Book Report: Training Manual for Sight Without Eyes - Through Mind Sight and Perception by Lloyd Hopkins c.1988/2008

 You can't get more straightforward of a book title than the title of this book. It's a 2008 reprint of a booklet originally published in 1988, and apparently it was a free handout at the author's Mind Sight and Perception Research Center in Washington State. (The author, Lloyd Hopkins, died in 1994, and his center is no longer in operation, but his work seems to have inspired others to continue his explorations, including author Sean McNamara in his book "Mind Sight" I believe he is also giving workshops). Hopkins' center seems to have been in operation from 1970 to 1988, and produced a number of successful students and teachers). The book has been reproduced with all the typos intact but that detracts nothing from the material.

In a nutshell, the author taught people, particularly blind people, to be able to see without the use of their eyes!

This work itself is fairly brief, but still covers a lot of ground. After a health issue in 1968, Hopkins' decided to withdraw from business and devote himself to exploring metaphysical topics that interested him. He doesn't go into any great detail about his beliefs, but seems to have been somewhat influenced by Christianity and he also specifically cites Max Freedom Long's book The Secret Science Behind Miracles, which covers elements of Huna, a system of Hawaiian mysticism. 

The book touches on every aspect of Hopkins' Mind Sigh Center, including practice, philosophy, anecdotes about the students and the school, including a number of public demonstrations they gave to various schools, organizations and even the press, which included reading without use of the eyes, being able to perceive events at great distances, and even driving a car sightlessly! The author doesn't attempt to explain how Mind Sight works, but that doesn't appear to have been particularly important.

The practical part of the book presents a series of beginner advanced exercises. Some of his explanations are a bit sparse and vague, but later in the book he includes some short autobiographies of his outstanding students and some go into greater detail about the training methods. He insists that with intense commitment and practice, almost anyone can achieve some lever of success.

If you have an interest in Huna, Psychic skills or Remote Viewing, this book will be a fun and perhaps useful addition to your training materials.

Book Report: Mental Dominance by Julien Ochorowicz (c)1990-1887

Mental Dominance by Julien Ochorowicz (c)1990-1887

Background information: This was originally published in 1887 as "La Suggestion Mental" ("Mental Suggestion").
The author, Julien Ochorowicz, was a leading psychologist, inventor and philosopher of his day. At the time, psychology was a budding science, and included more philosophy and spiritualism than what we think of as psychology today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Ochorowicz

If you have an interest in telepathy this will offer both some interesting scientific discussions and also practical theories and exercises to try for yourself. It's also very interesting a a view into a slice of hypnosis history when "modern" Braid-style hypnosis was taking over from Mesmerism.

The current edition (1990) mentions that it's been "updated," so I can't say for sure how much of the book is the original, and how much has been "updated." (There are a few references to telephones and television which made me highly skeptical of it's authenticity, but according to the Ochorowicz Wiki page, he experimented with early forms of telephone and television in the late 1800s!). 

Before we go farther, it's useful to get the historical context in which the author was working. More modern, suggestion-based hypnosis was beginning to dominate the psychology world, but older Mesmerism would still have been very common. What that means is that while there was more of an acknowledgement that trance and other mental states could be brought about by verbal suggestions as is practiced with hypnosis.. Mesmerism, the older science, believed that the trance was produced in the subject by the force of the Mesmerist's will which was projected into the subject's body via a magnetic fluid that was a kind of invisible psychic energy. Telepathy and other forms of psychic communication and healing were common parts of Mesmeristic belief and practice.

According to the author's Wiki bio, he worked with a number of the members of the Society for Psychical Research, which included some of the top scientists and thinkers of the day, and seems to have been a mix of skeptics and true-believers, united in applying the latest scientific methods to psychic phenomena. So it's presumable that he pulled his data from a fairly large and well documented pool of information and experiments. 

A big part of this book, or this edition, since I don;t know how closely it relates to the 1887 edition, is to identify a working methodology for mind-to-mind communication. It's pretty thorough, and offers plenty of exercises to experiment with. 

