Showing posts with label Hans Holzer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hans Holzer. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Book Report: The Human Dynamo by Hans Holzer (c)1975

The Human Dynamo by Hans Holzer (c)1975

Background Information: Hans Holzer, a tireless researcher of the paranormal, is the author of over 100 books on various aspects of the paranormal, and has been the inspiration for a number of TV shows about the paranormal. He often worked with well known spirit mediums, including Sybil Leek, who was quite popular in the 1960s. Most recently, his work with various mediums and haunted houses, has been revisited by the 2019 TV show, The Holzer Files (fittingly, 13 years after his death).
You can read more about Holzer on the web and here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holzer

Another of Holzer's many books on metaphysical subjects. As a professional researcher of the paranormal, Holzer was exposed to all kinds of metaphysical phenomena, including religions, and in this book he synthesizes what he'd learned from various religious practices. 

The title, "Human Dynamo" refers to connecting to a higher power to achieve one's goals. He explains that every religion attempts to put it's followers in touch with Higher Power, either directly or thought the intermediary of a priest of some sort. He compares different perspectives, how some religions embody that Higher Power in some kind of anthropomorphized deity, how some pursue a direct connection and others not, etc. For people interested in comparative religions, this alone will make the book an interesting discussion. He analyses both religion and prayer separately, and feels that prayer can be effective if it follows certain guidelines, and even that there are certain natural laws governing the effectiveness of it.

This book was written in the 1970s, before Law Of Attraction was a big thing, but there was a great deal of interest in both old religion and New Age spirituality, and this book attempts to satisfy those interests. So he deconstructs prayer into a basic system he feels will be effective based on the "natural laws of prayer." He ferrets out the ten elements for a successful ritual, and finally, posits a modern religion for the new age, including practical prayers, designed to connect with a kind of universal power, although he feels it's perfectly fine to imagine that power as a god or looking like anything that appeals to you, if it helps you to connect. 

I found it interesting to not that while he discusses prayer in depth, so far as Asking for assistance, he doesn't really cover the idea of connecting with the Universal Power for it's own sake, as in meditation. 

It's an interesting read. Coming from the 21 century, where my email inbox is continually bombarded with people preaching various spins on Law Of Attraction and Various New Age practices, it's interesting to go back to a time where very few people claimed to know anything, and it was an open and uncluttered field.

 

Friday, October 15, 2021

Book Report: The Power of Hypnosis by Hans Holzer -- Hypnosis discussion and Some How-to

The Power of Hypnosis, How Mind-to-Mind Communication Works (c)1973 by Hans Holzer

Background Information: Hans Holzer, a tireless researcher of the paranormal, is the author of over 100 books on various aspects of the paranormal, and has been the inspiration for a number of TV shows about the paranormal. He often worked with well known spirit mediums, including Sybil Leek, who was quite popular in the 1960s. Most recently, his work with various mediums and haunted houses, has been revisited by the 2019 TV show, The Holzer Files (fittingly, 13 years after his death).
You can read more about Holzer on the web and here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holzer

This book, The Power of Hypnosis, is a fairly slim volume of under 100 pages. 

As a hypnotist, I have to say I found parts of the book a little bit silly. I'm not sure if he's playing to the public fear of hypnosis, or whether he just had an antiquated view on the irresistible power of hypnosis. (old time psychologists feared that hypnosis had the power to easily control and even harm the unwary. This was probably based on Freud's belief that the subconscious mind was a kind of wild animal that the conscious mind was always fighting to keep under control, and hypnosis might allow that wild animal to slip the leash). So the book opens warning the public of "involuntary" hypnosis in the form of advertising, and you should constantly examine yourself for covert influences (to buy more oatmeal, perhaps?).

He recommends hypnosis for pain control and to help with mediumistic trances, especially to remove residual spirits after the seance, and gener4ally for therapeutic purposes, but not for past-life regressions or other psychic phenomena. (about a third of the way into the book, he finally admits hypnosis isn't really dangerous when done correctly). 

There is  fair bit of discussion of how to apply hypnosis and for what. He describes his own method of hypnotizing people, which is a simple, authoritarian narrative induction (he tells a story that puts people to sleep). He distinguishes three levels of trance depth with the second and third suitable for suggestions.Before discussing other, non-hypnotic phenomena, like reincarnation, Deja Vu and "time slips" where someone physically slips into another time and place! 

The chapter on Emotional Hypnosis is actually fairly interesting, in that he describes how emotional states can access the subconscious to dissociate the consciousness and facilitate trance, and how various practices like tribal drums, incense and even Frank Sinatra's singing can lead to a dissociative trance. 

BTW, despite the subtitle, "mind-to-mind communication" isn't mentioned until the last few pages of the book, and then only to say that hypnotic suggestions must bev persuasive to be effective. 

Worth mentioning is his chapter on "Silent Hypnosis" where he discusses how the eyes can project a beam of energy particles that can influence another person's mind directly! Ah, if only it were true! I presume he got this from some olde tyme mesmerists. He suggests experimenting with it by projecting commands silently with your eyes to get others to do things. 

Overall, this is a fun book about psychic phenomena. The approach to hypnosis is limited and antiquated, but his observations on the power of emotional suggestions as well as his extensive knowledge of practices around the world are thought provoking.

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.