Butterflies & Homoeopathy by Patricia Le Roux

An innovative guide to the use of butterfly remedies in homoeopathy by PATRICIA LE ROUX

Book review by Dr.Suja Pillai 

Full name of the book-BUTTERFLIES (An inovative guide to the use of butterfly remedies in homoeopathy)

Author-Patricia Le Roux MD

First Edition 2009

Published By Narayana publishers Germany

Translated By Juliet Young

Dedicated to All butterfly children recognized

About the author
Dr Patricia Le Roux is a pediatrician consultant and homoeopath trained in homeopathy in the faculty of medicine of Marseilles (France). She teaches homoeopathy in this university.

Elected in November 2000 , she is General Secretary of ECH (European Committee for Homoeopathy) in Brussels , the European association that gathers all the homoeopathic doctors all over Europe.  She has been re-elected in this position until 2008. She speaks fluently English , German and Italian.

At French national level she is the vice president of the SNMHF (Syndicat National des Medecins Homéopathes Français) , main French national association with 600 homeopathic doctors affiliated to it.

She teaches regularly in Eastern European countries , as part of the team of “European flying doctors” , organised by ECH. She has already been to Russia, Latvia and Slovaquia .

She regularly teaches in other countries of Europe ( Glasgow , SHO school in the Netherlands, numerous conferences in France).

In Marseilles , she is responsible inside the university hospital of an ethical committee ,commission “Ethics and Europe”. She also works in the oncologic, paediatric ward of the hospital of Marseille , taking care of chronic heavy cases.

She also works with a group of homeopathic doctors the” CHUMS” , who study materia medica.

She participates regularly to the work of the Hahnemannian school of Frejus , directed by Dr Didier Grandgeorge who was her teacher in Marseilles medical university , during her training.

She has published a book “Homoeo and Juliette” ( 2003), that is written for patients and large public. It also contains a complete study on remedies of the LAC family . She has also done an important work on the homoeopathic acids , now translated in English and German . Lively cases of her practice help to understand 27 acids which are listed in it.

Other works are-Metals in homoeopathy.

Contents of the Book

Introduction

The characteristics of the butterfly world

  • Biology
  • Classification
  • Symbolism

The provings

  • About provings in general
  • Details of 13 individual provings

A summary of symptoms common to all butterflies

The main butterfly case studies and material medica

  • Acherontia atropos-The death’s head hawkmoth
  • Apeira syringaria-The lilac beauty
  • Bombyx liparis chrysorrhoea-The brown tailed moth
  • Bombyx processionaria-The processional caterpillar
  • Euphydryas aurinia-The marsh fritillary
  • Gonepteryx rhamni-The brimstone
  • Graphium Agamemnon-The tailed jay
  • Inachis io-The European peacock
  • Limenitis bredowii-The Californian sister
  • Macrothylacia rubi-The fox moth
  • Morpho peleides-The blue morpho
  • Nymphalis urticae-The small tortoise shell
  • Pieris brassicae-The large white or cabbage white

Summary and conclusions

Bibliography

Index

Butterfly terms

Introduction
The work on butterflies and the discovery of new remedies was started by the author in the spring of 2001 at France after being inspired by fellow homoeopaths Jansen(Holland) and Chetna shukla (India).The butterfly remedies was little known in the world of homoeopathy so the author decided to undertake the task of research and proving in this field.

The author has thanked all the persons who were part of this project.

Characteristics of the butterfly world

Kingdom-Animalia

Phylum-Arthropoda

Sub phylum-Tracheata

Class-Insecta

Order-Lepidoptera

  • The word lepido means scale and pteres means wing in Greek,hence butterflies are creatures with wings covered with minute scales.
  • There are 160,000 lepidopterous species in the world.
  • Butterflies are brightly coloured with antennae shaped like golf clubs and most of their activity takes place during the day.
  • The life cycle starts with the egg which gives birth to caterpillar,which then pupates in its self spun cocoon eventually emerging as the adult butterfly.This is known as Metamorphosis.
  • Most characteristic part of the butterfly’s body is its long hollow tongue(proboscis) which unfurls to penetrate deep into a flower to suck out nectar or juice.
  • The butterfly diet is strictly liquid,hence they depend on flowers as they need sufficient glucose to fly and flutter their wings continuously.
  • 1in 90,000 butterflies are gynandromorphous that is half the body is male and half female.
  • Lepidoptera family is sensitive to environmental conditions.
  • Butterflies can travel thousands of kilometers to find the right conditions.
  • Key symbolism of butterflies relates to metamorphosis and transformation.

The Provings

Proving methods used in this book

  • Toxicological information
  • Hahnemannian proving
  • Classic modern proving
  • Classic proving modified
  • Trituration testing
  • Seminars
  • Meditation
  • Details of 13 individual provings have been discussed in detail. 

A summary of symptoms common to all butterflies

Mental Symptoms.

  • Feeling of abandonment.no guidance.
  • Reduction in mental agility-especially memory and concentration.
  • Metamorphosis.
  • Genetic problems.
  • Transsexuality.
  • Butterfly dreams.
  • Want to hide.
  • Notion of family and responsibility.

Physical Symptoms

  • Delicate and fragile with a slim body.
  • Love to dance,move restlessly and wear bright dresses
  • Wrap arms around themselves when talking about their problems and fears.

Generals

  • Aggravated by sun,warmth and autumn.
  • Better in dry weather,open spaces.
  • Desire rich food, sugar,sweet things and wine

Particulars

  • Abdominal pain following fear.
  • Pulsating back pain.
  • Recurrent burning pain in bladder.
  • Cry easily.
  • Cold on extremities.
  • Late periods.
  • Headache aggravated by noise and light,feeling of floating.
  • Frontal sinusitis.
  • Sleep on back.
  • Frequent psoriasis,eczema and urticaria.

The main butterfly case studies and materia medica

  • 13 butterfly case studies are described.
  • Each butterfly is described with a case history,the characteristics of that particular butterfly,key paediatric symptoms and conclusion.
  • Colourful pictures of the butterflies are given along with each case.

The butterflies described are

  1. Acherontia atropos-The death’s head hawkmoth
  2. Apeira syringaria-The lilac beauty
  3. Bombyx liparis chrysorrhoea-The brown tailed moth
  4. Bombyx processionaria-The processional caterpillar
  5. Euphydryas aurinia-The marsh fritillary
  6. Gonepteryx rhamni-The brimstone
  7. Graphium Agamemnon-The tailed jay
  8. Inachis io-The European peacock
  9. Limenitis bredowii-The Californian sister
  10. Macrothylacia rubi-The fox moth
  11. Morpho peleides-The blue morpho
  12. Nymphalis urticae-The small tortoise shell
  13. Pieris brassicae-The large white or cabbage white

Summary and conclusions
Author wants homoeopaths all over the world to test these butterfly prescriptions,to verify and refine the provings outlined in this book.

Butterfly remedies have potential in the treatment of both adults and children. 

Merits

  • Book is colourful and attractive, compelling one to read.
  • Language is simple and easy to understand.
  • Each butterfly proving is described with attractive and striking pictures of the butterfly.
  • Remedies are clearly differentiated and vividly described.
  • The study of butterfly remedies opens up a useful path for  the homoeopaths which could be utilized for helping the patients.
  • Butterfly remedies have serious potential in the treatment of both children and adults.

Demerits

  • Price of the book is not mentioned.
  • Reliability of dream proving.

Book review by  Dr.Suja Pillai
Email : sujapillai8@gmail.com

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*