Toward Ecosophy

Over the last year the situation with regard to biochemic cell salts -- a mainstay of alternative health care in the US and some other countries, and also an important tool for certain spiritual paths (discussed in these posts), has gotten complex. Hyland's, the longtime source that most people in the US have used for half a century, has gone corporate; it bought up its main rival, Luyties, and then shut them down to expand its monopoly position; now it's reformulated its products in a way that makes them impossible to use for the spiritual purposes just mentioned.

Fortunately there are other sources. I've spent several months finding firms that manufacture and sell them direct to the public. I've had personal experience with only one of these firms so far, but my plan is to list them here, encourage readers to post any relevant experiences with them, and also invite people who've had good experiences with manufacturers not listed below to post comments of their own and let readers know of other resources.

It is worth noting, however, that it is not actually that difficult to make cell salts.  A century ago, every pharmacy in the country could whip up a batch promptly, and the kind of equipment typically used for the purpose is not that much more exotic than you'd find in a kitchen today. I have written up a detailed guide to compounding cell salts, using the procedures from a century-old manual of pharmaceutical compounding; you can find it here. Please note: I am not encouraging or advocating for anyone to do this. I present this information solely so that consumers of cell salts can know the process involved; also, of course, if the ongoing war on medical freedom ever results in cell salts being removed from sale, individuals will be prepared to make their own choices.

With that said, here are the firms I know of that manufacture and sell biochemic cell salts:

Allen Homoeopathy -- India has a remarkable talent for preserving old health care modalities, and this Indian homeopathic firm manufactures cell salts. It apparently does not deliver outside India, however.

Bee Healthy -- this American firm includes cell salts among its products. Its prices are on the high end but reviews are favorable.

Boiron -- this is one of the big European homeopathic manufacturers, based in France. As far as I can tell they don't sell direct to the public, but you can get them through pharmacies that sell online, like the one I've linked (which is in British Columbia, Canada).

DHU -- a German homeopathic firm with a focus on cell salts.

Dr. Masood -- A Pakistani homeopathic firm that sells a very wide range of products, including cell salts. I'm not sure how widespread their product line is distributed but I'd be surprised if you couldn't get their products through much of the Muslim world.

Elixirs.com -- based in Moses Lake, Washington, this firm provides cell salts along with other homeopathic medicine. This is the one I've done business with.

Helios Homeopathy -- a British firm that supplies medicines for a wide range of alternative healing modalities, including cell salts.

Häsler Homeopathic Laboratories -- a Mexican homeopathic firm recommended by a reader.

Homeoforce -- a British firm recommended by a reader.

Homeopathy Plus -- an Australian homeopathic supplier.

Homoempatia -- this German firm has a very broad assortment of biochemic products ("Schüssler Salze" in German) including tablets, pellets, liquids, and salves.

Jackson's Naturals -- this firm manufactures certified vegan cell salts.  Confusingly, they say they're a Canadian firm but proudly state that their products are manufactured in the US...

Martin and Pleasaunce -- an Australian firm that seems to be entirely focused on cell salts.

Médicor: -- a Mexican homeopathic firm recommended by a reader.

Nachure Labs -- a British homeopathic firm with cell salts among their other products.

New Era -- this is another firm that doesn't sell direct to the public, but their cell salts are available through many British chemists, including the one linked.

Omida -- a Swiss company selling cell salts and other homeopathic supplies.

RxHomeo.com -- a Texas firm that manufactures cell salts among other homeopathic remedies.

Unda -- a Belgian brand of cell salts, available in many countries.

Those are the firms I was able to find that have the twelve cell salts for sale. Some of them have Bioplasma or another compound of the 12 cell salts, but not all. Remember, if you're working with the Carey protocol, you need 6x cell salts for the regular monthly dose -- other dilutions are also available -- and the proper mix of ingredients for Bioplasma is given in the paper on compounding I've linked to above.

Oh, one other thing. Those who are interested in how cell salts have been used as a healing modality -- purely for informational and historical purposes, mind you -- might find these handbooks (available for free download) interesting and informative.

