A Scriptural Basis for Raindrop Technique
by David Stewart, PhD, DNM
Originally Posted September – October 2006
1. A Scriptural Basis for Raindrop Technique
by David Stewart, PhD, DNM
From the Bible we find the following words where KJV = King James Version and NRSV = New Revised Standard Version:
“Then God said, Let the earth bring vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it. And it was so. . . And God saw that it was good.” (NRSV) Genesis 1:11-12
“My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.” (KJV) Or “May my teaching drop like the rain, my speech condense like the dew; like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth.” (NRSV) Deuteronomy 32:1-2
“He shall come to us as the rain, as the latter and former rain to the earth.” (KJV) Or “He will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (NRSV) Hosea 6:3
WHAT IS RAINDROP TECHNIQUE?
Raindrop technique is a protocol for anointing the feet and back with a sequence of essential oils that takes about an hour to perform. It is to be administered with a prayerful attitude, acknowledging that the oils and their application are only a means to facilitate an environment where God’s energy can flow to bring about healing and balance to our lives. Hundreds of thousands have experienced raindrop and found healing benefits through its administration. It was originated by D. Gary Young during the 1980s and developed and refined by him into its many current versions and variations.
The oils, in the sequence applied, are 1. Valor(R), a blend of spruce, blue tansy, frankincense, and rosewood in an almond oil base. 2. Oregano. (3) Thyme. (4) Basil. (5) Wintergreen. (6) Marjoram. (7) Cypress. and (8) Peppermint. A massage oil called Ortho Ease(R) is also applied which contains base oils of coconut, grape seed, wheat germ, almond, and olive along with essential oils of wintergreen, juniper, peppermint, lemongrass, marjoram, thyme, and vetiver. Another blend called Aroma Seiz(R) is used on tight muscles as needed which is a combination of basil, marjoram, lavender, peppermint and cypress. Thus, raindrop makes use of fifteen different essential oils and five different carrier oils.
By such a variety of oils applied in the unique manner that is raindrop, every organ and tissue of the body is addressed, not to mention our emotions and the electric fields of our bodies. Thus, it is no wonder that such an omnibus of oils able to address such a wide spectrum of issues has been reported to deliver relief from dozens of maladies. Among other things, receiving a raindrop usually results in growth. Most people are taller immediately following a raindrop.
Data compiled from more than 10,000 sessions of raindrop are summarized in the book, “A Statistical Validation of Raindrop Technique,” available from a number of sources, including http://www.RaindropTraining.com. This study demonstrates overwhelmingly that raindrop is both safe and effective–a good thing to receive and a good thing to give. Also found on that website is a calendar of Raindrop Training workshops offered throughout North America–more than a hundred of which are given each year.
There are some Christians who are uncertain about using essential oils as being compatible with scripture and who question raindrop technique in particular. Being concerned about what is pleasing to God and what is not, they want to be sure of what they do and/or receive.
First of all, Jesus taught his disciples to anoint with oil in their healing mission. (Mark 6:13) Early Christians routinely anointed with oil those who were sick among them. (James 5:14-15) These verses are sometimes interpreted to mean that the oils used were only symbolic and were probably olive oil or whatever cooking oils were on hand. But this is not so. In all cases, when anointings were done in Biblical times, they were either pure essential oils or fatty oils containing essential oils. In fact, the holy anointing oil of Exodus 30:22-31 was only 18% olive oil and 82% essential oils. So there is nothing unchristian about anointing with scented oils with blessing and healing.
Secondly, the aromas of essential oils were said to be “pleasing to God,” and the incense burned in the churches and temples was a special offering to God. So there is nothing unchristian about filling a sanctuary with the sweet odors that help us calm our minds and focus our attention on God during worship. Consider Philippians 4:18, “. . . having received from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.” (KJV) Or “. . . now that I have received the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.” (NRSV) For more on this, see the book, “Healing Oils of the Bible.”
Thirdly, God created essential oils when he spoke the plant kingdom into existence, as stated in Genesis 1:11 quoted above. In so doing he imbued the oils with his very word, his very intelligence. The book, Chemistry of Essential Oils Made Simple” or “God’s Love Manifest in Molecules,” establishes not only the scientific basis for how essential work, but also the scriptural and spiritual basis of their healing power, how God uses the oils he has created for healing.
So much for establishing the scriptural validity of using God’s aromatic oils for health and healing. But when it comes to raindrop technique, some Christians have reservations because the procedure is a combination of techniques and concepts from Swedish, Tibetan, and Native American sources along with Gary Young’s own discoveries on how to deliver optimal benefits with the oils. Of course, no where in the Bible does it prohibit Christians from learning and adopting healing arts and practices from other cultures, including non-Christian cultures, provided such arts and practices are not contradictory to Jesus’ teachings.
In fact, the society in which we live, eat, work, and worship is the amalgamation of countless cultures, both ancient and current, mostly non-Christian. We cannot avoid this fact. Some hold reservations about aromatherapy and raindrop out of fear and lack of understanding, seeing that it is a product of several cultures, not necessarily all Christian. But by the gift of discernment (I Corinthians 12:10) we can tell what to embrace and what to avoid which is a matter of faith, not of fear.
