Although his Scottish Mobile Hypnotherapy website claims past life regression can release "new and fulfilling avenues of artistic outlook, appreciation and endeavour," Glen Reynolds plays it down when he speaks to the Herald of Sunday.

“It's not something that I've ever been involved with,” he promises. “I know some hypnotherapists do venture out into that realm, but that's a little bit murky for me and a bridge too far.”

The Aberdeenshire councillor’s current life is busy enough.

He is a clinical hypnotherapist, a libel lawyer, an editor, a human rights worker, a military intelligence analyst, a communications consultant for a Bishop and Diocese, a freelance journalist, a secular Franciscan and the author of three books.

He’s also now the SNP’s pick to take on Conservative MP Andrew Bowie for the West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine constituency.

On paper, it should be a key target for Humza Yousaf’s party, with the Tory minister defending a majority of just 843.

READ MORE: Linden sees off challenge from Thewliss in SNP selection battle

Dr Reynolds is no stranger to elections. He was previously Labour’s candidate in Berwick-upon-Tweed in 2005 and in Banff and Buchan in 2010.

In the 80s, he worked as the head of the litigation department for Mirror Group newspapers, under Robert Maxwell.

“I actually left not long before he died,” he says, before making clear he was not involved in anything to do with corporate affairs or the fraud or the looting of cash from the pension fund.

“It was obviously quite an incredible experience. Because whatever Maxwell was he was a sort of presidential figure and it was an experience, shall we say, to be working very closely with somebody who dominated, along with [Rupert] Murdoch, the media empire at that time.”

The Herald:

There was also a six-year spell working with Private Eye. He cannot say which cases he was involved with, but given he was there between the late 80s and the early 90s, there was no shortage of high-profile court battles.

The legal practice he was involved with acted for a lot of investigative journalists and a lot of celebrities.

“We were the practice that managed to win a multimillion-pound damages award for Sean Connery back in the 1980s,” he adds.

And then there was a stint working for the Truth and Reconciliation Council in South Africa, the body set up to probe the many human rights violations under the Apartheid regime.

“It was almost like a nation looking and examining itself over the period of a year. Daily, there were revelations made about the atrocities that took place, not just in terms of white on black violence under the apartheid regime, but black on black as well.

“Every single day was a nation learning about itself and its past in an atmosphere where people were speaking completely openly because they were subject to having received pardons.

“It was like the resurrection of a country out of the potential for civil war into moving forward and trying to wrestle and understand with the consequences of everything that had happened under apartheid.”

He describes his year working on the commission as the “transformational period” in his life. changing “the direction of travel from pure law to investigative intelligence work.”

That led him to do some work investigating corruption within the apartheid regime and the transition to the African National Congress.

“Let's just say that I had to get out of the country pretty quickly because of the things that were being exposed.”

READ MORE: PROFILE: Ash Regan: The SNP leadership candidate who defected to Alba

There then followed a stint as a Labour councillor in Darlington, where he also worked as a speechwriter for a number of senior people in the party.

He says he was never a Blairite and joining the SNP in 2012 after so long in Labour was “the best political move that I made.”

On religion, Dr Reynolds has moved from Quakerism to Roman Catholicism, which led to him working as a consultant with the Diocese of Aberdeen.

“That's a particular faith journey that I'm on,” he says. “I think it would be true to say that I don't follow the Roman Catholic mantra in relation to certain issues. I'm not going to go into those.

“Basically, I am I'm a Roman Catholic in the tradition of more the South American approach, which is much more in terms of engagement with the vulnerable and the poor.

"I have a view of Catholicism, which is entirely inclusive. And, as I say, there are a number of issues that I don't agree with Roman Catholic thinking on."

On hypnotherapy, he says it is about dealing with trauma and addiction rather than making someone act like a chicken.

“It's got nothing to do with clicking a finger or waving a watch in front of somebody's face. It's about actually using words and sounds that actually help people reach a stage of tranquillity and inner peace, which is far beyond that reached during sleep.

“Which means that a large part of their subconscious and their mind can be transformed into a place that enables them to deal with problems and obstacles and situations in their life.”

As long and as varied as his CV is, Dr Reynolds will be hoping there's space yet for at least one more job. 

On paper, West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine should be a key target for Humza Yousaf’s party, with the Tories defending a majority of just 843.

But with both parties struggling in the polls, the two way battle could be fierce.