A Guide to the Twelve Tissue Remedies, by Edward Anschutz
The Treatment of Disease with the Twelve Tissue Remedies, by William Boericke (aimed at beginners)
The Twelve Tissue Remedies of Schussler, by Boericke and Dewey (this is the book that got me started)
The Biochemic System of Medicine by George W. Carey
Biochemistry by Joseph Chapman (also aimed at beginners)
A Complete Repertory of the Tissue Remedies, by Samuel Shannon (an advanced manual)

and...

God-Man: The Word Made Flesh by George W. Carey and Inez Perry.  This one is seriously weird; it's the summation of Carey's long spiritual quest, which I wrote about here, and it's about as strange as early 20th century American alternative-spirituality literature gets, which is saying something. Readers who want a taste of Carey at his weirdest without venturing all the way in might dip their toes in his one contribution to science fiction, "A Road to the Moon." The quest for wisdom leads through strange places...

Those of my readers who've been along for the ride for a while now will be aware that I'm engaged in an ongoing research project focusing on biochemic cell salts -- an offshoot of homeopathic medicine that uses 1ppm dilutions of the twelve mineral salts found in appreciable amounts in the human body. Partly that's a reflection of the fact that I've been using the cell salts for my own home health care for more than thirty years now, with good results; a lot of it, however, relates to the extensive interface between the cell salts and traditional American occultism, which was largely the result of the gentleman on the left, George Washington Carey. 

Carey devised a protocol for using the cell salts to improve health and also activate certain subtle centers in the human energy body, notably the pineal and solar plexus centers. I've published the protocol here on Dreamwidth and also conducted a controlled study with volunteers recruited here, which found a statistically significant improvement in general health among the participants. (There's a summary of the whole project here.)  In between other projects, I'm continuing the research; I recently got a line on one of the rarest works to come out of Carey's school, and should have a copy shortly -- once I have it, I'll be writing more about the protocol and its uses. 

In the meantime, I've been studying Carey's work in detail -- you can find many of his writings free for the downloading here, if you're interested -- and noticing among other things how much precise knowledge about human anatomy and physiology he wove into his system. I noted, for example,  that he pointed out (in his book The Chemistry of Human Life) that infectious respiratory diseases of the sort that cause lung inflammation could be treated by regular doses of two of the cell salts, Ferrum phos. 6x and Nat. sulph. 6x, four tablets each four times a day under the tongue, or as often as every fifteen minutes in acute cases. He also pointed out that illnesses that affected the epithelial cells lining the blood vessels, and caused problems with blood clots, could be treated by two others, Calc. sulph 6x and Kali mur. 6x, given with the same dosage and frequency.

All of which, of course, is passed on here as a matter of historical interest only. I am certainly not recommending that anyone use this approach in place of of standard medical treatment prescribed by a legally authorized health care provider. (If you happen to live in a state or country where naturopathy or homeopathy are legal, and your legally licensed naturopath or homeopath prescribes these, well, that's another matter and it's none of my business...)

In the process of exploring the background to G.W. Carey's cell salt protocol, the basis of the experiment many of us have been doing for the last few months, I've been digging into late nineteenth and early twentieth century writings about the occult anatomy of the human body. It's a fascinating field, and one of the most fascinating things about it is that there seems to be a coherent tradition in American occult circles that is neither the system of chakras that the Theosophical Society borrowed from Hindu tradition, nor the system of energy centers that the Golden Dawn borrowed from Cabalistic tradition. Two good outlines of this third system I've found so far are Manly Hall's pamphlet Occult Anatomy and his book Man: The Grand Symbol of the Mysteries, but no doubt there are others -- Hall is just the author from that period I'm most familiar with. 

Among the things that I find intriguing about this alternative system is that it tends to pay very close attention to the actual anatomy of the nervous system. The solar plexus, the big cluster of nerve tissue located behind the stomach, is an important center, perhaps the most important in general, but a great deal of attention also focuses on the adrenal glands and their associated nerve plexi, and above all on the pituitary and pineal glands, which are located on the underside of the brain. There are various exercises that work with the solar plexus and some other nerve plexi -- and there's, ahem, a certain regimen involving cell salts that seems to relate to the same thing. 

