Links between Psi, Psychdelics, Shamanism and Psychosis


An Overview of the Literature





Abstract



In folk lore there is a belief that many people who have an acute psychotic breakdown exhibit signs of psychic ability. Research into this folk lore is virtually non-existent, but some interesting work by Neppe (1980) and Persinger (Persinger & Makarec, 1987) psi suggests that there might be some foundation for it. My research into the pineal gland is now exploring this same area from a neurochemical perspective.





The pineal gland makes a neurohormone called melatonin which is one of the key regulators of the circadian and seasonal biological rhythms. It also makes a mono-amine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor called pinoline (Methoxytetrahydrobetacarboline (MeOTHBC)) which acts on the GABA receptors and whose chemical structure is virtually identical with the harmala alkaloids, which are key ingredients in the ayahausca drink used by Amazonian people specifically for inducing a state of consciousness in which they state that they go out-of-body, experience travelling clairvoyance, divination and shamanic healing. The suggested neurochemistry for these effects implicates serotonin. Serotonin (5 Hydroxytryptamine (5HT)) has frequently been implicated in certain aspects of psychoses. Pinoline is a neuromodulator which prevents, amongst other effects, the breakdown of serotonin. This results in an accumulation of physiologically active amines including dimethyltryptamine (DMT) within the neuronal synapses which may lead to hallucinations, depression or mania depending on the amines being affected (Strassman, 1990). DMT is the other main ingredient in ayahuasca. There are also interesting links with the serotonergic activation by psychedelics such as LSD, psilocybin and MDMA which have all been implicated in triggering psychotic episodes, and more specifically with inducing a state of consciousness which has many similarities with both an acute psychotic breakdown and with shamanism, which traditionally uses psychedelic plants in order to achieve the desired state of consciousness.





A key link between all of these various experiences is the dream state of consciousness. Psychologically, both the shamanic initiation experience and that of an acute psychotic breakdown share many similarities with the dream state. It appears that the normal every night experience of all human beings is connected with the more extreme experiences of psychosis and shamanism through the same neurochemical pathways that underlie all these experiences. And, as the research at Maimonides (Ullman et al, 1975) and since has shown, the dream state is a psychic state of consciousness par excellence. This suggests that the anthropological reports of psychic abilities being exhibited by shamans may have some foundation, and suggests that some people who have experienced a psychotic breakdown could be seen in other cultures as people with a particular and highly valued gift - the gift of walking between the worlds.





1. Background:Previous Research looking at Brain - Psi Links



1.1. Epilepsy, Psi and Dreams



Until now the main theorising concerning psi and distressing mental states has been centred around the folk lore concerning epilepsy being the "holy disease." Epileptics report experiences which are very similar to psychic experiences. 70% of people suffering temporal lobe epilepsy report psi experiences. Roll (1977) noticed that many people who have experienced poltergeist phenomena have suffered epilepsy. His theory was later linked with the temporal lobes (Roll & Montagno, 1985).





A large part of this research has been by Neppe (1980). He has noted that many parapsycholgists have found that:

a) ASCs are psi-conducive, eg. Ganzfeld, dreaming, meditation;

b) Psi experiences appear almost as if there are deficits in brain functioning . Various focal brain dysfunctions, such as frontal, parietal, or temporal dysfunctions may be accentuated under certain circumstances, such as epilepsy, and produce what appears to be a psi event. An alternative understanding of this is that psi experiences are subliminal events and are processed in a manner equivalent to subliminal perceptions. Here, we understand the psi information to have a very weak trace and it is this which results in the distortions which make them appear as if there are deficits in brain functioning.





1.2.The Temporal Lobes and Psi



The temporal lobes are the integrators of the brain. Temporal lobe dysfunction is commonly reflected by the most complicated kind of epilepsy, complex partial seizures, which may resemble certain psychic experiences.





Nelson (1970) did a study of trance mediums and found that 10 out of 12 mediums show temporal lobe abnormalities. By comparison 25% of the general population have temporal lobe abnormalities, so whilst it is common to have abnormalities the mediums have an outstanding proportion. This study has not been replicated.





Neppe (1983c) did a study with 6 psi experients and 6 non-experients. The experients had 2 to 11 different temporal lobe symptoms (see Appendix 1) per psi experience, e.g. a chilly feeling with the sense of an apparition. Also they had temporal lobe symptoms when not having a psi experience. This suggests that an anomalous temporal lobe state may predispose to psi experience and a heightening of temporal lobe experiences.





Déjà vu is symptomatic of temporal lobe epilepsy and also common amongst psi experiencers. The quality of déja vu amongst psi experiencers is qualitatively different from the epileptics. Psi déja vu is normally linked to a major distortion in the sense of time and is linked to precognitive or retrocognitive awareness, and is clearly defined and often externally validated in some way. Schizophrenics also have a déja vu experience which differs again in containing psychotic elements.





Persinger (1985) analysed subjective responses to religious experiences and found that those with intense experiences score high on mid-level temporal lobe signs. He also found temporal lobe EEG effects in a Transcendental Meditator during a peak mystical experience, and temporal lobe spikes during protracted intermittent episodes of glossolalia. Fenwick (1983) also suggests right temporal lobe involvement in mystical experiences. The stimulation of medial temporal areas during surgery is sometimes associated with a sense of presence, out-of-body-experiences (OBEs) and other strange experiences. Penfield (1958) recorded the experience of an OBE by stimulating the temporal lobe of an epilepsy patient.





Persinger & Makarec (1987) analysed temporal lobe sensitivity of the average person. They report some correlations of major complex partial seizure sign scores, and reports of anomalistic experiences and a sense of presence in 414 students over a period of 3 years. Persinger (1988a) reports a prominence of temporal lobe symptomatology as well as psi experiences among writers, poets, musicians, actors, and artists with an increased incidence in left-handed individuals and creative academics. He also reports someone who experienced an OBE associated with hypomania and a right temporal lobe focus on their EEG.





Persinger (1988b) reports the coincidence of diurnal occurence of complex partial seizures and psi experiences - between 2 - 4am with a further peak at 10 pm - which is the same for psi experiences with a peak at 4am and another at 4 pm.





Temporal lobe theta waves are an extremely common comcomitant of a variety of different states including meditation, fatigue, drug effects, and altered states of consiousness (ASCs) (Healy, 1986).





Thus we are looking at specific personality type experiences here which correlate strongly with those found amongst psi experiencers. In other words a certain type of person has psi experiences, mystical experiences, magical ideation and this links with temporal lobe symptomatology.







2. Changing our Attitude about Psychosis



Warner (1985) in his study of schizophrenia has shown that psychosis is a disease of societies with a wage economy: tribal societies and those with subsistence economies do not show the same pattern of illness. When someone, ususally a young person, has what we would call a psychotic breakdown there is no stigma and no loss of status. Either they stay within the family and extended community and do simple tasks until there is full recovery, normally within about 9 months, or else they gain status by becoming the shaman's apprentice and undergoing training. This training, which can last for up to 20 years, teaches them stability, control of their mental and emotional states and also how to go into trance states without a full blown psychotic episode, which is characterised by the hallucinations taking control as well as other social dysfunctions. The shaman is well cared for by the community, making sure that they have their needs met in recognition of the service they provide.





Boyle (1990), in her history of Kraepelin and Bleuler who introduced the concept of schizophrenia, casts doubt on the validity of the concept itself. Schizophrenic people show very little similarity in onset, course and outcome. It can develop at any time from age 15 - 55, can be short term with no recurrence or last a lifetime with no remission. It actually appears now that they were describing cases of encephalitic lethargic which normally develops in Parkinson disease, so cases such as they describe would today have a different diagnosis.





Richard Bentall (1990) found that psychotic symptoms tend to be randomly associated with no correlation. Using cluster and factor analysis, schizophrenia is found spread evenly across all clusters and factors. There is no clear border line between schizophrenic and affective psychoses and between psychotic and neurotic. Many psychotic symptoms are related to normal mental states and the symptoms are poor predictors of final outcome. "Schizophrenia is a disorder with no particular symptoms, course or outcome which responds to no particular treatment." (Bentall, 1990)





Specifically Warner (1985) states that: Material conditions (political economy) mould the course and outcome of schizophrenia and influence its prevalence. Schizophrenia is a possibly genetically inherited illness which is strongly affected by the environment. In most cases stress triggers the psychosis.





Warner (1985) has shown that low-stress household with relatives who are less critical, controlling and intrusive is essential for recovery; the benefits are equal to, or better than, drugs. Poor working class city people with high stress environments suffer most from schizophrenia, and in these cases the state of the economy is linked to the outcome:during periods of unemployment there is less recovery and, in general, mental problems for working class people increase in a slump. Job stress, factory work and unemployment are all related to ill health and suicide. Economic uncertainty is a severe stress for most people.





There is a great similarity between many features of psychosis and the psychological effects of chronic unemployment: anxiety, depression, apathy, irritability, negativity, emotional over-dependance, social withdrawal, isolation, loneliness, and a loss of self-respect. Women are less affected by labour dynamics and suffer less from psychosis. Mazure et al (1997) examined the association of recent life stress severity to biological markers of stress in 34 newly admitted patients with acute psychosis. They found that serum cortisol was correlated with stress severity.





The recovery rates from schizophrenia are not significantly better now than at the beginning of the century:complete recovery is still only 20 - 25%; with social recovery 40 - 45%. Antipsychotic drugs are not any particular help in hospitals using social therapeutic techniques with patients and therapists living and working together. Drugs only help psychotics living in an inadequate environment:most psychotics discharged from hospital end up in inner city ghettos, unemployed and uncared for, and many end up in jail. Sadly, these people are known as “revolving-door patients.”





The non-industrial extended family is a relatively low stress environment compared with the Western nuclear family unit. In countries, such as India, where there is a mixture of industrialisation and subsistence agriculture, higher caste educated people are most prone to suffer from schizophrenia. They suffer more because they are in wage labour with its stresses and unemployment. If they are sufficiently emotionally supported by relatives, friends and community then the stressful events have less impact. In general, people recover much quicker in non-industrial countries because subsistence agriculture needs constant low stress, low demanding work from everyone in a cooperative framework. Urban psychotics benefit from a return to traditional village (tribal) life.





Also tribal people have a world-view in which the supernatural plays a large part. Giving psychotic symptoms a supernatural element removes "blame" from the person, leading to conflict resolution and social reintegration with the family. If the person is being interfered with by bad spirits then they remain integrated within their family and anxiety is less because there is a higher degree of tolerance of their problems and no social stigma. The label mad is applied only to highly disruptive people, or those who are violent.





Further, certain features of psychosis can lead to considerable elevation in social status. The hallucinations and ASCs produced by psychosis, fasting, sleep deprivation, social isolation and hallucinogenic drugs are often a prerequisite for gaining shamanic power. The psychotic features are interpreted as an initiatory experience and social reintegration is so successful that spouses are happier with them than before breakdown. Indigenous healers who have suffered psychotic episodes find their elevated status and well-defined curing role a valuable defence against relapse. The psychotic may be able to function well as a shaman because the emotional supports available to the shaman greatly alleviate the strain of an otherwise excruciatingly painful existence. These are of necessity people who have few personality or emotional disorders, since the presence of these would compound the experiences and make the person unfit for the role of shaman.





As non-industrial countries get "developed" so the level of schizophrenia rises in the rural areas around the industrialised city/area. Where there are migrant-labour practices, and where people, e.g. Aboriginals, American Indians, the Scots and the Irish have lost their land and associated life styles, this results in gross unemployment and loss of self esteem and the highest levels of schizophrenia. Assured employment in the former Socialist countries and the stable role expectations among Hitterites and the Amish of USA, and Southern Italians who have subsistence farming are all linked with less schizophrenia. Immigrants who enter the lower classes in their new country experience a high prevalence of schizophrenia; those who enter at a higher level of status do not. For example, Harrison et al (1997) have replicated the finding of increased incidence of schizophrenia and related psychoses in first and second generation migrants to Britain from the Caribbean. Schizophrenics founder under the same difficulties with which all of us struggle all our lives.





Thus the Industrial Revolution is linked to an increase in occurrence of schizophrenia. Barham & Hayward (1990) point out that the negative symptoms of chronic schizophrenia, e.g. loss of affect, are related to all inmates of institutions such as prisons, refugee camps.











3. Neurochemical Correlates of Psychosis



3.1. Schizotypy





The brain is an holistic system with only part localization of function. There are many-to-many correspondences between mental states and brain events - the aetiology of even a single symptom (e.g, hallucination) is likely to be variable (Jackson,1990).





There is a continuity between health and sickness - one can be more or less sick. Mental illnesses form the endpoints of continuously variable behavioural dimensions and these dimensions have a substantial biological basis grounded in naturally occurring individual variation in brain functioning. "It is possible that structural or biochemical abnormalities may induce a vulnerability to certain schizophrenic experiences which act as a catalyst for later elaboration by otherwise normal cognitive processes. These abnormalities may reflect biases in the way that schizophrenics process information or in such fundamental processes such as arousal"Jackson. (1990) Temperamental or personality differences partly reflect differences in the underlying properties of the nervous system. There is a distinction between enduring traits as descriptors of personality and symptoms as indicators of illness, but a connection can be discerned. Thus one can compare schizophrenia to systemic disease, e.g. hypertension related diseases.





blood pressure -----------------> increasing risk of stroke etc caused by stress, diet, or





schizotypal nervous system - -----------> increasing risk of schizophrenia

Therefore, a normal body mechanism can bring about a state of dysfunction. The continuity is that of normal individual variation with predisposition to disease greater in some than in others. Systemic diseases are normally multiply determined. There is a normal "nervous type" associated with schizophrenia comparable to those other traits underlying other psychological disorders, and the "dispositional" aspects are inherited. This graded continuum of liability to schizophrenia could be called "schizotoxia."





Schizotypy scales identify 3 behavioural components:

1) cognitive: active florid symptoms, e.g delusions and paranoia;

2) affective: passive, introverted symptoms, e.g. anhedonia;

3) antisocial nonconformity.





These scales are linked with cognitive, psychophysiological (galvanic skin response, GSR) and neuropsychological (hemisphere) research. There are many nervous properties which relate to temperamental or personality variations that are under some genetic control, e.g. extraversion, anxiety proneness.





For example,one theory suggests a weakening of the inhibitor system (Bergson’s filter theory (see note 2)). Thus possibly, schizophrenia is a failure to limit the contents of consciousness. This openness to stimulation, open mode of attention to the environment, also links to high creativity, and to the shamanic traditions. Ambiguous, critical, emotion-laden communications from another might have a greater than normal impact because the person is unduly sensitive to, and therefore more likely to distort, the meaning. This happens quite often during adolescence as part of the emotional growth pattern.







3.2.Neurochemistry of Shamanic States, Psychosis and the Pineal Gland.



The shamanic state of conciousness is often precipitated by psychotropic plants such as ayahuasca, peyote, and amanita muscaria. These drugs activate the serotonergic (5HT) receptors in a similar fashion to the pineal betacarbolines. I have discussed elsewhere that the pineal betacarbolines are linked with psychic states of consciousness and with the shamanic out-of-body state through the similarity of the harmala alkaloids and pinoline (Roney-Dougal, 1986,1988,1990,1991,1993, 1999). Now I am presenting a link between the pineal gland and the psychotic state of consciousness. I consider that our society does not recognise the potential of people who experience this state of consciousness, and so we are creating a severe disabling illness totally unnecessarily by not treating these people appropriately in the manner that tribal and subsistence economy people do. It is time we recognised the potential shaman in the psychotic.







3.2.1.Geomagnetic Fields, Depression and the Role of Melatonin



One of the key factors in linking the pineal with psychosis is the work of Kay (1994). Admission to mental hospital varies with season and time of the month, and mental illness is more common the further north you go, i.e., into long light summers, and long dark winters.



Seasonal variation in the incidence of depressive illness has been recognised since Hippocrates (Lewis, 1934). Onset of depressive illness, admission to hospital, prescriptions of antidepressant medication and incidence of suicide have all been found to show a bimodal annual distribution with peaks in spring and autumn.





Kay (1994) has found, in a 10 year study of admission rates to Lothian psychiatric hospitals, that two weeks after a geomagnetic storm there was a significant rise (36.2%) for male admissions for depression phase of manic-depression and a smaller non-significant rise for women with psychotic and non-psychotic depression. There was no correlation between intensity of storm and admission rates, i.e. if any sort of storm happens, mild or severe, you get increased admission rate, which is consistent with a threshold event affecting predisposed individuals. The effect of geomagnetic storms could range from mild irritability to full-blown depression. Monthly total psychiatric admissions have been positively correlated with solar radioflux levels and indices of geomagnetic ionospheric disturbance.





Kay suggests that geomagnetic storms partly account for the bimodal annual distribution of depression by acting either through desynchronisation of pineal circadian rhythms, or via an effect on 5HT-ergic and adrenergic systems leading to depressed mood and secondary disruption of pineal melatonin synthesis. Alteration in geomagnetic field (GMF) activity is associated with decreased serotonin NAT activity and decreased melatonin synthesis. Geomagnetic storms in spring enhance the suppressing effect of increasing daylight on melatonin synthesis, leading to a phase advance in the circadian rhythm, while the effect of storms in autumn tend to be partially compensated by the pineal response to decreasing light intensity. This is consistent with a Southern Hemisphere peak for psychotic depression admissions in September and October, and a peak in Sweden in April.





The main innervation of the pineal is via adrenergic systems so magnetic fields may affect pineal functioning via this mechanism. Sandyk (1990a) associates depression with decreased melatonin secretion and suggests that melatonin regulates dopaminergic, cholinergic and GABA-ergic functions.





It is also possible that the association between geomagnetic storms and depression could be due to an indirect association with changes in meteorological factors. Atmospheric ionisation and barometric pressure have been shown to affect measures of 5HT activity. Prolonged exposure to abnormal magnetic fields may also have an effect, acting through a similar mechanism to geomagnetic storms. Depression admissions have been associated with exposure to 50Hz e-m fields in the home.







3.2.2.Role of Circadian Rhythms, Melatonin and Manic-Depression



We have two circadian clocks - one is a biological clock which includes the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus, the locus ceruleus and the dorsal raphe nucleus - food is the zeitgeber for this clock; the second clock includes the retina, hypothalamic suprachalasmic nuceus (SCN) and pineal gland - light is the zeitgeber for this clock. The two clocks are normally in synchrony but in view of the independence of the two clocks asynchrony is possible, and the affective disorders may be caused by such a dysfunction (Maurizi, 1984).



Disturbances of the noradrenergic activity of the central nervous system (CNS) have been related to affective disorders, which are also accompanied by depressed melatonin secretion and sleep disturbances. Manic-depression is associated with a sleep disorder: in the manic phase the person suffers from insomnia, in the depression state they sleep too much.



Melatonin is mainly secreted at night through noradrenergic stimulation of beta-receptors on the pinealocoytes. Melatonin secretion can therefore be inhibited by beta-blocking drugs. Melatonin secretion is depressed in mental disorders with sleep disturbances such as the manic phase of certain affective disorders, alcoholic abuse and dts with hallucinations.

There are mixed results regarding melatonin secretion in affective disorders - some find decreased nocturnal melatonin secretion in unipolar depressed adults, others do not. Lewy et al (1979) reports increased melatonin levels in bipolar subjects through a 24 hour cycle. Lam et al (1990) report decreased nocturnal melatonin production in bipolar patients compared with unipolar depressed and control subjects. Reiter (1982) suggests that manic-depressives have a low melatonin concentration during suicidal episodes and a high melatonin concentration during manic episodes.





Affective disorders involving circadian dysregulation may respond to interventions that restore a normal sleep-wake cycle. Robertson & Tanguay (1997) describe a boy with bipolar disorder. A trial of melatonin led to rapid relief of insomnia and aborted manic episodes for at least a two year period. Insomnia can be both a symptom and a precursor of mania (Wehr et al, 1987; Leibenluft et al, 1995). On the other hand, sleep deprivation therapy for depression is thought to exert its effect by resynchronising circadian rhythms, while antidepressants and lithium lengthen the pineal circadian cycle period re-synchronising a phase advanced cycle.





In addition, melatonin administration to clinically depressed patients gives negative effects (Carman et al, 1976). The treatment of psychotic depression with daytime melatonin increases psychotic symptoms and abolishes diurnal mood variation. The timing of this treatment would tend to exacerbate a desynchronised rhythm. De-synchronising circadian rhythms is therefore a possible mechanism for mood switching in manic-depressive illness, and manic-depressive patients have been found to be supersensitive to the suppressing effect of light on night-time melatonin synthesis, suggesting that in these people the pineal gland may be generally supersensitive to environmental factors including geomagnetic storms.





Brismar (1987) studied people on beta blockers because of angina, hypertension, etc. and found that those with depressed nightly urinary melatonin excretion suffered from CNS symptoms such as nightmares and hallucinations. Not many people suffer these effects. Another possible site of action for melatonin is the dorsal raphe nucleus. (LSD also acts on the dorsal raphe nucleus.) Melatonin could enhance 5HT levels by acting as a MAO inhibitor in the synapses of the dorsal raphe nucleus.





Abnormalities in circadian rhythm organization are consistent features in manic-depressive illness (Wehr & Goodwin, 1980). Wetterberg et al (1981) suggest pineal involvement. Manic-depressives have an earlier onset of melatonin secretion during depression, with this secretory onset being even earlier in mania (Lewy & Kern, 1984). Manic depressives are also super-sensitive to light with 50% reduction in melatonin production on exposure to 500 lux. Normally one needs 2500 lux for this suppression whereas manic-depressives have complete melatonin suppression at 1500 lux (Lewy & Kern, 1984). It is possible that supersensitivity to light with alteration in retinal perception of light could contribute to a phase advance of those rhythms that are entrained to the light-dark cycle and thus lead to alterations in those function that are influenced secondarily by such rhythms (for review see Kripke & Risch 1986; Rosenthal, 1986; Thompson, 1987).

Thus melatonin, as an integral aspect of our circadian rhythm is implicated in manic- depression.







3.2.3. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)



SAD is the name given to the hypothesis that decreasing daylight desynchronises the pineal rhythm of melatonin synthesis. Non-psychotic depression does show some bimodal seaonal variation. In line with the idea that psychosis is the extreme end of a normal mechanism, manic depression is thus an extreme response to a bimodal variation with season that is very common amongst people living in latitudes with variable daylength.





Arendt (1985) has shown that those who suffer from depression can be helped by sun lamp treatment. To ameliorate SAD symptoms intensity of light must be sufficient to suppress melatonin synthesis and secretion. Some SAD patients respond to levels as low as 200 lux. Alternatively one can use melatonin treatment in pill form.





More generally the pineal plays an anti-stress function and "forms part of a broader neurohormonal feedback mechanism linking the stress response of the hypothalamus - hypophysis neuroendocrine complex." (Reiter, 1982).





Thus, as with schizotypy and schizophrenia there is a normal aspect of a behavioural pattern that we call a disorder, manic depression. We can see that both these forms of psychosis are at the extreme end of a continuum but do not differ in form from experiences common to many people. We are all of us more active in the long, light summer days, and more inclined to hibernate during the dark, cold winter.







3.2.4. Melatonin and Dreams



Melatonin per se may well, directly or indirectly, be of importance for normal sleep rhythm and for ordinary dream activity during sleep. REM sleep has been sugggested to be induced by the actions of CSF (cerebrospinal fluid), melatonin and vasotocin on the dorsal raphe nucleus and the locus ceruleus. Melatonin and vasotocin have been noted to be in rhythm with REM sleep (Pavel et al, 1979; Birkeland,1982). Maurizi (1984) speculates that the synaptic enhancement of monoamines induced by melatonin causes feedback inhibition of the locus and raphe nuclei in REM sleep. A cycle of neuropeptides and neuromodulators in the CSF has been suggested to pace the 90 minute dream rhythm (Maurizi, 1984). Intranasal application of vasotocin and also of melatonin induces REM sleep in humans.





Maurizi (1987) suggests that REM sleep, which is under brain stem control, facilitates the transfer of intermediate-term memory into long-term storage in the neocortex. Psychotics suffer memory loss, so do mediums in trance, hypnotised people and those on psychedelics, and it is notoriously difficult to remember dreams. Findings suggest that REM sleep over a prolonged time period is a requisite neurobiological mechanism for the processing, maintenance, and storage of long-term memory. In humans, recall of complex associative information is significantly better after REM sleep than after non-REM sleep or wakefulness. In elderly humans a positive correlation of REM sleep with mental functioning has been demonstrated, and people with learning difficulties have decreased REM sleep. REM sleep benefits the consolidation of emotive memory, high association value memory, or memory that calls for more divergent procesing. Emotional memories and emotional events seem to be resolved by REM sleep.





Patients suffering from narcolepsy, which is thought to be a disorder of the mechanism that controls REM sleep, frequently have hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations. These are more than likely the emergence of REM dreams into the waking state. Drugs, such as chlorimipramine, are particularly effective in blocking hypnagogic hallucinations.

The delusions of mania are suggestive of dreams. If manic behaviour is the consequence of REM sleep chemistry intruding into the wake period, then perhaps grandiosity and a “flight of ideas” during normal REM sleep are mechanisms for imagination and creativity.







3.3. Serotonin (5HT) and Schizophrenia



Whilst melatonin is made only at night, 5HT is made during daytime. 5HT is a wake state enhancer and REM sleep inhibitor. Thus, in the northern hemisphere, we have increased levels of serotonin in the summer and decreased levels in winter. Animal data indicate that 5HT is a major neurotransmitter involved in the control of mood, aggression, pain, anxiety, sleep, memory, eating behaviour, addictive behaviour, temperature control, endocrine regulation, and motor behaviour. There is also evidence that abnormalities of 5HT functions are related to Parkinson's disease, tardive dyskinesia, akathisia, dystonia, Huntington' disease, familial tremor, restless legs syndrome, myoclonnus, Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome, multiple sclerosis, sleep disorders and dementia, schizophrenia, mania, depression, aggressive and self-injurious behaviour, obsessive compulsive disorder, seasonal affective disorder, substance abuse, hypersexuality, anxiety disorders, bulimia, childhood hyperactivity and behavioural disorders in geriatrics (Sandyk, 1992b).





The highest concentrations of 5HT have been found in the pineal glands of schizophrenics. A dysfunction of central 5HT metabolism in schizophrenia has been repeatedly suggested, and is also implicated in the cyclic seasonal nature of manic-depressives, since there are higher concentrations of 5HT in the summer during the manic phase of seasonally affected people. Schizophrenics often exhibit sleep disturbances; insomnia may be the first symptom of a relapse, whilst changes in REM sleep and in EEG patterns during sleep have been observed. Also arousal level, thus implicating the reticular activating system (RAS), is altered in psychotics. Pathologists have found that the brains of suicide victims are deficient in 5HT. When 5HT levels are low there is an increase in the tendency for people to behave in uncharacteristic ways (Elliott & Holman, 1977).





This dysfunction of 5HT metabolism in schizophrenia has been suggested from studies measuring concentrations of 5HT in urine and blood, in post mortem brains, in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and after the administration of 5HT precursors and/or drugs affecting central 5HT turnover. Two possible mechanisms have been suggested both of which result in the formation of psychotropic chemicals such as dimethyltryptamine (DMT) (see Appendix 2)(Rimon et al, 1984). There is a considerable body of evidence suggesting that one defect in schizophrenia may be in the metabolism of tryptophan, and perhaps especially in its uptake into the brain and subsequent metabolism to 5HT. Another possible link comes from the fact that the acute manic episodes of psychoses such as schizophrenia and manic-depression rarely occur in childhood, and often first manifest at adolescence. Puberty is intimately linked with a massive decrease in melatonin levels, this decrease being the trigger for the onset of sexual hormone production. There may be a delay in sexual maturation. In some patients an increase in sexual activity may occur during the acute phase and depressed patients lose interest in sexual activity. The increased sexual activity of mania may be due to an altered level or rhythm of melatonin (Roney - Dougal, 1999).







3.3.1. Serotonin and Psychedelics



Jacobs & Trulson (1979) suggest that certain aspects of dreams, drug-induced hallucinations and psychosis share a limited set of characteristics which are directly attributable to decreased 5HT-ergic transmission which is common to all three. This is manifest primarily as changes in visual perception and affect. Additionally, an activation of brain dopamine function may also be involved, either directly or indirectly as a result of decreased inhibitory control over dopamine-containing neurones.





The reasoning behind their hypothesis is that there is a structural similarity between LSD and 5HT molecules, and psychedelics depress central 5HT-ergic neurotransmission. A blockade of central 5HT receptors might account for LSD’s psychotomimetic effects. Repeated doses of LSD decrease the number of available binding sites for LSD and 5HT, and affects the affinity of 5HT for its post-synaptic receptor. LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs are potentiated by drugs which depress, and blocked by drugs which increase, 5HT neurotransmission. When LSD is given in conjunction with an inhibitor of 5HT synthesis the effects are synergistic, e.g., depletion of 5HT by reserpine enhances the effects of hallucinogens.

Vollenweider et al (1997) investigated the effects of another psychotropic plant, psilocybin, on cerebral glucose metabolism in 10 healthy volunteers. The data suggest that excessive 5HT receptor activation results in a metabolic pattern that parallels comparable findings associated with acute psychotic episodes in schizophrenics.





Suppression of 5HT neurotransmission alone may be necessary and sufficient for hallucinogenesis, but an added dopamine agonist action greatly enhances the magnitude of the effect. When people having frightening pschedelic experiences are given neuroleptics which have a dopamine antagonist action, they still report experiencing hallucination, but the magnitude of the effect is greatly diminished.





Bufotenine, another naturally occuring psychotropic, shows effects similar to DMT. Body enzymes can produce bufotenine and DMT from tryptamines (Axelrod, 1961/2). These findings further the hypothesis of a role for methylated tryptamines in the origins of psychosis. Perhaps any psychoactive effects of bufotenine result from its conversion to 5-Methoxy-DMT (5-MeODMT) via the pineal enzyme HIOMT. Bufotenine has been found in the urine of both healthy and psychiatric people. The methylated tryptamines are also normal components of human urine and blood (Callaway, 1994) .





Administration of a variety of hallucinogenic drugs, such as LSD, psilocybin, DMT and 5MeODMT, in very low doses, directly suppresses the activity of dorsal raphe neurons. Subtle alterations of the raphe unit activity may produce dramatic behavioural effects. Because of 5HT’s inhibitory synaptic action in the forebrain, this depression of raphe unit activity produces a disinhibition of target neurones in the visual and limbic systems, thereby giving rise to alterations of visual perception and rapid and dramatic changes in mood. The relative potency of these drugs in depressing the discharge rate of these neurons corresponds to their relative potency in various psychological and perceptual measures in humans. Other psychoactive drugs such as the opiates, atropine and cannabis do not exert this primary physiological action and produce ASCs which are clearly distinguishable from hallucinogenic drugs. Only psychdelics inhibit raphe cell firing without a compensatory increase in 5HT synthesis.







3.3.2. Serotonin and Dreams



The amount of REM sleep in schizophrenics varies; acute patients show reduced REM, chronic show increased. Acute phases are associated with severe sleep disruption with reduction of both REM and NREM. Longitudinal studies show a failure of REM rebound in schizophrenics following loss of REM sleep. Some studies suggest that some schizophrenics have short REM latencies, but there are conflicting results. Reduced REM latency is also found with obsessive compulsives, borderline personality, alcoholism, narcolepsy, schizoaffective disorder. This is possibly due to alterations in the circadian rhythm of REM sleep. It is possible that low REM latency is related to affective symptoms &/or the presence of psychotic delusions. Dreams are dominated by intense visual imagery and affective involvement of the dreamer. Reduced REM latency also occurs with with sleep deprivation.





There is evidence from animal and human studies for a serotonergic involvement in the generation of REM sleep (Mendelson, 1987). The monoamine theory of sleep states introduced by Jouvet (1969, 1972, 1974) implicates the serotonergic neurons of the raphe system (see Figure 1). The discharge rate of 5HT from the dorsal raphe neurones gradually slows as one progresses from the waking state through non-REM sleep until they cease firing completely during REM sleep. Humans show reduction in REM sleep with serotonergic enhancers. Hobson (1992) states that in REM sleep the cholinergic system and its postsynaptic REM sleep executive population are modulated by serotonergic, noradrenergic, and dopaminergic inputs which are in general inhibitory. Noradrenergic neurons are also active whilst we are awake and inactive in REM sleep, so noradrenaline as well as 5HT is inhibitory to REM sleep.

MAO inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants, such as chlorimipramine, are thought to act by increasing the synaptic availability of 5HT and catecholamines. Chlorimipramine is a strong 5HT reuptake blocker and has been found to be a potent inhibitor of REM sleep. The results obtained with tricyclic antidepressants support the notion that REM sleep depends on the activation state of 5HT-containing neurons. It has been shown that MAO inhibitors consistently suppress REM sleep time through their effect on 5HT; they selectively increase brain 5HT levels without exerting significant effects on other neurotransmitter systems.





Thus, at the cellular level, there is a striking parallel between brain activity following administration of hallucinogenic drugs, and during REM sleep: a significant depression of the electrical activity of the brain’s 5HT-containing neurons. The change in raphe unit activity seen spontaneously across the sleep-waking cycle may be the key to understanding altered states of consciousness.



Dreams Drug-induced

hallucinations

__________________________

Serotonergic activity I I

v v

Dopaminergic activity ? ^

I



Jacobs and Trulson (1979) have two qualifiers to their hypothesis:

a) dreams, hallucinations, and psychosis are not identical processes. Any two may share properties not shared by the third;

b)that neither 5HT nor dopamine covers any single process indicates that other neurotransmitters are involved in each of the processes, and 5HT and dopamine are also involved in other processes. Yet the overlap of 5HT and dopamine indicates their interaction.





In conclusion, 5HT and melatonin are all implicated in the state of consiousness we call the dream state, a state which has profund similarities to the psychedelic induced state such as is used by shamans for healing and psychic purposes, and to the spontaneously ocurring and distressing state experienced by people who in our culture are labelled psychotic. This action of melatonin and 5HT on this primary process consciousness is highlighted by the action of pinoline which is made in the pineal from 5HT, and has been hypothesised as the neurochemical trigger for dreaming.



Figure 1. The limbic system, considered the emotional part of the brain, includes the hippocampus, fornix, mammillary body, anterior thalamic nucleus, cingulate cortex and entorhinal cortex. Electrical stimulation of the entorhinal cortex elicits dream-like memories. The hippocampus constitues a main part of the archicortex, the old arc of cortex, lying on the medial surface of the temporal lobe and composed of the dubiculum, Ammon’s horn, and dentate gyrus. It receives fibres from the medial and lateral entorhinal cortex, the medial septal nucleus, the locus ceruleus, the dorsal raphe nucleus, and the contralateral hippocampus. Passage of information through the hippocampus is necessary for the storage of new memories. Serotonergic input from the median raphe nucleus seems to have a role in modulating adrenergic receptors in the hippocampus. The hilus of the dentate gyrus receives heavy innervation from both raphe nuclei and the locus ceruleus. GABA has an inhibitory role in the dentate gyrus. A feature of hippocampal physiology is the production of theta rhythm which is related to learning and memory and during REM sleep.







3.4. Pinoline:the link between dreams, psychosis, psychedelics and the shamanic state of consciousness



A tryptoline is a beta-carboline and these are competitive inhibitors of serotonergic uptake, and of the degradative enzyme MAO (Elliott & Holman, 1977). This means 5HT does not degrade properly or get taken up properly which leads it to form compounds such as DMT which is a potent hallucinogen. Naturally occurring beta-carbolines such as pinoline show psychotropic and physiological effects in mammals (Klinker et al, 1997). Pinoline (6methoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline) is a naturally occurring compound in the mammalian body (Pahkla et al, 1997).





Pinoline has its highest concentrations in the pineal and has been reported to fluctuate in phase with melatonin (Kari, 1981; Kari et al, 1983). It is exceptionally active in that it can potentiate the activity of 5HT by both inhibiting its presynaptic reuptake and by inhibiting its metabolism by blocking MAO-A. Both of these are used as treatment modalities for depression. (Marcusson & Ross, 1990/2?) Pinoline has also been shown to behave like a hormone (Airaksinen et al 1984) and specific binding sites for pinoline exist in the adrenals as well as the pineal and the brain. Pinoline is probably made from 5HT either via 6-HO-THBC and HIOMT, or via melatonin, 5-MeOT and cyclization (Callaway, 1994). Pinoline is found in the arcuate nucleus, retina and pineal gland (Kari et al, 1983) It has been shown to be an effective benzodiazepine receptor ligand, associated with ethanol dependence, and binds to opiate receptors.





