From: xwoodvine@netidea.com (Joel) Newsgroups: alt.healing.reiki Subject: Question for James Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 19:11:28 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 18 Message-ID: <3dd15113.33104101@news.netidea.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-461.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.21/32.243 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!enews.sgi.com!logbridge.uoregon.edu!pln-e!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.healing.reiki:1254 Hi, I believe you have studied the work of Franz Mesmer. I don't know much about him and his work and theories, but I wonder if there may be something in it that would be helpful to us Reiki people. Did Mesmer work with a transfer of lifeforce? Did he subscribe to an elan vitale theory? Did he work with the aura, per se, rather than a hands-on-the-body-surface approach? I'd be interested to learn a little. Maybe also you could recommend what you think is the best book on Mesmer and his healing practices. Thanks. Namaste, Joel ###### From: james@fascin8or.freeserve.co.uk (James AETW) Newsgroups: alt.healing.reiki Subject: Re: Question for James Date: 13 Nov 2002 09:02:28 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Lines: 69 Message-ID: <7d74cd4e.0211130902.753b4f22@posting.google.com> References: <3dd15113.33104101@news.netidea.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 195.92.168.169 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1037206948 28162 127.0.0.1 (13 Nov 2002 17:02:28 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 13 Nov 2002 17:02:28 GMT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!fr.clara.net!heighliner.fr.clara.net!proxad.net!proxad.net!news-hub.cableinet.net!blueyonder!newspeer1-gui.server.ntli.net!ntli.net!sn-xit-05!sn-xit-06!sn-xit-04!supernews.com!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.healing.reiki:1270 xwoodvine@netidea.com (Joel) wrote in message news:<3dd15113.33104101@news.netidea.com>... > I believe you have studied the work of Franz Mesmer. I don't know > much about him and his work and theories, but I wonder if there may be > something in it that would be helpful to us Reiki people. > > Did Mesmer work with a transfer of lifeforce? Did he subscribe to an > elan vitale theory? Did he work with the aura, per se, rather than a > hands-on-the-body-surface approach? > > I'd be interested to learn a little. Maybe also you could recommend > what you think is the best book on Mesmer and his healing practices. > Hi Joel, yes I studied Mesmer's work - along with that of other 'Magnetic Healers': Fludd, Gassner, Greatrakes, Maxwell, etc. Mesmer did indeed work with the transfer of 'life force'. Mesmer was a qualified Physician, and he had learnt a method of treating patents with 'lodestones' (naturally occuring magnets) from a Priest (named Hell!), but in time discovered he could achieve the same effects with his 'bare hands', as it were. In essence, Mesmer's 'animal magnetism' as he called it - to distinguish it from 'ferro-magnetism' - was (in the early days at least), akin to modern-day bio-energy healing. Mesmer utilised both 'hands-on' techniques, and also what were then referred to as 'magnetic passes' or sweeps in the patients bio-energetic field. He postulated the existence of an impressionable, intangible 'subtle fluid' (i.e. ether/Qi ) pervading the universe - radiating from every object in the universe in varing degrees. His belief was that this 'subtle fluid'/animal magnetic force could be stored - that a person or thing could be 'charged' with it - and that those with a strong 'charge' could eminate this 'magnetism' so as to effect positive change in other beings. (His theories, I should point out, were heavily influenced by various similar theories that were popular at the time) Many people seem somewhat confused when they find out that Mesmer was essentially a practitioner of 'energy healing'. This is mainly due to the common association of the term 'Mesmerism' with hypnotism, however, what later came to be termed 'hypnotism' (and also 'hypnology') by James Braid, was in fact a 'side effect' of Mesmer's technique. It was one of Mesmers students - the Marquis de Puysegur - who in all probability should get the credit for recognising what would come to be known as the 'Hypnotic trance'. As to books about Mesmer - IMO -go to the source - Mesmers own work: Memoire sur la Decouverte du Magnetism Animal (1779) -Dissertation on the discovery of Animal Magnetism Though, not reading French too well, I was fortunate enough to get hold of a copy of a 1948 English translation: "Animal Magnetism by Mesmer: with an Introductory Monograph by Gilbert Frankau" (Macdonald & Co. Pub. Ltd., London). James ###### From: james@fascin8or.freeserve.co.uk (James AETW) Newsgroups: alt.healing.reiki Subject: Re: Question for James Date: 14 Nov 2002 04:54:40 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Lines: 132 Message-ID: <7d74cd4e.0211140454.14b24ef3@posting.google.com> References: <3dd15113.33104101@news.netidea.com> <7d74cd4e.0211130902.753b4f22@posting.google.com> <3dd28ecf.46862040@news.netidea.