If I understand correctly -- and I'm still in the early stages of this research -- the solar plexus, properly stimulated, sends an influence up to the pineal gland, which then releases something into the cerebrospinal fluid.  A narrow passage allows the cerebrospinal fluid to pass from the third ventricle of the brain, where the pineal gland is, to the pituitary gland. According to the theory, when the substance the pineal gland releases reaches the pituitary, that's the "opening of the third eye" -- of course not a physical opening of an eye, but the awakening of certain capacities for direct perception of the spiritual world. The same substance, as it circulates through the cerebrospinal fluid more generally and then passes out through the membranes around the brain into the blood, is thought to cause certain noticeable improvements in general health. 

This is not the same as the awakening of kundalini, the sexual energy at the base of the spine. That's something the old authors knew about, by the way -- they all read Arthur Avalon's books on the subject once those were in print. It's a subtler, safer process, and my working guess at this point that it functions by way of the vagus nerve, which connects the solar plexus with the underside of the brain without going through the spinal cord at all. The vagus nerve also coordinates the immune system -- it's the basis for many of the processes studied by the jawbreakingly named scientific specialty of psychoneuroimmunology. 

There's quite a bit of old literature on how to do things with the solar plexus so that it has indirect positive influences on the brain and the adrenal system. I'm going to be reviewing that over the next few months, to see how it interfaces with Carey's protocol and theories. We'll see where all this leads. 

I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the Carey cell salt protocol and filled out the questionnaire! I received 60 responses, which is more than enough to do the kind of basic number-crunching I have in mind -- and, by the way, equal or better than the experimental groups used in preliminary experiments by some big drug companies. So we're doing well. 

At this point, however, I'd like to ask a favor of those readers who are not participating in the Carey cell salt protocol. In analyzing the results of the first questionnaire, it will be very helpful if I have a control group of people who didn't follow the protocol, but who are willing to answer many of the same questions. If I can get 50 or 60 responses on a control group questionnaire, we're off to the races in a big way, and it should be possible to extract some serious data from the results. 

So if and only if you have not used the Carey cell salt protocol discussed in this journal, and did not fill out the earlier questionnaire, may I asp you a favor? Please follow this link and fill out the control group questionnaire. All responses will be kept completely confidential and the results will be published only in the form of compiled data. Thank you for helping the onward march of mad science! 

It's been six weeks now since I asked readers to consider participating in a preliminary, exploratory study on the effects of G.W. Carey's biochemic cell salt protocol, which Carey believed would cause significant improvements in general health as well as certain specific psychospiritual effects. (If you're new to this series of posts, you can find the first two of them here and here.) I've been delighted by the number of enthusiastic and thoughtful responses since we began. Over the next few weeks I'm going to draft a detailed questionnaire, which will be posted on one of the online survey sites and used to gather a first cohort of data. I'll want to ask for some help with that, too -- more on this in a bit. 

First, I want to discuss a little more theory, with an eye toward asking for some more specific feedback and exploring some of the applications of the Carey protocol. 

As we discussed in the previous post, the basic theory behind Carey's protocol is that the cell salts are activated in a yearly cycle, with each cell salt correlating with one of the signs of the zodiac; that the unborn child receives an incomplete activation in the womb; and that a daily dose of Bioplasma, together with daily doses of the "missing" cell salts when the Moon is in the sign the Sun was in when you were born, will correct for this incomplete activation and bring improved health. There's more to it than that, though, and working out what else is going on has taken me a lot of time and a lot of strange research. 

To go further you have to know something about the vagus nerve. Also known as the pneumogastic nerve, this runs from the brain down into the vital organs. Most of the brain's connection with the rest of the body is via the spinal cord, but the vagus nerve does an end run around the spine; it links the lower reaches of the brain with the vital organs and the sympathetic nervous system. Among other things, it seems to be the route by which mental healing works; researchers into psychoneuroimmunology have found evidence that it's via the vagus nerve that mental and emotional states influence the digestion and the endocrine system, and thus the health in general. 

The vagus nerve has endings all through the body core. In Carey's writings and in the New Thought movement that was active in his day, the ending that counted most was the one that connects to the solar plexus, a mass of nerves just below the diaphragm, which is one of the main centers of the sympathetic nervous system, the net of nerves that keeps the vital organs running. There were once quite a range of exercises meant to work with the solar plexus center, and we'll be talking about those in due time. For now, the thing to keep in mind is that one of the things Carey's protocol was supposed to do was to cause certain reactions in the solar plexus which, propagating up the vagus nerve, had effects on certain parts of the brain. 

That's where the questions come in. Those of you who are following the protocol -- what changes, if any, in your emotional, mental, and/or spiritual life do you notice during the days when you take the "missing" cell salts? Does anything seem to increase or decrease those changes? More broadly, have you noticed any shifts in your emotional, mental, and/or spiritual life during the period you've been on the protocol? 

Also, if you were designing a questionnaire to bring out the details of what you've experienced more generally while taking the protocol, what questions would you especially want to see there? 

Many thanks for your continued help! This project is yielding even better results than I'd hoped. The experiment continues...

In the course of my researches into weird American occult traditions, I've come across something that could use testing, and I wonder if any of my readers would like to join me in an experiment.  

The story begins with George Washington Carey -- that's him on the left -- one of many American physicians in the late 19th century who used what we now consider alternative health care modalities in place of the toxic and ineffective mainstream remedies of the period. His specialty was the biochemic cell salts, which are homeopathic preparations of the 12 mineral salts found in significant quantities in the human body. However, unlike most health care providers in his time -- or ours, for that matter -- Carey was also an occultist: a crackerjack astrologer with a solid grasp of the medical dimensions of astrology, and a careful student of what was then cutting-edge research in the occult field. He was particularly interested in the research project launched by Hiram E. Butler ofthe Esoteric Fraternity, which focused on working with the body's subtle energies for the purpose of spiritual transformation and life extension.  

Carey's involvement in that project focused on using the cell salts to help with that process. He worked out a specific protocol keyed to astrological cycles. (In case you're wondering, yes, he used it himself, and remained active and vigorous until shortly before his death at the age of 79.) I've reconstructed the protocol in detail from his books, and the challenge now is to test it and see whether it has the effects he thought it did.  

What you'll need, if you want to join me in the experiment, is your astrological birth chart (or at least your date of birth), an almanac or astrological calendar, and certain cell salts, which you can get at old-fashioned health food stores, some food co-ops, or online here or here. The 6x potency is the one you need. 

Here's the protocol: 

1. First thing each morning, before eating or doing anything else, take 6 tablets of Bioplasma -- that's the specific blend of the 12 cell salts Carey created for this purpose, though it's gone into general use among homeopaths and people interested in natural heath. This is done every day irrespective of the rest of the protocol. 

2. Look up the degree of the zodiac the Sun was in when you were born. 

3. Every month, the Moon spends roughly 2 1/2 days in the zodiacal sign the Sun was in when you were born. During those 2 1/2 days, take once each day the combination of cell salts given below for the degree the Sun was in. (For example, if the Sun was at 8° Aries when you were born, you take the combination given in the table below for 1°-10° Aries each day during the period when the Moon is in Aries. (Do this even when the Moon isn't in Aries for the entire day.) The number after each cell salt is the number of tablets you take. 

Natal Sun                   Cell Salts

0°-10° Aries                Kali Phos. 2, Nat. Sulph. 3, Kali Mur. 3, Calc. Fluor. 1

11°-20° “                     Kali Phos. 1, Nat. Sulph. 3, Kali Mur. 3, Calc. Fluor. 2

21°-30° “                     Nat. Sulph. 3, Kali Mur. 3, Calc. Fluor. 3

0°-10° Taurus              Nat. Sulph. 2, Kali Mur. 3, Calc. Fluor. 3, Mag. Phos. 1

11°-20° “                     Nat. Sulph. 1, Kali Mur. 3, Calc. Fluor. 3, Mag. Phos. 2

21°-30° “                     Kali Mur. 3, Calc. Fluor. 3, Mag. Phos. 3

0°-10° Gemini             Kali Mur. 2, Calc. Fluor. 3, Mag. Phos. 3, Kali Sulph. 1

11°-20° “                     Kali Mur. 1, Calc. Fluor. 3, Mag. Phos. 3, Kali Sulph. 2

