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Vol. 7  No. 5
September  2003
 
Meridian Institute News 

 RESEARCHING THE SPIRIT-MIND-BODY CONNECTION



 
In this issue: 
Cayce Health Symposium
 
    The 8th annual Cayce Health Symposium was held at the A.R.E. Conference Center September 12-14.  The conference, co-sponsored by the A.R.E. and Meridian Institute, featured a wide variety of lectures, workshops, and experiences for participants.

    The Friday night session began with a brief talk by Deborah Thompson, R.N., that described services offered by the A.R.E. Health and Rejuvenation Center (HRC).  Deborah gave us an overview of basic HRC programs and services, which includes the Internet-based Cayce Health Encyclopedia, the HRC Assessment Program, numerous treatment protocols, and a health professionals referral service.

    Keynote speaker Hollis King, D.O., Ph.D., covered several important areas in his talk titled "Edgar Cayce, Osteopathy, Homeopathy, and Energy Medicine."  Dr. King's long association with the A.R.E. and the Cayce readings combined with his extensive knowledge and expertise of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) made for a fascinating lecture on the historical and conceptual links between the readings and the early osteopathic physicians.  Dr. King also discussed his use of various forms of energy medicine (homeopathy, crystal therapy, and magnet therapy) which he regularly utilizes in his private practice.

    The first Saturday morning session featured osteopathic physician David Redding who described his extensive use of the Cayce health principles and remedies in his family practice.  Dr. Redding presented two case reports with postive outcomes: 1) a woman with gall stones, and 2) a woman with several diagnoses including heart disease.  See the Healing section of this newsletter for some excerpts from a testimonial written by the woman who cured her gall stone problem with abdominal castor oil packs.

    The next presentation featured T. Lee Bauman, M.D. who spoke on "Examination of Light in the Cayce Readings."  Dr. Bauman reminded us that light has consciousness, exists outside of time, and can communicate - all attributes typically associated with God. The similarity of the light experience in the world's great religions testifies to the universal identification of light with God.

    The third talk on Saturday morning was given by Barbara Derrick, Ph.D., who gave a case report detailing the remarkable outcome of a man diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease who benefited from the use of suggestive therapeutics.  The primary intervention was an audio tape containing affirmations recorded by Dr. Derrick. The positive suggestions addressed dementia symptoms and provided suggestions for general health improvement.  The patient listened to the tape at bedtime.  In addition to a decrease in dementia symptoms and improved mood, the patient also experienced improvement in a deteriorating eye condition.  Readers interested in this approach to treating dementia may wish to review a similar anecdote reported in a previous issue of this newsletter (March, 2001; Vol. 5, No. 2).

    The final morning presentation featured Inge O'bourne who led participants in a series of Cayce exercises.  Two afternoon breakout sessions provided diversity for attendees. Carl Nelson, D.C. gave a workshop on manual therapy techniques practiced by the early osteopathic physicians and recommended by Edgar Cayce. Utilizing several massage tables in the massotherapy classroom, Dr. Nelson's presentation provided hands-on training in specific treatment techniques recommended by Edgar Cayce as practiced by the manual therapists of that era.

    Janice Long and the A.R.E. Health Services Professional Team gave a workshop titled "Five Basic Cayce Remedies." Janice and Maureen Mancuso explained and demonstrated the use of abdominal castor oil packs, turpentine packs over the kidneys, potato poultices for the eyes, the violet ray appliance used over the eyes, and Glyco-thymoline packs over the nose and sinuses.

    Sunday morning started off with John Ames who spoke on "Managed Care and the Future of Holistic Medicine."  Today's common wisdom often equates managed care with denial of needed services and restrictions on how medicine can be practiced. Mr. Ames believes that, paradoxically, managed care has the potential to liberate holistic medical professionals to practice according to their highest ideals.  The talk emphasized spiritually-centered management principles (based on A Search For God) and how these correlate with modern business thought, particularly the managed care business. Ames provided suggestions for how small-scale managed care programs can be utilized to ensure better patient access to holistic medical services, reduce or eliminate some restrictions on practice, and provide statistical validation for the overall effectiveness of holistic medicine.

    Simone Gabbay, author of Visionary Medicine and a regular health column in the A.R.E. membership magazine Venture Inward, shared her vast knowledge of alternative medicine and the Cayce health information.  In addition to  emphasizing the importance of nutrition and pH balance for maintaining health, Simone reminded us of the importance of the mind and stress management (particularly rest) when we are exposed to infectious agents.  She emphasized the importance of the holistic approach in a more general sense with regard to our entire health care system.

