The Direction of Cure – What is It?

In the early days of Homeopathy, practitioners collected a group of

observations that identified when true healing was taking place and when
symptoms were merely being palliated or suppressed, leading to worsening
health. These observations were compiled in a statement called “The
Direction of Cure” that homeopaths have referred to ever since. It says that
cure takes place:
 From above down,
 From within out,
 From a more important organ to a less important organ,
 With symptoms disappearing in the reverse order of their appearance
When symptoms progress according to these directions, cure is taking
place. If they move opposite to these directions, the homeopath and their
patient should be aware that suppression is taking place and that health is
worsening. Let me explain these concepts further.

From Above Down

Healing is heading in the right direction if symptoms such as skin rashes or
joint pains move down the body as they improve during the course of
treatment. Symptoms improving upwards through the body indicate that
suppression is probably taking place.

From Within Out

When symptoms move from deeper to more surface organs during
treatment, such as a liver infection changing to muscle pains, then
changing to itchiness of the skin, the patient and practitioner can be
confident that healing is underway. Symptoms moving inwards however,
indicate the reverse is happening – the person is becoming sicker.

From a More Important Organ to a Less Important Organ

The person whose high blood pressure and chest pains are replaced by
sinus problems during treatment is heading towards health – the
symptoms have moved from a more important organ to a less important
organ. With further treatment, the sinus problem will also improve. The
person whose sinus symptoms are exchanged for heart problems following
continual suppression by antibiotics and antihistamines, is becoming
sicker – symptoms are moving in the wrong direction.

Symptoms Disappearing in the Reverse Order of Their Appearance

Skin problems, for example, can become respiratory problems that can
then lead to heart problems, and so on. If the unwell person is treated
according to the Law of Similars with medicines that match their
symptoms rather than suppress them, their vitality can be strengthened
and the imbalance corrected;their symptoms will disappear in the reverse
order of their appearance,the heart complaint being the first to go and the
skin problem the last.

Do All the Observations Have Equal Value?

While Direction of Cure observations provide guidelines of when health is
improving and when it is worsening, they do not all have equal value. The
first three are seen less frequently and the fourth, more frequently. In
reality, it is possible for a person’s symptoms to just gradually improve
overall during the course of homeopathic treatment without following the
strict progression of any of the above observations. Perhaps their real
value is that they accurately identify worsening health when symptoms
move in the reverse of what they state. When this happens, alarm bells
should ring.

What about Joshua?

As we have learnt in this and past tutorials, our life force will try to push the
disease to the outside of the body to protect deeper, more vital organs
from harm. For this reason infants such as Joshua will develop skin
complaints such as eczema and rashes during the first stages of an
energetic imbalance.

If these skin problems are suppressed by creams or steroids or if vitality

weakens, the Vital Force will no longer be able to relieve the disease
through the skin and so will use one of the deeper organs as an outlet to
preserve life. This is exactly what happened to Joshua. As his skin problem
was suppressed by a cortisone cream, it was replaced with the more life-
threatening problem of asthma.
If the vitality was to weaken further or the new symptoms again
suppressed, the illness would move to deeper organs such as the bowel,the
kidney, the heart or the brain. Sometimes this progression happens rapidly
but more often it is a gradual process that occurs over decades as
suppression after suppression worsens health and creates deepening
levels of chronic disease. Fortunately, Joshua’s mother brought him in for a
homeopathic consultation before this happened.

In treating Joshua, I prescribed a homeopathic medicine that matched the

physical, mental and emotional symptoms of his imbalance. Within two
weeks his asthma had improved significantly but the eczema had started to
return. Concerned, Joshua’s mother brought him back to me. I explained
that this was not a set-back, but a sign of deep healing. I advised her to
wait a little longer, confident that the asthma would soon clear, closely
followed by the eczema – and this is exactly what happened except for one
small incident.

Joshua’s dad decided to give him a bath one night, while his mother was
out. He added bubble bath mixture to the water to make it fun but within
minutes Joshua’s eczema flared, and started to spread across his body.
Alarmed, his father applied the cortisone cream to the rash and over the
next few hours it began to settle. The following day, the asthma was back
with a vengeance.

Joshua’s mum phoned in a panic to tell me the story. I explained how the
bubble bath had irritated the eczema that had then been suppressed by the
cream. Without an outlet to the skin, the disease was redirected into
Joshua’s lungs – a far more serious concern.

I reassured his mother that the correct homeopathic remedy would once

again strengthen Joshua’s vitality to resolve the asthma and return the
eczema to the skin. This is exactly what happened over the following week.
Joshua continued to have homeopathic treatment for another two months
during which time the eczema cleared completely. He is now asthma-free
and full of energy. His parents have trouble keeping up with him.
In Conclusion – Potentised Remedies Can Suppress!
The last two tutorials have spoken a lot about suppression. Hopefully, it is
something you have decided not to do with your symptoms.

But note that suppression is not just a concern with orthodox medicine.
While potentised remedies are free of chemicals and therefore free of the
toxic side effects normally associated with conventional medicines, they
too can “suppress” unless they are prescribed according to the Law of
Similars. This will be the topic of the next tutorial when we look at how to
use the Direction of Cure to tell if your potentised remedy is truly taking you
down the road to cure.