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Emdash

Emdash

@emdashery.bsky.social

230 followers 230 following 130 posts

Mid-30s demi hypno-nerd with a passion for punctuation. Always glad to talk shop about hypno and kink.

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Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · Oct 23

Twitter Repost: So, I've been deep into hypnokink for two years, and "hypnotic amnesia" still seems like the holy grail for a lot of folks in terms of selling/living the fantasy. I've got a theory about it!

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 4h

Right? It's absolutely a skill, though, for the subject to learn how to do that smoothly and unconsciously, so they can stay in synch with whatever suggestions come next.

I feel like people need to be more empowered to refocus their inner trance without seeing it as like... Conscious failure

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

(This could be some other kink context, if they're less about submission and more about, like, dissociation or corruption or whatever's their preference. Point still stands: Once you know, reasonably, what their answer will be? Leverage that knowledge and their kink.

See what happens 😉)

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

Especially in a kink context, part of the fantasy is demand, submission, control.

When you can successfully make a demand they know how to follow, it'll hit like a steel beam between the eyes because you've now combined their talents with the inherent juice of kinky satisfaction.

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

It's convenient to default to the Ericksonian ambiguity.

Most of the time.

But when you've played enough with a partner to be reasonably confident about their abilities, inner resources, and sensory imagination?

Use it.

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

That being said...

There's a pretty common saying that a lawyer doesn't ask a question in trial unless they know what the answer will be.

I think there's a cool way to use that, hypnotically:

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

(Yes, it's Erickson. It's been Erickson All Along.)

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

"You can imagine being at a beach right? Because there's a lot of them and they can be pretty nice to visit on the right day, so if you could be on a beach, you would probably notice all kinds of sensations that you didn't normally get to experience."

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

So I tend to avoid senses whenever I can. I focus on abstracts or leading statements, leaving plenty of room for them to gravitate towards whatever sensory imagining they feel most comfortable with:

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

It's a doom spiral! Because you've asked them to do something without knowing if they can do it (effectively, unconsciously, easily, comfortably).

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

"Why can't I feel X? Am I failing? Should I try harder? Am I a bad subject? Is this a bad tist? Am I ever going to learn how to do this? Should my brain be this active?"

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

But that's a lot of work, and less experienced subjects might not know how to do it, or have to do it consciously. In either case, they're now caught outside the flow of the trance:

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

"Okay, the twist said I'm at the beach and I can feel the sun. But I can't feel that. But I can imagine seeing it. I can abstractly know that it's warming me up. That's nice. We can just go with that."

(This isn't the subject invalidating the tist. It's them propping up a faulty suggestion.)

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

If you frame a suggestion that demands/presupposes/requires that your partner feels or experiences or senses X, and they don't know how to do it...

... Well, you've created a point of friction. An experienced subject can gloss over it or reframe it internally into something they can do, like:

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

I've said before that hypno is the alchemy happening inside your partner's head, and if that's true, then you can never know if something is hitting until you ask them after the fact.

You can usually see signs, and they're pretty reliable, especially with familiar partners but...

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

Sense imagery is fundamental to metaphors, and metaphors are fundamental to human communication. Good writing is often effective because it deeply, authentically, and appropriately engages our senses.

But good writing *is usually bad hypno*

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 5h

#hypnovember discourse #5: Sensory Imagery and Lawyer Talk

A lot of new tists I know tend to get really deep into sense imagery--and that's a super useful thing to know! But I think it can sometimes set you up for dissonance with your partner.

Let's talk about that.

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 1d

Totally--like the stability of trance/suggestion?

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 1d

Ooo! That last one's a great and unexpected choice. I've got a decent idea of what you mean, but can you unpack it a bit?

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 1d

(I sometimes refer to the major skills as the Seven Wonders, because I'm gay, terminally online, and got introduced to Stevie through AHS. I never actually COUNT which would be the seven, though 🤔

So engagement question: What are your Hypno Seven Wonders, and which have you played with most?)

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 1d

There's no one order you have to unlock subject skills in, and while it's a great and noble thing to grind away at something you really want, don't neglect other skills that could be giving you a world of fun if you were open to exploring them!

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 1d

And moreover, since everyone's skill tree is differently shaped, maybe you're so obsessed with one branch that you're missing all the other skills that you could reach more easily.

Maybe amnesia is deep in your skill tree, but hallucination isn't, or personae, or dissociation, or automatic motion.

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 1d

...or maybe their tree just has fewer speedbump skills they need to buy first?

And other people are gonna have to go through a lot of other grids, nodes, skill points, whatever, to get to the skill they really want.

But barring some VERY rare exceptions, you CAN get there.

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 1d

Some people are going to be great at amnesia and get it right away. They'll remember to forget quicker than they can forget to remember.

Other people will struggle a bit but get there quick--they've got a natural buff that boosts the XP they invest in that tree...

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 1d

#hypnovember discourse 4: Skills Are Separable

I like to think of subject skills as a total RPG skill tree, except everyone's tree looks different. I'd call it a hypno sphere grid, but it's also less straightforward than that (and it would make @thestatus.bsky.social happy, which isn't allowed)

Emdash @emdashery.bsky.social · 2d

ADDENDUM: I don't want to sound like I'm talking down on files. They're a big part of the kink for a lot of people, and they make it accessible in a way very unique to hypno!

I just think they're not the best way to either measure or train suggestibility.