World Famous Healers

Taken from Spiritualism Today by Maurice Barbanell

Side note : This book was written and published in 1969. The content is still so relevant today, it’s a shame not to share. Harry Edwards was most certainly the most well-known energy healers and this account of how he worked gives us some insight into this unselfishly dedicated spiritual healer.

It is almost impossible to write about spirit healing and omit any reference to Harry Edwards, whose name is practically synonymous with the subject. He has been described, rightly in my view, as the world’s most famous healer. Certainly he is responsible for the prominence that this unorthodox but highly successful treatment has achieved in Britain and many other countries.

Perhaps the greatest tribute to his healing gift is the fact that he has been asked to give treatment to several members of our Royal Family, though naturally I cannot name them. Obviously they have recourse to the best medical skill available. Edwards does not visit them. Like others, they come to his Burrows Lea sanctuary where, of course, they are seen privately and not at his public thrice-weekly healing sessions.

In many books, he has written authoritatively about healing based on what is virtually a unique experience. One reason for his fame is that he and his two helpers, Olive and George Burton – more recently his trio has become a quintet by the addition of Joan and Ray Branch – have demonstrated healing in the largest halls in the land and occasionally overseas.

At these it is commonplace for spontaneous results to be demonstrated with ailments where this betterment can be seen. There is no way of showing an audience that internal complaints have been successfully treated. Unlocking frozen limbs is a normal happening. Bringing suppleness to poker-backs is another regular occurrence as is improvement in sight, hearing and diminishing of goitres.

Edwards has also become familiar to millions because of his appearances on television, both as an exponent and a demonstrator. He has another unusual claim to fame in that he is responsible for kindling this gift in others, especially clergymen. One notable example is the Rev Alex Holmes, a Congregationalist minister, who had a church in Godalming, not far from Burrows Lea, where Edwards gave a healing demonstration. The sequel is that in Canada this minister is attracting tremendous publicity with his cures.

It so happens that I wrote the very first story, over 30 years ago, about Edwards’ healing when he was a printer in South-West London. It have watched his well-deserved ascent to world fame, at the same time claiming the privilege of being one of his intimate friends. With all, he remains modest, approachable and, in his 75^th year as I write, still dedicated to utilizing the divine gift with which he was born.

Recently I visited Burrows Lea to watch the working of the mammoth but supernormal activity which is part of his normal life. Because of his successes he gets a bigger postbag than probably anybody else in Britain. The average mail for the week previous to my visit was 10,309. Most of the writers requested absent healing.

The way in which is works, says Edwards, is that Burrows Lea has become a spiritual power-house. Every plea for treatment-at-a-distance creates a vibration along which the healing travels to the sufferer. Its efficacy has been proved innumerable times, even with ‘incurable’ patients. What is more extraordinary is the fact that success is achived even when the sufferer does not know that a relative or friend has intervened on his or her behalf.

What I saw on my visit was a typical day in this spiritual beehive. It starts at 9am when George Burton collects the mail from the post office. A special device automatically opens the envelopes. Members of the staff then start reading and answering these healing requests from nearly all over the world. They are able to deal with routine applications. Any which are out of the ordinary are taken to Edwards for his attention. He uses a dictating machine for his replies.

You get a picture of what is involved when I tell you that eighty-one people are fully employed at Burrows Lea. Of these forty-four are typists who work at home. It takes all the morning for six and sometimes seven people, to read the mail. The letters that came that morning numbered 1772 and, of course, there was an afternoon post.

So efficient is the orginsation that normally all letters are answered within one or two days. Routine letters are burnt. For one reason there would not be enough space to keep them and for another they contain so much of a confidential nature. A folder marked ‘SF’ (Special File) is kept for outstanding letters which record successes, say with ‘incurable’ ailments.

Obviously in the short time at my disposal I could not read the whole of the morning post. I made a random selection and found that three-quarters of them described improvements as a result of absent healing. Edwards, like most healers, refuses to accept payment, but he welcomes voluntary donations towards the upkeep of his sanctuary and those it employs. A check I made on twenty letters showed that only eight contained donations totaling £1 19s. 6d.

The healing sessions on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, are attended by about fifteen patients. These are chosen by a secretary whose long experience enables her to select really urgent cases. She estimates that about a quarter to half of the number of people requesting contact healing are invited. Generally, they have to wait from four to six weeks before appointments can be made. Each is told the date and time, given a letter of acceptance and a ticket of admission which is used to identify them when they arrive.

Like the treatment-at-a-distance, the contact healing is splendidly organized. A special coach clearly marked ‘Burrows Lea’ meets patients who are traveling by train at Dorking North station. The coach also returns them to the station at the end of the healing session. Other invited patients come by car or make their own arrangements.

On the day I was present, a couple with their daughter, had travelled from Doncaster, Yorks, 193 miles away! They left at 6 am and drove straight back after the healing. The parents said the journey was well worth it. Their daughter, aged 22, has kyphosis (hum-back). She was born with it and has two holes in her heart.

The five healers work simultaneously at these sessions. Each is greeted by Edwards, who radiates a confidence born of long experience. One habit has remained with him through the years. All day long at the sanctuary he is to be seen in his customary open-neck shirt, even for the healing sessions.

I noticed, as I have done many times, that his treatment is accomplished with eyes closed, as attuned to his spirit inspirers – he has had evidence that Lister and Pasteur are two of them – he waits the moment when the power will flow through him. It is then that you see the results. The treatment cannot be described as manipulation. Apart from the laying-on of hands, it consists of a gentle, rocking movement. Edwards at work presents a picture of compassion personified.

When he first began he was so unfamiliar with some of the medical terms mentioned by sufferers that he had to consult a dictionary. Now as a result of handling thousands of the afflicted, he has a knowledge of the body, in all its intricacies and of its relationship to the mind and spirit, which I doubt could be excelled by anybody else.

It must be remembered that inevitably to live almost daily in an atmosphere of illness causes some tension. After all, it is the exception not the rule for him to see a normal healthy person. How then does he obtain recreation? He always seems to be working at jigsaw puzzles. The more elaborate they are the better he likes them. One recent jigsaw which he proudly displayed to me took three weeks to complete.

Part of his spare time is helping the National Federation of Spiritual Healers, of which he is president and to which he gives distinction. Its growth in 13 years has been outstanding, for as I write the membership totals 5700. The federation, which is non-denominational, has obtained some recognition, even though it was opposed by the British Medical Association.