Tumors & Lumps

What a Tumor Really Is, Benign and Malignant, and the Lumps That Are Not Tumors at All

Understanding the Condition

Finding a Lump

There are few things that bring us to attention quicker than finding a lump or bump under the skin. The first thought for most people is cancer, and fear takes over. But most lumps are not cancer, and many are not even tumors. Understanding what a lump is, and why the body made it, takes away much of the fear and shows the way to clearing it.

What a Tumor Is

A tumor is a mass of cells growing out of order. Healthy cells grow, do their work, wear out and are replaced in an orderly way. In a tumor, a group of cells keeps building past what the body needs, and the extra tissue forms a lump. Tumors can be slow-growing or fast, small or large, and they can form almost anywhere: in the glands and lymph nodes, the breast, the uterus and other reproductive organs, the urinary tract, the abdomen, or just under the skin.

Dr. Christopher described a tumor as “a swelling, an abnormal formation” of tissue “arising from the cells of the host,” and named its cause as “the inability to eliminate unhealthy material.” His aim was to “rebuild tissue so the body can slough off the tumor accumulation.”

Benign or Malignant?

Tumors fall into two very different groups, and knowing the difference removes a great deal of fear:

Benign tumors are not cancer. They grow slowly, are usually wrapped in a smooth wall (a capsule), and stay where they are. They push neighboring tissue aside rather than growing into it, and they do not spread to other parts of the body. Most tumors people find are benign. They can still cause trouble by their size or by pressing on an organ or nerve, so they deserve attention, but they are not a death sentence.
Malignant tumors are cancer. They have no smooth wall. They reach into the tissue around them like roots, and cells can break away into the blood or lymph and start new growths elsewhere. This is why a malignant tumor calls for serious, full-time work.

Diagram comparing a benign tumor, a malignant tumor and a cyst. — Three kinds of lumps: a benign tumor, a malignant tumor and a cyst. Simplified diagram drawn for H.E.A.L.

Have Every New Lump Checked

A doctor needs to look at any new or changing lump. Ultrasound, mammogram, CT or MRI can show where a tumor is and how big it is without opening it. Only a biopsy can tell for certain whether it is cancer.

My caution about biopsy: A tumor is a bag of waste the body has wisely stashed away in a dark corner. A biopsy pokes a hole in that bag, and allowing the waste to spill into the bloodstream is not the wisest choice. Each person must decide for themselves. Talk it over with your doctor and weigh what you will gain from knowing.

Why the Body Builds a Tumor

The body is designed to carry waste out every day through the bowel, liver, kidneys, lungs, skin and lymph. When these channels are blocked or worn down, waste builds up faster than it can be cleared. The body then does the wise thing: it locks the toxic material away in a sack, out of the main stream of the blood, where it can do less harm. That sack is the lump.

In the 1950s, Dr. Ernest Wynder of the Sloan-Kettering Institute painted rabbits’ ears with tar from cigarette smoke. The cancers came only after years of steady exposure. What I take from this study is that before a tumor or cancer can form, the eliminative organs (the liver, kidneys and bowel) have already been worn down until they can no longer clear the waste. The tumor is not the real issue. It is a symptom of a degraded internal system. That is why we cleanse and feed: clear out the waste while rebuilding the organs that should have been carrying it away.

Study: E. L. Wynder, E. A. Graham and A. B. Croninger, Sloan-Kettering Institute; rabbits painted with cigarette-smoke tar over their life spans (news photo, December 1957).

This is also why cutting a lump out, by itself, so often fails. Dr. Christopher warned that you can cut cysts out and tumors off, “but unless you go to the cause, they will grow back again.” The body still lacks the ability to eliminate the unhealthy material it was storing. The liver is the vacuum cleaner of the body; when it is free, it can draw the waste out of the lump and send it out through the bowel.

Potassium and the Lumps of the Body

Dr. Christopher taught that many cysts, tumors, warts and moles grow where the body lacks potassium. Potassium chloride keeps fibrin, the material the body uses to build muscle and connective tissue, dissolved and moving. Without enough of it, fibrin is “thrown out as a stringy, insoluble mess” that can form fibroid tumors, cysts and adhesions. He likened cysts and tumors to leeches that “stay in places where there is a body deficiency. As soon as the body is balanced and well, the cysts and tumors have to go.” Potassium-rich whole foods, not pills, are his answer: fresh vegetables and their juices, and the Potassium Broth below.

The Lumps That Are Not Tumors

Many lumps people fear are something else entirely. Most of these are harmless, but any new or changing lump should still be checked.

