Translation from German by Robert Hutwohl[1]
Algund, January 17, 1912
Dear Mr. Weitzer,
At last the New Year’s hustle and bustle with its numerous correspondences is over and I have had the opportunity to answer your valuable letter of the 10th of this month. I would be happy to tell you what I know about the “removal of illnesses” and the exteriorization of the astral body or its components, and I have no qualms about adding a few cases from my experience; for as I myself have given up medical practice forty years ago and only occasionally appear as an amateur, it is unlikely that anyone will have the opportunity to believe that I am trying to advertise myself.
More than forty years ago I came up with the idea that, since the physical body is built on the “model” of the etheric body (or “astral body”) [R.H.—The older original Blavatsky era term], every change in the physical body must also be preceded by a corresponding change in the “astral body.” I thought that, for example, if a tumor were to exist, there would first have to be an invisible astral swelling, which would then result in a visible tumor on the physical body. If it were possible to remove this astral tumor, the visible tumor would not appear, or if it were already there, it would disappear in a short time. The result confirmed the correctness of my theory. Very often, when I met an acquaintance who was suffering from toothache and wanted to go to the dentist with his swollen cheek, I would grasp the invisible swelling, as I imagined it, with my (astral) fingers and pull it out slowly and carefully, so that (as I said) “the root would not break off,” whereupon the toothache stopped immediately and the swelling slowly disappeared. In this way many a maid whom I met in the street and many other people were cured of toothache, rheumatism of the joints, etc. Belief had nothing to do with it, for I usually told the patients that I was only trying it for fun, that they need not believe in it, and that I myself did not expect much from it.
Now, I think it is appropriate to make a remark here. No one can form the right belief for themselves, even if they intend or imagine that they believe something. The right belief does not consist of an apparent intellectual agreement, but is a soul power, an intuition. If you tell a thinking person that they must believe in this or that thing that they do not know, they may perhaps agree to it; but then the inner contradiction and doubt will stir all the more, and with it the resistance of the astral body. But if you tell the patient: “You do not need to believe in it at all,” they feel free from this compulsion, are passive and do not offer any involuntary resistance. Incidentally, it does not seem to be necessary for the patient to believe in the thing or to know anything about the process, as the following event perhaps proves:
I was travelling with Princess M . . . R . . . in an open carriage to Arco. The road is narrow and lined with trees on both sides. A branch of a tree caught in the carriage lantern and, rebounding, struck the lady in the face, leaving a red, bloodshot callus about three or four inches long. Without saying anything, I passed my hand over it and in a few seconds the callus and pain disappeared as if by magic.
I am adding a few more cases as examples. The names of the persons concerned can be communicated privately.
In 1899, when I was living in Torbole on Lake Garda, a Mr. K . . . P . . ., a Swede, came to see me one day. He told me that he was suffering from a spinal cord disease which had made it impossible for him to bend over for five years. He lived in Stockholm, had heard of me and had now come here to stay for a few months and be treated by me. I replied that I was very sorry that he had made the trip in vain, as I did not practice medicine. Mr. K . . . P . . . was very disappointed and asked me to at least examine him. This was done, and when I ran my hand over his back, he suddenly sat up, bent down several times to the ground and declared himself completely cured. Instead of staying in Torbole for two months, he returned to Stockholm the next day, went to America a few years later, came back a few years later and, as far as I know, is still perfectly healthy.
Another case is the following:
I lived in the Villa L . . . in R . . . , three quarters of an hour from T . . . One evening an acquaintance of mine, Baron B., who lived in T . . ., came to see me and asked me to come with him to see his sister-in-law, Signora P . . ., who, he said, was dying. The doctors had had a meeting and said that nothing more could be done. I went with him and found the lady in a state of apathy, unable to speak. She was breathing with gasps and seemed about to suffocate at any moment. I said that it seemed to me that there was little hope of being able to help, but that I would try a “hocus pocus” which, even if it did not help, could do no harm. I then made the maneuver described above and removed the “astral neck swelling.” There was relief in her breathing.
Soon after, I returned to R. . . On the way, I said to myself: “You are a real fool to have gone to T. . . ; for if the lady dies tonight, it will be said that you were the last of the doctors who treated her and that she died as a result of your treatment.”
The next morning I waited every hour to receive a death notice for T. . . By midday I was impatient to find out more. I finally went to T . . . to see for myself. To my surprise there was no mourning ribbon on the front door. I went upstairs and knocked on the door. When I heard a loud “Come in!” I went in. There the woman I thought was dead was standing fully dressed in front of the mirror, trying on a new hat. She was completely healthy and came to R . . . on foot that same afternoon to thank me.
