By Day of Greenleaf, Yaiyr
Since the word Essenes means Healers it is not surprising that Essene Sadhana (‘Spiritual Practice’) includes wellness practices. It is accurate to describe Essenes as Holistic Healers, and those teachings run through our entire scripture, The Holy Megillah: Nasarean Bible of the Essene Way.
Although all Nasarean Essenes practice holistic wellness, one of the Nasarean ‘Twelve Tribes’ consists of those that make the healing arts their primary work. Within the Nasarean Religion of The Essene Way, unlike in mainstream Judaism and Christinaity, the ‘Twelve Tribes’ are not ethnic divisions; rather, the Nasarean ‘Twelve Tribes’ are ‘Working Guilds’ consisting of Nasareans that perform a certain type of work. For example, there is a Tribe of Farmers and a Tribe of Merchants. And, pertinent to our current focus, there is a Tribe of Healers.
A Nasarean could participate in more than one of these ‘Working Guilds’. For example, if you were a farmer and a healer who happened to run a little shop, you would be a member of all three of the ‘Tribes/Working Guilds’ just mentioned: Farmer, Healer, Merchant. Again, there are a total of twelve of these ‘working guilds’ or ‘tribes’.
In The Holy Megillah: Nasarean Bible of The Essene Way, there is a section called Matriarchs and Patriarchs that gives seven precepts (key teachings) for each of the ‘Twelve Tribes’. In the section of that chapter that describes the Tribe of Healers, it is made clear that all Nasarean Essenes are called to practice holistic wellness practices, though not all are employed as healers. All of us Essenes are called to follow The Seven Precepts of Illumination for the Way of Shevet Raphaim, the Tribe of Healers, given in that chapter.
Here is an excerpt from that chapter in which Raphah, the woman in charge of the Nasarean Tribe of Healers, lists The Seven Precepts of Illumination for the Tribe of Healers:
17. Behold: Raphah spoke The Seven Precepts of Illumination for the Way of Shevet Raphaim, the Tribe of Healers.
18. Here follows those precepts.
19. (1) There is no death of the soul, only change of bodies.
20. (2) The health and well-being of entities and their bodies is increased by certain things and diminished by other things.
21. (3) Those things that increase well-being are of The Essene Way and are of Shevet Raphaim.
22. (4) The primary practices and therapies used by Shevet Raphaim to increase the well-being of physical bodies are listed under the heading of Physical Therapy.
23. (5) The Seven Primary Therapies of Physical Therapy are: Dietary Practices; Stretching and Exercise; Internal and External Water Therapies; Mud, Clay, and Stone Therapies; Sunlight Therapy; Breathing Exercises and Air Baths; Fasting when appropriate.
24. (6) There are also Mental Therapies and Spiritual Therapies; those therapies are taught within the context of Shevet Raphaim [Day: Tribe of Healers] and Shevet Nazarim [Day: Tribe of Priesthood] according to progress in Omnah [Day: Omnah is your study of the Nasarean Essene teachings].
25. (7) Prayerful Touch Healing is called The Golden Therapy because it is deemed the Royal or Chief Therapy, though it should be used in combination with the other therapies; for, when thus combined, these therapies form The Golden Path of Healing.
The reference above to ‘dietary practices’ is to the vegetarian diet. Although the chief reason for Nasarean vegetarianism is Ahimsa – Spiritual Compassion expressed in nonviolence – health is also an important reason. Here are some health facts that support the fact that the vegetarian diet is central to Nasarean wellness practices. Many of these statistics are from John Robbins Pulitzer Prize nominated book, Diet for a New America. (Note: though the statistics change a bit each year, the trend is that the statistics have gotten progressively worse since that book was written.)
• The most common cause of death in the U.S. is: Heart attack. The risk of death from heart attack by average American man: 50%. The risk of death from heart attack by average American vegetarian man: 15%. The risk of death from heart attack by average “pure vegetarian” man (“vegan” – no dairy, meat or eggs) is: 4%.
• Increased risk of breast cancer for women with heavy meat diet compared to vegetarian women: 400%
• Men with heavy meat diet are 360% more likely to die of prostate cancer than vegetarian men.
• The average measurable bone loss of female meat-eaters at age 65: 35%. The average measurable bone loss of female vegetarians at age 65: 18%.
• THE DISEASES WHICH ARE COMMONLY PREVENTED, CONSISTENTLY IMPROVED, AND SOMETIMES CURED BY A LOW-FAT VEGETARIAN DIET INCLUDE: Strokes, Kidney stones, Prostate cancer, Cervical cancer, Diabetes, Peptic ulcers, Hiatal hernias, Gallstones, Irritable colon syndrome, Heart disease, Breast cancer, Pancreatic cancer, Stomach cancer, Hypoglycemia, Constipation, Osteoporosis, Diverticulosis, Hypertension, Salmonellosis, Colon cancer, Ovarian cancer, Endometrial cancer, Kidney disease, Hemorrhoids, Obesity, Asthma and Trichinosis.
• The breast milk of meat-eating mothers has 3,500% more pesticide contamination than the breast milk of vegetarian mothers.
• Less than 1 out of every quarter million slaughtered animals is tested for toxic chemical residues.
• Percentage of male college students sterile in 1950: 0.5%. Percentage of male college students sterile in 1978: 25% Sperm count of average American male compared to 30 years ago: Down 30%. THE PRINCIPLE REASON FOR SPERM COUNT REDUCTION AND STERILITY IN U.S. MALES IS DIETARY INTAKE OF CHLORINATED HYDROCARBON PESTICIDES. 94% of chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticide residues in the American diet comes from meat and other animal products.
• It has been estimated that, due to the high level of uric acid in meat, the kidneys of a meat-eater must do ten times the work than the kidneys of a vegetarian.
Besides listing vegetarian dietary practices first amongst a number of other important holistic wellness practices – exercise such as long daily walks and hatha yoga stretches is key – Rapha called the practice of ‘Touch Healing’ the ‘Golden Therapy’. Since that therapy is highlighted by Rapha – and also by Magdalene – as being ‘especially significant’ amongst the many Essene wellness practices, I will provide the following additional information.
Recall that Raphah, leader of the Essene Tribe of Healers, concluded her list of ‘physical thereapies’ with very flattering language to ‘Prayerful Touch Healing’; she said:
25. (7) Prayerful Touch Healing is called The Golden Therapy because it is deemed the Royal or Chief Therapy, though it should be used in combination with the other therapies; for, when thus combined, these therapies form The Golden Path of Healing.
One cannot read the above without noticing the place of primacy given to touch-healing, the Royal or Chief therapy, thus called The Golden Therapy. Despite its place of primacy, the above excerpt emphasizes that touch-healing should be combined with the other listed therapies, and that only then do we have The Golden Path of Healing. It is as if touch-healing is the Golden Crown of all the therapies, and yet the Crown needs a body on which to rest. The other listed therapies together form that body.
Obviously, touch-healing is practiced by many religions and healing traditions, ancient and modern. While Japanese Reiki has achieved the most fame, it was not the first and is not the only popular form of touch-healing. The ancient Nasareans would not have used the Japanese word Reiki – which means Universal Life-Force – but we have already demonstrated that the words Prana (Sanskrit) and Chai (Nasarean Hebrew) also mean Universal Life-Force. [By the way, it is acceptable to either use a dash or not between the words ‘Life’ and ‘Force’: Life Force or Life-Force.]
Truly, touch-healing – by various names – is a universal healing modality, having been practiced throughout history and in many countries. That point is well-made in the following excerpt from The Art of Healing, by Keith Sherwood:
Everywhere you turn, history gives evidence of spiritual healing through the “laying on of hands”. It is often used in combination with other techniques, such as anointing with oils….
