Periodicity
In
many forms of acute disease, crises develop with marked regularity
and in well-defined periodicity. This phenomenon has been observed
and described by many physicians.
It
is not so well known, however, that in the cure of chronic diseases
also, crises develop in accordance with certain laws of periodicity.
Periodicity
is governed by the Septimal Law or Law of Sevens, which seems to
be the basic law governing the vibratory activities of the planetary
universe.
The
harmonics of heat, light, sound, electricity, magnetism and of atomic
structure and arrangement run in scales of seven.
The
Law of Sevens governs the days of the week, the phases of the moon
and the menstrual periods of the woman. Every observing physician
is aware of its influence on feverish, nervous and psychic diseases.
The
Law of Sevens dominates the life of individuals and of nations and
of everything that lives and has periods of birth, growth, fruitage
and decline.
Over
two thousand years ago Pythagoras and Hippocrates distinctly recognized
and proclaimed the Law of Crises in its bearing on the cure of chronic
diseases. They taught that alternating, well-defined periods of
improvement and of crises were determined and governed by the law
of periodicity and by the law of numbers (the Septimal Law).
The
following quotations are taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica,
Vol. XV, p. 800:
"But
this artistic completeness was closely connected with 'the third
cardinal virtue' of Hippocratic medicine--the clear recognition
of disease as being equally with life a process governed by what
we should now call natural laws, which could be known by observation
and which indicated the spontaneous and normal direction of recovery,
by following which alone could the physician succeed.
"Another
Hippocratic doctrine, the influence of which is not even yet exhausted,
is that of the healing power of Nature. Not that Hippocrates taught,
as he was afterwards reproached with teaching, that Nature is sufficient
for the cure of diseases; for he held strongly the efficacy of art.
But he recognized, at least in acute diseases, a natural process
which the humours went through--being first of all crude, then passing
through coction or digestion, and finally being expelled by resolution
or crisis through one of the natural channels of the body. The duty
of the physician was to foresee these changes, 'to assist or not
to hinder them,' so that 'the sick man might conquer the disease
with the help of the physician.' The times at which crises were
to be expected were naturally looked for with anxiety; and it was
a cardinal point in the Hippocratic system to foretell them with
precision. Hippocrates, influenced as is thought by the Pythagorean
doctrine of numbers, taught that they were to be expected on days
fixed by certain numerical rules, in some cases on odd, in others
on even numbers--the celebrated doctrine of 'critical days.' It
follows from what has been said that prognosis, or the art of foretelling
the course and event of the disease, was a strong point with the
Hippocratic physicians. In this perhaps they have never been excelled.
Diagnosis, or recognition of the disease, must have been necessarily
imperfect, when no scientific nosology, or system of disease* existed,
and the knowledge of anatomy was quite inadequate to allow of a
precise determination of the seat of disease; but symptoms were
no doubt observed and interpreted skilfully. The pulse is not spoken
of in any of the works now attributed to Hippocrates himself, though
it is mentioned in other works of the collection.
*The
author of this article in the Encyclopedia Britannica does not see
that it is the modern [then as now] orthodox "scientific nosology,
or system of disease" which obscures the simplicity and precision
of the Hippocratic philosophy of disease and cure.
"In
the treatment of disease, the Hippocratic school attached great
importance to diet, the variations necessary in different diseases
being minutely defined…. In chronic cases diet, exercises
and natural methods were chiefly relied upon."
These
wonderful truths, with other wisdom of the ancients, were lost in
the spiritual darkness of the Middle Ages. Modern medicine looks
upon these claims and teachings of the Hippocratic School as "superstition
without any foundation in fact." However, the great sages of
antiquity, drawing upon a source of ancient wisdom, deeply hidden
from the self-satisfied scribes and wise men of the schools, after
all, proclaimed the truth.
Every
case of chronic disease properly treated by natural methods
proves the reality and stability of the Law of Crises. It is therefore
a standing wonder and surprise to one who knows, that this all-important
and self-evident law is practically unknown to the disciples of
the regular schools.
The Law of Sevens
In
accordance with the Law of Periodicity, the sixth period in any
seven periods is marked by reactions, changes, revolutions or crises.
It is, therefore, looked upon by popular intuition as an unlucky
period. Friday, the sixth day of the week, is regarded as an unlucky
day; Friday is hangman's day; according to tradition the Master,
Jesus, was crucified on Friday.