Several people have suggested that the beta-carbolines may play some sort of role in psychosis since they have hallucinogenic effects, but concentrations of pinoline in blood serum and CSF are identical in schizophrenics and controls. Both show a wide range between people, some having 16 times as much as others, and the levels do not correlate with such variables as age, sex, subtype of schizophrenia or duration of illness (Rimon et al, 1984).





Verheij et al (1997) compared plasma levels of the beta-carboline norharman ( a harmala alkaloid), concentration of platelet 5-HT, trait measures of anxiety, and measures of coping and defense mechanisms for patients with panic disorder. Platelet 5-HT concentration was positively correlated with the subjectively reported anxiety. Plasma norharman concentration was negatively correlated with defense mechanisms and positively correlated with coping strategies. It was concluded that norharman might reflect intrapsychic and coping processes.

The key factor here concerning pinoline function is that it is chemically almost identical with the harmala alkaloids found in a psychotropic drink, called ayahuasca, used by Amazonian peoples for the purpose of out-of-body experiences, clairvoyance, divination and shamanic healing. In those tribes that have shamans the shaman uses the ayahuasca specifically for connecting with their spirit guide for psychic purposes. The primary function of harmala alkaloids in ayahuasca is to allow for the oral activity of DMT by inhibition of MAO-A, and further permits accumulation of 5-HT and other neurotransmitters. On their own harmala alkaloids have only weak psychoactive effects (Callaway, 1994) but Kim et al (1997) found that the harmala alkaloids which occur in ayahuasca were the most effective inhibitors of purified MAO-A. The psychedelic effects of ayahuasca probably manifest primarily through the serotonergic effects of DMT on the CNS and through increased levels of unmetabolised biogenic amines. Pinoline potentiates the activity of methylated tryptamines and this is the probable mechanism behind ayahuasca (Callaway, 1994) .





Investigation of long term users of ayahuasca showed a statistically significant difference between control group and users with a higher binding density in blood platelets of 5-HT uptake sites in the ayahuasca drinkers. No other pharmacological agent is known to significantly alter values of Bmax binding density, though the density of 5-HT uptake sites may vary considerably from one individual to another. Therefore it is likely that other parameters of the serotonergic system are analogously affected. This indicates a modulatory role for pinoline (the endogenous equivalent of ayahuasca) in the CNS. An upregulation of the serotonergic system is exactly what current antidepressant medications attempt to do, i.e. increasing synaptic 5-HT by preventing its reuptake.





The possibility remains that long term users of ayahuasca may find relief through the tea for inherently high densities of 5-HT uptake sites and that this condition allows them to better tolerate the serotonergic effects of this mixture. In this case ayahuasca can be seen as a form of self-medication for depressive psychological problems. Thus it is possible that ayahuasca may be useful in the treatment of affective disorders (Callaway, 1994).





Betacarbolines are produced from biogenic tryptamines. The search for endogenous THBCs as biochemical explanations for mental illness began in the early 1960s as an extension of the transmethylation hypothesis for schizophrenia (Osmond & Smythies, 1952). Pinoline has been shown to bind to sites in the interpeduncular nucleus. The interpeduncular nucleus, a small area in the basal mid-brain, and its connection to the habenula are essential for REM sleep. When these connections are cut in rat brain, REM disappears or decreases dramatically.

It has been suggested that mental states of hallucinatory psychosis, psychedelic drugs and dreams all share common features. Callaway suggests that psychoactive tryptamine derivatives in the CNS of mammals play a role in the manifestations of visual and emotive phenomena during normal dream sleep. The endogenous activity of these rapidly metabolised methylated tryptamines is suggested to be promoted through the regular and periodic inhibition of MAO-A by endogenous betacarbolines. The hypothesis is extended to include psychoses by suggesting that hallucinatory psychotic episodes may result from a desychronised dream mechanism, where the individual essentially dreams while awake (Callaway, 1994) .







3.4.1. The 40Hz EEG links between schizophrenics, ayahuasca users and psi experiences



Don et al (1989) report increased 40HZ EEG activity associated with clairvoyance hitting in an exceptional psychic, this being repeated with another person in a later study (McDonough,1989). Don et al (1996) recorded EEGs from 11 members of a Brazilian shamanistic religion which uses ayahuasca. Analyses showed increases in power in the 40 HZ region, consistent with reports that ayahuasca intensifies visual imagery. They interpret these results as supporting the proposal by Llinas & Ribary (1993) that the 40HZ rhythm is linked with the consciousness-generating mechanism which produces the REM state, hallucinations and daydreaming states, and further suggest that this “may also underly the conscious elaboration of initially unconscious or preconscious psi information.” They think that the claimed psychic effects of ayahuasca are due to 40 Hz brain activity making unconscious psi information available to the conscious mind.





Don & Moura (1997) analysed the EEGs of people claiming contact or abduction UFO experiences who later spontaneously had altered states of consciousness or trance experiences. This showed a state of hyperaroused trance in which the muscles were relaxed and immobile whilst their EEGs exhibited high frequency 40 Hz beta activity at all 19 electrode sites, with maximum activity at the prefrontal and adjacent loci. There were intermittent trains of rhythmic approximately 40 Hz activity attaining very high amplitudes at times exceeding 40 microvolts, which was distinct from muscle discharge, significantly more in trance than in baseline. Also the dominant alpha frequency increased during trance. There have been numerous observations of increased fast beta activity in schizophrenia patients (Itil, 1977) but this tends to include delta, theta, alpha and low beta activity as well. Also in schizophrenia the beta activity is observed mostly at sites posterior to the frontal scalp. Most importantly UFO experiencers can voluntarily commence and terminate the high frequency activity which was only present in the trance condition; voluntary control is not found in schizophrenics. Das & Gastaut (1957) found a similar EEG in a yogi in advanced meditation, in the state of samadhi. They suggest that UFO experiencers enter this ecstasy trance state, some of the experiencers reporting feeling that they were linked to a higher consciousness and sometimes connected with a non-human being or even with God. The difference is that samadhi is experienced after years of training whereas the UFO people experienced it as a result of their abduction of contact.





Llinás has proposed that the thalamic intralaminar nuclei which comprise the diffuse thalamic system generate 40 Hz activity which integrates corticothalamic activity and so bears importantly on consciousness. Sheer (1984) found that scalp-recorded 40 Hz was associated with focused arousal and learning tasks. It appears that as the focus of attention sharpens, the integrative activity of the thalamic system increases through the action of 40 Hz rhythms. Apparently when attentional focusing becomes laser-like an extreme state of corticothalamic integration occurs and with it an amplification of normally unconscious brain activity, with a higher-order self or personality prevailing which seems to transcend time and space. However the UFO experiencers did not show the high frequency brain activity widely spread all over the scalp as did the yogis. Theirs was centred on the prefrontal loci of the brain. In samadhi one experiences Divine Union. The UFO people experienced a wider range of phenomena.

This EEG research suuports the neurochimical findings with regard to the commonalities between the various primary process states of consciousness of psychics, spiritual people and visionaries. In section 4.2. we will look at Llinas hypothesis which links these with the dream state of consciousness.







4. States of Consciousness: The Link between Psychosis, the Psychedelic Experience and Dreams



What is central to the psychedelic, the shamanic and the psychotic is a state of consciousness often described as hallucinogenic or hallucinatory. In this state of consciousness one experiences reality in mythic archetypal thought patterns, often called primary process thinking. Many scientists, such as Noll (1983), consider that: “Hallucination almost invariably carries with it the frightening connotation of psychosis, especially if it occurs repeatedly.” Yet, this state of consciousness is experienced by all humans every night when we are dreaming. Every 90 minutes we experience a dream lasting on average 20 minutes; therefore 19.4% of every night's sleep is spent dreaming with an average of 4 - 5 dreams a night. The fear surrounding hallucination is profound in our culture but is not so marked in cultures whihc regularly use spychotropic plants. Our fear has led us to consider hallucinations as unreal and delusions. However, they are frequently used by primary process consciousness to impart information to us in the mode whihc is appropriate for that state of consciousness and the more familiar we become with that state the less frightening is the hallucinatory mode.





The link between dreams and psychosis has been remarked on often through millennia, e.g. Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Freud. Moreau (1845) remarked also on the similarity with drug induced hallucination. Thalbourne (1996) has proposed the concept of transliminality to describe the state experienced, which he defines as:

“Transliminality, or the ability to cross the threshold, is the name that has been given to the common factor that has been found to underlie creative personality, mystical experience, psychopathology of the schizotypal and manic-depressive kind, and belief in and alleged experience of the paranormal. Other core constituents of transliminality are religiosity, frequency of dream-interpretation and fantasy-proneness, dream recall and hyperaesthesia.”







4.1.Dream Sleep and Psychosis



Since the 50’s there has been speculation that sleep, dreams and psychosis are interrelated. Dement (1960) in the classic study on dream deprivation in which 8 young men were awakened every time they started dreaming, for several consecutive nights, found that on the first night of dream deprivation, the return to sleep initiated a new sleep-dream cycle, and therefore there were 4 - 5 attempts to dream. On each subsequent night the time elapsed between returning to sleep and starting to dream decreased dramatically, i.e. there was a progressive increase in attempt to dream for all subjects, from 11 - 30 awakenings in a night. Every subject had the first minute or two of dreaming so the deprivation was 65 - 75% complete.





Then they were allowed recovery nights when they could sleep and dream without disturbance: the first night they dreamt for 26.6 - 29% of the sleeping time. They required up to five nights before a return to normal patterns was complete. If one is woken in between dream periods there is no subsequent increase in dream times so these effects are not due to repeated awakenings affecting sleep pattern.





Psychological disturbances such as anxiety, irritability, and difficulty in concentrating developed during the period of dream deprivation. Three subjects stopped early - one after two nights and two after four nights, presumably because the stress was too great. One subject exhibited severe anxiety and agitation, 5 developed a marked increase in appetite. These changes disappeared as soon as they were allowed to dream again. "It is possible that if the dream suppression were carried on long enough, a serious disruption of the personality would result" (Keshaven et al, 1990).





Granek et al (1988) consider that sleep disorders generated by chronic use of psychostimulants, such as opium or khat, may generate, in the long term, hypnagogic experiences during daytime. REM suppression and subsequent REM rebound have been described among chronic users of amphetamine and cocaine. The striking similarity between daytime hallucinations of the psychotic and dream experience has prompted research in the EEG patterns of schizophrenia patients during sleep. The hypothesis is that intrusion or leakage of REM sleep phasic events into waking would contribute to a disorder of attention and perception.





A large majority of schizophrenics complain of poor sleep; they show a fragmentation of sleep and decrease in total sleep time (see section 3.3.2). Schizophrenics have a reduction in stage 4 sleep (delta slow wave sleep (SWS)), this being found also in normal elderly people, in those with major depression, mental retardation, when under stress and those with chronic dementia. The major deficit in delta occurs in the first NREM period. Adolescence, which is frequently when schizophrenia begins, is characterised by quantitative decline in sleep, the time spent in stage 4 (SWS) declines by 50%, the amplitude of delta waves declines by 75% between 10 - 16 years of age. SWS deficit may also be related to anxiety or to overarousal rather than to psychosis, (Keshaven et al (1990).







4.2. Shamanic trance characteristics



The following characteristics are typical of shamanic experiences, though every culture has some differing characteristics which are peculiar to that culture:

a) Belief in aerial voyage of trancer - this is probably the most consistent belief across all cultures linked with the shamanic experience;

b) spirit helpers of plants, e.g. mescalito by users of the peyote cactus, are evoked by users;

c) healers divine the future and make prognosis of illness, this has already been exemplified by traditional usage of ayahuasca;

d) rituals associated with trance state: all shamanic cultures use ceremony and ritual in conjunction with the psychedelic plant, or other methods of achieving the trance state of consciousnsess;

e) music an integral part of ritual - this is commonly chanting or drumming;

f) the song guides the trance - this is especially true with ayahuasca ceremonies;

g) women are involved in healing rituals generally after menopause - presumably because pregnancy requires the women to abstain from psychedelic plant usage and hallucinogenic plants are not given to pre-adolescent children;

h) man/animal transformations utilising plant;

i) recruitment to shamanistic role is idiosyncratic based on personal attributes - this I shall look at more fully in a moment; it may also run in families;

j) no metaphor of possession by alien spirit force;

(Dobkin de Rios, 1986)



Dobkin de Rios also mentions the following characteristics which are found also in psychotic and psychedelic experiences:

experience of time as highly accelerated or imperceptibly slowed;

death of ego/rebirth phenomena reported;

quality and intensity of altered state unpredictable;

fear of death.





Since the turn of the century psychiatrists have noticed the similarity between acute psychotic breakdown and shamanic trance states. It is an interesting historical exercise to read through the reports over the past 50 years, because one sees primarily how the same data is interpreted according to a changing Western attitude. Initially one had titles such as “Shamans as Neurotics” (Devereux, 1961) , in which the shamanic trance state was identified as psychopathological. The following quote is a good example of the sort of thinking at this time. Devereux lists various authors, poets, composers who were considered to be mentally unstable and offers the opinion that their insanity was a part of their creative genius, and that “the problem is . . . we view the finding that neurotics and/or more or less latent psychotics can perform culturally valued social functions, as a slur and as an aspersion on culture and society.” Interestingly this attitude still holds today - but today shamans are seen as healthy members of their culture, and I am now arguing that many psychotics in our culture could be healthy and valued members of our culture, if only they were assisted through their initial breakdown and taught how to grow through and ground their experience, rather than being hospitalised and treated with drugs.





Part of the shift in attitude is seen in the 1980’s when great efforts were made to show that shamanic trance was not the same altered state of consciousness as the psychedelic or psychotic experience, that it could in itself be psychotherapeutic and that the shaman was not neurotic or psychotic (Noll, 1983). This is valid. All states of consciousness are unique to themselves. What I am trying to show in this paper though is that they are on a continuum from teh dream state through the psychedelic and shamanic states to acute psychotic breakdown, and the same underlying primary process, mythic mode of thought is common to all.





The visionary state is considered to be the essence of the shamanic complex. I think that many young people have an inherent and strong urge to experience ASCs. Noll (1983) also remarks on this. The shamanic trance is a state of consciousness that has been utilised among many human cultures across human history. More pertinent to my thesis here though is the famous “initial call” of some shamans, which mark the person out as having a particular gift, a “greater lability to easily experience ASCs in whatever form, thus marking him or her as a prospective candidate for shamanic training.” (Noll, 1983) The important fact here is that after the initial call experience the budding shaman is then taught by the reseident shaman how to control their gift for the good both of their society and for the person who has the initially uncontrolled experience. The tragedy in our society is that people having this experience are not recognised and not helped to control the experience.





Always in human behaviour there is an interaction between state vs trait factors, between personality and behvaiour derived from genetic, constitutional traits (Allport, 1966 et al) and behaviour which is best understood within the context of psychological states linked with the environment (James, 1890) in whihc the interaction of the person and the situation accounts for more variance in behaviour than the person or situation alone. Thus in a shamanic culture the experience of an uncontrolled ASC will be interpreted and dealt with completely differently from someone having that experience in the modern Western culture. An experience within an ASC cannot be easily regarded as “legitimate” or “real”, the interpretation is almost totally culture dependent.





For example the Western medical model “views behavioural disorders as displays of symptoms of underlying psychological “disease entities.” Labelling someone as “ill” places then in a dependent and therefore inferior role in our society. Such labelling may have dire consequences for the person stigmatised by the disease syndrome tag. The ASC experience by orthodox Western psychological standards is “sick”, “inferior” or “pathological”. Tart (1975) notes that an implicit assumption in Western cultures is that deliberately “cultivating ASCs is also a sign of psychopathology.”





I am not the first to note this comparison. Silverman (1967) argues that the onset of acute schizophrenia in our culture is analogous to the “initial call” of the shaman, as described by Eliade (1964) and others. Eliade’s chapter on initiatory sicknesses and dreams centres on their importance in Siberia and elsewhere as a transformation process :They transform the profane, pre-choice individual into a technician of the sacred.” Laing (1967) claims that “no age in the history of humanity has perhaps so lost touch with this natural healing process that implicates some of the people we label schizophrenic.” Shamanic techniques are described as closely resembling certain psychotherapeutic techniques in our own culture by Murphy (1964) who sees “the process of shamanism as ‘whole man’ therapy” and by Peters and Price-Williams (1980) who compare it with the various types of “waking dream” therapies, especially with the process of “active imagination” in Jungian psychotherapy. Both shamanism and schizophrenia are subject to colouful romanticization







4.2.1.Differences between the Shamanic State of consciousness (SSC) and schizophrenia



Volition

“By far the most important distinction between the SSC and schizophrenic state is that the shaman voluntarily enters and leaves his ASCs while the schizophrenic is the helpless victim of his.” (Noll, 1983)





The shaman willfully induces his ASCs, and the evidence suggests that except in the case of the ingestion of certain hallucinogens, the shaman can also willfully return from his altered states. The shaman has a conscious, purposive, social function for entering the SSC. Control of the shaman’s ASCs is the most important criterion. Hartner (1980) adds: “Indeed, the ability of the master shaman to operate successfully in two different realities is seen as evidence of power.” This “shamanic balance” has been lauded by others and is a sign of the high adaptability of shamans in maintaining ther levels of social and occupational functioning despite repeated ecstatic experience in altered states.” (Noll, 1983)





Form and content of thought

The negative, involuntary themes of intrusion so common in schizophrenia are absent in shamans. However, similar themes are found in states of involuntary or unsolicited “possession trance” or “spirit possession.”

The distinction between the baseline, or ordinary SOC, and nonordinary states, between the outer and the inner, is a distinction that the schizophrenia simply cannot always make. This does not appear to be true of most shamans studied by ethnographers, and probably results directly from their many years of training. The validity of both realms is acknowledged by the shaman, whose mastery derives from their ability to not confuse the two.





Perception

All experiences in ASCs are ultimately hallucinatory from the cognicentrist point of view. For example, the schizophrenic may be victimised by voices, mercilessly criticised and mocked by them, and the voices cannot be made to stop through the volition of the schizophrenic. For the shaman, there is an auditory component to the SSC, but it is usually of a positive, helpful, healing nature, and the advice given by “spirits” is willfully sought out by the shamans. This is due to the positive emotional psychological state of the shaman versus the frightened, confused state of the psychotic. What we experience in our minds is so strongly derived from what we heard as children from family, peers and society in general. Western society in general is so sick that our hallucinations torment us.

Affect, sense of self, and relation to the external world.

Murphy notes . . that “for a shaman to become a successful healer he had often to display an exceptional ability in emotional control and in taking responsibility.” Butt (1966) says that among the Akawio, any shaman who manifested psychopathy (such as loss of emotional control and inappropriate expression of affect) “would be regarded as inappropriate and likely to scare away patients rather than encourage them to apply for aid.”





The point that comes across so strongly here is that shamans are healthy people, who have not been subjected to abuse, not been told that they are sick, stigmatised, put down, so they can utilise the experience rather than being terrified by it and losing control over it, with the voices being helpful rather than condematory, their emotions being healthy rather than having to cut off from feeling because it is all so scary. What are we doing to these senistive peole in our midst? What tragedy is being committed to so many sensitive souls that they have to live a nightmare rather than fulfilling their birthright and growing into spiritually whole people?







4.2.1.Specific commonalities between psychotic and psychedelic states of consciousness



Fischman (1983) points out that:

a) the initial acute incidence of schizophrenia is marked by visual hallucinations, which are similar to psychedelic hallucinations. In longer term chronic patients one gets more auditory hallucinations;

b)The experience of heightened sensory awareness is common to psychedelic states and to acute psychosis. This shows up in psychophysiological, e.g. GSR, studies. There are two related reactions:

i) ordinary intensity stimuli are experienced more intensely than normally,

ii) less sensory information is necessary in order to report that a stimulus is present.

c) Awareness of “significance,” the sense of special significance, the experience of expanded relevance or meaning, is the initial stage in the development of delusional thinking. The primary delusional experience is fundamental to psychedelic states and in incipient psychosis.

d) The behavioural withdrawal of some schizophrenics is similar to those who unwittingly ingest hallucinogens without knowing they are doing so and who then become extremely frightened and withdraw.

e) Both psychotics and those taking a psychedelic trip have difficulty expressing thoughts: rambling, incoherent, word salads become charged with symbolic meaning so that one may effect a union between the word and its object.

f)The earliest affective changes in schizophrenia are often pleasurable and exhilarating like a pschedelic trip. Anxiety and dysphoria occur later as people feel they are losing control over their thoughts. One gets the same in LSD use. Hypnagogic phenomena, such as daydreams, are prototypical of this: internal processes can no longer be distinguished from external ones; sensory phenomena strike the weakened ego boundaries with unaccustomed impact; colours and sounds appear to have increased intensity; the distinction between self and non-self is blurred; the notion of causality is affected.







4.2.2. Psychological Correspondences between Dreams, Psychosis and Psychedelic States of Consciousness



The psychedelic state has its basis in a primary loss of ego boundaries. Accurate perception of reality depends upon the ego’s continuous synthesis of self-representations to form a constant frame of reference, a continuous coherent self. The disruption of this in dreams, psychedelic states and psychosis leads to a chaotic condition in which various ego states succeed one another without a common reference point. This renders a loss of temporal continuity to experience, characterised by a weakening of the ego’s identification with the self - a separation of body and soul, e.g “I feel like I’m a bystander watching myself.” The observing self becomes dissociated from the experiencing self. Eventually the connections may be lost; the ego may identify with one or another self-representation, but can no longer identify with a coherent self. This estrangement is the fundamental process which is seen alike in dreams, psychedelic states, acute psychosis and even in everyday daydreams. Our whole relation to the external world, to reality, depends on our ability to distinguish between perceptions and ideas, and this depends on our capacity for reflective awareness. Reality testing requires an ability to represent oneself as thinker of the thought - reflective self-representation. In dreams, hallucinogenic drug states and psychosis reflective self-representation is lost and primary process thinking predominates.





Secondary process thinking depends on:

a)the capacity to maintain a constant inner representation of the self and of objects;

b)the capacity to distinguish between self and object and thus between internal and external phenomena;

c)the capacity to shift from “thing-presentation” to “word-presentation.”





In primary process thought one is unable to transcend immediate sensory impressions and so move on to secondary process thinking and the level of concepts and abstraction. In a dream everything is experienced much more immediately. In primary process thinking images predominates, i.e. thoughts (word-presentations) are transformed into images (thing-presentations) (Fischman, 1983). “The relationship to objects, including people, takes on an unusual quality and depth and an immediacy which dissolves the ordinary experience of continuity” (Fischman, 1983). It is this quality of vivid, immediate sense-imagery which characterises the primary process.





In dreams, in LSD states and in psychosis, words undergo condensation and displacement via the primary process. Words are not conceived as symbols of objects but as objects themselves. In dreams visual percepts are treated concretely as objects and as such, are subjected to the transformations of the primary process. In all three states (dreams, schizophrenia, LSD) the net effect of these transformations is a tendency toward concretization, which one also gets to some extent in the hypnagogic state. Abstract thought thus becomes mythic thought.





All three show an altered experience of time: timelessness, time standing still or time slowed down. The dreamer’s time sense is in the present. Only the present is real - past and future are exceedingly remote. All thinking occurs in the present tense. To differentiate memories and expectations from present events, one must appreciate the relationship between the self-representation associated with the memory or expectation, and the self-representation associated with the present thought. If this relationship is not appreciated the distinction between past, present, and a future dissolves. In dreams, psychedelic states, and psychosis, the normal continuity of experience is disrupted.





Also similarities between certain stages of psychoses and psychedelic states are worth noting. Ideally the psychedelic chemicals hold out a hope for understanding and perhaps improving certain aspects of mental health. The psychedelics exhibit a high therapeutic index and their use has not been associated with physical dependence. DMT is a normal component of human blood. Psychedelics influence the mind in such a profound manner because their structure is very similar to naturally occuring compounds; the mere capacity for such an experience suggests that the psychedelic state is inherently fundamental to aspects of our psyche that are normally inaccessible during the waking phase of our lives (Callaway, 1994) .









4.2.3.The Dream State of Consciousness is Primary



Linás & Paré (1991) suggest that from the standpoint of the brain’s thalamocortical system, dream sleep and wakefulness are almost identical intrinsic functional states in which subjective awareness is generated, although the handling of sensory information and cortical inhibition is different. They consider wakefulness is more highly coherent and more strongly modulated by sensory input than is dreaming.





In general, the averaged evoked potentials (AEPs) recorded from the scalp in response to sensory stimulation during waking and REM sleep are very similar and differ strikingly from those recorded during non-REM sleep. With auditory stimuli the early component is the same when awake or asleep, the middle-latency component differs but returns to normal, or surpassed waking values, in REM sleep. Thus sensory stimuli may be embedded in an ongoing dream or trigger a specific dream sequence, in which such stimuli is a nucleating point. Or these stimuli may be integrated into cognitive constructs in which their significance may be quite different from that in the waking state.





The central paradox of REM sleep is that stimuli which are perceived in the waking state do not awaken people in REM sleep, even though the amplitude of the evoked cortical responses is generally similar to, or higher than, in the waking state. In other words, although the thalamo-cortical network appears to be at least as excitable during REM sleep as in the waking state, the input is mostly ignored.





The late potentials following sensory stimuli are abolished in REM sleep, and this suggests that the ongoing activity that generates cognition during dreaming prevents unintegrated sensory stimuli from being incorporated into the intrinsic cognitive world. Linás & Paré suggest that mentation during dreaming operates on the same anatomical substrates as does perception during the waking states. Thus REM sleep can be considered as a modified state in which attention is turned away from the sensory input, toward memories. And wakefulness is nothing other than a dreamlike state modulated by the constraints produced by specific sensory inputs. Remove sensory input and we tend to fall asleep, e.g., many beginners in meditation fall asleep on relaxing and closing their eyes. We slip into day dreaming and spacing out whenever we are given even half a chance.





Only a minor part of the thalamocortical connectivity is devoted to the transfer of sensory input. Rather, the thalamocortical network appears to be a complex machine largely devoted to generating an internal representation of reality that may operate in the presence or absence of sensory input. All sensory messages reach the cerebral cortex through the thalamus, except olfactory. The connectivity between the thalamus and the cortex is bidirectional. Thus the essence of brain function seems to be that of generating the functional scaffolding required to create an internal image consistent with external reality. Most of the connections necessary for this are present at birth, i.e. our cognitive capacity is truly a priori. Even though the mechanisms necessary for its generation are present at birth, the emergence of self-aware consciousness arises out of interactions between the brain and its environment, and from birth onwards there is dream type primary process thought which gradually develops to the adult type secondary process thought mode.





The membrane properties of neurons allow them to oscillate or resonate at different frequencies and this intrinsic activity may play a fundamental role in CNS function. Recent evidence indicates that neuronal activity in the spinal cord is at the foundation of walking and other movement. In this context, the function of sensory input in, e.g. walking, is to modulate the intrinsic oscillatory properties of the spinal cord network in order to adapt it to the irregularities of the land in which one moves. Higher in the brain, the function of the neuronal system is determined by its connectivity and also is directly related to the membrane properties of the neurons. For example, the thalamus is capable not only of controlling the transfer of sensory input to the cerebral cortex but also of expressing its own electrical activity, these two aspects of thalamic functions being intimately related, which suggests that the brain is essentially a closed system.





Thus functional states, such as wakefulness or REM sleep, appear to be just two examples of the multiple variations provided by the self-generated brain activity. Sensory input plays an extraordinarily important but nevertheless a mainly modulatory role. Sensory cues gain their significance by virtue of triggering a pre-existing disposition of the brain to be active in a particular way.





It has been hypothesized that the thalamus is involved in the 40 Hz activity (see section 3.4.1). Reticular thalamic nucleus cells are responsible for the synchronization of the 40Hz oscillations in distant thalamic and cortical territories. If we assume that a function of this 40Hz activity is to maintain a general, continuous neuronal humming against which intra- or externally generated “irregularities” can stand out, the importance of a structure which could communicate this irregularity to other neuronal groups becomes self-evident.





In conclusion, Llinas and Pare propose that wakefulness and REM sleep are fundamentally the same type of functional state and that the main difference between them lies in what particular input is most prevalent. The most fundamental conclusion to be drawn is that consciousness is an intrinsic property arising from the existing disposition of the brain to be active in certain ways and it is a close kin to dreaming. This implies that secondary qualities of our senses such as colours, smells, tastes and sounds, are inventions of our CNS which allow the brain to interact with the external world in a predictive manner. The degree to which our perception of reality and “actual” reality overlap is inconsequential as long as the predictive properties of the states generated by the brain meet the requirements of successful interaction with the external world.





That consciousness is generated intrinsically is not difficult to understand when one considers the completeness of the sensory representation in our dreams, or in psychotic or psychedelic hallucinations. The possible intrinsic nature of consciousness has serious implications for our understanding of psychiatric conditions characterized by illusional states in which the intrinsic view of reality and the emotional states generated by them are in discord with the perception of other individuals in the same social setting. If the thalamocortical system is ultimately responsible for the generation of consciousness, individuals who experience certain forms of hallucinatory states may be convinced that their hallucination indeed corresponds to events in the external world. Since attentiveness is selective, the lack of responsiveness of a person dreaming, hallucinating or deep in thought is because consiousness does not necessarily heed external reality.







5. The Changes Needed in Our Society



1) the recognition that altered states of consciousness are natural, the baseline functioning of the brain and the primary mode of consciousness.

2) the recognition that the psychedelic state of consciousness is experienced by every human every night, four times a night on average, and we call this dreaming.

3) the recognition that some initial acute psychotic breakdown experiences are a dream out of control, and if accepted, and support given, that the person has a strong probability of waking out of it sooner or later.

4) The recognition that in some cultures this experience is considered to be a sign of a great gift and the person can be trained as a wise healer and helper who can connect with the spirit world for the good of the community, and may have special psychic gifts which can be used to help others.

5) The recognition that antipsychotic drugs may be unnecessary or harmful in the treatment of many psychotics. Long term treatment with antipsychotic drugs creates dopamine receptor super-sensitivity, worsening the underlying biochemical deficit of schizophrenia. Withdrawal of antipsychotic drugs may cause a rebound of schizophrenic symptoms to a higher level than would have been the case without treatment. Most good prognosis schizophrenics do better without drugs and drug treatment is less necessary for patients in low-stress settings. Good social support and opportunities are related to better outcomes, whereas effectiveness of medication is at best related to only a 20% recovery rate and one also gets severe side effect problems. Therefore people are being exposed to damaging and ineffective intervention. "The overriding need to control the mad, along with their lack of power to protest about their treatment, can be the only explanation why this prevalence of medically induced brain damage is considered acceptable by professionals" (Warner, 1985) - and the public!! The drugs would be banned if used on sane people. Psychiatrists have become agents of social control: we are happy to hand over the responsibility for managing mad people to them. We are ill-informed as to the nature of mental illness and treatments and to the loss of civil rights of ordinary citizenship of people who suffer such an experience.

6) The reality of the social aspects are that schizophrenics tend to be unemployable, homeless, sad, lonely and scared. Whether they get better depends more on the political processes. Revolving door patients are created by the use of drug treatment coupled with neglect of the psychosocial needs of the person. Psychotic patients who are working stay out of hospital longer than unemployed patients. Appropriate work such as gardening appears to be of great benefit and long term secure and non-stressful work is the best. At the same time there needs to be adequate psychological support in the community with education concerning tolerance of our differences, adequate material support giving a reasonable standard of living with housing stock available, support for the family, democratization of services so that patients can have a say, availability of non-coercive, non-invasive methods of helping, places to go and be with others, and to remove the stigma of mental illness (Warner, 1985).

I wonder if the monastic system was created because of the need for some sensitive young people to have a stress-free environment in which a basic routine is established with an early-to-bed early-to-rise rhythm, very simple basic food and plenty of physcial work outdoors. This is exactly what is needed to help ground someone who is liable to “dream whilst awake.” Coupled with elders who understand mystical and psychic states of consciousness we have here perhaps the early roots of the monastic system in societies which were just developing out of the shamanic spiritual system. this is possibly seen most clearly in the present day tibetan monasitc culture. I know that the Tibetan monastery Samye Ling in Scotland has sometimes taken in people who were referred by the psychiatric service in South West Scotland.





Pilgrim (1990) points out that madness has existed in all societies, but the particular way it is understood both in terms of causes and way in which one responds to it, and words used to describe it, vary over time and place: some societies counsel and tolerate, others segregate and medicate. In the West, systematic psychological theorizing has been heavily biologically orientated, evading sociological and anthropological models of deviance.





Tarrier (1990) also adopts a biopsychosocial model: he considers that vulnerability to schizophrenia is a permanent trait, schizotypy, and episodes of illness occur when stress levels reach the person's vulnerability threshold. If the person has relatives who are high on the expressed emotion scale with a high frequency of critical comments, high hostility, marked emotional over-involvement, low emotional warmth and low frequency of positive comments, then one gets a particularly high relapse rate, the schizophrenic showing high arousal and hyper-reactivity to social stressors. Family therapy shows a reduced relapse rate: family intervention and social skills training combined give best results of all. All successful studies include an educational component and interventions that reduce stress in the family environment. Poverty and lack of social services exacerbate symptoms. Therefore, we need more emphasis on the social aspects of treatment. "Perhaps the most shameful consequence of the dominant role that biological psychiatry has gained in mental health care is the almost complete absence of these kinds of services" (Tarrier, 1990).





In tribal societies healing ceremonies for psychotics are a communal process, and the person may well be adopted by another social group which gives them additional social support and status, a new social role and home. The communal ritual procedures are a symbolic recognition that illness is a problem for the community as a whole. Social isolation, alienation and stigma are one of the strongest predictors of poor outcome in schizophrenia. Broad group participation in healing not only aids the reintegration of the patient but is also a necessary and powerfully effective element in the treatment of emotional illness. Any form of treatment which does not receive full community endorsement has a limited chance of success. Extended families are related to less over-dependence and emotional over-involvement or demands:this is good for recovery. Community involvement also reduces family tensions because responsibility is shared broadly. Therefore in the Third World the psychotic retains their self-esteem and feeling of value to the community and their sense of belonging (Warner, 1985).







Conclusions



Melatonin and pinoline, made by the pineal gland and regulated by the seasonal changes in light and darkeness is linked to the sleep/wake cycle and also possibly the onset of dreaming. Lack of sleep for several nights is often linked to the onset of acute psychotic breakdown in which the person starts hallucinating or “dreaming while awake.” This state of consciousness is common to the dream state, the psychedelic state, and the shamanic inititation experience.



Through dreaming we access the primary process aspect of our psyche, the language of myth, symbol and archetype, which are normally inaccessible during waking consciousness and in this sense dreams share a qualitative commonality with certain types of psychoses and psychedelic states (Callaway, 1994). Thus dreaming which is known to be a psi-conducive state is one end of a continuum which extends next to the psychedelic state, which has not been shown to be psi-conducive, to the shamanic experience which has a reputation of being highly psi-conducive, to the acute psychotic state which also has a reputation of being psi-conducive. I suggest that we are dealing with the same underlying neurochemical pathways which in turn lead to an essentially similar state of consciousness, and that it is only in Western society that the potential shaman, with all of their psychic gifts, is ignored and treated as sick. All other human societies have honoured their prophets, psychics, seers and shamans.





We need to learn to recognise the potential shaman in our midst and re-learn what is required to ground them, teach them and train them so that their creative and psychic abilities can be a gift, not a curse, and can be used for their and our benefit.







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http://www.psi-researchcentre.co.uk/article_1.html

 Professor Emeritus William A Tiller

Today we are profiling Professor Emeritus [1] William A Tiller, a ground breaking physicist and pioneer in research into psychoenergetics [2].

Professor Tiller is often maligned by the scientific community for being a scientist who thinks outside the conventional theories of the scientific community.

His work involves proving that consciousness affects energy and matter, which conventional physics tells us is impossible.

