Beginning Iridology Guide Introduction to the Course Welcome to the Herb’n Home Online Iridology Course! I have taught this same course for the past four years to many people including mothers, teachers, alternative practitioners, doctors and nurses. The response has been so overwhelming that many of my students asked me to put this same course online so they could share it with their friends. My goal in doing this is twofold – to make the information itself available to you but also to make myself available to you as well. I have been practicing Iridology professionally for the past four years and have been involved in natural healing for many years. I have found over the years that practitioners have their own unique experience and wisdom and I hope to share what I have learned with you as well as all the “book information”. The following is an outline of the course. The teaching method I use in my online course is to send the student the course one chapter at a time. When they are finished with that chapter they write to me to request the quiz and I send it to them. As you finish each quiz please send it back and I will send you the next chapter. I find that this encourages interaction between the students and myself. It also creates more of a “live” atmosphere for the student. Included in this e-mail are the first two chapters, which I have combined for the first quiz since they are both short chapters. Please read them and when you finish, please write to me to request the quiz. Working Online: Challenges and Joys It is such a joy to work online! Vast amounts of information can be sent for “free” without postage, having to purchase books or even go to the post office to ship a package! In addition, students can work on their own time and at their own pace. It is also very easy to update a course and provide links for students that are constantly being updated. Last, but not least, the Internet can connect students with courses that they would never be able to attend otherwise. However, there are also challenges to working on the Internet and one must be aware of those too. From your end: Please follow general safety rules when doing the course. When you download materials always scan the attachments first. In addition, when you do the quiz, it is a good idea to save your work frequently so you do not lose it. It is also a good idea to save all messages you send to me so that if one gets lost you can re-send it easily. From my end: Keep in mind that part of the year I am overseas and thus my time zone is about 9 hours ahead of the USA time zone. Additionally, I am sometimes away from my computer for two-three days at a time to attend seminars or to give courses. This means that in a normal week it may take me up to three days to answer your e- mail. This is usually not an issue for most students but if you DO have an urgent request please call me at 011-966-3-878-2903. General Internet: I have also found, with my many years of Internet experience that delayed and deleted mail is sometimes a problem due to sender, receiver or even Internet provider error. One time I received a Yahoo message in my box that was dated a month before. It arrived a month later as if nothing strange had ever happened! Keeping this in mind…Consider that if I do not respond to you within a week you should assume I might never have received your message. Please re-send it. Outline of the Course Unit One: Iridology 1 Introduction Unit Two: Iridology 2 Charts & Color Unit Three: Iridology 3 Body Systems Unit Four: Iridology 4 The Brain Unit Five: Iridology 5 Advanced Markings Unit Six: Iridology 6 Practicum After each unit there is a quiz. The quiz is attached to the file. To get credit for the course you must send back the quiz questions. After I have corrected all your quizzes and papers and accepted them I will send you your certificate. Unit One: Introduction to Iridology What is Iridology? Iridology is a science. It can reveal disturbance in the body, can locate the disturbance and tell the iridologist at what stage the disturbance is progressing or manifesting. The science of iridology is the science of analyzing the fibers colors and signs in the eye to glean this information about imbalances in the body, where they are and how severe they are. How Did Iridology Begin? Iris was the goddess of the rainbow in Greek mythology and the messenger of the gods in the Iliad. Iridology has actually been used since the beginning of time. Use of iridology is depicted in the temples of ancient Egypt and referred to in ancient Chinese texts as well. Additionally, farmers have been using iridology on their sheep and other animals for as long as anyone can remember. So, iridology, as a craft, is not a new, or invented science. It is also not a Western discovery. However, it was the modern Western world that took this magnificent craft and made it into a more accessible and more accurate science. Many people who teach iridology teach that iridology started in the early 1800’s by a man called Ignatz von Peczely. However, this is only partially true. Ignatz von Peczely was simply responsible for re-discovering iridology in animals, making very direct research with humans and bringing this information together in charts accessible by anyone who wanted to learn them. Since this first modern chart, many scientists have refined his work and done further research to the point where modern iridology has become a science in its own right. It was even taught at Harvard medical school until 1985, when it was discarded only because the school needed more room for the more “modern” classes such as radiology and pharmacy. However, since Mr. Von Peczely is such an important symbol to iridology and marks such an important turning point in the history of iridology I will tell his story, but will not credit him with the “discovery” of iridology as many people do: Von Peczely was a young boy of eleven whom, like a typical boy was very active and curious. He especially liked to play with animals like frogs and birds. However, some birds don’t appreciate being played with and one day his playmate, an owl, instinctively clawed at him, wishing to be released. This scared the young boy and he immediately tensed up and froze in fright. This had the result of breaking the bird’s leg. As von Peczely considered what he would do next with the poor bird, he noticed that a black line suddenly appeared at the six o’clock position in the bird’s eye. He bandaged the bird’s leg and released it but for several years after that the owl stayed in his garden and von Peczely noticed that over time white lines took over where the black line had been and eventually the eye almost appeared normal again. When von Peczely grew up he became a doctor and never forgot the owl incident. During his internship at a college hospital he was further able to observe how the human iris responded to accidents and noticed the same phenomena. He eventually started to record these observations using data from patients who went through surgery, data from accident victims and even data from patients diagnosed with various diseases. From this he formed one of the first modern iris charts. I encourage people to learn more about the history of iridology. However, in doing so keep in mind that iridology has three stages: the first stage was before 1800 when many people, including farmers, practiced iridology as a craft. Some charts were probably used at this time. After the 1800’s iridology continued to be practiced as a craft among farmers and monks. However, it became more of a science in the company of doctors and other people. It was usually practiced from this time with the use of charts and special equipment. The third stage of iridology is the modern stage. In the past ten years iridology has made leaps in chart development due to high power magnifications and computers as well as the work of people like Bernard Jenson who personally saw thousands of patients and was able to cross-reference and record hundreds of thousands of pieces of data about iris traits. How Does Iridology Work ? The iris, under a magnifying glass is actually an amazingly detailed structure. At a glance, the eye looks just like a splash of color with some fibers Any child who draws an eye usually draws something like a wheel with spokes coming out of a dark circular interior. However, when you look closer you can see that the “spokes” are each different lengths, with different shapes and texture and patterns. You can also see that the iris is not a uniform color, and that it also has flaws and various shapes, patterns and other colors and markings in it. All of these markings are actually markers in a communication system that is capable of storing vast amounts of information. The iris is the receptor and recorder of this communication system. The iris receives and stores information about the body in the same way a computer gleans and stores information during scientific experiments, or in the same way a secretary takes notes at a meeting.