Foreword
What is known today as hypnosis certainly has its origins in the ancient Hindu meditation practices of fakirs and yogis, which date back to the 2nd millennium BC. The procedures show similarities with modern hypnosis.
In ancient Egypt and among the Greeks, temple sleep was used as a ritual induction of the oracle as a means of healing and
clairvoyant effect.
Celtic druids and church dignitaries in the Middle Ages used hypnosis-like techniques and rites to transcend the psychological limits of thought and physical reactions, which were generally not consciously perceived as such, within physiological limits.
Egypt – Sleep temple
Greece – Sleep temple
circa 3000-1000 BC
circa 2000-500 BC