The Transparent Hypnotist

by Terry O’Brien

“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?”
“The Shadow knows”

With that, one of the most successful pulp characters was introduced to the radio and magazine audience. Even today, that phrase is recognized and the character remembered: the Shadow, who possessed the hypnotic power to “cloud mens’ minds”.

But the Shadow has had a convoluted history: he didn’t always have that power; in fact, he wasn’t a pulp character in the first place!

Magazine publishers Street and Smith wanted a mysterious announcer to host their radio dramas based on their magazine Detective Story Magazine. The result was the Shadow, who would introduce the stories on radio: other candidates for the character’s name were “the Inspector” and “the Sleuth”. They received an immediate and unexpected success: buyers began asking the newsstands for the “Shadow” magazine. Seeing an opportunity, Street and Smith asked pulp writer Walter Gibson to create the character for the new Shadow Magazine.

A prolific pulp author, Gibson was also a stage magician and hypnotist and a close friend of magicians Dunninger and Thurston. Using the pen-name of Maxwell Grant, Gibson would eventually write 282 of the 325 stories published, writing one almost every two weeks: guest authors wrote the remaining stories, which included Lester Dent, author of the Doc Savage novels. (The Lester Dent / Doc Savage connection with the Shadow is also curiously coincidental: Superman’s secret identity of Clark Kent came from Doc Savage’s first name of Clark and the Shadow’s first name of Kent.) He also ghost-wrote books on stage magic with such luminaries as Harry Houdini, Harry Blackstone and Joseph Dunninger, and wrote or co-wrote (with his wife) a number of books on magic, yoga, and psychic phenomena, including a book on hypnosis entitled “Hypnotism Through the Ages”.

Gibson created the Shadow, based, he said, on Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and Edward Bulwar-Lytton’s story “The House and the Brain”. Secretly, the Shadow was Kent Allard, aviator, but he took the name and persona of playboy Lamont Cranston to mingle with the upper-class: he would take other identities in his war on crime. He was a mysterious figure that dispensed justice in the traditional pulp style, depending on his powers of stealth to appear from the shadows.

When the Shadow returned to radio, several changes were made. Gone was Kent Allard, the Shadow was always Lamont Cranston. Added was the character of Margo Lane, the Shadow’s feminine sidekick, who would eventually become part of the pulp magazine stories. And, most importantly, to explain his preternatural ability to conceal himself, he was given the hypnotic power to “cloud mens’ minds” that he learned in the Orient: that power would eventually find its way back into the pulp series, as well. The radio stories include at least two stories involving hypnosis and mental control, one where the antagonist hypnotizes an entire audience in order to kidnap the state governor to have him release his brother who is currently sentenced to be executed that night, and another whose antagonist possessed mental powers of psychic domination. Both were stopped by the Shadow, of course.

After the war, the pulps declined but were not forgotten. In the 1970’s, DC Comics revived the Shadow (and another pulp hero, the Avenger) in a short-lived but well-received series. The Shadow of the comics was an amalgamation of both the radio and pulp characters: he did not have the “power to cloud mens’ minds”, preferring to rely on his twin .45 automatics, but he did wear a curious girasol (red fire opal) ring that he used as a hypnotic focus, once owned by Rasputin and reputed to be the source of his hypnotic prowess. The title featured the work of comics artist Wm. Michael Kaluta, the definitive Shadow artist.

The 1994 movie was also an amalgamation of the radio and pulp characters: this time, the hypnotic powers were emphasized, especially since his (re-occurring, from the pulps) enemy Shiwan Khan also employed such powers of the Mystic East. Kaluta would also draw the comic adaptation of the movie.

Art by alicepopkorn

I awoke to a morning that whispers that Fall is not so far away. Its gentle coolness wraps around my skin and the first sip of left-over coffee is a warm caress that tempts me to take another sip (pretty good for a left-over cup).

The past few weeks have been crazy-hectic (you can tell because I drink more coffee than tea during those times), but this week looks like one in which time provides a slowing down. For all others who were in the same boat, I hope you find yourself safely on the dock of relaxation.

Now to begin the week properly with a look back at what found itself into my email, hypno-news-wise.

