Franz Anton Mesmer (1734 - 1815) was a Viennese aristocrat physician, a very educated man; he had doctor degrees in three disciplines: Medicine, Philosophy, and Theology. Mesmer was the forerunner of mind healing and mesmerism, which is kind of hypnotic treatment. He was a multifaceted man, interested in many things, mathematics, physics, music, etc. In fact it is said that Mesmer helped the young musician Mozart providing his house and money to perform his first opera. Mesmer was influenced by Paracelsus, a medieval doctor who believed in the influence of planets. In fact, Mesmer’s doctoral dissertation was on "The Influence of the Planets upon the Human Body" (1766).
Evolvement of Mesmer’s Healing Theory:
A) Meeting with Jesuit Priest Hell
Mesmer became interested in healing with magnetic iron when a couple of wealthy people came to Vienna to see the priest Maximilian Hell. Hell was an official astronomer of Hungary and a Catholic priest who use to heal people using magnets. The wife of these visitors was very sick and she requested to be healed with the magical magnets. Hell who was close friend of Mesmer told him about the request of the visitors. Mesmer asked to keep him informed about the outcome of the procedure. Days later, Hell told Mesmer that the lady was completely heal with the magnets and the couple went back home very happy. As per suggestion of Hell, Mesmer requested to prepare some magnets for his use on his patients.
Subsequently, Mesmer started using the magnets on his patients and to his amazement he had tremendous success with this method; people started being healed from many maladies: throat sore, persistent headaches, back pains, etc. As a result, people from all walks of life started coming to see Mesmer and he continue having success. But Mesmer was a man of science; he had to find the rationale behind these healing. Thus he postulated that the magnets accumulate the universal energy of the planets and galaxies and then when it is applied to the ill person that energy is transmitted the patient and the healing is done. Mesmer was convinced of the existence of a universal and invisible fluid pervades the whole universe. This cosmic fluid was the vehicle for the reciprocal influences of heavenly bodies, the earth, and living organisms.
B. Meeting with Count Saint Germain
The Count Saint Germain is very well known in Free Masonry, esoteric, and metaphysical schools. He is the patron of ceremonial magic. It is said that when Mesmer was enjoying a wide reputation en Europe, Count Saint Germain visited him. After the meeting Mesmer’s theory changed completely, the concept of personal influence came into play. The magnets were not needed anymore, because his body can accumulated the universal life force and it can be transmitted to the ill person. This, later on, was called Animal Magnetism.
Mesmer posited that he can harness the powers of the cosmic energies because it was accessible to evolved man such as himself. As this point his basic thesis of an illness was caused by the imbalances of the flow of the universal fluid through the body of the ill person. Over time, Mesmer developed trance-inducing techniques and hypnotic stares, along with stroking, and the waving of magnetic wand, and touching the ill parts of the body (see the similarity of the modern models, such as Therapeutic Touch, Quantum Touch, etc.)
The American Phineas P. Quimby, the Father of the New Thought Movement, initially learned the mesmeric technique and started practicing this method of healing in New England with great success. In time he developed his own method of restoring the health of people based on changing the frame of mind of the sick person. At the end of his life he developed a more advanced technique of curing based on the Jesus Christ’s teaching, which can be called Mind/Spiritual Healing.
For further information refer to the book: “http://www.questbooks.net/title.cfm?bookid=11826Healing Without Medicine: From Pioneers to Modern Practice.”
Albert Amao(www.albertamao.com)
Visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTDvfm44TBc
