Introduction: The eyes are not just the windows to the soul

When people are asked what they look at first when they notice an attractive person, several answers come to mind. Some say they observe how a person walks or what he or she is wearing. Some detect the perfume or cologne they wear, some take in the body type, or the color and style of hair. However, a great proportion of people first notice the eyes of a person, for the eyes are often described as the windows to the soul. When we look into people's eyes, we can often determine whether they are lying, whether they are angry or whether they are in love. We can often tell whether people are tired or not feeling well because eyes appear dull and lack the usual sparkle when people are not in the best of health. However, the eye is not only the window to our soul; the eye is also a map to our body.

Welcome on a journey that will take you to destinations where perhaps you have never been before and through experiences that may change the way you have thought about health and medicine in the past. It is always a risk to be open to new ideas but I know the risk and the journey will be well worth taking.

I would like to introduce to you a diagnostic method that belongs under the branch of alternative medicine and called iridology or as it is commonly known, iris diagnosis. This method involves diagnosis of one's state of health by specific colors, marks, and signs that are seen in the iris of the eyes. I, however, like to think of iridology as not just a study of the iris, but also the pupil and sclera which often reveal a number of other significant health problems.

Have you ever noticed that there frequently appear clouds or marks in the iris of your eye and that these change depending on the state of your health or age? Have you noticed that your left eye is different from your right eye? If you have, I congratulate you, as many people believe that their eye color remains the same in both eyes all of their lives.

After studying thousands and thousands of irises in great detail over many years, I have had the opportunity to notice several changes in the irises, pupils, and sclera of eyes and have come to the conclusion that what is revealed in the eyes, mirrors the state of health of our entire body. That's right, the iris of the eye is actually a map where each place represents a different body organ or system.

But first, before I try to convince those of you who may be unsure or skeptical about this method, I would like to discuss the terms "individuality" and "holistic medicine", both of which are very close to my heart.

You are not Normal

What do we mean by normal? Is anyone out there really normal? Normality is something that we have contrived and refers to anything that does not deviate from a norm or average value. We are constantly bombarded with normal values, such as normal height, normal weight, and normal body temperature. We all know what normal behavior is according to society standards and if we deviate from this we can be classified as crazy. In modern times there are norms for everything, including norms for every kind of medical symptom or classification of health status. Is this a rational way to look at a human being or are we sometimes forgetting the one plain fact that distinguishes us from any other person, the fact that we are not normal?

Yes, that is right, each one of us is special, an individual with different needs and attributes. It is often a mistake to look at an individual using normal values because each of us has a different liver, a different ability to dispose of toxins in the body, a different metabolism, a different ability to handle stress, and a different need for nutrients. How then can a drug, for example, be prescribed for every single patient using a normal dosage? We are often reminded of this error since a dosage of a drug given to one person may cause stomach upset or side effects, while the same dosage given to another patient causes no reaction at all. Each one of us is different. No expert in the world can predict what a combination of several drugs will do to our body as each of us has different abilities to deal with the drugs. This poses a great danger as the body is being put through an experiment each time because no matter how many times a drug has been tested on people, every single person is a new experiment. Do you want to persist in allowing drugs to experiment with your body?

I believe that each one of us is unique. No one is superior to another, just different. As we learn about our bodies and ourselves, we grow to appreciate that we are not normal; that each of us is an individual. Iris diagnosis appreciates this simple fact of individuality. Every iris is different. Like a fingerprint or a tongue print it distinguishes us from any other person. Using iris diagnosis, one can view each patient as an individual and in many cases can uncover the unique strengths and weaknesses that make us who we are.

Holistic Health

I believe that in order to really understand the value of iris diagnosis, one must understand the concept of holistic health. This term is often used in alternative medicine but its main premise is to view the body as a whole rather than as only specific parts. This is quite rational because each of our cells, each of our organs, and each of our systems, interact together.

When one organ in the body is not functioning well, the whole body is affected. Modern medicine often fails because specialization in a specific area often neglects this fact and therefore the root of the problem remains.

Alternative medicine seeks to analyze total health or holistic health and this includes more than just the physical. Psychological health and spiritual health are also considered important in getting to the root of the patient's health problems.

