In my Witches of Griffin series, the sisters are often trying to reach different levels of consciousness to attain a meditative state. Healing temples, similar to those used in the ancient past, are seen in my new release Dimensional Shift. The difference between hypnosis and meditation is that meditation is self-induced with self-awareness, while hypnosis is usually induced by another person. But there’s also self-hypnosis and guided meditations. Meditation is a means to reach a hypnotic state. I underwent a past-life regression and after-life regression through hypnosis some years back. I will place a link below to my article sharing this experience.
Millions of people around the world use meditation and hypnosis. The practices are said to have medical and therapeutic benefits. Meditative practices can be found in nearly every religion and reach back to the ancients.
Throughout the majority of written history, people have strived to reach a trance-like state through chanting, drum beats, the laying of hands on a person, priests, and shamans all in an effort to induce catalepsy of the body. Using hypnosis as a way to heal a person dates back to the ancient Egyptian priest, Imhotep. The ancient Egyptians used healing sanctuaries called “Sleep or Dream Temples,” where the sick were put in a trance-like sleep. The priests and priestesses would interpret the person’s dreams to find out what ailed them and how to cure them. The Egyptians worshiped priest Imhotep, and many of the sleep temples were dedicated to him. Imhotep was the physician vizier, architect, and priest to Pharaoh Zoser (2650-2590 B.C.). He also built the step pyramid. The sleep temples were used as a therapeutic tool and served people looking for psychological help.
During the 5th and 4th centuries B.C., the Greeks utilized sleep temples for healing dedicated to the god Asclepius. At the peak of the cult of Asclepius power, there were 420 temples reaching across the ancient Greek empire. The healing occurs while the person is in a trance-like state, usually brought about by the priest chanting. A person could be kept in this state for three days (called incubation), during which the priests try to help the person deal with their dreams and reach the Creator for healing. People looking for help from one of these temples were called seekers. They seek insight for a problem, an ailment, or an inner quest. During incubation, the seeker awakens to their true self, feeling rejuvenated physically, mentally, and spiritually. Over time, the priests moved away from suggestion therapy and dream interpretation in the temples and began to focus on herbs to develop medicines.
The ancient Hebrews would chant and use breathing exercises to reach a meditative state, while focusing on the Hebrew letters that spelled God to induce an ecstasy state called Kavanah. “Kavanah is a theological concept in Judaism about a worshiper’s state of mind and heart, his or her sincerity, devotion, and emotional absorption during prayers.”
The Romans utilized healing temples throughout the empire dedicated to the god Apollo. The Romans brought sleep temples to Britain. The remains of a Roman sleep temple can be found at the archeology site at Lydney Park in Lydney, Gloucestershire, England.
In ancient India, the Sanskrit book, The Law of Manu, describes different levels of hypnosis.
During the middle ages, kings and princes were believed to hold the power to heal through their touch. Swiss physician Paracelsus began to use magnets for healing instead of divine touch or a holy relic. By the 18thcentury, this form of healing was still used when Maximillian Hell, a Jesuit priest and Royal Astronomer of Vienna, became famous for healing with magnetized steel plates on the body. One of Hell’s students was Frans Mesmer.
Frans Anton Mesmer, an 18thcentury German physician, theorized the existence of a transference of energy between animated and inanimate objects, which he called animal magnetism, commonly referred to as mesmerism, now a synonym for hypnosis. Mesmer discovered that he could induce a trance without magnets, and he treated patients by touching their knees to his while pressing the patient’s thumbs in his hands and staring into the patient’s eyes. This process could last hours. In 1784, King Louis XVI appointed four Faculty of Medicine members to investigate animal magnetism practiced by D’Eslon. The four Faculty of Medicine men hired five additional commissioners from the Royal Academy of Sciences. By the end of the investigation, Mesmer was driven into exile, but his student, Armand-Marie-Jacques de Chastenet, Marquis de Pusegur, continued the practice with many followers until his death.
Many pioneers of psychology studied hypnosis, including Freud, Charcot, Bernheim, and Liebeault. Freud began practicing hypnosis in 1887, which was critical to his invention of psychoanalysis. Hypnosis went on to be used for anesthesia in the 1840s and 1850s. A Scottish surgeon performed over 2,000 minor and 345 major operations using hypnosis.
Scottish ophthalmologist James Braid is considered the father of modern hypnotism. He ridiculed the ideas of the Mesmerists and was the first to suggest that hypnosis was psychological. He’s also the first practitioner of psychosomatic medicine.
In the 1800s, America became interested in the metaphysical, psychic, and spiritual phenomena, which spurred different healing movements. Although hypnosis was seen at tent shows and used as entertainment, scientific and academics investigation continued. In the 20thcentury, Clark Hull, an experimental psychologist at Yale University, advanced hypnosis research and published Hypnosis and Suggestibility.
During WWI and WWII, hypnosis was used for the rapid treatment of injuries or trauma. Since then, hypnosis has been approved by the major medical and psychological organizations in America, Great Britain, and Canada. Hypnosis remains a subject of scientific study.
Hypnosis, or the ability to reach a trance-like state, has been around since ancient times and is still utilized worldwide. As scientific and medical research continues, there is growing evidence to suggest that hypnosis has a more significant influence on the effects of pain and may reduce stress, relieve anxiety, improve sleep, improve mood, and enhance the efficacy of other pain treatments. People in a trance-like state have focused attention, heightened suggestibility, and vivid fantasies.
To read about my hypnosis experience: https://lahilden.com/past-life-regression/
A special thank you to: https://www.markbowden.com/difference-hypnosis-meditation/,https://www.cuyamungueinstitute.com/articles-and-news/hypnosis-in-ancient-civilizations/,http://johnmongiovi.com/pages/history-hypnosis,https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/treatments/hypnosis-tool-pain-management