Quote of the week:

Forgive me for borrowing this, Anmari. It seems most appropriate for some of the stuff one encounters in a hypnosis setting. This was posted it on her blog this morning at Bright Blue Rain.

“Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgement of the facts of a situation. Then deciding what you’re going to do about it.”
-Kathleen Casey Theisen

The Good

It is really interesting to hear about people who have done something in their past that makes them a bit phobic to do it again in the the now, especially when it was something like a sport in which they were particularly talented. And of course, it makes my heart glad to hear when such people have overcome the situation - through hypnosis. A prime example is U.S. karate champion Billy Finnegan. Three sessions with hypnotist Barbara Swanwick, who specializes in sports improvement hypnosis, he was able to return to his sport and excel. Bravo to both!! (Port Washington News)

Another phobia that made news last week was the fear of flying. Hypnotist Alan Gilchrist talked about the negative mindset that the flight industry builds before one even enters a plane. It is very thought provoking (Round Town News).

Though it has aired already, there will be repeats of an episode of Secret Lives of Women, which is of great interest to the Transparent Hypnotist. It is about Melissa Straub who suffered form years of panic attacks. She has made great progress in dealing with them through hypnosis, among other techniques. The episode is her story and will run again at 11 p.m. on September 16 and 2 a.m. on September 17 on the WE channel (The York Daily Record).

The Midwest Training Institute of Hypnosis (Fort Wayne, IN) is offering a basis hypnosis course in September. That in itself is good, but hypnotist Gisella Zukausky talks about how she used self-hypnosis to overcome vision issues (Fort Wayne News Sentinel).

The Bad (crazy cool)

I am not a hypnotist who shies away from the idea of doing past life regression. I believe it is a valid tool, among many, that can help people learn about themselves (whether one believes in past lives or on the other side, just wants to learn about the creative functioning of the subconscious and what it has to say). Writer Andrew Sia attended a group past life regression session with hypnotist Selina Chew. Curious about what a group experience is like? Sia reports on his reflections (The Star Online - Malaysia).

Also, I admit to a thrill when I think of the idea of alien abduction. I take a neutral stance on using hypnosis to probe the mind to see if one was abducted. My thoughts on this are very similar to my thoughts on past life regression - if it helps someone deal with life a little better, then there is no harm (codicil here for the other hypnotists reading this - I am aware of the idea of false memories and being careful not to create them). Art Champoux has written a really great piece about hypnosis and alien abduction. Even if you are not big on the whole idea of people remembering their alien encounters, the article talks about hypnosis is a most positive way - about what it is and what it is not (The UFO Digest).

There is a new show airing in Britain that aims to educate people about that most taboo topic - sex (ah, the wonderfulness of cliche). This is all good and fine, but there is nice mention of hypnosis. Anna Richardson from Supersize vs Superskinny (who is doing the sex education show), found hypnosis most effective in losing weight. Yeah hypnosis!!! (The Daily Record - UK)

The Ugly

There is no ugly. Nothing about the Positive Changes franchise. Nothing slanderous. Huge sigh of relief!

The Poll

If you participated in the poll about preferences in what types of businesses to support, small businesses came out ahead with 72% of the vote. Following this at 44% was whatever type of business is most convenient. Twenty-two percent of the poll takers did not have a preference and minority-owned businesses and internet businesses tied at six percent. Religious-Affiliated businesses and franchises received no votes from the he readership.

After watching the Tracey Fragments, I admit to some trepidation to watching those independent movies that have something to do with hypnosis. And yet…I am sucker for them (apparently). Because of the aforementioned hesitation, I have not seen the movie I am writing about in this post. I am sort of hoping that anyone of you readers out there has seen it and would consider reporting back on it. The movie is called Thumbsucker. Being a Keanu Reeves fan (a cool line line up for a concert would be Keanu and his band, the Bacon brothers, and Jon Corbit…but I digress), I suspect I’ll see it no matter what…but I always like to be prepared if it is going to be a downer (I’m still not over Play it Forward).

Bet you cannot guess what Thumbsucker is about, though. Darn, you figured it out. The synopsis says it is about a teenager who sucks his thumb. He comes across an orthodontist (Keanu…sigh) who uses hypnosis on him to get him to stop. I’m sure there is more to it, but that’s what I’m in it for - the hypnosis.

