0290 Zero to Ninety by Michael Murray

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

“And, of course, people are only interested in themselves. If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen. And I here make a rule - a great and lasting story is about everyone or it will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting - only the deeply personal and familiar.” - John Steinbeck

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Copyright MindFX 2015.

Zero to Ninety by Michael Murray

! Introduction: !

Along with many others, I have always been fascinated with the idea of being able to read people and to tell things about them that I could not have conceivably known.

!

There have been scores of books written upon this very subject, and whilst I have not read them all, I cite the works of Ian Rowland, Richard Webster and Brad Henderson amongst my favourites.

! !

The problem I have found with most systems is that they usually require either:

!

i. ii.

A good memory for learning various key words and scripts, or They require a lot of practice to become both comfortable and proficient in delivering a reading.

In 2014, I purchased a fantastic audio file by Luke Jermay titled Jermay’s Tarot Alphabet. Whilst trying to make this system easier to memorise, I accidentally developed my own system which is now known as Zero to Ninety.

! Credits & Inspiration: !

Without Luke Jermay’s Tarot Alphabet my system would not have been born. Likewise, both of our systems draw influence from Richard Webster’s incredible Psychometry A-Z, which in turn (as far as I’m aware) had grass roots with Ken de Courcy’s The Systematic Seer. I therefore extend my thanks and praise to both Richard and Ken for their inspirational bodies of work.

!

Since I have also had great pleasure in reading Iain Dunford’s AEIOU, I must also cite this as yet another piece of work worthy of your interest. I'm also confident that Iain’s thoughts will have played an instrumental part in the creation of this work, too.

! The Heart of It All: !

Many years of research have shown that there is no single cold-reading system that will guarantee a 100% hit rate from each and every sitter, each and every time. In fact, the real truth of the matter is that none of them can really offer any real guarantee. In this regard my system is no different, although my system does offer several advantages over many of the commercial systems which are available today.

!

Firstly, my system requires zero memory work, which allows you to devote your full attention to the sitter. The “Oracle” that you will be using allows you to deliver convincing readings within minutes of learning the system.

!

Your readings will be different for each and every person you meet, yet should you meet that same person again, you will be able to give them a very similar reading a second time around. The biggest benefit is that the delivery of your readings will come across as one of knowing rather than thinking.

!

This reading system can be used on its own or in conjunction with any other that you may already use. Whilst not guaranteed, this system has been used on numerous occasions to reveal names, occupations, hobbies, number and gender of siblings/children, jobs and more.

!

Note: Let me make it clear once more that whilst this system will enable you to deliver confident readings within a matter of minutes, it will NOT guarantee any accuracy (more on this later). That said, each and every member of my test group thus far has been highly satisfied with the results. I believe the success of most systems is based on the fact that we are all more alike than we would like to think.

!

“People are pretty much alike. It's only that our differences are more susceptible to definition than our similarities.” ~ Linda Ellerbee

! My Personal Stance on Readings: !

There are countless opinions on the ethics of giving readings, and what I offer here are my personal thoughts on giving them.

!

I am quite comfortable with anyone who gives readings which are interpretative; i.e., those in which you offer your interpretation of what you see, such as reading Tarot cards or perhaps the lines on someone's hand. Readings of this nature have a very open and honest feel to them and, in this respect, they can be taken or left by the sitter as the case may be.

!

I, myself, am not so keen on claiming that I am genuinely psychic or that I can speak to the dead. That said, this system could be used for all of the above; I will leave the morals of how you wish to use this to your better judgement.

! Fail-safe Delivery: !

If you have never delivered a reading before, you may be concerned about how to handle a miss. If that is the case, then you may like my “fail-safe” method for delivering a reading as a lead-in to a mentalism effect.

!

Note: This approach was heavily influenced by Anthony Jacquin and his introduction of hypnosis through the performance of mentalism, which can be found on his Tannen’s Lecture DVD.

! !

This is achieved as follows: You begin by cautioning your spectator that the success of any demonstration is entirely dependent on your ability to understand how they think and, in essence, what makes them tick. In order to do this, you suggest that you will give them a personality reading based upon your initial assessment of their character and ask that they are honest in giving their feedback.

!