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 195.92.168.169 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1037278480 23787 127.0.0.1 (14 Nov 2002 12:54:40 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 14 Nov 2002 12:54:40 GMT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news.stealth.net!news.stealth.net!news-out.visi.com!hermes.visi.com!sn-xit-05!sn-xit-06!sn-xit-04!supernews.com!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.healing.reiki:1289 xwoodvine@netidea.com (Joel) wrote in message news:<3dd28ecf.46862040@news.netidea.com>... > On 13 Nov 2002 09:02:28 -0800, james@fascin8or.freeserve.co.uk (James > AETW) wrote: > > "Animal Magnetism by Mesmer: with an Introductory Monograph by > >Gilbert Frankau" (Macdonald & Co. Pub. Ltd., London). > > > This then is a full treatment of his discoveries, theories, > experience? Joel hi, No, I didn't say that - but it is a good place to start... You might also find the following of interest: It is an extract from The 19th Century "Organon of Medicine" by Samuel Hahnemann, 'The Father of Homoeopathy'. While the book is in fact the core Homoeopathic Medical text, Hahnemann writes the following about Animal- or Mesmero- Magnetism: "Here I would like to mention so-called animal magnetism, or mesmerism (as it should rather be called in gratitude to its originator, Mesmer), which differs in nature from all other medicines. This healing force, which has been frequently foolishly denied or reviled for a whole century, is a marvelous, priceless gift of God to man, by which a well-intentioned man exerts his strong will over a patient with or without touching him, or even at some distance, in such a way that the vital force of the healthy mesmerizer gifted with this power dynamically flows into the patient (as the pole of a strong bar magnet acts on a bar of unmagnetized steel). This healing force acts in different ways: on the one hand it replaces vital force in various places where it is deficient; and on the other hand it drains off, reduces, and more equally distributes it where it has become so strongly concentrated in certain parts that it has caused and sustained vague nervous conditions. It removes the general morbid derangement of the patient's vital principle and replaces it with the mesmerizer's normal one, which acts strongly on him, in such conditions as inveterate ulcers, amaurosis, paralysis of individual limbs, etc. Many sudden cures brought about at all times in history by animal magnetizers gifted with great natural power belong to this category. The most spectacular among them are those rare instances in which a man bursting with vital energy (note: a) uses his extremely strong and benevolent will to transmit human force to the entire organism and revive someone who has apparently been dead for some time - a sort of awakening of the dead of which history gives us many incontrovertible examples. If the mesmerizer of either sex is capable of a benevolent enthusiasm (or even a degenerated form of it, such as bigotry, fanaticism, mysticism, or exaggerated philanthropy) he is all the more able in his charitable self-sacrifice not only to direct his forceful benevolence exclusively to the person needing it but also to concentrate it there and thus sometimes to work apparent miracles. All these ways of practicing mesmerism involve the dynamic influx of a greater or lesser amount of vital energy into the patient and are termed positive mesmerism (Note:b). The way of practicing mesmerism which does the opposite is called negative mesmerism. The passes that are used to awaken a person from sleepwalking belong to this category, as well as all the hand movements called calming and ventilating passes. The most certain and simple of these are passes in negative mesmerism which discharge a surplus of vital energy that has gathered in a single part of the organism of an undebilitated individual: they are effected by a very rapid movement of the outstretched right hand held flat, approximately parallel to the surface of the body, and about an inch above it, going from the top of the head to the tips of the toes (note c). The more rapidly this pass is made, the more strongly it discharges (note d). For example, in the apparent death of a woman, previously healthy, when her menstruation is suddenly suppressed just before its onset by a violent emotional shock, the vital force, probably accumulated in the precordial region, is discharged by such a rapid negative pass and redistributed over the entire organism equally, so that as a rule reanimation immediately ensues (note e). A more gentle, less rapid negative pass can also sometimes relieve the restlessness and anxious insomnia caused by a positive pass that has been made too strongly on a very sensitive individual, etc. This includes to some extent the massage made by a strong and benevolent person on a patient who is slowly convalescing after being cured of a chronic disease and still suffers from emaciation, weak digestion, and lack of sleep. The individual muscles of the limbs, chest, and back are grasped and kneaded with moderate pressure. The vital principle reacts to