A blog on homeopathy -- Ruminating on Remedies

Books!! Where to start in building your homeopathic library…

5/9/2026

I was in my then homeopath/MD’s office. I was trying to surreptitiously sneak a look at the books on his shelves. If I recall correctly, Morrison’s Desktop Guide is what I first spied. This was way back when we didn’t carry phones in our pockets or I would have just snapped a photo of the titles on his shelf.

Why didn’t I just ask him about good homeopathy books?!? Good question! Somehow it felt illicit. It makes no sense to me in hindsight.

I have only ever been in a homeopathic bookstore in my dreams (and the nice image above Grok just made for me… I couldn’t get it to remove the crystals, though. oh, well). The closest I came was when I visited Natural Health Supply in Santa Fe, NM. They had flat shelves full of little treasures, mostly from B. Jain Publishers in India. They still have a web presence, but I don’t think they are actually in business any longer. A shame — they made nice remedies.

Morrison’s Desktop Guide was not the first homeopathic book I purchased. (See here for a review of my first homeopathic book purchase.) I did eventually buy Morrison’s Desktop Guide (and I definitely recommend it) and hundreds of homeopathic books later… I have no regrets!

Where to find homeopathic books
Ainsworths has a tiny selection of books but an excellent selection of remedies!

Aurum Project has their “book barn” listing many titles. Prices are in Australian dollars, so be sure to factor in the exchange rate and shipping. (At the time of writing, they appear to ship to the US.)

BookScouter is a new one to me. Apparently, bookstores compete for your order. Try it out — some good titles on there!

Emryss is the home to the publisher of the same name. In addition to some of the most beautiful books on homeopathy (Asteraceae and Sea Remedies), they also sell “test boxes” of remedies. For instance, Waterworld test box is a collection of remedies found in the books Waterworld and Sea Remedies in potencies 30, 200 and MK. Prices are in Euros so be sure to factor in the exchange rate and shipping. (At the time of writing, they appear to ship to the US.)

Helios has a nice selection of books, including their own The Narayani Combination Remedies which is the least expensive version I have found. If you need to order some remedies, be sure to check out their books, too! They are in the UK, so remember to factor in the exchange rate and shipping.

Dana Ullman’s homeopathic.com (one of my first stops when I began collecting homeopathic titles). An excellent selection. Quick service. A section for discounted books. Sometimes he offers a little bundle of books at an even greater discount. His titles are broken out into handy-dandy subjects, (i.e., introductory, women, history, miasms & nosodes, rare & antique.) He also sells some remedies and other goodies.

The Homeopathic Book Company is part of The School of Health so you can see and buy the books which are used in their various courses. It appears you can buy each year’s books in a bundle at a nice discount. They also have a section of reduced/used books. They are in the UK, so remember to factor in the exchange rate and shipping.

HSC Online is where I purchase a lot of my vials. While you’re picking up some 1/2 dram tubes, check out their selection of books. They are in the UK, so remember to factor in the exchange rate and shipping. (I just received a shipment from them the other day so I know they are currently shipping to the US.)

Inner Traditions offers a small assortment of homeopathic books.

Minerva Homeopathic Books has an excellent selection, all listed by various categories: methodology, dose and potency, bargains, new, etc., as well as some CDs and DVDs. They are in the UK, so remember to factor in the exchange rate and shipping. They send out too-tempting emails. You have been warned!

Narayana Verlag is the website of the publisher by the same name. A few of their titles are: First Aid with Homeopathy, Burnett Rediscovered and Wondrous Order. They have an excellent selection of books and journals. However, they are currently NOT shipping to the US. Prices are in Euros, so be sure to remember to factor in the exchange rate and shipping (when they actually ship to us again).

Taproots offers a small selection of books, but an excellent selection of remedy kits.

Washington Homeopathic Products has an eclectic selection of books as well as Paola Brown’s homeschool curriculum. And, of course, you can buy their remedies, while you’re there! I love their kit refills — 1/2 drams!!

