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The Wet Cell Appliance
In the summer of 1990, 35-year-old Norfolk resident Jess Belcher had to come to terms with the fact that something was dreadfully wrong. For nearly a decade she had been plagued with strange aching sensations in her legs, but lately that had gotten worse. The entire left side of her body often felt numb and she would lose her balance and crumple to the floor. Or she would look down to see her fingers and toes pull--suddenly, dramatically--to the left. And then there were the headaches and the constant fatigue.
In October of 1990, when she fell asleep at the wheel of her car and awoke disoriented--but unhurt--at the side of the road, she decided it was time to seek help. The diagnosis? Multiple sclerosis. The prognosis? A decidedly bleak future--that is, until she took the problem into her own hands and began regular prayer, meditation, a host of dietary changes, and she accidentally happened upon the wet cell appliance, a device recommended by Edgar Cayce.
Ten months after learning she had MS, she began using the appliance daily. She did so for nine months religiously. Today she is symptom-free and has "never felt better."
The wet cell appliance is simply a wet cell battery that produces a small but measurable electrical current that, according to Cayce, could be used to stimulate the growth of nerve tissue and balance the glandular system. Recommended in nearly 1000 Cayce readings for more than 150 different ailments, the wet cell was most often recommended for incoordination between the sympathetic and the cerebrospinal nervous system, retardation in children and adults, mental disorders, arthritis, paralysis, deafness, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis.
Today, the appliance is attracting a following as part of a growing movement of aficionados of "Energy Medicine." And according to some health care practitioners, it is clearly an idea whose time has come.
Virginia Beach chiropractor Dr. Paul R. Thompson, who uses the appliance in his practice, explains. "At the beginning of the last century, new information about the smaller world of bacteria and such changed the face of medicine. In this century, the same thing is occurring as more and more people learn about the electric body. The result will be a dramatic change in the practice of medicine over the next 25 years. Eventually, physicians will look to the electric body to diagnose illness. And we will see more and more practitioners using appliances like the wet cell that introduce low frequency, low amperage wave forms to heal the body."
The appliance consists of positive and negative rods, or poles, of copper and nickel immersed in an electrolyte "soup" of copper sulfate, sulfuric acid, zinc, charcoal, and distilled water. The copper and nickel poles are fitted with terminals to which are attached both a copper and nickel plate. When the user is ready to use the device, they simply fit the nickel attachment around the waist like a belt, with the nickel cup snug against the lacteal duct plexus, located just above and to the right of the navel. The lacteal ducts are lymphatic vessels that extend into the villi of the small intestine. The copper attachment is placed at one of various nerve centers along the spinal column, locations that vary according to the specific physical disorder, but most often involving the third cervical, ninth dorsal, and/or fourth lumbar. The impulse of the low electrical current is then sent directly to the center needing attention, working through the nervous system.
In most cases, the appliance is utilized with a specific solution that is used to supply certain elements to the body that bypass digestion and are simply transmitted into the body through the electrical forces of the wet cell. Most commonly recommended were gold chloride, spirits of camphor, silver nitrate, and Atomidine.
How does it work? According to William A. McGarey, M.D., co-founder of the A.R.E. Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, "Energy--whether electrical, electronic, electromagnetic, or magnetic--is simply life energy itself, the manifestation of the God-force. And whether it is generated inside or outside of the body, it brings life to the human body and healing when things are out of accord." "This was the basic foundation of Cayce's original concept of what is now known as Energy Medicine," he continued. "Every cell in the body has an electrical vibration--is vibration. As Cayce said, 'Electricity or vibration is that same energy, same power, ye call God.' [Reading 1967-1] And since man is created in the image of God, all living creatures are electrical in nature and this positive/negative activity creates an electromagnetic field in and around the body. When we are injured, or when we allow ourselves to become unbalanced by our thoughts--since thoughts are an electrical impulse that moves through the body--or through overexposure to external sources of electromagnetic energy, cells become deficient in the energy needed to reproduce and maintain balance. This deficiency is the beginning of physical weakness and disease. The wet cell simply supplies the necessary electrical vibration needed for healing."
Though it is still considered revolutionary, physicians and medical researchers began working with electrical therapies as early as the turn of the century.
In 1905, Clarence Edward Skinner, M.D. wrote in Therapeutics of Dry Hot Air about "the so-called 'physiological' forces: heat, cold, electricity, the various forms of radiant energy, etc." as new forces in the medical world that were clearly destined to "revolutionize the current methods of treating many disease processes."
In the late 1900's, Robert O. Becker, M.D., renowned pioneer in the field and author of The Body Electric, demonstrated the healing potential of electrical circuits while exploring the unusual ability of the salamander to regenerate nearly all parts of its body--a phenomenon scientists have puzzled over for centuries. Becker discovered that the regeneration of a salamander's limb actually occurs as a result of a weak electrical current that alters the cells in the damaged area. This current then "reprograms" the cells to produce the specific type of tissue necessary for rebuilding the lost limb. Today, surgeons in the field of orthopedics are successfully applying the principle, using electromagnetic radiation to treat bone injuries.
Of course, chiropractors have been practicing electric medicine as well as manual medicine for years. When they manipulate the spine, for example, their objective is more than simply alleviating pain. A misaligned vertebra impedes the flow of energy to the organ--energy that is vital to health.
