Three Questions for Markus Giesder
Markus Giesder is team leader of WALA's potentising laboratory. As not many people are likely to know what 'potentising' means and what effect is has on medicines, we have asked Mr Giesder to explain.
1. What does potentising involve?
To prepare a potency I dilute one part of a mother tincture with nine parts of the carrier medium (usually water) in a glass flask and shake the mixture rhythmically for two and a half minutes. This gives me a D1 potency, D standing for the Latin word decem = ten. If I take one tenth of this D1 potency and again dilute it with nine parts of water and shake it rhythmically, then I have a D2 potency. Further dilution and shaking produces increasingly higher potencies. At WALA we prepare potencies up to D60.
2. Are there different procedures for potentising?
Firstly there are different carrier media. At WALA the one we use most often is water. For solid materials such as minerals or metals we use a different procedure. As these solid materials do not disperse evenly in water we use lactose as carrier medium. We grind one part of solid material with nine parts of lactose in a porcelain mortar for one hour. This is called trituration.
And then we distinguish between single-substance remedies and compositions. In a composition single substances complement each other and thus produce a better effect than if they were taken singly. Together they form a closed whole; this is why the individual substances contained in a composition are potentised together as early as possible.
3. How is the effect of homoeopathically potentised medicines explained despite the fact that they contain only very little of the actual substance?
The form of the substance, or also of a plant, can be described as solidified energy. I can release this energy if I break down the form. This means the further I break down the form, the more I release the energy and am able to utilise it therapeutically. This release of energy can be increased ad infinitum. And this is precisely what we do when we potentise.
Let me give you just one small example of the beginning of this process. If I place the leaf of a plant on the skin it will have less effect than if I apply the juice obtained from the leaf.
