WASHED IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB

Ten Days with Jun Labo, Psychic Surgeon
At the Metaphysical Temple of the Universe and School of Mediumship
Baguio City, Philippines
© Jessica Bryan 


      In March 2008, I was invited to Baguio City in the Philippines for a ten-day course in psychic surgery and spiritual healing with Rev. Jun Labo. I had not seen him since 1995, when I went to his clinic at the Nagoya Inn. I later wrote about my experiences in PSYCHIC SURGERY & FAITH HEALING (Lompico Creek Press, 2007; Red Wheel/ Weiser/Conari, 2008).
      Manila was the same as when I’d been there before, but also different. The new airport was modern and air-conditioned—it could have been anywhere in the world. After clearing customs, I was driven to a hotel in the Ermita District, the same area of Manila where I’d stayed previously. The city was still congested, dirty, and filled with clouds of diesel exhaust from the thousands of vehicles clogging the streets—the locals call them “smoke belchers.”
• Travel Tip #1:  
• Take ear plugs to block out the noise and a handkerchief to cover your nose and block the fumes.  
      Early the next morning, I ventured out into the street. Two doors down from the hotel, an entire family—mother, father, grandmother, and three small children—were living on pieces of cardboard on the sidewalk. All of their worldly belongings were nearby in a shopping cart. They were just waking up and yawning as I walked by. The 3-year-old, her hair still rumpled from sleep and wearing only thin shorts, ran to me with her hand outstretched. She already knew how to beg for the family’s breakfast. She stood in stark contrast to my hotel, which was fairly upscale, with rooms around $60 a night, and Robinson’s Shopping Mall just two blocks away. Like shopping malls everywhere, it took up several city blocks and offered anything a person might want. My first purchases were bottled water and a large sack of mangos.
      As I walked south from the hotel towards Pension Natividad, where I had stayed on all of my previous visits, I noticed that Ermita now had an Internet café and an enormous gambling casino resembling those in Las Vegas, surrounded by high-rise office buildings and hotels with rooms starting at $100 a night. It was quite disorienting, because I remembered the streets so vividly, yet everything was changed. I was changed. In particular, Rosie’s 1950s Diner had been remodeled so much that I could hardly identify the building where it had been. Gone were the sailors and prostitutes who had affected me so deeply that I had written about them in my book.
• Travel Tip #2:  
• Pension Natividad, 1690 Del Pilar, Telephone: 63-2-521-0524 has simple, clean, rooms for around $30 a night. Some of the rooms are air-conditioned, but the restaurant and registration are not.   
 
      I was scheduled to meet my traveling companions at the hotel café two days after I arrived. But before I met them, or even knew their names, some of them appeared to me in meditation— a middle-aged man with prostate cancer (Roland); a forty-something woman with a possible breast lump (Mary); and a young girl with hormonal problems (Sally). I also felt things moving in my own body—not things, but the energy of problem areas moving toward the surface in preparation for our first session of psychic surgery.
      In addition to Roland, Mary, and Sally, the group included two people from Poland, a brother and sister, Jarka and Johan. He was intensely political, like many Europeans, and very much of an intellectual. Jarka had stage-4 breast cancer and seemed quite frightened and skeptical about psychic surgery. Alice, an older woman from Oregon, was hoping to receive healing for an old eye injury. The tour leader, Philip, was busy arranging everything for the group, and also for the house he was buying at the beach not too far from Baguio.
      We had breakfast together and then left in a van for Baguio—a six-hour drive north through the lowlands of Pangasinan and then up into the high mountain Province of Benguet. The driver wove in and out of traffic: the buses, jeepneys, private cars, tricycles, and wagons pulled by carabao on the MacArthur Highway. It was the beginning of the summer season so the large riverbeds of the lowlands were dry. Farmers could be seen in the fields tending their irrigated crops. After several hours, we reached the Cordillera: steep mountains that rise straight up from the edge of the road on the left, and drop off on the right so sharply that you can hardly see the valley below.
• Travel Tip #3:  
• The easiest way to get to Baguio from Manila—if you are not being privately chauffeured—is to take an AIR-CONDITIONED Victory Liner bus from the Pasay Bus Terminal, just south of Ermita. Air travel to Baguio is possible, but because of the high mountain weather the flights are sometimes cancelled. 
     We arrived in Baguio and checked into our rooms at The Golden Pines Hotel, which was clean and comfortable, with air-conditioning, a restaurant, and free Internet connections. Everything had been paid for in advance as part of the tour fees, including local transport and meals.
• Travel Tip #4:  
• The Golden Pines Hotel is a good choice at about $60 a night. The rooms have two double beds. It’s also close to the main market.  
 
Day One: March 17
      In 1995, Jun’s healing clinic was located at the Nagoya Inn, but now the Inn has a new name: “Nagoya Comedy Club and Bar.” Jun’s first car, a Volkswagen Beetle, is still enshrined in the front garden. He has designated part of the building to be used as a nightclub, and the rest as a school for poor children.
      His new chapel and clinic are now located across the street in part of his house, which rises steeply above the road and is reminiscent of Japan, probably because his former wife, Yuko, had a hand in designing the buildings and landscaping. Ancient symbols and warriors with swords protrude from cement retaining walls, and there are statutes, painted murals, pine trees, and flower gardens. The property is protected by locked gates, a guardhouse, and several barking dogs.
      Jun met us in the driveway and showed us to an outdoor patio. He projects an aura that commands respect, not just because he has been a successful psychic surgeon for many years, but also because he was the Mayor of Baguio from 1987–1992 and the District Governor twice in the 1980s.
      Jun Labo is agile for a man in his seventies, and he looks much younger. He often wears black jeans and a black jacket, which he covers with a white smock when he is in the healing room. On Saturday and Sunday he wears all white. His skin is a golden shade of brown, and like many great spiritual teachers he has a luminescent glow, even from behind his movie star sunglasses. His eyes are deep brown and radiate compassion.
      After twenty minutes or so of casual conversation, Jun invited us into his chapel. It was quiet and cool in the stone building with marble floors. The chapel itself held rows of benches and statutes of Mary and Jesus. The “classroom” was located in another section of the large room, and it was filled with straight-back chairs and a white wall board for writing. This area also contained a wooden frame in the shape of a pyramid, with a red satin-covered foam pad on the floor inside of it. Across from the pyramid there were four sofas arranged in a square with a coffee table in the center. Jun’s private office was off to one side in a separate room.
      Almost immediately, he invited us down the narrow steps leading to the basement, where he has his healing room, another chapel, and a larger room for changing clothes. The healing room contained a small altar, a massage table covered with a plastic sheet, and a cabinet of towels. Almost one entire wall was an open window where observers could stand and watch the surgeries and take photographs and video movies. There was just enough room inside for Jun, his assistant, and several mediums to stand in a line across from the table for the purpose of channeling energy.
      For readers who might not be familiar with psychic surgery, in this type of healing the hands of the healer enter the patient’s body. This is sometimes referred to as bare-handed surgery. Simply put, the body is opened in much the same way as medical doctors do when using a scalpel, except that in psychic surgery there is no cutting, no anesthesia is used, and there is no pain, scars, or infection. The incisions can even be made by the healer merely pointing a finger at the skin of the patient from a distance of up to one foot away.
