Absent healing is a way of sending or receiving healing over distance. The obvious advantage is that it can reach people, places and animals that the healer cannot physically be with.

Sending absent, or distant healing has become very popular in recent years, especially with the huge growth in Reiki practitioners, however healers, churches, covens and other religious groups have been sending healing energy out into the world for a very long time. In distant healing the energy can be sent as close as the next room or to the other side of the world. Either way it will find its mark through the power of intention.

If you are thinking of sending absent healing there are a few ethical issues to consider. The first is whether you have permission from the intended recipient. Do they actually want healing? Not everyone would feel comfortable with the idea of receiving healing, it goes against the belief systems of many. I feel everyone has the right to be asked first if this is something they want, otherwise it is an invasion of their privacy & interference in their personal energy field. I’ve noticed a tendency of some practitioners to try to send healing to everyone they can think of that is sick as soon as they know how. This is well intentioned but not really respectful. Ask first, or wait to be asked!

It is worth making the distinction between sending healing to a named individual and sending healing to an area or group of people. Where people are suffering in the world, for example in war zones or through famine, then the sending of healing to those places is very positive. Those who are open to receive the healing will benefit, yet it is not forced upon any one individual.

If you are attuned to a specific frequency of healing energy, such as Reiki, you will probably have received instruction on sending that energy over distance. If not there are some simple and relatively safe and simple methods you can use with items such as crystals. Whichever method you use please make sure that you are well grounded and have as much psychic protection in place as needed. You are in effect opening an energy channel between yourself and the recipient and you really need to be aware that the energy can run in both directions when this happens.

I use a witness, such as a photograph, signature or lock of hair that links the healing directly to the recipient. This is like a ‘homing device’ to make sure the energy reaches the person intended. I double check using the witness and a pendulum or by muscle testing that not only do I have conscious permission to send, but that it is appropriate to send to that person at that point in time.

I use a sending device such as a clean mirror, a polished crystal slab, or a copper sheet and place the cleansed healing items on the device with the witness. In all of this clear intention is important and will guide my choice of crystals or other healing objects. Some rather beautiful and intricate layouts have emerged in this manner, however even a simple quartz point laid on the witness can be very effective.

I dowse how long the layout needs to be left in place, which may be minutes, hours, days or even weeks. At this point the layout is put somewhere safe to go on working and the energy connection between myself as healer and the recipient closed.

It is good to let the recipient know that the absent healing has been done for them and then check in with them from time to time to find out how they are doing and get feedback. It is important to periodically recheck absent healing layouts until all is done, when they are taken down, cleansed and the witness carefully disposed of or filed with the recipient’s permission for future healing.