A few quotes from an interview by Celeste Adams highlights Professor Tiller's view on his work (you can read the entire interview here: http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/mar2/tiller1.htm )


Professor Tiller “People know the things I'm talking about deep within themselves. What I have done is to articulate those things in the language that has value today, that is, the language of science. The goal that I have taken is to try to build a reliable bridge of understanding that will join seamlessly with our conventional knowledge and our conventional paradigm. This bridge will pass all the way through the subtle domains, to the domains of emotion, mind, and spirit, so that scientists and others can cross that bridge with confidence.”

• The Science of Crystallization: Macroscopic Phenomena and Defect Generation, Cambridge University Press, 1991
• The Science of Crystallization: Microscopic Interfacial Phenomena, Cambridge University Press, 1991 (reprinted 1995),
• Psychoenergetic Science: A Second Copernican-Scale Revolution, Pavior Publishers, 2007,
• Some Science Adventures with Real Magic, Pavior Publishers, 2005,
• Conscious Acts of Creation: The Emergence of a New Physics, Pavior Publishers, 2001
• Science and Human Transformation: Subtle Energies, Intentionality and Consciousness, Pavior Publishers, 1997,
• Foreword to Matrix Energetics: The Science and Art of Transformation, Atria Books, 2007, Richard Bartlett

Selected papers 

All Dr Tiller's Papers are available for download from
You can also find Dr Tiller on Facebook at

https://www.facebook.com/pages/William-A-Tiller-Institute-for-Psychoenergetic-Science/309181832504413?sk=info




[1] Emeritus is a post-positive adjective used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional.
[2] Psychoenergetic Science involves the expansion of traditional science to include human consciousness and human intention as capable of significantly affecting both the properties of materials (non-living and living) and what we call "physical reality."
[3] B.A.Sc – Bachelor of Applied Science degree
[4] M.A. Sc. - Master of Applied Science degree
[5] Ph.D -Doctor of Philosophy

Animal magnetism (French: magnétisme animal; Latin: magnetismus animalis) is a term proposed by Franz Mesmer in the 18th century. The term 'magnetism' was adopted by analogy, referring to some interpersonal and general effects of reciprocal influence and/or entanglement he observed.^[1] Mesmer attributed such effects to a supposed 'life energy' or 'fluid' or ethereal medium believed to reside in the bodies of animate beings (i.e., those who breathe). The term is translated from Mesmer's magnétisme animal. Mesmer chose the word animal to distinguish his supposed vitalmagnetic force from those referred to at that time as "mineral magnetism", "cosmic magnetism" and "planetary magnetism". The theory became the basis of treatment in Europe and the United States that was based on non verbal elements such as gaze, passes (movements of the hands near the body accompanied by intention of the operator), and mental elements as will and intention, and that sometimes depended also on "laying on of hands." It was very popular into the nineteenth century, with a strong cultural impact. From some of the practices of animal magnetism branched out hypnotism, spiritualism, New Thought, so called "magnetic healing", and parapsychological research. Some forms of magnetism continue to be practiced, especially in continental Europe, even today.^[when?]
In modern usage, the phrase "animal magnetism" may refer to a person's sexual attractiveness or raw charisma.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1Definition and meanings of animal magnetism 2Mesmerism 3Proposals for different names for Animal Magnetism and Mesmerism 4Royal Commission 5Mesmerism and hypnosis 6The vital fluid and the practice of animal magnetism 6.1Mesmer's original approach and the modified magnetic method of Puysegur 6.2Puysegur's discovery of "artificial somnambulism" 6.2.1Origin of the terminology "magnetic lucidity" 6.2.2Higher phenomena 6.3Later developments in France 6.4Mesmerism and sensitivity 7Cultural and Social Impact of the concepts of Animal Magnetism 8Animal magnetism in England 9The Society of Harmony 10Mesmerism and British Romanticism 10.1Social reception of animal magnetism 10.1.1Dickens and his interest in mesmerism 10.2Political influence in 1790 10.3Mesmerism and spiritual healing in England 10.4Mesmerism and literature during the romantic era 11Animal magnetism in Germany 11.1Animal magnetism, magnetic sleep and German literature 11.1.1Mesmerism and the "knowledge of the hearth". 11.1.1.1Carl Gustav Jung as a successor of some mesmerists' ideologies 11.2Animal magnetism and German philosophy 12Animal Magnetism in Russia 12.1The early period 12.2Animal magnetism mixes with Spiritualism 12.3Animal Magnetism at the imperial Court 12.4Russian pre-war and post-war experiments 13Animal magnetism in America 13.11784–1833 – Early mesmerists: Marquis de Lafayette, Dr. Benjamin Rush 13.21836 – Charles Poyen and the spread of mesmerism in America 13.3Phineas Quimby's healings and the origins of New Thought 13.4Robert Collyer, Theodore Léger and the ideology of American mesmerism 13.5Fahnstock and mesmeric pain relief for obstetrics 13.6Mesmerism and "electrical psychology" 13.7From "electro-biology" to "hypnotism" 13.8Mesmerism and spiritualism 13.9Mesmerism and the Theosophical Society 13.101900 William James, animal magnetism and psychical research 13.111900–1932 Magnetic exercises: New Thought, William Walker Atkinson and Albert Webster Edgerly 14Latest Development 14.1The higher phenomena and the birth of Parapsychological research 14.2Magnetic healing 14.3Practical and Legal aspects in Europe 15Mesmerism and spiritual healing practices 16See also 17Notes 18References 19External links 20Additional bibliography

[edit]Definition and meanings of animal magnetism

According to Adam Crabtree,^[2] more than 1500 books have been published on animal magnetism and related subjects until 1926. Many other books have been published after this date and/or are not included in his bibliography.^[3]
Therefore there are naturally many variations for the use of the terms animal magnetism and mesmerism. According to various researchers,^[4] the term animal magnetism has at least four different levels of meaning: a general universal principle, a specific method of vitalistic cure, a specific state of being and of consciousness (the somnambulism) and a cultural aspect.

• First, animal magnetism as a general vital universal principle: animal magnetism is for Mesmer a principle that touches both man and the universe at all levels: psychological, human and cosmological. For Mesmer, animal magnetism is mainly a theory to describe the entanglement between man and universe. Mesmer's theory is based on the concept of something through which everything in the universe is interconnected. It is something before matter. Lacking other terms, he called it a "universal fluid".^[5] For him this subtle fluid or energy, source of life and health, fill the cosmos and moves in it. This fluid is also the basis of the cosmos as it is the basis of which matter is constituted. This fluid is also a sort of energy or life force.^[6] When this fluid circulates, living beings are healthy. When it is blocked we experience sickness. This theory is largely inspired by ancient doctrines and Renaissance concepts. Scholars such as Meheust say that it would be interesting to compare it with the Chinese concept of Chi, or "vital energy".

• Secondly, animal magnetism as a system of cure: Animal magnetism is defined by Mesmer in an even more restricted sense. For him, it is the capability present in all men, (but mostly developed in those working as magnetists), to use the vital fluid or life force for therapeutical purposes. According to this theory, the magnetizer is able to direct his vital fluid toward the sick person, and heal him. This second definition was often adopted even by those magnetists who did not accept the preceding larger theory. For example baron DuPotet says:

  the fluid is not a substance that can be weighted, measured, condensed, it is a vital force (Du Potet)^[7]

• There is also a variation of this second complementary definition with a subjective meaning: Animal magnetism as a subjective sensitivity. Mesmer says that as the fluid (or life force) can only be perceived by the senses in a subjective way, animal magnetism is also this sensibility, that he calls "a sixth sense". He says:

  Magnetism can be compared to a sixth sense. The senses are neither defined nor described. They are rather felt. One cannot explain to a blind man what colours are. One would need for him to be able to “feel”, them, that is, to see them. The same holds true for magnetism. It must be mainly transmitted through inward feeling. It is only feeling that can make the theory of it understandable (Mesmer).^[8]

This subjective approach is also used by Deleuze: Mr. Mesmer showed in us something that we didn't suppose: let's try to use this faculty to help other people without worrying about the system.^[9]

• Thirdly, after 1784, and following the workings of Puysegur, who developed "magnetic somnambulism", the words "animal magnetism" were also being used for the concepts relating to the phenomena of "somnambulism" that de Puysegur firstly described; in this case in English the expression is even more misleading, in that "mesmeric state" or "mesmeric sleep" is used to define the state of somnambulic consciousness developed through the help of the magnetizer. In this case the term mesmerism, even if validated by use, contains an anachronism. In fact, even if Mesmer acknowledged the state as somnambulism, it wasn't he who produced it, and moreover he has never claimed to have discovered it. He simply considered it as one of the many manifestations (crises) in which animal magnetism could manifest itself but did not consider it as a specific state. And it is a paradox, but the term animal magnetism and even more so "mesmerism" found in English literature, are instead more frequently used to indicate techniques utilized neither by Mesmer nor his theory, but for indicating this kind of somnambulism and this specific somnambulic state

• Finally, the expression animal magnetism is used for defining all cultural phenomena that originated from Mesmer and the reflections about somnambulism.^[4]

[edit]Mesmerism

The name Mesmérisme for indicating the techniques of Animal Magnetism was first used in France.^[10] Soon this term spread in every country where the technique was practiced as a synonym of animal magnetism. Wolfart used the name "Mesmerism" for his book containing Mesmer's system.^[11] A tendency emerged amongst British magnetizers to call their clinical techniques mesmerism;. the term was used even by some of them who distanced themselves from the theoretical orientation of animal magnetism that was based on the concept of "magnetic fluid". At the time, some magnetizers attempted to channel what they thought was a magnetic "fluid"; and, sometimes, they attempted this with the "laying on of hands". Reported effects included various feelings: intense heat, trembling, trances, and seizures.^[12]

[edit]Proposals for different names for Animal Magnetism and Mesmerism

Many practitioners came from a scientific basis, such as Joseph Philippe François Deleuze (1753–1835), a French physician, anatomist, and gynecologist. One of his pupils was Théodore Léger (1799–1853), who wrote that the label "mesmerism" was "most improper."^[13] (Léger moved to Texas around 1836). Noting that, by 1846, the term Galvanism had been replaced by electricity, Léger wrote that year:

MESMERISM, of all the names proposed [to replace the term animal magnetism], is decidedly the most improper; for, in the first place, no true science has ever been designated by the name of a man, whatever be the claims he could urge in his favor; and secondly, what are the claims of Mesmer for such an honor? He is not the inventor of the practical part of the science, since we can trace the practice of it through the most remote ages; and in that respect, the part which he introduced has been completely abandoned. He proposed for it a theory which is now [viz., 1846] exploded, and which, on account of his errors, has been fatal to our progress. He never spoke of the phenomena which have rehabilitated our cause among scientific men; and since nothing remains to be attributed to Mesmer, either in the practice and theory, or the discoveries that constitute our science, why should it be called MESMERISM?^[13]

Léger instead of "mesmerism" proposed the name “Psychodunamy” or “power of the soul.”.^[14] Léger renamed all the appropriate operations, the verb being to “dunamise,” etc. So he dismissed “animal electricity” (Petetin), “mesmerism,” “pathetism” (Sunderland), and “etherology” (Grimes). In renaming the phenomenon, however, Leger did not revise the characteristics attributed to it. Légér was not the only one in proposing other names for the phenomena of mesmerism.
The baron von Reichenbach proposed the term Od. He wrote: "Va," in Sanscrit, signifies to blow (as the wind). In Latin, " vado," and in the ancient Norse, "vada" means, "I go, I go fast, I hasten on, I flow on." Hence, in the old German dialect, "Wodan " siguifies the idea of the all-penetrating, which in various old idioms passes into "Wuodan, Odan, Odin," meaning the all-pervading power, which was ultimately personified in a German deity. "Od" is, therefore, the sound appropriate to a dynamide or imponderable force, which rapidly penetrates and constantly flows through all objects in collective nature, with irresistible and unrestrainable power."^[15]
In France we could mention Dr. Barety, who after a long series of experiments coined the name "neuric force", The neuric force, he said, circulated within the nerves of the body and could be projected out of it as well. The latter was accomplished by means of passes, by pointing the fingers to the desired target, as well as through eyesight, and breath.^[16]Boirac^[17] instead proposed the name "biactinism" for any phenomena in which a radiating influence is apparently exerted at a distance over other animate beings.^[18]
The use of different names for the phenomena increases even more in the twentieth century. For example the description of "bioplasma" proposed in Russia in the twentieth century corresponds to the concepts attributed to "animal magnetism".^[19]

[edit]Royal Commission

In 1784 a French Royal Commission appointed by Louis XVI studied Mesmer's magnetic fluid to try to establish it by scientific evidence.^[20] The Commission included Majault, Benjamin Franklin, Jean Sylvain Bailly, J. B. Le Roy, Sallin, Jean Darcet, de Borey, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, Antoine Lavoisier, Poissonnier, Caille, Mauduyt de la Varenne, Andry, and de Jussieu.^{[citation needed]}
Whilst the Commission agreed that the cures claimed by Mesmer were indeed cures^{[citation needed]}, the commission also concluded there was no evidence of the existence of his magnetic fluid, and that its effects derived from either the imaginations of its subjects or through charlatanry.^{[citation needed]}. Due to the fact that some of the phenomena produced were so strong de Jussieu refused to sign the report, notwithstanding the solicitations of his colleagues, and the threats of the Minister.^[21] He authored a dissenting report, in which he carefully enumerated the facts that had been intentionally omitted or distorted by the first report (the majority one).^[22] Instead, therefore, of these commissioners settling the disputed point as to the existence or nonexistence of animal magnetism, their reports only gave the subject an additional interest and the cause of magnetism was embraced by a sizeable number of new supporters^[23] and interest in animal magnetism was sustained in France during the ensuing decades.^[24] After a few years, due to the fact that the ruling passed by the first commission was subject of heated discussions, and magnetism was actually accepted in other important European nations like Germany, in its specific case, too, as a result of the examination carried out by a commission (which displayed however a positive attitude) a second commission was set up. The second commission, headed by Husson, worked for six years, and in 1831 it conceded the veracity of most of the phenomena which the magnetists spoke of, in addition, of course, to the reality of the very phenomenon of induction in conformity with magnetic practices. It thereby gave rise to a lively debate. As the academic Institution was dissatisfied with the result produced by the second commission, a third commission, chaired by Dubois d'Amiens, was established. This commission worked for a few months only, since no agreement on the protocols governing the relevant experimental trials could be struck. Such third commission passed a partially unfavourable judgment on the few experiments it conducted including anesthesia that it found to be partial. It ought to be noted that this commission has thus only been in operation for a few months and with a single experimenter (dr. Berna), whereas the previous, Husson-led commission, has examined the facts for six consecutive years.^[25]

[edit]Mesmerism and hypnosis

Abbé Faria was one of the disciples of Mesmer who continued with Mesmer’s work following the conclusions of the Royal Commission. In the early 19th century, Abbé Faria introduced oriental hypnosis to Paris. Faria conducted experiments to prove that “no special force was necessary for the production of the mesmeric phenomena such as the trance, but that the determining cause lay within the subject himself;” in other words, that it worked purely by the power of suggestion.^[26]
Hypnosis originates from the practice of Mesmerism, being an attempt at what the surgeon James Braid described as "rational mesmerism". Braid based his methods of hypnotism directly on the practice of Mesmerism, but applied a more rational explanation for how the process worked.^[27] The term “hypnotism” was coined and introduced by Braid.^[26]
Hypnosis did not replace mesmerism at the end of the nineteenth century, but still existed alongside it.^[28] In fact, magnetism, and its variants, continued to be defended by serious students during the late nineteenth and into the twentieth century. Ideas, similar to the concept of animal magnetism, are still with us in many guises.^[29]

[edit]The vital fluid and the practice of animal magnetism

A 1791 London publication explains the Mesmer’s theory of the vital fluid :

“Modern philosophy has admitted a plenum or universal principle of fluid matter, which occupies all space; and that as all bodies moving in the world, abound with pores, this fluid matter introduces itself through the interstices and returns backwards and forwards, flowing through one body by the currents which issue therefrom to another, as in a magnet, which produces that phenomenon which we call Animal Magnetism. This fluid consists of fire, air and spirit, and like all other fluids tends to an equilibrium, therefore it is easy to conceive how the efforts which the bodies make towards each other produce animal electricity, which in fact is no more than the effect produced between two bodies, one of which has more motion than the other; a phenomenon serving to prove that the body which has most motion communicates it to the other, until the medium of motion becomes an equilibrium between the two bodies, and then this equality of motion produces animal electricity.”^[30]

In Mesmer’s view, illness has to do with blockages in the natural flow of this universal vital energy throughout the human body. Harmony could be restored by various techniques and some of them are employed even today by practitioners of energetic techniques. One was the laying on of hands on specific points called "poles", another was making passes over the patient’s body. In Mesmer's original approach, patients typically went through the "crisis" as part of the healing process.^[31]
According to an anonymous writer of a series of letters published by the editor John Pearson in 1790, animal magnetism can cause a wide range of effects ranging from vomiting to what is what is classically termed the “crisis.” According to Deleuze: "“Magnetizers have given the name of crises to the remarkable changes which the action of magnetism produces upon those who are subjected to it, or to that state which is different from the natural one, into which they are thrown by its influence”^[32]

[edit]Mesmer's original approach and the modified magnetic method of Puysegur

In Mesmer’s view, the purpose of the treatment (the crisis) was to create a convulsion that he called "crisis" in order to remove obstructions in the circulatory system that were causing sicknesses.^[33] Mesmer derived the concept of crises derived from Gassner's practice. Gassner believed the crisis to be the evidence of possession as well as the first step in the procedure of exorcism. For Mesmer, the crisis was the artificially procured evidence of the disease and the means to its cure. Crises, he said, were specific: in an asthmatic it would be an attack of asthma and in an epileptic it would be an epileptic fit. When the patient was repeatedly provoked, these crises became less and less severe. Eventually they disappeared, and this meant recovery.^[34] This process was deemed to be completely natural, with regards to this Mesmer said: "If Art forsakes us, we still have Nature." Mesmer also said: "Mesmer said: "An illness cannot be cured without a crisis; a crisis is an effort of nature against an illness, consisting in an increase of motion of the force, attention, and action of the magnetic fluid, to disperse the obstacles which oppose the circulation, ... and to reestablish the harmony and equilibrium of all the parts of the body.”^[35]
One of Mesmer's first followers, the marquis de Puysegur, developed a new technique through which the patient fell into a particular trance without convulsions. This trance, even if defined equally "crisis" by Mesmer himself^[36] become known as artificial somnambulism.^[31]
Furthermore, the anonymous supporter of animal magnetism purported that the crisis created two effects: a particular state in which the patient could be “possessed of his senses, yet cease to be an accountable creature,” and an “unobstructed vision” to see through objects.^[37] A patient under crisis was believed to be able to see through the body and find the cause of illness in themselves or in other patients.

[edit]Puysegur's discovery of "artificial somnambulism"

In the very same year in which the first Royal Commission of 1784 gave its discussed^[38] verdict, one of Mesmer's most faithful disciples discovered new phenomena which was even more mysterious and brought new increased attention on animal magnetism. In April 1784, Armand Marie Jacques Chastenet, Marquis of Puysegur, a nobleman of one of the most important noble families of France discovered what was until then an unknown state of consciousness. This discovery was able to give a new course to the evolution of magnetism. In the opinion of certain historians, this discovery equals or even exceeds the importance of Mesmer's own work. The Nobel prize Charles Richet has said "the name of Puysegur must be put on the same rank as that of Mesmer.... Mesmer is no doubt the initiator of magnetism, but not its true founder."^[34]
In fact, it is probable that the discovery of Puysegur was what was most helpful in popularizing the knowledge of magnetism and to transform it into a diffused cultural phenomenon that touched in the following years all classes of society^[39]
The Marques of Puységur’s miraculous healing of a young man named Victor in 1784 was the first case of this new revolutionary type of "crisis". The Marques was able to magnetize Victor and was waiting for a classical crisis, but, to the astonishment of Puysegur, Victor was said to have been able to speak articulately and to diagnose his own sickness.
Puysegur was able to reproduce this state with regularity even with other patients and he observed that in this state they were equally capable of predicting the development of their illness, to apparently understand what the magnetizer wanted to say before even he had said it, and other even stranger feats. This phenomenon was called both "artificial somnambulism", after the natural state of somnambulism known from antiquity, and "magnetic sleep". One of the characteristics of this state was the so-called "magnetic lucidity".^[40] This name indicated a state of enhanced awareness.
The following year, the Marques publicized his observations, both in Paris and in London, and these memoirs^[41] gave rise to an explosion. Everywhere people replicated his results. Some claimed several new and more incredible results (for example, Dr. Petetin asserted the possibility of perceiving things which were not perceivable through the eyes).^[42] A vast discussion arose that would continue throughout the whole century. It touched the most acculturated people as animal magnetism showed two different new elements. 1) the emergence of a self in the person which seemed more enlarged and important than the normal self of the person 2) Very strange phenomena happening in this state.^[43]

[edit]Origin of the terminology "magnetic lucidity"

Researchers have observed a difference between what would be later called "a spiritualistic medium" and the phenomena of "magnetic lucidity" as developed by Puysegur and early French magnetists. Spiritualistic mediums are normally deemed to lose consciousness. Lucid somnambulists instead were deemed by early magnetists to be even more awake and present to themselves during the trance, and to perform their lucidity with enhanced awareness. From here came the name "lucidity" which expressed ideas of light and presence.^[44]

[edit]Higher phenomena

After 1784 and Puysegur’s experiences on somnambulism, Magnetism was intended in all countries where it was practiced not only as a method for cure, but was also considered a method for developing inner sensitivities in the subject for access to what was called "a higher level of man". According to the descriptions of these ancient magnetists, at the highest level of this state the subject is completely autonomous, more free from the constrictions and habits of thought than in his normal state, in touch with a wider self and with higher faculties of "magnetic lucidity".^[45] Physicians and researchers of fame also followed this stream. Thus Dr. James Esdaile, even in practising healing magnetism^[46] wrote the book "Natural and Mesmeric Clairvoyance with the Practical Application of Mesmerism in Surgery and Medicine".^[47] This explains why later some branches of Animal Magnetism in England, United States and other countries merged with Spiritualism and parapsychological research. Puysegur's original method was neither spiritualistic nor mechanicistic, and the magnetic first states of automatic reactions were intended as a gateway to achieve these higher dimensions and higher sensitivities, and to access the true inner self of the subject. It is to note that verbal suggestions were always avoided by earlier operators, in order to allow the inner self of the subject to act more freely.^[48]

[edit]Later developments in France

In 1800, in France, animal magnetism was split into three separate schools of magnetism:^[49] 1st: the original school of Mesmer. This prevailed principally in Paris. Its disciples believed in the existence of the universal fluid, and conducted the operation physically,—that is, by passing the hands immediately over, or at a short distance from, the body of the patient. 2nd: the school of the Chevalier de Barbarin. This was founded at Lyons, and, although it had many partisans in France, prevailed principally in Sweden and Germany. Its principles remind us of the Platonic philosophy; its disciples maintained that the magnetic operation depended entirely upon a pure "effort of the soul," and was to be conducted only upon psychical principles. They were therefore termed spiritualists. 3rd: Third and lastly, the school of the Marquis de Puysegur, founded at Strasburg, the disciples of which, professing to be guided only by observation, called themselves experimentalists. The characteristic feature of this school is that it combines the physical treatment of the school of Mesmer with the psychical treatment of that of Barbarin.^[50] Notwithstanding the magnetisers divided themselves into these different groups, they all maintained the same fundamental principles: they differed in theory, but each school agreed in producing the same practical results.^[51]

[edit]Mesmerism and sensitivity

For Mesmer Animal Magnetism is first and foremost a theory of sensoriality.^[52] A very important aspect of magnetism is therefore its reliance on developing a specific "sensitivity" in the operator. This sensitivity is natural, and animals normally are said to have it. As this sensitivity is only subjective we cite verbatim the words of the different authors. Mesmer speaks of Magnetism as a "sixth sense" intending with this word the concept of "intuition". Sixth sense was for him also synonymous of magnetism. Deleuze says: "the change which occurs inside us when we act magnetically and the feeling which persuades us we are in communication...are things impossible to describe".^[53] The chevalier de Lausanne, an early writer, is more precise on some aspects and says: " While drawing your hands slowly before your patient at the distance of three or four inches, and holding your fingers slightly bent, you will feel, either at the ends of the fingers, or at the palm of the hand, different sensations as they pass" and "You may experience a feeling ...in the internal organs of your body".^[54] Many other authors use similar expressions. The fact that Magnetism posed such an importance on inner aspects of the experience explains its later impact on art and philosophy. As opposed to relying on external signs, it stands out as a method where inner sensations and inner intuition are seen as guides.

[edit]Cultural and Social Impact of the concepts of Animal Magnetism

The various further developments of “mesmerism” and somnamnbulism have been recently documented extensively, and there is no longer any doubt about its key importance for the magnetic movement with regards to a whole series of extremely influential, and closely interrelated, developments in nineteenth-and twentieth-century culture.^[55]
Animal Magnetism and its so- called "higher" phenomena has been in fact extremely appealing both to the crowds and to many men of science. It posed in fact a threat to the rational logic attitude, and at a certain point it became a very popular practice that spread throughout almost all levels.
The key point is that in mesmerism knowledge is extracted from "intuition". Taking one of Mesmer’s examples: in a similar way as intuition guides birds toward the right path, reconnnecting to Nature and its inner perceived "flow" can bring both health, and hence the magnetic cures. This reconnection also allows the gaining of higher truths as human development lies inside man.^[56]
A not exclusive list of the mesmeric developments would mention its influence on German Romantic culture, on Naturphilosophie and the philosophies of Schelling and Schopenauer that developed the concepts of "indeterminism".^[57] In France philosophy magnetism and its later development influenced the works of Maine de Biran and Bergson^[58] The further development of some aspects of magnetism into the streams of spiritualism and occultism brought in the twentieth century not only the continuation of this stream but also the offspring of parapsychological researches both in America (William James) as in Russia.^[59] Another direct derivation is the American New Thought movement and its many offshoots up to the present day, the theosophical movement that still holds Mesmer as one of its spiritual master, and in the psychological field, the “discovery of the unconscious” and namely of the idea of accessing to untapped potentials typical of somnambulistic séances leading to modern concepts in psychology and psychiatry.^[60] Modern hypnotism also represents clearly a stream born from animal magnetism.^[61] In Sociology some researchers^[62] have argued that the theory of the "social bound" of Durckheim could be reconducted to the influence of the contemporary researches in magnetism and on the evolution of the concept of "magnetic rapport". In the artistic field, various artists such as Kandinsky cite many magnetic authors in their books’ references with regards to their aptitude in tapping unconscious resources.^[62] On the literary side Animal Magnetism influenced and/or inspired Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Mary Shelley, John Keats, Edgar Allan Poe and many others.

[edit]Animal magnetism in England

The physician J.B. De Mainaduc (died 1797) having received his medical training in England, moved to Paris in 1782 and while there learned animal magnetism from D'Eslon.
In the year 1788 delivered a course of lectures on animal magnetism at Bristol, and afterwards in London.^[63] He also treated magnetically, and with considerable success, a great number of cases, an account of which, with certificates from the patients themselves, he afterwards published in a pamphlet entitled "Veritas," which bears the appropriate motto, "Causa latet, vis est notissima" ("The cause is hidden, but its effect is well known"). His lectures excited considerable sensation in scientific and literary circles; and, a number of magnetic practitioners, in imitation of him, soon entered the field of competition.
We are informed by Dr. George Winter, that a person named Holloway, by giving lectures on animal magnetism at five guineas for each pupil, realised a considerable fortune; and the house of Mr. Loutherbergs, another magnetic professor, at Hammersmith, about the year 1790, was daily for many months crowded with patients. "In the year 1790," says Dr. George Winter, "I deem animal magnetism to have been at its height; it was credibly reported that 3000 persons have attended at one time to get admission to Mr. Loutherberg's, at Hammersmith, and that some persons sold their tickets for from one to three guineas each." (normally he did not charge for admission but tickets were issued on this day to maintain some sort of order) ^[64] But, notwithstanding all this, while animal magnetism was making rapid progress in Germany and France, it does not appear to have made the same advancement in England; on the contrary, the fanatical interpretation which a Mrs. Pratt put on the cures of Loutherberg, could not fail to have disgusted many who might otherwise have been interested in the facts themselves, which were very clearly and unequivocally established.^[50]
Despite persistent popular interest, it took a long time for the intellectual establishment of England to give serious attention to animal magnetism. That began when Richard Chevenix^[65] gave lectures and demonstrations in London in 1829.^[66] One of those who attended was the physician John Elliotson (1791–1868), soon to become professor of medicine at University College and president of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society. When, in 1837, the famous French magnetizer Baron du Potet came to London, John Elliotson was further intrigued and decided to experiment with mesmerism.^[63][67] The English mesmerisers from 1840 to 1860 are a group that may be said to constitute a British School of Animal Magnetism, the key note of which may be found in the following paragraph of an article by Dr. James Esdaile in the "Zoist":-

"Wonderful to say, this greatly desiderated and almost unhoped for curative agent not only exists in Nature, but is an essential element in the human constitution, varying in different persons, of course, like all other bodily and mental gifts; and most persons possess the power of curing others, or of being themselves cured occasionally, by an inherent sanative influence propagatable between different individuals: for health is transmissible as well as disease, it appears."

The same note was struck by Mr. Barham, meeting at Bristol the Earl of Dude in the chair, when he said:-

"The great majority of those who have carefully investigated the subject have come to the conclusion that there exists in man, as one of his constituent principles, a certain subtle element, known by the names of animal electricity, animal magnetism, galvanism, the nervous energy, the nervous fluid, etc. This element occupies a sort of intermediate position between soul and body, and it is by means of this animal electricity that our mental will acts upon our bodily organs."^[50]

During those and the following years many excellent treatises on Mesmerism were published in England, and other works on the subject were translated from French and German; Ashburner, Barth,^[68] Townshend, Colquhoun, William Gregory,^[69] Sandby,^[70] and some others, have left works on Mesmerism of great interest and value. Townshend was a former skeptic who became very passionate about animal magnetism.^[71] Colquhon wrote “Isis Revelata” a book that was translated in many languages. Isis Revelata was one the few only treatises written in English which attempted to give a far-reaching exposition of the historical and philosophical context of animal magnetism. As such it furnished a strong impetus to the establishment in England of animal magnetism as a subject worthy of serious consideration.^[72]

[edit]The Society of Harmony

The study of animal magnetism spurred the creation of the Societies of Harmony in France, where members pay to join and learn the practice of magnetism. Dr John Bell was a member of the Philosophical Harmonic Society of Paris and was certified by the society to lecture and teach animal magnetism in England.^[73] The existence of the societies transformed animal magnetism into a secretive art. Practitioners and lecturers did not reveal the techniques of the practice based on the society members having paid for instruction, and the idea that it was unfair to reveal the practice to others for free.^[74] Although the heightened secrecy of the practice contributed to the skepticism about it, many supporters and practitioners of animal magnetism touted the ease and possibility for everyone to acquire the skills to perform its techniques.^[75]

[edit]Mesmerism and British Romanticism

The science of mesmerism emerged roughly at the end of the Age of Enlightenment and the very early beginnings of Romanticism. Originally introduced by Franz Anton Mesmer, the emergence of mesmerism during this time significantly influenced British social, political, and cultural thought. This influence is reflected in literature and lectures produced by writers, philosophers, and politicians during this time. The excitement created by this early influence of mesmerism eventually led to a deeper Victorian era fascination with the ideas of mesmerism. Mesmerism also fueled practices such as magnetism and hypnosis.
Mesmerism was introduced and practiced in France before it made its way over the English Channel. The negative reception by a part of the French elite and discrediting of Mesmer by a committee created by the King in France led to a shaky, uncertain reception in Britain. However, its continued practice and development by others such as Marques of Puysegur into hypnotism and somnambulistic states of being^[76] caused mesmerism to receive as much criticism as well as popularity in Britain. It is to note that Puysegur published his Memoirs in London at the same time as in Paris.^[77] This mixed reception in Britain can be attributed by the changes and concerns of the time period including the conflict between factual science and mesmerism as a study of pseudo-science and well as the rise of consumerism.^[78]

[edit]Social reception of animal magnetism

Socially and culturally, mesmerism was first received, popularized and debated among elite, intellectual circles.^[79] Ironically, the practice of mesmerism was also often deemed a theatrical falsity or “quackery” by elitists and the upper class. Why mesmerism was given so much attention can probably be attributed to the questions and concerns that it raised. Intellectuals wondered about the implications of mesmerism and how it could impact philosophical, political and social thought. Mesmerism and hypnosis were practices that involved unseen powers but were a popularized by the belief that they worked and were seen to have worked. What made mesmerism such a widely spread topic was because although it was a direct challenge to science and tangible objects, it was also fueled by its relation to the growing science of electricity and magnetism.^[78]
A clear example of this mixed reception is a 1790 publication, where an editor presented a series of letters written by an avid supporter of animal magnetism and included his own thoughts in an appendix stating: "No fanatics ever divulged notions more wild and extravagant; no impudent empiric ever retailed promises more preposterous, or histories of cures more devoid of reality, than the tribe of Magnetisers."^[80]
The novelist and playwright Elizabeth Inchbald wrote the farce Animal Magnetism in the late 1780s. The plot revolved around multiple love triangles and the absurdity of animal magnetism. The following passage mocks the medical prowess of those qualified only as Mesmerists:

Doctor: They have refused to grant me a diploma—forbid me to practice as a physician, and all because I don't know a parcel of insignificant words; but exercise my profession according to the rules of reason and nature; Is it not natural to die, then if a dozen or two of my patients have died under my hands, is not that natural? …^[81]

Although the Doctor's obsession with the use of animal magnetism, not merely to cure but to force his ward to fall in love with him, made for a humorous storyline, Inchbald’s light-hearted play commented on what society perceived as threats posed by the practice.
This initial aptitude changed over time in England. There has been a marked increase in the practice of mesmerism by an upon very respectable persons during the period from 1843 to the early 1850s. The most potent factor was the steadily rising number of surgical operations conducted upon mesmeric anesthesia.^[82]

[edit]Dickens and his interest in mesmerism

The mesmeric trance came later to be associated with higher vision, insight and inspiration among Romantic thinkers. Dickens was personally drawn into the practice of mesmerism in the 1840s.
Dickens argued for a serious view of "animal magnetism" (or mesmerism) as "a power that can heal the sick, and give the sleepless rest".^[83] Dickens was part of a circle of prominent professionals, physicians as Dr. John Elliotson (famous mesmerist) and actor William Charles Macready, who also dabbled in mesmerism.^[84] It was Charles Dickens who brought a copy of Scribe's mesmeric farce Irene. Dickens got up even an amateur production of Inchbald's Animal Magnetism in the same year.
For Dickens, animal magnetism afforded a crucial means of investigating clairvoyant powers and sympathetic bonds between individuals. Elliotson described the clairvoyant trance as a manifestation of the "highly magnetised" state.^[85] Dickens experimented with a certain Mme Augusta de La Rue. During his treatment, Dickens claimed to have experienced sympathetic impressions and was himself affected from Augusta's mind. In the victorian era mesmerism was seen as the research on an entanglement between minds much more than a matter of influence. Dickens's life and fiction reveal other connections between theatre and Mesmerism. For instance, he wrote a play called The Frozen Deep which included a character who became clairvoyant in a trance state.^[84]

[edit]Political influence in 1790

Politically, mesmerism was used as an explanation for a confusing time frame involving not only a resistance to enlightened thought but also a period fraught with war and conflict, including the French Revolution. The French revolution created a lot of internal political friction in Britain among those who supported the revolution and those who opposed it. James Tilly Matthews was among one of many Britons who strongly believed that mesmerism would be the cause of the government’s eventual downfall. Jailed by the Jacobins in 1793, he was released in 1796 and returned to Britain where he believed Britain had been invaded by “magnetic spies.” These spies included Prime Minister Pitt, who Matthews believed were responsible for mesmerizing the people into passive citizens into puppets.^[86][87] Likewise, political individuals and those in government positions who faced the daunting task of maintaining a stable country in the midst of warfare and political strife, also used mesmerism as an explanation for the behavior of political dissenters and radicals like Matthews. From their point of view, radicals and political dissenters were attempting to mesmerize those around them to become politically disruptive in a state that was trying to respond to all the occurring changes.^[86] Mesmerism thus became a politically threatening tool because it was believed that it could be used to bend the will of individuals.
The French revolution catalyzed existing internal political friction in Britain in the 1790s; a few political radicals used animal magnetism as more than just a moral threat but also a political threat. Among many lectures warning society against government oppression, Samuel Taylor Coleridge also wrote:

“William Pitt, the great political Animal Magnetist,…has most foully worked on the diseased fancy of Englishmen …thrown the nation into a feverish slumber, and is now bringing it to a crisis which may convulse mortality!”^[86]

Major politicians and people in power were accused by radicals to be practicing animal magnetism on the general population.
In his article “Under the Influence: Mesmerism in England”, Roy Porter notes that James Tilly Matthews suggested that the French were infiltrating England via animal magnetism. Matthews believed that “magnetic spies” would invade England and bring it under subjection by transmitting waves of animal magnetism to subdue the government and people.^[87] Such an invasion from foreign influences was perceived as a radical threat.