• Travel Tip #5: 
• If you are planning to see a psychic surgeon in the Philippines for the first time, you might want to read PSYCHIC SURGERY & FAITH HEALING, available on Amazon.com or by e-mail to: psychicsurgery@mind.net. Also recommended are THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF THE ESPIRITISTAS: A Hidden History of Spiritual Healing by Harvey Martin, and JOHN OF GOD: The Brazilian Healer Who’s Touched the Lives of Millions by Heather Cumming. 
      As if it was perfectly natural, we began to take off our clothing, except our panties or shorts, and stand in line at the door to the healing room. One by one, we entered and lay down on the table. Jun’s assistant put towels at the sides of each person’s body to catch the blood that began to flow from beneath Jun’s hands.
      I observed from about six feet away, as tumors dripping blood, clots, and stringy tissue emerged from each person. The moment Jun touched Philip’s throat, we collectively gasped when blood spurted out about eight inches into the air.
      Jarka became more and more nervous the closer it got to her turn. She mirrored our own anxiety, as we watched her pace back and forth with her arms wrapped tightly around her upper body. Her healing was the most remarkable. A tumor as big as an orange emerged from just below her right rib cage, and many more small tumors and clots came from her entire body. She was shaking afterwards, and many of us were crying because we were so moved by our experience both on the table and from watching her.
      For me, it was somewhat of a shock, rather like being cleaned inside and out from my neck to my pubic bone by an enormous, vibrating, vacuum cleaner. Someone told me later that it seemed like Jun was working more on my energetic body than my physical body.
      At the end of one of the healings, Jun made a circular motion and then the sign of the cross on the patient’s forehead with his thumb. I believe this is related to opening or cleansing of the Third Eye, but I also think of it as brain balancing or resetting some sort of inner clock.  
• The comments that follow are direct quotes from Jun Labo’s lectures and casual conversation. In some cases, he uses imperfect grammar, as do many Filipinos when speaking English.
      Back upstairs, Jarka asked Jun if he would be able help her, and he began to talk about her tumors and how they were spreading. He said it was necessary to “cut the roots,” and that he had just begun the process. He indicated that her healing would continue over the ten days of her visit. Then he drew a picture of a tumor and illustrated how he would sever the roots before removing it: “First I cut here, and here, and here, like this.” Tonight we are going to meet Francis Floresca, M.D., who will likely talk more about tumors and their roots, because Jarka will certainly press him for more information.
      We are each immersed in our individual healing process and dealing with our fears and expectations, or in my case, trying very hard not to have any expectations but just accept whatever happens. I know I am in the Philippines to “move to the next step” in my abilities as a magnetic healer and medium, but I do not know how or when this will occur. I am planning to go to the Faith in God Spiritual Church in Pangasinan on Easter Sunday—perhaps part of my “next step” will happen there. After all, the Holy Spirit moves through me and the entire universe, so it doesn’t really matter where the growth comes from, only that it comes.
      I’m going to the market later today and buy a new Bible. I feel inspired to read the New Testament. This morning, I opened the hotel Bible at random—the way the mediums do in the Filipino Espiritista churches—to a passage titled “Jesus calms the storm.” (Luke 8:22-25)
      These verses discuss Jesus and his Disciples getting into a boat to cross a large lake. Jesus goes to sleep, but when they reach the middle of the lake a big storm comes up and the boat begins to fill with water. The Disciples wake Jesus because they are frightened, and he commands the wind to cease blowing and the storm to pass. Immediately, the lake becomes quiet. Perhaps this is a good metaphor for our first day with Jun Labo.  
 
• The Class Schedule 
• 10 a.m.—Psychic surgery, followed by prayers, blessings, and conversation with Jun Labo 
• 12 noon—Lunch and possible sightseeing 
• 3 p.m.—Class with Francis Floresca, M.D., who is teaching anatomy and physiology, and the disease process; and/or class with Philip on the macrobiotic approach to health 
• 6 p.m. and/or 9 p.m.—Meditation and lecture or other special session with Jun Labo 
     We met at Jun’s house again in the evening. He was chain-smoking. It’s hard to comprehend how such a great healer can be a smoker. Perhaps he uses cigarettes to ground his body because he’s in such a heavy trance medium state so much of the time.
     First we meditated to a CD of a woman speaking in a soft, soothing voice. I only remember her final words: “Just let go.” During meditation, I felt the spirit enter me as intense energy, leaving me with an almost headache afterwards.
     Jun introduced Dr. Floresca, who gave a short description of the class he is going to be teaching. He is a mild-mannered man, an obstetrician and gynecologist, and a lifelong friend of Jun. Jarka was so spaced out from her healing this morning that she put the cleaning solution for her contact lenses in one of her eyes, causing intense discomfort and worry. Fortunately, Dr. Floresca was able to reassure her that she had not damaged her cornea, and he showed up later at the hotel with eye drops.
     After we stood in a circle and said the Lord’s Prayer together, I approached Jun and told him I about my magnetic healing practice.
     “The course will be very good for you,” he said.
     “Did you get my book?” I asked, and he looked surprised. I told him it was the book with the blue eye on the cover.
     “Oh yes, was that you?” he said, and gave me a warm hug.
     “Did you read what I wrote about you?”
     “Yes, it’s a good book, but all of the healers you wrote about are dead except for me!” He seemed genuinely pleased that the author of a book that included him had come to meet him.
      Jun announced that on Good Friday he is taking us to see some devoted Catholics who flagellate themselves with whips and crucify themselves in honor of the suffering of Jesus. Oh dear, I don’t think want to watch that! 
Day Two, March 18
      Unfortunately, Baguio is the second most polluted city on the planet, according to Mary—she didn’t say which was number one. This means troublesome, noxious odors everywhere: huge clouds of diesel fumes, fresh paint and insecticide in the hotel lobby and restaurant, people who smoke, and perfume in my clothing from the laundry.
• Travel Tip #6: 
• If you have severe air-borne allergies, or a medical condition such as asthma or emphysema, please be cautious about traveling in the Philippines.
      
      Our second day began with private meetings in Jun’s office to discuss payment. Someone else had already paid for me to attend the class (1,000 Euros, not dollars because they are losing value). I gave him 300 Euros for three healings, but he said I could come as many times as I wanted, even though the usual fee is 100 Euros for each session.
      I told him I was going to write an article about him when I returned home. “What do you want me to tell people about you?” I said.
      “You can say that here we are doing only spiritual work to help the people. This is my work, and even though I am already 74 years old, I am not retired. Tell them the doctors at Wisconsin University tested me with wires and monitors, and the doctors said I was the only healer in the Philippines who is authentic.”  
      Alice had the most amazing healing of the morning. Yellowish material shaped somewhat like a hot dog emerged from the left side of her throat. It appeared solid at first, but after it was completely out, it dissolved into an oily substance. Jun later said it was mucus, but to me it looked more like some sort of fatty blockage from her carotid artery. This will likely improve the vision in her injured eye (and also her short-term memory) because of the potential for increased blood flow to her head.
      During my healing, Jun removed approximately twelve large blood clots from my abdomen.
      Jarka had very large tumor removed from what she calls her “good breast.” Later, after dinner, this resulted in a lengthy discussion, which began with her question, “Why did he work on my good breast? I have no cancer there, according to the MRI.” Actually, I had a similar discussion with her almost every night, as she struggled to understand psychic phenomena in light of her extensive training as a scientist.        
