This is a great question! To answer it, we need to understand some context. Hypnosis is based on a belief that we have a subconscious mind. That behind the veil of the conscious mind lies a far greater, more vast, subconscious mind. This is the place where dreams occur. Edgar Cayce would say that “the unseen forces are greater than the seen”. The “unseen forces” are in the realm of the subconscious mind. Edgar Cayce gave his readings in the hypnotic trance state, where he was able to access a much greater awareness than he had access to will awake and in his conscious mind.
In a regression, we are seeking to “subjugate” the conscious mind. We are seeking to quiet the conscious mind and enter into the subconscious mind, as Edgar Cayce did. The process of subjugating the conscious mind is called an induction. Edgar Cayce, because he had so much experience with trance states and hypnosis, was able to induce trance quickly. He put his hands on his forehead, remembered his experience with an angel in childhood, saw a light, then his eyes began to flutter. He was connected. Most people take longer than that to get “connected”.
So how can we think about what happens in a regression? I believe that we are 2 basic selves, a finite self and an infinite self. The finite self is born and eventually dies. Peter is my finite self. But I also have an infinite self that we call a soul. There is an overlap of the finite and infinite selves, but most people are largely finite self, or ego self, aware. It takes work to become soul self aware. Meditation is a common way that we shift from ego to soul consciousness. A near death experience (NDE) oftentimes jolts us into soul self consciousness. A regression is somewhere between meditation and an NDE. It is my practice to assist the client to remain dually conscious of both their finite self and their infinite self. I think it is important that the individual remain ego aware as they experience soul realm consciousness so that in this way they can integrate what is coming from soul into the ego, as occurs in an NDE. I have had clients go so deep that they have no recollection of the experience when they awaken. I find this much less helpful than if they remain conscious during the regression.
Let me give you an example. I have a sister that I’ve never really trusted. No reason, just felt that way. In a regression, I saw myself as a boy being put up for adoption. I saw my parents and my mother was my sister! I immediately understood why I held this resentment towards her. But this happened because I was dually aware. I was still “Peter” and Peter was experiencing something like a movie. The movie was my Akashic Record. So Peter was immediately able to process Akashic/soul level material. If I had been completely “under”, I do not believe I could have processed this insight so rapidly.
Once a client is entering soul level of awareness, they need to understand how a regression experience occurs. The conduit of a regression is imaginative. It feels like you’re making something up. In the waking state, we poo poo the imagination. We think of it as the realm of children. But folks like Einstein, Tesla and Cayce gave the imagination an exalted status. Cayce calls it the “imaginative forces”, saying “anyone with a good imagination can be a good psychic” and “the imagination is the bridge to the psychic”. And by “psychic” Cayce meant soul. The imagination is our conduit by which we reach soul consciousness. I think of it like this. The ego mind is land locked in a way by the mind and by thinking. One of the only ways we can transcend the ego mind into soul awareness is via the imagination. I believe that that thinking is the atmosphere of the ego. We wake up and start thinking and think all day long until we fall asleep. Insomnia is largely caused because people not being able to stop thinking! People struggle with meditation for this same reason. It’s like a seesaw. We are soul conscious before birth, then come into this world and become ego conscious. All day long, we are ego conscious until sleep. Then we become soul conscious once again. A regression can be akin to the experience of flying a kite. At first, you run around with the kite until it catches the wind. Then it starts to soar. In a regression, we also run the ego mind around, so to speak, trying to let go into the soul forces flow. This process, this letting go into the creative flow, is easier for some folks than for others.
Another way to conceptualize a regression experience comes from dream research. Dream activity occurs on the right side of the brain, the side related to creativity, art, music, imagination, intuition and emotion. But most of us are left brain dominant in the waking state. The left brain controls logic, reason, science, math – the analytical side of the brain. We need left brain activity when we are awake. It helps us drive, cook, balance the checkbook, read and do most of our daily functions. The challenge of my technique is that we are trying to bring left brain consciousness (ego) to a right brain experience (soul). The left brain isn’t use to this. It’s like bringing an engineer type to the abstract art museum! They are not usually comfortable there! But I have to say that about 85% of people are able to eventually “suspend their disbelief” and enter into the imaginative field and successfully experience a regression.
Here’s an example from my first regression that I mentioned in blog entry 1. As I went through the door, I saw this old wooden ship. My first thought was, “Did I watch a Christopher Columbus movie lately?” My Peter self was trying to make sense of this image. As I described my experience to the regressionist, “I see a man on the ship. He is the purser of the ship”. Peter thought, “What? Purser? What does that mean?” Peter knows nothing about ships, but the part of me in the experience knew this man was the banker, the money guy of the ship. The fact I used a word that I didn’t consciously know, helped me “suspend my disbelief” and enter into the experience. I would now say that Peter, in his personal memory, didn’t know what purser meant. But my soul memory knew and Peter was viewing an Akashic Record or soul memory. This is what happens in a successful regression.
To be continued…
Peter will be hosting a monthly Facebook LIVE talk & chat on the Edgar Cayce Facebook page on the second Thursday of the month at 11 a.m. eastern U.S. time. Peter will speak about hypnosis regression and take questions. Hope to see you there! Even if you cannot attend live, you can watch the replay and leave your questions in the comments section and he'll answer them as soon as he can.
There will also be a blog entry, like this one, each month about regression hypnosis topics to accompany the Facebook discussion.
