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                          Philip H. Farber (email: PStuart@aol.com)


                        Hypnosis and Ritual Magick

     There are certain people who can communicate with a purity
and intensity that most can only aspire to. Aleister Crowley was
definitely one of these people, an acknowledged master of
language and, if anecdotal evidence serves us, able to create
profound experiences merely by his presence. We may also
speculate that this talent, acting on himself, was responsible
for his great feats of discipline and self-transformation. Of
course, Uncle Al was not the only one who has had this kind of
ability. George Gurdjieff (for instance) claimed to be a potent
hypnotist who could effect changes without the knowledge of his
students. We can ascribe this power of subtle communication, if
we wish, to many religious and political leaders throughout
history. But do we understand how it works? And, beyond that, is
it useful to us in our True Will?
     For lack of a better term, we can call this ability
'hypnosis'. The term is somewhat misleading as it may, in some
minds, narrow the focus down to a few techniques of dubious
usefulness. While we certainly can include the stereotyped watch-
watching of the old-time hypnotherapist, and the senseless antics
of the stage hypnotist, these are an insignificant (and fairly
useless) aspect of hypnosis. For our purposes, we can allow the
term to include such a wide variety of techniques and phenomena
that we might as well redefine hypnosis as "an understanding of
the methods of communication and their usefulness in effecting
change." By this definition it can be understood, for the
magician, as an additional set of tools for "causing change to
occur in conformity with Will."
     A new understanding of hypnosis began in the middle and late
twentieth century with the work of psychotherapist Dr. Milton
Erickson. Erickson, confined to a wheelchair for most of his
life, was an exceptionally keen observer. He could map out, in
his mind, any number of parallel avenues of communication that
ranged from the most obvious verbal forms, to a whole range of
things that are often lumped together in the category of "body
language."  Erickson was able, for instance, to monitor a
patient's breathing and heart rate, strictly from external cues
-- what he could see with his eyes -- while listening and
communicating in the complex course of his therapeutic work. He
soon discovered that this ability was incredibly useful in
understanding and creating dramatic and lasting change in his
clients.
     While Erickson may have been one of the most powerful
psychotherapists ever, his techniques were never adequately
explained until the studies of Richard Bandler and John Grinder
in the 1960s and 70s e.v. Bandler and Grinder applied the
Cartesian linguistics of Noam Chomsky, and a cybernetic approach,
to describing what Erickson and other effective therapists were
doing. They broke the techniques down into manageable chunks that
could be easily taught and, in the process, spawned the field of
Neuro- Linguistic Programming (NLP). Unfortunately for the common
experimenter in consciousness, NLP was (and still is) marketed in
the form of extremely high-priced workshops aimed at therapists
and (look out!) businesspeople who could use the techniques to
increase sales and, thereby, their own temporal power. On the
more positive side, the information has now disseminated to the
point where there is an enormous body of published work (a
partial list appears at the end of this article), and a
persistent magician (who is already adept at gleaning esoteric
information from obscure writings) can find some very interesting
ways to enhance hir magickal practice.
      That's the background in the smallest of peanut shells. Of
course, magick frequently is work done on oneself, rather than
the doctor/client method of the therapeutic setting. Fortunately,
almost all the techniques of Ericksonian hypnosis are adaptable
for self-hypnosis -- and, even better, adaptable for use in a
ritual setting. The implications, I believe, are enormous,
ranging from the general ability to improve concentration and
memory to very specific methods for enhancing Golden Dawn and
Thelemic types of ritual.
     To begin with, Ericksonian technique is essentially
compatible with Thelemic code. It is practically impossible to
make someone do something against their will with hypnosis, which
is why traditional hypnosis only seems to work with a percentage
of the population. Ericksonian hypnosis is effective with
practically everyone, if performed properly, but it is virtually
impossible to get someone to do something against their True
Will, whether that is known to the conscious mind or not. I
learned this by trial and error in the course of my
experimentation, and I would expect others to verify or dispute