From the top, it's interesting that, presumably after experimentation, he identifies the ideal mental state as a "monomaniacal trance" which is a trance state resulting from focusing on a single thing to the exclusion of all else. This would be the kind of "modern" hypnotic trance that was used by James Braid (who suggested the term "monoideaism" --focusing on a single-- as a better name for hypnosis). Orochowicz further designates two degrees of this monomaniacal trance-- a slightly deeper, more passive one for recieving, and a slightly more active one for transmitting. 

Different scenarios are described, but it is particularly interesting that he observes that while a suggestion may be received, it may take some time for it to emerge from the subconscious of the receiver and be perceived or acted upon. He feels that a strong, persistent suggestion will be transmitted more effe3ctively than an overly intense one, and that combining the mental suggestion with some kind of physical action will be more effective than the mental suggestion alone. 

The Fourth part of the book offers exercises to strengthen one's "Animal Magnetism," which include things like visualizing and moving energy through the body, controlling your sensations of cold and heat, self-discipline and controlling emotions, etc. 

In an interesting procedure for psychic persuasion of others, the author distinguishes two parts of persuasion: Preparation and Ultimatum. (The procedure involves preparing by cultivating one's energy for a long time before your expected encounter with the person you want to persuade. When you meet them, hold overwhelmingly positive feelings, and hold your desired idea in your mind the entire time, and even imagine hugging them in you mind. Finally you make a definitive statement (mental, presumably) and they should be persuaded!). 

Another interesting observation is that these kinds of suggestions can take a longer amount of time than most other authors indicate. For a simple suggestion, this author advises 3-4 weeks of preparation, while a meaningful change of behavior may take 6 months of daily hour-long suggestions. Presumably this was backed up by some experimental data(?). 

There's a big section on finding and influencing your soulmate. I find it rather hard to believe that this was part of Ochorowicz' original manuscript, but most likely a contribution of the 1990 edition. Still, it is an interesting discussion and follows the Authors basic methodology. And again, a much longer commitment is recommended-- 40 daily sessions, with a minimum of 15!

Finally, there are a number of visualization exercises to strengthen focus and imagination, and, hopefully, one's psychic abilities. 

I can't say I've had the level of discipline to try these techniques as recommended, but if you have had results, I'd love to hear about them!

Book Report: Mesmerism Unveiled! by Leslie J. Gee (c)1885

Mesmerism Unveiled! by Leslie J. Gee (c)1885

Background information: From what is inferred in the book, the author was a popular stage performer of mesmerism, although I was unable to find anything about his performances on line.  He seems to speak with a great deal of experience and the same kind of passion for his art that most hypnotists have today. This little book (approx 50 pages) was likely an item that he sold at his shows to those interested in learning for themselves.

While I was unable to find any information about his performances, he does include his home address (circa 1885) in order for readers to contact him if they had any questions. There is currently a somewhat rundown single-family house on the site (thanks, Google maps!) that was built in 1890. No record that I could find of the previous house or landowner.

The subtitle of this book is "The Only Work Ever Published Giving Full Instructions How to Practice and Master the Art of Psychology, or Mesmerism" and, indeed, there seems to be material that I have not seen in any other books of Mesmerism, so for novelty value alone, it's a worthwhile little volume.

Today we think of Mesmerism as a primitive kind of hypnosis, but that is not exactly the case. While is did utilize trance and suggestion to effect changes in the client, Mesmerism was based on the idea that there was an actual "magnetic fluid," an invisible energy, that ran through the nervous system, and which, with practice, could be projected to people and things to effect certain kinds of results. While mesmerism is a thing of the past, we find similar concepts surviving in Christian Science, Polarity, Laying on of Hands, Chinese Chi Gung and Indian Pranic healing, and so forth. A Mesmerist would typically wave his hands over his subject, utilizing "magnetic passes" to affect the energy flow of the subject. Because there was a direct exchange of energy between Magnetizer and subject, it was assumed there was some kind of telepathic connection at work, and indeed, the usual expected results that could be achieved from this art included the same that hypnotism is known for, like smoking, drinking, weight management, etc., it was also commonly believed that mesmerism could produce clairvoyance, telepathy and other exotic phenomena. 

The book is written in an easy conversational style (albeit a very 19th century style). The most notable thing about this book is that it offers a rapid method of Mesmerism, utilizing touches on certain parts of the subject's head, in addition to the usual magnetic passes. Another thing is that he doesn't dwell on practice and exercises for projecting one's magnetic energy. (many of the books that I've read offer exercises for beginning Mesmerists like pointing your fingers at an empty chair to learn to project energy, or meditative energy gathering exercises). Typically mesmerism is a very slow process of making magnetic passes in front of the subject for at least half an hour, until trance is achieved (L.E.Young actually advised people to use hypnosis and not Mesmerism for stage shows because the Magnetic method was so slow and boring). 

The author attempts to demonstrate that Mesmerism is a common phenomenon, and uses the examples of rapport between animals and trainers. He then goes on to describe the science behind it, which is primarily Phrenology (a debunked science of how different parts of the mind work), and a version of neurology which little resembles what we know today. 

In addition to his own method, he presents three methods which he describes as being very popular (in his day). One is the slow method of magnetic passes, one is a kind of Mesmerism utilizing eye fixation that is called "Hypnotism" (that was probably brand new at the time!), and a kind of group operation. 

For his own method, he goes into depth, including the attitude and emotion the Magnetizer should be using, the importance of will power and persistence, the specific touches and passes he employs on stage for rapid Mesmerism, and how to chose the most responsive subjects (several times in the book he reminds us that while everyone can be mesmerized, only 40 people in 1000 will be really easily brought into trance).
He gives directions on the way a beginner should start, and what to expect, and also some effects that can be done with a subject that are still common today, like spinning hand, acting out suggestions, singing, etc., and some suggestions we wouldn't use today, like pushing sewing needles into their cheek, convincing them to eat candles like candy, making them believe they're chased by snakes or that their house is on fire, etc. Suggestions that are not at all common today but were part and parcel of the Mesmerism were the development of psychic skills like clairvoyance and telepathy, though he does warn that it may take a hundred sessions before some people will develop these abilities. He even offers instruction on "charging" a glass of water in order to bring the magnetic power right to the internal organs.

Overall, the author is very encouraging and stresses persistence and patience in developing this ability. He advises beginners who may have questions to consult their local Mesmerist or Clairvoyant, or even send letters to his home. He even offers some herbal substances that he feels may strengthen the beginner's performance, including quinine and a tonic made of Valerian, Catnip, Skullcap, Coriander and Capsicum (the first three herbs are known for their calming, anti-stress qualities).

I have never had any experience performing Mesmerism, so I can't discuss the efficacy of the book, but as a nice addition to a library of this kind of ephemera. I couldn't even fins an image of the original printing, but the book can be found on the web in PDF form, and facsimile editions can be got from https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/books/MesmerismUnveiled_10834811

Book Report: Hypnosis: Key to Psychic Powers by Simeon Edmunds (c) 1968

Hypnosis: Key to Psychic Powers by Simeon Edmunds (c) 1968

Background Information: Simeon Edmunds was a researches for the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) and a hypnotist. He took a very scientific approach to examining psychic phenomena and was generally skeptical of spiritism, but open to psychic phenomena. His writing is clear and readable.
"Paths to Inner Power" is a series of books on various metaphysical and magical practices. 

This is a small, straightforward book describing the various psychic phenomena--Clairvoyance, Traveling Clairvoyance (like and out of body Experience), Precognition, Postcognition, Psychokinesis, Suggestion at a Distance and "Exteriorization of Sensation" which is the mechanism behind voodoo dolls. 

For such juicy topics, this book is surprisingly straightforward and well defined. If you're looking for an introduction to these topics, this is a good one to start with.

Book Report: Crystal Gazing by Theodore Besterman (c) 1924

Crystal Gazing by Theodore Besterman (c) 1924

This is not a how-to, but rather an encyclopedic compilation of all kinds of methods of scrying (psychic visualizations utilizing some kind of object). There's certainly nothing that engages the imagination as much as a crystal ball, but as it turns out, people have been staring into all kinds of things seeking cues about the future and answers to their questions, such as staring into water, into ink, into the reflection of a fingernail, and of course, staring into crystals.

Whether you're a fan of psychic phenomena or of folklore, this is an edifying book to spend time with. The author researched and catalogued a vast number of different methods and traditions from different times and places around the world. Some of these techniques make the crystal ball seem positively mundane, like staring at a handful of ink or the reflection in an oiled thumbnail!

