On Magic and Miracles (8) Miracle Cures

Much group healing is like this. Such sessions are generally full of vital forces thrown out by the group members themselves and the healer or medium, often a strongly vital person, generating a strong field of vital forces that are supported by a collective hope. Functional illnesses, that is to say, not so much physical as psychological, like for example hysterical paralysis or blindness or epilepsy which is more a dissociative reaction, may seem to magically disappear but only to return in a new dramatic form or remain as an undercurrent in the hysterical personality. Many so-called miracle men thrive on this sort of mixed stuff and some make it really big because of the high drama generated by their extremely vital personality that magnetically attracts such a following. These things often rise on the crest of a popular boom and later crash as suddenly as they had appeared. Of course, people may continue to throng around such individuals because that is the usual psychology of the sufferer. They do not mind trying it out even if it does not work for the moment. In any case, the intensely vital atmosphere, combined with heightened expectation, facilitates an emotional catharsis and so attracts people. Most men relish emotions on display and to that extent this catharsis itself partially helps. It is as if by sharing this group enthusiasm, we forget for a while our personal grief and pain. This is not so much caused by any great or astounding power on the part of the medium, but rather due to the very nature of group psychology!