There is an increasing need for healing the sick and the afflicted in the world today. This is not only because life has become much more stressful for many. There is also a distinct influence from outside, whether on the astral or on the mental or higher planes. There are influences that are helpful, but there are also those that are potentially harmful, especially when the recipient is unable to contend with these influences. With regard to the latter, some people have become adept in exercising their influence upon others in various unseen ways. A recent case of a person needing healing was one who in the night suffered astral attacks, directed at having sexual intercourse with her. One must not forget that the greatest sexual sensations are experienced on the astral plane where emotions run high in vivid and alluring images. It is no wonder that many people experience an increased sensitivity towards influences they do not understand. To counter these influences, many feel the need to join meditation or yoga groups and pray for peace in the world. They feel a need towards living a more spiritual life whereby they are able to raise their consciousness. Often their concerns are about the environment, the survival of the planet, and the endangered life of so many precious species of plants and animals. There is also an increased sense of safeguarding one's health through holistic health care. This is all in direct contrast with a world, which is becoming increasingly materialistic, enslaving people by glittering prophesies as to how much more comfortable and enjoyable life can be. Through excessive sales pressures people tend to lose a proper sense of responsibility.

By what authority and by what power might a healer be able to alleviate the suffering in a person? True healing is a process performed by the patient in the first place, while a healer is the one who channels the power to help patients to achieve that restoration of their condition with which they are prepared to live. There have been many who have given proof of helping to bring about remarkable changes in the condition of an ailing person, whether by laying on of hands or by prayer. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" said the apostle James (James 5:16). Generally speaking, for healing to be effective, the patient must have faith that healing is possible. The woman with the bloody issue, who pressed through the throng to touch Jesus, was told that her faith had made her whole. Sprinkling Holy Water obtained from a priest helps to clear the area from adverse influences. The silk cloth which was blessed by the priest during the baptism of the person, and which was used again over the shoulder when this person was confirmed by the bishop, may help to bring relief. Relics, which have become charged with divine power through devotional prayers, can be of great help. There are those who find great help in praying before a statue of the Holy Lady Mary, or praying while holding a cross, or the picture of a saint.

A Case Study
The problem is that many patients lack a faith that healing is possible, or worse still, subconsciously resist being healed because by that they would lose the attention and compassion of others. Others suffer from deep-rooted problems, which could be karmic. Is one for instance able to forgive someone for misdeeds committed against one? A doctor once told how much faith he placed in the power of Absolution and the willingness of the patient to forgive those who trespassed against him/her, whether imagined or real. He recounted a case of a woman who suffered deeply. He eventually found that this person's mother was a nurse who, while pregnant with her, had illicit intercourse with a doctor in the hospital. Our doctor realised that this woman carried with her a suppressed resentment against her mother for having done this. It caused her to have a weak disposition and as she grew up, she turned lesbian due to her revulsion of sexual intercourse with a man. In his therapy he asked the woman to go to church and ask the priest to pray for her mother who had meanwhile passed away. He insisted, however, that she must be willing to forgive her mother in all sincerity. At first, this sincerity lacked because the patient only half believed that this would resolve the problem. But the doctor persisted and after a period of time her problems receded. Her fear of men and confusion about her sexuality gradually disappeared, with the result that she eventually married and had children.

Few may realise the importance of a Requiem Mass by which the deceased are given a great blessing, helping them to free themselves from bonds with persons, still alive, with whom there might have been some form of abuse, exploitation or just resentment. This woman, by forgiving her mother, had probably done two things. She had forgiven her mother whereby a karmic link might have been resolved which could otherwise continue plaguing her in a future life, and she had set free her mother to follow her path of return to her heavenly abode as she ought.

The Healing Power
The role of the church in healing is very important indeed. Particularly in the stressful times of today, many would benefit from an effective channel for healing. At his ordination the Priest receives the power to heal. He uses the sacred Oil of Healing, which has a deep cleansing effect, particularly on the spinal column, and on the chakras associated with it. Clairvoyant research has made it clear, however, that the Healing Oil may not be used by anyone but a Priest. There are, however, other ways of invoking healing powers. There is a growing awareness by women that they can do healing by invoking the Holy Lady Mary. As the male priest is linked to the Holy Archangel Raphael, so it is thought that the woman may be linked to the World Mother or the Holy Lady Mary, the Queen of Angels. Maybe one should go back further, for healing was part of the mysteries in which one could only be initiated once one was whole and hale. It is thought that these mysteries date as far back as the times of Moses who, it is said, was an Egyptian Initiate. It is this linking to the mysteries which makes the Healing Service valid. Therefore, for a Healing service by women to be valid, one should endeavour to find a similar linkage, for instance with Isis, the High Priestess of the Egyptian Mysteries of those days.

Much is still in the development stage. It is encouraging, however, that a group of women of the Fareham Parish, a town on the South coast of England, do magnificent work in exploring the power of healing through group work in the Name of the Holy Lady Mary. Likewise on the Jersey Island, there is a healing sanctuary where a Deaconess leads a similar group. These are important signs, because group work suits the temperament of young people extremely well. Using the theosophical background of the Church, it is possible to deepen their insight as to the constitution of the person. In today's world, many people suffer from karmic effects for which the healer should be prepared so that he/she is able to address such problems. It is proposed that many of these thoughts would make valuable material for discussion groups during GES-12 in the year 2000, the Twelfth General Episcopal Synod, which will run concurrent with the International Clerical Synod and the International Church Congress, the latter of which is open to all.

The Ineffable Name
In linking the healing service to higher powers, a name is needed. Hence, when a priest administers the Healing Sacrament, he first exorcises the person by saying: "In the name which is above every name, in the power of the + Father and of the + Son and of the Holy + Ghost, I exorcise all influences of evil…". Jesus was accused by his enemies of having wrought miracles by the power of the Ineffable Name. They firmly believed that he had stolen that Name in the Sanctuary. "And he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick" (Matthew 8:16). However, Jesus stated repeatedly that all that he does he does in "His Father's Name". The Latin word for ineffable is 'ineffabilis', in which 'effari' means to speak out. The ineffable name is therefore a name which is 'too great to be expressed in words', formerly also a name 'not to be disclosed'. Hence the fear among the Jews that Jesus had stolen the unutterable name which may never be disclosed, ignoring what Jesus said in defence of Himself.

Few probably realise the sacredness of saying "In the name which is above every name…" whereby the priest invokes the ultimate source of power, the unmanifested God Who has No Name, referred to in the Qabala by the Glory of 'Ayn Soph', and in Sanskrit by 'Aditi'. After having invoked the name which is above every name, the priest calls on the names of the three Persons of the Trinity, through Whom healing power may flow.