[edit]Mesmerism and spiritual healing in England

Mesmerism also produced enthusiasm as well as inspired horror in the spiritual and religious context. Though discredited by a part of the physicians as a credible medical practice, mesmerism nonetheless created a venue for spiritual healing. Some animal magnetists and hypnotists advertised their practices by stressing the “spiritual rather than the physical benefits to be gained from animal magnetism” and were able to gather a good clientele from among the spiritually inspired population.^[78] The Marques of Pursegur’s miraculous act of hypnotism in 1784 brought about questions and wonders involving the human soul. The Marques of Pursegur was able to hypnotize a sick young man named Victor and while hypnotized, Victor was said to have been able to speak articulately, and diagnose his own sickness. This “magnetic sleep revealed the potential dwelling in everyone but realized only by a few.”^[76]
Mesmerism as a medical practice was popularized among the lower classes precisely because they had access to a form of healing that was not controlled by authorities. Potential sexual exploitation of women by men who performed mesmeric healing also contributed to the criticism. Part of this criticism stem from the fact that mesmerism became so theatre-like. It was also hard to distinguish between doctors who had attended medical school and were fully knowledgeable and those who just bought their degrees.^[86]

[edit]Mesmerism and literature during the romantic era

Within the literary world, mesmerism, animal magnetism, hypnosis and the somnambulistic state were all aspects of the straddle between the reasoned enlightenment age and the romantic era. Mesmerism became a huge impact on many romantic writers, one of the most notable being Samuel Tayler Coleridge.^[88] His poems often dealt with topics relating to mesmerism and dreams. A few of these poems include Kubla Khan^[88] and Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In the note that comes before the poem Kubla Khan, Coleridge writes about an experience in which he compose hundreds of lines by memory but loses all memory of those lines upon interruption by a visitor. Although there are many disputed explanations including drug use by Coleridge to explain this strange experience; mesmerism, as it was a fascination and a devoted area of study by Coleridge, is arguably a likely explanation of his experience. In the poem the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, mesmerism can arguably be applied to the fate of both the mariner and the wedding guest. The mariner and his fellow sailors become mesmerized after he shoots the albatross. Once saved, the mariner must tell his story to whoever will listen and he is able to get the wedding guest to listen to his story by mesmerizing him.^[86] Mesmerism also brought about questions about the horrors of scientific advancement. Mesmer’s animal magnetism and the studies of electric current through which life can be controlled may be contributors to the writing so of Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) and John Keats.^[89]

[edit]Animal magnetism in Germany

In Germany, almost all the university towns, public lectures on the subject of mesmerism were given and in this country, mesmerism was fully accepted and practiced. For example, in 1785, Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland, a medical practitioner living in Weimar – where he became part of Goethe’s intellectual circle – concerns himself with Mesmer und sein Mesmerismus; a quarter of a century later, while he is the medical head at Berlin’s Charité and chief physician of Frederick William III, Hufeland writes about the existence of a Sympathie which, in nature, has "the effect of connecting everything together, in so doing going on to also explain the most unique relationship which holds together magnetizing therapist and magnetized patient. This relationship is portrayed as being so intimate as to turn the pair of such individuals into a single person".
Early in the nineteenth century, Gotthilf Heinrich Schubert integrated mesmerism into his course of academic lectures.^[90] Prof. Ennemoser, one of the main practitioners stated: "Mesmerism is based on experiences that everybody can have. These experiences are solidly grounded in the field of Knowledge." Mesmer's original theory was of the existence of a universal medium or “fluid”. The free and regular circulation of it through a human being produced health, while any obstruction, or impediment to that free circulation, caused disease. Germany naturally adopted the practices or methods of Mesmer's School, namely, the touchings, pressures and pointings, and the baquets, and chains.^[51] Ferdinand Koreff and Christian Wolfart, two mesmerists, were inaugurated as professors to the Medicine department of Berlin University.^[91] A good friend of Koreff, A. Hoffmann wrote "Der Magnetiseur" (1813) and thereby joined authors like Novalis and Kleist in introducing mesmerisms into German literature.^[92] The Science Academy of Berlin, offered a prize consisting of 3,300 francs—for the best explanatory thesis on the science.
It is a curious fact that Mesmer, though German-speaking, is mentioned only somewhat rarely in the early German mesmeric literature until 1809. It seems to have widely assumed that he was dead. However, though he had kept out of the public eye for over twnty years, Mesmer was still alive and tolerably robust.^[93] In 1812, the Prussian Academy of Science decided to invite Mesmer to lecture in Berlin. It was Wolfart who went to see Mesmer, and although his attempt to persuade him to visit Berlin was unsuccessful he brought back with him a long manuscript of Mesmer's, which Wolfart edited and published in 1814.^[94] In 1817, a public hospital was established in Berlin, in which no medicines were used. Only Mesmerism was adopted. The eminent Hufeland, originally an unbeliever, was the principal physician of this hospital; Hufeland was the most eminent practical physician of his time in Germany and fifteen volumes containing the clinical details and statistics of the cases treated magnetically were published.^[95]
Writing in 1816, Koreff noted that it was not especially in nervous illnesses that Wolfart obtained most beneficial results. He succeeded with ailments ranging from scrofula, ankylosis, and eye problems to haemorroids and bleeding in the womb. In some cases ordinary remedies had failed and no result was anticipated^[96]

[edit]Animal magnetism, magnetic sleep and German literature

In the German Romantic literature on somnambulism, the theory of magnetic sleep was developed into a countermetaphysics directed wholesale against Enlightenment rationalism. In the paradigmatic formulations of Justinus Kerner, the shallow daylight" world of the rationalist, whose hard glass skull (tabula vitrea)" keeps him isolated from intuitions of a higher world, stands against the profoundly meaningful nocturnal" world of the somnambules, who know from direct experience that behind the brutal realities of social and material existence there is a much larger, all-encompassing, and deeply meaningful life. Hence there are two complementary worlds, or levels of reality each with its own specific mode of experience and expression: while the Enlightenment reduces everything to cold logic and discursive prose, its alternative expresses itself through profound symbols and poetic language. When our bodily senses shut down temporarily, and we descend into dream or somnambulic trance, our soul "wakes up" to the larger world whence it has come and where it really belongs. The rationalist, in contrast, is spiritually asleep. He lives in a state of artificial isolation from his own soul and its powers of perception, incapable of understanding the language of symbols and poetry. He naively believes that his brain and his senses show him all there is, never realizing that they are obstacles rather than reliable instruments for discovering the deeper "secrets of nature."^[31]

[edit]Mesmerism and the "knowledge of the hearth".

German Romantic intellectuals were defending the scientific superiority of a humanistic worldview with the inner nature and sensitivity of man at its center. This worldview was based on paracelsian and theosophical foundations, the same original basis of Mesmer's doctrine. They saw the "daylight" rational and cerebral knowledge as powerless to grasp the deeper "nightside" and inner truths and intuitions of the soul. These deeper truths were deemed now accessible using the non verbal techniques of animal magnetism and "artificial somnambulism" of Puysegur. Specific techniques (essentially "magnetic passes") were used to activate the "ganglionic system" (centered at the solar plexus, and corresponding to the automous nervous system) presented as the organ of the unconscious soul.(These developments of mesmerism were based upon a medical theory proposed in 1807 be the respected physician Johann Christian Reil and were adopted by Carl Alexander Ferdinand Kluge in an influential textbook^[97] of animal magnetism published in 1811).^[31]
In the practice, the so called "hearth cavity" was one of the first physical points were passes (movements of the hands near the body accompanied by intention of the operator) were directed. The goal was to awaken a reenergize it.^[98] This physical point was in fact in the hypochondrium (the upper region of the abdomen, marked by the lower ribs), now usually linked to the solar plexus but known in ninetheen century Germany as die "Herzgrube": the heart cavity.
For Paracelsus and Johannes Baptista von Helmont this was the seat of the archaeus or "life spirit," and it assumed a crucial importance in the practice of German mesmerism as well.^[99] An earlier mesmerist, Tardy de Montravel, pointed to this point as the physical location of activation of the "interior sense".^[100] And in fact, this zone was constantly highlighted as one the main organ of clairvoyant perception in somnambulist.^[101] However, it was only in the artificial state of somnambulistic sleep, or trance, that the ganglionic system was seen as revealing its full potential. Countless observers described how patients in such a condition displayed what was perceived by contemporaries as psychic abilities, including intuitions in general, hypersensitivity, precognition, clairvoyance and supposed mystical visions of higher worlds and divine realities, and a vast literature ensued.^[102] In other words: against the cold rational knowledge of the brain associated with the cerebral system the German mesmerists highlighted the superior spiritual "knowledge of the heart" associated with the ganglionic counterpart and in general with the involuntary system, activated by the use of "magnetic" techniques. This "knowledge of the hearth" included what was considered as "paranormal" or clairvoyant perception, but went far beyond it to embrace metaphysical realms (the most famous of all these somnambulistic patients was Friederick Hauffe, known as "the seeress of Prevorst" whose case was described in detail by the poet and physician Justinus Kerner^[103]). Ultimately, then, this 'knowledge of the hearth' was understood as a gnosis about divine things coming from the soul, infinitely superior to the merely rational knowledge of the upper brain, and the testimonies of the exterior senses.^[104]

[edit]Carl Gustav Jung as a successor of some mesmerists' ideologies

The dutch researcher Hanegraaf notes how one century later, very similar concepts of "knowledge of the hearth" would be formulated in all simplicity by one of "their most influential modern successors, carl Gustav Jung."^[105] He says: "my soul cannot be the object of my judgement and knowledge – rather, my judgement ad knowledge are objects of my soul"^[106][107]

[edit]Animal magnetism and German philosophy

Mesmerism was also very developed in Germany under a philosophical point of view. The German mesmerists showed the romanticist attraction to seeking universal truths. They perceived in Mesmer's magnetic fluid the justification for the notion that the Universe was a living organism. Mesmers’ idea of a sixth sense which endowed humans in trance with prophetic abilities and getting in touch with the whole universe, moved them to search how this technique would enable the human mind to communicate with the “World Soul”.^[108] Among the most prominent personalities of that age, Schelling^[109] detects in the magnetic fluid a tool, placed at man's disposal, which enables him to communicate with the cosmic soul; Fichte, after he attended some sessions of induced somnambulism, reflects upon the extent to which the individuality of the self is relative and modifiable. Arthur Schopenhauer says

"Considered...[from] the philosophical point of view, animal magnetism is the most pregnant of all discoveries that have ever been made, although for the time being it propounds rather than solves riddles. It is really practical metaphysics..[A] time will come when philosophy, animal magnetism, and natural science...will shed so bright a light on one another that truths will be discovered at which we could not otherwise hope to arrive"(Schopenhauer).^[110]

[edit]Animal Magnetism in Russia

The country in which the German version of animal Magnetism caught on most extensively was Russia.

[edit]The early period

In 1816, the emperor of Russia appointed a committee for the purpose of making an examination of Animal Magnetism. This committee declared from its experiments that magnetism is a very important agent which should be entrusted only to the hands of well-informed physicians ; "It was ordered that those physicians who would occupy themselves with the magnetic practice, should give an account every three months of their operations, and that the committee itself should, every three months, present a report to the emperor.^[111]
In 1817 the Tzar sent one of his family’s physicians, Stoffregen, to visit Wolfart , a former student of Mesmer. Other important researchers of German origin were dr. Loewental, who did researches on somnambulism and thought transference, and dr. Reuss.^[112] In 1818, Kluge's book Animal Magnetism Presented in its Historical, Practical and Theoretical Content was published in a Russian translation by Vellanskiy .^[113] Soon after there came interest of the native Russians. In 1818, Count N.P. Panin, (1770–1837) a former Russian ambassador to Prussia, published a case report. Then in the same year the first russian book on the subject was written, D. Velianski's Zhivotniy Magnetizm. Veliansky was professor of physiology and pathology at the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg.

In Russia a few magnetizers were active in the period between 1830 and 1850. The practice of animal magnetism by non-medical persons was banned and a leading magnetizer of the time, Andrey Ivanovitch Pashkov, was sentenced to a long term imprisonment.^[114]

[edit]Animal magnetism mixes with Spiritualism

After 1875, Russian Spiritualism and animal magnetism were dominated by Aleksandr Nikolaevich Aksakov (1823–1903), the nephew of the writer Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov. Encountering difficulties in publishing material on spiritualism and animal magnetism in Russia, he founded the respected journal "Psychische Studien" in Leipzig in the year 1874. In it he published both original and translated material on spiritualism and animal magnetism.^[115]
Following the censorship reforms which came about after 1905, many journals were published with the intent of keeping interested Russian readers informed on animal magnetism, somnambulism, and Naturphilosophie. A series of books of the "Library of Magnetism was published in Kiev . Continuing with Mesmer’s idea of magnetism as a "sixth sense", an inner sensation, the discovery and measurement of sensations was a topic of mainstream medical research. Vladimir Bekterev came to the idea of thought transference by way of neurology.^[116]

[edit]Animal Magnetism at the imperial Court

In any case interest in magnetism was always present at the highest level as is proved by the visit of dr. Encausse, a physician practising magnetism who, along with Hector Durville, directed the most important French school of magnetism. Encausse’s first contact with the royal family occurred during their visit to Paris in 1896. Encausse visited Russia three times, in 1901, 1905, and 1906, serving Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra both as a physician and occult consultant. The Tsar's sister-in-law, the Grand Duchess Militsa, was an enthusiastic seeker of 'occult' truth, and she introduced him at court.^[117] Although Encausse seems to have served the Tzar and Tsarina in what was essentially his magnetic capacity, he was later curiously concerned about their heavy reliance on occultism to assist them in deciding questions of government. During their later correspondence, he warned them a number of times against the influence of Rasputin. Encausse presented Dr. Philippe (Philippe Nizier-Anthèlme Vachod, also Maitre Philippe de Lyon), to the court of Nicholas II.^[118] Maitre Philippe was a very successful healer and directed the school of magnetism of Lyon. When Nizier arrived in 1902, he had a powerful effect on the Romanovs. This led to the Lyons’ Mesmerist being given a state office.^[119] While at the Russian court, the Tzar became very attached to Master Philippe and is known to have sought out his opinion in all types of matters. On September 21, 1901, Nizier was at the Imperial Court, and announced the birth of a son in 1904, which would later be followed by a military defeat… and a Revolution. Indeed, since Rasputin arrived much later than Master Philippe, one could argue that the Tzar missed having a man like Master Philippe around, and therefore Rasputin could be seen as his successor.^[120]

[edit]Russian pre-war and post-war experiments

The studies of animal magnetism began and became part of the russian parapsychological research. In the 1920s and 1930s, Leonid Vasiliev realises a comprehensive series of experiments by reproducing Puysegur’s experiences. The complete account of these experiments was not published until 1962. (Vasiliev, 1962). This book was translated into English, under the aegis of C. C. L. Gregory and Anita Kohsen (Gregory), and published in 1963 under the title, "Experiments in Mental Suggestion". A revised edition appeared in 1976 as "Experiments in Distant Influence". There is also a long series of experiments tending to investigate the effects of magnetism in healing. They have been well reviewed by Solfvin (1984) and by Benor (1984, 1985, 1988). Both selected and unselected participants attempted to mentally influence the growth or viability of bacteria, fungus colonies, yeast, and plants or to influence the movements of protozoa, larvae woodlice, ants, chicks, mice, rats, gerbils, and cats. A few experiments involved attempts to influence cellular preparations (blood cells, neurons, cancer cells) or enzyme activity.^[121] A term proposed in these last researches which describes many of the same properties which are attributed to animal magnetism was “bioplasma”.^[122]

[edit]Animal magnetism in America

[edit]1784–1833 – Early mesmerists: Marquis de Lafayette, Dr. Benjamin Rush

In America mesmerism split into its component parts and evolved into the different streams of hypnotism, spiritism, New Thought and the so-called mental healing.
As early at 1784, mesmerism was a topic which was introduced into the highest levels of American society by the Marquis de Lafayette in a letter he wrote to George Washington. Lafayette was a member of Mesmer's Societé de l'Harmonie and sought permission from its founder to communicate its teachings. Mesmer himself wrote to Washington on June 16, 1784, confirming that Lafayette could speak on his behalf, which he did before the American Philosophical society and elsewhere.^[123] American Founding Father Benjamin Rush, the most famous American physician of his time, and father of American Psychiatry, integrated animal magnetism in his practice and in 1789 referred briefly to animal magnetism in his "Duties of a Physician".^[124] There has been magnetic society in New Orleans as early as 1833.^[125]

[edit]1836 – Charles Poyen and the spread of mesmerism in America

When mesmerism really crossed the ocean^[126] and touched the masses it was instead with a frenchman, Charles Poyen, who made himself known as the "Professor of Animal Magnetism”.^[127] In 1836 M. Poyen, a pupil of Puysegur, went to New York from Paris and aroused great interest by the practice and exposition of the principles of mesmerism. He also translated the favourable French report on animal magnetism produced in 1831 by a Commission guided by Husson^[128] Bringing volunteers from the audience to the stage, Poyen produced interesting somnambulic trances. His meetings had the character of religious revivals and, coupled with his talent as a presenter, he could appeal to utopian yearnings and confidentially prophesy that this new teaching was destined to make America "the most perfect nation in the world”. Poyen demonstrated remarkable healings of both physical and mental ailment. And, he trained new magnetizers who formed a lasting core of practitioners in the United States. In Providence alone, it was said that over 100 people were "magnetizing" by the end of 1837. One of Poyen’s students was the reverend Laroy Sunderland. Sunderland went to him for instruction, but soon he found that his own ability was quite equal to the Frenchman's.^[129]"When," declared Sunderland,^[130]"a” magnetic “relation is once established between an operator and his patient..., corresponding changes may be induced in the nervous system of the latter (awake or entranced) by mere volition, and by suggestions addressed to either of the external senses.”^[131] Sunderland published the revue “The Magnet”.^[132]

[edit]Phineas Quimby's healings and the origins of New Thought

Another student of Poyen was the young Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802–1866), whose own interpretation of mesmerism was to create the foundation of the New Thought movement. Impressed by Poyen, Quimby established himself as a mesmeric healer.^[133] Quimby simplified mesmerism. He still held that the source of health was the magnetic fluid or force, but he added that beliefs functioned as a sort of "control valves or floodgates" which were able to interrupt the flow.^[134] Among his patients, however, were several willing and eager to carry on the work he had begun—if, perhaps, to continue and extend it along lines undreamed of by him. One of these patients, Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, became the founder of Christian Science. The launching of The New Thought movement came about thanks to two others disciples of Quimby: Warren F. Evans and Julian A. Dresser. Quimby was a tireless healer. In 1865 he treated 12000 people through a combination of techniques. Mary Baker Eddy was an invalid when she came to Quimby suffering from chronic and painful ailments. He healed her of her symptoms and inspired her to begin her own career in mental healing. When the Dressers accused Eddy of distorting Quimby's teachings, Eddy claimed Quimby's having healed her was only temporary, as her true healing was accomplished through Jesus and the intervention of the Bible. Eddy took a very hard line against mesmerism, not denying its apparent reality or power, but emphasizing its malicious possibilities. A chapter of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, is entitled "Animal Magnetism Unmasked". In it, the book's author, Mary Baker Eddy, says about "the workings of animal magnetism" that "its effects upon those who practise [sic] it, and upon their subjects who do not resist it, lead to moral and to physical death.".^[135] Christian Science later rejected the new theories of hypnosis in the same way.^[28]

[edit]Robert Collyer, Theodore Léger and the ideology of American mesmerism

The same year Poyen left for Europe an Englishman, Robert Collyer,^[136] arrived in America and began a lecture tour spreading mesmerism along the Atlantic coast.^[137] Collyer’s idea of mesmerism^[138] was based on the brain’s power to visualize thought and transform ideas into pictures. His visual theory of mesmerism and his “embodiment of thought” reemerged in the works of Poe, Bulwyer-Litten and Dickens. (Collyer knew Poe and Dickens. He had corresponded with Poe and Dickens and had even visited them on his trip to America).^[91] Lectures on the subject of mesmerism were equally delivered in New York in 1829, by Du Commun, a pupil of Mesmer, and by Dr. Underhill in various places from 1834 to 1838.^[51]
Another innovator was Dr. Theodore Léger, the "Psychodunamist".^[25] He, however, was a magnetiser from De Puysegur's school, for he was Deleuze's pupil and intimate friend. (Deleuze died, a very old man, in 1833). Dr. Leger lectured and practiced in the United States in 1844, accompanied by a medical clairvoyant who was remarkably successful. Although he was practically a simple magnetiser, he had some influence upon the march of events, especially in the United States, by the doubts he cast upon some of the theories of the magnetisers through his own metaphysical doctrines, and through his substitution of the name “Psychodunamy” (from Psyche soul, and Dunamis power) for "Animal Magnetism.”^[51]
The influence of Poyen and Collyer generated a widespread interest in mesmerism, but, in contrast to Europe, where it was first born in the aristocracy and attracted the upper class, mesmerism was to have its impact in America on the lives of a large middle class.^[108] In America mesmerism was first and foremost an ideology of personal inner liberation. It emphasized the inherent goodness of the inner self and led to the development of practices that were designed to expand, revitalize, and finally liberate the spirituality. Patients exhibited spiritual gifts while in trance, and after contact with the source of spiritual energy patients felt invigorated, renewed, transformed.^[139] The phenomena of the trance condition appealed very strongly to the popular imagination, but scarcely to most men of science of the ninetieth century. It was generally believed that, even granting their genuineness, no useful purpose would be served by investigating them. As opposed to Europe, despite its use by a few medical practitioners during the decade 1840–1850, no school of mesmerism was established in America. In America mesmerism was an open field: each researcher developed a different aspect of its potentialities and tried to explain it in a different way. Thus J. S. Grimes, a Professor of Medical Jurisprudence and a dabbler in phrenology, suggested that it was due to the action of a general force which he called etherium.^[140] Dr. J. R. Buchanan, another phrenologist, preferred the hypothesis of a subtle emanation. Buchanan in fact was the proposer of a technique he called “psychometry” that he explained in a similar way.^[141]

[edit]Fahnstock and mesmeric pain relief for obstetrics

Along with Buchanan, one of the most remarkable of this group of American mesmeric innovators was Dr. William B. Fahnstock, a physician residing and practicing in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, whose "Statuvolism" created considerable interest in the U.S., although little known in Europe. Fahnestock executed the First Cases of Mesmeric Pain Relief for Obstetrics in America.^[142] The name of his own form of mesmerism (statusvolism) is derived from status (state) and volo (I will), and signifies a state, or peculiar condition, produced by the will. In his book, "Statuvolism, or Artificial Somnambulism" (1866, though long before that time he had published pamphlets on the subject), Dr. Fahnstock says that he therein presents the result of thirty years of research and experience; and this gives him a few years' priority over Braid. His system, however, is the very antithesis of that of Braid, for he makes use of a purely psychological method, without fixation of the eyes, or nervous or arterial changes; and also without the passes or contact with the magnetisers. Nevertheless, Fahnstock recognised a great difference between the statuvolic and the mesmeric conditions, although both are states of artificial somnambulism-the difference being that the subject in the former state feels free, while the one in the latter a “creature” of his magnetiser. Of the statuvolic state he says: "The operator has no power to produce this condition, and, … has nothing to do with it. His health, temperament, age, etc., as a matter of course, are also immaterial, so that his intelligence, mental character, and knowledge, are of such a nature as to be worthy of the trust placed in him; his skill in managing persons and curing diseases, etc., will depend entirely upon his knowledge of the state, his acquaintance with the nature of diseases, and his intelligence and tact in fixing and properly directing the minds of his patients.."^[143]

[edit]Mesmerism and "electrical psychology"

Another peculiar element of many American mesmerists is religion. “The preoccupation of American mesmerists with religion rather than medicine provides a striking contrast to the theories and practices of mesmerism originating in Europe. The context in which one was magnetized was less clinical and more like a religious revival.” In fact, a significant number of mesmerists were themselves former revivalists, and even when they weren't, they still were likely to follow the New England revival circuit. Dods was typical of this group of men. He had been a Universalist minister in Provincetown, Massachusetts before becoming a mesmerist.^[144] Rev. J. B. Dods, sought to explain animal magnetism on an electrical basis and founded the so called electro-biology.^[131]“Dr. Dods's 'Electrical Psychology' is nothing less than a system of nature, resembling in some ways Mesmer's Animal Magnetism. Dr. Dods himself, however, had studied Mesmer's theories, and had published a commentary on them”.^[51] Dods makes this distinction-"Electrical Psychology is the doctrine of impressions (i.e. it is more mental), Mesmerism is the doctrine of sympathy." (i.e. magnetism is more physical).^[145] In regard to mind, Dods seems to have anticipated "Mental Science": "Mind or spirit is of itself embodied and living form. It is spiritual organism in absolute perfection, and from mind itself all form and beauty emanate. The body of man is but an outshoot or manifestation of his mind. .. " Dods, Grimes and other electrobiologists worked with large crowds of people and produced in their subjects the symptoms and behaviours that would later become the main spectacles of stage hypnosis: catalepsy, insensitivity to pain, amnesia and apparently involuntary actions out of character for the individuals who produced them. Dods felt that mesmerism would provide scientific proof for key aspects of religious faith. Dods considered animal magnetism to be "the grand agent employed by the creator to move and govern the universe”.^[146]

[edit]From "electro-biology" to "hypnotism"

Electro-biology is the same as Dods's Electrical Psychology, but those who practiced it were entertainers rather than instructors of the public, as Dr. Dods endeavoured, at least, to be. The ideas and the methods they employed are worthy of much more attention than is generally accorded to them. They underlie the theory and practice of modern hypnotism. The most interesting accounts on these electrobiologists’ methods are given by William Gregory in his "Letters on Animal Magnetism" of the methods and the results obtained by Darling and Lewis, two electro-biologists that went on tour to England. In 1850 Darling came from America to England, where he exhibited the phenomena of electro-biology; their identity with those of Braid’s hypnotism was soon recognized. Even Durand de Gros^{[disambiguation needed]}, a French doctor who had lived in America, returned in 1853 to Europe, and exhibited the phenomena of electrobiology in several countries, but aroused little interest. Under the psudonyme of dr. Phillips wrote the book “Braidism”. Even if it is probable that electrobiologists antecede Braid^[51] in the conception of their system it is probably after this European period of some of these electro-biologists that the name “Hypnotism” began to be used by electro-biologists as more pregnant as the old name of electro-biology. The system of electro-biology (named progressively hypnotism) slowly began to characterize itself as a method whith different caracteristics from traditional animal magnetism.
Many important mesmerists complained that electrobiology was different from mainstream mesmerism as the base of results was concentration by the subject combined with verbal suggestion by the operator, rather than procedures distinctively mesmeric and based on concentration and self development of the operator. John Elliotson, one of the most important practicing English mesmerists, said that the phenomena "resulted from imagination, excited by suggestion in a slight degree of mesmerism" and coined the word "submesmerism".^[147] An anonymous article^[122] in the 1849 Cincinnati “Journal of Man” of expressed regret at the demise of the practice of non verbal hand passes and so on. Modern mesmerists, it complained, simply ordered their subjects to sleep. With hindsight, we can see how the electro-biologists’ practice was closer to what we would now recognize as hypnotism, but at the time it seemed to some as though they were ignoring the welfare of their subjects, by failing to recharge their bodies with the vital magnetic fluid. William Gregory said that the electrobiological phenomena was "auto-magnetism". Traditional medical magnetic inductions were mainly non-verbal.^[148] Another difference was that in electrobiology words were often used, and the subjects were divided in “susceptibles” and “not susceptibles” (in Mesmer’s view the action of magnetism ceases when a person is healthy, but for most of his magnetic successors everybody will in some way respond and there are not unresponsive subjects). Technique apart, an unexpected consequence of electobiologists’ demonstrations, and perhaps of audience expectations, was that they established many of the criteria by which even today hypnotists test for susceptibility and recognize that their subjects are in a trance state. Of course, they were building on the work of their predecessors in Europe, but unwittingly they established much of the vocabulary for later academic discussion. In fact it is to note that both Clark Hull as many of the successive academic researchers on hypnotism used lay hypnotists (former electro-biologists) to conduct experiments and it is probable that this had an effect on these early researches. One of the main differences of electro-biologists from their European predecessors was that they held these phenomena to be mainly a result of the state in which their subjects fell, whereas in Europe some of them, at any rate, were held to be mainly the product or of the action of the mesmerist's will on his subject (Du Potet), or of an universal fluid or energy present also in man (Mesmer theory). These travelling stage mesmerists were the forerunners of the stage hypnotists. Early stage performers didn’t detach too much from the idea of a fluid, and they said that they were influencing their subjects by means of telepathy and magnetism even though in the electrobiological form they knew and affirmed that much was due to imagination. They performed their shows and often times healed people afterwards. In the United States, for example, in the 1890s, there was a small group of highly skilled stage hypnotists, all of whom were managed by Thomas F. Adkin, who toured country-wide, playing to packed houses. Adkin's group included Sylvain A. Lee, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert L. Flint, and Professor Xenophon LaMotte Sage (E. Virgil Neal).^[149] This latter, even when the group spread apart, continued to publish books even when the original group was no longer present. Classical Magnetic cures were in any case still well alive in 1910 and one of the books Adkin wrote was a book called “vitaopathy” based on the principles of traditional magnetism.^[150] Throughout the first half of the 20th century, despite adopting the term "hypnotism", stage hypnotists also continued to make constant reference to animal magnetism. Ormond McGill, e.g., in his Encyclopedia of the subject wrote in 1996 that: Some have called this powerful transmission of thought from one person to another “thought projection”. The mental energy used appears to be of two types: magnetic energy […] generated within the body and telepathic energy generated within the mind. […] The two work together as a unit in applying Power Hypnosis. The operation of the two energies in combination is what Mesmer referred to as “animal magnetism”. Ormond McGill himself, as did every ancient performer, pointed out there was a difference between hypnotism and mesmerism^[151] and said in his books that the former was better for shows and the latter for psychic experiments. But slowly, after 1920, new procedures were adopted which were based more on the increase of the use of suggestive verbal techniques and less on nonverbal communication. Many stage hypnotists also became “hypnotherapists” as they progressively defined themselves. For example the famous hypnotherapist Dave Elman was himself originally a stage hypnotist as he mentions at the beginning of his book.^[152] The same goes for Gil Boyne (one of whose mentors was Ormond Mc Gill) as well as many other successful hypnotists in America. Dave Elman, who was contemporary of Milton Erickson, stretches the attention to “semantics” in giving suggestions.^[152] It is to note that old mesmerists refrained from giving verbal suggestions, recommending in all books a silent environment.

[edit]Mesmerism and spiritualism

Besides hypnotism, another of the important distinct branches that derived from mesmerism was spiritualism. As the spread of mesmerism increased, the idea of magnetism reached a popular audience, and some Mesmerist disciples fell into believing that what had been discovered amounted to a new revelation. Individuals in magnetic trance had shown peculiar abilities and some had even claimed to be in touch with other personalities and worlds while in this state. Itinerant magnetizers wandered the countryside with professional somnambulists at their sides, stopping in the local towns to give medical clairvoyant readings. The somnambulist would diagnose an illness and prescribe remedies. This situation provided all the necessary ingredients for the making of another important movement known as spiritualism, and at a certain point the histories of both mesmerism and spiritualism overlapped and influenced one another. What was once Mesmer's bacquet with subjects sitting with joined hands has now become the closed circle of spiritualistic seances. Andrew Jackson Davis (1826–1910) began his career as such an itinerant somnambulist and eventually became an author of great popularity, using the magnetic trance to dictate his spiritual treatises.^[153]Davis grew to the most important man in the early Spiritualist Church. Davis had many followers, among them Edgar Allan Poe who wrote many short stories that addressed mesmerism, as "Mesmeric Revelation". In “Mesmeric Revelation” Edgar Allan Poe transmitted ideas found in the book “Facts in Mesmerism”^[71]Townshend. When, after Andrew Jackson Davis published his trance revelations from the "spirit world," and the Fox sisters began their spectacular career as "spirit rappers," clairvoyance became a leading feature of spiritistic stances, and mesmerism and spiritism were often confounded. But the discussion about the existence of a fluid still persisted; and for the first few years the question of Fluids versus Spirits as an explanation of the marvellous doings at dark stances was hotly debated in the American Spiritualist journals. Gradually, however, the Spiritualist view prevailed, the theory of a magnetic fluid or magnetic influence suffered euthanasia, and the clairvoyants were left in possession of the field.^[154] Many mesmeric clairvoyants became Spiritualist mediums, and many writers and lecturers on mesmerism turned their attention to the phenomena and philosophy of Spiritualism.^[147]

[edit]Mesmerism and the Theosophical Society

Helena Blavatsky, who was a successful medium of this same Spiritualist Church for several years, later founded the Theosophical Society. She linked her doctrine of a mental fluidum deliberately to Mesmer's and encouraged her followers to praise him. Even today, Mesmer is still celebrated as the Theosophist's spiritual ancestor^[155]

[edit]1900 William James, animal magnetism and psychical research

Psychical research was the direct result of all these developments arising from animal magnetism.^[2] In the research field, an important academic name that we find in America that uses purposely the name “animal magnetism” is William James (1842–1910) often referred to as “the father of American psychology”. Under his influence, the American academic researches on animal magnetism became part of the general parapsychological research of the beginning of the twentieth century.

[edit]1900–1932 Magnetic exercises: New Thought, William Walker Atkinson and Albert Webster Edgerly

However, many self development exercises typical of magnetism, centring on the development of nerve force, or life force, survived inside the New Thought movement. See for example some of the works of William Walker Atkinson^[156] (other pseudonym Theron Q. Dumont) (1862–1932), and in the works of Shaftesbury (Albert Webster Edgerly 1852–1926) a social reform activist. He believed in the power of personal magnetism, and began the Ralstonism movement as a way to live out this lifestyle.
The word “magnetism” continued (and continues) nevertheless to be popularly used by the general public for some types of “magnetic” healings that later merged in current practice with analogous oriental healing practices.

[edit]Latest Development

[edit]The higher phenomena and the birth of Parapsychological research

The study of the "higher phenomena" of magnetism was the first basis for the birth of parapsychological research. Psychic research began in 1876 in the very prestigious "Trinity College" of Cambridge under the impulse of Henry Sidgwick, a professor of moral philosophy and politics who had a very good reputation. The French Metapsychique was created in 1919 by the Nobel prize of physiology Charles Richet. Metaphysical or parapsychological research was developed for twenty years. Subsequently it reduced its academic importance because of the appearance of new materialistic ideologies which came about after the Second World War. Although it is a minor current, still today several research centres exist, which operate within universities or private institutes that receive state financing.