It has been called the “King’s Touch” and it was known as that in medieval France and England. We are told that the Roman Emperors Vespasian and Hadrian had such a gift. So did the Norwegian King Olaf, who in his time was considered a saint.
St. Patrick was able to heal the sick through laying on of hands. It is reported that he healed the blind in Ireland by placing his hands on their eyes. The early Greeks were aware that a sick person could be healed through the laying on of hands.
Hippocrates tells us, “It is believed by many experienced doctors that the heat which oozes out of the hand, on being applied to the sick, is highly salutary [healthful] and assuaging [soothing].”
In ancient Egypt, laying on of hands was practiced from the earliest times, being the domain of the temple priests…. Scholars and Egyptologists have found representations of direct healing [by touch] on sarcophagi, jewelry and on wall paintings. It was handed down to them by the early Hermeticists who practiced it….
Its universality and antiquity is undisputed. Evidence of its practice has been traced back more than fifteen thousand years, where evidence of it has been discovered in Neolithic cave paintings in the Pyrenes. Healing by direct contact, or what we call laying on of hands, appears to be a universal human practice. It has never been confined to any sect or region, nor has any religious group had a monopoly on it. It has been practiced in India, China, ancient Israel, Chaldea, as well as in the West…. flourished throughout the Middle Ages inside and outside the orthodox church, and has been practiced by shamans and brujos throughout the Third World to the present day.
In the above excerpt, Hippocrates was quoted as attributing the effectiveness of touch-healing to “the heat which oozes out of the hand.” Many modern practitioners of touch-healing instead attribute the effectiveness of therapeutic touch to a non-physical spiritual force that passes through the healer into the patient. I believe that both views are partially correct: I believe that there are therapeutic properties in the physical energy that comes from the hands, and that there are also a variety of progressively subtle and eventually ‘spiritual’ therapeutic properties involved.
There has been ample research that supports the view articulated by Hippocrates that there is physical energy that passes from the hands of the healer to the patient that has therapeutic benefit. Perhaps the first modern-era book that presented scientific evidence that revealed a form of physical energy involved in the effectiveness of touch-healing was titled, The Rainbow in Your Hands. It was subtitled: The First Book Ever Written That Scientifically Supports And Instructs The Science Of The Laying On Of Hands. Written in 1976 by Albert Roy Davis and Walter C. Rawls, Jr., the book grew out of their many years of research on biomag-netism. In the introduction to the book, they write:
The title of our book, The Rainbow in Your Hands, expresses that Natural and God-Given energy all men, women and children possess regardless of race, faith or creed.
You hold this greatness in your hands. By your very thoughts you can offer help, good will, happiness to all around you. You can live a better life. All you have to do is have an understanding about your natural energy and direct your hands toward building a more natural world….
The Rainbow in Your Hands is a very real energy. You can direct this energy to help yourself and all living things.
The great healers and comforters of history used this natural power. Under one term or another it is known in the philosophy and structure of every civilization of record on this earth. It has been called life force, the divine spark, the essence of life, mana, prana, akasia, kundalini, li, ch’i, odic force, orgone energy, L-fields and many other names in many languages….
In our previous books, Magnetism and its Effects On the Living System and The Magnetic Effect, we have presented from many years of research a new scientific understanding of the natural energy of magnetism. In this book we give you the results of our research which indicate that the energies of the hands contain, give, and transmit two forms of potential natural energies, each having an effect on the senses, feelings, and bioelectrical activity in and among mankind….
This is a science…. We have studied and measured the energy in the hands of many persons…. Our work as scientists affirms our belief that the energy in your hands is God’s natural power.
So, though Davis and Rawls believe that they have isolated two natural energies in the hands that are at play in touch-healing, they attribute these measurable, physical energies to God.
