The Magnetic Gaze

Dr. Marco Paret

The Magnetic Gaze What is and how to acquire it Applications of Fascination to Hypnotic Practice Self Fascination and other techniques

ISBN13 978-0-935410-65-5 © 2011 – International Academic Productions

Preface Can we not see that a stronger force is exercised by the human eyes which, through a mere look, almost bring about life or death, cause blood to flow away and come back, wrest away strength and restitute it, and, even more remarkably, corrupt the judgment of human minds” (Sonnet by Lorenzo de’ Medici, known as “Il Magnifico” 1) Who would not like to prove attractive and to fascinate? To «fascinate» bears the connotation of “producing a spellbinding effect or enchanting through one’s look or speech”. The present book is devoted to the power of the eye and the secrets which are correlated to it. By means of this organ, in fact, astonishing results can be achieved. The influence exercised by man over another member of the species is no doubt the product of a multiplicity of causes, yet no one of those underlying causes is comparable, in terms of its potency, to the one possessed by the look. Our thought, too, is influenced by the look. The very phrase “vision of the world” is traceable back precisely to that reality. After all, even in the most mundane aspects of human life, we are accustomed to judge on the basis of the outward appearance. We create a certain opinion of one person firstly on the basis of his physiognomy and, secondly, on the basis of what dress he is wearing. For sure, speech helps fashion ideas and beliefs, but what happens when such action is not validated by one’s look? When one listens to a person without seeing him, the content of what he is saying is only understood by creating

1 Cf. “Works” by Lorenzo de’ Medici known as “Il Magnifico”, Volume 4, at p. 109.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE some mental images, imaginary mental images. Words gain in potency when they are backed up by the look. A proficient orator deliberately trains the way he looks at the audience in order to lend greater force and persuasive efficacy to his verbalizations. In the course of this book, we shall discover how such a force is susceptible of being developed by recourse to a selfdisciplining method. Indeed, already when we limit ourselves to looking around without any specific purpose, even without any specific instructions, we are in fact communicating a myriad of different messages. If, however, we develop conscious awareness of what we do, we will manage to ultimately learn how to subjugate these energies possessed by the look. Indeed, in extreme circumstances, the ability we will have gained thereby is going to extend, in the sphere of interpersonal relationships, to the power to “enchant” whoever watches us, to create “an instantaneous hypnosis”; at the same time, from the viewpoint of the receptive side of looks, we will understand and perceive many more things than those we would otherwise regard as possible. The present work is the world’s most profoundly comprehensive text on this subject. It has its roots both in practical experience and in the attentive study of all the relevant literature we have been able to lay our hands on. We have accordingly referred, in the course of our footnotes, to hundreds of varied historical, scientific and experiential sources. An other result, one more closely connected to everyday life, is to learn to use the power of the eye so as to develop your Presence, Status, Prestige, Charm, Self-caring, Charisma, and Leadership, up to the point that you literally become capable oh hypnotizing and magnetizing whichever person is watching you. 4

Attractive charm, according to the ancient way of looking at things, is in fact “a far-reaching power that is exercised by a look over another look, one charged with such a force that whoever was subjected to it was unable to extricate his self from it, and was accordingly compelled to be fascinated by it”. We are able, in this context, to record an age-long uninterrupted sequence, running across centuries, of witnesses’ first-hand descriptions of how such force would materialize. This ongoing chain of consistent records spans the medieval, Roman and pre-Roman ages without exception. The most recondite aspects of such tradition appear to have been incessantly transmitted in Italy more than in any other part of the world, though such transmission took place within the most exclusive elites of special affiliates. This ancient mode of looking at things has in fact always been practiced on the basis of a direct transmission from master to disciple, without resorting to written texts, other than, at the most, some allusive documents carrying meanings which were concealed from non-adepts, and odd systems of arcane symbols. In order to lend efficacy to this force, it is essential for us to develop awareness of the strength inherent in our look, as well as to develop a different vision. Though this is a practically orientated tradition, in order to understand and, even more, to put this art into practice, what is indeed required is an approach to reality which opens up to different and allencompassing dimensions. They have to differ, in other words, from the linear and limited dimension of modern man. For modern man, the eye is a mere passive organ. If we, however, desire to appropriate the power inherent in the eye, we have to actively employ it and draw close to quantistic physics, which teaches us precisely that “the observer influences the observed”. In fascination we detect transformation, both the transformation of the one who actively inspires it and the one 5

THE MAGNETIC GAZE who is the passive recipient thereof. Fascination is additionally able to confer a scientific basis on the otherwise inexplicable thereapeutic ability possessed by several healers. The original sources of our interest in the subject Everything originated at first in our odd encounter with “the last of the fascinators”: Virgilio T. 2, who currently lives in a state of deliberate obscurity by the valleys of Piedmont. He appears to be the last custodian of one part of the secrets of this most ancient school. During a series of subsequent meetings, spread over a period in excess of twenty years, he has gradually introduced us to the strange and arcane power of the gaze, and has passed onto us increasingly more mysterious and secret exercises. The first one to meet him was actually a friend of mine, Max, who, having approached him in order to seek information on what hypnotism was, received a very practical reply to his inquiry. Virgilio T., who at that stage worked as a barber, asked those who were present at the barber’s shop whether they agreed to take part in an experiment. Once he received a positive reply to his said request, he closed the door of the shop and firmly fized his gaze on one of the customers, who had moreover assumed a somewhat defiant look. His defiant posturing only lasted for a very short period. Within a few seconds, in fact, that customer took on a livid appearance. Virgilio told him that the cigarette was bad. The customer thus addressed began to cough so much that Virgilio was forced to slap him in the face a few times in order to bring him back to his senses.

2 The surname is abbrievated at the relevant person’s specific behest, since he (now aged 80) only desires to be visited by friends.

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When it came to the second customer, he did not even utter a single word to him. He fixed him closely, and this other customer’s look turned pallid and diaphanous as if it was made of wax. At that point, Virgilio carried out a facetious probative exercise: Faced with the question on what his name was, such customer answered by mentioning a woman’s name which had not even been verbally suggested (to him by Virgilio), only through the power of thought. Virgilio thereupon woke him up. Moved by his curiosity, Max took to Virgilio a number of his friends, and witnessed similar events on several other occasions. Even I succeeded in experiencing on my own skin the power of this seemingly quiet person who, besides the ability I have just described, had also developed a special sensitivity to energies, to such an extent that he was a capable medical diviner equipped with the talent to retrieve an object concealed inside a room. Where does all of this originate? Having intuitively realized that recourse to such technique might have stretched even beyond what we had been witnesses to, and that this power might be used for the additional purpose of making people feel better, we resolved on becomingVirgilio’s students and intimate associates, to whom he could have confided his secrets. We then realized that, in order to attain such power, what is needed is a disciplined work upon one’s own self, which is also grounded on a series of techniques and exercises encompassing self-control as well as self-development and self-improvement. Virgilio is not, however, the only exponent of such school which we owe our knowledge of the subject to.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE A contribution to the completion of this work was also made by the late Prof. Erminio from Pisa 3. He used to refer to fascination by the term of “instantaneous hypnosis”. In spite of the fact that both Virgilio T. and Erminio from Pisa were consummate masters in this art, the former, albeit capable of producing rapid results, operates only by leaving a superficial and short-term imprint, at a time that the work carried out by the latter pushes this technique onto a different level, one that has a deep effect and succeeds in healing plentiful pathologies on an enduring basis. In so doing, it traces itself back to a long tradition of therapeutic fascination. After all, Virgilio, fully aware as he was of his limits, made use of his brand of hypnosis, never mind how spectacular, only as a game or for theatrical effect, whereas Prof. Erminio from Pisa was accustomed to assiduously cure dozens of people on a weekly basis, within his study, as part of his regular professional activity. Most of these persons would get cured in a single session lasting ten seconds or so. Even those who were most amenable to recurrent relapses, needed no more than 2 to 3 sessions before the beneficial effects of fascination accomplished through the look embedded themselves firmly in their organisms. Prof. Erminio was a person marked by a forceful personality. In his work methodology, as was the case with the ancient people, he always strove to be in a state of balance with the universal harmony, which he used to discern as a result of his astrological studies. It is thus from him that we have learnt how to employ this art for healing purposes. This is a technique that we are going to lay out in the second part of the book. Prof. Erminio, too, had been directly introduced to this discipline by an existing master: Prof. Caravelli. The latter was a masterful expert in the so-called art of “bi-location”, so much 3 He is the author of a manual on “Practical Hypnomagnetism” published by the Meb.

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so that he could be simultaneously perceived in two different places. That is how we have made our acquaintance with this technique, which is as ancient as it is beneficial. These keys had remained hidden up to now. Indeed, although, since the days of the most remote past, testimonies had been adduced of people who were able to exercise a powerful influence with the look, the true method of bringing that about had in fact always been kept secret, or at least transmitted only on condition of maintaining a high degree of confidentiality. Even a very committed devotee of this type of subjects such as William Atkinson, who is one of the few people to have consecrated an entire book to the subject, one that bears the title of “Mental Fascination” 4, deals with it from the outside, in the process mentioning that he had interviewed some people, while clarifying the fact that had not been personally initiated to the technique. Likewise, Seligmann, a German ophthalmologist who authoured in this regard a monumental work comprising more than 2500 literary sources he had quoted therein, had never been let in the art from inside. Accordingly, as with many authors in the field, he offers us a puzzle without however being able to provide us with a true solution to it. It does not end here, however. Though we have been introduced to the technique, we can personally attest to the fact that there are still many obscure points in need of clarification, as regards the degree of potency of this hidden and extraordinary power. 4 Cf. William Atkinson, “Mental Fascination”. The Italian title of the book is “La Fascinazione Mentale”, Ed. Bocca. The book is additionally available in a free of charge online format from our school, simply by requesting it at the address [email protected].

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Fields of utilization of fascination “Fascination is actualized by a lucid and subtle virtue which the heat of the heart gives birth to as one equipped with a purer blood. This heat is emanated in the form of rays which, emitted by open eyes fixing their gaze with strong imaginative power, ultimately produce a wound in the object of their look, touch the heart, and succeed in afflicting the other person’s heart and spirit, either with love or hatred, with envy, melancholia, or some other kindred emotional force. Feeling the attraction of love is a phenomenon which takes place when two people frequently eye one another through a direct, intense look. In that case, visual rays, mutually radiating, meet one another, and light is wedded to light. It is at that point that spirits are conjoined together, and that the superior light, by indoctrinating the lower one, shimmers through the eyes, and races to penetrate into the inner spirit, the one that is rooted in the heart; it is in that fashion that an amorous conflagration is stirred into being. If, however, you do not want to fall into the spell of fascination, you must be extremely cautious, and guard your eyes specifically, as the eyes are largely the only windows of the soul when it comes to love. That is the reason behind the famous saying: “Averte, averte oculos tuos!” 5. Let this instruction suffice for now!” [Giordano Bruno 6]. “Fascination” is the technical term which is used to indicate the capacity of captivating people through the eyes. The image of the Medusa which petrifies by the look is certainly the metaphorical transposition of such a reality. It is the 5 6

Literally, “deflect, deflect your eyes away!”. Cf. Giordano Bruno – “Opera”, p. 27.

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equivalent of the action we were able to notice in Virgilio T., as he literally “turned” his subjects “into statues”. Though it might be deemed strange that merely through the use of the sight it is possible to freeze a person by placing him in a state of “incantation”, the action exercised by this on the brain is given greater intelligibility if we were simply to pay notice to what happens after all to simple animals when they are dazzled by light. They stop dead in their tracks, as if immobilized in a state of astonishment, no longer able to decipher the situation they find themselves in. Mosquitoes go as far as incinerating themselves, a typical feature which is exploited by people in order to spend their summer without suffering too many bites. A possible way of explaining the phenomenon is that a direct look produces a restriction of the attention field in respect of the recipient of it, whence the gamut of different uses of the technique as applied in daily actions of persuasion. So long as, therefore, you keep some person under the grip of your look, you will learn that he will gain a greater capacity to perceive emotions and feelings. You will, at the same time, increasingly reduce the force of his subjective judgment and will 7. 7

That is due to some experimental proofs which show how refraining from deflecting one’s eyes (and thereby keeping one’s look firm) diminishes a person’s critical ability. See in this connection http://www.psychology.stir.ac.uk/staff/lcalderwood/GazeAversionR esearch.htm. You can further refer to "Physiological Aspects of Communication via Mutual Gaze", by Allan Mazur, Eugene Rosa, at http://www.jstor.org/pss/2778851: This series of experiments evinces 1) how reciprocal looks occasion responses at a physiological level, 2) the fact that a person can bring about changes in somebody else’s physiology through his look, and 3) the truth that look is linked to facets of domination accruing to one side to a conversation in the course thereof.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE In order for the eye to be endowed with an effective strength, however, it is necessary to educate it through a specific training, and to attain an alert cognizance of its power. You ought to train yourselves, fundamentally, on how to acquire a fixed, interested, sweetly penetrating and expressive look. Once you have succeeded in doing so, you will be able to hold the first key among those which, provided they are used correctly, are going to open for you new doors in life. It is imperative that your vision should be simultaneously panoramic and incisive, such that it can encompass both the totality and the detailed particulars. This state occurs to many people during moments of enthusiasm. In order for you to bring it about at will, however, self-training is a mandatory duty. The practical benefits of that are manifold. In the field of persuasion, for instance, the eyes can produce an irresistible effect, and practical experience teaches us that such effect will be even stronger if we learn how to keep them open in a motionless state, studiously avoiding to deflect our look, albeit for a split second, away from the base of the other person’s nose, and simultaneously having a clear idea of what we desire to achieve. The exercises, apart from having the capacity to powerfully develop your eyes, will additionally sharpen your attention and evolve other indispensable faculties in life. An essential requirement is that you should learn to achieve firm power over your own selves. The first level of exercises which help develop this power properly is in fact based on mastering one’s own body and its impulses, emotions, violent desires, and the mental plane with its characteristic digressions and instability. The aim behind it is that all of the aforesaid should submit to the higher self and should transform into a positive instrument that guides our strengths and our eye in a conscious fashion, one which is not 12

abandoned to dependence on mere instinctiveness. The ability to enchant, indeed, is not only human, yet only man is capable of steering it toward positive and delopment-bound purposes. Animals capture prey through the look as well, but only in an unconscious manner. There have always been tales of snakes gifted with special faculties to cast their charm upon their victim and thereby disable it from shunning its spires; their power reaches such an extreme degree that they cause birds to step down, draw closer, and let themselves be grabbed without being able to offer any resistance in an attempt at selfprotection. A similar narration had also been reported to us by our master. The protagonists of that story consisted in a fox and some hens 8. A friend of his owned a hen house, and was astounded by the fact that some of the hens would go missing. Imagine how much did his astonishment escalate when he realized that such hens used to climb over a branch, while underneath, on the ground, a fox used to look at them and wave its head in the process. It appears as if, on their own initiative, the hens would then throw themselves underneath, where they would be devoured by the fox. Fascination is also the historical basis of the classical “give me your eyes, please” of the hypnotizers of yesteryear. Though such a personage is still alive in popular perceptions, he has effectively become extinct by now, given that the techniques of hypnosis which are currently utilized on a preponderant basis are both lengthy and based on the use of words. They mostly derive from a practice strand of American origin which is disconnected from the ancient tradition 9. No one among 8 We are unaware of whether Virgilio used to recount it for the purpose of teaching us something, in other words, as something of metaphorical value, or for merely narrative reasons. Virgilio is in fact fond of spinning stories as opposed to relating concepts directly. 9 Most of the hypnotic techniques that are currently practiced base themselves, according to the Americans, on the works of L

