Crop Circle Experiment Update

Preliminary results are in on the crop circle experiment. I described this experiment in a previous post (see link: http://thecosmicbridge.blogspot.com/2009/07/crop-circle-parapsychology-experiment.html).

Mike picked one of five unmarked envelopes at the July MN MUFON meeting and gave the sealed envelope to Margaret.

The design picked was #3.
Results: One crop circle was laid down on July 22 in the UK that comes somewhat close to the selected picture. It has an overall resemblence to the design, though the detail within the triangle is nothing like the design chosen. -- I'd give it about a 3 out of 10... :-)

I have attached a link to the ppt file containing all of the designs as follows:
http://home.comcast.net/~lang.craig/cropcircles1.ppt

Here is a link to the page describing the circle on CropCircleConnector.com:
http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2009/Woodborough/Woodborough2009.html

IMHO not toooo bad for a first cut at an experiment like this.

The rules of the school.

My own work of hypnotherapy and hypnosis in my work toward healing and understanding of the Human-Visitor relationship has just taken a giant new step.

I just got done with my free repeat of the training in 5-PATH® hypnotherapy and the 7th Path Self Hypnosis® technique - a combination that I will refer to as the "path methodologies." I have a lot of very, very positive things to say about this set of techniques. Since I have adopted them, I have found that clients have been increasingly successful in resolving the issues they have come to see me for.

In addition, I am once again reminded of what an excellent teacher Susan is. She is a superb teacher at multiple levels and I would recommend her to anyone wanting to learn the path methodologies. Susan teaches the them as originally developed by Cal and Maureen Banyan. She complies closely to the guidelines they set for teaching and practicing these methodologies. And one of the things she stressed was how the founders heavily frown upon deviations from the original methodology. More on this later...

There are many differences between the training I took from Kevin Hogan ten years ago, and what I've learned from Susan. Both have been excellent teachers, and while Kevin is no longer teaching hypnotherapy certification (he now teaches persuasion techniques par excellence), Devin Hastings has effectively picked up his teaching work. The biggest difference is that when I took my original certification classes ten years ago, Kevin taught the ability to conduct a complete piece of therapy from start to finish in one session. The class was heavily focused on practical work in real situations and by the time you got done with the class, you had some real experience dealing with real issues.

In classes with Cal/Susan, it was deliberately stressed - we are not doing hypnotherapy here. When practicing regression, one did not go back on difficult times, only happy ones. While this does give one practice in the mechanics of hypnotic regression, it does not give the context of being able go back on an issue. One doesn't develop the ability to use the many reframing techniques available with hypnotic regression. At the conclusion of the class, I noted that the beginning students still needed to get the feel of the full session, the context of each step within the whole process, something that they had a clearer picture of in my original training.

The downside of my original training of ten years ago was that while one understood the context of each activity within the hypnotherapy process, the methodology, itself, was single-session oriented. For small pieces of work, this was great. However for larger work, I found it didn't emphasize the strategy of work over multiple sessions, following that strategy from benchmark to benchmark, start to finish.

The beauty of the path methodologies is that at any stage of the game, you always know where you are. At the core is a five-phase process, beginning with the pretalk and interview, then hypnotic regression and reframing, followed by forgiveness of others and self (chair therapy), concluding with parts mediation work. While I believe that there is sometimes too much emphasis on the strict order of phases and rules within each phase, this sequence works well 99% of the time. Upon adopting this framework, I found that most areas of my work have become easier and more effective.

Along with this is the emphasis on self-hypnosis and meditation called The 7th Path®. I've found this to be extremely effective, both for myself and for my clients. So I heartily recommend it - as usual, with a few caveats. The biggest caveat I've noted is that there are quite a few rules associated with it and, while I've tended to take these with a grain of salt, the originators of the path methodologies are quite adamant that the rules be followed. On this point, I have sometimes needed to turn the other cheek. In addition, the originators have tended to be quite proprietary about practice of this teachnique.

I won't go into details on specific quibbles, as there are a fair number of minor issues involved. I will simply suggest that the difference between spirituality and religion is that in my view, spirituality focuses on metaphysical concepts and experiences. It is generally deeply intuitive, and is largely about relationships between the individual and the Higher Power.
Meanwhile, in religion, the spiritual aspects can become bounded by rituals, icons, rules and leaders. In extreme cases, the rules may become the complete focus, and failure to follow these will result in negative consequences. This is what I picture as fundamentalism and, at its worst, the cult.

As I conduct path work with clients, I think alot about this. How much latitude does the hypnotherapist have with these methodologies? Which rules are important and which can be treated as softer guidelines? In my case, I try to stay out of the orbit of any particular school or teacher, so I feel freer to adapt any particular tool in my toolbox to fit the situation. But for anyone who does this, I suggest being very circumspect when talking with the teacher of that particular methodology. The teacher is often very focused on teaching the methodology and so, for very good reason, the purity of that methodology may be quite important to him/her.

In any technique or spiritual path, there are many tradeoffs. In study of several hypnotherapy and meditation traditions, I have now seen the similarities and differences, along with the balances inherent in each. And in each, I have found a similar/analogous yet widely varying combination of strengths and issues.

In the realm of healing and metaphysical study there are truly many techniques, traditions and beliefs. And with these come a host of schools, rules and paths. In traveling one's own path, each seeker and healer must understand how each school relates - how each affects their own path, their relationship to their world and Higher Being. What is their own latitude of practice, and how strongly should they adhere to the rules of the school.

Lights and Numbers on the Range

In recent "tweets", I mentioned the lecture I was presenting on the Minnesota Iron Range, at the Gilbert, MN public library. I just got back from that talk, today, and like most talks, I discussed the topic of UFOs and abduction as well as listened to some very interesting comments in return.

I've always been told that the "rangers," the folks living on the iron range, are pretty quiet and reserved. That seemed to be the casewhen I asked my usual questions at the start of the lecture:
- How many have seen something in the sky that they could not explain?
- How many have had some kind of experience that they couldn't explian?

A few people raised their hands, very furtively, when I asked the first question. Usually, when I ask this question, number of people raising their hand is about ten percent of those present. However, this time I found much less response. In addition, among a few of those with "non-raised" hands, I could sense a moment of indecision - to raise their hand or not? I suspected there was alot more to some of their biographies than I saw during the show of hands (or lack thereof).

One exception to the lack of response was a person sitting in the front row who, when I asked if anyone had seen something unusual, quickly told about her sighting on a road deep in the north woods. She described seeing a bright light in front of her, a flash, then it was gone. She asked the general question of what she had seen and my response was that, from what she had described, it was pretty clearly an unknown. Unfortunately, she had to leave before the end of my talk, so I never got the chance to talk with her further. My bet is that there was considerably more to that event than was first described.

When I asked the second question, I got essentially no response - not entirely unusual for such a powerful event and conservative audience. However, I also noted the looks on a couple of peoples' faces. I noted that a few people shifted in their chair when the topic of alien abduction first came up in the lecture. My bet is that, similar to some other public talks I've given, a number of those present were unaware experiencers. They had probably seen or experiencd something that they wouldn't describe in public - if indeed, they had little much of any conscious memory of it. Perhaps there was only a sense of mystery pervading their lives.

I gave my talk, covering material similar to that which I have covered in other talks, with some material added describing some more recent encounter reports. I concluded with some speculative comments on where we are in UFO/CE4 research - which in my view, is not very far at all. I described a couple of the leading theories and then concluded the talk, opening the floor for questions.

There were a number of general questions about the phenomenon - what is it, who are the entities behind it, etc., interesting questions for which in many cases, the answer is not known. Several questions were from people who seemed to know quite a bit about the phenomenon, while most didn't seem to know much at all about the state-of-the-topic on UFOs. At one point, I asked how many people had seen pictures of "grays" or other reported alien beings and most indicated that they had not. This was a bit surprising to me, as I thought the "gray head" was pretty much of a ubiquitous symbol in our society. In retrospect, a picture of the typical alien-face might have been useful. Apparently, not everyone folows the UFO literature - hmmm, go figure.... :-)

After the talk, several people from the audience came up to buy a copy of The Cosmic Bridge. I got to talking with several of them and learned that about three people (out of the 20 or so attendees) had definitely experienced something unusual, while another told me that a friend had had a solid history of paranormal experiences in their family line and also had a child that matched the classic description of an Indigo child.

Ultimately, the numbers matched up - sort of. Over 10 percent had seen something worth mentioning to me in relative privacy. Of these, maybe ten percent were experiencers. Another example of the typical numerical rule of thumb: 10% of all people are sighting witnesses, and of these 10% have had close encounter experiences.

So in the end, I got to meet some interesting folks, hear about a number of peoples' experiences and learn a few things myself. It was an evening of lights and numbers on the Range...

What to do - a beginning draft of the next CE4 Corner artilce

What to do if you have had a close encounter...

This is an evolving draft of my next article for The CE4 Corner, my series both in the Minnesota MUFON Journal and in my newsletter, News from the Bridge. Please feel free to read it and make comments if you wish. Please also remember that it is a work in progress. What you see here may not be the final version.

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The closing days of the National Guild of Hypnotists convention, followed by the flight home, have given me a little while to reflect on the work of the last year. Of this, I've noted that some of the most challenging and interesting work has continued to involve helping clients to come to terms with close encounters with the unexplained. Another thing I've noted is that those who have contacted myeslf or other researchers seem to be only a small fraction of the total number of experiencers. For every encounter experiencer that comes into my studio, there are untold more that never seek help. Among those, perhaps some of them never tell anyone what they have experienced, instead bearing the weight on their solitary shoulders.

I've written in past articles about the challenge of the healers' doorway. How to get help if you find that you need it. But if something happens to you, what is the first thing you should do? Whom can you tell and whom can you trust? What help is available?

In an earlier article entitled What to do, I described some suggestions of what someone can do in the event of a UFO sighting. I described cases of sightings, distand encounters, and finally close encounters of the first, second and third kind. In each case, the encounter can be thought of as a relationship - increasingly close, the more meaningful and unexplained the sighting is. A close encounter of the fourth kind (CE4) is where an interaction takes place between the entities and the witness in the reality of the phenomenon. A CE4 is no longer simply a sighting but becomes an experience. In such a case, the witness seems to be the focus of the phenomenon.

A possible CE4 experience can be suspected if the following is observed:

1. A diversion of attention toward the phenomenon. This can include the sighting of a UFO, a change in the environment (such as a sudden quietness or sense of unreality), or a change in state of mind (such as the compulsion to pull the car over to the side of the road, or a feeling that for some reason you must go outside).
2. A capture scenario, in which the witness is somehow immobilized, “fetched" by entities, and transported into their domain.
3. A subsequent encounter with the entities in the reality of the phenomenon.
4. A return to the location of the initial encounter - usually after a delay on the order of an hour or two. This may include a discontinuity or ambiguity in your memory of the sighting, where the sequence events may not make sense.
5. An aftermath of possible confusion, and psychological and/or spiritual side effects.

Since events in a CE4 seem to be under the control of the phenomenon it is not overly useful to suggest any procedures for the witness to follow. However, if possible, try to note as much as you can, including the time both before and after the event. Some experiencers have stated that the memory of an event seems to persist for a moment or two after the event. Some have described the memory vanishing in a manner simiar to that of a dream when one awakens in the morning (sometimes, an encounter may be re-enacted in recurring dreams). Thus, it might help, if one notices some suggestion of a close encounter experience, to write down as much as one can as quickly as possible. This can be a matter of instants, so rapidity is vital.

Ultimately, do not try to keep the event to yourself. Instead, if possible, try to inform someone you trust about it. If you feel that some medical symptom may be traceable to the event, contact your health care provider. He/She may or may not be willing to believe your account so you will need to decide how much of your experience you want to share with them. However, it is important to document as rapidly as possible, any medical effect that might be related to the encounter and to obtain treatment for any condition that may have resulted.

In addition, a number of experiencers have told me that they now carry a camera with them, ready to use at all times. Most of the latest model cell phones have built-in cameras, so this may not be as difficult as it once was. However, when something strange and powerful happens, perhaps the initial stages of a close encounter, the challenge is often to remember to use the camera. I have heard many a witness tell me about spectacular encounters - and only after the UFO was long gone did they remember that they had a camera close by. Like any tool, a camera is only useful if one remembers to use it. In the pace of the moment, remembering such a thing may be a tall order, indeed. However, anything that can be recorded is better than nothing...

The close encounter experience can be reality-shattering. In The Cosmic Bridge, I discuss the impact of such an event in the life of the experiencer. It can be easy to feel stuck between worlds, in the abyss between our everyday world and the realm of the Visitors. Perhaps the best thing the experiencer can do is to contact someone who will provide an empathetic ear - accepting their story for what it truly is, their memory of an encounter with the extraordinary. The right hypnotherapist, UFO researcher, or even understanding friend, can help the experiencer to come to terms with their shattered reality.

After a sighting or encounter, if you have memories or feelings possibly related to a CE4, don't try to deny them. Rather, in a way in which you feel comfortable, you may wish to report the event to a trusted UFO researcher. This can be someone from MUFON, ICAR, or another organization or researcher (including myself). In addition, you can contact the National Guild of Hypnotists (603.429.9438) for help in finding a hypnotherapist in your area. The most important criterion is your level of comfort in discussing the event.

For better or for worse, a UFO encounter can be an incredible experience. Hopefully these suggestions offer some guidelines so that an experience can be of less impact to the experiencer and of benefit to the greater UFO research community. Hopefully, with enough data from witnesses and experiencers, this phenomenon can be better understood, and we can add one more piece to the Cosmic Bridge between the human and phenomenal worlds.

NGH - notes from day 3

Last day of the NGH convention, the end of a great weekend.
I learned alot about just about everything in the field in hypnotherapy. In just about every talk I went to, I heard something new, along with a review/reinforcement of what I already knew.