By approaching your readings in this fashion you can brush off any misses as an oversight in your judgement of their character. By openly questioning them about any misses it will appear that you are (in your mind) adjusting your approach for any demonstration which may follow.

!

Conversely, all successful hits from a highly accurate reading will be attributed to your heightened understanding of human behaviour. If the reading is highly accurate then it very much becomes an effect on its own. Put simply, you have nothing to lose.

! !

What I hope to achieve by this is that my skills are credited to my understanding of them as individuals. Note: Either of the above outcomes will help establish a strong rapport with your spectator, making them more cooperative to use as subjects. By showing a genuine interest in them, they will show greater interest in you.

!

The only downside of this approach is that you must be more conservative in your readings, and stick with only those details you could conceivably know. This way, you will be given credit for your astute understanding of human behaviour.

! The System: !

The system I am about to teach you is so simple that you will be able to give detailed readings the moment you have finished reading this manuscript.

!

The first step is to learn the spectator’s name, and if you want to give a more detailed reading, you can press the spectator for their surname as you introduce yourself. If, for whatever reason, you don’t or can’t ask their name, you must ask yourself if the spectator resembles anyone you know. It matters not whether this is a friend, relative or someone famous, so long as you have a name with which to work.

!

You are now going to take the first letter of the person’s name and to think of the first person that springs to mind who has a name beginning with that same letter; i.e., if the sitter was called Mark, you may perhaps think of a friend called Mark, Michael or Malcolm. If no one springs to mind right away, you can always go for a famous figure, such as Michael Jackson or even a fictitious character from a book or film. It is important to trust your judgement here and to go with whichever name first pops into your mind.

!

Note: It helps to choose names of the same sex as the sitter since males will have more in common with other males and vice versa. Likewise, it is often wise to choose the names of people who are within the same age bracket, too, since we all share similar life experiences as we grow older.

!

Now that you have someone in mind, you will begin to describe their general character and personality; e.g., caring, generous or introverted or extroverted. You can also describe their general likes and dislikes, perhaps commenting on music tastes, fashion, field of work and recreational hobbies.

!

Since you will, in most cases, be speaking with your sitter face to face, you will be able to gauge which statements will best fit them.

! !

As you are delivering these statements one of three things will happen:

!

i. The spectator will be very accepting of the statements you make. ii. The spectator will pause for thought as they consider whether one of your statements fits them. iii. The spectator will openly reject a statement that has been made.

If you find that you are in situation A, it is advisable to delve a little further into the personality, life and character of this person whom you know. Should you find yourself in situations B or C, you will move to the next letter of the spectator’s/sitter’s name and, once again, use the first person that comes to mind that begins with that “fresh” letter.

!

By working through the names in this fashion, you are, in essence, methodically searching for those people who share the most in common with the spectator/sitter, and as such, you will minimise any potential misses.

!

As you are “compiling” your list of names, you can also pool this group of people for any trends that exist amongst them. This will allow you to make statistical-based statements which, by the law of averages, should be more likely to be accepted.

!

Key Points:

! ! !

Now that you understand how the system works, let us look at the key points: Zero Memory - You have nothing to memorise…ever, and that can only be a good thing. The Content - Since you are describing people whom you already know, you have an endless source of things to discuss.

!

The Delivery - Since (as above) you know the people you are talking about, the delivery of your reading will be confident and from a standpoint of knowing rather than thinking.

! ! !

Fail Safe - By adopting my fail-safe approach, you literally have nothing to lose. My Thought Process (Back to Basics): Now that you have an understanding of what the system is, I wish to skip backwards in time so that I can describe my thought process and reasoning for developing this system.

!

Whilst I can’t go into the methodology of any of the other systems which I've read, almost all have involved some form of memorisation.

! ! ! !

This memory would often come in the following form: When you see X you will think of Y, and Y will dictate what you must discuss. There are two issues I have found with this. Firstly, there are often many X/Y associations to be memorised, and the resulting trigger (Y) will most often be a simple word from which you have to then generate something to discuss.

! !

Let us consider a fictitious example: If the sitter has a beard then you must think of the word “judgement”. In this fictitious example, not only would we have to remember the association between the words “beard” and “judgement”, but, we must also remember what to say about “judgement” in a way that will be accepted by the spectator/sitter. In some cases the “what to say” may even be left up to you to decide.

