Sepia – More Than Just a Color
Sepia is named after the rich brown pigment derived from the ink sac of the common cuttlefish or more commonly known as squid. It was used as writing ink in Greco-Roman civilization. And it remained in common use as an artist’s drawing material until the 19th century.
It was not until the early 1800’s that its medicinal property as a homeopathic remedy was discovered by Samuel Hahnemann MD. While visiting an artist friend who was complaining of chronic fatigue Dr. Hahnemann noticed that as his friend was painting with sepia, he would repeatedly put the sepia coated brush in his mouth to gather the bristles to a point. Thinking that this sepia could be the cause of his fatigue he made it into a homeopathic remedy. On administering it to this patient his fatigue cleared.
Today Sepia is what homeopaths refer to as a polycrest remedy. It is found to have a broad range of action from physical to emotional to mental symptoms.
I remember one patient that I had that had a dramatic curative response to Sepia. She was married to a man who she described as not a very nice person. His continual disparaging remarks over the years changed her from a vibrant, gregarious, empathetic and slightly flighty personality to a woman that was indecisive, apathetic, irritable, weepy and feeling trapped.
Within a week of giving her Sepia she told her husband that she wanted a divorce. This was a thought that she held deep within but she could never find the courage to voice it. She discovered an assertiveness that she remembered having long ago. That same week in a board meeting she was the only person to stand up to a man that was being a bully and calmly rebuked him. Over the ensuing weeks her irritability slowly dissolved and her desire to pick up activities like painting which she used to enjoy returned.
In time, she did leave her husband. It is not uncommon to see the right constitutional remedy catalyze a change in the body to return to physical and emotional health.
Terry Pfau DO, HMD