Other sources for actual books:
Some homeopathic titles (like Healing Complex Children with Homeopathy — so much info in that book!) are available for download on Amazon & Books — making it easier to search for relevant information later). Ebay and Abe Books are good options, too.

Sources for online reading and downloading:
American Institute of Homeopathy doesn’t sell books, but they do have a list of recommended titles.

Free Book Centre has a very small collection of titles.

Homeomart has a few interesting free titles, like Hahnemann’s Treatise on the Effects of Coffee and they sell remedies.

Homopath International has a large selection of online books, including Paterson’s The Bowel Nosodes.

Materia Medica has a handful of books available to browse for free. Including Boger and Boericke.

National Center for Homeopathy doesn’t sell books, but they do have a list of recommended titles.

Scribd is a subscription based service, but they sometimes have some complete books available for download, as well as many other resources (some of which appear to be student papers or other non-official information… not that it matters, necessarily… just letting you know).

Happy Reading!

Julia Coyte, CHom

Classically Practical homeopath

#wellnessawaits

Note: A number of these sources also sell homeopathic remedies. Some of the brands I recognize and others, I do not. Beyond the good quality remedies from Ainsworths, Washington, Taproots, Helios and the brands offered by Dana Ullman, I have no opinion. Make sure to do your own research as to whether they are quality remedies.

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Sarcode Love

2/14/2026

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I’ll confess… it wasn't love at first sight. It took me a figurative minute to get on board with the idea of sarcodes. Once I discovered their unbelievable usefulness… I’m not looking back.

There is one problem with this sarcode love… I hate that we don’t have more readily available information on how to use them! The schools I attended (as fantastic as they were) touched on sarcodes, but I was definitely left with wanting to know more about the how’s and why’s and when’s. As a result, I have taken pretty much every course available and purchased every book I could find on sarcodes.

This is what this article is all about — spreading the good word, sharing the love of homeopathic sarcodes.

It is very important to note that neither these books nor this article will actually teach you the how’s and why’s and when’s of using sarcodes. These books are useful once you have learned how to use the sarcodes.

What are sarcodes, again?
(See also: Sodes and Codes if you are unfamiliar with the term.)

Sarcodes are homeopathic remedies made from healthy tissues or secretions, generally taken from healthy animals. “Any physiological processes can be a sarcode remedy” (Johnson 2016).

tissues (such as thyroid, tendon, thymus gland, hypothalamus, cartilage, to name but a few) — essentially every piece of a body can be made into a sarcode
healthy secretions (substances like adrenaline, cortisol, histamine, lactic acid) can be made into a sarcode
the matridonals are remedies made from the hormones and substances from, as the name says, the mother and are considered sarcodes
lacs, or the milks, are a whole other class unto themselves but are also considered sarcodes.

Matridonals and Lacs are for another day.

Are sarcodes the same thing as organotherapy, or something different?
This, of course, is not a straight forward answer. I believe this discrepancy often comes down to individual authors.

Dr. Thasleena M has literally just this week published Sarcodes: The Organ Language of the Vital Force: Understanding, Selecting and Using Organ Remedies in Homeopathy.
She provides an opportunity to cut through the noise in regard to “sarcode” vs “organotherapy.” She lists 4 different kinds of sarcodes (on page 6):

glandular
organ
tissue
enzyme/hormonal

This list may shed some light on our confusion: many of the “glands” she mentions are also considered “organs”; and, she lists other organs, like skin and bones, as “tissues”. This shows us one way these terms can be confused.

Organotherapy may use sarcodes. Sarcodes may be used to help ailing organs. Sarcodes may be made from organs. See where all this confusion is coming from?

So,what is organotherapy then?
Organotherapy is a homeopathic therapeutic approach that uses remedies targeted specifically at organs, glands or systems to stimulate, regulate or normalize their function. The remedies used may be “standard” homeopathic remedies or they may be cell salts or gemmos or sarcodes or even nosodes — thus making organotherapy a much larger topic than sarcodes alone. Today, we’re sticking with just sarcodes.

