The Ghost Or Spirit Of St Bernadette And Her Incorrupt Body

While looking through some photos, I came across the picture above, purported to be Saint Bernadette - after she had died. There are five images said to show her as spirit, gradually fading into a wall.

It's not known who the photographer was but is generally referred to as The Ghost of Bernadette Soubirous and was taken in 1890, eleven years following her death. And, yes, I realise there were many fake ghost and spirit photos in that era.

Bernadette Soubirous is the French farm girl from rural Lourdes who was canonised as a saint on December 13th 1933. Lourdes has since become a centre of healing for believers, mostly of the Catholic faith. Her full story can be found on Wikipedia, where it is says:

"In the 150 years since Bernadette dug up the spring (at Lourdes), 67 cures have been verified by the Lourdes Medical Bureau as 'inexplicable', but only after what the Church claims are 'extremely rigorous scientific and medical examinations' that failed to find any other explanation."

No doubt most people have probably heard of the Lourdes story but I didn't realise that Bernadette's body had been exhumed three times with bizarre results:

On the first occasion, in September 1909, witnesses claimed that, though a crucifix in her hand had oxidised, her body was declared 'incorrupt.' In other words there was no sign of decomposition.

On the second exhumation in April 1919 the doctor, who examined the body stated: "The body is practically mummified, covered with patches of mildew and quite a notable layer of salts, which appear to be calcium salts. The skin has disappeared in some places, but it is still present on most parts of the body."

Following a third exhumation in 1925 Doctor Comte published a report in the Bulletin de I'Association medicale de Notre-Dame de Lourdes:

"What struck me during this examination, of course, was the state of perfect preservation of the skeleton, the fibrous tissues of the muscles (still supple and firm), of the ligaments, and of the skin, and above all the totally unexpected state of the liver after 46 years. One would have thought that this organ, which is basically soft and inclined to crumble, would have decomposed very rapidly or would have hardened to a chalky consistency. Yet, when it was cut it was soft and almost normal in consistency. I pointed this out to those present, remarking that this did not seem to be a natural phenomenon."

As to whether Lourdes has supernatural powers of healing is a matter of opinion. What can be said is that belief can do many wondrous things - including returning people to health. Belief is at the centre of most miracles.

Other Random Posts:
Was This The Sixth Sense Or A Coincidence?
Impossible Pie: A Way Of Life And Death
10 Coincidence And Synchronicity Stories

The Psychic Surgeon Who Channels St.Paul

I think the first time I heard about psychic surgeons was with the case of Arigo or, to give him his real name, Jose Pedro de Freitas from Brazil. I published a post about him 2010.

Arigo 'operated' using only a pair of nail scissors and rusty penknife. While doing so he remained in a trance like state. He never used antiseptics or anaesthetics. It is said that, when he was once shown a film of himself operating, he fainted.

Okay, Arigo is a figure from the past - he was at his height in the late 1950s - but there are still psychic surgeons today. I was reading about a current healer, Ray Brown, in a Daily Mail article.

Arigo claimed that he channelled a German physicist called Dr Fritz, who guided his surgery. Ray Brown, however, seems to have more influence as he says his spirit guide is none other than St.Paul.

But lets not write this off as fake because their surgery does seem to work for some people. Take the case of Cynthia Knapp for example.

Cynthia, from Worthing, England reckons 'a miracle' happened following treatment by Ray Brown / St.Paul. She had been virtually immobilised by rheumatoid arthritis. Her pain was so great that sometimes she had difficulty in hobbling the short distance from her bedroom to the bathroom. Today her pain has gone and she is now able to go to the park with her grandchildren.

Cynthia told the Daily Mail, "I'd never been interested in anything New Age previously - I'm a born sceptic. But by that stage, I was willing to try anything. I'd had years of anti-rheumatic drugs on the NHS [National Health Service]. The pain in my back was excruciating. I had nothing to lose."

When she saw Brown he was already in a trance, so she explained her disease and discomfort. He then laid his hands on her neck and back, through her clothes. Cynthia then described what happened next:

"He told me a lot of my pain was caused by trapped nerves. He massaged and manipulated the particularly painful areas to release them which, I must admit, hurt a lot. After the first session, I felt sore for a couple of days, but then the pain in my neck and back disappeared. It was absolutely wonderful. Now, I go every month for a top-up session to keep me mobile and energetic."

I'd better add here that Ray Brown charges for his services.

Many will say what is happening in cases like this is purely the placebo effect. Dr Mike Eslea of the University of Central Lancashire comments:

"It's relative easy to manipulate people's perceptions of the levels of pain they're experiencing. When they believe a treatment will lessen their pain, it often does - it's the placebo effect, which can be positive if it encourages people to relax and give their bodies a chance to heal.

