Otello Ghigi — Il metodo ipnotico e il teatro/en
Otello Ghigi (Venice, 29 September 1911) was an Italian theatrical fascinator and hypnotist, author of Guardami negli occhi (Giochidimagia Editore, ISBN 9788897922049), a text considered by Marco Paret one of the fundamental historical sources of the Italian magnetic tradition.
His method has been integrated into the Method Paret as Fractionated Fascination — Otello Ghigi's Method.
The theatre as a key to understanding the method
The subtitle of Ghigi's book is revealing: "Practical method of how to hypnotize in the theatre". The context is neither clinical nor therapeutic: it is the variety theatre of the early twentieth century, where the hypnotist steps onto the stage in front of a paying audience.
As Silvan writes in the book's preface:
- "His personality, steeped to the core in theatre, the perfect and measured mimicry, managed to create a surreal atmosphere, transmitting an indefinable something to the audience that involved the spectator, now amazed, confused, dismayed, developing a perfect symbiosis of a show within the show."
- — Silvan, preface to Guardami negli occhi, 1977
This theatrical root is not a detail: it is the key to understanding the entire structure of the method. Every technical element — the entrance, the selection of the subject from the audience, the fixation, the fall, the reinduction, the figurations — is designed to work in front of spectators. The hypnotist-subject relationship is also built through the pressure of the observing audience.
In the Paret method this insight is reinterpreted: the "theatrical" does not disappear; it becomes the understanding that every interaction has a performative and relational dimension that amplifies or reduces the operator's effect.
The definition of hypnotic sleep: subconsciousness and unique relationship
Ghigi's central thesis on hypnotic sleep, expressed in the chapter Scientific research on the genesis of sleep, is this:
- "In summary, sleep is the loss of consciousness, a state of subconsciousness, an interruption of nervous and psychic activities, a total or partial relaxation of the functions of relationship."
- — Otello Ghigi, Guardami negli occhi
The crucial phrase is in the last part: a total or partial relaxation of the functions of relationship.
As a key to understanding the method, this means: hypnotic sleep is not the loss of all relationships, but the suspension of the functions of relationship with the ordinary world except with the hypnotist. The subject is not isolated: they are focused. All their attentional and relational resources are concentrated into a single channel: the operator in front of them.
In the Paret method this principle translates as follows: all the work in the room — the selection, the music, the catalepsy tests, the fixation, the fall — goes towards building this unique and absorbing relationship through the eyes between the subject and the operator. Every distraction eliminated, every bit of the subject's attention channeled towards the operator, is a step towards the grip.
The fixation and the fall: the first daze
Ghigi's fundamental visual technique for inducing the hypnotic state is the fixation with the V-shaped fingers:
- "With the fingers, index and middle, of the right hand held in a 'V' shape, the practitioner ensures that the visual crossing remains in constant contact and insists on this fixation until the participant, the passive subject, is seized by the first daze and falls like a skittle forward or backward at the practitioner's discretion, who always guides the action with the fingers held in a 'V' shape."
- — Otello Ghigi, Guardami negli occhi
The fall — forward or backward — is not accidental nor a loss of control: it is the first visible signal of the grip. The subject "falls like a skittle" because the functions of relationship have temporarily been suspended towards the outside and have concentrated on the operator. The body follows the mind: without the anchor of the external world, it falls into the operator's field.
In the Paret method, both the forward fall and the backward fall are anticipated and managed: the operator physically guides the direction of the fall from the start, with one hand behind the subject's back for the backward fall, or holding them by the shoulders for the forward fall.
Overall structure of the method in the Paret context
Reading the Ghigi method through this key allows us to see the entire sequence as a protocol for the progressive construction of the unique relationship:
- Selection of the subject from the audience — looking for people with the greatest predisposition for attentional focus
- Creation of the atmosphere (music, environment, presentation) — eliminating the background noise of the subject's attention
- Initial tests (arm catalepsy, fixation) — testing and reinforcing concentration on the operator channel
- Fixation with V-shaped fingers — the visual channel becomes exclusive
- First daze and fall — the body signals the suspension of external relationships
- Grip — the subject operates by the operator's will
- Grip/self-thinking cycle — repeated reinduction that deepens the relationship
Each step makes sense only in function of Ghigi's thesis: building the unique relationship through the eyes.
See also
Source
- Otello Ghigi, Guardami negli occhi: Metodo pratico di come si ipnotizza in teatro. Giochidimagia Editore, ISBN 9788897922049. OCR available in the ISI-CNV Drive archive