!

I have no doubt that with practice this would all become very much second nature, and so please don’t think of this as a criticism of other methods. This was just a process I would rather avoid.

!

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, the associations made in all of the systems I have encountered have been “plucked from their arse”, and I mean this in the nicest possible way.

!

When you consider that most Tarot readings are based upon the interpretation of a picture, you can perhaps begin to understand my point. How different would Tarot readings be if the death card depicted him holding a bunch of balloons and a disco ball above his head?

!

Some systems help to get around the memory issue by connecting the associations in a more logical fashion, but in realistic terms, this does nothing to increase the accuracy of the reading itself.

!

Let me illustrate this further using the following fictitious example:

!

If you see a beard, you must think of the initial letter of that word, in this case “B”, and this will trigger the word “Beauty”. Despite there being a connection there, the connection only exists with the letters, and as such, there is no real reason why brains, brawn or perhaps bravery couldn't have been used instead. I hope you see my point.

!

Now, I fully appreciate that the associations presented in other systems have been carefully thought through so that they provide a greater chance of being accepted. However, the fact still stands that an infinite number of other associations could have been made, and any framework governing the logic of the associations has been dictated through personal preferences alone.

!

Since none of these have been made with a particular sitter in mind, we must then assume that the content of the delivery is most likely based upon generalisations. Then, in this respect, my system is no different and offers no greater advantage or disadvantage with regards to the accuracy, but certainly has one distinct advantage in that no memory work is required.

!

One advantage I did find with Richard Webster's system (which also applies to the Ken de Courcy system) is that, since it uses names as a focus, it is very easy to give a similar “repeat” reading years down the line. The slight disadvantage that I found with Richard’s system is that, if you are in the position of giving multiple readings for people with the same name, then you are at risk of repetition.

!

My system takes all the advantages of Richard’s system and at the same time overcomes the single disadvantage, too. Since there is so much focus on the name throughout the reading, you will find that, not only does the name become ingrained within your mind, but so do the associated names for each individual, too. Sure, you might not remember them all, but you should find enough to give you a helping hand.

! Thoughts on Accuracy: !

Almost any system (Zero to Ninety included) which uses generalisations within the delivery will attain a reasonably high level of accuracy with very little effort required. Whilst no degree of accuracy is guaranteed, there are several ways of increasing the likelihood of hits that are worthy of your consideration.

!

With Zero to Ninety you are wide open to discuss almost any aspect of the spectator’s/sitter’s character/ personality or life, since you will be basing your thoughts upon people you know. However, rather than keeping things conservative, you may wish to consider the following:

!

Observation - Even if you are no Sherlock, the spectator themselves will provide you with several key talking points based entirely upon your observation alone. For example, are they wearing a studded leather jacket? If so, you can probably guess what type of music they prefer. Are they smartly dressed or more casually dressed, quiet and reserved or more vocal and boisterous?

!

More often than not, your list of names will, either consciously or unconsciously, be influenced by the person sitting in front of you. The closer the match between the person you know and the person who is sitting before you, the more accurate the reading is likely to be. If you fail to think of someone that resembles the spectator/sitter in any way, then at least you will have an idea of which areas NOT to discuss.

!

For example, I was giving a reading for a gentleman by the name of Barry who appeared quite reserved. The initial letter in his name triggered me first to think of my brother Brian, who by contrast is quite vocal and animated. In this instance, I chose to talk about my brother's personal interests, his vast collection of music, the strong ties within his family, his willingness to help others and the changes in his attitude towards certain areas of his life as he grew older.

!

Combining this with the natural progression of the system (changing the people when I felt the need), it not only helped to give the reading direction but made it more accurate as a result. Remembering the spectator’s physical responses as well as verbal responses will let you know if you are on the right track.

!

The Massage of Time - They say that time is a great healer, and in this respect, the spectator will most often only remember the information which “hit”. This can be helped by either delving into those areas further and embellishing them slightly, or by commenting on them on more than one occasion throughout the reading. This often happens automatically when you naturally find similarities between the names that you bring to mind.

!