Just to make it a little more confusing, organotherapy is also used in allopathic medicine, though most versions used today are synthesized in the lab… think: hormone replacement therapy, thyroid and glucocorticoids to treat adrenal insufficiency, etc.

Historically speaking, if someone had a thyroid issue, allopathic physicians would use the whole desiccated thyroid gland (and still used today, actually), generally from a healthy pig (porcine), to treat this problem (Heald et al. 2024). The benefit of this method is that you get the entire thyroid gland and all its supposed goodness. The counter argument, they say, is that not everybody needs all the thyroid extras.

Today, if you go to your doctor with this complaint, you are most likely going to be given Levothyroxine which is a synthesized form of thyroxine from L-tyrosine, a naturally occurring amino acid, resulting in a synthetic version which is “chemically identical to the naturally produced thyroid hormone thyroxine” (Drugbank).

As I recall hearing years ago, the main reason as to why they made the switch to a synthetic product was to be able to control the dose. A logical thought. But, in my never-to-be-humble opinion, I think it misses the point. The point, to my mind, is to re-teach the thyroid what it is supposed to be doing. In an ideal world, this supplementation would not be taken forever. (I know, some people absolutely require thyroid replacement to live. I’m talking about a poorly functioning thyroid, not a missing or completely defunct thyroid.) Note: I am not here to argue one side or the other, I am just laying out the history of thyroid medication and how it relates to homeopathic sarcodes.

IMPORTANT NOTE: homeopathy works beautifully alongside allopathic medication. It is very important that you work with your physician and a professional homeopath if you choose to use them in tandem.

However, it’s not always straight forward. Of course it isnt!
Sticking with the thyroid example, even though the thyroid is what appears to be the problem, (most likely via blood testing), it could actually be another endocrine gland above or below the thyroid in the endocrine chain that is making a nuisance of itself: the hypothalamus or the pituitary (posterior, anterior or the whole thing), for instance. In other words, simply because someone is seemingly struggling with thyroid issues, that doesn’t mean that the use of Thyroidinum is a slam dunk. Our bodies aren’t always so accommodatingly simple, unfortunately.

OK, but what do sarcodes actually do?
Sarcodes (from Tenka 2021):

balance organs, glands or tissue activity
slow down accelerated organs, glands or tissue activity
stimulate sluggish organs, glands or tissue activity…

I like to think of sarcodes as a little kick in the keister — they serve as a reminder to the body, giving a gentle nudge to remind the various aspects of the anatomical system what their job is and how to do it… properly.

Back to the books, please.
Getting back to this brand new book by Dr. Thasleena M… it is probably one of the most useful books on sarcodes I have found to date. (It’s one of only three in this list solely dedicated to sarcodes.) The author does a really nice job explaining sarcodes with charts describing the main indications for the use of various sarcodes and where one might expect to see their use, i.e., gynecology may use this group of sarcodes and pediatrics or geriatrics may use different groups.
From here, she works through the various sarcodes and provides information on:

source and preparation
sphere of action
essence of the remedy
a small materia medica
clinical indications
remedy relationships to both other sarcodes as well as homeopathic remedies
and ends with a small graph of differential diagnoses and indicated remedies

It’s a short book but it looks like it will be a very useful resource (and, its available on Kindle for easy searching)!

Most of the books out there are materia medicae and I am very grateful to have them. Some are more complete than others; but, unfortunately, there is not one single source that I have found to cover everything.

Jerry van den Bosch* has written what is probably the most practical approach to these remedies: Sarcodes — The Hidden Gems of Homeopathic Medicine: A Comprehensive Guide to Homeopathic Healing with Organotherapy. This is a tiny book, just 75 small pages, but, once you learn how to use it*, they are very valuable pages.

What does he have to say about organotherapy?
Mr. Van den Bosch seems to be one of the authors who uses sarcode and organotherapy interchangeably and he very helpfully tells us (on page 11):

“In Organotherapy, sarcodes are used, which are derived from healthy tissues and contain corrective information for the respective organ, gland, or tissue.

