Chapter 15

Exercises in the Direct Flash

And, now, having mastered the preliminary mirror-exercises, you re ready to begin your experiments on real persons. But, here, too, you must crawl before you can walk and run. You must begin with the simpler forms of magnetic influence, before you can accomplish the more complicated or difficult tasks. But, you have now emerged from the kindergarten stage, and are ready to practice in earnest. If you have faithfully followed the instructions in the mirror-practice, you have mastered the mechanism of magnetic influence, and are ready to “run the machine” in pubic view. But do not for a moment lose what you have gained in the mirror-exercise. Hold tight and fast to the “technique” you have acquired, and do not for a moment fall into the error that you must now begin all over again. The thing for you to remember, always, is that you are really but carrying the mirror-exercises forward on a higher scale, in a broader field. And you will find some interesting work ahead of you. Take my word for it.

First Exercise. I shall now give you an exercise that is almost always given to beginners, by the best teachers of magnetism. It consists of the process of causing a person ahead of you, on the street, to turn around as if he had heard some one call out to him by name. The process is very simple. You have but to walk some little distance behind the other person, on the street, park or other public place. Concentrate your fixed attention on the person, gazing at the lower back part of his head. And sending him first a strong flash of magnetic force, this being followed by the “direct flash” command; “Here you! Turn around,” just as if you were actually calling out aloud to him. You may even whisper the words so softly that no one else can hear them – this may help you to put force into the command at first, but you will soon outgrow the need of the same. At the time you send the flash command you must actually WILL that the person will around in your direction. Put all the magnetic force within you, in this effort.

You will find that in some cases the other person will turn his head almost at once, and look inquiringly behind him in your direction. In the majority of cases, however, he will take a longer time about it. He will be apt to first grow uneasy and restless, and begin by glancing from side to side, as if looking for some one; then he will almost (but not quite) turn his head around; then, finally he will glance backward somewhat furtively and suspiciously. No two persons act precisely alike in this respect; and, then, again, the same person will act differently under different conditions. There are certain times at which the conditions seem to be more favorable than at others, for various reasons, as you will discover for yourself.

You will find, in this as well as the following other exercises that the best results will be obtained while the other person is proceeding idly along, without his attention being directed particularly in any direction.

When the attention is free, the mind is more open to outside influences. When the other person’s attention is firmly fixed on anything else, it will be found difficult to influence him to any marked degree. This is the result of an established rule of psychology, and will be found to be operative in all cases, as for instance, if you call a person when he is preoccupied either with deep thought, or else when his surroundings-he will probably not hear you call him, though under other conditions he would turn readily. The same rule is, of course, operative in the case of magnetic influence.

Second Exercise. When in church, theatre or other public place, or even in a room full of company, fix your gaze at the lower back of the head of some person in the place, and send him the “direct flash” command: “Here, you! Turn around and look at me!” Using all the magnetic force within you, and putting the force of your will back of the command.

You will notice the same peculiar result as in the preceding exercise, i.e., the fidgeting in the seat, the uneasiness and restlessness, the final quick turn of the head in your direction, followed by the confused expression of countenance. In both of these cases, you should maintain a calm, uninterested gaze ahead, apparently not noticing the person. It is not well to have persons get the idea that you are experimenting upon them, at any time. There is no power so potent as the silent, reserved power. So keep your own counsel, and do not scatter and weaken your force by talking about it to others - far less by boasting about it. There are certain good psychological and occult reasons for my admonition regarding keeping your own counsel, and not dissipating your energy by talking about it, or revealing it to others. I shall not say more on the subject at this time – but I want you to remember what I have said, and to heed it.

Third Exercise. This is a variation of the first exercise, and consists of making the person ahead of you turn to the right or to the left while walking ahead of you. This may follow your exercise of making him turn around. When he approaches another person, send him a flash to move to the right, or to the left, as you will. You may also command a person in like manner when he is approaching you. You will be surprised at your success in this direction, after a little practice. In the case of a very sensitive subject, you can cause him, or her, to zigzag in a comical manner. Do not overdo this, however, or you may defeat your own object, besides being unkind to the sensitive person.

Fourth Exercise. This is a variation of the second exercise, and consists in making the seated person, in front of you, turn and glance to the right, and then to the left, as you will. During the exercise, which may extend over some time, you may obtain some very marked results from the experiment, in some cases. As before, I caution you against going too far with the experiment, lest you be noticed by others, and also, because it is not fair to the subject.

Fifth Exercise. In this experiment, you command the other person to drop his cane, or umbrella, etc., or her fan, handkerchief, etc. In short, you cause the other person to perform some little muscular action under the control of your will.

Sixth Exercise. The above exercise may be varied by sending passing persons various commands while you are seated at your window, or on your porch, etc. You may put in an interesting hour in sending flashes to the passing crowd, one at a time, of course, and then noting the percentage of successes. You will find that the percentage will vary; but the general degree of success should slowly but steadily increase, on the average. Do not make the tests too complicated, but send the flash to perform some very simple motion. You will be surprised to discover what a large percent of the persons will glance in your direction, even though you have not particularly commanded them to do so. This latter result occurs because of eth general attraction that they will feel toward you, by reason of the influence of your magnetic wave.

Seventh Exercise. While I have advised you to look directly at the other persons, in sending the flash, this is not absolutely necessary after you have fully acquired the “mechanism” of the flash. In fact, after a short time, you will be able to obtain the result even though your eyes are turned in another direction. It is not your eye that influences them, but merely that by gazing intently you manage to firmly concentrate your attention and will in their direction. You may try the experiment of gazing straight ahead of you in a public place, or on the street, and then flashing the command to the other person to look at you, and you will find that you will meet with quite a large percentage of success, particularly after you have succeeded with the gazing plan of procedure.

Eighth Exercise. After having mastered the above exercise, you may proceed to a still higher form of magnetic influence, namely, that of influencing the speech of another person. You proceed in this case in the same general manner as in the exercises just given. When a person is speaking to you, you may “put words into his mouth” by a strong mental command, or magnetic flash. Do not try to make him say a whole sentence – at least at first. Rather begin by waiting until he pauses in his speech, and then strongly will a certain word to him – a word that will naturally fit into his sentence – and he will be very apt to repeat it. After a little practice you can make him repeat an absurd word, or to stammer, halt and stutter in his speech, if you so will it. After still more practice, you may succeed in causing him to repeat a whole sentence, or even more, to express the thought you have put into his mind; or to ask some question which you have willed that he should ask.

You will readily see by this time, that a constant practice along these lines, will result in your acquiring the power to will and magnetically influence another person to do many things, in response to your will, and silent command. In fact, a constant development along these lines will make of one a very giant in magnetic power, whose results are proportioned only by the degree of magnetic force of other persons, or the degree of persistent practice and development on his own part.

But I wish to caution you, at this point, against using this power for any unworthy purpose. This caution does not arise from merely a moral motive on my part, but from knowledge of certain psychic laws which cause a “reaction equaling the action,” and which will bring sorry results to you if you violate the rule. So long as you use your newfound power for purely scientific experiments, or legitimate purposes of human association, all very well and good. But never prostitute your power to accomplish unworthy or criminal ends, lest you become involved in a storm of your own raising - or enmeshed in a web of our own weaving. There are certain psychical laws, as well as physical laws, which must not be broken – and this is one of them. This is particularly true of the case of a person using the power for the purpose of influencing the other sex in an immoral direction. All the old occult writers’ caution particularly against this practice. So heed the advice, and do the right thing only, with your power.