Having a brain fart, please help..

sheadakota

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I have a character who can heal by touch- If someone is hurt, he touches them, takes what is wrong and brings it inside of him, The injured person is left healed and my MC experiences all the pain and then heals himself, what would I call him? I have been using the term empathic- but my betas (and I agree) that's not right.

Any ideas?
 

alleycat

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There are some Japanese terms used by those who practice Reiki massage.

As TRED mentioned above, I think I would just use "healer" until you had a need for something more.
 

Puma

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Check (probably Google) for what Edgar Cayce, the Kentucky mystic and healer, was called. What you're describing sounds a lot like what Cayce was able to do. Now there's a story! Puma
 

reenkam

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I'd just call him a healer.
 

qwerty

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Edgar Cayce was a clairvoyant. He diagnosed conditions and discovered treatment as such.
 

katiemac

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It's also what John Coffey could do in The Green Mile, and I don't think they called him anything.
 

Lilith70

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Technically, he's a channeler and uses a method of energy healing similar to Chi Gung. In energy healing modalities such as Reiki, the healer/channeler doesn't "take on" the illness themselves but puts it outside of themselves. A complementary technique that is used in Reiki and other energy healing modalities is called "psychic surgery" where blockages and illnesses are energetically removed.

However... there is also a Native American myth (and I think it may appear in other mythologies) about Sin-Eaters who devour the sin and illness of others and take it on themselves, but the illness, while still active, won't necessarily kill the Eater. They live with it and continue collecting more and more of these until they can't survive anymore or they kill themselves or are killed. I've heard a few different versions (started off investigating it from an X-Files episode, interestingly enough). Might wanna look into it?

BTW, I'm a Reiki Master/Teacher, so if you have any more questions... :)
 

RJK

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I think Empath is the word you're looking for.
 

Prawn

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Eat less brain beans.

A character of this sort appeared in Guy Gabriel's Kay's Tigana and also in Stephen R. Donaldson's The Wounded Land. I think in the wounded land, the healer had to hurt himself to heal you. If you came with a broken leg, she'd break her own leg to heal yours. Kind of a zero sum game.
 

sheadakota

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WOW! thank you all for the wonderful responses! I think I like empathic healer- I am not familiar with 'rieki' I would like to learn more about that- thanks so much for all the help-
 

Lilith70

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WOW! thank you all for the wonderful responses! I think I like empathic healer- I am not familiar with 'rieki' I would like to learn more about that- thanks so much for all the help-


I teach classes on occasion. I have one wrapping in two weeks right now, and maybe if I get enough people interested online, I'll teach another one. Just depends.
 

sheadakota

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I teach classes on occasion. I have one wrapping in two weeks right now, and maybe if I get enough people interested online, I'll teach another one. Just depends.
Very cool!