21°-30° “                     Calc. Fluor. 3, Mag. Phos. 3, Kali Sulph. 3

0°-10° Cancer              Calc. Fluor. 2, Mag. Phos. 3, Kali Sulph. 3, Nat. Phos. 1

11°-20° “                     Calc. Fluor. 1, Mag. Phos. 3, Kali Sulph. 3, Nat. Phos. 2

21°-30° “                     Mag. Phos. 3, Kali Sulph. 3, Nat. Phos. 3

0°-10° Leo                   Mag. Phos. 2, Kali Sulph. 3, Nat. Phos. 3, Calc. Sulph. 1

11°-20° “                     Mag. Phos. 1, Kali Sulph. 3, Nat. Phos. 3, Calc. Sulph. 2

21°-30° “                     Kali Sulph. 3, Nat. Phos. 3, Calc. Sulph. 3

0°-10° Virgo                Kali Sulph. 2, Nat. Phos. 3, Calc. Sulph. 3, Silicea 1

11°-20° “                     Kali Sulph. 1, Nat. Phos. 3, Calc. Sulph. 3, Silicea 2

21°-30° “                     Nat. Phos. 3, Calc. Sulph. 3, Silicea 3

0°-10° Libra                Nat. Phos. 2, Calc. Sulph. 3, Silicea 3, Calc. Phos. 1

11°-20° “                     Nat. Phos. 1, Calc. Sulph. 3, Silicea 3, Calc. Phos. 2

21°-30° “                     Calc. Sulph. 3, Silicea 3, Calc. Phos. 3

0°-10° Scorpio             Calc. Sulph. 2, Silicea 3, Calc. Phos. 3, Nat. Mur. 1

11°-20° “                     Calc. Sulph. 1, Silicea 3, Calc. Phos. 3, Nat. Mur. 2

21°-30° “                     Silicea 3, Calc. Phos. 3, Nat. Mur. 3

0°-10° Sagittarius        Silicea 2, Calc. Phos. 3, Nat. Mur. 3, Ferrum Phos. 1

11°-20° “                     Silicea 1, Calc. Phos. 3, Nat. Mur. 3, Ferrum Phos. 2

21°-30° “                     Calc. Phos. 3, Nat. Mur. 3, Ferrum Phos. 3

0°-10° Capricorn         Calc. Phos. 2, Nat. Mur. 3, Ferrum Phos. 3, Kali Phos. 1

11°-20° “                     Calc. Phos. 1, Nat. Mur. 3, Ferrum Phos. 3, Kali Phos. 2

21°-30° “                     Nat. Mur. 3, Ferrum Phos. 3, Kali Phos. 3

0°-10° Aquarius          Nat. Mur. 2, Ferrum Phos. 3, Kali Phos. 3, Nat. Sulph. 1

11°-20° “                     Nat. Mur. 1, Ferrum Phos. 3, Kali Phos. 3, Nat. Sulph. 2

21°-30° “                     Ferrum Phos. 3, Kali Phos. 3, Nat. Sulph. 3

0°-10° Pisces               Ferrum Phos. 2, Kali Phos. 3, Nat. Sulph. 3, Kali Mur. 1

11°-20° “                     Ferrum Phos. 1, Kali Phos. 3, Nat. Sulph. 3, Kali Mur. 2

21°-30° “                     Kali Phos. 3, Nat. Sulph. 3, Kali Mur. 3

4. Keep notes concerning your health as you continue the experiment. If you feel comfortable doing so, also note your sexual activities, if any, and your consumption of alcohol -- two things that Carey thought could influence the effects of the protocol. (I'm far from sure he was right, but it's worth checking.) 

If Carey's correct, over the course of several months you should notice significant positive changes in your general health and vitality. (I'm not going to repeat his comments on those changes, to avoid giving any more of a boost to the placebo effect than I have to.) If you're interested in helping me test this, let me know what results you get and I'll do the same. Once we have some basic data accumulated, I plan on bringing several other factors into the mix -- certain exercises that were also part of the research program launched by Hiram Butler -- and at that point, we'll be discussing more of the theory as well. 

 Admit it, you always wanted to be part of a mad scientist's research team, didn't you? Here's your chance. ;-)