What is hypnotic suggestive power called?
September 23, 2024 10:50 AM   Subscribe

I have a character I'm developing who has a lot of dark power psychically. But in what must at least partially be a supernatural way, she can invite you to read a book she gives you and you'll see your own life-story written on the pages. What term, occultic or otherwise, might this "power" be called?
posted by noelpratt2nd to Human Relations (7 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
It sounds like past life regression. Classically, it allows the subject to recall details of past incarnations. But recalling the current incarnation would seem like a sub-case.
posted by SPrintF at 10:57 AM on September 23, 2024


Best answer: It is adjacent to skrying. Not haruspicy but librispicy?
posted by BobTheScientist at 11:02 AM on September 23, 2024


Best answer: If I had that power I'd call the book an "auto-biography."
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:07 AM on September 23, 2024 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Maybe it's like someone inviting the customer to gaze for him or herself into the crystal ball. But my character doesn't necessarily know all the details; she can "read" the guy pretty well, though, and doesn't herself understand what trick is coming through her. The book is meant to make the reader astounded enough to seek her out again ... for other purposes.
posted by noelpratt2nd at 11:20 AM on September 23, 2024


Best answer: The most generic term for this is glamour -- your character is putting a glamour on her victim which manipulates her victim's perceptions.
posted by heatherlogan at 1:15 PM on September 23, 2024 [4 favorites]


Best answer: It seems like a written equivalent of holding up a mirror to someone -- she can't see what they see, but they seem themselves. I'd probably call it reflective bibliomancy / self-reflective bibliomancy. Or auto-bibliomancy. You could use "stichomancy" instead of "bibliomancy" if you liked it more.
posted by lapis at 2:14 PM on September 23, 2024


Response by poster: Thank you all so much!
posted by noelpratt2nd at 11:36 PM on September 24, 2024


« Older The Three Hares - A Curiosity Worth Regarding   |   Goblin cats verses kitchen counters Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments