one finishes applying the final castor oil pack in the series, olive oil is to be consumed; recommendations on amounts range from one-fourth teaspoon to half a teacup (one teacup equals about three to eight fluid ounces). This taking of oil helps with assimilation and acts “ . . . as a food as well as an eliminant for the alimentary canal.” (1553-7) Digesting it also increases bile flow from both the liver and gall bladder; thus, according to Dr. Harold Reilly, if one has gall bladder or liver problems, the olive oil should be taken sparingly, consuming only the minimum amount.
When not in use, store the pack in a glass jar or heavy plastic container and keep it in a cool place. The oil is fairly stable, not turning rancid quickly, allowing the pack to be reused even up to several years. Add a small fresh layer (about one tablespoon) of castor oil, though, onto the pack before each reuse. Of course, if the oil has turned rancid or the pack has become soiled, discard.
DIRECTIONS FROM THE READINGS
For a fifteen-year-old girl suffering from poor eliminations, cholecystitis (inflammation or infection of the gall bladder), and abrasions (reading given on June 8, 1932):
First we would begin with this: Each evening, over the liver area, apply Castor Oil packs. Take a square of flannel that is three-ply, at least, in its thickness, that is at least sixteen to eighteen inches square. This we would thoroughly saturate by dipping in Castor Oil, and have the oil as hot as can be borne on the body. This should be put next to the skin. Do not attempt to put on cold and then heat with pack, or with electric pads, but rather have the oil as hot as may be from the heating of the oil itself; for this heating breaks the atomic forces in the oil so that it is more penetrating to the body when applied to same. This may be left on for the whole evening or night, see? One heating will be sufficient, if there will be used heavy packs that will prevent this becoming too messy, or too much losing of the effect of that obtained in the pack by the dipping and wringing out of same. This pack should cover the liver area, especially—more to the umbilicii center and then backward, see, over the right side. This should cover the area especially of the lacteal ducts, the pancrean area and the gall duct area, which lies between the two lobes—and especially toward the center, a span from the umbilicii center, up and to the right, see?
In the morning sponge off this area of the body with soda water, which will cleanse and also open the pores.
The next evening we would do the same. This we would keep up for at least eight to ten days, see?
On the fifth day, begin with small doses of olive oil taken internally, all the body will assimilate—but take in very small doses, three or four times each day a quarter to half a teaspoonful of pure olive oil. Should this become rancid, then reduce the quantity but continue to take same.
4299-2
[Note that in this reading the olive oil is taken before the eight-to-ten-day series of packs is completed.]
For a sixty-year-old woman with arthritis and cholecystitis (reading given on September 5, 1943):
We would begin applying Castor Oil Packs for an hour each day, for three days in succession; not so hot as to cause too great a discomfort, but so that the area will receive—as it were—a baptism of oil as will be absorbed in the activity of the area about the liver and gall duct. Use at least three thicknesses of flannel thoroughly saturated with the Castor Oil, applied over the liver and gall duct area. Use oil cloth over same to protect the linens, and then an electric pad to keep same warm for at least an hour, at low heat.
When removing the Pack, sponge off the area with a weak soda water solution.
On the evening of the third day, following the taking of the third Castor Oil Pack, take internally two tablespoonsful of Olive Oil.
Then rest from these applications for five days.
3196-1
TESTIMONIALS/RESULTS
A letter dated June 29, 1975, written by an A.R.E. member from Yonkers, New York, Mrs. Richard T. Brand, contained this information:
“I have just finished reading an article from the July A.R.E. Journal {former membership publication which later became Venture Inward magazine} entitled ‘Laying On of Hands.’ The story was very significant for me because I had an experience similar to that woman. I too had discovered a lump in my breast and was told to see a surgeon as soon as possible. My doctor told me he thought it was a cyst and not a tumor, but in any event should be removed.
“I had read where Castor Oil Packs on external cysts, warts, and moles were beneficial but I hadn’t read where it was recommended for the breast. Well, I applied the packs faithfully for about a week. I even fell asleep once with a pack on! Almost immediately the size of the lump decreased. During this time I meditated daily. I say this only because I often miss a day or two and I know meditation has a healing effect on the body.
“During the next month I continued the packs but only once every two days.
“It is now two months later since finding the lump and it has disappeared. I returned to my doctor and after examining me found everything normal. He asked if I saw the surgeon and I replied, ‘No.’ Whatever—the lump is gone and I feel the Castor Oil had a lot to do with it.”
683-3, Report #4
A surgeon in Shillington, Pennsylvania, Dr. Bob McTammany, related the following story to Dr. William McGarey, who writes in The Oil That Heals:
“He told me . . . about a post-vaginal hysterectomy patient who developed a febrile course and a large pelvic abscess which improved on antibiotics and proteolytic enzymes, although a 10 x 10 cm mass remained. She refused further surgery, and after several weeks of malaise, fever, low abdominal tenderness and pain, and no general improvement, she was then convinced that she should begin application of castor oil packs, used one hour daily. She improved remarkably symptom-wise, and examination in one month showed almost complete resolution of the pelvic abscess. Bob feels that these packs might be beneficial to post-operative patients in order to improve wound healing and reduce the incidence of infection.”
From a research report by a woman correspondent who wrote to the A.R.E. Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona (no longer in operation), comes this story, later submitted by Dr. William McGarey to “Notes from the Medical Research Bulletin” in The A.R.E. Journal:
“An alcoholic for more than 20 years . . . she used castor oil packs on her abdomen for an entirely different reason four years ago. It seemed that she had developed a severe abdominal pain. She did not consult her doctor, so her own diagnosis of ‘probably an intestinal disorder’ will have to suffice, no matter how inadequate. She reports that her pain lessened a little each day, as she applied the packs on a twice daily routine. An apparent constipation was thoroughly corrected on the second day, but she continued the packs for a period of two weeks.
“The most remarkable result of her own little adventure in consciousness, however, is the real point of this story. She adds as a postscript to her report that ‘Since the day I first used oil packs, I have not touched a drop of liquor—nor have I had the desire to do so . . . I used to drink myself to sleep every single night.’
“My question is: What is it that happens to people that makes a simple act of healing turn their lives into a new channel of living? Why should applications of castor oil packs rival Alcoholics Anonymous in this particular event in time and space? Life offers