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE present-day professional hypnotists, not even among the most celebrious ones, is really capable of making use of the look. Nevertheless, look might, if and when it is understood, function as a valuable aid to any hypnotic influence, due to the fact that it engenders by itself a suspension of certain critical faculties, and does so in a totally natural manner. Summary of the methods of utilization of the technique 1. In everyday life and in the sphere or relationships: The reason why a certain person makes an impact on us, and seems to us “alive”, lies in the self-confident mastery exuded by a look which seduces, attracts, enchants. Our eye can be educated in this respect and guided to the attainment of those effects. 2. Within the therapeutic field: Since ancient times, healing power has been attributed to the look. Both Hippocrates 10 and Dioscorides 11, as well as Theophrastus 12, forcefully maintain that healing power could be exercised through the look, gestures and specific rituals. Our own master Erminio from Pisa 13, therefore, perpetuated such tradition by causing the instant healing of pains of the muscles and the skeleton, tinnitus, and several other disorders. A theory that might provide justification for such results is the one set out here under: The mind is sometimes caught in the grips of what is usually referred to as «fixed ideas». We keep on thinking the same things, and we let ourselves be constantly chased by the Milton Erickson, Dave Elman and other individuals, and essentially rest on the use of verbalizations. 10

Cf. Hippocrates, “De Sacro Morbo de Magis”. Cf. Dioscorides, Book ii, chapter 10. 12 Cf. J Theophrastus, “De Histor. Plant”, Book IX, chapter 4. 13 At our institute, we keep a very beautiful video which shows how, within the space of a few seconds, he was able to remove pains and a wide array of blocks. 11

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phantom of old thoughts and go round and round the same set of concepts. The charming attraction of the look, therefore, smashes such deeply engrained ideas. It is as if through the means of fascination, moreover, we succeeded in “entering the other person”. Every person’s world is fenced off by a limiting boundary consisting in the narrow space of what his sight encompasses and reaches up to. Accordingly, by meeting such person’s look we simultaneously penetrate inside the interpersonal reality of our interlocutor, and we are then able to help him “from within”. Even the phase of concentration and meditation techniques that one passes through with the aim of strengthening the eye contains within itself a practical usefulness in the field of personality reinforcement. 3. Within the arena of personal growth: We must possess awareness of the look. The exercises that are utilized for the sake of fascination might additionally prove to be of great avail if one seeks to acquire a clearer, neater and more magnetic personality, as well as to attain greater "Presence". 4. To induce a «hypnotic trance» in a natural way. Fascination might represent the key to develop a specific form of instant hypnosis. Besides, all hypnotic techniques are speeded up by prior recourse to the use of fascination. Fascination in the relationship between the two sexes Fascination is also a fundamental component of the forms which the relationship between man and woman take. What is it that, ultimately, makes a man distinguish a woman from thousands of unknown members of her sex who cross his way in the streets? Why is it that this man who, notwithstanding the fact that he has witnessed countless eyes staring at his, directs his look only to these particular eyes? It was but a flash, and yet that flash has unveiled to him an ocean of happiness and mystery. The relevant man, spellbound and enraptured, is forced to retrace his steps so as to meet again that look which 15

THE MAGNETIC GAZE has made his restless, which has unleashed into his soul a storm that is unable to subside unless he can again look out from the thresholds of this divine enigma. The reverse is likewise true: Man, with his look, captivates the woman, gazes at her, and she, in turn, lowers her gaze in order to attract him 14. The modern world is saturated with a plethora of social conventions, and no one can really attempt to make a loud confession of the feelings that are dearest to his heart, or give voice to the aspirations buried in his innermost being. Even though a person might wish to love and be loved, he can often do nothing other than reconciling himself to a state of wait. There is, however, a magical tool of communication, a hidden accomplice: The look, the silent lamp in one’s eyes. The eye caresses, the eye invites, the eye promises, exasperates desire and vanity, and is capable of throwing one into despair or suddenly thrusting one back to the pinnacle of human joy. Through the look, we communicate ourselves and our idiosyncractic reality. It is in our look that the person facing us discerns the truth of who we are and where we are heading for. Eye in the Tradition The eye has always been at the heart of human culture, transmuted into a symbol, at the center of ritual ceremonies, and a protagonist in metaphors. It is the most precious sensory organ in the human body: It allows us to become aware of the surrounding environment, and assists us in creating the three-dimensional perception of space. The eye has been perennially linked to “knowledge”, owning the world and dominating it. 14 Inspired by “Occhi Fascinatori”, a book authored by an anonymous writer, 1920, Hermes, Milan.

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The eye is, moreover, the sensory organ that is most closely related to light, which is an element that is fundamental to life 15. The eye is an essential organ of man, both as regards his life and his distinct individuality. We can discern both the following in the traditions that relate to this organ: • An attention that is extended to each one of the two eyes, which are related to pairs of opposite principles (sun and moon, male and female, etc); • An attention which is focused on the point between the two eyes, seen as a central locus and as the point in which intuitive faculties might be developed. In the practice of fascination through the look, both these elements are of significance, due to the fact that the median point between the eyes is one of the points which were traditionally used in order to observe this point itself. We are now going to pay notice to how we are capable of coming across these very same elements in different civilizations. According to the ancient Egyptians, for instance, the eye of Horus might be both the right eye and the left eye. Traditionally, the right eye is linked to the sun, while the left one is connected to the moon 16. 15 The sun is also the irradiating eye of heaven, the eye of Jupiter, Zeus, Wotan, (among Germanic nations), Osiris and Horus (in ancient Egypt), Mitra, Varuna and Agni (India), Ahura-Mazda (in Persia), Maui (in New Zealand), Ama-terasu Oho-mikami (in Japan), P’an-ku (in China), etc. 16 In terms of an ancient Egyptian legend, the sun and the moon were the eyes of a large divinity, Hor-jerti, i.e. “Horus of the two eyes”. This pair of eyes is similarly linked to two snakes as part of a tradition reminiscent of the Indian tradition which is part of kundalini, and in accordance with which ida and pingala are the names of the two lateral channels around the sushunna. This tradition about the two lateral parts of the body sill goes on even in

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE In the East, Shiva is often depicted with three eyes: Two such eyes, which correspond to the sun and the moon, are directed towards the outside world, towards the things, which accordingly seem to exist in a state of “duality”. There is yet a third eye, centrally located, a unifying eye which faces a different dimension, one of self-consciousnes and selfintuition, which is symbolized by a spiral in the drawing set out here under.

From an anatomical point of view, we can notice how in man the location of the right eye and the left eye corresponds to the two hemispheres of the brain, and are often related to rational value (linked to the masculine principle) and emotional value (which is more feminine). The eye in the middle or third eye, therefore, is neither masculine nor feminine. At a physiological level, this point corresponds to the epiphysis, which is where the pineal gland regulating man’s day / night cycle, and which secretes melatonin, is situated. Such pineal gland has a relation with intuition. The eye lying on the median point between sun and moon might bring to mind the importance of a higher vision and the possibility of attaining thereby a superior vision. A concept which is shared by plentiful traditions is “the reawakening by the third eye”, which signifies an opening that gradually leads to an amplification of consciousness.

the fascination school of Virgilio T., as it confers special importance on the two hemispheres.

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A link might be established between such phenomenology and factors which are both physiological and purely connected to percepton. A French researcher, Dr. Lefebure 17, used to observe the fact that this central point of the “third eye” corresponded to a certain physiological position where the normal threedimensional vision was suspended. In theory, we could then simultaneously discern an object placed on that point from every side. Dr. Lefebure’s hypothesis was that such a suspension of the ordinary mode of perception might have a significant impact on the brain, by steering it “beyond space”. According to many traditions, such a third eye is also portrayed as being contained inside a triangle which functions as a symbol of fire as well. Fire is in fact the element endowed with the highest level of vibration 18. This link between the triangle and the eye is similarly present, in Europe, in both medieval and renaissance iconography, in terms of which the eye, often inserted within a triangle, was after all seen as an explicit image of the trinity. We find a similar symbolism in the East, where Buddha (often called "the eye of the world") is represented in the form of a triangle known as Tiratna or threefold gem. It is important to understand that such an intuitive center or third eye, though already quite present as perceptive centre in man, and recognized by for instance the Indians as ajna chakra, is nevertheless in a state of slumber in most cases. Being in a stage of embryonic development, it has to be fashioned through development and opening itself up in 17

Cf. Lefebure, “Initiatic Techniques”. An illustrating example of that is the eye depicted even on US dollars. The eye as represented in it, moreover, is placed in such a manner as to form the summit of a pyramid, almost as if to complete it and symbolically allude thereby at the fact that the building is incomplete without such a superior vision. 18

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE consonance with the appropriate rhythm, which varies from person to person. Our own interpretation is that, essentially speaking, it is as if this physiological point was “occupied”, at least physiologically, by the task of delineating a specific identity and mental constitution, engaged, that is, by the conceptualizations which engross the mind, and by the dualistic vision of the world. It is only when this type of “mental block” is released, that intuition is able to wake up again and be harmoniously reactivated, thereby enabling a correct development of consciousness. In this connection, we can observe the fact the various hypnotic pratices 19 resort to the method of touching that area, due to its capacity of facilitating the task of letting go of oneself and precipitating into a state of hypnosis, as the process is in fact disturbed in that manner. The full reawakening on the part of the third eye is connected to a development of one’s consciousness that is achieved over a period of time, as the consequential fruit of individual effort and working on oneself. The more one progresses in the practice of fascination, the more one can discern a greater sensibility in that area. Finally, as far as the level at which the eye operates is concerned, the Kabbalists are of the view that it acts on an ethereal plane, “the universally shared book, where all the 19 In an even more ancient epoch, Abbot Faria used to inter alia resort to touching that area as a hypnogenous method. More recently, we have personally been able to notice how Jerry Kein, an American hypnotist, used to repeatedly touch that point so as to facilitate the inducement of a hypnotic state. Various French hypnotists and magnetizers at the start of the 20th century (cf. Moutin, “Le Magnétisme Humain”) make mention of this point as an important one to press in order to “let go of the personality” and thereby ease the fostering of a hypnotic condition.

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instances of man’s conduct are recorded in writing, namely, the ether. In it, all the units of human behaviour are inscribed, including the look of the eyes, or whatever nice or evil is said” 20. It is odd that this theory antedates the more recent one of Rupert Sheldrake (1998-1999-2000) that concerns “morphic fields”, i.e. the theory of resonance fields which are not directly perceptible but which have a tendency to “thrust” forms into a particular direction 21. In terms of an ancient Egyptian legend, the sun and the moon were the eyes of a large divinity, Hor-jerti, i.e. “Horus of the two eyes”. This pair of eyes is similarly linked to two snakes as part of a tradition reminiscent of the Indian tradition which is included in the kundalini, and in accordance with which ida and pingala are the names of the two lateral channels around the sushunna. This tradition about the two lateral parts of the body sill goes on even in the fascination school of Virgilio T., as it confers special importance on the two hemispheres.

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Cf. Esarah Maimeroth, 49. Cf. Rupert Sheldrake, “The sense of being stared at”. This book also quotes many interesting experiments where people react to a look even when they are stared at from behind. Refer in particular to the following articles – Sheldrake, R. (1998): ‘The sense of being stared at: Experiments in schools’, in JSPR 62, 311-323; (1999) ‘The sense of being stared at confirmed by simple experiments’, in Biology Forum 92, 53-76; (2000a) ‘The sense of being stared at does not depend on known sensory clues’, in Biology Forum 93, 209-224; (2000b) ‘Research on the feeling of beng stared at’ (submitted to Skeptical Inquirer). 21

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The art of conferring fascination on the eyes Let us now talk about the practical art of making eyes strong, attractive and regaled with charming attraction. This in fact represents the central phase of the method. As several elements need to be coordinated, this part of our work is divided into 3 sections: 1. Fixity of the look; 2. Rapidity of the look; 3. Expression of the look. It is recommended that our prescriptions should be scrupulously followed, as they will quickly lead you to a truly surprising result. In no other work than this text of ours are you in fact going to come across so many exercises with so much power at the same time. I. – FIXITY OF THE LOOK As we know very well, the capacity to maintain a fixed look is one of the main prerequisites of a proficient fascinator. In addition to developing the fixity of your look, these exercises will also gift you a resolutely decisively and potent will. Exercise 1 While in front of a mirror, you should fix your gaze on the third eye without batting your eyelids. You should pursue this exercise gradually, until you can manage to extend its duration. Refer in this regard to the instructions applicable to the next exercise.

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Exercise 2 Take a business card and, at the back thereof, sketch the contour of a large coin. Thereafter, blacken the whole of the inside with some China ink leaving a strong mark, save for a minuscule little circle in the middle you are going to leave it white. Thereupon, affix the small cardboard piece onto the wall at your eyes’ level, while you remain seated. You should set your self at a distance of some half a metre, which will then need to be increasingly reduced. Focus your look firmly upon the central white spot for a minute. During this period, no effort should be spared to avoid lowering the pupils of your eyes. In the event that you are gripped by an irresistible desire to lower them, you ought to engage in the opposite muscular effort, that is, striving to lift the pupils. Once you have mastered how to effortlessly stare at the disk for half a minute, you should then gradually extend the session until you can manage to fix your gaze on the disk for 15 to 20 minutes. It must be clearly understood that the eyes should not limit themselves to look at the small white dot, but should actually see it; throughout such period, your mind must refrain from wandering absent-mindedly, and must rather concentrate, with the greatest possible energy, on the thought that you are carrying out this exercise for the purpose of strengthening your eyes. By pursuing this exercise on an ongoing basis, you will discern a series of effects: a) After a while, the strain will diminish, and you will feel a surge of calm and tranquil stillness inside your self; b) The white dot might disappear, it will turn grey, it will undergo a change, and it will stretch into the black area; c) The black space is going to acquire a distinct splendour, and you might go as far as feeling a kind of fine sand under the eyelids; 23

THE MAGNETIC GAZE d) You will experience a most potent inducement to close your eyes, but that is something you must studiously avoid to do at any cost.

Exercise 3 – The exercise of the luminous ball Get yourself a crystal ball of the type that stationery shops sell as paperweight. If you cannot find such a ball, you can settle for a round crystal container filled with clear water. Thereafter, place the ball or the round container on the table, in such a manner that the surrounding light is going to concentrate on a precisely demarcated and shining spot. Thereupon, as you are comfortably seated in front of the object, half a metre away from it, you should fix the luminous point, at first for one minute, and then for a progressively longer period that eventually reaches up to a quarter of an hour. Exercise 1 – The glass Create in yourself a state of relaxation and calmness. You might even look at the aforesaid crystal ball, or alternatively at a glass. Take that object and, as you look inside it, issue the following instruction to your self: “My look is getting strong”.

