Last week the September Boston HypnoMunch got a serious buzz from the presence of Lee Allure (twitter link), someone with a unique perspective as a professional, full-time erotic hypnotist. The first one I've ever met (although her friend and collaborator who came last month, Chewtoy, is working on it). She's put together a sizable following with her sexy mp3s and live sessions, and it was clear that her passion for and fascination with hypnosis must play a big part in this success. She's someone who's always learning, and always getting excited about new ways to make her partners feel helplessly controlled. I feel comfortable calling her an "evil hypnotist" because that's how she referred to herself at dinner. She's also a moderator of the League of Ethical Evil Hypnotists group on Fetlife (their amusing "Muhahahahaha test" clarifies what they mean by "evil" - it's the fun kind).
At dinner at the Bertucci's we talked about Lee's love of getting people who insist they aren't really hypnotized to take photos of themselves holding notes that say "I am hypnotized" that they later can't remember taking (which I was delighted to learn was Chewtoy's inspiration to write one of my favourite stories, Wish You Were Here). We talked about good and bad ways to give positive feedback to the trancee, and how hypnosis resembles stage magic in the culture of sharing techniques and flourishes. A real highlight for me was listening in as Lee compared notes with one of our most avid hypnotees about the trickier points of achieving short term amnesia. It really made me excited for how this little community can inform each other. With another of our members sharing notes about therapeutic hypnosis training he'd received, this was the best munch for me yet in terms of information.
Despite my efforts, we didn't manage to line up a post-munch practice space (though we will have one next month), and the park was out of the question at that time of night. Inspired by Lee's confident assertions about being willing to hypnotize people in public, I suggested we move to a nearby coffee shop, where I was hopeful we could find a private corner in the large space. Nearly everyone from the munch came, at least 12 people! Although there were a couple of other people in the vicinity, Lee pointed out that people don't pay too much attention to what others are doing, and this turned out to be completely right. They were too busy with their own conversations or studying to notice any hypnotism that was going on, let alone be bothered by it.
After a little bit of group conversation, Lee started drawing the palms of her hands together, and capturing the attention of the two members on either side (who, by coincidence or likely not, were two of the most responsive hypnotees in the group). As her hands got closer together, and she kept up the flow of hypnotic words, two heads sank down on either side under the bright cafe lights. That was impressive! Her eyes closed too and she began to giggle at a certain point, which reminded me of how two people I had worked with had giggled as they went into trance for the first time, expressing some discomfort with the novel sensation. Afterwards she said that she had indeed been practicing going into trance a little herself while hypnotizing others, so that made sense.
She brought them back up, and we all stopped holding our breath and broke the silence, allowing the general discussion to continue. Talk turned to visual hallucinations, and Lee was willing to demonstrate with the gentleman to her right - who is a big fan of her videos, so it was great that the evening turned into basically a dream come true for him. She hypnotized him with the intriguing pendant featured in this video, getting him to focus on counting the holes in it. After some deepening, she suggested that every time he closed and opened his eyes, one of our member's scarves would appear to be a different colour. This was given as a post hypnotic suggestion, and it worked! He reported each colour as he closed and opened his eyes, clarifying that the colour appeared in the woven threads, not painted on or superimposed, with the pattern remaining the same.
A mini debate came up when Lee was musing about methods for making her trance partners more addicted to hypnosis. I and another member of the group objected to this, since I have a strong concept of addiction as something that is destructive and consuming - not part of the positivity I want to be the only result of messing around with hypnosis. The other member comes from a clinical background, and also had personal experience with observing addiction. Lee clarified that she was interested in creating the tantalizing feeling of being "addicted" for her clients with that inclination, not the real thing. I think it must be a risk that if you spend so much time with partners who love the "dark fantasy" side of hypnosis, that is, who love feeling trapped and enraptured by a powerful dominant female hypnotist, your language changes a bit to something that might sound disturbing, if it's not understood that this is all based on consensual fantasy. I imagine it's similar to people who spend a lot of time within a D/s, master/slave dynamic. I definitely think that some other online hypnotists lose track of this line, and for example try to implant suggestions that their clients will need to buy all of their mp3s, but Lee clearly labels her wares (as in her "Dark Side" mp3s) and provides plenty of warnings and safety measures.
In any case it was a treat to hang out with such a skilled and knowledgeable hypnotist, who also has considerable personal magnetism. Especially if you're a hypno submissive, you should check out her store, and if you're in the vicinity, events that she attends and teaches at such as the Dark Odyssey events and her own Deepmind Darkwood (aka Camp Mindfuck) in western Massachusetts. I'm looking forward to our paths crossing again.
No comments:
Post a Comment