Fascination.

I’ve always been intrigued as to how P.P.Quimby mesmerized his young assistant Lucius Burkmar. He never stated that. There is someone in Italy that teaches Fascination but Weltmer made it clear and simple.

After having tested your subject with the falling test, seat him in a chair with a high back where he can be comfortable.

Tell him to relax all muscular and nervous tension and to look you steadily in the eye without letting the eyes wink or waver; that if he feels the eyes must wink at last, to close the eyes and keep them closed.

Then gaze steadily into his eye, looking into one eye and one eye only, with a strong determination that he shall fall into sleep.

When he shall close his eyes, pass the hands over the eyebrows and eyelids, giving the suggestion that they are sticking fast and that he will be unable to open them.

Then, after having given this suggestion two or three times, lay with firmness and determination, “You cannot open them;" and you will find that he will be unable to do so.

Chapter 14~Hypnotism

The mystery revealed: or, The handbook of Weltmerism; a supplement to the author's new and illustrated mail course of instruction in his science of healing By PROF. S. A. WELTMER
1901

HYPNOTISM ~ A glimpse at the work S.A.Weltmer.

The Mystery Revealed
or the
HAND-BOOK OF WELTMERISM
A Supplement to the Author’s New and Illustrated Mail Course of Instruction in His Science of Healing.
By PROF. S. A. WELTMER
1901
{Excerpts}

It is not the purpose of this chapter to enter into an extended discussion of the subject of Hypnotism.

Hypnotism as an art is as old as history, as a science it is just beginning to be investigated. Dissertations and treatises on hypnotism abound, the bulk of which is devoted to a discussion of the origin and the development of the science; one writer copying from another both the truths the author has demonstrated for himself and the mistakes he has copied from others.

Hypnotism is derived from the Greek word “hypnos”, or sleep; and yet it is only a small part of the phenomena of hypnotism that resembles sleep in any degree. Hypnotism. has been defined so as to include nearly every mental condition from the reverie or day dream down to the deepest trance or the wildest hallucination.

The reader will remember that the cardinal doctrine of Weltmerism is the doctrine of agreement: that is, two minds sounding as one, responding to the same vibrations, synchronizing, thinking the same thought. This the author believes and teaches is the basic principle of hypnotism" There can be no hypnotism unless two minds agree; and when two minds, one being positive and the other receptive, agree as to the thought of the positive mind, the passive mind may be said to be in the hypnotic condition. All those conditions in which there is an agreement may be divided into two states; the passive condition of the subject and the hypnotic condition of the subject; the hypnotic condition beginning where the paslive condition ends. In the passive condition there is no change in the relation of the conscious mind to the external world; in the hypnotic condition there is a change in the relation of the conscious mind to the external world. Therefore, the author defines hypnotism to be “a psychic condition in which there is a change in the relation of the conscious mind of the subject to the external world.”

Grave mistakes have been made in investigating this science. It has been the popular opinion that only weak-minded, nervous persons were susceptible of being placed in the hypnotic condition. The contrary is the case. In all the experiences of the author and in the almost numberless cases with which he has experimented, it is the person of strong will and power of concentration that is the most susceptible to hypnotic influence; because no one can be hypnotized against his own will. There must be an agreement or a willingness on the part of the subject to be hypnotized before hypnosis can be Induced, Hypnotism, then, is very-largely a self-induced condition, and the one who has most control over his own mental activities is the one who can most readily self-induce the hypnotic condition.
The phenomenon of hypnotism, then, being a psychic condition in which there' is a change in the relation of the conscious mind of the subject to the external world, and such condition being largely self-induced and depending upon the agreement of two minds. one mind which must be positive to the agreement and the other passive or receptive to the agreement, the stronger the positiveness of the operator and the stronger the receptiveness of the subject the quicker and deeper will be the influence exerted.

The hypnotic operator, then, is one who must be able to control his mind so as to have a dominant, imperial will; the hypnotic subject must be one that is passive or receptive. The successful hypnotist must have self-reliance, self-confidence and a determination to succeed in doing what he undertakes to do.

He must have the power of mental concentration, the power to fix and hold his attention on any desired idea or thought for any length of time, This power of which I speak is largely a natural gift, but may be highly cultivated by persistent training in concentration. If a person desires to be an hypnotic operator, he must train his mind to concentration—that is, be able to hold one thought to the exclusion of every other thought; he must cultivate self-reliance, self-confidence and a determination to do what he undertakes to do.

Try the following experiment: Take your subject and explain to him what hypnotism is; that it is only an agreement of two minds; that one cannot be hypnotized against his own will; that there is nothing harmful in it; that in fact it is beneficial, as it serves as a means of training even the mind of the subject, training it to passivity, which is just as important to physical welfare as the training of the mind to positiveness. Have your subject stand up, eyes closed, feet together and hands by the side. Tip the head back slightly, the china little elevated. Place your finger on the middle of the forehead; tell the subject, while keeping his eyes closed, to turn his eyes upward as though looking at the spot on the forehead where your finger is, Then make some passes downward over the body of your subject and pass around behind him. Extend your arm with the fingers extended pointing to the base of the brain and will your subject to fall backward to you. Tell him to do whatever he feels like doings and if he feels as if he wants to fall backward, to fall and you will catch him. If your minds have come to an agreement, the subject will fall backward or forward as your will shall determine.

…

Another method: Let your patient recline, on a sofa or table in a comfortable position, head not too elevated. Tell him to relax all muscular and nervous tension, to look you steadily in the eye as before, and he will feel sleep stealing over him, his eyelids becoming .heavy. Tell him, when he shall have closed his eyes, to think of some friend or scene that he loves to look upon and call that up as a mental picture and look at it steadily, but not think about it. Then make long passes from the bead downward over the body, giving the suggestion that sleep is stealing over him; that he is sinking into sleep, In ten or fifteen minutes you will see, by the breathing of the patient, the relaxation of the chin and the stillness of the eyelids, that the patient is asleep to everything except your own voice; he is oblivious to all things but you. This is the best method for the giving of suggestions to heal disease; for then the conscious mind is most nearly in abeyance and you are in communication with his unconscious mind; and the suggestions you give him he will take and act upon, thus healing his own diseased body. In the hypnotic condition the suggestion must be repeated often and impressed into the unconscious mind; but in the passive condition the suggestion must be given gradually and not too 'frequently, lest you arouse the subject from the passive to the positive condition. [This paragraph implies that a number of modern energy healing methodologies are inadvertently inducing a hypnotic state.]

In the use of hypnotism for the healing of diseases, the last method is the best. Never try to hypnotize anyone for any other purpose than that of giving suggestions for the healing of disease. In experimenting with a friend in order to learn your own power, never give any unpleasant or foolish suggestions, nor try to do the silly things you lee hypnotists do upon the stage. The only legitimate use that can be made of this great power is to relieve one from pain or heal him from disease.

…

Remember that hypnotism is not absolutely necessary. The writer has demonstrated that more than 90 per cent of cases that are healed by his system are healed by the passive attitude. In the administration of his system none is never hypnotized except at his own request or when other methods have failed and hypnotism is taken as the last resort. In the thousands that have been healed in the Institution of which the author is the proprietor, not 1 per cent have ever been placed in the hypnotic condition.
Weltmerism is not only the science of healing disease without drugs or medicine or any material remedy, but it is the science of doing this without hypnotism.

Weltmerism is the term applied to the teachings of the author by a magazine writer who paid him a visit in May, 1899. It was used by him to distinguish the teachings of the author from those of other exponents of Mental Healing and it’s allied branches.

The Weltmer Institute of Suggestive Therapeutics, established in 1897, consisted of a school and sanatorium. The school consisted of a four year program that included courses in the art of healing and the Philosophy of Health, Suggestive Therapeutics, Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathology and resulted in the degree of a Doctor of Suggestive Therapeutics (D.S.T.).


In 1899 Professor Weltmer wrote a Mail Course in Magnetic Healing, of which some forty-five thousand courses were distributed among the English speaking inhabitants of all parts of the world. This course was little more than a statement of principles, with instructions for the demonstration of the principles stated.





In 1900 a concerted attack was made to destroy the Weltmer Method of Healing. Persecutions and prosecutions followed one another in rapid succession until November 17, 1902, when the litigation had finally reached the United States Supreme Court, which sustained Professor Weltmer's work, and among other things declared his methods and practice to be "sound and practical" "legitimate and lawful” and in no conflict with the laws of Congress.

