ubject allows himself to be hypnotized.

What does this mean specifically to you if you are having difficulty
learning self-hypnosis? It means that through repeated exposures, you
will finally respond. You will realize there is no need for anxiety in
regard to your response. This inner feeling will, in turn, have a
cumulative, favorable effect upon your unconscious which will result in
your finally responding to hypnosis.

Suppose you still maintain and insist that you are not suggestible and
wonder if you will ever respond to hypnosis. Furthermore, the assurance
I have given you up to this point doesn't seem to convince you. If you
have tried diligently to achieve self-hypnosis, you cannot be blamed,
but let's try an experiment to test your suggestibility. It is well to
ponder my statement that if you do not respond, it is a sign of being
suggestible, but in a negative sense. Lack of response is a
manifestation of this negative suggestibility. My contention is that you
are definitely suggestible. Let us see what happens to you in trying the
following classical experiment. It is called the Chevreul's Pendulum
test.

Draw a circle with about a six-inch diameter and mark it as shown in the
illustration.

[Illustration]

Next, take a ring and attach a string to it. If you have a locket, it
will do as well. The hypnotist uses a crystal ball and chain for this
experiment. Hold the end of the string or chain and keep the ring or
whatever object you are using about three inches above the center of the
circle.

Now, concentrate and fix your gaze on the ring, crystal ball, or locket.
Mentally suggest to yourself that the object will begin to revolve in a
circular manner following the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4. Picture in your
mind's eye that this circular motion is becoming wider and wider. Work
at this image for several minutes. Did the object begin turning to the
right following the numbers? Did the circle become larger and larger? If
it did, you are absolutely suggestible, are influenced by your own
suggestions and, therefore, if you follow instructions, can learn
self-hypnosis. You can be trained to acquire this skill.

If the experience did not work, try it again. Concentrate harder and try
to visualize more intently the object revolving in a circular manner.
You are not to rotate the object consciously or help it in any way. The
action must stem from your subconscious. The thought of the crystal ball
or ring revolvin