Cysts. A cyst is a closed sac filled with fluid or soft material, with its own thin wall. It is not a tumor. Cysts form in the skin, breast, ovaries, kidneys and elsewhere, and are a sign the body has walled off what it could not process. Dr. Christopher tied them to potassium deficiency; the castor oil pack and the potassium foods on this sheet support clearing them.
Fibroids. Firm, benign growths of muscle tissue in the wall of the uterus. Very common, and almost never cancer. See the Uterus sheet for the female program.
Lipomas. Soft, rubbery lumps of fat just under the skin that move when pushed. They grow slowly, are almost always harmless, and are usually painless.
Swollen glands (lymph nodes). The lymph nodes are the body’s filters. When they are fighting an infection or backed up with waste, they swell into tender lumps, often in the neck, under the arms or in the groin. They usually go down when the infection clears and the lymph is moving again. Dr. Christopher told of his seven-year-old granddaughter whose glands swelled until she could hardly swallow; he pinned a mullein and lobelia fomentation around her throat, and the next morning she came downstairs “all smiles and no pain.” A swollen gland that is hard, does not move, is not tender, or stays for more than a few weeks should be checked.
Moles. A mole is a small cluster of pigment cells. Almost all are harmless. In my practice, the BBB Mole Salve with Cellfood has been an excellent support for dissolving moles (see below). Any mole that changes shape, color or size, bleeds or itches should be checked by a doctor first.
Nodules. Small, firm lumps, often near joints (rheumatic nodules) or in glands like the thyroid. Most are harmless. Lobelia has long been used on the skin over rheumatic nodules (Pedersen, Nutritional Herbology, p. 122). Have any new nodule checked, especially in the neck.
Polyps. Small growths on a stalk that form on a moist lining, most often in the nose, sinuses or colon. Most are harmless, but colon polyps should be checked during a colonoscopy, since some can turn cancerous over time. In my experience, snuff works really well on sinus polyps. See the Head Infections sheet for how to use it.
Boils. A boil is an infected hair root or oil gland filled with pus, red, hot and painful. It is an infection, not a tumor. A few years ago I had a breakout of boils on the back of my leg (I’m very sensitive to pork, and a hint of pork grease will do it). For weeks I played around with blood-purifying options without success. Then I read in Dr. Christopher’s writing that burdock root will “quickly” clear boils. I took one teaspoon of the dried root in a cup of boiling water each day. I began on Tuesday, and by Friday the boils were gone, completely gone.

The Emotional Side: the Energy Work

Healing the whole person. We are body, mind and spirit, and all three must heal together. When one part is neglected, the other two cannot find complete healing. A person can follow a perfect herbal program, but if she stays in a life that keeps wearing her down, or never makes time to care for herself, the body will keep losing ground. Healing the body often means facing what is happening in the heart and spirit as well.

A tumor is the body holding on to what it could not release. Very often the heart is doing the same: holding old hurts, old shocks and regrets that were never let go.

Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, describes these patterns:

Tumors: nursing old hurts and shocks; building remorse. Turn it around: I lovingly release the past and turn my attention to this new day. All is well.
Cysts: running the old painful movie over and over; nursing hurts. Turn it around: The movies of my mind are beautiful because I choose to make them so. I love me.
Breast lumps and cysts: refusing to nourish the self; always putting everyone else first. Turn it around: I am important. I count. I now care for and nourish myself with love and joy.
Boils: anger boiling over; seething. Turn it around: I express love and joy, and I am at peace.

Emotional patterns paraphrased from Louise Hay, Heal Your Body (Hay House). These are not faults to blame anyone for; they are a reminder of how much the heart is carrying.

Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing

A tumor sits in one place, but it was built by the whole body. The work starts with the bowel that must carry the waste out, the liver that draws it from the blood and lymph, the kidneys, and the lymph system that drains the area around the lump. Open those channels first. Then work directly on the lump to loosen it and draw the waste out, and feed the body so it can rebuild the tissue.

Opening the Way to Healing

1. Clear the blockage.

2. Get the healing nutrients into the area.

3. Let sunshine and fresh air cycle over and through the affected part.

4. Bathe regularly.

5. Move the area as much as you can.

6. Know which area is truly affected. Not where the symptoms show up, but the part causing the issue. That is the area that needs to be cleared. With a tumor the lump is where you see it, but the bowel and liver are where it comes from. Clear them, and the lump has nothing left to feed on.