At the conclusion of the reading you may wish to re-cap and reframe the reading in the spectator’s mind. In doing this you will give a brief summary of the reading, only detailing those things that appeared to have a positive connection. Should the spectator volunteer a response at any point then you can use this to reframe the apparent intent/meaning of a statement. For example, should the spectator reject a statement such as they like cooking, then you may wish to reframe it, saying that they aren't afraid of trying something and suggesting that this could be related to food or otherwise.

!

People naturally love to talk about any interesting events that have occurred in their lives, and when retelling the tale, they like to embellish and exaggerate the truth (this can be an unconscious occurrence). This not only helps us, in that they will only recount the hits, but also allows them to misremember the hits in a better light.

!

Ambiguity - Making your statements more ambiguous allows them to appear specific, whilst still leaving room for interpretation. I personally believe this to be one of the greatest keys to an effective reading. Whilst I very rarely use the same people as a basis for my reading more than once, my good friend Alex has popped into my mind several times, and has provided me with a great example to give you from one of my own personal readings.

!

In this third-party reading (I was giving a reading for someone who wasn't present whom I couldn't see), I was thinking about my friend Alex, who has been deaf from a young age and is now a professional magician. Based upon this, I delivered the following line:

!

“I'm feeling that as a youngster there was something that held you back; you were at a disadvantage so to speak, but as an adult you have now overcome this. That's not to say the problem has been resolved, but more that, this has helped to give your life direction.”

!

The words “disadvantage” and “overcome” seem specific but can be interpreted in many ways, and in this instance, it appeared as a very direct hit. It transpired that the guy (whom I couldn't see) was very short and had been ridiculed throughout his school years for his height. As an adult he became a jockey. As you can appreciate, this was gold!

!

Another time when I used this, the guy had been expelled from school and he later became a teacher. Yet another had an accident, and had damaged his eye as a youngster and had only recently had corrective surgery.

!

Just before you speak, take a brief moment to think about the words you will be using; often a simple change in the word you use can make a world of difference.

!

Pattern Matching System - The brain itself is a pattern matching system that continually tries to make sense of the world around us. Just as it can help you find a face in the clouds, it can help to give your readings a higher degree of accuracy. This often happens naturally as the spectator seeks to make sense of the things you are saying. As in the example above, the guy was floored at how I could possibly know that his friend was a jockey; the truth of the matter was I didn't, yet using the “massage of time”, that is what was distinctly remembered.

!

Since there is often nothing written down or recorded, it is left to the human mind to create the memory of the event, which in almost every case is a false representation of the facts.

!

Direct Hits - One thing that can set one reading high above another is the accumulation of direct hits, which can be formed directly or indirectly through what you say.

!

An indirect hit can be as simple as saying something that “strikes a real chord” with the spectator, and this often happens without your conscious intervention. A direct hit can be generated by throwing a wild card into the reading—by calling out a name, an object or indeed anything that has no grounds in logic.

!

Sometimes when using my system, I have suffered from a mental block (particularly after a drink or two), and for some reason, a name just hasn't come to mind. In these instances, I have opted to say (genuinely) the first thing that has popped into my mind. Now, I'm not saying I'm psychic by any means, but more often than not, the things which I mention have triggered a great response. Realistically speaking, this is more likely due to the pattern matching I mentioned earlier.

!

On one occasion, I became stuck on the letter H, and so I openly suggested that, for reasons unknown to me, the image of a horse had just popped into my mind. In this instance it became apparent that the gentleman in question had been contemplating buying his daughter a horse.

!

On another occasion, I was stuck on the letter O and an owl came to mind (the fact this was also an animal was completely incidental). Once again, I was open enough to suggest that, for reasons which were beyond me, I saw the image of an owl. In this instance an owl featured predominantly within his life as it was part of the emblem of his favourite sports team.

!

Now, I openly admit that I haven’t hit with everything I have verbally “thrown out”, but for the reactions that you receive when they do, it is certainly worth trying. Just go with your instincts and you will surprise yourself.

!

Note: Being honest in that something has just popped into your mind also allows you to casually brush it off where required, too. I would recommend that you keep conservative on the direct hits. Try not to throw out any more than a couple per reading at most; any more and it will seem like you're “stabbing in the dark”.