I would have spent my money on studying in vain if I did not know that “science” has words like “hysteria” and the like ready to explain such a case, and I leave it up to everyone to find comfort in them. The next case, however, will hardly fit this explanation:
In July 1904 I came to H. . . and soon after my arrival I learned that my friend W . . . was dying in the hospital. He had been operated on and the bleeding could no longer be stopped. The next morning Mrs. W. came and asked me to go to the hospital with her. When we arrived there the doctor refused us access to the patient, claiming that Mr. W. could no longer be saved and that a visit would only agitate him for no reason. Finally the nurse let us in anyway. Mr. W. . . looked like a man who was bleeding to death and blood was still seeping through the cotton wool from his bandage. He also declared himself ready to die; but I did not agree to this and after I had drawn a few lines across the bandage the bleeding stopped. Three stretchers later, Mr. W . . . had recovered sufficiently to leave the hospital, and the doctor who had attended him declared that he had never seen anything like it, and that this recovery was a disgrace to science.
I could now give a few other similar cases in which this occult method of healing proved effective. In all of them I treated only the externalized part of the disease, and success was never lacking.
Now, perhaps some will ask why, after I had discovered this secret, I did not act as a “miracle doctor” and cure everyone. The answer is that I only undertook this treatment when I was driven to do so by an inner impulse, and it seemed to me as if my other, inner (astral) self was the agent and I was only the instrument. It was, as it were, the hands of my astral body that touched the exteriorized parts of the patient’s astral body with the help of my physical hands. Moreover, I myself did not believe in such things for years and was always inclined to attribute such healings to some other circumstance or coincidence, and finally I was always afraid of making a big deal about occult things. Perhaps a certain vanity is to blame for this, because one does not like to be pilloried and exposed to the ridicule of the learned mob. Nowadays this danger is less, because it is known in many circles that the astral body is of a material nature and that one can see and touch it under certain circumstances. On the other hand, there are many other things, such as the magical effect of certain signs and words, about which silence is highly recommended even now, because the time is not yet ripe for it.
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Algund, January 22, 1912.
Dear Mr. Weitzer!
I have received your valuable letter of yesterday. As for the case in Florence you mentioned, it is as follows:
In 1906, I was friends with a young lady in Florence, Anita C . . ., the daughter of an Italian general. She was suffering from consumptive disease and had already visited several health resorts without success. When I returned there after a long absence from Florence, I learned that she was close to death and had been taken to a relative’s country estate so that she could “get some fresh air” there. It was a Saturday evening when I went there to see her. I found her emaciated to a skeleton and in a condition such as that found in tuberculosis patients who only have a few days to live, and which I will not describe in detail. She was also prepared to die and hoped not to live any longer. I answered her that I did not believe she would die and said that I would do her some “hocus-pocus” which, even if it did not help, could not do any harm either. I then extracted (so to speak) the “occult disease substance” from her breast and promised to visit her there again the following Monday. I would have done this, but on Monday morning I received a letter from her from Florence in which she informed me that I need not bother to go to the country house; she had felt completely well after my visit, no longer needed the country air, and had returned to her parents in Florence on Saturday. When I visited her there, she seemed to have completely recovered. All symptoms of illness had disappeared and, as I learned, she died a few years later from a recurrence of tuberculosis.
I would like to point out that this “occult” method of healing has nothing to do with “magnetization,” otherwise I could practice it at any time and make a fortune as a “miracle doctor.” Unfortunately, it is not I who performs such treatments, but my inner self, over which I have no control, but can only obey the impulses it gives me. It would therefore hardly be of any use to anyone to demand such treatment from me, since I myself cannot use these powers at will.
I could have added various other cases to the above reports, but I have only mentioned a few typical events. It is difficult to say what is decisive in such treatments. Perhaps the law of karma, according to which the patient finds the right method of treatment when the effects of the causes he has created through his bad karma come to an end. (See my book: “The Medicine of Theophrastus Paracelsus” p. 131.) Perhaps the sign of the zodiac under which one was born also plays a role; for it is said that people born under the sign of Scorpio have a lot of vitality due to electro-magnetic influences. (See Eleanor Kicks: “The Influence of the Zodiac.”) Perhaps a match in the astral vibrations between the doctor and the patient is necessary. But it seems to me that a development of the organs of the doctor’s astral body is especially necessary here, and it would certainly mean a great advance in the field of medicine if our doctors were to study the anatomy and physiology of the astral body and learn to use its organs; for even the possession of hands and feet is of no use to a person if he does not know what to do with them.
Notes:
[1] Occult Healings [Okkulte Heilungen. Von Dr. Franz Hartmann. Zentralblatt für Okkultismus 5, no. 9 (March 1912), 505-510 [This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than minor typos, translation from German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025]