What an uncivil post, MMM. The Black Death killed perhaps a third of the world population in the 14th Century. To counter it, merchants sold the very same herbal oil remedy some sell today, the same recipe that is promoted at Countdown as Oil of the Good Samaritan. You may wish to argue the use of Thieves Oil cut back the plague's death rate, but there's no evidence of that. At least one source suggests doctors of the time wore masks specially designed to keep in the scent of Thieves Oil infused cloths, which they stuffed into narrow beaks. The doctors believed the herbal oil infusion would spare them. Thus, the medieval doctors earned the everlasting nickname of "Quack" as a result of Thieves Oil... https://myhealthessentials.ca/thieves-oil-history-blend-benefits/
Essential oils are not safe to consume. Here is one of many links explaining that it is dangerous and why. https://healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/A_E/Essential-oils People also need to be extremely careful when diffusing oils around animals. https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/blog/essential-oils-cats/ https://www.foundanimals.org/essential-oils-toxic-pets/ Essential Oils Harmful to Cats Oils that are harmful to cats include, but are not limited to: Wintergreen Sweet birch Citrus (d-limonene) Pine Ylang ylang Peppermint Cinnamon Pennyroyal Clove Eucalyptus Tea tree (melaleuca) Thyme Oregano Lavender Essential Oils Harmful to Dogs Oils that are harmful to dogs include, but are not limited to: Cinnamon Citrus (d-limonene) Pennyroyal Peppermint Pine Sweet birch Tea tree (melaleuca) Wintergreen Ylang ylang Anise Clove Thyme Juniper Yarrow Garlic ETA It is snake oil when it is sold to people as a cure for serious diseases.
As for an "anti-Catholic spin," I follow the lead of The National Catholic Register, owned by the (anti-Catholic?) EWTN: Beware of So-Called ‘Church Approved’ Coronavirus Prevention Claims of apparition endorsement aside, such oils have been used for centuries in witchcraft for “protection.” Susan Brinkmann Blogs May 20, 2020 Alleged revelations from Our Lady to a Costa Rican woman that call for the use of essential oils to prevent infection by the coronavirus have gone viral on the internet. What should Catholics make of revelations such as these? The “seer,” named Luz de Maria de Bonilla, allegedly received a message from Our Lady on June 3, 2016, which gave instructions about the use of an essential oil blend which she called the Oil of the Good Samaritan, to be used as a preventive measure against infectious outbreaks. She said the vision also recommended that people ingest a raw clove of garlic every morning or to use oil of oregano because “these two are excellent antibiotics.” On Jan. 28, 2020, once again Our Lady is alleged to have told the seer: “Great pestilences, plagues generated by unknown viruses are advancing upon humanity. Use the oil of the Good Samaritan as protection, faced with a case of a highly contagious disease where you live — the quantity of the head of a pin on the earlobes will suffice. If the number of those infected increases, you should put it on both sides of your neck and on the wrists of both hands...” The oils contained in the Good Samaritan oil are cinnamon, cloves, rosemary, lemon and eucalyptus. This is the same recipe as a popular essential oil blend known as “Thieves Oil” which is associated with the legend of four thieves who robbed the bodies of victims of the Bubonic plague but managed to escape infection while using these ingredients. Such oils have been used for centuries in witchcraft for “protection” and are touted by essential oil distributors who claim they improves the immune system and protect people from infections such as the flu and viruses. Adding credence to the alleged messages is an imprimatur given by a bishop named Msgr. Juan Abelardo Mata Guavara, bishop of Esteli, Nicaragua, who approved the messages received by this seer which occurred from 2009-2017. There is no indication that Msgr. Mata — or any other Church authority — approved the 2020 message recommending these alternatives for use against COVID-19. Even though the Church has rendered no decision as to the supernatural nature of the revelations, the messages have gone viral on the internet, with many Catholics hyping the oils as being a “Church approved” method of protecting themselves against the coronavirus. As convincing as it all may sound, these revelations are raising eyebrows because they appear to contradict Church teaching found in the Ethical and Religious Directives for Healthcare Services. Based upon Pope John Paul II’s encyclical letter On the Value and Inviolability of Human Life (Evangelium Vitae), the Directives state: “A person has a moral obligation to use ordinary or proportionate means of preserving his or her life.” This is particularly true in the case of life-threatening or communicable diseases. As Kevin Rickert, Ph.D., associate professor of philosophy at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, told us, “the crux of this issue is the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary care” and explains these distinctions as they regard alternatives in his article, “Alternative Medicine and the Duty to Employ Ordinary