magickal techniques were unnecessary and useless
challenged the ancient premise that body, mind, and
spirit were vitally connected. He declared that only
physical methods could cure illness, an unfortunate
attitude that has persisted in today's medicine. He did
mention healing hands, but he did not mean healing
with the hands. His limited definition of healing is still
taught by every Western medical school.
Fortunately, many of the alternative healing practices
of the Eastern cultures have survived and are in sharp
contrast to Western medicine. In Western medicine, only
dysfunction and disease are treated. Eastern healing
treats the whole person. Western medicine views the
patient as only a body. Eastern medicine views the
patient as an inseparable combination of body, mind,
and spirit, all of which interact constantly. This Eastern
idea is known as holistic health.
In ancient China, the physician was paid only as long
as the patient stayed healthy. As soon as the patient
became sick, the payments stopped. Thus, physicians
were motivated to help people heal quickly and keep
them well. In Western medicine, some physicians view
healing in terms of how many treatments and how much
money they will receive for their services. Common
sense will tell you that the ancient principles and ideas
behind Eastern holistic medicine are more valuable to
healing than those of a traditional Western physician.
Unfortunately, Western ideas have corrupted some of
the orthodox Eastern physicians. However, many of the
ancient ideas of alternative healing practices behind
Eastern healing have been kept alive and are still
practiced.
We are fortunate today that the old knowledge of
magickal healing is being reclaimed and presented to the