      Jun’s assistant covered Ray’s genital area with a towel (for modesty), and then Jun removed Ray’s prostrate tumor and its “roots.”  As he held up the cancerous tissue for all to see, he said, “I took this away because otherwise the roots will grow and you will become very sick.”
      Jun often uses a piece of white cloth as a diagnostic tool during healing. He calls it his “X-ray.” He holds the cloth up over the body during healing and the areas that need healing show up as dark spots. If the spots are light in color, he knows the problem is not serious.
      Mary seemed transported to somewhere else—her eyes were dreamy, and she appeared quite ethereal. Many small growths and a lot of blood came from her abdomen.
      Here, at the clinic of Jun Labo the profound is also quite ordinary, as we watch all manner of disease being released and removed. This remarkable event seems—in this time and place—to be perfectly natural, yet we are also stunned and emotional. Time itself seems frozen, as we stare in disbelief at the miracles happening right in front of us.  
      After lunch, we drove up a bumpy, dirt road to the top of St. Thomas, the highest mountain in the region. We followed Jun as he prayed at the Stations of the Cross and renewed himself in the energy of Christ. “This is Holy Week,” he said. “And here on the mountain is the strong presence of the Holy Spirit. This holy center is the top of the mountain. It is a pure place that has not been corrupted by commerce and people selling many things.”
      The 6:00 p.m. session began with Dr. Floresca giving us an in-depth lecture about the lymph and circulatory systems, and the relationship of these systems to cancer. This discussion was quite fascinating because there were several students in the group with extensive scientific training, but Dr. Floresca didn’t know about this. “The medical man,” as Jun calls him, was patient, kind, and soft-spoken, as he attempted to render complicated anatomy and physiology in simple terms to sophisticated European scientists. It was rather funny, and I had to try hard not to laugh because I didn’t want Dr. Floresca to think I was laughing at him.
      As part of his lecture, he answered questions about our individual health concerns. He said that Jun Labo started the school in order to pass his healing gifts on to others. He also indicated that according to Jun’s way of seeing things, the removal of blood clots could be considered preventative medicine.
      Jun seemed fascinated with Dr. Floresca’s presentation, and described what happens when he does healing: “My hand is magnetic and it draws the disease. So I know I have to touch there.”
      At one point, the doctor discussed the closed system of blood circulation in the heart, but then Jun began to describe the “mucus” he removed from Alice’s neck: “It might come down and surround her heart, causing great problems.”
      Thus, did they seem to contradict each other—as Dr. Floresca talked about closed physiologic systems and Jun described how these same systems overlap. It was amazing to listen to them express the complexities of the human body in such a simple way, each from their own unique perspective.
      During the 9:00 p.m. Holy Hour meditation Jun gave each of us a direct transmission of the powerful energy of the Holy Spirit by touching the tops of our heads, the backs of our necks, our foreheads, and the center of our palms—which he then closed together, as if to contain the energy he had put there.
       “The Holy Spirit is in you now, he said afterwards. “Let it flow through you and give you more power. You prayed today on the Holy mountain. The Holy Spirit is all around you. Have faith in yourself. God is love. I am giving you power every day. You are not as you were before. You might have had up to thirty past lives. Some people reincarnate as flowers and trees while they wait for another human body. My work is not for show, not to impress. Once you have the power, never give it up.”  
Day Three: March 19
      This morning’s healings began with Alice. Jun Labo removed white, stringy, bloody tissue from her lower abdomen.
      When it was my turn, I told him I had pain from scar tissue adhesions and the remains of a large blood clot caused by medical surgery. He moved his hands to my lower right abdomen, and I heard the sharp intake of breath of everyone in the room. I wanted to raise my head and see what had surprised them, but I couldn’t because the feeling in my body was too intense. Alice said later that the blood clots taken from my lower abdomen totaled the size of a large grapefruit. Afterwards, I felt like my belly had been turned inside out.
      While Jun was doing the healing, several of us stood in a line across from the table with our hands held palms upward as we channeled energy to give him more “power.” This is similar to the fifty mediums who assist John of God in Brazil.
      As I participated in channeling, I had a vision of a large “cloud” of sparkling golden energy centered above and funneling into Jun. There were also cords of light coming from this primary light that went into the crown chakra (above the top of the head) of everyone in the room.
      Angels and other spirit beings filled the room. They appeared to be “students,” just as we were. They were “taking notes” and talking amongst themselves, saying things like, “Oh see what he did there, and there, and there.” They seemed to be a mirror image of our class in the physical world.
      Back upstairs, I asked for permission to speak about my vision. Jun agreed and listened attentively. “Very good, very good, that’s the way it looks,” he said, and then he made the same movement with his hand as I had to describe the cords. Again, he pressed his hands into the center of each person’s palms to open their hand chakras. Opening these chakras allows spiritual energy to flow into the healer, and through them into the person they are trying to help.
      Later in the afternoon, Jun brought the copy of my book that I had mailed him several weeks ago and put it on the coffee table. Holding it up and thumbing through it, he looked at me and repeated what he had said earlier, “All of these healers are dead, except me.” I tried to explain why I had written a memoir, but he didn’t seem to agree with this rationale. Then, without thinking about it, I said, “When are you going to write your own book? Everyone writes books about you, but you should write a book.”
      “YES, and you can be the one to write my book,” he said. “It will sell very very good because I am JUN LABO.”
      It was almost as if he already knew the question before I asked it, and also how he would respond. At first, I was surprised, but then I began to think of many ideas about how to facilitate such an undertaking. I started by suggesting that he tape record his talks, have someone transcribe them, and send them to me via e-mail for compiling and editing. His book could be an autobiography, but also an instruction book for his students, a metaphysical “textbook,” as seen from his perspective.
      Next, Jun began to talk about how he would call in the Holy Spirit on Saturday:
      “We will see if one of you will be called to give the blessing.” Turning his head and looking at me, he said, “Even I want to receive the blessings from you.”
      Since returning home, I have been thinking a lot about this comment and wondering if he wanted me to do magnetic healing on his left lung. Several times, I had a strong urge to put my hand on his upper left chest and make a certain energetic movement, but I wasn’t sure he would approve so I didn’t act on the impulse.
      Later tonight, we are going to try “automatic writing” and JUN IS GOING TO INTERPRET WHAT WE WRITE. My understanding is that we will channel a personal message (to ourselves) from the Holy Spirit.
      Tomorrow there will be healing at 10 a.m., and then we will drive down out of the mountains to the beach. Jun has promised he will guide us for ten minutes of astral travel when we return in the evening! 
Day Four: March 20
      During healing this morning, Jun touched my left leg in the area of an old infection. He removed a blood clot and said, “It’s circulation.” (Okay… the bike is coming out of the garage when I get home, and I’m going to ride it every day!)
      While working on Jarka, he told her, “You think too much. Your problem is here (taps her forehead). When she asked about the possibility of tumors in her armpit, he pointed to the breast she calls her “good breast” (meaning the one without cancer) and said, “I am working here and also armpit, because it is growing.”
      While Jarka was still lying on the table, he told us his work is not always directly related to what the medical doctor or testing might have indicated. He pointed again to Jarka’s “good” breast and said, “Even if problem is here, I might be working here (points to the area of her belly button). When I open here (belly button) the problem in breast moves fast to my hands because that is magnetic.”
