An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

of violent discipline now as part of the legacy of slavery. This kind of discipline continuedthroughout my childhood. I was unable to talk about the sexual molestation I experiencedin my early teens from a senior male member of the church (mentioned earlier) because ofthe reaction I expected from my parents, and church family. I often heard adults talkingabout similar stories to my own (conversations which I was not supposed to hear) aboutother children and it was always the fault of the children and not the adults. As I journeyedthrough my spiritual life, I realized that there were many emotional wounds that have notbeen healed. Healing was taught in the church, but this did not apply to me. I was too busywith earning a living, raising my family and pursuing an education to think about the scarsfrom my childhood or from anyone else‟s for that matter.The undeveloped potential of spiritual healing in health promotion became apparent to meduring the years that I taught health promotion based on the Ewles and Simnett (1999)model of promoting health and healing, despite the fact that hospital chaplaincies appearedto provide a valuable service to patients. My curiosity was also fuelled by the apparent lackof knowledge of my fellow church members about their medical conditions, or the meansof accessing health services on a personal level.Their lack of desire for more medical knowledge was partly conditioned by their relianceon faith in God, which made too much concern with their bodily welfare almost aquestioning of God‟s providence. Compounding their failure to seemore informationabout their condition was their reluctance to give the doctor and the nurse informationabout the herbal (bush) remedies that they used. It was common practice to use crushedgarlic for high blood pressure and cerassie tea and ginger to help lower the blood sugar ofdiabetics. When I listened to the older people talk about their medical conditions it was like10