HYPNOTISM AND

YOUR PSYCHIC POWERS

In my opinion, the hypnotist must firstly be a
p erson of the highest integrity, who is ever a w are of his respon sibilities to his clients. He
must be firm ly grounded in the study and under
standing of psychology and its techniques; of
affable address; of sympathetic attitude; of p le a s
ant and reassuring manner; calm understanding
and patience; so that the total im pression o f his
personality, inevitably creates the favorable rap
p ort that is so essential to the su cce s s of the able
hypnotist. The hypnotist must above all have com
plete confidence in him self and his technical ef
ficie n cy , since to be effective, it is n ecessa ry that
he speak with the surest authority, so that he can
con trol the subject com pletely.
Even if you chance to be a beginner in this
field , you must still p roceed in a manner that w ill
in still com plete confidence in your subject, since
it is not likely that you w ill be su ccessfu l if the
subject b ecom es aware that you are a novice in
the field of hypnosis, fo r no one is inclined to be
the fir s t subject of an amateur hypnotist, no
m atter how enthusiastic he may be. You must
never fum ble in your procedure, and if question
ed, you must have a confident and ready answer
fo r whatever question that may a rise in the sub
3

je c t s mind. To say, " I do not know to a ques

tion, is to destroy w hateverconfidence the subject
m ay have in you, thus eliminating any p ossibility
o f achieving the harmony so
n ecessa ry to
su ccessfu l hypnotism.In the event the c o r r e c t
answer is not known, it is still n ecessary to offer
a convincing explanation, so that no lo s s of p r e s
tige would affect the su ccessfu l conclusion of
hypnosis.
It is further always important to rem em ber
that m istakes w ill be made, no matter how many
books have been read on the subject of hypnosis.
It is the purpose of this book to make the hypno
tic p roced u res so clea r that e r r o r s in method
ology w ill never o ccu r at all, or, at least, very
seldom , if the b ook 's prin ciples are con scien
tiously applied by the reader. It is, above all,
the actual p ra ctice that creates the skill and
p roficien cy of the su ccessfu l hypnotist. It is,
th erefore, advisable that the budding hypnotist
find as many subjects as he can, so that he can
m ost quickly a rriv e at that stage of p roficien cy
which w ill mark him as an efficient technician.
It is my suggestion, if you are a novice, that
your fir s t subject be som eone who is not too
w ell known to you. In fact, a total stranger would
be best, since not being aware of your apprent
icesh ip in hypnosis, he would respond with m ore
alacrity than your friends, o r m em bers of your
fam ily. You would thus be given a greater op p or
tunity to becom e fam ilar with the hypnotic tech
niques and to develop your sk ill to the fullest
p ossib le degree of virtuosity.
4

Once your reputation as a hypnotist is a s

sured, the p restige which redounds fro m this
distinction w ill p redispose others to seek you
out. In my experience, as a profession al hypno
tist, I have observed that it was particularly
those persons who had been r e fe rre d to me by
m y fo rm e r patients, that made the m ost e x c e ll
ent subjects fo r hypnosis, since they have been
pre-conditioned, as it w ere, by the enthusiasm
o f those b en eficiaries, who had com e under my
influence in the past. These new subjects, there
fo r e , having becom e favorably disposed toward
m y person and reputation, very quickly fe ll
under the control of my hypnotic suggestions.
Since they had already been sold on my
com petence as a hypnotist, i t was only n e c
e ssa ry to maintain their lively confidence in
my reputation, and to p roceed quickly to the
conclusion of the hypnotic state with them.
With such subjects, it was not n ecessa ry to
spend either tim e o r energy on the p re-h yp n otic talk, since these w ere not required, due to
the favorable condition that had been created
in advance through fore-know ledge of my re p
utation. I, therefore, im m ediately proceeded to
the actual hypnosis; working as rapidly as I
could to induce the deep hypnotic state, which
is the goal of every hypnotist. This procedure
had obviously been made much easier fo r me,
due to the advanced state of suggestibility with
which these subjects cam e to me, as a result
o f their having been re fe rre d to me by those
fo rm e r subjects, with whom I had already
consum mated su ccessfu l hypnosis. It m erely
5

rem ained fo r me to take the fu llest advantage

o f this heightened susceptibility to hypnosis
that had already been created in these persons
by my fo rm e r subjects. This I did, and always
with the greatest su ccess.
I would like, at this tim e, to make, what I
fe e l is an interesting observation. It is only on
v ery ra re occasion s that I meet a person who
in sists that he is an easy subject to hypnotize.
On the contrary, I find, alm ost always, that the
p rosp ective subject p rotests his inability to do
so. When asked fo r a cogent reason, however,
he is usually unable to offer one; stating m erely
that he fe e ls it, and, therefore, it is so, as fa r
as he is concerned. At this point, it is n ecessary
to explain that alm ost everybody fe e ls the sam e
way at this stage of the procedure, and that he,
too, doubtlessly w ill make a good subject. If the
subject still p ersists, protesting that he has too
strong a w ill fo r hypnotic manipulation, congrat
ulate him on such a p ossession , and point out how
this w ill-p ow er can be used to bring about a
p rop er state fo r the induction of hypnosis. If, on
the other hand, your subject p rotests that he has
a weak w ill, point out to him that hypnosis is
dependent neither upon a strong nor a weak w ill
fo r its effect, and that all that is really required
of him is his fu llest cooperation in the procedure.
It is w ell, at this point, to ask him whether he is
w illing to cooperate wholeheartedly. If he agrees
to do so, and he usually w ill, say that su ccess is
assu red. It becom es clea r then that the method
em ployed depends rather upon the peculiarities
6

of the individual, rather than on any im personal

o r rigid procedure. It is this type of flexibility
which makes fo r the m ost su ccessfu l and r e
sourceful p ra ctice in the field of hypnosis.
Even the subject, who earnestly d e sire s to be
hypnotized, does not always respond favorably,
due to excessiv e tension. He is like the person
who wants to sleep, but cannot do so, because his
intense d esire creates a nervous tension which
prevents it. So it is with the subject, who wants
to be hypnotized so much that he can't relax in
the p ro ce s s , thereby making hypnosis im p oss
ible. The hypnotist must, th erefore, soothe the
subject, relaxing him by telling him that he is a
v ery good subject, and that he w ill soon certainly
go under hypnosis as he concentrates on what is
said to him, and as soon as the influences of the
hypnotic suggestions affect him. These suggest
ions w ill ease him, and make him m ore tra ct
able. It is absolutely n ecessa ry to em ploy these
m easures,
before beginning the actual inducion of hypnosis, to insure s u cce ss! It w ill save
many hours of futile labor. The subject is in
form ed that he is fir s t being conditioned to
hypnosis, and that suggestions w ill be used to
bring him to a greater depth of passivity. Tell
him what he is to expect fro m each stage, since
this inform ation plays an important role in the
eventual induction. He must be invited to watch
fo r the appropriate signs, and to interpret them
as they occu r. This w ill convince him that p r o
g re s s has been m ad e, and that he w ill soon be
under the full effects of the hypnotic state.
7

M ost of us reach the condition of sleep in

stages. That is, we do not attain full sleep im
m ediately, but enter into a p rog ression of vary
ing depths of unconsciousness until we fa ll into
the state of deep sleep. Sim ilar conditions p r e
vail in hypnosis. The subject com es to the
hypnotic state by d egrees also. W hile it is
true, though with the exceptional few sleep does
com e im m ediately,
hypnotism, like sleep,
norm ally is achieved through the above men
tioned stages. It is, th erefore, the task of the
hypnotist to lead the subject expertly and un
errin gly through these stages to the final goal
of deep hypnosis.

The Psychological Approach

and Technique
The average subject w ill go under hypnosis
within the period of fiv e minutes, if the hypno
tist is fully acquainted with the p roper procedure.
The matter of timing is of the utm ost im portance.
If an attempt is made to induce hypnosis before
the subject is ready fo r it, failu re is inevitable.
The subject must fir s t be saturated with the idea
of being hypnotized, and his mind must be orient
ated to its fullest acceptance. I know by exp er
ience, that the average person is excessiv ely
skittish during his fir s t exposure to hypnosis.
8

He may not only becom e nervous, but may also

be ex cessiv ely distracted by the technique. This
is particularly true of those who, having a p rior
interest in hypnosis, have done som e reading on
the subject. These p ersons, being easily d iv e r
ted, must be prevailed upon to respond with the
greatest concentration to the m inistrations of the
hypnotist to insure the best effects.
The psychologist must develop a positive
transference with a patient fo r su ccessfu l treat
ment. The hypnotherapist requires even greater
transference before he can attempt hypnosis. If
he should fa il in his fir s t attempt, he may leave a
negative reaction with his patient which may be
extrem ely difficult to overcom e. It is, therefore,
bette r to p roceed deliberately, gaining the sub
je c t s com plete confidence in the p ro ce s s , while
at the same tim e obtaining a greater understand
ing of his problem , so that the procedure em ploy
ed w ill best suit the particular needs of the
patient.
It is a good p olicy, in my opinion, to capital
iz e on the ideas and inform ation your subjects
may have on the subject of hypnosis. A technique
I have found useful in my o ffice , is to take a
crysta l ball fro m my pocket and show it to the
subject. I ask him if he knows fo r what purpose
it is used. Invariably, I am told that it is used
to induce the hypnotic state. It is used, I am
further inform ed, as a point of concentration.
Having gained my point, I say "T h a t is co rre ct.
I am now going to use it to induce a deep, hyp
notic state in y o u ." The subject has thus already
9

related the crystal ball to hypnosis, and in this

manner, has already convinced him self not only
of its relationship, but also its effectiveness.
A fter all, he had, him self, stated that the crystal
ball was used to induce the hypnotic state. He
now has the "m en tal set to prove it, both to me,
and to him self. This procedure is fa r superior, in
my judgment, than m erely saying, I am now going
to induce the hypnotic state by using the P ow ers
hypnotic crystal b a ll. The latter method, of
cou rse, can be em ployed, but I have found that the
p revious technique is infinitely m ore effective.
Through the use of the crysta l ball, we can
cause the m uscular fatigue of the eyelids, thus
creating a condition of drow siness that is a very
useful means of leading the subject into the
hypnotic state. It is essential to keep this fact in
mind, whatever, technique is employed. This is
done through suggestion and the concentration of
the subject s eyes on the crystal ball, or other
ob jects chosen by the technician, such as the
"H yp n p d isc. Once this has been achieved, the
subject s mind is m ore receptive to the other
suggestions that follow . He is not told that the
physiological effect of w eariness is due to the
strained concentration of his eyes on whatever
ob ject the hypnotist has selected fo r him to
look at; but rather, that they fe e l heavy, watery,
and tired because of the technician's suggestions
to the subject.
What do you suppose is the single greatest
mental block t o hypnosis? My fifteen years of
10

experience in the field of hypnosis has taught

me that it is the fea r of revealing something
that the subject d oes not con sciou sly wish to
divulge. The matter may be a trivial o r im port
ant one that the subject has kept suppressed, o r
it may be something which he fe e ls too ashamed
o r bashful to relate to anyone. Fearing that the
hypnotic state would cause him to make adm is
sion s he wouldn t make norm ally, he is loathe
to expose him self to the com plete unconscious
n ess of hypnosis. The subject must fir s t be con
vinced that no such self-ex p osu re can take place,
sin ce under the influence of hypnosis, no one
says o r does anything that he would not do, or
say under the m ost norm al conditions of con
sciou sn ess. He must be assured that he w ill have
com plete control of him self at all tim es, and that
he w ill be able to wake up fro m the hypnosis at
any tim e that he elects to do so.
To avoid difficulty, the hypnotist must shy
away fro m any technical discu ssion of the s o m nam bulistic state. It is during this state that the
subject is under the com plete control of the hyp
notist, and it is at this tim e that the subject may
reveal content that he would not articulate ordin
arily. Should the subject bring this matter up, it
is n ecessa ry to point out that even though he is
in a deep hypnotic state, he w ill never reveal
anything that he does not con sciou sly wish to
exp ress. The subject w ill not, ordinarily, bring
this matter up at all, but should he do so, he
must be convinced that the technician is not
interested in dredging up s e cr e ts at all, but
11

I
j

rather in helping the patient solve'his problem s.

If the patient has confidence in the hypnotist, he
will accept this statement, and they will get on
to the matter at hand. But, M r. P ow ers, I can
alm ost hear one of my read ers saying, "Y o u
a re giving the subject fa lse information. You
know that in the deepest state of hypnosis, the
subject will not rem em ber anything at a ll!
True indeed! The point is w ell taken! It is, how
e v er, important to rem em ber that we are not at
all concerned with the m ere by-products of hyp
n o sis, but rather with its benefits. I trust that
you have not already forgotten the high ethical
p rin cip les that w ere form ulated at the beginning
o f this book. We are ever conscious of our p r o
fession al integrity, and are not likely to handle
any inform ation that may com e to us lightly! If
the patient is not put wholly at ease, it becom es
im possible to hypnotize him. We, th erefore, m is
inform him fo r his own benefit, since the in form
ation that he has rep ressed, and still does not
wish to reveal, may be the very cause of the
p sych ological difficulties. Our attempt to soothe
him can be likened to that of the physician who
p r e s c r ib e s Bread P ills fo r his patient, know
ing full w ell their lack of worth, but rationalizing
his action on the basis of the curative value that
the patient ch ooses to find in them. This, I think,
is a fa ir analogy. We, like physicians, do what we
fe e l is n ecessa ry fo r the w ell-bein g of those who
have seen fit to turn to us in their need. We, like
p h ysicians,em ploy "P sy ch olog ica l Bread P ills .
Our p ills, however, are made up of reassuring
12

w ords, that can only be effective if we inspire

confidence in our subjects. I think, we are there
fo r e , not only justified, but obliged to em ploy
whatever means we fe e l n ecessa ry fo r the w el
fa re of our subjects.
The follow ing is such an exam ple of op p or
tunism. I leave it to the reader to decide wheth
er I was justified in proceedin g as I did.
Several yea rs ago, a woman, who was a fflic
ted with insom nia, was r e fe rre d to me. Her
physician could find nothing physically wrong
with her, and since this condition had continued
f o r several years, without any apparent reason,
it was decided that hypnotism might be the means
through which the cause of this difficulty might
b e determ ined. She was brought to my office,
and after introductions, she was prepared fo r
the hypnosis. I instructed he r to look at the
" P o w e r s Hypnodisc which I had mounted on my
phonograph. Upon seeing this, she chirped,
A ren t you going to use the swinging lock et
that was used to induce hypnosis in the m ovie,
Road to R io ? Hypnosis had indeed been used
in this moving picture as an aid in purloining
jew elry. Having m yself seen this m ovie, I was,
in truth, very w ell acquainted with this locket .
R ealizing the im portance that she placed on this
locket, I answered that I had unfortunately left
my locket at home, and since I had, we would
term inate our meeting until the next day, when I
would have the all important locket on hand right
h ere in the office . The lady was satisfied, and we
made an appointment fo r the next morning. When
13

she had gone, I hurriedly sent my secreta ry out

f o r a locket, after d escribin g the one in the m ov
ing picture to her as c lo se ly as I could fro m
m em ory. She cam e back with one rem arkably
lik e my description. I was now prepared fo r the
lady s return, and, in fact, looked forw ard to it
with som e anticipation.
She arrived at the o ffice before the tim e of
her appointment, and showed every sign of being
excited by the p rosp ect of being hypnotized,
It's just like in the m ovie, she said later
breathlessly. I fir s t apologized fo r my neglig
ence in not having had the locket with me y e s te r
day and we got down to w ork im m ediately. I told
her that as I counted to three, and swung the
locket in front of her, her eyes would becom e
v ery heavy, and that she would fa ll into a deep,
hypnotic sleep. She was sitting a c r o s s fro m me,
right in fron t o f my desk, and as I took the locket
out of the desk, I could see how fascinated she
w as by its p resen ce. I counted to three, and with
in fifteen seconds she .was in a deep, hypnotic
sleep. T now had her under com plete control, and
made the appropriate suggestions regarding her
insom nia, and the manner in which she could
acheive sleep through the use of self-hypnosis
She responded rem arkably! She only made three
v isits to my o ffice , and was soon able to sleep
n orm ally again. She was a happy woman once
m ore! It all had been so sim ple, and only b e
cause of her confirm ed conviction of the m agic
charm of the " lo c k e t .
H ere was a clea r dem onstration of opport
unism . Would you have told the lady that there
14 ^

was neither value, nor potency in the locket that

she had seen in the m ovie? Would you have told
her that it was nonsense? That any technique
would w ork just as w ell? Would you have used
the hypnodisc, in spite of b elief in the lock et?
My feeling is that it would have been extrem ely
foolish not to have taken fu ll advantage o f her
faith in the swinging lock et as I did. She had
already seen it work in the picture, and, there
fo r e , naively felt it would also work on her. It
was all very rom antic, but that was the way it
w as, and I took every advantage of it. The r e
sults proved that I had made no mistake at all,
and that I had, in fact, made an easy case out of
what had previously been a m ost difficult one,
by availing m yself of a clien t's predisposition
f o r a cinem atic swinging lock et.
The subject might have been convinced o f the
e ffica cy of another method, but wouldn't it have
been foolish of me to attempt to divert her when
she was already convinced of the M agic of the
Swinging L ock et?
The good hypnotist takes advantage Qf every
opportunity that a situation affords him,' and he
deals with that opportunity with such intelligence
and insight, that he can alm ost always be depend
ed upon to achieve the best interests of both his
client and him self.

You Can Hypnotize Anyone

We are alm ost all of us susceptible to suggest
ions in varying degrees, and we a re all, therefore,
15

susceptible to the influences of hypnosis. Some

rea ct to suggestion v ery quickly. These persons,
o f cou rse, make our best hypnotic subjects. They
are usually the ones that are used by the stage
hypnotists, who delight in their extrem e suggest
ibility. In reading books on hypnotism, you w ill
find that som e authors claim to be able to hyp
notize only fifty percent of their subjects, while
others in sist that they are su ccessfu l with ninetyeight o r one hundred percent of their subjects.
Why do these authorities vary so much in the
percentages of their s u c ce s se s ? The answer
doubtless is to be found in the nature of the
techniques used, o r in the p ractitioners them
selv es, who may not be activating their medium
in the m ost efficient manner.
What are we to do with those who are seem
ingly incapable of being hypnotized? A re these
persons to be dism issed as bad subjects, m erely
because they are unable to rela x o r unwilling to
cooperate in other ways with the hypnotist? These
"p r o b le m s u b je c ts" can also be made into good
su bjects through the application of the proper p ro
cedure. It has already been proposed that all
people are capable of being hypnotized, because
o f the tremendous power that suggestion wields
ov er our minds and therefore over our actions.
I can cite no better example of the suggestibility
o f the m asses than the amazing and effective
exploitation of this predisposition by those who
a re in the advertising field. By repeated suggest
ions, these people seem able to make us buy any
thing they wish to se ll us. Who of us has not pur
16

chased som e item , m erely because its virtues

have been extolled repeatedly to us?
The a d vertisers' technique must always be
kept in mind by the practitioner. The difficult
patient must, by repeated suggestion, be sold
on the idea that he can be hypnotized. If the
hypnotist ever makes the mistake of impatiently
telling an unresponsive subject that he is difficult
to hypnotize, the likelihood is that the technician
w ill never su cceed in achieving that end with the
subject. No matter how difficult it is to hypnotize
a subject, never discourage him, o r let him know
that you are annoyed with him. Always state
that the next tim e he will go into a deeper hyp
n osis, and point out that, in fact, no two people
rea ct to hypnosis in the sam e manner, since all
people ar e different. This is indeed a fact. A ll
obstacles to the achievement of hypnosis can be
overcom e with tact and p erseverance.
I like to think of hypnosis as a conditioned
response. It can be likened to the conditioning of
an animal who is taught to respond to a certain
signal. P a vlov's fam ous experim ents with dogs
com e to mind. Rem em ber how he taught canines
had been trained to expect food when this o c c u r
red ? The re fle x was so firm ly established that
the animals salivated at the appearance of light,
even when the expected food, which had p re
viously appeared sim ultaneously with the light,
was no longer forthcom ing. This is an extrem ely
fin e example of a conditioned response which,
once established, b ecom es automatic in its o p e r
ation. This p r o ce s s of stim ulus and response is
17

a lso incorporated into the hypnotic technique.

W ords have vital meaning to us because in them
lie s the power of suggestion. The w ords s le e p "
and rela x fo r instance, convey stim uli to the
mind that is totally different fro m that of the
w ord fir e fo r example, if it w ere shouted in a
crow ded theatre. It is, therefore, the task of the
hypnotist to em ploy such language and suggestion
as to make the induction of hypnosis m ore certain
by the use of only those w ords (stim uli) that
create such feelings of ease and passivity that
the response w ill inevitably be the deep state of
hypnosis that is desired by the practitioner.
The su ccess of this operation depends upon
the receptivity of the subject. It is my deep con
viction , based on my extensive experience, that
the subject must inevitably respond to the
suggestions of the w ord stim uli if they are used
skillfully by the practitioner. Suggestion is
powerful! W e h a v e a lls e e n itw o rk ! A person in a
crow d yawns and before long other people are
doing the sam e. This is a fine example of its
p ow er! T ry the follow ing experim ent on som eon e:
Suggest0 that you are going to dem onstrate the
pow er of suggestion. T ell the participant to think
about swallowing, and tell him as he does so he
w ill suddenly have an irresista b le urge to con
tract his throat, even should he attempt to re sis t
it. Now tell him that he w ill continue swallowing
as you speak to him about it. Interestingly enough
he w ill do just that! In fact, this w ill happen in
m ost instances, and is just another graphic exam
ple of the power of suggestion. Have you ever
18

noticed how just one person in a crow d who

c le a r s his throat, o r coughs, can start many
oth ers in the crow d doing the sam e thing? This
is extrem ely interesting, and further evidence
o f the power of example, and the dynam ics of
suggestion.
These few illustrations clea rly dem onstrate
how both w ords and acts can be used as stim uli
fo r the purpose of setting up the p roper respon ses
d esired by the hypnotist fo r the induction of
hypnosis. Using the p roper w ords, and making
the p roper suggestions, the technician can set
up certain stim ulu s-response cy cle s that w ill
insure hypnosis in m ost person s, because as the
p revious exam ples have indicated, m ost of us are
suggestible, and we do react to situations to which
we have becom e sensitized.
Not long ago, a prominent psychiatrist of L os
A ngeles sent a patient to me to be hypnotized. The
psychiatrist had attempted,on many occa sion s, to
induce hypnosis, but had repeatedly met with
failure. Since it was im perative that the patient
be made receptive to hypnosis fo r the needs of
further therapy, I was called in on the case, and
presented with the facts of the situation. It turned
out to be a puzzler, until I found the key to the
problem .
In speaking to this patient, I found that his
understanding of the scien ce of hypnotism was
above average, and that he had no conscious
fea r of being hypnotized, and yet, despite this,
he had still failed to respond favorably to the
techniques em ployed by the psychiatrist. Id e c id 19

ed firs t, that it would be n ecessa ry to explore his

areas of resistance before I could proceed any
| further, as my su cce s s, of necessity, depended on
this information.W e d iscussed his attitude to : ward
hypnosis;
the techniques which the
| psychiatrist had used, the effects that these had
had upon him; and his attitude toward him self as
j
a subject fo r hypnosis. He responded to my quest
ions favorably, and stated that he had felt som e of
the effects of the suggestion, however, to a very
lim ited degree. It was established that there had
been a good transference between the psych
ia trist and patient, which made it all the m ore
baffling. A s our discussion continued, I casually
leaned over my desk to empty the ash tray, as
it had been liberally used by the previous patient
and as I did so, I rem arked that he was w elcom e
to sm oke as he pleased. He countered by saying
that he did not sm oke at all, and furtherm ore,
that he did not like the sm ell of tobacco,
j
I knew that his d octor was an ardent lover of
! pipes, and prominently sported a tobacco con ainer on his desk, as w ell as a pipe stand. I had,
in fa ct, previously conditioned a patient fo r him in
his own office, and had observed him smoking
while I was working with the patient. This had
never in my experience hampered the condition
ing p ro ce s s before, and it hadn t on that occasion .
H ere, however, was a patient who was evidently
annoyed by smoking. This, perhaps, might be the
reason that the patient did not respond to the
d o cto r s direction, and I suggested this p o ss ib
ility. He thought about it very seriou sly fo r a
20

moment and then replied, I think you may be

right. This reply was just what I had been
waiting fo r . This smoking was undoubtedly the
area of resistance that had prevented his com
plete acceptance of hypnosis. Since he was a l
ready acquainted with the hypnotic technique,
due to his previous exposure, we went to work
im m ediately. I told him to lie down on the couch
and suggested that he would find him self in a
deep hypnotic state by the tim e the m etronom e
hypnotic record , which I was about to play, had
run its cou rse. I further suggested that he listen
intently to the beating of the m etronom e that he
would soon hear plainly in the background, and to
mentally repeat the w ord sleep with each beat. I
turned on the recording, and after five minutes,
took control of the subject, as the recording p r o
vided fo r this shift of hypnotic rapport fro m itself
to me. I tried the Eye T est , the A rm T est ,
the Hand T est , and a whole battery of other
tests. He had, indeed, entered into a deep som
nam bulistic state! I gave him the suggestion that
when his therapist at som e future session counted
to three, he would again enter into this sam e kind
o f deep hypnotic state. I also conditioned him fo r
self-h yp n osis. I called the physician, and told him
of my su ccess and the reason fo r it. He later r e
frained fro m smoking while working with this
patient. The patient made a reasonable quick
re co v ery , and is w ell integrated today. Am I
always this fortunate with my patients? Of course
not! What I am illustrating is m erely the im port
ance of checking all clues and circum stances that
21

may throw light on the causes of the patient s

resistan ce to hypnosis.
What is the lesson to be learned by this exp er
ien ce? To me it was a vindication of my con
tention that anybody can be hypnotized. It is just
a matter of finding the technique that w ill best
suit the subject. A reas of resistan ce can be in
vestigated, and eliminated, through patience and
ingenuity. It is not always done as easily as I
have just related. I have had many trying exper
ien ces in my ca reer as a p rofession al hypnotist,
but my knowledge and technical experience have
usually, however, won the day fo r me.
Some may argue that smoking was not really
the true reason that the psych iatrist s patient
was not going under hypnosis. It may be argued
that perhaps the subject felt that since I was a
p rofession al hypnotist, he was m ore likely to
experience the full hypnotic state with me,
rather than with his own doctor, who was not a
p rofession al hypnotist. Other as logical re a
sons might w ell be proposed fo r my su ccess with
th ispatien t. Let us assum e that my thesis of the
tobacco sm ell is an in co rre ct one, and that, in
reality, this was not at all the reason why the sub
je c t did not enter the hypnotic state with his
d octor. Perhaps, in my office, som e other factor
was responsible fo r my s u ccess. These con sid er
ations are really redundant, sin ce it was his com
plete acceptance of my opinion that it was the
d o c to r s smoking that caused the dislocation
which proved to be the d ecisiv e fa ctor in his ach
ieving the hypnotic state. The patient was convin
ced that this was his stumbling block, and fully
22

satisfied on this point, he becam e a splendid

subject. The suggestion had worked! That was the
only important fa ctor to be considered! That
chapter was closed , and it was a good chapter too
fo r su ccess had been achieved, in spite of our
previous difficulties.
It was the hypnosis that aided in his final
cu re. Without it, the patient might still be su ffer
ing from his malady. I must repeat again, that it
is the task of the hypnotist to influence the sub
je c t in any way he can to achieve hypnosis. Once
these influences are accepted, hypnosis is easily
achieved. The patient, having accepted my opin
ion about the d octor s smoking, saw no further
cause fo r resistan ce, and proceeded to fall into
the hypnotic state with the m ost encouraging
facility. My procedure had worked, and we w ere
both happy about. I had been vindicated, through
my ingenuity, and the patient was clo s e r to his
cure. I had made my statement about the smoke
so positively and confidently, that he had been
c a rrie d away by my conviction, and had accepted
it as fact. He had quickly accepted it because I
had made my suggestion so convincingly that he
was infected with it, as it w ere, and the whole sit
uation terminated, as we already know, very hap
p ily fo r both of us. It was the happy combination
of suggestion and the positive psychological
approach that had m astered what had been a
com plicated situation.
The follow ing technique is also an efficient
means of achieving hypnosis fo r those who have
proven to be difficult subjects. M ost everyone
23

knows that hypnosis can be induced by a swing

ing pendulum, o r by swinging a crysta l ball. F or
those o f you who have a pendulum clock , I would
suggest the follow ing procedu re: Request the
subject to sit a few feet away fro m the clock and
instruct him to concentrate on the pendulum. T ell
him , as he watches it sway fro m side to side, that
he is going to fa ll into a deep, hypnotic sleep. As
he does this, suggest to him that it is becom ing
extrem ely difficult fo r him to m ove his eyes fro m
side to side, and also that he has but one d esire
and that is to fa ll into a deep sleep. Then stop
fo r a few minutes, and d irect the su b ject's
attention to the problem of concentrating on the
p ro je ct of falling under the influence of hypnosis.
D irect him to repeat the w ord sleep to him self
with each swing of the pendulum which he has
been c lo se ly observing. You can be sure that
this procedure w ill tire the subject v ery quickly.
He w ill, thereafter, be ready fo r deep hypnosis
if he has been dealt with in the p roper manner.
This technique is also adm irably adaptable to
self-h yp n osis, and can be em ployed with the fu ll
est assurance that it w ill be m ost effective if
p rop erly executed.