      This is important in understanding psychic surgery—the hands of a healer such as Jun Labo are magnetized in such a way that diseased tissue is pulled toward them—no matter where in the body the healer is working—although the body is often opened in the area of the belly button.
      In magnetic healing, the body is not physically opened, but rather the energy that causes disease is released. 
      After our trip to the beach, which was uneventful and rather boring, we returned to the chapel in the early evening.
      During meditation, Jun again infused our heads, hands, and hearts with the energy of the Holy Spirit. This meditation was very deep—my head became so full of light energy that I could hear it buzzing inside of me.
      Jun asked us to come up to him one by one while he was in trance and “scoop” spiritual energy from his hands. He seems to be trying every method possible to awaken us to an experience of spirit. Although the Metaphysical Temple of the Universe and School of Mediumship is promoted as a “school” with “classes,” it is really more about the experience of simply being in his presence during psychic surgery and meditation, when he channels information, power, and energy from the spiritual realm.
      Jun began his evening lecture by drawing a simple staircase. “Keep going up, up, up to the light. I am giving you the steps, but it depends on you how to reach the light. All of your chakras are open now. The light is coming down on you. It gets bigger and bigger. Your aura is working now. You have communication. Even with your eyes closed you will see things. Be patient to become a medium. Have faith, because everyone is walking toward the light.
      “The Holy Spirit, angels, and Jesus are waiting to welcome you. The medium gets the message, so have patience. God is watching and waiting. Work hard to reach the peak of your success. Be alone with God. That is your trial. If you lose faith, you must quit. This school was started to send the students out into the world to their own countries to help others, because people should not have to sell their house to come here.”
      He drew a picture of a cave with a path leading up to it and trees all around. When his drawing was complete, he gave instructions: “Enter the cave; there are lights inside. Meditate. This is your way to mediumship. Try to find the light inside the cave.
      “Later you will try your automatic writing. I will read what you write. Then we will go on the astral tomorrow for ten minutes.”
       He often talks about being tired but still strong. Although he is 74 years old, sometimes he jokes that he is 47. He laughs and says, “Look, I am getting younger and younger already.”
      Dr. Floresca gave a straightforward lecture about the human body using hand-drawn diagrams on the white board. There were problems with the board. First, it wouldn’t work because the plastic covering that came with it from the store had not been removed. Then someone accidentally wrote on it in permanent marker. After much discussion, the maid was sent to the store to get fingernail polish remover. During his lecture about how the body fights disease, Dr. Floresca called the white blood cells “soldiers in the blood.”
      We did automatic writing during the 9:00 p.m. session. My experience was immediate and strong, and I felt the presence of Filomena “Mely” Naces, the spirit guide I have worked with for the past several years. As I held the pencil lightly in my hand, it seemed to move of its own accord, making abstract marks on the page punctuated by periods that felt more like exclamation points.
      “Very good, very good,” I could hear Jun saying softly beside me. “I will tell you tomorrow what you wrote.”
      At the end of the evening, he said he would give each of us a protective talisman. “I will write something on a piece of paper. You must read it and memorize what I have written, and then sew it up into a red cloth and keep it always in your pocket. Then no one will be able to hurt you or do magic to you.”  
Day Five: March 21
      This morning’s healing was even more dramatic than usual. Jun Labo seemed more focused and much more powerful. I experienced a tidal wave of energy when he put his hands deep into my upper chest around my sternum. At first, I thought he was working on my heart, but later I realized he had been working on my lungs.
      Psychic surgery is not usually painful, but this particular healing hurt when he moved his fingers between my ribs and removed blood clots. My chest continued to hurt for about 24 hours, but since then it has been easier for me to breathe, even in the 5,000-foot altitude of Baguio. This physical healing also worked to open my heart chakra, which caused me to feel emotionally vulnerable for several days. 
      Today is Good Friday, and I have decided not to go to the crucifixion with the rest of the group. Even writing that last sentence seems ridiculous. Can you believe it! They are going to drive five hours in blinding heat to watch someone nail himself to a cross and then drive back—another five hours.
      Oppressed by the quarreling of the other students, all of whom seem to be suffering major “growth” pains, I have decided to stay in my room today. I attribute the conflict to the fact that Jun Labo has been opening our third chakras every day, but knowing this doesn’t keep me from reacting to their negativity and my own. This chakra is located in the area of the solar plexus, and it’s the place where unresolved emotional issues are stored. Unfortunately, no one in the group seems to be aware of what’s really happening and there’s some serious “acting out” going on.
      Some of the students are upset because the experiences that were promised in the materials advertising the tour have not happened for everyone in the group. There are several experiences I’m hoping for: (1) the translation of the automatic writing; (2) astral traveling; (3) possibly getting another spirit guide; and (4) Jun said that on the last day he will hold our hands above a patient to see if any of us are able to open the body and perform psychic surgery.  
      After the others left for the crucifixion, I had a remarkable meditation in my room. A beam of bright golden light came out of nowhere and illuminated my throat. I also communicated with my animal companion back in the States who is quite ill. “You don’t need me anymore,” he said. He also told me that even after his body dies he will stay close to our family. He said being in spirit would be easier, because then he would be pure light, and he wouldn’t have to deal with the biological impulses of being a cat. 
      Sleeping fitfully in the early evening, I was awakened by loud, passionate music coming in through the open window. Jumping up from the bed and throwing on my clothes, I was drawn out into the street and around the corner to the “New Life Christian Church.” Climbing the stairs to the second floor, I found a room full of people who were singing, accompanied by a band that included an electric guitar and drums:
• “At the cross I bow my knee, where your blood was shed for me….
• There’s no greater love than this. 
• “You have overcome the grave; your glory fills the highest place…
• What can separate me now? 
• “You tore the veil; you made a way; when you said that it is done.... 
      Over and over and over they sang these same verses as the room exploded with emotional intensity. The minister shouted: “Release him, Lord” as he touched each person who had come to the front of the room. At his touch, they fell to the ground thrashing, crying, and shouting while other members of the congregation comforted them. 
      Gradually, the singing began to soften, although half of the congregation was still rolling around on the floor covered in blankets. I had heard about this kind of “holy roller” church in the States before, but I had never been in one. The Filipinos live their religion, often with great emotion. It’s an intensely personal experience. However, this church was not about flagellation and imitating the crucifixion, but rather the joy that Christ brings to those who love him.
      The crescendo complete, the congregation began to sing a lighter song, the chorus of which said, “We have a purpose…to be salt and light in the world” (from Matthew 5:13-14).
       This song ended the program, and as I pondered the meaning of what it means to be both salt and light, a woman asked me if I would like to meet the minister.
      “Yes,” I said.
      He was forceful and direct:
      “May I pray for you?”
      “Yes.”
      “What do you want me to pray?”
      “To be of service to God and help the people on my mission.”
      Hearing this, he GRIPPED my head FIRMLY between his hands and began to pray loudly, “Lord Jesus, help this woman fulfill her destiny for you and help the people. Holy Spirit, lead her in the path of service.”
      Leaving—with a bit of a headache from the pressure of his hands—I felt complete. Like the rest of the congregation, I had been released from my worldly cares and concerns. I had been cleansed of the quarreling that earlier caused me to stay alone in my room.