Take for example, a patient with skin problems. He or she may focus only on the skin and search endlessly for ointments, skin lotions and skin preparations but is the skin really the core of the problem? Often the real core of the problem lies with one of our cleansing organs, which may include the intestines, the liver, the kidneys or the lungs. Perhaps it is stress that is creating a mineral or vitamin deficiency. The core of the problem may then be one of psychological health and may reflect a current stressful situation or past psychological scars. Do you see where I am going now? Holistic health includes all areas that affect our health status. The doctors of the future will have to take all aspects of health into consideration if they want to successfully cure their patients and this leads me to another question. When you receive a drug prescription for a medical problem you may have, do you feel that you are treated or cured? There is a big difference. If you are only treated, it means that the condition periodically recurs or shows up as something else even a few years later. With every chemical drug there is a side effect. That means that some part of the body suffers as a result of the treatment. For example taking heavy doses of antibiotics often leads to destruction of beneficial micro flora in the intestines, leading to all sorts of medical problems in the future. Is that holistic health? It certainly is not! It is only a fast and irresponsible way of dealing with a medical problem which does not take into account the effects it will have on the whole body. I say to all my patients that there is no fast, miraculous way to return to health. It takes work and lifestyle changes. Holistic health is the only health that I believe in.

If you now understand a little about holistic health you will see how iris diagnosis is related. Iris diagnosis is the only diagnostic method I know that allows one to view all the interacting systems and organs and how they affect each other. In my opinion, it is the diagnostic method of the future. Just think, all that information encoded in your irises, which are each just a few millimeters in diameter.

Rationale for the theory of Iris diagnosis

You may be asking - how can the iris of the eye reflect conditions in our body? This is a very reasonable question and I was very skeptical when first introduced to the concept that information in the form of certain signs encoded in the iris can reflect our state of health. But is this really such a bizarre and crazy idea? Think for a moment. We can often recognize an unhealthy person when we see one. How do we know he is unhealthy? Perhaps, we notice his poor skin color or condition, excessive perspiration, unhealthy hair, or glazed, weak and tired eyes.

Those are all signs the body reveals, that tell us something is not working right. In the same way, the iris of our eyes displays colors and marks when something is malfunctioning. So let's take the assumption that if our bodies are not healthy, certain marks or colors appear in the irises of the eyes. Now, this of course doesn't mean that a mark in a certain place in the iris represents a kidney problem. How can we be sure? We can't, but through experience with
thousands and thousands of patients who have had the same kidney problem, it has been found that they had similar marks in generally the same place in the iris.

A possible scientific explanation is that the eyes are connected by the nervous system via the optic nerve to our brain. Research shows that the brain records information on every physical and psychological event that occurs in our bodies. If the eye is connected to this human computer we call the brain, it is reasonable to hypothesize that colors and marks in the eyes change in response to changes in our bodies and are recorded in similar places just as certain regions of the brain record and hold information. Through my iris studies, I have confirmed these occurrences time and time again. However, I may be convinced but that doesn't mean that you are.

Another piece of scientific information that might interest you is that the eyeball is not really a smooth surface. When viewed closely under a microscope the surface of the iris is one of hills and valleys and the areas that we see as dark spots on the iris are in actual fact crevices or deeper layers of the eye, while white spots are actually raised areas on the iris. Generally iridologists believe that the greater the degeneration of the organ, the darker the corresponding area on the iris. Again, I have confirmed this occurrence many times as seen in tumors showing up sometimes as deep dark areas on the iris.

Another question that is posed to the classical medical field is why do colors in the irises of the eyes change and why are the colors and marks different in the left and right eyes? So far, there has been no real scientific explanation and there needs to be more research conducted to validate the method of iris diagnosis so that it can become accepted by modern medicine.

There are also other factors that have contributed to the support of the theory of iridology such as the fact that past iris maps that had been developed in different countries consistently showed remarkable similarities even though they were developed independently of each other.

As modern technology and computers develop more inroads into the fascinating world of iridology, I am sure that even more accurate iris maps will evolve and what thousands of iridologists have always known will finally be generally accepted. I know of only one country, Russia that has come close to accepting iris diagnosis into conventional medical practice. Currently, the greatest amount of research on iris diagnosis is being done in countries such as Germany, Australia, and America, as well as Russia.

History of Iridology

A course on iridology would not be complete without at least a brief look at how mankind first came to use this method.