any such statements of mine with similar experimentation.
     Hypnosis of this type depends on suggestion, rather than
command. A statement such as "You will go into a trance"
generally produces a response such as "Oh? How am I going to do
that?" or, more commonly, "Up yours!" On the other hand, a
verifiable statement followed by a suggestion of possibility,
"You are sitting in a chair, and you can become comfortable
sitting that way," can produce a more readily observable effect
of relaxation. Even better, allowing for a wider range of choice,
for instance "Which chair can you be most comfortable in?"
presupposes comfort in the chair that may be chosen, and prepares
the hypnotizee for becoming comfortable. Are you comfortable with
this yet?
     This manner of suggestive phrasing may not give the
hypnotist the kind of rigid control which our stereotypical stage
hypnotist ("Now you will bark like a dog!") might have wanted,
but it does allow for compatibility with any system which relies
on unconscious (or deeper) knowledge for direction, as Thelemic
magick does. A key to this kind of "artful vagueness" is the idea
of the process instruction. A process instruction is one which
guides the mind into an experience, without giving any specific
commands or suggestions as to content or sensory mode. That is,
if it is desired to access the resources of a happy memory, one
does not say "Remember a time when you wore a blue suit, drank
champagne, and were entertained by Frank Sinatra." It may not
have happened. Rather, one can say, "Remember a time when you had
a happy and surprising experience." The experience remains
unspecified -- it could be anything, since one person's happy
surprise is another person's nasty shock (that's the effect blue
suits and Sinatra have on me). Similarly, in magick one does not
say "Become a businessman who works in an office and makes a lot
of money." One can say, however, "Do what thou wilt." The result
remains something which is compatible with the mental ecology of
the individual.
     Some key process words and phrases are: remember,
experience, perceive, recognize, challenge, demonstrate,
associate, be conscious of, intuit, wonder, believe, realize,
integrate, etc. Of course, there are many more cases of process
instruction, and very clear guidelines which can be used to
develop them. Entire books have been written on the subject (most
notably, Bandler and Grinder's first effort, The Structure of
Magic, a two volume work which, contrary to its title, is more of
a grammar text than a grimoire). I hope only to give a general
idea here, to suggest some useful directions of experimentation,
and the kind of language which can enhance the action of ritual.
     The next prerequisite for adapting hypnosis to ritual work
is the simple, but very handy, idea of representational systems.
That is just a fancy phrase for "senses". The representational
systems most commonly in use are: Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic
(feeling), and Olfactory/Gustatory (smell/taste). The first three
are most often in use, smell and taste (which are closely linked)
only come into play in specific situations. Most of us, by
disposition, are strongest in one of these and deficient in the
others, though all are used at some point.
     To help determine your own predisposition, ask yourself the
process instruction, "What do I like the best about the place
where I live?" What is your first response? Was it the way the
place looked? The quietness or something that you might hear? Or
perhaps the feeling of comfort that you get being there?
     Knowing your predisposition can give you important clues as
to how you can strengthen your concentration on a particular
subject. When you are imagining elemental qualities for the
Lesser Pentagram Ritual archangels, do you primarily see, hear,
feel or smell those qualities? Beginning with that, you can then
focus on other particular aspects of the other representational
systems. That is, if your concentration on the elemental quality
of fire is restricted to just seeing the color red sweep through
your circle, you can consciously add the feeling of heat on your
skin, the sound which flames make as they consume their fuel, and
even the smell of burning (optional, since smell seems to be so
closely associated with air in the first place). This can 1) move
you into states of consciousness which are markedly different
from your "normal" state, 2) increase the depth and purity of
your concentration, and 3) further occupy the conscious mind,
thus stilling internal dialogue and allowing greater play of
intuitive (unconscious) functions.
     This leads us directly to the idea of anchoring. Anchoring
is the very basis of both post-hypnotic instruction and ritual
work. It is an idea very much like classical conditioning, and
can be easily demonstrated on humans. A particular cue, in any