      The next day Jun Labo and the other students made fun of the fact that after the man who had been crucified came down off his makeshift cross, they saw him smoking a cigarette and joking with his friends.  
Day Six: March 22
     Jun rested today and there was no healing session. During the afternoon, we had lectures from Dr. Floresca and Philip, and we again spent time with Jun in the evening. After meditation, he spoke to us about the Holy Spirit and astral traveling in a stream of consciousness manner of speaking:
      “I am opening your Third Eye. Your aura will get bigger, and it will have sparks. The aura vibrates. This opens the psychic and your Third Eye will always be open. You will be able to predict things and even see into the minds of other people. This open chakra develops psychic knowledge. I have been giving power at 3, 6, and 9—because these are the Holy Hours. The Spirit is fire and it is very hot. Touch others with your open palm to heal them.
      “Do not touch anything while you are traveling on astral—ten minutes only. Do not be discouraged if you cannot go. God is love; do missionary work. When I am in trance, you can address me as Holy Spirit, Jesus, or Rama, but do not call me by my name. Ask your guide for help when you need protection. Always try to understand more what it means to be a medium. When you want to do mental telepathy, close your eyes and imagine the person and send healing. Tell them the time you will send healing so they can prepare themselves.
      “Have patience, go towards life, and have faith. For me, I can draw a picture from my experience. I am giving you the steps. The third chakra is the most important. It is good to give for charity. Begging money when you are healing is cheating. God does not like this.”
      Jun also talked about when he went to Libya and worked on Kadafy, and also President Marcos in the Philippines. He joked about the chief doctor at a Japanese cancer clinic, who came to him for healing “incognito,” because he didn’t want anyone to know he was consulting a faith healer.
      Dr. Floresca began to draw a diagram on the board and talk about the digestive system. When he was finished, Jun added, “Eat regular or you will get ulcers. Stomach is used to certain eating times and it will grind if there is no food.”
      Afterwards I went to Jun’s office and showed him my certificate from the Faith in God Spiritual Church designating me as a minister certified to do healing by the laying on of hands. He read it carefully, and a few minutes later he pulled me aside and said, “Tonight you will go to astral at 6:00 p.m., so don’t be late.”
      I assumed he meant all of the students would participate, but as it turned out I was the only one—except for Ray, who “traveled” two nights later.
      We arrived at 5:00 p.m. and sat with Jun as he listened to a tape recording of an Easter church service. Promptly at 6:00, he leapt from his chair and we began to meditate sitting in the customary half circle. The room was lit only by candles and a fire burning in the fireplace. The fire made an occasional crackling noise, as Jun blessed each person’s Third Eye and waved incense in front of us.
      I was the last person in line, and he blessed me also. But then he suddenly pulled me to my feet, saying “Now YOU will go to astral. Lie down there.” He pointed to the pyramid in the center of the room.
      My body began to vibrate as soon as I lay down. The energy coursing through me was very strong and I became frightened. I heard Jun say softly, as if from somewhere far away, “What do you see?”
      At first, I was aware of a soft mist surrounding me. But then my vision cleared, and I saw I was in a city made entirely of golden light that resembled crystal glass. I wish there was some way to describe the color and quality of this light, but there are no words for it in human language.
      Somehow, I knew that the light had formed itself into buildings and a road made of golden, hand-cut stones so I could relate to it, and talk about it to Jun and the others. It only appeared to be solid. The architecture of this Heavenly City reminded me of ancient places I had seen in pictures, perhaps Jerusalem. (After I returned home, I described this experience to Harvey Martin, a respected scholar of religion and mysticism. He said I had visited the New Jerusalem, the dwelling place of God and other Holy Beings.)
      I could hear myself responding to Jun’s questions, but it was like I was listening to my voice under water. At the same time, I sensed other beings watching me, as if from behind golden curtains in the golden windows of the buildings. They seemed neutral and without judgment.
      Mely, my spirit guide, appeared in front of me as a brilliant blue light, and I realized that instead of her coming to me in the third dimensional world, I had traveled to her. I began to laugh and laugh, and then I heard Jun say quite firmly, “COME BACK NOW. Ten minutes only.”
      Speaking to the rest of the class, he said, “I go with the student to astral because I don’t want them to get lost!”
      I had difficulty getting back into my body, but then Jun began to rub my forehead rather violently. Suddenly, I was back and rubbing my legs in order to focus myself in physical reality. The residual feeling was—like the quality and color of the light—quite indescribable. My head was very heavy and buzzing with energy, as if the light of the Golden City was also inside of me.
      After a few minutes, I looked up and saw that Jun was again blessing each person, and I returned to my seat at the end of the line just in time for my turn. When he got to me, he did the blessing, backed away, and then ran towards me again. He grabbed my head and began to pray: “Holy Father, help this woman in her mission. Make her strong, Lord, to help the people more.”
      Then, even more dramatically, he said: “YOUR GUIDE IS NOT SO STRONG…I GIVE YOU_________ AS YOUR GUIDE.” (The name of this spiritual being cannot be given here.)
      On the way back to the hotel in the taxi, Sally and Alice expressed their disappointment that they were not given the opportunity to astral travel or receive a spirit guide. What could I have said in response? According to Jun, these kinds of experiences are directed by God. Not even a Master Healer like Jun can control the Will of God—he can only deliver the message. 
Day Seven: March 23, Easter Sunday
      After a brief session in the healing room, we left in several vans to visit the Church of Our Lady of Manaoag in Pangasinan. This church is known as a place of miracles, and hundreds of pilgrims go there during Easter to ask for blessings.
      Even though we arrived early, at about 8:30, the road leading to the church and the entire area were crammed with jeepneys and people trying to get to the church. The road was lined with small booths, and at every turn someone tapped my arm and offered to sell me some trinket related to Catholicism and the Lady.
      Three other people were visiting Jun at the same time as we were. One of them was a young man from Canada, Matthew. Although I had invited everyone, he was the only person interested in going with me to the Faith in God Spiritual Church to experience Spiritism in a small province setting. So, after buying our candles and adding them to the hundreds of others already burning, we left and found a taxi driver willing to take us to Vacante, which was several villages away.
      The driver got lost and the roads had changed since I had last been in the Philippines that I also had trouble finding the way. When we finally arrived at the church in Vacante, I experienced a strange distortion of time and reality.  I had been thinking about the place, the people, and everything that had happened there in such detail in order to write my book that I had managed to somehow freeze my memories. The past had so firmly become my personal present that it made the actual present seem unreal. It was as if I had encapsulated everything about Vacante in a corked bottle and sent it adrift—but now here it was, floating back to me. 
      Mely’s grave next to the church had an elaborate wrought-iron structure around it and cement benches. We were greeted almost immediately by Rev. Avelina “Belen” Ganaganan, Mely’s older sister and the new healer and minister of the church. In 1995, she had been the church medium, who channeled messages from spirit every Sunday.
      We entered the church, and everything looked much the same, except for the new marble tiled floor. I went immediately to the front and gave a short greeting:
      “Before Mely died she made me promise I would return to you, and so here I am today, even though it is 13 years later! My message for Easter is to love yourself, even as the Lord loves you….” When I was finished speaking, Matthew gave a brief talk about his love for the Holy Spirit.