Sidney A. Weltmer died in Nevada, Missouri in 1930. The Weltmer Institute of Suggestive Therapeutics remained in operation until 1933.

The Weltmer Institute of Suggestive Therapeutics "Where every known disease is cured without medicine or surgery".

6 Stages of Hypnotism

Around the turn of the century, thousands of persons flocked to Nevada, MI, for cures for all kinds of diseases. Nevada, for several years, was famous as a center for Magnetic Healing.

The Sydney Weltmer Institute of Magnetic Healing had been in existence for three years when Dr. Leonard Stanhope, who was already a physician in Nevada, decided to treat patients by hypnotism and magnetic healing as well as teaching it to others.

He wrote a book on hypnotism, in 1899, which became a best seller. After two years he wrote a second book called "Magnetic Healing Explained." The second book also did well.

The treatments there involved hypnotism. Dr. Stanhope's book, (The science of magnetic healing, embracing hypnotism, vital magnetism, and mental science by Leonard E. Stanhope (1899)), includes explanations of three sciences, hypnotism, vital magnetism and mental science.

He used post-hypnotic suggestion to cure contracted habits and addictions.

He describes six stages of hypnotism.
The first is when a suggestion is made to the subject and he acts upon it.

The second is a hypnotic or induced sleep. During this time the subject will communicate with the operator but will not hear any other person unless the operator transfers the communication.

In the third stage, the subject's muscles become rigid, and he has no power or desire to move.

Later, the muscles will relax, and in the fourth stage he will answer questions.

When the fifth stage is reached, the hypnotist can send the subject to any place he chooses whether the subject has ever been there or not. He can visit distant friends, tell the hypnotist what these friends are thinking and doing, and describe places he has never seen in his waking state.

The last or sixth stage, according to Dr. Stanhope, "appears to be a condition of perfect knowledge. The distinguishing feature between it and the fifth seems to be that while in the fifth they have to travel to gain their knowledge; in the sixth everything appears right before them; they do not have to seek for knowledge."
He then went on to describe Vital Magnetism and Mental Science.

After a few years Dr. Stanhope suddenly left town. The story was that after treating so many for drug addiction, he himself became a drug addict.

Logotherapy

Logotherapy was developed by neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl. Rather than power or pleasure, logotherapy is founded upon the belief that it is the striving to find a meaning in one's life that is the primary, most powerful motivating and driving force in humans.

Viktor Emil Frankl M.D., Ph.D. (1905–1997) was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. Frankl was the founder of logotherapy, which is a form of Existential Analysis, the "Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy". His best-selling book, Man's Search for Meaning, chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate and describes his psychotherapeutic method of finding meaning in all forms of existence, even the most sordid ones, and thus a reason to continue living. Frankl was one of the key figures in existential therapy and a prominent source of inspiration for humanistic psychologists.

The notion of Logotherapy was created with the Greek word logos ("meaning"). Frankl’s concept is based on the premise that the primary motivational force of an individual is to find a meaning in life.
The following list of tenets represents basic principles of logotherapy:
• Life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable ones.
• Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life.
• We have freedom to find meaning in what we do, and what we experience, or at least in the stand we take when faced with a situation of unchangeable suffering.

According to Frankl, "We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering" and that "everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances".

Hypnagogic and Hypnopompic.

Hypnagogia is the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep (i.e., the onset of sleep), originally coined in adjectival form as "hypnagogic" by Alfred Maury[1].

The equivalent transition to wakefulness is termed the hypnopompic state. Mental phenomena that occur during this "threshold consciousness" phase include lucid dreaming, hallucinations, out of body experiences and sleep paralysis.The collective noun "Hypnagogia" was coined by Dr Andreas Mavromatis[A] in his 1983 thesis (Brunel University) which was later published by Routledge (hardback 1987, paperback 1991) under the title ‘"Hypnagogia" the Unique State of Consciousness Between Wakefulness and Sleep’. The term "hypnagogia" is employed by Dr Mavromatis to include both sleep onset and the transition from sleep to wakefulness; he retains, however, the adjectives "hypnagogic" and "hypnopompic" for the identification of specific experiences.

