THE WORLD'S GREATEST HEALER
CHAPTER XVI
THE WORLD'S GREATEST HEALER
THERE are few Spiritualists who have not heard of the thousands of cures affected by W.T.Parish, the world's greatest spiritual healer. Many of these cures are wrought by the prayers offered in his sanctuary at East Sheen, London, on behalf of people he has never even seen—in the earthly sense.
On the rare occasions that the healer and his wife—also a splendid healerーleave their sanctuary, it is to talk with the guide at our home circle, for they are old friends. Such gatherings are happy reunions for us all. There is a deep bond of love between W. T. Parish and Silver Birch. It is an affinity beyond earthly expression, for it is hallowed and heightened by the spiritual
experiences of the healer. At one of these happy reunions held at the Hannen Swaffer Home Circle, Silver Birch told Mr. and Mrs. Parish:
"I rejoice always at the fulfilment of the mission as a great wave of spirit power constantly beats upon the earth.”
Of their healing he said: “It is a great work, and I am privi-leged to share in it. We have travelled a long road together since first we met. You have lived to see part of the fruition, the re-demption of many promises, and I think you can say that no matter what difficulty has arisen you have never been failed.”
Then Parish told the guide that he had a message from a patient, suffering from cancer, in whom he has a special interest. "I was healing her," he said, “and she asked me to convey her love and greetings. She enjoys reading your teachings and strives hard to be conscious of you. She said, “If you can, will you ask Silver Birch if he has a message, just to encourage me to go on?'''
The guide replied: “I wish I could embrace the whole of suffering humanity and with one caress assuage all its grief, but I cannot. Each soul must live its own life and face up to its own problems, but each soul can call upon the power of its own spirit. It can find in that divine armoury a strength and a refuge and a peace which will enable it to conquer all that crosses its path.
"Tell her to look within herself, into that mirror of divinity, to catch the divine refleetion, to hold on to it, and to know that to those who have perfect faith, there is no harm that can befall them. Once their feet are on the pathway of knowledge they will continue on that road in the realisation that no matter what adventures befall them all will be well—divinely well. Tell her to have no fear, but perfect unshakable faith."
Then the guide spoke of Parish's calling, saying: "I have told you so often about your work that there is really nothing new to say. If you had deviated from your mission or had failed in your purpose, then you would not mind if I spoke words of correction. But there is no need for me to do that. You have been faithful and that fidelity always provides its own reward.
"It is part of the plan of natural law. You receive just that which you are entitled to receive, that which you have earned by your own efforts and exertions. You do not receive a higher spiritual growth than that stage of progress which you have reached by your own life.
"And for what you gain, spiritually, so correspondingly you lose from the earthly point of view. It cannot be any other way. You cannot have the best of both worlds at the same time, earthly sacrifice and spiritual richness. If you want earthly rich-ness you will not have spiritual attainment. That is the key to many riddles, the answer to many problems, but it is all part of a life of service.
"The more you desire to give, the more you must give your-self. The suppliant, the initiateーit does not matter what words you useーmust realise that he himself must prepare to be tried, tested, purified and refined as part of the inevitable processes to make sure that he is worthy of the next stage that awaits him.
"Each soul must accomplish this for himself. It cannot be done vicariously; none other can accomplish it for him. And once acquired you cannot hand it on to others; that is not possible. It is an individual, solitary progression. But the more you scale the heights, the greater the amount of spirit power which can come through you. The more you leave earth behind, the closer you come to the spirit.
"It is all very simple. It is not intricate at all. Men have wrapped it up with highly-sounding mystical phrases, accom-panied by ritual and ceremony, but when these are stripped away, there is the simple truth."
"That is all encouraging to me," said Parish. “It is clear."
"So go on," continued Silver Birch. “That is all there is to do. I, an old soul, can say to you, it is always worth while. Rejoice in an ever-spreading mission which gathers more and more to itself, which enables tired, aching, frail humans to find some strength and refreshment, drives away their cares, their aches, their diseases, which allows their spirits to shine once again, to have light instead of darkness, to have all the mists and fogs dispelled by the wind of truth.
