Deirdre Meintelmotherapy, etc.) and psychological issues such as stress, grief, depres-
sion, and so on. While in the past it was requested mainly for physical
ailments, today one gets the impression that emotional distress often
brings people to seek healing. One aspect of healing that appealed to
me was that it is done by several people at the same time, such that
there is less focus on the individual than when a medium gives clair-
voyance before the congregation. Doing healing does mark one as
something of an insider in that only those who have been part of a
closed group for some time are likely to be invited to become healers.
A few candidates are trained from time to time, not necessarily ev-
ery year, in order to have enough healers for the clientele of the Sun-
day healing service.
The “training” to become a healer was much more limited than I ex-
pected; four of us, two men and two women, met with Michel for sev-
eral hours of instruction. We learned, for example, that we were sup-
posed to dress professionally (no shorts, no T-shirts, no short skirts,
etc.), and that we should not give clairvoyance while transmitting heal-
ing, nor should we touch people. This last is partly because of a Que-
bec law that prohibits touching for spiritual healing, but also because,
according to Michel, it is really not necessary, an issue I will return
to shortly.^19 Except for a short demonstration by Michel on this oc-
casion, our main instruction about what to do in healing would con-
sist of watching others and doing it ourselves.
It’s my first experience of transmitting healing. I feel very awk-
ward and anxious. How will I know what to do with my hands?
The first person to be seated in front of me is a somewhat fragile-
looking woman who seems to be in her seventies. I feel humble,
touched by the trust and faith of those who come to sit in front of
me and the other healers. (We are five.) At first I am so tense that
my hands feel cramped. I try to move them over the zone around
the woman as I’ve seen other healers do. Suddenly a tidal wave of
heat that passes through me, from my feet through my head! Am I
going to pass out? Then I feel a sense of awe, wonder, deep stillness... in short, ecstasy. I am still awkward but it is not the important
thing... what is important is staying focused, staying in touch
with It, this energy... (Fieldnotes, August 24, 2003)