Excerpt: HYPNOSIS: A RETURN TO THE PAST by Maria Inês Rebelo

Image Graphic designed by Sandra Lopez

Marcus Belling is a world-famous hypnotist.
For the past 20 years, many exclusive clients have benefited from his skills and desire to help people.

However, everything changes when a mysterious woman named Anne Pauline Roux knocks on his door.
She holds a rare power when hypnotized, which will affect both their lives in ways they could never imagine. Her unique power is so strong that it doesn’t stay secret for long.

Marcus’ archrival and fellow hypnotist, Josef Salvaterra, has been looking for a way to shut down Marcus’ business for years. Pauline may just give him the opportunity he’s been waiting for. If he can work this to his advantage, he could be recognised as the greatest hypnotist the world has ever seen.

With such a prize at stake, is there anything he’s not prepared to do?

Reading this book is a hypnotic process that will lead you to question the meaning of destiny and truth, and restore faith in our ability to find the good, even when we are not looking for it.
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THE FIRST SESSION

The big day arrived! Anne Pauline would finally start hersessions with Marcus Belling and it was beyond her wildestdreams that these appointments would change both her lifeand that of Marcus Belling… forever.The sun was shining brightly on that day. The young,green-eyed woman was anxious for the return to her pastthrough regression as it could possibly open the door andenable her to understand her anxieties. But for the moment,it was no more than mere speculation. In fact, Anne was notreally sure if she had lived any past lives, despite her intuitiontelling her that she had so. She did not know if her anxietywas related to any traumas from the past, but her intuitionsaid yes to this as well. Anne was also not sure if MarcusBelling was the right person to help her, especially afterhaving discovered that he was the mysterious and obscureman of her dreams. Once more, however, her instinct wassure: the renowned hypnotist would be able to find her lostmemories, those mementoes that made her feel lost, guilty,anxious and incapable of defining her own identity. Maybeshe belonged to those different times that still accompaniedwhile asleep, especially when she dreamed. This was truly adifferent dimension of life that was not always so accessibleto others.Anne Pauline wondered how she could be healed bysomeone who had created so much harm. The man in herdreams with the same tone of voice as Marcus Belling hadput a set of questions to her every night that was makingher doubt if deserved to know her past. Was she worthy orrespectful enough? Her true self was considered to be so,but she did not know if it was necessary to look for the helpof the famous Marcus Belling at this stage in her life. Formany years, she lived with this dilemma, up until she finallydecided to take courage and ring the bell of number 27 SunAvenue.Anne Pauline Roux had a strange mixture of feelings.She lived for many years with her parents in the village whereshe learned to listen to the sounds of the world, and whereshe admired the horizon at the end of the day; it was onlythat sight which brought her peace of mind. But during thenight, everything changed. Her dreams were trying to grabher once more, and she didn’t know if she should open thedoor to the unknown. At times, she felt a lack of freedom,as if someone had imprisoned Anne at a certain point, andthere was no space left for critical thought to develop withinher! This was the worst possible thing one could do to her.To a certain degree, it seemed that her mind and capabilityof thought were chained, even if it was hard to define thisfeeling. She was also daunted by some kind of treason, eventhough Anne could not really define this feeling, whichseemed lost somewhere in the remote past. The combinationof all these circumstances created a mixture of sensationswithin her that was not easy to define and thus, made AnnePauline’s soul enormously unstable. After several years, thisdiscomfort made her look for help and try past life regressionwith Marcus Belling. On this day, just as Anne was headingdowntown, the famous hypnotist got ready to leave home.He kissed Patricia tenderly and made his way to the hypnosisclinic.Marcus Belling had decided to see his friend ThaddeusBorba before starting his sessions. The man was over 70 yearsof age and Sun Avenue’s shoemaker. He was a tireless workerwho kept doing his work with the same dedication as he didover 40 years ago, and so shared many affinities with Belling.They had a close and friendly relationship, somethingthe old man did not have with all his clients. On his wayto the clinic, the famous hypnotist tried to feel all thosearomas of a summer morning. He was a regular client at theshoemaker’s workshop and normally trusted him to repairhis shoes. Belling really liked to help all those who workedin Sun Avenue by using their services, such as buying a goodbook, an old chest of drawers or, as on this occasion, simplyhaving his shoes polished. This purpose led to the creationof the ‘Sun Avenue’s Free Club’, an open organisation thatwas formed years ago and brought together all those whoworked, lived or simply loved or admired the renownedavenue. It was far from being a closed, elitist group, as all ofits members openly promoted their membership, as well asthe culture and arts that had developed in that central artery,and its history. Marcus Belling obviously belonged to theClub (since he believed in the open and democratic spirit ofthe same) but was not its most regular member due to a lackof time.Georgine Gunderson had also decided to join in, but didso to develop her research into the history of the Avenue.Only a few knew it, but legend had it that large amounts ofgold existed under this street, which had become the heartof the city. It was a myth such as this which was behind theconstruction of the statue to the phoenix, a tribute to theforgotten history of Sun Avenue. Maybe it was a forgottenhistory by convenience, Georgine thought, for if the legendwas true, there could really be tons of gold to extract. Butshe would never know if this was true and there was noother alternative than to continue her search through localhistory, with a special focus on Sun Avenue. On the sameday, Georgine returned to the shutdown city library, whereshe would do more of her lonesome work.As usual, Belling used some of his spare time to visitThaddeus. The shoemaker was a special person, who wasdifferent from all the others. Just like many other clients,Marcus Belling considered him to be one of the bestshoemakers in the entire country, as he could make eachclient a special person. Everyone greatly admired him,even though some found it sad that he would not teach hisprecious knowledge to anyone who could then keep it alive.Belling had not forgotten Thaddeus on this particular daybut he did not bring any shoes to repair this time. He justwanted to greet him and see that remarkable smile Thaddeusshowed to every single client, as if each one was a uniqueperson.‘Good morning, Thaddeus, how do you do?’‘Good morning, Mr Belling! You are quite early today!What can I do for you? Do not tell me it is because of thoseshoes I fixed last time! Didn’t it work?’ the shoemaker asked.‘Do not worry, Thaddeus, I really appreciate what youdid! But today, I am not bringing you shoes, as I usually do.I just visited to see how you are doing,’ a smiling Bellinganswered.Thaddeus was not only recognised as ‘the shoemakerof Sun Avenue’, but also as one of the last of his generation.In fact, he never got married nor had he any children, andtherefore, no descendants would inherit his workmanship.To make it worse, he was the only shoemaker who played thelute. As he sang verses on the truth about people’s lives (orso they said), they gave him the nickname of ‘Troubadour ofTruth’. For some others, he was not a troubadour but ratheran oracle, as each of the verses contained a vision of what theperson’s future would be like. Thus, behind the appearanceof a trova, was a hidden prognosis about future times, whichoften materialised, and to everyone’s knowledge, an apparentlay hid the prospect of future events, which could verypossibly become true! Thaddeus Borba brought these up toentertain his clients while they waited for their shoes to befixed, instead of asking them to take a walk while he servicedtheir shoes. This innovative method made him even morefamous in the city, and brought him more and more clients!In fact, playing the lute and singing those verses were quitea common occurrence for him, and that’s exactly what hedid when he saw Marcus Belling on this day. Thaddeus hadknown the famous hypnotist for many years and could tellwhen he needed wise advice to guide him in the near future.His words came out to the sound of the music:

It is better to know at timesThan just to wait and seeThe one who will ariseWill forever change your mind.