Crescent Shadows On-Line Newsletter of the Hudson Valley Pagan Network, Inc.

Once upon a time, there was a man who was fascinated with healing.  He was so curious that the subject constantly occupied his thoughts.  How could one person heal another?  Did Jesus and other prophets really cure disease – or did the power of suggestion do the trick? What about faith healers and snake charmers; miracle workers and Shamans?  Scientifically, what was the “how to” of healing?

This man spent much of his life trying to find the answer. His journey took him to many places, where he met fantastic healers and reverent believers. His quest was pure and true, and he found the answer he had been seeking.  He became a Healer. Feeling blessed by the knowledge of how to help those in need, he taught others, who then carried on his fine work long after he was gone.

True Story.  Actually, it’s a true story that has happened over and over again – the tale above has been played out countless times throughout history, starring many curious men and women.  They each found The Answer to the secret and were able to help people.  They became known as Healers.

So what is The Answer? Interestingly, it seems to differ from person to person.  For  example, in the 1800s, a Dr. Usui founded Reiki Energy work after years of studying people who healed.  To Dr. Usui, the answer lay in using sacred symbols and initiation ceremonies to “open” a person’s ability to help others heal, then learn to pass that knowledge and skill from master to student.

Another inquisitive fellow, a teacher named Max Long, spent a lifetime trying to understand Hawaiian Shamans from a Scientific perspective.  The answer he found reads like a Freudian textbook – he believed that a patient’s instinctual self, their “Id” so to speak, could be influenced on an energetic level by a Shaman’s own vibrating life force. The Shaman’s energy, in a way, hypnotized the patient’s Id into believing itself healed.

And always there have been religious healers, those who feel that a god-like force is working through their hands. Feeling chosen and blessed, most would be skeptical of the idea that someone could actively learn to be a healer.

What’s fascinating about these different practices is that, while the method and theory of healing can differ widely, there seems to be a common theme – that somehow a  connection is made with the energy of a “higher” source and is transmitted through the healer to the patient.  This energy then helps bring the patient into a state of balance so the body can heal itself.  The healer doesn’t really “fix” anybody; he or she is a facilitator, the go-between, connecting the patient to his own sacred ability to be healed.

Years ago, when I trained to be a massage therapist, a wise teacher told our class that we could never cure anyone of their pain; we could not heal others. All we can ever do is facilitate a person’s own healing process. We can help a person discover the source of their pain, we can encourage the body to relax, we can lay our hands on someone and invite pure and loving energy to flow through us to our patient.  We, you, any of us, can set the stage… then allow that body to begin healing itself – physically, mentally and spiritually.

As Hippocrates said, “The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well.”   We all are our own healers.

-Holly Huzar

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Last Updated: January 30, 2002
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