Part of what I learned was about interviewing and sales, the next "opportunity" in my HT path. I went to a couple of talks on the pretalk. One of the things I learned was that the fear of hypnosis and of the process in general may be left. Often people don't realize that they don't understand what it is that they don't understand. During the initial intake interview this may not be noticable but later, when hypnosis begins, it could easily show up as questions and unease - and thus, limitations on the hypnotic process.

So in the morning, we talked alot about how to better explain the hypnosis process, how to ease fears and concerns, how to be increasingly confident. This was one of the most useful series of talks I've been to in a long time. And I think that, for present and future clients, it will be a tremendous boon...

Another talk - probably the most rewarding talk I went to this whole weekend, was the talk by Lee Peletier, on Hypnosis and the Conservative Christian. This directly addressed the issues I described in earlier posts, on confrontation issues with Christians who were afraid of hypnosis.
We discussed how to allay fears about hypnosis being a occult oriented, diabolical, allowing negative influences to attach to the Christian client.

The biggest thing to note was that hyposis is a normal part of the human experience. We each experience hypnosis several times a day - typically once each 90 minute cycle of consciousness. Everybody has daydreams, moment of focus, etc. We all get focused on something like a book, a movie, a television show, a conversation, etc. These are all spontaneous hypnosis events.
Any moment of highway amnesia is also an instance of spontaneous hypnosis. In short, hypnosis is part of everyone's experience.

In addition, Lee pointed out several very good passages in scripture describing stress management. The biggest one is Phillipians 4: 4-9 - which effectively describes stress management using selective focus - one definition of hypnosis. Another is in Romans, 12:9 - love what is good, hate what is evil, which to me, means that the Christian will not accept anything that doesn't pass their own discernment filter. The way Lee put it, Hypnosis has learned alot from the Christian traditions - it's just called a different thing.

In the end, it was a very useful day, full of practical tips, inspiration and ideas.

NGH Day 2 notes

Some brief notes, since it's pretty late - about five minutes to midnite, actually...

Another great day. Lotsa talks on all aspects of the profession.
Went to several talks on marketing, how to update my website and how to use social networks for marketing. Sounds like I'm doing some things right, and have "opportunities" in some areas. Lots of new ideas to mull over and filter through.

Also went to a couple of talks on new hypnotic inductions and several new hypnotherapy modalities. Both of these were some very new ways of looking at things we had known for a long time. Sometimes, it's the essence of creativity to look at old things in new ways, and this was no exception.

A growing list of things to do coming from today's workshops, the indicator of a very useful conference. Lots more stuff later, as my mind wraps around what I've picked up today and yesterday.

End of brief notes.

Notes from the Guild - Day 1 of the NGH convention

Greetings from day 1 of the National Guild of Hypnotists conference in Marlborough (Boston), MA., the main gathering of the National Guild of Hypnotists each year.

Each year, we take over the Royal Plaza center in Marlborough, with three days of study of healing, trance and consciousness study. This is the tenth year I've been to the NGH, and each time I come here, I find something new and different - learning a totally new dimension of things about hypnosis and hypnotherapy. It's been a long day - starting at 9AM (I overslept the opening session, if you must know... :-). The whole day was filled with workshops - of varying topics and leaving me with varying impressions.

• Combining EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique, aka tapping) with hypnotic induction.
• Hypnosis and the Internet.
• Developing and using ESP in your hypnosis practice, presented by Barbara Dryden Masse, a psychic and hypnotherapist with whom I've associated over the last 10 years.
• "how to use the web mesmerizingly" - a discussion on how to write material more in story form, a way to make the greatest impression on the reader.
• A workshop on personal/professional safety, put on by two speakers on self defence, law enforcement, etc., who are also hypnotists.
• Mid afternoon, I went to a talk on working with children. This was appropriate for me, since several of my recent (and presumably future) clients have been adolescents to young teens.
• The final talk I went to during the day was on working with deep trance, what is known as the Esdaile, Seycort and similar states - deep delta-state hypnosis. I also went to this talk last year and found that the teacher had done some interesting research since then.

After supper, I went to a two-hour workshop how to anchor hypnotic effects using cues from the physical environment, memories, touching the fingers together, etc., honing and fine-tuning the NLP and anchoring techniques I've learned over the years. The biggest theme of the day was fine-tuning - honing and improving what I've learned in the past.

One thing I've realized - I have become one of the more senior members of the guild - at least among those at the NGH conference this year. Many attendees were in their first or second year of their practice and reminded me of where I was about 10 years ago. Much of what I've noted is that the best teacher is experience. We all have a lot of learning to do...

And that was just day one...