Since 1994

Hypnosis and the Paranormal

If you have come directly here to check out the weird happenings and to denounce hypnosis as dangerous and of the devil, or worse, to revel in the unknown, think carefully.  Within thousands of cases ranging from nail biting to rape, I have had only 3 that were out of the expected.  These were beyond what conventional medicine was able to cope with, and the choice was to try and help, or turn them away as was their experience of being in the too hard basket.

Rarely does this occur, however as it can and has happened, it is worth writing about.  May this also serve as a warning to those that meddle with the unknown.  Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

Demonic Possession

A young man was brought to me for heroin addiction.  He was of Vietnamese background and was there mostly due to his girlfriend requests.  Initial consultation interview was straight-forward and all appeared normal addiction behaviour.  Normally two sessions are all that is required for most addictions, and we proceeded with the work.  He was able to minimise the cramps and aches of withdrawal, and coping methods were put in place to assist with the emotional addiction component usually found.  Progress was good, and then he relapsed.  This does happen occasionally, and usually requires the problem solving part of the treatment to be more in-depth as either an existing problem was not addressed, or a new problem had arisen, or there was a sub-conscious objection to some part of the work.  Further work ensued, with progress, and then another relapse.  There were things required of the subject to consciously do that were also not being done or were done insufficiently.  These were primarily to disassociate from drug orientated friends and culture, and also to move to a drug free environment.

When there is repeated relapse despite apparent commitment from a subject, there is a simple method of exposing one possible source.  Ask whilst in a decent trance and amnesia in place, if there is anyone other than subject is actually there.  The response was yes.  Then, next step is to ask if it is a part of the person (to eliminate multiple personality disorder as an issue).  Now the response was no.  At this point, there are still different possibilities.  It may be possible that a person :-

     Has a previously undetected mental illness

     Believes themselves or actually is, disassociated from their body and/or identity

     Is carrying or is possessed by a spirit or entity

     May be channeling a spirit or entity

I have no idea how likely any of this is, but to dismiss any options based on personal beliefs or lack of empirical data would be irresponsible on the part of a therapist.  Strange as it may sound, yes, a therapist COULD actually get something wrong  (yea, yea I know, cut the sarcasm).  At this point, I intentionally developed a trance state just to see if there was anything that I could see that may be helpful.  What I saw appeared to be a charred looking, rough black face with completely white eyes looking back at me.  I nearly shit myself.  I know that doesn’t sound very professional, but this was as foreign to me as electricity in the stone age.  I could only assume that it certainly wasn’t there to shake anyone’s hand, and I may have just made myself a target if it realised that I knew.  I then asked if it knew that harm was being to the person (although I can not recall the answer) and requested that it move on to continue it’s journey elsewhere.  It finally agreed to do so.

At the end of the session, I checked and found that the amnesia appeared to be effective.  I then spoke to the girlfriend, and told her briefly what she had apparently been witness to, but minimised what I had seen (so as to not appear insane).

At the next session, the young man related to me a physical fight with an unseen entity in his bedroom after the previous session.  He stated that he had been pinned to the bed, and fought with a physical presence despite being in a secure home.  We continued with follow-up work, and investigated his religious background.  He was a non-practising Buddhist.  I requested that he go as soon as possible to the local Buddhist temple and discuss the events with an appropriate priest.  He did so.  The young man and his girlfriend then informed me of an ex-girlfriend that had issues with him, and was supposed to be involved with dark arts within Laos Buddhism.  This was a surprise to me, as I had no idea of such practices, and can only accept this on face value.

To my understanding, some time later, the young man is still struggling.  With what, and to what extent is still unknown.  I have no doubt that what I saw actually WAS demonic, and have no reason to doubt the young man’s account.  Hallucination and drug induced psychological disturbance was considered, but could not have (in my opinion) created what I witnessed. 

 

Spiritual Possession ??

A ten year old boy was brought to me with severe anti-social behaviours.  Violent and bullying to many, even those much older, his mother was at her wits end.  Discussing with his mother and grandmother, I was satisfied that they had attempted virtually all avenues of appropriate behaviour modification and discipline.  Often when there is a problem with a child, the parents end up being diagnosed as dysfunctional or worse.  Essentially, he sounded like the sort of kid that even Mother Theresa would happily throttle.

The work started and the lad was a willing subject.  He enjoyed the attention, and this was noted as a possible motive for attention seeking behaviour.  He reported hearing abuse directed at himself and others, which placed him in a high likelihood of schizophrenia, although at his age it was also very unlikely.  There was a possibility that the voices (1 male, 1 female) were actually his own thoughts that were somewhat disassociated and were not recognised as his own.  This was kept in mind.  He went into trance well with some practise, and was mostly co-operative.  When asked to describe the voices, the male was the worst by far, that was abusive of him and others, and also made threats of violence.  I was unable to see any other faces within the boy’s face.

The normal method of dealing with such things is to simply ask them to move on.  This can be done with reference to going into the light, or onto different realms, or to simply let them know that their presence has been harmful to a person, and thiir learning needs to continue elsewhere without harm.  This worked fine with the female voice, who stated that she was willing to do so, and certainly appears to have.  The male initially stated that it was willing to move on, but ended up returning.  The lads behaviour initially improved, and then reverted.  It was back.

The boys hypnotic skills were improving and it was time to proceed from yes/no signals to speaking in trance to allow better understanding.  The lad had no trouble with this, and I was concerned with establishing a deep enough trance state to ensure the amnesia skills were easy to achieve, and he himself was not influencing the outcome of the work consciously.  When I was satisfied that this was being achieved, I asked to speak to “The other voice”.  It sounded like an English man, and was not very pleasant.  It made threats against me directly, saying it would kill me et cetera.  I told it that it would have to get in line for such things.  Not a good initial first contact.  It would not give any detail as to it’s name or background.  When it was explained the destructive effect that it was having, it did not seem concerned. Had this have been of concern, then I would have felt much better about all of this, and even considered the possibility of multiple personalities (with great reservations). This was certainly getting beyond my abilities and it was time for those with the correct skills to step in. Where the hell do you find an exorcist, and who is going to take this seriously without just medicating.

My dad (a Uniting Church Reverend) was consulted as to directions I could go. I was waiting to get a negative response and the look of disbelief that you tend to expect from the conservative, but was pleasantly surprised. Not only did he listen to the unlikely tale, but two of his friends that he trained with actually deal with these things as a common occurrence. This in itself is disturbing to those entering into this area of non-warm-and-fuzzy spirits. One is at the Sunshine Coast, the other is at Toowoomba. Up to Toowoomba they went. There was initial success, and the entity seemed to have been scared away, only to return once again.

At this point, the family were disappointed, and the hypnosis appears to not be of much assistance. Whilst I am still concerned about the lad, they have exhausted the avenues that I have to offer, and are seeking them elsewhere. I wish them luck. In hindsight and study of the subject, repeated exorcisms appear to be required before the entity/s leave for good. This has been documented in different books written by clergy on the matter, and I have no reason to doubt it. The opinion that I formed of the entity was that it was looking out for it's own interests at the detriment of the lad. Perhaps as he grows older, he will have more strength against it, or he may end up with a very unfortunate life.

 

My Conclusion

To the people that believe that all spirits or entities or whatever they are, are indeed friendly, I sincerely hope they wake up and smell the sulphur. Even Mother Theresa required exorcism at one point. Faith, good deeds, or even ignorance are not adequate defences. I do not dismiss mental illness in this case, but do not consider it likely. The implications are grim for the mental health system, where some (although I do not think many) people may be wrongly committed for a spiritual affliction, and given treatments with little likelihood of success.