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Exercise 2 – The mirror Implement now the very same exercise in front of a mirror. Keep in mind, as you proceed with it, that you should always retain self-consciousness. 22 Exercise 3. The oblique disk Affix the cardboard disk onto a mirror. After you have sat down in front of the cardboard, you should slowly turn your chair (it would be even better for you to use a swivel chair) without taking your eye off the central white spot, all the way until you succeed in seeing it clearly. At that point, you ought to keep on staring at the disk for increasingly longer periods. After you have originally turned the chair to your right, do so to your left as well. NB: It is the chair that must turn under you, as opposed to your body or head, which must in fact remain throughout in the right position against the back of the chair. 23

22 It is necessary to look at a mirror in a state of selfconsciousness, lest some people “might lose themselves in the mirror”, as it occurred to Narcissus. As stated by Baron Karl von Reichenbach (1788-1869), who carried out a number of experiments in this regard, “there are some people on whom looking at themselves in the mirror confers ... an imppression of weakness ... Such people do not usually look at themselves in the mirror, and in fact cannot even stand their own look” (Cf. Reichenbach, “Briefe”, p. 6). In several German and Hungarian traditions, it is believed that children below the age of 1 year should abstain from looking at themselves in a mirror (Cf. Seligmann, p. 285). 23 The exercise might even be carried out by affixing the small piece of cardboard onto the wall. The purpose of this exercise is to develop lateral vision, as that makes one’s look even stronger.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE Exercise 4 While you look at the spot which lies between your eyes, draw closer and more distant as you incessantly look at the same spot. This exercise develops a person’s magnetic look even if he is in motion.24 Exercise 5. The oblique luminous ball It consists in repeating the motion-related exercise in its different positions, with the sole variation of replacing the black disk with the shining ball. Exercise 6 The needle of the watch Place in front of your self, no more than 40 centimetres away, your pocket watch, and then begin to fix your look on the needle that indicates the seconds, following its head as it rotates clockwise, without your sight letting go of it. By means of this exercise, you will become capable of maintaining automatic control over the increasing resistance of your look. Exercise 7. The wall Sit comfortably in the middle of a room in such a way that you are freely capable of observing the four corners of the wall in front of you. Once that preliminary step has been taken (and while you unerringly keep your self still), you must then begin to stare for a minute at the top left corner. You follow that up by staring at the top right corner, whereafter, once more for the duration of one minute in each instance, you should fix your look on the bottom right corner and the bottom left corner respectively. This exercise, too, which avails a far-reaching extension of the shape of the eyes and the strengthening of the orbicular muscles of the eye, must be progressively stretched time-wise. 24 The present exercise might additionally be done together with the “close-far” exercise which is going to be described a bit later.

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Exercise 8. The rotation of the look This exercise ought to be carried out in some open space by the countryside, or else in a place boasting a vast horizon. As you unflinchingly keep your head motionless, you should then begin, starting from either a real or an imaginary point in front of you, to trace with your look a gradually expanding spiral, until you are eventually able to encompass the largest possible portion of earth and sky, to your right and to your left, above and below you. Once you have accomplished that, you should move back to the central point and then begin to trace a new spiral, though in an opposite direction compared to the first one. We can discern that all the exercises requiring us to move the pupil of the eye possess a mental benefit alongside their mental usefulness. The different positions of the eye, in fact, tend to correspond to different points of access to the brain. 25 By motioning the eyes in every direction, we accordingly confer on the brain a global stimulation. Exercise 9. The central point Using a pen, draw a small black dot at the base of your nose which is situated between the eyelashes, whereafter you should place yourselves in front of a mirror, comfortably seated, and

Refer, for instance, to Bandler, Dilts, Grinde, “Programmazione Neurolinguistica”, edited by Astrolabio, or else to the EMDR technique followed by Shapiro. Many problems are solved by means of ocular movements. Dr. Lefebure, too, makes mention of an exercise based on motioning the head, which is aimed at more thoroughly activitating one’s cerebral faculties. Cf. “L’initation de Pietro”. 25

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE intensely fix your gaze on that point for growingly longer time periods. Exercise 10. The oblique mirror Turn your right shoulder in the direction of the mirror and, as you keep your head straight ahead of you in a motionless state, you must then attempt, by turning the eyes, to meet your own look. If you fail to bring that about, turn your head as little as possible, until you have managed to meet your look. At that point, you should stare at your eyes intensely for progressively more extended time spans. Repeat the exercise by your left side. Lift the mirror or sit in a low position, so that, for you to meet your own look, you will be required to lift up your eyes as high as you can. In front of the mirror, you should analyse the various possible blends of combinations, in such a way that the pupils respectively turn to the right top, the right bottom, the left top, and the left bottom. The exercise is implemented more comfortably in the event that you have at your disposal a revolving mirror which turns around a fulcrum, or, better still, a “psyche” (which consists in the combination of three different mirrors that cast their reflections from different angles). Exercise 11. The exercise of the line Stare at the corner of a table, and then go through one of its edges with your look, all the way until you reach the opposite corner, whereupon you move backward. You then keep following this process. The ocular itinerary must be gone through in a gradually slower manner, «by being careful neither to let your sight halt at any one specific point nor to jump any one point with your look». The most thorough consistency is an imperative must. Repeat then the exercise verticall,y along the seam of a wardrobe, window, tent and so on.

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Exercise 12. The exercise of the book Take a book and begin to run through its lines with your sight, in such a way as to cover every alternate page in an opposite sense, as was the case with the ancient Greek script. In other words, once you have run through the first line normally (from left to right), you should proceed in the contrary direction with the next line, i.e. from right to left, and so on and so forth. While doing that, you ought to lower your look constantly. Repeat this exercise by covering an increasingly larger number of lines. N. B. What is of course required is not to understand what one is reading through. Exercise 13. The policeman’s look This exercise, which is the consequential fruit of all the previous ones, is so called because it tends to bestow on policemen the special prerogative of watching objects from right to left, while making as if they are not actually seeing them. You must thus walk along the road while you keep your head down, as if a stiff neck precluded you from turning it in any direction. As you keep still in the said fashion, you should strive to see and recognize the people walking to your right or to your left, read the posters, count the windows and the trees, etc. This exercise is of a capital importance, and it should be adopted as an invariable norm. It is after all the secret of the mobility and variety of one’s look. Exercise 14. The farewell look While on the road, a bus, a train compartment, a railway, stare at any object that has popped up in front of you (ahead of you, to your right or to your left), and, while you unceasingly keep your head motionless, begin to fix it as the vehicle draws you close to such object. When you are about to move past it, you should not let go of the object with your sight. Rather, you 29

THE MAGNETIC GAZE should follow it all the way until some intervening hindrance wrests it away from your sight. It will be good if you can alternate the exercise by fixing objects on your right as well as on your left, so as to train both eyes. Another option is for you to implement the exercise by staring at the objects moving around on the road while you yourself keep still.

II. – THE RAPIDITY OF THE LOOK . Repeat now, this time at the highest possible speed, the previously mentioned exercises that are based on motion. Such exercises, which are taught in order to train the fixity of one’s look, must be carried out afresh, save that this time they will aim at achieving a quite different objective, namely, training the rapidity of the look. Here is how it should be done: In the exercise of the wall, the look will be required to race as fast as possible from one corner of the wall to the other; as regards the exercise of the rotation of the look, the spiral will need to be traced at an ever growing velocity; when it comes to the exercise of the line, such line will still have to be followed backward and forward, but no longer with increasing slowness, rather, at a constantly accelerated pace; and finally, as far as the exercise of the book is concerned, the lines must be covered very quickly, as if in a the flash of a lightning.

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Exercise 15. The restless eyes As we emulate – we would be tempted to say – a suspicious individual, you should move your eyes continuously and restlessly, thrusting your look upwardly, to the right and to the left, indeed, in every possible direction, and you should do so as rapidly as you can possibly manage, for a time span of 5 to 10 minutes. It is however imperative that the look should really settle on the objects which it turns to for a sufficiently long period to enable it to recognize them, whereupon you should detach your look from any such object at once in order to direct it firmly, in the selfsame manner, on some object situated on the opposite side.

III. – EXPRESSION OF THE LOOK It is by now an empirically demonstrated fact that the intense and constant desire to perfect some demarcated sensory organ or specific faculty is truly capable of substantially improving it. If such reality might seem to be dubious with regard to the lower senses, it is nevertheless indisputable and even intelligible when it comes to the sight, and even more when we turn to the expression of the eye. The expression of our eyes reflects, in a precise and unconscious manner, the state of our inner cores, exactly as a placid surface of water reflects the condition of the sky above. As a result, whereas the lip is capable of a lie, it is quite difficult for the eyes to lie. When we fix our gaze on something that is ardently desired or vehemently loathed, our eyes naturally become expressive.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE It is at this juncture that the problem emerges: How can we possibly perpetuate the expressiveness of our eyes? To a great extent, this question is solved by the exercises that we have been listing up to now. A pair of healthy, vigorous and fast-moving eyes is full of charm on that ground alone. This is nonetheless insufficient. We want to regale our eyes with that inward fire which is a telling indicator of a fervent soul. It is here that the problem defines itself. It is clear that a young lady might not desire a dominant, Napoleonic look for herself, at the same time that a soldier or a businessman will certainly have no inclination to possess a normally voluptuous look. Every one should accordingly pose the following question to his or her own self: — Which expression am I going to bestow upon my eyes? The said question might in turn be subsumed under the one set out hereunder: — Which is the expression of the look that accords best with my physiognomy, my profession, my condition, the purpose I am seeking to accomplish? Each one of us can easily solve such problem, whereupon his efforts will be fully concentrated on acquiring the desired expression. What is particularly helpful in that regard is self-persuasion by one’s suggestive will. Persuading oneself bears the connotation of counselling oneself, giving oneself to believe that one is found in the specific physical or mental state that is desired by such a person, and then acting accordingly. We plead with our readers to reflect properly about the import of that definition. The one who, for instance, desires to persuade himself in order for him to acquire a shiningly radiant and expressive look, ought to begin by deeming himself already in possession of such a look.

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But how can self-persuasion be accomplished? The following exercise will help you. Exercise 16. Suggestive persuasion Here is the simplest system to actualize it. Self-persuasion might take place at any time of the day, but the most propitious moment is in the evening, as one is lying in bed prior to catching sleep. We are thus going to start by you forcing your thought into a state of tranquillity, by making sure that you forget the events and worries of that particular day. When you eventually feel you are immersed in a state of perfect calm, you will have to focus your mind on the thought that your look becomes exquisite, luminous, glowingly bright, and that in future other people cannot but concur that what you are busy thinking in that connection is actually true. You will have, in other words, to perceive yourself as already endowed with a particular look, whichever one you might happen to crave for. Take care to fall asleep with this thought. In the morning, when you wake up, you will undoubtedly still recall the selfpersuasion of the previous night. You are encouraged in that instance to confirm it to your own self, in the invariable sense we have alluded at, i.e. not merely desiring for yourselves, but rather believing yourselves to be already factually endowed with the look you prefer, and thus imagining its manifold effects, agreeable consequences, etc.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE Exercise 17. Always keep the eyes wide open 26 While following the said advice — especially at home — one must make sure that the eyes are not opened widely with an astonished look. On the contrary, the sight must be sharp and expressive. The purpose behind the exercise is to automatically enlarge the shape of the eye. While keeping the eyes open, therefore, take care not to cross the eyebrows, and to leave them instead in their normal position.27 Exercise 18. The spot on the mirror This is an adaptation of the preceding exercise, which is however carried out for a different reason. By resorting to a pen or a pencil, you should draw a large black spot over the surface of a mirror. Place then yourself in front of the mirror, in such a manner as to perceive that spot by the base of your nose rather than on the mirror.

26 As we have remarked in a previous footnote, Tommaso Campanella used to take notice of how the impact by the eyes manifested more easily in wonderment and love for a person or a thing. Tommaso Campanella accordingly advised to keep the eyebrows lifted up and the eyes opened, so that the spirit might flow out (Campanella, “De sensu rerum”, Book IV, chapter XV, 326). Other writers, too, had discerned that truth, as well as the fact that, for instance, people in love tended to enlarge both the spirit and the eyes (Cf. Fracastor, “Sympath.”, Chapter XXIII, 139). In our own practice, we have always noticed that the greater is the white part of the eyes, the greater is the influence that is perceived. A larger opening of the eyes, moreover, enables more elements in the pupil to get reflected. 27 Each person has a specific configuration of eyelids and eyelashes. Every one among us, accordingly, possesses a position of the eyes which best suits the beauty of his eyes, comparatively with all other positions. You have to devise clever ways to discover such position, and turn it into one which is instinctive and familiar to your own person.

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You ought to simultaneously inject your look with an intense expression, in so doing striving to be truly permeated by that feeling which you want your eyes to give expression to. Exercise 19. With one eye only Repeat now the immediately preceding exercise, only that this time you shall carry it out by using one eye only, covering with your hand, alternatively bandaging, the right eye or the left one at alternate times. Exercise 20 – Gather your attention in the middle Take a makeup mirror, and fix the black spot within the white circle with such an intensity that it is as if through it you were looking at the brain. Do that with each eye in turn for four seconds, whereafter you will stare at the median point situated between your eyelids. Exercise 21. The vowel “eee” This particular exercise lends the sight a magical strength. It is sufficient if you were to calmly look at yourself in the mirror and then breathe deeply and slowly, until you eventually feel calm and harmonious, at which point you pronounce the vowel "eee"28 so long as there is air in your lungs. You must feel the sensation that your whole head is oscillating at once. This exercise massages the nerves of your eyes and the whole skull in a very powerful manner.29 Exercise 22. The look of the glands Erase the spot you had previously drawn on the mirror, and fix the look on your own self, moving ever more closely forward. In doing so, you should look at yourself by the corners of your lachrymal glands. Eee should be pronounced ih or as the “I” at the begin of italy See in regard to this exercise Peter Livers, “Deine Wesensaustrahlung”. Unlike the previous exercises, the origin of this specific one is found in Yoga. 28 29

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE This is the very same method in terms of which you are later going to look at people you deal with. Looking at the pupils, as every one is aware, will tire you very quickly. By contrast, looking at the point we have demarcated can be prolonged indefinitely (the more so if one keeps on shifting the look from one gland to the other), and that has the effect of compelling your interlocutor to unfailingly lower his own eyes and feel perturbed by yours, without being able to understand why that is so. Exercise 23. Exercises combining rapidity with massage An alternative practice is to shut your eyes as firmly as you can, in order for you to open them widely to the maximum possible extent while you squeeze your temples with the palms of your hands by pulling toward the ears, as indicated in the illustration here below.

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You must alternate your looks between your right and your left as much as it is feasible. Repeat the action 12 or more times. Look down as much as possible, while you squeeze your temples in the above-illustrated manner.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE

Look up as much as you can manage as you keep on squeezing the temples. Lift your eyes to your right to the greatest possible extent, and then let them trace a full circle. As you engage in this motion, the palms of your hands, similarly to the preceding exercise, must press firmly against your temples.

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Exercise 24. The look on the road We are going now to teach a rule aimed at impressing whoever happens to approach you on the road. If you want to make him take notice of the power of your look, you cannot begin by fixing your gaze on him from afar. You should rather figure out the most appropriate point at which you will start fixing the look of your eyes on his person. This point coincides with the moment in which your pupils are bound, in order to meet his pupils, to cover the largest space in their motion. This is something which confers on the eye a special and unforgettable glow. Accordingly, if the relevant individual were to stand right in front of us, we would only lift up our eyes to his person, in a flash, precisely when he is close to us. If, on the other hand, he happened to accost us from the side, we might safely begin to fix our look upon him a little earlier, but only on condition that you have first turned your head in the opposite direction. The look will thus be projected out twice: Firstly in order to reach 39

THE MAGNETIC GAZE the other person’s eyes, and secondly in a persistent manner, while turning the head slightly, for the purpose of watching him further in a more comfortable and intense fashion.