representational system, is associated with a specific action or
experience. Thus, Pavlov's bell is the anchor which activates the
experience of salivation in Pavlov's dog. In the popular
conception of post-hypnotic instruction, the anchor, for instance
the phrase "Afghanistan banana stand" elicits the response, for
instance, "Shoot the Pope." Some more concrete examples: What
response do you have to the smell of your favorite food? To
various tonalities of your lover's voice? To the sound of the
telephone ring?
     As magicians, we quickly learn to identify experiences with
specific words, symbols and smells. Therefore, to apply this
again to the elemental archangels, the anchor is the name
"Raphael" and the experience is the color, sound, and feeling of
air sweeping through the circle. Again, this is the essence of
ritual. Everything in ritual is chosen, basically, for its purity
and ability as an anchor. The "Barbarous Words" have no other
easy association in one's mind except that which is learned in
the course of a ritual. In the case of a magickal tool, we
consecrate the cup specifically to the element of water, and use
that cup (hopefully) only for ritual. An even better example is
your magickal robe, which is worn only for ritual purposes and,
very quickly, becomes so associated with that work that the very
act of putting it on may produce an exalted state of mind.
Crowley relates that (to paraphrase freely) he was so anchored to
his asana position that, years after he ceased practicing it
regularly, merely assuming the position would produce a state of
profound relaxation.
     It can be a fairly simple thing to use hypnotic anchoring
techniques to strengthen the anchors used in ritual. For
instance, at the risk of belaboring the archangels, one could
take the idea of water, meditate on it, elicit each
representational system, then, when the experience is strongest,
vibrate the name "Gabriel". The representational systems can be
explored by using the artfully vague language of the process
instruction (to yourself, in your head) to enter a light trance
(or state of comfort, relaxation, whatever term you prefer) and
then call up each sense in turn: "As I sit here, I can become
more comfortable and enter a state in which I can anchor
experiences to the names of the archangels. Whatever useful
resources I have from past experiences can be available to me
now, if useful. As I sit here, I can recall a time when I felt
bare earth on my body, and I can experience the temperature of
the earth and the texture of it. I can hear the way that it
sounded as I felt it, whatever sound or silence it may have made.
And I can see the way that it looked and the different colors of
it. I can smell the way that it smelled." Note that even when we
specify a representational system, we can leave the details as
vague as we are able to. The method, again, is suggestion of a
possibility, not command; "can" instead of "will". When the
experience is as complete as possible, you can begin to vibrate
the name "Auriel". The name can then be vibrated for as long as
the concentration remains strong. As soon as it begins to flag,
cease vibration and immediately disconnect yourself from the
experience by taking a deep breath, changing your posture,
opening your eyes (if they were closed), making the Sign of
Harpocrates, etc. This prevents random elements from becoming
attached to the anchor.
      If you want to do this even more powerfully, you can
actually create the experience in real-time. For instance, you
can go to a swimming pool, jump in, and as the water closes
around you, concentrate on the experience and vibrate the name
"Gabriel".
      By anchoring each part of a ritual seperately, just once or
twice, the total ritual becomes a much more intense experience
when practiced in its entirety. This is adaptable to almost every
ritual, and to every aspect of a ritual. Anchors, if you can
remember, come in every sensory mode. Incense is of course our
olfactory anchor; the shapes of magickal tools and weapons are
visual and kinesthetic anchors; circumambulation is a kinesthetic
anchor, and so on. The information attached to the anchors can be
derived, as always, qabalistically, astrologically, elementally,
or by any other system.
     Using these methods, one can also create entirely new
rituals, tailored for specific purposes. The following
hypnotic-style ritual uses the qualities of action,
concentration, manifestation and understanding in positions
analagous to the pentagram ritual archangels. If you choose with
care, you may find other qualities or entities that you wish to
experiment with. You may find this ritual useful or not, but in
any event, it is given here as a demonstration of how certain
aspects of ritual work, not as a replacement for Thelemic
rituals. I hope this can suggest new and creative methods of
working.