Counting
from the first sixth or Friday period in any given number of hours,
days, weeks, months, years or groups of years, as the case may be,
every succeeding seventh period is characterized by crises.
This
explains why 13 is considered an unlucky number. It represents the
second critical or Friday period.
However,
there is really no cause for this superstitious fear of Friday and
the number 13. It is due to a lack of understanding of Nature's
Laws. By intelligent cooperation with these laws we may turn the
critical periods in our lives into healing crises and beneficial
changes.
We
should not fear the crises periods of the larger life and the changes
in our outward circumstances which they may bring any more than
we should fear crises in the physical body.
A
thorough understanding of the nature and purpose of healing crises
in acute and chronic diseases has taught me the nature and purpose
of evil in general. It has made me understand more clearly the meaning
of "Resist not Evil" and of the saying: "We are punished
by our sins, not for our sins."
It has shown me that evil is not a punishment or a curse, but a
necessary complement of good, that it is corrective and educational
in its purposes, that it remains with us only as long as we need
its salutary lessons.
The
evil of physical disease is not due to accident or to the arbitrary
rulings of a capricious Providence, nor is it always "error
of mortal mind." From the Nature Cure philosophy and its practical
applications we have learned that, barring accidents and conditions
or surroundings unfavorable to human life, it is caused in every
instance by violations of the physical laws of our being. So the
social, political and industrial evil of the larger life is brought
about by violations of the law in the respective domains of life
and action.
So
long as transgressions of the physical laws of our being result
in hereditary and acquired disease encumbrances, we must expect
reactions which may become either disease crises or healing crises.
Likewise, so long as ignorance, selfishness and self-indulgence
continue to create evil in other domains of life, we must expect
there also the occurrence of crises, of reaction and revolution.
When knowledge, self-control and altruism become the sole motives
of action, evil and the crises it necessitates will naturally disappear.
Therefore,
we should not be afraid of changes and crises periods but
cooperate with them clear-eyed and strong-willed. Then
they will result in improvement and further growth.
Life
is growth, and growth is change. The only death is stagnation. The
loss of friends, home or fortune may seem for the time being an
overwhelming calamity; but if met in the right spirit, such losses
will prove stepping-stones to greater opportunity and higher achievement.
Many
of our patients formerly looked upon their diseased condition as
a great misfortune and an undeserved punishment; but since it brought
them in contact with the Nature Cure philosophy and showed them
the necessity of complying with the laws of their being, they now
look upon the former evil as the greatest blessing in their lives,
because it taught them how to become the masters of fate instead
of remaining the plaything of Nature's destructive forces.
Why
should we fear even the greatest of all crises, physical death,
when it, also, is only the gateway to a larger life, greater opportunities
and more beautiful surroundings? Why should we mourn and grieve
over the death of friends and relatives, when they have only emigrated
to another, better country?
Suppose
we ourselves had to enter upon the great journey today or tomorrow,
shouldn't we be glad to meet some of our friends on the other side
and to be welcomed, advised and guided by them in the new surroundings?
Therefore
we should not fear, nor endeavor to avoid the crises in any and
all domains of life and action, but meet them and cooperate with
them fearlessly and intelligently. They then will always make for
greater opportunity and higher accomplishment.
The Law of Sevens Applied to Individual Life
Applied
to the life of the individual, the Law of Periodicity manifests
itself as follows:
Human
life on the earth plane is divided into periods of seven years.
The first seven years represent the period of infancy. With the
next seven, the years of childhood, begins individual responsibility,
the conscious discernment between right and wrong. The third group
comprises the years of adolescence; the fourth marks the attainment
of full growth. Nearly all civilized countries take cognizance of
this fact by fixing the legal age at twenty-one.
The
twenty-eighth year, the beginning of the fifth period, is another
milestone along the road to development.
The
sixth period, beginning at the age of thirty-five and ending at
forty-two, is marked by reactions, changes and crises. It may, therefore,
seem an unlucky period; but if we understand the law and comply
with it, we shall be better and stronger in every way after we have
passed this period.
During
the seventh period, the effects of the sixth or crises period continue
and adjust themselves. It is a period of reconstruction, of recuperation
and rest, and thus the best preparation for a new cycle of sevens
which begins with the fiftieth year.**
**Those
who are interested in the Law of Periodicity as applied to life
in general, will find much valuable information in a book entitled
Periodicity by J. R. Buchanan, M.D., published by the Kosmos Publishing
Co., 2112 Sherman Ave., Evanston, Il.