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Comprehending ocular expressions The eyes provide a clear idea of the feelings ensconced in our heart and soul. By looking into the eyes, we can discern the most intimate emotions, the eye appears to be in a direct relationship with the soul, and it appears as if it touches the soul and shares all its impulses. It is on account of such reason that Galen termed the eyes divine organs. In his view, the head was made exclusively for them. Pliny deemed the eye to be the residence of the soul and its natural dwelling, whereas others defined it as “the wrist of the reasonable soul”. In love, eyes open up along their median line: The white part remains still, and the pupil sparkles. When desire grips the eyes, they light up, become more lively and comely, and the pupil spurts out fire – as it is normally put –. If they are steeped in intimacy, shame, or reticence, the eyes are lowered; whereas the pupil is stirred up by a disquieting motion in a state of joy and satisfaction. As for moments of merriment or when one is laughing, the eye, too, is worried, sad, it does not shine, it is as if switched off, and it fixes the ground, nearly shut, or else looks ahead without really seeing. In anger, when eyes redden, the agitated pupil is set into motion in every 30 sense. The position of the eyelid We have spoken about the importance, for the sake of exercising a captivating charm, of keeping the eyes open. There are essentially three ocular postures which are the most significant, and which are shaped by the position assumed by the eyelid vis-à-vis the eye: 30 Refer also to the booklet published in the 20’s by the Milanbased publishing house Hermes, titled “Fisionomia”.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE •

• •

At the eye’s level: It normally indicates a pensive state. It is quite common among the majority of people. It is indeed the condition of the average person By the edges of the iris: It is characteristic of emotional liveliness, and it is useful even in respect of a “glance” Above the iris: It indicates a strong emotional involvement, and it is one of the pointers of fascination

The eyelid The pupil, too, corresponds to a large extent to the attitude of a person, thereby identifying his approach to the world. • Contracted Pupil (needle’s eye). It is typical of the act of observing, be it detached or attentive, as well as of the electrical profile of the person concerned. The person is imposing his own reality. • Enlarged Pupil (mydriatic profile). It is characteristically representative of the attention to the here and now. It typifies a magnetic and attractive profile. The person concerned is entering the world of the other human being. In the image set out here below, the woman evinces a clear mydriatic profile, which is precisely what makes her eyes particularly “magnetic”. Methodical study of the expression of the eyes Look consists therefore in a two-fold reality: It is the way of laying one’s sight upon a subject, but it is also a vehicle of expression which, independently of any act of seeing confers life on the totality of the face, under the influence of some feeling, thought or state of being. It is in the eyes that one instinctively attempts to read, to guess the thoughts, the state of being and the intentions of the people in whose presence he 42

happens to be. That is so because of the fact that it is in the eyes that the reflection of one’s inner life, feelings, passions, signs of approval or disapproval, attraction or repulsion, exteriorize. The eyes speak. In order to acquire firmer possession of the impression we transmit outwardly, and with a view to practically attaining that goal, we are now going to utilize a series of images. This study, which is pregnant with most rapidly achievable results31, has to be conducted by adhering to the following instructions: a) You ought to hide every image other than the one you are studying at any given time; b) You should sit yourself in a comfortable position, as well as in a thoroughly serene state of being; c) You must have a mirror in front of your person, so that you can control the expression you eventually manage to attain; d) You are required to analyse in detail each image we are going to provide and its relevant explanation, whereupon, as you stop looking at it, you should strive to reproduce the same expression by putting yourself in the spiritual condition indicated by the title which accompanies the pertinent image;

31 This study is taken from the book “Occhi Fascinatori” by the anonymous Italian author who has been mentioned by us in the historical notes on the images, as well as, in other respects, from Luzy’s work titled “La puissance du renard”. As regards our master Virgilio T., it should be remarked that he was a painter who had amply studied the expressions which a look can take.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE e) Every exercise will have to be repeated until you feel you have achieved the perfect imitation of the original; f) It is necessarily incumbent to repeat these exercises systematically, until such a point where each and every expression detailed in them is capable of being instantly reproduced.

Scrutinizing look.

Eyebrow following a normal line, eyes opened half-way, pupils turned upwardly through an angle.

Fluffy look.

Eyebrows slightly lowered, eyes half-shut a little, pupils centralized.

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Pensive look.

Eyebrows following a normal line, eyes opened, pupils lifted up.

Haughty look.

Eyebrows lifted up, the pupils fix their glance ahead of themselves without actually seeing any specific point.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE

Investigative look.

Eyebrows slightly raised upwardly, eyes half-open, very fixed and energetic look.

Shining look.

Eyebrows slightly upwards, eyes half-opened, pupils set in an angular position.

Absorbed look.

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Eyebrows shaping a normal line, eyes open, fixed but indeterminate look.

Meditative look.

Eyebrows lifted up, straight look fixated on one particular point.

Reflective look.

Normal eyebrows, lowered pupils, look turned to the ground.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE

Sarcastic look.

Eyebrows lifted up, pupils turned upwardly at an angular shape.

Pure look.

Eyebrows turned upwardly, pupils in a normal position, look spreading out.

The sketch here above encapsulates its essential features.

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Infantile look.

Eyebrows raised upwardly, eyes most enlarged, straight look.

When that is combined with a slight movement of the eyes, as in the sketch here above, it might even inspire tenderness.

Ironic look.

Eyebrows forming a normal line, eyes half-closed.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE

Astonished look.

Eyebrows lifted up very much and spread out, pupils tracing a normal line. The sketch which is provided hereunder emphasizes some of the essential aspects in a different variant which we might define as “flabbergasted”.

Proud look.

Eyebrows raised upwardly, pupils turned up in a slightly angular shape.

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Protective look.

Eyebrows slightly turned up, look cascading from on top.

Contemplative look.

Eyebrows set in an upward position, pupils turned upwardly.

Desirous look.

Eyebrows forming a normal line, drawn slightly together, pupils turned upwardly.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE

Voluptuous look.

Eyebrows following a normal line, slightly drawn together, pupils turned upwardly.

Imperious look.

Eyebrows tracing a slightly arched line, angular look lifted upwardly.

Dejected look.

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Eyebrows shaping a normal line, straight pupils slightly turned upwardly. Japanese people bestow a special attention on this type of look, by virtue of which it is possible to notice the white part of the eye both laterally and from underneath. They call it sanpaku, a term which might be literally translated as “three (san) whites (paku)”. This look accordingly evidences an imbalance.32

Another illustrating example of this type of look can be found in the above sketch.

Lustful look.

Eyebrows slightly lowered, pupils slightly upwards.

32

Cf. Marshall Evan, “The eyes have it”.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE

Ironic look.

Eyebrows in a normal line, eyes crushed, straight look. Additional Exercises The one who has the good fortune of having, within his retinue of elite associates, some person gifted with extraordinarily expressive eyes, should never tire of fixing him in his eyes, so as to try and emulate their expression, steal, so to speak, their secret. The eye belongs to the soul more than any other organ of the body. The eyes are in fact the window through which the soul looks at the world. 33 Even when you are in a road or at some other place, if you meet two beautiful eyes you should not neglect to carefully analyse their specific expression, while firmly holding inside that suggestive will which urges us, too, to acquire an equally lovely look, as previously laid out by us. Besides, by adhering to the norms clarified in this work, we might perfect the study of expression by collecting models (photos, postcards, etc).

33

Cf. Buffon, quoted by Luzy in “La puissance du regard”.

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Utilization of Fascination in Therapeutic practices: Therapeutic treatment by the look Let God bless my eye, And my eye will bless all I see; I will bless my neighbor And my neighbor will bless me (Incantation from the Isle of Skye) 34 Look is a natural form of hypnotic inducement (Shore) 35.

One of our masters, Prof. Erminio from Pisa, was able to heal diseases and overcome physical problems even through the look alone. He was gifted with an unbelievable rapidity, so that, within the space of a few seconds, he would succeed in extirpating every symptom of such disorders. He had been left as the only surviving practitioner of such a bewildering technique in the whole of Italy. Moved by curiosity, we have then discovered a particular form of utilization of fascination in the therapeutic field: “Therapeutic treatment by resorting to the look”. 34 Cf. Mackenzie 1895, at p. 39. Gaelic Incantation of the Island of Skye in the Hebrides, which is to be recited in the morning while washing oneself. 35 It is natural beacause the foundational basis of the attachement (Shore 1996) quoted in Wolinsky’s work "Trances people live", is biological in character.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE

During the Middle Ages, the word “bewitcher” was used to refer to a person who was acquainted with the technique of magnetism and fascination. In those days, the expressions “looking upon favourably” and “treating well” or “giving a gift” were interchangeable synonyms. They literally meant “to look with the intention of doing some good".36 The eye can also perform healing deeds. The various concentration levels

The techniques of hypnotic healing which are presently in greatest use consist in concentration techniques. They channel attention into a specific direction which has a more positive impact on the patient. Besides them, there are also non-prescriptive techniques, such as the techniques developed by Milton H. Erickson, which endeavour to steer attention in such a manner as to lead the subject into a naturally therapeutic condition.

36 Quoted by the knighted author Brice in “La revue du Magnétisme”.

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Concentration in India If we turn our look to the East, we will notice that in Yoga, too, one works on the aspect of concentration. There are three distinct levels of concentration. The first level is called dharana, and it consists in directing one’s concentration to an inflexible point. This initial phase is then succeeded by the one termed dhyana, being a phase in which concentration becomes a single continuum. Lastly, we have the so-called phase of samadhi, the one in which the object-subject relationship finally ceases to exist. This last state presents a number of nuances, although its defining characteristic is the fact that the individual loses every inclination to be identified with the contents of the mind, and he then enters a state of “freedom”. Comparison with Western methodologies

The work that is carried by several modern hypnotists is similar to the phase called dharana, that is, the mind’s first concentration level, whereas the phase of dhyana bears a closer resemblance to the first level of therapeutic practices. Lastly, in what is referred to as the state of Samadhi, one gets a sense of flux, a sense of perceptions which come and go. Milton H. Erickson used to call that state “being in the middle of nothing”. These states are obtained through the eye far more easily than through words. By means of the eye, we can gain access to a pre-verbal dimension of man and reach 57

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into deeper dimensions. The opportunity of utilizing fascination in the field of self-improvement is in fact the result of a paradoxical consideration: The more we gather the fire of attention, the more we can, once a certain point is attained, expand our perspective and access unconscious dimensions. The phenomenon is comparable with what occurs to a person who is meditating on a koan or a mantra: At some point, the mind opens up.37 Beyond daily “trances”

When we implement a certain therapeutic technique which makes use of the eye, many problems seem to be solved at once, almost in a miraculous fashion. The reason behind it is the fact that, through the attractive hypnotic moment, we end up retrieving a state which is identical to the one during which the imprint of obedience to mental conditioning was first created, 37 Moreover, in the ancient Western symbolism which was utilized to indicate processes of magnetism, this was symbolyzed, as previously mentioned in the chapter devoted to alchemy, by the four succesive operations: 1) “Coagulation” (which the ancient alchemists used to symbolically represent by the sign of the Taurus
), that might be viewed as the equivalent of the first concentration of the look; 2) “Fixation” (depicted by the old alchemists, in a symbolical fashion, by the use of the sign of the Gemini ), which denotes the moment when our attention “flows”; 3) Dissolution (alluded to by the ancient alchemists by the sign of the Cancer , which additionally corresponds to the stomach). It stands for the state of “trance”, for the enlargement of attention; 4) “Digestion”, which the ancient alchemists used to equate to the heart and the sign of the Leo (). At that point, transformation is complete.

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whereafter we had fallen asleep, imprisoned by our thoughts. If we happen to be either healers or counsellors, on the strength of this technique we can wrest our patients out of the “trances” which they had stumbled into in the past and which now rule their lives, and empower them to transcend the emotional states which accompany or invade existence at certain defined moments. We in fact often think of being awake, whereas, in reality, we go through life as if piloted by our automatic reactions. Even the psychosomatic states of tensions escorting our daily life, the ones characterized by specific forms of muscular rigidity, or by inward reactions we are unable to loosen on our own, represent “trances”.

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Instant Fascination One of the most spectacular manifestations is provided by “instant fascination”. This technique has the ability to immediately eradicate physical pains, muscular tensions, headaches, tinnitus, and a whole assortment of additional ailments. We owe this methodology to Erminio from Pisa, who was accustomed to call it “Instant Hypnosis”. He was its sole practitioner throughout Italy. Once, he gave us an astounding demonstration of it in the presence of three hundred people in Milan. He did so by working on each of those persons in attendance for some twenty seconds, thereby producing results which in most cases endured through the following days, while in other instances they actually proved conclusive in their effect. In certain cases, a single intervention is enough to engender a permanent result. In other instances, it is necessary to apply the technique twice or thrice in a row, whereupon a more than highly satisfactory overall percentage of 98% of healed people will be actualized. At our institute, we keep a number of videos which corroborate what we have stated in this connection. The methodology is rather simple. After we have caused the patient to indicate to you where he is experiencing pain, we fix him intensely so as to fascinate him, for the explicit purpose of taking him “beyond the point”, that is, beyond rigid positions and mental habits which represent the sum-total of his personal problems.

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At some stage, one feels intuitively that the patient’s pain has vanished. He is then woken up by a simple rapid knock of the hand over his shoulder. The most positive aspect of it all is that the person is feeling better! That seems impossible to the person who is merely watching. From a technical point of view, it is on the contrary very natural. The pains and the other problems we have referred to represent “fixed realities”. The moment we look at the subject, we settle his attention upon some other space. We would say that we are now in direct contact with the unconscious, if we wished to borrow Erickson’s terminology. The unconscious, indeed, always works for the person’s wellbeing and in his interest. We are not dealing here with some mere hypnotic suggestion, so much so that on some occasions (albeit rarely) it is necessary to operate two or three times before “the right moment can be grabbed”. If it had been no more than a suggestion, the third attempt would be bound to emulate what happened to the previous ones. As that is not the case, however, it means we have actually guided our patient to a new life dimension. Our further studies

Our own Nice-based school has scientifically examined the phenomenon. A key aspect of the look-centred therapy is letting ourselves be observed and observing in turn the patient while we give him a chance to recollect the state that caused him problems. Thereupon, we shall lead the 61

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person into a state of fascination without any recourse to words. Such method, indeed, allows us to transport him into a state of “non-thinking” where the symptom disappears. It is the equivalent of resetting the mind. Within that context, for a period of time that might last longer or otherwise, the fascinated person attains a state which is devoid of consciousness of the “ego”, that is, the totality of our mind and our automatic mental programs. The person concerned would then be “beyond the trance”. The Fascination which is carried out on a person is indisputably something that acts at an ocular level, by creating a kind of “trance” for the subject on whom one is operating. However, we are in a state of trance even in other situations. We might for example be captivated by objects or by persons, or even by our thoughts in which we drown. The majority of people is indeed totally gripped, “fascinated" by their own mental mechanisms. This is the reason why the same mechanisms are invariably reiterated, and why the problem is preserved and perpetuated. By means of the look, we thus intervene in the very mechanisms which produce the “fascination” by means of ideas or concepts that beset the subject via these mechanisms themselves. There is yet another way of proceeding: This second method consists in contacting the symptoms directly. The process is termed by some people “curing through the symptom”. Through the patient’s total concentration on his symptom, in fact, we can carve out a path allowing 62

us to talk with that part of the brain which generates such symptom. We thereby give effect to a mechanism which some healers have already resorted to, namely, "utilizing the crisis as a cure".38 What at that point helps the efficacy and, in particular, the rapidity of the process, is the re-enactment of the problem itself. As stated by Rossi (1986), "by asking the patient to experience the symptom (alternatively, even by increasing it, as was for instance Erickson’s wont), we are probably switching on certain processes in the right hemisphere which are gifted with a more immediate access to the encoding of the problem that is related to the state itself ".39 A further scientific support for this theory and the useful benefit of re-enacting the symptom, to be immediately followed by a state of “void” where such symptom is no longer extant, being a result that can be achieved through fascination by the look, is provided by a research in the US we are going to make mention of. It is proven in this research that it is indeed possible to eradicate traumas without needing to intervene through a