The book is divided into chapters based on the technique, culture, famous historical scryers, and so forth. There's also some scientific discussion of the process and it's veracity. 

In the first part of the 20th century, there was a great deal of serious research into things like clairvoyance and crystal gazing, and the British Society for Psychical Research was one of the most dedicated. Why a movie has never been made of the place is beyond me, since its members included some of the greatest scientists and public figures of the day, and they were passionately divided between true believers and adamant skeptics (in some cases, such as the curious Miss X, Ada Freer, one person was both an expert scryer and a debunker). 

Theodore Besterman was a skeptical member of the society for a number of years before going on to a career as a noted bibliographer and writer. This book is an impressive bit of scolarship, especially since he wrote it when he was only 20 years old!

Book Report: Astral Travel for Beginners by Richard Webster (c) 1998

Astral Travel for Beginners by Richard Webster (c) 1998 

Background Information: Richard Webster is an award winning author and one of New Zealand's most successful and prolific authors, having written over 100 books on the subjects that he's passionate about, including New Age topics, magic tricks and mentalism. He's has written beginner's guides to all sorts of metaphysical topics.
https://www.richardwebster.co.nz/

A pretty thorough guide to going places while staying home! The author discusses the history and lore of Astral Travel, also known as an Out-of-Body-Experience (OOBE of OBE) as well as all it's variations, like mind travel, deliberate and spontaneous travel, bilocation, etheric doubles and more. Much of the book is a collection of various techniques and their histories, so that the aspiring traveler can find the one that appeals to them the most. Various preparatory relaxation and meditation exercises are also included.

Book Report: Paravision by Roderigo Medeiros (c) 2018

Paravision by Roderigo Medeiros (c) 2018

If you want to develop your clairvoyance and you're particularly visual, this is the book for you! 

The book offers extensive instruction on seeing the aura of the things and people around you, and then expands that to other clairvoyant perceptions. There is a equal balance of theory and instruction, and since this practice belongs to the Conscientiology organization (not to be confused with Scientology), you can expect a certain amount of group-specific terminology.

Book Report: Spiritualism and Clairvoyance for Beginners by Elizabeth Owens (c) 2005

Spiritualism and Clairvoyance for Beginners by Elizabeth Owens (c) 2005

If there's a book that would guide a person to success in this area of study, this would be the book. The writing projects sincerity and experience, and offers clear reasoning and well explained methods. To go a step further, she has enlisted SIX other professional clairvoyance to offer their own insights and techniques to each topic. 

What is extremely practical  about this work is her approach to interpretation of the whatever you perceive. This skill can be extended to interpreting more than just psychic visions. Her approach is good for dreams, feelings, and if you work with clients, it can be helpful for refining some of the ambiguities that they express.

The author is confident that the kind of symbols you get in your clairvoyant perceptions comes from the spirits you make contact with. But I imagine that if you're not so keen on getting your data from spirits, but you do fancy that you can develop psychic skills, these exercises will probably work well anyway. 

One very useful concept the author offers is not to merely interpret the symbols you receive, but to ask for a specific sort of set of symbols. This is a great concept whether you're interpreting predictions form the ether or working with client's representations.

For the psychic explorer, this book is full of insights and exercises, moreso than most other, similar books. For those interested in interpreting symbolic imagery, it is clever and insightful.

What is the Difference Betweeen Hypnosis and Mesmerism? And Does it Have Anything to Do with Chi or Prana?

 When you're talking to the public at large, the terms Hypnosis and Mesmerism are often used interchangeably, but even hypnotic some practitioners tend not to be sure what the difference is. 

First off, let's define what hypnosis is. Even practicing hypnotists don't always agree on a definition for "hypnosis," but I hope I can offer a definition that will satisfy both the practitioner and the curious layman. How's this:
Hypnosis is a way of offering suggestions to a client in a way that influences their subconscious mind  and bypasses their conscious resistance, so they accept new behaviors and concepts or alters their existing perceptions. How's that? Usually, it means talking to the client in a way that guide them into a relaxed state where they are open to accepting therapeutic suggestions. 

