Purple Hearts and the Sandman

Did you ever do anything when you were you at a sleepover that was mildly paranormal? An example that comes to my mind is "Light as a feather, stiff as a board." If you ever watched the Movie "The Craft," you know what I am talking about, otherwise, google it :-)

Anyway, when I was younger, I have NO IDEA where I heard about these, but I heard about and then played two games at birthday parties and or sleepovers. (As in I suggested and initiated the games. I don't think I learned about them at a party.) Both involve a form of hypnosis, and both are frickin' cool IMO.

First, I'm going to talk about The Sandman. This one can get freaky, so I don't do it anywhere near as much as Purple Hearts. Basically, to play the Sandman, you get a volunteer to lay down. Once they are laying down, you talk in a soft but clear voice, tell them a story about how they are at a beach and you are slowly filling their body with sand. You tell them you are filling this arm then that one, then this leg and that, then the chest, etc, (do the head last) and as you do so, you also pretend to fill each part of the body with sand. More and more and more, telling them that they are getting heavier and heavier until they cannot move their body.

Once you have filled their entire body with as much sand as you can, you ask them to try to move. Usually, the volunteer cannot move, not even to twitch their fingers! I played this on my mom once, and she freaked out, so I never really played it on anyone after that, but I do remember being fascinated by the game, wondering why it worked.

Just in case you were thinking: "So wait, you fill them with sand, tell them they can't move, and just leave them like that?!?!" No... Fortunately, you can undo the paralysis fairly easily by simply moving their arms and legs and telling them that they can move again.

Which brings me to the other game. This is actually one of my favorite games to play whenever I manage to get a person willing to play it. However, unlike the first game  - which can be played with just you and a volunteer - this game works better with an extra friend or two. The more the merrier!

To play, you sit comfortably with your volunteer laying with their head in your lap or close enough to you that you can easily reach out and rub their temples. The volunteer will start the game when they are ready by counting backwards from 100. You and all your other friends will softly and steadily chant: "Purple Hearts" over and over as the volunteer counts backwards.

When the game has worked for me, it's pretty obvious, because the volunteer will start to screw up as they count and then usually fall silent at some point. I've had one person barely get to 90 before they were out, and another got all the way to 1. We thought she was unable to be hypnotized, but when I ask her a couple of questions, it turns out that she was well and truly under.

Okay, so after getting your volunteer to go under, you ask her (or him) where she is and to describe everything she sees. Have her walk you through whatever happens - and this is often an elaborate dream like setting - as long as the trance lasts or until you get bored/tired and want to stop. At some point, the volunteer will describe seeing purple hearts, and for whatever reason, this is usually the signal that they are ready to stop, and simply telling them to grab the heart and wake up, or maybe opening a door and walking through it to wake up will do exactly that; wake them up. 

If you want to laugh your ass off, tape the whole session, and then tell the volunteer to forget everything as they are waking up. Then, once awake, they will insist that it didn't work. You and your friends will tell her all about the things that happened, and she will vehemently deny it... until you play the recording and amaze her!

It wasn't until I was an adult and had a psychologist hypnotize me that I realized that you could tell a hypnotized person that they could remember everything. I think this is why I could never be hypnotized at parties, I think I was too afraid of not being able to remember what happened that it simply wouldn't work on me. It was only after the therapist assured me that I would remember that I was able to be put under. 

To this day, I wish I had someone who was willing to work with me whenever I wanted - much like I read Tarot cards. I really wish I could work through some issues, access my guides more easily, and maybe even explore my past lives a bit. Sadly, I haven't found a person willing to do this :-(

Anyway, I had some thoughts on telling the person to forget VS telling them to remember. I think both have their time and place. For example, working on memory regression and past lives would be a good time to remember everything, BUT if you want a post hypnotic suggestion, that's actually better to forget. Here's why:

If you want to do something - such as lose weight - a post hypnotic suggestion can help you by telling your brain that you don't want to eat when you are not actually hungry. If you remember this suggestion, then it will come to the front of your mind every time you are looking in the fridge for food when you are bored or emotional. You'll hear the suggestion not to eat when you're not hungry, decide that this is an exception because fill in the blank, and then give yourself permission to eat anyway. However, if you don't remember the post hypnotic suggestion, you'll look into the fridge, get an urge not to eat anything, close the fridge, and come back later.

I've never really given post hypnotic suggestions during a game of Purple Hearts, but I would love to do so. I think it would be a great time to guide someone to their past life, and then give them the suggestion that they will continue to slowly remember other things - maybe in their dreams. OR - if they had a traumatic past life - tell them to overcome the trauma and allow for spiritual healing. 

I have thought a great deal about taking actual Hypnosis classes and getting certified as a therapist, but I've had so much else going on in my life that made that pretty much impossible. Also, as much as I would like to help others, I REALLY want to help myself work through some issues, so taking a class might not be the best idea after all.

So, tell me... Have any of you ever played these games? If so, how did it work out? If not, what other but similar games did you play? I look forwards to hearing about them :-)