In the article at hand, I can only give you a very brief synopsis of their scientific tests. For more, read their book! In brief, they began by researching the two poles of various magnets. They realized – and scientifically demonstrated – that the things they were learning about the north and south poles of magnets corresponded with the right and left hands of the human being. They and other scientists conducted a series of experiments on ‘healing-hands’ in which they discovered that the electric and magnetic natural powers that together form electromagnetism each have an important role to play in touch-healing. Because the energy of electromagnetism is a physical energy, their research upholds the viewpoint of Hippocrates. But again, they emphasize that electromagnetism is itself from the Creator.
Like Davis and Rawls, Dolores Kreiger, Ph.D., R.N., also believes that touch-healing – she uses the term therapeutic touch – is completely natural to human beings. She believes that you are born with it, and, like anything else, the more you practice the better you get at working with this natural energy. I will describe her background and work later in this article, in a section on ‘centering’.
Although Davis, Rawls, and Kreiger have asserted that the healing energy related to touch-healing is itself a physical – though subtle – energy such as electromagnetism, Reiki practitioners [Reiki is a form of touch-healing] insist that it is a spiritual, non-physical force that they channel. From the Essene perspective, both are correct.
I will explain.
Contemplate an upright triangle with one point at the top and two points at the base. Imagine your head – the head of the Essene touch-healer – to be the top point, and your right and left hands the two points at the base of the triangle. Imagine that your hands also relate to the positive and negative electromagnetic polarities – the masculine (+) and feminine (-), with your head (Crown Chakra) representing the ‘O’ on the number line, the Still Center that is Yah (Spiritual Being).
Now imagine that your hands – the two points at the base of the three-pointed upright triangle – are radiating electromagnetic (subtle physical energy) but that the Source of that subtle energy is the Still Zero at the top point of the triangle.
Imagine a number line, with the zero in the center, positive numbers streaming to the right (‘right’ here being from the perspective of the viewer), negative numbers streaming to the left. If we consider that the Still Zero Point in the center of the number line is the spiritual womb from which the masculine (positive) numbers and feminine (negative) numbers stream forth into physical manifestation, then we see that, as asserted by Davis and Rawls, the origin of the subtle physical energy at play in touch healing is Divine Spirit.
But the Essenes also add the following that affirms the Reiki opinion that a non-physical force is also directly at play in touch-healing. Besides the electromagnetic energy represented in our triangle ‘hands’ – the two points at the base of the triangle – when we place our hands on another person in a touch-healing session, our ‘Still Zero’ – our Crown Chakra – that is linked to the Supreme Divinity is directly involved in the healing-touch, Spirit to Spirit. This spiritual dimension of contact between the healer and the recipient is from Crown to Crown and is the most specifically ‘spiritual’ aspect of touch-healing. Significantly, this most spiritual dimension does not depend on physical touch but can be aided by that touch in much the same way that chanting a mantra or gazing at a mandala (meditation symbol) is not required to experience samadhi but can help conjure it.
For many years, I have studied various forms of touch-healing. In preparation for this article, I examined about two dozen books from my personal library on the topic. I have noticed that nearly all the various touch-healing modalities, regardless of what they are called, share a common initial feature: PRACTITIONERS BEGIN BY ‘CENTERING’ THEMSELVES.
The idea of centering oneself is hidden in plain sight in the following example from the Godspell portion of The Holy Megillah. I previously shared a portion of the following excerpt to support the idea that the Nasareans practiced touch-healing. But this time I will provide a bit more and want you to notice the aspect of ‘centering’ with the sun that immediately precedes the part about the hands. This excerpt also supports my assertion that the Nasarean Essenes accept that there are both physical (the ‘hands’ of the triangle) and spiritual (Crown Chakra/top point of triangle) forces at play in touch-healing.
We read in Chapter 30 of Godspell:
822. On a beautiful sunny morning on the Sabbath, Miriam walked in joy with Her disciples.
823. We walked on winding trails that spiraled up through green forests to the top of Mount Shemesh.
824. It was here, atop Mount Shemesh, that the first meetings of the Nasarean Order called Shemesh in Shemayah were held ages ago.