But when there's an objectively measurably problem, such as a tumour. they won't shrink it. They can only work with our mood."

But another person, Pat Phoenix, would probably disagree with this. She went to see another psychic surgeon, Vincent Fuller. She claims her symptoms of fibromyalgia, where she had chronic pain all over her body, disappeared. This is her story:

"I was absolutely desperate. The pain in my joints was indescribable. My doctor couldn't do anything beyond giving me strong painkillers. When a friend told me about psychic surgery, I found Vincent online and asked him if he'd come to Wales [where she lives in Wrexham].

I couldn't see Vincent because I was lying on my front, but his voice changed and took on a Spanish accent. He put his hands on my head, spine and legs.

He only touched me gently, but it felt as if something shifted inside - like when you are pregnant and can feel the baby moving in your womb. It felt peculiar, but not painful.

At first, I felt awful. My limbs ached and my joints hurt. But, three days later, I felt amazing. My pain disappeared and hasn't returned since. I've done more walking in the past month than in the past three years."

Going back to the first example Cynthia says about the sceptics: "I don't care what people think - as far as I'm concerned, it's magic. I may not know how it works, but I'm living proof that it can."

I'm not recommending psychic surgery, as I have no personal experience, but we mustn't just write something off because it sounds different. It may simply be a placebo effect, but does this really matter if it makes the pain ease?

There are more testimonials on Paul Brown's website here.

It's up to the individual to form his or her own opinion regarding psychic surgeons and other alternative treatments.

Other Posts:
The Psychic Surgeon Arigo
The Ten Secrets To Living A Long Healthy Life
The Size Of Your Telomeres Really Does Matter If You Want A Longer LIfe

A Travel Blackout To Cure And Improve Our Tomorrows

I have been away in Mallorca for the last sixteen days on holiday. During this period I had a complete news blackout - no computers, television, newspapers, phones and so on. At the time of writing this post (Monday) I have no idea if the USA has sent missiles hurtling in the direction of Syria; how many goals England beat Moldova by, in their World Cup qualifying match (I presume they won); if any so called celebrity has done something outrageous, purely to get themselves in the public eye. I don't know if ... well, so may things I would normally have heard about in the media but - guess what?

The strange thing is that the world has carried on without me knowing any of this. I don't actually need to fill my head with a lot of this garbage.

Here's another strange thing. I don't want to harp on about a health problem I had last year, but I will a little. Following surgery, nearly a year ago, I have had continued aches and pains on and off, though doctors and consultants say I'm okay. Within two days of being in Mallorca these aches and pains disappeared.

You can probably see where I'm going with this. I'm not saying that the aches were the fault of the news media but there is something to be said for that old adage ignorance is bliss. What we don't know about doesn't affect us.

Another strange thing. I took some books to read while away and one of these was The Zahir* by Paulo Coelho, and I'm not sure why I did. I have never thought much of Coelho's books or what all the fuss was about The Alchemist. I thought it very overrated.

Despite this I felt compelled to read The Zahir first and found that the main character in the book said very much what I had been thinking:

"I didn't turn on the TV to watch the late-night news, because the news was exactly the same news I used to listen to as a child: one country threatening another country, someone had betrayed someone else, the economy was going badly, some grand passion had come to an end, Israel and Palestine had failed to reach an agreement, another bomb had exploded, a hurricane had left thousands of people homeless."

And isn't that the truth. As I have written before, nothing is new. We are constantly manipulated to seeing all that is wrong with the world - the negative side. No wonder so many people get illnesses and depressions. What we take in becomes part of us. Or as Coelho writes:

"They (us?) accumulate experiences, memories, things, other people's ideas, and it is more than they can possibly cope with. And that is why they forget their dreams."

So what do we do? According to the tradition of the Steppes, known as the Tengri, to live fully it is necessary to be in constant movement - a nomad if you like - where everything, therefore, isn't the same.

It's doubtful if many of us can become nomads and constantly view new places but this is what Coelho's character in his book suggests as an alternative:

"Not physically, no, but they can on a spiritual plane. Going further and further, distancing yourself from your personal history, from what you were forced to become."

All in all my break from the news media emphasised to me, what I have often said (but sometimes forget), about how what we think, say, do  and hear creates our tomorrows - our circumstances, health and life in general.

*Zahir:
The idea of the Zahir comes from the Islamic tradition and is thought to have arisen at some point in the eighteenth century.

Zahir, in Arabic, means visible, present, incapable of going unnoticed. It is someone or something which, once we have come into contact with them or it, gradually occupies our every thought, until we can think of nothing else. This can be considered either a state of holiness or of madness.