Advanced Methods of Hypnotism

It is assum ed that the reader of this book has
had som e experience in the p ractice of hypnosis.
It is further taken fo r granted that he has read
som e b a sic book in the field of hypnosis, such as
m y fir s t book, Hypnotism R evealed, and is,
24

le re fo re , fam ilar with the various tests that a re

sed to determ ine the various depths o f the hypo tic state.
Every book on hypnosis cites the Eye T est
s being the m ost efficient means of determ ining
he d egree to which a subject is under the influince of hypnosis. This is the method used. A fter
he subject has closed his eyes, seem ingly hyplotized, he is challenged to open them. It is
suggested to the subject that at the count of three
le w ill find him self unable to open his eyes. Let
is say that you have done this, and that the sub
ject, in spite of this suggestion, has opened his
?yes. What is to be done? It is quite clea r that
the subject is not as yet under the influence of
hypnosis at all! How do we ca rry on fro m this
point? Do you petulantly inform the subject that
he isn 't cooperating, o r that he doesn 't appear
to be a good hypnotic subject? Not at all! Should
you do this, you would be handicapped to such a
d egree that it is likely you would never achieve
hypnosis with the subject. It is very lik ely that
som e of you have had such disconcerting ex p er
ien ces. To avoid such contingencies in the future,
I am going to propose an original technique by
which it can be determ ined whether o r not a subje c t is under hypnosis without even making him
aw are of the fact that he is being tested. This
method w ill avoid repetition of the above fru stra
tion, and actually make it p ossib le fo r the hyp
notist to be m ore su ccessfu l with a greater p e r
centage of his subjects, as this new procedure
w ill tend to keep confidence in him at the highest
25

p ossib le level. Should the response be unsatis

fa ctory , the Subject would not have been made at
a ll aware that he had been involved in a technique
that had tested the quality of his reaction to the
practition er s hypnotic suggestions. This is no
sm all advantage.
This new technique m erely provides that you
p roceed as you norm ally would with the subject.
Perhaps you have elected to use the F a scin
ation Method, o r perhaps you have directed him
to look at the Pow ers Hypnotic Crystal B all
a s you prepare to hypnotize him. A s you proceed ,
let us assum e that the strain of looking at the
crysta l ball has caused the subject s eyes to tire
and clo se . The cru cia l question now is Is the
subject under hypnosis, o r is he just restin g?
If he is given the d irect eye challenge, and he
opens his eyes, ground has been lost, fo r he may
fe e l that he is not a good subject, or w orse still,
that you are not a good hypnotist, since he had so
easily opened his eyes, when he had been ch all
enged to do so. It is at this point, as I have
already stated before, that many hypnotists lose
their subjects. It is this im passe that has been the
ruin of many a session . To avoid this, after the
subject has closed his eyes, continue to give him
suggestions that he is in a deep state of relaxation
and that as you (the hypnotist) com plete the count
of three, he, the subject, w ill fall deeper and
deeper into the ease of the hypnotic state. Begin
your procedure. Take a great deal of tim e before
you finally use the Eye T est. The subject s
eyes are now closed . He is in a state of com plete
26

im m obility and suspension. He is waiting to be

commanded and directed. The tim e fo r action has
arrived . At this point, give the subject the follow
ing suggestions: "W hen I com plete the count of
three you w ill open your eyes and look at the
crysta l ball. Then, after I give you that suggest
ion and when I com plete the count of three again
you w ill fa ll into a very deep, sound, hypnotic
s le e p . At another count of three, the subject is
d irected to open his eyes. Now count to three
again while giving him hypnotic suggestions. We
know that if he clo s e s his eyes now, that he is
under the com plete influence of hypnosis. He has
follow ed a ll instructions. He is in a state of com
plete suspension.
If the subject has done all as directed (that
is , if he has closed his eyes at the count of three)
and if the technician is still not certain of his
com plete control of his subject, he can still
further suggest to him that he (the subject) at
the count of three, w ill open his eyes again, and
then c lo se them when he hears the snap of the
hypnotist's fin gers, since it w ill now be a b sol
utely im possible fo r him to keep them open when
ever this act is p erform ed by the hypnotist. If
there is com plete com pliance and if the su bject's
fa ce indicates com plete passivity, hypnosis has
been achieved.
The p racticed hypnotist is able to determ ine a
great deal by the appearance of the patient's fa ce.
Others who are le s s experienced w ill also gain
this knowledge in due tim e. We are now ready to
apply all the n ecessa ry tests to check the quality
27

o f the trance.?We know now that they are sure to

w ork because the previous two tests have been
su ccessfu lly concluded.
You w ill note that in the suggestions em ployed
by my technique, just described , there was never
any mention made of the subject waking at the
count of three. He was m erely directed to open
his eyes. This was done to avoid any p ossible d is
turbance of the hypnotic state, which the m ere
opening of the eyes cannot affect since it is p o s s
ible to be in such a state with one s eyes wide
open. This also avoids shaking the subject s con
fiden ce by telling him to wake if he had not been
asleep in the fir s t place. This procedure tends,
th erefore, to maintain the high degree of rapport
n ecessa ry to su ccessfu l hypnosis. If, in the above
exam ple, the subject is under hypnosis, he w ill
o f cou rse, close his eyes im m ediately at the count
of three, or at the snap of the fin gers as directed.
The hypnotist would, therefore, have gained his
point under the m ost harmonious circum stances.
There is a question which I m sure must c e r t
ainly have com e to mind; it is: What if the sub
je c t does not c lo se his eyes after he has been
d irected to open and c lo se them at the count of
th ree? What is to be done in this circum stance?
This is cru cia l, indeed! If the subject did not
c lo s e his eyes, we know that he was not under
hypnosis. T h erefore, it b ecom es n ecessary to
p roceed , as is norm ally done, from the very
beginning using the sam e test again, after su c
ceeding in getting the subject to c lo se his eyes.
Should the test fail the fir s t tim e, o r even the
28

second, be certain not to show the least sign of

annoyance. A fter a pause, p roceed again in a
matter of fact and business like manner, so as to
insure the fullest cooperation on the part of the
subject. It is very important that the subject be
made to understand that the failure to c lo se his
eyes was not an actual test, but m erely a part of
the induction procedure. This w ill insure his
continued confidence in the abilities of the tech
nician. I have used this technique with the great
est su ccess. I am certain that you too w ill
recogn ize its benefits which are certain to result
in a larger percentage of inductions than you have
ever had before.
Let us pursue this matter a step further. Let
us suppose that in using this technique, we find
that we are not succeeding in getting our suggest
ions a c r o ss to our subjects. The subject clo se s
his eyes as usual, but the post-hypnotic suggest
ion to close them again doesn t seem to have the
d esired affect. In this circum stance, it w ill be
best to em ploy another method, o r to inform your
subject that the next tim e that you work with him,
he w ill, m ost surely, go into a deeper state. This
is fa r better than suffering a failure. The subject
fe e ls that the difficulty lies m erely in the fact he
has not as yet been adequately conditioned. This
conviction is a much healthier one than the r e c
ognition that the hypnosis had been a failure,
since he isn 't aware that he had been exposed to
hypnosis at all. The subject is dism issed as
though this w ere all a part of the regular p roced
u re, and is not at all aware of what has actually
29

taken place. This method should be used as fr e q

uently as p ossible. It is n ecessa ry to repeat again
that in the event of a failure, the subject must
never b ecom e aware of the fact that he has been
involved in a hypnotic relationship because this
w ill handicap the p ossibility of future su ccess.
M erely tell him that at the next attempt he w ill
b e m ore responsive. C losely follow the above
suggestions, and you w ill certainly be soon
reckoned among those who are cla ssified as
su ccessfu l p ractitioners in the field of hypnosis.
H ere is yet another excellent technique fo r the
induction of hypnosis. Use an ordinary string
about a foot in length and tie a fin ger ring to it.
T ie the other end of the string around the middle
fin g er of the su b ject's right o r left hand. It
d oesn 't matter which hand you select. T ell him
to extend the hand that has the ring on it stiffly
in fron t of him. The subject is then instructed to
c lo s e his eyes. A fter he has done so, he is told
that his arm is getting extrem ely heavy, and that
the ring on his hand is getting m ore and m ore
burdensom e and that as he low ers his arm , which
he is told is becom ing extrem ely heavy and tired,
he w ill fall into a deep, sound hypnotic sleep. We
a re aware that it is a physical im p ossibility fo r
him to continue keeping his arm in this position
fo r a very long tim e. Using this knowledge to our
advantage, we keep plying him with suggestions
that it is the ring that is getting heavier and
heavier, thus causing the feeling of heaviness in
his arm s. A s he begins to react to the repeated
suggestions, it w ill be observed that he is grad
30

ually low ering his arm . At this point, the original

suggestion (that his arm is becorking heavy) is
rein forced so that the subject is soon under the
com plete control of the hypnotist. This situation
req u ires the m ost rapid manipulation of the sub
je c t fo r the surest su ccess, and, if done expertly,
is certain to end in his hypnosis.
There is another variation of the use of the
ring and string in the induction of hypnosis. It is
the "C h ev reu l s Pendulum T est fo r hypnotic
susceptibility. The sam e string and ring are used
and in the sam e manner as before, with the string
s till attached to the ring. Suggestions are given to
the subject, who is invited to clo se his eyes. As
he holds the string, which the weight of the ring
has by now made a pendulum, he is im m ediately
given the suggestion that the ring is beginning to
revolv e in a c ir c le around to the right. Even
though he is then directed to hold the string
steadily, he has becom e the dupe of the p re
vious suggestion, and is making wider and wider
c ircu la r movements with his hand. The subject
is then invited to open his eyes. A s he dbes so,
he noticed his activity with su rprised amazernent
which soon turns to humor. Such responsiveness
denotes the good hypnotic subject. This test can
a lso be p erform ed with the eyes remaining open,
but I have found the form er method m ore efficient.
This test w ill be effective with nine out of ten
person s. Should it fail with the one out of the ten,
d ism iss it lightly by saying, Now let us go on
to the induction of hypnosis. If the subject
responds favorably, tell him that he is very
31

susceptible to suggestion and would make an

excellent hypnotic subject. This is the kind of
ingenuity and resou rcefu ln ess that is the shining
hallm ark of the s u c ce s s fu r practitioner in the
fie ld of hypnosis.
Eight Original Techniques fo r Inducing Deep
Hypnosis
This chapter is going to be devoted to a se rie s
o f original techniques used in the induction of
hypnosis. Like the other techniques, there w ill be
varied reactions fro m those who are exposed to
them. It has already been pointed out on a p re
vious page that people with good imaginations
enter into the hypnotic state with greater ease
than others, and that invariably, artists, m u sic
ians, w riters, and those in other creative field s,
having m ore fe rtile imaginations, prove to be the
b est hypnotic p rojects. There are cogent reasons
fo r this aptitude. The m ost prominent of which
is the fact that those in the creative w orld find
greater a ccessib ility
to their subconscious
minds by the very nature of their greater p e r
sonal sensitivity to internal and external im
p ression s. Inspiration com es to them through
their very p ores, as it w ere, because of their
highly attuned sensibilities and their abilities to
withdraw inwardly to the very depths of their
being.
I am intimately acquainted with a com poser
who con ceives his m ost inspirational themes
during the night while he is fast asleep. Upon
32

inspiration, he hurriedly awakens and puts his

conception on paper while the m elody still flow s
rich ly in his mind. He then goes back to his
slum ber, satisfied that he has given a beautiful
new m usical s c o r e to the w orld. Many of the
fam ous geniuses of the past have achieved in
spiration in the sam e manner. These artists
a re the m ost sensitive of all humans, being much
c lo s e r than others to the subconscious realities
o f their inner selves, which gives them a c c e ss
to thoughts, feelings and ideas that norm al people
do not even begin to comprehend. This sensibility
is both the reason fo r their genius and the su s
ceptibility to hypnosis. With such a high ord er of
imagination, they can easily p roject them selves
into a state of hypnosis when requested to do so.
When the hypnotist tells such a subject that he is
asleep, he quickly assum es that state without the
least difficulty. If he is told by the hypnotist that
he is to relax, or if it is suggested that his arm s
o r legs are getting tired, he responds automat
ically. These are, indeed, the finest subjects to
b e had!
Children also make excellent subjects. The
reasons fo r this becom e quickly apparent at the
slightest reflection on the m atter. Children,
being what they are, both sm all and young, are
accustom ed to being directed by grow n-ups.
Since they have been conditioned to accepting
or d e rs fro m grow n-ups, they accept hypnotic
suggestions m ore easily and without question.
This, added to the lively imaginations that
children naturally p o sse ss, make them superb
33

subjects. It is m ost important that the hypnotist

rem em ber these fa cts, since p roblem s com e to
children as w ell as to the m ore mature which
requ ire the attention of the hypnotist.
L ogically enough, sold iers make excellent
hypnotic subjects too due to the fact that they
have been conditioned to obeying ord e rs without
question. This is not to say, however, that the
method to be adopted with them w ill be sim ilar
to that which is used in the A rm y. No, of cou rse
not! The hypnotist is neither a fir s t sergeant,
nor a lieutenant, but a p rofession al man who
knows the art of human relationships too w ell to
p roceed in the sharp, m ilitary manner of the
arm y o ffice r. He w ill conduct him self with a
patient, who also may happen to be a sold ier, in
the sam e calm manner and with the sam e p r o
ficie n cy with which he treats all other patients
knowing that in this instance, however, he has
the advantage of having som eone before him who
is accustom ed to responding to command. In
these days of increased m ilitary expenditure and
a la rg er arm y, the hypnotist would do w ell to
ked|rthe sold ier or e x -s o ld ie r in mind as e x c e ll
ent subjects fo r hypnosis.
If all persons had the hypnotic predisposition
o f the three above mentioned categories of people;
that of artists, children, and so ld ie rs, we would
have a vast re s e r v o ir of excellent subjects fo r
our resea rch . The jo b of the hypnotist would then
b e extrem ely sim ple and the p roblem s would be
few and insignificant, but things don t work <fot
quite that way in this best of all p ossible w orlds,
34

s o we have to continue to e x e rcis e our ingenuity

as new p roblem s a ris e in our day by day p r e
occupations.
Let us p roceed to develop these d esirable
faculties in our new subjects if we can. If we are
su ccessfu l in achieving sufficient im provem ent,
both in the areas of the imagination and suggest
ibility, the induction of hypnosis w ill be fa c ilit
ated considerably. This im provem ent can be
achieved through the fir s t technique in the s e rie s
o f my original techniques of hypnosis. This is my
fir s t technique: Instruct your subject to c lo se
his eyes. T ell him to visualize him self in a
cla ssro o m which has a large blackboard in it.
A sk him if he has this image in his mind. Most
subjects w ill be able to visualize this picture
easily. T ell him to picture him self drawing a
la rg e c ir c le on that blackboard. Ask him if he
can see this picture in his mind s eye. He will
again probably say " y e s . Then suggest to him
that he draw a large " X in the middle of this
c ir c le . Check him once again to see if he is able
to retain this im age. If he has registered all .this
in his mind up to now, tell him to erase the com
plete im age fro m his con sciou sn ess. A sk him
again if he can visualize the blank c ir c le . If he
can do that, you know that you have created a
highly suggestible state in the subject. Now tell
the subject to print a large letter A in the
m iddle of the im aginary c ir c le where the " X
hij^jl been before. Find out once again if he sees
this letter in his mind s eye. If he does, tell him
to erase it also and to substitute the letter B
35

fo r it. C losely note the response. If he has visual

ized the letter " B , d irect him to continue the
sam e p ro ce s s with all the letters of the alphabet
and advise him that when he reaches the end of
the alphabet, he w ill be in a deep state of hyp
notic sleep. You continue to make suggestion's of
deep hypnotic sleep while he is going through the
alphabet in the above manner. This technique is
v ery effective. It can be varied by the substitut
ion of num bers fo r the originally suggested
letters, with the identical procedure repeated.
You can, in this instance, instruct the subject
that as he continues the p ro ce s s of increasing the
count, he w ill find him self going into deeper and
deeper hypnosis. This technique and its v a ri
ations are highly effective means of inducing deep
hypnosis. The novelty of the procedure, and the
fact that the subject has never been exposed to
this technique before, is bound to have the desired
hypnotic effect.
One of the main difficulties that the hypnotist
encounters in his p ractice is the inability of many
of his subjects to concentrate on his suggestions
long enough to a rriv e at the condition of hypno
s is . When they are questioned about this, they
usually protest that their minds wander, and that
they do not seem to be able to do anything about
it. This condition is really not unusual, and, in
fact, o ccu rs in a m ajority of instances. Unless
the technician makes it a point to prevent this
distraction, it is bound to occu r. The mind has
a tendency to wander, and unless controlled cafnnot serv e the ends of hypnosis! If the subject is
36

diverted, o r b ecom es involved in extraneous

m atters, he is much too distracted to go under
hypnosis. If his mind is com pletely controlled,
how ever, su ccessfu l hypnosis is assured. The
above blackboard technique is an excellent ex
am ple of this kind of com plete control of the
hypnotic subject by the hypnotist. This control
is so absolute that su ccessfu l hypnosis is a fo r e
gone conclusion. This control makes a c c e s s to
the subconscious mind an easier matter, since
resistan ce to suggestion has been m inim ized by
the hypnotist s continued direction of the sub
je c t 's mind andactions. The su b ject's unrelieved
concentration on the hypnotist's suggestions also
tends to give him the opportunity to p roject his
imagination so effectively as to strengthen and
rein force the technician's control over him, thus
making hypnosis much m ore certain. The black
board technique" is adm irably suited to achieve
all these advantages, and is, therefore, one of
the best techniques available fo r the subject who
finds it difficult to concentrate during the
hypnotic session.
This fine technique provides even fo r those
persons who have the low est attention span. My
own experience has proven to me conclusively
that they, too, can be made to concentrate
through the subtle clevern ess of this technique.
The following is another one of the s e rie s of
my original hypnotic techniques that I have
found so rem arkably effective in my own exp er
ience. The instrument used is a battery pen
light. You, no doubt, have seen d octors use
37

them in their p ra ctice. Invite the subject to sit

down com fortably. You then d irect the light fro m
the instrument into one of his eyes, while you
tell him to concentrate his gaze upon it, until
his eyes becom e heavy with fatigue. T ell him
that at the count of five, he w ill c lo s e his eyes
and fa ll into a deep hypnotic sleep. Start count
ing slow ly as you clo se ly note his reaction. If
he has not closed his eyes at the count of five,
encourage him to do at his own convenience.
Then, suggest to him that he w ill soon begin
noticing a red spot form ing inside the one eye
that has been exposed to the light. T ell him to
look fo r it and to inform you im m ediately upon
seeing it. This request is repeated several tim es
to him in a low, soothing v oice, until the subject
responds to the suggestion. Should he see the red
spot im m ediately, and should he say that he does,
te ll him that it w ill disappear in a flash and that
a purple spot w ill com e in its stead. T ell him now
that he is to inform you im m ediately upon o b s e rv
ing this purple spot. If he responds positively,
that i s to say, if he states that he now m ost
certainly sees the purple spot, you can be sure
that he can be induced to see m ost any co lo r
you ca re to suggest thereafter. It is clea r that
he is now in such a highly suggestible state,
that he can m ost certainly be brought to the
condition of hypnosis. To achieve this, however,
the subject must be brought along m ost c a r e
fully. A s the subject watches fo r the change fro m
one co lo r to another, the hypnotist suggests to
him that he (the subject) is very relaxed, and that
38

he w ill soon be in the hypnotic state. This sugges

tion is repeated softly again and again until it
takes effect. The eye test is then adm inistered to
check the depth of the hypnosis. This is not the
end, however, fo r to make certain that hypnosis
has indeed been achieved, further tests should be
conducted. If these checks are su ccessfu l, the
subject is definitely hypnotized. The technician
can employ whatever technical checks he fa vors
fo r this purpose.
This is an extrem ely interesting technique.
The hypnosis was brought about, as usual,
through psychological means fo r the subject was
not made aware at all of the fact that it was the
continued exposure of his eye to the light that
had caused his optic nerve to becom e so fatigued
that he really imagined he did seeth e spot in his
eye that had been suggested to him by the hypno
tist. One aspect of the procedure, the eye w ea rin ess, was clea rly physiological, but the su ggestions of the co lo r changes w ere psychological.
Both w ere responsible fo r the hypnotic state
attained. Subjects are usually very curious about
the procedural means em ployed in this technique.
It is the task of the technician to tell his sub
je ct only as much as is consistent with his
purposes to avoid difficulty. If, at a later date
he chooses to explain the procedure to the
subject, he may do so without qualms since his
ends have already been achieved. If, however,
a student at any time requests inform ation on
this, or any other technique, he should, fo r the
sake of the student s future efficien cy and
39

r
i
! understanding, be given all of the inform ation
| available on the subject.
[
My next technique in the s e r ie s is an e x c e ll
ent one also. In it, the subject is again com
pletely controlled by the hypnotist. This is how
it is done. An h ou r-glass is placed before the
subject, who is seated at a table. He is instruc
ted to watch the sand in the h ou r-glass as it
fa lls fro m the upper part of the glass to the
low er compartment. It is further suggested to
him that as he concentrates on the slow d rop
ping of the sand, he w ill eventually go into deep
sleep. To achieve this, however, he must con
tinue to turn the glass downside up after all
the sand has been emptied into the low er part
o f the receptacle fro m the upper. This contin
uous p ro ce s s goes on under a condition of the
greatest concentration on the movement of the
sand, accom panied by the soft suggestions of
the hypnotist that the subject s eyes are b ecom
ing very heavy and tired, due to the wearing
strain of watching the slow passage of the
falling sand fo r so long a period of tim e. A s he
continues to gaze at the slow m agic of the fa ll
ing grains of sand, the suggestions of the hyp
notist begin to take its inevitable effect. The
subject soon drops into a state of hypnotic
sleep under the expert guidance of the a cco m
plished hypnotist. This technique is one of my
m ost favored ones. It has a rom ance and beauty
that few other techniques achieve.
And now to another exciting technique fo r
the profession al or amateur hypnotist. Draw a
40

la rg e c ir c le of dots. The subject is asked to

se le ct a dot and to concentrate his gaze upon it,
and as he does so, he is to inhale and say the
w ord sleep out loud. He is then to exhale,
still looking at the dot, and then p roceed to say
the w ords deep sleep audibly. While this is
going on, and as the subject advances his eyes
fro m one dot to another, still repeating the sam e
form ula, he is steadily being exposed to the hyp
notic suggestions of the hypnotist who is soothing
him into a deep state of hypnosis. A s the subject,
how ever, goes fro m one dot to the next, he in
cr e a s e s the number of inhalations and exhal
ations and the repetition of the w ords sleep
and deep sleep in accordance with the r e
quirem ents of the technique, so that when he
gets to the tenth dot, fo r exam ple, he has to
inhale and exhale ten tim es and a lso repeat the
w ord sleep and deep sleep ten tim es in the
appropriate ord er as outlined above. By the tim e
the subject has gone through this p ro ce s s fo r an
extended period of tim e, he has becom e so fat
igued that he does not know where he is, as the
saying goes, and, therefore, becom es especially
vulnerable to the suggestions of the hypnotist,
who tells him that he is now to fall into a deep
hypnotic sleep, which he invariably does, since
the hypnotist had already prepared him fo r this
in advance by telling him that he would a rrive
at the hypnotic state during the latter stages
of his preoccupation with the d ots.
There is a variation of this technique,
which is also a very su ccessfu l one. The sub
41

je c t is handed a printed page that has nothing

but the w ord " s le e p running through it. As
he sounds the word, he u ses the sam e form ula
as in the previous method, increasing his bur
den as he goes fro m left to right, and fro m line
after line until he too becom es so subm issive
that he ends up in the sam e manner as the p r e
vious subject. The strength of this technique
lie s in the fact that the subject sees as w ell as
repeats the word sleep and is, therefore,
being assaulted through two of his senses
rather than just that of the hearing sense alone.
This perhaps tends to make the present tech
nique superior to that of the fo rm e r one, al
though they are both adm irably effective. This
technique has the added advantage of also being
useful in combating insomnia. The su fferer is
given the post-hypnotic suggestion that whenever
a card with the w ord sleep is handed to him,
he w ill im m ediately fall into a deep sleep. The
effects are sure and instantaneous.
And now we com e to another in the s e rie s of
m y original techniques and, in many ways, one
o f the m ost unusual of them all. This technique
is one with which my students and I have had the
greatest su ccess. Those of you who have read my
book Hypnotism Revealed w ill reca ll that I
recom m end my fir s t hypnotic re co rd with its
fine m usical background as an effective aid in the
induction of hypnosis. This m usical background
has now been replaced by a m etronom e, which is
even m ore effective than the m usic. The subject
who listens to the new re co rd is now directed t o
42

mentally repeat the word sleep with each beat

of the m etronom e. Because he now concentrates
on this task, the hypnotic suggestions m ore
quickly penetrate the subconscious, and the sub
je c t m ore readily fa lls into a deep hypnotic sleep.
B efore this o ccu rs , however, the subject is in
form ed during the playing o f the recording, that
there w ill be shift of authority fro m itself to the
next voice heard which is, of cou rse, that of the
hypnotist who then takes over by saying 'When
I com plete the count of three, you w ill fa ll into a
deeper sleep. O n e...tw o...th ree. The hypnotist
then makes various checks to establish the
condition of the subject.
The sam e side of the re cord can also be used
fo r the purpose of self-h yp n osis, and in the same
manner with the subject, however, instead of the
hypnotist, taking over authority at the approp
riate time. M ost persons enjoy the novelty of
listening to a hypnotic record . We in the field
know that it is a thoroughly tested and very s cie n
tific means of inducing the deep hypnotic state.
A ll that is required is that the suggestions of
the re co rd s be carried out faithfully. M ost sub
je c ts go under hypnosis quickly, m erely by listen
ing attentively to the record in g while giving
them selves p roper autosuggestions n ecessa ry to
achieve this end. By repeated exposure to the
record in g, the subject finally becom es so condit
ioned to the rhythm of the m etronom e that hyp
n osis invariably follow s. The m etronom e hypno
tic re co rd was prepared in response to the
num erous requests fo r a new self-hypnotic
record in g. In this new record in g, unlike the
43

original, the m usical background has been

replaced by the beat of an e le c tric m etronom e.
This creates a greater hypnotic effect than had
been h eretofore realized by the m usical s co re .
One side of the re co rd is devoted to the induction
o f self-h yp n osis; the other, to group or individual
hypnosis.
The record in g has been so designed as to
create the som nam bulistic state in the subject,
which is known to be the deepest hypnotic state
attainable. Twenty years of observation and r e
sea rch have gone into the perfection of this
achievem ent. It is useful fo r the implementation
of self, group and individual hypnosis, and is
unmatched in the com pleteness with which it
con trols the subject.
Technically, the method is based upon the
conditioned reflex theory. The continued beating
of the m etronom e, com bined with soothing voice
tones, relays suggestions to the listen er s ear
that bring on deep hypnotic states.
The recording is made on a 78 rpm unbreakable re co rd and can be played on any phonograph.
Should you want the record , send fo r the M etro
nom e Hypnotic R ecord. It s e lls fo r fiv e dollars
postpaid. When ordering, please rem it and make
checks payable to: Melvin P ow ers, Dept. E.,
8721 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, California 90069.
I sin cerely recom m end its efficien cy to all those
interested in the areas of both h etero- and s e lfhypnosis.
Any of these techniques is an effective instru
ment in the hands of the skilled hypnotist. The
44

ch oice in the last analysis depends largely upon

the s p e cific circum stance surrounding the hyp
notic situation, and upon the particular p erson
ality of the prospective subject. A resou rcefu l
hypnotist always trim s his sails to fit the
b r e e z e .
H ere, finally, is the last and somewhat m ost
unconventional of our hypnotic techniques. Hyp
notic suggestions are given to a subject while he
is norm ally asleep during the night. In my book,
Mental Pow er Through Sleep-Suggestion, I
d iscu ssed the function of the P re-S elector
C lock , which is a vital part of our s le e p -o m atic unit. You may reca ll, if you have read
this volum e, that it can be used both in conjunc
tion with either the phonograph o r tape r e co rd e r.
Its utility lie s in the fact that it w ill autom atic
ally turn these instruments on or off as fits the
needs of the u ser, and that it can be used during
the day or during the peaceful hours of the night
fo r the purpose of transmitting m essages of
therapeutic value to the person who may be
either at rest or fast asleep. The clock is set
before retiring, and continues fo r as long a tim e
as is needed to achieve its therapeutic purpose.
It then shuts itself off autom atically so that the
recipien t is not disturbed in the p ro ce s s . Inclu
ded in the sle e p -o -m a tic unit is the p illow speaker which is so placed under the pillow of
the subject so that only he gets the benefits of
the transmitted recording. This not only im p ro
ves the quality of the m essage, but also avoids
the possibility of anyone else being disturbed by
45

the transm ission. The im portance of the sie e p o -m a tic u n it" is to be found in the fact that it
can be used during the hours o f sleep when other
m edia are not available and also when the sub
con sciou s mind can be reached m ore directly,
sin ce the b a rrie rs of the con sciou s state rest
quiescently at this tim e and are, th erefore, no
obstruction to the subconscious mind.
The subconscious mind is the sou rce of our
p sy ch ic power. It is also the rep ository of all
the rep ressed em otions which cause so much
unhappiness to those who are assailed by them.
The s le e p -o -m a tic units, through the medium
o f record in gs, o r through tape transm itted su g-'
gestions, can reach the subconscious mind and
re le a se that psych ic energy that is so n ecessary
to the health and w elfare of all person s, and
through this liberation makes a new, vigorous
and dynamic personality out of a once retarded
and impotent individual. This is all accom plished
without the subject s conscious awareness of the
operation.
There are many persons who have emotional
p rdblem s, who have neither the tim e nor the
d esire to go to a therapist. These are the individ
uals who would be greatly advantaged by the
p ossession of one of these units because they
could use it in the privacy of their own hom es,
and at any tim e they choose without being exposed
to what may seem to them the em barrassing view
o f others. F or those who feel as these persons dfe^
this unit would be an invaluable p ossession ; nI
would be pleased to send my read ers any inform a
46

tion that may be d esired on these phenomenal

" s le e p -o -m a t ic units. My book Mental Pow er
Through Sleep-Suggestion, d escribed on the
back cov er of this book, contains a detailed a c
count of the use, p racticality, and utility of this
new technique.