825. That order is for Nasareans who demonstrate a high degree of progress in the first lessons of Essene Mountain of Peace.
826. ‘Progress’ in first lessons is estimated according to one’s walk upon both the social path and the scholarly path in Essene Mountain of Peace, as revealed in The Precepts of Zahyen….832. Wherefore, as we seven ascended the holy mount with Miriam, we each contemplated our True Walk as Nasareans of the Essene Way.
833. Lo: When the Sun was high enough to warm the skin without burning, Miriam ended the walk in a sunny patch of green grass at the summit of Mount Shemesh.
834. This summit provided a clear view of the valley from which we had ascended.
835. Miriam sat beside a beautiful flower patch of diverse colors amidst the green grass.
836. Behold: A flower of each color of the rainbow surrounded Lady Miriam, and sunlight reflected from Her eyes….856. After the reading by Migdanah, Miriam played the harp given to Her by Nebiyah, the harp made by Zemira.
857. The disciples joined voices and sang with Miriam.
858. Then, lo: Birdsong drummed on a goat-skin drum, the skin being from a beloved goat that died naturally.
859. As Birdsong drummed, the disciples sang, danced, and chanted holy enchantments.
860. After the chanting of the Words of Opening, Miriam preached The Sermon on Air, Sun, and Water, a bit of which now follows….935. “Now, lo: let us sit in the rays of the sun in silent receptivity.
936. This is called Solar Contemplation in Silent Receptivity and is a meditation practice of The Order of Shemesh in Shemayah.”
937. After a time of Solar Contemplation, Miriam again spoke, saying, “Let us stand and begin Solar Veneration.
938. This, too, is a practice of The Order of Shemesh in Shemayah.
939. Lo: There are no men here, so let us bare all of our skin to the sun.”
940. Miriam and Her seven disciples disrobed.941. Miriam said, “As we face the sun, let our hands be raised high in homage to the Seventh Heaven of this world.
942. Lo: let the palms of your hands face the sun directly.
943. Feel the warmth of the sun enter your palms and empower your hands.
944. Your touch-healing powers are at their highest immediately after absorbing sunlight.
945. Wherefore perform this ritual with palms lifted toward the Sun before touch-healing sessions, when circumstances permit.
946. And remember, the best touch-healer when you need healing should be yourself!
947. The Essene Way is to heal oneself and to teach others to heal themselves.
948. Even so, in serious illness we graciously receive the assistance of expert healers other than ourselves, but then we choose wisely.
949. Likewise, when others need assistance, we help, but always our aim is to teach others to know their own bodies and to be self-healers.
950. Prayerful touch-healing is called The Golden Therapy because it is the Royal Therapy.
951. When we absorb the golden warmth of the sun into our palms they are filled with healing power that lasts a day or so.
952. This works much better if our spiritual consciousness is attuned to the Sun in an attitude of true devotion to the Seventh Heaven.
953. Behold: We absorb the healing light of the Sun through the skin of our entire body, not only our hands.
My lead-in to the above excerpt stated that it demonstrates that the Nasarean Essenes affirm that there are both physical and spiritual forces at play in touch-healing. Clearly, the energy from the sun that enters our outstretched hands – and, in general, our skin – includes a subtle physical energy that enhances for a “day or so” our touch-healing ability. Perhaps less obviously, but certainly also present in the excerpt, is the idea that the sun – the Crown Chakra of our solar system – has a spiritual dimension. In verse 952 we read:
952. This works much better if our spiritual consciousness is attuned to the Sun in an attitude of true devotion to the Seventh Heaven.
Clearly, then, though various electromagnetic physical energies are at play in touch-healing and some part of those various energies can be enhanced for a day by sunbathing, the ultimate link to the sun is spiritual in nature, and that is likewise true in relation to touch-healing.