[edit]Magnetic healing

Many traditional magnetism techniques continued and continue to be practiced especially in continental Europe, even after the last war. There has been a modification in the technique of magnetism after 1945 with limited attention to “higher phenomena”. But still in 1960 in France, Charles de Saint Savin published a book for the public^[157] which describes a method that is identical to the one practiced more than 100 years earlier by the swiss mesmerist Charles Lafontaine. Henri Durville had also operated in France until 1962. Henri Durville was the son of Hector Durville and continued the work of the baron Du Potet. (baron Du Potet was one of the foremost french magnetizers. He had studied with Deleuze, Faria, and Puysegur).
The most significant aspect starting in the sixties is the almost contemporary disappearance of several key figures who were continuing in France the tradition of somnambulistic magnetism begun by Puysegur.^[158] There was also a change in attitude, and some of the magnetism practitioners often accept being called “healers” in this way emphasizing their difference from doctors. There also appears to be a convergence with similar oriental energetic techniques and a contemporary introduction of a nomenclature and terms having oriental origins. The creation of the “magnetic state” is often left out. "Higher phenomena" that once constituted the core of the Puysegurian magnetism are left out. These phenomena of magnetism continue to be studied by smaller groups although less often for therapeutic means than was in the past. Nevertheless many other specific aspects of original magnetism remain, especially in some healing tecniques. These techniques are still practiced today by a large number of practitioners in France, Italy, and other European countries and they are often members of associations.^[159] These groups were and are also in general advocates of natural life and of a natural way of living. It is to note that most of the practitioners are not doctors, but that doctors also continue to study the phenomena.
Ulterior sporadic scientific research on healing has also been performed in this century and the results have been published in magazines (for example the experiments of Grad in Canada^[160]).
The number of magnetic practitioners (operating with different denominations) in these countries is often superior to that of the so-called “hypnotists”. The interventions range from the fields of alternative medicine and sports to habit control.^[161]

[edit]Practical and Legal aspects in Europe

Normally magnetic practices are not recognized as part of medical science, even if from a legal point of view the practice in Switzerland and in Germany can be inserted into a specific parallel legislative category (Heilpraktiker). In France and in Italy these practices have been progressively considered by the jurisprudence as admitted practices which are performed also by non doctors in that they are based on individual abilities which cannot be otherwise categorized.^[162]

[edit]Mesmerism and spiritual healing practices

Some researchers note that "many phenomena of animal magnetism emerged in a very similar form in a fair variety of appreciably different cultural and geographical settings, from New York to Calcutta and from Shetlands to Brazil. An obvious inference is that some at least of the phenomena are not the direct or indirect products of culturally determined belief, but rather reflect features of man's psychological" and physiological "constitution, which function independently, not perhaps of all his belief-system, but of his belief as to his own constitution."^[163]" Today scholars believe Mesmerism to share a concept of life force or energy with such Asian practices such as reiki and qigong. The practical and theoretical positions of such practices are on whole substantially different from those of mesmerism.

[edit]See also

• Biomagnetism
• James Esdaile
• Magnetoception

[edit]Notes

[edit]References

New ThoughtBeliefs
Divinity Omnipresent God· Ultimate Spirit·Divine Humanity·Higher consciousness·
Beliefs Law of attraction·Power of choice·Life force
Actions Affirmations·Affirmative prayer·Creative visualization·Personal magnetism·Positive thinking Glossary
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• Gauld, Alan (31 March 1995). A history of hypnotism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-48329-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=yYJNCUyq6FwC. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
• Crabtree, Alan. From Mesmer to Freud, Magnetic Sleep and the Roots of Psychological Healing. Yale University Press. ISBN978-0-300-05588-7.
  • [1], Deleuze Practical Instruction in Animal Magnetism (1843) – One of the most popular manuals for the practice of animal magnetism ever written. It went through at least four editions in thirty years in France and was translated into a number of foreign languages.
• Leger, T. [sic], Animal Magnetism; or, Psycodunamy, D. Appleton, (New York), 1846 [N.B. author is Théodore Léger (1799–1853)].
• Pearson, John A plain and rational account of the nature and effects of animal magnetism: in a series of letters. With notes and an appendix. By the editor. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. London (1790)
• Pintar, Judith and Lynn, Steven J. (28 October 2008). Hypnosis: a brief history. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN978-1-4051-3451-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=0-ZvvEa8JacC. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
• van Schlun, Betsy (2007). Science and the imagination: mesmerism, media, and the mind in nineteenth-century English and American literature. Galda & Wilch. ISBN978-3-931397-60-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=Y8V7TTCfF6IC. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
• Wonders and mysteries of animal magnetism displayed; or the history, art, practice, and progress of that useful science, from its first rise in the city of Paris, to the present time. With several Curious Cases and new Anecdotes of the Principal Professors. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. London (1791)

[edit]External links

• Anton Mesmer, "Propositions Concerning Animal Magnetism", 1779, from Binet, A. & Féré, C. (1888) Animal Magnetism, New York: Appleton and Co., (via Archive.org)
• "History of Hypnosis", School of Professional Hypnosis
• [2]Mesmerism a Theosophical article (By William Q. Judge)
• [3]Hypnotism and Mesmerism Theosophical opinion on the differences between Hypnotism and Mesmerism
• Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Chapter 5 – "Animal Magnetism Unmasked", Spirituality Website
• Runescape Quest Guide – Animal Magnetism.
• [4], Jules Du Potet – An Introduction to the Study of Animal Magnetism: With an Appendix ... (1838) – On invitation from Dr. John Elliotson, Du Potet came to England to demonstrate animal magnetism and teach its techniques. Elliotson set him up to practice in the North London Hospital. After strong objections from some medical colleagues, Elliotson had to ask Du Potet to carry on with his work in Du Potet’s own apartments in Cavendish Square. During this stay in London, Du Potet wrote this book as an introduction to animal magnetism for the English speaking world.
• [5], William Gregory – Letters to a candid inquirer, on animal magnetism (1851) – Gregory, a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh and a well-respected scientist, was an enthusiastic supporter of animal magnetism. In this book he gives a clear description of the mesmeric state and the relationship between the magnetizer and magnetized.
• [6], Poyen – Progress of animal magnetism in New England (1837) – A work of considerable significance for the history of animal magnetism in the United States. Although Joseph Du Commun was the first to lecture on animal magnetism in America, Poyen may rightly be thought of as having done more than any other to make the phenomenon widely known there.
• [7], Coates – Easy Guide to Hypnotism and Mesmerism (1876) – Coates, a prolific writer, describes how to apply animal magnetism to subjects, both human and animal. He also deals with the “higher phenomena” of somnambulism such as clairvoyance and prevision.

[edit]Additional bibliography

• Montiel, Luis. Daemoniaca: Curación mágica, Posesión y Profecía en el marco del Magnetismo Animal Romántico. Barcelona, MRA, 2006. ISBN 84-96504-04-2.

Although his conclusions were quickly rejected in the scientific community, they did undermine Mesmer's claims of mind control. James Braid published an influential book attacking Reichenbach's views as pseudoscientific entitled The Power of the Mind over the Body (1846).^[2]

[edit]James Esdaile

Dr. James Esdaile (1805–1859) reported on 345 major operations performed using mesmeric sleep as the sole anesthetic in British India. The development of chemical anesthetics soon saw the replacement of hypnotism in this role.

[edit]John Elliotson

Dr. John Elliotson (1791–1868), an English surgeon, in 1834 reported numerous painless surgical operations that had been performed using mesmerism.

[edit]19th century hypnotism

[edit]James Braid

The Scottish surgeon James Braid coined the term "hypnotism" in his unpublished Practical Essay on the Curative Agency of Neuro-Hypnotism (1842) as an abbreviation for "neuro-hypnotism," meaning "sleep of the nerves." Braid fiercely opposed the views of the Mesmerists, especially the claim that their effects were due to an invisible force called "animal magnetism," and the claim that their subjects developed paranormal powers such as telepathy. Instead, Braid adopted a skeptical position, influenced by the philosophical school of Scottish Common Sense Realism, attempting to explain the Mesmeric phenomena on the basis of well-established laws of psychology and physiology. Hence, Braid is regarded by many as the first true "hypnotist" as opposed to the Mesmerists and other magnetists who preceded him.
Braid ascribed the "mesmeric trance" to a physiological process resulting from prolonged attention to a bright moving object or similar object of fixation. He postulated that "protracted ocular fixation" fatigued certain parts of the brain and caused a trance—a "nervous sleep" or, from the Greek, "neuro-hypnosis."
Later Braid simplified the name to "hypnotism" (from the Greekhypnos, "sleep"). Finally, realizing that "hypnotism" was not a kind of sleep, he sought to change the name to "monoideism" ("single-thought-ism"), based on a view centred on the notion of a single, dominant idea; but the term "hypnotism" and its later, misleading (circa 1885) Nancy-centred derivative "hypnosis," have persisted.
Braid is credited with writing the first ever book on hypnotism, Neurypnology (1843). After Braid's death in 1860, interest in hypnotism temporarily waned, and gradually shifted from Britain to France, where research began to grow, reaching its peak around the 1880s with the work of Hippolyte Bernheim and Jean-Martin Charcot.

[edit]Jean-Martin Charcot

The neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893) endorsed hypnotism for the treatment of hysteria. La méthode numérique("The numerical method") led to a number of systematic experimental examinations of hypnosis in France, Germany, and Switzerland. The process of post-hypnotic suggestion was first described in this period. Extraordinary improvements in sensory acuity and memory were reported under hypnosis.
From the 1880s the examination of hypnosis passed from surgical doctors to mental health professionals. Charcot had led the way and his study was continued by his pupil, Pierre Janet. Janet described the theory of dissociation, the splitting of mental aspects under hypnosis (or hysteria) so skills and memory could be made inaccessible or recovered. Janet provoked interest in the subconscious and laid the framework for reintegration therapy for dissociated personalities.

[edit]Holy See

Objections had been raised by some theologians stating that, if not applied properly, hypnosis could deprive a person of their faculty of reason. Saint Thomas Aquinas specifically rebutted this, stating that "The loss of reason is not a sin in itself but only by reason of the act by which one is deprived of the use of reason. If the act that deprives one of his use of reason is licit in itself and is done for a just cause, there is no sin; if no just cause is present, it must be considered a venial sin."
On 28 July 1847, a decree from the Sacred Congregation of the Holy office (Roman Curia) declared that "Having removed all misconception, foretelling of the future, explicit or implicit invocation of the devil, the use of animal magnetism (Hypnosis) is indeed merely an act of making use of physical media that are otherwise licit and hence it is not morally forbidden, provided it does not tend toward an illicit end or toward anything depraved."

[edit]American Civil War

Hypnosis was used by field doctors in the American Civil War and was the first extensive medical application of hypnosis. Although hypnosis seemed effective in the field^{[citation needed]}, with the introduction of the hypodermic needle and the general chemical anesthetics of ether in 1846 and chloroform in 1847 to America, it was much easier for the war's medical community to use chemical anesthesia than hypnosis.

[edit]Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault

Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault (1864–1904), the founder of the Nancy School, first wrote of the necessity for cooperation between the hypnotizer and the participant, for rapport. Along with Bernheim, he emphasized the importance of suggestibility.

[edit]Hippolyte Bernheim

Some experts consider Hippolyte Bernheim the most important figure in the history of hypnotism.^[5] Along with Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault he founded the Nancy School, which became the dominant force in hypnotherapeutic theory and practice in the last two decades of the 19th century.

[edit]William James

William James (1842–1910) the pioneering American psychologist discussed hypnosis in some detail in his Principles of Psychology.

[edit]First International Congress, 1889

The First International Congress for Experimental and Therapeutic Hypnotism was held in Paris, France, on 8–12 August 1889. Attendees included Jean-Martin Charcot, Hippolyte Bernheim, Sigmund Freud and Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault. The second congress was held on 12–16 August 1900.

[edit]British Medical Association, 1892

The Annual Meeting of the BMA, in 1892, unanimously endorsed the therapeutic use of hypnosis and rejects the theory of Mesmerism (animal magnetism). Even though the BMA recognized the validity of hypnosis, Medical Schools and Universities largely ignored the subject.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]20th century hypnotism

[edit]Emile Coué

Emile Coué (1857–1926), a French pharmacist and founder of the New Nancy School, broke away from hypnotism to develop his own method of "conscious autosuggestion." He became one of the most influential early 20th century self-help teachers.

[edit]Boris Sidis

Boris Sidis (1867–1923), a Ukraine-born American psychologist and psychiatrist who studied under William James at Harvard University, formulated this law of suggestion:

Suggestibility varies as the amount of disaggregation, and inversely as the unification of consciousness. Disaggregation refers to the split between the normal waking consciousness and the subconscious.

[edit]Johannes Schultz

The German psychiatrist Johannes Schultz adapted the theories of Abbe Faria and Emile Coué and identifying certain parallels to techniques in yoga and meditation. He called his system of self-hypnosis Autogenic training.

[edit]Gustave Le Bon

Gustave Le Bon's study of crowd psychology compared the effects of a leader of a group to hypnosis. Le Bon made use of the suggestibility concept.

[edit]Sigmund Freud

Hypnosis, which at the end of the 19th century had become a popular phenomenon, in particular due to Charcot's public hypnotism sessions, was crucial in the invention of psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud, a student of Charcot. Freud later witnessed a small number of the experiments of Liébeault and Hippolyte Bernheim in Nancy. Back in Vienna he developed abreaction therapy using hypnosis with Josef Breuer. When Sigmund Freud discounted its use in psychiatry, in the first half of the last century, stage hypnotists kept it alive more than physicians.

[edit]Platanov and Pavlov

Russian medicine has had extensive experience with obstetric hypnosis. Platanov, in the 1920s, became well known for his hypno-obstetric successes. Impressed by this approach, Stalin later set up a nationwide program headed by Velvoski, who originally combined hypnosis with Pavlov's techniques, but eventually used the latter almost exclusively. Fernand Lamaze, having visited Russia, brought back to France "childbirth without pain through the psychological method," which in turn showed more reflexologic than hypnotic inspiration.

[edit]20th century wars

The use of hypnosis in the treatment of neuroses flourished in World War I, World War II and the Korean War. Hypnosis techniques were merged with psychiatry and was especially useful in the treatment of what is known today as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]William McDougall

William McDougall (1871–1944), an English psychologist, treated soldiers with "shell shock" and criticised certain aspects of Freudian theory such as the concept of abreaction.

[edit]Clark L. Hull

The modern study of hypnotism is usually considered to have begun in the 1920s with Clark Leonard Hull (1884–1952) at Yale University. An experimental psychologist, his work Hypnosis and Suggestibility (1933) was a rigorous study of the phenomenon, using statistical and experimental analysis. Hull's studies emphatically demonstrated once and for all that hypnosis had no connection with sleep ("hypnosis is not sleep, … it has no special relationship to sleep, and the whole concept of sleep when applied to hypnosis obscures the situation").
The main result of Hull's study was to rein in the extravagant claims of hypnotists, especially regarding extraordinary improvements in cognition or the senses under hypnosis. Hull's experiments showed the reality of some classical phenomena such as mentally induced pain reduction and apparent inhibition of memory recall. However, Clark's work made clear that these effects could be achieved without hypnosis being seen as a distinct state, but rather as a result of suggestion and motivation, which was a forerunner of the behavioural approach to hypnosis. Similarly, moderate increases in certain physical capacities and changes to the threshold of sensory stimulation could be induced psychologically; attenuation effects could be especially dramatic.

[edit]Andrew Salter

In the 1940s, Andrew Salter (1914–1996) introduced to American therapy the Pavlovian method of contradicting, opposing, and attacking beliefs. In the conditioned reflex, he has found what he saw as the essence of hypnosis. He thus gave a rebirth to hypnotism by combining it with classical conditioning. Ivan Pavlov had himself induced an altered state in pigeons, that he referred to as "Cortical Inhibition," which some later theorists believe was some form of hypnotic state.

[edit]British Hypnotism Act

In the United Kingdom, the Hypnotism Act 1952 was instituted to regulate stage hypnotists' public entertainments.

[edit]British Medical Association, 1955

On 23 April 1955, the British Medical Association (BMA) approved the use of hypnosis in the areas of psychoneuroses and hypnoanesthesia in pain management in childbirth and surgery. At this time, the BMA also advised all physicians and medical students to receive fundamental training in hypnosis.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]1956, Pope's approval of hypnosis

The Roman Catholic Church banned hypnotism until the mid-20th century when, in 1956, Pope Pius XII gave his approval of hypnosis. He stated that the use of hypnosis by health care professionals for diagnosis and treatment is permitted. In an address from the Vatican on hypnosis in childbirth, the Pope gave these guidelines:

1. Hypnotism is a serious matter, and not something to dabble in.
2. In its scientific use, the precautions dictated by both science and morality must be followed.
3. Under the aspect of anaesthesia, it is governed by the same principles as other forms of anaesthesia.

[edit]American Medical Association, 1958

In 1958, the American Medical Association approved a report on the medical uses of hypnosis. It encouraged research on hypnosis although pointing out that some aspects of hypnosis are unknown and controversial. However, in June 1987, the AMA's policy-making body rescinded all AMA policies from 1881–1958 (other than two not relating to hypnosis).^{[citation needed]}

[edit]American Psychological Association

Two years after AMA approval, the American Psychological Association endorsed hypnosis as a branch of psychology.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]Ernest Hilgard and others

Studies continued after the Second World War. Barber, Hilgard, Orne and Sarbin also produced substantial studies.
In 1961, Ernest Hilgard and André Muller Weitzenhoffer created the Stanford scales, a standardized scale for susceptibility to hypnosis, and properly examined susceptibility across age-groups and sex.
Hilgard went on to study sensory deception (1965) and induced anesthesia and analgesia (1975).

[edit]Milton Erickson

Milton Erickson (1901–1980) developed many ideas and techniques in hypnosis that were very different from what was commonly practiced. His style, commonly referred to as Ericksonian Hypnosis, has greatly influenced many modern schools of hypnosis.

[edit]Harry Arons

In 1967, Harry Arons, a self-taught professional hypnotist, wrote a textbook, Hypnosis in Criminal Investigation, dedicated to the application of hypnosis in the judicial system. Chapters include such applications such as memory, age regression, induction techniques and confabulation. Arons also traveled the country training law enforcement agencies. His teaching created national acceptance in the legal community and increased positive awareness to the practice of hypnosis for trial applications.

[edit]Dave Elman

Dave Elman (1900–1967) helped to promote the medical use of hypnosis in the 1960s. Elman's definition of hypnosis is still used today by professional hypnotherapists. Although Elman had no medical training, he is known^[who?] for having trained the most physicians and psychotherapists in America, in the use of hypnotism.
Dave Elman is also known for introducing rapid inductions to the field of hypnotism. An induction method he introduced over fifty years ago is still one of the favored inductions used by many of today's practitioners.
He placed great stress on what he called "the Esdaile state" or the "hypnotic coma," which, according to Elman, had not been deliberately induced since Scottish surgeon James Esdaile last attained it. This was an unfortunate and historically inaccurate choice of terminology on Elman's part. Esdaile never used what we now call hypnosis even on a single occasion; he used something loosely resembling mesmerism (also known as animal magnetism).

[edit]Ormond McGill

Ormond McGill (1913–2005), stage hypnotist and hypnotherapist, was the "Dean of American Hypnotists"^{[citation needed]} and writer of the seminal "Encyclopedia of Genuine Stage Hypnotism" (1947). McGill died on 19 October 2005.

[edit]U.S. definition for hypnotherapist

The U.S. (Department of Labor) Directory of Occupational Titles (D.O.T. 079.157.010) supplies the following definition:

"Hypnotherapist – Induces hypnotic state in client to increase motivation or alter behavior pattern through hypnosis. Consults with client to determine the nature of problem. Prepares client to enter hypnotic states by explaining how hypnosis works and what client will experience. Tests subject to determine degrees of physical and emotional suggestibility. Induces hypnotic state in client using individualized methods and techniques of hypnosis based on interpretation of test results and analysis of client's problem. May train client in self-hypnosis conditioning.

[edit]UK National Occupational Standards

National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Hypnotherapy was published in 2002 by Skills for Health, the Government's Sector Skills Council for the UK health industry.The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority started conferring optional certificates and diplomas in international level through National Awarding Bodies by assessing learning outcomes of training/accrediting-prior-experiential-learning.

[edit]Indian restriction

The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, in its letter no.R.14015/25/96-U&H(R) (Pt.) dated 25 November 2003, has categorically stated that hypnotherapy is a recommended mode of therapy in India, to be practiced only by appropriately trained personnel

[edit]21st Century

[edit]Hypnosis and Life Coaching

A common facet of hypnosis, especially during the beginning of the 21st century, was life coaching as an auxiliary form of treatment for hypnotists. In major cities across the country, hypnotists began offering life-coaching for certain issues like relationship improvement and career advancement. This hybridization was started in the 1980s by hypnotists like Errol Gluck and others, and continues to the present.

[edit]Contemporary researchers

[edit]Nicholas Spanos

Nicholas Spanos, who died in 1994, was Professor of Psychology and Director of the Laboratory for Experimental Hypnosis at Carleton University and a leading nonstate theorist and hypnotic skills training researcher.

[edit]Martin Orne

Martin Theodore Orne was a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania who researched demand characteristics and hypnosis.

[edit]Graham Wagstaff

Graham Wagstaff is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Liverpool, England. He has published extensively on hypnosis.

[edit]See also

• Hypnosis
• Hypnosis in popular culture
• Hypnotherapy
• Self-hypnosis

[edit]External links

Official text of the Hypnotism Act 1952 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database

[edit]Footnotes

 

First Appeared in Ripples, The Quarterly Journal of Shining Lakes Grove, Yule, 1995.

Few areas of Celtic lore are more confused by the ravages of time and cultural intrusion than the phenomena of death and the afterlife. The coming of the new Christian faith to Northern Europe signaled a radical change in our traditional understanding of death and rebirth as new characters and biblical theology were superimposed on aboriginal mythology. This hybridization of belief systems created a uniquely Celtic Christianity that, while greatly enhanced by popular folk belief, was in many ways very different from our pre-Christian understanding of the world.
Much of the thinking that resulted from this course of events has been passed down through the centuries to us in folk tales and continues to distort our views of ancient cosmology today. Many of these ideas even continue to be upheld and promoted by modern Neopagan lore as tales are retold and studied for use in revivalist movements. To gain a clearer understanding of our cosmological heritage we must attempt to identify and remove these external influences of late history to reveal a functional and internally consistent world view. While we can not hold out much hope for a truly precise picture of our ancestors' beliefs, these efforts will carry us much closer to that goal.

The Myth of the Sidhe Gods

The Gods and Goddesses of our ancestors were seen as very powerful. They existed in this world and could move freely between the realms. They were intimately tied to the activities of the world and had an active role in daily events. Many were involved directly in the very cycles upon which life depended.
When Christianity came to the fore people slowly adapted their understanding of these older deities to the new faith. A theology developed to explain the deities' loss of power to the Christians God which described them as being defeated and relegated to the margins of the world. This belief was a continuation of our traditional view of supernatural relegation. The Celtic Deities were forced to live underground in the same way that they had once forced older pre-Celtic Gods to move out into the Sea.
Today the myths that have been passed through time to us contain stories of how the Gods were forced to live beneath the ground in caves and burial mounds. They began to be referred to as the Sidhe from the Gaelic term for under the hill . Stories abound of fantastic underworld palaces where the former Gods, in diminished form, host marvelous banquets for the dead and heroes of old. These themes are repeated in other tales which picture these palaces as hostels or bruidhen. These accounts have contributed much confusion to a clear understanding of ancient cosmology as they unjustly cast most of the major Irish deities in the role of the Celtic Otherworld God.
As the Christian view of the sinister nature of death and the Otherworld took hold, attitudes toward the old Gods became rooted in suspicion and fear. In late times our view of the Gods became so diminished that they began to be thought of as fairies, sprites, elves, dwarves, etc. These characters maintained their sinister and dangerous nature until recent times when the New Age movement and modern Disney stories turned them into cute but inconsequential playthings.

The Schizophrenic Horned Man

A very popular figure in modern day Neopaganism is the horned man, often given the name Cernunnos taken from a single inscription in Gaul. This modern horned man is a strange mixture of a number of ancient deities from Pan through the Green Man through Hermes through Arawn to Gwyn ap Nudd created through the syncretic power of Wiccan theology. He is seen as a representation of the wild and lusty force of nature while at the same time embodying a sinister otherworldly soul hunter character.
I believe that some of the content of this deity is the result of the collision of the ancient Welsh Otherworld God Arawn with the Christian Devil which occurred as Annwn slowly became synonymous with the Christian Hell. Other portions come from Gwyn ap Nudd, who was once a Welsh hunter God but later became the leader of the wild hunt where the forces of chaos and evil roamed the countryside seeking lone travelers for the opportunity to snatch their souls.
As the aboriginal view of death as a natural passage in the never-ending cycle of life was overtaken by Christian concepts, the previously benevolent Otherworld God took on the sinister and fearful characteristics of a demon. The festival of Samhain slowly turned from a respectful honoring of those who had passed beyond into a time to hide in our homes for fear of having our souls snatched away. Tales that once told us how to welcome the honored dead into our homes were reversed to teach us how to protect ourselves from them and bar them from our doors.
The horned man is indeed one of oldest known deities of Western Europe. But far from being a soul snatching Death God he was the protector of animals and the forest creatures. He was intimately connected with the deeply spiritual, but hardly sinister, activity of hunting and was honored widely as vital to the delicate dance of life. In this original form he is a very appropriate deity for our modern movement at a time when environmentalism is practically a spiritual imperative.

The Sea God King of the Otherworld

The ancient Celtic Otherworld had little to do with the underground. In fact, it is more readily identified on the horizontal plane as outward from the center rather than downward. It was associated strongly with the sea, and for this reason occupies a place as a realm in the triad of land, sea and sky. The dead are envisioned as living on beautiful islands or in magical lands under the surface of the waves.
The Otherworld is a happy place of peace and harmony, an idealized mirror image of this world. There is no pain, sickness or aging as the dead enjoy beautiful music and endless banquets of delight. The heroes of the ages entertain themselves with all sort of sports and good-natured athletic competitions as all await their time of return to this world.
The king and host of this wondrous realm is a Sea God. For Shining Lakes Grove he has been identified as Manannan mac Lir. His functional equivalent in the Welsh pantheon is the God Arawn. Both of them are far from demonic characters. Manannan is a wise and gracious host who has many wondrous abilities and possessions such as magical horses who can stride on the surface of the ocean, a cloak of invisibility and magical pigs.

Other Otherworldly Characters and Concepts

The Irish Celts have a tale of the first mortal ever to die. Just prior to their landfall upon Ireland, the sons of Mil are stricken by a mishap. One of their number, a fellow named Donn is drowned by the Goddess Eriu after he insults her. From this point on he appears in the tales as the keeper of the first guidepost on the journey to the Otherworld. The dead were believed to have briefly visited or passed by his house just after the moment of death. This house is located on an island off the coast of Ireland called TechnDuinn or House of Donn. This tale is undoubtedly of ancient origin as it is present in other forms in the larger body of Indo-European lore such as the Vedic Yama.
The battle hags of Celtic lore are closely associated with death. They are often seen transformed into ravens who hang around battlefields to feast on the gory remains. They are closely associated with the destiny of warriors and are usually triple Goddesses. Examples are Badbh, Nemhain, Macha and the Morrigan. They do not, however, seem to have anything to do with the realm of the dead itself and rather are mostly concerned with the moment of loss of life and possibly transportation of the soul to that realm.
There are also female characters who can be more readily seen as Goddesses of the Otherworld. They are generally very beautiful women who have great regenerative and healing powers. They are strongly associated with swans or songbirds with beautiful plumage and magical voices. The Goddesses often have the ability to transform themselves into the form of these birds. Examples of these Goddesses are Fand, Be Lind, Fi Band, Naiv, Rhiannon and probably Epona. In later tales they were seen as enchantresses who lured heroes into Otherworld adventures.
Living mortals also occasionally entered the Otherworld. A large number of the tales that have been passed down to us concern mortal adventures into the Otherworld and encounters with its inhabitants. Bold heroes such as Pwyll, Cu Chulainn, Bran, Finn and Conaire all found or fell upon a way to transgress the boundary between the worlds. These tales provide a wealth of knowledge about the nature of the Otherworld while pointing the way for modern practitioners to access and explore this realm. This is particularly true of those tales surrounding the God Manannan mac Lir.
A final character that should be mentioned is the Otherworldly dog or hound. As with many of the Indo-European people, the Celts also had such beasts in their mythology. Kings of the Otherworld such as Manannan and Arawn had special dogs which were red and white or speckled in appearance. They served their masters as hunting dogs or guard gods. When they were viewed by mortals they were seen as omens of impending death.

Conclusions for Neopagan Theology

Through the careful study and adoption of the principals outlined above we will be able to cultivate an understanding of death and the Otherworld that is much closer to that of our ancestors. The concept of the Otherworld as a peaceful and benevolent respite has important implications to our funerary and worship practices while permitting us to evolve a much more balanced and less-fearful approach to the journey beyond the veil.
The understanding of the genealogy of the Sidhe God tales is particularly important to our revival of faith in the old Gods. The fact that these Gods have been freed from their underground prisons to rule the world again has great power to bring them into our lives and show us their relevance to the interworkings of life. As we have begun to learn in Shining Lakes Grove this belief that the Gods can be once again seen and felt in nature around us has great power to intimately connect our acts of love and worship to the ever changing force of life around us.


The above comes from the following

lluminationist philosophy

Illuminationist philosophy started in twelfth-century Persia, and has been an important force in Islamic, especially Persian, philosophy right up to the present day. It presents a critique of some of the leading ideas of Aristotelianism, as represented by the philosophy of Ibn Sina (Avicenna), and argues that many of the distinctions which are crucial to the character of that form of philosophy are misguided. Illuminationists develop a view of reality in accordance with which essence is more important than existence, and intuitive knowledge is more significant than scientific knowledge. They use the notion of light, as the name suggests, as a way of exploring the links between God, the Light of Lights, and his creation. The result is a view of the whole of reality as a continuum, with the physical world being an aspect of the divine. This sort of language proved to be very suggestive for mystical philosophers, and Illuminationism quickly became identified with Islamic mysticism.

1. Origins

Illuminationist philosophy stems from the Arabic term ishraq, meaning 'rising', in particular the 'rising of the sun'. The term is also linked to the Arabic for 'East', and has come to represent a specifically Eastern form of philosophical thought. It is used, especially within the context of Persian poetic literature, to represent a form of thought which contrasts with cognitive reason ('aql); that is, it is taken to be intuitive, immediate and atemporal knowledge. The source of this form of thought is often identified with Ibn Sina's 'Eastern Philosophy' (al-hikma al-mashriqiyya), a text about which there is a great deal of dispute and discussion, and which may never have actually existed. It is supposed to represent Ibn Sina's departure from Peripateticism and his attempt to construct a new and deeper philosophical system (see Islam, concept of philosophy in §2).
The real originator of illuminationist philosophy is al-Suhrawardi, a Persian philosopher of the twelfth century ad, who composed over fifty works but who is chiefly remembered for his brief Hikmat al-ishraq (The Philosophy of Illumination). In this book, al-Suhrawardi (in Persian, Sohravardi) adopts some of the main principles of Peripateticism (al-falsafa al-mashsha'iyya), but also sets out to challenge others. He criticizes Peripatetic approaches to a wide variety of topics, in particular quantification, the confusion between 'term' and 'utterance', the notion of amphiboly, petitio principii and many other issues (see Aristotelianism in Islamic philosophy). There is a marked similarity between his critique and that of William of Ockham, who also identifies in his Summa logicae what he regards as ten fallacies in Aristotelian logic. Both al-Suhrawardi and Ockham rearrange the parts of the Organon and omit from their discussions some of the books.

2. Logic and semantics

Illuminationist philosophy challenges the Peripatetic position of the absolute, unchanging and universal validity of the truths discoverable by Aristotelian methodology (see Peripatetics). It sets out instead to construct a system applicable to the whole continuum of being, including what is called 'immediate knowledge'. Al-Suhrawardi rejects Aristotle's theory of definition, arguing that there is no criterion for the parts of a definition (the genus and the differentia), and so the species is defined in terms of something less known than itself. He goes on to claim that some of the Aristotelian categories are superfluous, since action and passion are modes of motion, and possession and posture are kinds of relation. Thus we need only five categories instead of ten, leaving substance, quantity, quality, relation and motion.
The basis of al-Suhrawardi's approach is really Stoic and Megaric (see Stoicism; Megarian school). According to this approach, the denotation (the external object) should be compared with the thing, the sign should be compared with the utterance and what is signified should be compared with the meaning. These semantic notions are used to define the relation between the first atemporal act of thought and the second temporally-extended grasp of the thing known, its essence (Ziai 1990: 42-). This involves the development of a theory of types of signification, relation of class names to constituents of the class, types of inclusion of members in classes, and a well-defined theory of supposition.
In the illuminationist view of logic, a conclusion reached by using a formally established syllogism has no epistemological value as a starting point in philosophical construction. For a universal affirmative proposition to have philosophical value as a foundation of scientific knowledge, it must be 'necessary and always true'. Yet if we introduce the mode 'possibility' and give it an extension in time as in 'future possibility', the universal affirmative proposition cannot be 'necessarily true always'. This is because of the impossibility of knowing or deducing all possible future instances. The epistemological implication of this logical position is that formal validity ranks lower than the certitude obtained by the self-conscious subject who, when alerted to a future possible event through 'knowledge by presence', will simply 'know' it. The future event cannot be deduced at the present time and given universal validity (see Logic in Islamic philosophy).

3. Epistemology and ontology

The crucial notion for Illuminationist epistemology is knowledge-by-presence (al-'ilm al-huduri). This identifies an epistemological position prior to acquired or representational knowledge (al-'ilm al-husuli). This has often been related to intuitive knowledge, and results in attempts to unravel the mysteries of nature not through the principles of physics but through the metaphysical world and the realm of myths, dreams, fantasy and truths known through inspiration. The distinction between scientific knowledge and knowledge-by-presence is crucial for al-Suhrawardi, who claims that the essence of human beings lies in their self-awareness, through the luminosity of their own inner existence (see Epistemology in Islamic philosophy; Science in Islamic philosophy).
This approach also has implications for ontology. Illuminationism defends the 'primacy of quiddity'; it sets itself up against both Aristotle and Ibn Sina in upholding the priority of essence over existence. Some philosophers uphold the primacy of being or existence, and consider essence to be a derived mental concept, while those who adhere to the primacy of quiddity consider existence to be a derived mental concept. If existence has a reality outside the mind, then the real must consist of the principle of the reality of existence and the being of existence, which requires a referent outside the mind. Its referent outside the mind must also consist of two things, which can in turn be subdivided, and so on ad infinitum. That is, if 'existence' denotes an existent, then there must be another 'existence' connected to it which makes it real, and if so then this would also apply to the second 'existence', which leads to a vicious regress. To avoid this absurdity, we must regard existence as an abstract and derived mental concept; existence cannot signify an actual entity. If there were a distinction between a substance external to the mind and its existence, it would exist by accident, since two external substances must have different essences and cannot be distinguished by being existents. In that case, existence is nothing but a mental idea and cannot be defined. Since existence is attributable to many things, it must be mental (see Existence).

4. Light

Illuminationism is distinguishable from Peripateticism through its semantics, logic, epistemology, ontology, the priority of the intuitive over the purely noetic, and also its use of a language of light entities to describe the whole continuum of reality. The latter consists of four things: intellect, soul, matter and a fourth realm named the 'alam al-khayal, which is similar to Platonic Forms except that entities in it are continuous with the whole of reality. This fourth realm (translated by Corbin as the 'mundus imaginalis' (Corbin 1971)) is describable as that of 'things as ideas' prior to taking on shape, that is, before they receive 'luminosity' from the One Source, the Light of Lights. The light received is essentially the same, and the luminous thing differs from other light entities only in respect of degrees of intensity. Luminosity flows eternally, and gives shape to the forms, thus making the entity 'visible' and known. The difference between things, then, lies not in their essences but in terms of the degrees of intensity of the shared essences of the things. All luminous things constitute an aggregate whole and are coeternal with the Light of Lights. The Light of Lights is one, but is neither beyond being nor nonbeing, nor does it have a will. Everything in the continuum is generated from the Light of Lights and shares a degree of light similarity. The Light of Lights is one with respect to all possible modes, known or discovered subsequently.
These highly suggestive references to light were taken up by a large number of later thinkers who developed it in different but connected ways. According to Nasafi, the existence of God is an infinite light, the existence of which is equivalent to its essence, and everything which exists is a face or expression of this light. God is the ultimate reality of everything which exists in the universe. Baba Afdal Kashani argues that the notion of being is more general than the notion of existence, since we can wonder whether a thing actually exists; being is then prior to existence, and experience of the light of God's creation is comprehended solely through an internal illumination of the soul. This results not in knowledge of a fact or thing, but rather in a way of relating to God, a way which maintains one's status as part of the deity. One of the key aspects of Illuminationism is its disinclination to make a sharp distinction between God and that which God has produced. This is what has made Illuminationist philosophy seem so close to mysticism at times, and it leads to a sharp differentiation from aspects of Ash'arite thought, such as adherence to the atom as the basic constituent of physical reality.