"That is a great task, and you know I attach as much impor-tance to it, if not more importance, than to the healing of physical bodies, wonderful though it may be. The physical body has but a short time to live. The spirit is eternal and it is our task to awaken dormant spirits.”
"And that I think is being accomplished now at the Sanc-tuary," commented Parish.
"I think so, too,” said the guide. "You cannot succeed with all. There is no infallible panacea which will make each comer immediately open his eyes and say, ‘Behold, once I was blind and now I see.'"
Parish and Silver Birch then talked of Mrs. Parish's develop-ment, and she admitted that the guide had foretold it all years before when she did not agree with him. "But now it is materialising,” she said.
Silver Birch added: “Sometimes people do not see eye to eye with me. I do not say that because I am right and they are wrong. I am a human being. I have not reached the end of my road. But I know those who are to serve, and when I see them I can tell them that they are to give service."
With gentle skill the guide talked with his friends, arranging for one to begin his healing mission under Parish's tutelage, for this young healer has long known what he would do.
He talked with a mother about her children to whom he is a constant guide and friend. Then he passed to a visitor to answer his questions on politics. And, all the time, jokes were being made in the intervals of transmitting messages from spirit people. It was more like the elder of a large family enjoying a talk with members of all ages, but not for moment forgetting the seriousness of his mission, which is to spread the truths of the spirit. This guide forgets nothing at the circle, and in the midst of all the exchanges, he turned again to Mrs. Parish, who earlier had talked about her own development.
"There is nothing for you to worry about, nothing at all," he said. "All discord has been left behind. There is still a broad avenue of service. You will be able to enrich many lives, dry many tears, soothe many breasts and bring joy to many troubled souls.
"Be content with the knowledge that you are in the right place, subject to the right guidance and that all opens out in front of you as is best for your talents. Problems that have seemed as if they might be difficult have been overcome. Go forward."
There were final words of encouragement and advice before, with these words, he left the medium: "The winds of winter begin to blow, the trees gradually become bare and gaunt. Soon snows will cover the ground. But all the while the life that sleeps prepares for the processes of recuperation, and gathers strength to fulfil part of the eternal cycle.
"Soon the heralds of spring will appear, and gradually nature will take on her softness and display her garland of beauty, colour and richness for all to behold. The cycle is part of the eternal law, the law which holds all life in its embrace, the law which never fails, the law which knows all that transpires everywhere.
"Live your lives in harmony with that law and extract from your lives the joy that could be yours when you are completely attuned with it. For then you become part of the divine soul, your heart beats in tune with His great heart, His love flows through you and His cloak of wisdom covers you day by day. Always remember that you are encompassed by a mighty cloud of witnesses who, directed by the power of love, see in you the means of larger service, of reaching those less fortunate than yourself, so that through you they can bring comfort, hope, knowledge to those who sorely need it.”
W. H. Lilley, the well-known psychic healer, has a nursing home in the heart of London's orthodox medical centre. From there, and elsewhere, he continues to affect cures of the "in-curable" under the direction of his spirit guide, Dr. Letari. He was invited to our circle at the same time as W. T. Parish, and this is what Silver Birch told the two healers:
"Remember the power of the spirit is supreme. Even you, who are old workers, do not fully realise what this power of the spirit can accomplish, provided you give it the right conditions. It is not a mere empty phrase, for the power of the spirit is the power of life itself. It is the vital, energising, dynamic main-spring of all being, and it is this power which in many devious forms is at the disposal of those evolved beings who co-operate with you in your tasks.
"Where you provide the right atmosphere, the right con-ditions, where your hearts and minds are filled with the single, inflexible purpose, where you are resolute, unyielding, unmoved by the storms and stresses, the tempests of your world, and stand like a rock knowing that none of these will be able to deflect you, there you provide us with the perfect instruments.
"When people rush hither and thither and never stand still, they do not give us the opportunity of pouring this power through them. All growth of the life forces is accomplished in the stillness, where there is receptivity. And when you stand still and allow the power of the spirit to suffuse and flood your being, then you are indeed great instruments, for through you that power can stretch and reach and touch others, and bring the healing, the comforting, the teaching, the tenderness, the sympathy and all the love and life that yearns to reveal itself into your world.
