Hypnosis: Ancient Times to the Start of Mesmerism

Imhotep himself, over the following centuries and indeed, millennia, came to be regarded as something of a demigod in his own right and the practices he helped devise survived within the Ancient Egytian culture for two thousand years. The name Imhotep may well be familiar to you from another source as the character of an Ancient Egyptian priest of that same name, Imhotep, was recently used in the Hollywood blockbuster “The Mummy”. As is perhaps not unusual in such cases involving the Hollywood film industry, historical accuracy gave way somewhat to the more melodramatic tendencies of this particular form of film making…

During the Ptolemaic period of Egyptian culture the Greeks took many of the ideas of that culture and brought them to Europe. Sleep temples were one such idea. This time, rather than being under the auspices of Imhotep it was the greek God Aesclepius who was to be the figurehead. At their height there were over 400 of these sleep temples spread around the Greek empire. In these temples a similar process was adhered to whereby the Greek priest would use incantations relevant to their own culture to place the subject into the requisite receptive state of mind.

Remarkable cures were often recorded including the case of one man blind in both eyes who had been discouraged by the priests themselves, believing his case to be insoluble. Upon entering the appropriate state the blind man dreamt of the Gods applying a poultice of herbs to his eyes. Lo and behold, and to the amazement of all involved, upon awakening the man could see again. to Many such amazing cures were recorded and often displayed on Stele outside the temple to enlighten and attract any who were drawn to such curative possibilities.

In Israel the ancient Hebrews used a form of trance which involved fixing the attention on the Hebrew letters of the alphabet that spelt out the name of God. By fixating attention on these letters, using breathing exercises and a form of rhythmic chanting a state of ecstasy could be induced, known as Kavanah. In many ways these practices were a form of auto hypnosis or self hypnosis. Indeed, even today, if one were to visit the wailing wall in Jerusalem, one could see many examples of devotees entering a form of trance as they nod rhythmically and chant quietly towards the western wall of the old temple.

Unfortunately, with the dominance of Christianity for the next thousand years in Europe, many of these practices were lost to western man and the revival of hypnosis had to await until the late 1700’s and the arrival of one Franz Anton Mesmer. Somewhat ironically, given what we have just said about the repressive effects of Christianity, it was a Christian meeting that first alerted Mesmer to the possibilities of healing through trance. The meeting was conducted by a Father Gassner who held the belief that the people who came to see him with various problems were, at base, displaying the symptoms because they were possessed by the devil.

His meetings were somewhat similar to a modern stage hypnotist’s, he would tell the sufferers that when they were touched by his gold crucifix they would find themselves collapsing to the floor, which they promptly did. Whilst in this state they were instructed to await his instructions which were blunt and somewhat direct viewed from modern a modern perspective. Amazingly, at the culmination of his performance, his patients were told to die no less! Apparently, a physician who was there to observe events would feel no pulse, hear no breathing and so, to the observer, would appear to be dead. The demons would then be ordered to depart from the patient who would then miraculously be revived, often cured of their problem.

Mesmer looked on at this phenomenon from the scientific perspective of his time and believed he was able to see into the very heart of these strange happenings. Thus the story of modern day hypnosis began.