Rose Rosetree’s Books, Goodreads Author Questions
Rose Rosetree’s Books. Ask the author. Go for it.
Rose Rosetree’s Books AUTHOR QUESTIONS opens up today: Opening up here at my blog, as well as where I can be found on Goodreads.
Rose Rosetree’s Books Q&A. Why NOW?It’s such fun, responding to Ask the Author questions on my books. Currently I have an Author Page on the Goodreads Platform. For months now, I’ve been responding to questions that folks ask about my books.
Today, I was in the process of responding to a wonderful question about Rose ...
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Hello Rose,Thank you very much for this explanation.
Certainly I would like to ask you about Diane Stein's book "Essential Reiki". How did it have such an effect on the integrity of the profession?
There is a drama to the word "healer", isn't there? Something alluring, a declaration of importance.I have encountered well-meaning people who were so affected by the glamorisation of "healing", that they strongly considered leaving their established careers - careers where they were useful, contributing members of society - to study some type of energy medicine which was a wild divergence from their hard-won skills and aptitudes.
In talking with them, I got the impression they were worried they weren't "really" doing helpful, meaningful work unless they were doing "healing".
Healing methodologies (whether western biomechanical medicine or energy medicine like acupuncture etc) do not have a monopoly on helping, contribution to humanity or making a difference in the world. There are many vital ways to contribute and these are only some of them.Working with energy *does not* constitute any kind of elevation above normal human importance (I once had someone thunder angrily at me, that they believed they were allowed to say racist things because they could feel energies.)
Once we remove this kind of work from its pedestal, it's easier to look straight at the idea that "we are all healers". Imagine any other skilled work in that sentence! "We are all plumbers". "We are all accountants". "We are all auto mechanics". Absurd.Do we all have an innate capability to fix cars? Or are these skillsets that need to be correctly taught, so that we could do a proper job with them - one that does not cause more problems than it solves?
I was very fortunate to receive years of training to be an acupuncturist, including an apprenticeship and ongoing mentoring. I have been in practice for 13 years. And yet, I still encounter professional challenges that test my abilities. I don't like to imagine untrained, self-taught "healers", who don't know what they don't know, making guesses (at best) about their client's problems, and improvising "solutions" that may be the equivalent (or worse) of duct tape repairs inside an oven.We aren't "all healers" and thankfully, there is absolutely no need for us to be.
Thank you, Theodore, for bringing your voice of experience to this controversial topic.
Thank you for your comments, Theodore. I particularly appreciate how you describe the deep and growing skill you have as an acupuncturist.
This is such an honorable way of doing a profession.
It occurs to me that there is an honorable way to be a healer, and a dishonorable way. And an honorable way to be a plumber, and a dishonorable way. Even if well intentioned, if you are mucking about with no skills and holding yourself out as a professional, that is not fair to those who might end up your clients.
Beautifully put, I think, Jasmine. Having standards for hiring energy healers, or other professionals, is not being judgy. It's essential, just as it is essential to live with honor.
I'm commenting on some current info at this blogpost by Rose. None of this shows up in the version at Goodreads, but currently there are 542 comments.
To find the context for my comments, just search on: "Rose Rosetree’s Books on Goodreads, Author Q&A" (Include the quotes in your search.)
The relevant comments are at Rose's blog as Comments #449-495. I'm adding my thoughts about that here.