In Luke 6:43-45 Jesus gives us a simple test to distinguish good things from evil. “A good tree brings not forth corrupt fruit; neither does a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. . . A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good.” Therefore, by Christ’s standards, raindrop and those who practice it are good things. Properly understood and properly applied, raindrop technique is a gift from God delivered to us via the vehicle of Gary Young, a good Christian man who has made it available to everyone.
In light of the scriptures quoted above and in light of the fact that essential oils are embodiments of God’s very word, condensed and distilled like dew from the plants He created, one can think of raindrop technique like this: As the oil drops fall upon one’s back and shoulders like a spring shower or a gentle rain, they carry God’s healing doctrines, teachings, and speech unto our bodies and minds to restore balance, wellness, and new growth according to His will.
“Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.” III John 2.
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2. It’s All in Your Mind or Is It?
by David Stewart
We are told in Proverbs 23:7, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” When doctors cannot find a physical cause of an illness, they sometimes say, “It’s all in your head.” This is if to say, “It isn’t real. It is all in your imagination.” The implication is that it would be easy to fix the problem by simply changing your mind and controlling your thoughts and feelings.
While it is true that at least 80% of all the sicknesses and conditions we suffer have emotional, mental, and/or spiritual roots, it is not always easy to fix the problem even when one fully understands the nonphysical causes. Controlling our thoughts and emotions is, perhaps, the greatest challenge there is. In Proverbs 16:32 we read: “One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and one whose temper is controlled than one who captures a city.” In other words, prevailing against our unruly thoughts and feelings is more difficult than prevailing in military battle or material conquest.
THE COMPLEXITIES OF EMOTIONAL ROOTS
Back in early 2000 I developed what was diagnosed as osteoarthritis in my right knee. The medical professionals recommended a knee replacement. I refused. Instead, I applied essential oils of cypress and wintergreen (with prayers) and after two months my knee was healed. I did not need a knee replacement. A complete account of this healing can be found in the Raindrop Messenger Vol 3, No 4, May 2005, which is archived on the website, http://www.RaindropTraining.com.
After several years of pain-free knees, running and walking hundreds of miles, in January 2006 I began to feel pain in my right knee again. I applied the same oils (cypress and wintergreen) but this time they did not help. I realized that a recurring pain meant that there were still spiritual and emotional issues to be resolved, that either I had not completely resolved them the first time or new issues had come into my life. I prayed for guidance.
An emotional release session revealed to me that some of the new pain in my knee was related to an injury I sustained more than thirty years earlier as a young man. I was running headlong down a steep hill and caught my foot in a buried barbed wire, throwing myself hard onto the ground and twisting my right knee. That injury took several years to heal. During the emotional release when I recalled that incident, I asked of my innate intelligence why I had allowed myself to experience such an “accident,” I got an answer. It had to do with some insecurities I was feeling at the time with the company of the other guys I was running with. My respect for them had caused me to feel unworthy to “run with them” and, hence, I incapacitated myself so I would not be able to “run with them” any more. That realization brought instant and total relief to my pain, and I even ran up and down stairways for the next couple of days with no pain. But it did not last. A few days later the pain started to return. I then knew there were other issues unresolved.
With some further emotional releasing, I recalled an earlier incident. Back in 1967 I had accidentally pulled a power mower over my right foot and sliced off the end of my big toe. Here I was in 2006, almost 40 years later, finding out that I was still storing some emotional trauma about that experience. Furthermore, My wife, Lee, and I had noticed over the last 20 years or so that I was getting more and more bowlegged and wondered why. We had noticed that for years my shoes always wore more on the outside edges than on the inside.
It turned out that because of my shortened left big toe, instead of properly pushing off with my big toe when walking, I had unconsciously developed a habit of walking on the outside of my left foot. This caused my right side to compensate and walk on the outside of the right foot also. This put an additional strain on my already weakened right knee which was another contributor to the recurring pain suffered at that location. Upon this realization, release of that trauma, and the conscious development of a new habit to use both of my big toes in walking, the pain in my right knee was further reduced and many days it was completely gone.
But the pain still would come and go. Some days were painless and others were very painful. I also noticed that the pain was not always restricted to the knee, but also extended up the thigh and even down to my ankle. Putting oils on my knee only partially relieved the pain. Then one night I realized that when I lifted my right leg, stretching my lower spine, the pain subsided. I then realized that while the pain was in my right knee and leg, the cause was in my spine. It was a form of sciatica.
Assuming that the problem originated from pinched nerves originating through my sacral vertebrae, I began treating my sacral and hip area with cistus and peppermint oils, which helped. I also looked up the emotional issues related to the sacrum in the book, “Heal Your Body,” by Louise Hay, as well as the causes of sciatica in the book, “Feelings Buried Alive,” by Karol Truman and began doing some spiritual work on myself. I was able to get a good night’s sleep by applying these oils and these spiritual principles and, for the most part, I was pain free, but not entirely. So, I kept praying for insight. “God, I am trying my best to learn the lessons you want for me from this pain, so What is left for me to learn? I need your help?”
