13/04/2026
Born in India, my grandmother lost a brother to malaria and a brother to TB. She underwent a tonsillectomy on the kitchen table. She once told me she was angry, because they tied her hands. “I would not have moved!” she said.
The family returned to England and she determined to become a vet. Her teachers told her she should be going into law, but she was having none of it.
During her entrance exams, an examiner said, “You needn’t bother, no one else has got it right!” She replied, “Well, I should like to try.”
She did and she secured a place.
Due to the war, both my grandmother and grandfather continued their studies in Reading, moved out of London to avoid bombing. Vets were considered vital to keep the home fires burning. They did not have a graduation ceremony until many years later (which my parents attended and at which Dame Vera Lynne sang).
She raised two (wild) children, whilst working long hours as a vet. With her slight frame, she could not coerce animals and so, had to learn to coax and work with them.
My grandfather had a German branch to the family and it was on a holiday to stay with Uncle Bernhardt, that my grandmother first encountered homeopathy, when she was bitten by a horse fly and given belladonna. The pain melted away.
She brought that inspiration back home and began to use it with animals, to great effect.
My Uncle followed in her footsteps, integrating homeopathy into his practice, despite considerable and mounting opposition. He used it masterfully and compassionately, with a profound sensitivity to the state of the animals he treated, until his death 3 years ago.
The homeopathic literature is full of clinicians, who despite pressure to the contrary, determined to continue to practice homeopathy, because they had seen its power and astonishing ability to act. Once witnessed, this power cannot be unseen.
This is what has drawn so many to it. The passion for it is a fire that, once lit, will not be put out.
Homeopathy works with the life force. The ways of prescribing are many. What we know, is that we cannot force the body to respond to it in any predetermined way, because we are facilitating the body’s natural self-healing ability. We know that this has intrinsic wisdom, and that is why it is such a safe healing modality.
Homeopathy does not have all the answers, but it opens a door to a whole world of new possibilities.