PART ONE
     1. Banish and consecrate.
     2. Sit or stand in a comfortable position in your circle,
facing east.
     3. Develop a resource state for the quality of ACTION:
    Search your memory and find at least three different times
(and places) when you were active and effective. If these do not
come readily, you can simply imagine a time or situation in which
you are acting effectively. To define action and
effectiveness just a little  bit more: action is doing, being
decisive, manipulating things skillfully, it could involve
skilled movements of the limbs, or of the mind, or speaking, but
always in some way causing change.
          Study these situations. What qualities do they have in
common? What things are characteristic of action and
effectiveness? Run through each of your sensory modes in turn and
learn what is there. This attention to sensory modes can also
help add new pieces to your knowledge of this state. What or how
do you see at these times? What or how do you hear at these
times? What (if anything) are you thinking? What or how do you
feel at these times? What position or posture is your body in? Is
it in motion? How? Do you taste or smell anything in particular?
Keep yourself in the experience. You can experience it again,
now.
          Develop a specific sound to symbolize this state of
being. It can be anything, just so it is not confused with other
states of being. Use the word "Action" if you wish, or develop a
nonsense sound or phrase. Using sounds to symbolize something can
be done in ways just outside of the ordinary. For instance, you
can use the initials A.E. to symbolize this state (Action and
Effectiveness), and pronounce it AY-EE. Whatever works for you.
       Vibrate this sound, using full, yogic breathing, as you
experience the state which you have developed. Do this for a
minute or two (or longer if you can maintain it). Cease
concentration and experience of the state at the same time as you
stop vibrating the sound. Then you can take a deep breath, shake
yourself, or clap your hands to help clear away this state.
     4. Develop a resource state for CONCENTRATION. Remember or
imagine times/places when you were able to concentrate
powerfully, single-mindedly. The strongest moments of
concentration often include moments of ego-loss, that is, in
concentrating so intently, you become the object of
concentration. While this is often described as a state which
only great mystics ever reach, I believe that everyone has
spontaneous moments of this kind of single- minded, congruent
concentration. It usually doesn't happen when we are "trying" for
it, but just when it comes naturally, perhaps when we are
enjoying something, reading a book, listening to music, watching
a great movie, playing a game or sport which requires
concentration, etc.
          Concentrate this concentration on concentration by
running through all the sensory modes, as you did above. What do
you see, hear, feel, taste/smell? Remain in the experience.
Experience it again, if you can.
          Develop a sound to symbolize this experience. Vibrate
the sound as you experience the experience, as above. Cease
vibrating and concentration simultaneously. Take a deep breath,
shake or clap.
     5. Develop a resource state for MANIFESTATION. You can
remember or imagine times/places when you were able to bring
things into form, into reality. This is an idea which might be
likened to the end result of action. Remember the times when the
project was finished, the report finally written, the jigsaw
puzzle completed, the house built, the painting painted, the play
performed, etc.           As you run through the sensory modes,
you can remember how you felt at these times, what you saw, what
you heard, what you tasted or smelled. Experience whatever it is
that you experience.           Develop a sound to symbolize
manifestation. Vibrate this sound/word/phrase while experiencing
this state of manifestation. Cease vibrating and concentration
simultaneously. Breathe, shake or clap.
     6. Develop a resource state for UNDERSTANDING. You can
remember or imagine times/places when you understood, when some
realization flashed upon your consciousness. This is sometimes
the end result of concentration. Perhaps you finally figured out
the math problem, realized whodunit, understood an abstract
concept, flashed on a philosophy. This can be the result of some
kind of analysis, or some kind of intuition, but what you can
concentrate on here/now is the result, the state of
understanding.
          Run through your sensory modes, and as you do so, you
can experience the things which you saw, which you felt, which
you heard, which you tasted or smelled.
          Develop a sound to symbolize this state. Vibrate the
sound while experiencing the state. Cease vibrating and
concentrating simultaneously. Breathe, shake or clap.
     7. Close your circle.
     8. Which parts were easiest to do? Which sensory modes were
easiest to imagine/remember? Keep a thorough record.

