ALCHEMICAL HYPNOTHERAPY: THERAPY YOU GROW OUT OF
By Debbie Unterman
It is a radical concept for a therapy to be created in order to make itself obsolete to its clients, but these are radical times we're living in. With the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and the boundaries of Eastern Europe, it's time to pierce the walls of our own making as well. Through a new system of therapy known as Alchemical Hypnotherapy, a person can contact the source of their own problems quickly and easily. It enables them to achieve lasting results in much less time than through traditional therapies or traditional hypnosis by being their own therapists.
The reason it can work so quickly is because it takes the best of talk therapies and hypnosis and uses them both together. During a private session the client spends most of the time in a conversation with their own subconscious mind. While lying down in a light to medium state of trance, (also known as the alpha state) they feel peaceful, yet still completely aware of all surroundings. The Alchemical hypnotherapist acts in an interactive way with the client, like a tour guide, helping the client to clear emotional traumas and connecting them with the different aspects of themselves. These aspects Carl Jung calls "archetypes", including the Inner Child, Inner Mate (or animus), and other Inner Guides.
The term "alchemical" is used to illustrate turning the base nature of our mortal consciousness into the gold of self-realization. This process is not a quick fix. To completely step into the cauldron and experience the full spectrum of techniques an Alchemist has to offer, takes about six months of sessions ranging from once a week to once a month. But, this is a far cry from the ten years it could take for a thorough analysis.
The important key to lasting success is the clients' commitment to work with their guides, because it's the daily contact with their guides that changes their lives. David Quigley, the originator of Alchemical Hypnotherapy, explains the role of guides in his book, Alchemical Hypnotherapy: A Manual Of Practical Techniques. "Contacting our Inner Guides and using their power unites all the disparate elements of the subconscious mind into a powerful force for the transformation of ourselves and our world." Quigley explains the way he found this process at the lowest point in his life. "In my desperation, loneliness and pain, counseling didn't help because it was love I needed. In a powerful vision I could only understand as schizophrenia, a beautiful woman spirit appeared to me and promised to lead me home. Frightened of my impending insanity, but more terrified of suicide, I followed her. She led me on the Alchemical Journey and then taught me how to lead others."
"Impending insanity?" Maybe. But professional psychotherapists began to take a different view of these inner voices in the late 80's. In the September 1989 edition of Dissociation, a professional publication for therapists working with Multiple Personality Disorders (MPD), psychotherapist Ann Adams reveals the findings of a study in which she investigated therapists' experiences with Internal Self Helpers (ISHs). The therapeutic term has been coined to explain the phenomenon of patients with MPD discussing their Inner Guide with their therapist. These ISHs were described by the majority of therapists interviewed as "entities-having nearly total recall of life experiences, who reported information accurately most of the time, never exhibited delusional thinking-and gave advice to the client and therapist which was frequently helpful."
The study concluded that these ISHs are mostly knowledgeable, reliable, and helpful-possessing unifying, centering and protective functions within persons with MPD." Nearly 60% of the therapists surveyed, who were reporting on experiences with a total of 340 ISHs, believe that every person "has a part of himself which is similar to the ISH."
This is a key difference between traditional and Alchemical hypnosis. The former works more along the theory of reprogramming the subconscious mind through repetition, like affirmations, while the latter trains clients to utilize the vast resources lying dormant in their subconscious. It includes the rich symbology and the guidance that lives within, but is sometimes difficult to tap on one's own.
One incest survivor saw a shark living in the extra pounds around her thighs, which she had been unable to shed for years. Traditional therapies, which involve a client talking to a therapist, usually on a weekly basis, can skirt some important issues, which tend to elude our conscious ability to figure out. As good a Sherlock Holmes as someone may be, it's hard to "figure out" that there's a shark living in someone's thighs because he believes he needs to protect her.
The array of techniques, which make up the process of Alchemical Hypnotherapy, can be seen as high technology for change, which acts to empower people to take an active role in their own healing process. A good candidate for this process is someone experiencing loneliness, depression, addictions, phobias, or other problems. We also work with uncovering the subconscious causes of illness in conjunction with medical treatment.
Anyone desiring more self knowledge and a closer relationship with their inner ISHs can benefit from this process. Once you begin this journey, if you can continue nourishing the contact with your guides, it is a source of empowerment that can last a lifetime.
Another way to experience the process personally is by becoming certified as an Alchemical Hypnotherapist, because it is impossible to complete the course without thoroughly experiencing the process on yourself. Nearly one third of the training takes place in small groups with students doing sessions on each other.
