The Universal Gnostic Church: Gnostic Lesson 5

[ecosophia]

On to Gnostic Lesson 5, covering the fourth of the UGC's minor orders, the Order of Healer.

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Gnostic Lesson Five

The Order of Healer

The fourth of the minor orders was in ancient times given the title of Exorcist, and in some churches it still retains that title. Many centuries ago, however, the difficult and spiritually challenging practice of exorcism was transferred to the priesthood, and to specially trained and qualified members of the priesthood at that. For this reason, in the Universal Gnostic Church, this order has been renamed Healer.

The spiritual and religious dimension of healing has been seriously neglected in modern times, not least because the medical industry is jealous of its prerogatives (and of course its income) and has therefore tried to drive every alternative mode of healing out of existence. This is a source of great suffering in our time, because—though there are certainly forms of illness and injury that take place mostly or entirely on the material plane—there are many more that extend higher up the ladder of being.

Illnesses that are rooted in blocked life energies, tangled emotions, mistaken beliefs, or spiritual hungers cannot be cured by medicines or surgery. At most, physical methods of healing can provide temporary relief from the material consequences of such illnesses. As a Healer of the Universal Gnostic Church, it is your duty and privilege to use the traditional methods of prayer, blessing, and anointing, along with the healing methods you may have already learned in the Modern Order of Essenes, to help yourself and others to heal spiritually.

There are many other modes of spiritual and energetic healing. Your ceremony of commitment as a Healer will not qualify you to practice any of them.  However, if you have learned another method of healing before now, or go on to become qualified in some other healing method hereafter, you may practice that as part of your ministry as a Healer. Always remember that your practice must be conducted in accordance with the laws of the country and locality where you live. Doing anything else reflects badly on the Universal Gnostic Church and can land you in a great deal of legal trouble. Check your local laws before you begin to practice spiritual healing for anyone else’s benefit!

In the Universal Gnostic Church, the healing ministry was closely allied with the work of the Modern Order of Essenes.  You may find it useful to review any lessons you have already studied in previous Essene grades at this time.  Please also review the instructions given in previous Gnostic lessons on the sacrament of blessing, and continue to practice it daily. Remember the more you bless, the more you will be blessed.

You have already learned that you are more than your material body, that you are more than your emotions, and that you are more than your ideas and thoughts.  Now you must learn that you are more than your spiritual gifts and capacities. There is a spark of the Divine at the center of your being, around which all the other aspects of yourself have formed. Make an effort to become aware of that spark of the Divine. Turn your attention to it, especially but not only when you pray. The more attention you direct toward it, the more it will reveal itself to you, and in the process you will become more and more aware of what you really are, a child of the Divine.

Your Work as a Reader

As you study to become a Healer, it is important to remember that you remain a Cleric, a Doorkeeper, and a Reader. Continue to make the practice of daily prayer part of your life, alongside the daily practices of the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose, and perform the sacraments of blessing, naming, and teaching as often as you are called on to do so.

Now is a good time to go back and review all the practices you are doing. Read the instructions over again and make sure you haven’t forgotten any of the details. If you started working with a set of practices such as the exercises to develop your intuition, and let them lapse after a while, consider taking them up again.  You do yourself a very great service if you do these practices every day even if it means putting your advancement on hold while you make up for lost ground.  You do yourself a great disservice by neglecting the foundations of your practice in a mistaken rush toward advancement.

As a Reader you're well advised to pay attention to your senses of smell and taste on both the mundane physical level and with your intuitive mind.  Continue to develop these senses as you continue to advance on your spiritual path.  You're also well advised to continue moving toward health on all the planes by keeping up the practices you have already been taught.  Take the time to review these materials if you need to do so.  The work that is before you depends upon these things.

The Sacrament of Anointing

Oil is traditionally used in anointing though there is no prohibition against using other liquids such as water, salt water, vinegar, wine or any other fluid. It is possible to do anointing with a paste rather than a liquid, but this is rarely done. When using a paste, some material is usually pulverized into a powder and oil is added to make the paste. The sacrament is called anointing whether an oil or a paste is used.

