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We are writers mainly from Australia and New Zealand who write speculative fiction with romantic elements. Be it fantasy, paranormal, dark urban fantasy, futuristic and everything in between.

Thursday 19 January 2012

Magic Thursday: Unexplainable Healing

I’ve asked myself many times what attracts me as a reader and a writer to the paranormal genre? Indeed, what attracts many people to it? Is it the lure of the unknown? The air of mystery that can’t really be pinned down and defined?

Not only do I love reading paranormal stories, I’m happy listening to them too. As we all know, sit down and talk to just about anyone in the world and they’ll have a ‘weird’ story to tell.

Let me introduce you to Bill and Joyce, they’re wonderful neighbors of ours, originally from Devon, England before migrating to Perth, Australia in their early thirties. Soon after they then went for a holiday in New Zealand and stayed 17 years. After a stint in building, they bought a dairy farm on the west coast of the South island. They’re now living in QLD, Australia.

Bill and Joyce have shared some of their fascinating experiences with me—and no, I’m not talking about ghostly or alien encounters—I guess these are more of the unexplained ‘healing’ variety. Perfect for Magic Thursday =)

~ In Devon, England, Bill lived on a farm, which his dad managed. One of the cows came down badly with ringworm and was sick and listless, with much (all) of its fur missing. A man they paid to castrate the bulls, came to the farm and saw the cow. He told Bill’s dad he could get rid of its ringworm. Bill watched as the man entered the yard with a hazelnut branch, like a walking stick. The man’s lips moved really fast in a mumbling type speech, before he suddenly struck the cow with the stick.
Less than two weeks later the ringworm was gone and the cow was healthy and fat as mud.

Bill also ended up with a huge ringworm on his hand and two on his face. Taken out of school, he went to the doctor’s regularly for treatment, but nothing worked. The same man visited who cured the cow. He told (a frightened) Bill to stand against the concrete wall. He did the same mumbling speech, then whacked the stick across his (own) knee. He told a relieved young Bill to forget about the ringworms. Bill actually did forget about them. Three or four days later he realized they weren’t itching – they were completely gone.

~Bill and Joyce spoke of a time in New Zealand when Bill fell off the back of a tractor trailer when Joyce ‘took off’ too fast. Landing on the trailer’s tow ball, he suffered permanent damage to 5 vertebrae in his spine and literally spent 18 months in agony. None of the many chiropractors, physios etc were able to help him. 

He happened upon a ‘color therapist’ who read body auras. Bill couldn’t drive and had Joyce take him to the therapist. He sat in the room, where the therapist then unhooked the receiver on the wall phone and told him to concentrate on the phone while his body strengthened his back. Bill went to see him twice in two days. The second day he was on his way home, a passenger once again in the car, when he felt pins and needles suddenly travel down his legs and out through his toes. That same afternoon he went and unloaded a trailer full of hay. (they built men tough back in the day)

Just out of interest, the govt finally sent them a cheque for the many expenses over the eighteen months. The cheque was labelled ‘loss of hearing.’

~Still in New Zealand, Bill hired a water diviner to find water on his farm. He mentioned to the diviner that he’d been having terrible trouble sleeping. The water diviner walked carefully around the house and told him there was a stream of water running under the bed. He said to Bill, “Turn your bed around.” Bill did as he said and slept soundly afterwards. 

On a side note, the water diviner held colored ribbons in one hand, and using a secret technique, he could actually tell a farmer if the water beneath was pure or cancerous (brackish).

Thanks so much Bill and Joyce for sharing with the Darksider readers and authors, some of the ‘healing’ insights from your life.

I’ve got an e-copy to give away of Something Wicked This Way Comes to one commentator - and I'd love to hear of your ‘healing’ experience =)

10 comments:

  1. These are fabulous stories, Mel. I'm trying to think if I know any magic healing tales ... I'll probably remember them AFTER I post this comment! On the arrangement of the bed thing...my granddad reckoned bed heads should point north ... course his didn't LOL and I suspect no one else in the family cares about it either! So much for respecting our elders ;)

    PS I've added a link to your giveaway over on Goodreads. Hopefully I'll remember to do this every week *fingers crossed* http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/764976-a-chance-to-win

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  2. Hi Jenny!

    And lol!! You probably will - I think we've all heard or experienced at least a couple in our life =)
    And that's interesting - better go check where my bedhead is pointing!

    And thanks for the link =)

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  3. Hi Mel, what an great read. There are so many things about this awesome world and universe many arrogantly brush aside as fanciful and implausible. I have experienced water divining and it's the weirdest thing feeling the stick move by itself in your hand.

    Like Jenny, I can't for the life of me think of any unexplained healing stories except for maybe the calm I feel when I walk in the forest or admire the beauty of nature.

    Thanks to you and your neighbours for sharing. :)

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  4. Hi Sandy,
    what a great gift water divining is =)
    And yes - I know exactly what you mean about the peace of a forest - truly magical!

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  5. What an interesting story. I don't know of any unexplained healing stories other than one involving warts.
    My brother had a huge wart on his leg and it didn't matter what we did he could not get rid of it. My grandmother got him to choose a rock and give it to her. She rubbed it on the wart and told him to bury it somewhere secret. Not long after the wart disappeared.
    If you are after a paranormal tale... we lived in the country and my dad had to travel around a lot with his job. One night he was driving home and trying hard to stay awake. A white figure stepped in front of the car. He slammed on the breaks but when he got out and looked around there was nothing there. He always laughs and says it was his guardian angel waking him up enough to get home safely.

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  6. Oh I love that one Peta!

    I'll have to remember that one for when one of my kids gets a wart!

    As for the guardian angel theory - I wouldn't be at all surprised (and I bet that really did wake him up!)

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  7. Hi Mel,
    Awesome stories from your neighbours. I love that stuff.

    When I was a kid, we had a friend who couldn't eat anything but mush as her swallowing muscles didn't push downwards. Anyway, she prayed for healing for years then (I forget how) but she was told to not only pray for healing but for a sign she was healed. So she did that. Some time later (days or weeks, not longer) her mouth was watering for a chop and vegies. So she thought it might be a sign. She cooked them up and ate them. Been eating everything ever since. She would have been in her late 40s when she was cured and is in her 70s now. The doctors called it a miracle.

    Cath

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  8. wow Cath,

    that story is truly awesome!! There is really more out there than what can be defined as logic.

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  9. Thanks for sharing Bill and Joyce's tales, Mel. Definitely a subject of interest - healing.

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