New P rocedu res fo r Acquiring Self-H ypnosis

Let us now d iscu ss a variety of hypnosis that
is both extrem ely interesting and highly effective
and is com m only known as "S elf-H y p n osis. We
a ll know that self-h yp n osis com es about through
a self-induced hypnotic state, which reaches con
tact with the subconscious mind through the use
of self-su ggestion. The need to attain this state
is of utmost im portance since through it many
p sych ological problem s can be tapped and c o r
rected. The self-hypnotic induction of positive
suggestions to the subconscious mind washes
away the frustrations that are centered there,iand
rep la ces them with vibrant feelings of courage,
self-con fid en ce, and self-m a stery .
Self-hypnosis, through the medium of s e lfsuggestion, can relieve the pains and fea rs of
childbirth. It is useful in other areas such as
relievin g people of such unpleasant habits as
nail-biting and smoking, not to mention m ore
m ajor annoyances like insom nia and alcoholism
47

that, unfortunately, plague such a high percentage

of our population. Ideas are important, positive
ideas o r suggestions are m ore important, but
positive suggestions, tran sferred to the subcon
sciou s mind during the self hypnotic state are
m ost important since they can cure ills that
otherw ise could neither be solved nor even ap
proached without the subtle influences of s e lf
hypnosis.

This article is an excerpt fro m the book

' Hypnotism R evealed " by M elvin P ow ers. A
com plete copy may be obtained by sending$2.00
to Z ola r, 33 W. 60th St., New York, N.Y. 10023

Fortune Telling
by Cards
Being a practical explanation of the art of
fortune-telling by the use of ordinary play
ing cards; the whole fully and clearly set
forth, enabling every one to tell his own fo r
tune and that of others. The art of divination through reading
the human hand, and full description of the Book of Thot, the
Egyptian Oracle of Destiny.
PARTIAL CONTENTS
How we got our pack of cardsWhat the individual cards signify
The selected pack of thirty-two cardsThe signification of
Quartettes, Triplets and P airsWhat the cards can tell you
Your fortune in twenty-one cardsCombinationsAnother
thirty-two card methodFrench methodThe grand s t a r important QuestionsFortune-telling gamesHowfortunes are
toldThe master methodA combination of ninesYour heart s
d esireRhyming Fortune-tellerThe tarots, origin and history
Etteilla s method of using the tarots.
Illustrated. Offered for your Entertainment.
Nineteen Chapters, Bound in Paper, 122 pages..................$1.00

ZOLAR, DEPT. Z5
33 W . 60th St., New York 23, N . Y.
No C.O.D's please

SEX AND HYPNOSIS

Hypnosis and Frigidity
Her name was Elinor. She was twenty-seven,
m arried, and the mother of two children. A slim
attractive brunette, she was w ell d ressed, sty
lish , chic. She looked as though she had ev ery
thing she wanted out of life. But I could sense a
lingering unhappiness about her, an inner m isery
that contradicted the outward elegance and
attractiveness.
She had phoned me a few days ea rlier fo r an
appointment, telling me sim ply that she "h ad
trou bles and that a friend of hers had given
her my name. We had agreed on an appointment
date fo r her. Elinor had arrived fifteen minutes
late a sure sign of strong inner resistance to
the idea of undergoing psychotherapy.
I did not mention the fact that she was late.
It was her tim e that was being wasted, not mine,
and I knew that she would com e to see this
eventually. Right now she was concerned with
showing her defiance of me. By com ing late,
she was trying to let me know that even though

she wanted my help, she did not give a damn

about m e. It s a typical neurotic pattern, and as
such never arouses anger on the other side of
the desk o r couch.
A ll right, I said, when she was finally
settled down in my office . You told me over
the phone that you have trou b les.' Care to go
into a little greater detail now ?
She bit her low er lip. The m uscles of her
fa c e grew tense. W e ll, she said hesitantly,
The troubles I have ah you see w ell,
I have troubles in bed .
I studied her without commenting. In the
early minutes of a session , it 's a good idea to
let the patient do m ost of the talking. Elinor
fe ll silent after blurting out her few w ords, but
when it becam e apparent that I was going to make
no rem ark the silen ce becam e op p ressive to her,
and she went on, I t 's l i k e w e ll She blush
ed furiously. Oh, hell, I don t know why I fe e l so
reluctant to tell you. I'm fr ig id .
What do you mean, frig id ? I asked quietly.
That puzzled her. W ell, you know frigid ,
that's a ll!
I'd like to know what you mean by that.
Everyone knows what being frig id m eans,
she said, still fencing verbally with me.
I shook my head. In the w orld of n eurosis,
w ords can take on special meanings. Personal
slants that another human being wouldn't suspect.
I don t care what everyone knows being frig id
means. I want to know what you think it m eans.
50

"W e ll in bed with my husband when we

have intercou rse I don't fe e l anything when he
d oes it. Except som etim es a little pain. M ost
often it's just nothing. Like I m dead fro m the
hips down, o r something. No matter how hard I
try, I just don t respond. Now, isn t that what
everyone means by frig id ity ? she asked, a note
o f defiance creeping into her voice.
I agreed that it was. You mean you don t
experience a sexual org a sm ?
" I don t experience a damned thing.
Not even m ild feelings of p leasu re?
Nothing, she said.
How long have you been this w ay?
A ll my life, D octor, she said in a soft,
alm ost self-pitying voice.
You ve never had an org a sm ?
N o.
How do you know?
She shrugged. I've talked to my friends. I've
read novels. I know what it s supposed to be like.
A tingling, a rush of blood to the head. Excitement
that makes you cry out loud. Some people moan
and gasp. You can t tell me I m norm al, D octor.
I don t fe e l a thing. I can lie there and plan my
Saturday shopping lis t while T ed 's making love to
m e, that's how little I feel anything.
You say this dates fro m the start of your
m a rria ge?
She nodded. And b e fo r e .
With T ed?
With Ted and oth ers.
I looked m ildly interested. You ve had
51

relations with other men and had no response,

is that i t ? "
" Y e s . B arely audible.
Any other men since you've been m arried ?
A fe w ," she admitted. She looked up at me,
tea rs glistening in her eyes. I had to, don t you
s e e ? I had to find out if it was T ed 's fault or
whether it was me. So I had a couple of affairs.
With men who had reputations fo r being great
lo v e r s . And nothing happened. So it 's my
fault. T h ere's something wrong with me. I don't
function right sexually, that's all there is to it.
And I'm sick and tired of being this way. It s
hurting my m arriage, fo r one thing. Ted looks on
sleeping with me as a ch ore because I react so
negatively. I m suffering, D octor. I want you to
help m e.
A ll I can do is help you help y o u rs e lf, I
said.
Whatever it
is. I want to be norm al!
Whatever she
may have thought at that
moment of despair, Elinor was fa r fro m alone in
her plight. An astonishing number of Am erican
w ives suffer fro m frigid ity in one degree of an
other, ranging from physical pain during in ter
cou rse to m ere boredom with the act.
In many ca ses, their frigid ity stem s from
nothing m ore com plicated than husbandly incom
petence. If a woman needs ten o r fifteen minutes
o f energetic love-m aking to arouse her to a full
response, and her husband is capable of sustain
ing the act only three to five minutes, she vOill
not experience o r g a s m s but hardly through any
rea l fault of her own.
52

In E linor s case, however, the fact that she

had slept with a number of men, som e of them
exceptionally v irile, argued that her difficulties
stem m ed from som e inner blockage and not from
the deficient skills of her bed partners. I agreed,
th erefore, to take her on as a patient and try to
get to the core of this blockage. She cam e to see
me three tim es a week, and after the fir s t few
session s she stopped showing up late.
The fir s t step was fo r me to get to know
Elinor, and fo r her to com e to trust me. In
nearly all fo rm s of psychotherapy, what takes
place is a discussion, initiated by the patient
each tim e, centering around the patient s past
experiences, inner thoughts and conflicts, fan
tasy life, etc. The analyst listens and makes
suggestions fro m tim e to tim e, directing the
patient s mind toward deeper insights into his
o r her personality.
The goal is to uncover the hidden rep ression s
and fea rs that motivate the patient s neurotic
behavior. The patient must do the job of uncover
ing him self, or else the therapy is of no value.
The analyst serv es sim ply as a guide, o cca sion
ally interpreting and clarifying.
Essentially
analysis is a voyage of s e lf-d isco v e ry . At the
end of the voyage, the patient hopefully knows
him self a little better, is m ore aware of his
real relationship to the w orld around him. The
distorting shutters of neurosis are rem oved.
Since E linor s blockage was in the sexual
sphere, it would have seem ed natural that our
d iscu ssion s would revolve around her past sex
53

ual experiences. But she was reluctant to talk

about them. Instead, the fir s t half-dozen s e s
sions w ere spent in m onologues about her
husband, her children, her frien ds, her inter
ests in life in short, everything under the sun
except what went on inside Elinor during sexual
intercourse.
I recognized that she was inhibited in talking
about her sexual experiences to a man a
strange man at that and I made no attempt to
push the conversations into m ore d irect channels.
I knew she would get to the main subject when she
was ready. Meanwhile, I was learning a good deal
about Elinor that I could put to use later on in
therapy.
I learned, fo r instance, that her superficial
attitude toward her husband was a loving one.
" H e s a good man, a kind man, a very tolerant
m an, she said to me. " H e s extrem ely intel
ligent, a good father, he makes plenty of m oney.
But beneath this outer blandness and sca rce ly
realized by Elinor was a very real hatred fo r this
apparently good-natured and kind husband
of hers. She resented it bitterly that he enjoyed
sex so wholeheartedly, while she experienced
nothing. She resented the fact that he had a
M aster s degree, while she had only a Bachelor
of A rts. She envied him fo r being able to go off
into the w orld of business each day, while she was
condemned to housewifery. And so it went. These
attitudes of E linor s cam e out in fragm ents, a bit
here and a piece there, and she was always very
su rprised when I called them to her attention.
54

 But I love T e d ," she would protest indig

nantly.
Not r e a lly ," I said. Not the real you. The
rea l you is wildly jealous of him. You envy him
in a hundred ways. Have you ever wished you
w ere a man, E lin o r? "
Many t im e s ," she said. P articularly when I
was in my teens. I saw the boys living it up, you
know, drinking and driving ca rs and even having
som e sex. And here I was having to be a nice girl.
I was really envious. I wished I'd been born a
b o y ."
Have you wished that since you grew u p ? "
Not op en ly ," she said. But com e to think
o f it I guess it s been there deep down in s id e ."
It was the beginning of a d iscov ery fo r Elinor.
In the session s that follow ed, she elaborated on
it. It seem ed clear to her now, she told me, that
she thought the universe had done her a dirty
trick by making her fem ale. She wanted to be a
man, that was her trouble. And since she was
condemned to femininity, she was unconsciously
out to get even " with every man she cam e in
contact with.
It s as though I m unconsciously trying to
castrate every man I sleep with, she told me.
To get revenge on him fo r being a man. I don t
respond to his love-m aking. I hold back and that
strik es at his manhood. I m telling him that he s
no good, that he isn t v irile enough fo r me, that
he can t satisfy me. By refusing to let him give
me" pleasure, I m wounding his p rid e .
55

I was pleased with the sharpness of E lin or's

insight. She had arrived at the conclusion with
out prompting, and it was an important point to
understand. Of cou rse, she recognized that by
feeding her revenge instincts this way, she was
at the sam e tim e depriving h erself of the much
greater joy of a com patible m arriage. N eurosis
always works this way, obtaining spiteful sa tis
faction at the cost of meaningful and rewarding
satisfaction.
Elinor had com e a long way in a short while.
She had reached a prelim inary understanding of
what kind of p ro ce s s was involved in her frig id
ity. But the hard part still lay ahead fo r us. We
had to find out where all this had started how
she had gotten to be this way and how we
could get her out of the trap she was caught in.
H ere we bogged down. Elinor was p erfectly
w illing to use her agile mind in self-a n a ly sis,
and to com e up with interesting and often b r il
liant theories to explain why she reacted to men
as she did. But when it cam e to the point of b e
ing sp ecific about her past experiences, of put
ting her m em ories out in the open, she rebelled,
she could not rem em ber many vital facts.
We w ere stalled at this point fo r many s e s
sions. I tried to get Elinor to tell me about her
p revious sex experiences, to tell me about her
childhood, her fam ily, her frien ds. But the in
form ation she gave me was sketchy and incom
plete. I managed to p iece together a biography of
her, all the same.
56

I knew, fo r instance, that she was the young

est of three children, all g ir ls , and that her
parents had both been hoping eagerly fo r a son.
T heir p oorly concealed disappointment at having
yet another daughter was an obvious explanation
fo r som e of Elinor s attitudes toward herself.
She knew that she had fa ile d " her parents in
som e way by not being a boy, and that awareness
burned deep within her.
I learned that she had had an extrem ely strict
upbringing, stern and old-fashioned. She was
totally unable to rem em ber any d iscussion s of
the fa cts of life in her house, except fo r
warnings to each of the siste rs in turn as they
entered adolescence that they m ustn't let boys
touch them o r see their b o d ie s . This prudish,
puritanical parental attitude was a second link
in the chain of frigid ity that bound Elinor so
tightly.
She told me that she had her fir s t unaccom
panied dates with boys when she was fifteen,and
that she fir s t had sexual intercourse at the age
o f seventeen. But she was unable o r unwilling to
rem em ber any details of that fir s t sexual act.
His name was J e r r y , she told me, and he
had brown hair. But that s all I can rem em b er.
I looked surprised. It was only ten years
ago, Elinor. And surely a g irl with a strict up
bringing would rem em ber a clim actic event like
losing her virgin ity.
I can t rem em ber a thing.
Try. Maybe you can rem em ber where it
happened. In the back seat of a ca r ? On a couch?
57

At sum m er ca m p ?"
" I m sorry . P m a com plete blank on the whole
s u b je c t."
I let the point go fo r the tim e being. I couldn't
fo r c e her to tell me and quite p ossibly she was
telling the truth. The incident might have been so
repellent to her that she had walled it up in her
m em ory, out of reach of her conscious mind.
We went on. She told me of other sex exper
ien ces at college. The pattern was sim ila r each
tim e. She would date a boy, causing him to fall
in love with her, and after a few months of in
tensive courting she would let him sleep with her.
Invariably, the act would bring her no pleasure,
only guilt and se lf-re p ro a ch , and she would r e
fu se any further date with the boy after that.
How many tim es did you do t h is ? " I asked.
Oh, maybe a dozen. Three or four tim es a
year, all through c o lle g e ."
You slept with a dozen different boys and
didn t enjoy any of it, rig h t?"
That s rig h t."
And each tim e you gave the boy a good stiff
jolt in the ego. Just when he was really wild about
you, you broke off with him. Always punishing the
m ale sex, E lin o r."
I guess s o ," she admitted with a faint sm ile.
A fter leaving college she had worked fo r a
publishing house fo r about a year, having a few
m ore of her aim less, drifting, and unsatisfactory
love affairs. She began to feel that the real reason
fo r her frigidity was the ille g a l" nature of the
sex acts, and she cherished the hope that once
58

she got m arried she would begin to respond

sexually.
She met Ted just after her twenty-second
birthday,and six months later they w ere m arried.
F rom what I gathered in E linor s conversation
which I confirm ed when he cam e to my o ffice at
m y request Ted was a fine man in every way.
Three yea rs old er than Elinor, he was already
w ell established in business, had a wide c ir c le
o f frien ds, was attractive and m asculine, was
tolerant and understanding in short, the best
o f all p ossible ch oices as a husband fo r any g irl.
Yet E linor s frigidity rem ained.
F or Ted it was the fir s t tim e in his life that
he had run up against a totally unresponsive
woman, and the fact that he had m arried her a
particularly bitter blow. They had had sexual
relations half a dozen tim es b efore their m a rri
age, always without s u ccess, but both Ted and
Elinor had hoped things would get better once
they w ere installed in their own home. This was
a delusionary hope. Elinor went fro m one such
hope to another.
,
A fter I have a child, maybe I ll begin to en
joy s e x , she told h erself. But she had a child,
and then another, without any change in the situ
ation. Maybe I ought to take a lo v e r , she
decided in the third year of her m arriage. Just
to see if that ll help m e.
She had four extram arital affa irs in the space
o f two yea rs, but they only aggravated her guilt
feelin gs. She saw a d octor who gave her a com
plete check-up and found no physical reason why
59

she should be frig id .

Finally, when it appeared that their m arriage
was tottering because of Ted s dissatisfaction
with her as a lov er, she cam e to me. " I t was
getting w orse and w o rs e , she said. Ted would
want to make love, and I d try to discourage him
because I knew it was no use, and he d get angry
and som etim es in sist and w e d fight and oh, it
was a m e s s .
How has it been since you started therapy?
Better. At least now I fe e l som e hope of
getting out of this m ess, so I put up w illingly with
whatever he wants to do. Not that I enjoy it, but
at least I don t have tantrums and refuse him .
You still don't fe e l anything, though?
N o, she said sadly, her smooth, lovely
features contrite.
Therapy had now been under way fo r som e
seven months and we w ere at a standstill. The
continued session s w ere becom ing a severe drain
on E linor s finances and she was discouraged by
the apparent failure to break through her wall of
frigid ity. In many of our conversations we had
reached som e understanding of the nature of her
problem but not of the cause, nor of the cure.
It was at this point that I suggested using hyp
n osis. Elinor was frankly startled and a bit d is
turbed. She didn't know much about hypnosis but
it seem ed like so much spiritualism to her.
'What happens if hypnosis doesn 't w ork D o cto r?
she asked sa rca stica lly. D o w e try a O u ija b o a rd
after that?
60

I explained something of the nature of hypno

s is to her and how I thought it could help her.
W e re unable to get at any of your experiences
E linor. Y ou've got the really painful ones walled
away out of view, where you think they can t hurt
you. But they can hurt you. They hurt you every
day. What we ve got to do is excavate dig down
there and open that wall, let som e light in. And I
think the only way we can get there is through
hypnosis, Elinor. Otherwise, we can sit here fo r
ten years having interesting little chats and never
scratching the surface of your personality.
She was doubtful and hesitant, but she agreed
it was worth a try. Unfortunately, the very fa cto rs
that made orthodox analysis difficult interfered
with su ccessfu l hypnosis. Elinor was no m ore
able to let h erself go in my p resen ce than she
was with any other man. She seem ed to have the
feelin g that I would take advantage of her when
she was in the hypnotic state.
We went through a number of fru itless s e s
sions that way. I would em ploy every hypnotic
technique I knew, and she would shake her head
and say, It s no use, D octor. I m just not going
u nder.
Finally one day I succeeded in getting her to
enter a light trance. Making sure she was aware
o f everything that was going on, I had her p erform
a few sim ple hypnotic tr ick s stiffening her
arm and then being unable to unbend it and b e
fo r e I brought her out of hypnosis I instilled in
her posthypnotic commands to trust me, to sub
m it m ore w illingly to hypnosis the next tim e and
61

to have genuine hope in our endeavor.

W ell? I asked when she was out o f the
trance. "T h a t wasn t so bad, was it?
You know, she said, I haven t felt so
relaxed in my life, It s such a re lie f to let
go just to lie back and let som eone else
guide me I can t wait to try it again.
F rom that point on, our difficulties w ere
greatly lessened. At each session , we would
talk fo r ten o r fifteen minutes, establishing a
rapport, and then I would induce a state of hyp
n osis. It becam e ea sier fo r Elinor to attain
deep trances as her confidence in me and in
h erself grew. Eventually, after I had led her
through really deep trances, and ca rried out
with her a s e rie s of hypnotic effects designed
to strengthen my control, I decided that we w ere
ready to begin our hypnotherapy.
The phenomenon I was counting on is known
as hyperm nesia. H ypermnesia sim ply means
heightened m em ory reca ll. Under hypnosis one
can frequently rem em ber things that are in
a c c e s s ib le to the waking mind. Through a p r o c
e s s of reg ression that is, of taking Elinor
back through her m em ories I hoped to un
co v e r the cru cia l fa ctors that had so warped
h er capacity to enjoy sexual relations.
When she was in deep trance I told her,
I m now going to bring you back, year by year
o v e r the whole span of your life . A s we go back
ward, you ll have easy r e ca ll of everything that
has ever happened to you, and you ll tell me
about your experiences clea rly and in detail,
without any em barrassm ent o r inhibition. You ll
62

experience them vividly and with the sam e em ot

ion that originally accom panied them .
By way of warming up, I took Elinor back to
the fir s t day she had entered my office, and she
d escrib ed faithfully to me her tension and em bar
rassm ent, even quoting accurately many of our
w ords. I took her further and further back in
easy stages, back to her love affa irs, back to
her wedding night, back to the day she met Ted.
Although she d escribed everything in uninhibited
detail, we w ere uncovering little of any thera
peutic value that we did not already know. How
ever, I was in no hurry to plunge back into tim e.
In several session s, I reg ressed Elinor through
her colleg e days.
Now you are seventeen yea rs old , I told
her. You have a date with a boy named Jerry.
T ell me about J erry. T ell me how you fe e l to
ward him. You've got this date with him tonight.
What are you thinking o f?
She becam e very pale and tense. Eyes tight
shut, she said, I'm all nervous. He s the cap
tain of the basketball team at hour high school.
I don't know how he happened to notice me, but
he did, and he asked me out fo r tonight. A ll my
g ir l frien ds are congratulating me. T h ey're all
dying to date him. H e's six feet three and the
handsom est boy in the sch ool. I hope I don t
m ess things up tonight. I don t want to disappoint
him. I want him to like me. I want him to keep
on asking me out. F or the fir s t tim e in my life
I fe e l like I m som ebody important. Important
enough to rate a date with the captain of the
63

basketball team !
It s nighttime now, I said gently. The
d oorb ell rings. J e rry s here. T ell me about it.
He s downstairs. I can see him through the
window. He s got his father s car. It s parked in
fron t of our house. It s big and shiny, and he s
tall and handsome. He rings the bell. I m all
keyed up. This is my big night.
Where is he taking you?
To a dance at the high sch ool gym. E very
body se e s us there. They re all envying me. I m
a little w orried . Am I dancing w ell enough? He s
such a good dancer. Why did he ask me out?
What is there that s special about m e?
Now the dance is o v e r , I said. You re
leaving with him. Where do you go? What hap
p en s?
I we She hesitated. We get into his
ca r and drive away. I think he staking me home.
But
Go on. Don t hold anything back .
W e re parking. At the edge of town. He
grin s at me. I know what he wants. He wants to
neck a little. I ve done that with other boys but
n e v e r on the fir s t day. Only J e rry is different.
I want him to like me. I want him to ask me out
again. I don t want him to think I m cold o r stuffy
o r anything like that. So we park. It s dark. He
puts his arm around me. Now now he s touch
ing the front of my blouse. I giggle. I'm nervous.
I ve never let a boy touch me there b e fo r e .
She was trem bling now, visibly on the edge of
panic. Go on , I urged. T ell me what he s
64

doing to you.
H e's unbuttoning my blouse. Putting his
hands inside. I say, 'N o , J erry, don t do that.
But he just sm iles. He unhooks my bra. I try to
push his hands away but he says, 'What s the
m atter, you a fra id y -c a t? So I let him. He s got
his hands on my breasts now. Cupping them.
Playing with the nipples. The nipples are getting
very stiff. They hurt. I fe e l alm ost giddy. This is
what my parents warned me against. Never let a
boy touch you. N ever let a boy see you naked.
And he s touching me under my blouse. Holding
my breasts.
I keep saying 'No, no, J erry , it isn t right.
And he tells me how pretty my breasts are. I m
w ell developed. He says I could pose fo r pin-up
pictu res. He s got my blouse all the way open
now. And and now he s trying to put his hand
under my d re ss. I say, 'N o, J erry , nothing below
the b elt. And he laughs. He s so confident he ll
get everything he wants out of me. He he I
can t tell you
You must. T ell me everything.
His hands are inside my panties now. He s
touching me all over. I try to pull his hands
away. He says, 'R elax, it s fun. That s why God
made two different sexes. Just relax and I ll
show you a good tim e, kiddo. Now now he s
got my panties half off. F m fightinghim now . I m
panicky. I try to push him away. My panties rip.
W e re squirm ing around in the car. He s hardly
got room , he s so tall. And strong. He s on top
of me, now. He s got my legs apart, and No,
65

J erry , don t do that! I m afraid! I ve never I m

a virgin J erry, no you re hurting me
| J erry ! J e r r y !
!
I saw a pantomimed rape re-en acted before
m y eyes. Twisting and writhing on the couch,
E lin or s legs w ere apart as though a man had
fo r c e d his way between them. She clawed the
a ir, scream ing with the savage pain of her fir s t
penetration. It was a shocking thing to watch but
I let it continue to its grim conclusion.
Finally, weeping and exhausted, she lay back.
" H e s driving me home now. He keeps ap ologiz
ing, telling me I shouldn t have fought. I think
he s sca red I'm going to turn him in to the p ol
ice . But I m not. I couldn t tell anybody about
what happened, not even the p olice. Ife e l soiled,
filthy, I hurt inside
I let her talk fo r a few m oments. Then in
structing her to rem em ber everything she had
experienced under hypnosis, I ord ered her to
return to the present and to awaken feeling
calm and rational.
She opened her eyes.
My G od, she said.
You didn t rem em ber any of that? Iasked.
Not con sciou sly. It was all too horrible
to think of. I wouldn t let m yself think of it. I
buried it in my m ind.
How did you think you had lost your v ir
ginity?
I don t know, she said. I just blotted out
the rape com pletely.
66

We had recov ered a valuable p iece of data.

