Spiritual healing has rarely received the attention it deserves from the medical profession. It’s mostly regarded as something akin to witchcraft by learned doctors of the chemical healing we apply to today’s diseases. Famous healers like Harry Edwards (pictured left) have been dismissed by most medical practitioners.

However, that tide is turning and turning fast. Scientists in the U.S. and UK have begun to put together all the evidence that’s out there and compiled it into a very persuasive dossier.

One of the earliest experiments was on the flipside of healing: the curse. In the 1960s, American scientists subjected some mould to a vindictive curse. Out of 194 mould cultures subjected to the curse, 151 exhibited retarded growth.

The cardiologist Dr Randolph Byrd at San Francisco General Hospital discovered that heart patients who are prayed for by Christian groups needed less intervention and suffered fewer complications.

Professor Walach of Northampton University in England recently set up a massive analysis of all the evidence and data and arrived at the conclusion that spiritual healing really does work. Many other workers in the field are supporting him.

Dean Radin, a parapsychologist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences in California has found compelling evidence that positive healing has a noticeable impact on another’s mind and body. The results of his tests on cancer pathients were startling. At the precise moment a partner transmitted the healing thoughts, remarkable changes occurred in the mind and body of the ailing person.

The UK National Health Service employs spiritual healers to comfort and help seriously ill and dying patients. One of them, Ruth Kaye, says : “Patients who use things like spiritual healing often use fewer drugs and are less reliant on antidepressants or sleeping tablets. In short, they are less of a drain on an over-stretched NHS.”

One of her patentis said : “Ruth has a special gift. I simply closed my eyes when she was healing me and I saw loads of bright lights. I felt as if I was having my battery recharged.”

The wealth of anecdotal, as well as experimental, evidence shows that some individuals do have the gift of spiritual healing.