Anointing can be done in a manner similar to baptism or naming a child. It is usually done as part of another ceremony but may be done alone as a blessing. Prayers are usually offered before and following the anointing. The first prayers are to prepare the candidate for the anointing and the latter for thanksgiving.

Anointing may be done to a person, animal, plant, mineral or any object of any kind. The material being anointed and the material used for anointing is not critical to the ceremony. The intention of the person doing the anointing is. When it comes to anointing, intention is everything—at least, it's almost everything. Our suggestion is to plan your anointing ceremonies accordingly.

Anointing can be used for spiritual healing. So can prayer, laying on of hands and the use of anything the Divine inspires you to use. The only admonition that applies is to do nothing against the will of the individual or the Divine. Keep in mind, the Divine will never ask you to do anything harmful to anything; the Divine will always ask you to do everything according to the Law of Love.

Healing Prayer is Unction and Unction is Healing Prayer. Extreme Unction or Supreme Unction is Healing Prayer for the dead or dying.

Healing prayer is best done with the heart rather that the head according to most mystics. The more emotion we put into our prayers the more impact they have on the dead and the dying. Our emotion is not to convince the Divine of anything, for the Divine hears us no matter what. Our emotion is for the dead and the dying so they know they are loved as they pass over into the other world. This makes their transition so very much easier.

Hearing and Intuition

The Order of Healer is associated with the faculty of hearing.  When you listen with your outer ear, you hear the words and the emotions behind those words.  But when you listen with your inner ear you also hear the awareness, intentions and beliefs of the speaker.  True, you are already hearing those things with your subconscious mind, but you become a much more powerful healer if you tune into your inner self and listen also with your inner ear.

Practice listening more and more with your inner ear by listening to the Divine.  In your meditation practices, make it a habit to include your devotions and then listen for the response of the Divine.  Listen and you will hear.  As you practice listening to the Divine you'll gain many new insights into yourself and the people, places and things in your life.  You can even open communication with other spiritual beings.  You decide which of these you wish to invite into your life.

The more you open your inner ear, the more opportunities you'll have to serve others and the more you'll hear of what they have to say. Practice hearing what others and the Divine wish to communicate to you until you've mastered the art of hearing more deeply than before.  

Hearing and listening are called the lost arts.  Busy people seldom take the time to really listen, to really hear another person.  Since most everybody is busy, very few people are left to listen and to hear.  One important part of being a Healer is to listen, because healing requires a mastery of the art of listening to others.  We cannot hear as long as we're talking.  We can listen only by being silent and tuning into the other person with our mind, heart and soul.  Then we hear.  We truly hear.

Make it a daily practice to stop and listen to other people.  Hear what they're saying with their words, feelings, awareness, intentions and beliefs.  Listen and when you're ready to speak, wait and listen some more.  Continue to listen until you understand the communication on every level, then formulate your thoughts and finally speak.

This is a big order, but if you really want to serve others, remember you serve them best by listening.  You epitomize the best of being a Healer in the Universal Gnostic Church by listening intently and with focus.

Practice hearing what other people are really saying.  Remove the filters of your own awareness, intentions and belief systems to the best of your ability.  Open yourself to true communication by listening to others.

If we take the time to listen to our fellow man, we will also hear.  We'll hear far more than we expected and in much greater detail than we may have needed.  But hidden within this load of garbage are pearls of wisdom.  We just need to listen.  Some times the Divine will communicate to us in this way and other times the Divine will communicate to us in the silence between the words we hear.  We just have to listen.

We can use this same technique to speak with our spirit guides and Guardian Angel.  The only difference between speaking with our guides and angel than speaking with the Divine is our intention.  If we intend to commune with the Divine, we will.  If we intend to communicate with our spirit guides, we will.  If we intend to communication with our Guardian Angel, we will.  We just make out intention clear.