      There was a vague sadness in the church, just as I had visualized several weeks ago at home in meditation. The new choir sang dreary songs—the previous choir members having gone to work in Spain. Joseph (my former “love interest”) was also in Spain. Everything seemed out-of-tune and out-of-focus, and quite depressing. I remembered what Mely had said in my visualization, “You won’t find me there.” (By “there,” she meant I wouldn’t find her at the church in Vacante.)
      There were mostly old women in the pews, and just a few young faces, including three small girls who waved and smiled, their mouths showing empty gapping holes where they had lost their baby teeth.
      At the end of the service, Belen told me go to the front and “give a message.” Since we had arrived late, we had missed the regular message from the new church medium, a young girl of about fourteen.
      I went to stand behind the podium—in the same place where 11 years previously I had been first initiated as a medium and magnetic healer. Being there was the final fulfillment of Mely’s prophecy, which she had spoken from her deathbed in 1995:
      “If I should die…and you should be the medium…I will speak through you… and that will be the proof.”
       As I fell into a deep trance, I began to speak—only it was Mely who spoke.
      To Belen, she said: “Oh my Beloved Sister, you are taking very good care of my church. I love you so much.”
      To Matthew: “Very good boy!” (She said this three times, smacking him on the head for emphasis.) Then: “This boy will be much help for those who suffer.”
      To the congregation: “Where are all the people? My church should be filled with happiness and love. She repeated this several times in different ways, chastising those who were missing.
      When I came down from the podium, I remembered one of my favorite songs, and I asked the choir to sing it. “Do you want to do healing?” said Belen. Without knowing it, I had asked for the song they usually sing during healing.
      Matthew and I began to do magnetic healing by having people sit one by one in a chair in front of us. Three blind, old women sat in my chair, and Belen said one of them had been blind for 30 years. I felt frustrated because I didn’t know how to help these serious cases. But then, through me, the Holy Spirit opened the Third Eye of one of the women. As my hand made a twisting movement in the middle of her forehead, I told her, “God is very happy with you because you always come to the church. Even if the medium cannot heal your physical eyes, the Holy Spirit is opening your Third Eye.”
      The woman had flowing black hair, a severely arthritic hand from doing too much laundry, and beautiful dark brown freckles on her golden skin. She turned as she was leaving and gave me a loving smile.
      Two of the small girls also sat in my chair, and I was able to see clairvoyantly their natural gifts. One girl was going to be a nurse and help people by using her hands. I told her mother, “Try to save money so she can go to nursing school.”
      The other girl seemed to have a pressing question, so I asked, “Do you have a question?” She responded softly in Ilokano and Belen translated. “She wants to know when school will start.”
      I told the child’s mother, “This girl will be a writer, so make sure she has plenty of paper and pencils. Give her lots of encouragement.”
      We spent the rest of the day eating, laughing, and reminiscing. Matthew and Cathrina, Mely’s granddaughter, seemed drawn together. She showed him around the property and they returned with cobwebs clinging to their clothing from being in Mely’s house, which is now empty, dirty, and heavily mortgaged by Charita, Mely’s daughter. Charita is living in Thailand with her new husband and baby.
      The cost to get the house back from the bank is about 600,000 pesos ($15,000). Belen expressed her desire for more people to come to the church for healing. She indicated that Mely’s house could be used as a “hotel” for the guests. She also talked about how it could be air-conditioned for foreigners. Matthew and I briefly discussed trying to buy the house and reviving the church, but this seems unlikely.
      Joseph’s son, Larry Alvin, joined us for lunch and I neared fainted. It was like seeing a ghost because he looks so much like his father. He gave me Joseph’s phone number in Spain and we talked about all the family members who are there. Larry Alvin will also be going to Spain. At one point, he picked up the guitar and began to sing softly, just like his father. I almost burst into tears at the sound of his voice, so familiar, but yet not Joseph’s.
      It was difficult to leave, and I made Belen promise not to cry as we got into her son’s car for the ride back to the highway and the bus. Being in Vacante again was a partial fulfillment of my destiny, but I will probably only understand what this fully means after I return home and time passes.  
Day Eight: March 24
     A new person arrived today: Bill from Canada via Thailand. Bill has multiple intestinal polyps, and is very skeptical about psychic surgery. As Jun began Bill’s healing, he said, “You will have some pain now,” and then he proceeded to remove a large, plum-sized tumor from Bill’s lower abdomen. Jun held it up for everyone to see. When Bill saw the tumor, his face blanched white and his eyes bulged. Then Jun took several more tumors from various parts of his stomach.
     Bill has growths all over his body, including just under his skin where you can see them. He was born with a genetic condition that predisposes him to tumors. They will eventually become cancer and the doctors predict that he will die by age 40.
      As the healings progressed, and the smell of fresh blood began to fill the room, I stood in a different position than usual, which allowed me to see inside Jun’s hands from the back. From this position I could see clearly that there was nothing hidden in his palms or up his sleeves—a common misconception held by skeptics.  
      Later that evening, Ray “went to astral.” When he told us he saw a beautiful, green parrot, Jun responded, “Your parrot is an angel. They fly with you.”
      Next, Jun translated our automatic writing. To me, he said, “Go farther, dig more, you are so, so near.” This was done privately, so I don’t know what he told the others.
      Pointing to Ray and me, he said, “You two ONLY. Be here tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. You will meditate. You will be directed to the light. You will be tested by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will be here tomorrow. You will receive the light, and it will be a hot sensation in your hands. The Holy Spirit is coming. Do not ask for power; just be there with the Holy Spirit. We are doing our best—we are not wasting our time. Many will become jealous, but just ignore that. God loves me and I feel 26. I am now 47! God will take care of you. Release, release—think only of him, because he takes care of us.
      “I am sharing. I am not doctor or evangelist. I go step by step.” He began to draw another illustration of the steps. Pointing to his drawing, he said, “What I am drawing is real. As you go up the steps, concentrate on the light. I love you. I don’t want you to have problems.”
      Pointing to the abdomen of one person, he said, “I have to remove that because it bothers you to have such an infection.”
      “I am healer-teacher. You are all learning about the spirit, but I am like divided into two.” He drew a picture of the left and right sides of the brain and their different functions, saying that one side is in “half trance” and the other is in “full trance.”
      “I have made a promise to develop the people. The body will not accept medicine from the doctor, so do not go to chemotherapy. The cancer expert from Japan is my patient, and he is a very rich man. He owns trains, stores, and many properties, but money will not save you. Ask God and it will be given.”
      Then he told a story about another rich man, who was so busy he didn’t have time to come to the Philippines. He offered to send his private plane to bring Jun to Japan, but Jun couldn’t go. The man was dead within six months.
      “I am getting young again. I originated in China and I had many past lives, but no soul-mate yet. Three times only I get divorced. Liz Taylor, she divorced 28 times! When I am gone, the family will fight over my house, but I want to give charity to help the people.”
      He told a tragic story about a girl who was only 18 when she fell in love with him, but he was still married and he had to refuse her. The girl poured gasoline over herself, lit a match, and killed herself. “I am thinking about this all the time and praying to God why this happened,” said Jun. “But I was still married—what could I do? I did not know she would do something like that. I am not womanizer. I don’t put hatred in my heart. Sometimes I am tired, but I am not angry.”
