The original article was published in November 1996 in the magazine Naša žena
He says that real spruce resin – sticky and intoxicatingly fragrant – has been with him his whole life. All the major illnesses he suffered were treated with resin. As a baby, he was covered in boils and was saved from certain death with ichthyol, a resin made from Russian dwarf shrubs. At that time, antibiotics did not yet exist.
At the age of nine, he nearly lost his leg. He had injured his shin on a rock, the wound would not heal, and the bone began to rot. He was cured with Fajdiga’s yellow salve, prepared on a resin base. At the age of 20, he had severe back problems. If he did not have surgery, they said, he would be in a wheelchair before the age of 30. He went to Prežla in Lesce, a folk healer who, when the moon was right, would make small cuts in the skin, apply a black resin ointment, cover the wounds with linen, bind them, and let the body heal itself. Young Ivo liked this folk healer and trusted in her healing. "You know what, you boy, you come again, and I will teach you how to heal," she told him then. But he didn't go. She then taught Torkar's Tončka, who still heals by chopping in Lesce. But Ivo remembers her with the greatest fondness. Perhaps it was for the best that he never returned, because some twenty years later he was destined to create his own Spruce ointment– one that penetrates the skin, reaches the joints, and helps with so many human ailments. It was 1990. Ivo had an injury in a place where plain resin could not be applied. He felt as if a message came to him: add this and that to the resin. He did, and thus was born Konc’s spruce ointment, now known throughout Slovenia and far beyond its borders.
I will never forget the man who came to the editorial office of Gorenjski glas and complained that you write about all kinds of nonsense, but not about the ointment that so miraculously helps people. An animal had jumped on his foot in the stables, his foot was all sore and swollen, and he did not step on it. But he put Ivo's spruce ointment on it and his foot was fine, by the way. It's a miracle ointment, the man assured us. One of the first to feel the miraculous power of the ointment was Ivo's neighbour, a seamstress who loved to go on trips, but then her knees started to hurt so much that she couldn't get on her feet for a whole week. She put his ointment on her knees a few times and they carried her around again. And more and more, his boys, the young ski jumpers he had trained for years at Triglav in Kranj and in Tržič, trusted him. He brought a lot of coaches and jumpers up. Of course, there were also falls and injuries. You can't do without that in this sport. He also started treating their injuries with his ointment. At first they laughed at him, but then it became more and more common to hear: "Comrade, can I have some resin?"-He then cooked up his ointment with even greater zeal. The more messages and information came in about what the ointment was helping everyone with, the more confidence he had. The results surprised him again and again. "I didn't even understand how this was possible. Then I tried it on myself. When the ointment went out to the people, I learned that similar ointments used to be made in villages. Some people even brought me recipes and I saw that they were very similar to mine. Some even put beeswax in between. But I did not deviate from my recipe. I knew it was difficult to make a better ointment. Within a few months, it was spreading fast all over Slovenia, even in the former Yugoslavia. People came from Macedonia, Dalmatia, Belgrade, Bosanski Novi, Split, Sarajevo. Boys who had served in the army took the ointment to their own places. I had to have the accompanying leaflet printed in Serbo-Croatian as well. 'This is a miracle ointment', they said. I say that we are all a great miracle, 'You have helped me', they say. Everybody healed themselves. I did nothing but pick up what was already there, clean it, put it in boxes. What I can do together is to help the organism to heal itself. It is an energy that cannot be perceived and measured with instruments. It is a kind of 'magnet for the blood'. As circulation increases in the area where the ointment is applied, blood flow improves, physiological processes in the tissue speed up two- or threefold, and the toxins that cause disease and inflammation enter the blood more quickly and are eliminated more rapidly. As water cleanses the earth, blood cleanses the organism, the body.
"I didn't understand how that was possible. Then I tried it on myself. When the ointment went out to the people, I learned that similar ointments used to be made in villages. But I didn't deviate from my recipe. I knew it was hard to make a better ointment."
Disease always arises where the flow of body fluids is too weak to remove the toxins that are constantly being produced by the metabolism. Where there is stagnation in the body and there is too little of these fluids, there is inflammation, disease is nested, there is pain. These energies help the body to stimulate its own defence systems. Civilization has been stuffing these systems because we are not exposing ourselves enough to strengthen ourselves. And we also use drugs to weaken them, especially antibiotics. Know this: synthetic drugs are a crutch for the immune system.
Today, we take an antibiotic for every little thing. The immune system activates the blood circulation where the organism is attacked, but if it is too flexible, too lethargic, it does not. All the alternative methods of healing stimulate the flow of body fluids in various ways, but not all of these energies are as depleted as they are in the secretions of trees, clay, herbs. The more this energy is an artificial product, the more alien it is to the body, mechanical and therefore less effective. But it can be as simple as that ....
“It’s a miracle ointment,” they said. I replied, “We are all a great miracle.” When people told me, “You helped me,” I answered, “I didn’t help anyone. Everyone healed themselves.” I did nothing but pick up what was already there, clean it, put it in boxes. What I can do together is to help the organism to heal itself.