Castor Oil Packs: Two Uses

Over the liver and bowel. Soak a flannel in castor oil, lay it over the whole front of the body (neck to groin), and put a hot water bottle over the liver (right side, just above the waist) for about 1½ hours. This is the opening step for anyone on the Incurables Program, to get the bowels open and working well. Usually there are years of backup to clear. The castor oil pack works to turn cement into soft mud that can be easily evacuated from the body. It also softens the waste in the liver, so when you flush it the ELF (Emergency Liver Flush) is more effective.
Over the tumor itself. First spread a layer of M&L Salve over the lump. The salve opens the area so the waste can move out better through the lymph. Then lay a castor-oil-soaked flannel over it, cover, and leave it on all night, every night.

Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice

The hot charcoal and flaxseed poultice draws waste out and keeps the lymph from backing up. Use it over a lump, over swollen lymph nodes, and over the liver during the day. Apply it as hot as can be comfortably tolerated, cover with plastic and a cloth, and leave it on overnight or at least 2 to 4 hours. Never reuse a poultice; it holds what it has drawn out. See the Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice sheet for how to make it.

Blood Purifying Formula (Chaparral)

Dr. Christopher wrote that chaparral is “especially known for specific action in cancer,” calling it “a potent healer… to lymphatics” that “tones up the system and rebuilds the tissue” (The School of Natural Healing, p. 70). It is the backbone of the Blood Purifying Formula, along with red clover, burdock and poke root. Early laboratory studies found that chaparral’s main compound, NDGA, slowed some tumor cells in rats. Human studies have not yet confirmed this, and researchers call for more study (Pedersen, Nutritional Herbology, p. 70). In my practice, many members have used the Blood Purifying Formula over the years to clear tumors. Take it as directed on its formula sheet, traditionally two dropperfuls 4 to 6 times a day during a cleanse week, in a few ounces of grape juice.

Watch the lump. As the herbs loosen a tumor, it becomes less tightly packed so the waste can move out, and it can look bigger for a time before it shrinks. Don’t guess. If a lump keeps growing, have your doctor measure it so you know what is really happening.

Using Chaparral and Comfrey With Care

Chaparral is one of the herbs in the Blood Purifying Formula. It has long been regarded as one of the strongest blood purifiers in herbal use and has had years of bad press, but used wisely it supports the body in clearing what has built up. Stay at the dose on the formula sheet. Avoid it with existing liver disease. If the skin or the whites of the eyes turn yellow, the urine turns dark, or there is pain under the right ribs, stop and have the liver checked.

Comfrey root is one of the nine herbs in BF&C, where it feeds and rebuilds tissue as part of a traditional blend. Take the extract at 1 teaspoon three times a day. Use the salve as an overnight pack, and leave the area open and clear of salves for at least 6 hours each day. More is not faster.

Working Directly on the Lump: The Poultices

For a tumor that needs more than packs, two strong poultices draw the waste out through the skin. Both are powerful tools and belong with the Incurables Program, never on their own. Read the directions carefully and follow them exactly.

The Black Cancer Poultice. A dry mix of red clover blossoms, powdered poke root, slippery elm, bentonite clay, goldenseal and activated charcoal, blended into a paste with a liquid of apple cider vinegar, bloodroot, tea tree oil and garlic. It is an excellent support for skin cancer and has been a huge aid with breast tumors.

Make the 50/50 solution: 4 oz raw apple cider vinegar and 4 oz distilled water. Add 1 oz bloodroot extract for every 8 oz of 50/50 solution.
Blend: In a Magic Bullet, pour in 2 oz of the solution first, so the liquid is on the bottom. Add ¼ tsp tea tree oil for every 8 oz of liquid used. Add 1 to 2 Tbsp of the herbal powder mix on top (more for a larger poultice; start small), then more solution on top of the powder. Add 3 large garlic cloves for every 16 oz of liquid. Garlic is the big killer in this poultice and one to respect; adjust it to your preference. Blend until smooth, adding solution until it is a paste.
Store in a lidded glass jar in the refrigerator for up to one week.
For skin cancer: apply a thick layer over the spot twice a day and hold it in place with a bandage. It often dries to a hard crust, which can be soaked off in the shower or bath.
For a tumor: smear a generous amount onto flannel, lay it over the tumor and bandage it in place. Leave it on overnight or 6 to 8 hours. It is best to alternate it with the castor oil pack.

In My Experience: The Black Cancer Poultice

This poultice cleared spots on my own arm that I recognized as skin cancer in about two weeks. It also cleared the smaller, VA-diagnosed spots on my father in 2008, without harming the healthy skin around them. It has also been a great aid with breast tumors. Bloodroot is a strong herb, so stop if the skin becomes raw, blistered or very painful. If a breast tumor bleeds, packing it with cayenne will usually stop it quickly, but call your doctor that same day.