this, restoring the tone of the muscles and their blood and lymph vessels. Of course the mesmerizing action is the main thing in this procedure, and it should not be overdone in patients who are still psychically oversensitive." Notes a. Especially one of those few who, while being very benevolent and in perfect health, have only very slight sexual desire or none at all. The subtle life energies that are used in all men for the production of semen are abundantly available in them and ready to be communicated by strength of will through touch to others. All the healing mesmerizers I have met have had this peculiar characteristic.) b. When I mention here the decisive, sure healing power of positive magnetism, I certainly do not mean that most deplorable exaggeration of it in which repeated passes are made for a half hour or often, indeed, a whole hour at a time, day after day, to induce in patients who have a weak nervous system that monstrous derangement of the entire being termed clairvoyant trance, a condition in which the person is transported from the world of the senses and appears to belong to the spirit world, a most dangerous and unnatural condition by which people have often tried in vain to cure chronic diseases. c. It is a well-known rule that a person to be mesmerized positively or negatively must not wear silk anywhere on his person; but it is less well known that the mesmerizer can communicate his vital energy more strongly to the patient if he stands on silk than if he stands on the bare floor. d. A negative pass, especially a very rapid one, is in any case extremely harmful to a person who is chronically weak and deficient in vitality. e. A woman who was a self-styled magnetizer made several very strong passes one morning on a robust ten-year-old country boy for some slight indisposition, moving the tips of her thumbs along the lower edge of his ribs from the pit of the stomach to the sides. He immediately became deathly pale and fell into such a state of unconsciousness and motionlessness that he could not by any means be revived and was almost taken for dead. I had his eldest brother make a negative pass on him as rapidly as possible from the top of the head to the feet, and he immediately regained consciousness and was hale and hearty. James. ###### From: xwoodvine@netidea.com (Joel) Newsgroups: alt.healing.reiki Subject: Re: Question for James Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 16:32:51 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 141 Message-ID: <3dd3d022.60280009@news.netidea.com> References: <3dd15113.33104101@news.netidea.com> <7d74cd4e.0211130902.753b4f22@posting.google.com> <3dd28ecf.46862040@news.netidea.com> <7d74cd4e.0211140454.14b24ef3@posting.google.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-976.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.21/32.243 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.belwue.de!news.stealth.net!news.stealth.net!telocity-west!TELOCITY!news-out.spamkiller.net!propagator2-maxim!news-in.spamkiller.net!tethys.csu.net!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.healing.reiki:1279 Thanks, James. J. On 14 Nov 2002 04:54:40 -0800, james@fascin8or.freeserve.co.uk (James AETW) wrote: >xwoodvine@netidea.com (Joel) wrote in message news:<3dd28ecf.46862040@news.netidea.com>... >> On 13 Nov 2002 09:02:28 -0800, james@fascin8or.freeserve.co.uk (James >> AETW) wrote: > >> > "Animal Magnetism by Mesmer: with an Introductory Monograph by >> >Gilbert Frankau" (Macdonald & Co. Pub. Ltd., London). >> > >> This then is a full treatment of his discoveries, theories, >> experience? > >Joel hi, > >No, I didn't say that - but it is a good place to start... > > >You might also find the following of interest: > >It is an extract from The 19th Century "Organon of Medicine" by Samuel >Hahnemann, 'The Father of Homoeopathy'. While the book is in fact the >core Homoeopathic Medical text, Hahnemann writes the following about >Animal- or Mesmero- Magnetism: > >"Here I would like to mention so-called animal magnetism, or mesmerism >(as it should rather be called in gratitude to its originator, >Mesmer), which differs in nature from all other medicines. This >healing force, which has been frequently foolishly denied or reviled >for a whole century, is a marvelous, priceless gift of God to man, by >which a well-intentioned man exerts his strong will over a patient >with or without touching him, or even at some distance, in such a way >that the vital force of the healthy mesmerizer gifted with this power >dynamically flows into the patient (as the pole of a strong bar magnet >acts on a bar of unmagnetized steel). This healing force acts in >different ways: on the one hand it replaces vital force in various >places where it is deficient; and on the other hand it drains off, >reduces, and more equally distributes it where it has become so >strongly concentrated in certain parts that it has caused >and sustained vague nervous conditions. It removes the general morbid >derangement of the patient's vital principle and replaces it with the >mesmerizer's normal one, which acts strongly on him, in such >conditions as inveterate