Declan Hammond writes in the current issue of SPECTRUM: “Regardless of the prognosis given, or how unlikely this outcome might be medically, as soon as the word 'cancer' is mentioned, the patient’s mind turns to their own mortality.” It is not just the patient who is confronted with the fact of their mortality, but also doctors, family and friends. Cancer treatment is therefore not just a medical but also a human and personal challenge.

SPECTRUM Cancer showcases an impressive range of treatment options, giving us fresh heart to take on this formidable challenge. Jean-Lionel Bagot uses homeopathy to treat the various side effects of conventional cancer treatment, so forging links to conventional medical treatment. Anne Schadde focuses on the process of inner transformation. Sujit Chatterjee and Sunirmal Sarkar concentrate on the current symptoms presented by the patient. When treating cancer, Alok and Aditya Pareek rigorously follow Hahnemann's precepts for the treatment of chronic illness. For Dietmar Payrhuber and Christiane Kernstock, the key indicators leading to the homeopathic remedy are the psychodynamics, personality and central themes in the life of the cancer patient.

A series of case histories from very different types of cancer documents the efficacy of homeopathy even in apparently hopeless situations. Yet Jens Wurster, drawing on 15 years of experience with the homeopathic in-patient treatment of cancer at the Swiss Clinic Santa Croce, states clearly that this...

The pace of modern life has increased enormously. Restlessness and concentration problems are the results of a hectic lifestyle. People are disorientated, abandoned and adrift. Material things, external appearances and sexual attractiveness are valued more highly than ethics, empathy, and compassion. We can see all these themes in the homeopathic remedy pictures of insects, as shown by Jonathan Hardy, for example, in the proving and repertory symptoms of the butterfly Limenitis bredowii and the migratory locust Schistocerca.
Even if many new insect remedies have now been well proved, the themes and signature as biological characteristics play a key role in our homeopathic approach to this ancient and most species-rich class of animals. This is also true of well-known remedies such as Apis mellifica, Formica rufa or Coccus cacti in the case histories of Rajan Sankaran, Shekhar Algundgi and Sigrid Lindemann, or Cantharis vesicatoria, known as a bladder remedy, examined by Ulrich Welte. The work with themes and signatures enables initial homeopathic differentiation of the confusing kingdom of the insects. Peter Fraser takes an especially novel approach with his contribution on the feeding habits of the insects. The differentiation between blood-sucking insects, cannibals, plant-eaters, coprophagous (faeces-eating) and nectar-sucking insects produces illuminating insights for homeopathy. This is also true of the parasites, investigated by Jörg Wichmann and Angelika Bolte with the...