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The other
thing that novice healers may forget is that the sender and receiver are
connected by an “energetic cord”, since this is how the energy is send and
received. If the sender is not careful,
they could end up syphoning off the receiver’s energy later on. It can also happen in reverse with the recipient
depleting the sender. For these reasons, Wintersong Tashlin adds that the
energy body is just as inviolate as the physical body.
The Eden
Energy Medicine Institute has an ethics committee to outline their code for
energy healers. One section from this ethics
code states that, “EH practitioners closely monitor their needs to be liked, to
be admired, to achieve status, and to exercise power.” The Ethics Committee explains that these needs
interfere with the healer’s discernment and judgment. Also the Committee stresses that these
desires prompt the healer to make unrealistic claims of effectiveness, which in
turn raises the client’s expectations. To
avoid this from happening, the healer should be mindful of their own hidden
desires.
Clarifying
these desires is necessary. John
Coughlin, author and occult magickal practitioner, suggests asking yourself the
question: “Are you sure the intent of
your decision is from vested interest or ulterior motive?” He continues, “Are you helping your friend
for purely selfish reasons?” Therefore, Coughlin
counsels before you offer any type of magickal healing, you need to be crystal
clear about your motives.
In the
case study of Tracy and Jennifer, they are two fourteen-year olds faced with a
traumatic situation. Because her
grandmother is dying, Tracy wants Jennifer, her best friend, to do magickal
healing for her grandmother. Neither has
the maturity to deal with this dilemma.
Tracy cannot let go of her grandmother, and Jennifer cannot disappoint
her friend. Meanwhile Tracy’s
grandmother wants to be left in peace to die.
As a
compromise, Jennifer suggested doing a healing ritual where they would ask the
grandmother on the astral plane. She
believes that if Tracy’s grandmother consents astrally, then the girls can send
magickal healing. This ritual is problematic since the grandmother may be
unconscious and unable to consent. Moreover,
according to John Coughlin, contacting people on the astral plane is difficult even
for the experienced magickal healer. He stresses
that this option is the “the escape clause” for doing magickal healing without the
recipient’s permission.
The other
ethical problem the girls have is Tracy’s intense desire to have her
grandmother not die. Since Tracy’s
grandmother is adamant about not receiving any treatment, the ritual would make
Tracy the final arbiter of her grandmother’s fate. This would deny her grandmother, her final
agency.
Furthermore,
Jennifer’s “healing ritual” would be a violation of Tracy’s grandmother’s stated
wishes. Moreover, the ritual would
compromise the grandmother’s religious beliefs.
As a Christian, she would be aghast to discover that she unknowingly
participated in a “witchy healing.”
Jennifer
could do the following instead. In the
ritual, she could ask Tracy to envelope her grandmother with her love, since
they have a natural bond. This would affirm
her love for her dying grandmother. By
doing, this Tracy would begin to understand that she needs to let her
grandmother go. The focus of Jennifer’s
ritual would be Tracy, instead of her grandmother.
Works Used:
Coughlin,
John, “Magical Ethics and
Pseudo-Metaphysics”, Author’s Website, 2004, http://www.waningmoon.com/jcoughlin/writing/pseudometaph.shtml.
----, “Ethics Code for Energy Healing Practitioners”,
Eden Energy Institute, 16 September 2010, http://innersource.net/em/images/downloads/EEM_Ethics_Code.pdf.
Feinstein, David,
Douglas Moore, Dale Teplitz, “Addressing
Emotional Blocks to Healing in an Energy Medicine Practice: Ethical and
Clinical Guidelines”, Energy
Psychology 4:1, May 2012,
Harrell,
Kelly, “Intentional Insights: Q&A
From Within”, blog, http://www.intentionalinsights.com/.
Kaldera, Raven, “Wyrdwalkers: Techniques of
Northern-Tradition Shamanism”, Asphodel Press: Hubbardston, MA, 2006.
Morningstar,
Sally, “The Art of Wiccan Healing”,
Hay House: Carlsbad (CA), 2005.
Tashlin,
Wintersong, “Invoking Consent”, Huginn Journal 1:2, Midsummer 2011, http://huginnjournal.com/issues/v1i2/.
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