      Then, abruptly changing the subject, he looked at Alice and said, “Don’t loan money, only give it. Many times I loaned money. People borrowed money from me but always it ended up in court. So if you want to give, just give.” (Makes open gesture with his hands.)
      “Religion is only a name. Many people are praying for me and I’m healthy. I was once an actor in my own movie. I will show it to you tomorrow, but it is in my language. My guide is mostly Jesus, but Rama comes when the Arabic people are here for healing. Spirit is fire. When I am in half trance, I can remember things, but what happens in full trance I don’t remember. I am not a perfect man, but I am giving you the steps.” 
Day Nine: March 25
      In the morning after healing, Jun announced that Ray and I are going to have a special meditation together tonight in the chapel while the others wait outside. He said we would “Receive the Holy Spirit” at that time. I don’t know why Ray and I received extra attention—for example, being the only students to astral travel. Certainly, I could not have visited the Golden City without Jun’s support.
      When everyone else went for lunch, I went to Jun’s office to talk with him about how to write his book—I offered a few ideas to get him thinking about it. Just before I left, he said, “When you come again, try to stay longer and develop more. You can bring your own tour group.”
      Before meditation that evening, Jun showed a movie made in the 1970s in which he played himself. This movie has been shown all over the world. Some scenes in the film were hysterically funny; others were quite emotional. As we watched it, Jun gave a running commentary of what was happening, because we could not understand the native language. Apparently, there was quite a family argument as to Jun’s future—his father wanted him to go to law school, but his mother was a member of the Espirita church and she encouraged him to be a medium and healer.
      There were several times when he burst into tears—once when the movie showed his father dying. About this, he said, “Even I can help so many people, but the one I love I cannot help.”
      Another emotional moment showed him attending a sick child. He went to pray and ask the Lord for the strength to heal her, but when he returned she was already dead. About this, he said, “It hurts me too much.”
      These major life events seem to be part of what has motivated Jun Labo to become stronger and stronger in the power to heal. He is an incredible human being, and we are so blessed be with him during this time when he is willing to share his inner life.
      After the movie, Jun sent everyone outside except Ray and me. He indicated that we should sit for meditation, and then he also left. Almost immediately, I became aware of a rose-colored ray of light coming towards me. What a gorgeous color it was but, like the Golden City, it’s difficult to describe.
      I saw an enormous, rose-colored, angel-like being standing directly in front of me, and I realized it must be my new spirit guide. A beam came from the forehead of this “Rose Angel,” and it entered my forehead. Then the light also entered the palms of my hands and the top of my head.
      I noticed Mely standing nearby. Perhaps she was there to alleviate my fear that I would lose her if I was given another spirit guide. She seemed to be bowing to the Rose Angel, and I realized that we were both students of this enormous spirit being.
      Rose-colored light began to move between my hands, and I could see electrical energy charges emanating from my fingertips as I played with it. I also experienced many spontaneous movements, rigidity of my body, and pranayama, which is also called the “bellows breath.” When the meditation was over, my eyes were vibrating and I could hardly focus them.
      The others returned and June began his lecture: “Rays of light will go into your body. Angels are coming and they will be your bodyguards. They are standing ready at your back to protect you. I call on the Holy Spirit and it is ready. Spirit angels and rays will get into you, and this starts your aura working. Don’t get jealous. I do not select. It’s not me doing it.”
      As he spoke, he made a stick-figure drawing of a person meditating. He explained how the brain waves change as a person goes towards the light with angels around them.
      
      We began to meditate, and almost immediately Jun’s body went rigid and he spontaneously slid from his chair and onto the floor. “My guide Rama is here,” he said, and then he began to speak in another language, maybe Arabic or Hindi. His face also began to change, and in the dim light he even looked like a different person.
      The rose-colored angel appeared before me, but then stepped aside, enabling me to see Mely standing nearby, illuminated in bright blue light. Then a HUGE golden beam of light came into me and I fell into a deep trance.
      After meditation, Jun repeated what he had said earlier, “I will channel my guide who is Jesus tomorrow at the Holy Hour. Your brain will help heal you. Concentrate on this.” He drew a picture of a brain with the two sides connected by veins and pointed to the right side, saying, “This side is ready to be on trance.”
      “The brain waves spark as they move. Don’t ask why when you meditate. Forget wanting the gift! Think STRAIGHT on the LORD and be thankful. Pray to God: ‘Give me a mission in my life to help the people.’
      “Spirit comes at the Holy Hour of 9 p.m. I was changed. I prayed to God to forgive me: ‘Lord I will serve you, but give me the strength to continue to be an instrument.’ Our body is the church. Make it clean every day. God says, ‘This is my house. Keep the Sabbath.’ Share your knowledge and convince the unbeliever.”  
Day Ten: March 26
      A group of people from Switzerland arrived today, many with cancer or some other serious illness. One woman was painfully thin—her breasts hung like bags of skin from her chest and they were covered with surgical scars. We were amazed to see a large tumor removed from her stomach.
      Our group has become smaller. The Polish brother and sister have gone, taking much of the group’s stress with them. Mary has also left. She seemed disappointed that she hadn’t gotten what she came for, but perhaps it was because she was drinking alcohol every day at lunch and dinner.
      One 40-year-old woman had multiple tumors removed, and oil oozed out from her neck in the area of her carotid artery. It was similar to what happened to Alice, except it was darker and more sinister looking. She was weeping when she got up from the healing table.
      After the Swiss patients left, Jun said he was going to test the power in our hands and our ability to do magnetic healing. He looked at Alice and said, “Forget fight,” and then he paired us together for the test. When I began to work on her head, as I have often done in the past, I felt intense electrical charges in my fingertips. Afterwards, Jun gave us “grades” ranging from 86 to 90.
      In the afternoon, we had an interesting lecture from Philip about oriental facial diagnosis, and then in the evening Jun began the session by saying, “Please Lord, come to the students and give the gift to their hands.”
      As I sank into meditation, my inner vision cleared and I began to see an ENORMOUS pillar of blinding golden light. The entire room seemed to fill with this light, as the pillar swirled in a clockwise direction so fast that it actually appeared to be stationary. It had incredible power, much like a tornado. Sparks of light flew out from it as it swirled, and these sparks entered everyone in the room. The entire room was filled with light and flying sparks. I understood this phenomenon to be the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE.
      The room was also filled with angels, and they were dancing and singing in ecstasy. It was all so overwhelming that I became frightened. My mind began to fill with mundane thoughts as if to ground me in a less dramatic reality. As I sat there somewhat frozen, Jun Labo was speaking from his chair: “You are thinking too much. Just be blank. Let go and the angels will come in. Relax. Let it in.”
      It seemed like he was speaking directly to me, but there was so much energy and power in the Pillar of Light. I felt like everything I knew to be myself and my world would shatter into a million pieces if I “let go and let the angels in.” I was in half trance, rather than full trance, and my entire body was vibrating with the energy emanating from the Pillar of Light. I was suspended between this world and the spirit world, swirling and swirling in the light.
      But then, the meditation was over, and I became aware of Jun’s voice again, as he spoke about the test tomorrow to see if any of the students can do psychic surgery: “I will guide you because you are newcomers. Two by two, you will come and I will help you. Do not push too hard. Do not pull the tissue—the problems will come to your hand because it is magnetized.