Means.” Ordinary means are those treatments that are commonly considered ordinary for the preservation of human life such as food, shelter, avoidance of unnecessary bodily danger and the use of accepted medical interventions when needed. Alternative medicine, such as essential oils, is typically defined as treatments that have not been scientifically tested or have not met the standards of what would be considered accepted medical interventions. This is why Our Lady’s alleged recommendation to use essential oils to prevent contagion is suspect. Ongoing research into the use of essential oils for health care has found some products to be useful for general well-being, but even industry insiders admit that there is no scientific evidence to support their use in the way Our Lady allegedly prescribed. Speaking on behalf of Dr. Russel Osguthorpe, an infectious disease physician and chief medical officer for essential oil supplier doTERRA, spokesman Kevin Wilson told Salon in March 2020: "doTERRA recognizes essential oils have profound health and wellness benefits, but we do not claim that our products prevent, treat or cure illnesses or diseases, including COVID-19." If this is the case, why would Our Lady instruct us to use something that is neither scientifically proven nor in accord with local public health policy to protect ourselves during a serious public health emergency? Why would she give messages that do not include at least a recommendation to obey local health policy or to seek sound medical advice? Experts such as Michael O’Neill, author of ‘Virgin, Mother, Queen’ and creator of MiracleHunter.com, have doubts that Our Lady gave these instructions. “While St. Bernadette was pointed to the waters of Lourdes by Our Lady, typically Mary doesn't recommend natural remedies or flout medical advice,” O’Neill said. “This appears to be a non-standard request of Mary in an apparition and therefore casts some doubts on the validity of these apparitions.” As for the imprimatur, O’Neill explains that an imprimatur does not mean that a supernatural event occurred. It merely states that the messages are free of doctrinal error. Such a statement is usually given by the ordinary of a place where an alleged Marian apparition is taking place. Because the Costa Rican-born Luz de Maria currently lives in Argentina, it is unclear why an imprimatur was given by a bishop from Nicaragua. Attempts to seek clarification from Bishop Mata and Argentinian church authorities are ongoing. “Getting wrapped up in any unapproved apparition can cause great challenges to one's faith and it is important to remember that the centrality of our faith should be found in the words and works of Jesus Christ in the Gospels, not in alleged apparitions,” O’Neill advises. “If the faithful find that the messages help them draw closer to Christ, the messages can certainly provide a great spiritual benefit but likely not secret potions for warding off viruses.” This advice is common sense to most Catholics, so why are these revelations making so many inroads into the Catholic population? It could be due to a movement among some Catholics to regard “natural” health care means as better because they are “gifts from God.” However, as Dr. Rickert warns, this notion is “a trick” because “everything that exists comes from God,” including science. Another possible reason for the embrace of alternative methods to prevent COVID-19 could be the natural anxiety caused by the pandemic. “Even for religious people, divine ‘revelations’ promising healing through essential oils or other formulas may seem to open up ‘magic solutions’ and a way for us to ‘stay in control,’ rather than confronting our fears and entering into a deeper spiritual acceptance of the Divine Plan, a plan that may include passing through the valley of death,” says Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D., Director of Education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center. “With respect to COVID-19, we need to rely on properly conducted research studies, rather than claims of visionaries, as we seek to develop drugs or treatments that will offer protective or therapeutic benefits. God intends for us to use science and medicine to push back disease, but we must always temper our push for survival with a sobriety about the finality, inevitability and unpredictability of death. The prospect of the ‘Thief in the Night’ should command more of our attention than any ‘Thieves Oil.’”
Countdown to the Kingdom posted a response to the National Catholic Register article above, from Luz de Maria and Rafael Piaggio. It is found here: https://www.countdowntothekingdom.com/luz-de-maria-a-response/ .
Hi, Donna. I feel the need to post that those thousand year old points on the body are called chi. They are believed to be energy channels in the body. I have to disagree with that being Catholic/Christian. I hate to be a wet blanket. I, too, had a Korean practitioner and I believed him to be Catholic since his daughter was. However, the Church has published a document called Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life. In it, various practices are examined and credited with being harmful to the Faith. I’m going to look up acupuncture again just to make sure it’s on the list.