5. The character of Illuminationist philosophy

The influence of Illuminationist philosophy on the Islamic world persists to this day. A wide range of important thinkers including Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Shams al-Din Shahrazuri, Sa'd Ibn Kammna, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, Jalal al-Din al-Dawani, the School of Isfahan and, right up to our own day, Ha'iri Yazdi, are clearly within this tradition of philosophy. When it comes to issues of interpretation, there is a controversy as to how close this form of philosophy really is to mysticism. Some writers such as Izutsu (1971), Rahman (1975) and Ziai (1990), stress its links with analytical thought and deny that there is anything particularly mystical about it. It is certainly true that the greatest interest has been focused on a relatively small number of al-Suhrawardi's works which have more of an esoteric nature, while his more technical and strictly logical works have tended to be ignored.
The work of Henry Corbin (1971) and Seyyed Hossein Nasr (1964), on the other hand, emphasizes the mystical contribution which Illuminationism makes, and they see the esoteric aspects of this form of thought as being of leading significance. There is no doubt that the general use to which Illuminationist philosophy has been put often involves mysticism, and there is little difficulty in combining it with the thought of Ibn al-'Arabi, for example, which later philosophers were to do. It is certainly true that some of the leading texts by al-Suhrawardi are entirely technical and deal with issues of philosophy which have no mystical dimensions, but it must be admitted that when one examines his general approach to metaphysics, it clearly fits in with many of the ideas which mystics like to use. The terminology of light points to a view of the nature of reality which is far removed from that presented by the Peripatetics, or even from Ibn Sina in his more suggestive and mystical moods. Illuminationism is not just a critique of Aristotle and Ibn Sina, but it is also the development of an original metaphysical model which has subsequently proved very fruitful within the Islamic world.
See also:Aristotelianism in Islamic philosophy; Epistemology in Islamic philosophy; Illumination; Islamic philosophy, modern; Mystical philosophy in Islam; al-Suhrawardi
HOSSEIN ZIAI
OLIVER LEAMAN
Copyright © 1998, Routledge.

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References and further reading

* Corbin, H. (1971) En Islam iranien (Islam in Iran), Paris: Gallimard. (The main interpreter of illuminationism in the West and the esoteric approach to it.)

Ha'iri Yazdi, M. (1992) The Principles of Epistemology in Islamic Philosophy: Knowledge by Presence, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. (Masterly analysis of this key notion in illuminationist philosophy, treated from the perspective of analytical philosophy.)

* Izutsu Toshihiko (1971) The Concept and Reality of Existence, Tokyo: Keio Institute. (Detailed discussion of the notion of existence in illuminationism.)

* Nasr, S.H. (1964) Three Muslim Sages, Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press. (Exposition of the Corbin form of interpretation with respect to illuminationism.)

Netton, I. (1989) Allah Transcendent: Studies in the Structure and Semiotics of Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Cosmology, London: Routledge. (Very clear account of the metaphysics of illuminationism.)

* Rahman, F. (1975) The Philosophy of Mulla Sadra, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. (An account of how later thinkers took up and developed illuminationism.)

* al-Suhrawardi (1183-91) Oeuvres philosophiques et mystiques, vols I and II, ed. H. Corbin, Tehran and Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1976; vol. III, ed. S.H. Nasr, Tehran and Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1977. (A vitally important collection of the basic principles of illuminationism. An English translation of some of the works in Volume 3 can be found in The Mystical and Visionary Treatises of Shihabuddin Yahya Suhrawardi, trans. W. Thackston, London: Octagon Press, 1982.)

Walbridge, J. (1992) The Science of Mystic Lights: Qutb al-Din Shirazi and the Illuminationist Tradition in Islamic Philosophy, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (A commentaary on al-Suhrawardi and Ibn Sina, with an excellent discussion of the leading principles of illuminationism.)

* Ziai, H. (1990) Knowledge and Illumination: A Study of Suhrawardi's Hikmat al-Ishraq, Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press. (Study of the more analytical parts of al-Suhrawardi's philosophy.)

Ziai, H. (1992) 'Source and Nature of Authority: A Study of Suhrawardi's Illuminationist Political Doctrine', in C. Butterworth (ed.) The Political Aspects of Islamic Philosophy, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 304-44. (Discussion of the political implications of lluminationism.)

Ziai, H. (1996) 'The Illuminationist Tradition', in S.H. Nasr and O. Leaman (eds) History of Islamic Philosophy, London: Routledge, ch. 29, 465-96. (A clear description of the topic, with the emphasis on the analytic aspect of illuminationism.)

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Taweez/Ruqya
Grandshaykh Abdullah al-Fa'iz Daghestani's handwritten taweez, for protection.About the taweez of Grandshaykh.	Names of the 313 messenger of Allah, hand-written by Sultan al-Awliya Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Adil al-Haqqani for protection and baraka.
	Names of the seven Sleepers of the Cave "and their dog was the eighth."(18:22)for protection from being chased, war, fire, drowning,... as related by Ibn `Abbas (r): قال ابن عباس رضى الله عنهما خواص أهل الكهف تنفع فى تسعة أشياء /للطلب والهرب ولطفى الحريق تكتب على خرقة وترمى فى وسط النار تنطفىء بازن الله تعالى ولبكاء الطفل وللحمى المثلثة وللصداع تشد على العضد الأيمن ولأم الصبيان وللركوب فى البر والبحر ولنماء العقل ولحفظ المال ولنجاة الاثمين من حاشية الجمل على الجلالين "Inna asma`a Aŝĥabil Kahf tanfa` fee tis`a ashyaa: at-talabi wal-harb wa atfaul-hareeq...""Surely the Names of the People of the Cave benefit in nine things: being chased down, war and they will put out fire..."

Like their Egyptian counterparts, the mystics, magi, prophets and priests of neighboring Middle Eastern cultures such as the monotheistic Jewish tribes, who spent generations in thrall to the Egyptians as their slaves, also used quartz crystals and gemstones as a bridge to the Divine.

Although it is little known outside of the circles of those who study Jewish mystical traditions, including the Kabbalah, Jewish religious leaders have a long history of using gemstones and crystals for spiritual purposes - especially for purposes of divination. The ability to communicate with Higher Worlds and receive answers from the Divine is universally associated with the use of quartz crystals.
Divine wisdom is associated with the clarity and luminosity of quartz crystals, and shamans, priestesses, high priests and magi have used these sacred stones, along with other gemstones, for purposes of divination and in meditation since time immemorial.

In the book of Exodus, instructions are given by God to Moses for the creation of a magical "breastplate of judgement" for Aaron, Moses' brother, the first high priest of the Israeli nation, composed of the twelve tribes.
The breastplate consisted of a kind of apron, or "ephod" with an attached rectangular bib woven of gold, blue, scarlet and purple threads of linen, on which were set one dozen precious stones, including quartz crystal, amethyst, the gemstone variety of quartz, and citrine, a golden colored variant of amethyst.
Biblical scholars generally agree that these twelve stones represented the twelve tribes of Israel based upon the words of Exodus:
"And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart when he goeth in unto the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually," says Exodus 28,29.
Some Biblical commentators have also associated the twelve stones with the twelve signs of the Zodiac.
The breastplate of Aaron, called the "breastplate of judgement", contained a pouch or pocket which was the container for two other precious stones, called Urim and Thummim. Urim and Thummim are taken to mean "lights and perfections", or more loosely, "revelation and truth".
The Book of Samuel mentions three methods of divine communication - dreams, prophets, and the Urim and Thummim.
The breastplate of the High Priest was clearly a device employing crystals and gemstones to create a communications bridge to the Divine, and to channel Divine guidance and God's judgement through the High Priest to the people of Israel.
How the device worked is not known, however numerous Biblical stories referring to the breastplate and to Urim and Thummim indicate that these mysterious stones were used in some way for divination.
In special rituals inside the Temple, the High Priest utilized these sacred stones to obtain information from God and thus to pass judgement on those accused of serious crimes against the people, to answer questions regarding strategic issues facing the Israeli people, and possibly to obtain answers to other questions referred to God through the High Priest from time to time.
According to "The Catholic Encyclopedia": In Leviticus 8:7-8 we read: "He (Moses) vested the high priest with the strait linen garment, girding him with the girdle, and putting on him the violet tunick, and over it he put the ephod, and binding it with the girdle, he fitted it to the rational, on which was doctrine and truth" (Heb. the Urim and the Thummim). Again in Numbers 27:21: "If anything be to be done, Eleazar the priest shall consult the Lord for him" (Heb. "and he [Eleazar] shall invoke upon him the judgment of Urim before the Lord").[i]
In a Samaritan version of the book of Joshua, "Achan steals a golden image from a heathen temple in Jericho. . .The high-priest's breastplate reveals his guilt, for the stones lose their light and grow dim when his name is pronounced."[ii]
"After the battle with the Philistines during which Jonathan had unwittingly violated the rash oath of his father, Saul, by tasting a little wild honey, the latter consulted the Lord but received no answer (1 Kings 14:41-42.)," continues "The Catholic Encyclopedia".
"Desiring to ascertain the cause of the Divine displeasure, Saul calls together the people in order that the culprit may be revealed and thus addresses the Lord: 'O Lord God of Israel, give a sign, by which we may know, what the meaning is, that thou answerest not thy servant today. If this iniquity be in me, or in my son, Johathan, give a proof (Vulgate da ostensionem = Urim): or if this iniquity be in they people, give holiness (Vulgate da sanctitatem = Thummim). And Jonathan and Saul were taken, and the people escaped. And Saul said: Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken.'. . .From this and various other passages which it would be too long to discuss here (v.g. Deuteronomy 33:8, Hebrews, 1 Samuel 14:36, 1 Samuel 23:6-12 etc.) we gather that the Urim and Thummim were a species of sacred oracle manipulated by the priest in consulting the Divine will, and that they were at times used as a kind of Divine ordeal to discover the guilt or innocence of suspected persons."
Biblical scholars differ on which twelve stones appeared on the breastplate of the High Priest, depending upon which translation of the Bible is being used, however Paul E. Desautels (1920-1991), the curator of minerals at the U. S. National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution), author of "The Gem Kingdom", offers the following list, which uses modern gemstone names: carnelian, peridot, emerald, garnet, lapis lazuli, rock crystal, zircon agate, amethyst, citrine, onyx, and jasper.[iii]
Amethyst, The Violet Ray, St. Germain and True Alchemy
The fascination with the breastplate of Aaron has given birth to a rich vein of myth, legend and gemstone lore in Judeo-Christian mystery schools and given rise over the centuries to a deep fascination with the stones of the breastplate, and especially with amethyst, and its golden variety, called citrine.
Amethyst is the gemstone variety of quartz, produced by the presence of iron in hematite or manganese within clear quartz crystal. Amethyst is usually found in geodes uncovered in alluvial rock formations, near the earth's surface. The best sources for high-quality amethyst are in Brazil, Namibia, India, Russia, Mexico, Arizona, and Sri Lanka.
Amethyst occurs in a range of colors, from pale lilac to deep purple. The coloration varies according to the amount of iron captured within the stone during its growth, and, to some extent, the degree of heat present during the crystal's formation.

Amethyst has been popular with royalty, sages, mystics and magicians for centuries. It is said to enhance spirituality, raise the vibrational level of the holder, cleanse the astral, etheric and physical bodies, and produce a peaceful, tranquil state of mind.
Violet quartz, or amethyst, was thought to encourage celibacy and symbolize piety, and so amethyst became very important in the ornamentation of Christian churches and Christian clergy in the Middle Ages. Amethyst, is found on the Pope's Fisherman's Ring, and was used for centuries in the rings of Roman Catholic bishops.
The fascination with crystals and gemstones in medieval times only increased as legends, myths and highly creative interpretations of Biblical stories and ancient wisdom proliferated. In Western Europe, especially during the Middle Ages, gemstones were believed to have miraculous medicinal qualities, and were used in the preparation of powders, mixtures, potions, essences, elixirs and poultices. Gemstones and crystals were held in the hand during meditation to enhance the experience and were used in pendants meant to be kept next to the skin to obtain the healing effects of the sacred stones.
The Church promoted the use of crystals and gemstones for healing purposes, often assigning slightly different properties to the various stones than had authors and healers of the Greco-Roman pagan traditions.
The famous mystic and healer Abbess Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) devoted a great deal of effort to detailing the healing properties of gemstones and the practice of lithotherapy (healing with stones) in her book Physica, which was extremely popular and respected in her society.[iv]
According to Hildegard, who subscribed to the five element theory we discussed earlier, gemstones are formed through the action of the two primary elements of fire and water, and possess spiritual and medicinal powers derived from these elements - God's first tools for fabricating the Universe and the foundation of all that exists in material Creation.
Nor were the uses of gems and crystals limited to meditation and healing. Leonardo Da Vinci wrote that amethyst was able to dissipate evil thoughts and quicken the intelligence.[v] Obviously, for Leonardo, amethyst was thought to have assisted the High Priest in performance of his duties as God's channel and interpreter of the Divine Oracle, as one of the stones on Aaron's breastplate.
Medieval and Renaissance diviners used crystal balls for divination of events in other places and times, enabling them to foretell the future through the use of these sacred stones. Diviners also used crystal balls to peer across oceans and mountain ranges to spy upon the activities of those in distant lands, in an eerie precursor of modern day "distance viewing" techniques used in experiments conducted by the Russian KGB and American CIA during the twentieth century Cold War.
From the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and into modern times, alchemists in the Western mystery school traditions used quartz crystals, especially amethysts, as powerful amplifiers, modulators and projectors of focused thought-forms and cosmic energy, although, like the Hindu rishis, they favored precious gems over semi-precious stones for their workings.
Fairy wands and wizards' staffs, such as that of Tolkein's Gandalf the Gray, are reflections of this archetype.
The name of the legendary 18^th century alchemist, mystic, diplomat and spiritual counselor Count de St. Germain is almost synonymous with precious gemstones.
Count St. Germain's friend Prince Karl von Hesse, described the Count as "one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived, the friend of humanity, whose heart was concerned only with the happiness of others."
The modern mystics of the famed Theosophical movement say this of the Master Mage: "Intimate and counselor of Kings and Princes, nemesis of deceptive ministers, Rosicrucian, Mason, accredited Messenger of the Masters of Wisdom -- the Count de St. Germain worked in Europe for more than a century, faithfully performing the difficult task which had been entrusted to him."[vi]
St. Germain was believed to counsel royalty in favor of reform during his sojourns in Paris prior to the French revolution, and to act as a high-level diplomat attempting to further the cause of peace and justice throughout Europe during his time.
Famed as a musical composer, painter, connoisseur of precious gems, art critic, and alchemist, it is said that St. Germain awed Casanova when he took a silver coin from the adventurer and returned it to him a few moments later transformed into pure gold.
St. Germain often regaled royal gatherings and nobility of many nations with stories of his adventures in ancient Chaldea and amazed onlookers with detailed knowledge of the Egyptian Mystery School Traditions unknown to the most advanced Western researchers of the Occult at that time. Either St. Germain had detailed knowledge of his past lives, a gift granted only to the most advanced Adepts, or he had indeed attained the Elixir of Life, the philosopher's stone.
St. Germain is known to have manifested a continuous supply of extremely high quality gemstones, which he was fond of offering as gifts to nobility at dinner parties around Europe. Speculation abounded that St. Germain had simply apported these precious gems out of thin air, by some mysterious alchemical or spiritual process known only to him.
Saints and mystics both East and West have been known to perform miracles from time to time, such as Jesus' multiplication of the loaves and fishes, to demonstrate spiritual laws to humankind. However there may be another, deeper significance to St. Germain's propensity to distribute gemstones to his acquaintances.

Perhaps these gemstones were spiritual tools, designed to enhance the spiritual practice of Initiates, to introduce subtle energies helpful to spiritual development into the lives of neophytes and unbelievers, and to heal infirmities of the body, mind and soul. That would be consistent with the esoteric philosophy of alchemy, which was much more about spiritual attainment than attainment of material wealth and power.
Although St. Germain is known to have worked with large-scale laboratory experiments in what would now be recognized as research that could be called "proto-chemistry", or chemistry prior to the systematic science we know today, the Western mystery school tradition emphasizes his place as a mystic and spiritual Master Teacher.
The alchemical quest for the philosopher's stone must be understood symbolically. Many of the laboratory experiments done by alchemists had elaborate symbolic meanings, and consisted of mystic ritual practices designed to focus the mind, concentrate the life force energy, purify the mind, and arouse the Spirit of the practitioner, as much as to gain mastery over the elements of nature.
The fabled "Philosopher's Stone" symbolizes the most important object to be attained - a transcendent goal, a Higher Purpose, known among alchemists as The Great Work, which is the transmutation of the lower animal nature of the human personality structure into the Higher Mind of Unity Consciousness known to mystics, saints and sages from time immemorial in Mystery School traditions of both the East and West.
This lower nature, the personality we exhibit at birth, is the lead that we must transform into gold or "Higher Self" and the stone is the spiritual tool, the secret alchemical technology that will carry us to the goal of accomplishing The Great Work. The stone is the spiritual path and the inner state that corresponds to the spiritual goal. Entering into that inner state is the path, and the path is the goal.
In a certain sense, we cannot transform our personalities into the Divine Higher Self, but we can replace the role of the personality as the dominant channel for expression of our life force energies, our thoughts, words and deeds, with the Higher Self, by learning to subordinate our egoistic personality structures to the Higher Mind, Higher Wisdom and Higher Purpose that exist in Unity Consciousness, the state of Oneness with All That Is which was known and taught by Jesus the Christ, by Buddha Gautama, by the Yogic Masters, and by other Adepts around the world throughout history.
In other words, we can replace the lower mind with the Higher Mind, molecule by molecule, as it were, and in this arduous self-transformation, we can perform the alchemical miracle of transmutation, turning the lead of our imperfect personalities into the gold of Divine Wisdom and Love.
How can one replace one's personality with the Higher Self? By what means can one tune into the Higher Mind and how can one surrender the domination of the egoistic personality in one's life? Some have sought to do so by extreme discipline, asceticism, penance, and a vast variety of rituals, meditation practices, mantras, yoga postures, and occult breathing techniques.

What exactly is the Philosopher's Stone? How can The Great Work be accomplished? That is the question alchemy asks, and seeks to answer through spiritual practice and experimentation.
Without going into too much detail, it is sufficient for our purposes to note that the true Philosopher's Stone is quite simply an energy, the energy of compassion, or unconditional love, according to the testimony of the Mystic Masters of both East and West.[vii]
"The veritable Philosopher's Stone is love, divine love," says the Twentieth Century Bulgarian Spiritual Master Omraam Mikhaïl Aïvanhov, "and when man finds that love and manifests it correctly, he is capable of transforming all the impure, raw materials within him into a noble, luminous matter."[viii]
To Initiates, alchemy is understood to be the Western European equivalent of Indian yogic practice, designed to purify the student of all base emotions, thoughts and desires, and to transform the physical, emotional, mental and light bodies of the student into pure gold. Alchemy and yoga are both forms of energy medicine -- paths to Ascension taught by the Masters of the Mystery Schools of the West and of the East.
In all these Myster Schools strict discipline is maintained. The disciple must understand and learn to command the system by which his organism processes Universal Life Force Energy, the Mercury of the alchemists, and in this way the vast transformation of the rational mind into Higher Mind could be successfully completed.
"The question, therefore, is not to do away with love, or to repress or inhibit it," explains Omraam Mikhaïl Aïvanhov, "but to find the means and methods by which to manifest it properly. Love is an energy which takes its source at a very high level; it is of the same essence as the sun, and man's task is to receive that energy and allow it to circulate within him before sending it back to heaven from whence it came. We read in The Emerald Tablet [of Thoth], 'It doth ascend gently from Earth to Heaven. Again it doth descend to Earth, and uniteth in itself the force from things superior and things inferior. . .This thing is the Strength of all Strengths.' So this is the normal route followed by this force: from Heaven to Earth and from Earth to heaven. But as, in most human beings, the route is closed, blocked up by impurities, this force is turned aside and goes underground where it nourishes demons."
These demons of course are our own negative emotions, thoughtforms, and patterns of behavior such as pride, greed, fear, anger, lust, jealousy, and laziness.
"Try to understand this:" Omraam says, " Initiates make no effort to prevent that energy from pouring into them. . .This torrent is Christ himself, who said, 'I am the way, and the truth and the life.' When layers and layers of impurities have accumulated in man because of his passion and excesses, this energy cannot return to its source, so it soaks down into the earth and is lost. But if a man is pure and totally in control of himself, if he is firmly anchored in God, the force that flows into him ceaselessly from above is not lost; it is free to complete the circuit and follow the path that takes it back to the heights from which it came."
"The misfortune of human beings is that they have never understood that the energy of love was not made simply to give them pleasure," Omraam continues, "but that it can be used to awaken certain dormant faculties within them, which were designed for a psychic and spiritual work of supreme importance. And this work consists precisely in turning these energies back to heaven. In doing this you will be applying the principle of Hermes Trismegistus [author of The Emerald Tablet of Thoth], 'You will separate the fine from the coarse, gently, and with great skill.'"
These remarks of Omraam refer to the disciple's task: to utilize discernment and spiritual practices to recognize the coarse or negative qualities of the personality, and also the fine, or positive qualities of the Higher Self, and to refine and purify the body, the mind, and the heart so that the fiery Universal Life Force energy, the Mercury of the alchemists, can be unleashed from where it is blocked up, in the lowest chakra located near the perineum, identified with the Earth, and flow freely up the spine to return to Heaven.
This is why The Great Work can only be accomplished by arduous spiritual practices and good works leading to arousal of the serpent energy of the kundalini, which when it rises from the base of the spine to the crown of the head, confers a state of Unity Consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness, Christ Consciousness or Krishna Consciousness upon the newly crowned Adept.
                         

                        Heliodor Gemstone Activates Heart & Crown Chakras
The golden glow of an Adept's aura was said to be the mark of those who achieved the final goal, and it is perhaps no coincidence that the many elaborate paintings of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and assorted apostles, saints and disciples found throughout Europe from the Middle Ages to the present feature prominent golden halos around the heads of those who have achieved spiritual enlightenment.
It is certainly interesting to students of alchemy, yoga and crystal healing that the alchemical tool par excellence is known as "The Philosopher's Stone", and that gemstones and crystals have been used as tools to enhance meditation, spiritual rituals and spiritual practice in both Eastern and Western mystery school traditions for aeons of time. This cannot be a mere coincidence, and certainly is a subject for deep reflection and further study by any serious student of sacred stones and spirituality.
Today's spiritual seekers all over the world make use of gemstones and quartz crystals in a wide variety of spiritual technologies, using quartz crystals for healing, in meditation, to facilitate communication with Spirit Guides and Ascended Master Teachers, to cleanse and energize living spaces and workspaces, as tools to focus concentrated will and mental energy to manifest desired outcomes in life, as tools to access libraries of ancient wisdom teachings from lost civilizations, and as doorways to extraterrestrial destinations.
In the pantheon of modern day New Age Guides and Teachers, the Count de Saint Germain is called "The World Teacher" and "The Master of the Violet Ray" and is thought to communicate mind-to-mind with many, many students around the world. There is thought to be a large contingent of his students alive today in the United States, the center of modern Empire, just as Paris was the center of European Empire at the time of St. Germain.
Many New Age students of St. Germain utilize crystals and gemstones in their spiritual practice, for healing and in meditation, in a modern alchemical quest for Higher Self, Higher Mind and Higher Purpose. Modern New Age practice encompasses a belief in the theory of karma and reincarnation. The belief in reincarnation has its roots in the Hindu and Egyptian Mystery School traditions, and is fundamental to the Greek Mystery School Tradition of the pre-Socratic philosophers, as we have already discovered. New Age students of the Ancient Wisdom Teachings often utilize crystals and gemstones, along with meditation techniques, Reiki and past life regression therapy to access memories of past lives, and to release the detrimental patterns of behavior, negative emotions and outmoded mental maps of the world imprinted in our cells, our hearts, our minds and our karma from traumas experienced aeons ago.
Many of these modern acolytes of the Great Alchemist utilize crystals and gemstones thought to resonate with the energy vibration of the Violet Ray, which is said to be used under the guidance of St. Germain for purification and to raise the kundalini energy in a quest for Unity Consciousness. Such crystals and gems include especially amethyst, that violet colored form of quartz once so favored by the Pope and Bishops of the Catholic Church.
It is fair to say that the explosion of modern scientific interest in quartz crystals for use in modern computer, communication and laser technologies is paralleled by an explosion of spiritual interest in crystals by individuals of every religious tradition and spiritual persuasion.
Just what is it about quartz crystals that makes them so useful to spiritual seekers? Before we review some of the many techniques that utilize quartz crystals for spiritual and healing purposes, it is useful to take a very close look at the structure, composition and sacred geometry of quartz crystals. This gives the crystal lover a detailed mental map of the crystalline world, and increases the user's affinity with these powerful spirit helpers. And this is the topic of our next chapter.

---

A historian of science reviews Occult Chemistryhere

 

• ¹Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse, France
• ²CerCo, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Toulouse, France
• ³Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, Institute of Neural Computation (INC), University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
• ⁴Institute of Noetic Sciences, Petaluma, CA, USA

By Robert Searle



Psychic Realizations, and Some Personal Experiences.



Sometimes, certain psychic realizations are had when people are in their childhood such as communicating with invisible "playmates", seeing auras, perceiving "spirit"lights, and dead people, et al. Quite often, such young persons may regard this as "normal" until they are told otherwise. As the child gets older the experiences may lessen, or usually vanish altogether in adulthood. For some though this can lead to a"career", or an intense interest in some "New Age", or psychic movement/society.
Such psychic realizations can also occur in older people rather than in childhood. It might involve someone going to a healer, and later discovering that they, themselves have suddenly found the power to heal others. Certain UFO sightings along with alleged alien encounters can transform peoples lives. They feel somehow re-charged, and may even gain"temporary" psychic "powers" such as telepathy, and healing. Near-Death Experiences too, or NDEs can have a like influence on the individual. Ofcourse, this can result with certain people deceiving themselves into thinking that they do have psychic powers, and/or a special mission in life.Many ordinary folk have a story to say about some"odd" happening in their lives. Yet, such occurrencies are often a one-off, and are soon forgot.

However, such experiences would have at least made it known to the person concerned that life is far stranger than it appears. In this respect, they have much worth, and can lead onto the more important issues of spiritual evolution. In other words, a stepping stone towards higher things.In the following, I (the author) have described some of my own personal experiences. Short remarks are included. Some of it may seem a little bizarre but it must be made abundantly clear that I have never ever taken illegal drugs, and/or psychiatric ones from a doctor. It should also be stated here that most people who may have had psychic experiences are quite often,or not compos mentis.
However, it is my belief that my own experiences were partly the outcome of birth trauma when I nearly died from suffocation. Indeed, the horror of such an event was "relived"in 1968 as a child as I was sleeping in the back seat of my parents car. This occured in Spain. Apart from that, I thought rightly, or wrongly that when I retired, the sleeping "unconcious" mind would on occasion allow normally negative "buried" memories to re-emerge in some form, or other. Yet, this could include on occasion unusual phenomena initially caused by the "re-enactment" of stiffling suffocation of the birth trauma, and its subnormal "subconcious" state of "being".This may have acted as a"gateway" for certain lowly "attuned" forces to interfere with my childhood. This notion may seem unorthodox to some, and as such it is not our intention here to go into the more "mainstream" ideas about such things. Anyway, this subnormal level of being below waking conciousness was a feature of many of my early psychic experiences. It is my belief that the latter has been responsible for a small amount of mental retardation, but nothing serious unlike those who have cerebral palsy for example.

1. Repeated Psychic "Assaults".

As a child when I was asleep I would on a few occasions become "aware" of my body at a subnormal level of conciousnes. I then experienced electricity around the back of my neck. Similiarly, the same energy could be had around the base of the heels. If I recall rightly in the book Shadow of Destiny by the controversial Alexander Cannon this was the start ofwhat might be termed attempted "possession" but in my case it was technically speaking repeated psychic "assaults". Anyway, in the darkness I would feel something on top of me, and it was grabbing my throat, and strangled me. When this appalling experience reached its climax I lost "conciousness". Then,I would wake up in bed to my normal waking conciousness.

2. Past Lives?

The above may be a repeated repressed memory at the end of a previous life if we accept reincarnation. I believe that the following experience is an instance of another existence.It occured at a subnormal level of "conciousness" to some extent.
I was on a stoney beach in France, and I was a soldier. Troops were near me, and one had a bazooker. I could see the cliffs, and a pill box with a rifle sticking out, but pointing downwards. For some reason or other I moved foolishly away from the troops, and became an easy target. A shot was heard,and entered my stomach. I fell backwards clutching it.Interestingly, the full pain, and suffering of the experience seemed to be blocked by the mind. Yet, I awoke from this "memory" which was like a replay of some vague grainy black, and white film. It was more of a tactile experience rather than a clear visual phenomenon. Anyway,I was still clutching my belly, and writhing about in my pyjamas! I also felt myself several times being inside, and outside the body. In other words, an out-of-the-body (or OOBE) experience of which I had a number of spontaneous occurrences but again at a subnormal level of conciousness (eg.rolling in, and out of bed but not physically so!).
Strange as it may appear I discovered that the death trauma memory had in World War II ofcourse occured with other living individuals. It appears that many of those who died were reborn quickly so that they could be karmically "rewarded" by experiencing a "better" world presumably in the rich countries such as Britain,America, and Europe. Their "self-sacrifice" was not in vain.
I believe I had an experience of seeing "myself" in a past life. I must stress this is only a theory, and could be completely wrong. It occured in a "lucid dream" (ie.I was aware I was I "dreaming"). I was in bed as a child, and next to me I saw a man lying by me. His eyes were wide with amazement, and he fearfully tried to touch my face with his hand....whereupon I blacked out, and returned to normal waking conciousness. What was extraordinary was his appearance. He had a wide ruddy face, and white dirty bedraggled hair. He had a fur collar band, and on his arm he had a blue (woad) design. Could this have been "me" in some far off incarnation, or was it someone, or something else? From the description he was probably an Ancient Briton even though I knew next to naught about that subject...but I did develop an intense interest in history later. Also, it should be added that I saw a strip of silver light (astral light of occultism?) along the side of his muscled frame. If I recall correctly Joan Forman mentions something similiar in her book in connection with "time-slips".
Another instance at a rather lower level of subnormal conciousness than usual was a "visitation" of a monk whose face I dared not look at. He had a wooden bowl in which he dipped his finger to make the sign of the cross on my forehead! I did not really understand the full significance of this at the time. Could this have been "me" in a previous incarnation as a medieval monk possibly? There is much in psychic literature about reincarnation.


3. The Windsor Apparition.

Ghosts have been reported all over the world. Evidence seems to suggest that most of them are probably replays of minor, or major happenings of the past.Usually, they are of a tragic nature. Strong negative emotions seem to impose themselves most easily onto the ether unlike positive uplifting ones.
My own personal experience occured in around 1968 in a house which had just been built in Windsor, Berkshire. I awoke one night, and felt an unnatural clammy coldness even though it was very still summer night. At the bottom of my bed I saw the form of a man dressed in Victorian garb (a "vagrant"). He looked perfectly solid. I froze with terror, and just stared at him. The "phantom" or whatever it was merely stood totally stationary for a short while. He was dressed in a large brown shabby overcoat that looked a bit dusty.He had a matching top-hat, and the shade of its rim covered his eyes. He seemed to have a scarf around his neck. Quite mechanically his large form turned around, and displayed a suprising array of different coloured patches on the back of his coat. At the same time,I could hear the crackle of electricity. This was a low sound but it was distinct. Slowly, but surely he moved towards the corner of the room. As he started to gently fade away into the night(quite literally!) I noted that parts of the furthest edge of his coat were vibrating furiously, and then, disappearing. Here, I stress the word "parts" as the whole form did not become a vibrating mass of energy... This, along with the crackling of electricity as he turned plus the initial clammy coldness indicated that such phenomenon have some kind of mechanics yet to be comprehended by science.

I have to admit too that on very rare occasions I sometimes saw the static outline of figures. Whether this was purely a trick of the mind is impossible to say with certainty. They seemed to be aborted materializations. In one instance of a similiar phenomenon, I saw the shadow silhouette of a profile of a mans face at the bottom of my bedroom door. It could have come from the light outside but there was no one there! Moreover, it was totally still for a very long time, and seemingly inexplicable.Ofcourse, none of this compares with the materialized phantom of the Windsor apparition I saw so many moons ago...Morever, that "phantom" was not some replay from the past but rather an "astral shell". In other words, there was no intelligent life in it as we would understand it.

There is a strange footnote to this s pectral materialization. I experienced the same clammy coldness (acting as a warning?) twice just before I saw two fatal road accidents. The most horrendous of which was the one up in the mountains of the Pyrennees in Spain. In my parents car I saw a huge lorry which was about to tip over the edge of a cliff. A vehicle had rammed into it, and a man in a white shirt hung out of it covered in blood. A priest was present presumably giving the last rites. A woman who was pinned into the back seat next to the dead man was understandably hysterical. A man in a suit lay on the road but no obvious trace of blood, and yet, somehow I knew he was dead. After I saw all that I stuck my head out of my parents car, and vomited. No child, or adult should have to see something like that.

4. A Psychic "Lightning Bolt".

This experience such as it can be called is perhaps the most fantastical (1979). It commenced in a lucid dream in which I was aware of being next to a Church in Windsor. I saw in the seeming darkness around me a harp which was making discordant sounds due to "wind"(like an Aeolian harp). Then, I looked up, and could hear the peels of thunder, and lightning. Suddenly, I realized that that I had become the target for it. The ligtning bolt struck me, and I awoke in bed. I was lying on my side, and noticed a flame-like aura along my body. The bedroom was half lit up by the orange "lightning-flash".In seconds, it, and the aura (which did not surround my body but just the side of it!) disappeared leaving me astonished. What on earth was all this about? I believe that someone, or something was wanting to help me to experience certain future trials, and tribulations. In other words, it was a sudden transmission of healing energy to enable, and empower me to face serious problems. The orange aura is indicative of a force emanating from my vital (or health) body.I have to confess that on rare occasions in my early childhood I sometimes experienced energy quickly shoot through my "physical" body. On occasions, I would jolt up in the air. Apparently, this may be caused by the astral body returning to the physical body rather quickly!

5. Psychic Healing.

It is claimed that everyone is able to develop psychic healing if they wish. I recall once taking a friend to the house of a famous medium on the Isle of Wight(1979). I remember the whole room was saturated with energy, and as I concentrated my mind on the Third Eye the power also centred itself "there!" However, I, myself had a healing which came quite unbidden. I was seated with two Sikh friends who belonged to Eckankar which drew its inspiration mainly from Surat Shabd Yoga but mixed it up with other techniques. I was in a very relaxed state of mind, and I felt myself going into a light waking trance. At the same time, I, and my companions were listening to a tape by the controversial Paul Twitchell who was talking about healing, and being healed! I also became aware of what might best be termed very subtle energies going through me in a most gentle manner.After a short while I came out of this trance, and I looked at one of my Sikh friends who thereupon said "You should say thank you." Clearly, he knew what had happened.
Though not related to healing I also had an experience of the Eck Master Darwin Gross. I recall seeing a photo of him printed in a book produced by Eckankar.As I concentrated on it I could feel distinct vibrations! Whether this was a trick of the mind, or not is an open question.

6.Synchronicity.

