Hypnosis

I first became interested in ESP and psychic phenomena more than forty years ago, and the key that unlocked the door was hypnosis.

Forget the flim flam—hypnosis is basically a form of heightened susceptibility induced by suggestion. The method used for most of the twentieth century was developed by Dr James Braid, a Scottish physician, who studied and improved upon the work of Anton Mesmer and Charles Lafontaine.
It was Braid who coined the name hypnotism from Hypnos the Greek god of sleep. Later, when he realised that hypnosis is not sleep but a focusing of the mind, he tried to change the name to mono-ideism but his original name was already too well entrenched.
Modern hypnosis is much more subtle and probably more effective. It is largely based on the work of American psychiatrist Milton Erickson.

Intelligent people are normally easier to hypnotise because of their greater ability to focus their minds. One of my tutors claimed there were basically two kinds of subject: those who watched Star Wars and those who watched Neighbours. He said that science fiction fans had good imaginations and were easy to hypnotise while people who preferred soaps were likely to prove difficult.

On that basis, one woman who wanted help to stop smoking would have been a certain soap watcher. She proved very difficult to hypnotise and when finally she began to respond she shook her head and rubbed her eyes with her knuckles. When asked what was wrong she said, "I was going to sleep."

Another of my tutors, Tony, as a younger man had been a stage hypnotist. He held a commercial position during the day but at night he was transformed into somebody mysterious.
He said that once when he was preparing for a show at Sydney Opera House he had a number of advertising placards and posters in his office. They all showed pictures of Tony and featured his "hypnotising eyes" and extended hands. Impressive stuff!
Comically a salesman called to see him at that time and, alarmed by the display of mind control conveyed by the posters, refused to meet Tony's eye or even look at him for the whole time he was there.

My early experiments with hypnotism tended to focus on the paranormal. When I noticed the heightening of extrasensory perception I started to explore.

Age regression is fascinating and by moving the subject's awareness backwards it is possible to focus on a particular time in his or her life.
When Lynne and I decided to explore this area I hypnotised her deeply then regressed her several times. At each step I took her back five years and asked her to sign her name. She switched to her maiden name at the right period and, after that, signed in a progressively younger hand. At age three she scribbled on the page, held it up for approval, and said, "See!" She was very pleased with herself.
Then we went back another five years. Three minus five equals . . . what?
I don't know, but Lynne described a life in an Arabian country in an earlier time. She spoke about horses, not camels, and about the nomads with whom she lived.
With no evidence to support what she saw we dismissed it as a hypnotic dream but the ensuing years have brought more knowledge and that past life has become a definite possibility.

Two friends, Derek and Dick, who shared a flat at North Sydney were also interested in ESP so we decided to experiment.
I had been reading The Australian newspaper on the train journey to their home and after hypnotising Derek I asked him a few questions about the news. This proved to be inconclusive because he may have heard something on the radio which would influence his responses.
So I asked Dick to look at the political cartoon while Derek, still hypnotised, would try to draw it. His picture was remarkably close to the original.

After lunch it was Dick's turn and since there was a race meeting at Canterbury that afternoon, I asked him to describe a race. (This was during the 1960s and the midweek races were not yet being broadcast in Australia.) I thought if he could tell me the names or numbers of the place-getters it would be a reasonable result.
Dick kept talking about a horse that wouldn't go into the starting barrier on the outside of the field and when, after ten minutes, I was still unable to get him to describe anything else, I assumed the race was over and abandoned the experiment.
It was only after checking the Stewards' Reports in the newspaper that I realised he was describing an actual event. The horse in the outside barrier had refused to enter the stalls and had eventually been withdrawn.

I was in the Army Reserve at that time and often spent weekends away at camp. It seemed like a good opportunity to try a telepathy experiment and I discussed it with Lynne. We agreed that some time over the weekend I would try to contact her and that she would write down the time and the message. I then hypnotised her and told her the same thing, giving her a post-hypnotic suggestion that she would receive the message.
At that time my intention was to try the experiment on Saturday night after she had gone to sleep but my unit set up camp fairly early on the Friday and it was just after midnight when I went to bed. I decided to try immediately.
It was a moonlit night and I had arranged a couple of blankets on a waterproof "poncho" in the open air. I thought that a picture might be easier for Lynne to receive than words and concentrated on sharing my view of two trees which formed an A-framed arch above me.
She was woken by her legs moving, apparently of their own volition. They had formed themselves into a shape similar to my A-frame and she had a sensation that I was with her. She failed to see the image I was sending (though the movement of her legs seem to indicate that she had received it at a subconscious level) but the time she wrote down was exactly the time I tried to reach her.

Used intelligently hypnosis can enhance and empower many areas of your life. ESP is only a fringe effect but I have concentrated on it here because, after all, that's what The Mystical Maze is all about.