OK, I guess I need a reality check. I had an experience this weekend that's bugging me and I can't tell if I'm justified or just over-reacting.

I'm pretty open about my religion, so while I don't go around wearing a T-shirt that says "Hi, I'm a Pagan", everyone in my class at massage school knew that I was "into that alternative stuff" as one student put it.

One of the ways we practiced new techniques was by giving massages to the other students. In the course of conversation last weekend one of the other students mentioned that he gets "Holy Oil" from his church and mixes it in with the massage oil he uses on people. His feeling is that he's providing God's blessings to whoever wants them, and if you don't want them they'll just go on by. He already works as a massage therapist, he was just doing the class to get the required hours in to sit for the National Certification Exam. He does this with all of his clients, so it wasn't that he was singling me out because of my beliefs. He sincerely believes that he is helping people by doing this.

I didn't say anything to him at the time, but I'm feeling kind of violated that he annointed me with Holy Oil without my knowledge or permission. I would have been perfectly fine if he had said that he prayed while he was working on me. I have no problem with people praying for me, but the thought that he actually placed a substance on my skin is really bugging me.

In our Reiki class we were taught that you never do energy work for someone without their permission. I very rarely do magick as part of my religion, but when I do it's only with the other person's full knowledge and consent. IMO annointing someone with Holy Oil falls into the same category.

I don't know if I should say anything to him or not. He's a very nice guy but he has some self-esteem issues, so I don't want to hurt his feelings.

What do you think? Would it bug you if it happened to you, or do I just need to get over myself?

-- Anonymous, June 10, 2002

Answers

Good point Sherri, but to me, one's persons "Holy Oil" is just another persons plain ol' mineral or cooking oil, the "magic" quality is simply in the eye of the beholder, if you know what I mean :-).

The main thing is that the fellow sincerely wants to "do the right thing" and perform to the best of his abilities for his clients. I woild tell him though, to keep this info about Holy Oil being in the massage oil strictly to himself and not to share this with anyone, especially his clients. Good intentions are best left unsaid and unstated, actions are what really matters most. If it helps him maintain a more positive attitude towards his work, more power to him!

-- Anonymous, June 10, 2002

Anointing one with oil can be a big thing in Christianity, but hey, I suppose only if you're a Christian, and only if you believe that it does something. Like most Christian stuff (I'm speaking for my version, of course), there's powerful symbolism in lotsa things (umm, bread, wine, you know...). I've personally been exposed to oil only on Ash Wednesday (mix with ashes for an interesting facial application...don't try this at home), and also for one other thing, I forget (annointing one with oil is not a central tenet in my faith).

If the oil lubricates your skin and relaxes you, it's doing the appropriate job in your line of work, right? Sounds to me like the guy who did the holy oil thing needs to figure out what he's doing, *why* he's doing it, and specifically why he's surprising folks with the information *later*. Is this really about *him*? 8-)

btw, it would bother *me* if he did it to me without my knowing, because if it is indeed Holy, I would want to prepare myself to receive the benefit. It's only fair. Sheesh!

-- Anonymous, June 11, 2002

This is a really intriguing question, Sherrie! I had to think about it for quite awhile to figure out how I felt. I'm still not positive.

First of all, I agree with Sheepish. Why did he feel the need to tell everyone what he was doing? Now if he was asking his colleagues what their opinion was on the ethics of his doing this, it would be a different matter, but it sounded like he was just announcing it.

I think I would have been annoyed at least, if I were you. I don't think it would be a real strong feeling, but annoyance nonetheless. I'm not certain why. I must admit to a bit of prejudice from the fact that the 'holy oil' came from a Christian church, mostly I expect cuz of my own resistance to any indication of evangelical fervor. Along those lines, if he had told me the oil came from a mosque or a temple or a shaman or somesuch, I would probably think it was way cool. My bad.

It seems to me that if he really believes that the oil would help as a healing aid, then that belief could very possibly _be_beneficial to his clients, could increase the Universe's healing energy through him. In that case, no one else but he and god would need know about it, because the issues connected with his client's reactions to this knowledge would never come up. It would seem then to be pure and real. His telling people after the fact seems to kind of dilute that power, at least in my eyes.

Great issues comin up here, lately! What a wonderful bunch of people we have here!

Blessings,

-- Anonymous, June 11, 2002

O.K. here's my take on "holy oil". If I'm getting a massage, I don't care what kinda oil you use or what you call it, just as long as your hands don't stick to my body and cause those little rub burns. It's the massage that I'm interested in! My only concern would be does holy oil react on a vampire like holy water? Big opps!

Wildman, (hating rub burns)

-- Anonymous, June 11, 2002