Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter

Spiritualist Noel Murray

You can use many terms and words to describe him but, to his 'patients', he is simply Mr Murray.

While in Portland, on September 3, we journeyed to Balcarres, a community outside of Buff Bay, to find the man we heard so much about. He's no doctor, but he does cure 'ills'. The second you pull up next to the bridge, across which you must cross to visit his establishment, you are told whether he is around or will soon arrive. The sight of the maroon and yellow painted buildings that make up the yard is hard to ignore, as is its creator.

The easiest way to describe Noel Murray is that he is a spiritualist who gets rid of evil. He quickly points out that he is no obeah man and he does not deal in evil. If you want to 'tie' anybody, don't go to him. At the very presence of evil, he will run the evildoer out of his yard!

"If yuh come yah fi do evil, mi wi cut off yuh clothes and leave yuh naked," he says while brandishing a pair of scissors. He says the Holy Spirit will show him any evildoer. He also has a rod in his reading room with which he will fearlessly strike you for the same reason.

THE BEGINNING

So, how did he become the 'Mr Fix It' with the spiritual touch? It wasn't from any classes at a university, nor any teaching handed down from a guru. Murray is a former Jamaica Defence Force member, who left and went to live in the United States, New York to be exact. One day, while walking down a street near his home, he noticed a candle shop and, curious, he went in. What happened next changed his life forever.

"Mi see the madda lady inna full white and she start get inna spirit and dem come roun' mi an' a shout fi Jesus," he said. By now, he was understandably concerned as the strange shopowner began sprinkling water from a phial on him, asking why he hadn't given his life to Christ.

Funnily enough, that experience, which might have been traumatising for someone else, hit a chord in Murray's spirit. He began to attend a church at the rear of the shop and soon became a member.

A convention was scheduled for September 3, 1994. He was not first in line to be baptised, but the bishop of the church, whom he had never met, told the other officials that "if him (Murray) no baptise first, no baptism cyaan gwaan!"

He knelt at the altar, the bishop passed the Bible over his head and opened it to Isaiah 62 and said: "Congratulations, number one, you get a calling to go back home." "That's how everyone realised dat me have 'the gift'." So, it was back to Belcarres to do his work. By November 1998, he was there.

Murray also has an office in Kingston, on Spanish Town Road. where he comes on a Thursday to heal those who can't make the trip to Portland. When quizzed about whether 'readermen' only cater to the poor, he quickly points out that there are many so-called big men who come to access his services, including the CEOs of some prominent companies.

People come to Murray for various reasons, from the physical to the legal or just for a read up. For instance, if someone is causing you physical pain or plotting to cause you great harm, or even death, he can help you either get rid of the pain or ward off the harm. If you are unfairly charged for a crime, he will ensure you are found not guilty. He warns though, that he is not a medical doctor and, if he sees that the ailment is only a physical one, he will tell the visitor that the services of a medical doctor are needed. Furthermore, his clients aren't stupid.

HOW IT ALL WORKS

The compound of spiritualist, Noel Murray (Brother Mack), located in Balcarres in Buff Bay Valley, Portland. - Photos by Mark Titus

He doesn't read your palms at all. He reads the book revered and trusted by Jamaicans everywhere, the Bible.

"Mi nuh tek nutten from nobody, except Christ," he says. Reading the Word, especially Psalms, is very helpful because this book provides guidance and protection.

"Like Psalm 121, if a man a try work evil 'gainst yuh, there is no way him can do yuh nutten," he asserts. He says the ability to understand dreams and visions is very important. According to Murray, sometimes, the people who come for help have already seen the remedy without discerning its meaning. Those persons, he instructs to follow the dreams. But, you must be clean inside.

For those whom he must help, after they receive their reading, he will give them a list of ingredients for what they need for their 'bath'. That's not unusual but some of his methods may raise eyebrows. For instance, you must 'wash up' when you're taking your bath. Which means you must bathe in an upward motion, only. Another stipulation is that you must not dry yourself - the mixture must dry on you. That mixture must be given the time to work, three days in fact, and so, for that time, you can't bathe.

You would think the intricacies involved in being cleansed would deter those who come to Murray, but they don't.

Nothing he does is simply because he feels like it. Everything comes from angels and visions. He has become so enlightened that he can even predict the weather.

His fee of J$100 came to him in a dream and, for this reason, no matter what inflation has done to the economy, no matter what his overheads, no matter how popular he becomes, that's the cost of his cures.

"Mi see di spirit come to mi in a slippas wid a flowers pon it with a $100," he explained.

The suits he wears are also determined by the winged spirits as each one represents a different day and colour. That day the colour was blue.

Murray also owns a candle shop, like the one in New York he stumbled upon that fateful day. He says his greatest joy was seeing persons he healed return to say thanks.

So popular is he that the phones in his reading room rang constantly, potential clients wanting to speak with him. He told us that he gets calls from New Jersey to Aruba. Understand this, he isn't running an underground business. He advertises, even handing out business cards. Word of mouth also goes a far way.

Never missing a beat, as we left him, Murray calls a woman struggling with severe back pain into his reading room, ready to do his work again.

The Gleaner's Rural Coordinator Paul-André Walker registers to see the spiritualist.

The reception area.