Many people have experienced synchronicity, or meaningful coincidences. I have two interesting examples though I have had many others of a less"extraordinary" nature. Odd as it may seem they were both connected with where I was living(1977-1990)which was Stoke Poges, a very posh area just outside Slough. In around 1989 I was making enquiries about possibly interviewing Ma Yogashakti a female guru for Yoga, and Healing magazine (which was later published with photographic material). My contact was with someone who worked at the School of Oriental, and African Studies at the University of London. She supplied me with much useful information, and asked me where I lived. I said Stoke Poges, and she claimed she used to live in Chesham which was fairly nearby. However, it also transpired that she actually had relatives at the Orchard (built in the Edwardian age) which was the house I was living in on Park Road with mater, and pater! Apparently, as a child she used to stay (or possibly lived there on, and off if my memory serves me well!) there, and as proof of these claims she presented some photocopies of old photographs from her family albums. This showed the Orchard as it was in the early part of the 20th century. She made the claim that this big house was also originally the place for high ranking military people from British India to stay temporarily when on leave.
The other "meaningful" coincidence involved a telephone conversation with someone from a metaphysical society based in Hastings. He claimed he could hear inner psychic sounds at a distance, and they reminded him of the poem by Thomas Grey known as the Elegy. I was amazed by this because he did not know that I was calling from Stoke Poges which was the place where it was actually written! Indeed, there is an actual monument to the Elegy near to the Church where Thomas Grey is buried.
Such experiences are common especially in case of those concerned with the search for Truth, or some other pressing matter of importance to the individual. They appear to clearly show that the universe at some level is interconnected into a Whole, and that we, ourselves ofcourse are a part of It. Indeed, they also suggest that there is something guiding our lives.In the world of the psychic, and infact, the spiritual there are various "guides" of one sort, or another. I remember a long time ago waking up, and just recalled in a "dream" a mist which seemed to be vertically flattened in part to allow strange writing to magically appear by itself. The script may have been Hebrew but it is not possible to say for certain. I heard a voice from the right of me saying that bad actions are good because they could lead to good ones, or words to that effect! In other words, learning via experience which we all do. This may have been some kind of contact with a guide of some degree, or possibly a trick of the mind.However, this experience seemed real enough, and happened very quickly as I got the impression that I was not meant to be conciously aware of it.

7. Psychic "Vision?"

I once attended a meeting concerned with Sant Mat, and Surat Shabd Yoga. One of the participants so to speak was seatted near me in the gloom of the room. I noticed what appeared to be a "cloud" (a form of ectoplasm?).In it, I was able to discern what appeared to be a horrific car crash. I later asked the person about it, and he was shocked especially when I gave him the colours of the two vehicles involved. He had somewhile ago just survived a horrific crash in which the vehicles were horribly mangled. He still suffered from the pains of this appalling experience.............

The above experiences in this essay are just examples which appear to suggest that there is something more to life. Yet, no doubt, there are many who may read this who may have had far more interesting, and extraordinary happenings. Such material appears in internet forums, specialist magazines, and/or goes into biographies, and autobiographies of mediums, and other "psychic" notables such as Derek Acorah, and Uri Geller. It is hard to see how sceptics continue to pooh pooh such annecdotal evidence, and its commonality when it should be clear to anyone that"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy...." to use the classic Shakespearean line.

By Robert Searle


My first encounter with Indian mysticism proper was with the devotees of Brahma Kumaris. They teach a system referred to as Raja Yoga but it is not the same as the Patanjali version which they would probably regard as being a later corruption . Anyway, I first discoverd the BKs back in 1980, or thereabouts. I saw an add in the local rag claiming that someone was teaching hypnosis, or something very much like it. I got into contact with the advertiser who happened to be a certain Brother Julius. He was a pleasant enough person, and seemed more interested in making me aware of the BKs. I had to confess this supplanted my initial interest in discussing hypnosis. Yet, the more I learned about its philosophy the more doubts it engendered. Ofcourse, apart from Julius the devotees were very pleasant. Unfortunately though, the former appeared to have blind faith in it altogether. It was if his critical mental faculties were totally suspended which was a shame, and this caused undue stress in his family life.
BK philosophy is fine as far as it goes...the Raja Yoga as it is propounded by them is positive, and uplifting. It uses visualization, and auto-suggestion in which one imagines oneself being a point of light at the Third Eye, and one repeatedly convinces oneself that "I am a point of light, a peaceful soul..et cetera . The aim of this is to become "bodiless", and at the same imagine being bathed in the reddish light of God, or Shiv Baba residing in the Silent Ocean of Bliss in Brahmloka. Yet, official communication from the "Supreme Being" comes in the form of "mediumistic" sourced teachings (or Murlis, meaning the flute of Krishna ) with the BK movement. Baba made the following claims to his "sweet children."
1) He has stated that God is not omnipresent, and that no guru, or incarnation is manifestation of the Supreme Power in human form

2)There are only a certain number of souls who are meant to follow him. They are the ones which are meant to start the Golden Age at the beginning of the so-called Five Thousand Year Cycle (made up of the Four Ages). This Cycle is repeated again,and again EXACTLY IN EVERY DETAIL. At the present time we are living in what is called the Iron Age which is soon to come to an end. Those souls who do not follow Shiv Baba are born in in one of the Four Ages of the Five Thousand Year Cycle. This whole process is called Drama. Shiv Baba claimed that "No one can question Drama" even though it is clearly nonsensical...and the traditional Hindu Swastika sign is used in their illustrations of this "evolutionary" process.

3) The BKs believe that Sat Yuga, or the Golden Age would be a world of wonders. The life expectancy of the reborn BKs would be extremely long, and healthy. Special vimanas, or "aircraft" would be able to take them to various destinations at the speed of thought. Buildings would be built like palaces, and if one recalls rightly crystals would be used as special energy rather like electricity.

4) The BKs try not to mention anything about the above claims concerning "doomsday", and the succeeding Golden Age. This is deliberate as to not alarm newcomers into their sect. This is arguably dishonest of them.

5) Ofcourse, the BKs claim that religions are based on subconcious memories of the Golden Age when concious knowledge of the Five Thousand Year Cycle was known about but later forgot.

6) It has been claimed that at the end (ie.doomsday)of the Iron Age (ie. our present time) the magnetic fields of the earth could be altered leading in part to repitilians suddenly growing in size, and becoming dinosaurs. This is an explanation for the prehistoric remains of such creatures!!!! This though is not something suggested by Shiv Baba himself as far as I know...

Also, I made Brother Julius (mentioned earlier) aware of a certain section(s) in the book Treastise on Cosmic Fire by Alice Bailey which seem to predict the emergence of the Brahma Kumaris. This was something which was recognized by Benjamin Creme (a noted esotericist) when I phoned him. In Sant Mat the reddish sky or "Brahm Element" in which Shiv Baba resides is usually associated with Kal, or the Negative Power which is concerned with the continuation of the physical creation.....


IV. Meeting the Gurus in Britain.



Ref Thoughts, and Visions Blog

In the past I met a number of gurus. The one that impressed me most was probably Swami Chidananda the recognized successor of the great Swami Sivananda. I recall going to interview him for Yoga and Health magazine. He was staying at a devotees home in Sutton (London area). He was a charming, and self-effacing man. I asked him a whole number of questions, and the interview lasted for over two hours....much to the amazement of the devotees as this was a rare thing for him to do! Ofcourse, the editor of Yoga, and Health magazine had to reduce the length of the transcript of my meeting with him!! It appeared in published form in December 1989. It revealed some fascinating light about himself, and the workings so to say of his Divine Life Society. Unfortunately, the original tape recording of the interview went amiss.

Apart from him I also came across Jashan Vaswani (whose voice was reminiscent to that of a Dalek!), Shivabalayogi (who called his meditation "mind-control" a term which has negative connotations in Western society!), Pandit Ravishankar (who had a strange effeminate voice, and not be confused ofcourse with the famous Indian musician!) S.A.A Ramaiah ( who was a somewhat "severe" sharp-minded intellectual guru who did not cut his finger, and toe nails as he claimed that this was because it made him more sensitive to "energies"), Mataji Nirmala Devi, Mata Amritanandamayi ( who in one of her "love-ins" put her finger on my forehead, and whereupon I received an instantaneous injection of energy which was meant to send me into higher conciousness!) Shyam Ma, et cetera..

........One individual I met where I lived in Slough also appeared to be a guru of sorts . Though he was clearly of Asian descent he used the Jewish name Moses for himself. He advertized his "Occult Group" in a local free-ads paper. I rang him, and he claimed that alot of people who phoned him thought he was into magic....or possibly black magic involving ritualism, and nudity! I informed him that he was wrong to use the word "occult" in his advert as this has a negative meaning to many, and thus, he had been attracting the wrong kind of public. Anyway, I went to his flat in Langley, and there was only one other "devotee" with him. It transpired that he taught a form of Christian meditation involving the Kabbalah. Personally, I did not like him particularly, and he became somewhat defensive when I asked him whether he could give me any references of people who might have benefited via his meditation.He claimed that I was testing him.....which was not my intention. He also asked me whether I knew about the power of silent command (or so-called Telecult Power notably popularised by Reese Dubin) to which I said yes......When I left his flat, and walked home I could feel his energy but it soon wore off. Clearly, he had some degree of power but how genuine he was is another matter.
Another guru I came across was via an add in Yoga Today in about 1987. He had also published an article therein on Ajapa Yoga, and inner Sound. I contacted him as he was interested in starting a group on the subject. His name was Marjan J. Ebert who was German, and he travelled to England to meet me. One thing he taught me was something very worldly. In a pure vegetarian restaurant he explained how Thali (a mixture of Asian curries in little metal containers along with nam bread, samosas, et al) is eaten correctly in India. Apparently, all the little food containers are turned upside down along with everything else making a "mess" on the large metal plate they were on! A grand nosh if ever there was one! Marjan J. Ebert complained that in his meditation groups in Germany he would ask for donations to help forward his Ajapa Yoga. But this did not generally work out so he had decided on a fixed charge! However, he would give his meditation free if the person concerned happened to be Prince Charles!
Another guru I met was Kehar Singh. He was billed as being a Sant Satguru of Surat Shabd Yoga. In the early 1990s I was waiting to get initiated into Radha Soami Satsang Beas, and I came across Tarn Taran Satsang. This latter group was for many decades recognized by the former as being bona fide. However, when Kehar Singh "came to power" (so to speak!) Maharaj Charan Singh of the Beas Satsang tried to publicly avoid him unlike his predecessor, or so the story goes. Anyway, I thought I would pay a visit on Kehar Singh who was staying with some devotee in Slough. We shook hands both uttering a lusty resounding Radhasoami as a greeting.I mentioned Maharaj Gurinder Singh to him, and he did not react negatively, but merely referred to him as Mr. rather than Maharaj his honorific title. Amongst the small band of people I was with at the time one Beas Satsangi was staring disconcertingly at me "trance-like". It was claimed that he had reached Sach Khand, and was greatly respected. It is not clear why he was present. Maybe he recognized Kehar Singh as being the genuine article. This would ofcourse contradict the stance held by Beas Satsang! As with all these things it suggests to me that subjective dynamics play a big part in all this.Unfortunately though, things went little awry with Kehar Singh in Slough as it emerged that he was becoming impatient in trying to raise funds for his organization as well as certain other matters.Yet, he did manage to get his picture in the local newspapers with some notables! So his trip to Britain was not totally wasted. Ofcourse, none of this means that he is an imperfect "Sant" .
Gurus are after regarded in the main as incarnations of the Absolute Power of the Universe, and can do anything even if it contradicts the mores of society itself which if they occur are seen as tests of faith.....Finally, I hardly if at all had any kind of "spiritual" experiences with any of the above with the exception of two Teachers. They were Dr. Sharma (aka Manav Dayal), and Harjit Singh both drawing their inspiration from Baba Faqir Chand.

By Robert Searle





A BASIC INTRODUCTION.



The Radhaswami, or the Radha Soami Faith, or Satsang teaches Sant Mat (The Teachings of the Saints), and Surat Shabd Yoga (Union of the Soul with the Sound Current of Spirit). Essentially, it involves an advanced form of astral projection at the time of meditation in which the soul "dies daily" by ascending to "Spiritual Regions." The Power to achieve this is the Sound Current, or Audible Life Stream which is traced to the "Highest Region" where "God-Realization" occurs. On the journey "upwards" the soul meets the inner Radiant Form of the outer physical Master, or Sant Satguru. Such a Teacher would have connected the disciple to the Sound Current at Initiation. This Power cannot be contacted by ones own effort. Only the Master can connect the aspirant to It, and It has a special magnetic pull which helps one ascend "easily" to the "Higher Regions." There are said to be Five Key Sounds, or Shabds taught at initiation. These have to be contacted one by one in order to reach the Goal. Many lesser Sounds, and Visions may be experienced on the Path towards "God-Realization."




Originally, I was interested in Eckankar, and "by chance" I came across a movement called Radha Soami Satsang Beas in 1980. A friend of mine happened upon a booklet he found on his parents table. It was called the Inner Voice by Colonel Sanders which gave a basic introduction to Sant Mat. It was fascinating....and I was determined to find out more. I noticed that the owner of the booklet had left his address inside so I went to him to enquire more. His name was Jit Johal, and I spent a few ocasions visiting him. He informed me that I should really go to Satsang in London which I duly did. It was there that I met a number of interesting people including some notables such as Nigel North, and Judith Durham of the Seekers who I use to tower over. She called me Sir, on a number of occasions rather than my first,or last name. Another well-known follower, or Satsangi was Martin Shaw, the actor.

Anyway, I was also suprised to find how much had been printed on Sant Mat, and I studied this stuff avidly. Every Sunday I started to regularly attend Satsangs, and I felt at times imbued with a highly subtle energy of bliss....I also acted as a sevadar too. This took the shape of myself being a "doorman" at the Satsang Hall (now demolished but used to be fairly close to Paddington station).
Near the end of 1980 I wrote a long letter to Maharaj Charan Singh Ji who was the Present Living Master of Radha Soami Satsang Beas. His reply was remarkably comprehensive considering his busy time schedule. He notably complimented me on being a genuine Truth Seeker who was not just interested in intellectual "gymnastics". This was true even though I came across as something of an "intellectual" to some people.

However, I was suffering from an obssession. Apart from being a determined Seeker After Truth I had a morbid complex about a possible early physical demise before getting initiated into Surat Shabd Yoga by Maharaj Charan Singh Ji. At times, this obssession was driving me mad. I wrote to him about my concern.and he claimed that I should leave everything in Gods hands. Moreover, he made the claim that "....the Master (ie. himself) was only responsible for particular souls assigned to him by God."
All this lead to a bizarre twist of events. For many years I was due to parental pressure not being able to go fully vegatarian, and hence, become an initiate, or Satsangi. Yet, nothing remains the same forever. For a time I lost contact with the London Satsang, and in 1990 I was free to "do my own thing". In effect, I had just left my parents home as they had moved onto Oxford. I rang up a Satsangi friend, and she informed me that Maharaj Charan Singh had just passed on...! I was amazed. Charan was right. I was not meant to be initiated by him! It was to be his successor Baba Gurinder Singh .

PS. There is one thing I would like to add. When I was visting Jit Johal I saw a large photo of Maharaj Charan Singh laughing. Anyway, whilst I was doing some outdoor work at a golf club I was feeling very devotional, and had the sensation of doing everything for the Master as if he were physically present. This seva, or service can raise the conciousness to a high level which it did in my case. The upshot of this was an unexpected "telepathic" flash of the photographic image of Maharaji which shot by me. I rang Mrs."Chip" Wood who was the extremely knowledgeable, and experienced British representative of the Radh Soami Satsang Beas, and appeared to confirm the genuineness of what happened to me. She described it as dhristi, or a "glance" of Grace from the Master.
...............................................................................................

..............In 1990 Gurinder Singh was made head of Radha Soami Satsang. I first saw him in the flesh at the huge Satsangs in Birmingham when he was visiting England. This took place in the National Exhibtion Centre, or NEC. Security was high there too with police, and plain clothed detectives keeping an eye on things as the Sikh terrorism was still very much a problem.Gurinder, or more respectfully Babaji gave a number of discourses plus questions, and answers with his booming voice. In the latter sessions l asked him when he was going to start initiation, and whether he would initiate me. Instead of hearing what he actually said I heard something else (ie a bizarre trick of the mind.) He said that he would initiate me but ofcourse he did not actually say that....... The reason for all this was that I was going through a strange phase in life that I had become so obssessed with wanting to get initiation that it was starting to drive me "insane". I was also unnaturally concerned about the possibility of an early death (as mentioned earlier). This would ofcourse mean that I would not get initiated!!
Quite often at Satsang in London, or at the charming local home groups someone I knew, or not know would say that "I was going to die!" The imitation voice was just like that of the speaker...virtually indistinguishable. I should point out that I have never taken drugs, or psychiatric medecine. I believe what happened above was a "by-product" of a certain experience with Eckankar possibly during a "healing" session (see Realization of the Psychic). Ofcourse, esoterically the meaning of "you are going to die" implies not physical death but spiritual rebirth in the material body. Apparently, in withcraft the mental phenomenon of a voice imitating someone else, and tricking someone into believing what he, or she is saying is for "real(!)" is not entirely unknown..

Anyway, in 1993 I, along with a batch of people went to recieve Nam under the new Master Babaji (though physically not present) at Haynes Park near Bedford. This was the new UK headquarters of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas. Mrs. "Chip" Wood presided over the initiation, and later everyone was put into circular groups, and taught how to repeat, and pronounce the Five Holy Names.On another occasion, I actually saw Babaji at Haynes Park itself. Some people including myself possibly saw his face changing to that of his previous Master Baba Charan Singh.

I recall once being in the London Satsang, and Babaji suddenly appeared out of the blue, and gave a discourse. This has happened since apparently. He likes now, and again to give unofficial appearances presumably to inspire truth seekers, and satsangis.I felt very devotional during my "honey moon" period before initiation. But I was disappointed after initiation as the power, and aspiration suddenly "disappeared." I felt betrayed, and disheartened. I have come to the conclusion that a real Master must be able to give an initiate before, and AFTER initiation (be it Shabd Yoga, or whatever) "something to work on". In other words, an awareness at least of some kind of Power working for ones good. It is then that the initiate increases its Grace via spiritual practice. Without some kind of inner support meditation can be incredibly difficult. It is vital to have some internal "drive", and "inspiration" to continue practice as we are such weak souls.............Many people have complained about this. Some Beas Satsangis have understandably gone to one of the Sant Kirpal Singh groups which claim that one can have "something to work on" in the spiritual sense. This is VITAL!!

As I was starting to move away from Radha Soami Satsang a bizarre number of synchronicities occured with chance meetings with "devotees". The first of these though was in Newbury which I had never been to before. A lady called Iris I recognized from the London Satsang was spotted, and I went upto her, and she comfirmed that she was the very same person. She was suprised to see me. As indicated there were other similiar "chance" meetings which are hard to explain rationally. Yet, it does indicate that somehow we are all interconnected in this Cosmic Drama of Life.....

The most recent one occured in Windsor in 2007. I was sitting next to an elderly Asian tourist who was looking at his young granddaughter . Some of his relatives were around visiting Windsor, and its famous castle. For some reason, or other we talked, and the topic of reincarnation, and gurus cropped. I said I had an interest in both subjects especially the latter. He asked me whether I had a Master. I said I had been initiated into Radha Soami Satsang Beas. He was astonished as he claimed that he was an initiate too of one of the previous Adepts! He said that I was very lucky to have been initiated by Gurinder Singh as not everyone is. Apparently, he claimed to be a retired chief of border control in India,(his name may have been Dhawan but I do not have the exact details with me at the time of writing) and knew Mr. Mann who was the "top man" in the organization of Radha Soami Satsang. Anyway, he gave me his name, and number including that of the latter, and said if I ever I wanted to stay at his home I would be welcome to do so. Will wonders ever cease? Who knows? But synchronicity has played an important part in my life, and not just those instances connected with Radha Soami Satsang Beas.

PS..
Back in 2005, I recall once sitting on a bench in Langley near Slough. An Asian suddenly appeared from behind me, and said, "Your Master is sitting next to you!" I replied I could see no one in the non-physical sense. I did though just about recognize the Asian from a very long time ago. He was an initiate of the Radha Soami Satsang.......
.........Also, before I became deeply involved in Shabd Yoga, an Indian claimed that it was a dangerous practice. Yet, I, never came across anybody suffering from any serious problems with it. However, one woman at the Beas Satsang claimed that she woke up one morning to find a find a "being" grabbing her neck. She then chased it out of the bedroom, and into the garden. It was claimed that this "being" was merely a projection of the mind.

 In Sant Mat the intiate is given a special mantra which is charged by the Master which is meant to protect one in meditation from evil influences. It is also used to test to see whether the inner Master is genuine, or not. However, if any negative experience is had at all like the woman mentioned above it can be rationalised as being a mental projection. Ofcourse, this would not be somekind of "being" in the normal objective sense in which the special mantra would have helped protect against....

If one has a powerful connection with a Guru this should be sufficient protection....iresepective whether a special mantra was given to the aspirant, or disciple....

By Robert Searle




The Bloggers comments on the two articles by Brian Hines................

http://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2010/04/the-big-money-surrounding-radha-soami-satsang-beas.html
http://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2010/04/rssbs-ties-to-religare-mix-money-and-spirituality.html

Sometime after my initiation into the Radhasoami Satsang Beas, or RSSB someone said to be an English teacher who worked in Spain came out with a claim. He revealed that Gurinder (shortly before Charan passed on) had done some kind of business "mistake," but the Dera Management sent a message claiming that he was a Perfect Master. Hence, he could do no wrong. The English teacher then asked me what sort of power we were dealing with? This was somewhat disturbing at the time as I did have some doubts about Gurinder which unfortunately are now bourne out by the revelations at Brian Hines Blog.
Another red flag was raised when I was with some friends at a home Satsang in which there was mention about the construction for a runway of sorts at Haynes Park so that Gurinder could land his aircraft! However, this came to nothing....probably due to the bureaucratic local planning authorities!! Admitedly, I did not think much of this...and everyone seemed to regard it as amusing. But is a "runway" a best way of using money....possbily money which originated from the Satsang itself...?
The question which I am concerned here is this. Does it all matter? In one sense, it does as revealed in Brian Hines two articles. But it must be remembered that the physical Master like many incarnations in India is seen as the physical manifestation of God. What I present here are three ways of looking at this subject with an open mind. Admitedly, I am a bit of a Radhasoami apologist because I feel there is more than meets the eye ....

KEY CLAIM I.

Whether Gurinder is perfect, or not probably does not necessarily matter as the following extract reveals, and is believed to have been said by Sawan Singh..

“....If the Guru himself has not reached Satlok, but his Guru is perfect or, like Swami Ji Maharaj, has come straight from Anami(the Nameless Region, the "highest" of all Regions), he will take his disciples up to the stage he has attained himself, and beyond that his Guru, or his Gurus Guru, or Swami Ji Maharaj Himself will take them. There should be no worry about this.”

Ref With the Three Masters, by Munshi Ram page 68, 2001 edition (minor editing)

But the question is this? Why should an "imperfect" Master exist? The answer may be that the Mauj (or Divine Will) of God wants to "wind up" RSSB for reasons best known to Itself. Indeed, the whole organization has become absurdly big, and "bloated". It does need to radically reduce its size. Ideally, Gurinder should step down from his position of Master, and possibly have set up a number of "Satgurus" who would be elected by advanced Satsangis. Such spiritual elections have already notably happened in Dayalbagh. However, this is unlikely to happen unless there is a serious power struggle at the top....
Furthermore, many people have complained that nothing is experienced in meditation after many years of practice. What is required is a database on which to draw upon made up of anonymous Satsangis who could give attempted descriptions of their experiences. This could act as an encouragement.

KEY CLAIM II.

In RSSB the the physical Satguru is meant to be omnisicient....but there is plenty of evidence on the contrary though a disciple would simply regard this as as test of faith, and/or come out with some kind of rationalization......

........Just after Maharaj Charan Singh former head of Radha Soami Satsang Beas died in 1990 a book appeared on him, and his discourses entitled Treasure Beyond Measure. In it he discussed his own experiences about the utter suprise that he was appointed Sant Satguru in 1951 by the previous deceased incumbent Maharaj Jagat Singh Ji. He regarded the whole matter as a cruel trick of fate. To a Satsangi, or devotee this shows his utter humility! He was pretending that he was not a real Master!!However, what perhaps was Maharaj Charan Singh really saying without giving the game away? He was arguably indicating to those "in the know" that he was telling the truth pure, and simple as far as he could understand it at the time.
To understand what follows it is best to examine a mystic called Faqir Chand. He, like Maharaj Charan Singh was regarded as a much respected teacher of shabd yoga. But Chand claimed that though he was regarded as the physical manifestation of God he was not omniscient. He did not know anything about the miracles that his devotees expressed to him in which his Radiant Form would appear in the outer, or inner worlds of matter, or spirit. He found this same unawareness with other masters of the Shabd Yoga tradition, and this is borne out by evidence. He concluded that it was the BELIEF AND FAITH of the devotees which generated the phenomena of inner visions, and miracles due to their devotional love for him. However, this did not imply necessarily that they were merely hallucinations but in many perhaps most cases that it was their Higher Self (ie ones Personal God) which appeared in a Radiant Form that looked like him! Thus, Maharaj Charan Singh may be indicating the "truth" indirectly of the above phenomenon. It should be added that for the Chandian Effect to be genuine in the guru world one, or more of a line of Masters should be bona fide in the spiritual sense.


Yet, in a letter to a devotee I used to know he claimed that she could continue with her Bhajan (attempts at trying to listen to the Sound Current in this context) but admitted that she did not even do it! This she found puzzling! There may well be some other similiar evidence...This would be no surprise.
A rather odd thing occured in connection with myself. This is not a meditation experience per se but happened quite naturally, and spontaneously as I was walking. An image of Gurinder Singh appeared in the area of my Third Eye in a "circle" shape. He was dressed with his turban, and a white suit....the one which I wore at initiation back in 1993! The image changed but with the same suit. Perhaps this "mind trick" was suggesting in a crude manner that the Master was myself which is rediculous! However, my present Lower Self entangled in mind, and matter is ofcourse NOT the same as my pure Higher Self which is what Chand was really on about. But it was an odd "mind trick".

However, I do believe rightly, or wrongly that "God-Realised" Masters exist who are to a high degree "omniscient". Yet, most are probably not. Moreover, I suspect that if Gurinder,(or should I say Babaji?) and those like him are indeed as such it may well be that this process of unfoldment (ie.a degree of "omniscience") may be "gardually" developed either before, or after their mastership. This is a big subject, and appears to have something to do with the mechanics of higher conciousness.

KEY CLAIM III.
Depending on ones sensitivity when I have attended Satsang at Southall there is an intense concentration of the subtle energies of higher conciousness. This awareness I believe has been increased after my experiences with Sant Harjit Singh. What is significant is that this "sea" of higher energies does NOT come from the Satsangis alone. In other words, it may well have a divine source, or sources. I recall feeling this Power descending from the ceiling of the Satsang Hall in most a gentle, and spontaneous manner. Sometimes ofcourse one can see a white glow in some of the Satsangis themselves which is extremely subtle.
When I leave the Southall Satsang this higher energy of conciousness can be experienced in the wonderful park nearby. I also recall Sant Harjit Singhs energy not only in his house but also outside...and beyond ofcourse. This is a matter of personal experience, and I cannot prove it unfortunately...
Ofcourse, critics would say that the above is experienced in places like football matches, and pop music festivals...when the atmosphere becomes electric!! However, what I experience (along with many others) is something far more than this. It is A POWER unlike anything of this world...
In other words, RSSB is still a living faith par excellence....................

By Robert Searle





What follows is a pro Shabd Yoga, and Sant Mat article, but one which also includes some basic controversies in connection with the modern day Radhasoami Movement.




The word "Radhasoami" is a "phonetic misspell" of Radhaswami which is the correct way of pronouncing it. Essentially, it can be translated as meaning the Lord of the Soul, or God. It has many adherents all over the world. It teaches Sant Mat, and Surat Shabd Yoga.

A. The Soamibagh Satsang. A Brief Historical "Overview" Of The Radhasoami Faith.

The Radhasoami Faith was founded in 1861 by Shiv Dayal Singh who was a banker at Agra. He was as his Will indicates "born almighty" in the sense that he had no guru who initiated him into the science of Surat Shabd Yoga. His teachings are contained in Sar Bachan meaning True Words, and it is believed that they were dictated by him to his chief disciple Rai Saligram, or Huzur Maharaj who succeeded him. Strange as it may seem it was him, and not Dayal Singh who introduced the name Radhaswami. Huzur Maharaj claimed that this word was like the Sound reverberating in the highest Spiritual Region. Thus, it was to be treated as something extremely sacred. Moreover,it was an innovation in the Medieval Sant Tradition which advocated Shabd Yoga. Huzur Maharaj claimed that the old Indian saints or Satgurus who taught contact with the Sound Current only reached the fifth Spiritual Region. He disclosed that there was an even higher one where God in its purest manifestation existed. Indeed, the Holy Name of Radhaswami was used as a means of concentration during Simran (repetition) in meditation.

Huzur Maharaj was highly respected, and was a post-master general who was honoured by the British. He is credited with what might be termed the systemization of the Faith, and wrote a number of classic books. After his death Brahma Sankar Misra, or Maharaj Saheb became the next Satguru. He notably wrote a book in which he tried to compare the teachings of Radhasoami with the physics of the day.
Maharaj Saheb claim to fame is the introduction of the Central Administrative Council which seeked to try to avoid splits within the Faith. Unfortunately, due to its "strict" rulings it had the opposite effect. The last "official" Satguru of this "parent rock" of the Radhasoami Faith was Babuji Maharaj. After his passing a period of interregnum occured in which no "official" successor was recognised. This line of Masters made up the Soamibagh Satsang, Agra.



B. Radhasaomi Satsang Beas, Or RSSB.


Radhasoami Satsang Beas, or more simply RSSB was the first group to break away from the Central Administrative Council. It was headed by Baba Jaimal Singh who had been initiated by Shiv Dayal Singh. He was a "soldier saint", and during his retirement became recognised as a Satguru. He did not ultimately accept the Holy Name Radhaswami, and instead used the Five Holy Names of the earlier Medieval Sants claiming that this was Dayal Singhs original mantra for repetition, or Simran which appears to be true.

Anyway, it was a good enough excuse for a split to occur between Soamibagh, and his group later known ofcourse as RSSB. The Central Administrative Council decided to "excommunicate" him, and he died shortly afterwards in 1903. It was claimed that his disciples, or Satsangis only reached the fifth Spiritual Region known to previous Medieval Saints, and not the higher one above known as Radhasoami Dham, or the Abode of the Lord with the Name resounding in it. RSSB believes that the ultimate Sound, or Shabd of the Universe is actually inexpressible, and cannot be put into the language of the world in any way.

This rift in the interpretation of the RS Faith has caused much heartache.In the Beas edition of Sar Bachan reference to Radhaswami as understood by Soamibagh has been edited out. Moreover, something else is also introduced into the text. It concerns successorship. The Beas Sar Bachan claims that when the Satguru dies those initiated by him must continually have faith in him. In other words, his Radiant Form must manifest within during Shabd Yoga, and not that of his living successor. The latter though can act as the outer guide to help Satsangis. The Soamibagh edition of Sar Bachan (as dictated to Huzur Maharaj) makes it clear that the present living Satguru must manifest itself as the inner Guide instead of the deceased predescessor. RSSB claims to this day that their edition of Sar Bachan is the "unedited" version as originally intended by Shiv Dayal Singh. Huzur Maharaj simply edited it to present the importance of the Name, and ofcourse, the question of successorship. But, Dayal Singhs Will seems to clearly state that there are two Shabd Yoga Path one started by himself (ie.Sant Mat), and the other by Huzur Maharaj (ie. Radhaswami Mat). Both of them basically teach the same thing.

Anyway, RSSB is arguably the most influential organisation of the Radhasoami Faith. It was the first to introduce the teachings to the West notably through a book entitled The Path of the Masters by Dr. Julian Johnson in 1939. The present head of RSSB is Gurinder Singh.


C. Some Other Radhasoami Organisations.


There are many "splits", or rather branches of the Radhasoami Faith each having its own living Satguru.Dayalbagh Satsang is perhaps the most famous one for those in the know. It broke away from the Central Administrative Council, and like RSSB set up its own Colony in which a high degree of industrialization took place. Unlike RSSB it appears that certain successors to the guru gaddi (or throne) have been chosen by spiritual election rather than by written Will.
Sadly, Dayalbagh has for many years contested in the Courts the property rights of Soamibagh Satsang whose authority it does not recognize. It also believes in the Holy Name of Radhasoami which it also uses in Shabd Yoga.When the Great Master Maharaj Sawan Singh Ji of RSSB died in 1948 he wrote a Will in which he ordered that Jagat Singh should succeed him. However, Sant Kirpal Singh who was highly regarded formed his own breakaway group. This was the Ruhani Satsang. However, when he died his son Darshan Singh formed another organisation called the Sawan-Kirpal Mission now headed by Rajinder Singh.

An interesting aspect of the above is it believes that the new seeker into Shabd Yoga can receive some kind of inner experience of some description at the time of initiation. Yet, RSSB has claimed that this is just a "trick". However, a real Teacher should be able to give a disciple "something to work on" irrespective of how unadvanced he, or she might be. This acts as a vital inspiration to continue on the Path.
It is also fascinating to note that Sant Kirpal Singh mentioned earlier on kept a secret coded diary which claimed that there were 52 key sights before one reached the true "highest" Spiritual Region of Sach Khand. Here, he indicated that apart from subjective interactions there were also essentially objective dynamics "largely" at work in the upward visionary ascent of Surat Shabd Yoga.

What is intriguing about all this, and to some extent suspicious is the tendency for a line of gurus to be physically related to one each other. For example, Rajinder Singh was the eldest son of Darshan Singh (son of Sant Kirpal Singh). When Shiv Dayal Singh died he actually nominated his wife Radha Ji to become the Satguru but she insisted that Saligram, or Huzur Maharaj should replace her as the living guide. Infact, there is a sect in which a certain highly respected academic, Agam Prasad Mathur is directly related to Saligram himself. He is the author notably of The Radhasoami Faith; A Historical Study (1974).

Incidently, another more important source for Radhaswami history are the writings of S.D. Maheshwari of Soamibagh Satsang who wrote much on the subject.Lastly, Professor Mark Juergensmeyer wrote Radhasoami Reality; The Logic of a Modern Faith which gives some understanding of this subject. He was notably helped by the research undertaken by David Christopher Lane who is a Professor of Philosophy, and Sociology in the USA. He is still interested in the subject, and set up the Neural Surfer website. Lane is also among other things famed for his investigative research on Eckankar which drew its inspiration from Sant Mat, and Surat Shabd Yoga.There are a number of organizations which have partly, or largely changed the teachings altogether. Yet, they still trace their origins to the Radhasoami Faith. One such is headed by Shree, Shree Mentu Maharaj which uses the Holy Name for meditation but without apparently the Sound initiation known to Surat Shabd Yoga.


D. The Esoteric Importance Of The Radhasoami Spiritual Cosmology.


Though the Kheper article on the subject concerned gives some details about the spiritual cosmology of the Radhasoami Faith it is not complete (http://www.kheper.net/topics/Sant_Mat/cosmology.html ) For that we have to turn to the writings of L.R. Puri an academic who notably wrote Mysticism, the Spiritual Path Vol II, and The Radhaswami Teachings all published by RSSB. Shiv Dayals basic details concerning the "road-map" to God appear in Sar Bachan. They present a more fuller "depiction" of the Spiritual Regions than can be found in the writings of the Medieval Sants.In Discourses on Sant Mat there is a collection of Sawan Singhs talks at Satsangs, or meetings. He gives a few interesting examples in which he shows simple symbolism of the Medieval Sants as being corroborative, and thus, possibly suggestive of their "objective" reality.

Interestingly, many Indian teachers of any spiritual tradition tend to regard inner experiences of "higher worlds" as being essentially unimportant, or even partly, or wholly illusionary, and as such should be ignored. In Sant Mat this is also true to a certain degree, and emphasis is placed on ones full attention on the Radiant Form of the Satguru during Shabd Yoga. The aim here is to avoid the Satsangi from being sidetracked into lower planes, and by beings who would hold up his, or her progress to the "highest" Region of"God-Realization".
Dr. Alfonso Caycedo, a Spanish psychiatrist wrote back in the sixties a fascinating work on gurus, and inner experiences entitled India of Yogis. Dr. Ranade a renowned mystic, and academic authored the Pathway to God volumes in which he examines in detail the writings of the Medieval Shabd Mystics, and to some extent their internal experiences.

The point of all this comment on Radhasoami Spiritual Cosmology is to make people aware that it may arguably have the simplest, and most authentic, and complete understanding of the"higher Regions" .... Hence, its greatness, and importance for the seeker after Truth.