    Chiropractor Barbara Sikes provided an energetic and inspiring finale to the symposium with her presentation titled "Accessing The Healer Within: Awakening to Unconscious Attention."  Dr. Sikes received a diagnosis of breast cancer two days before her attendance at last year's Health Symposium. As divine synchronicity would have it, two of the presentations were on cancer. Even after thirty years of using and researching alternative therapies for both her patients and her earlier diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, there was still much more to learn. Using references and personal anecdotes, she discussed her healing journey using the Hoxey herbal treatments and work on identifying and changing dysfunctional attitudes and emotions.

    The Cayce Health Symposium for 2004 will be held at the A.R.E. Conference Center at Virginia Beach during the weekend of September 17-19.  We are seeking presentations from health professionals knowledgeable in healing modalities recommended by Edgar Cayce. If you are interested in presenting at the symposium, please write a brief summary of your topic with a title and submit it to us at our address on the last page of this newsletter.
 
 

HEALING
 
 
CASTOR OIL PACKS FOR GALL STONES
 
    The versatile abdominal castor oil pack has been used for various ailments over the years.  The following testimonial from  one of Dr. David Redding patients discusses the successful use of this therapy for gall stones:

    "I had intermittent gallbladder pain and discomfort since I was about 55 years old. My [primary care] doctor had told me that if the episodes got more frequent or any worse that we needed to talk about surgery.

    "It did continue to get worse...... but I certainly didn't want to talk about surgery! I had a previous bad experience with being intubated and I couldn't face going through that again. I was willing to put up with the discomfort and pain for as long as I could stand it just to postpone repeating that experience.

    "Then about three years ago my pain and digestive problems worsened to a point where I was having problems almost on a daily basis.  I felt so miserable most of the time that I finally admitted my problem to my doctor the next time I saw him.

    "I was sent for X-rays and was told that it showed "multiple small stones."  My doctor urged me to schedule surgery to avoid the risk of having an emergency situation.  I asked for a bit more time to see if I could get myself mentally prepared.

    "Fortunately, at that same time, I also happened to be seeing Dr. Redding who was treating me for whiplash injuries from an automobile accident. I told him about my reluctance to have gallbladder surgery and that I did not think I could elect to do that even though I was advised to. He said if I was interested, there was an old fashioned alternative treatment that I could try that had a good record of success. That really got my attention.

    "Surprisingly the treatment was simply a matter of using a castor oil pack and a heating pad. At first it sounded too simple to really be an effective treatment but I was willing to try almost anything to avoid surgery.  The second part of this treatment was to take olive oil by mouth every three days from 1/2 teaspoon to 1/2 cup depending on what I could tolerate.  The caution was that this might precipitate surgery if the stone was too large to pass.  I never got enough courage to try this part of the treatment because I was fearful of precipitating surgery..

    "The amazing thing about the castor oil packs was the immediate relief I got from the discomfort and pain . There was never a time that I didn't get relief. Any time I had that pain I would run for the castor oil pack.  I meditated with it on, I watched T.V. with it on, and I slept with it tied on. I even took my castor oil pack with me when I traveled frequently between California and the Midwest and used it in the motel rooms where we stopped.  It truly worked and I wanted it near me since I was hoping it would keep me from having an emergency surgery. After awhile the frequency of my overall problems had eased and I was able to go without the castor oil packs for several days at a time and then weeks at a time. The episodes had become so infrequent that I thought I was over my gallbladder problem.  Then unexpectedly I would suddenly have another acute episode and I would rush for the castor oil pack again and use it until the symptoms would go away once more.

    "I did the castor oil packs on and off for about a year and a half.  I felt much better and my symptoms seemed to have almost disappeared.  Then about two months ago I had an episode of a severe pain that traveled across my back. I went back to my primary doctor because the pain was so sharp.  He said I would probably have to have gallbladder surgery as soon as it could be scheduled. He sent me for an ultrasound. Much to our surprise it showed no evidence of ANY gallstones! It showed a normal gallbladder! Boy was my doctor puzzled about that!  I told him what I had been doing and he just raised his eyebrows. He said that the pain I had was most likely the  passing of a gallstone.  I continued to have little colicky pains in my gallbladder area for a few days after that but since then I have not had ANY symptoms at all.  I no longer have any digestive problems or pain like I had before.

    "In retrospect, it dawned on me that those acute episodes I was having off and on during the past months must have been because I was passing small gall stones. That puzzled me because I thought that happened only when you took the olive oil to flush them out and I had avoided that part of the treatment. I started thinking more about that and then I finally realized that since my habit is to use Paul Newman's Olive Oil and Vinegar Salad Dressing several times a week ....... that I was actually taking the olive oil treatment that was recommended!

    "I am so grateful that my gallstones are gone and that I did not have to have the surgery I dreaded. I certainly want to add my name to the list of people who got relief from using this alternative treatment.  I also want to say that I continue to use the castor oil packs for other discomforts like indigestion, GERD and muscle spasms.  It continues to bring relief. Just using the heating pad alone does NOT bring the same results."
 

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