PART TWO
     1. Banish and consecrate.
     2. Sit or stand in a comfortable position in the center of
your space, facing east.
     3. In front of you, just outside the edge of your circle,
you can imagine a figure which embodies the experience that you
developed as a resource state for ACTION. For some people, it is
easier at first to recover the state, then imagine this figure,
your ideal Active Self, walking off to stand at the perimeter. To
recover the state, if this is the technique you choose, vibrate
your action-sound and run through the sensory modes again.
4. With your action-figure standing before you, begin to vibrate
the sound which you associate with the action resource state. As
you do this, imagine that the figure before you is emanating the
energy of this resource state, filling the circle, and yourself,
with the qualities of that experience. You can allow yourself to
feel (or imagine that you feel) infused with that energy. When
the circle is fully charged with this energy, vibrating with it,
then you can give that figure at the perimeter authority, under
your will, to remain in position and continue to keep the circle
filled with that particular energy.
     5. Behind you, just outside the edge of your circle, you can
imagine a figure which embodies the experience that you developed
as a resource state for CONCENTRATION. (Imagine the figure
walking from you to its position at the perimeter, if that is the
way that works for you.)
     6. Vibrate the sound which you developed to symbolize this
state of concentration, and as you do so, imagine that the figure
is emanating this quality, as you experienced it, and filling the
circle (and yourself) with it. When the circle is fully charged,
give the concentration-figure permission, in accordance with your
will, to remain at its post, keeping the circle filled with that
energy.
     7. To your right, just outside the edge of your circle, you
can imagine a figure which embodies the qualities and experience
that you developed as a resource state for UNDERSTANDING.
     8. Vibrate the special sound for understanding and imagine
the figure emanating that energy, filling the circle and yourself
with the energy of understanding, as you experience it. When the
circle is full of this understanding-stuff, then give the figure
permission, under your will, to remain at its post and keep the
circle filled with that energy as you continue with your ritual.
   9. To your left, just outside the edge of your circle, you can
imagine a figure which embodies the qualities and experience that
you developed as a resource state for MANIFESTATION.
     10. Vibrate your manifestation-sound, and imagine the figure
emanating that energy, filling the circle and yourself with the
energy of manifestation, as you experience it. When the circle is
full of this manifestation quality, then you can give the figure
authority, under your will, to remain in its position, continuing
to keep the circle filled with manifestation-energy.
     11. Remain in the circle for a while, experiencing whatever
it is you experience at this point. This might be a good time to
practice your daily meditation, or go on to an invocation.
12. IMPORTANT: before closing the circle, absorb these four
figures back into you. Imagine each one returning to the thought-
stuff inside of you from which it was born. Do this thoroughly.
Then you can breathe, shake or clap to clear yourself, as in the
last exercise.
     13. Close the circle.
     14. Keep careful records. What was it like being in the
circle with these four guardians at the perimeter? What kinds of
things did you feel inclined to do or think about at that point?

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND USEFUL BOOKS
Bandler and Grinder. The Structure of Magic. 2 vols. Science and
Behavior Books, 1975.

---------. Patterns in the Hypnotic Technique of Milton Erickson.
Meta Publications, 1975.

---------. Trance Formations: NLP & the Structure of Hypnosis.
Real People Press, 1981.

Boas and Brooks. Advanced Techniques: an NLP Workbook,
Metamorphous Press, Lake Oswego, Oregon, 1984.

Dilts, et. al. Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Volume One. Meta
Publications, 1979.

Erickson, Rossi and Rossi. Hypnotic Realities: The Induction of
Clinical Hypnosis and Forms of Indirect Suggestion, Irvington
Publishers, 1976.

Farber, Philip H. FUTURERITUAL: Magick for the 1990's and Beyond.
Privately published (E-Mail to PStuart@aol.com).

Heller, Stephen. Monsters and Magical Sticks, Falcon Press,
Phoenix, 1987.