Petra is a Classical Homeopath. She completed the 5.5-year training program (including the basic medical year) in Amersfoort (NL) and qualified in 1999. Since then, she has continued to attend advanced training courses, for example at the Hahnemann Institute in The Hague.

In a consultation, the classical homeopath looks for a remedy that matches the overall picture of the person. The guiding principle is “Similia Similibus Curentur” – “like cures like.” The goal is to find the homeopathic remedy that specifically fits the individual. This stimulates the self-healing ability, helping you return to balance and regain your strength.

A homeopathic remedy contains the energy of a substance. Following the method of founder Samuel Hahnemann (1755 – 1843), the substance is shaken and diluted in a specific way; it is essentially an alchemical process that releases the energy of the original material. That’s why I often refer to them as energetic remedies. Remedies can be made from minerals, plants, trees, and also animals. For example, the Raven remedy is made from a small piece of feather, the Wolf remedy is made from wolf’s milk. No animals are harmed in the making of these remedies. Moreover, homeopathy does not involve animal testing. Remedies are tested on healthy human volunteers, since they can describe what they feel, what improves or worsens, and what sensations or dreams they experience.

Additional Explanation from Her Book Krachtdieren (Spirit Animals):

“I spent about a week sleeping with the homeopathic remedy of the animal I was working with under my pillow. These ‘dream provings’ offered subconscious insights into the specific animal, and I began to experience more and more of the sensations associated with it. Dreams are messages from the subconscious, and through them, themes related to that particular (collective) animal energy would emerge. Dreams can bring up important topics without you having to physically experience them, such as issues around boundaries being crossed, taboos, or ‘otherworldly’ matters.

The dream themes reveal an atmosphere and uncover deeper layers of the animal in question. They not only helped me but can also assist other homeopaths in recognizing an animal’s energetic signature in a client.

It was truly amazing how the themes of the dreams would change as soon as a different energetic animal remedy was placed under my pillow! My (male) partner’s dreams and sensations would also sometimes differ, for instance, more action-oriented, more protective, or more restless. In addition to dreams, I would increasingly tune into that animal’s energy: images or sentences would come to me before falling asleep or upon waking. Even during the day, sensations would intensify and could influence my mood, and it would take a moment before I realized they were linked to the animal energy.”

Everything is energy, and just as the core principle of classical homeopathy states that ‘like cures like,’ so too can a similar animal energy raise your self-awareness and bring healing. Knowing which spirit animal is with you or belongs to you can be a valuable tool in this process.

The descriptions of the spirit animals focus on psychological traits, not physical ones. Petra uses the remedies for psychological and spiritual growth. (She no longer offers separate homeopathy consultations – homeopathy is only included as part of the spiritual coaching or the spirit animal session.)

From August 2015 to May 2017, Petra worked on her book Krachtdieren – Wijsheid en Inspiratie uit het Dierenrijk (‘Spirit Animals – Wisdom and Inspiration from the Animal Kingdom’). In 2020, Krachtdieren – 2 (Spirit animals part 2)was published, featuring 66 new animals. There are also two accompanying Spirit Animal card decks. All published bij A3 boeken (www.a3boeken.nl)

To begin writing about the energy and strength of each animal, Petra usually started with its biological background, astrological connections, and mythology. She would also sleep for a week with the relevant homeopathic animal remedy under her pillow. During meditation, she tuned in to the collective energy of that animal, and the spirit animal would appear. She would see images, feel sensations, and meanwhile, her hand would write continuously for about an hour. This form of automatic writing worked surprisingly well, and her trust in her findings and the words that came through grew steadily.

Only after her own meditation would she sometimes read existing information about that particular spirit animal. Some of it confirmed what she had already experienced, but by deliberately not reading anything beforehand, she remained free: she was ‘empty’, allowing the information to flow through her own channel without the interference of preconceived notions or knowledge from books (which her findings didn’t come from anyway!).
Likewise, she postponed reading about the homeopathic pictures of animals until after her meditation and the week of sleeping on the remedy. In her descriptions of the spirit animals, she also included elements from known homeopathic remedy pictures (where available, either from literature or postgraduate training).