Father Lawrence J. Gesy, the cult consultant for the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the lead author of "Today’s Destructive Cults and Movements," says those seeking an acupuncturist should "make sure the person who is doing the acupuncture is medically licensed." According to the Mayo Clinic Web site, there are about 3,000 medical doctors in the U.S. who use acupuncture as part of their clinical practice. No individual needs to resort to a New Age practitioner in order to enjoy the benefits of acupuncture. "Those who are into the Chinese-god concept of acupuncture usually have charts up, or will talk about gods and energy levels," Father Gesy said. "These people are 'channeling.' The needle becomes their channel from the source of the energy of the gods into that person." For the record, my doctor is licensed and warned me against something called Reiki as it channels spirits. These pressure points represent organs in the body. He does not use the Chinese method of acupuncture.... Acupuncture works without the religious component, and is a much better bargain for Christians because it comes all the benefits, but none of the spiritual risks. (This article originally appeared in The Catholic Standard and Times, the Philadalphia archdiocesan newspaper.)
And there are just as many articles with the opposite viewpoint. I just felt I had to post the warning. We can pray before during and after a treatment and look at statues all we want, but if the treatments are not pleasing to God? If they open us up to pagan/demonic influences? I have been there.
HH I am not going to debate this issue with you....I'm not in the mood. I have had incredible experiences with acupuncture during HORRIFIC chemotherapy and radiation. This has diminished nausea, vomiting, dehydration, diarrhea. You can believe what you believe. Please STOP. In Christian charity, please STOP. You made your point, I disagree and move on.....
Well I did not realize that you were not in the mood. I was posting in answer to your posts. Of course, I’ll stop.
Reiki creeps me out. Unfortunately it’s pretty popular especially among massage therapists http://amazingcatechists.com/2012/05/reiki-not-for-catholics-not-now-not-ever/
This IS a valid area of inquiry and debate on a Catholic forum. I have a doctorate degree in medicine, I’m a surgeon, and I too have grave reservations about any recommendations of acupuncture on an orthodox Catholic forum. Feel free to charitably discuss this issue here.
It’s not your place to circumscribe topics of discussion on the MOG forum. You may freely disagree with another poster regarding acupuncture or you may walk away from the discussion. You may not limit others’ pursuit of this important topic on MOG.
Here is a really interesting article on the history of acupuncture. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1211/fact.2004.00244 “The earliest traditions of Chinese medicine (Shang dynasty, 17th–11th century BC) were linked to beliefs in ancestors. Deceased ancestors were capable of endangering or even destroying human life, and healing practices attempted to restore not only the living, but also the dead. As ancestral medicine waned, magical, demonological or supernatural beliefs became the cause of all disease. The demons of the human body could cause such things as swellings, and the insertion of needles or stone lancets, for example, could be employed in an effort to kill or expel them.” The article goes on to explain how acupuncture is fairly new and was pushed as a medical solution after the 1960s cultural revolution when there was a lack of medical care. It also brings up the idea of qi or energy. “Another important factor for the success of acupuncture and TCM has been the notion of ‘qi.’ However, the concept of invisible, vapour‐like agents that are responsible for maintaining life and health is not uniquely Chinese, indeed, it is one of the main concepts of ancient medicine of virtually every culture. For example, the Greek physicians Praxagoras and Erasistratus hypothesised that arteries conducted the vital force pneuma, and not blood.5 This and other similarities has led to speculation that much of Chinese medicine may simply be an adaptation of Greek medicine, and, in light of the interactions that occurred between China and the West in Han times, such speculation is not unreasonable. What can be said is that the flow of qi within channels is a very old, but not universally accepted, concept. Nevertheless, acupuncture and Chinese medicine, as interpreted by Western writers, at least promises to solve the ‘energy’ problem within the individual's own body. In fact, the historical meaning of the concept of qi bears no relationship to Western concepts of energy. However, by rendering qi as ‘energy’, and by explaining disease in terms of ‘energetic disturbances', the newly invented Chinese medicine has gained plausibility. This plausibility, however, arises out of conceptual adaptation to Western fears, not out of the historical reality of Chinese thinking.”
JESUS CHRIST THE BEARER OF THE WATER OF LIFE A Christian reflection on the “New Age” There is a remarkable variety of approaches for promoting holistic health, some derived from ancient cultural traditions, whether religious or esoteric, others connected with the psychological theories developed in Esalen during the years 1960-1970. Advertising connected with New Age covers a wide range of practices as acupuncture, biofeedback, chiropractic, kinesiology, homeopathy, iridology, massage and various kinds of “bodywork” (such as orgonomy, Feldenkrais, reflexology, Rolfing, polarity massage, therapeutic touch etc.), meditation and visualisation, nutritional therapies, psychic healing, various kinds of herbal medicine, healing by crystals, metals, music or colours, reincarnation therapies and, finally, twelve-step programmes and self-help groups. The source of healing is said to be within ourselves, something we reach when we are in touch with our inner energy or cosmic energy.
