By Rafael Vergnaud

John of God doing a self-surgery after his stroke.
Why was it necessary to do a physical surgery?

Tuesday, May 20, we arrived at Abadiania. At about 5 PM, we walked a few houses down the street to the Casa de Dom Inacio de Loyola, a building complex. There, we joined a group for orientation. We learned about Spiritism, John of God, the Casa history, and the rules and guidelines.  Earlier, I had read Spirits with Scalpels by Greenfield for the class.  It discusses many past healers, including Jose Carlos Ribiero and Edson Queiroz, who often performed physical surgeries. Reading Greenfield gave me the impression that physical surgeries were an essential part in Spiritist healing and I expected that impression to be maintained during my visit at the Casa.  The many Youtube videos show John of God repeatedly carving up and drawing blood from his visitors.

Video screen at the back of the Grand Hall aires video physical surgeries all day long.

However, much to my surprise during the orientation, Diego made clear that the Casa had a preference for spiritual surgeries over physical ones.

The following points were raised in orientation:

1. There is a new vocabulary at the Casa, surgeries are now to be called spiritual or physical “interventions.”

2. The Casa insists that visitors should continue all medical treatments and to treat Spiritist healing as complimentary to such treatment.

3. Diego made clear that, if there be a conflict between medical treatment and spiritual treatment, one should prioritize medical treatment.

4. In response to a question that asked if physical interventions are more effective than spiritual ones, Diego responded with a definitive “No,”  physical interventions are no better.  The philosophy of the Casa is that the spirits heal the same for physical interventions as in spiritual interventions.  There is no need for cutting and blood.  He ended his response with a remark, “Why anyone would ask for a physical surgery, I do not know.” It seemed as if Diego was pushing people away from asking for physical surgeries.

These comments concerning the relationship between medical and spiritual treatments revealed one of protection. It was clear that Diego did not want one to mistake spiritual medicine as a replacement for medical treatment and to disregard medical treatment when undergoing spiritual treatments. It also appeared to me that Diego regarded medical and spiritual treatment in a hierarchical relationship, medical treatment takes precedence over spiritual treatment in cases of conflict.

There are two possible reasons why the Casa may be shying away from physical surgery. Was Diego protecting the Casa from legal liabilities? Even in Brazil it is illegal to practice medicine without a license.  Many of the healers who Greenfield discussed were chased away by the biomedical community and law enforcement. John of God has also had his troubles with the law.  Or does the Casa lack confidence in Spiritism and in the spirits’ guidance during physical surgeries.  Is it possible that John of God is not confident about performing surgeries–other than making small cuts, scraping eyes, and shoving forceps up noses?  Or is it really that the publicity focuses on the blood and guts when in fact Spiritism is much more tame.