Homeopathy has become a bit like a game of telephone.

A system of medicine grounded in clear principles — similars, totality, the single remedy, the minimum dose, and careful observation of response — has often been reduced to “take this remedy for that symptom,” or stretched to include any protocol, combination, detox, or nosode-based approach that uses potentized substances.

In this episode, Denise Straiges and Alastair Gray ask what homeopathy actually is — and what it is not. They trace how the definition has shifted over time, from Hahnemann’s original principles through later debates in education, pathology, germ theory, and modern prescribing trends.

The question is not whether people can use homeopathic medicines in different ways. The question is whether all of those uses should be called homeopathy.

For students, practitioners, and serious home prescribers, this conversation is an invitation to go back to first principles — and to ask whether the word homeopathy still means the medicine Hahnemann gave us.

AHE is currently enrolling for fall. Find details and registration links for these and other upcoming events at AHE.online.

• June 16 @ 7 pm EST: Homeopathy & Integrative Wellness Session 1 with Denise Straiges (Free 4-session webinar series)

• June 17 @ 7 pm EST: Your Path to Becoming a Professional Homeopath: A Live Q&A for Future Practitioners

• June 24 @ 7 pm EST: Inside AHE: Training Clinic and Student Life-An Open House for Future Homeoapaths

Have a question you’d like Denise and Alastair to answer in a future episode? Leave us a comment!

Strange, Rare & Peculiar is a weekly podcast with Denise Straiges and Alastair Gray of the Institute for the Advancement of Homeopathy and the Academy of Homeopathy Education.

This season, we’re focusing on truth — what it means to Aude Sapere (“dare to know”) in homeopathy today. From Hahnemann’s original insights to the realities of modern practice, research, and education, Denise and Alastair bring over 50 years of experience to conversations that challenge assumptions and invite curiosity.

🎧 If you’re ready to look deeper — beyond trends, beyond opinion — join the conversation and rediscover what homeopathy truly is.

Explore more:

• Study homeopathy professionally → academyofhomeopathyeducation.com

• Access affordable, virtual homeopathy care → homeopathyhelpnow.com

• Support the future of homeopathy → advancehomeopathy.org

• Join the practitioner-generated research network (PGRN) → advancehomeopathy.org/hohm-pgrn

How do we know what a homeopathic remedy actually does?

That question takes Denise and Alastair into one of the things that truly sets homeopathy apart: provings.

In this episode, they talk about how remedy knowledge is gathered, why Hahnemann insisted that it come through experience — not “mere intellectual exertion” — and why the paper trail behind our materia medica matters. They also look at what happens when that trail gets muddy: incomplete provings, speculative remedy pictures, intellectual shortcuts, and remedies being used or sold without clear proving information.

The conversation moves from Causticum and Hahnemann’s own proving symptoms to Langhammer, Scholten’s periodic table work, nosodes, isopathy, and the modern temptation to simplify what was never meant to be simplistic.

If you’ve ever wondered where remedy pictures come from — or how to think more critically about what’s in the materia medica — this episode is for you.

Strange, Rare & Peculiar is a weekly podcast with Denise Straiges and Alastair Gray of the Institute for the Advancement of Homeopathy and the Academy of Homeopathy Education.This season, we’re focusing on truth — what it means to Aude Sapere (“dare to know”) in homeopathy today.

From Hahnemann’s original insights to the realities of modern practice, research, and education, Denise and Alastair bring over 50 years of experience to conversations that challenge assumptions and invite curiosity.

🎧 If you’re ready to look deeper — beyond trends, beyond opinion — join the conversation and rediscover what homeopathy truly is.

Explore more:

• Study homeopathy professionally → ⁠academyofhomeopathyeducation.com⁠

• Access affordable, virtual homeopathy care → ⁠homeopathyhelpnow.com⁠

• Support the future of homeopathy → ⁠advancehomeopathy.org

⁠• Join the practitioner-generated research network (PGRN) → ⁠advancehomeopathy.org/hohm-pgrn

In Episode 118 of Strange, Rare & Peculiar, Denise Straiges and Alastair Gray begin with a question from the AHE teaching clinic, which opens into a discussion of Hahnemann’s evolving understanding of chronic disease, the “1816 problem,” and why relapsing chronic conditions required him to ask deeper questions about disease, miasms, and cure.

In this episode:

• Why medical language still matters in homeopathy
• Disease names, homeopathic diagnosis, and individualization
• The “1816 problem” and Hahnemann’s Chronic Diseases
• Psora, miasms, and the classification of disease
• Flexner-era confusion and the loss of homeopathic clarity
• Listener comments on "homeopathy snobs" and the availability of OTC remedies

Strange, Rare & Peculiar is a weekly podcast with Denise Straiges and Alastair Gray of the Institute for the Advancement of Homeopathy and the Academy of Homeopathy Education.

This season, we’re focusing on truth — what it means to Aude Sapere (“dare to know”) in homeopathy today.

From Hahnemann’s original insights to the realities of modern practice, research, and education, Denise and Alastair bring over 50 years of experience to conversations that challenge assumptions and invite curiosity.

🎧 If you’re ready to look deeper — beyond trends, beyond opinion — join the conversation and rediscover what homeopathy truly is.

Explore more:

• Study homeopathy professionally → ⁠academyofhomeopathyeducation.com⁠

• Access affordable, virtual homeopathy care → ⁠homeopathyhelpnow.com⁠

• Support the future of homeopathy → ⁠advancehomeopathy.org⁠

• Join the practitioner-generated research network (PGRN) → ⁠advancehomeopathy.org/hohm-pgrn