The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE: Involvements of “Spirit Healing,” Mesmerism, and Hypnotism

I. Spiritualism and the Question of Metaphysical Healing

“Spirit healing,” often called “magnetic healing,” plays such a major role in the current phase of Modern Spiritualism-and has from the very first-that we must examine its claims as well as its backgrounds, its vital place, and its declared modus operandi. It is in no sense a thing apart, an optional adjunct. It forms an inextricable part of Spiritualism. Then we shall examine the clear kinship between Spiritualism, mesmerism, and hypnotism. CFF2 1134.1

1. “HEALING MEDIUM” RELAYS ENERGY FROM SPIRIT DOCTORS

Russell S. Waldorf, first president of the Spiritualist Healers’ League, of the N.S.A., says, “If we visit a Spiritualist Healer, the required energy is supplied in usable form.” This, he explains, comes from “doctors in the Spirit world.” Note: CFF2 1134.2

“The energy or vital curative force supplied by a healer is received by him in his capacity as a medium, relayed to him by those doctors in the spirit world who continue their work in their chosen field.” ¹ CFF2 1134.3

The implication is that they were practicing physicians in their earthly state before “passing on.” CFF2 1134.4

2. SPIRITUALISM THE MOTHER OF METAPHYSICAL HEALING

Dr. B. F. Austin, previously quoted, in his A.B.C. of Spiritualism, under Question 69, answers this query on metaphysical healing: CFF2 1135.1

“69. Has Spiritualism practiced Metaphysical Healing? CFF2 1135.2

“Yes, and in a great variety of efficient forms. Historically Spiritualism may justly be regarded as the Mother of the many cults of Metaphysical Healing now spread over America. Long before Dr. Quimby and Mrs. Eddy and Evans of the Mind Cure, long before the New Thought Movement was organized, Dr. Andrew Jackson Davis taught and practiced healing by the mind and spirit forces.” CFF2 1135.3

It is to be noted that Dr. Davis is credited with being Modern Spiritualism’s first “healer.” Austin then adds that CFF2 1135.4

“nearly every medium of the early days of Modern Spiritualism was a healer and the verified accounts of many of their healings read like Miracles of the olden time.” ² CFF2 1135.5

In illustration he eulogistically refers to “devout Spiritualist” Dr. J. R. Newton as “in many respects the most noted, popular and successful healer who ever walked the earth.” ³ Austin then makes the astonishing claim that “according to statistics furnished by representative committees in the various cities he visited,” Newton “laid his hands on and healed in about 20 years 150,000 people.” Austin even asserts, “No more astounding cases of healing are found in the world’s history.” ⁴ CFF2 1135.6

Now, this “healing by laying on of hands,” which is “extensively practised in all Spiritualist Societies,” is, he specifies, by means of “magnetic forces.” ⁵ That angle is to be particularly noted, and will be discussed in section two. CFF2 1135.7

3. “SPIRITUAL HEALING” BY “EXCARNATE SPIRITUAL BE INGS.”

A five-part “Definition of Spiritual Healing,” adopted by the N.S.A. Convention in Rochester, New York, in 1909, appears in the Spiritualist Manual. Definition 1 states: CFF2 1135.8

“1. It is the sense of this convention that Spiritual Healing is a gift possessed by certain Spiritualist mediums, and that this gift is exercised by and through the direction and influence of excarnate spiritual beings for the relief, cure and healing of both mental and physicial [sic] diseases of humankind.” ⁶ CFF2 1135.9

This series of Definitions then outlines the procedure. It is CFF2 1136.1

“by the spiritual influences working through the body of the medium and thus infusing curative, stimulating and vitalizing fluids and energy into the diseased parts of the patient’s body.” ⁷ CFF2 1136.2

The modus operandi is further explained: “Spiritual beings combine their own healing forces with the magnetism and vitalizing energy of the medium and convey them to the patient.” ⁸ CFF2 1136.3

According, then, to this authoritative statement, the “healing” comes from (1) spiritual beings, or “spirit beings,” and (2) the “magnetism” of the medium. CFF2 1136.4

4. “SPIRITUALIST HEALER” CURES THROUGH “INHERENT POWERS.”

The Manual then states that “Spiritual Healing,” which has been a “tenet of ancient and modern religions... is now a tenet of the religion of Spiritualism and is practiced by and among Spiritualists in conformity with their religious belief and knowledge of the power of spiritual agencies.” ⁹ CFF2 1136.5

Again, in the same Manual, in the general “Definitions” adopted by the N.S.A. in 1914 and reaffirmed in 1919 and 1951, Definition 4 reads: CFF2 1136.6

“4. A Spiritualist healer is one who, either through his own inherent powers or through his mediumship, is able to impart vital, curative force to pathologic conditions.” ¹⁰ CFF2 1136.7

That states the Spiritualist case-healing is through the “inherent” or imparted “powers” of the medium. CFF2 1136.8