!

Names/Places/Jobs/Siblings and More - A great way of producing direct hits is to use the pooling technique mentioned earlier. Rather than just throwing out a random name, I prefer to mentally scan the people in my mind and also to consider the people connected with them, such as their husbands, wives, parents or siblings names. If there is any name that appears more than once, this is the name that I will call aloud.

!

I also assess the jobs of the “group” in the same fashion, too, and if, say, the majority work with children or are perhaps from a particular industry, then I will mention this fact. It is worth mentioning that I will also use the ambiguity ploy here to increase my chances of a hit. For example, one direct hit I had recently was to mention that I believed that the spectator/sitter had a job dealing with communications, and it transpired that he worked for British Telecom, which is a company which deals directly in telecommunications.

!

Naturally, communications could have been linked with telemarketing, public speaking, secretarial work and far more besides. I also like to pool my list of people to determine how they interact with their lovers; i.e., are they romantic or reserved, doting or other.

!

I have also found huge value in pooling for any siblings within my “group” of people. This has allowed me on many occasions to detail not only how many siblings someone has, but also the sex and age differences, too.

!

The results of pooling aren't to be sniffed at and I consider this to be one of the greatest resources for my readings. What's more is that since you are almost surveying these people in your mind, the statements made as a result of doing this are more statistically likely to be correct.

!

Amplification of Character - Another useful technique is to use at least one fictional character within the reading. Since fictional characters (movie/cartoon or otherwise) often have grossly exaggerated personalities, they provide a rich resource for us to tap.

!

One time I was given the name Shannon and, due to the number of N’s in the name, I chose Neil Armstrong as one of my people. I suggested that I was seeing a circle (I had the moon in mind) and made a small circle between my thumb and first finger. It transpired that this sign was something that was associated with this man as he used it in a party game/prank.

!

Another example from one of my own readings was a result of finding the letter “Z” in a name. In this instance, the character Zorro came to mind. In my reading I suggested that my sitter/spectator had two distinct parts to their personality. I went further to suggest that the person he is in public isn't the person he is behind closed doors. I suggested that there he was quite secretive and perhaps had some links with the police, as I was feeling that there was something in this respect of which he was quite proud.

!

As it transpired, not only was the split personality bang on the nose, he had also trained several dogs which had been used by the police in a recent (and highly successful) rescue mission.

!

One of my favoured readings was given for a lady by the name of Lisa. For her reading I, in essence, described the character of Lisa Simpson, the famous cartoon character. I suggested that the colours yellow and red seemed to dominate her life, that she took an interest in an unusual instrument from an early age (this transpired to be a flute), that she had a dog, one older brother and a younger sister with a bigger age gap. I further described her family as being slightly dysfunctional in an entertaining way, and that her dad was so clumsy that she wouldn't feel comfortable relying on him for anything important. Almost everything in this reading was a perfect hit, and all of this information from just a single fictional character.

!

I must add that positive personality traits are always more likely to be accepted by your spectator/sitter since they can be seen as complements. Who, after all, wouldn't like to be seen as deeply intelligent, talented or wise?

! !

Baby Steps:

!

So there you have it. Whilst the system itself is super simple, I'm sure that you are eager to take it for a road test. My advice would be to write down several names of people whom you already know. You can then work through the system yourself, conjuring up several people for each name. When you have done this you will have a better appreciation of how easy this is to perform.

!

Before you use this you must also decide what ability you are trying to portray. If it’s your “astute understanding of human behaviour”, then you must try to refrain from delivering information that you could not conceivably know. Your stance on this will help shape what details you decide to reveal. For me, the Sherlock approach favoured by Ben Cardall is an ideal role model.

!

When you do decide to use this in the real world, it may be wise to opt for the fail-safe approach detailed earlier. This will help to build your confidence for the future, and once you feel comfortable with it you can take things further.

!

As suggested earlier, for more detailed readings you can prompt for the person’s surname, too. To do this discreetly you could perhaps suggest that they look familiar to you as you ask their name. A subtle prompt should be enough for you to get the information you need.

! ! ! Best Wishes Michael Murray ! www.mindfx.co.uk ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

I sincerely hope that you enjoy using this system…

- [email protected]

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !