Customer Reviews

Hypnotism and Mysticism of India

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Being a professional hypnotherapist, with an interest in occultism, yoga, and Hindu philosophy, I had high expectations of this book. Hypnotism was after all practiced in India for thousands of years before it was reintroduced to europe by James Esdaile, a British doctor who had worked in India and employed Indian hypnotists to anaesthetise his patients. However I was very disappointed by this book. Hopefully one day someone will write a useful book about hypnotism in India, but Mr McGill (a stage hypnotist who died in 2005)has not done so.

This book contains a little about hypnotism, a very little about conjuring, and a lot about yoga and occultism. It is a mish-mash of partially-digested information. The author visited India and interviewed a yogi, but appears ignorant of Hindu philosophy which teaches that occult powers are side effects of spiritual development, not something to aim at for their own sake- and certainly not to be used for entertainment.

You would do far better to read books about each specific topic written by genuine experts,such as The Yoga of Power by Julius Evola, books about hypnosis by Erickson, Bandler and Grinder, John Watkins, or even Hartland, and books on magick by Crowley, Dion Fortune, Pete Carroll, Dave Lee, and Phil Hine.

As regards presentation, the book is written in a pretentious style typical of moderately educated people who suppose that using long words and sentences creates an impression of erudition. There are many poor quality black and white illustrations showing tourist attractions, American conjurers, and a few pretty dancing girls. These add nothing to the book.

This is an excellent book. It's an old school book that has much meaning int it.