The other day I received a letter from a former doctor of mine. This was an obstetrician that I used to see years ago who decided to longer practice obstetrics, while I was pregnant with twins, due to the high cost of the malpractice insurance. He was a very nice man and I was sorry to lose him as a caregiver. This was five years ago and I look at it as providential since I have since found an amazing pro-life obstetrician who goes along with my crazy idea of having a large family.
The letter was more than a little disturbing. It was an announcement of a change in his practice, and in fact, of his whole viewpoint in the practice of medicine. He was associating his new philosophy with that of Dr. Andrew Weil and the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. This is all fine and good. There is nothing against our faith in taking a whole body and mind approach to healing. In the letter he indicated that his office would provide a variety of services and the names of the practitioners were listed on the side of the letterhead. There was a nutritionist and several kinds of therapists for both mind and body and there at the end was a yoga instructor and a psychic healer.
Now, I was not considering going to this doctor, but had I been this would have been a huge red flag for me. The yoga was annoying but you can’t seem to go anywhere any more without someone wanting to sign you up for a yoga class, but psychic healing?
Psychic healing is a practice by which a person who may or may not claim to have psychic ability, lays hands on the “patient” and unblocks their energy force and allows the force to flow freely through them promoting both physical and emotional healing.
Or something weird like that.
I generally unblock my energy force with coffee. It works and does not lead me into mortal sin.
Reiki is the most common and popular form of physic healing that is, scandalously, offered in many parishes and Catholic hospitals. Aura healing is also a physic healing practice that is popular and claims to cleanse your aura and unblock the energy flow to your chakras and allow negative energy to flow out.
Let me make this perfectly clear, your life source is your soul, if it is blocked with negativity that is called sin. If you want to be spiritually healed make a good confession and an earnest penance. There is also no such thing as an aura. There I have said it. No auras.
Practitioners of these “healing” methods are often certified by organizations that exist to promote New Age philosophies and occultism. You can usually become certified online and be out unblocking chakras for a large fee in a very short time indeed. As Catholics we would never consent to accept a sacrament from a minister or priest who received an online certification nor, as intelligent people, would we accept real medical treatment from a doctor who only completed an online course. If that is the case then why would you entrust your mind and soul to someone who filled out a questionnaire online and now claims to be able to cleanse your mind and spirit? It makes no sense.
Catholics should shun these practices and complain loudly should they be offered by any parish or Catholic organization. In 2009 The US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement preventing any use of or promotion of Reiki by Catholic chaplains, retreat centers or health care facilities;
Reiki “finds no support either in the findings of natural science or in Christian belief,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Doctrine said in six pages of guidelines. Moreover, practicing Reiki puts Catholics’ spiritual health in danger, the bishops said, by corrupting worship of God and turning religious devotion “in a false direction.”
“A Catholic who puts his or her trust in Reiki would be operating in the realm of superstition,” the bishops said, “the no-man’s-land that is neither faith nor science.”
If you want true spiritual healing seek out a faithful priest, a representative of Christ here on earth and ask him to hear your confession and give you absolution. The peace and love you will experience will bring grace to every part of your life and you won’t have to wonder what a chakra is.
Very well said! When people lose hope and life gets complicated, they turn to odd things (which of course can quickly rob them of their attachment to reality). I knew someone whose “psychic healer” didn’t even have to be there — he offered his services by telephone.
Nice work if you can get it 😉
Thank you Leila. I always feel sorry for people who seek comfort in this way. They may find some superficial emotional comfort but the real issues are rarely addressed. A spiritually bereft secular culture seeks comfort everywhere except the one place it can be found. It is so sad.
Most psychics offer telephone consults. It’s hard for me to believe that intelligent people actually succumb to that kind of scam.
Thank you, Mary Ellen for this article.
“Let me make this perfectly clear, your life source is your soul, if it is blocked with negativity that is called sin.” I think that was the best line in your article. Unfortunately, it seems that more and more people need to be reminded of this these days.
God bless you.
Thank you Kristen.
Great srticle, Mary Ellen. Good for the soul as well as a laugh!
Thank you Annette.
Great article, Mary Ellen. I really wish we would hear more about this from the pulpit. I think there are a ton of people who really don’t know the dangers here, or what the Church teaches
Great article! I think my favorite quote was “I generally unblock my energy force with coffee. It works and does not lead me into mortal sin.” I feel the same way about coffee. =) People have said it over and over again, but when people get rid of the sacraments (baptism, marriage, reconciliation, etc.) they come up with lesser things to replace them with.
Thank you for the kind words Dina and Tiff!
But did he change practice because he truly believes, or because he’s chasing the $? I suspect that for most, it’s just an easy buck.
I too thought the best line was: “Let me make this perfectly clear, your life source is your soul, if it is blocked with negativity that is called sin.” It is a message more people need to hear. Thanks for your perspective.