ulcers, amaurosis, paralysis of individual >limbs, etc. Many sudden cures brought about at all times in history by >animal magnetizers gifted with great natural power belong to this >category. The most spectacular among them are those rare instances in >which a man bursting with vital energy (note: a) uses his extremely >strong and benevolent will to transmit human force to the entire >organism and revive someone who has apparently been dead for some time >- a sort of awakening of the dead of which history gives us many >incontrovertible examples. >If the mesmerizer of either sex is capable of a benevolent enthusiasm >(or even a degenerated form of it, such as bigotry, fanaticism, >mysticism, or exaggerated philanthropy) he is all the more able in his >charitable self-sacrifice not only to direct his forceful benevolence >exclusively to the person needing it but also to concentrate it there >and thus sometimes to work apparent miracles. > >All these ways of practicing mesmerism involve the dynamic influx of a >greater or lesser amount of vital energy into the patient and are >termed positive mesmerism (Note:b). The way of practicing mesmerism >which does the opposite is called negative mesmerism. The passes that >are used to awaken a person from sleepwalking belong to this category, >as well as all the hand movements called calming and ventilating >passes. The most certain and simple of these are passes in negative >mesmerism which discharge a surplus of vital energy that has gathered >in a single part of the organism of an undebilitated individual: they >are effected by a very rapid movement of the outstretched right hand >held flat, approximately parallel to the surface of the body, and >about an inch above it, going from the top of the head to the tips of >the toes (note c). > >The more rapidly this pass is made, the more strongly it discharges >(note d). For example, in the apparent death of a woman, previously >healthy, when her menstruation is suddenly suppressed just before its >onset by a violent emotional shock, the vital force, probably >accumulated in the precordial region, is discharged by such a rapid >negative pass and redistributed over the entire organism equally, so >that as a rule reanimation immediately ensues (note e). A more >gentle, less rapid negative pass can also sometimes relieve the >restlessness and anxious insomnia caused by a positive pass that has >been made too strongly on a very sensitive individual, etc. > >This includes to some extent the massage made by a strong and >benevolent person on a patient who is slowly convalescing after being >cured of a chronic disease and still suffers from emaciation, weak >digestion, and lack of sleep. The individual muscles of the limbs, >chest, and back are grasped and kneaded with moderate pressure. >The vital principle reacts to this, restoring the tone of the muscles >and their blood and lymph vessels. Of course the mesmerizing action is >the main thing in this procedure, and it should not be overdone in >patients who are still psychically oversensitive." > >Notes >a. Especially one of those few who, while being very benevolent and in >perfect health, have only very slight sexual desire or none at all. >The subtle life energies that are used in all men for the production >of semen are abundantly available in them and ready to be communicated >by strength of will through touch to others. All the healing >mesmerizers I have met have had this peculiar characteristic.) > >b. When I mention here the decisive, sure healing power of positive >magnetism, I certainly do not mean that most deplorable exaggeration >of it in which repeated passes are made for a half hour or often, >indeed, a whole hour at a time, day after day, to induce in patients >who have a weak nervous system that monstrous derangement of the >entire being termed clairvoyant trance, a condition in which the >person is transported from the world of the senses and appears to >belong to the spirit world, a most dangerous and unnatural condition >by which people have often tried in vain to cure chronic diseases. > >c. It is a well-known rule that a person to be mesmerized positively >or negatively must not wear silk anywhere on his person; but it is >less well known that the mesmerizer can communicate his vital energy >more strongly to the patient if he stands on silk than if he stands on >the bare floor. > >d. A negative pass, especially a very rapid one, is in any case >extremely harmful to a person who is chronically weak and deficient in >vitality. > >e. A woman who was a self-styled magnetizer made several very strong >passes one morning on a robust ten-year-old country boy for some >slight indisposition, moving the tips of her thumbs along the lower >edge of his ribs from the pit of the stomach to the sides. He >immediately became deathly pale and fell into such a state of >unconsciousness and motionlessness that he could not by any means be >revived and was almost taken for dead. I had his eldest brother make a >negative pass on him as rapidly as possible from the top of the head >to the feet, and he immediately regained consciousness and was hale >and hearty. > > > > James.