Air Writer
Written by DekEl and Timon Krause
Introduction I cannot begin to say how long and how many hours I have sat thinking, thinking, thinking, trying to come up with a way to perform the effect you will soon read in this book. I knew that something that could give me instant access to thought of letters or numbers, no matter how transparent or how well veiled, would be a priceless addition to my arsenal, with limitless possibilities.
Thus it is my honor to present you with the Air Writer. If you present it well, with the correct justifications and the right focus in your routine, thus effect will become your very best of friends, your favorite of tools.
I must add, additionally, that it is my highest hope that you, as the reader, will only use this for entertainment, and not tread along the darker side of our art.
Read the effect, prepare a solid justification, a well-structured routine that directs the focus to your mind reading, and then practice, practice, practice. Adapt it as needed, and perform it well, more opinion rule.
Finally, thank you, for supporting Timon and I by purchasing our work.
Table of Contents Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 What the effect can look like. Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 An introduction, and an inclusion of Mene, Mene, Dekel. Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 How to perform Air Writer with letters and words. Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 How to perform Air Writer with all digits. Zodiac Signs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Different ways to get at someone's zodiac sign. Book Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Just a few of the many ways that Air Writer can be used with books. Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 How to gain access to thought of cards using Air Writer. Drawing Duplications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 How to perform a drawing duplication with Air Writer. States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 A powerful effect wherein you predict the state a spectator will think of. ESP Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 A prediction effect with ESP symbols. Routines by Timon Krause . . . . . . . . . .29 Some routines provided by Timon Krause using Air Writer. Notes by Timon Krause . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Justification by Steven Keyl . . . . . . . . . 35 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Effect Imagine that a spectator walks up to you and says this:
“If you can really read minds, then what am I thinking of, right now?”
You're prepared for this. You can jump off from their word to a new one, or get them to write it on a billet and then perform a peek, but instead, you have them write their word in the air, letter by letter. You do not watch them write the word, you honestly don't peek. You don't have a stooge, and you're not using dual reality, you have no gimmicks. No props. Just yourself and your spectator. They write their word in the air. And then you name it. From Card to Hat to Robert to Book to TV to Radio to Remote to Pillow to Chain, you know what they are thinking of. Without forcing, without peeking, without electronics.
Imagine asking a spectator to make up a PIN number in their mind and then write it in the air, or have them use their actual PIN number. Imagine naming a spectator a time, card, zodiac sign, or phone number, without fishing, that they merely wrote in the air out loud, or using that information further in your routine. While the method is designed for English, it can work in any language.
Welcome to the Air Writer.
Method Air Writer is based off of Mene, Mene, Dekel (MMD), which was an effect included in my previous book, MindCraft: Psionics, and the last of the MindCraft series. The effect left me feeling like some ends were untied, like something more could be done with the method. I messed around with letters, line segments, fishing, all to no avail. Then Timon Krause, of the Psionics reviewers hit upon a wonderful idea.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. First let me allow you to read the basic method for MMD:
To perform this effect, you need practice, guts, and most of all superb spectator management. Position your hands like the picture to the right. That invisible rectangle is going to be your wall that your spectator will write on. The larger you make it the more accurate your “air reading” will be. You could say something along the lines of the following:
Performer: “Can you see the rectangle formed by my fingers?” Spectator: “That? Yeah.” Performer: “I've only told a few people this, but I have the ability to see things a few seconds after they've happened. Optic signals take longer for my brain to decode then they do in other people. To show you how this works, do me a favor
and think of a number from 1 to 100 that has two even digits. Do that right now.” Spectator: “[pause] OK, I got one.” Performer: “Great, now I'm going to turn my head and close my eyes in just a second, and I want you to draw the first digit of your number in the rectangle formed by my hand. Make it big, because it's already hard enough to see an air drawn number, let alone a tiny one, but don't touch my hands while your doing it. When you're done, just keep you finger where you finished drawing and say 'Done'. By holding the end position for a few seconds it helps me pick out the motion. Here, let me show you.”
At this point draw a random digit in the air. Make it large, pause for a few seconds at the end as you say done. This will cement the pause at the end in their mind.
Performer: “You got it?” Spectator: “Yes.” Performer: “[turns head far away and closes eyes] Alright, go ahead.” Spectator: “[draws first digit] Done.” Performer: “[turns head back] Perfect, now for the second digit. Do exactly what you just did for the second digit.” Spectator: “[draws second digit] Done.” Performer: “Great. I may be wrong because it's sometimes hard to tell numbers apart, but I think I saw the number 64. Is that right?” Spectator: “Yes!”
Now that you've heard the performance, here's the method: all you're doing is watching where there finger tip ends. Even though people write some numbers differently (most notably 8), and some numbers have the same ending location (like the way some people can write 1, 7, 9, and 4, or 3, 5, and 7, among other combinations), if you choose only even numbers, you can still give them a wide range of numbers to choose (22, 24, 26, 28, 42, 44, 46, 48, 62, 64, 66, 68, 82, 84, 86, and 88) from. 16 in all, in a way that won't make them mess up like limiting them to the classic force of numbers from 50-100 with only two different even numbers might. The choice seems wide and fair, is easy to come up with, and not too hard to discover. Plus, worst case you can just blame their “handwriting” if you get a digit wrong; and it's pretty hard to get them wrong since there are only 4 digits they could be writing.
