Homeopathic Potencies
By Mary Wulff-Tilford, Herbalist

Tiffani Beckman asked about potencies of homeopathic remedies:
To answer your question (or try to) on the different potencies...
(Forget LM for now, that is a totally different system...ok, it is the substance diluted 1:50,000)
X is the Roman Numeral 10 and denotes decimal.
1X is 1 part of the mother tincture in 10 parts of alcohol/water (dilution 1:10 or 10 to the first power); 6X is 1 part in 1,000,000 (dilution 1:1,000,000 or 10 to the 6th power), etc.
C is Roman numeral 100 and denotes centesimal.
1C is 1 part in 100 (or 1:100) or 10 to the 2nd power...etc.
Way up there are the MM dilutions. 1MM is 1:1000, 2 MM is 1:1,000,000 etc.
This can become very confusing, but just know that the higher the potency, the more powerful in energy the remedy is...
Back to LM's, this system was first discovered by Hahnemann in his early years, and was not written about until much later. Otherwise, we would probably be using LM's as the norm rather than the exception.
LMs are very potent and powerful, but also very gentle(is that an oxymoron?), and are used effectively for older patients and those with a low Vital Force.
They start with LM 1, and then usually after each time the remedy is given, it is diluted again (by the patient or caretaker) and succussed and made into an LM 2, and so on until healing is seen.
Hope this helps and is not too confusing (it is for me!)

Mary Wulff-Tilford, Herbalist