"We see the world of matter as one vast arid desert, with here and there an oasis provided by the power of the spirit, and we know that the weary and parched and thirsty travellers can come to these oases and obtain from them refreshment, invigoration, stimulation, and continue their journey better and stronger because of the spring that you have helped to provide. The power of the spirit is no mystical phrase; it is a reality—a vivid reality. Just as it has transformed your lives and given you new direction and purpose, so, if you will allow it and condition your-selves, it can be transmitted through you in even greater volume.
"We see that your world wants more and more instruments. Those of you who give service are the shining exemplars. You are the pioneers, and though at times you may wonder what you have achieved and whether it is worth while, you cannot judge. For, unknown to you, there are those who think of your ex-ample, and it gives them encouragement, it fires their keenness, their enthusiasm and their zeal, and they are inspired to give their lives in service, too.
"Let me take an example. Here you have Parish and there you have Lilley, two great healers, both responsive and receptive to the power of the spirit, two instruments inspired by the same source, but working on different lines, each according to his nature. Wherever there are instruments ready to serve, there come to help them those in my world skilled in just those capabilities best suited for the individual purpose. Each instru-ment is a study in himself. Each mechanism is different. Each make-up
is different.
"All the phases, both physiological and psychological, all the etheric make-up, the constitution of the individual, the faculties, the capabilities of the mind, the emanations of the aura, all these in turn have to be studied so that the right kind of spirit helper can be called upon to help in the great task.
"I wish you could all see with the eyes of the spirit. I wish you could see what is happening all the time that you are at work and that we are at work. It is a wonderful sight. You are such faithful workers, yearning to give service, and what I have to say is so very simpleーsimple things, like go on, never tire, keep on with the task, keep on directing your energies into serving mankind. And yet simple though it is, it is very important.
"Many years ago, in the early days of the organised attempt to pour the power of the spirit into your world, we were confronted with howls of derision. Mockery was the lot of all who laboured because their eyes had been opened after a vision that was blind-ing to their souls. None could have seen then that these humble men and women, lowly in birth and rank, without authority, counted as mere cyphers in their land—for they belonged to the great unknownーcould by their unrelenting labours help to transform the whole of man's thought and help to change the whole of man's outlook on life and death.
"If you look back across the comparatively few years that have elapsed since the power of the spirit emerged as an organised effortーfor there have always been sporadic outbursts—you will see that in this short interval a tremendous revolution has been accomplished. In every phase of human activity and thought there have been vast and profound changes. The old materialism has almost completely disappeared, the old-fashioned ideas that were taught in the name of religion are in the throes of complete disappearance. The old principles enunciated by science have undergone tremendous modification. In philosophy, a similar revolution has taken place. The power of the unseen has com-pelled many to recognise that which is invisible and impalpable to all the five senses of matter.
"Now, I say all this only to try to draw the moral that this was accomplished, not by men and women of great stature, of great learning, of great attainment, of noble birth, but by the ordinary common individual of humble mien. Yet, with a mere handful, look what has been done.
"The past is valuable because it is a signpost to what tomorrow will bring forth. The natural law is cause and effect. The present is the effect of yesterday's cause, and the present is the cause of tomorrow's effect. You are helping to usher in that newer order of life which will spell greater freedom, greater tolerance, greater illumination and a richer, fuller life for all the denizens of to-morrow."
Then there were questions about healing and what the healers see when they are at work, really technical problems concerning those who have spent years in that calling. After a long dis-cussion the guide said to the healers, their wives and the members of the circle:
"Now let us pause and strive to harmonise ourselves with that power which seeks to use us in the service of the Great Spirit. Let us strive to order our lives that our hearts be in tune with the rhythm of the universe, that our wills are inclined to the will of the Great Spirit, so that we fulfil the purpose of our own natures and give a greater expression to the divinity which lies within each one of us. May we become increasingly conscious of all the love which is round and about us, and the mantle of protection which is given to each of us, and may we never be deflected from the paths of service."