They say you never forget your first time, but sometimes it’s hard to say just when that time was. Did I hypnotize someone for the first time in those years when I would invent fascinating mind games to lull my adolescent, insomniac self to sleep? Or might I say that my first time was the essence of the practical joke when my husband and I “hypnotized” several chickens to lay still on their backs on the stools of the ranch bunkhouse just before breakfast? (There are at least two “inductions” for chickens, by the way.)

I guess not – although those were events symptomatic of my lifelong fascination with consciousness and the way we can intentionally shift it.

The first time really, shortly after my certification and advanced training, was on a camping road trip with my children. We were in Yellowstone National Park, and my seven-year-old daughter Carson Rose was eager to see just about every waterfall we could get to. Unlike Morgan, her Wyoming-born, twelve-year-old brother, Carson had never before experienced high altitudes. After the half-mile, steep hike down to a lovely waterfall, she went totally limp after the first several steps back up the switchbacks and began to whine.

Now this trail was steep. I could huff and puff my way up on my own, but no way could I carry a tall 2^nd grader. We stopped, and I considered our options. Carson sat on a stone wall looking like a wilted flower ready to collapse.

Suddenly I realized I had tools I’d not tried out in practical reality before. I did a quick, child-oriented verbal induction with my tired daughter, and reminded her of the feeling of being strong and energetic.   I suggested that her muscles could recall being powerful and capable, and her mind remember being enthusiastic and determined. In about ten minutes I wrapped it up, wondering if it would really work.

Voila, Carson opened her eyes with a big smile and hopped down from the wall, ready to lead the way back up the trail. She made it all the way back without a lag or a complaint, but the bigger change, I know, was in me. For the first time, I truly appreciated the practical power of the techniques I had learned and would continue to use professionally, long after the kids were grown.

Caere Dunn

I remember well the first time I hypnotized another person. It was in the evening and my wife and I had been invited to a party. We had driven to the party in my ‘62 Buick Skylark. The party was being given for a friend’s birthday celebration.

It must have been winter, because it was dark. I don’t remember the year, or month, but I do remember the situation.

We were sitting next to each other in the front seat when we pulled up to the house. Al, Jimmy and their friends were inside waiting. They always had good parties, and we were looking forward to this one.

I had sent away for a book on hypnosis a few weeks earlier, and I’d gotten it in the mail just in time for the party. It was Harry Arons “Master Course on Hypnosis”, and I’d read a few chapters. So I thought what the heck, I’d try it out on my wife. That’s right, right here in the car in front of Al and Jimmy’s place, in the dark, before we go in. So I asked her if it she’d like to try it, and of course she said “Oh. I suppose so”.

Now I’m not saying these were ideal conditions, but who ever said they had to be. I reached up and turned on the overhead light, found a good chapter on induction and started to read, aloud. Presto. I was amazed. So was she, but like I was.

It’s just a good thing I’d read enough of the book before we got there to know what to do next. It was great. The induction went smoothly, and the part about how to awake a subject was just like the book said it should be. Of course, there was no deep trances achieved, but even a light state was more then I had hoped for.

After she awoke, we headed on in and we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest.

Gary Noble

Another early morning and a long day ahead. Don’t get me wrong, it is all good, just that there is a lot seemingly going on. It is back to back to back to back, so this is going to be short.

What is going through my mind currently (and I sort of wish it were not) is the whole idea of intelligence verses ignorance. When I was receiving my training, my mentor always said it was much easier to help an intelligent client get to a hypnotic place rather than one that is ignorant. I sort of rebelled against this with the idea that with a little hypnosis education, it could level the playing field. If I explained hypnosis well enough, well, the sky’s the limit. Ah, ha. How naive I was.

What I think my mentor should have said was it is easier to hypnotize someone who may be intelligent (even if slightly skeptical) than someone with a lower IQ aptitude in basic reasoning and logic. I think there is a moment when it is easy to fool one’s self into believing that a person who says they think the can’t be hypnotized because they have a strong will is right and it is easy to believe that the person who comes into it embracing the myths will be a piece of cake. Not so. Not even close. I have come to revel in the intelligent give and take of the discussion about strong will. This often includes having the opportunity to truly dispelling the myths and work on real rapport. It is the client who comes in, who is not so versed in logic or reason and believes the myth. It is the ones the are stubborn enough not to let go to their beliefs that I am a puppet master, making them unconscious so they do not have to do anything at all.