You can look up all sorts of information about hypnosis, including it's history and methods, so I won't waste your time with a lot of that, except to say that it's generally accepted that modern hypnosis dates back to the 19th. century with the Nancy School in France, and with James Braid in the England. Braid, in particular, is given the credit for the term hypnosis (actually, he said "neuro-hypnosis," though he preferred "neurypnology"). Braid's method, as far as I've been able to discover, was fairly straightforward: He would hold a shiny silver scalpel-case, about the size of a pencil case, slightly above eye level of his subjects and bid them stare at it while he gave them suggestions to sink into a deeply relaxed state, until their eyes were fatigued. They would eventually close their eyes and go deeper, but still maintaining a certain mental focus developed from staring at the silver case. in this state, his subjects were open to therapeutic suggestions, accepting them uncritically (OK, there's more to the process, but you get the idea).  

Hypnosis rapidly replaced the much older practice of Mesmerism. Their therapeutic goals were similar, but as one practitioner of both noted, Mesmerism was a much slower and less reliable process. While an hypnotic trance could be induced in 15 minutes or less, mesmerism typically took a half hour or more, and might require more than one sitting just to get it to work at all. Today, Mesmerism is a nearly lost art. 

What is Mesmerism? Some elements of mesmerism are identical to hypnosis, particularly the idea of inducing a relaxed state in the subject in order to achieve therapeutic effects. But from the ground up, mesmerism is very different.
The basis of Mesmerism is "Animal Magnetism" which is not a 1960s cologne, but a kind of energy generated by all living things. The theory was that a healthy individual produced a lot of it and it flowed naturally throughout a person's body, but an unhealthy person might chalk his illness up to weak or badly circulating energy. So a Mesmerist would use his own animal magnetism, or occasionally actual magnets, to influence the energy and flow of of the patient to flow correctly. A Mesmerist might engage in healing by laying on of hands, or he might even work with a partner and induce rapport between the patent and the partner which would cause the illness to travel to the partner, and by treating the partner, was able to heal the patient through a metaphysical connection. 

Historically, the word "Mesmerism" comes from Anton Mesmer, who may not have originated the theory himself, but as a young, highly regarded medical doctor married to a wealthy noble woman, was in a unique position to devote both his good name and his wife's fortune to creating a clinic to study and spread the "science" of Mesmerism. His clinic attracted hundreds of patients, most of which he didn't charge, and he seems to have gotten very good results, which for a time, made him very popular. Sadly, times turned and facing an increasingly more criticism from both the public and the science community, his reputation eroded. 

Most commonly, a Mesmerist would use downward "magnetic passes" of his hands in front of the patent to create a trance state in the patient do the work called for, and re-energizing them by making upward magnetic passes afterwards. Some older 20th century hypnotists, like Ormond McGill, still employed the occasional magnetic pass in their hypnotism. 

In order to be an effective Mesmerist, a practitioner had to build up his own animal magnetism and to learn how to project it reliably, and some of the old books describe exercises for that, such as practicing projecting their energy towards and empty chair, and a Mesmerist would learn to project their power both with their hands and also with their eyes, (just like Dracula!). 

There is no question that when Mesmerism worked, it worked. James Esdaile, a 19th century British surgeon working in India, was able to remove horrific, 80 pound tumors from his patients with minimal bleeding and rapid healing, using mesmerism as an anesthetic. (he achieved a kind of "hypnotic coma" to do the surgery, which is named after him, the Esdaile State).

Whether the mesmeric results were achieved by animal magnetism or by simple suggestion is debatable. Braid and others felt that all the passes and mystery were simply psychological suggestions and there was no magnetism. And scientific thought of the 20th century closed the book on the animal magnetism theory. 

Maybe it was Chi or Prana? The  cultivation of Animal Magnetism may be a lost art, but the concept seems to be a universal one, still alive and well in other cultures. In Indian culture they call the magnetic energy Prana, in Asian cultures is Chi or Ki. Most of these systems cultivate their magnetic energy for personal health. Some of the Asian ones also practice a kind of hands-on healing similar to some Mesmeric practices. Some of the Indian practitioners talk about the sort of psychic effects that Mesmerists used to talk about. To the best of my knowledge, however, the extensive use of metaphysical force to produce trance was a particular specialty of the Mesmerists.  