We do not know exactly when man first discovered a correlation between parts of the body and the iris of the eye, but we do know that even the ancient Chaldeans had entertained this concept. The first record in history is from the year 1690 when Phillipe Meyens in Dresden published the book "Chiromatica Medica". The book described how the top part of the iris represents the head and the lower part represents the kidneys, spleen and genital organs. It was also then first recognized that the left side of the iris corresponds to the left side of the body and the right side of the iris, the right side of the body.

A few other publications were made, but it was not until the early 1800's that iridology had its official beginning in the modern era. One very remarkable person and one very remarkable incident that occurred changed the face of what we know as iridology today.

That person was Ignatz von Peczely, born in Hungary in 1826, who at the age of 11 accidentally broke the leg of an owl while attempting to let it free from his garden. He noticed that in the lower part of the owl's eye there appeared a black stripe. After he splinted the owl's leg and allowed a period of time for it to heal, white lines appeared where the dark line had been before.

The bird stayed with him in the garden for several years where he had time to notice the changes that occurred in the iris of its eye.

That amazing experience made a lasting impression on the young Peczely and later in his career as a homeopathic physician he had the opportunity to study the eyes of his patients in great detail and was able to confirm his diagnoses by performing several autopsies. He began to diagnose from the eye and soon became famous all over the country. He was accused many times of fraud by the medical profession of the time, who saw his technique as a form of witchcraft. It often seems to me that not much has changed in 150 years as I myself constantly come across people who view iridology as charlatanry and even now iridology in many countries in the world is banned or ridiculed by the classical medical profession. However, it does continue to thrive and recently there has been renewed interest in this method all around the world. I believe that eventually, it will be used to support the methods that we currently use. A change for the good is always a difficult, but rewarding road.

In 1880 Von Peczely published his only book called " Discoveries in the Realms of Nature and Art of Healing," and in 1886 the first iridology map of the eye was revealed for the world to see. Today, Ignatz von Peczely is known as the Father of Iridology and his studies continue to inspire the many great iridologists who have followed his path to our modern history.

Other notable iridologists soon emerged like Nils Liljequist from Stockholm, Sweden who discovered that color changes occur in the iris of the eye.

Iridology later spread to the United States when Dr. Henry Lane from Germany began doing work in Illinois and published his findings in 1904.

One of Lane's students, Dr. Henry Lindlahr went on to promote and study iridology. His monumental work was published in 1913.

Dr. Bernard Jensen, who is recognized as the leading iridologist in the United States, studied with Lindlahr in the early nineteen twenties.

Meanwhile, in Germany and Europe, iridology was moving forward with prominent iridologists like Dr. Rudolf Schnabel, Joseph Angerer, Theodore Kriege, and Josef Deck who have contributed immensely to this profession.

After the Second World War, iris diagnosis took a great leap forward, as an estimated ten thousand medical doctors began to study and use iris diagnosis as their primary diagnostic tool. Unfortunately, the German medical association made attempts to ban those practicing natural therapy and iridology and thus, the number of practitioners, greatly decreased. It seems that iridology has always had a rocky road, but the fact that it has endured for over 200 years is indicative of its lasting value. It is only a matter of time, I believe, before computers and modern technology confirm iris findings and finally, scientifically prove this phenomenon. Then it will assuredly become widely accepted by the medical community.

Today, iridology is used all over the world not only in Germany or the United States, but also in many countries including Spain, Portugal, Australia, England and Russia. I do hope that this course will inspire many others to bring iridology to the forefront of modern medicine.

Treat the cause not only the symptoms of disease

There once lived two men who each had a wooden pail of water to drink that would hang from one of the branches of a tree in their yards. One day, they both found that their water pail had begun to leak.

The first man would add some extra water every day so that his pail of water stayed full. After several days he became tired of filling the pail every day and decided to use some glue to fix the hole. The pail of water once again stayed full but after a week, it began to leak again. The man found that there was another leak and again took the glue and fixed the second leak. And so it went on week after week, as he filled each additional hole with glue. He was satisfied with this system as it saved him time filling the pail every day. All he had to worry about every week was repairing just another new hole.

The second man, who discovered that his pail of water was leaking, asked himself "Why is my pail leaking?" He found a small hole at the bottom of the pail, and then asked, " Why is this hole in the pail?" He discovered that a woodpecker that lived in the tree made the hole in the pail. He fixed the hole with some glue, hung the pail on his fence instead, and never had a leak again.

