Day 40 Forty Days and Forty Nights; or, As Long As It Takes

A Letter to the Editor author wrote in this morning’s Times, “I hear nothing but wishful thinking from the president.” Carrie Fisher did a one-woman show years ago; she called it Wishful Drinking—it seems more apt. The author went on, “As best as I can determine, and despite the president’s hollow boasts, testing in this country is a cruel joke. Without widespread testing, I am staying put and my money is staying in my wallet.”

Charles M. Blow picked up the clarion call started by Editorial Board member, Michelle Cottle. “The briefings are marked by Trump’s own misinformation, deceptions, rage, blaming and boasting. He takes no responsibility at all for his abysmal handling of the crisis, while each day he seems to find another person to blame, like a child frantically flinging spaghetti at a wall to see which one sticks. He delivers his disinformation flanked by scientists and officials, whose presence only serves to convey credibility to propagandistic performances that have simply become a replacement for his political rallies.”

I’ve been writing these essays for forty days straight. I will continue to write them as I am so guided. I very much appreciate the notes, and even some contributions, I receive in return. Keep them coming please.

Today seemed like a significant day to me.

Forty days.

Forty is an important number, most particularly in Scripture.

The Israelites spend forty years in the desert.
Noah and Company spend forty days on the briny.
The Nazarene Rabbi spends forty days and forty nights in the desert.

Forty is significant because of what the number signifies. In Hebrew gematria, it means as long as it takes.

And isn’t that what we’re all committed to at this moment in history? We must continue to participate in our world as it is for as long as it takes for us to change our world.

The lament heard round the world about antibody testing is a study in as long as it takes.

Are there antibody tests? Are they reliable? Where are they?
What percentage yield false positives? What percentage yield false negatives?
Which antibodies are they measuring? What do these particular antibodies mean?
Is there any oversight for test quality at all?
How many tests are we giving? And to whom?

One headline read: “Antibody Test, Seen as Key to Reopening Country, Does Not Yet Deliver.” Subtitle: “The tests, many made in China without F.D.A. approval, are often inaccurate. Some doctors are misusing them. The rollout is nowhere close to the demand.”

“Gov. Larry Hogan, a Maryland Republican, said “It’s not accurate to say there’s plenty of testing out there and the governors should just get it done.’”

“‘The more testing, the more open the economy,’” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said on Wednesday. He has pushed for the production of antibody tests as a central cog in plans to ease stay-at-home restrictions, saying that New York would eventually screen 100,000 people a day.”

A health care professional of my acquaintance had a hissy over the testing issue a couple days ago. What she told me chilled my blood. There is no uniformity in testing. This translates, crudely, into revenue, nay, profit, for the companies who make them because ...

If I buy a test from XYQ Testing Service, that’s just the start of what’s required. Then I need their swab that goes with their test, and their reagent that goes with their test, and I have to send their test to their lab for their results. Each step has a price tag and none of the other materials will work in their test.

I completely feel her outrage, and I would never have known if she hadn’t stamped her feet about it in my presence. Besides, there’s something known in the world of manufacturing as Specifications. The federal government could issue “specs” for these tests immediately. Why aren’t they?

Here’s an interesting twist on the testing issue. “Germany, which has emerged as a model among Western democracies in its efforts to curb the spread of the virus, is pursuing one of the most ambitious antibody studies, striving to test its entire population. It is a leader in the technology, has made its own antibody tests and conducted extensive diagnostic screening from the beginning.”

Since the late 1930s, Germany has had to reengineer their entire society to recover from the regime of the Nazi menace. They’ve been working on their collective mental and spiritual health for more than eighty years. This recovery of spiritual well-being was mandated by the people. And what has that created? Leaders who trust the populace, and a populace who trusts their leaders.

Unlike those of a great many other countries, whom shall remain nameless.

Of course Germany is leading in the antibody testing world. They work together, not without dissent—there remain fascists alive and well in Germany—but together enough that they get things done. They’re in it, together, for as long as it takes.

I think Day 40 is the day we all need, from our own stay-at-home places, to begin to work together, at the very least, spiritually. My spiritual practice has been consistent for the last forty years; its greatest consistency is in its eclecticism. Code: it changes as I change.

I asked the Divine Mother to show me how to pray about the coronavirus pandemic and over the past couple of weeks, She’s given me a physical prayer to pray for everyone in the whole world—no exceptions.

I’m calling it The Health-Service Prayer, and I’m inviting you personally to join me in it.

It addresses our own fears, and those of our compatriot humans. [Fortunately, the animals are far less afraid than we are, witness, the wilding of city streets, and the coupling of Ying Ying and Le Le in Hong Kong—it turns out, after ten years of their keepers nudging them, they just needed a little privacy!]

I’ll record a set of instructions for this and attach it at the bottom of this essay so you can do the practice with me. Or, it will be in the recording for Day 40 on the Lifework: In Perspective section of my website.

You needn’t connect it to Divinity if it doesn’t work for you. Put the health of the whole world in front of you instead.

Stand with your feet slightly apart, balanced and comfortable, arms at your sides.

Imagine the Divine avatar of your choice four feet in front of you. Mine is always The Blessed Mother.

Raise your arms from your sides straight out to the sides as though you were getting ready for a hug.

Let your left hand be palm up—this is Health. It’s the left hand because we actually receive health from the Divine.

Turn your right hand to be palm down—this started out to be Wealth, but morphed into Service because it is service, a.k.a. giving, to humanity that creates wealth.

Now, take your left hand and place it palm down on the Crown of your Head. Say, “Health.” Then take your right hand and place it over your left hand. Say, “Service.” As you say the words, speak them for yourself, of course, but also for everyone in the world.

Move your hands, left first, followed by the right, down the additional seven major chakras. Thus:

Over your Third Eye. “Health.” “Service.”

Over your Throat. “Health.” “Service.”

Over your Thymus Gland, in the Center of your Chest. “Health.” “Service.”

Over your Heart. “Health.” “Service.”

Over your Solar Plexus. “Health.” “Service.”

Over your Lower Belly. “Health.” “Service.”

Over your Pubic Bone. “Health.” “Service.”

Now raise both hands in an arc like huge wings out to the side so that they meet in the air above your head in the traditional prayer posture. This gesture is meant to spread the prayer around the world for everyone.

Bring your hands back to your Thymus in the Center of your Chest, still in the prayer posture.

At this point I ask if there are actions I can take today to help myself or anyone else, and I hold still to await guidance for between ten and fifteen seconds.

Then I bow to the Mother, and the prayer is complete.

Once you learn the sequence, Beloved, the whole thing takes only a little over a minute. I tend to do it several times during the day—especially after I’ve read something that’s scared me which I can do without a moment’s notice thanks to the Internet.

My page-a-day Mary Engelbreit calendar made my heart soar open this morning. Blessed Mary of Whimsy quoted Father Faber.

A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.

Most of you probably know by now that I’m a novelist. As a result, I use a lot of paper. More than most folks, I’d wager. To make up for that, I am a sponsor of American Forests. Trees sooth me. I think of this revealed prayer practice as a single act of kindness. I plan to do it for as long as it takes for our world to be tested, healed, served, and renewed. Won’t you join me please?

P. S. It is also written that where two or more are gathered and agreed as touching any one thing, the Divine is present in the midst of that agreement. Let’s agree, shall we? Everyone in the world needs to do what it takes for as long as it takes to restore these months the virus has eaten.

Dr. Susan Corso is a metaphysician and medical intuitive with a private counseling practice for more than 35 years. She has written too many books to list here. Her website is www.susancorso.com

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