Soul Matters – February 2015

I don’t mean to burst anyone’s romantic bubble, but I thought a little education about the heart and the origins of Valentine’s Day might be of interest. An alternative, if you will, to the commercial sentimentality foisted upon us February 14 by Hallmark, Inc.

The modern, mid-month celebration of Valentine’s Day morphed out of the pre-Roman festival of Lupercalia, observed on February 15. This spring festival helped to avert evil spirits, purify new life, and release health and fertility. The Roman writer Plutarch noted that, “At this time many of the noble youths and of the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter…” Maybe not as P.C. as two-dozen roses and a fancy dinner out, but a lot more fun.

As for St. Valentine: he was, most likely, a martyred Christian (or the face of many such priests) who performed marriage rites for Christians at a time in the Roman Empire when such an act was illegal and punishable by death. (Almost like same-sex marriage has, until very recently, been in our current era.) Not romantic or sexy in the least, but at its center, it does have everything to do with love and the power of the heart.

The locus of love lies in the heart, an organ whose energy field has such power and magnitude that science has yet to really begin to understand, let alone appreciate it.

Heart cells have been shown to have their own intelligence and memory; the heart is even thought to have it’s own brain. It’s electrical field is 200 times stronger than the brain’s and its magnetic field is 5,000 times greater, measurable as far as eight feet from the body. (It may, in fact, extend miles, we simply don’t have the means to measure it.) Consider the following:

On September 11, 2001, two GOES satellites 22,000 miles above the equator detected a spike in the earth’s magnetic field strength fifteen minutes following the first airliner crashing into the World Trade Center. A similar spike appeared after Princess Diana’s death. The implications of this are huge. Large scale, heart-based emotion appears to have a direct impact on the earth’s magnetic fields, fields which influence a multitude of events from climate conditions to world peace.

And in Japan, researchers have shown that the activation of this heart field energy can cause spontaneous healing. A patient with a well-documented large tumor was brought into an examination room and placed behind a body scan machine through which the tumor was clearly visible. Buddhist monks were brought into the same room, a large curtain separating them from the patient. They were given no information other than being told the patient was ill. There was no speaking during the experiment. The monks entered into meditative prayer, directing unconditional, positive feeling (not thoughts) toward the patient. The tumor, to everyone’s amazement (except, perhaps, the monks) disappeared in a matter of minutes, vanishing in front of the doctors’ eyes as they monitored the scanner.

The power of the heart is real, magnificent, omnipotent and universal. Life is energy, and the appreciation and harnessing of this energy has the potential to save us all. Not to mention that loving and being loved, is the best feeling there is.

We’ve got the power, people. Use it for good.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

KATE INGRAM, M.A., is a writer, therapist and Soul Coach working with clients across the United States and Europe. She is the author of the award-winning memoir, Washing the Bones and a contributing author in the international best-selling book, Unwavering Strength. Find out more at www.katherineingram.com.