One major area of confusion that needs to be explained is that iridology generally reveals mainly the status of the organs and systems in the body, it does not usually reveal a disease, although in some cases it may be possible. Many a patient had unnecessarily been disappointed that his iridologist did not identify in the iris diagnosis a specific disease from which he suffered. I have an explanation for this behavior. We have been taught to cure the disease and not the cause of the disease. Over the last 200 years or so, traditional medicine has created names for every possible disease known to exist. Many of these diseases have no cure but they have a name. I have often spoken to patients who had been through a variety of classical examinations and clinical tests where no disease was found, yet they have symptoms that reveal a problem and it had shown up in their irises. In some cases, my patients have come to me in dire need because no diagnosis of a problem had been made and their doctors attributed their symptoms to psychological causes and recommended a visit to the psychiatrist!

It is nice to know the name of a disease in traditional medicine since there is usually a nice chemical drug that can treat it, but are we treating the cause of the disease or just the symptoms? If we are not using a holistic approach, we are not really treating the whole person's problems. To do this, we must look for the cause of the disease or the root of the problem and that is where iris diagnosis shows great advantage. If we believe that the body is composed of interconnected systems, each of those systems is composed of interconnected organs, and each of those organs is composed of interconnected cells, then we have to believe that if the cells of each organ receive what they require every day, we can build a strong, well-balanced body that will resist any infection or disease that may attack it. Obviously, we must also take into account our environment, diet, genetics, and stress in our lives that change the demands on the cells of our bodies and we must compensate for this to stay healthy.

If you understand these principles then you will understand why I believe that iris diagnosis is the greatest method we have for locating the causes of our health problems providing a complete holistic approach to discovering the cause of disease, and not just a superficial, candy-coated treatment to make the symptoms go away.

May your pail of water always be full!

Equipment used in iris diagnosis

There are several tools or equipment that the iridologist needs to perform an iris diagnosis.

First of all, as the iris (only a few millimeters in diameter) has to be examined very closely, a method is required to allow magnification of this small area. There are several methods used today to view the iris.

The first method involves the use of a magnifying lens. This method has been used for centuries and is still currently used, as it is the most economical. I recommend a lens with a magnification of at least 10. This will enable viewing of all the iris structures, the pupil and the sclera. The area of the eye also requires a light source of some kind to illuminate the iris.

Often magnifying lenses used in iridology combine a light source from a flashlight with a magnifying lens. I recommend the IrisMistr magnifying lens for work in this course. Information on purchase can be found under Course Materials and Products.

Another method, which is more sophisticated, is an iridology microscope, which involves binocular viewing of the iris. This method has the advantage of seeing depth of iris structures at usually a much higher magnification.

The third method to view the iris of the human eye is by taking a photograph using an iridology camera. A 35 mm camera equipped with a specially designed close-up lens and a flash unit can accomplish this. The iridologist can then view the enlarged photograph of the iris. The benefits include more time to analyze the iris accurately and only a few seconds to take the photographs!

The fourth method often used is a video camera linked to a television screen. This enables the iridologist to freeze frame the live picture of the iris and provide a recording for the client/or iridologist to see immediately.

The last method involves using a digital iridology camera linked to a computer. In combination with an iridology computer program, the iridologist can quickly capture the iris images, view enlarged areas of the iris, perform an excellent and very precise analysis, and even print the iris images and analysis report. I consider this to be one of the most effective methods and I highly recommend a digital analysis system for those who are serious in becoming a professional iridologist. More information on this kind of system can be found under Available Courses, Books and Products.

It should be mentioned that in order to capture an image or photograph accurately the iridologist should use a chin stand. A chin stand enables the head of the client to stay in a fixed position while performing the analysis.

Another tool the iridologist requires is an iris chart or map. There are several iris charts that have been developed in many countries in the world. The iris chart enables the iridologist to determine in what body segments certain signs and colors appear. The body organs and systems are indicated on the iris chart. You will learn more in the module on iris maps.

A desk size iris chart is recommended for this course. More information on how to purchase this color chart is found under Course Materials and Products.

The last tool, and most important one of all, is a thorough knowledge of the art and science or iridology and experience through analyzing many irises. This step is next. Please take a close look at the human iris under Iris examples and then complete the practical and written assignments.