This was the methodology used by for instance Franz Anton Mesmer (Cf. “Théorie du Monde”). Even the celebrated American hypnotist Milton Erickson, who used hypnosis as a therapeutic instrument, was accustomed to rely on a similar system. 39 Rossi says: “By asking the patient to experience the symptom, we are presumably turning on right hemispheric processes that have a readier access to a state-dependent encoding of the problem”. 38

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drug, opting instead to “write once more” over such trace of the memory and erase it.40 Published in the Nature magazine, the successful realization of that research has been achieved by Elizabeth Phelps of New York University. In an earlier study, she had successfully tested the method on a number of small mice. It has been shown in the experiment that all one needs in order to wipe out an awfully frightening memory is by first recalling it. Thereafter, within a six hours’ time window, one writes over it a memory other than a scary one, exactly as it would happen if we were to tape over an existing recorded base. The important thing is to do it within six hours from the moment when the memory is recalled, as it is within such a time span that fear becomes entrenched again. Anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress are linked to bad experiences which become rooted in the mind. Whenever a certain stimulus reminds one of the experience which he had gone through, fear resurfaces and anxiety grows, even though the stimulus is not dangerous per se. Let as illustrate it with an example: If a man from Abruzzo in Italy, who had experienced the earthquake which shook that region, senses some minor readjustment shakes, it is highly probable, in spite of the fact that such negligible shakes pose no danger, that he is going to feel panic and hasten to take shelter in a tent, We have drawn on parts of the relevant news from ANSA (http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/scienza/2009/12/09/vis ualizza_new.html_1644482542.html). 40

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merely through his recollection of the tragic night of the past 6th of April. Muscular tensions, too, are purely reminiscences of significant events which have become “embedded” in the body, in the light of the fact that a tension of the body might correspond to any mental tension. The said study has been carried out by inducing a state of fear in some volunteers who chose to be tested. That state of fear was engineered by showing them some coloured squares and by associating with them a light electrical shock by their wrists, a shock which was merely annoying without being painful. The subsequent day, fear was recalled to any such patient’s mind by showing him the coloured squares once more. Thereafter, within the space of a few hours from the creation of the said stimulus, the researchers showed them the squares quite a number of times, but now without accompanying them by the electrical shock. At the end of this training, fear is removed. The disappearance of the symptom only takes place if the action which is engaged in so as to extirpate it takes place within a short period from the moment when the patient is presented again with the scary symptom; if such symptom is not reintroduced, or if the ‘fear-erasing’ training is conducted many hours later, the volunteering patients retain a trace of the fear. Put it in other words, they retain their fear of having to see the squares again. According to the researchers, this fact is explainable on the basis that when the fear is recreated, the memory associated with it crystallizes once more, precisely at that

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very moment where the memory is fragile and can be removed. It is important to observe the fact that the transcending of the ego which activates the fascination is an even more powerful tool, as it not only frees and eliminates a symptom, but, in several cases, makes room for a total rebalancing. If we want to express it in simpler terms, we might define the therapy of the look as “the positive fascination which chases away the negative fascination derived from life experiences”. The origin of problems

It is the fears and anxieties which are intrinsic to man that create the “negative fascination”. Man in fact possesses an ancestral fear of the unknown, which thing pushes him into creating thought mechanisms aimed at concealing and overcoming this fear. The fear, however, is still there in his underlying being. Essentially put, therefore, man, in order to try and release himself from fear, becomes captivated by external concepts. Usually, the moments in which such fascination is born are interpersonal moments. The human personality is made up of a fear to lose the objects of its own fascination. The personality of the average man is a blend that is founded on the fear to lose one’s beloved, money, the house, etc. All the psychological categories we are able to discern grow out of some fundamental fear. Through the medium of fascination, therefore, we give birth to a state of void in which a spontaneous selfreorganization can occur, one that is facilitated by no 66

longer concentrating on the outside, but rather on the inside and on the operator who then turns into a resource. Further comparisons with Eastern techniques

The usefulness of being detached from involvement and from external “fascination” is something evidenced even by the comparison between the technique of fascination and some techniques of Trataka (that is, the prolonged staring at an object without flapping one’s eyelids) which are practiced in the East in order to engender a mental void. We can observe that sometimes, in the course of such practices, an image gets crystallized, thereby allowing one to appropriate its qualities. These practices have the further result of distancing one even physically from being involved with the outside. One of these techniques, for example, consists in fixing the so-called third eye. Another, preparatory technique, is based on staring at one’s nose. It has been noticed by some people that, given the excessive closeness of the point thus fixed, adjustment generally proves insufficient to enable a clear vision, notwithstanding the contraction. The surrounding objects end up occupying only the peripheral part of the retina, due to the central part thereof being occupied. Peripheral sensations are weaker than those that are felt at the centre. In those conditions, the subject turns almost blind to the outside world, and the more the internal deflection of the eyes is increased, the more the process gains effectiveness.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE The void

One might be tempted to ask why so much effort should be put on casting the outside objects out of one’s focus. It is however possible to detect a useful aspect in that endeavour. It paralyzes one’s will. It also paralyzes the attention which, if it happens to settle on one object only, is inclined to forget the others. Through the assistance of ocular concentration, the yogi is not just able to remove the vision of external objects, but also to empty his thoughts, whereupon it becomes easy for him to meditate in the void. In an analogous manner, when fascination is resorted to, the subject enters a state of void where an automatic rebalancing might occur, and where one can rid himself of limiting thoughts. The process is as mental as it is physical, so much so that one can fascinate even while he is standing quite far from a person. Mental attitude

This type of therapy encompasses an inward dimension as well. In order to achieve the best possible results, it is imperative that first and foremost your inner being should be open. Your intention plays a very important role. Life, indeed, offers countless occasions in which you can practice this ability. Exercise 25 Try and calm down a raging person with your look, or make someone who is sad laugh, etc. Undoubtedly, the best exercise is represented by lightening the pain of some one who is suffering.

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Exercise 26 When you meet a sick person or one who is suffering either physically or mentally, direct your look in such a manner as to alleviate his pain. In order to accomplish that, address him mentally, by making use of calm and stimulating words.

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Change of the Vision in Hypnotic States and Related Therapy We can enhance the results of the therapy founded on the look through the concept of “presence”. We might get a clearer understanding of how the two methodologies are interconnected by paying heed to the story of Franz Anton Mesmer. Mesmer’s first therapeutic method consisted in passages making use of the hand, passages which might be localized or general depending on the problem. He simultaneously consolidated these steps by fixedly staring at (= fascinating) the subject. Mesner used to assert that in that manner he was capable of restoring tonic force to the nervous system, suppressing pains and manias, anomalous movements and tensions, and re-establishing the sound functioning of the mind. Spurred on by his successful accomplishments, he began to devote himself to general diseases and to the specific ones affecting the sensory organs. This first method is very similar to the one we have described at the stage of mentioning instant hypnosis within the field of providing solutions to a series of symptomatic signs. There is, nevertheless, an even more complete system, one which is accessible to one who works on himself. As regards Mesmer, after he moved to France he further expanded his working methodology. In order for him to achieve that, he pursued a program of working on his own self which he implemented for a period of three months, and which he described as "thinking without 70

words". That way, by abandoning conceptualizations, he discovered how senses become sharper and “the form of objects renews itself”, and he felt “a powerful calm and the conviction of having been successful”. It is precisely here in France that he began to talk of “sixth sense”, mentioning in the process the fact that such sense could only be understood by experiencing it.41 If we want to translate it into modern terms, we would assert that he reached a different state of consciousness in his work, such that his patients were able to detect it in his look and access it themselves in turn. There is always, in fact, a close rapport between consciousness and vision. Some scholars have put forward the theory that the actual ocular pathologies which we can observe are often the reflection of our models of thinking. Kellum, for instance, says: The eye responds to the way in which we live. The Varieties of daily Trance

The sight, as with all the other senses, is susceptible of erring. Errors of observation happen frequently, since a person’s look perceives merely one side of the things, and, by blending with imagination, it ensures that we focus on some aspects of reality rather than others, such aspects being guided by modes of interpretation adopted by the reality of our mind. Some examples of these illusions are indeed very clear. That is the case, for instance, of the illusions which might befall a night traveller when he finds himself by some 41

Cf. Durville, “Le regard magnétique”.

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isolated place, one where uncertainty, and possibly fright, bring about in him the thought that he is seeing some people moving, though in truth there are only trees, or which might seize a nocturnal fisherman who, in the mist, might perceive the lunar rays turning into ghosts. In the course of hypnotic demonstrations, one might produce some visual aberrations which make the subject believe that, out there, there are some beings and objects that are non-existent in the view of everyone else. It is for instance possible to persuade a subject that ahead of him runs a river where he can thus fish, whereupon he will automatically adopt the attitude that is congruent with such belief. Yet perceptive aberration is not solely confined to hypnotic demonstrations. Several modifications of our perception of reality are less quotidian in their incidence and thus less pervasive, even if we might fail to realize them. Take, for example, the so-called “projection” as defined by psychology, as it is precisely one such illusion. The possible consequence thereof is that a person, instead of seeing a traffic cop in front of him, that is, a human person exactly like him, might well be seeing the image of his father. He accordingly reacts by acquiescing in a fine exactly as he used to be the recipient of some shouting when he was small. Another frequent occurrence which psychologists have noticed is, for example, the fact than an anorexic person does not perceive herself to be what she is, and in fact,

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even when she is in front of a mirror, she has the impression of being fat. These are but a few illustrations from the numerous examples of how imagination pervades everyday life, whereupon we do not perceive reality but only our personal image thereof. Exactly as in the example we have mentioned earlier of the nocturnal traveller who saw the trees as being dangerous persons ready to assail him, there might be the human type who sees any person he meets as a danger. This person, therefore, is not perceiving reality: He is perceiving his own image of reality. Every person, as he wakes up in the morning, is convinced that he is awake. The truth is however different. It is the fact that imagination mixes with our mental mechanisms that keeps us in a state which is as if a dreamy one, and in which we only discern what we want to see. Most people are captured by their own mental mechanisms, their own pensive reflections, and the inner atmosphere of incessant self-talk. Some people have indeed contended that each one of us churns out fiftythousand thoughts on a daily basis. Every one of those thoughts that we formulate influences us, and alters our mental images as well as our peculiar perception of reality. What would happen, moreover, if these thoughts are negative? The reality is that a subject who is worried is less aware of the surrounding environment. Even if positive elements are found in it, he is often oblivious to their existence. He is in a state of “trance with his own 73

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self”, immersed in what might be described as an "intrapersonal trance", a trance, that is, which is internal to his own person (intra = inside). It is as if this state interposed itself between his person and the environment in which he moves. In an essential way, such interposing trance acts like a veiling cloak, with the result that he does not directly react to the environment, but rather filters its input and finally responds to it on the strength of models he has learnt in the past. Let us for instance observe an anguished person: He does not seem to pay attention to the external environment, so caught as he is in his private anxieties. Average man fears the unknown and prefers to live inside a prison cell rather than opening himself up to the uncertainty of what is novel. Such a person will then live cocooned inside his own world which, though often disagreeable, is at least familiar. There is an intrinsic tendency in man which urges him to escape chaos, the unknown. The reason why people, therefore, walk into a state of "intrapersonal trance" is essentially related to self-defence from the outside environment and the desire to avoid facing reality. This “dream” inclines to self-manifestation, on account of the fact that by shunning the task of confronting reality we are also barred from changing. In an essential sense, we go on behaving in conformity with schemes which have been learnt in the past. An example of that might consist in a child who learns how to relate to his parents in a specific manner, and who, as he grows up, insists on

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behaving himself with all and sundry in the same manner. Assuming for instance that his parents were accustomed to shout at him and that he used to react by entering a state of block, he might then display an identical reaction vis-à-vis a traffic policeman who wants to issue him with a fine for a road-related infringement. Traditional psychology sometimes refers to this form of conduct by the term “projection”. In the example we have just mentioned, such variety of psychology would contend that the subject “projects” onto the member of the traffic cops the image he had of his own parents. We can observe that the initial comportment is born within an “interpersonal” ambit, or, said it in another manner, it is as if a model of perceiving reality were to “become solidly enrooted” in the relevant person. When we are small, we have a greater tendency to be in reality than at a more adult age. Our patterns of behaviour often originate in the shape of interpersonal trances, and later transmute into intrapersonal trances. In other words, we learn behavioural modes and reactions from other people and from the surrounding milieu in which we grow, and we subsequently appropriate them as part of our own modus operandi. If, at this later stage, we have become divested of control over such trances and unable to prevent their occurrence, we can safely affirm that they are now unfolding themselves automatically.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE The effectiveness of the look-based therapy

The therapy which is founded on the look accordingly represents a tool to cause the subject to retrace his steps from an intrapersonal trance to an interpersonal one, i.e. one which is piloted by the operator. We put this therapy into practice by observing the patient as he clues us with his personal situations, while we simultaneously encourage him to gaze at us. By letting our patients describe their symptoms while they keep on «breathing and looking at the operator», we succeed in interrupting their internal trance, and we convoy them to an interpersonal trance. This development brings about a change in the context of the problem, and adds to the picture the operator (= we ourselves as we are busy talking to him) in his capacity as a resource. If we want to express it basically, we would say that we “enter” the mental scene of our patients. The most effective therapeutic processes use that resource in an unconscious manner (by adding the healer as a resource). What simply occurs during the therapy based on the look is that such concept is made even more concrete via the recourse to the sensory faculty of sight. An undoubted efficacy is indeed ensconced in relating our problems to a third person, which is something that takes place in every type of therapeutic approach. What might nevertheless still happen is that the subject “sneaks out” mentally and detaches himself at the crucial moment. This is something which often materializes through pensive reflection, the creation, that is, of one’s own 76

mental thoughts. It has a physiological correspondence in the motions of the eye. When we step inside our thoughts, in fact, we perform certain movements of the pupils in specific directions, whereas, in other cases, we defocalize.42 Neuro-Linguistic Programming, for instance, notices that when a person bends his pupils toward the top left side, he is often accessing constructed images, whereas, if he performs that motion to his left, he is accessing some reiterated patterns. In an analogous fashion, horizontal movements stand for hearing-based constructs, while downward motions denote gaining access to our own inner dialogue or possibly to our own sensations. When the eye adopts such positions, the client is then “inside his own self” and is recreating the problem. By requesting from our client a direct and sustained eye contact, we actively intervene and melt away those parts of automatic “trances” which serve as defence mechanisms within the depth of his being. We thereby transcend the reactions which help our client defend himself from the intensity of interpersonal contact, and which allow him to recreate the symptom. Acting on the symptom

By establishing eye contact while our client lives out his state, moreover, we place ourselves in a position to operate in another manner as well. We can in fact This type of motions are those which are for instance observed by Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Cf. Bandler, Grinder” “Programmazione Neuro-linguistica”, edited by Astrolabio. 42

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increase the symptom in order to develop at that stage a two-phase process, one which first begins with an escalation and is subsequently followed by a change in the state of consciousness. Intensifying the dynamics which give birth to the relevant cluster of symptoms, in fact, is paradoxically of assistance in leading the person to a more expanded state. In other words, the more we restrict the fire of attention in the course of a therapeutic trance, the more we rise to a level from which we are later capable of enlarging the perspective. It is the as if the mechanisms which guide attention, taken to some extreme level, were to “give up” and thereby enable the actualization of an expanded, vaster attention. 43 The process concerned resembles what happens at a muscular level when a tension is followed by a relaxation, which normally occurs at a higher intensity level than what would have been the case had we simply initiated a phase of relaxation without its being preceded by an earlier contraction. In terms of the praxis, this expanded state corresponds to a moment in which we move beyond the dualistic

43 The phenomenon has been noticed by other disciplines as well. Within the camp of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, for instance, Steve and Connireae Andreas mention the concept of “breaking through the threshold”. According to our way of looking at things, however, the vision they provide, while being valid, is marked by incompleteness, insofar as the process is interpreted by them as a form of “no longer recognizing the stimulus”. In cases of extreme concentration, that might be more correctly defined as “transcending the conceptualization of the stimulus”.