Chiropractor Dr. Paul Thompson took the principle a step further last winter when he purchased a wet cell appliance to use in his office with patients who demonstrate a need. Though it is too soon to comment on specific cases, he has seen encouraging results with patients suffering with asthma, depression, and multiple sclerosis, and in energizing the body. When asked how the appliance works, Thompson offers some thought-provoking theories. "There is an energy field, called the etheric body, which substands the physical body rather like the metal framework of a building. Disturbances or illnesses come about when the etheric and physical bodies have become disconnected--as a result of trauma, emotions, karmic patterns or other factors. The result is that the physical body cannot be nourished from an energy standpoint and the nerve and blood supply can't properly feed the body."
According to Thompson, this etheric body, an exact replica of the physical body, extends in and through the dense physical body where energy moves in and out of vortexes, commonly called chakras. Simply put, these chakras are places where the lines of force from the etheric body cross 21 times. There are 7 major vortexes all located along the length of the spine and head, and each is associated with a specific gland. For example, the energy vortex at the base of the spine has a direct connection with the efficient functioning of the adrenal glands.
Thompson theorizes that the wet cell does not affect the physical body directly, but instead affects the etheric body. Simply put, the device and the various solutions--gold, camphor, silver nitrate, which he believes are, on an etheric level, particular vibrations of light--introduce a higher vibration of energy into the physical body, stimulating the endocrine glands to work together in a balanced fashion. "If all the endocrine glands are operating properly--all of the necessary hormones are flowing--you are an integrated personality," he adds.
The wet cell appliance is not found in any appliance store. Nor is it manufactured on a factory assembly line. For the past six decades, it has been made in the workshops of several enterprising entrepreneurs who have created their own versions of the appliance. Marston Godfrey, the original wet cell manufacturer, actually made the appliance for Cayce, although it was said to have been a crude version of what is presently available. A later generation obtained their appliances from Lester Babcoke of Phoenix, Arizona, who moved to Virginia Beach to work for the A.R.E. but built wet cell appliances in his home workshop until his death in 1983. According to his wife, Billie Babcoke, they were "as near to Cayce's recommendations as anyone has ever made."
In recent years, the wet cell has been made by Phil Thomas of Virginia Beach and Bruce Baar of Downington, Pennsylvania, both of whom claim to have apprenticed with Babcoke. Each has his own version of the device--and his own customers who are very partial to one or the other. The A.R.E. doesn't sell the appliance but refers inquiries to the A.R.E. Clinic in Phoenix (phone (602) 955-9206), which does sell it, or to Baar (phone 1-800-269-2502). Prices for different models range from $145 to $200. Baar began building the appliances in 1963 as a hobby. After Babcoke's death, he purchased Lester's tools and materials from Babcoke's family and turned his hobby into a business. Still, says Baar, research remains his primary focus. "I've been working with a number of doctors--Dr. Pagano, for example, a chiropractor who utilizes Cayce materials in his practice--to study the readings in-depth and begin to define and document very specifically the solutions necessary for the particular ailments."
For the past year and a half, Baar has been working closely with one of Pagano's patients with scleroderma. Called the disease that turns people to stone, scleroderma is a progressive hardening of the body's connective tissue that can eventually lead to hardening of the skin and the vital organs. In advanced stages, it can render victims helpless to perform the simplest task. Although there is said to be no known cure, Cayce often recommended the wet cell for healing the source of the disease. According to Baar, when the woman first came to Pagano, she was "lifeless, with the tips of her fingers literally falling off. Today, she is getting better, her skin is soft and supple again, her energy is back. It's phenomenal. And this is just one of the success stories among many."
Thomas began building the appliance quite by accident after meeting Babcoke on Thomas' yearly "pilgrimage to the A.R.E." from his home in upstate New York. In 1987, he began building the devices and experimenting with different clients. "Two people in particular made me recognize the wet cell's untapped potential. First, I began regularly working with an epileptic child in West Virginia. In a very short time, his mother was able to take him off seizure medication. Then, I worked with a woman crippled with rheumatoid arthritis. Over the course of five months, she was also able to get off all medication and walk up and down stairs for the first time in years."
Thomas opened a wet cell therapy center in Virginia Beach last year to allow people to experience the device and to study its applications. "Some people have had phenomenal results, and others have not. Clients with multiple sclerosis and those with rheumatoid arthritis, for example, have had extremely positive results. But what is important is that in this type of setting, I am able to more closely monitor clients' progress and assist them in determining specific locations on the spine where the attachment can be placed to give the best results."
Today, Thomas markets his appliances across the country, but he maintains that he has just scratched the surface in actually understanding the exact workings of the device. "Unfortunately, Cayce never explained why he suggested that the wet cell user introduce a specific solution at a particular place on the spinal column. Although I am constantly cross-referencing the readings to try to understand the correlations in what he suggested in terms of placement and solutions for the various ailments, it will take many years and much research to actually arrive at a particular wet cell prescription for specific ailments. Still, after witnessing many wet cell users successfully recovering from a host of disorders, there is no longer any question that its therapeutic benefits are virtually unlimited."
Though many questions remain unanswered about the mysterious energy that flows through the living body--questions that have thus far only been touched upon--one thing is for certain: energy medicine--one of the basic tenets of Cayce's theory of healing--is sure to revolutionize medicine as we know it today.
This article was taken from the July/August, 1993, issue of Venture Inward and has been used by permission.
Deborah Seymour Taylor is a free-lance writer and former editor of a health magazine.
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