Faubourg Saint-Peres
Encyclopaedia of the Fantastic.

Other Mallorca Posts:
We Stumble On A 3000 Year Old Settlement At S'Illot Mallorca
he 1696 Mallorcan Castle Also Used In The Spanish Civil War
The Power Of Synchronicity In Mallorca

Books Mentioned In Post:
Paulo Coelho Books On Amazon USA
Paulo Coelho Books On Amazon UK

Space Beings And Space Brothers Influenced Uri Geller And Arigo The Psychic Surgeon

Arigo Perfroming Psychic Surgery

Back in 2010 I published a post The Psychic Surgeon Arigo. This was about Jose Pedro de Freitas, known as Arigo, who performed operations and cures using only a 'rusty penknife'. He became well known in the late 1960s.

This week I started reading an authorised autobiography of Uri Geller by Andrija Puharich. This is an old book I picked up at a car boot sale and was published back in 1974, in the very early days of Geller's career. The book talks of UFOs, contact with aliens and so on - maybe I'll write a post about this another time.

In the introduction to the book Puharich writes about his own experience with Arigo. It seems he had treatment from the 'Psychic Surgeon' personally which was filmed. This was his experience:

"I had a lipoma on the elbow ... about 0.5 inches by 1.2 inches by 0.4 inches. It had been in place for seven years ..."

Using a Swiss army knife offered by an onlooker Arigo started the operation.

"Arigo told me not to look at the surgery ... At the same time I felt Arigo grasp my arm at the tumour area with his left hand. All I could feel was something like a fingernail being pressed into the skin. Within five seconds Arigo displayed an elongated egg-shaped tumour for all to see and handed it to me with the pocket knife. I felt no sensation of pain. When I looked at the wound there was a trickle of blood from the incision, which was about a half inch long."

By the fourth day after surgery Puharich was able to dispense with the covering bandage.

The film of the operation was developed and it ...

"... clearly proved there had been an operation, and thus mass hallucinations were ruled out. The film showed that Arigo had made six saw-like strokes of the knife through my skin to make the incision. This alone should have been painful. And strangely the tumour popped out of the arm ... The entire procedure lasted five seconds."

Arigo was convinced he was possessed by a German physicist called Dr Fritz and it was him that guided the surgery and other operations. But Puharich has another theory, perhaps even more unlikely to most people than this. He writes:

"Arigo's powers may not be due to Dr Fritz, but to some intelligent beings associated with spacecraft of extra-terrestrial origin. This seemed to be a perfectly logical hypothesis, but, of course, there was no way to test it."

Nothing fraudulent was ever proven against Arigo. His ability in making diagnosis was tested against X-ray, electrocardiogram and so on.

At the beginning of January 1971 he told friends that he would soon come to a violent end. He was killed in a car accident on January 11th. Over 20,000 people turned up to mourn him at his funeral.

You might be thinking as to why this was included in an autobiography by Puharich on Uri Geller. Must admit I scratched my head about this too - but there is a connection - Space Beings or Space Brothers.

According to Puharich there is much more to life on Earth.

"The fact of every knowledge experience is timeless, although the act of knowing is in time. To experience knowledge is a timeless experience."

There's something to chew on!

Other 67 Not Out Posts:
The Psychic Surgeon Arigo
11:11 And 111 The Numbers Of The Age
John Lennon's UFO Sighting And Abduction

The Ghost Or Spirit That Changed Fern Britton's Life

It's interesting how we can often recall a time when something completely changed the course of our lives. Some would call this fate, destiny or maybe even just a lucky break. But what if this change came about because of something we had seen such as a ghost or spirit? This is what the UK television presenter, Fern Britton, says changed her life.

Fern was diagnosed with depression in her early 20s and was in a bad place but something came to rescue her and put her on a career path. In her own words:

"I was desperate and, I don't exaggerate, I even started wondering whether I had enough paracetamol  in the cupboard because I was seriously contemplating whether that might be the way to go. I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. I'd come to a dead end.

"All of a sudden, by the side of the bed, I saw a white, glowing shape. That's the only way I can describe it. I couldn't see his features although I sensed it was a man. he then leant forward and put his hand on my forehead and I instantly fell asleep.

"In the morning, I woke and felt different. I knew what to do. I handed in my notice and, within a month, I was on a train to Plymouth to start work at Westward Television. I can't explain what had happened but it was as though there had been some sort of twist of the kaleidoscope.

"I found a house a short walk from the River Tamar, the salmon leaping on a summer's afternoon. I remember thinking, 'Thank you, God, for bringing me this.'"

