The Placebo Principle teaches us that even if you know a treatment is a placebo, it can still work… and doesn’t that mess us up? So when you invoke the spirits and place the four elements in corners of the room, I ask myself, “Can it hurt? Can it help?”
My wife is the mystic in the family; I tend to look askance at that subject, but I’ve received benefit from meditation. I’ve had the spiritual retreat and the high that comes from it. She also encourages us to use alternative medicine, which in my experience, works just as much as allopathic medicine for minor aches and issues. However, last night, she wanted us to do an Indigo Healing for our kids.
Now if you have no idea what an Indigo Healing is, I’m not surprised–I’ve seen a lot of strange mystic stuff, and even this is pretty weird for me. Indigo Children are generally folks who have been blessed/cursed with some sort of supernatural abilities. They also tend to be ADD… like me and my kids. The idea (as I understand it) is that you are carrying some trauma from your past life and that is preventing you from reaching your ideal self.
O-kay… yeah, sure. So you can do a ceremony where you identify what issues you have, participate through a series of activities that help you heal from those issues, and then free yourself of that trauma. Does it work? Sure. I mean, there is an emotional release, you do feel a bit better from the experience, and it has a noticeable long term emotional improvement. However, I get the impression that it’s less about the “healing” than the ceremony.
You start off by creating a sacred space, placing the four elements in each corner, already priming yourself to take this seriously. You then chant phrases, you do actions, everything that you might expect from a religious ceremony. It also takes a frickin’ hour (?!), which really seals in the importance aspect. You are forced to be a participant to confront many of these issues… even if you pick them at random and are not exactly sure which things you’re healing at any given time (but you can guess).
As you can imagine, I’m not particularly sold on it. From my own religious practice, my weekly service lasts 2-3 hours, and it’s hard to keep focused throughout the whole thing. Thankfully, our tradition states you don’t have to be there for all of it. However, when you’re forced to stop and pause and sing and think about your relationship with God, you have those moments of clarity that make the experience worthwhile. Sure, you could pray by yourself anytime… but you don’t. You have to take a moment and force yourself to connect with the infinite.
Is it a placebo? Is it a healing? For me, it doesn’t matter–because it works on some level. What about you? Have you had those moments that you’re not sure are effective but somehow effect you anyway? Let me know in the comments below!
Albigensia Press 
Oh Lordy…
I’m about as spiritual as they come. I’ve seen and experienced more than a few weird things also, including my copy of Francis Barrett’s “The Magus” shock my prig of an ex so badly that the book was feared after that. One of the best moments of my life too, LOL.
That said, and ZERO offense intended towards your wife… The ceremony sounds like typical Berkeley and Marin County New Age clap trap.
First, apparently the definition of Indigo Children has changed. When they were first “discovered”, they were the star children who were going to lead us into the new age of spiritual enlightenment. NOW they’re blaming the ADD tendencies on past life trauma??
We ALL supposedly have that. Some even bad enough that they’ve lost soul fragments supposedly. Something that some Native American and Russian shamans are supposedly good at fixing. Maybe I shouldn’t be giving somebody ideas though, LOL.
The ceremony itself sounds like a complete mish mash of several belief systems.
“Calling the Corners” to seal a ritual area is a Neo-Pagan / Witchcraft thing. Chanting phrases (or Mudras) sounds Hindu or Buddhist. Heaven only knows about the “do things” portion. The rest of it is just pop psychology, maybe with a leaning towards Jung’s teachings (which do show up in a few Western schools of spirituality).
Yes, on one level it all sounds fairly fluffy bunny to me, BUT the talking things out can have benefit IF it actually leads to real change. Belief, regardless of origin, can have a strong effect on moving spiritual energy also. PEI Bonewitz made the case that all “magick” is really all about belief, and a pattern of intent, gathering energy, focusing it and releasing it. Anything else involved is window dressing to help focus… so he says.
I wouldn’t try binding demons with that mindset though. Then again, I don’t recommend dealing with demons in any way shape or form. 😛 😀
Preach it, sister! This morning, my wife commented on how much better our kids were acting after the healing. She mostly interacts with them in the morning, me in the evening–she says they’re acting more calm, no fighting. That’s not what I see in the evening; my daughter is more snarky, my son is just as moody as before. Perhaps the placebo effect is that my wife sees what she wants to see. But then again, don’t we all. 🙂
Oh and if you’re not up on the term Fluffy Bunny… It’s used by Wiccans to deride anybody who plays at being Wiccan but is just being superficial and trendy, esp if they water it down with alot of other New Age beliefs. All the little teeny boppers running around after the original Charmed came out saying they wanted to be a Witch just like on the show would be a perfect example.
I’m by no means a Wiccan but I love the term, lol