The intention is not to replace a poorly functioning organ, where daily administration of hormones can lead to even more gland degeneration. But sometimes it can be a better solution than medication.

In Organotherapy, our aim is to stimulate the organ, thereby restoring its original balance. It primarily involves the use of healthy tissue and gland extracts.

By administering this homeopathic remedy, we can stimulate, regulate, or even inhibit a gland, for example, achieving the desired effect.”

Before his book even gets going, Van den Bosch says:

“Approach this book and its content with an open mind, as doing so it can lead to remarkable outcomes in your clinical practice. The outcomes observed stand as evidence of the effectiveness of these methods.

Initially, I needed firsthand experience to be convinced, but now allow me to guide you on a journey that will illustrate the effectiveness of these sarcodes.”

I can relate to his statement of needing firsthand experience — both with sarcodes in general and his method in specific.

The bulk of Van den Bosch’s book is laid out very simply: indications by body part, followed by the sarcode/s he suggests for each. In a few instances, he includes detailed instructions with which doses to take and when.

CAUTION: there is a language barrier!

All of his potencies are based on remedies from Boiron in France — e.g., 4CH or 8DH (unless otherwise stated). To my knowledge, we can’t get these potencies outside of France. Van den Bosch* says these specific potencies and the Boiron preparation of these remedies makes a difference. He says even though you can get similar remedies from places like Helios, they are different. I leave it to you to figure out and decide.
Another quite important note on Van den Bosch’s book: all of the remedy names are in French, so have your French/English dictionary handy.

Despite these little hiccups, overcoming the language barrier has been worth it in my opinion. I have tried some of these French sarcodes and I have been very pleasantly surprised.

Berkeley Squire’s (2011), A Repertory of Homeopathic Nosodes & Sarcodes
Like Van den Bosch’s book, this one left me a little perplexed for a while, too. It’s called a repertory, but despite it being a thick volume, it felt a little thin on information at first.

I was listening to a Gaurang Gaikwad lecture and the penny dropped for me on this book. The introduction acknowledges this is a different sort of book: “So, it must be viewed as the definitive book upon them [nosodes and sarcodes], for an index is the soul of a book.” It is indeed more like an index than any repertory I’m used to using. Most symptoms list pretty much just one or two remedies and most of the remedies appear to be nosodes, not sarcodes. However, it is an excellent resource for confirmatory symptoms.

Speaking of repertories… sarcodes don’t pop up too often — which is why the need for so many dedicated books.

Part of the reason for this is, generally speaking, sarcodes don’t undergo classic large-scale Hahnemannian provings. The materia medicae of sarcodes are developed by combining toxicological effects from crude preparations, as well as “knowledge of their pharmacological actions,” mixed with clinical experience (Nayak et al. 2016). In short, we only know what we know about sarcodes and there is a lot left to be discovered in terms of sarcode benefits. I think we’ll have to wait patiently for thorough provings to be conducted.

Back to Berkeley Squire’s book… the final couple of pages are “Remedy Relationships” — a useful little list of sarcodes and nosodes and their related “standard” homeopathic remedies.

Chaturbhuja Nayak’s Homeopathic Materia Medica of Sarcodes
This is a thorough book with each entry having an introduction about the substance; the source and preparation of the substance; who proved it and when; sphere of action; clinical conditions; characteristic features and then followed by a few pages of symptomatology. Each chapter ends with a dose and potency section, cautions, comparisons and “success stories of reputed clinicians”. The size of the symptomatology for each entry is rather thin compared to some of the other books in this list.
Note: about the middle third of this book is dedicated to the Lacs.

Gaurang Gaikwad’s Materia Medica of Nosodes & Sarcodes
Each of the remedies (20 sarcodes, 27 nosodes and 7 bowel nosodes) are fleshed out quickly through bullet points followed by clinical diseases in which it would be useful and a bit of materia medica from notable sources. Some of the entries are very short but a couple of others include cases.