A hypnopompic state (or hypnopomp) is the state of consciousness leading out of sleep, a term coined by the spiritualist Frederick Myers[2]. Its twin is the hypnagogic state at sleep onset; though often conflated, the two states are not identical. The hypnagogic state is rational waking cognition trying to make sense of non-linear images and associations; the hypnopompic state is emotional and credulous dreaming cognition trying to make sense of real world stolidity. They have a different phenomenological character. Depressed frontal lobe function in the first few minutes after waking – known as "sleep inertia" – causes slowed reaction time and impaired short-term memory. Sleepers often wake confused, or speak without making sense. When the awakening occurs out of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, in which most dreams occur, the hypnopompic state is sometimes accompanied by lingering vivid imagery. Some of the creative insights attributed to dreams actually happen in this moment of awakening from REM.


[1] Alfred Maury (1817–1892) was a French physician, important because his ideas about the interpretation of dreams and the effect of external stimuli on dreams pre-dated those of Sigmund Freud. He is mentioned by Freud in The Interpretation of Dreams, and by Sebastian Faulks in Human Traces. He coined the term hypnagogic hallucination and reported a dream that famously inspired Salvador Dalí's painting Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening. Alfred Maury was contemporary with Hervey de Saint Denys[3] and the two dream researchers were in disagreement with each other.

[2] Frederic William Henry Myers (1843–1901) was a classical scholar, poet, philosopher, and past president of the Society for Psychical Research.






[3]Marie-Jean-Léon Lecoq, Baron d'Hervey de Juchereau, Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys (1822 – 1892, Paris), was a French sinologist and man of letters, and one of the earliest oneirologists (specialists in the study of dreams).

[A] The name may sound confusing to those not familiar with the term "hypnogogic". Hypnogigia is a term coined by Dr Andreas Mavromatis which describes the images that you see while in between the waking and sleeping state. These are called hypnogogic images or hypnogogic hallucinations. They are naturally occurring and everyone sees them, especially just before falling asleep.
Some people have found them annoying, especially when they come in the form of simple objects, scenes, or people. Other times, they can be scary, as in taking the shape of a frightening face, and when the mind is more conscious, it's natural for them to be seen as flashes of light.

André Muller Weitzenhoffer (1921 - 2004) was one of the most prolific researchers in the field of hypnosis in the latter half of the 20th century, having authored over 100 publications between 1949 and 2004. He was the recipient of several professional and academic awards, including the Distinguished Contributions to Scientific Hypnosis Award of the American Psychological Association in 1992.
Weitzenhoffer claimed that he became interested in hypnosis at age 12 after seeing a demonstration by a summer camp counselor and subsequently witnessing a stage hypnosis show.
Weitzenhoffer and Milton Erickson were friends and at times collaborators, with a mutual respect for each other's work.
At Stanford University, Weitzenhoffer collaborated with Ernest R. Hilgard in developing the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale and the Stanford Profile Scales of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Forms I and II which are the most widely-referenced research tools in the field of hypnosis.

Joseph Wolpe (1915 - 1997) was one of the most influential figures in behavior therapy. Wolpe is most well known for his reciprocal inhibition techniques and systematic desensitization which revolutionized behavioral therapy.


Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) works on changing your negative thoughts, (or cognitions) about yourself or your circumstances into positive thoughts, which will allow you to approach life more positively.
Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy (CBH) is where CBT is combined with hypnotherapy to produce a more effective form of therapy which often can produce more rapid results than standard CBT alone.
It helps people with negative, destructive or unhelpful thoughts to start creating only positive thoughts . This helps clients to deal with depression, self esteem issues, low confidence issues and self destructive behaviour. It is also is used in treating the other areas such as smoking cessation, weight loss, dealing with phobias etc.

Potpourri : Readings

What is hypnosis? An excellent article by Dr. Walter Schulze.

Research in NLP: Steve Andreas Blog is very informative

It led me to these

• Susan Clancy :The Trauma Myth
• BPS Research Digest
• Synesthesia (A neurologically based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway)
• Re-evaluating the time of your life (A study of Holocaust survivors who had experienced traumatic events and how some were able to move forward while others remained stuck)
• How can you recall negative past experiences without being overwhelmed?

The Power of Suggestion

In the early 1900’s Judge Thomas Troward warned of the abuse of hypnosis and the power of suggestion.