C ertainly any g irl whose sexual life begins with
a violent rape is going to suffer severe after
effects. Once we had brought the rape back into
her conscious m em ory, Elinor was able to see
part of her hatred and m istrust of the male sex
in its true light. She had grown to believe that
you could never relax with a man, because men
w ere rapists. Men seized pleasure. They never
gave it.
W e w ere still not at the end of our quest,
how ever. I continued to probe backward through
E lin or s m em ories. We cam e a c r o ss scattered
incidents that helped to rein force the situation
and which she had thrust out of her mind.
At the age of thirteen, fo r instance, she had
been playing near her home when a man in his
thirties, a degenerate, appeared and made ob
scen e overtures to her. He opened his pants
and exposed his genitals to her. The sight of
his erect penis was terrifyin g to her; she fled,
scream ing, and the episode left s ca rs on her
young and still unform ed personality.
Further back we went, uncovering vital
m aterial at every step of the way. Q uarrels
between her parents that led her to believe her
father was a m onster of lust; lectures fro m her
m other on watching out fo r strange men (later
confirm ed by the exhibitionist incident); angry
outbursts by her father, who told her openly
that he wished she had been a son instead of a
daughter.
But the m ost powerful m aterial cam e when
we reached her fifth year. Several tim es, we
67

tried to enter the m em ory r e s e r v e of that year,

and each tim e we failed. Elinor insisted that she
sim ply rem em bered nothing fro m such an early
age. But I know fro m other ca ses that hypnotic
hyperm nesia can take a patient back to babyhood;
E linor was sim ply walling up another incident tn
her fifth year.
We approached it again and again. " T h e r e 's
nothing to be afraid o f , " I told her. " L e t 's go
back. You re seven years old. Six. Five. Don't
hold back. Something happened when you w ere
fiv e that had a strong effect on your attitude
toward boys. What was it? T ell me. I can help
you believe me. P lease tell m e. If you tell me
I can help y o u ."
She m oved her lip s w ord lessly. And then she
began to speak, slow ly, haltingly.
" I m five years old. A little g irl. My
s is te r s are at sch ool. I only go to kindergarten
in the m ornings. Now it s afternoon. I fe e l like
going fo r a walk. I walk a block, two block s,
three. I'v e never been this fa r fro m home before.
I m lost. I don t know where I am.
It s tim e fo r lunch. I m hungry and scared.
I want to go home. Some boys are com ing. Big
boy s, maybe eight o r nine yea rs old. I go up to
them. I ask them if they know where I live. They
laugh at me. They r e home fo r their lunch hour.
It s a nice spring day. I m wearing a short d ress
that doesn t even com e to my knees. A ll of a
sudden the boys surround me. There must be
seven or eight of them. Tw ice my size, all of
68

them.. They re dragging me into a back yard,

into a garage. I start to cry . I'm terrified .
L e t's undress h er,' one of the boys yells.
I'm crying at the top of my lungs now, but nobody
can hear me. The boys a re laughing. The garage
d oor is closed . It's cold in there. They crow d
around me. Someone pulls my d re ss up. T h ey're
holding my arm s. They pick my feet up and pull
m y panties off. I kick, I try to get lo o se , but
th ey're too strong. Now they're unbuttoning my
d re ss . T hey're taking it off me. They rip it a
little and they get grease on it. A ll I'm wearing
is sock s, now. I'm stark naked otherw ise.
The boys crow d around me. They've never
seen a naked g irl before. They look at me closely .
Their eyes are wide. One of the brave ones
touched me between the legs. His hand is dirty.
I'm hysterical, n ow .''
She was having difficulty getting the w ords
out, I saw. She was whimpering with fea r. The
garage flo o r is cold against my backside. T h ey're
touching me getting me dirty I begin to
urinate, I'm so sca red they laugh w ildly "
Elinor trem bled. Suddenly the garage door
opens and a woman com es in. The boys run away.
I'm sitting there naked, dirty, crying. The woman
com es over to me. She shouts at me, ca lls me
nam es. I don't understand the nam es. I cry louder.
She slaps me. Then she throws my clothes at me.
' I get dressed.
Someone takes me home, tells the story to
m y mother. Everyone seem s to think I did it
deliberately that I wanted the boys to strip

E lin or s account of the incident ended there,

and once again I brought her back to the present.
This tim e she was weak and w hite-faced at the
relivin g of what had been an extraordinarily
terrifyin g experience.
It was nightm arish, she said. P ractically
a rape, only the boys w ere all too young.
And again, you jam m ed the incident into
the back of your mind where it preyed on
you fo r m ore than twenty y e a r s .
At our next session , we continued back into
E lin or s childhood, but nothing of further unus
ual interest turned up. H owever, I was not
disappointed. We had already uncovered ample
m aterial to illuminate E linor s condition.
She could see fo r h erself now how her pat
tern of neurosis had developed. O riginally an
unwanted daughter, she was given to understand
that she should have been male setting off
con flicts in her fro m the onset. She cam e to
envy the male sex fo r its strength, its freedom ,
its m aleness. At the sam e tim e she began to
hate men, in the person of her father, who was
an unpleasant and tyrannical individual.
These early and still hazy attitudes received
a powerful reinforcem ent at the age of five, when
the stripping episode took place. F or the firs t
tim e, she had d irect evidence of the cruelty,
bestiality, and sensuality of the other sex.
The hellish experience of being exposed in com
plete nudity to a group of jeering, staring boys
left a mark on her, while the associated m em
o r ie s of coldness, urination, grease, and dirty
hands touching her genitals a ll form ed part of
70

her pattern o f repugnance toward intimate con

tact with boys.
A fter eight yea rs of m inor incidents that did
nothing to counteract this pattern of belief, the
next m ajor one took place the exposure incid
ent, with a view of the male sexual organ in
adult readiness.
F or a g irl without broth ers, whose father is
prudish and withdrawn, and whose contacts with
b oys have been lim ited, the sight of the nude
m ale organ can be a horrifying experience. And
the special circum stances under which this r e v
elation was made only compounded the dreadful
effect of the incident. Another step toward
frig id ity had been taken.
Then this already troubled g irl entered adol
escen ce with no guidance fro m her parents
except a s e rie s of stern prohibitions. And, as
though she did not already have a com plicated
enough background, her fir s t sexual encounter
turned out to be a rape. The pattern was com plete.
S even teen -year-old Elinor was com pletely shap
ed now.
The s e r ie s of events had brought her to an
unshakable conviction that men w ere evil, d is
gusting, loathsom e creatures. But she also hated
h erself, fo r not being a man as her parents
had wanted her to be. The double hatred led to
frigid ity. By depriving h erself of sexual fu l
fillm ent, she was punishing h erself fo r being a
woman; by depriving her sex partners of a
chance to give her sexual gratification, she was
in effect dem olishing their m asculinity.
71

"A n d by this tim e, of cou rse, I couldn t help

m y se lf, Elinor summed up. " T h e pattern was
fixed. I couldn t break out of it even if I wanted
to. And I did want to .
"D id you?
I asked. "Y ou fought me every
step of the way. You cam e late to your fir s t
session . You refused to tell me anything really
relevant to your troubles. It all had to be drag
ged out of you, E lin or.
"B u t at least it s finally in the open, she
said. "B u t am I cured now?
" Y o u re alm ost th ere, I said.
If I had discharged Elinor that day and sent
her home to her husband, the chances are she
would not have experienced a sexual orgasm ,
sim ply because the m ere intensity of her wish to
do so would have made her tense and unable to
reach the goal she so badly desired . So it was
n ecessa ry to ca rry the therapy on a little
further.
I placed Elinor in a state of trance and told
her, "T onight, when you make love to your
husband, you 'll experience a feeling of warmth
and pleasure that you ve never known before.
And it ll be the sam e way every tim e you make
lo v e fo r the next two w eeks.
Two days later, Elinor phoned me to tell me
that the posthypnotic command had worked. F or
the fir s t tim e, she had participated in sex fully
and had experienced genuine pleasure.
The reader may wonder, at this point, why I
did not sim ply give Elinor this posthypnotic
72

command at the outset, instead o f bothering to

dredge ancient m em ories out of her. The answer
of cou rse is that such a posthypnotic suggestion
would have been a fraudulent way of handling
E lin o r's problem . It s sim p ler to put a fre sh
coat of paint on a crum bling wall than to r e
build the wall com pletely but the sh ort-term
appearance of newness w ill not keep that wall
fro m collapsing. So, too, I could have given
Elinor the appearance of m arital su cce s s, but
the real substance would not have been there,
and in tim e the hollow ness of the situation
would have worked real damage on her.
Instead, it was not until the end of the therapy
that I used posthypnotic suggestion. The following
week I saw Elinor again and she seem ed to be a
transform ed person, aglow with new life and
vitality.
She reported enthusiastically on her p rog
r e s s . Each tim e we ve made love, it 's been a
little m ore exciting than the last. I fe e l really
alive fo r the fir s t tim e. Now that I ve got all
those old nightmares out of my system , I can
start being happy.
I hypnotized Elinor again and renewed the
tw o-w eek posthypnotic command that she should
enjoy sexual intercourse. Since the festering
ce ssp o o l of old te r ro r s had been drained from
her mind, there w ere no fa ctors preventing the
su ccessfu l carryin g-ou t of this posthypnotic
command.
. I saw Elinor every two weeks fo r the next two
months, placing her in a trance each tim e. Finally
73

one day nearly a year after she had fir s t com e

to m e, she said, You know, d octor, life is bet
ter, but there s still one thing troubling m e.
What s that? I said.
I still have to keep com ing back here fo r
these tw o-w eek tra n ces, she said. It makes
me fe e l that the whole business is w ell, a l
m ost a kind of trick ery. I m not really cured,
am I, as long as I have to keep com ing back
this way? When am I going to be able to step
out on my own,
without needing m ore
hypn osis?
This was the moment I had been waiting for.
I sm iled warm ly, unable to conceal my pleasure.
I m very glad you asked that question,
E linor. I ve been wondering how long it would be
b e fo re you'd rebel at hypnotized happiness.
I was afraid I'd spoil things if I spoke up
b efore now , she said. But I just had to ask
you how long w ill it be b efore I can stop
com ing h e re ?
I chuckled. I have a con fession to m ake,
I said. You ve been com ing her fo r m edicine
and I ve only been giving you sugar pills lately.
I don t understand.
What I m ean, I said, is that the last three
tim es you ve been here I haven t given you any
posthypnotic commands whatever. I put you in a
trance, I wake you up, and that s all. You ve
been out on your own fo r six weeks now.
Honestly, you have.
You re joking!
Happily, I m not. What you ve accom plished
74

in the past s ix weeks has been without the bene

fit of any hypnosis at a ll.
"B u t in that case why do I have to keep
com ing back h ere?
"Y o u d on 't, I said. "N ot any m ore. You re
cured, E lin or.
I never saw her again. But each year, on the
anniversary of the day she fir s t cam e into my
o ffic e pale and tense and fifteen minutes late,
I get a card fro m her, just a little note telling
m e how sm oothly everything is going. I value
those annual cards trem endously. In moments
of fatigue, moments of depression, moments
when I fe e l that a particular case is never g o ing to reach a satisfactory conclusion, I see
hypnotherapy helped Elinor triumph over the
dem ons of her unhappy past.

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75

Just a Girl Who C a n t Say No

It happens when they touch me, D octor, the

g ir l said, nervously toying with her cigarette
lighter. Sooner or later they maneuver me into
a situation where I can t help m yself. They put
their hands on my breasts and I m on fir e . Or
they put their hands under my d re ss. It s like
pushing a button on a robot, you know? There s
no turning back fo r me. None at a ll.
I nodded. Com pulsive sexual subm ission,
eh ?
That s it. That s it exactly. Com pulsive.
I m a com pulsive. I m I m a nymphomaniac,
D o cto r.
Her name was Joanne. She was a slim , good looking blonde with the p oise and elegance of a
fashion m odel the high cheekbones, the c la s sic
features, the sm all breasts and long legs. She
was twenty-three, unm arried, and worked as a
fir s t reader fo r one of the large publishing
houses. She lived in a little b a ch e lo r-g irl flat
on New Y ork s East Side. This was her firs t
appointment with me; we had talked b riefly on
the telephone the night before.
76

 You ve already had som e an alysis? I

asked.
Y es. Ten months of it.
Why d you give it up?
It wasn t getting me anywhere, she said.
The psychiatrist was pretty much of an ortho
dox Freudian, and he gave me a lot of jargon
about libido and superego and anal com plexes
and all the rest. That was all I got fro m him
fancy w ord s.
There s a lot of truth in many of the Freud
ian te rm s , Isaid . They aren t just w ords with
out value.
Don t tell me you re one of the jargon boys,
to o .
I shook my head and sm iled. No, Joanne. I
make use of Freud s theories where I think
they re useful, but I m m ore interested in the
im m ediate case than in generalized dogm as. And
my technique is altogether different. You know
that I make considerable use of hypnotism .
Y e s.
Freud didn t believe in hypnotherapy. Of
cou rse, he did his work fifty and sixty yea rs ago,
when m edical hypnosis was a good deal le s s
relia b le and le s s respectable than it is today.
But in Freud s eyes I d be a h e re tic.
I m glad to hear that. My other analyst
didn't get anywhere with me. I d lie on the couch
and talk, and he d listen and make w ise little
observations, and then I d leave him feeling that
I was getting som ew here, and that night I d have
a date and the fellow would start necking with me
77

and all of a sudden I d be red -h ot and clim bing

a ll over h im ." Her voice dropped. I saw the
self-con tem p t shining in her clea r blue eyes. I
always fe e l so disgusted with m yself afterward.
I fe e l like killing m yself s o m e tim e s ."
Ever attempted s u ic id e ? "
N o ," she murmured. I don t have the guts.
I just think about it. And I take a drink in stead ."
A re you a heavy d rin ker? I asked.
In spu rts. She sm iled bitterly. A fter I
have in tercourse with a man, once I m alone, I
drink till I fa ll asleep. Then I don t touch the
stuff again until the next sex episode. I use it as
a kind of antidote, you see. To blot out the guilt
in my m ind.
You fe e l guilty about s e x ?
Trem endously guilty.
W hy?
Because because it s so com pu lsive, she
said. I d like to have the choice, the freed om to
have sex or not to have it. C olor cam e to her
cheeks. I m not the sort who b eliev es a girl
ought to be a virgin till she m a rries. Not at all.
I think it s a good idea fo r a g irl to get som e sex
experience. But not to becom e a nympho. Not to
take on everybody who makes a pass at h e r.
She stared into the distance. You ought to hear
about som e of the men I ve slept with. Your hair
would cu rl, doctor. Drunks, filthy tram ps. Old
p ot-b ellied men in their sixties and even older.
Bellhops. Kids of fifteen. Slick greasy-h aired
pim ps. The m ost revolting kind of p eop le.
Do you ever say n o?
78

She shrugged. Not once they touch me.

There was a tim e in an elevator, in som ebody s
building. The elevator operator was just a kid,
and I think he was a little drunk, and he d e c
ided to grab a quick feel. Just the two of us in _
the elevator. He turned around and squeezed my
brea sts and said how about meeting him after
he got off duty. And the next thing either of us
knew, I was lying on the flo o r of the elevator
with my panties off. He was so damn startled.
He stopped the car between flo o r s and we did
it and then he took me to our flo o r .
My eyebrow s ro se . You ve really got it
b ad .
Very bad. And it s getting w o rs e . She
sighed. I want to be norm al, D octor! I want
to co o l off this furnace inside me. I d like to
get m arried, have kids, live an ordinary life
but how can I let anybody m arry me when I m
lik e this? What kind of wife would I b e? My
husband would live in hell every minute of the
day. No m arriage I made could last three
m onths.
Have you ever been seriou s with anyone?
How could I b e ? she demanded. Every
tim e som e fellow gets really interested in me,
we start necking, and then I p ractically rape
him. It sca re s them away. They take their fun
but after the second o r third date they start to
s ee that any g irl this hot must have put out fo r
fiv e hundred other guys, and they lose interest
in me. If I could only control m yself, maybe I
could but damnit, I can t control m y self.
79

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 Maybe I can help you.

I doubt it. But I'm willing to let you try. I ve
got enough money left fo r six m ore months of
analysis. A fter that I give up.
You make it tougher fo r both of us by set
ting deadlines, Joanne.
Sorry. That s the way it s got to be. Six
months and no m ore. I don t earn enough to pay
f o r this much an alysis.
Okay, I said. I ll see what I can d o .
The fir s t step was the developm ent of b io
graphical information. Over a period of three or
fou r session s, Joanne talked about h erself in a
s e rie s of ram bling m onologues, with little d ir
ection by me and with few interruptions.
I learned that she had been born in M assach
usetts, had gone to college at Barnard in New
Y ork, and had been living in New York fo r the
two years since her graduation. At fir s t she had
had a room m ate, but the pressu re of her hyper
sexuality had fo rce d her to move out and take an
apartment by h erself; she felt humiliated and
degraded in the company of the other g irl, who,
although not a virgin, was p erfectly able to con
tr o l her sexual im pulses.
Joanne s sex life hadbeen running its present
cou rse fo r the past six years. During high sch ool
the general atm osphere of sm all-tow n prudish
ness and teen-age restraint had kept her fro m
any widespread sexual activity. When she cam e
to New York to go to college, however, the
pattern changed.
80

" I t started right during the Freshm an Orient

ation W eek, she told me. "W e had this dance
the fir s t night, to meet the boys fro m Columbia,
and after the dance I went fo r a stro ll with one of
them in the park by the riv er. He k issed me and
we petted a little and then I let him have me.
A fter only one hour of knowing him. He must have
told all his friends about me. I was the m ost
popular g irl in the freshm an cla ss. B efore my
fir s t year was out I think all of Columbia U niver
sity must have known I was ea sy .
The story that she unfolded was an astonish
ing one. She claim ed to have been intimate with
litera lly hundreds of men at college som etim es
as many as three different ones the sam e week,
She ra rely went out with the sam e boy m ore than
once, since so many wanted to date her. And all
but the very shyest succeeded in having sex
relations with her.
Her attentions w ere not confined solely to
colleg e men, however. Janitors, hotel m anagers,
cle rk s and salesm en, even one d o o r -to -d o o r
evangelist all w ere added to the list. When
telling me the story, she seem ed overw helm ed
by the sheer magnitude of the num bers.
"S om etim es I dream about them , she said.
" A l l of them. It s the sa m e d re a m o v e r and over
again.
" T e ll me about it.
"W e ll I m lying naked in an open field. And
there are men all around me. Hundreds of men
an arm y of them, in a big c ir c le with me at the
center. They re fully d ressed but their pants are
81

open, and they are fully exposed. And they com e

toward me the c ir c le p re ss e s in they try to
rape me, a dozen at a time the ones on the
outside of the c ir c le push toward me I can
hardly breathe they start to tram ple me in the
rush and then I wake up. It s h orrible. Som e
tim es I wake up scream ing. Once I woke up and
vom ited. I'm always in a cold sweat when I have
that dream.
The story that em erged was not really one of
nymphomania in the c la s s ic sense. The true
nymphomaniac is frigid , n ev er really enjoying
the sexual em brace. She turns desperately from
man to man, hoping always that the next one
w ill give her the fulfillm ent she so ardently
d esires.
Joanne, however, claim ed to experience s e x
ual orgasm s with norm al frequency. Not every
man could rouse her to a clim ax, of cou rse, but
m ore often than not the sexual act ended in sat
isfaction fo r her physical satisfaction, though,
m arred by mental anguish and guilt.
The best description of Joanne, then, was that
she was not a nymphomaniac but a g irl of com
pulsive prom iscuity. The distinction, though
seem ingly slight, is actually an im p ortan ton e.lt
meant that her problem was not quite so com plex
a s that of the woman who indulges in wholesale
sex without physical enjoyment.
I proceeded by ordinary analytic means with
Joanne fo r about a dozen session s. She was
visib ly impatient with my techniques, but I wanted
to get as much of the story as I could before
82

resortin g to hypnosis. We dredged up childhood

m em ories, stories of her adolescen ce, anecdotes
o f her college days, dream s, slips of the tongue
a ll of the standard m aterial that an analyst uses
in guiding a patient toward self-know ledge.
The story that began to em erge was by no
means an unusual one. Joanne was the old er of
two children, the other being a brother several
yea rs her junior. Her parents w ere austere,
rather intellectual people, Phi Beta Kappas both
of them; her father was a high sch ool teacher,
her mother a librarian.
Like many m id d le-cla ss parents who p ossess
intellectual excellen ce but who have not attained
a very rewarding position in life, they w ere
m e rcile s s in the sch olastic demands they made
on their children. Both Joanne and her brother
w ere subjected to a s e rie s of rew ards fo r good
m arks, punishment fo r poor ones. The parents
wanted Joanne to becom e a colleg e teacher, and
her brother to becom e a law yer o r d octor. The
prestige of a p rofession al position was ham
m ered at both of them constantly.
Joanne said she had not been particularly
popular in sch ool. She studied hard, in an attempt
to gratify her father s d esire that she get good
m arks, and she seem s to have been rather a
hum orless and solem n child. By her own account,
she was not pretty either; she was rather tall and
gawky, she said, until the age of sixteen o r seven
teen, when she finally began to develop p oise and
maturity. She w ore heavy-rim m ed gla sses that
added to her appearance of sch olarly ugliness.
83

(In recent years she had taken to wearing contact

len ses.)
Her fir s t sexual experience occu rred when
she was nearly sixteen. I did it in a kind of
cold ly clin ical way, she said. Like the chilly
intellectual I was. I decided that it was about tim e
I experienced sex. Since I didn't plan to m arry
anyway, but to devote my life to scholarship, I
thought I didn't have to w orry about losing my
virginity.
I had a date with a boy named Jack. He was
a little younger than I was, and somewhat shorter.
He was in my Latin cla ss, and he asked me to go
with him to a lecture on V irgil. Imagine that!
A fter the lecture we went to his house to read
som e poetry together. And then I had my big idea.
We w ere on the couch together, and I moved
c lo s e to him and started to neck with him. He was
a little surprised, I think. I began to stroke the
front of his pants and he got aroused. Suddenly he
woke up to the idea that I was propositioning him.
W e w ere both virgins and he was sca red all the
way through it, and afterw ard we w ere both very
bewildered" and I left right away.
But he must have been so proud of the fact
that he had had in tercourse with me that he told
som e of his friends. They didn't believe him, I
gu ess, and decided to find out fo r them selves.
A ll of a sudden I had m ore invitations fo r dates
than I had had in the past year put together.
Everybody made passes at me. So I slept with
som e of them not all. But pretty soon it b e
cam e a habit with me. When I got to college I
84

couldn t stop. I still can t . "

I was beginning to see the general outline of
the problem . But Joanne was impatient. She told
me she had gone over all this ground many tim es
with her last analyst, and talking about it had
done her no good.
N aturally," I said. This is just surface
m aterial biograph. It s in your conscious mind
already. What we ve got to start getting at is the
neurotic underpinning. W e ve got to begin digging
out the things you re hiding fro m y o u r s e lf."
But h ow ?"
Just give me a ch a n ce," I told her.
She was continuing to have love affairs all the
while. She cam e to see me three tim es a week,
and at nearly every session she began with a
detailed account of her m ost recent adventure.
I knew she wasn t inventing anything and her
stories w ere aw esom e; she was bouncing in and
out of bed with the greatest of ease and drowning
her guilt in alcohol afterward. A ll of this was
told to me with a kind of bitter pride, as though
she were saying, Look, D octor, I m the biggest
sinner you ever met, aren t I? And you can t do
a damn thing about it. You re pow erless to stop
me.
By telling me these stories she was covertly
attempting to castrate me, I knew. She was proud
o f her incurability because it built her up as a
person. She was som ebody who defeated my skill.
She was showing me how w orthless I was, and, by
extension, how unique she was. It was a s e lf85

defeating and m asochistic attitude, since she was

paying me to help her and then glorying in the
fa ct that she would not let h erself be helped.
M asochism was one key to Joanne s behavior.
She was out to hurt h erself in as many ways as
she could.
One way to do this was to throw a monkey
w rench into the therapy. She had broken off her
la st analysis just at the point where it seem ed
about to help her. Now she was fighting me, and
openly exhibiting hostility. C onsciously she
wanted to be helped but the dark fo r c e s under
neath w ere out to sabotage her.
This surprised her. I made her express her
rea l feelings through fre e association, and once,
suddenly, during a string of incoherent sentences
she said, You know what I d like to do to you,
D octor? I d like to cut your balls o ff. Then she
gasped in h orror. 'Why d I say a thing like that?
I don t know, I said. Suppose you tell me.
I I didn t mean it.
A re you su re?
She hesitated. What an awful thing to say!
But aren't you castrating me every day,
Joanne? Every session that you refu se to probe
into your real p roblem s? You re trying to make
this therapy fa il.
Why would I do that? I m paying you a fancy
p r ice to cure m e.
But you don t want to be cured. Not r e a lly .
A week later we had a second incident, this
one a potentially troublesom e one. Joanne cam e
into my office highly excited, and som e ten
86

minutes after the session began, announced that

she wanted to have in tercou rse with me. She
pulled her d ress up as she lay on the couch,
revealing her shapely legs, and begged me to
com e over and em brace her.
Joanne was, of cou rse, an attractive girl,
but the last thing any analyst no matter how
susceptible to fem inine beauty wants to do is
let him self get seduced by a patient. It destroys
the relationship, makes any hope of a cure
im p ossible, and has powerful negative con seq
uences both fo r patient and analyst.
Calm ly, I pointed, this out to Joanne, showing
her how this blatant seduction attempt was sim ply
a try at ending the therapy. "Y o u hope that I ll
com e over there and sleep with you, and then I 'll
have to ord er you out of here because of my own
guilt feelings, eh? S orry,no dice, Joanne. I won't
fa ll fo r it. Suppose you pull your d ress down and
le t 's continue."
She was h orribly em barrassed by her b e
havior and it took several session s to neutralize
her shame. But I saw the raw seduction try as
part of the la rg er pattern. It fitted in. We w ere
on our way toward su ccess.
A week later, I decided to begin hypnosis.
" W e 'r e going to do this on two le v e ls , I said.
" I 'm going to use hypnosis to probe your deepest
m em ories. And at the sam e tim e I'm going to
give you a post-hypnotic command that w ill
tem p orarily help your com pulsiveness. It'll
stabilize the situation fo r a while, so that each
new seduction during therapy w on't w reck ev ery
thing.
87

Using the techniques d escribed ea rlier in this

book, I induced trance in Joanne, and, after a s
suring m yself of her cooperation, I gave her a
posthypnotic command. I told 'h er that tem por
a rily she would fe e l not d esire but repugnance
when a man touched her body, that any physical
contact would cause her to withdraw fro m the
situation. The male sex organ, I told her, would
b e repellent to her, and she would have to avoid
letting it penetrate her body.
Bringing her out of her trance, I explained
what I had done.
You mean fro m now on F ll be able to r e
s is t m en? she asked incredulously. "Y o u mean
I'm cu r e d ?"
" Y e s and n o, I said. "Y o u can re sis t
but you aren t cured. The posthypnotic command
technique is just a dodge to keep the situation
fro m getting any w orse while I m trying to heal
it. It isn 't any good as a permanent cure. It only
cop es with the sym ptom s of the illn ess. I'm out
to find the ca u s e .''
We began a se rie s of session s of hypnotic
m em ory stimulation. I ran her back through
severa l incidents she had already described, and,
under hypnosis, she was able to recount them in
vivid and colorfu l detail, far m ore com prehen
siv e ly than she had told them to me before. She
was consciously aware of all she was saying, and
the m em ory-enhancing effect of hypnosis start
led and pleased her.
Then we began probing deeper, into m aterial
that had not com e to light during analysis the
hidden poison, the m ainsprings of her neurosis.
88

[ have found that there are usually two o r three

key incidents that d istort the mental develop
ment of a neurotic. These incidents are then
rein forced by later happenings until an unbreak
able pattern of com pulsion is form ed the
pattern known as neurosis.
The fir s t of these key incidents that em erged
cam e out of Joanne s sixth year. H ere it is in
her own w ords:
It s late at night, and I can t sleep. I tip
toe downstairs. I want to go into my parents
bedroom . Just as I push o^en the door, I hear
my father say, P lease let s do it. Don t refuse
m e. And my mother says, It s too late.
Go
to s le e p . And my father says, No, I want it
now, don t you want to make me happy? I look
inside. They re both naked and they don t notice
me. I see my father getting on top of my mother.
I know what they re doing because I ve seen dogs
and cats doing it, and my father explained it all
to me. I m such a p recociou s little girl. I know
that they re doing what you have to do to make
babies. I hear my father sighing, now. He s
m oving on top of my m other. And I can hear him
saying, Y es, yes! This fe e ls so good. Ilov e you.
This is wonderful! I watch fo r a little while
longer. Then I get afraid they ll see me, and I
go back upstairs and fa ll a sleep .
Like G eorge in the previous case, Joanne
had witnessed her parents in the act of in ter
cou rse. This never fails to leave a powerful
89

im p ression on a child.
In G eorge s case,
the im p ression was, My father is hurting
my m other. I hate him and love her.
But Joanne s feeling was entirely different.
What d oes the scene tell you ? I asked.
It tells m e she hesitated.
It tells
m e that sex is pleasurable, that men enjoy
it, that the way to make a man happy is tc
give him sex.
That men w ill love you if
you let them do it to you.
Is that a ll? I asked.
Y es. That s a ll.
It isn t.
T ell me m o re ,
I insisted.
She was silent a moment.
T ell me what you fe e l inside, as you
think of your father on top of your m other.
I thinkI thinkoh, God!
I m thinking
that I want him doing it to me, because then
I l l be the one giving him p leasure, not my
m other!
I want him to love me, and this
is the best way to make him .love m e!
When I brought her out of the trance, she
was pale and shaken by the im pact of the
revelation of her incestuous d e sire s.
I had
to soothe her and let her rest a while b efore
she could leave my office.
During the next few weeks, we m oved at
a deliberately slow pace, digesting the im p or
tance of the single revelation that she desired
her father sexually. When I thought that we
had thoroughly covered that point, we began
to search fo r other hidden incidents.
90

We turned up a few m inor thingsspying

on her parents in hopes of seeing them again,
playing the Peeping Tom to see her father
undressed.
We kept hitting resistance at
one point in her fifteenth year.
Something
w as there, and she did not want to talk about
it.
Y ou 're fourteen and a h a lf,"
I said,
after putting her into a trance. I want you
to speak to me honestly and openly, without
concealing anything.
What are you doing
this aftern oon ?"
I'm at a g irl frie n d 's house.
W e 're
studying.
W hat's her n a m e?"
Jane.
T ell me what she looks lik e .
She's shorter than I am , and a little
o ld er.
She's rather plump.
Reddish hair.
She has big breasts.
I'm jealous of her
b r e a s ts .
A re you alone in the house?
Y es. W e're studying history. I'm help
ing her. We study fo r an hour, and then she
gets bored. Sheshe says, L e t's play a
little gam e.'
I say, What kind of gam e?'
She says, L e t's take our bras o ff.'
I'm
v ery em barrassed,
but s h e 's insistent a
pushing kind of g irl.
She opens her blouse
and takes off her bra.
Her breasts a re big
and round, a lot bigger than mine.
The
nipples are sm all and pinkish, and th ey're
standing up. She makes me open my blouse.
91

I?m ashamed because my breasts are sm a ller

than h ers.
She puts her hands on them and
rubs them.
'Then she says, 'I know a way to have som e
fun.' Fm very frightened now, but I want her
to like me, I don t want her to think I m an
old maid o r anything. She says, 'Take off your
panties. And I do, and she does too, and she
puts her hand between by legs. She starts rub
bing me.
She says, 'D o it to me, to o . We
do it to each other. A fter a little while she
starts breathing hard. She s very excited, and
s o am I. Then she s up against me. I can hard
ly breathe. I m on fir e ! What s happening to
m e? Iohyes, keep doing it, Janie! Faster!
Y es! Y e s!
During this recita l, Joanne s fa ce becam e
flushed, and her body moved as though she w ere
having an orgasm before my eyes.
"N ow it s o v e r ,
she went on. We both
fe e l a little em barrassed. We get d ressed and
I say I have to leave. II avoid Janie in sch ool
the next day. I fe e l very ashamed of m yself.
She invites me to visit her again, to com e study
ing. But I say no. I know that what we did was
wrong, that g irls aren t supposed to touch each
other that way. I stay away fro m her. A fter
a while she stops inviting m e .
The pattern was now fa ir ly clea r, but I had
to make Joanne put it together fo r h erself. I
could not sim ply sp ell out fo r her the meaning
o f her various experiences.

