: taste and smell, vision, touch, hearing. besides the senses, group similarities are incorporated into a thematic repertory (in the molluscs, for example: “noises in ear, noise and music aggravates, desire for silence”, etc. themes of the sea remedies are, among others, “alienation”, “ancient”, ”children”, “subjective body perception”. the repertory rubrics with additions are at the back of the book – very useful for thinking in terms of themes.
the materia medica makes up an extensive part of the book: 24 sea remedies made from invertebrates or from their shells, classified zoologically. in the symptoms named, much emphasis is placed on the sensations, the subjective experience, which is often the way for finding the simillimum. the few cases and brief case summaries that have been added are well-grounded and provide good learning material. the less-known remedies, based on one proving, are well represented, altogether making this an inviting and thorough study book. the index is good and very helpful in finding one’s way around. an extra chapter is devoted to the phenomenon of the spiral form in nature and the symbolism in biology, art, philosophy, and spirituality.
 

it is not, however, always clear, which sources have been used and sometimes symptoms have been selected without clarifying what the selection criteria is, making it less useful as a reference book. as a whole, this is a charming book, rich in information, with intriguing topics – a red carpet for those who would like to drink in the wonders of nature.
it is, however, not a guide for prescribers. my personal criticism is that it is based on too much hypothesis; assumptions and romantic world-visions are used as starting point and taken as truths, then used to create order in the soup of materia medica, which is incomplete, full of background noise, and difficult to interpret. starting with the assumption that there is a connection between primitive life forms and the development of the senses, relating it to other assumptions concerning a possible development of man and his nature, and then projecting the whole onto materia medica, is just a chain of assumptions. there is no empirical logic and no birds ¦ books 

feedback loop, no basis from which to select symptoms that fit in a story. it is not unusual, both in the regular sciences and in metaphysics, to use assumptions or limited paradigms in order to be able to create order in the abundance of empirical observations. this has been done since the beginning in the practice of homeopathy but that does not necessarily mean that we should maintain this way of thinking.
in short, even though it is a beautiful book, for me it falls in the category of “novel” or “fiction”. the texts related to practice are so interwoven with the text as a whole that one has to look for them, and it demands a lot of attention to distinguish between “experience”, reporting, and interpretation. this makes the book less useful as a desktop guide, though it remains useful as a book for serious study. it is a book with vision, a diving board for further discoveries.