In
this connection it is interesting to note that the Mosaic law recognized
the law of periodicity and fixed upon Sunday as the first day or
"birthday" of the week, and upon Saturday (the Sabbath)
as the last or "rest" day, in which to prepare for another
period of seven days.
Orthodox
science now admits that the normal length of human life should be
about one hundred and fifty years. This would constitute three cycles
of forty-nine years each, the first corresponding to youth, the
second to maturity, and the third to fruition.
The Law of Sevens in Febrile Diseases
If
we apply the Laws of Periodicity to the course of acute febrile
or inflammatory diseases, we find that the sixth day from the beginning
of the first well-defined symptom marks the first Friday-period
or the first crisis of the disease, and that every seventh day thereafter
is also distinguished by aggravations and changes, either for better
or for worse.
The Law of Sevens in Chronic Diseases
Applied
to the cure of chronic diseases under the influence of natural methods
of living and of treatment, the Laws of Crises and of Periodicity
manifest as follows:
When
a chronic patient, whose chances of cure are good, is placed under
proper (natural) conditions of living and of treatment he will,
as a rule, experience five weeks of marked improvement.
The
sixth week, if conditions are favorable, usually marks the beginning
of acute reactions or healing crises. This means that the healing
forces of the organism have grown strong enough to begin the work
of acute elimination.
By
all sorts of acute reactions, such as skin eruptions, diarrheas,
feverish, inflammatory and catarrhal conditions, boils, abscesses,
mucopurulent discharges, etc., Nature now endeavors to remove the
latent, chronic disease taints from the system.
The
character of the healing crises and the time of their occurrence
in any given case can often be accurately predicted by means of
the Diagnosis from the Eye (see Chapter XIII),
from Nature's records in the iris.
But
the best of all methods of diagnosis is the cure iself, because
weak spots and morbid taints in the organism are revealed through
the healing crises.
The Same Old Aches and Pains
Frequently
we hear from a patient in the throes of crises: "These are
the same old aches and pains that I had before. It is exactly the
same trouble I have been suffering with for many years. This is
not a crisis !--I have caught a cold, or I have eaten something
which does not agree with me."
The
patient has forgotten what we taught him regarding the Law of Crises.
He loses sight of the fact that healing crises are nothing more
or less than a coming-up-again of old disease conditions,
an acute manifestation of ailments which had become chronic through
neglect or suppression.
Of
course they are "the same old aches and pains." Nature
Cure does not create new diseases. Crises mean the stirring up and
eliminating of hereditary and acquired taints and poisons. Under
the right methods of treatment, any previous disease condition suppressed
by drugs or knife or by mental effort may recur as a healing crisis.
They
are the same old aches and pains which so often gave trouble in
the past, but they are now running their course under different
conditions because the patient is now living in harmony
with Nature's Laws.
Under
the natural regimen, Nature is encouraged and assisted in her cleansing
and healing efforts. She is allowed in her own wise way to tear
down the old and build up the new.
The
"Old Schools" of healing proclaim Mother Nature a poor
healer. But we of the Nature Cure school believe that the wisdom
which created this wonderful, complex mechanism which we call the
human body knows also how to preserve and to repair it. Every healing
crisis passed under natural conditions assisted by natural methods
of treatment leaves the body purified and strengthened and nearer
to perfect health.
Our
critics and opponents frequently ask us how we know that our methods
are natural and in harmony with Nature's laws.
To
this we reply: The timely appearance of healing crises, their orderly
development and favorable termination constitute the best criterion
of the correctness and naturalness of the methods of treatment employed.
The prompt arrival and beneficial results of acute reactions are
a certain indication that the healing forces of the organism are
in the ascendancy and that the treatment is in conformity with the
natural laws of cure and with the constructive principle
in Nature.
Another
question sometimes asked of us is: "Do healing crises develop
in every chronic disease under natural treatment?" Our answer
is: If the condition of the patient is not favorable to a cure,
that is, if the vitality is too low and the destruction of vital
parts too far advanced, the healing crises may be proportionately
delayed or may not occur at all. In such cases the disease symptoms
will increase in severity and complexity and become more destructive
instead of more constructive, until the final fatal crisis. The
end may come quickly, or the patient may decline gradually toward
the fatal termination.
Again,
patients ask us: "Through how many crises shall I have to pass?"