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distinction between things, in which we transcend, that is, the distinction “between this and that”. This phenomenon is a common feature of various quantic therapies, and it is already implied in the process of the Gestalt. It is a similar phenomenon to the one we can ascertain during a meditation on a Japanese koan or a kindred one on some mantra. The Japanese “koan” is a statement, often bearing a paradoxical meaning, to which the mind seeks to provide an intelligible connotation, e.g. “what is the sound produced by a single clapping hand?”. Reflecting over the paradox, in fact, makes the conscious mind weary. The effect of the “mantra” is analogous. The “mantra” is a constantly repeated word. Here, too, a similar phenomenon involving the weariness of some cerebral mechanisms is produced. In the instances described above, the koan or the mantra is utilized as single point of the contemplative «focus». Step by step, this type of concentration turns into an automatic process. The moment the mind concentrates, we can reach a specific instant in which our mind “releases itself”, whereupon we experience a “collapse on the part of the previous system of thoughts”, or possibly even a “moment of deep change”. When that point is reached, the mind is ready for a spontaneous experience of accomplishment, that is, it is ready to perceive non-duality. To recapitulate, a trance is accordingly a daily phenomenon, in spite of the possibility that we might fail to realize that, due to the fact that, normally, our conscious mind denies the reality of such phenomenon. 79

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The daily trance As stated earlier, hypnosis is part and parcel of the normal process of daily communication. The only difference between self-hypnosis and daily hypnosis is that, when you carry out some procedure of self-hypnosis, or you voluntarily empower a trained hypnotist to hypnotize you, it is your person who chooses the ideas which you allow your mind to react to, whereas, during “daily hypnosis”, by virtue of the sheer quantity and multiplicity of the sources from which the messages reaching you originate, you enter a state of trance in respect of something where your control over the quality and amplitude of the ideas that pervade your minds is inferior. We refer, by the term "daily trance", to the phenomenon whereby, at some moments in our life, our perception of reality is altered by our internal filters, whereupon we no longer perceive reality, but only our specific vision of the same. There is a close link between “trance” and hypnotic phenomena. Let us provide an example to clarify the understanding of the concept. Let us take the phenomenology relating to amnesia. In the course of a hypnotic show, one can get a demonstration when a participating subject might be asked, say, about his name or a particular number. Thereafter, that person, on being posed the question “what is your name?”, might not know what to say in reply. The circumstance is seemingly 80

amazing, but in actual reality it is no more than the simple elucidation of a natural human mechanism. This type of spectacular phenomenon is essentially possible because it also occurs daily in a very subtle manner: We meet for instance an obese lady, with a habit of eating a lot, who utters the promise that, from the following day, she is no longer going to eat chocolate sweets. This obese female appears to be persuasive when she articulates that promise. Nevertheless, two seconds later she walks in front of a confectionery, moves in, takes two such sweets, and eats them. How is that possible? Such a kink of phenomenon is a "behavioural occurrence of daily trance". 44 If we were to examine it in detail, we would actually unveil the truth that, rather than being merely a single trance, the aforesaid example evinces the existence of a series of micro-trances. The first trance that takes place is part of a phenomenology of amnesia. Our subject, despite having told us a short while earlier that she would have restrained herself, no longer remembers the promise she made. The second “trance” consists in a time regression to an earlier age: Why, in fact, does she eat the sweet? She is behaving like a child facing a table fully laid out with food, and so on. Our life, which we believe to be “fully conscious”, is saturated with such kinds of phenomena. Some people, in order to indicate this concept, are accustomed to state that most of human beings “are asleep” instead of being inside reality.

44

Cf. Rossi, Wolinsky and Milton Erickson.

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For the purpose of defining the selfsame phenomenon, other scientific disciplines, such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming, refer to the idea that we do not perceive reality, but only a map thereof, which has been constructed in conformity with the concepts of “distortion, generalization and cancellation”. In terms of our specific approach, however, we are going to resort to another viewpoint which is equally useful for analysing the phenomenon of fascination. In accordance with that approach, we shall view these phenomena as “trances”. What is, then, a trance?

What we mean by the word “trance” is an overall state in which we are plunged, even though we fail to realize that. In fact, each one of the phenomenological realities we are now going to examine possesses, over and above the objective aspect (cancellation or modification of reality), a specific subjective aspect as well. In that way, through the comparison with the corresponding hypnotic phenomena, we might become more capable of understanding the situation. Recapitulation of the most frequent “trances”

The following can be enumerated as among the most frequent alterations of reality happening on a quotidian basis: 45 45 The abovementioned classification is the one derived from that which was adopted by Stephen Wolinsky in “Trances People Live”.

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1. Dissociation. In a state of dissociation, we detach ourselves from one part of us. We might, for instance, be unable to feel our own sensations. An example from daily life of a person in such a condition is one who cannot experience emotions at all. 2. Positive hallucination, which might for instance cause us to perceive people around us being different from what they really are. In that event, such phenomenon will coincide with the one which is termed "transference". 3. Progression in the future, to wit, one which, in its pathological varieties, corresponds to imaginations distancing us from reality. 4. Daily imaginations, being the type which keeps us fixed in another dimension. It is the hypnotic dream preventing us from being in the here and now: The relevant person is “lost in the clouds”. 5. Hypermnesia, i.e. focusing in an excessive manner on past moments. This occurs for instance in cases of traumas when a person declares himself “unable to forget”. 6. Temporal distortion, which makes us lose awareness of the fact that time passes, and which precludes us from accomplishing our objectives. It seems to us as if time “is flying away too quickly”. 7. Sensory distortion, which is present in several compulsive habits wherein the subject “does not realize” the consequences of his actions upon his own self. The latter, in turn, is drawn from the most fashionable forms of classification which are utilized when talk is made of hypnosis.

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8. Amnesia, meaning to shelve aside or cancel certain elements of our past. We can for instance be unaware of our mistakes and keep on repeating them. The role of language

Due to the fact that our mental reality is conditioned by language, language itself might act as a tool that facilitates these processes. There are for example some people who always use conditional verbs when they talk, such as ‘I would do’, ‘I would like’, but who never act. Once we understand that, we might easily produce hypnotic reactions through the use of the conjunctive or the conditional forms, given that they, in their nature as potentialities, are able to take our interlocutor, or even our own selves, to fantasize and perceive possibilities as opposed to reality. You can observe that the majority of these trances go along with a change of look. Exercise 27: Changes in the way of looking

Let us observe our interlocutor’s reaction to such a statement as “how lovely it would be if ...”. Thereafter, as we keep on using a nice and exciting phrase, we are going to frequently notice how his pupils tend to become enlarged and his look to disperse around.

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Relation between the vision of the world and hypnotic states Regression in time (look BEFORE)

Most frequent effects when this condition is excessive: Infantile streaks of conduct, fears, emotional blocks, anxieties bereft of any clear origin Regression in time to a younger age is a common phenomenon. The subject “behaves like a child”. If we were to pay attention, we would notice that, when he is engaging us in speech, he is not looking at us. It is as if his look is staring at some point in space which lies between him and us. He in fact focuses his attention on memories of the past, and reacts in a way which is similar to the one he has learnt in the past. In certain instances, we might even discern a phenomenon of “daily trance” acting as a pointer to such an extreme form of retracing his steps to the past that the voice of the relevant individual is replaced by the voice of the “child” personality. Exercise 28: Paying attention to the voice Pay attention to your interlocutors, as well as to the times at which they change voice and their ways of doing so. You would then notice that there are specific response models which steer the phenomenon. Focalization characteristics: The person concerned is not focused on the present. When he reminisces about past episodes, he is gazing with his look at some point in space, one 85

THE MAGNETIC GAZE where he sees the moments of the past re-enacted again. Such point is spatially located BEFORE the objects that surround him.

Treatment In order to help him, we should ask the patient to recollect the past moment, and, at that point, we should request him to look at us. In order to give effect to such re-enactment by the memory, we might even resort to the use of some linguistic formulas which are capable of conjuring up the memory of the image. Examples of such verbal expressions would be, ‘Are there any past events which justify this behaviour?’. Even if the subject is unable to remember them, his unconscious will be reignited, and at that moment he will also meet your look. By fixing our look on him, we become at such stage an integral part of the process 46, and we, too, are included among the resources. We might then proceed to act in one of several manners: • We might stare at him and lead him, through the use of words, to extend his visual field by noticing other elements in the picture which have an intrinsic ability to alter his automatic reaction. We would then say to him, ‘Extend your look, can’t you see around elements that might instead lend you tranquillity or stability?’. Note: This type of technique might even be practiced independently, on one’s own. We might bring back to mind, as a form of re-enactment, a particular scene which We cause our patient to shift from an intrapersonal trance (existing inside him) to an interpersonal trance (which he experience with us). 46

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•

•

instils fear in us, and we then extend our look widely. Oftentimes, in fact, we merely concentrate on a few significant elements, for example, the faces of the people who used to talk to us. By expanding one’s look, everything takes on a different perspective. We might identify a certain symbol or carry out a certain action that proves to be particularly effective, owing to the degree of concentration we have managed to establish. A gesture, too, is included within what is meant by symbol, for example, a movement which is implemented with the hands as a gesture that signifies distancing the negative state away. We might also compartmentalize: Discovering the point where the emotion is felt more strongly, paying heed to such point alone, and further enhancing the symptom in that area, if need be repeating the process until we can switch to a different perception mode. This last-mentioned process, however, is rather complex and as such recommended for use by expert operators only.

Progression in time (temporal pseudoorientation) (look BEYOND)

Most frequent effects when such progression in time is pervasive: Lack of a concrete approach to reality, anxiety, fear of the future, and fear of the possibility of improving one’s volitional resolution and action

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The person who is immersed in a constant “temporal progression" is the eternal dreamer, who at the end of the day might fail to accomplish any practical result in the present. His look, in extreme forms of this trance, is lost in a void, as if he was busy observing a distant point. It is the look of the “dreamer”. He speak by making recourse to a vocabulary consisting of such expressions as, ‘I am going to do’, ‘I am going to be’, etc ... The risk faced by such a personality type is to live too much in the future, without being however able to relate it to actions and to the reality of the present time, and without actually embarking on any practical steps in the present which aim at realizing his dreams. When we succeed in unravelling the underlying mechanism, we might be able to help the person suffering from such a modification of reality be more firmly anchored in the present, and, accordingly, effectively manage to accomplish some things in life. The lookcentred therapy represents a powerful tool to take him back to the present and enable him to re-establish contact with it. This therapy empowers the switch from “dreaming” to “being active and orientated toward the future”. Daydreaming is not negative per se. On the contrary, it might even be useful: A positive image, for instance, occasions positive emotions 47. It is the first stage of the 47 Such a trance might even be intentionally self-generated. There are in fact occasions in which, by utilizing the future time, we might in fact facilitate a "progression in time” to a subsequent age of our life (pseudo-orientation in time), and replace the present time with an imaginary future.

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mechanism by which motivational urge is brought about. A young lad, for example, might presage the taste of the moment in which he is going to graduate. Future visual impression (the person, e.g. imagines his graduation)
positive sensation. The problem is that it is befitting, in order for the person thus motivated to engage in tangible action, that this first step should be conjoined to an additional second step: This is the practice which invariably uses the present as its departure point. By means of fascination, we as the operators might prove to be an important resource of the present for our patient, one that is indeed capable of activating the said link 48. Technical characteristics of this state: We can often notice in it a hyperopic attitude, which is focused on what is distant. The visionary gazes at some distant point 49. Treatment The standard application of the relevant technique is extremely simple: We should fix our look on the patient and, at the moment in which we have reached the stage of fascination, we are going to conjoin the future state to the present one by uttering some encouraging words and by asserting that the subject shall henceforth work towards accomplishing his own goal. One might say for instance,

48 He will be motivated due to the fact that: Dissociation from the future imagine
lack of positive sensation
desire to gain renewed access to it. 49 Hyperopia means to look beyond, to see what lies at a distance, to move beyond one’s own head with a forward thrust.

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‘From now on you will act with confidence. Every day you should take a new step towards your ultimate objective.’ What would otherwise happen is that this type of persons will fail to act in the present, and will only live out their particular dreams. Treatment in the event of fear of the future (anxiety) Even what is called “anxiety” is linked to time 50. The anxious person is in fact always bent on creating for himself negative images of the future. A technique which yields almost immediate results consists in making the subject imagine the future in a positive guise, by saying to him, while we stare at him, ‘Feel yourself achieving whatever you wish to achieve, feel it as something which is already real.’ In doing so, we will lead him to experience the feelings associated with a successfully actualized result. For the sake of increasing the efficacy of such technique, the “accomplished” result might be depicted in the form of a symbol. This symbol might be absorbed by the patient while he is accordingly brought back to the present, where the look retains an ongoing awareness of it.

50

Additionally termed “pseudo-orientation in time”.

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Dissociation and Hyper-association (Small Pupil and large Pupil) Most frequent effects when the state of dissociation is pervasive: Frigidity, absence of emotions, muscular stiffness, difficult interpersonal relationships, imaginary pains, “gelid eyes” In the state of dissociation, the person “shelves aside” one part of experience. A very frequent example of this state is represented by the person who is only marginally alert to his own physical perceptions. We in fact come across some people who are for example unable to feel one part of themselves, such as their own emotions. They often have small pupils, and their look is then described as being “ice-cold”. They are the individuals who in common parlance are referred to as “cold”. Emotions flow out through the body and, frequently, the inability to experience feelings reflects a denial of the sensations experienced by the body. Some exemplars of this human category are so detached from their own selves that they are even unable to experience such primary feelings as hunger or pain. It is indeed significant that our current society nurtures the quality of coldness, and that at times it fosters in that regard an urge to be hyper-rational, i.e. dissociated from feelings and associated with thoughts (rationality). We also get the opposite of dissociation, which is sometimes simultaneously present with it, and that is

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hyper-association 51. Indeed, we find in the personal history of “cold” persons that there are moments in the past where they have suffered traumas which they still experience at a physical level. When they recover their spark, their look undergoes a transformation, and the pupil widens. Those persons who feel a certain pain more intensely than usual are defined as being hyperassociated: Hyper-association materializes when a person focuses a lot on a negative sensation in one specific area of the body and is oblivious to the rest of his body. A similar phenomenon to this one is found in other states where we encounter discrepancies in how different parts of our bodies are perceived. We might for instance detect cases of dissociation from inward states or from certain parts of the body. This occurs in those persons who, for example, have highly negative attitudes. It is as if they were unable to realize the impact that such attitudes have on the body. Technical characteristics of the state: When a person is too focused on what is logical (when, in other words, he is excessively rational), we can notice how such physiological state is characterized by restrictions of the visual field and by a limited foveal vision. A small, myopia-style pupil, but not only that ... Myopia is indeed often associated with an excessive focus on rationality and the desire to catalogue things. Priority is thus conferred on the vision of what lies near. In states of dissociation, it is sometimes possible to get a tunnel 51 It is the selfsame phenomenon, save that in this case it is viewed from another visual angle.

