Alchemical Hypnosis offers unique and powerful techniques that help the sexual abuse survivor heal by integrating their experiences and transforming the abusive patterns in their life. 

This moving story describes the ten steps a hypnotherapist uses to heal trauma resulting from sexual abuse with the aid of Alchemical Hypnosis.
by Lezli Consullo

Step 1: Uncovering the Memories

Susan first came to the therapist for work in dealing with a host of physical problems, as well as to resolve her relationship with a father who had been physically abusive. When asked if there had been any sexual abuse, Susan replied, "Oh no, my father wouldn't do that. I know I was never sexually abused."
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During their fifth session together, Susan went back to a time when Little Suzy was playing with her daddy: "Daddy, don't do that. You're touching me. I don't like that." Her world was falling out from under her. How could this be true? She must be making it up. Her father would never do that to her; he loved her.

Step 2: Absolving The Child From Responsibility And Guilt

Susan, like many other victims of childhood sexual assault, felt that she must have done something very bad to bring the abuse on.  Among the effective  techniques an Alchemical Hypnotherapist may use to help clients realize that no child deserves to be mistreated is the "Strange Child Technique".
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​In the strange child technique the therapist suggests to the client that some other small child, not the client, is being molested. Immediately the client's adult self sees the absurdity of holding this other child responsible for the crime of molestation, and can then apply this insight to their own childhood situation.

Step 3: Creating Allies For the Inner Child With Alchemical Dreamwork

 "This is so hard," claims Susan, "We (survivors of abuse) blame that child for so much. It takes so much pain to listen to what that little kid has to say." The therapist further explains, "With Susan, as with many survivors, there was no functioning adult who was willing to acknowledge the inner child. "Adult"  Susan did not want to take care of Little Suzy." A breakthrough came when Susan was prompted to go into a recurring nightmare that Susan had from the time she was four years old and through her adult years. In the nightmare Susan was being chased continually by a terrible monster. During the session Susan was encouraged to confront that monster and ask it why it was chasing her. The monster replied, "I just want you to recognize me!"

Step 4: Establishing The Adult- Inner Child Bond

The core of the Alchemical process is to link the adult with the inner Child in order to form a new inner family and give the child a new sense of security. Even after little Suzy found her protector in her “Inner Monster”, it took many months before Adult Susan was willing to nurture Little Suzy.
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The crucial bond was finally forged while listening to an Alchemical Journey self-hypnosis recording. Susan says, "I went into trance and suddenly I saw this little girl coming toward me on the beach. I went up to her and bent down as she reached up to me. I picked her up and held her in the air, saying, 'Oh, little Suzy!'  She sighed, 'Mommy!', her hands caressing my face."

Step 5: Dissociation And Inner-Character Work

Most survivors learn to dissociate from, or numb, their bodies so they will not feel what is being done to them. They may actually leave their bodies and view the scene from a great distance above. Learning not to do this is extremely difficult for most survivors. Susan learned to do this as a very young child. As a result, she continued to remove little Suzy in this manner from any source of pain as an adult.

During  the Alchemical sessions, Susan discovered a character within that she called "M&M". M&M is the part of Susan who likes pain and who would take over whenever Little Suzy left her body. (M&M = masochism & masochism.)

Step 6: Public Exposure Of The Guilty Party

​Alchemical methods include several tools to help the sexual abuse survivor not only accept their painful past but transform memories into important healing resources.  One example of this is the "public exposure technique" where during a session the hypnotherapist suggests the client call all the people of the community together in her imagination for a public denouncement and re-enactment of her father's crimes.
In Susan's case, she could not bring herself to do this, saying, "But he was so good. They'd never believe it. He was like a saint in the community." Then the hypnotherapist gave a counter suggestion, inviting Susan to bring the community together to watch while her father receives an award for being a saint, and Jesus could give him the award.  Susan was going along with this until the very last moment when Jesus said, ' Oh no, there's been some sort of a mistake. This man has not been a saint at all.'  Susan was now finally on the road to understanding and accepting herself as the innocent victim of abuse.

Step 7: Accepting Memories: "The Split-Off Technique"

The Alchemical therapist can help resolve this horrible dichotomy of feelings, with the "Split-father" technique.  This technique allows for the preservation of some feelings of trust and support where the client can know and embrace the 'good' father she knew and loved - while punishing, repudiating, and banishing her abusive "bad" father who she now realizes she had denied existed for so long.

Step 8: The Importance Of Therapeutic Homework

Susan now spends some time every day with little Suzy and says this is invaluable. Homework extends the benefits of therapy and helps the survivor learn to depend on her own inner resources. Susan must constantly tell Little Suzy that she is a good little girl who deserves love and fun and hope. Little Suzy is finally learning to believe her father was a very sick man and that she did nothing to bring these experiences upon herself.

Step 9: Expressing Anger Through Etheric Plane Communication

It is especially important that the survivor be given the opportunity to express anger at the perpetrator. This may be extremely scary for the survivor and is something that Susan is still working with.
It is not necessary to express anger by actually confronting the abuser or the enabler. Confrontation may be physically dangerous or difficult, but the Alchemical process enables the survivor to express the anger in the totally safe environment of the hypnotherapist's office and to achieve the emotional release and empowerment resulting from confrontation without endangering the survivor's physical body. "Completing my communication with my parents etherically," says Susan, "has resulted in getting a lot of pain out of my body, pain that had been stored as physical disease for years, such as asthma and high blood pressure."

Step 10:  The Role Of Inner Guides In The Healing Journey

In the book, The Courage to Heal, an excellent resource for abuse survivors, Ellen Bass and Laura Davis discuss the importance of finding the spiritual part of yourself in healing. Most survivors feel terribly alienated and finding one's spirituality through Inner Guide work can be a very important tool in helping the survivor connect with internal sources of support. Alchemical hypnotherapy is founded upon the use of inner Guides and provides some of the most comprehensive technology of Inner Guide work currently available.
​Susan's Inner Guides have been very special for her. She describes one guide named John: "John is ever-present and constant," she says. "He is always there - just there - to put his arm around me or comfort and support me.  He helps me learn to trust myself. The Alchemical Process has allowed me to know that there's a source of wisdom inside that I can trust and tap into for guidance."

CONCLUSION

Susan now reports she has experienced profound and rapid changes as a result of her work with Alchemy. She went through what generally takes a survivor two to ten years with traditional therapy, in just one year. She has gone from a state of suicidal depression and desperate anguish, to having a whole new outlook on life manifesting in a new diet and health plan and new expressions of her creativity.
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Susan exclaims, "My experiences with Alchemical Hypnotherapy have given me the ability to work through my painful memories and heal my childhood. I believe the ultimate form of therapy for survivors will combine traditional therapies with Alchemical Hypnosis to help the survivor learn to function as a whole individual. I'm presently taking the Alchemical Hypnosis training in hopes of helping other survivors through the terror and torment that I'm now on the other side of. It's definitely an amazing tool of self-empowerment!"

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