Psychic Development for Beginners

Title: Psychic Development for Beginners
Author: William W. Hewitt
Format: book
Source: Half-Price Books
Price: $8.60 (Amazon)
Rating: Good

Psychic Development for Beginners might not initally sound like a hypnosis book, but don't let its title fool you. A follow-up to Hewitt's Hypnosis for Beginners, this book applies self-hypnosis techniques to developing psychic ability. Like Hewitt's hypnosis book, it follows a simple, easy-to-read format, and it is strewn with a wealth of charming and illuminating anecdotes that are perhaps the book's greatest strength. Fortunately, it avoids the cumbersome filing system and tendency to talk-down to the reader that marred Hewitt's work on hypnosis.

In truth, this book has better instructions on developing self-hypnosis than many others I've read. Hewitt calls it "going to your basic psychic level," which is another way of saying "going into a light trance." One of his first exercises involves a self-induction visualization that concludes with a post-hypnotic trigger for returning to that level any time the reader counts down from three to one. That on its own is worth the price of the book.

(I typically tell my self-hypnosis students to choose a trigger that appeals to them, and I think Hewitt's method could have been improved by such an option.)

Interestingly, Hewitt repeats the balloon-releasing deepener from his hypnosis book, only this time he admits that it relates to the chakras. Another technique I gleaned from this book involves visualizing a conversation with a person you are having difficulty with; I've found that it works for clients in hypnosis as well as it works for me in self-hypnosis.

The book boasts of 44 psychic exercises—self-hypnosis exercises really, some of which don't have much to do with being psychic but are nonetheless useful. So far, I have only pursued a few of them, but the book offers years of development in a concise, easy-to-use format.