The Poke Root Poultice. Used for tumors of the breast, during the second liver flush week of the Incurables Program. Grind fresh poke root fine, enough for one use, and roll it ¼ to ½ inch deep onto a piece of muslin or cheesecloth cut to cover the breast, with a hole for the nipple. Moisten once a day with poke root extract diluted to 1/16 strength (only if the root is dry), cover with plastic to hold the moisture, and change it every 2 to 3 days. Within about two weeks the skin breaks out in pustular sores as the waste comes out; continue one to two weeks after the breakout begins. When the drainage stops, wash with diluted apple cider vinegar and dust with bayberry powder; the skin heals in 7 to 10 days. The full procedure, with a member’s pictures of each stage, is on the Poke Root Poultice direction sheet.

Support the lymph while you use it. Increase Echinacea to two ounces a day, six days a week. Keep M&L Salve over the tumor and any swollen lymph nodes, rebound 10 to 15 minutes a couple of times a day, and use the hot charcoal and flaxseed poultice over swollen nodes and the liver. Do an ELF each night for up to five nights. If the lymph nodes become painful and swollen, take a break and let the body catch up.

Use With Care: Poke Root

Poke root is a powerful lymph detoxifier. Used too freely, it will cause uncontrolled vomiting. Wear gloves when handling the fresh root, and never use the extract full strength. Dilute it as directed. Poke root is too detoxifying to be taken by itself. Internally, it is best used in a mix with other herbs, never alone.

For Moles: BBB Mole Salve and Cellfood

A member in Florida introduced me to Cellfood and taught me how to use it. The BBB Mole Salve needs the Cellfood to do the good work:

Twice a day, dab full-strength Cellfood on the mole with a Q-tip. Let it dry a few minutes, then cover it with the BBB Mole Salve to hold the moisture in. Cellfood alone dries the skin and slows healing, so use the two together. Expect several months.
Drink Cellfood in water as well, following the directions on the bottle.

Scullcap, one of the five herbs in the BBB Salve, is very high in potassium, 2,180 mg per 100 grams (Pedersen, Nutritional Herbology, p. 155), and lobelia, blue cohosh and blue vervain all add more. That fits Dr. Christopher’s teaching that moles, like cysts and warts, form where the body lacks potassium. Blue vervain is also a powerful liver herb, and black cohosh stirs the liver, kidneys and lymph to carry the waste away (Dr. Christopher, The School of Natural Healing, pp. 291, 398).

BF&C: Rebuilding the Tissue

As the waste leaves, the tissue left behind needs rebuilding. BF&C (Bone, Flesh & Cartilage) feeds and knits tissue back together. Take the extract at 1 teaspoon three times a day, and use the BF&C Salve as an overnight pack over the area once the lump has softened, leaving the skin open and clear of salves for at least 6 hours each day.

Feeding the Body: Potassium Broth

Cleanse and feed: clear the waste out while flooding the body with the nutrients it needs to rebuild. Fresh vegetable juices (at least 32 ounces of carrot juice a day on the full program), Superfood, and this broth give the body the potassium it is missing.

Potassium Broth

Fill a large pot with organic vegetables, roughly equal parts:

• Thick potato peelings (at least ½ inch) or whole chopped potatoes

• Carrots and beets, chopped, with their tops

• Onions, chopped, and up to 50 cloves of garlic

• Celery stalks and leaves, plus dark greens (spinach, beet greens, chickweed)

• A few black peppercorns, or hot pepper to taste

Cover with distilled water. Then choose:

Quick (my way): simmer on very low heat 1 to 2 hours.

Stronger (Dr. Christopher’s way): keep it around 130°F for 6 to 10 hours. Never let it boil. A slow cooker on its lowest setting works well.

Strain and drink only the broth, 1 to 3 cups a day between meals. Make enough for two days and refrigerate the rest.

Use distilled water for all teas, and when taking your extracts in hot water. If you use a hot water dispenser for your teas, using only distilled water greatly adds to the life of the unit.

Sun, Air, Movement and Bathing

Move the lymph. The lymph has no pump of its own; it moves when you move. Rebound or walk every day.
Hots and colds in the shower open the pores and drain the area. Finish with cold.
Sun and air bath for 10 to 15 minutes a day.
Bathe regularly to keep the skin open, so waste can leave through it.

When to Get Medical Care

Herbs are support alongside medical care, not a replacement for it. Have a doctor check any new lump, and any lump that grows quickly, is hard and does not move, is attached to the skin or deeper tissue, or comes with unexplained weight loss, night sweats or fever. A mole that changes shape, color or size, bleeds or itches; a breast lump or nipple discharge; a swollen gland that stays more than a few weeks; blood in the stool; or a lump that keeps growing while on the program all need to be seen. If a tumor bleeds and the bleeding does not stop quickly, get help right away. Don’t stop a prescribed medication without the doctor.