Things were progressing well and I was well on the way to complete mending when, about a week before the Young Living Convention in Salt Lake City, September 28-30, 2006, I did something stupid. I was standing on a step ladder to stack some heavy boxes when I decided to put my right foot on a nearby table, leaving my left on the top of the ladder. That is like putting one foot in a canoe and leaving the other on the bank. The canoe will move out and in the water you go. In this case, the ladder tipped over and I fell, wrenching my right hip and knee. I was in pain again in the same knee, this time from a new injury. I used oils and affirmations, but immediate relief did not come. I knew it would heal, but apparently it would take time.
THE IMPORTANCE OF AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS
A week after returning from Young Living, on October 7, a massage therapist friend came to visit and mentioned that the chiropractic clinic where she worked was having an open house that day and we should come. She said there was lots of drinks and snacks. Free food was all we needed to hear and my wife and I were off to the open house.
The chiropractor, Dr. Beverly Peters, was offering free spinal scans with her new equipment that measures the electrical currents in your skeletal muscles as well as temperature differences on the skin over the spine. I was in particularly severe pain that day. The electromyogram and thermogram did not show anything significant in the sacral area, but showed extreme inflammation at the lumbar vertebrae–L1, L3, and L5–on the right side. I was astonished and puzzled by the results because I had never had any pain in the lumbar area.
What I learned from Dr. Peters is that pinched nerves in the lumbar area (as well as the sacral area) can result in pains in the thighs, knees, and ankles, just as I had been experiencing. I learned that the location of a pain in our bodies is not necessarily the location of its source. I left her office temporarily confused with the new information on my lumbar. I did not immediately comprehend the significance of what I had learned nor how to make the best use of my new knowledge.
That night, before retiring, I prayed to God for guidance. I said, “God, I am confused. I know my pains are due to some emotional or spiritual deficit on my part, but I don’t know what it is or how to deal with it. Please reveal the truth to me so I can learn whatever spiritual lessons I am to learn. If I am to continue to do your work, I need to be rid of this pain.” The next morning I awoke with the answer. I received a clear message that the chiropractic assessment for the L1, L3, and L5 lumbar was correct and I should look up the emotional and spiritual roots associated with these vertebrae and take appropriate action.
I immediately consulted with Louise Hay’s book, “Heal Your Body”, which details the emotions associated with each and every vertebra. I had already consulted her book for the sacral bones, but the affirmations and insights given for the sacrum had not worked. I was focusing on the wrong vertebrae which had led me to the wrong emotional and spiritual issues. With my new knowledge gained by an electro-thermal assessment, I applied the insights and affirmations for L1, L3, and L5, and bingo! My pains were gone within an hour or two and have not been a problem ever since. I sit here painlessly today as I write this article.
It took a correct diagnosis to zero in on the problem and solve it. If I should start to backslide and sense the pain returning, I know I can reaffirm the sayings given by Louse Hay for the issues related to those specific lumbar portions of my spine and the pains will go away.
Several days after the chiropractic clinic open house I went back for another scan (which I paid for this time) and predictably the electro-thermograph showed that the inflammation had almost completely disappeared by then. However, I could see that there was still more work to do, but I feel that finally I have found the last pieces of the puzzle and have a means of attaining and maintaining a permanent healing.
MOST HEALINGS TAKE TIME
The New Testament speaks of various healings by Jesus and his disciples 73 times. We tend to assume that all of these were instantaneous and miraculous. But if you dig into the Greek from which our English Bibles were translated, you find that most of them referred to gradual healing with therapy over time. (See “Healing Oils of the Bible” for more on this.) The reason it often takes time to heal is because it takes time and effort for us to learn the spiritual lessons necessary to allow the healing to take place.
I have learned several spiritual lessons through this experience. Finally, after months of prayer, striving and applying essential oils for physical and emotional assistance, I believe I have finally unraveled my knee problems, which were complex and related to a number of issues, past and present. Along the way I received a series of partial healings, but it has taken time to piece together the whole puzzle facilitated by a resolve to keep praying and searching until the answers are found. Jesus said, “Seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” (Matthew 7:7-8) This is Christ’s promise that our “finding and door opening” is assured if we persist. He did not say how long you may need to “seek and knock.”
I also learned the value of an accurate diagnosis. In 44 years of married life and raising five children, my wife and I have rarely gone to traditional health care providers of any kind for treatment, but have occasionally gone to get a diagnosis. We prefer to attend to the healing by our own natural, non-medical means, but determining the best course of action, including adjustments in thoughts and attitudes, is greatly facilitated by an accurate diagnosis. Otherwise you can be spending your time in unproductive approaches. The lesson there is that if what you are doing is not working, keep seeking until find something else to do, knowing that a solution is always to be found if we just don’t give up.
This experience makes me realize all the more that our pains and woes are coded messages to gain our attention to nudge us on our way along the spiritual pathway to God. It is not always pleasant nor painless, but when we achieve a victory, we find the peace, joy and presence of God ever closer.
