Jeff Russell

Here's another in my occasional series of book reviews, more or less whatever I've been reading of late. 

One of the many interesting discoveries from my recent trip to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania was this slender volume. Abbot George Burke is a significant figure in the independent sacramental movement, and also an accomplished yogi, better known in some circles as Swami Nirmalananda Giri; his personal path has led him to focus on the substantial common ground (or as he would say, identity) between mystical Christianity and Vedic Hinduism; and he currently heads a monastery in New Mexico.

Many years ago, he studied a form of energy healing with definite connections to the Essene healing many readers of this journal practice, and this book is his instructional volume on how to do it. Don't be misled by the word "magnetic" in the title -- this isn't about using magnets of the usual kind. It's animal magnetism our  abbot is discussing, and he's well aware of the history of the methods he teaches, back to Franz Anton Mesmer himself.

The book is a fine example of the better class of alternative healing manuals. It's short and clearly written, wastes no words, makes no extreme claims, and gives detailed instruction in the techniques it covers, with clear illustrations where those are useful. On its own terms, it deserves a much broader readership than it seems to have gotten. To regular readers here, though, it has at least two other useful features. 

First, as already noted, Burke is well aware of the long history of healing methods using the energy centers in the hands. He cites sources, some of which I've already obtained and others of which I have on order as I type this. When he wrote this book, furthermore, he was also in contact with Borderland Sciences Research Foundation, at that time one of the most active groups researching the odder corners of paranormal human experience; his book spares room to discuss Vitic rods and Eeman screens, two central interests of BSRF in its heyday, as helps to energy healing. 

The second point of value is the overlap between Burke's methods and those taught in the Modern Order of Essenes tradition. That overlap is far from total; the methods of awakening the palm centers we use don't appear in this book, nor does our reflexology -- though the woman who taught magnetic healing to Burke was also, interestingly, an expert reflexologist -- but his method contains techniques that can be done to very good effect with the Essene method. In particular, his techniques of "drawing out" and "putting in" magnetism, and his method of sensing spots that need work via subtle temperature felt through the palms, work very well with our methods and will make a significant addition to the tradition. Once I've read more books and done more experimentation, I plan on expanding the existing Essene lessons to include these techniques -- citing the source, of course! 

In the meantime, this is a very useful work on energy healing, worth close reading and much practice. 
 

I'm just wrapping up a book project on Renaissance methods of mind training now, and my next nonfiction project is a request from a publisher -- they want a book on practical polytheism, more or less the "practice" book to go alongside my "theory" book, A World Full of Gods.  That strikes me as a very worthwhile project. I can think of quite a number of things I'll want to put into it, but I have the best commentariat on the internet and I know that a lot of my readers worship more than one deity.

Since it's worked so well, here and on my blog, to ask the commentariat for its input, I figured it's an especially good idea to do that in the present case, so that the book can be as useful to as many participants in the polytheist revival as possible.  What sorts of things would you like to see such a book cover? What resources have you found that you'd like to see included, and what beginner-level issues do you think it can help new worshippers of the gods and goddesses deal with? Inquiring authors want to know.