Since my recent post on the Fairy Dragon Experiential Trance Process (The Magick Egg), I have received a few comments and have responded. Here are the bits and tidbits and morebits . . . most from the discussion thread at the Hypnosis Technique Exchange . . . please realize that some of these comments are taken out of context as I am only repeating the relevant parts here (please read the original thread on the forum for more details) also keep in mind that this conversation with various folks is still very much ongoing (I have removed attributions here so please go to the original forum for the background and to keep folks straight) . . .
The Fairy Dragon is a lovely piece.
Thank you. It really is one of my favorite bits. It can be adapted to pretty much any context as well (therpeutic through simple recreation or entertainment – I used it in my last show and afterward I saw the young woman who received the dragon gift was swarmed by audience members eager for her to describe the experience). By now, there are quite a few folks walking around who have fairy dragons of their own.
While I reccommend The Magic Egg by Frank R. Stockton, I evidently need to note that the process is not based upon the story, rather the story was inspiration for the process pretty much in that it’s hypnosis and there’s the suggestion of an egg with a magical creature that hatches out of with magical consequences.
I have delievered the Stockton story as a suggestive patter in performance as part of a presentation of hypnosis in Nineteenth Century literature at an academic conference. I hedged the telling of the tale by using language patterns and focused movement (miming all of the appropriate actions as if the physical items were there – not unlike the lemon taste suggestibility effect) with very good effect. Folks familiar with some of the suggestive magical presentation styles of folks like Kenton Knepper, Richard Busch, Brother Shadow, Enrique Enriquez, Ford Kross, Orville Meyer, etc. will understand what I was going for. It turned out wonderfully and right now I am working on more narratives and techniques for a magickal suggestion-based performance.
I work with a diverse clientel. Soft and gentle will be good in some cases; but with hardhats, red necks, bikers, blue collars, cops, I dare not use "fairy dragon." I would think of something more macho…like a Tom Thumb (something).
Somehow, I just don’t see a little Tom Thumb as eliciting great waves of macho.
I have modified it to a fairy cat for women who are cat crazy. Instead of a dragon, it’s a little cat with small wings. Honestly, I have run the process with more women then men but with the men, the dragon still seems to work fine. You know, a lot of those red necks have hunting dogs.
Of course, you are correct, adapt any process, metaphor, or idea to suit the trance partner and you’re going to be much more effective. There are folks for whom the fairy dragon image is definately inappropriate and for those you need to adapt.
Yes, a tiny dog, maybe, or pit bull ! hee hee And, ok; a Tom Thumb-size leprechaun, for instance…not THE Tom Thumb. What I really meant was something that would appeal more to a male of the sort I mentioned.
Uh, a "fairy stripper" perhaps? Been there, done that.
Seriously, one approach is to simply allow the trance partner’s subconscious to decide by saying something along the lines of "this is a very special egg, it’s a magickal egg and inside is a fairy animal, which is a small magickal creature that has very special properties. It can be a small version of a mythological creature or a miniature fairy version of a real creature. Now, I don’t know what sort of fairy creature is inside your egg because every egg is different and the creature that emerges from the egg is always just the right sort of creature for the human who bonds to it. Now, inside your magickal egg, there is a fairy creature and that creature is of just the right sort for you. Now, this occurs because of a kind of magickal bonding between you and the aether, a kind of magickal airy solution, within the egg. Even now, at this very moment, you may even notice a slight change in the quality of the air around you or a gentle small sensation of something happening, a charge of positive energy as even now that aether begins to make the appropriate manifestation and transformation of energies that even now call forth the right sort of energies so that when your egg opens, magickally and wonderfully, the creature inside is exactly of the right sort for you . . . now, the fairy creature could be a fairy version of your favorite animal but it could also be a fairy version of something else, something perhaps unexpected but which is just right for you, I don’t know, only your unconscious can know as the magickal aether is guided by the energies within you so that this particular egg . . . right now . . . as you notice the weight of the egg shifts and now perhaps feels more solid . . . now the egg holds within it, as it begins to move and perhaps begins to hatch, a fairy creature that is just right and appropriate for you . . . I wonderful what it is . . . as it begins to hatch . . . now." Or something to that effect.
Um, I think word that she is feeling that some of her clients may have a problem with is not "dragon" but . . . "fairy".
Then perhaps they need a "fairy fairy" to pop out of the egg. I know he is joking here (I hope) . . . but . . . it is a point for some folks . . . while it’s not really likely in the moment and within the context, unfortunately, there really are a very few folks who are so incredibly homophobic that the word fairy really does set ’em off into their delightful little feelings of ickiness.
I don’t usually get clients in that range.
However, one does not have to use the word "fairy" . . magickal, elven, juju, hsiao, or other words are fine. Even just saying small, miniature, or tiny will work with the magickal aspects implied but not explicitly stated. Some folks are uncomfortable with terms like magick as well.
Find the phrasing that maximizes your success with that particular trance partner.
Actually…I know where you have gone with this…and it wasn’t the fairy reference to being gay; it is the gentle, airy-fairy sound of it. I just can’t imagine a tattooed biker sort stroking a little fairy and carrying on with that upper Chakra, heartfelt > stuff they might call woosy!
I can. Actually, the idea of that image makes me smile.
You are correct that to most folks that would not be your stereotypical behavior for bikers types. However, there are definately more than a few who would feel comfortable doing just that . . . in a private session where they aren’t in front of their buddies and where they are allowed to just relax and let go of the posturing for a moment or two. Although, running a process like that might be better following the adaptation I suggested of allowing the client’s unconcsious to decide what "fairy creature" manifests and then perhaps with another twist that "the creature brings with it whatever resource your unconscious needs most, magickally drawing from the aether that which is already within you but which requires reminding and perhaps intensification, for our own good, just as some of the great mages, witches, warlocks, or sorcerers of olde had familiars with them, magickal beings of power that improved and focused asnd intensified the powers already dormant within the mage, so does your fairy creature improve, focus, and intensify your own positive energies . . . I don’t know which emotion, energy, or attribute your particular creature brings out within you, but your unconscious does, and that’s all that is needed as you begin to . . ." or the like.
It seems to me that the technique itself (at least as it appeared to me in BDP’s video) invokes an age regression … and not too many children would have trouble with the fairy dragon ….. and children rarely have tatoos …
Not an age regression per se, at least not an intended formal one, but an elicitation of childish curiousity and playfulness that is drawn through with vocal tone and mannerism.
Of course you could even do this more overtly … begin with an age regression to childhood and then introduce the egg.
Hadn’t actually thought of it that way, might be interesting to play with. For the most part, the idea is to create a playful quality within the adult. BTW, actual kids absolutely love this sort of thing.
This is a delightful piece with lots of room to maneuver.
Thanks. I am glad you enjoyed it. I plan on introducing some similar and other new variations in July for the folks in the classes – http://walkabouttrance.com – albeit, we’re going to play with a whole slew of things on those fronts.
All the best,
Brian
Taipei, Taiwan (12-13 April 2008)
Taipei, Taiwan (21-22 June 2008)
Los Angeles, California (14-18 July 2008)
Los Angeles, California (26-27 July 2008)
Los Angeles, California (2 August 2008)
See http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com for details!
Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [phillips@nccu.edu.tw]Certified Hypnotherapist
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com
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. . . adapting a hypnotic process to your needs”