Here is the diagram that shows you the possible locations that they could end on: As you can see, I flipped the image so that you can see what it will look like from your side (because the audience's writing will be mirrored to you). As you can see, 4 will end somewhere around the middle, maybe a little to the left of it. 8 can be in the very center if you write them like I do, or anywhere in the top section if you write like most people. 6 will always be on the right center, and 2 will always be in the bottom left corner. Thus, as long as you get them to hold their finger after they finish the drawing, and get them to draw large
enough (both of which you reinforce by a quick demonstration), you will always be able to tell what digit they wrote. You can always change the size of the box if you are having difficulty.
An interesting technique you can use for many other applications then just “proving” the little story I concocted. The nice thing about it is that you never need props of any kind. The effect might seem transparent, but it is not.
Right, so now that you've read MMD, I can jump into Air Writer. MMD in itself can be used to reveal thought of PIN numbers, it can be used in book tests, etc. It's a solid effect in itself, simple, and not in the least transparent. But letters, how could they be revealed? There are 26 of them, and only 9 possible locations where they could end. The solution: look at the start of the letters as well as the end.
Using this, you can pinpoint virtually any letter. Obviously you'll have to reverse everything because the spectator's drawings will be mirrored when you see them, but the technique remains the same. This will also work for numbers, or even zodiac signs. Now let us examine the possibilities individually.
One major note: Steven Keyl, a Psionics reviewer (of Magic Book Report), has kindly allowed me to use his excellent justification for Air Writing. It helps a lot for crowd management. I strongly suggest that you read it (at the end of this book).
Letters Arguably the most important use of the Air Writer, letters are also the most difficult to read, simply because there are so many of them. The justification that will be used for letters and any technique that uses looking at the start and ending points will be this:
“Tell the participant that you'll need him to write the name as fast a possible so the after-image is as clear and fresh as possible. Then tell him to go into 'starting position' and put his finger to where he'll start to write. Close your eyes, say "Go" and ask him to tell you as soon as he's done. This is just another approach to the whole thing and they'll be sure that you truly couldn't see anything.”
Make it into a timing thing, as if you care how fast they are writing, thus you naturally want them to be ready to start immediately, e.g. you start a race in a leaned over position, leg back, at the starting line, waiting for the signal to begin.
On the next page are the letter maps I've constructed, both normal and mirrored. I know what you're thinking (I'm a mentalist after all :) ): why is there more then one letter in the boxes. Or perhaps you are thinking: what are those boxes anyways.
The boxes represent the location of your spectator's finger. Also, look at the green, red, (and sometimes orange) dots. The green dots are where the letters
start. The red ones indicate where the letter ends. There are 9 boxes, one for each basic location that a spectator will place their finger. Inside of the 9 boxes, you can see nine more spots, that roughly indicate where the spectator's finger will end (if the smaller box was as big as the whole table).
This might take a little getting used to, so go ahead, look over the charts and try and figure out how everything fits together. For example, if your spectator started their letter in the bottom right corner, and ended on the center left side, you would look to the box in the bottom right corner in the mirrored table (or the bottom left one in the normal table), and then locate the letter in the center left of that box, the letter A.
Another thing to notice is that there are some mini-boxes inside of the bigger ones, that hold clumps of letters. Furthermore, some letters are blue and some black. The blue letters are the ones most likely to be chosen from a given clump. Some letters, like K, Q, J, X, V, and Z, are very, very, unlikely to be chosen by a spectator. Others, like E, T, A, or N, are very likely choices. These likely ones are printed in blue. One note on N: sometimes it is written such that it starts at the top of the left hand side, instead of the bottom.
The next thing you are going to need to do, is memorize this table. I know what you're thinking (again). “There's no way I can memorize all of that!” That's where you're wrong. The effect works and retains some its transparency because your spectators will assume that you can't memorize something like that.
But even memorizing the table isn't all that bad. The best way to do it is to use it. See in what spots letters from words would go. You're mind will pick them up in chunks and begin to notice useful tricks. You will automatically remember the blue ones first, and then gradually the black ones as you need them. Some of the letters are virtually interchangeable until you need to construct the whole word, like D and B, or C and G: Car and Gar... Which could it be? Both sound and look similar enough to memorize as one. If you only memorize the blue letters, you will be able to bring the word together very quickly about ¾ times, yet you're only memorizing 17 letters. Actually, the first handful of letters make up over 50% of usage. Again, the best way to learn the chart is by practice, lot's of practice. One other note, if their letter starts in the top left and ends in the bottom right or center right, look quizzical and ask your spectator if the letter's a vowel. This will make your job a lot easier, as the letter E is a very common one. It's easy to choose between R and L, but E, R, and L get a bit difficult to manage, plus, most of the time it will be E anyways, and you will know for sure and not have to mess around with L or R. L or R can be hard to determine, so sometimes on this one I ask if the letter has a curve in it, it helps considerably. The rest of the sets are pretty straight forward. O, however, always starts and ends in roughly the same spot, no matter where they start it, like the letter C. Normally it will start somewhere around the top. The hardest letter is I. The easiest solution for I is just to note them that when writing it, that they should just right a line instead of adding the bars on top and bottom of it. Also, sometimes they start the A at the top (as my crib sheet reflects). Often times, just getting the first and last letters of a short word will let you know the word itself.