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(foveal) vision escorted by an imaginary impression of distancing (probable dilatation of the pupil). Treatment of dissociation and hyper-rationality based on the look A method of dealing with Hyper-rationality

1) Gradually teach the subject to get in touch with his body. Practice some relaxation techniques which result in the fire of attention being enlarged to the whole of his self. In this manner, even the body becomes bit by bit an integral part of the life experience. Note: This is a method which can even be practiced on your own. When you relax yourself, try and nurture an attention which is spread to the entire body. Let go of yourself deeply. 2) A practical method which can be resorted to in the field of therapy is to stare at the patient and simultaneously touch him with the left hand on his shoulder, by laying the thumb and index fingers close to the junction of the shoulder blades. You might even request him to keep on rationalizing whilst he is in such a state, under observation. What will be ensured by this is that, paradoxically, he will tire out one part of his mind and enter a state of increasing abandon, which happens, however, within an interpersonal context (involving him with the 93

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operator). Shortly afterwards, he will be unable to sustain the situation any longer and will spontaneously fall into your arms. 3) There is, lastly, another methodology, which consists in “catching the subject suddenly”. In that instance, we will inquire from the patient how he is feeling, and at that very moment we will look at him with intensity. After a short while, we will reach a so-called “threshold point”. When that stage is attained, the subject will automatically switch to a state of hyperassociation and will release himself. Excessive attention to sensations

There is also a contrary situation. Oftentimes, in fact, excessive focus on inward sensations makes sure that the relevant person feels his emotions more intensely. It is then easy for such a person to fall into emotional bursts, reactions, and other related phenomena. The pupil is expanded. At that moment, the person is “hot”. If, however, the emotions such a person is associated with are negative in nature, he lives in a world of suffering. In order to transcend it, one can resort to expanding the context. In cases of hyper-association with a bodily sensation (meaning that the person is “victim” of the attentive focus on one part of the body), an effective method is to cause such sensation to spread throughout the body. We will initially fix our gaze upon the patient, and we will recommend the expanding of such sensation. Thereafter, we are going to act in accordance with a 94

methodology of magnetic steps, whereupon the lateral vision will grow, and there will no longer be a tunnel vision, as that is in fact going to be replaced by an enlarged vision. It is possible to pursue, in this regard, the same path which is treaded in relation to regression into a past age in the event that images were to appear. By solving the regressions, in fact, we would bring the subject back to reality. Post-hypnotic suggestions (incongruence)

Most frequent effects when such suggestions are pervasive: Mental rigidity, finding it difficult to change and adapt, asymmetrical movements of the body We call by this name the automatic reactions which many people have learnt in their young age. Many posthypnotic suggestions are in fact linked to the parents’ behaviour and correspond to what Freud had described as the super ego, that is, those inner voices which tell us what to do and what not to do. In this case, the child had been asked to see reality from the viewpoint of the parent. The parent had imparted peremptory “injunctions” to him, such as “do this”, “you must”, or “it is obligatory”. In due course, these automatic reactions act as blocks to the mind and to one’s own spontaneous responses. Technical characteristics of this state: One hypothesis which has been put forward in this respect is that what enables a suggestion to “endure” in the mind is the circumstance that it is not adequately processed. What 95

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essentially occurs is that the mind receives an idea, and such idea becomes rooted in it. This kind of phenomenon is often the spin-off of traumatic events. Due to the fact that the information is not processed, it is as if it remains blocked in one area of the brain. Some people speak in this connection of compartmentalized “parts”. In the field of interpersonal contexts, what happens is that one eye is utilized in order to perceive reality directly, while through the other eye the other person’s way of seeing reality is imagined. This explains why various schools of thought often relate each of the two eyes to a specific parent (the right eye, moreover, is frequently linked to the concept of «doing»). Treatment and technique aimed at imparting suggestions: One available method is to cause the injunctive statement to be processed by both hemispheres of the brain, thereby bringing the interrupted process to completion. Stephen Wolinsky 52 is the one who developed a certain technique in terms of which the operator looks first at one eye and then at the other, so as to impart post-hypnotic suggestions which are equally pronounced for the two eyes. This technique might be particularly effective in respect of verbal expressions which include the use of a «non». We might accordingly unleash a «non» upon one eye, while letting the verbal expressions go ahead on the other eye.

52

Cf. Stephen Wolinsky, “Trance people live”.

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Erminio from Pisa, once he had placed the relevant individual in a state of passive consciousness, would then lead him back to the past, whereupon he would impart direct suggestions, thereby playing the role of a “resource” for the fascinated subject. Amnesia (large look) and Hypermnesia (fixed look)

Most frequent effects when the pair of them is pervasive in nature: As regards amnesia, memory gaps and erasures of reality; and as regards hypermnesia, hyper-excitation. Amnesia technically means “not to remember”. Hypermnesia, by contrast, bears the connotation of “remembering everything”. This pair of conditions is connected to the need to know. If this need is excessive, such states might further be modified by acting on the related sensations of fear. Sometimes a person might display amnesia vis-à-vis traumatic episodes, whereupon the person “does not want to remember”. Through recourse to fascination, it is indeed possible to cause a subject to retrieve the material he had removed, until he is able to see it again with the most thorough attention to detail. Fascination, in fact, has the effect of creating a “trance” which is similar to that amnesia, inasmuch as fascination is normally characterized by hyper-vigilance followed by amnesia. Fascination is accordingly in a position to act directly on the above-described phenomenology of daily trance, 97

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thereby yielding excellent therapeutic results. It is enough to fix the look on the subject and ask him to revert to that past episode. What the subject would normally be unable to accomplish in a normal state might then be actualized by whim while in a state of fascination. Negative hallucination (deflection of the look)

Most frequent effects when it is negatively pervasive: Finding it difficult to identify resources in one’s own life. An illustrating example of this state might be encountered in a depressed person who says, ‘I have never been happy!’, even though we saw him laughing only on the day before. How is it possible that he does not remember? What he says probably originates in a “cancellation” of a part of reality. Indeed, this phenomenology is also termed "cancellation" by NeuroLinguistic Programming, and consists in failing to perceive one part of reality. Technical characteristics: It is often as if a small filter (time regression-like) were to drop down before the eyes of a person, who, as a result thereof, is thus prevented from accurately focusing upon the scene. Even the shortsighted attitude of the one affected by myopia might be related to the concept of negative hallucinations, as do some phenomena of astigmatism. Treatment: A modus operandi that might be resorted to in this context consists in suggesting variations to the type of mist surrounding the person. Possibly divide that mist into quadrants. All of this should take place as the 98

patient is urged not to drop his look. It has the effect of changing the structure of the phenomenon which the patient is suffering, and of altering the entrenched state of trance. Passages the treatment should go through: 1 – Encouraging the negative hallucination to reach its maximum potential (while it is in a state of entrenchment) 2 – Causing it to turn even stronger 3 – Modifying the structure thereof 4 – Suggesting positive hallucinations 5 – Expanding it further, in order to encompass even things which were either not perceived (because they lay beyond the original visual field) or whose contours were vaguely indecisive Positive hallucination (mydriasis – large pupil)

The concept of projection is strongly linked to the concept of positive hallucination. Technical characteristics: A phenomenon of positive hallucination we have often come across might be observed by focusing the eyes on the spot that is located immediately after the person we are looking at (as if we were looking behind him). It might even be carried out before a mirror with a view to “lending voice to the unconscious”. Note on the treatment: In order to avoid transference phenomena in the event of positive hallucinations, we might request the patient to observe something enabling him to distinguish the operator from his past memory. 99

THE MAGNETIC GAZE Temporal distortion (Long time and short time) (Tension and Retention)

It appears that longer time is escorted by muscular resistance and the retention of one’s breath. It often goes along with a narrowing of the attention field. One can further notice that it is accompanied by a lack of conceptualization: An unexpected route seems to be longer than a previously known road. Confusion (strabismus)

One can discern, under this heading, phenomena of confusion, by observing a person through the medium of diverging strabismus. That is accomplished by looking at two spots behind or beside the relevant person. Divergent strabismus produces confusion, in that one needs to combine two distinct images. Treatment In order to overcome confusion, it might prove beneficial to individually separate and clarify the single parts of the experience.

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SELF-FASCINATION We use the term "self-fascination" to describe that type of hypnotic fascination which is done on our own selves by looking into a mirror. It is an extremely potent system of self-development, and, at the same time, it is one that is very easy to implement. Through the medium of your own concentration by the mirror, you might be able to give yourselves a series of useful suggestions. Exercise 29: Simple self-fascination As you face a mirror, focus on your own image. Place yourself at a distance of around forty centimetres, and then look at where the nose is attached to the front. Stare at your own self. Try not to flap your eyelids. Exercise 30: Mental suggestions Concentrate on your own image while in front of a mirror, and simultaneously impart some mental suggestions to your own self (‘come forward’, ‘move backward’, ‘the arm is lifting up’, etc.). You then realize that you will come to reply to yourselves unconsciously. Exercise 31: Positive suggestions Carry out the two immediately preceding exercises (i.e. simple self-fascination and “mental suggestions”). Thereafter, in front of a mirror, and after implementing the two previous exercises, you should impart to yourselves a series of positive suggestions.

It is important that, as you put this sequence of exercises into effect, you should adopt the suitable kind of “mental voice”. You must be direct and commanding, and 101

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the tone of your voice ought to ooze confidence. If you so wish, you might make use of the following exercise in order to improve the tone of your voice. Exercise 32: Aimed at attaining confidence in one’s tone of voice Say something which you are utterly certain of (for example, ‘I am ... (your own name)’, or else, ‘I live in (your street)’. Take notice of the tone of voice which you are mentally going to use.

By working on your own selves, you will be able to discern the different impact which the look might exercise. Slowly, you will develop a better understanding of the dynamics of fascination even as they apply to other persons in whose company you happen to be, since you will become aware of the different states through which you are going to pass, and are accordingly going to comprehend that such states might belong to the people you are going to captivate. The three-stage dynamics of persuading yourselves through self-fascination

One way which has been indicated to us by our master Virgilio includes the method of giving oneself a series of mental suggestions by facing a mirror and making use of the so-called “three-phase dynamics": •

On the first occasion, give yourselves suggestions by utilizing the pronoun “I”

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•

During the second stage, give yourselves suggestions by making use of the pronoun “you”

•

In the third and last instance, give yourselves suggestions by using the pronoun “he”

This sequence of passages from a perceptive position to another might occasion a much more immediate absorption of the suggestions you send out.

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Use of the light Let us mention at last a particularly pleasant exercise which is called “taking the sun into the Saturn”. This exercise is going to augment your presence and will have the effect of making you more stable, calm and able to act. What we mean in this context by “Saturn” is the top part of the head (the higher chakra in the Indians’ nomenclature). The ancient researchers, in fact, had detected a correspondence between such point and the related region of the skull. The mythological aim is to enable Saturn to be reborn as god of “the golden epoch”53, that is, for your body to be enlivened by a sensation of inner light. Exercise 33 Look at some light. Close your eyes and then gaze firmly at the top area of the skull, at the same time bringing the eyes into a position of ocular convergence. Through experience, you will discover that there is a point where, aside from the residual luminous trace, you can at some stage discern the development of a sensation of inward luminosity, as well as a profound inner calm.

Meditation carried out on a source of light, followed by visualizing its image while we are in a state of ocular convergence, assists the distribution of the luminous spectrum across the body, thereby energizing the different areas thereof. It further engenders harmony 53

Cf. Evola, “The Hermetic Tradition”.

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between body, mind and soul, since both the hemispheres are energized. In the course of our meditation on the light, we should think that light is magnetic, and that it represents a source of power. It ensues from it that working with a source of light is both energizing and tranquillizing 54.

54 The concept of light as an element which fortifies magnetism is encountered in Maxwell: “Spiritus vitalis in consideratus partes heterogeneas non habet, sed totus ubique lucis instar sibi simillimus. c. 11 concl. 10”.

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APPLICATIONS OF FASCINATION TO HYPNOTIC PRACTICE Hypnotic fascination and Instant Hypnosis

Through the use of fascination, one can produce a high state of receptiveness which is geared towards a subsequent actualization of hypnotic phenomena or towards paving the way for some lethargy-type hypnosis where the subject appears “to be sleeping” That is not all, however. Some people believe, in so doing following Braid’s view, that the eyes represent no more than two shining points which entice the subject’s attention. The truth is that the effect produced by the eyes is far more extensive than the mere observation of a physical object. What one is in fact dealing with is a state on its own. In the past, the state of fascination, which is not recognized as being a distinct state by many authors, has been also referred to by the phrases “state of credulity” and “suggestions while the eyes are wide open”. If we proceed to analyze it, nevertheless, we will realize that we are dealing with a phenomenology which is quite detached from the idea of hypnosis that is ordinarily linked to sleep and which, in the view of some people, is a “cultural construct”. Energy

The most widespread hypnotic techniques in use at present are verbal. If, by contrast, you choose to utilize 106

fascination in hypnosis, you will not be restricted to operating at a psychological level in a traditional way, but you will further operate through the medium of energy and through presencing. "Hypnotic fascination" establishes a link with the power of the present moment, and with the energy we might be able to perceive in the moment of the now. Exercise 34 Being in the present. Try and be in the present. Apply a sensory methodology: Be consciously aware of your body and your sensations. FEEL your being in the particular environment you find yourself in. If you do as we have suggested, you will notice that, as you pursue such a practice, you will develop a specific energetic sensation. The practice further shows that, even in order to effectively practice hypnotic fascination, believing in the idea of energy or fluid might prove beneficial. At the beginning, this consists mainly in having a receptive frame of mind. As one delves deeper into it, this mode of thinking opens itself up to the possibility of a communication which additionally takes place at levels differing from the immediately perceptible ones. Exercise 35 Create an energetic image. Observe one point on the wall and imagine yourself capable of hurling small arrows in the direction of that point (Do not move your eyelids). You will eventually discern that this exercise helps you intensify your volition. What is essentially necessary is the idea that our thought and our speech might impact on those around us, and in any event exercise an influence on the flow of their thoughts. As a way of helping you evolve such a state of being, it would be useful to observe that, irrespective of anything else, this concept likewise represents simple healthy psychology. 107

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Indeed, thinking that we are able to transmit some energy places our whole body and spirit in a state of favourable mental predisposition. Quantic dynamics might offer an explanation for that. If we adopt such a vision, in fact, we realize how it is perfectly possible for a correspondence between our mental images and the reality which surrounds us to exist. Let us now make mention of some practical exercises wherein fascination is conjoined to hypnosis. The first such exercise might be carried out before any one else. It is also given the name of “establishing a contact on the subject”. 55 Exercise 36 Keep standing up in front of the subject who is seated, and look at his eyes fixedly and yet with sweetness: Your feet will have to graze his, and your knees will have to touch his. You will hold his wrists with your hands. Eventually, your will has to turn active: «I establish my ascendancy on this person, I saturate him with my only influence; I want him to perceive my influence distinctly; he will have to obey my injunctions, etc». It is not a case of whispering these formulas, which have nothing intrinsically «Kabbalistic» about them, and which do not possess any power per se. Rather, it is an issue of forcibly exalting your spirit by representing to yourself whatever the words you have pronounced signify. Depict in your mind an image of the subject being pervaded by an irresistible hegemonic force. Have an anticipated perception of how the subject is eventually going to be, once he has turned into a

55 Cf. “Practical hypnotism”, published by Hermes. It is a booklet from the 30’s which can be obtained from the author of this book.

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passive recipient of your suggestions. Firmly retain this mental representation.

If we desire this exercise to have positive results, you ought to resolve on the fact that since the beginning of your experiences, you are going to exert yourself in an energy-related effort, and you are going to accompany the external procedures by an intense inner will56. All of that should by no means impact on your outside: You should on the contrary retain your calmness, fully in charge of your own self. When the will truly originates in the depth of consciousness, it not only avoids being translated into restless agitation, but also manifests along with an impeccable self-control. Fascination and hypnotic Attraction

It is possible to operate purely through the look by leading your subject to emulate your gestures, alternatively to remain glued to your eyes. Thus is the phenomenon of the “invincible hypnotic attraction”. As an ancient author says: “As you look at the subject brusquely and from a very close distance, you should advise him to stare at you as fixedly as possible. In that manner, you shall attain the so-called appropriation of the gaze. Very soon, the look of the person who is susceptible of being captivated attaches itself to yours and no longer moves away from it. The subject then follows your look everywhere: By you 56 Refer to what has already been stated with regard to the energy of the Aries . This is in fact the attitude one should have.