Level of Commitment

How much is needed depends on what the lump is and how long the body has been building it:

Gentle support. For moles, boils, small cysts and swollen glands. Clear the bowel, add potassium foods and broth, and work on the spot itself: the charcoal and flaxseed poultice, burdock tea, or the BBB Mole Salve with Cellfood.
Focused cleansing. For benign tumors, fibroids, lipomas and stubborn cysts. Bowel cleansing, a week of liver flushing followed by a week of kidney flushing, castor oil packs over the lump with M&L Salve, the Blood Purifying Formula, and BF&C to rebuild.
Incurables Program. For malignant tumors and large or long-standing growths. The full program, full time: bowel cleansing, Echinacea, juicing and Superfood, liver and kidney flushing, castor oil packs, and the poultices. The poultices are only one part; without the liver free to carry the waste away, they cannot finish the job.

More Is Not Faster

These doses are set to what the body can clear. Taking more stirs up more than the bowels, liver and kidneys can carry out, and that is when cleansing starts to feel like poisoning. Healing the body requires steady, consistent nutrition and action, not a bigger dose.

People are different, and now and then someone reacts poorly to a particular herb. If that happens, stop it. What I offer here is a guideline. You are the one living in your body, so work with the Holy Spirit and the wisdom the Lord has given you to apply these supports in the best way for your life.

A Loose Healing Plan

First: have it checked. Know what you are working with: its location and size.
Week 1: open the bowel. LBF, building up until the bowels move two or three times a day. Castor oil packs over the liver and bowel. Juices, Superfood and Potassium Broth every day.
Week 1 onward: work on the lump. M&L Salve and a castor oil pack over it every night; the charcoal and flaxseed poultice over it and any swollen nodes during the day.
Weeks 2 and 3: clear the liver and kidneys. A week of liver flushing, then a week of kidney flushing. Add the Blood Purifying Formula during the cleanse week. Repeat the flushing cycle as the program calls for.
When the program is established: the poultices, if the lump calls for them, alongside the full Incurables Program.
All along: rebuild. BF&C, potassium foods, movement, sun, air, bathing, and the heart work. Let go of what you have been holding.
Every few weeks: take stock. Small lumps and boils can clear in days or weeks; tumors take months. If a lump keeps growing, have it measured.

Stories from the Work

Dara’s Story: A Lump Under My Arm

Back in 2000 a lump came up under my arm about the size of a golf ball. I used the charcoal and flaxseed poultice to get rid of it. It went away and never came back. I have no idea what that was all about. But as soon as it came up, I got rid of it, so nothing had a real chance to back up behind it.

Dara’s Story: My Father’s Skin Cancer

My father came to live with us in 2008 with three spots of skin cancer, diagnosed at the VA, where he had already had others cut out. The Black Cancer Poultice cleared the smaller spots in short order, with no harm to the skin around them, even though he wasn’t careful to keep it only on the spots. But he would not do a liver flush. The largest spot, right beside his nose, would not clear. His liver was full and could no longer draw the cancer out, so he went in for surgery to have the rest removed. The poultice draws the waste out, but the liver has to be free to carry it away.

A Member’s Story: Learning the Poke Root Poultice

A member in Michigan sent in her pictures and her story so other women would know how to do this poultice. Her first attempt went badly because she misread the directions: she added undiluted extract to fresh root that was already moist, and it burned and blistered her skin and left her weak and dizzy. She healed within about a week. “Let me urge you to read and re-read these instructions carefully before doing this.”

Her second attempt, with no extract added, “produced amazing results.” Within a day the breast was covered in pustular sores: “It was amazing to see how much garbage was being pulled right out through my skin!” When her lymph nodes became painful and swollen, she took a break, did lymph cleansing, rebounding and liver flushing, and used warm charcoal and flaxseed poultices, and the pain quickly went away. Her advice: “Know that it isn’t pleasant, it isn’t comfortable, but it is powerful! Don’t be afraid of the sores and swelling.”

Her pictures of each stage, from the first breakout to the used poultice, are on the Poke Root Poultice direction sheet, along with the full step-by-step procedure.

A Member’s Story: A Mole Above His Ear

A member in Florida cleared a sizable mole above his ear in about six months with the BBB Mole Salve and Cellfood, painless and without surgery. All that remained was barely some scar tissue.

More on Tumors & Lumps

This information is for education only. It is not meant to diagnose, treat or replace care from a qualified health professional.