What the mind perceives to be true will be true, but not necessarily the Truth.

Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer.[1] The "six degrees" claim has been decried as an "academic urban myth". The existence of isolated groups of humans would tend to invalidate the strictest interpretation of the hypothesis. Yet the idea continues.

The hundredth monkey effect is a supposed phenomenon in which a learned behaviour spreads instantaneously from one group of monkeys to all related monkeys once a critical number is reached. By generalization it means the instantaneous, paranormal spreading of an idea or ability to the remainder of a population once a certain portion of that population has heard of the new idea or learned the new ability. The story is popular among New Age authors and personal growth gurus and has become an urban legend and part of New Age mythology. It’s been noted that the skill developed through observational learning, which is widespread in the animal kingdom

The book Rhythms of Vision: The Changing Patterns of Belief (1976) discussed sacred geometry, subtle energy, chakras, spiritual planes of existence and many other topics, the book has been compared to the work of the occultist Corinne Heline and the theosophist Alice Bailey. The book is most well known for first discussing the Hundredth monkey effect.

Lyall Watson is credited with the first published use of the term "hundredth monkey" in his 1979 book, Lifetide. Watson was a member of a UFO channelling cult, known as ‘The Nine’, which has had a huge influence on hundreds of thousands of devotees worldwide.

Briefing for the Landing on Planet Earth [1979] was written to convey the exploits of ‘The Nine’.

‘The Nine’ seemed to get messages from “Tom”.

“Atlantis … was a civilisation originated by a migrant group from Aksu. It had flourished for thousands of years and had come to a sudden cataclysmic end about 11000 BC. It had stretched from Greece to the Americas. The name Atlantis was in fact a corruption, and it should be known as the Altean civilisation, for its people 'were of the civilisation of Altea”

“Instead of using the great medical knowledge that they had to improve their minds they used it to improve their sex organs.' Altean surgery, he explained, was capable of effecting transplants of all the vital organs of the body, even of brains, and 'those organs that were transplanted were far superior to those that had existed in the physical body'. The life expectancy of an Altean who had the best medical care could run into thousands of years.”

Who or what was Tom?
1. Tom was a pure invention, a creation of one, two or of the three of them in collusion.
2. Tom was an unconscious invention, a composite created out of information contained in the minds of the sitters by the well-known mediumistic process of 'withdrawal' of such information.
3. Tom was a secondary personality of one of them, endowed with psi abilities, that takes over when she is in a dissociated state of consciousness.
4. Tom was a spirit, a discarnate entity with extraordinary powers of invention and cognition.
5. Tom was what he says he is, an intelligent being from another part of the cosmos.

Curiously enough the book also offers this description of the author of “The Keys Enoch”, another new age phenomena :

”Professor of Oriental Studies at the California Institute-of the Arts at Valencia, was not so much a teacher as an experience, a guru-figure whose teaching was not an explanation of objective reality but a spontaneous creation of ideas and experiences that made his students explore new areas for themselves and in themselves. Dressed always in a crumpled suit and wearing a black beret perched on the back of his head, He held classes which sometimes ran as long as eight hours, during which he would alternate between reading long passages of scripture and delivering rambling commentaries on them. … He sometimes spoke about UFOs and about his personal contacts with extra-terrestrials, who, he said, had often intervened in Earth history since prehistoric times, when they had first established a civilization in the Tarim Basin to the north of Tibet. Many of his students recorded his every word, except on occasions when he made them turn off their machines while he gave them some devastating piece of cosmic news that only he was privy to and which he said he was now allowed to share with them.”

“a man with his own extra-terrestrial contacts who had regaled his students at the California Institute of the Arts with reports of his conversations with contacts with names like Enoch, Maitreya and Metatron”

I gave a talk at Toastmasters this week on the ‘“Famous” Indian Rope Trick’. It was a hoax perpetuated by John Wilkie in 1890, while a reporter at the Chicago Tribune, using the assumed name of Fred S. Ellmore (Fred Sell More). [Historical note: Wilkie became head of the Secret Service in 1898 and remained so until 1912.]

[1]Frigyes Karinthy (1887 –1938) was a Hungarian author, playwright, poet, journalist, and translator. He was the first proponent of the six degrees of separation concept, in his 1929 short story, “Chains”.