Healing

Two weekends ago we were in Fort St. John to have a family Intercalary celebration. My sister, Coral, had also planned a big party for the Saturday night. It was a nice weekend of friends and family and extended family. Extended family for us means the various and sundry friends who are staying with one extension of the Nablo family or other. Both Laurel and Coral have non-family members living with them who participate in the major family events.

On Sunday morning, after the family gift exchange, which was primarily Coral, Laurel and Heather distributing gifts among the children, grandparents and random adults (random because we don't try to make sure that every adult has something, or at least, I didn't this year - if I found some small thing in Edmonton I thought one or the other would like, I picked it up, but I didn't stress myself out trying to get gifts for every adult - some adults in my family are very hard to buy for.), Laurel suggested we try an energy healing on my mother. Mom is in a lot of pain, and almost didn't make it to the celebration because she had been in too much pain the previous week and Dad was very reluctant to make her move outside at all in the cold, and stairs are difficult for her. She managed however, and I'm so grateful. Being surrounded by family and friends and taken care of so is good for her spirits. The only Nablo child not present was Andrea - five of six of us in one place isn't bad for our family, it is what we managed for the family reunion.

The principle behind the energy healing stems from reading that Laurel has been doing about the causes of pain being blocked energy, as well as principles of healing from 'Abdu'l-Baha that include the importance of the "laying on of hands". I was looking for the quote and couldn't find it. Prayer is also of great importance, so several of us, including Jovani, who is a "natural healer", in that he just senses where to touch when doing massage, placed our hands either on or close to places on my mother's body where she felt pain, in order to move the energy that caused the pain. I have never done this sort of thing but am aware enough of my mother's pain that I'm willing to try just about anything to help her. Heather has long believed in such forms of healing, and Laurel is coming around to it after many years of relying strictly on the commonly-accepted forms of medicine.

While we focused on the energy in this way, my sister, Coral, read the Long Healing Prayer by Baha'u'llah. When she finished that, Lisa, one of the extended family members, sang what I can only assume was a prayer in another language, very beautifully.

A number of notable things happened. First, before we did the hands-on healing, Laurel did a test of each of us and how likely our own energy would be to effectively produce some healing. We held our hands, palms facing, a few inches apart, closed our eyes, and imagined a spinning ball of fire between our hands, then tried, slowly, to distance our hands from each other. Those of us who could "feel" the energy between the palms were those who placed our hands around Mom. What stunned me was that I called Aislinn, who has very good hands for massage, to test her energy, and when she came to me her hands were freezing. I told her what to do, and within 30 seconds her hands were warm to the point of being hot. I couldn't believe it. Forget friction, when you've got healing hands, a little bit of well-directed energy is all the warming you need. Later she tried it again, and told me that she could actually see the spinning ball of fire between her hands, she didn't need to close her eyes to imagine it. My adult's logic says she has a great imagination, my knowledge of my daughter believes that she's a potent source of energy.

Jovani and Heather placed their hands over the spots which cause my mother the most pain. I situated myself opposite them, but found quickly that my own pain in my sciatic hip and my arthritic knees didn't allow me to focus well on healing my mother's pain, so I soon just gave up in favour of caressing her forehead and hair, which I know she loves.

By the end of the healing, Jovani's left hand, which had not even touched Mom and is his strongest, was in severe pain, and Heather was in tears. Heather does not weep easily. She felt the energy moving but also felt when it was just too blocked for her to move it anymore. My daughter, Jessamine, who is her grandmother's most constant companion after Grandpa, also was suffering pain in her hand and arm. Jovani and Heather had both had to take breaks from the healing process to shake the energy off of their fingertips to be able to continue. A couple of us helped to rechannel the painful energy out of Jovani's and Jessa's hands. It took about a half hour, but the pain in their hands did leave. I've never seen anything quite like it.

Unfortunately, I believe that the causes of my mother's pain are too advanced for such healing to provide anything but temporary relaxation.

However, the whole process has had me meditating quite a bit on the more subtle forces at work in our bodies and spirits. In some ways, prayer is a form of energy, positive energy, and during this time of the Fast I am truly feeling it is the best gift I can give those with whom I have spiritual connections - sometimes a connection based on nothing more than an acknowledgment of a connection and love. I wonder if such spiritual connections can be created were we to pray for those with whom we feel no particular closeness? I imagine so, but the Fast this year is being dedicated in prayer to two people in particular, and I don't know why, just that my soul prompts me to do so, and I am following the prompting. Perhaps the spiritual energy of prayer will prompt healing in all of our souls.