I feel for you when you ask what Christian Scientists mean when they talk about "handling animal magnetism." It all sounds very mysterious until one understands what animal magnetism is. Basically it is nothing, which is a comfort, because it means you aren't "handling" or destroying a reality but debunking a false belief.

Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health: "As named in Christian Science, animal magnetism or hypnotism is the specific term for error, or mortal mind. It is the false belief that mind is in matter, and is both evil and good; that evil is as real as good and more powerful. This belief has not one quality of Truth." ^{Science and Health, p. 103;}

Of course, if one believes a false belief, one is liable to its effects. That's why it's so necessary to "handle" it, see it for what it is, and so cease believing it.

Animal magnetism is a pretty graphic term. It denotes the general world belief that man is animal and magnetizable; therefore that he can be pulled about mentally and made to do and think wrongly. For instance, it might make you believe that you are ill or quick-tempered. It might also con you into feeling poor, frustrated, underprivileged, or unhappy. All these are basically animal magnetism. They have no validity of themselves. If you handle animal magnetism, "the false belief that mind is in matter, and is both evil and good," you will have licked the particular manifestation of animal magnetism that confronts you.

How to do it? Well, I sometimes think of a steel magnet—the sort of thing one uses to pick up pins. If you dropped your handkerchief, would you use a magnet to pick it up? Of course not, you say. Why not? Well, a magnet can't pick up a handkerchief. Why can't it? Because a magnet picks up only certain objects—those containing iron. There is no affinity, no attraction, between it and a handkerchief. They are in essence quite different.

Similarly, animal magnetism could only magnetize the animal. Animal magnetism can evoke no response from Spirit or from man, the manifestation of Spirit. Do you remember that Jesus said, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me"? And he continued, "As the Father gave me commandment, even so I do." ^{John 14:30, 31;}

This really gives one something to work with. Take the problem of a hasty temper, which you say bothers you. Instead of counting ten before you speak or making good resolutions, you have some work to do. It's time to see that animal magnetism cannot "pick you up," because you're spiritual.

And as you claim your sonship with Spirit, God, you can see that you have no humanly inherited traits, good or bad, and neither have your human parents. Deny the pull of animal magnetism to make you believe you are related to the Adam man, from which stemmed the Cain-and-Abel belief of fratricide. Relating yourself thus to the divine, you effectively insulate yourself from the magnetism of the mortal and its attendant beliefs. You feel yourself to be Love-governed, Mind-motivated, Soul-inspired, Principle-firm.

There is a lot in the Bible and Science and Health to help break the spell of animal magnetism. For instance, the Bible reading that precedes the benediction at our Sunday services includes that lovely part, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." ^{I John 3:2;} Then there's Mrs. Eddy's answer to the question "What is man?" in Science and Health. It includes these truths: "Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of God, including all right ideas." ^{Science and Health, p. 475;}

The answer actually begins with a sweeping denial: "Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements." To handle animal magnetism completely effectively, one needs to make specific denials as well as specific affirmations. Mrs. Eddy often makes the denials first—as though clearing the decks—and then builds up with affirmations.

You may think handling animal magnetism is a lot of hard work. You're right, but it's so rewarding that you'll enjoy it. And you'll find that as you cultivate your innate spiritual sense the process becomes less tough, and more of a tender reassurance from the Father, making you feel very close to God, as Christ Jesus seems always to have felt.

You may begin your handling of animal magnetism with words, clinging faithfully to the fact that you are a spiritual idea, even if it doesn't seem so. But out of spiritual fidelity, persistent denial of the pull of animal magnetism and yielding to the attraction of Spirit, will come the feeling, the understanding, that the spiritual facts you are declaring are true; and sooner or later healing will be realized.

You may find that some problems are not met in a day. But one thing you must never do, and that is, give up. If the truth is true, stay with it forever, courageously, consistently, faithfully, and with a complete conviction of ultimate victory. The Bible promises, "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry." ^{Hab. 2:3.}

I hope this explains a bit what "handling animal magnetism" involves, and that you will do it with the delightful zest with which you tackle most assignments.

With love,