The Mystery of Healing (Lumen Editions)

Applebaum set out on an odyssey to understand the mystery of healing with a focus on healing outside the context of Western Medicine. Healers have included Jesus, kings such as Edward the Confessor and Charles II who were said to possess a healing touch, and countless others, including grandmothers from many cultures brewing herbal concoctions to cure ills.

Applebaum explores healings by way of a spiritualist medium (also known a psychic healing), the laying on of hands, healing through prayer, voodoo, folk medicine in Belize, and reflexology. He experiments with LSD in what he calls a "safe house". He travels to Oral Roberts University to witness members of an audience being healed through faith healing.

By making himself the subject of these healers, he personally experiences each therapy, with varying degrees of success. Controversial, even illegal treatments that are not universally recognized prove to be, in the very least, fascinating and mind-expanding. Applebaum's central concern is whether or not these techniques work, and if so, how.

Chapters include: The Spirit is Willing: Meetings with a Medium The Magical Mystery Tour: Bare Hand Surgery The Laying on of Hands: Healing by Touch Voodoo That Old Black Magic: Healing in Haiti It’s all in the Reflexes: Amazing Reflexology Tripping the Light Fantastic: The Possibilities of LSD Beating the Bushes: Folk Medicine in Belize and Beyond