One of several (walking, dancing, singing, chanting mantras etc) ‘centering’ modalities employed by Magdalene in the above excerpt is the act of ATTUNEMENT WITH THE SUN. Solar attunement is ‘centering’ for the following reasons: a) the sun is the center of our solar system; b) the sun is inherently linked to the center of the All; and c) the sun is linked to the center of ourselves. Attunement with the Sun results in an enhanced sense of ‘being centered’ within oneself and within the universe.
The following excerpt from Yahhsua’s Sermon on Sun Yoga is even more obviously a form of ‘centering’ since it describes a practice called: Centering with the Sun.
632. “One more example of Essene Sun Yoga is called Centering with the Sun.
633. Whenever you want to feel more centered, simply center yourself with the Sun by orienting your own crown chakra to the crown chakra of the Sun.
634. This is best done outside beneath the Sun.
635. The Sun is always centered in the ultimate center that is Yah. 636. When you center yourself with the Sun, you simultaneously experience being centered in Yah.”
There are many ways to ‘center’ oneself, and, once centered, to remain centered. One method is to inwardly contemplate a healing symbol such as a simple mandala before and/or during the healing session. Though some systems, like Reiki, have their own set of ‘official’ symbols, I have found it best for each individual to choose or create their own healing symbol(s). Personally, though I did all three Reiki degrees during my many years of study of various touch-healing systems, I did not feel called to use the official Reiki symbols. I prefer symbols that are more reflective of Sacred Geometry than the Reiki symbols, and that are so simple that one can easily visualize them without getting overly mental. We want to transcend the ordinary mental experience and have a transcendental spiritual experience by ‘touching-zero’, which is to approach being centered in the Still Zero which is, indeed, SPIRITUAL. For example, the historic Nasarean symbol of a dot in the center of a circle, is not only simple, but is the very symbol of ‘One Touching Zero’, a Nasarean method of centering oneself, and is an ancient Essene touch-healing symbol.
The state of consciousness wherein the ‘I AM’ (the I AM that YOU ARE, the Soul of a human being) becomes aware of, and experiences communion with, the Still Zero, is what Nasareans mean by the term CENTERED. That experience is termed ‘One Touching Zero’, the ‘One’ being the ‘Monad’, the ‘Spiritual Individual’, the ‘Soul’. The symbol of that experience, the point (‘One’) at the center of a circle, can be a helpful aid to becoming centered. Visualize it in your mind. Doing so in the sun would be doubly effective. Interestingly, that same symbol – the dot in the center of a circle – is the astrological symbol for the sun.
I personally find that the experience of ‘One-Touching-Zero’ is powerfully experienced when in communion with the Sun. The Sun is the center of our solar system, and when we commune with it, we quite naturally experience the sense of being profoundly centered. That is because the center within us, is itself centered with the Sun. Obviously, though, you won’t always be performing a touch-healing session outside or on a sunny day. Then the contemplation of the symbol (or any symbol you prefer), breathing exercises, any form of meditation you choose, will suffice.
I teach the Nasarean Golden Therapy in more detail within the context of Essene Mountain of Peace Mystery School. Remember that The Golden Therapy is said to be more effective when added to the other therapies that together form THE GOLDEN PATH OF HEALING. Thus, I teach the Nasarean Golden Therapy in the upper level of our Mystery School, a division of the White Rose Study Course linked to the Tribe of the Raphaim. I am currently writing a book on the topic that will become the chief textbook for that course of study.
One last quotation from the Magdalene and then I will end by smiling at you like this: 😊 This ending quote from the Magdalene is from the thirtieth chapter of Godspell.
Miriam on Healing by Appreciation
760. Miriam said: “Whenever possible, be a self-healer.
761. We increase the likelihood of healing by being in the higher attitudes.
762. Appreciation is a higher attitude.
763. Healing by appreciation does not occur by explaining appreciation, but by being in appreciation.
764. Appreciation is itself a therapy; furthermore, appreciation assists other therapies of the Golden Path of Healing.”
😊
