Homeopathy and Herbal Medicine | Magic and Medicines #22

Get ready for some vigorous shaking of bottles, because in today's episode of Magic and Medicine we're talking all about Homeopathy and Herbal Medicine!

Although herbal medicine has very deep roots, stretching back to Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China, theories about disease and its transmission have been pretty varied over time.

From foul, stinking miasmas to the adorably named 'animalcules', mysterious lichen and even the humble cup of coffee, ideas about the causes of disease have certainly evolved.

In the 19th century, a time of cholera epidemics, bloodletting, leeches and other sticky things, a doctor named Samuel Hahnemann began experimenting with the system he would develop into homeopathic medicine.

Almost from its beginnings, homeopathy has attracted a storm of criticism - quite the backlash, in fact, for a manner of treatment which is gentle, holistic, and plant-based!

Our discussion covers the history and politics of homeopathy, the memory of water, the effect of modern austerity measures on the alternative medicine community, and the many people who have sought to prove that it really is all just nonsense!

Unlike Hahnemann's remedies, though, we promise this one isn't diluted...

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Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

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