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| The transition from mystical and supernatural understandings of illness to 'scientific' ones is still highly controversial. | | The transition from mystical and supernatural understandings of illness to 'scientific' ones is still highly controversial. |
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| ==Magnetic healing==
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| Physical disability, such as [[spinal cord injury]] (SCI), [[multiple sclerosis]] (MS), and [[post polio syndrome]], often aggravates many ailments that are amenable to ''magnetic therapy'', an increasingly popular alternative medicine modality.
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| In the late eighteenth century, Dr. [[Franz Anton Mesmer]] used bar magnets and hypnotic animal magnetism to treat patients. Due to a controversy surrounding this procedure, France’s King [[Louis XVI]] formed a prestigious commission composed of eminent scientists, including [[Benjamin Franklin]], to investigate Mesmer. The short-sightedness of these scientists ruined Mesmer’s career, and suspended for almost two centuries research into this promising healing methodology.
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| Until relatively recently, scientists mistakenly believed that life was mostly a biochemical process. The idea that magnetic fields could significantly influence living systems seemed far-fetched. Perspectives have shifted rapidly, however, and many eminent scientists now acknowledge that, at the microscopic level, we are electromagnetic beings. This radical paradigm shift has profound medical implications, because modern medicine had focused exclusively on biochemical processes. Since these processes are influenced by our electromagnetic nature, any healing approach that focuses solely on biochemical processes is ultimately limited.
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| Life’s magnetic potential is so great that we can even challenge gravity. For example, physicists at Nijmegen University have been able to levitate frogs by static magnetic fields.
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| Scientists now believe that magnetic fields perturb the body’s own magnetic energy, which, in turn, triggers more conventional biochemical and physiological mechanisms. Magnetic fields can:
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| * Increase blood flow, bringing in more [[oxygen]] and nutrients, and flushing away waste products.
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| * Modulate [[calcium]] flow through the body, which is essential to many physiological processes. For instance, magnetic fields attract calcium ions, healing a broken bone or moving calcium away from painful arthritic joints.
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| * Alter the [[acidity]] or [[alkalinity]] of body fluids, which are often out of balance with illness.
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| * Affect hormone production (including those of the brain’s all-important [[pineal gland]]), which initiates a cascade of biological effects.
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| * Alter [[enzyme]] activity and other biochemical processes, such as the production of [[ATP]], a molecule that provides cellular fuel for the entire body.
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| * Stimulate [[Electromagnetic_wave#Energy and energy flow in electromagnetic field|electromagnetic energy]] flow through acupuncture [[meridian]]s.
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| * Alter cell [[chromosome]] alignment.
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Revision as of 07:00, 6 December 2008
The origins, theories of, and influence of Alternative Medicine
The esoteric wisdom of ancient healers and of plant lore has been central to medicine since ancient times, not only spawning approaches such as herbalism, traditional Chinese medicine, biofeedback, and homeopathy, but also influencing mainstream approaches to illness.These approaches draw upon general theories, such as the 'theory of similars' or the related 'theory of signatures'.
For instance, the onion was favoured by the Egyptians not only as a food, and used as a medicine, but also respected for reflecting their view of the universe's multi-layered structure. Egyptians identifed medicinal properties in plants such as myrrh, aloe, peppermint, garlic and castor oil
The medical use of plants by the ancient Greeks reflected their idea that each of the twelve primary gods had characteristic plants. ON the other hand, herbs lacking such elevated 'connections', such as parsley, thyme, fennel and clery were allowed correspondingly more everyday roles in health.
Healing plants are also featured extensively in ancient Arabian lore, in the Bible, and in the druidic tradition of the ancient Celts. Herbal tradtionswere centnral to life in the Mayan, Aztec and Incan civilizations, and north American Indian herbal rituals.
The transition from mystical and supernatural understandings of illness to 'scientific' ones is still highly controversial.