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stepping back, he moves forward, and by you stepping ahead, he moves back. If you bend lower, he lowers his position, just as he rises the moment you stand up. Some people will imitate the whole range of your gestures, and execute all the suggestions you would like to impose on them without them retaining any memory that it is you who issued those suggestions. By repeated attempts which you are going to make on the sane subject, the state of fascination will alight at him with growing intensity, and susceptibility to suggestions will be enhanced. In order to bring this state to an end, all you need to do is to blow into the eyes of the subject. By placing one hand in front of the eyes of a charmed person and by directing him onto another individual, the subject is going to attach himself ineluctably to the look of such third party. In order to achieve the state of fascination more easily, the operator might keep his own hands horizontally and let the subject lay his hands over them, coupled with the recommendation to the subject to press as strongly as he possibly can”57. Other Methods

Virgilio’s Method: The essential element is to observe the person. The facial tension reveals the effort one makes in the process of transmission. The whole body gets into a state of tension, into a total effort of 57 Cf. Jean Filiatre, “L’Ipnotismo Illustrato”, which we have made available to the public at the following website address: http://www.pnlnlp.org/courses/ebooks/page.php?pid=46&bid=46&pageid=617

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transmission, until one’s breathing nearly comes to a halt. Asymmetrical hypnosis by looking through one eye only. Lastly, it is possible to deepen hypnosis by exerting pressure on the ocular globes, inasmuch as such movement directly acts on the vagus nerve and on the parasympathetic nervous system. The compression of the ocular globe generates a slowing of the wrist, due to an ocular-cardiac reflection. If, therefore, we press on one eye while we stare at the subject from the other eye, we will occasion the so-called “asymmetrical hypnosis”, namely, a state of hypnosis which is different for the two halves of the body.

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Various methods of staring at the subject for the sake of hypnosis Methods based on a fixed look

The central look: Among the methods of fixing one’s look on the subject, the most common one is the look directed to the centre, between the eyes 58. Look through one eye only: As for the Baron of Reichenbach, he had noticed how fixing the left eye on the operator’s right eye was particularly effective 59. The very same method is suggested by Eliphas Levi. Ormond Mc Gill, too, reports a similar methodology 60. Backward look: Yet another efficacious method consists in staring at the back of a person61. Methods that adopt a look in motion

The methods using motion are of very ancient origin. The eyes might even tremble, which is a phenomenon the ancient people termed “equi effigie” (image of a horse) so as to indicate the rapid motion like the one which a horse This is the most common method. In Reichenbach’s view, the right eye was charged with negative Od (which was Reichenbach’s own name for energy), while the left eye was charged with positive Od (Cf. Reichenbach, “Odische Briefe”, at pp. 158-9). 60 Cf. Ormond Mac Gill, “Secret of stage hypnotism”. 61 By doing so, they accordingly become divergent in relation to the face. We likewise have a vast literature on divergent eyes. This is Atkinson’s method, which is called “Mental Fascination”. 58 59

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engages in 62. Pliny, indeed, recounts the fact that some nations hypnotize whilst having an “image of a horse” in their pupils. Such an interpretation is corroborated by Seligmann 63, who was a professional ophthalmologist. Seligmann observes that, in Greek, “Hyppos”, i.e. the word for “horse”, was in fact the noun by which the ancient Greeks used to call the nystagmus. Even among the Assyrians, the power of the eyes was linked to their motion 64. Rotational look: Erminio from Pisa used to rotate the eyes in connection with divergent strabismus. Look based on a horizontal movement: Prof. Hoehn advices the operator to look to the right and the left of the subject’s nose “depending on what is most suitable”. The way the eyes should be kept

An effective method is to keep one eye more open than the other 65. 62 There were however some people who, due to translationinduced problems, believed that the image of a horse was truly present. 63 Cf. Seligmann, op. cit. 64 The Assyrian word to denote “evil eye” is “i-nu li-mut-tu”. Its literal translation means “the rotational movement of the eyes” (Cf. Lehmann, “Abergl”, 41, 1898 edition, as quoted by Seligmann on page 231). 65 This is Virgilio’s method. Eyes have in fact different powers. After all, the concept of different degrees of ocular opening is present in many traditions. According to Naphtali Katz, a scholar of the Talmud, an eye desiring to make an impact must necessarily be closed. If the eyes are both open, in fact, there is balance and man is

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE Pupil

Even the dilated pupil (mydriasis) is quite effective when it comes to the purposes sought to be achieved by fascination. This method, too, is an ancient one that is probably quoted by Pliny, who refers however to people with a “double pupil”. Given that having a “double pupil” is a most rare genetic anomaly, we deem it more correct to refer such expression to the size of the pupil. Normally, it is possible to notice that, by focusing on the detail, the pupil turns smaller, and that, when strong emotions are experienced, the pupil widens. White part of the eyes

The amplitude of the white part of the eyes is likewise an element which facilitates fascination. Eyes are often enlarged during emotional situations. Other aids

The finger: It is very useful to indicate a person with a pointed finger. From a mental point of view, you have to think as if the finger is perforating the subject. Motion of the head: It resembles the way a snake approaches its prey. A method utilized by Virgilio T. consisted in bringing the subject’s face close. By contrast, an image of god, whereas closing one eye alters the balance. This might be the origin of the fear of one-eyed people, which is widespread among several peoples (Arabs or Bulgarians, though similar traditions are present in Veneto as well – Cf. Seligmann, op. cit., at p. 232). Petrarca, too, narrates that as he was staring intensely at his beloved Laura, an arrow was thrown by his right eye.

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at the time of imparting advices, the head then moves away 66. The spiral: Our master Virgilio often looks toward a person and rotates one finger at the level of the third eye. Such practice helps the operator create a bit of confusion, but at the same time it assists one in hypnotizing. In fact Virgilio, who is particularly adept at mental imagination, conjures up in his mind the idea that there is a true spiral rotating in front of him. Exercise 37 Point your finger towards the front of the person you want to hypnotize. Turn that finger clockwise, in so doing imagining that a spiral is rotating as you turn the finger. Thereafter, you should stare at the centre, between the eyes of your subject. As you engage in that, you ought to give one intense look. You will moreover feel that a change has occurred in your subject’s perception. This method is further endowed with a physiological value. Special receptors located in the visual cortex (at the back of the brain), which are called “detectors”, are thus stimulated up to a straining degree. For example, the detectors in charge of the clockwise movement will get tired, and, when you turn to look from a distance at the detectors which are responsible for the opposite (= anti-clockwise) motion, the latter will get into action and thereby create the illusion of an expanding world (or else the illusion of an aura). By virtue of this phenomenon, 66 This is probably the source of the Sicilian tradition according to which the person with a long neck possesses a greater power of fascination (Cf. Seligmann, op. cit.). By drawing close, the subject’s visual field becomes occupied by the charmer’s face, while the outside elements are set at a greater distance due to an ocular effect.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE we encourage consciousness to expand, in an aware fashion, beyond the physical form 67.

The same kind of rotation can be carried out at the level of the various plexuses: The throat, the heart and the epigastrium, with different effects depending on the points that are aimed at. In the field of magnetism, this is considered to be an effective way of assuming control over these areas of the body. Even the so-called “circular magnetic steps” are linked to it.

67 Cf. “Chakra & Kundalini workbook: Psycho-spiritual techniques for health”, by Jonn Mumford.

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Gypsy Hypnosis It us related that the great esoteric practitioner Hanussen, who lived during the age of the Nazi regime, had succeeded in avoiding incarceration simply by looking their jail wardens in their eyes and causing them to turn stupefied 68. At times, fascination might also be utilized for negative and illegal purposes. In Italy, testimonies in that sense date back to the medieval period 69. A similar phenomenon which is widespread nowadays is called “robberies through hypnosis”. In the course of such robberies, the subject is left in a state of passive consciousness, while the fascinator acts without any obstacle. We have gathered various testimonies in that regard. Such phenomenon consists in a specific form of application of fascination. A very peculiar method is what has been reported 68 Herschmann Chaim Steinschneider (1889-1933) acted in the theaters of a large number of European countries (as well as in the Middle East and the United States) under the pseudonym of Erik Jan Hanussen. He enjoyed widespread fame in the 1920’s and 1930’s. A controversial figure, a Jew affiliated to the Nazi party who later converted to catholicism, he personally knew Hitler, who had a good opinion of him, though he foretold the fall of the Third Reich, which was seemingly the reason why he was eventually disposed of. Works of his which have been published in Italian are “Manuale di lettura del pensiero” and “Il mago di Hitler”. 69 Bartolus di Sassoferrato (+1357), one of the most celebrious jurists of the Middle Ages, talks of a witch from Orta di Riparia within the diocesis of Novara, in the process asserting that “this womam was able, with her eye, to cause damage to humans or animals and to kill them”. This represents the first testimony attempting to carry out a juristic analaysis of the effects of the look, one which additionally reveals the existence of an uninterrupted historical continuity as regards the occurrence in some localities of a certain category of events.

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE by the researches conducted by Dr. Tira, which we might legitimately catalogue under the name of “the gypsy woman of Castellamonte”, as they are based on a whole number of testimonies adduced in respect of such character. She would lead a person she targeted, in the space of a few seconds, into a very deep state which she would then exploit in a negative fashion. Her modus operandi consists in drawing close to the subject, seating him in the same way as she sits in front of him, and saying to him, ‘If you so desire, I can read for you your future ... Give me your hand …’. Meanwhile, as she utters those words, she shakes the hand of the person backward and forward, until his hand is left in a raised position (Essentially, therefore, she produces a form of “catalepsy of the arm”, as it would be defined by recourse to hypnotic terms). At the same time, she says the following, ‘Think of something you want to see actualized, either for yourself or for your children …’, followed soon thereafter by the other statement, ‘ Look at me in the eye if you want it to actually occur.’ As she is busy uttering that, the gypsy woman, with the other hand, makes some gestures aimed at drawing attention to her own eyes. At that point, she proceeds by saying, ‘Concentrate’, soon after which she gets up and declares, ‘In the meantime, I am going to get up. As for you, keep on dreaming what you wish to see happening to your children.’ The subject does not stop staring into the void, now plunged into a state of full passive consciousness. This is what allows the gypsy woman to get up and start acting undetected, while she leaves the subject in a state of complete incantation.

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Utilizing the Lexicon of hypnotic fascination: The most classical form of mental fascination is also endowed with its specific lexical quality which is based on mental words and imagery: Modal verbs which are limited to one possible form, such as I ought to. They correspond to a single image. These verbs facilitate the process of charming attraction. In a similar vein, all generalizations help that process. Modal verbs such as «I can», on the other hand, correspond to a plurality of mental images, and they can prove useful in order to break the charming pull of a concept. Leaders have always possessed an ability to make use of such words as «it is necessary» or «we must» in order to arouse a crowd, while they punctuate such process by the escorting use of suitable generalizations. Words of presence: NOW, HERE

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Index PREFACE................................................................................................. 3 FIELDS OF UTILIZATION OF FASCINATION...................................................... 10 THE ART OF CONFERRING FASCINATION ON THE EYES ..................................... 22 I. – FIXITY OF THE LOOK ................................................................ 22 II. – THE RAPIDITY OF THE LOOK ................................................... 30 III. – EXPRESSION OF THE LOOK .................................................... 31 COMPREHENDING OCULAR EXPRESSIONS..................................................... 41 The eyelid ...................................................................................... 42 Methodical study of the expression of the eyes............................ 42 Additional Exercises ...................................................................... 54 UTILIZATION OF FASCINATION IN THERAPEUTIC PRACTICES: THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT BY THE LOOK ............................................................................... 55 The various concentration levels .................................................. 56 CONCENTRATION IN INDIA ....................................................................... 57 Comparison with Western methodologies.................................... 57 Beyond daily “trances” ................................................................. 58 INSTANT FASCINATION ............................................................................ 60 Our further studies ........................................................................ 61 The origin of problems .................................................................. 66 Further comparisons with Eastern techniques.............................. 67 The void ........................................................................................ 68 Mental attitude............................................................................. 68 CHANGE OF THE VISION IN HYPNOTIC STATES AND RELATED THERAPY .............. 70 The Varieties of daily Trance......................................................... 71 The effectiveness of the look-based therapy ................................ 76 Acting on the symptom ................................................................. 77 THE DAILY TRANCE.................................................................................. 80 What is, then, a trance?................................................................ 82 Recapitulation of the most frequent “trances”............................. 82 The role of language ..................................................................... 84 RELATION BETWEEN THE VISION OF THE WORLD AND HYPNOTIC STATES ............ 85 Regression in time (look BEFORE) ................................................. 85

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THE MAGNETIC GAZE Progression in time (temporal pseudo-orientation) (look BEYOND) ............................................................................................................ 87 DISSOCIATION AND HYPER-ASSOCIATION (SMALL PUPIL AND LARGE PUPIL) ...... 91 A method of dealing with Hyper-rationality ................................. 93 Excessive attention to sensations ................................................. 94 Post-hypnotic suggestions (incongruence) ................................... 95 Amnesia (large look) and Hypermnesia (fixed look) .................... 97 Most frequent effects when the pair of them is pervasive in nature: As regards amnesia, memory gaps and erasures of reality; and as regards hypermnesia, hyper-excitation. ................................. 97 Negative hallucination (deflection of the look)............................ 98 Positive hallucination (mydriasis – large pupil) ............................ 99 Temporal distortion (Long time and short time) (Tension and Retention) ......................................................................................... 100 Confusion (strabismus) .............................................................. 100 SELF-FASCINATION .......................................................................... 101 The three-stage dynamics of persuading yourselves through selffascination ........................................................................................ 102 USE OF THE LIGHT ................................................................................ 104 APPLICATIONS OF FASCINATION TO HYPNOTIC PRACTICE .............. 106 Hypnotic fascination and Instant Hypnosis ................................ 106 Energy ......................................................................................... 106 Fascination and hypnotic Attraction........................................... 109 Other Methods............................................................................ 110 VARIOUS METHODS OF STARING AT THE SUBJECT FOR THE SAKE OF HYPNOSIS ... 112 Methods based on a fixed look ................................................... 112 Methods that adopt a look in motion ......................................... 112 The way the eyes should be kept ................................................ 113 Pupil ............................................................................................ 114 White part of the eyes ................................................................ 114 Other aids ................................................................................... 114 GYPSY HYPNOSIS ................................................................................. 117 UTILIZING THE LEXICON OF HYPNOTIC FASCINATION: ................................... 119 INDEX ................................................................................................ 121 WHERE TO LEARN MORE? ...................................................................... 123

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Where to learn more? You can participate in our free course on fascination disponible on our website www.mesmerismus.info Our school organizes periodically training in Mesmerism and Fascination techniques. We do both personal coaching as group training. We call our teaching “Mesmerismus ©”. We invite you to visit us and discover, from the source, this ancient technique. Come Learn real Hypnotism Fascination and Mesmerism in France! What we want to teach you is a large system which connects the inner preparation of the hypnotists and mesmerist to inner rejuvenation techniques that work for strengthening the character. Write us at [email protected] Website: http://www.hypnotisme.com English page at http://www.hypnotisme.com/hypnotisme/hypnotismmesmerism.htm and www.mesmerismus.info

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