92

Several m ore weeks passed. Joanne told

m e that the posthypnotic com mands w ere w ork
ing, that she had refused to have intercourse with
severa l men who approached her on the basis of
her past reputation, and that fo r the fir s t tim e
in years she felt a little s e lf-r e s p e c t and pride.
She could look other g ir ls in the eye without
thinking that she was a tramp and a slut.
We w ere moving rapidly in the therapy, too.
I could see the rigid blocks of her neurosis b e
ginning to break up as she put together the pat
tern in her life. Finally after six session s,
she broke through to full com prehension.
I want people to love m e / '
she said.
S pecifically, I want my father to love me. I
want to please him very much. I pleased him
by getting good m arks in sch ool, which he hound
ed me to do. I also wanted to please him s e x
ually. This, of cou rse, was forbidden, and I
suffered con flicts because of it. I told m yself
that if I could only go to bed with him, he would
lov e me m ore than ever.
Then there was this lesbian angle, she
went on.
My friend Jane seduced me, and
I got pleasure out of it.
But I knew that it
was wrong fo r g ir ls to do things like that. I
was disgusted with m yself.
So there w ere two threads in my life
the lust fo r my father, and the fear of le s beanism .
And in high sch ool I was a plain,
gawky g irl.
I had to prove to m yself that I
was sexually d esirable in the norm al way. I
was running away fro m the temptation of le s
bianism .
93

 In a way, I guess, every boy was a father

substitute fo r me. I couldn t actually have my
father, but I could have other men. And every
tim e I slept with one, I was really begging to
be loved.
I was using my body to say, I m
lonely and afraid, and I want people to like me,
to love me, and I know that the best way to be
w ell liked by the opposite sex is to give them
physical pleasure.
Eventually it becam e a com pulsion, she
said.
I wanted frantically to be liked. I
couldn t bear the thought of not being liked.
And I was too shy, too socia lly awkward, to
be one of the gang. Through sex I could make
up fo r my socia l d eficien ces. The other g irls ,
the truly popular ones, didn t put out. But I
did, and that won me a phony popularity. And
every tim e I got laid, I told m yself, I was bury
ing lesbian in me.
See?
I m norm al. I ve
been intimate with dozens of boys.
I'm no
lesbian. That was what I was telling m yself.
But of cou rse I hated m yself, because I
was hating those rep ressed d e sire s fo r my
father and fo r other women.
So I lived in
constant guilt. And to torture m yself, I kept
seeking out new guilt situations. I wallowed
in self-hatred. I enjoyed hurting m yself. That
was why I wouldn't let the fir s t analyst help me,
why I resisted you until you started the hypnosis.
But I've finally broken through now. I think
I'm starting to com e out of it .''
Indeed she was. She had p erceiv ed the inner
s tr e s s e s of her nature with excellent clarity. A
94

lonely g irl, convinced w rongly that she was

ugly, desperately seeking popularityand sym
b olica lly seducing her father every tim e she
took a man to bed. A girl whose whole nature
revolved around giving p leasu rebut who was
s o m orbidly eager to please that she had n ear
ly destroyed h erself as an independent s e lf
motivated person. A g irl who dreaded turning
into an unnatural p erv erteven though her one
lesbian experience, so deeply hidden and so
powerful in its influence over her actions, was
som ething that has happened to many ad oles
cent girls.
Once we had reached these insights defeat
of the neurosis was alm ost at hand. Hypnosis
was no longer n ecessary. Joanne was able to
liberate h erself fro m her neurosis now without
a rtificia l aid.
The sixth month of the analysis passed and
neither of us made any referen ce to the dead
line Joanne had im posed at the outset. With
in another two months, she reported to me that
she felt cured and wanted to try to move in
the w orld on her own strength.
We terminated the analysis and she went
forth,
without any posthypnotic commands.
Voluntarily, she reported her p ro g re ss to me
once a week.
At fir s t she had a tendency to be o v e r c r itical of h erself.
She would som etim es feel
strong sexual d e sire s and think that this r e p re
sented a failure of the analysis; several tim es,
when she had intercou rse with men she was
95

dating, she was so despondent she nearly r e

turned to analysis.
But I pointed out to her that by her own m oral
standards there was nothing wrong with o c c a
sional sex experien ces; it was the com pulsive
involuntarily sex acts that w ere neurotic. She
soon saw that she was giving h erself only to
men she cared fo r , and refusing those who did
hot interest her.
Within six months, Joanne was able to tell
m e that she felt fully in con trol of her sexual
im pulses.
She was dating only two o r three
men, and had not had relations with any of
them.
A month later, she inform ed me that
she believed she was in lov e; she had stopped
seeing all but one of her boy frien ds, and had
b ecom e intimate with him in a sp irit of mutual
honest affection, free of com pulsion.
Joanne was m arried to this man several
months later, and so far I have received two
birth announcements fro m them. I have every
reason to believe that she is a faithful and hap
py w ife, who now can utilize her abundant cappacity fo r giving pleasure without fear o r guilt.
Joanne is a g irl whose only wish was to love
and to be loved, but the insidious poison of
n eurosis corrupted this fundamentally wonderful
attitude, sending her reeling fro m bed to bed,
fr o m em brace to illic it em brace, in a distorted
pursuit of love.
Through hypnosis, Joanne was made to com e
fa ce to face with the demons of her past that
haunted her. Once she could expose her fea rs
96

o f incest and lesbianism , the pow er these fe a rs

had over her dwindled and vanished. The bright
light o f self-know ledge roots out and destroys
the dark evils lurking in the neurotic uncon
sciou s.
L ife had been a nightmare of nymphomania
fo r Joanne. The recu rrin g dream of hundreds
o f men surrounding her, their m aleness v ic
iously exposed and threatening her summed up
her existence. She had lost her own p erson
ality, crushed under the inrushing horde of
sexually demanding men. With my help, she
was able to regain her stability, to becom e cap
tain of her own souland to give h erself in
love to the man of her choice, rather than hav
ing to succum b w illy-n illy to anyone who made
a pass at her.

Is y o u r d e s tin y
in th e s ta r s ?

Let the
"W orld's Most
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97

Hypnosis and the Homosexual

Tom looked a c r o ss my desk at me and said

in a gentle voice, I m a drowning man. You ve
got to toss me a life p reserv er, D octor. Other
w ise I m finished.
"Y o u think it s so terrib le to be a hom osex
u a l? I asked.
He colored.
" I i s m ore than terrible.
It s crim inal.
I despise m yself. But I can t
break fre e . I don t see any way out.
I sm iled and said, "T h e way out s sim ple,
Tom . You just make up your mind that from
now on you ll only sleep with g irls. That you
won t hang around with your old boy friends.
That s all there is to it.
He laughed, a quick m irth less rasp of sound.
"S u re.
Big joke, D octor. Turn over a new
leaf. Very sim p le.
" I know, I said. " I t isn t sim ple. Break
ing a neurotic hold is the toughest job in the
w orld.
But it can be done. D o you want to
try ?
" O f cou rse. Why else am I h ere?

" Y o u 'r e here because you think I can help

you. But Fm no m agician.
I said. "Y o u r s
is the really hard job. You re the one w ho's
got to change.
" I m willing to tr y .
"O k a y , I said.
" I m w illing to help.
Tom was twenty-four, a slim , soft-ey ed
boy who seem ed several yea rs younger than
his actual age. He was handsome in a gentle
way, with delicate features and sm all thin fin
g ers. He was a college graduate who had been
rejected by the arm y because of his hom osex
uality.
But, unlike many hom osexuals, Tom
was fie r c e ly eager to give up his perverted
ways and live a conventional life.
Hom osexuality is an ancient and com plex
personality pattern. Although it is undoubtedly
neurotic in origin, it is not n ecessa rily injur
ious to the person. Some hom osexuals are w e llbalanced, sane men who fe e l no apparent guilt
o r shame over their sexual p referen ces. These
a re men without inner con flicts, men who are
stable enough to withstand the pressu re society
puts upon them to conform . Often such men
are able to conceal their p ra ctices fro m a ll but
a clo se c ir c le of friends.
Hom osexuals are hated by norm al men
p rim a rily because the rugged he-m an type fe a rs
the homosexual within him self. Thus irrational
hatred is directed at the hom osexual instead of
at the latent tendencies that exist in every man.
Hom osexuality becom es a psychiatric p r o
blem only when the con flicts within the hom o

sexual becom e intolerable. Perhaps he finds

him self subjected to abuse by s o -c a lle d " r e
spectable citizens. Perhaps he feels genuine
revulsion fo r his activities, and longs fo r a wife
and fam ily.
Tom was of this latter sort. He demonstrated
a real desire to cut him self off fro m hom o
sexual ways. T h ere was, therefore, a p o ss i
bility that therapy could help him. No therapist
in the w orld could possibly affect the p erson
ality of a hom osexual who is contented to rem ain
hom osexual, since psychotherapy necessitates
co-op era tion fro m the patient. If a hom o
sexual is satisfied to rem ain hom osexual, no
outside persuation can alter that viewpoint.
But borderline ca ses like Tom men who
w aiver, who are unwilling hom osexuals in r e
volt against their own d e s ir e s these can som e
tim es be helped.
Tom cam e to me twice a week. I got to
like him at once.
He was alert, intelligent
frien dly, with a quick sm ile and a gentle sense
o f humor. He had an odd way of detaching him
s e lf fro m his own problem s, speaking of them
as though he w ere m erely an observer and
not a suffering human being. He often spoke
of him self with irony, as though he w ere a m used by the antics of an acquaintance.
His hom osexuality, he said, had begun when
he was sixteen. At a sum m er camp that year,
he had been working as a junior counselor,
sharing a btink with an old er man of consid
erable m asculine appeal.
100

One night after the senior counselor had

com e back to the bunk with a fifth of whiskey,
they both got a little high and Tom found him
s e lf inveigled into practicing mutual m astur
bation. Although he was alarm ed by such a c
tivities, he was also pleased not only physi
cally, on the level of sheer sensation, but
em otionally as w e ll.' He had never had any
rea lly c lo se friends of either sex, and it grat
ified him to be desired by this old er man whom
he idolized.
During the rem aining weeks of the season,
he was gradually introduced to other homosexual
techniques.
A fter that sum m er, Tom had no further sex
experiences fo r a full year. The follow ing sum
m er, at the sam e camp, he was sought out by
a friend of the other counselor, who had not
returned. Unwillingly Tom let him self be s e
duced all over again.
At college it was not hard fo r Tom to fall
into hom osexual p ractices. He form ed part of
a group of five or six boys who practiced hom o
sexuality at the a ll-m a le college.
When he
graduated he room ed with one of the boys fo r
a while, then lived alone, and ultim ately drifted
into the larger society of hom osexuals in his
city.
But it isn t as though I try to find them ,
he said sadly. It s just something that hap
pens!
I break away, I make resolutions, I
te ll m yself never again. And then one of my
frien ds com es around with a bottle of wine
101

and off I go again. No backbone, that's what

it i s .
How about your relationships with g ir ls ?
I said.
He shrugged. Pve dated som e, on and off.
But my heart s never in it.
I'm pretty shy
with girls. I always think how disgusted they'd
be if they ever found out what I really am .
Ever have intercourse with a g ir l?
A few tim es, he said huskily, obviously
troubled.
What happened?
It w asokay, he said. I mean, I had
no trouble with my potency, o r any stuff like
that.
And I think I gave the g irls pleasure.
Butbut I was so damn uncom fortable while
it was going on though.
I suppose it s the
sam e feeling a norm al m ale would have if he
slept with another m an.
You didn t try to continue your hetero
sexual a ffa irs?
He shook his head. I never dated a g irl
again after I sco re d with h e r.
Why?
Because I kept thinking about what we had
done togetherwhat she looked like. E sp ec
ia lly what she looked like naked. Without a
penis. G irls always look so grotesque to m e
s o incom plete. Once I had seen a g ir l's body,
I couldn t go with her again.
I looked at him steadily. Sounds to me
like you p refer being a hom osexual, I said.
Why pay good money to change y ou rself?
102

 I fe e l s o so lon ely, be said, So s te r

ile . My life is a s e rie s of empty wine bottles
and full ashtrays.
I want a fam ily. K ids to
take to the zoo.
A wife to love. I just want
to be like everyone else. When I go to a show,
I want a g irl sitting next to me. I want to stop
feelin g like a freak. When I ride in the sub
way, I don't want any m ore eyes glaring at
m ecold eyes, eyes of hatred.
The problem facing me was one of analysis
and synthesis. I had to help Tom take his p e r
sonality apartto find the point where he had
deviated fro m norm al sexual development. And
then I had to help him build a new personality,
one fro m which his distaste fo r fem inine co m
panionship and his disgust fo r the fem ale gen
ital organs had been rem oved. The fir s t could
be done, perhaps, through orthodox analysis.
The second would, I felt, require the use of
hypnosis.
We began the task of com bing backward ^
through Tom s m em ories to unravel the pat
tern of fo r c e s that had shaped him. We ran
into im m ediate snags. Tom felt inhibited a bout talking fre e ly about his experiences, b e
cause I was another man. He used euphem isms,
blushingly unable to call a spade a spade or
a vagina a vagina. This em barrassm ent ov er
the use of norm al physiological term s is char
a cte ristic of many neurotics. He found using
fo u r-le tte r w ords even m ore difficult.
One of the reasons fo r his tongue-tied
state, I felt, was the potential sexual r e la 103

tionship between us.

I believed that he felt
em barrassed because he thought I wondered
whether he d esired me sexually.
This kind
o f c r is s c r o s s motivation often snarls up con
sultations between hom osexuals and male an
alysts.
The patient p rojects his own guilty
longings on the analyst.
To get over this,
I suggested that he leave me and go to a f e
m ale analyst whom I would recom m end.
Oh, n o, he said softly. I d never be
able to talk to a woman.
I'd fidget through
every session .
I'm not at ease with women.
I'd say even le ss than I say h e r e .''
But w e 'r e getting nowhere here, T o m ,''
I said.
May I use hypnotism to ov ercom e
your inhibitions?''
If you think it'll w ork.
I tried it. I tested Tom and found him highly
susceptible to hypnotism.
Within minutes
he was in alight trance. I was able to talk
with him and to assure m yself of his com p re
hension.
When you wake, Tom , y ou 'll be
able to talk to me fre e ly and clearly about
eberything in your past. You ll fe e l no em
barrassm ent, no hesitations. It ll be just as
though I m som eone you ve known all your
life .
Someone you can be absolutely frank
with.
Do you understand me, Tom ? I want
to help you.
You ve got to trust me, T om .
The hypnotic persuasion worked.
Tom s
stam m ering and blushing disappeared, along
with the other manifestations of his shyness.
He developed a kind of joyous exuberance in
104

our conversations so that he was always r e

luctant to leave when his hour was up.
Quickly, he sketched in his fam ily pattern
fo r me. His mother was a delicate, sensitive
woman, w ell educated, somewhat sick ly. A s
the only child, Tom was the darling of her eye
and he was a Mama s Boy in every respect.
Tom s father was a law yer, a gruff, ex
ceedingly m asculine man. Although the father,
in Tom s account, does not em erge as a v il
lain, there is no doubt that the man was often
contemptuous of what he considered his weak
ling son, and that there was no real relation
ship of warmth between them.
The m arital adjustment between Tom s father
and mother was likew ise p oor.
The father
seem s to have been a lonely, ira scib le man,
fo re v e r em bittered because no one around him
lived up to his high expectations of them.
A sick ly w ife who could bear only one child,
a moody, bookish boy of sm all staturethese
w ere his great disappointments.
Tom and his mother form ed a sort of mut
ual protective society against the father s harsh
c r itic is m s . Tom would intercede fo r his mother
in household quarrels, and, later, the m other would com e between Tom and his complaining
father.
By the tim e Tom was eleven o r twelve,
the father had virtually given up trying to make
a man out of Tom , and had left him to his
own ways. Tom read a great deal, preferrin g
seriou s books to adventure sto rie s, and many
105

o f the books he liked w ere usually considered

" g ir l's book s by libra ria n snot at all the sort
of thing a boy would norm ally enjoy reading.
He was a notably poor athlete, even though he
was graceful and had good co-ordination. Phy
s ica lly he was fra il and without much strength.
Naturally, Tom was frequently exposed to
c r ie s of s is s y in the intolerant life of the
schoolyard.
Scorned and shunned by his boy
classm ates, Tom tried to turn to the g irls
o f his cla ss fo r companionship, only to d is
co v e r to his su rprise that they wanted even
le s s to do with him. They had no use fo r g ir l
ish boys.
They laughed at him and m ocked
him sarca stically.
It was at the age of thirteen that Tom firs t
began to be called things like pansy and
qu eer.
He had com m itted no homosexual
a cts, of cou rse, at that age; the nicknames
sim ply w ere sym bolic of his unmanly ways
as seen by his classm ates.
A fter puberty, the situation becam e much
w orse. The general hostility between boys and
g ir ls in the ten-to-thirteen age bracket had
kept Tom fro m feeling the fu ll im pact of his
exclusion.
But now everyone about him was
busily entering the w orld of dating and som e
o f the bold ones w ere actually going on their
fir s t experim ents with sexual intercourse.
" I didn't dare ask a g irl fo r a d a te ," Tom
said.
" A ll the boys I knew had done a good
job convincing me that I was somehow in
fe r io r to them, that I was just a fru it.' And
106

no g irl wanted anything to do with me b e

cause I wasn t glam orously m asculine.
In
m y own eyes I down-rated m yself w orse than
anyone else did and so I was terrified of
asking a g irl out.
In the years that follow ed, Tom withdrew
still further into his books and hobbies while
his classm ates mingled socia lly.
He heard
boys boasting of the g irls they had undressed
even the g irls they had p ossessed physically.
Even though he began to see that he was hand
som e in his own way, Tom shrank fro m any
norm al socia l intercourse. F rom his window
on Saturday nights he could see and hear the
laughing dating couples, and he was bitterly
envious. By the age of fifteen, he was positive
he would never m arry, never even date a girl.
He had b ecom e a com pulsive m asturbator by
this tim e, finding that solitary sexual activity
relieved much of his tension, frustation, and
s elf - conde mnation.
Then, at sixteen, cam e his homosexual s e
duction.
A ll at once he found him self at the
entrance to a new world, a w orld of soft v oices
and understanding, a w orld where everyone
had suffered what he had suffered. It was a
w orld without bullies, a w orld without selfish
g ir ls interested in seem ingly superficial things,
a w orld without nastiness and hatred.
F or
the fir s t tim e, Tom felt that he had a chance
o f being happy in life.
But then I began to wake up to the idea
that I was escaping from all rea lity, he said.
107

" I was becom ing a homo- B efore it had just

been nasty crack s.
Now it was real. I felt
that I was giving up com pletely, throwing in
the towel. I began to fe e l trem endously guilty
about being homosexual. When I was seven
teen I decided to start dating g ir ls , and after
about a year of getting up my nerve I actually
did.
By this tim e I was in college and had
left all my old classm ates behind. I was go
ing to make a fresh start, I told m y self.
I questioned Tom about his heterosexual ex
p erien ces, but he skipped glibly over the sub
je ct, sim ply telling me that they hadn t worked
out. He went on to bring his biographical a c
count up to date: a story of hom osexual com
panionships, broken by occasion al ill-fa ted at
tem pts to enter the w orld of norm al sex.
We now began hypnotherapy.
I explained
the techniques to Tom and put him into a trance.
A fter a few p relim in ary probes in areas that
held no em otional charge fo r him, I said,
" Y o u re eighteen years old, and you re on a
date. You r e going to have intercourse with the
g ir l you re with. T ell me about it.
He took a deep breath.
"W e 'v e been to
a show, and now we re at her parents home.
Nobody else here. We play a couple of record s.
T h ere s white wine in the frid g e, and we open
it and drink som e.
It s raining outside, a
w arm spring night. V ery rom antic. Tim idly,
I start to neck with her. I put my hands on
her breasts.
She doesn t stop me.
She s
breathing hard.
108

" I know that she s a g ir l who can be made,

who has been made.
And I m determ ined.
This is the night I becom e a man, I tell my
self.
I even have a contraceptive with me.
"T h in gs are getting hotter- on the couch.
W e re both a little drunk, now. She s open
ing my pants, putting her hands inside. I m
sexually excited.
That s good, I thinkat
lea st I m not impotent, anyway. She pulls up
her skirt, tells me to take her panties off.
I do it. At fir s t I avert my eyes fro m her nak
edness. I ve never seen a naked g irl, really.
" I fo r c e m yself to look down at her as she
lie s there on the couch. Suddenly I fe e l a l
m ost sick.
It s disgustingit looks like a
wound.
I m dizzy and I want to throw up.
My head pounds.
But she doesn t notice.
She s wild fo r it, now. She pulls me down on
top of her. Our bodies join. . . it s a wonder
ful sensation, fa r better than anything I ever
got out of hom osexuality. But I can t get the
sight of her genitals out of my mind. So
hideousso revolting. Is that what g irls are
lik e?
How can they bear to look at them
s elv es?
"N ow she s panting. . . she s having an o r
gasm , I think.
So am I.
It s great, it s an
overw helm ing feeling.
Then it s over. Now
m ore than ever I can t bear to look at her.
I turn away, adjust my clothes. She goes into
the bathroom.
She com es out a little while
later. She s all glowing and happy, but not me.
I tell her m y parents are expecting me home.
109

I get away, fast. That night I have nightmares,

h orrib le ones.
I m sick in the middle of the
night, throwing u p ........... I never date that girl
again. When I see her in the halls, I can only
think of her naked bodyher castrated p en is-less
body
Using hypnosis, I ran Tom through several
sim ila r incidents, and ended up always with an
identical result. He had a definite appeal fo r
women, since he was charming, intelligent, and
handsome, and whenever he tried to gain a g ir l s
fa v ors he usually succeeded. And he was sexually
adequate as well. But what spoiled the relation
ship fo r him and drove him invariably back to
hom osexuality was his underlying revulsion fo r
the fem ale genitals. He could not bear to see
them o r even to think about them.
This, we both felt, was the core of his
neurosis. The other biographical details might
in them selves have led to hom osexuality, but
not n ecessa rily. Plenty of shy, sensitive boys
have unhappy and lonely childhoods and ad oles
cen ces, then meet an understanding g irl and make
a su ccessfu l m arriage Even s u ch fa cto rsa s an
overp rotective mother and a harshly dom ineer
ing father, though they often are involved in
hom osexuality ca ses, do not invariably bring
about inversion.
In Tom, these fa ctors had com bined to make
him homosexual. But therew as something e ls e
something deeper. We had to probe fo r it, in
o rd e r to d iscov er just why he felt the way he did
about the fem ale sex organs.
110

We went back. Not much turned up, but I

knew the constant stirrin g about in his m em ories
would produce something eventually. "P erh a p s
you ll re co lle ct in a dream , I suggested to him.
"T h a t often w orks. You ll dream of the incident,
and rem em ber it, and the next tim e you com e in
we can reach it by d irect hypnotic com m and.
This technique had had frequent results fo r
m e in the past, and it worked again in T om 's
ca se. One day he cam e in and said, I dream ed
about something when I was seven or eight. I
was away fo r the sum m er, on a farm . There was
a g irl with me, I rem em ber. We did something
wicked together.
"G ood enough, I said. " L e t 's hunt fo r the
d eta ils.
Soon, under hypnosis, he was filling in the
narrative outline fo r me. " I 'm eight years old,
and this is my sum m er vacation. I'm living on
my u n cle's farm in New J ersey fo r the sum m er
while my parents travel. I have a cousin named
M arion. She's about my age, a blond g ir l, very
pretty, very tan. We play together. She shows
m e around the farm . She knows how everything
is done.
"W e go into the barn. W e're all alone and
she says, 'L e t 's take our clothes off. I want to
s ee how you make w ee-w ee.'
I'm a little
startled and em barrassed, but s h e 's very p e r
suasive. We both have short pants on. We take
them off. I go fir s t and she looks at me. She
touches me curiously. I get very excited. Then
she takes her pants down. I'm amazed. She
111

doesn t have a penis! Nothing at all, just a little

s lit in the skin.
I ask her what happened to her penis and
she giggles and says, 'M y Daddy cut it off when
I was very little.
This is all I have. I'm
h orrified . I want to know all about the operation.
I ask her if it was cut off because she was
naughty. She laughs.
"T h en som eone com es into the b a r n .. . her
father, my fath er's brother. He gets very angry
when he sees us like that. But he hits me first.
I run away and h i d e . . . . I hear him shouting.
That night I dream of Marion. I dream of what
she was like when she had a penis. Then I see
her father cutting it off with a chopperth ere's
blood everyw hereshe s cr e a m s I wake up,
and my aunt com es in and com forts m e . . . .''
W hile we w ere discussing the im plications of
this vivid and significant scene, Tom suddenly
reca lled yet another related one. He recounted
it haltingly to me at first, then, with the a s sis t
ance of hypnosis, recaptured it in depth.
" I 'm about five years old, m ore o r le s s. It's
a hot day, and I want ice cream . My mother
giv es me a nickel, and then my father says no,
h e 'll catch cold. He takes the nickel away. My
parents start to quarrel. I get very tense and
irritated. I start to cry . Then I get sent up to
m y room . I go upstairs and lie down on the bed.
I open my pants and start to play with my
genitals.
That makes me fe e l better. I play
with them fo r a few minutes. Suddenly the door
opens, and my father com es in.
112

"W hat a re you doing? he ro a rs. He looks

about ten feet tall. Get your hand away fro m
there. If I ever catch you playing with you rself
again, I ll cut it off! I 'll cut it right o ff! Then
he hits me. I start to cry, and my mother com es
in. She w ipes my eyes and puts me to b e d . . . .
I felt that we had the key incidents now.
Further probing failed to turn up anything else
of im portance on the them es of castration o r
fem ale genitals, but I was pleased that we had
re co v e re d fro m the vaults of T om 's m em ories
two such shaping events, neither of which had
been in his conscious mind at the start of
therapy.
Gradually, in the weeks that follow ed, Tom
evolved a theory of his hom osexuality, under
my guidance. His own reawakened m em ories
helped him to understand the development of
his personality.
/
These are the things he cam e to see:
Every human being begins life in a n a rcis
s is tic or self loving phase. The baby is unaware
of the w orld outside him self. Over the fir s t few
months of his life, he extends his perceptions
slow ly to external things: fir s t the mother,
usually, then the father, finally the rest of the
outside world.
Love is gradually directed outward, too. The
baby loves only itself. It lives fo r immediate
gratification, gurgles its enjoyment of its own
body. Soon it begins to transfer som e of this
lov e to the parents, particularly, in the case of
a son, to the mother. In later years of childhood,
113

the love im pulse may be transm itted to play

mates of either s e x and, by the age of fourteen
o r so, is directed exclusively at the opposite
sex, leading thus through courtship to eventual
m arriage or at least heterosexuality.
The hom osexual never gets to this phase of
loving. He rem ains blocked on the prepubescent
level. In reality he is on the low est level: he
lo v e s only him self. He seeks im ages of him self
in his love encounters.
Thus the male homosexual cannot give his
love to a woman, because she is so unlike him.
She is the n ot-self.
She has breasts and a
vagina; she has no beard, no penis. She is an
alien creature and cannot be loved. Somehow,
she has lost her penis. It has_been cut off.
The m oral is clea r to the unconscious mind
of the hom osexual: If you love a woman, you
w ill becom e like her. Your penis w ill be cut
off, too.
This was rein forced in Tom s mind in many
ways. He had learned early that masturbation
(i.e ., sexual indulgence of any kind) would be
punished by castration. His father had told him
s o in that many w ords, and his lou d -voiced
father was God to fiv e -y e a r -o ld Tom .
The
le sso n rem ained with him: sex leads to ca stra
tion. Watch out.
Three years later he had ample evidence of
this when he actually saw a little g ir l s genitals.
She had no penis, and she jokingly told him her
father had cut it off! Of cou rse, a g irl raised on
a fa rm would be well aware of the truth about
114

the differen ces of the sexes. But naive, im

pressionable Tom had no such fund of inform a
tion. He took her at face value. H ere was p roof!
Obviously M arion had been caught m astur
bating once too often, and had been castrated
by her angry father. Indeed, here cam e the
fath eras gruff and tyranical as Tom s own
with the punishing hand of vengeance. Watch
out, Tom! Runor your uncle may castrate you
him self fo r daring to show your body to his
daughter!
The double them es em bodied them selves in
Tom s life. Women are castrated me, and if
you have anything to do with women you w ill be
castrated you rself. Such was his belief.
This underlying neurotic fea r tied in pow er
fully with the superficial circum stances of
T om s life. The harshness of his father drove
him to identify with his m otherthat is, to
becom e m ore feminine and withdrawn. His own
boyish physique barred him fro m any real d is
play of m asculinity on the usual childish level.
The scorn of his classm ates of both sexes added
to the withdrawal. He was ripe fo r hom osexual
ity: a lonely, tim id, introverted boy, neurotically
afraid of women but pathetically eager fo r som e
kind of love.
In his later teens, he was able to dem onstrate
to him self that he was attractive to women.
G irls who sneered at him at age twelve because
he could not hit a baseball w ere now attracted
to him at age eighteen because of his knowledge

