that need to be removed from where they might be found in the body.
Proper eliminations provide a greater degree of cleanliness to the cells within the body. Being clean internally, the cells function more efficiently and lend themselves to the healing or maintenance of health in the body as a whole. It’s probably wise to remember that in the Bible we are told that cleanliness is next to godliness.
TUMOR IN THE NECK
Catherine, a young eighty-two, had been thriving under the various therapies suggested in the Edgar Cayce readings. She paid me a visit at the Clinic some time ago because she had developed a lump in the right side of her neck near the angle of her mandible (jaw bone) very close to the attachment of the earlobe.
There was no evidence of any difficulty that would cause a lymph node in that area to be enlarged, so x-rays and laboratory tests were ordered. Still, no basic cause was uncovered.
When she discovered the lump prior to the office call, Catherine began applying castor oil packs to that area. When we first saw the lump, it was the size of a hazelnut and quite firm. In two weeks’ time, the size was down to that of a small pea, and one month later the lump was gone.
Looking back at the event, I suspect it was a lymph node. Had it not rapidly decreased in size, I would have advised a biopsy, a procedure she may have rejected. But no cause was demonstrated and the patient exited from the event in excellent health. In this instance, we did not know what was going on, but we opted to take steps to return the body back to normal. And the castor oil did it.
“HORNY” TOE NAIL
This is a rather common problem in the practice of family medicine, but it is very difficult to correct. Removal does not often provide a cure. It is felt that a fungus may be the etiology, the cause. It is most common in the elderly. In 1977 a woman presented her big toe as a problem for us to solve. It was the site of a “horny” toe nail, large, angled, and very difficult to trim or keep under control.
She was instructed to use foot soaks of Epsom salt for fifteen minutes every night at bedtime. Then she was to wrap the toe in a small castor oil pack, which was to be kept on all night long. This procedure was to be continued for two months. She was seen just six months later. Upon examination, we found her nail to be completely normal.
What happened? Increased circulation? Better lymphatic flow? Fungicidal activity? Faith? Patience and persistence? How her toe nail responded remains—like many other physiological responses—an enigma. But, with patience, persistence, consistency, and castor oil she fixed it!
SKIN CANCER/KERATOSIS
In the early stages, it is probably impossible to tell whether an actinic keratosis is going to develop into what is called a keratotic horn or a squamous cell carcinoma, which is malignant. Commonly, these excessive growths of epidermal cells, keratinocytes, are usually called keratoses. Often, even without a biopsy to prove the point, they are called early or advanced skin cancers. Non-physicians often make the diagnoses themselves.
A woman from Boulder, Colorado, wrote me about her experience: “I had a skin cancer on my nose, near my right eye, which has disappeared after three days of applying castor oil first, then sprinkling baking soda over the spot! I had had the cancer for two years, trying every natural method I had read or heard about. I had previously tried castor oil and a small amount of baking soda in a mixture with no success.”
One of my favorite patients is ninety-three years old (his wife is ninety-five). Both have a tremendous sense of humor. George had a large growth on his right earlobe—a keratosis—which was disfiguring, although not malignant. He had been treated by several other doctors before I saw him, but the keratosis persisted. I instructed him to rub castor oil thoroughly on the earlobe twice daily, and clean it off with a soft cloth. After he returned a year and a half later, the ear was completely normal—no keratosis. He was still using the castor oil, he reported, because it made his ear feel so soft.
An out-of-town friend wrote us about her experience with a similar difficulty. “For about ten years I had a large keratosis (diagnosed by a dermatologist) on each side of my face just in front of the ears. They were removed by the doctor—the one on the right was treated surgically three times—yet both enlarged again each time after treatment. So I just lived with them until finally I realized they were both spreading.
“I began saturating them with castor oil on cotton, covered with a Band-Aid®. I did this every night and noticed that they were changing in color and size. The center parts began erupting, scabbing over, then peeling off—until finally, after about a five-month period, they were both completely gone! The skin is now smooth with no scars that can be seen.”
We have routinely advised our patients to use castor oil on the skin for keratoses, for acne, stretch marks in pregnancy, and general care of the skin. One of our patients rubbed castor oil on her abdomen to prevent stretch marks, and then, noticing that she was developing acne, added treatment to those lesions to her skin-care routine. The acne cleared up and her face was so smooth that she told us that people took her for being twenty-three or twenty-four instead of thirty-five—her real age.
INFECTION AFTER INJURY
Jeff Asher, the son of a longtime friend, lived with us during a good portion of his university studies. We became fast friends and have shared many experiences. His mother Jenny told me a story many years ago and then followed it up with a letter because she was so deeply involved with the Cayce work. Her experience is the kind of thing that happens to people as they come to sudden—or gradual—awareness about something they know but have not yet made real in this world by putting it into action.
“When my daughter, Jody, was twelve, the children were playing on the road. Their ball went down a sewer covered by a manhole cover. The children pried up the heavy, filthy cover but it fell down again on Jody’s bare toes. Her big toe and the next two were crushed.
“We rushed her to UCLA emergency center. An orthopedic surgeon was called in. He cleaned it up as best he could and instructed me to soak it four times a day in Epsom salt solutions and to use a Q-tip® each time to clean around the nailbeds. She was put on antibiotics.
“Four months and three orthopedic surgeons later—one wanted to do a debriding (removing foreign matter and devitalized tissue) in the hospital, which would also shorten her toe—she was on crutches. Her toes would swell with pus every few days. She was still on antibiotics.
“I had your book on the Palma Christi. There is a case of a man who dropped a drum of tar on his foot. Cayce recommended castor oil. The man, I believe, was back in shoes and at work in a matter of weeks. But it takes a whole different brand of courage to defy doctor’s orders when it concerns your own child and not you yourself. I didn’t have the courage, at first. Finally, one Sunday afternoon, I was soaking her foot as usual and could see it was again swelling with pus. This was after four months of the trouble. It was a painful, awful mess. We had an appointment with the doctor on the next Wednesday. I decided to risk the castor oil and simply poured it on from the bottle. The toes could not have tolerated flannel or a pack. Epsom salt soaks and the Q-tip® cleaning were stopped. Just the castor oil.
“On Wednesday, we went to the orthopedic surgeon’s office, your Palma Christi book in hand. I told Jody not to say anything to the doctor. We would wait to hear what he would say. Well, he looked at the toes and said, ‘We sure cleaned it up this time!’
“I
