Soul & Survival and HFA
The Homoeopathic Facial Analysis (HFA) method is completely new – it is based on Hahnemannian theory and uses external structure to determine a patient’s true miasm.
There are three foundation miasms – Psora, Sycosis and Syphilis
Where any two or three of these miasms are equal in strength they will combine to form a new miasm (Hahnemann – two dissimilars of equal strength joining to form a new disease)
If one of these miasms is stronger than the others (Hahnemann – the stronger will suppress the weaker) – it remains dominant.
The three foundation miasms can exist singularly or join to form a new miasm – so there are seven possible miasms. The HFA method uses colours to describe these miasms.
- Psora – yellow
- Sycosis – red
- Syphilis – blue
- Syco-psora – orange
- Syco-syphilis – purple
- Tubercular (psora/syphilis) – green
- Cancer (psora/sycosis/syphilis) – brown
Appearance and Circumstance and its companion guide Homoeopathic Facial Analysis* explain the clinical application of using facial analysis to determine a patient’s dominant miasm.
*New book – 2021 – The HFA Workbooks is an updated version of the 2006 HFA book.
Soul & Survival develops these concepts even further and the miasm is explained as an energetic survival instinct – similar to Hahnemann’s description of an unintelligent but automatic vital force.
A theory is only as good as its practical use. As practitioners using classical homeopathic concepts with essence and keynote prescribing, we were getting results with chronic disease of up to 40% but now get consistent results of 70- 80% or higher. The face is a concrete observable way to determine a patient’s underlying miasmatic (energy) state.
No miasm is better or worse than another – each has a separate and unique way of attempting to protect its host. The miasm (survival instinct) pictures in Soul & Survival are much broader than previously written – showing both the light and the dark side of each miasm.
This book has no homoeopathic jargon as it was written for patients as well as practitioners (many patients want to understand their own miasm better – their demand led to this book). The author – Grant Bentley – understood that clinically homoeopaths always treat the negative but that every person has positive aspects to them and patients wanted to hear more than just their negative aspects. He knew from the clinic that disease wasn’t a good classifier of miasms (for instance under the rubric “tuberculosis” the three remedies Sulph, Merc and Thuja are all listed – yet none of these remedies belongs to the tubercular miasm). He started to see that the miasm was linked to the way the immune system operated, also the nervous system, emotions and structurally to the face. Disease was not an appropriate classifier and didn’t relate to the miasmatic immune response even if chronic illness (of any type) was the natural outcome of a body under stress.
A further development was the idea that the miasm was trying to do its best for the patient and the body but was just exhausted or confused (the point when a remedy is required) – that is wasn’t inherently evil or negative. So, he wrote about miasms as a survival instinct. It was important to differentiate the survival instinct from the soul aspect of ourselves (our rational thinking and creativity). The survival instinct is responsible for how we get ill, how we fight illness and how we compete with others. It responds to remedies with a similar energy. The soul is immortal and only free to learn once the survival instinct is in balance.
Because energy forms structure, miasms can only be energy (which is why an energy medicine will interact with them, calming the miasm – and the patient – with the outcome of improved outlook and health). These energies have spacial physics properties – psora is outward energy, sycosis is circular energy and syphilis is inward energy. The other four miasms being combinations of the three primary miasms display a reaction between the primary miasms. For example, the outward energy of psora (pushing outward) reacting with circular energy (fixed to its own trajectory) in an orange (syco-psoric) patient means their primary way of handling stress and illness is through resistance.
Miasmatic energies have a relationship to time cycles, so that even history is impacted by them, which in turn affects social and group behaviour. The seven miasm blueprint unfolds a universal pattern. Some of these concepts although easy for homoeopaths to understand, are more esoteric for patients. Soul & Survival uses fiction, analogy and metaphor to describe the seven miasmatic energies or colours.
The traditional roles belonging to each group were born out of observance that people within colours had specific skills. Knowing that nature only creates for good and to establish balance (even when an outcome doesn’t always appear to be of any benefit) the question was – what do these skills bring to the individual and the group they belonged to? The answer led to a deeper understanding of both individual and group behaviour and was, not surprisingly, completely in line with patient life stories and stress responses as observed in the clinic.
A miasm is both positive and negative. Its intent is always to be protective (survival instinct mechanism) and even when it is completely out of control – a disease or a socially unacceptable behaviour – it is always working to protect its host. The right miasmatic remedy helps to calm this response and protect the host in a more positive way.
Classification of patients by facial structure leads to successful clinical outcomes and demonstrates through energy principles the universal pattern of life that is responsible for all behaviour – both group and individual – and the amazing link to space and time.
More information about the HFA books