115

of m usic and books as w ell as his physical

appearance.
By this tim e, however, the neurosis had a
fu ll grip on him. He could not bear to see the
genitals of a woman because they rem inded him
neurotically of the possibility of castration.
Sexual in tercourse itself held hidden te r ro r s
fo r him. Perhaps, he thought, the vagina itself
was the instrument of castration! Perhaps your
penis could be cut off by an avenging woman!
Of course, none of this was evident to Tom
on the level of consciousness.
A ll he knew
con sciou sly was that there was something
vaguely frightening and depressing about fem ale
s e x organs, and that therefore he could have no
continuing relationship with any woman.
There was much m ore to Tom s case than I
have been able to illustrate here. F or example,
we uncovered the not very su rprising existence
o f a strong Oedipus com plex, against which he
was reacting violently. Inwardly he recognized
a love fo r his mother verging on sexual passion,
and had turned away from the entire fem ale sex
to avoid incestuous relationships. In this, he has
a certain kinship with G eorge, described in an
e a rlie r chapter.
His relationship with his father, too, was a
com plex one, compounded as it was of hatred and
love.
He sought to destroy his father, and
sim ultaneously wished to win him over through
love. Thus, he gave him self w illingly to older
men of great physical strength who served as
father substitutes fo r him. In this, there is
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som e sim ila rity to the neurosis pattern of the

nymphomaniac Joanne. The b asic patterns of
neurosis recu r fro m case to case, though the
individual circum stances are always different.
Suffice it to say that in little over a y ea r s
tim e we had dredged m ost of the demons out of
Tom s unconscious mind, and he began to travel
the road to full mental health. He was able to
establish a continuing sexual relationship with
an attractive g irl, andhis fe a rs of the vagina
conqueredhe found it easy to break away from
his old hom osexual friends. He no longer needed
their company. He had found love elsew here,
love of an abiding and enduring kind. I under
stand that he is now m arried and the father of
severa l children.
Thus, he has attained his
dream of a norm al life.
Hypnosis is no panacea fo r every homosexual,
o f cou rse. The b asic necessity is an overriding
d e sir e to be cured, to be fre e d of homosexual
im pulses. What I did in Tom s case was not to
make hom osexuality repugnant to him so much
as to make it sim ply unnecessary. He wanted
to be heterosexual. But his deep -rooted neuroses
b arred him fro m a norm al sex life.
Of cou rse, I could sim ply have given Tom
hypnotic commands that would make male sexual
em braces unpleasant fo r him. But this would
have left him w orse off than before, since it
would cut him off fro m one sou rce of love and
understanding without replacing it with another.
Hom osexual love fo r Tom was better than utter
loneliness.
117

Nor could I have m erely persuaded him

hypnotically that he enjoyed the fem ale em brace.
Because of his d eep -lev el castration fea rs, it
might have been totally im possible to implant
such an idea in his mind. Or, if I had implanted
it, it might have set up such shattering internal
con flicts as to reduce him to com plete im potence
and confusion.
There are never any real short cuts in
mental therapy.
Hypnosis does, in many in
stances, reduce the tim e needed fo r the therapist
to get at the problem . But that is as fa r as we
can go toward sim ple solutions. Once the key
situations have been brought to light, they must
be analyzed and explored until their malevolent
pow er is utterly ended. In psychotherapy as in
any other kind of human endeavor, a m ere coat
o f whitewash over the trouble spots is never
sufficient. Hard work, both by the analyst and
by the patient, is the only real path to mental
w ell-being.

This article is an excerpt fro m the book Sex

and H ypnosis by L .T . Woodward, M.D.
A
com plete copy may be obtained by sending$2.00
to Z ola r, 33 W. 60th St., New York, N.Y. 10023

118

TELEPATHY AND E.S.P.

A generation ago probably not one person in

a hundred would know what you meant if you spoke
to him of telepathy. Now nearly everybody knows
that it is m erely another w ord fo r thoughttransference o r m ind-reading.
The w ord telepathy was coined a little m ore
than a half a century ago by F red eric W. H.
M yers, a founder of the British Society fo r
P sych ical R esearch, and is derived fro m two
G reek w ords: te le at a distance, and p a t h o s feeling. It really means feeling at a distance,
th erefore, and was based on the curious ex
p erien ces narrated by the old m esm erists, which
we shall com e to presently. But it has an even
w ider significance, in that it indicates the ability
of one mind to com municate with another at a
distance, otherw ise than through the recognized
channels of sense. Where the ordinary senses
are em ployed, there is no telepathy.
The word clairvoyance is derived fro m the
F rench, and literally means " c le a r seein g.
When a person has a clairvoyant vision, he sees
events which are transpiring at a distance, as
119

though visually, though neither his eyes nor any

of his sen ses are used in the norm al manner.
What is the d ifference between them? In
telepathy we obtain supernorm al knowledge of the
thoughts o r mind of som e other person, while
in clairvoyance this extraordinary knowledge is
obtained without communicating with any other
mind. Suppose an accident occu rred in som e
lonely spot, and no living person was present to
w itness it, and no living person was involvedan
accident such as a landslide or the fall of a
m eteor. If this w ere accurately described by a
clairvoyant and afterwards found to be true, it
would constitute a real clairvoyant vision.
Although at fir s t it was thought that telepathy
and clairvoyance represented two separate
things, it was soon found that they tended to
m erge one into the other, so that som e of the
early experim enters w ere fo rc e d to speak of
telepathic clairvoyan ce.
The recent work of J.B. Rhine, of Duke
U niversity, which is discussed in a later chapter,
has apparently shown m ore and m ore that these
two faculties usually blend together and seem to
be m ere aspects of one transcendental ability in
man. Just as static and current e lectricity are
different, yet are both e lectricity in the last
analysis, so telepathy and clairvoyance are but
aspects of som e supernorm al ability which at
tim es enables human beings to p erceiv e what
is transpiring at a distance, either in the mind
o f som e other living person o r in the m aterial
w orld.
120

Attitudes toward Supernormal A bilities

Quite naturally, these extraordinary abilities
have always aroused skepticism on the part of
the general public, and esp ecially scien tists,
because such facts are unusual and are not en
countered in our everyday experiences. Such
ca se s are relatively ra re.
They have been
generally received with incredulity because
m odern scien ce has no way of explaining them,
and because many of these stories are told by
silly , credulous people who have no idea what
constitutes scien tific evidence. Butas we shall
see presentlyevidence of this character has
been collected and studied of late yea rs by
com petent, careful investigators.
Is Thought a Function of the Brain?
And why should telepathy and clairvoyance-rnot to speak of other still m ore striking psychic
m anifestationsbe considered so im possible by
many scien tific men? Because they hold that <
thought is a function of the brain ; that it is
quite unthinkable to imagine thought existing in
the absence of such a brain; that life, mind,
consciousness are invariably bound up with a
living, m aterial body, and with the death of such
a body they must cease to be!
This is of cou rse a m aterialistic philosophy,
but nevertheless, it is the one which is taught in
n early all our institutions of learning today, and
constitutes the basis of our psychology. ' Thought
121

cannot function apart fro m brain !

So, if it
b e actually proved to do s o as it seem ingly
d oes in telepathy and clairvoyancethen we
have an extraordinary fact which w ill necessitate
the rem olding of much of our psychologyand
the teaching based on it.
Arthur Balfour, when he was P rem ier of
G reat Britain and at the sam e tim e president of
the British Society fo r P sychical R esearch, said
that if the earth w ere to crash into som e other
celestia l body and be powdered to atom s, this
happening would probably be considered a
rem arkable phenomenon. But, he goes on, it
would not be considered nearly so rem arkable
as the fact, if true, that you could look at the
back of the neck of som eone sitting two seats
ahead of you in the street car, and make him
turn round! Why? Because one is in line with
what we know of scien ce and the other is not.
We know that celestial bodies can and som e
tim es do collid e, but the other feat is quite
opposed to the dogma that "thought is a function
of the brain . F or, w ere this true, it would of
cou rse be just as "im p o s s ib le fo r thought to
exist and function one inch outside your brain
as it would be fo r digestion o r circulation to
exist outside your body. This is the basis of
the opposition of many men of scien ce to these
new facts.
The m ere fact that we cannot at present
explain a thing is no valid reason fo r its r e
jection. We are inclined to be too cocksu re in
our judgments; too certain that we know what is
122

p ossib le and what is im possible; forgetting that

m odern scien ce is a m ushroom growth of a
century o r so, and that what we know today must
be only a sm all percentage of what scien ce of the
future w ill know.
Another attitude to guard against is that taken
by those profoundly mistaken, unscientific p e r
sons who try to explain som e extraordinary
psych ic event by saying that " i t is m erely m indreading! They do not rea lize its im plications.
An Open-Minded Attitude
We must be open-m inded and im partial in our
attitudes toward seem ingly new truths, not f o r
getting that nearly every novel scien tific in
vention o r im provem ent was laughed to scorn
when fir s t presented to the public. The s o -ca lle d
psychic phenomena are no exception to the
rule!
When discussin g any unusual happening of the
kind, two good rules to follow are:
1. A ll is possible.
2. The strength of the evidence must be p ro
portioned to the strangeness of the facts. That
is , the stranger the facts, the stronger should be
the evidence fo r them. That is why infinite pains
have been taken by experim enters in establishing
the reality of both telepathy and clairvoyance.
So long as the mind is kept open, it is only right
that every precaution should be taken, and every
sou rce of p ossible e r r o r precluded, before
accepting these phenomena as facts.
123

We have spoken of telepathy and c la ir

voyance as though they w ere fa cts, and they
are facts.
Let us turn to actual ca ses and
p ro o fs which show that they do exist.

Historical Cases
C ases of telepathy and clairvoyance have
been reported fro m every country, and at every
age of the w orld s history. These w ere not of
co u rse instances of actual experim ent, but w ere
s o -c a lle d spontaneous c a s e s that is, ca ses
which occu rred in the lives of everyday people,
and which w ere reported by them.
Both the Old and New Testam ents are full
o f such ca ses, and many of the Prophetswhom
many believe to have been p sy ch icstold not
only what was going to happen in the future, but
what was actually happening at the tim e. Christ
is reported to have perceived the thoughts of
those about him .
The o ra cle s of ancient G reece and Rom e
often gave extraordinary information, and
H erodotus has record ed a splendid case in
which the Delphic ora cle in G reece was actually
tested and found to be accurate. Socrates, Joan
o f A r c , Swedenborg, and countless others r e
ported many such incidents in their lives. Kings
and queens have vouched fo r them. If the rank
and file of people during ancient tim es and during
the middle ages had been able to write, and had
taken the trouble to re c o rd their experiences

124

doubtless thousands of such instances would

have com e down to us as actual experiences.
Mental Transm ission Among Prim itives
Among prim itive peoples of A sia, A frica ,
and the islands of the eastern and w estern
hem ispheres, telepathy and clairvoyance are
taken alm ost as a matter of cou rse, and these
abilities are said to be handed down by the
witch d o c to r s 'fr o m one generation to another.
The witch d octors claim that in their daily lives
they constantly make use of telepathy and c la ir
voyance, and that they can be taught to any
intelligent pupil who may ca re to undergo the
p roper course of training.
White men visiting these countries usually
go there with a com plete d isb elief in any such
abilities, but after they have lived there fo r
som e tim e, and com e to know the natives
intimately, they have alm ost invariably em erged
with som e degree of b elief in these abilities.*
O fficials, exp lorers, trad ers, and hunters have
a ll verified cases of telepathy and clairvoyance.
F rom the great m ass of evidence available the
follow ing two instances are typical of many.
Both of these cases o ccu rre d among the
natives of A frica. The fir s t is narrated by R.M.
B loch in an article entitled Extraordinary
News T ran sferen ce, which appeared in the
O ccult Review, N ovem ber, 1918:

125

Some years ago I was up in the interior

of Ashanti, a goodish distance fro m c iv iliza
tion as represented even by a stray m agisstrate. On the Monday evening my partner
and I had a d ifference of opinion, and we
agreed to part, so next morning I made
tracks fo r Cape Coast Castle, about one
hundred and fifty m iles distant.
Now, with the exception of Government
runners, a white man traveling light, that is,
without much baggage o r a hammock, cov ers
the ground considerably faster than any
native, and I got down to the little town
shortly after Saturday noon. I dropped into
the fir s t store, when to my su rprise the
man in charge rem arked, S orry to hear
your partner pegged o u t."
I replied it was nonsense, since I had
left him only fiv e days b efore p erfectly fit,
but the storekeeper assured me the news had
com e through on the Thursday evening, X
having died the day before. And within a
week his boys struggled down with his kit.
The amazing part of this case is the fact
of the news com ing down to the coast without
filterin g through to the boys who accom panied
me, fo r , had they known it, they would in
fallibly have told me, and I naturally would
have turned back. This obviously precludes
the possibility of runners carrying the news,
while even if we suppose drum s o r other
fo rm s of signaling, it seem s strange that I
should only hear of the tragedy at the end of
126

the journey, and not at any of the inter

mediate villages where I stopped the night
. . . I am at a lo s s to explain the incident.
The last quarter of the eighteenth century
was one filled with interest fro m the point of
view of psychical research .
Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedith philosopher
and scientist, was experiencing his celestial
vision s and writing the books which w ere to
make him fam ous. That he p ossessed rem ark
able clairvoyant pow ers was testified to by no
le s s an authority than the great German p h ilos
opher, Immanuel Kant, who w rote a book about
them: D ream s of a Spirit Seer.
At the sam e tim e Count A llesandro C agliostro
the Italian alchem ist of diamond necklace fam e,
who was im m ortalized in the novels of Alexandre
Dum asattended the court of M arie Antoinette
o f France.
Count de Saint-Germ ain was yet
appearingthat extraordinary man who was said
to keep turning up fo r m ore than a hundred years
in various courts of Europe, always apparently
of the sam e age, earning fo r him self the title
o f Saint-Germ ain the d ea th less.''
In P a ris, about 1780, D r. F ried rich Anton
M esm er was holding his m agical s o ir e e s
m ystifying the scien tific men of his day by the
m arvelous cu res he wrought by means of his
m esm eric treatm ents. M esm erism the term
was of cou rse derived fro m his nam ewas
an ea rlier fo rm of hypnotism.

127

Numerous investigatorsm ostly d o cto rs

continued M esm er's work after his death. Like
D r. M esm er, they often obtained wonderful cu res
in epilepsy, palsy, St. V itus's dance, fo r
instance. Stranger still, they found that their
subjects occasion ally showed signs of unusual
a b ilitie stelepathy and clairvoyance, and what
was called community of sen sa tion ."
Some of these patients, when in the m esm eric
trance, could diagnose disease in an uncanny
manner. Others could tell what was contained in
envelopes o r locked boxes. Still others could
p erceiv e events at a distance, as though they
w ere actually there. This was called traveling
cla irv oy a n ce, since the su b ject's mind was
seem ingly sent to the scene in question, and told
to see and d escrib e what was perceived there.
Many of these ea rlier instances w ere w ell
v erified and m ost striking, and may be found in
the writings of Townsend, G regory, Esdaile,
E lliotson, Deleuze, and others. An example of
traveling clairvoyance is given below.
About the middle of the nineteenth century,
m esm erism was displaced by hpynotism, r e
named by Dr. Jam es Braid, a B ritish physician.
But about this sam e tim e, also, ch loroform and
ether w ere invented and used in operations, so
that hypnotism fe ll into m ore o r le s s disuse for
this purpose. It was again brought to the atten
tion of the scien tific w orld by Jean Martin
Charcot, Hippolite Bernheim and their fe llo w w ork ers, in connection with the treatment of

128

d isea ses of the nervous system , in which treat

ment hypnosis plays a definite part.
Mental P ictures by Telepathy
This is where thought-transference o r te le
pathy com es in. It is now generally believed
that the mind of the ill o r dying person perhaps
unconsciously sends out a m e ss a g e ," which
reach es a c r o s s the intervening space, and affects
the mind of the other person, causing him to see
a mental picture o f the one who is ill o r dying.
On this theory the figure seen represents what
has been called a "telepath ic hallucination."
The " g h o s t " was a mental picture created by
telepathy.
Is there any justification fo r such a theory?
A very good one! Let us take a sim ple case of
experim ental thought-transference. The agent
o r sender shuffles a pack of ca rd s' he looks at
one and says, "W hat is th is ? " The subject who
has not seen the card sayd, " J a c k of C lu b s."
Right!
Now, if it is p ossible mentally to transfer a
pictu re of the Jack of Clubs in this fashion, why
not a picture of you rself? That is apparently
just what happens. The su perconscious mind of
the sender (the ill o r dying person) sends out a
mental im pression of him self, and the mind o f
the re ce iv e r picks up this m essage and o b je cti
f i e s " it, making it appear as though actually
having existence in the other world. When this
o c c u rs the subject thinks that he has seen a
129

 g h o st."
What he has rea lly p erceiv ed is a
telepathic hallucination, coinciding with illness
o r death.
That is how telepathy has been utilized to
explain striking phenomena such as these ap
paritions of the liv in g ." If telepathy were not
a fact, we should be totally at a loss fo r any
rational explanation.
P sychic investigators
have also used telepathy as a sort of prim ary
fa ctor to explain other m anifestations.
We
shall com e to this question again a little later on.
Perhaps the reader would like to know m ore
about how telepathy is supposed to work in
these ca ses in ord er to produce such strange
resu lts.
We know that the mind is somehow
/'a s s o c ia t e d with the brain, in its activities, so
that theoretically the brain should be involved
in som e manner with such transm issions also.
Can telepathy and clairvoyance be explained in
terms of functions of the brain?
What we are about to say is purely specula
tive but offers the best explanation which has
so fa r been advanced to account fo r what
happens when a telepathic m essage is sent.
P sych ical re se a rch e rs have always tried to
explain supernorm al phenomena with the least
departure fro m the facts accepted by psychology
and physiology.

The Latest Scientific Tests

Although a vast amount of evidence fo r
telepathy and clairvoyance had been collected
130

in the past, it was always fe lt that still m ore

evidence was required in ord er to convince the
s cien tific w orld as a whole. This was evidenced
by the fact that the m ajority of savants continued
to ignore the existence of telepathy and c la ir - >
voyance and to treat them as non-existent.
In ord er to settle this question once and fo r
a ll, if p ossible, a s e rie s of experim ents was
undertaken in 1930 by Dr. J.B. Rhine, of Duke
University, North Carolina, in the p sychological
department headed by Dr. W illiam McDougall.
These tests have gone on ever since.
A fter som e ninety thousand of them had been
undertaken, Dr. Rhine published his fir s t book
on the subject. This was follow ed by a later 1
book
(by the sam e author)
based on m ore j
than a m illion tests which w ere made in various
u n iversities. Groups of psychologists a re now
working in all parts of the w orld on the p roblem s
of telepathy and clairvoyancefo r the fir s t tim e.
If D r. Rhine had done nothing else, he would have
at least stirred up a vast interest in such
p roblem s, but he has done fa r m ore than that.
D r. Rhine s method is a sim ple one, fr e e
fro m com plications. He decided to use a pack
o f specially prepared ca rd stwenty-five in all,
com posed of five su its, o r ch aracters. These
w ere: c r o s s , c ir c le , square, star, and wavy lin es,
;
Thus, in each deck there are five c r o s s e s , five
c ir c le s , and so on. At fir s t the backs of the cards
w ere blank, but they have now been manufactured
com m ercia lly with ornamental backs.

131

The reason this sim ple method was chosen

was that the resu lts would readily lend them
s e lv e s to mathematical treatm ent: Statistics *
would tell when the results obtained w ere due to
chance o r to som e other factor. With m ore
com plicated designs, or a greater number than
fiv e , this would be m ore difficult.
F ir s t Experim ents with ESP Cards
The fir s t experim ents made with these cards
w ere sim ila r to the earlier tests made by the
B ritish Society fo r P sychical R esearch. The
sender, or person transmitting the thought, would
look at the cards one at a tim e, while the r e
ce iv e r, seated som e little distance away with
eyes closed , would endeavor to catch this thought
and tell what his im pression was. This could
then be checked im m ediately with the card
" s e n t .
In this way the percentage of hits and
m isses was easily determ ined.
Later, the distance between sender and r e
ce iv e r was increased, experim ents being tried
with the two in different room s, in different
buildings, in different cities. Hundreds of m iles
som etim es separated the two, yet so fa r as
could be judged, without appreciable effects on
the results. Few er trials have naturally been
made at the greater distances, but several of
those attempted have been eminently su ccessfu l.

132

"H its and Misses

Inasmuch as there are five cards of each
suit in the pack of tw enty-five, it is evident that
chance alone would yield fiv e c o r re c t hits out
o f each run of twenty-five. If the number is
c o r r e c t hits goes fa r above this, something other
than chance is operative. If enough tria ls are
made, mathematics can easily decide th is/
Several of the subjects obtained eight, ten,
fifteen, or m ore c o r re c t ca lls out of the twentyfiv e . Runs of seventeen and nineteen c o r r e c t
ca lls have been made, and on rare occa sion s
a ll twenty-five cards have been called co rre ctly .
The odds against doing this by chance are of
cou rse many billion s to one; in fact the figu res
involved have been called astron om ical. They
a re so far above chance that there is no chance
that they are chance!
L ater Tests
In the initial tests, already mentioned, the
sender looked at the cards and the re ce iv e r
called them. In later trials m ore com plicated
and difficult things w ere attempted.
One of the m ost striking of these is the
follow ing,
in which telepathy is definitely
eliminated, and only actual clairvoyance seem s
capable of explaining the results. The deck was
thoroughly shuffled as usual, and placed face
downward on the table. The subject was then
requested to name in p roper ord er all twenty133

fiv e cards. His ca lls w ere written down without

a single card being turned. Only after he had
named every one of the cards w ere they turned
o v e r and his hits and m isses checked against
the actual ord er of the cards.
Bear in mind that not a single living mind in
the entire universe knew the ord er of the cards
until their ord er was verified. Yet, in these
difficult tests, the number of c o r r e c t hits was so
great that, again, it becam e a matter of billions
to one that they could have been due to chance.
R esults Carefully Checked
A ll this has been worked over and checked by
carefu l m athem aticianssuch as Dr. Edward
V. Huntington, P ro fe ss o r of M echanics in the
Department of M athematics of Harvard Uni
versity; P ro fe ss o r Burton H. Camp, President
o f Institute of Mathematical Statistics; P ro fe ss o r
J.A . Greenwood, Instructor in Mathematics at
Duke U niversity, and so on. They have stated
that, whatever the causes involved, they w ere
certainly not coincidence and chance. Dr. Rhine
and his co-w o rk e rs believe that they have proved
by these means the existence of ex tra -sen sory
perception (ESP); that is, of telepathy and
clairvoyan ce, and perhaps other fa ctors.
In the beginning of this booklet we d iffe r
entiated between telepathy and clairvoyance,
giving the m ore or le s s cla s sic a l definitions.
W e also pointed out that these two may be only
different aspects of the sam e supernorm al
134

facultywhatever that may be. In ESP tests

the sam e subjects who s c o r e high in telepathy
s c o r e about the sam e in clairvoyance: the p e r
centages of s u cce s se s seem to run uphill and
downhill together; if they are good in one they
a re also good in the other, in proportionate
degree. This d iffers fro m older conceptions,
and throws new light on them. E xtra -sen sory
perception seem s to be a term which includes
both telepathy and clairvoyance.
Some F actors Which Influence ESP
Another interesting d iscov ery made by Dr.
Rhine and his co -w o rk e rs is that certain drugs
tend to in crease the number of c o r r e c t hits,
while other drugs tend to d ecrea se them. Sodium
Am ytal, a non-habit form ing drug, is one of
these; d oses of this drug invariably reduce the
number of c o r r e c t hits. Caffeine, on the other
hand, again brings the c o r r e c t hits up to norm al.
So, if you want to be good and p sy ch ic drink
c o ffe e !
It has also been foundas might have been
expectedthat ESP always w orks better when the
subjects are harmonious, congenial, and sym pa
thetic, and when conditions are suitable. One
striking fact brought out is that approxim ately
one person in every five is to som e degree
" p s y c h ic , in that he or she p o sse sse s a certain
amount of developable ability in ESP. This
ability is not n ecessa rily an evidence of high
intelligence, but rather of suitable temperament.
135

If it is true that p sych ic facu lties function largely

through the su perconscious mindand not
through the con sciou sthis is again what we
m^ght expect.
A great deal could be said in connection with
these important experim ents on the part o f Dr.
Rhine and his associa tes, but much has already
been written about them in the newspapers.
Experim ents in this connection have been tried
o v e r the radio, and if you wish to try these tests
y ou rself, you can do so by purchasing at a book
store a deck of ESP cards.
A pack of twenty-five officia l ESP cards can
b e obtained d irectly fro m the W ilshire Book
Company, 8721 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, C ali
forn ia 90069. P rice $1.00 postpaid.
SIMPLE TESTS TO TRY
In the preceding chapter, the ESP cards fo r
experim ents in telepathy and clairvoyance w ere
described . These experim ents are valuable and
interesting if you keep a carefu l re co rd of your
resu lts.
Two people usually make the card tests; but
a single person can try them out, keeping a
r e c o r d of his own results. ESP cards have the
advantage of perm itting you to see how you and
your subjects are getting along, and they render
score-k eep in g easy. A s we pointed out in the
precedin g chapter, chance alone would yield one
c o r r e c t hit out of five card s; fiv e c o r re c t hits
out of the entire pack of tw enty-five. If the
136

num ber of c o r r e c t hits is above this consistently,

and your experim ents have been carefully and
honestly conducted, then you are encountering
something really interesting.
T ests in Telepathy
With playing cards
It is not n ecessa ry to use
sp ecial card s; an ordinary pack of playing cards
m ay be em ployed fo r tests in telepathy. In an
ESP pack of twenty-five cards the chances of
calling a card co rre ctly are one in five. But in
an ordinary pack the chances of calling the
c o lo r of a given card as red o r black are even.
The chances of calling the c o r r e c t suit are one
in four, and calling the c o r r e c t denomination of
the card without regard to suit o r co lo r, is one
in thirteen.
Since thirteen is a large number to ca rry in
mind, you can take six cards fro m each of the
four suits of a deck of cards, making a pack of
twenty-four cards. It is best to choose the ace
to the six -sp ot and call them without regard
to suit o r co lo r.
When making tests with playing cards, place
your subject in an easy chair at one end of a
la rg e room , with his back toward you and a pad
and pencil c lo se at hand. A sk him to relax,
c lo s e his eyes, make his mind as much of a
blank as possible.
You, as sender, take your place at a table or
in another easy chair, facing your subject.
Shuffle the deck thoroughly, cut it, and look at
137

the top card, tap with a pencil to notify your

subject that you are ready. When your subject
has written down his im p ression the card
which seem s to float before his m ind's eyehe
taps with his pencil to indicate that he is ready
fo r another m essage.
You place the card, at which you have been
looking, fa ce down. The procedure is repeated
fo r the next card, and so on. When you have
gone through the cards turn the pack over and
check the ord er of the cards with the calls
record ed by the re ce iv e r.
Testing cla irv oy a n ce
A fter making experim ents in telepathy, try
som e in clairvoyance. In tests fo r clairvoyance
no one must know what the object is until after
w ards, in ord er to elim inate ordinary telepathy.
Shuffle the playing cards and place them face
down on the table. Now, without allowing anyone
to look at the cards, ask your subject to name,
say, the fir s t ten cards in the deck, counting
fro m the top down. As he ca lls them, you write
down his calls. Later, check his calls with the
actual ord er of the cards.
Or select a number fro m a bag, and ask your
subject to name it without letting anyone look at
it; o r you can devise num erous other tests.
Other Tests in Telepathy
With num bers

On sm all uniform p ieces of

138

cardboard, m ark clea rly the num bers one to ten.