I suppose this article wouldn't be complete without mentioning Dr. Marco Paret in France, who seems to be the only person still teaching Mesmerism. I don't really know anything more about him that I've seen on his website and Youtube videos, but you can find his site here: http://www.marcoparet.com/

Book Report: The Science of Hypnotism by L.E. (Lou Ella) Young -- History and How-to

The Science of Hypnotism by L.E. (Lou Ella) Young, (c) 1899 to 1953 (at least)

Background Information: This book has been reprinted for over half a century! I haven't been able to find any biographical information on the author. 

This 300+ page tome is an extensive textbook of hypnosis and mesmerism as it was at the beginning of the 20th century. The first 10 or so chapters delve deeply into the history of hypnosis through the 19th century, He explores the various methods and theories of the old masters. It is the most in-depth discussion of their comparative approaches I've found in a general hypnosis test book, but at the time of writing, I imagine this was far more current than it is to us today. Indeed, the author seems to be greatly influenced by Bernheim, a major hypnotist of the 19th century. 

There's a lot of discussion of various treatments and suggestions, and also the psychology behind effective suggestion. 

While the greatest value of this book nowadays is the history, it was written to be as thorough an education to the practitioner as possible.

Book Report: You Are Psychic! -- Psychic Ability Exercises

 

You Are Psychic! The Free Soul Method (c) 1989 by Pete A. Sanders

To be perfectly honest, I bought this at the same time as Holzer's Are You Psychic? just so I could put them side by side on my shelf. (https://successworkhypnosis.blogspot.com/2021/10/book-report-are-you-psychic-by-hans.html)

While a lot of these books on psychic abilities are a mixture of academic discussion, theory, anecdote and experiments, Sanders' book puts forth a very clear, workable, kind of course outline for developing one's mystical abilities. And no surprise, really, since this appears to be something he taught for many years (and still does, in Sedona https://freesoul.net/), so it's very easy to read and follow, having been presented many times before. 

What's interesting about Sanders is that he claims to have begun to develop his methods while doing research on the topic while a student at MIT. Sadly, there's no direct quotes of the research material he produced while at MIT, which I would have been interested to see. 

What distinguishes Sanders' Free Soul method is that he categorizes nine human senses--the usual five physical ones, and then four additional psychic ones: Psychic Feeling, Psychic Knowing (intuition), Psychic Vision (clairvoyance) and Psychic Hearing (clairaudience). He feels most people have a natural proclivity towards one of two of these, and that is reflected in the person's character traits, much the way NLP draws associations between a person's preferred sensory modality and some of their behavioral traits (not all NLP folks support that, BTW). 

He also feels his research has discovered specific areas in the body where these psychic senses are located. Interestingly, these are similar to some of the colorfully named places in Frank Rudolph Young's work from several decades before. For example, Sanders locates clairaudience in the temporal lobes of the brain above the ears, as does Young, who names this area the "brain horns."

Sanders book is a easy to understand and to follow and clearly a labor of both love and experience. I can't say I've really applied myself to the exercises, but if I were looking for a book to learn Psychic abilities from, I'd guess that this would be a good one.

Book Report: Are You Psychic? by Hans Holzer -- Psychic Phenomena and exercizes

Book Report: Are You Psychic? (c) 1997 by Hans Holzer 

Background Information: The author, Hans Holzer, was a passionate paranormal researcher with over 100 books to his credit, and produced a great deal of research material (perhaps more sensational than hard-science, but still very interesting). More information can be found at his wiki entry, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holzer

This short, edifying book on psychic phenomena is a great introduction to the topic of psychic phenomena. He clarifies and distinguishes a variety of the terms and concepts which often get muddled together, such at telepathy, clairvoyance, extraocular vision, psychometry, trance mediumship, astral projection, bilocation and other exotic powers of the mind. He even distinguishes four different kind of dreams, both psychic and psychological. 

I imagine the biggest attraction of this book are the practice exercises with which you can experiment and possibly develop your own occult powers, and there are a few things you can try for yourself. 

If you want to explore your own potential, or just want to learn more about the variety of psychic phenomena, this book is a great source.

Just for fun, I bought this at the same time as Sanders' You Are Psychic! https://successworkhypnosis.blogspot.com/2021/10/book-report-you-are-psychic.html because they looked good side by side on the shelf! But I think they're both good additions to a mind-science library.