E. Surat Shabd Yoga Is Not The Same As Kundalini Yoga.


Sadly, there is a certain amount of "misinformation" of the teachings of Surat Shabd Yoga, and Sant Mat. It has been claimed for instance that Surat Shabd Yoga is the same as Kundalini Yoga (though ofcourse the inner experiences of both systems may seem similiar to a certain extent). This is incorrect for the following reasons:-

i) The origin of the above seems to largely come from the claim that at the first initiation into the Self-Realization Fellowship (which teaches Kriya Yoga involving Kundalini)contains in full, or in part the exact knowledge of the Sant Mat Sound sequence. Whether this is true, or false is actually "immaterial" because replicas of the key sights, or "lights", and sounds can be found in the lower "Regions" as well as in the higher "Spiritual Regions"!

ii) Shabd Yoga does not involve special breathing practise, or deliberate arousal of the Kundalini, or concentration on the lower centres, or chakras of the subtle body with the exception of the one at the Third Eye. Moreover, there are said to be certain "secret" centres in the grey matter of brain which may be unknown to Kundalini Yogis.

iii) Unlike mainstream Yogic thought, Shabd Yoga does not require the Kundalini to be raised in the traditional manner for Enlightenment. It is a far safer, and natural system of meditation. It should not be confused with astral travel which just deals with the lower psychic realms. Rather it is more accurate to say that conciousness is withdrawn to the Eye Centre, and like a "mental radio" it can contact specific key Sounds. With increasing concentration occuring naturally (ie.not forced) its power to "ascend" or communicate with higher states of conciousness becomes progressively possible. This is a process of "dying daily" via meditation.


iv) It is true that Shabd Yoga borrows some terms from Kundalini Yoga but this does not mean that it is the same thing. Misleadingly, Kriya Yoga master Sri Yukteswar is said to have written a book entitled Surat-Shabda-Yoga!!! However, since it revealed too much esoteric information about the Kundalini it was apparently withdrawn from circulation... (The author would welcome a copy of it for his work into the research, and development of Multi-Dimensional Science).Incidently, the term Shabd, Shabad,or Shabda can mean inner, and indeed,outer Sound, or Music depending on context. Many references to it can be found in Kundalini texts.

v)There is yet the claim that the Guru Granth Sahib the Sikh "Bible" has many references to Kundalini as being possibly the same as Shabd Yoga. This is more "incorrect thinking". Infact, the Granth Sahib is a massive work, and there are virtually no references to the Kundalini itself...

vi)Finally, Surat Shabd Yoga is NOT to be confused with Nada Yoga. The latter is the old Vedic system of contacting inner Sounds but these relate to the lower ones of the intermediate planes of the Astral Region. In Shabd Yoga there are five major Sounds. These pertain to the Five Major Regions.


F.The "Problem" With Scandals In The Radhasoami Faith.


On the internet especially there have been a number of possible "scandals" concerning certain "Satgurus" (and indeed, gurus of other traditions) of the Radhasoami Faith. Much of this is questionable, and usually has little, or no independent corroboration from other witnesses. Moreover, the further back in time we go there are less records if any on any "Satguru".
Some of these "records" can be found in India Office Library and Records in London. Jaimal Singh is for example listed as being in the army there, and reference can be found to Saligram, or Huzur Maharaj being honoured by the British. Furthermore, it is possible to trace pamphlets (some proscribed), and books about the early attempts to denigrate the Radhasoami Faith, and its Satgurus. Most if not all published information had to be registered under a specific Act of Parliament

Nowadays, it is possible to quickly find out anything about anybody "illegally" via detective agencies especially on the internet where they can hack into government, and commercial computers. Privacy has become problem on the web for sometime.
For example, full background checks may well be possible into someone like Gurinder Singh the head of the RSSB. Yet, even these agencies admit that their data may not always be correct, and should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Moreover, there is information which is essentially speculation par excellence on people by various government agencies around the world. For instance, Gurinder Singh was suspected of being a drug baron. As such he was unable to leave a certain country. It turned out that the term "patron of the RSSB" was mistranslated into meaning a drug baron...

Anyway, The the following claims may well have much greater validity concerning the reputation of certain "Satgurus." For legal reasons, indentifying names, and places have been omitted:-
1. One "Satguru" sexually abused women now, and again. Actual witnesses statements exist.

2. A writer on the Radhasoami Faith published the claim that a certain "Satguru" sexually interferred with young girls. However, full corroborative evidence has yet to be made public.
3. A certain "Satguru" possibly used disciples to illegally smuggle in presents from other countries.

4. One "Satguru" has collected computers for the Satsang and some of these may belong to the restricted technology listing, and it would thus be illegal for them to have been imported into India.

5. Another "Satguru" had a mistress. To his credit, he admitted that this was true...Such revelations are excellent gun-fodder for sceptics.

However, I (the author) believe that in certain cases these may be a test of faith, or psychic tricks (or riddhis, or illusions, or visual psychic tricks which could involve an advanced form of mass hallucination, or "magic") to fool people.Some "Satgurus" may well be initiators acting purely on the behalf of their predescessor with whom they probably have inner contact. This implies they may not necessarily have reached the highest planes of "perfection", and that their character may not also be perfect in the spiritual sense. Thus, they may do things which may be wrong, or even criminal on "rare" occassions. Yet, they still have the authority to initiate new seekers into Surat Shabd Yoga because their line of "Satgurus" has at least one Perfect Master with full spiritual power. As to why this could well be is still subject to speculation.
To find out more light on this the reader can go if desired to my article on Multi-Dimensional Science on the kheper website where there is a section which deals in part with this very "problem". Reference is also made to the teaching of Faqir Chand who was a respected Shabd Yoga Mystic, and seemed to believe that its ones Higher Self which acted as the real inner Satguru (ie the Radiant Form of the Teacher) during Shabd Yoga, or any other similiar practice, and that the outer Master irrespective of his, or her actions only acted as a catalyst.

Sawan Singh though seemed to claim that at initiation he actually created the Shabd Form in each of his Satsangis. Whenever there was a serious crisis one of these Forms would telepathically transmit its message to the physical master who would thereby make a decision. It is quite clear that we have more to learn about the actual modus operandi operating between disciple, and master.

Yet, Chands ideas in the main are still valid, and relevant as far as they go.Moreover, what matters in Surat Shabd Yoga is the need to practice, and reform oneself. It is claimed that Sawan Singh said in the book entitled With the Three Great Masters by Munshi Ram that there should be no worry about whether a Shabd Yoga Master is Perfect, or not as one, or more of his predecessors may appear within to help the the disciple to ascend the "higher Regions". In other words, the Light of Truth reveals Itself via inner experience.
As already suggested but expressed differently, the Higher Self (in the Chandian context) which is ultimately our real Satguru may even manifest ItSelf as a replica of the imperfect outer Master of Shabd Yoga. Whether something like this actually happens or not probably depends on spiritual background, and other factors. Yet, this "replica," or rather the Radiant Form may well be able to take the disciple to the "highest plane" of spiritual liberation (or as Sawan Singh is said to have alternatively suggested a genuine previous Master could appear "inside" to replace the "imperfect" Master to take the soul upwards). Yet, the outer manifestation of this "Guide" can do no such thing in the inner journey...


In keeping with most Indian mystical movements the Radhasoami Faith does not believe in the development of psychic power. Yet, the late Dr. Puri in Liverpool (UK) tried to use Shabd Yoga as a means of healing certain ailments.


G. Non-Absolutionist Sant Mat...?

As mentioned Faqir Chand was a Shabd Yoga Master but his view about Sant Mat can be regarded as being non-absolutist. In keeping with mystical Hinduism he believed that different types of Yoga appealed to different kinds of people. They ultimately lead to the Supreme Source of Creation. In other words, Surat Shabd Yoga is just one of many many Paths leading to "ultimate" Samadhi in contradiction to what we have been saying in this essay. Thus, Radhaswami Teachings the Sound, or Shabd is not the only means of spiritual liberation. Instead, powerful degrees of concentration can achieve It.
Chand was very open, and honest about his inner experiences in Shabd Yoga. He even admitted that he was not necessarily right, and even had doubts about whether he reached the "highest" state of conciousness.This may be a display of pure humility, or perhaps a degree of ignorance.One of his recognized successors was Sant Harjit Singh. It is claimed that he uses a mantra, or mantras with a specific "charge". When practised it allows the listener to go deeper, and deeper into the Sound, and Light until a state of "no-thought" is reached.

A number of people who practice "pure" Surat Shabd Yoga come to him for help. Interestingly, like Faqir Chand, Harjit Singh though does not believe that the inner stages "described" in the writings of Dayal Singh, and other Satgurus "exist". They are regarded as projections of the Mind. Harjit Singh has pointed out that most gurus, and yogis are totally unknown to the public. As usual there is the claim too that Surat Shabd Yoga evolved from the Siddha Tradition, the Udasi branch of Sikhism, and other sources.
Apart from the Radhasoami Faith proper there are other virtually unknown groups which believe inner Sound, or the Word is the "sole" means of achieving the Truth. One headed by the "Satguru" Santsevi springs to mind..
In an infinite spiritual universe anything is possible, and it is important to retain an open mind. As the Masters say...the Truth ultimately lies within.......

By Robert Searle




A. Meeting Dr. Douglas Baker.

7th, 2009 by

Dr. Douglas Baker is somewhat well-known in esoteric circles. Here is a link to him, and his site.
http://www.douglasbaker.com/

It is claimed that he has written over 100 books on esoteric subjects. Having seen some of them they appear to be often, or not short, and "shallow". Moreover, from what I have found so far there is no obvious reference to his use of Theosophy, and the Alice Bailey Teachings. He should by rights give direct indications of his source materials otherwise it gives the false impression that he is an innovator.
Anyway, back in the early eighties I used to meet a plump well-dressed Indian astrologer who was called Matthew. He claimed that he was jeweller, and emanated from Brighton. On occassion, I met him at a hotel that used to exist opposite Slough train station. We often talked about esoteric subjects, and once I said that I believed I had been killed in the last world war. In response, he said that he had been a saint in India in another incarnation!For whatever reasons, Matthew seemed impressed by the writings of Dr. Douglas Baker. He recommended them to me but I was not overly excited.

However, I did go to see Baker at the former workings mens club in Slough where he was giving a talk on astral projection. Among other things, he mentioned his friend Peter Sellars, and his heart attack in which he had out-of-body experience (though if I recall correctly there was more than one instance of this). At the end of this ofcourse came the book signing session. I used this as an opportunity to ask him why he had not replied to me on a letter concerning greater information on surat shabd yoga, and the Radhaswami Faith. At this, he said nothing, and gave me a sssh! with one finger over his mouth. He seem to realize the huge esoteric importance of the subject, and clearly was not willing to discuss it! However, apart from this I was not impressed overall by him as a person, or indeed, his books...
I am sure Dr. Baker means well in his own right along with his Claregate College on esoteric studies but I just feel that perhaps the genuine motivations for it all were somehow lacking. However, whether true, or not he has played an important in popularising the subject for which we should be thankful.

PS. Since the above was written Dr Baker passed away in 2011.


B. A "Kabbalah" Mystery?

Nov 26th, 2009

I would be grateful to know whether anyone knows the possible meaning of this Kabbalistic symbol. It is drawn on a public wall with a black felt tip pen by a person, or persons unknown as I enter, and depart from a block of flats in which I live. Essentially, it appears as a trident (bowled shaped like the Jewish Menorah)without the pronged endings. Two magan davids are to be seen both sides of it save the central "column" so to speak. At the base of the latter there is one more magan david. There also appears here to be a little "flame" on one of the apexes of the two triangles. The same is true of the one on the top left of the "trident". These may have no significance at all along with where they are placed exactly. The question is this? Is this a genuine Kabbalistic symbol possibly? Or is it just something made up by someone who has an interest in magic? Could it be a symbol of good luck, or bad luck, or indeed, nothing at all of note??I may sometime post a drawing, or photo of it but the detail in the first paragraph should be clear enough to its possible "identification," and "significance".

PS. An occult symbol in chalk was found on the wall(circa 2011)of an underpass very near the Masonic Lodge in Slough. If I recall correctly, it was a triangle in a circle, and appeared to contain astrological symbols. It has since been erased.


C. Who are the Eloists?

Sep 28th, 2009

Sometime ago I had a black and white dream. I could only recall the fag end of it. It was like an old grainy film being played. In it, someone looking like some Old Testament Prophet strolled along towards me with a staff in a stoney scenery. All of a sudden the words ELOIST appeared. I had never come across the word before, and so I had to go to the internet to find out what it meant. The following comes from the GG dictionary

.....E*lo"hist (?), n. The writer, or one of the writers, of the passages of the Old Testament, notably those of the Pentateuch, which are characterized by the use of Elohim instead of Jehovah, as the name of the Supreme Being; -- distinguished from Jehovist. S. Davidson. - Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Elohist, a name given by the critics to the presumed author of the earlier part of the Pentateuch, whose work in it they allege is distinguished by the use of the word Elohim for God; he is to be distinguished from the Jehovist, the presumed author of the later portions, from his use, on the other hand, of the word Jehovah for God.More light was forthcoming in the following "revelation" if such it could be called......Here, reference is made to a publication entitled Radiance which is connected with Oahspe an esoteric society which has been around for sometime...
Within Radiance flows the spirit of the Eloists. It is an expression of Light, and speaks with the Voice of the Living Spirit as It has come to be known through the Eloist family. 'Eloist' means a 'doer of the Creator's will.' The objective of Radiance is not so much to educate as it is to strike a keynote or set a tone that will help the reader to become attuned to 'the realm of thought in which angels dwell,' and in that harmony to learn how to rise in spirit to embrace a higher purpose.
Radiance, a publication of The Eloists, a religious non-profit organization, incorporated in 1918.....
PS. As Alan Kazlev pointed out I could have seen the the word Eloist before but completely forgot it until I had this "dream" experience..


D. The Guru Granth Experience..?

Nov 27th, 2009

Sometimes I have langar or free food at the local Sikh temple, or gurdwara in Slough (near Montem). I have the greatest respect for Sikhism. It ofcourse does not have a Living Master as their guide but their holy book the Guru Granth Sahib acts as their Teacher instead, and is worshipped,and respected as if it were a highly esteemed "human being".I once had four copies of this marvellously inspired mystical work which if I recall correctly was translated by Dr. Gopal Singh. I bought them at a Radha Soami Satsang Beas meeting in London!

I have to admit that I did find it difficult to accept a book rather than a living spiritual master as a guide. But my views have changed. It is possible,and feasible. The reason for this change of heart is when I saw the Guru Granth Sahib being taken out of a car covered in cloth. This happened just outside the gurdwara. Some people nearby paid a respectful namaste, or greeting to it. I did likewise, and much to my surprise a ray of light shot from it at me. Whether this was a trick of the mind, or something else is difficult to know. However, I have seen pictures of the Guru Granth Sahib with spiritual energies depicted around it. This indicates that it is more than just a book......
.PS. I was surprised to hear that the Hindu Temple in Slough was the first purpose built Hindu place of worship in Britain. It is very close to where I live in Chalvey,and found out about this when a group inspired by the Guru Ravi Shankar (not the musician ofcourse!) was making a presentation of their yogic teachings in December 2008.This group incidently claimed that it was the largest voluntary organization in the world. I do not know how true this claim is but I like to keep an open mind.


E. Recalling John Garland..


Nov 26th, 2009


In the late 1970s I recall meeting John Garland, the noted astrologer. He used to work for a time as a teacher at the Tutorials a private school at Windsor where I used to go to. It was run by Mr. Blundell (a rather Dickensian sounding name in my humble opinion).Anyway, John Garland was a charming fellow with a boyish visage, and ruddy complexion. If I recall correctly he had ginger, or blond hair. It is nice now to see him doing so well with his work in astrology as the following biodata reveals from Astrology Enterprises found on the net along with other "psychics", and astrologers

..."One of Britain's most respected and well established astrologers, John Garland's work has featured in the most diverse range of media over a highly successful, 24 year long career. John also has a unique distinction amongst other astrologers - in terms of understanding the needs of the media, for he worked as a journalist, leader writer and an editor, before the clarion call of astrology become too strong and led to his full-time profession. John writes traditional Western astrology but also has an avid interest and deep knowledge of Chinese astrology, a specialisation, and he has written extensively for Horoscope and Prediction Magazines'. In fact John was the first astrologer to introduce Chinese astrology to the west in the 1980's - strongly influenced by his Grandfather, who lived in China for many years, and who was imbued in Daoism and a great admirer of Confucius. From this John acquired a considerable knowledge of Chinese spiritual culture, including the "I Ching". Over his career, John has written for many of the most established Women's titles, has had much work published and his specialisation is in providing sparkling, either bespoke or regular content, with an almost lyrical and enchanting dimension. His is a rare voice of true authority in the astral and divination firmament."

In around 1983 I came across him again. He used to live in Upton Park, Slough in a basement flat. I got to know him pretty well as he had an easy charm about him. Often, or not the subjects we discussed were to do with psychic, and spiritual topics notably my growing fascination in gurus. He, himself seemed at the time to be much taken by the Western pagan tradition notably the celts, and their culture. Indeed, he even produced his own magazine aptly entitled CELT in capitals. I wrote an article on the mysticism of Inner Sound for his second, or third issue. This appeared on the front cover along with the drawing of a weeping willow if I recall correctly. He described my writing as being "scholarly" which I took to be a compliment.
Anyway,John Garland is among other things an artist. He showed me a number of his unusual "psychic" paintings. Indeed, I even saw per chance an exhibition of them at some fair in London.
He apparently claimed to have written, and published a book entitled The Mire. Brian Edgar who was one of my teachers at the Tutorials contacted me after 30 years via the "miracle" of the internet, and I was amazed to receive his email. He, also, remembered readingThe Mire

The next time I came to know of John Garland, and his work was in printed form. It was in the Maidenhead local paper in which he appears to have a syndicated column on his his artful, and insightful column on astrology! It is good to see that he has been doing well, and I wish him future good luck! Maybe we will meet again..or maybe not.... but ofcourse that is all in the stars!



X. Mental Illness, Psychic Self-Deception...and Danger!

Ref Thoughts, and Visions Blog

Over the years I have come across a few people who appear to suffer, or have suffered some form of "mental illness," and/or self-deception in connection with psychic, and spiritual matters. One person I knew used to wander at the dead of night proclaiming all manner of occult claims including the belief of being the Messiah, and having his Third Eye fully opened.
One elderly individual called Ralph who died in April 2007 was well known in Slough as he used to bicycle about in his shorts in all climes! He was by his own admission a bit eccentric, and claimed that when he was young he was struck by a Tesla (a word he used to describe a thunderbolt which I had never come across before). He survived it, and claimed that this enhanced his health, and well-being possibly giving him inner heat for him to peddle about Slough, and its environs in his shorts whenever it was freezing!
When I used to see him Ralph often, or not talked about his late brother George who appeared to have been suffereing (if that is the right word in this context) from the delusion of being someone special to the Royal Family at nearby Windsor Castle even though he was electrician by trade! Apparently, it was claimed among other things that:-
i) He had saved King George, et al from a bomb attack at Windsor during World War II.
ii) He had been developing a number of advanced technologies (including an ant-gravity device) but the government was not interested because it would cost too much money .
iii) George, and some other "experts" managed to teleport some creature, or object from England to America, or vice versa but it caused Battersea Station to shut down!
iv) He knew Lord Mountbatten well along with other notables often being privy to special meetings, and social occasions.
v) He claimed that he appeared in two places at once!
vi) He said that there were two, or more places in Windsor through which one could travel back to the past by crossing over a line of light. Indeed, one story featured him taking a Medieval cup, and burying it in its own time by a pub, and later in the present time dug it up. Obviously, it had deterioted somewhat through the passage of time..
Ralph seemed to have lapped all this up, and was suprised that the Royal family had not sent a message of condolences when George sadly died! It seemed that he had being living a kind of Walter Mitty like existence, and I came across this before from someone who seemed to imagine himself being some kind of James Bond figure working in the military!
One person I came across and who happened to be a Satsangi of RSSB claimed to have seen certain people turn into "reptilians" (shades of David Icke to put it very mildly!), and that he believed in some kind of hidden government of the world. He also feared staring up at helicopters (invisible ones!) as they would shoot a beam of light at him, and he would suddenly freeze!
However, such "delusions" can be dangerous, and I include here the following account in which I was actually attacked by a "nutter". In order to protect myself I have not given out the name of this individual, and use instead the pseudonym of X. This person who regards himself as a "low standard" Sikh is a somewhat chummy, and chubby. X was interested, and totally gullible in many aspects of the occult/paranormal, and was especially interested in dealing with "Voodo witch doctors," and Indian psychic helpers who sometime advertized themselves in Asian papers, and mags.In the latter case, one of them had examined his hand in which he could see Xs chakras, and claimed that they were out of line..! This could be seen perhaps as an indication of his long history of depression which he fully admited to me.
X claimed that he had attacked someone called Kevin from behind at the local day centre. This individual had been a friend of his for many years apparently. Xs assault on him was stopped by a support worker who along with Kevin it transpired (from another source)were threatened with death!The reason for the above was because X whenever he was befriended by anyone over a period of time he developed a dangerous paranoia complex. In other words, he became increasingly suspicious, and believed that his "friend" was passing on information about him to the "enemies" as he called them for money. This ofcourse is absurd as he is essentially nobody. I asked him what he meant exactly by the word "enemies". But I never really got a clear answer.
It was baffling...especially when he had such a deep interest in Sikhism, and regularly did the meditation practices prescribed by that religion (though he still drank alcohol, and was non-vegetarian). Quite often, he would discuss deep spritual philosphy, and I mentioned Harjit Singh a spiritual teacher already discussed to some extent on this blog. X expressed some interest in him but I never gave him his full address, or phone number for obvious reasons.

It is a great shame that X had this deep psychiatric problem with paranoia, and its delusions.Indeed, he used to think that whenever Kevin went to phone up someone in the public booth he imagined that he was passing on information about him to his enemies for money!

As such X had become obssessed in somehow protecting himself from his "enemies" notably his desire to get special rings made which would protect him. He also wanted to leave town altogether after he received enough money from his alleged Court Case. He intended to "disappear" to India where he claimed he could live off his newly acquired money invested in one, or more of the state banks there. As time went by X became suspicious of me, and asked whether I was passing information about him to the enemies for money! This ofcourse I denied as it was patently absurd....and made no sense at all. Things came to ahead outside the library when he chuckled at the notion that the Queen was possibly a shape-shifting repitilian (David Icke again!). He then went onto to reveal that he was going to do a sort of psychic name check on me undertaken by some Indian psychic in London. It was his way of trying to determine whether I was genuinely his friend, or not ...and apparently costing £30, or so. X also revealed that I would soon experience unusual dreams in which the psychic would probe my mind. Needless to say nothing of the sort happened. Vainly, I tried to explain to X that I was a genuine friend of his but it was becoming clear that he did not really believe it and that it would be a waste of time trying to convince him. He then went on to say how bad it was that anyone could betray him to the "enemies" by passing on information about him for money, and said that if the psychic name checked proved positive it would bring bad luck for the rest of my life. The whole thing had by now become absurd in extremis. So, I parted with him.

A few days later I went to a certain cafe. It was infact the one which X had claimed in our last meeting was the actual place where I passed information on him to the "enemies" for money. When he first "realized" this he laughed at the absurdity of the notion (!) as he had been wondering why I often went to this specific cafe other than just eat, and drink.. It was now all clear to him...
Anyway, on the day in question (August 28th 2008) I entered the cafe concerned and had a plate of saag(spinach), and rice. A little later X entered, and saw me. He muttered "You are doing it again. Will you never learn!" whereupon he headed straight towards me at the table, and rained down a whole load of punches. I lifted my hands, and arms to protect my face, and head. I fell off the chair, and there was short pause before he started to assault me again but this time I used my shoulder bag to protect me. He then left as if nothing had happened, and there was stunned silence in the cafe. No one ofcourse lifted a finger to help me. No suprise there! Also, the saag, and rice I had been eating coated the wall, and the plate was smashed to pieces. My nose started to bleed, and was in part broken. The police were called but I decided not to have X arrested, and charged even though the whole thing was probably recorded on camera. He got away scott free but if he were to do something like that again I would have no choice but to make sure he serves time, and ideally, be committed to a mental institution so that he cannot be a risk to the public with his paranoid delusions.

However, he did though attack me one more time but not as seriously as the last incident. As I was going down some steps he gave me a kick from behind, and I turned around to confront him, and uttered my anger at him whereupon he threatened me with death or words to that affect...Now, ofcourse, I try to avoid him like the plague. It is clear that the mind can be misled, and distorted.

Illicit drugs can also cause mental problem ofcourse. One example was a Muslim I used to know, on, and off. He claimed that he, and some friends had seen me commit a crime which was utterly false. He also said the same kind of thing (ie. false accusation based on an imaginary experience)to someone else I knew. It transpired that ofcourse he had taken certain drugs which could give rise to powerful delusions about people. He was also a member of the Sheikh Nazeem sect based in Cyprus. This is a Sufi organization. I once asked him about his inner experiences, and he was amazed to find that I knew about certain basic details concerned about his initial meditation experiences which were similiar to Shabd Yoga,and other types of practices. Ofcourse, drugs especially LSD can lead to "mystical" or rather psychic type experiences, and these can be similiar if not seemingly identical to "genuine" ones had through non-drug induced meditations.

The person I notably mentioned right at the start of this blog entry also had drug problems, and clearly it contributed to his delusions of being something spiritually special, and extraordinary. Infact, he revealed that he had a bad premature experience with the controversial Guru Maharaj who was known for opening the third eye to inner Sound, and inner Light. Anyway, as far as I know X did not do drugs save alcohol which can arguably be regarded as being something similiar.As I mentioned in the blog article The Realization of the Psychic I have never ever taken drugs, or indeed, legal psychiatric ones. Moreover, I hate alcohol, and never drink the stuff, and I am ofcourse a vegetarian.


PS. Since the above was written I have had some experiences with two other people who claim to have been affected by "black magic." One of them is a Sri Lankan. He claimed to see "spirits," and was on occasions seen speaking to "them" in Slough High Street. He tried to overcome this problem by contacting "whitch doctors" but to no avail. He went to psychiatric hospital for treatment several times, but to no avail. As he pointed out he was suffering from a "spiritual problem."
However, he did have a liking for alcohol, and smoking. He claimed that the "spirits" made him adopt these habits, and even, claimed that he felt sometimes "possessed" by a large number of them. On one occasion, he could not stay in his own digs. Instead, he became homeless temporarily to avoid them! He claimed too that the "spirits" would occcasionally appear in benevolent form, and then "shapeshift" into something less pleasant...
Apart from the Sri Lankan in question, I came across an intelligent African lady who experienced a variety of "illusions." that disturbed her daily life. However, she claimed that praying to God helped her. Yet, she still seems to be on the search for somekind of permanent cure. Hopefully, this will happen to her..
Though not directly related to the above as such I once met an African gentlemen. He had visited the Radha Soami Satsang in London, and I went with him with some friends to his plush flat. It was there that he wanted us to see his collection of Hogarth prints...but when we inspected them we noted that the faces of the characters depicted were erased presumably by him for reasons unknown, and we dared not ask why. He was clearly suffering from some kind of mental problem....

 By Robert Searle

Over the years I have come across a few people who appear to suffer, or have suffered some form of "mental illness," and/or self-deception in connection with psychic, and spiritual matters. One person I knew used to wander at the dead of night proclaiming all manner of occult claims including the belief of being the Messiah, and having his Third Eye fully opened.
One elderly individual called Ralph who died in April 2007 was well known in Slough as he used to bicycle about in his shorts in all climes! He was by his own admission a bit eccentric, and claimed that when he was young he was struck by a Tesla (a word he used to describe a thunderbolt which I had never come across before). He survived it, and claimed that this enhanced his health, and well-being possibly giving him inner heat for him to peddle about Slough, and its environs in his shorts whenever it was freezing!
When I used to see him Ralph often, or not talked about his late brother George who appeared to have been suffereing (if that is the right word in this context) from the delusion of being someone special to the Royal Family at nearby Windsor Castle even though he was electrician by trade! Apparently, it was claimed among other things that:-
i) He had saved King George, et al from a bomb attack at Windsor during World War II.
ii) He had been developing a number of advanced technologies (including an ant-gravity device) but the government was not interested because it would cost too much money .
iii) George, and some other "experts" managed to teleport some creature, or object from England to America, or vice versa but it caused Battersea Station to shut down!
iv) He knew Lord Mountbatten well along with other notables often being privy to special meetings, and social occasions.
v) He claimed that he appeared in two places at once!
vi) He said that there were two, or more places in Windsor through which one could travel back to the past by crossing over a line of light. Indeed, one story featured him taking a Medieval cup, and burying it in its own time by a pub, and later in the present time dug it up. Obviously, it had deterioted somewhat through the passage of time..
Ralph seemed to have lapped all this up, and was suprised that the Royal family had not sent a message of condolences when George sadly died! It seemed that he had being living a kind of Walter Mitty like existence, and I came across this before from someone who seemed to imagine himself being some kind of James Bond figure working in the military!
One person I came across and who happened to be a Satsangi of RSSB claimed to have seen certain people turn into "reptilians" (shades of David Icke to put it very mildly!), and that he believed in some kind of hidden government of the world. He also feared staring up at helicopters (invisible ones!) as they would shoot a beam of light at him, and he would suddenly freeze!
However, such "delusions" can be dangerous, and I include here the following account in which I was actually attacked by a "nutter". In order to protect myself I have not given out the name of this individual, and use instead the pseudonym of X. This person who regards himself as a "low standard" Sikh is a somewhat chummy, and chubby. X was interested, and totally gullible in many aspects of the occult/paranormal, and was especially interested in dealing with "Voodo witch doctors," and Indian psychic helpers who sometime advertized themselves in Asian papers, and mags.In the latter case, one of them had examined his hand in which he could see Xs chakras, and claimed that they were out of line..! This could be seen perhaps as an indication of his long history of depression which he fully admited to me.
X claimed that he had attacked someone called Kevin from behind at the local day centre. This individual had been a friend of his for many years apparently. Xs assault on him was stopped by a support worker who along with Kevin it transpired (from another source)were threatened with death!The reason for the above was because X whenever he was befriended by anyone over a period of time he developed a dangerous paranoia complex. In other words, he became increasingly suspicious, and believed that his "friend" was passing on information about him to the "enemies" as he called them for money. This ofcourse is absurd as he is essentially nobody. I asked him what he meant exactly by the word "enemies". But I never really got a clear answer.
It was baffling...especially when he had such a deep interest in Sikhism, and regularly did the meditation practices prescribed by that religion (though he still drank alcohol, and was non-vegetarian). Quite often, he would discuss deep spritual philosphy, and I mentioned Harjit Singh a spiritual teacher already discussed to some extent on this blog. X expressed some interest in him but I never gave him his full address, or phone number for obvious reasons.

It is a great shame that X had this deep psychiatric problem with paranoia, and its delusions.Indeed, he used to think that whenever Kevin went to phone up someone in the public booth he imagined that he was passing on information about him to his enemies for money!

As such X had become obssessed in somehow protecting himself from his "enemies" notably his desire to get special rings made which would protect him. He also wanted to leave town altogether after he received enough money from his alleged Court Case. He intended to "disappear" to India where he claimed he could live off his newly acquired money invested in one, or more of the state banks there.
As time went by X became suspicious of me, and asked whether I was passing information about him to the enemies for money! This ofcourse I denied as it was patently absurd....and made no sense at all.
Things came to ahead outside the library when he chuckled at the notion that the Queen was possibly a shape-shifting repitilian (David Icke again!). He then went onto to reveal that he was going to do a sort of psychic name check on me undertaken by some Indian psychic in London. It was his way of trying to determine whether I was genuinely his friend, or not ...and apparently costing £30, or so. X also revealed that I would soon experience unusual dreams in which the psychic would probe my mind. Needless to say nothing of the sort happened. Vainly, I tried to explain to X that I was a genuine friend of his but it was becoming clear that he did not really believe it and that it would be a waste of time trying to convince him. He then went on to say how bad it was that anyone could betray him to the "enemies" by passing on information about him for money, and said that if the psychic name checked proved positive it would bring bad luck for the rest of my life.
Furthermore, X claimed that a café opposite the library was the actual place where I passed information on him to the "enemies" for money. When he first "realized" this he laughed at the absurdity of the notion (!) as he had been wondering why I often went to this specific café other than just eat, and drink ofcourse.... It was now all clear to him... By now, The whole thing had by now become absurd in extremis. So, I parted with him.
Anyway, on the day in question (August 28th 2008) I entered the café (which X had mentioned), and had a plate of saag(spinach), and rice. A little later X himself entered, and saw me. He muttered "You are doing it again. Will you never learn!" whereupon he headed straight towards me at the table, and rained down a whole load of punches. I lifted my hands, and arms to protect my face, and head. I fell off the chair, and there was short pause before he started to assault me again but this time I used my shoulder bag to protect me. He then left as if nothing had happened, and there was stunned silence in the café. No one ofcourse lifted a finger to help me. No suprise there! Also, the saag, and rice I had been eating coated the wall, and the plate was smashed to pieces. My nose started to bleed, and was in part broken. The police were called but I decided not to have X arrested, and charged even though the whole thing was probably recorded on camera. He got away scott free but if he were to do something like that again I would have no choice but to make sure he serves time, and ideally, be committed to a mental institution so that he cannot be a risk to the public with his paranoid delusions.

However, he did though attack me one more time but not as seriously as the last incident. As I was going down some steps he gave me a kick from behind, and I turned around to confront him, and uttered my anger at him whereupon he threatened me with death or words to that affect...Now, ofcourse, I try to avoid him like the plague. It is clear that the mind can be misled, and distorted.

Illicit drugs can also cause mental problem ofcourse. One example was a Muslim I used to know, on, and off. He claimed that he, and some friends had seen me commit a crime which was utterly false. He also said the same kind of thing (ie. false accusation based on an imaginary experience)to someone else I knew. It transpired that ofcourse he had taken certain drugs which could give rise to powerful delusions about people. He was also a member of the Sheikh Nazeem sect based in Cyprus. This is a Sufi organization. I once asked him about his inner experiences, and he was amazed to find that I knew about certain basic details concerned about his initial meditation experiences which were similiar to Shabd Yoga,and other types of practices. Ofcourse, drugs especially LSD can lead to "mystical" or rather psychic type experiences, and these can be similiar if not seemingly identical to "genuine" ones had through non-drug induced meditations.

The person I notably mentioned right at the start of this blog entry also had drug problems, and clearly it contributed to his delusions of being something spiritually special, and extraordinary. Infact, he revealed that he had a bad premature experience with the controversial Guru Maharaj who was known for opening the third eye to inner Sound, and inner Light. Anyway, as far as I know X did not do drugs save alcohol which can arguably be regarded as being something similiar.As I mentioned in the blog article The Realization of the Psychic I have never ever taken drugs, or indeed, legal psychiatric ones. Moreover, I hate alcohol, and never drink the stuff, and I am ofcourse a vegetarian.


PS. Since the above was written I have had some experiences with two other people who claim to have been affected by "black magic." One of them is a Sri Lankan. He claimed to see "spirits," and was on occasions seen speaking to "them" in Slough High Street. He tried to overcome this problem by contacting "whitch doctors" but to no avail. He went to psychiatric hospital for treatment several times, but to no avail. As he pointed out he was suffering from a "spiritual problem."
However, he did have a liking for alcohol, and smoking. He claimed that the "spirits" made him adopt these habits, and even, claimed that he felt sometimes "possessed" by a large number of them. On one occasion, he could not stay in his own digs. Instead, he became homeless temporarily to avoid them! He claimed too that the "spirits" would occcasionally appear in benevolent form, and then "shapeshift" into something less pleasant...
Apart from the Sri Lankan in question, I came across an intelligent African lady who experienced a variety of "illusions." that disturbed her daily life. However, she claimed that praying to God helped her. Yet, she still seems to be on the search for somekind of permanent cure. Hopefully, this will happen to her..
Though not directly related to the above as such I once met an African gentlemen. He had visited the Radha Soami Satsang in London, and I went with him with some friends to his plush flat. It was there that he wanted us to see his collection of Hogarth prints...but when we inspected them we noted that the faces of the characters depicted were erased presumably by him for reasons unknown, and we dared not ask why. He was clearly suffering from some kind of mental problem....