P la ce these in a ibag and shuffle w ell. Extract
one cardboard, at which you, as sender, look
intently. Keep your subject s s c o r e s the sam e
as before.
D iagram s
Although tests with diagram s
a re m ore difficult and com plicated, they are
m ore interesting. Provide your subject with a
pencil and pad so that he may sketch what he
thinks he sees. You, as sender, draw something
on your own pad, avoiding sim ple geom etrical
figu res. Sketch a house, a teapot, a box, a lion,
a mountainanything which com es to mind. Try
to think of things your subject could not reason
ably guess. Be sure that the noise made by the
scratching of your pencil does not reach your
su bject s ears.
When you have finished a diagram , tap your
pencil as a signal fo r your subject to begin. Wait
until he has made his drawing before proceeding
to the next one. If several tests are tried in
su ccession , the diagram s of both sender and
re c e iv e r should be numbered.
A s an alternative, you can act as subject and
your subject can becom e the sender. Perhaps
you w ill have to try a number of people before
finding a really good subject. Patience is very
n ecessary .
Pain
The subject should be blindfolded and
his ears stuffed with cotton. Have frien ds p rick
and pinch you, the sender, in various parts of
139

your body, and see if the subject can accurately

loca te the identical areas on his own body.
O dors
V arious substancessuch as p e r
fum e, onion, cam phor, w intergreen, c lo v e s
a re held under the nose of the sender. In all
such tests it is essential that the subject be in
another room , with the door closed , so that he
cannot by any chance sm ell the substances.
These r o o m -to -r o o m tests should infactalw ays
b e tried with a good subject, who has proved
su ccessfu l in telepathic tests when he was in
the sam e room with a sender. R em em ber that,
in all such experim ents, you must allow fo r
what is known as "h yp eresth esia ; that is, highly
acute perception of the sen ses on the part of
the subject.
If a subject should perm it him self to be
hypnotized, this is an interesting experim ent to
tr y though recent tests have seem ed to show
that hypnotic subjects do not get a greater
percentage of hits than norm al subjects. Some,
how ever, may.
These are sim ple experim ents you can try
at home with som e interested friend.
But
rem em ber always that there are p ractical jok ers
everyw here, and those who w ill fo o l others fo r
the fun of fooling.

Pseudo-Telepathy
There are certain dem onstrations which are
often given and which a re thought to prove
140

telepathy. In reality they do not do so at all. In

these tests one p erson goes out of the room , and
in his absence an ob ject is hidden. When he
returns, he is told to find the ob jecta hairpin
under the rug, a pencil behind a picture, and so
on. Usually he takes the hand of som eone in the
room , c lo s e s his eyes, and walks about. If he is
su ccessfu l he finds the hidden ob ject after som e
stumbling and hesitation. Som etim es, indeed, he
seem s to go d irectly to the right spot. N ever
th eless, it is not telepathy!
Even granting that the dem onstrators a fe
honest, and that no sign al-cod e is em ployed,
still there is a norm al explanation. U nconscious
ly the person whose hand is held leads the subject
to the right spot by means of tiny, unconscious
m uscular m ovem ents. These may be so sm all
that the " le a d e r " may be, and usually is, un
aw are that he is giving any indications whatever,
and the subject may be unaware that he is r e
ceiving them. N evertheless the subject is being
im perceptibly led in the right direction, or held
back when moving in the wrong one.
Such exhibitions are known as " m u s c le rea d in g " p erform an ces, and so expert a re som e
public p erform ers, that they can go to the right
spot alm ost at once, or find a page in a book, o r
the right name in a telephone d irectory. Some
have even been able to open a com bination safe,
while holding the hand of one who knew the
com bination! Yet it is all m uscle reading, and
not true telepathy. A s long as contact is allowed,
no such experim ents can prove conclusive.
141

And even when contact is not perm itted, a

norm al explanation is p ossible! The subject
may walk a pace o r two ahead of his lead er
and yet be led through slight hesitations in
footstep s, variations in breathing, and so on
to the right place. Some p erfo rm e rs excel in
this, but they depend on cues, unconsciously
given.
While on this subject, a w ord should be
inserted regarding m ind-reading perform ances.
% fhen a p erform er undertakes in public to give
a ninety-five per cent accurate s e rie s of dem on
strations, no matter how inexplicable these may
appear, you may depend on it that they are due
to cle v e r code work.
Genuine telepathy and
clairvoyance are undoubtedly facts, but they are
uncertain and fitful in their action, and cannot
be relied on even by the best subjects.

The Wonder of Telepathy

Assum ing fo r the moment that telepathy and
clairvoyance are facts, what are their im p lica
tions, and how may be explain them? We have
already pointed out the fa r-rea ch in g con se
quences of these supernorm al phenomena, if they
a re facts. Bear in mind that these facts seem
contrary to the fundamental dogma of p sych o
lo g ica l scien ce: namely, that thought is a function
o f the brain and cannot p ersist o r function in its
absence. So ingrained has this belief becom e,
indeed, that many scien tific men today have
contended that we should cea se talking about
142

mind and body, and use only one term bod ym in d ."
M odern psychotherapythat is , the
mental treatment of d isea seis largely based on
this idea, which indeed fits in very w ell with many
of the phenomena of abnormal psychology. But
o f cou rse the b od y-m in d " dogma om its fro m
consideration altogether psych ic manifestations,
which cannot be so explained. It is all v ery w ell
to form ulate a philosophy which ign ores a whole
body of facts; but if those fa cts exist then a new
scien ce w ill have to be devised which includes
them.
If it could be shown that mind can exist and
function apart fro m a physical brain, then that
brain is not essential to thought and con
sciou sn ess.
And if the mind can exist in a
mental w orld of its own, independent of matter,
then surely there is no reason why it should
not continue to exist and function in the absence
of a physical body altogether. In other w ords,
we should have a solid basis fo r believing in
survival and im m ortality.
This is a tremendous thought! We live in a
skeptical m aterialistic age, and are accustom ed
to believe that anything which we can see and
touch and handle is real, while anything which
we cannot is unreal. Of cou rse the very rev erse
of this is the fact. Anything visible is m erely
appearance, while the reality lies behind.
Two people meet and con verse on the street,
When Mr. Smith looks at Mr. Brown, does he
really see him? Of cou rse not; he sees m erely
his clothes, his skin, his eyes, his hair. The
143

j
j

-.1

i
1
1

rea l M r. Brown is locked up in that dark cham ber

we call the skull and rem ains invisible through
out life. No person has ever seen anybody else!
An interesting thought, yet a true one. Yet that
invisible something inside you is the " r e a le s t
thing in life, since it is you, you rself!
There is something very real in the w orld,
th erefore, which is not visible o r tangible: that
is , the human mind o r spirit. It becom es m erely
a question of evidence as to whether this Som e
thing p o ss e s se s abilities which we do not
ordinarily recogn ize and use, on the one hand,
and whether it is capable of surviving the shock
and wrench of death, on the other.
P a r-R ea ch in g Im plications
This, then, is one of the fundamental im p lica
tions of telepathy and clairvoyance which are
perhaps the sim plest of psychic phenomena. One
can readily see how fa r-rea ch in g these im p lica
tions must becom e, with the acceptance of m ore
startling m anifestations!
We are accustom ed to think of the mind as
being shut up in a little box, like a squirrel in a
cage. A lexis C a rrel, great surgeon and biologist,
Nobel p rize winner, in his book Man the Unknown,
has protested against this view. He asserts that
the human sp irit is greater than its m aterial en
casem entwhich it overflow s, so to say, extend
ing beyond it in all directions.
Every tree in the fo re s t is an individual entity,
livin g a life of its own; yet all have their roots
144

in a com m on s o il which feed s and unites them.

So it is p ossib le that human life is bound to
gether in som e m ysterious way, ultim ately
united in som e spiritual w orld. The deeper
part of our nature is so implantedof which fact
our upper s e lf is quite unaware. P sychic
phenomena point very definitely in that direction.
C lairvoyance, again, shows very clea rly that
we are not lim ited, in our perceptions, to the
fiv e senses. If we have another faculty of som e
s ort, why not use rt? Would we not be just as
foolish , in refusing to do so, as the blind man
who refused to see? If we have latent abilities
within ou rselv es, why shouldn t we cultivate
them, and indeed learn m ore about them and
teach them to our children, so that they may
function on a little higher mental plane than we
do?
If we take a dog to the bedside of a sick
patient, the dog sees all that we do, p ossibly
m ore; but he is no w iser on leaving than he was
b efore. Why? Because he is a dog, and his mind
d oes not reason about the fa cts he perceives*
The human mind is infinitely superior to that of the low er anim als; and by analogy is it not
probable that there is a superior grade of mind,
as much above the ordinary human intelligence
as ours is above that of the dog? It would seem
alm ost im possible not to think so.
M odern psychology has done much to explore
the norm al con sciousness while psychiatrists
have explored the subconscious mind. But, in
addition to these two, it seem s probable that
145

there is a third side in the triangle of man:

there is a su p ercon sciou s mind too, and in
this su perconscious realm these psych ic phe
nomena occu r. Hunches, inspirations, intuitions,
telepathic im p ression spsychic phenomena of
a ll kindsthese occu r in and through this
portion of our psyche; a portion unexplored by
orthodox psychologists!
Such abilities, if cultivated, could be very
useful in our daily lives. There is, fo r instance,
one woman whose life was saved by heeding an
inner prompting. The incident occu rred during
the W orld War. At that tim e she was engaged
in government work in Washington, D .C ., and was
walking along a narrow street where buildings
w ere being erected on either side. Suddenly she
heard a voice say, Stopdon't m ove!
She
stood sto ck -still. A number of steel gird ers,
which w ere being hoisted to an upper story, fe ll
around her like jackstraw s. Had she taken a
step forw ard; o r moved the fra ction of an inch,
she would have been crushed to atom s. As it
was, she escaped without even a scratch.
If we p ossess these psychic faculties, why
should we not use them? Why should we not
cultivate the superconscious mind, thus creating
superm en and women? There are many who
believ e that the developm ent of these superior
pow ers and their p roper utilization w ill be the
next step in evolution.
If these extraordinary p ow ers exist, there
must be som e explanation fo r them. We cannot
believ e that they are totally disjointed fro m the
146

fro m the rest of nature; there must be a con

nection som ew here, though psych ic students have
as yet only the vaguest idea as to what such
connection may be. How to explain telepathy?
C lairvoyan ce?
No one in the w orld knows
though many pretend to!
T h eories about Telepathy
However various ingenious theories have
been put forw ard, and we know to som e extent
what telepathy and clairvoyance are not. A lso,
we know something as to the conditions under
which these abilities op eratejust as we know
a good deal about electricity, though there is
yet great uncertainty as to its ultimate nature.
Let us take telepathy firs t. Much as we
might be tempted to com pare this with the radio,
it is alm ost certain that there is no real
sim ila rity between the two. In w ireless, we have
a se rie s of ether waves which are transmitted
and received , and concerning which a great deal
is known. . . . Why not brain waves, which lik e
w ise travel in the ether, only probably much
sh orter and le s s powerful than the radio w aves?
Why is one essentially m ore m ysterious than
the other?
W ell, there are many reasons. In the fir s t
place, there are no special sending or trans
mitting centers in the brain which might be
com pared in any way to a sending or receiving
set in radio. No areas even suggest this. Then,
no instrumental tests thus fa r made, even with
147

the m ost delicate record in g apparatus, have

detected such hypothetical brain-w aves.
Again, all physical radiations like those in
radio lose their power very rapidly, decreasing
with the square of the distance, in accordance
with a well-known physical law. No such law
seem s to apply to telepathic transm ission, since
transference seem s to be effected as readily
between Calcutta and London as between two
room s in the sam e house. F o r these and other
reason s, therefore, psychic students have com e
to the tentative conclusion that telepathy does not
depend on any fo rm of physical (ether) tran s
m ission, but must be due to som e purely psychic
law. A m entiferous ether has been suggested,
but of this we know nothing as yet.
The only thing which can be said, thus fa r, is
that, just as gravitation seem s to hold together
a ll the matter in the universe by som e un
detectable law of its own, so it is p ossible that
a ll life may somehow be bound together by som e
s o rt of spiritual gravitation, and that life has
the power of manifesting itself to life, by som e
means as yet unknown. However, inasmuch as
Einstein and his follow ers have now questioned
the fo r c e of gravity, we seem to be as fa r r e
m oved fro m any final solution as ever!
Evidently, telepathy must operate in som e
mental o r spiritual w orld of its own, accordin g
to its own laws, as to which we are still co m
pletely in the dark. It is true that A frican witch
d octors claim to be able to em ploy telepathy at
148

w ill, but their ideas as to how it really operates

seem as hazy as our own.
T h eories about Clairvoyance
And if this be true of telepathy, it is even
m ore true of clairvoyance. F or here we have
phenomena m ore incom prehensible still!
A
subject, seated in a chair, can apparently see
and d escrib e events which are transpiring at
that very moment hundreds of m iles away.
When som e of Dr. Rhine s subjects co r re c tly
named every card in a pack, before a single
card was turned, what happened then? Can we
assum e that something issued from the sub
je c t s mind, got in between every card in turn,
seeing the surface of the top card, and enabling
the subject to name it? It would be preposterous
to think so. And yet the fa cts are there! How
a re we to explain them?
Theosophists, it is true, have advanced
ingenious theories to explain clairvoyance. They
have postulated the help of som e outside mind or
entity, either human or subhuman, which helps
in the perception; o r the construction of a sort
o f telescop e o r tube com posed of astral
m atter. Some have suggested that the subject s
sp irit tem porarily separates fro m his body and
v isits the distant scene, returns, and rep orts
what is happening there.
But all these explanations are purely theo
retica l, and fa r rem oved fro m the conceptions of
ordinary scien ce. The explanation is yet to be.
149

found, though psych ic students fe e l confident

that som e such explanation w ill one day be found.
A ll these problem s constitute part of the scien ce
o f the future. That is why we fe e l that psychical
re se a rch is indeed the com ing s cie n ce the
scie n ce of the next century.
M ore Advanced Phenomena
There are many interesting extensions and
ram ifications of telepathy and clairvoyance,
once the reality of these abilities are granted
and established.
F or instance, many years ago, Dr. E rm acora,
of Padua, Italy, conducted a number of exp eri
ments in the telepathic production of dream s in
a subject. He asked the subject to keep a ca r e
ful re co rd of her dream s, writing them out
every morning, im m ediately on awakening. He
him self w illed her to dream on a certain
night a certain dream of an unusual character.
Sure enough, it was found that she had on many
occa sion s dream ed the very dream he had
w illed her to dream as a com parison of
their notes showed.
Then, there are many ca ses of coincidental
dream s, where two o r m ore people have dream ed
exactly the sam e thing the sam e night. Som e
tim es these coincidental dream s have been
spontaneous, and som etim es they have been
intentionally produced.
Such ca ses a re very
interesting, when they occu r, rem inding one of

150

P eter Ibbetson, and his experiences in drearn

ing tru e.
Even m ore startling than these are ca ses in
which one person has w illed that he appear to
another, and has actually been seen by that other
p erson at the moment the experim ent was being
tried. These are ca ses of s o -c a lle d exp eri
mental apparitions, and quite a number of these
have been su ccessfu lly attempted. The follow ing
is an example of a case of this character, r e
ported by an Englishman, the Reverend W illiam
Stainton M oses:
One evening I resolved to appear to Z. at
som e m iles distance. I did not inform him
beforehand of the intended experim ent, but
retired shortly b efore midnight with my
thoughts intently fixed on Z ., with whose
room s and surroundings I was quite un
acquainted.
I soon fe ll asleep, and awoke
next m orning unconscious of anything having
taken place.
On seeing Z. a few days afterw ards, I
inquired, Did anything happen at your room s
on Saturday night? Y e s , he replied, a
great deal happened. I had been sitting over
the fir e with M., smoking and chatting. About
12:30 he arose to leave, and I let him out
m yself. I returned to the fir e to finish my
pipe, when I saw you sitting in the chair just
vacated by him. I looked intently at you, and
then took up a newspaper to assu re m yself
that I was not dream ing; but on laying it down

151

j
]

I
j

I saw you still there. While I gazed, without

speaking, you fa d ed away.
In many of the record ed ca ses, however, the
subject w illing to appear has been actually
con sciou s at the tim e, and aware of the fact that
he was being seen . In these ca ses we have the
record ed testim ony of both p erson s, mutually
aware of what was transpiring.
A ll these and many sim ila r ca ses seem to
show us that thoughts are indeed things. and
that mind is a greater reality than we know. It
is indeed the great C reator. B efore abrid ge o r
a building can be erected, it must exist in the
mind of the architect. No w ork of art ever found
exp ression unless it had fir s t been conceived in
the mind of the artist. So it has been contended,
this universe and all that it contains must have
been conceived in the great C osm ic Mind, before
finding m aterial expression. We are thus led to
the sou rce and fountainhead of all life and mind,
as the result of our studies in p sych ic scie n ce
that neglected and despised field, which is never
th eless destined, as many of us believe to
revolutionize our conception and understanding
o f the universe.
This a rticle is an excerpt fro m the book Mental
Telepathy Explained by H ereward Carrington.
A com plete copy may be obtained by sending
$2.00 to Z ola r, 33 W. 60th St., New York, N .Y.,
10023.

152

MEDIUMSHIP
Just as genius is a gift, so is rnediumship.
Mediumship is a p r ice le s s gift to count
le s s m illions of people but its p resen ce is
unknown in m ost cases, because means of dev
elopment and unfoldment have never been uti
lized . This gift reveals itself in a sm all p e r
centage of ca ses only.
Everyone p o sse sse s 'p sy ch ic p ow ers , m ore
o r le s s developed. This is m anifest in 'sen sing
o r 'feelin g' spirit fo r c e s , o r the thought in
fluences of the living. This phase of medium
ship is known as intuition, and the sou rce
of knowledge may be fro m either the spirit w orld,
o r fro m friends among the living. If the in for
mation is fro m discarnate sp irits, the intu
ition can be described as clairaudience or c la ir
voyance. However, if the 'sen sin g' is created
by a living soul, it is m ore com m only known
as 'mental telepathy , which is a very com mon
occurance.
'Hunches is a very good descriptive w ord

fo r intuition. With the spiritualized individual,

hunches are invariable c o r r e c t and should be
heeded. Intuition is the reception of an im p re s
sion not a convictionsensed.
In truth, in
tuition or the reception of knowledge in this
manner is accom plished by a sixth sense, as
it functions without the aid of any of our r e
cognized fiv e norm al senses. The sixth sense
is not supernorm al or supernatural.
It is
m erely a sense not yet definitely understood by
m ost people. It is a definate part of our liv e s
much m ore important than we dare realize.
It is a protecting element in our liv e s a guid
ing fo r c e against danger, directed by s p irit
ualized fo r c e s and thoughts of our frien ds,
living and dead.
P erson s that continually re ce iv e hunches'
o r telepathic flash es are strongly psychic, and
should develop this wonderful faculty. If you
a re readily im p ressed by the thoughts of others,
living o r dead, then you are said to be a sen
sitiv e ', being highly susceptible to these s p i r
itual vibrations.
You are within the reach
o f true mediumship, altho all sensitives do not
make su ccessfu l mediums.
If you p o ss e s s the gift of mediumship
If you are a sensitive, then development and
unfoldment should follow . The ability of m ed
iumship is a giftits p ractice can only be a ccom
plished by unfoldment.
This unfoldment r e
quires patience, diligent effort, p ractice,
and faith.
Training, p ractice, experience all contribute
to the ultimate su ccess of the medium. Just
154

as a d octor is required to spend yea rs erf

effort in the attainment of a d egree, the medium
must likew ise toil. If the d octor is to prove
su ccessfu l, it is because he p ossessed the
gift , which was consequently developed. P r o
ficie n cy is always a resu lt of repetition of
sin cere effort. This we must always rem em ber
in our quest fo r mediumship.
PHASES OF MEDIUMSHIP
There a re many phases of mediumship, and
strange, the ch oice of these phases of m ed
iumship is not left to us. Many good sensitives
may select a particular type of mediumship,
and prove an utter failu re at it, while ex
trem ely su ccessfu l in another phase. If you
a re endowed with mediumship, it w ill be ev i
dent in som e highly specialized form . T h ere
fo r e , sin cere sensitives seeking mediumship
should try to develop one o r m ore phases by
attempting the entire catagory of mediumship!
You cannot decide your kind of mediumship.
Many people fa il in their quest fo r medium
ship because they select som e special type of
w ork, and attempt to develop. With discouraging
resu lts, they assum e they do not p ossess the
gift of mediumship, and their efforts cease.
Some do not stop to consider that they do p ossess
p ossib ilities along other types of mediumship.
Their efforts, while sin cere, w ere m eagre at
tem pts. Just as there are many phases of m ed
icin e, which o ffe r outstanding su ccess to certain

individuals because they are adapted to that

particular kind of work, the sam e may be
said of mediumship. T h erefore, in developing
try the entire catagory of mediumship, and thus
learn what particular field you are w ell adapted
to p ractice.
The range of mediumship can be divided in
to ten important classifcation s, and many m inor
division s.
Only the m ore important w ill be
considered in this volume.
1The m ost important division is that of
the d irect v oice medium, who secu res and r e
produ ces with his or her vocal cord s the voices
o f departed spirits, which may be heard and
recogn ized by others present. This m anifes
tation o ccu rs while the medium is in a trance,
and the body controlled by sp irit fo rc e . Many
tim es the trumpet is em ployed, especially if
the voices are weak. This instrument appears
to add strength, and volume to the v oices.
2M aterialization: The actual reproduction
o f discarnate spirits, visible to the naked eye
o f spectators, and real to their senses of touch.
The phenomena is wide and varied. The fig
ure appears in substance, ofttim es speaking
and delivering m essages.
3Ethereal
M aterialization: The actua
production of astral fo rm s , appearing to be
solid, but without substance. Vapory fo rm s ,
ofttim es transparent. Ectaplasm is a fo rm of
ethereal m aterialization.
4 Clairaudience: M essages fro m departed
sp irits, heard only by the medium, who repeat
156

them with her own voice fo r the benefit of

those present, and seeking m essages. Usu
ally practiced while in a trance, but many
sensitive hear the v oices of their beloved ones
while in m erely a passive state. A popular
fo rm of mediumship.
5Autom atic writing: M essages written by
the hand of the medium, but directed by spirit
fo r c e . Lengthy m essages are secu red in this
manner.
This phase of mediumship also in
cludes the planchette and the ou ija-board, which
a re m echanical aids.
The phenomena is the
sam e in all cases, the sp irit fo r c e s directing
the movement of the spelling.
6Independent slate writing: The appear
ance of m essages fro m the departed souls on
alates that have not been touched with human
hands.
This phase of mediumship is lim ited
to few people, and usually requ ires two or m ore
people, using their com bined fo r c e s , to obtain
satisfactory results.
7Healing:
The healing and mending of the
sick and diseased, through the spiritual fo r c e s
of near and dear ones on the other side . This
phase of mediumship appears to be endowed at
birth, and usually makes itself evident without
attempts to develop.
8Spirit Photography: Actual photographs
o f m aterialized fo rm s and m anifestations. A
sp ecialized fo rm of mediumship. Seldom a re
other phases granted the sp irit photographer.
9 Inspirational W ork:
Includes beautiful
paintings on canvas without the aid of human
157

hands.
M usical selection s, litera ry efforts,
poetry and oratory, inspired by strong spirit
guides and spiritual genius.
10M iscellaneous: Various m anifestations,
such as raps, table tipping, levitation, contact
with spirit fo r c e s , movement of inanimate ob
je c ts , etc., etc.
It is true m ost mediums p o ss e s s m ore than
one phase of mediumship. H owever, you must
accep t and be contented with the pow ers that are
unfolded.
Be thankful fo r what you receiv e.
A ll sensitives o r p sych ics w ill not make
m edium s.
No one can p redict your su ccess
as a medium.
You must learn fo r you rself
if you p ossess the wonderful gift of mediumship
by seeking it.
Conditions of the Seance
If the power of mediumship lies dormant
within, and you are sin cere in your efforts,
s u cce s s w ill follow . Your sin cerity of effort
w ill be rewarded, and make your goal m ore
easy to attain. I w ill give you instructions that
should be carefu lly heeded in your development.
C lose observance of these rules w ill enable
you to benefit by the experiences and m is
takes o f others that have gone before you.
It is best to seek mediumship in the com
pany of a developed medium, as they are able
to draw the fo r c e s to you, lending strength.
H owever, a developing medium is not essential
to your su ccess.
158

The best resu lts are usually obtainable when

two o r m ore people seek spiritual enfoldment
at the sam e tim e. There is strength in their
union. If two people are to develop together,
they should sit opposite each other in the seance
room .
Three people should fo rm a triangle,
and four or m ore people form a restricted
c ir c le .
The greater number of sin cere sen
sitiv es in the c ir c le , the better results w ill
be obtained.
Antagonistic thoughts are very
injurious, and retard p rog ress.
Seances of developm ent efforts should be
held as near the same tim e daily, and weekly,
and convenient, and always in the sam e room .
A ll light should be excluded fro m the room ,
and absolute quiet maintained. Light, whether
natural or artificial, is too positive and retards
spiritual fo rc e s . Darkness is negative and r e
presents our sensitive sen ses, and is always
productive of better resu lts, especially with
sinsitives in the period of development. Seances
should be held at night.
Seances should be lim ited to one hour,
least they becom e a drain upon the nervous
system . Two o r three seances weekly are suf
ficien t. Those present should occupy the same
ch airs and positions on each occa sion after
su ccessfu l resu lts have been abtained. If man
ifestations are not forthcom ing after several
attempts, the positions of the sitters should be
changed. This is quite important.
The room should be absolutely fre e from
any disturbing n oises, such as the ticking of
159

a clock . Rocking chairs should be dispensed

with, as they create n oises, and do not p e r
m it the proper posture of the sitter.
It is essential that all present in the deve
loping room are sin cere and firm b eliev ers
in spiritualism .
That their thoughts be in
a c c o r d with your thoughts and your efforts to
establish com m unication with the departed.
One contradictory o r antagonistic thought w ill
do m ore to destroy and retard the sin cere
efforts of the sensitives than any other one
so u rce. That is the reason why test seances
are seldom su ccessfu l. Investigating bodies,
many of which are in good faith, do not appre
ciate this condition. They a re prejudiced b e
fo r e the seance is started, and consequently
few resu lts can be expected unless the medium
is exceptional and has excellent spiritual sup
port. A ll minds must be receptive, expectant,
hopeful!
Do not concentrate! Concentration plays no
part in the com munication with departed spirits.
On the contrary, allow ypur minds to becom e
passive. Banish all thoughts, liberate all w or
r ie s . Leave your mind a blanka receptacle
fo r the spiritual fo r c e s .
Make you rself r e
ceptive and susceptible to the fo r c e s of others.
A void dwelling upon any one thought. Be c a r e
fu l to not becom e positive, anxious or strained.
Be natural.
Relax mentally, and physically.
A void any distressin g thoughts, anger and
m elancholy.
Keep a cheerful fram e of mind.
Singing, at intervals, is very helpful, and used
160

by m ost m edium s in developing cla s se s , as it

p la ces the m em bers of the c ir c le in a happier
and m ore cheerful fram e of mind- The songs
need not be sacred
songs. Singing creates
a m ore frien dly atm osphere, and is attractive
to the spiritual fo r c e s .
'
M em bers o f the c ir c le should sit upright,
but com fortable, with both feet on the flo o r .
The crossin g of the feet, o r slouching in a
ch air in terferes with the bodily currents, and
tends to break and retard the fo r c e s . The sit
te r s need not hold hands.
It is w ell that you seek a particular kind
o f mediumship. Ask fo r it, expect it, but do
not let the thought dwell in your mind. If
you are seeking trumpet work, then you must
have a trumpet near at hand, and the sam e may
be said of automatic writing, o r any phase of
m ediumship that requ ires m aterial objects.
Clairaudience and clairvoyance are apparently
the easiest developed phases of mediumship,
because they are the m ost prevalent.
Having abided by with these sim ple conditions
of the seance, you may now await the gradual
unfoldment and the appearance of the actual
m anifestations.
M anifestations
When several are d e v e lo p in g / and under
the conditions that I have p rescrib ed , it is
difficult indeed to predict'the various m anifes
tations that may occu r.
It is lik ely that no
161

two people w ill experience the sam e sensa

tions all through the seance! Again, certain
m anifestations may be apparent to all present.
There is no set rule.
Elaborate resu lts should not be expected
fro m the early seances. There may com e ra p pings in the various parts of the room . Lights
o r flash es may appear, and even vaporous fig
u res. The seeing of these objects may be ex
perien ced only by a lim ited few, but when
sounds or v oices are produced, usually they
a re heard by every m em ber of the c ir c le .
A co o l refreshing draught of air may sweep
the room .
Various sitters can fe e l actual
contact with the spirit fo r c e s , caressin g their
hands and fa ces.
Quite often nothing o c c u rs at a seance!
The outcom e is often discouraging, but you
must have patience. Some people develop in
a few eveningsothers require months and
y ea rs, whole others spend their life tim e in
vain attempt to conquer mediumship!
In the early attempts to establish commun
ication, it is w ell to try som e of the le s s
difficult tests, such as table rapping, and tab
le tipping.
The table should be a light one, such as
a card table, and placed in the middle of the
seance room .
A ll m em bers of the c ir c le
should place the finger tips on the top of the
table, and if su ccessfu l, the tapping w ill start.
The table w ill move or tip, causing one or
m ore legs to r is e fro m the flo o r and return,
162

accom panied by a knocking sound. This phen

om ena is known as table tipping.
By agreem ent, it can be decided that one
knock is fo r y e s , and two knocks fo r n o,
and in that way you can establish com muni
cation, and acquire knowledge fro m this m ys
teriou s sou rce.
Table rapping is accom plished in like man
n er.
The finger tips are placed on the table
top, and all m em bers of the c ir c le becom e pas
sive. The question to be answered by the raps
may be asked aloud. A distant knock can often
b e heard in answer. The raps may com e from
the table* o r any place in the room . A ll s it
te r s should have their finger tips on the table.
If com plicated questions are involved, the
table may be requested to sp ell out the in for
mation by means of the alphabet, rapping once
fo r A , twice fo r B, thrice fo r C, and so forth.
This, of cou rse, is a lengthy and tiresom e
p r o c e s s , and unless satisfactory resu lts are
forthcom ing, the seance should be discontinued
without further urging.
M aterialization, Trances
Trance seances are of great interest to
everyone, and m ost mediums asp ire to be trance
o r m aterializing m edium s, and to bring again
to life the voices of the departed, or to m ater
ia lize these souls.
F o r this work, the trumpet is usually em
ployed.
The best type of trumpet is the a l

uminum trumpet,
and it should be placed
near the medium, who should be seated. The
medium enters the trance by placing the mind
in a passive state, and allowing the spiritual
fo r c e s to take command of her body, and v o
ca l cord s, which reproduce the spirit voices
thru the m edium 's mouth, o r thru the trumpet
without em ploying the m edium 's vocal cord s.
In som e ca ses, the trumpet w ill float about
the room , ca rried by spiritual fo r c e s , d eliv
erin g m essages to the spectators.
Som etim es the medium w ill speak d irectly
thru the trumpet, in ord er to gather strength
fro m the fo r c e s . M ost mediums have a guide,
upon which they depend fo r the m ost mani
festations.
The trumpet adds volume to the
w eaker v oices.
M ost mediums have several
guides, tho one is always m ore prominent.
Trumpet seances are usually p erform ed in
a darkened room , and the medium sitting in
a cabinet.
H ere, I speak of fully developed
m ediums.
M aterialization is perhaps the m ost d iffi
cult phase of all mediumship.
It requ ires
great physical strength and faith, and few p o s
s e s s this wonderful gift. Som etim es a figure
w ill appear as in flesh, and may be touched
and ca ressed as w ell as visualized.
Other
tim es they appear as a ghostly form , without
substance.
Some mediums cause their own
physical body to" be p ossessed by the spirit,
and assum e a marked physical resem blance.
H owever, this phase is very ra re, and extrem e
ly dangerous.
164