B.K. Sarkar’s Up-to-date with Nosodes and Sarcodes
I really like the size of this no-nonsense, straight to the point book, but it only has write-ups for just a couple of sarcodes. Most of the book is dedicated to nosodes, bowel nosodes and some more unusual remedies like the Magnetis polis, X-ray and Electricity.

Most of the sarcode books out there are materia medicae and I am very grateful to have them. Some are more complete than others; but, unfortunately, there is not one single source that I have found to cover everything. I wish I could provide one simple title with all the possible sarcodes with full write-ups to guide us to applicable sarcodes for every needed situation, but I guess we’ll just have to wait. In the meantime, share the homeopathy love. 💕

Julia Coyte, CHom
Classically Practical homeopath

#wellnessawaits

*CHE offers a Homeopathy Spotlight with Jerry Van Den Bosch and I highly recommend it. In fact, I found the book not very helpful prior to hearing him speak on it.

Reference list
Burdet, C., 2016. Interhomeopathy - Editorial: sarcode remedies - processes of life [online]. Interhomeopathy.fr.
Clarke, J. H., 2015. Dictionary of practical materia medica. accessed through Radar Opus software.
Drugbank, n.d. Levothyroxine sodium - DrugBank [online]. go.drugbank.com.
Gaikwad, G., 2019. Materia Medica of Nosodes & Sarcodes. Gurukrupa, Mumbai: Dr. Gaurang Gaikwad.
Goswami, A., 2024. Exploring The Enigmatic Nature of Sarcode Remedies in Homoeopathy: History and Applications [online]. homeopathy360.
Heald, A. H., Taylor, P., Lakdasa Premawardhana, Stedman, M. and Dayan, C., 2024. Natural desiccated thyroid for the treatment of hypothyroidism? Frontiers in Endocrinology [online], 14.
Johnson, G., 2016. Interhomeopathy - Sensational sarcodes [online]. Interhomeopathy.org.
Kalathia, G., 2010. The Language of Sarcodes. Homoeopathic Links [online], 23 (01), 52–55.
Kumari, A., 2020. Sarcode and Nosode remedies in Homoeopathy [online]. Homeopathy Resource by Homeobook.com.
Lathiya, P. and Patel, G., 2024. Role of Thyroidinum (sarcode) as an intercurrent remedy in treating various cases of Hypothyroidism. Southeast Asian Journal of Health Professional [online], 7 (2), 47–49.
M, T., 2026. Sarcodes: the Organ Language of the Vital Force: Understanding, Selecting and Using Organ Remedies in Homeopathy. Kindle. Independently Published.
Master, F. J., ed. 2024. The Homeopathic Heritage: Bringing Classical and Contemporary Homoeopathy ogether • Unveiling the Potential of Homoeopathic Remedies in Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media: Ongoing Research at The Calcutta Homoeopathic Medical College & Hospital • Sarcodes -A Bestowal For Ailing Mankind Sarcodes & Homeopathic Practice [online].
McAninch, E. A. and Bianco, A. C., 2016. The History and Future of Treatment of Hypothyroidism. Annals of internal medicine [online], 164 (1), 50–56.
Nayak, C., Smita Brahmachari and Syed Afsar Ali, 2016. Homoeopathic Materia Medica of Sarcodes. B. Jain Publishers (P.) Ltd.
Pope, C., 2024. Levothyroxine [online]. Drugs.com.
Squire, B., 2011. Repertory of Homoeopathic Nosodes and Sarcodes. B Jain Publishers Pvt Limited.
Tenka, Y., 2021. Sarcodes and its homeopathic application.
Teraiya, D., 2025. Organ Remedies in Homeopathy: Healing Through Organ Support. Kindle. Independently Published.
van den Bosch, J., 2024. Sarcodes: The Hidden Gems of Homeopathic Medicine: A Comprehensive Guide to Homeopathic Healing with Organotherapy. Emryss Publishers.

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Books!! Where to start in building your homeopathic library…

Sarcode Love

Julia Coyte, CHom

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