Three-week online course taught via Zoom

Wednesday, January 8 - 22, 2025
7pm - 8:30 ET (New York time)
$90 Patreon Members / $100 General Admission

PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time

In this three part class, we will navigate the realm of healing demigods, doctor saints and medical spirit guides and look at the ways in which they nourish and rejuvenate the living.

With earthly lives dedicated in service to the suffering, the presences of the mighty dead continue to resonate through dreams and visions. Reaching out to the living, they instruct and heal their devotees directly, as well as through the intercession of mediums and spiritual workers.

Over the course of three weeks, we will learn—via illustrated lectures—about the ancient world, examining figures such as Asclepius & Imhotep and the practice of dream incubation, and follow that thread to the healing dreams and visions of Dr. Elizabeth Targ in the 21st century. We will look at Cosmas and Damian, the first Christian doctor saints; 20th century sainted physicians Dr. Jose Gregorio Hernandez and Dr. Giuseppe Moscati; and Mexican curandero and folk saint Nino Fidencio.

We will also take a deep dive into the history of 19th century spiritualism & spiritism, full of medical spirit guides (including celebrated doctors and Native American healing guides) and investigate contemporary studies of paranormal healing, psychical research and parapsychology, including a look at the case of Harry Edwards, a 20th century British healing medium, who sponsored research into healing.

J.W. Dotson MD is a psychiatrist and an independent scholar fascinated by scent sorcery, cultural and anthropological olfaction studies, ethnobotany, premodern medicine, medical astrology, and astrological magic and remediation. James has presented esoteric fragrance lectures as part of The Scent and Society series at the Institute for Art and Olfaction in Los Angeles. He is currently an instructor at The Celestial Arts Education Library (caeli.institute) and serves on the Advisory Board of the Archive of Healing at UCLA.

Image: 1) William H. Mumler, Mrs. W. H. Mumler, Clairvoyant Physician, 1870s; carte-de-visite. 2) A verger's dream: Saints Cosmas and Damian performing a miraculous cure by transplantation of a leg. (c1495) Oil painting attributed to the Master of Los Balbases. Wellcome Collection..