Christiane Stamm - The Fourteen Holy Helpers: Invocations for Healing and Protection

Publishers note

Although the term Holy Helpers refers to the Christian saints, the tradition of invocation is much older. As Christianity spread, it adopted and renamed all kinds of ancient lore and their associated powers, in much the same way as churches were generally built on pre-Christian religious sites. We can therefore assume that the powers we call upon have little to do with these particular historical figures but instead correspond to primordial energies that reside within humans and the Earth. It is perfectly acceptable to address them by their commonly known Christian names and indeed learn more about their character from the legends of the saints, but people who are in no way aligned with Christianity can just as successfully practice invocation.

Contents

My mission

M ANY YEARS AGO, I received an instruction from the spirit world to revise the ancient prayers connected to the Fourteen Holy Helpers and to offer them to humanity through initiation.

It was not an easy task, as I was only familiar with the old, rather garbled texts that were almost impossible to recite. It was impressed upon me in no uncertain terms that I should never use any negative words or phrases when formulating the texts and I began my efforts to revise them. After many failed attempts, the spirit world came to my aid and passed on to me the exact prayers. Once healing crystals to accompany the prayers had also been recommended, the invocations finally became effective and it was possible to help people with them.

When I asked why it should be now, at this precise moment, that I had received the instruction to revise these ancient prayers, the answer came that it was now time to make invocation accessible to everyone, since all human and spiritual beings draw their energy from one and the same Source.

Invocation can be passed on to another person on any day of a full moon.

Do you want to be healthy?

W HEN ASKED, people will naturally reply that of course they would like to be blessed with perfect health and well-being, but how often during a conversation does talk turn instead to disease, to the things that people dont want? If a sick person wishes to be healed, they must direct their focus, their entire energy, toward good health. The same principle applies in all areas of life.

• If you concentrate on something unpleasant, bad things will happen.
• If you focus your attention on beauty, health, and well-being, most of these good things will come to pass.
• If you would like to be healthy, make a determined and final decision to be healthy and keep to it.
• Consciously forego any potential advantages of sickness and be resolute in this respect.
• Never underestimate the power of the spoken word, since your soul will respond to it.
• You would like to have good health, so resolve never to use the word sicknessagain.

The Fourteen Holy Helpers

T HE FOURTEEN HOLY HELPERS were being invoked and worshiped as early as the 9th century, but they have increasingly fallen into obscurity in contemporary times. Their help was particularly vital in the 13th and 14th centuries, when plague reigned supreme throughout the world. It was during this period that the Holy Helpers were especially important.

Each of the Fourteen Holy Helpers was also assigned additional areas of responsibility, and people would call upon a specific saint for help in times of crisis. In so doing the Holy Helpers would address the temporal and spiritual problems of the age.

As a result of globalization and the breakneck pace of technological and scientific advances, especially in medicine, we have gradually become less familiar with the saints in our everyday lives. In reality, little has changed over the centuries, although the precise issues that people are concerned about may now be differentinstead of plague, there is cancer or AIDS, and of course COVID-19. Instead of famine, there are job losses and unemployment, so the need right now for angels, saints, and the Fourteen Holy Helpers is as great as ever.

Although over many long centuries people would invoke the Holy Helpers to assist them with their troubles and concerns, the cult surrounding them only garnered recognition thanks to an apparition. Legend has it that the Fourteen appeared to a local man, Hermann Leicht, in what is now Klosterlangheim in Upper Franconia, Germany, identifying themselves as the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Hermann Leicht was a shepherd in the town of Langheim when this took place in 1445 and 1446. A chapel was initially built on the site of the visitation, and in 1774 German architect Balthasar Neumann built the Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, which went on to become a popular pilgrimage site.

The Fourteen Holy Helpers are generally said to comprise:

Saint Agathius (Acacius of Byzantium)

Saint Barbara

Saint Blaise (Blase)

Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Saint Christopher

Saint Cyriacus

Saint Denis (Dionysius)

Saint Erasmus (Elmo)

Saint Eustace (Placidus)

Saint George

Saint Giles (Gilles)

Saint Margaret of Antioch (Marina the Great Martyr)

Saint Pantaleon (Panteleimon)

Saint Vitus (Guy)

In many chronicles, the Four Holy Marshals are also included:

Saint Anthony the Great

Saint Hubert, bishop of Lige

Pope Cornelius

Quirinus of Neuss

The first documented mention of the Four Marshals, also known as the Holy Marshals, was in 1478. However, by the end of the 17th century, depictions of the marshals were becoming less common and veneration of them eventually died away.

An invocation may be addressed to one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers for a number of reasons, while prayers of healing are generally recited to restore health.

The subject of an invocation may also be a physical object such as an amulet, a house or apartment, or indeed a crystal to be carried as a good luck charm and symbol of support. Alternatively, an idea or concept, or a relationship such as a partnership could also be the subject of an invocation. For more details, see the chapter.

Initiation

I N PRINCIPLE, anyone can learn invocation, since we are all part of the same energy. Therefore, everyone can bring help and healing through invocation. In its perfected form, it is natural magic, which is why it has been interpreted as magical and considered mystical since the earliest times. According to ancient tradition, spiritual knowledge and its attendant rituals must be passed on from one person to another. This used to be carried out by word of mouth, from master to pupil, but in this day and age we also make use of the medium of the written word.

This process of handing on knowledge (initiation) and the passages in this book will connect you with the energy of secret knowledge; its power will live within you. After following the instructions, you will be initiated exactly as if you had received this knowledge from your ancestors.

You now have some work to dothere is no such thing as something for nothing! You will need a pad of blank paper to use as a personal journal, or you might like to choose a nice notebook, but wait for the next full moon before beginning to copy out your prayers of healing. It is only in the act of copying out the prayers that the magic of invocation will pass to you. Discover more in the chapter.