Discovery
He’s one of the most in-demand healers in the world, sought after by sportspeople, celebrities and all types of people who suffer chronic pain. And the results Charlie Goldsmith, 37, achieves are staggering, but his techniques don’t come without some degree of controversy. Ahead of his appearance on Interview with Andrew Denton, the focus of TLC series The Healer talks to WHO about his skills, his famous aunt and dealing with doubters.
You discovered your healing ability at the age of 18. Can you tell us about that?
I was at a health retreat in Queensland doing work experience. I sat down to get breakfast one morning and went to get my knife and fork, and my hands forcefully pulled together as I went to reach for them. They sort of pulled together in like a clap and I thought it was weird. I pulled them apart and could feel a magnetism between them. I definitely hadn’t experienced anything like that before. I turned to the person to my right, put my hand up and I was like, “Feel this,” and she said, “Oh, my God, what is that?” Thank God she could feel it, otherwise I was checking myself into the psych ward in my mind as I was sitting there.
A whole lot of people came up to start feeling this thing coming out of me. One woman came up, and as soon as she put her hand up, I felt something that was different to everyone else’s hands. I’m like, “So weird, you’ve got this lump and I just really need to get rid of it,” so we sat down and I’m using my hand, if you can imagine me kind of smoothing out the air, because I could feel something. I got about halfway through and she was crying. I said, “Oh, I’m hurting you. I’m so sorry, I’ll stop,” and she was like, “No, no please keep going.” I got to the point where the lump was pretty much gone, and she started bending her finger and tears were still streaming down her face. She said, “I haven’t been able to bend this finger in three years.” I kind of went into a bit of shock. I wasn’t thinking I was about to heal someone; I didn’t know there was something wrong with her. It was kind of exciting but also a bit overwhelming.
How did your life change after that?
It was hard for a good period. I kept helping people and was facing the mental challenge of what I was going through, and I wasn’t supported. A lot of people were saying, “Charlie’s lost it.” Or I was told not to tell anyone. I was like, “I know people need this but they don’t want to see it,” so it took me a long time to get emotionally able to not care what people thought. Obviously, the whole way along, I got the great satisfaction and purpose of being able to help people that really need it, and that’s obviously a beautiful experience, but it has definitely had its challenges and I wouldn’t wish them upon my worst enemy, to be honest.
How frustrating is it to have your healing abilities doubted and be labelled a fraud?
Anyone who deceives people and puts their health at risk is the opposite of what I’d like to see. In my area specifically, [those kinds of people] make my life a lot harder because it’s the frauds that I get judged on. That’s unique to my area. If you think about other skill sets, you don’t see that. Doctors commit fraud all the time, but we don’t shout down every doctor. Those people get treated and dealt with in the isolation they deserve to be. Whereas in my area, I am dealing with all of the frauds making it hard for me and others like me to separate ourselves from that. The burden of proof on me is enormous. I don’t like anyone ripping anyone off—I think it’s awful. I care about the health industry; I care about people being healthy. If you look at me, if you delve deep enough, you see that I’m all about proof. Nothing’s for sale—it’s a totally different path I’m on.
Do you know what the source of your healing abilities is?
I try not to speculate. I believe that there is, I call it consciousness, an intelligence that everything is made of. That’s how I feel, and I certainly don’t feel it’s of me, but for some reason I can access it easily. I don’t like to expand on that too much because it’s just theories, and my whole life is about trying to show you, “Look at this and see what I can show you tangibly.” Because what happens is someone will say, “I don’t believe that and I don’t want to see it.” So I try and go, “Let’s not worry about what we believe, let’s look at what actually is happening here.” I’m mindful that if I talk about my beliefs, I can then have the scientific community go, “We can’t handle what you just said,” or my beliefs could also upset the religious community potentially. That’s why I say it doesn’t matter what I believe, what matters is what I can do and how it helps people. When it happens, it can be very profound for people’s lives.
You close your eyes when you heal and your eyes can be seen fluttering behind your eyelids. What’s going on at that point for you?
In some ways, it’s quite simple: I feel very clear in the head and very present, and then I will focus. You might say, “Hold your right hand out now and look at your right hand. Concentrate on your hand, feel your hand, you’ll feel your hand warm up or you’ll become more aware of the air around it,” so essentially I do that, but I do it in their body. So I’m putting my awareness, like it’s my body, but into theirs and that alone can be enough to create the change you see me create. I can do more, but that’s the simplest thing I can explain.
How do people find you?
You can’t really book me. I choose cases pretty randomly. I have a lot of requests for help. Last month, I had somewhere around 50,000 requests. I want to help people, but obviously I am limited in how many people I can do. There’s a form on my website that goes to my manager, and then messages on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, letters to my office… And then of course, I have brothers and sisters, a big family, friends and it doesn’t take much, especially now people are seeing how strong this thing is that I do. I just can’t help everyone and I don’t want to let people down, but I just can’t stop it either.
Your family is an interesting showbiz family. Your older sister Tottie was a member of pop group Chantoozies and your aunt is Olivia Newton-John…
She is the auntie of my oldest three brothers and sisters. My dad’s first wife is her sister, but I suppose to all of us, she’s our auntie, cause we were eight kids, so there are five of us who aren’t technically her nieces and nephews, but our family is just a little bit complex. She would refer to me as her nephew, I would refer to her as my aunt, cause it has always been that way.
Obviously Olivia’s been in the news with her health challenges. Have you ever worked with her?
I have, but especially with the kind of illness she’s got, I think it’s up to her to have those conversations, not me. Of course, she’s been through it all before and she’s very knowledgable in that area. She’s got really great access to lots of different interventions, from natural to conventional, so she’s well equipped, better than most, to deal with that sort of thing.
Subscribe now to Binge List, WHO magazine’s TV podcast. In this week’s episode, Clare Rigden and Gavin Scott discuss your next true-crime docuseries obsession, Netflix’s Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist. Plus, what’s the verdict on Olivia: Hopelessly Devoted to You, Atlanta, Harrow, Young Sheldon and I’m Dying Up Here? Listen on iTunes: http://po.st/syE3JF or OMNY: http://po.st/3viNTh
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