It is a radical concept for a therapy to be created in order to make itself obsolete to its clients, but these are radical times we're living in. With the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and the boundaries of Eastern Europe, it's time to pierce the walls of our own making as well. Through a new system of therapy known as Alchemical Hypnotherapy, a person can contact the source of their own problems quickly and easily. It enables them to achieve lasting results in much less time than through traditional therapies or traditional hypnosis by being their own therapists.
The reason it can work so quickly is because it takes the best of talk therapies and hypnosis and uses them both together. During a private session the client spends most of the time in a conversation with their own subconscious mind. While lying down in a light to medium state of trance, (also known as the alpha state) they feel peaceful, yet still completely aware of all surroundings. The Alchemical hypnotherapist acts in an interactive way with the client, like a tour guide, helping the client to clear emotional traumas and connecting them with the different aspects of themselves. These aspects Carl Jung calls "archetypes", including the Inner Child, Inner Mate (or animus), and other Inner Guides.
The term "alchemical" is used to illustrate turning the base nature of our mortal consciousness into the gold of self-realization. This process is not a quick fix. To completely step into the cauldron and experience the full spectrum of techniques an Alchemist has to offer, takes about six months of sessions ranging from once a week to once a month. But, this is a far cry from the ten years it could take for a thorough analysis.
The important key to lasting success is the clients' commitment to work with their guides, because it's the daily contact with their guides that changes their lives. David Quigley, the originator of Alchemical Hypnotherapy, explains the role of guides in his book, Alchemical Hypnotherapy: A Manual Of Practical Techniques. "Contacting our Inner Guides and using their power unites all the disparate elements of the subconscious mind into a powerful force for the transformation of ourselves and our world." Quigley explains the way he found this process at the lowest point in his life. "In my desperation, loneliness and pain, counseling didn't help because it was love I needed. In a powerful vision I could only understand as schizophrenia, a beautiful woman spirit appeared to me and promised to lead me home. Frightened of my impending insanity, but more terrified of suicide, I followed her. She led me on the Alchemical Journey and then taught me how to lead others."
"Impending insanity?" Maybe. But professional psychotherapists began to take a different view of these inner voices in the late 80's. In the September 1989 edition of Dissociation, a professional publication for therapists working with Multiple Personality Disorders (MPD), psychotherapist Ann Adams reveals the findings of a study in which she investigated therapists' experiences with Internal Self Helpers (ISHs). The therapeutic term has been coined to explain the phenomenon of patients with MPD discussing their Inner Guide with their therapist. These ISHs were described by the majority of therapists interviewed as "entities-having nearly total recall of life experiences, who reported information accurately most of the time, never exhibited delusional thinking-and gave advice to the client and therapist which was frequently helpful."
The study concluded that these ISHs are mostly knowledgeable, reliable, and helpful-possessing unifying, centering and protective functions within persons with MPD." Nearly 60% of the therapists surveyed, who were reporting on experiences with a total of 340 ISHs, believe that every person "has a part of himself which is similar to the ISH."
This is a key difference between traditional and Alchemical hypnosis. The former works more along the theory of reprogramming the subconscious mind through repetition, like affirmations, while the latter trains clients to utilize the vast resources lying dormant in their subconscious. It includes the rich symbology and the guidance that lives within, but is sometimes difficult to tap on one's own.
One incest survivor saw a shark living in the extra pounds around her thighs, which she had been unable to shed for years. Traditional therapies, which involve a client talking to a therapist, usually on a weekly basis, can skirt some important issues, which tend to elude our conscious ability to figure out. As good a Sherlock Holmes as someone may be, it's hard to "figure out" that there's a shark living in someone's thighs because he believes he needs to protect her.
The array of techniques, which make up the process of Alchemical Hypnotherapy, can be seen as high technology for change, which acts to empower people to take an active role in their own healing process. A good candidate for this process is someone experiencing loneliness, depression, addictions, phobias, or other problems. We also work with uncovering the subconscious causes of illness in conjunction with medical treatment.
Anyone desiring more self knowledge and a closer relationship with their inner ISHs can benefit from this process. Once you begin this journey, if you can continue nourishing the contact with your guides, it is a source of empowerment that can last a lifetime.
Another way to experience the process personally is by becoming certified as an Alchemical Hypnotherapist, because it is impossible to complete the course without thoroughly experiencing the process on yourself. Nearly one third of the training takes place in small groups with students doing sessions on each other.
