Today, however, it is more difficult to overlook intuition. Calling our attention to intuition is a growth industry. There are countless books, many seminars, and now even institutes devoted to help us recognize, appreciate and utilize our ability for "knowing from within." As a sign of the maturation of the field, teaching intuition is becoming more focused on specific areas of application. Health care is the latest focus, with several books written recently by respected professionals. There was Awakening Intuition (Harmony Books), by Mona Lisa Schulz, M.D., Ph.D., who describes how she uses intuition to diagnose illnesses. This practice has roots in the early development of hypnosis, where nineteenth century practitioners created the term "medical clairvoyant" to describe gifted hypnotic subjects who could diagnose illness while in trance--a title that fits Edgar Cayce, whose own story has an important hypnosis chapter. Another recent book, Hands of Life (Bantam Books), by Julie Motz, M.P.H., describes how this public health professional uses "energy medicine" to enhance healing in patients. This practice also has its roots in hypnosis. First known as "animal magnetism," the force intuited as operative within hypnotic phenomena and now known as "subtle energy" was ironically dismissed by Mesmer’s critics as "imaginary." Today, the imagination is regarded as the prime channel of intuitive perception of subtle energy. And now, most recently is the book The Intuitive Healer: Accessing Your Inner Physician (St. Martin's Press), by psychotherapist Marcia Emery, Ph.D.. Like her previous book (Intuition workbook: An expert's Guide to Unlocking the Wisdom of Your Subconscious Mind), her new book contains an abundance of practical exercises. It details how the ordinary person may use intuition to promote wellness, prevent illness, as well as how to diagnose maladies, prescribe treatments, and even to effect healing. The intuitive reality of an inner physician predates hypnosis and can be traced back to before Hippocrates, who himself credits Asklepios as the father of medicine. Asklepios was a god who visited patients in their dreams and healed them while they slept. In later years Asklepios prescribed in dreams treatments that became the healing repertoire of Hippocrates and his colleagues. Emery’s reprise of an ancient truth, that there is a doctor within us, heralds a new era.