Something or someone appears to have stepped in to help Fern when it was needed most. I like to believe that this is available to us all.

Other 67 Not Out Celebrity Stories:
Paul McCartney's Dead Mother Inspired Let It Be
Beyoncé And The Number 4 Lead To The Illuminati
Woody Allen As A Banana Nose Coincidence

The Ghostly Nurse Who Took Away Linda's Pain

Sometimes when you meet people and they know you have been in hospital they tend to want to tell you all about their own experiences. Here's one such case with what might be a paranormal twist.

I'll call the woman concerned Linda to protect her privacy.

Linda was in a local hospital for major surgery and wasn't too happy with her care.  She said that the nurses seemed, in the main, to be uncaring and short staffed due to government cuts in funding. I must add that I personally didn't find this to be the case while I was in hospital. Nevertheless this is her story.

Following her surgery she felt a lot of pain for which she was given tablets but this didn't take the hurt away. She complained to the nurses but was seemingly told that they couldn't give her anything stronger.

The pain for her seemed much worse during the night and she says that on the third night in hospital tears were running down her cheeks. She pressed the button for the nurse on duty but felt that she was almost off-hand and lacking sympathy.

Linda says that once alone again the pain was almost too much for her to bare and she remembers saying, "Please help me someone."

A few moments later there was a nurse by her side in a white, almost old fashioned uniform.

The nurse smiled at her and told her that she would be alright and started to hold her hand. This Linda felt to be very comforting and the nurse sat in a chair, which was next to the bed, to stay with her.

After what appeared to be a short time the pain got less and less. Again the nurse told her not to worry and that everything would be alright. Linda eventually dropped off to sleep.

The next morning she felt a lot better and her pain was much, much less. She felt she was on the mend.

When the regular nurse came round as usual with tablets Linda asked her who the other nurse was in the white dress.

The nurse looked at her strangely and said there wouldn't have been a nurse dressed like that and told her the names of the nurses who had been on duty that night. It was suggested to her that Linda must have been dreaming.

Linda is now convinced that, what she calls, a 'ghost' visited her during that night and helped her through her pain.

It's interesting that when we actually ask for help it sometimes appears. In Linda's case was this from an angel, spirit, a relative who has passed on? Who knows for sure and, of course, it may simply have been a dream.

Other Ghostly Posts:
The Ghost Of A Nun Was Herself In A Previous Life
The Ghost Who Wanted Sex With Kate
Ghostly Rye: The Most Haunted Town In England

The Winds Of The Shacapa At Eden

I came across the slightly faded wall painting - The Winds of the Shacapa - as shown in the picture above at the Eden Project in Cornwall, England.

The Shacapa (or Chacapa) leaves, a kind of palm, are made into a rattle for Shamanic and similar ceremonies in the Upper Amazon region. They are used rhythmically in a similar way to a Shaman's drum.

The Shacapa is said to draw impurities from the body. The Shaman rubs and shakes the Shacapa over the patient's body to remove and capture any unwanted spirit intrusions. Once captured these spirits are blown into the rainforest where the spirits of the plants are used to absorb and discharge this energy.

In the picture above the bands of colour from the universal eye represent the energies of the Shacapa. The photo below shows a well used Shacapa.

Further Eden Posts:
In Search Of The Birth Of Spirits At Eden
Eve Shows Herself At Eden
The Giant Rubbish Alien Monster At Eden

Woman Walks After 23 Years Through Spiritual Healing

As this is a Christian time of the year I thought this video about Delia Knox would be appropriate.

Delia had been paralysed from the waist down following a severe car accident back in 1987. Since that time she has, therefore, not walked or had any feeling in her legs. She had virtually given up on ever walking again.

Delia agreed, however, to attend a Christian evangelistic meeting in August of this year. At the meeting with preacher Nathan Morris she said, "... all of a sudden I felt a voice which I knew was the Holy Spirit saying to me, 'Get up,' and I felt a feeling in my legs and then faith came on me to walk. I wasn't going to let anyone take this away from me and I knew this was my night to walk out of the chair. I walked and walked and felt I had entered another realm."

Delia Knox can now walk through a 'miracle moment' which can be seen in the video below. Delia continued, "This has turned my world upside down. I can stand in my kitchen and walk around my house. I am in awe at seeing the power of God not just in my life but all over the world as a result of this miracle."

As I've often said, I do not belong to any organised religion but I do believe in the power of belief and the possibilities within us. If the video is all that it seems, perhaps this is an illustration of what is possible.

The video was captured at the Bay of the Holy Spirit Revival on August 27, 2010 in Mobile, Alabama.