It's really simple. In the middle of our conversation, he jumped into the garden to shut off the water that was watering the lawn. Just a wrong move, a quick jump over the fence and he came back to the room all guilty. "Well, now you can see for yourself how easily a man can help himself. It often happens to me that I make a wrong movement and, because I am very sensitive with my spine, I get 'stuck' like that. I just have to put a little ointment in the right place and 'tweak' my spine and it will come loose."
He sat down on a chair, crossed his legs Turkish-style, pushed his knees far apart, and slowly lowered his torso and head between his knees; he stayed in this posture for a few minutes and was upright again.
“My ointment is used mostly for the spine, especially the cervical vertebrae. For arm pain, it is important to massage the cervical vertebrae; for hip pain, the sacrum should be treated, even if it does not hurt. Simply rubbing the sore hip does nothing – the spine itself must be treated. It is very important that there is a reaction , and that sometimes it even hurts more for a day. The ointment has also been used a lot lately for colds. Inflammations of the throat, muscles, kidneys, bladder, and ears – all of these can be cured. Doctors also use it for their children, as do therapists, physiotherapists, and others. Many patients are also sent to me - unofficially, of course.
Alternative medicine came first, science came much later. I think alternative medicine should be at the service of the human being, whether it has a scientific character or not. The two should complement each other, help each other. If this is not the case, the poor man is just a patient. However, a shift is being felt. But it is slow.
People ask, where did you get this power?
This is the big question: where do these gifts come from for individuals? I think there can be only one explanation: it all comes from God. In my view, man is basically just an instrument used by God to heal others. So it is with all of us. If one denies this, one is being presumptuous, self-righteous, self-sufficient. But whoever is aware of this can really help people - with a pure soul! Even doctors! Each one of us has talents, it's all a gift, it's not from us. Doctors are also called to help people. God has a plan for us. 'You healed me!' they say to me. I just picked up the resin, massaged you, God healed you' I tell everyone.
I don't want to get rich. Wealth is nothing. Look how the world is turning. Everybody just wants to produce more, to sell more, to get richer, no matter how they pollute the environment, how they exploit nature. Greed, avarice - all this is a negative passion that we are all paying the price for. You cannot turn my ointment into an industry. We will take nothing with us but good deeds.
The turning point in my life came in 1989, when my son was killed in a fatal accident. I myself was brought up in strict atheism. Now, in retrospect, I realise that all the key events are not coincidences. Everything is God's plan. With all our history, our land, our peoples. If you open yourself to it, surrender to it, it guides you in a way that feels right. Something happens, you don't know why, but later it turns out that it was right.
Just like something said to me, "Go into the forest and get some resin, do so and so." I did exactly as that inner voice said, cooked, tried to make it oily. But today I know that it was not. It was a lifeline for me, at that difficult time after my son's death. I never thought I would ever do anything like that in my life. I was a gym teacher, I taught in schools, I coached young ski jumpers... Then this message came. Then it just happened. To have peace of mind, I said to myself, I'll take up a little craft. I had the ointment checked at the Institute for Social Medicine and Hygiene of Gorenjska in Kranj.
People know it as Konc’s ointment. I have massaged football players, young skiers, triathletes, runners, jumpers, motocrossers, cyclists. Others came too. With each client, I learnt more about the possibilities and usefulness of my ointment. People are trying everything possible and the feedback is coming in.
What are the reactions to your ointment?
There must be a reaction. Many times someone applied the ointment, felt strong pain, and threw it away. Remember: pain is an alarm! People would do anything to stop it hurting. But in healing, there is no reaction: all relief comes after the pain. There is no cure-all medicine. My ointment works whether we believe in it or not. The proof of this is the effects in the treatment of children, animals. Yes, even for animals, people come for this ointment. Many cases of mastitis have already been cured, wounds, injuries.-
And where do you get your ointment?
It is available in several herbal pharmacies and shops throughout Slovenia. The best thing is that people find out first-hand, that they phone me and I can tell them exactly what their problem is. They should contact me by phone.
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Smrekovit Klasik spruce resin ointment
Price range: 6,00 € through 35,00 €
I see that you have not built any new workshops, you have not put any new products on the market in all these years, and it seems to me that you have not got rich either.
I don't want to get rich. Wealth is nothing. Look how the world is turning. Everybody just wants to produce more, to sell more, to get richer, no matter how they pollute the environment, how they exploit nature. Greed, avarice - all this is a negative passion that we are all paying the price for. You cannot turn my ointment into an industry. We will take nothing with us but good deeds. We carry the bad ones with us, but it is better to carry the good ones. I do not condemn those who count a lot if the product helps people. However, how many such impious people there are who count and do not care whether it helps or not.
I am happy when we have just the right amount of work. If there is too much, it shows either on me or on the quality of what we do. The resin never dries up, and the work never stops. I only have two hands. When my father-in-law was still alive, he helped me to pack the boxes, to send out the ointment. Now my wife helps me. We are both busy at home and that is enough. I have never exposed myself in my life; I have worked more in the background, which has been useful, good. Even as a trainer. Obviously, coaching was not my mission. As soon as something starts to disturb your inner peace, it's better to step back. Now I have my inner peace. Peace and time for my family, for the mountains, for the forest.