SPOILER ALERT FOR “THE HAUNTED AIR” AND “MIRAGE”


I was struck by an interesting visual link between two FPW books.

In “The Haunted Air,” when Charles and Gia are trapped in the basement by the ghost of Tara Portman, they fall into a deep pit. As the dirt walls begin to crumble, Charlie gives Gia one of the “crosses” from the stones in the wall, and she uses it to create hand and foot holds in the dirt. As she does so, she comes across bones of children buried in the cellar. Fighting back her fear, Gia continues to dig and begins to rise toward the lip of the pit. Suddenly ghostly little hands emerge from the dirt walls and grab Gia and Charlie, preventing them from escaping. Using the “cross,” Gia slices her way through the hands that continue to multiply, until dozens of little hands are grasping her and it seems she will never get out alive.

In “Mirage,” Julie is in the volcano of Samantha’s mind. She is desperate to connect the severed ends of a bridge that traverses a lava flow and which is a critical connection between parts of Sam’s unconscious mind. After digging deep within herself and tapping newly discovered parts of her own emotional psyche, Julie sees a response from Sam. The response comes in the form of little hands on either end of the ruptured bridge, reaching out and caressing Julie. At first, the hands are those of a tiny child, but they begin to multiply and blossom into dozens of hands from every phase of Sam’s life, little girl through adulthood.

FPW is a physician, a man with healing hands. The laying on of hands is part of medical care, not in a mystical fashion but quite literally. Every physician must use his/her hands to examine the patient.

The imagery is unique and interesting, don’t you think?

Maggers:

Have you ever considered going for a Master's. You have been peppering the board with fragments of a thesis on the works of FPW.

Save a hard copy of this, just in case....

Maggers:

Have you ever considered going for a Master's. You have been peppering the board with fragments of a thesis on the works of FPW.

Save a hard copy of this, just in case....

If there were such a program available, I'd be right there! Woo hoo! I'd love to write a complete thesis on FPW's works.

I did save this one to my own files.

....FPW is a physician, a man with healing hands. The laying on of hands is part of medical care, not in a mystical fashion but quite literally. Every physician must use his/her hands to examine the patient.

The imagery is unique and interesting, don’t you think?...

When I wrote that, I didn't know that FPW is a D.O., a doctor of osteopathic medicine, as opposed to an M.D.

http://www.aacom.org/om.html

Quoting from the above source:

"In addition to studying all of the typical subjects you would expect student physicians to master, osteopathic medical students take approximately 200 additional hours of training in the art of osteopathic manipulative medicine. This system of hands-on techniques helps alleviate pain, restores motion, supports the body’s natural functions and influence the body’s structure to help it function more efficiently."

So all those images of hands that appear frequently in FPW's books may have their roots in his training and his choice to become a DO. In my 25 years of working with physicians, my experience has been that DO's are the most mellow of doctors.

Here's some additional info.

http://www.aacom.org/om/om-kuchera.html

When I wrote that, I didn't know that FPW is a D.O., a doctor of osteopathic medicine, as opposed to an M.D.

http://www.aacom.org/om.html

Quoting from the above source:

"In addition to studying all of the typical subjects you would expect student physicians to master, osteopathic medical students take approximately 200 additional hours of training in the art of osteopathic manipulative medicine. This system of hands-on techniques helps alleviate pain, restores motion, supports the body’s natural functions and influence the body’s structure to help it function more efficiently."

So all those images of hands that appear frequently in FPW's books may have their roots in his training and his choice to become a DO. In my 25 years of working with physicians, my experience has been that DO's are the most mellow of doctors.

Here's some additional info.

http://www.aacom.org/om/om-kuchera.html

Interesting, I assumed FPW was a MD too. How did you find out he's not?

Interesting, I assumed FPW was a MD too. How did you find out he's not?

Part of what I do for a living is credential physicians. It's not hard to find if you know where to look. But I wasn't looking for FPW; I stumbled on the information.