I really do not think this has anything to do with intelligence (IQ maybe, though I am not that well versed in the reality of IQ testing). Nor do I believe successful hypnosis has any real bearing upon the strong willed (unless they are strong willed against being hypnotized). I think it is the ones who stubbornly hold onto a concept that hypnosis is magic and they do not have to be a part of the process that are beyond being a challenge.

By Mark Scher

Howdy folks, or cheerio (haha Ellie). I appreciate the opportunity to talk to “thems” that know and get some useful advice, so when Ellie asked if I would write in as a glogger while she’s on the road, I jumped at the chance.

 I noticed when my kids were young, their teachers, the good ones, typically did a lot preparation work. As they got older, they still did a lot work, but it was different. There were lectures to prepare and papers to grade.  I noticed that the constant for good teachers was heavy preparation for setting the learning stage, so the kids could actively work hard in higher grades. There were one or two that stuck with lecture,  but it was different—instead of just sitting there passively listening, I was actively caught up in the topic. It was like listening to a good story teller. “Going internal,” I would play with the material, do thought experiments, etc.. Other teachers would lecture, but they were only talking at me—no mental involvement. The “cool” teachers could talk about anything and make it involving.

 As a trainer and instructional designer, I’ve followed the path of most instructional designers and given clients what they expected. Very focused learning objectives with observable criteria (after all if you can’t measure it, how do you know learning took place?), scripts for e-learning instructors, plenty of interactions to involve learners, feedback, etc. Some of my more adventurous clients even let me pose scenarios, simulations, and ask applied questions rather than the usual recall and recognition-level queries.

 Could anyone suggest techniques for trainers teaching adults for developing mentally captivating and memorable lesson content? How can we talk directly to the subconscious to improve assimilation and accommodation of useful content?

Is it really a Friday without our 10 Questions? Hmmm. I suspose it must be. However, I am taking a day to transfer my old files and such onto my new Mac. Ha. Couldn’t stand not playing all the cool video games that are PC based. Now I can without giving up the Mac. Life is good. (by the way, after this week, I have fallen in love with the new Mac add, though Vista was not involved in my stress).

But, while you are here, I do have a question for you. Is it time to change the questions on the 10 Questions? If so, what questions would you want to ask the hypnotists?

In consideration of what Craig Eubank’s suggested, I am doing some footwork for us all. After Monday’s post about the hypnotist who used self-hypnosis rather than anesthesia during a surgery, Craig suggested that we all include the article in our packages to new prospective clients and such as a resource for “proof.” I have gone back to the beginning of this blog (a year now) and searched out the stories that have been positive about hypnosis. There were a few others, but for various reasons I thought they might be borderline.

Here they are the ones that seem really positive:

1. Surgery under hypnosis a pain-free event
2. Hypnosis Brings Groups into Focus
3. Scientists in new hypnosis brain link discovery
4. Tonsils removed under hypnosis
5. DDW: Hypnotherapy Effective in Children With Bowel Pain
6. Hypnotherapy shows promise for sleep disorders
7. If you want to kick the habit, a local study is finding a hypnotist may be your best bet

In my quest to avoid the computer for long extended stays, I suggest you consider doing the same (if you aren’t online, then what fun is it for me?). So, grab your green tea (green tea, because it’s, well, green) and think about getting out into the world today. Allow your feet to connect to the earth (if its warm enough take off your shoes and feel the sand or grass between your toes). And then look around you, really look. Try to notice ten things you have not noticed before on your way to work, lunch, or backyard. Allow beauty to happen. If you are in a concrete jungle, look for the lone tree, the weeds fighting for survive in the cracks of the pavement, or even the bouquets of flowers at the corner florist.

Just take this time to be part of the earth, even if for just a moment.

I am.

And if you are looking for other ideas to celebrate the day, visit the Nature Conservancy at www.nature.org.