P ractically all m aterialization transpires in

a darkened seance room . The reasons I have
already explained. Light is an extrem e shock
to any sensitive o r medium in a trance and o f
ten produces fearful resu lts. If the room is
flooded -with light while the medium is under
con trol, the sudden appearance of the light
d rives the fo r c e s back into the medium withr
such rapidity that a dreadful shock is exper
ienced.
Care should be taken to avoid such
occu ra n ces of this kind.
The lights should
be turned on gradually after the medium has
em erged from the trance.
There should be
no haste. No excitement.
Some mediums do not rally readily fro m the
trance. This is a natural condition, and does
not warrant alarm . Do not throw cold water
on the medium, or apply cold towels. Such
action is very harmful.
Continue upon the
fo r c e s of the sitters and thus strengthen the
medium. Gentle slapping som e tim es hastens
the end of the trance.
Singing soothes the
n erves of a ll present, draws upon the sp irit
ual fo r c e s and lends strength to the medium.
V isions
Everyone has experienced 'v is io n s .' These
are created by either som e spiritual fo r c e s ,
o r thoughts received by the subconscious mind
by living frien ds. Such visions usually appear
at night, just before sleep overtakes the indi
vidual, because the mind is m ost passive and
165

susceptible to such vibrations. These vision s

appear real, and in som e ca se s, a re real.
The presen ce of many sp irit frien ds appear
ing in dream s, o r just before sleep has been
record ed . Oft tim es they bring frien dly g reet
ings, but many tim es their m ission is to warn
o f som e impending disaster.
Many people experience prenom inations. A
feelin g that something w ill occu r, a death
o f a friend o r lover. At the moment of death,
when the sp irit o r soul is leaving the earth
body, this soul ofttim es appears fo r an instant
in one last farew ell to its loved ones. Where
intense loves had existed, this is a com mon
occurance.
V isions, such as these, are a fo rm of c la ir
voyance, o r seeing by psych ic sense. Some
m edium s a re able to enter trances, and travel
to all parts of the w orld, d escribing conditions
and occu ran ces, through this clairvoyance fa c
ulty.
Other people experience v o ic e s , bring m es
sages to them. That phase is known as ' cla ir audience o r hearing with the psych ic sense.
The reading o f card s fo r past and future
events is regarded as fortune telling. System
of placing the cards are used, and the suit and
value of the cards is supposed to denote va r
ious com plications. Such system s, if follow ed
to the letter, a re m ere gam es, and produce
valueless inform ation. H ow ever, on the other
nand there are som e card rea d ers who give
valuable information, but this inform ation does
166

not com e fro m the card s, but is a product

o f elairvoyancy, clairaudience o r mental te le
pathy fro m som e living soul. They are guided
b y their intuition, the card s m erely proving
a background fo r their thoughts.
In crystal gazing, another system is used.
This is a fo rm of clairvoyance, as the visions
apparently appear in the crysta l, and are a
product of concentration. The astral body is
p rojected to a point, gathers the information,
which i s visualized in the crysta l.
C rystal
gazing is a definite form of mediumship, and
the knowledge derived fro m gazing may be fro m
either the sp irit w orld, or fro m living frien ds.
Crystal gazing is a study in itself, but I
have included som e instructions here fo r the
benefit bf those who are interested in this
phase of mediumship.
Healing
Healing is a gift indeed, and endowed in
few people.
It is usually present in people
at birth, and seldom requ ires development,
It seem s to b lossom forth like the good deeds
it represents, and makes itself evident in ea r
ly life.
The sign of Leo, July 22d to August 22d,
produces many wonderful magnetic healers and
nurses.
They seem to be able to quiet the
s ick and diseased by their p resen ce; to have a
thorough understanding of the pain and sufferings
of others, and a re able to c o r r e c t and m odify

these conditions.
L eo people make excellent
physicians and nurses.
P ow ers of mediumship, when present, can
be developed.
Once acquired, one can do a
great deal of good and bring blessin gs to count
le s s people.
The gift of mediumship should
never be prostituted, lest it be lost forev er.
Many mediums lose this gift fo r no apparent
reason after many years of se rv ice .
It is a mistake to try to convince the hardb oiled skeptic of spiritualism .
It is not the
w ishes o f our frien ds in the sp irit w orld that
we accept their challenges, submit to trying
and difficult conditions fo r the m ere sake of
'show ing som eone.
Let us p roceed with our work, with joy
in our hearts, and with knowledge that we are
doing a wonderful work.
Y ears of effort in any field take their toil.
This is also true with mediumship. It is a drain
on the body, and the nervous system . However,
with the right living, we are able to restore
and rebuild our fo r c e s . This is accom plished
by constructive thinkingsatisfaction in knowing
that our work is appreciated, and our reward
w ill be happiness.
Meditation is the great healing power to the
sensitive.
Assum e a quiet state of m in d let the spiritual fo r c e s of your departed frien ds
rejuvenate your exhausted system . A few min
utes a day in meditation w ill reward you t r e
mendously.
168

If your efforts to attain any phase of m ed

iumship fail, you still have gained.
Even
though you may not be able to produce phy
s ica l manifestations or com m unications with
the departed, you have spiritualized your body,
and w ill have gained spiritually. Your reward
w ill be great, tho your failure be discouraging.

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169

CRYSTAL GAZING

Crystal Gazing, or crystal Scrying, as it

is com m only called when applied to induction
o f visual hallucinations, by concentration or
steadily gazing into such as a solid glass or
quartz crystal, o r a sphere shaped ball with
a clea r interior, is not a new invention o r a
fad fo r foretellin g the future o r development of
the mental pow ers.
The Science of crystal
gazing, which is one form of scrying, dates
back alm ost to the Scriptial account of the
Creation of Man.
It is generally assumed that Crystal Gazing
had its origin in Egypt. A large number of
beautiful crysta ls w ere found in the ruins of
the old temple of Hathor in upper Dendara,
Egypt, and historians and scien tists tell us
that this tem ple was in existence over six
thousand years before the Christian era. We
can trace this and other methods of obtaining
hallucinatory pictures back to the Middle A ges.
A short referen ce to the h istorical facts
regarding crystal gazing and the w orld-w ide
170

u se of the crystal w ill be made here to better

acquaint the reader with this w orld -old scien ce.
Various methods of scrying has been traced
to the Fourth Century, A.D . During the C la ss
ic a l and Middle A ges, crysta ls w ere em ployed
by the G reeks and Romans as a fo rm of d ivi
nation. Definite data is available to show the
actual use of m ir ro r s to fo re s e e their variousproph ecies. H owever, our chief sou rce of know
ledge of Continental crystal gazing in the Mid
dle Agex is the Faust literature. The m ost
^authentic book is the Hollenzwang, four chapters
dealing with crystal gazing and allied subjects.
In Egypt, we learn that the gazer or seer
placed a spot of ink in the palm of the hand,
but that it was n ecessa ry that the prophet or
gazer go through a certain long form ulae in
which it was n ecessa ry to obtain a child in
the period of adolesence to do the gazing.
A ccord in g to Mustadah, the Pharoahs had a
sim ila r instrument in which they w ere able to
d isco v e r the state of distant provinces and
w ere able to provide against fam ines.
Among various tribes of the West Indies,
the liv er of an animal was used as a point
o f concentration fo r scryin g purposes. This,
like the scryin g of the Egyptians, was a ccom
panied by a very long form ulae, or serv ice,
in which it required a p eriod of nearly two
yea rs before the party who did the scrying
could obtain the visions. C rystal gazing had
its equivalent among the original Indian tribes
of North A m erica, and is practiced today by the
rem m ants of the Indians in the Far West.
171

Further examination of various h istorical

w orks, which tend to deal with this subject,
inform us that during the Ninth Century many
p ictu res and illustrations w ere obtained by
scryin g, and even the v oices and the tread of
the ch aracters, it is claim ed, w ere som etim es
heard.
(This is a form of clair-a u d ien ce.)
During the Twelfth Century, cups and basins
fille d with water obtained fro m stream s that
w ere regarded as holy, w ere in vogue. M ir
r o r s and other bright ob jects, such as sw ords,
which som etim es becam e part of the g a zer
equipment, and the general populace claim ed
that they w ere p ossessed with machinations of
the devil.
In a publication of the Fourteenth Century,
during which period scrying had becom e quite
popular, we read that nearly all scryin g was
accom plished by the aid of quartz crysta ls,
and with b ery ls, highly polished.
It gained
quite a prominent place in both the hom es of
the rich and poor.
In this period, we learn
that the crystal was concentrated before use,
and then placed among v e sse ls containing in
cense.
By the Fifteenth Century, scryin g with c r y
stals had w ell established itself, and from that
p eriod to the present day, it has developed in
to its present form . During this tim e num er
ous interview s w ere held with s e e rs who in
form ed their subjects as to future and the things
that might com e to pass when God s wrath
should fall upon them. At tim es the popularity
172

of scryin g diminished, only to flou rish in som e

other country.
It is interesting to note the universal use
o f the crystal all through the past centuries
and note its prom inence today. C rystal gazing
achieved great popularity in the British Isles
during the Fourteenth Century, and has main
tained that popularity to this day. Today in
Japan, it is claim ed that every home has its
crysta l, and it is consulted on all subjects
con sidered important. C rystal gazing has been
.definitely traced to the Enahlayi and Apache
trib es of New South W ales, quartz crysta ls
being made, polished and used. In W est A us
tralia the boylya or M edicine Man invokes
the crystal to d e scry the result of distant ex
peditions, with rem arkable su cce s s recorded.
Am ong the Fijians, the crysta l is em ployed by
the p riests to recov er stolen goods, believing
the im age of the thief w ill be reflected in the
crysta l.
In New Zealand the m ore civilized
M aori tribes use a drop of blood fo r a point
o f concentration. The value is not the blood,
but in the mental apprehension induced by
the concentration.
In South A m erica, the Huilli treasu re seek
e r s look earnestly fo r the object of their search
into a sm ooth slab of stone, usually black.
S cry ers are known as shamans in Siberia and
East Russia, where v e sse ls of liquid a re em
ployed. The p ra ctice of crysta l gazing has been
prom inent in M exico and Peru fo r many cen
tu ries. Quartz crysta ls, called zatzum (mean
173

ing clea r stone) are used in Yucatan, and it

is said that nearly every village p o sse sse s
one of these p reciou s stones.
C rystal gazing has reached a very high
state of efficien cy in India and Arabia. Auth
entic stories of wonderful divination feats are
told by reliable tra velers fro m these lands.
The Mohammedans of India em ploy the mag
i c m ir r o r , very much sim ila r to the crystal,
the only difference being the shape.
This
art is extensively practiced by the Y ogis and
Sunnecasses, being, in a way, part of their
religion. The p ra ctice is w idespread in China,
em ployed there in the apprehension of c r im
inals.
H istory re co rd s the existence of a
crysta l among the B erbers, at the tim e of
the G reek Em pire.
Literature prepared and
written by the learned Dr. Dee, s cr y e r to
Queen Elizabeth is still in existence.
The
h istoric crystal used by Dr. Dee, the A s tr o
lo g e r to Queen Elizabeth, (and Dr. D ee s
divinations, it must be borne in mind helped
make history) is p reserved in the British
museum.
Other r e co rd s state that A ristole
made a crysta l, which was em ployed by A lex
ander the Great.
C olossus of Rhodes, h is
to ry re co rd s ca rried a crystal continually.
H ercules placed a crysta l on a tower by which
he could see ships in the distant seas.
Scientific resea rch has established the fact
that the w orld over, men of different ra ces
have made the d iscov ery that pictures or
vision s may be seen in a speculum of som e
174

clea r depth, which has led to an alm ost uni*v ersa l use of the crystal, as we know it today.
In Room Two of the North gallery, second
flo o r , of the Chicago A rt Institute is the fam
ous $500,000.00 collection of Gazing C rystals,
said to be the finest in the country. A rrayed
am id surroundings w eird, peaceful and im p res
sive enough to satisfy the m ost ardent seeker
of the past or future. The collection is noted
fo r its p erfect specim ens. It was presented
to the Chicago A rt Institute by the form er
p r esident of the F irst National Bank of Chicago,
Samuel M. N ickerson, and his w ife. The amount
expended while traveling in gathering this
splendid collection was about half a m illion
d ollar.
C rystals are in constant use in thousands
of house-holds, used fo r the developm ent of
the mental pow ers, as an aiding factor to con
centration and as a fo rm of divination. P rom
inent men and women of all walks of life con
sult their crystal dailyseeking solutions to
perplexing problem s. Science has recognized
the efficien cy of the crysta l as an aid to con
centration thousands are attaining su ccess by
their ability to concentrate. Concentration
means s u c c e s s su ccess means concentration.
The Pow er o f Concentration
The attention of the reader and student is
called to the pre-em inent fact that crystal
gazing is a d irect aid to concentration, and
175

that a period of concentration must exist b e

fo r e crystal gazing can be conducted with
any degree of s u ccess.
In so much as con
centration is p ractically the fir s t step in c r y
stal gazing, this lesson w ill be devoted to con
centration, its power and p ossib ilities.
Concentration may be defined as directing
the mind to one and only one thought, or
causing the mind to becom e blank, and to r e
tain no thought whatsoever, leaving it su scep
tive to any thought that it may receiv e. The
last va ries slightly fro m a strict definition^
but conveys an additional meaning that will
be used throughout this cou rse of lesson s.
You cannot concentrate your mind on m ore
than one thought at a tim e, because concentra
tion means all thoughts converging into one.
A line of distinction may be drawn between
"thinking and concentration , concentration
m erely being an advanced step, o r thinking
m ore earnestly.
A greater mental effort is
n ecessa ry fo r concentration than thinking.
Did you ever have a name o r thought
on the end of your tongue, and couldn t
fo r the life of you name it?
You realized
you KNEW the name, but couldn t r e ca ll it
fr o m your m em ory. You w ere thinking of the
name, and because it eluded,you and your de
s ir e to r e ca ll it becam e m ore stronger (for
your own satisfaction perhaps), you thought
m ore intently, directing all your mental fo r c e s
on this hidden thoughtand presently it cam e
to you.
What mental p r o ce s s took p la ce ?
176

concentration. The fact rem ains that the sub

con sciou s mind retains a ll knowledge while life
e x ists, and that concentration is the fa ctor
that w ill establish a connection fro m the sub
con sciou s to the con sciou s mind. Some tim es
our efforts a re not sufficient to re c a ll such
a hidden thought, but sooner o r later it w ill
com e to u swith a little effort, whether con
sciou s o r unconsciously.
Let me again repeat that all knowledge
gained by any individual fro m birth to the grave
_is retained by the subconscious mind, and
m ay be drawn upon at w ill. If you have ex
perienced the m isfortune of having m isplaced
a valuable ring, or papers, or any object, all
that is n ecessa ry is to establish a connection
to your subconscious mind, asking it fo r this
inform ation. You may not p erceiv e the answer
im m ediately, but step by step you can r e fre s h your m em ory by intently thinking (con centration).
This is a fact established and
recogn ized by scien ce.
The purpose of this book is to teach you
a sim ple method fo r refreshing your m em ory;
fo r training it to think m ore efficiently, and
to establish facts that have occu rred in the
past and occu rren ces that w ill transpire in
the future. Stop! Concentrate now on my la s t
few lines. R ealize the wonderful p ossib ilities
that concentration opens fo r youa vulnerable
Aladdin s Lamp!
Do you wish to find a lost or m issing a r
t ic le ? Do you wish a m ore fruitful m em ory?
177

Do you wish to know the future? Do you wish

to instill greater selfconfidence? Do you wish
all the m agnificanee that Nature has endowed
upon you? Do you wish health, happiness and
s u c ce s s ? Then learn to concentrate, fo r con
centration is the solution to the attainment of
all d esires.
People who find it difficult to concentrate
o r those who are easily diverted fro m a con
tinuous train of thoughts of any problem by
disturbing noises should p ra ctice reading and
writing in public p laces.
If the mind is_
easily distracted by the talking going on around
them, they should determ ine that it shall hence
forth NOT influence them. They should men
tally affirm that they are m asters of the s it
uation and they w ill not hear except what they
wish to hear.
By repeated efforts, su ccess
w ill com e.
Another good method of concentration is the
system atic attempts made every evening to go
over the experiences of the day mentally and
try to r e ca ll as many as p ossible.
Begin
with the events of the morning and think no
thing too insignificant to reca ll.
Think of
what you did before breakfast, what you ate,
what you did during the day, what people you
had dealings with, what you said to them,
what they said to you.
R e -liv e the day in
your mind.
It w ill greatly strengthen your
m em ory, and you w ill often find it convenient
to be able to r e ca ll certain events when d e
sired . You w ill find these e x e rcis e s m ost ex178

cellent fo r development, and rem em ber this

b ea rs d ire ctly upon crysta l gazing and the
d egree o f su ccess you w ill be able to attain
through the use of a crystal.
Take a mental journey.
Establish in
your mind som e journey that you have taken
in the past; bring b efore your mind s eye
ev ery thing you saw on the way. T ry to see
mentally the people with whom you cam e in
contact with and re c a ll what they said to you.
L ater I w ill take up the subject of projectin g
___-these thoughts into the crysta l, through con
centration and visualization.
R egardless of your ability to concentrate,
it is easier to concentrate when alone, and in
a quiet place.
By em ploying one of the five
norm al sen ses, sight (the m ost important),
the im p ression is m ore indelibly im pressed
on the mind.
T herefore, the m ost efficien t
and best known method of developing the ab il
ity to concentrate is established through the
u se of a crystal. The crysta l acts as a point
o f focu s fo r the eyes, and attracts the m ind's
attention to itself.
Am id silen ce, conditions
a re m ost satisfactory fo r productive resu lts
with a crystal, whether the object is to stren gthen the mental pow ers, o r to obtain visions
o f the past o r future.
The student who earnestly d e sire s to deve
lop the mental pow ers and learn the s e cr e ts
o f crystal gazing, should obtain a crysta l, and
re tire to a quiet, sem i-d ark room . Placing
the crystal on a table, the student should ca lm 179

;
'

'

ly gaze at the crysta l, and cause the mind to

enter a passive state (within thought). This
quiet solitude is a wonderful cure fo r nervous
n ess and restlessn ess; it inspires greater s e lfcon trol and a m asterful control of the mental
fa cilitie s and the physical body. This lesson
has made no mention of visions that may be
obtained fro m the use of the crystal, as the
author had desired to present this little book
let in a s e rie s of lesson s, presenting the dev
elopm ent lesson by lesson just as the student
should apply the lesson s to actual practice.^
The subject of concentration can hardly be
treated fa irly in this short lesson , however,
referen ce to concentration and its development
w ill be made continually all through the lesson s.
A volum e, yes, two volum es would not be suf
ficien t space to cov er this wonderful mental
operation on which our very existence depends.
Those that lack this great pow er, or rather
that fail to develop it, w ill generally suffer from
poverty and unhappiness and their life s w ork
w ill m ost often be a failure, while those that
develop and use it w ill make the m ost of life s
opportunities.
It is of the utm ost value to
learn how to concentrate.
The author takes
this opportunity to recom m end to my earnest
read ers a book written by one of our best
authorities on concentration, Theron Q. DuMont.
His book is entitled The Pow er of Concentra
tion and w ill prove its worth in gold to those
that read and p ra ctice his teachings.
You
can avail you rself of no fin er o r beneficial
180

knowledge than concentration, and it is with

r e g re t that the author can only touch upon this
vastly important subject in this short work.
Visualization
P rog ressin g in the natural sequence of ev
ents, our next step in the study of crysta l g a z
ing is Visualization, o r the ability to see v i
sions, whether real or im aginary. In our p re
vious lesson , concentration was the topic. This
le sso n deals with the concentrated thought,
em ploying our sense of imagination, creating a
vision which we can see in our own mind s
eye. It is called VISION.
V ision has been in existence since the c r e a
tion of man. Back in the Stone Age when the
developm ent of the mind was in its inception,
and when human being bound rock s to the end
o f sticks with rusheseven before the making
o f this crude weapon before its existence b e
cam e a reality.
Everything in this w orld,
outside the b asic elem ents of the w orld, was
fir s t a vision, then a reality.
The architect visu alizes his plans, sees in
his mind s eye the com plete structure. The
inventor, the engineer, the chem ist, the business
man, the housewife and the child all visualize
the goal they are seeking. Perhaps a better
term would be im agination. The housewife
plans the evening m eal, and im m ediately a v i
sion a ris e s in her mind just what the table
w ill look like, what it w ill contain and even
181

the sense of sm ell enters her mind.

Had
she been unable to picture this thought, the
thought could not have been created.
This
illustration establishes the fa ct that thoughts
a re visions in our mind s eye. And visions
a re a result of thoughts, acting instantaneous-

ly.
Ask your imagination something and your
imagination will answer.
Nothing can be
im agined without a reply. There is no p o s
itive without a negative; speculate on what to
m orrow or a year w ill bring forth, what the
resu lt of a conquest o r business venture w ill
be, and autom atically the mind answ ers.
You may develop the power of visualiza
tion o r imagination if you p refer to call it
that, by the aid of a gazing crystal. R etire
to a quiet room , and p ractice a few of these
sim ple im agin ation -exercises, as follow s: Ask
you rself a question, such as What did Jack,
the G iant-K iller, look lik e ? Was Cinderella
tall, o r sm all and slen d er?
In what kind
o f a house did Mother G oose liv e ? To an
sw er such questions with mental pictures the
mind must re so rt to m em ory of having seen
pictu res resem bling the sam e, and r e ca ll it to
you in that manner fro m m em ory, o r call upon
the imagination to construct a picture. Such
questions as these should bring to your mind s
eye an immediate answer in the fo rm of a mental
p ictu re of the person o r structure in question,
and if they do not do so, you may rest a s
sured that your pow er of visualization is not
182

good and w ill have to be developed b efore you

can obtain clea r crystal visions. If your im a*
gination cannot prom ptly conjure up mental
p ictu res to answer your questions, concentrate
the mind upon the answer, and the answer w ill
com e. These e x e r c is e s w ill create the power
of visualization. They may be conducted with
out the aid of a crysta l, but a crystal o r som e
point of focu s fo r the eyes is suggested. The
crysta l is recom m ended because of its perfect
shape and absolute clea rn ess, there being no
disturbing shadows or reflection s present. Let
it be understood here that nothing is ever a c
tually seen IN the cryytal o r gazing ball. It
acts m erely as a resting place fo r the vision,
a point of focu s where the mind thought fo r c e
and eyes meet.
Thus vision is produced in
the mind s eye. The crysta l has no m agic p o
w e r no true m ystery. Results are obtained
many tim es by using a glass of clear water, and
such e x e rcis e s are recom m ended to those who
a re interested, but fir s t wish to test their pow ers
b efore purchasing a crystal.
This is hardly a fa ir trial, as the best aid
(crystal) should be used, as the student w ill
naturally be least proficient in his knowledge
and effort to obtain visions. V essels of water,
etc., a re usually used by advanced students,
the conclusion being that visions can be m ore
easily obtained with crysta ls than other objects.
P rofession a l crysta ls can be obtained at a low
c o s t and everyone should test his o r her pow ers.
Who knows what the sm all sum may bring back
183

in a few days after getting your crysta l?

Whether o r not you w ill be able to secu re hal
lucinatory visions, the influence exerted thru the
cry sta l w ill many, many tim es pay you fo r the
sm a ll investment. (See P u blish er's catalogue
fo r p rice s).
V isions produced by looking o r gazing into
a crysta l ball are usually divided by Science
into five general cla sses, such as follow s:
1. Visions produced by imagination. These
v ision s a re com m on and general as dream s,
with which they are com pared. They might be
better term ed m eaningless d a yd rea m s. How
ever, this fo rm of day dream ing is very bene
ficia l providing the student harbors construc
tive and am bitious thoughts only. D estructive
thoughts should be vanished without con sidera
tion.
Rem em ber, positive thoughts attract
s u c ce s s , and nothing su cceed s like su ccess.
Think, dream , and visualize su ccess fo r su ccess.
2.
Visions produced by forgotten events
reca lled fro m the m em ory. This is the e s
tablishment of a connection between the s u b - ,
con sciou s and conscious mind, created thru con
centration of the mind upon the crystal. This
fo rm of vision is a great m em ory builder, and
strengthens your mental fa cilities. Visions of
this type, whether d irectly sought o r not, should
b e w elcom ed by the s cr y e r with full knowledge
and appreciation of the fact that he is building
mind power.
3. Visions produced by past occu rren ces,
o f which the gazer has no apparent knowledge.
184

These occu rren ces a re often tim es of little

consequence, and have not been deeply im pressed
upon the mind when registered .
A connec
tion between the two minds is established to
a certain extent, but not perm itting the student
to r e ca ll the event. This is known as a lo ss
o f m em ory and why these vision s o ccu r is
not known.
4.
V isions produced by present events of
which the gazer has knowledge of. Hundreds
o f authentic instances have been recorded. These
vision s . a re explained by many as thought
^transm issions or mental telepathy, others d e s
cr ib e them as sp irit m essages. Examples of
these visions are very com m on, as p ossessed
by many.
Hunches a re m erely this type
o f vision, induced thru other agencies than the
crysta l.
Visions of this type usually contain
a m essage of som e im portance, and should be
rem em bered by the s cr y e r, if the full meaning
cannot be determ ined at the tim e of the s c r y
ing. M essages of this kind a re often warnings,
and by giving them the p roper consideration,
much difficulty and trouble may be avoided.
5.
Visions seen in the crystal foretelling
future events, and general predictions of the fu
ture. Visions o f this type are num erous, con
tra ry to the thoughts of the average layman.
These visions and scen es however are so often
num erous and diversified , often so m ysterious
and unaccountable that the average gazer might
not recogn ize one of this type until the event
transpired, when of course he instantly re ca lls
185

the vision. Science has devoted much attention

to this type of divination, and an abundance of
authentic ca ses have been record ed , verifying
the actual existence of such visions. We have
only to re fe r to the history of crysta l gazing
to establish the fact that divination of the
future is p ossible, fo r this scien ce is as old
as man, and no fa lse scien ce could exist over
that period of years.
There a re no set rules fo r the meaning o r
interpretation of the various visions. Usually
an understanding of the picture accom panies
the vision, and it is important that the student'
c la s sify the visions in one of the above cla sses
to define it. On various occa sion s, m essages
have appeared in writing in the crystal, con
veying the information.

20 THOUSAND DREAMS INTERPRETED

by ZOLAR
O m of Hw outstand
ing drown dictionaries
of i l l times. This book
gives tho author's inter*
(Notation,
significance
and moaning o f over 20
thousand
(20,000)
dreams each
alphabet*
icaly
arranged.
The
book contains 420 pages
including a quick ref*
erence index, c l o t h
bound. One of the most
exhaustive
treatments
ever written on dreams
and their alleged mean
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