Gateway

It’s been a trying time as my efforts at self-healing produce no improvement in my physical being. In fact, the reverse seems true. Each new method added to my experiment begins hopefully. This will help me, I think, but as the weeks go by I find myself becoming weaker and less able.

            Yesterday I thought, I might as well take the Mirapex, I have two sample boxes in my bureau drawer and a prescription from Dr. V. I remembered his assurance that I would be better, his confidence that I’d achieve a return to freedom of movement. I talked about it with my husband Henry. He said he would have taken the medicine immediately.

            I thought and agonized to myself, then I went to the Internet. I looked at the Parkinson Recovery website, an alternate therapy resource. I went to Patientslikeme and read forums on people’s experiences with Mirapex. These experiences were frequently not good. I called and talked with Janet, my PD friend who is drug-free. I consulted the Runes.

            The result is I will be trying a new therapy, Cranio Sacral Therapy, recommended by Janet. I will be meeting with a nutritionist. And I am holding off on any drug taking. The main reason for not taking the drug was eloquently expressed in the Book of Runes. Today, seeking advice in my dilemma, I drew Thurisaz, the Gateway, reversed.

"Drawing Thurisaz reversed demands contemplation on your part. Hasty

decisions at this time may cause regrets, for the probability is that you will act from weakness, deceive yourself about your motives and create new problems more severe than those you are attempting to resolve."

I may be struggling physically, but my mind and spirit are well. I don’t want to damage them in an effort to help my body. And the reality is, it is not a healing drug. There are now no healing drugs for PD. But I still believe in healing, thank you very much. So I stumble on.

On Sub-Atomic Particles

 

I want to recommend a book that should be interesting to anyone who is the least bit curious about the connection between spirituality and health. Larry Dossey’s book, Healing Words; the Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine, is written from a doctor’s, albeit a very spiritually-oriented doctor’s point of view.

There have been scientific studies of prayer and it has been shown to be effective in healing. That doesn’t mean that all prayers are answered – it’s more complicated than that, of course. But our minds, our intentions can influence circumstances.            

Dossey says that prayer is non-local -- that it is effective at any distance, and timeless -- that it can affect the present, future and the past. He suggests that prayer functions on the level of sub-atomic particles. Everything, including our bodies contains these particles, and if prayer can influence the particles, then we can through prayer, change the state of our bodies.

In a nutshell, the most effective kind of prayer is non-directed: not seeking a specific outcome. A prayer that asks God, Universe, The Greater Powers or whatever or whomever someone prays to for the best outcome is most effective. That gives God a lot of options, I suppose. Actually, in some cases death might be the best outcome, especially if there is suffering.

As a doctor he doesn’t substitute prayer for medical treatment, but personally he was interested in all kinds of alternative therapies.  In the first chapter of the book Dossey described what occurred during his own illness when he was visited and administered to by all of his New Age friends. For a while, he cheerfully tolerated their attentions.

Eventually, however, my feelings changed. I began to experience an intense craving for solitude. I needed time to be alone and think about what was happening. To my surprise I began to resent the bright, sunny, positive assurances that I’d be well in no time…that each particular therapy was the key to my healing. (p. 20)

Dossey withdrew and began writing and said that this time of “withdrawal and solitude was highly illuminating“ and “realized there were benefits to feeling bad.”(p.21).

 The period of withdrawal, the “quiet way of  being…[was] focused, authentic, genuine, and accepting of any outcome.”(p.23) Eventually he had surgery and recovered, but looking back he found his illness had positive benefits.

I relate to what Dossey experienced. I too feel overwhelmed by suggested treatments and therapies for healing and now am feeling the desire to be alone, perhaps to process all the input--although, I am not really alone. By going within I am trying to be in touch with God, not that I’m even sure what that is. I have been open-minded to all sorts of approaches, and now, it is up to me to choose what I feel is right for me, and with prayer, learn how to listen to my inner guide.

New Year's Runes

While looking through a drawer before New Year’s, I came across the Viking Runes I was given many years ago. I then searched on my bookshelf for The Book of Runes by Ralph Blum* thinking I might consult the Runes as a party game on New Year’s Eve. A horrendous cold discouraged me from any efforts to entertain anyone with oracles, but on the first day of the New Year I curled up on the couch and read Blum’s little book.

            The Runes are not meant to be fortunetellers, but are used as tools of self-discovery. Each day since the first of the year, I have drawn one Rune stone from the bag, and read Blum’s wise interpretation of its meaning. The only problem is that two of the twenty-five stones are missing. Until I replace them, I guess they are not to be part of my inner work.

* http://www.holisticnetworker.com/440/interview-with-ralph-blum-author-the-book-of-runes/