We tell them: Just as many as you need; no more, no less. So long
as there is anything wrong in the system, crises will come and go;
but each crisis, if successfully passed, is another milestone on
the road to perfect health.
It
is intensely interesting to observe how orderly and intelligently
Nature proceeds in her work of healing and repair. One problem after
another is taken up and adjusted.
First
of all, the digestive organs are put into better condition, because
further progress depends upon proper assimilation and elimination.
The bowels must act freely and naturally before any permanent improvement
can take place. A treatment which fails to accomplish this first
preliminary improvement will surely fail to produce more important
results.
In
this connection it is a significant fact that nearly all our patients,
when they come under our care, are suffering from very stubborn
constipation in spite of (or possibly on account of) lifelong drugging.
Neither medicines nor operations had given them anything but temporary
relief and the trouble had grown worse instead of better.
If
the "Old School" methods of treatment were not successful
in relieving simple constipation, what else can they be expected
to cure, since the overcoming of constipation is evidently the primary
necessity for any other improvement?
A
system of treatment which cannot accomplish this cannot accomplish
anything else. It is strange, therefore, that a school of medicine
which has not succeeded, with all its vaunted knowledge and wisdom,
to cure simple constipation, flatly denies that natural methods
can cure cancer, epilepsy, locomotor ataxy and other so-called incurable
diseases.
Our Greatest Difficulty
The
greatest difficulty in our work lies in conducting our patients
safely through the stormy crises periods. The first, preliminary
improvement is often so marked that the patient believes himself
already cured. He wilI say: "Doctor, I am feeling fine! There
is nothing the matter with me any more! I cannot understand why
I shouldn't go home and continue the natural regimen there!"
This
feeling of mental elation and physical well-being is usually the
sign that the first general improvement has progressed far enough
to prepare the system for a healing crisis. Therefore my answer
to the overconfident patient may be something like this: "Remember
what I told you. The first improvement is not the cure, it is only
the preparation for the real fight. Look out! In a few days you
may whistle another tune."
And
sure enough, usually within a few days after such a conversation
the patient is down in the slough of despond. His digestive organs
are in a wretched condition. He is nauseated, his tongue is coated,
he is suffering from headache and from a multitude of other symptoms
according to his individual condition. In fact, many of the old
aches and pains which he thought already cured come up again with
renewed force.
Healing
crises, representing radical changes in the system, are always accompanied
by physical and mental weakness, because every bit of vitality is
drawn upon in these reconstructive processes. The entire organism
is shaken up to its very foundation; deep-seated, chronic disease
taints are being stirred up throughout the system.
The
eliminative processes of the healing crises are often accompanied
by great mental depression and a feeling of strong revulsion to
the natural regimen and everything connected with it.
The
patient thinks that, after all, Nature Cure is not for him, that
he is growing worse instead of better. In proportion to the severity
of the changes going on within him, he becomes disheartened and
despondent. Often he exhibits all the mental and emotional symptoms
of homesickness. In these critical days it requires all our powers
of persuasion to keep the depressed and discouraged patient from
giving up the fight and from taking something to relieve his distress.
He insists that "something must be done for him," and
cannot understand how he will ever get out of his "awful condition"
without some good strong medicine.
If
our patients were not continually and thoroughly instructed regarding
the Laws of Crises and of Periodicity and if we did not strongly
advise and encourage them to persevere with the treatment, few of
them would hold out during these critical periods.
This
explains why so many people fail to be cured and it also explains
why natural living and self-treatment often do not meet with the
desired results if carried on without the instruction and guidance
of a competent, experienced Nature Cure physician.
So
long as the improvement continues, everything is lovely and hope
soars high. But when the inevitable crises arrive, the sufferer
believes that, after all, he made a mistake in taking up the natural
regimen, especially so when friends and relatives do their best
to destroy his confidence in the natural methods of cure by ridicule
and dire prophesies of failure.
Frightened
and discouraged, the patient returns to the "flesh-pots of
Egypt" and to the good old pills and potions and ever afterwards
he tells his friends that "he tried Nature Cure and the vegetarian
diet, but it was no good."
Mother
Nature remains a "book sealed with seven seals" to those
who mistrust, despise and counteract her, who rely on man-made wisdom
and the ever-changing theories and dogmas of the schools.
But
on the other hand, every crisis conducted to a successful termination
in accordance with Nature's laws becomes an inspiration to him who
follows her guidance and assists her with intelligent effort and
loving care.