Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl00185)

Hi, Thoa,

I really don't disagree with you saying that spiritual healing is important.
It needs to be emphasized especially today, because our whole civilisation
is so physically orientied, and denies Spirit. My MD is holistic, that is,
before he went to medical school, he taught Yoga. It's comforting to have a
physician who doesn't put his nose into the air when you mention the word
"Shaman".

You wanted to know what Serge asked us to try out. Well, for instance he was
trying to show us that negative ideas weaken your unconscious & hence your
body, and positive ones strengthen them, so he did an experiment with 2
different people, one person after the other. He told them to think of
something untoward and say "I don't like that". Then they arm wrestled him.
And it turns out, he won rather quickly. They were rather weak. Then he told
them to think of something favorable and say out loud "I like that". After
that, they were difficult to win against. They were stronger. Then he taught
us something about doing "nalu". (He uses Hawaiian terms.) Acutally, it's
just being with something or someone, and just relaxedly listening to it or
them. (He does it when his computer is on the blink.) He starts off the nalu
with a certain ritual meant to help you center. After he'd taught us, he
sent us out of the building and asked us to do nalu on something we found
outside the building, where there were plants and flowers and trees. We all
did, and then we came back in and talked about our experiences. It was
amazing what different people experienced from flowers and trees, and one
from a spider. He taught us lots of techniques, but always with the idea
that he was showing us how to, and that to really be good at it we needed to
go home and practice. He always had us do one or 2 exercises to try to show
us how it was to be done. When he was teaching nalu, he had us go to a place
on the stage where he'd put 2 batteries into a cloth bag, and we had to
sense what was in it. Nobody guessed batteries, but some people guessed
shapes, or colors or an energy device. A number of people picked up
something valid.

About shamans traveling with the cosmos. I got the impression from listening
to Serge that he knew Nature very well. He talked about grokking (empathzing
a certain way) with a hurricane and a volcano, and trying to have an effect
on what they do. You can, if the phenomenon has the possiblity to go the way
you want it to, and if you do it lovingly. He taught us about power animals,
like, in his sytem, a bear stands for self confidence, and every time you
need self confidence, you take your imaginary bear along, like "Harvey". He
said that you can also grok animals for their wisdom.
Besides Milu , the underworld, he also had us travel (in imagination) to
lanikeha , up in the clouds, where things are more heroic than here on earth.

You talk about dying. I'm happy that someone your age has some thoughts on
this subject. I took a course in Death & Dying about 3 years ago, in my old
age. It was very helpful to me. I was brought up by a mother who swept all
ideas of illness and dying under the rug, espcially for her darling little
kids. I think it's much healthier if you have some concept of dying when
you're still far away from it. I've talked to some people who work at our
hospice, who find working with dying people very satisfying. Well, you can
really help a family, and make a difference, if you know what you're doing.
My idea of devachan, really comes from Leadbeater. His descriptions are
quite graphic. I find that even the old ladies in my building sort of don't
really want to face dying. I've been trying to get the management to give us
some time to do some grieving, but they won't do it. Everyone in here,
besides grieving for the loss of loved ones, grieves over loss of their
house, and their car.

Serge taught us to empathize with the healee, but not to take on the illness
ourselves. That doesn't help. You're right. The better you know how it
feels, the better you can help, but you also need to have a certain
objectivity in order to think of the best way to heal.

Re healers traveling. I don't really know how it's done. I know that Harry
did it. Serge taught us serveral different ways of trying to travel. He
again taught us a ritual to get into the situation, and then imagine the
place where you want to go. That's the beginning of it. You try to make it
as real as you can by trying to imagine with all your senses.

I agree with you. People with secular experience are better grounded, and
then are able to contribute more positively than people who are cloistered,
even in a college. Boy I remember my university days. I learned a tremendous
amount of knowledge that was valuable lateron. But I also majored in French,
and that meant that I read most of the more important French novels that
were ever printed. After that, my idea of what the world was like was rather
skewed. Once I got out, and worked, I learned.

Waltz me Mathilda!

Liesel