In a like manner we can speak with any discarnate beings that have the time to speak with us.  But be careful.  If you put out an intention to speak with anybody you may not like what you hear.  For this reason we suggest keeping yourself inside a sphere of Divine love when you want to speak with entities other than your spirit guides, Guardian Angel and the Divine.  Any form of protection taught by esoteric schools will work.  We suggest you explore the spheres of protection taught by the Ancient Order of Druids in America and the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose.   

Decide what communications you want with the "other side," set your intentions and meditate.  Ask for Divine guidance and protection as you practice and you will receive it.  Meditate and listen.  Listen for those you are trying to contact and you will hear.  With a little practice, you will hear.

Ceremony of Commitment for a Healer

Once you have put at least a month into the work outlined above you will have completed the traditional requirements to become a Healer in the Universal Gnostic Church.  This title confers no special privilege upon you.  It doesn’t give you the right to tell other people what to do, or to preen yourself on your supposedly superior spiritual status. It simply reflects a commitment on your part to enter into a relationship with the Divine and to bless the world around you.

The ceremony is optional but we suggest it to you as a way of honoring your acceptance of the work before you.  It's a ceremony of commitment, which affirms that you understand what it means to be a Healer and accept whatever the Divine may ask you to do.  In order to perform this ritual, you will need all the same items you used in the your earlier ceremonies of commitment. You should wear your alb in the ceremony.  

The ritual itself consists of seven steps. 

Step One is setting up your temple.  This is done in the same way as in the Cleric ceremony.

Step Two is to establish sacred space around your chair and altar. This can be done in any way you prefer. If you are a student of any magical or esoteric tradition, for example, the opening ceremony you use for that tradition is appropriate for this.

Optional ceremony for sacred space:  If you do not have some other way of establishing sacred space, one option is to provide yourself with lit incense in a burner and a cup of water. Take up the cup, and circle around the outside of the space, dipping your fingers into the water and flicking droplets around the space. When you are finished, say, “May this place be purified in the name of (whatever name you use for the Divine).” Put the cup down, pick up the incense, and circle around the outside of the space, carrying the incense with you and waving the smoke around the space with your free hand. When you are finished, say, “May this place be consecrated in the name of (whatever name you use for the Divine).” This completes the ceremony.

Step Three is to open your ordination iwith a prayer in which you thank the Divine, using whatever name you prefer, for all the gifts bestowed upon you.  Ask for Divine blessings upon this holy space, the holy altar, the holy items placed upon the altar and ourselves.  Ask the Divine to be present and to accept you as a Healer. You may use a spontaneous prayer, or write out a prayer in advance.

Step Four is to vow to the Divine to uphold the office of Healer and to serve as a Healer to the best of your ability; and then ask the Divine to assist you in keeping and fulfilling these vows.

Step Five is to purify yourself with holy water. This is done by dipping your fingertips into the water and using them to moisten your eyelids, your ears, your nostrils, and your lips with holy water. Dip your fingers into the water between each of these. While purifying yourself, say something like this:  “I purify my senses so that I will be able to perceive the spiritual realms of existence, so help me (name of the Divine being used).”

Step Six is to anoint yourself with holy oil on your ears and the palms of your hands.  In anointing yourself, say something like: "I anoint myself to perform all the duties of a Healer, so help me (name of the Divine being used).”

Step Seven is to close the ceremony.  Say a prayer of thanksgiving, thanking the Divine for the blessings that have been conferred on you.  Then extinguish the candles, put everything away, and go about the rest of your life.

Please note that the point of this ritual is not to impress anybody, including yourself. You gain no special status nor any authority over other people by becoming a Healer. The point of the ceremony is to humbly and sincerely communicate with the Divine, take your vow, and bless the work the Divine will hereafter ask of you.  Having completed the ceremony you are a Healer.  You are now ready to go forth and do such work as the Divine asks of you.