      “Look into a mirror with a candle at midnight and you will see the Holy Spirit.
      “I give straight lecture. Now all the skeptics are gone, even Johan (waves his hand and smiles). I’m so happy now because Johan has been changed. Before he left he even talked about God.” 
The Last Day: March 27
      We had a brief meditation before healing, during which Jun touched the top of my head and my body exploded in spontaneous energetic movement. My hands were on fire, but I was nervous about the prospect of doing psychic surgery. Downstairs with the other students, he pointed for me to stand to the end of the line.
      One by one, the Swiss patients came in and lay on the table. Then Jun told us to stand one by one across the table from him. Holding our hands, he tested each of us to see if we could open the body. All of the students produced a bloody line, but only one student removed a solid tumor.
      We went to the chapel afterwards, and Jun came in and began to pray. He raised his hands to his mouth, gently blew on them, and giving a most glorious smile, he waved the essence of the Holy Spirit from inside of himself out over everyone seated before him in a gesture of great generosity and love.
      Before we left him for the last time, he read from his Good News Bible, paraphrasing a familiar quote, Matthew 6:25-34: “Why worry. Release your worries. Do not think about what you will eat or drink. See the birds. They do not sow or reap, and yet the heavenly Father feeds them. Today we are strong, but we will all die.
      “Why worry about clothing? See the flowers—not even Solomon was dressed so beautifully. God is waiting for us, and he knows our aim is to serve the people who need our help. Have faith. Don’t worry about what you will eat or what you will drink. Desire only the Kingdom of God. God is love. You are starting to develop. Jesus was here blessing you, and also the angels last night.
      “Try to do healing in your own place. Your body, mind, and spirit are clean now. Don’t get dirty again. Your body is a church, the house of God.”
      Several people asked Jun to bless personal items for them to take home as keepsakes. He blessed my new Bible and gave it a loving kiss. Dr. Floresca arrived and gave each student their:
“Certificate of Attendance /  Metaphysical Temple of the Universe and School of Mediumship” 
      After everyone else had left for lunch, I spoke with Jun and Dr. Floresca about my vision the night before of the Pillar of Light. I told them how much it frightened me.
      “Don’t be scared,” said Jun. “You are very, very psychic.”
      Then Dr. Floresca began to tell us about his dream of the previous night.
      “You went to astral in your dream, and now you are also psychic,” I said, which elicited much laughter.
      Jun turned to his friend and colleague, Dr. Floresca, and began to talk about how he had tested the students to see if they could open the body. “I showed each of them, and they did it (produce blood). One student even removed a cancer.” 
      I said goodbye to them reluctantly, and went to join the others for lunch at Café by the Ruins.
• Travel Tip #7: 
• The best restaurant for healthy food in Baguio is “Café by the Ruins” on Otek Street, just a couple of blocks from the Golden Pines Hotel. 
      The woman who had earlier removed a tumor during the “test” was at the restaurant, and I asked her what it felt like.
      “My eyes were closed and my hand was resting lightly on her skin,” she said. “I began to feel the tumor rise up out of her body and press against my palm. It became larger and larger until it was about the size of a plum, and then it came through the surface and into my hand.”  
      Alice and I took the bus back to Manila that afternoon, and it seemed like our time in Baguio had gone by much too quickly. Just as we reached the outskirts of Manila, the highway merged into another road and we became stuck in traffic under an overpass. Out of the shadows, a dozen dirty, nearly-naked, barefoot boys about 12 years old came running. They swarmed over the many trucks that were also at a standstill, grabbing anything they could steal and haul back into the shadows.
      I had the impulse to lock the windows, but it was not necessary because we were safe on the bus. I slunk down into my seat and closed my eyes. Sometimes the brutality of poverty in this land of sharply divided contrasts is difficult to accept—but this juxtaposition of the divine and the profane is part of what keeps me coming back. 
*   *   * 
      A few weeks have passed since I returned from Baguio, and the things I have written about here are already beginning to seem like some wild, crazy dream. Will I travel again on the astral plane to the New Jerusalem? Will I meet the Holy Spirit in the form of a Pillar of Light, or Jesus and the other saints? What form will my relationship with the rose-colored angel take? I’m waiting for answers to these questions, and more— but I know I will not be the same person I was before, because I have been washed clean in the Blood of the Lamb. 
• “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Rev. 7:14 
• Travel Tip #8:  
• Not all psychic surgeons are genuine. Only visit a healer who has been recommended by someone who has seen the healer and had a positive experience. If you are planning to visit the Philippines for the first time, go with a reputable tour guide—if you can afford the extra cost, which can be excessive. If you are an experienced traveler and can go on your own, call the healer before you buy your airplane ticket to make sure they will be there.  
• Rev. Jun Labo
• Tele: 0063-0917-885-9086
• 444 Naguilan Rd., Baguio City, 2600 PHIL
• junlabobaguiohealer.com@Yahoo.com.ph
• (Note Jun doesn’t always respond to e-mail.) 
• I have not yet personally experienced the following healers, but they have been recommended by someone I trust:  
• William Nonog
• #4 Camp 7 Kennon Rd., Viewpoint
• 2600 Baguio City, P.O. Box 762; Philippines
• Tele: 0063-0915-314-6476 
• Brother Laurence S. Cacteng
• 14-D Gen. Lim Street, P.O. Box 136
• 2600 Baguio City, Philippines
• Tele: 0063-74-424-0410
• laurencecacteng@yahoo.com.ph 
• TOURS:  Several tours to see the healers can be found advertised on the Internet, but I personally recommend going with:
• Miwa Linehan, 303-530-0920 (Colorado), miwalinehan@mac.com;
• Tour scheduled for May 2009 
• You can also contact me, as I might be taking a group leaving from the West Coast in December 2008: psychicsurgery@mind.net or 541-535-6044. 
 
 
Jessica Bryan 
Talent, Oregon, April 2008


Jessica Bryan is the author of PSYCHIC SURGERY & FAITH HEALING: In the Lowlands of Pangasinan (2007, Lompico Creek Press). In December 2008, the book will be published by Red Wheel/Weiser/Conari of San Francisco with a new title: PSYCHIC SURGERY & FAITH HEALING: An Exploration of Multi-Dimensional Realities, Indigenous Healing, and Medical Miracles in the Philippine Lowlands. Two chapters from the book: “The Wake” and “The Filipino Elvis Presley,” are on this Web site under the heading “Salmagundi.”  
Jessica is a professional book editor. In 2005, three of the books she edited for the American Academy of Neurology’s patient series were nominated for the Foreword Award. She is also the editor of several metaphysical books published by Beyond Words Publishing of Portland, Oregon, including: JOHN OF GOD: The Brazilian Healer Who’s Touched the Lives of Millions. Jessica practices Magnetic Healing in Talent, Oregon, U.S.A., where she lives with Tom Clunie D.C. and three Himalayan cats.  
The writing that follows is a “work in progress” describing a visit Jessica made in March 2008 to study healing with Rev. Ramon “Jun” Labo in Baguio. Except for Jessica and Rev. Labo, the names have been changed to protect the innocent, and also the not-so-innocent! Watch for this to be published in 2009 as a sequel to Jessica’s first book. Note the last page contains Jessica’s personal recommendations, as of March 2008, regarding visiting the Filipino healers.