V. The Sympathetic Method of Cure

V. The Sympathetic Method of Cure.V. Die sympathetische Kurmethode.

The sympathetic method of cure is the reverse side of witchcraft, but rests on the same principle. In the last chapter it was shown that exteriorized od keeps its capacity of sensation and that a magnetic rapport with the source of the od continues, so that harmful influences on the former are transferred to the latter. The experiments Rochas made on this have shown that a considerable part of medieval witchcraft finds its physical explanation in this way.

Let us first draw a logical conclusion from this: if by a harmful influence on exteriorized od one can harm the source of the od, the organism, too, then it is natural to conclude that a beneficial influence on exteriorized od can be of use to the organism. The reaction in the source must come about in both cases. This logical conclusion was already drawn in the Middle Ages, and on it was founded the magical-magnetic art of healing, which forms a branch of the magia naturalis. Besides Maxwell and Tenzel, already named, Paracelsus¹⁾ and Wirdig²⁾ and others treat of it, among whom it is also often called the sympathetic art of healing. As such it is still known today, but the understanding of it has been lost, and it is now practised almost only by peasants in the countryside. But that there is room for it in the medical system will be clear to anyone who knows the phenomena of magnetism and of magnetic rapport.