KS&L 399: The Stage Hypnotist by Tina Erwin

       Lots of people have seen a hypnotist use his or her skill to hypnotize an entire stage full of people. It’s considered ‘entertainment’.       

       Is stage hypnotism safe? Can something bad happen to you after you participate on stage in such a scenario? Perhaps first we need to ask what is hypnotism?

       The word hypnotism is derived from the Greek word ‘hypnos’ which means sleep. The use of hypnotism dates back to the early Egyptians and the Greeks. In essence hypnosis means that an individual is totally engrossed within him or herself, and time, place and relevance stop functioning. He or she is literally ‘asleep’ to life around them. Technically individuals can hypnotize themselves, by becoming completely carried away with a project, a book, a situation to the total exclusion of everything else. The person forgets to eat, to sleep, or take care of the normal things in life. We have all seen this.

       Professional hypnotherapists use the tool of hypnotism to help an individual to resolve an issue from childhood, to quit smoking, to resolve a fear or an obsession. These examples would surely be ways of seeking to control the mind from taking specific actions or to take a specific action. Either way, the hypnotherapist is accessing the person’s subconscious mind to influence that person’s behavior for the foreseeable future. In many life-changing cases, the effects of hypnotherapy sessions are permanent and they are intended to be that way.

       If hypnotism were indeed, an exceptionally powerful form of mind control for therapeutic purposes, then why would anyone choose to use it for entertainment? What’s funny about seeing a group of people on a stage quack like a duck, cluck like a chicken, and/or stand on one leg all at the command of the stage hypnotist? Is this a function of people being absolutely fascinated by how one person who can have total control over another person or group? Is this dangerous?

       Perhaps the larger question is how does anyone at a performance of a stage hypnotist know for sure that the people on stage are not permanently connected to the commands of the hypnotist on a very subtle level?

       What’s more, how does anyone at a performance of a stage hypnotist know for sure that the people in the audience are not permanently connected to the commands of the hypnotist on that same subtle level?

       The answer is: none of them really know whether or not they are permanently connected to the commands of the hypnotist. The only person who will know for sure who is and who is not connected is the hypnotist and this ‘entertainer’ won’t reveal what he is really doing or how he does what he does.

        This issue is so serious that over the last several hundred years both in this country and in Great Britain there have been several court cases brought against stage hypnotists. The issue revolved around the hypnotist accessing a person’s subconscious mind. The cases, while mostly unsuccessful in proving harm by the hypnotist, did in fact highlight the dangers inherent in such ‘performances.’ The victims were desperate to prove that after the supposed ‘performance’ by the hypnotist, they were never the same. Since you cannot technically prove mind control, the cases against the magicians, (oops!) stage hypnotists were dismissed.

       Modern day Russia was beset by hypnotists* who could literally hypnotize a person on the street in seconds. The individual would then seemingly willingly empty his or bank account and hand it over to this perfect stranger. When the stranger vanished, the person had no memory of what had happened. Was this mind control taken to an extreme level?

       From a legal and practical view, it is extremely difficult to prove harm by any licensed or entertainment hypnotist. Why bring this up at all?

       The reason this issue is of critical importance revolves around the concept of ‘mind control.’ Yes, one person’s mind can control another person’s mind and this control can exist for a very, very long time. The term Mesmerized came from a famous scientist Franz Mesmer whose studies with patients were amazing. He cold throw them into trances – literally ‘mesmer’-izing them. Did Hitler play with mind control as well? Could this be how he managed to get an entire population to seek to destroy an entire race of people? It is well documented that Hitler sought to use every tool that the occult sciences of dark magic had to offer. Was mind control one of them?

       This issue is of critical importance when it comes to children and teenagers. Adults have few if any defenses against a seasoned hypnotist. Children and teens have none. Their minds are wide open. It is exceptionally arrogant to think that you can outfox a fox and many of the stage hypnotists are simply that.

       The bottom line is that if you are faced with being entertained by a stage hypnotist, ask your higher self if this is in your highest and best good. More than likely the answer will be a resounding no! No one ever checks the credentials of any stage hypnotist. No one ever questions that person's ethics. No one verifies that this person has 'unhypnotized' everyone present.
        In any case, you know you will be safer leaving the venue than remaining and risking even a subtle level of mind control.  It is also critically important to share this information with your teenagers. Remind them to leave any venue with a stage hypnotist. Don't ever let anyone have access to 'playing' with the inner reaches of your mind!     

* Hypnotism in Russia a street-crime weapon? By Kim Murphy for the Los Angeles Times http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002166501_hypnotic01.html