Healing - an old holistic concept - with new energies
Why heal? - you may ask.
Please take a moment to reflect on: What does healing mean to you? What images come up for you when you imagine healing?
We are built for healing and we are capable of transformation. Healing is taking on a whole new meaning in this age of science and spirituality coming together, in this age of humanity needing to "level up", to speak with gaming language. And those of you who are gamers, you know going to the next level means: coming to terms with the previous level "boss monster". That is a struggle our world finds itself in these days.
Healing is necessary on a global level and in many aspects of our now antiquated and partly obsolete cultural establishments - and - healing starts within each one of us. How can you heal the outer when the inner is fragmented, unconscious and disjointed? Healing methods are many, and which one you may need, no one knows better than your inner self. Working with healers, spiritual guides, alternative medicine practitioners and methods, along with traditional Western medicine, is very accepted these days.
Even as a new level of Healing is emerging with the evolving of conscious embodiment and new emerging energies, Holistic Healing is a very old concept which got a bit lost in the rise of Western civilization and mindset.
Healing comes from the word 'hal' - and whole, holy, heal, heil all have the same origin. Being whole, being healed, implies a non-brokenness, an integrity, which allows for functioning as it should be. Some consider this really the essence of it. For a certain level of functioning on any given level of being, a certain degree of wholeness, integration and consciousness needs to be there, and if that is not yet the case, healing may need to happen. You could find yourself doing well for a particular stage, place and time, and then, in your growth process, find that more integration, or a higher degree of healing = wholeness and integrated beingness is necessary to function at the next level. This movement into a higher level often is accompanied by a more or less rocky period in which "you" die to the old level only to reassemble, reintegrate your self on the next higher level, ultimately to include more and more of yourself until there is nothing excluded (as best as you can tell from where you are :) - with a fluidity to go wherever is needed, depending on time, place and people.
In Hebrew, the word for dream is halom. According to some scholars the verb (halam), "to dream," and the verb (halam), "to be in good health," are related. Healing may need to be physical, emotional, or on various levels of psychological and energy fields. It may be needed in the thinking process and belief system. And it includes the spiritual aspects of a being. Dreams often reveal parts of ourselves that lie in the unconscious, waiting to be integrated into the whole of who we are. Even everyday dreaming is essential to our health and well-being on many levels.
Some of the descriptions that follow might make you think of a modern day spa, and in fact, even more inclusive. In ancient Greece, people would go on a pilgrimage to the healing sanctuaries of Asclepius, the Greek God of Healing. Those sanctuaries could be found all over the Hellenic world. This tradition was active for almost 2000 years starting from around 1300 bc. In those healing sanctuaries they would be offered bodywork, hydrotherapy, psychotherapy, good food and changes in diet. They also enjoyed theater, music and poetry, which can touch on a very deep soul level and thus provide healing. When the temple "Therapeutes" (therapists) considered a person was ready, they would be introduced to the Abaton. The Abaton was a space where the patient would pray and sleep – expecting a visitation from Asclepius in their dreams. Healing would come about through a visitation of the healing god (or one of his totems) in a dream. Often the dream would result in a spontaneous healing or provide an indication of what needed to be done or undone for healing to occur. Please make a note of what "body" the patient was most likely using to meet the healing god.
Isn't that all amazing? This particular description sounds quite contemporary to the 21rst century. Much has been written in books and on the web on healing modalities of all sorts. In recent years, many high tech devices have been added, as well as color, light and vibrational modalities for healing. In addition, research in neuroscience is coming up with astounding results. We'll be exploring some of those in the course of an adventure elsewhere. I just thought I'd introduce the concept of "healing" here.