Additionally, when I ask for a word, I often ask my spectator to think of a “simple noun, something that you can see”. This generally makes the word much shorter and makes it easier to tell what it is. Now I think a demonstration is in order to show you how well the system works. Here is some patter and dialogue, along with what's running along through my mind. I used to use a crib sheet for the letters, but you don't have to after a few hours practice.
Performer: “Do me a favor and think of a simple noun.” Spectator: [pause] “OK, I got one.” Performer: “I'm going to try and see your word, one letter at a time. I'm going to try and see an after image in the air of your word. Here, can you see the space between my hands? Pretend that's a white board. I'm going to ask you to write your letters on that board, one at a time, in capitals. I want you to use up as much space as possible. Also, I want to get as much of the after image as possible, so you're going to bring your finger to where your letter starts, then I'm going to turn my head and say Go, you will draw your letter, hold your finger at the end and then say Done, quickly. Here's an example [demonstrate it for a letter]. Then we'll move on to the next letter and so on.” Spectator: “OK.” Performer: “Alright, now for the first letter. Bring your finger up to the start of your letter, now I'll turn my head, close my eyes, and... Go!” Spectator: [draws letter] “Done.” Performer: [turns back around, and waves their hand away]
At this stage, I've seen the starting point, which was just above the left center, and the end point, which was in the left center. Mirroring this to find the actual letter, I think of and remember the letter C/G. C is blue, so I'm leaning towards it.
Performer: “Great... let me just look at the air for a moment to catch the after image... [this buys you time to think of the letter], alright done. Onto the next letter. Finger to the start of the second letter, I turn my head, and Go!” Spectator: [pause] “Done.” Performer: [turns back around, and waves their hand away]
I saw that their second letter started in the top center and ended a little to the left of it's starting spot. This clicks in my mind as the letter O. So now I have CO/GO. Since I know it has to be a noun, I know there must be more letters.
Spectator: “Yeah, two more.” Performer: “OK, finger to the start of the third letter, and... Go.” Spectator: [pause] “Done.” Performer: [waves hand away]
I know that the letter started in the bottom right (their left), and ended to my center left, yet somewhat close to the center. When it's close to the center I always know it's an A, from practice. A is the only possible choice. So far we have C/G – O – A. Now for the next letter.
Performer: “Now for the last letter. Bring your finger to the start of it... Go.” Spectator: [pause] “Done.” Performer: [turns around, and waves away their finger]
I saw their finger start in the top right and end in the bottom center. Mirroring this, I think of the letter T or Y. T is blue, so I toss away Y. I now have Coat or Goat, most likely coat, because C was blue.
Performer: “Are you thinking of the word coat, or maybe goat?”
If I was absolutely sure about the first letter, such as if it was a P (as in Pot), or N (as in Nail), then I would ask them to draw their object in the air, claiming that that's why I asked them to think of a noun in the first place.
I know this sounds complex, but as soon as you've memorized the table, or gotten used to it by using a crib sheet, you will find it the easiest and most natural thing to do. If you want to, you can draw a mini-crib sheet or palm one in your left hand, and when you raise your hands to create the screen, keep your left palm facing you so that you can read off of it right under your spectator's nose. I have gotten away with this (I wrote a simplified version on my hand), by holding my hand so they wouldn't notice it. If they're not looking for it, they won't bother you about it. Test yourself. CAR and CUP are some easy ones I've had. Some letters are harder then most, but by having them think of something they can visualize, and/or something short, (3 or 4 letters) you're getting rid of most possible errors.
Here is the crib sheet I write on my hand. The bigger letters are more common then the smaller ones, some of the more obscure letters are left out (left to common sense, e.g. If you're looking at something like Rebra or Lebra, you might think it could be Zebra instead), and the locations are mirrored, but the letters are not. Have a look:
This little table has served me very, very well for short words. Get your spectator to think of a short/simple/common noun, something that they can see, and then run along through the table. You have the perfect way to look at the “sheet”, too, because it's written on the palm that's facing you due to your little “window”. It covers almost all of the letter starting/ending discrepancies I've noticed. If you use anything, I would recommend this crib sheet the highest.
Numbers If you're not satisfied with just even digits, and want to try something more ambitious, like a PIN number revelation, you're going to want to perform it with starting and ending. If you can help it though, just sticking to the endings is a bit easier to keep track of. That said, here are the full number tables, both normal and mirrored:
Starting out I also used a crib for this. On my cribs I always leave out any empty rows, I write the locations mirrored, but I write the numbers/letters un-mirrored, and I also never put in the dots, they're only there to help you understand the system going into it. When I use the number crib, sometimes I leave the empty row, so that if someone does catch it on my hand, I can just say I was playing a sudoku game against myself. :)
As you can see, 6 and 5 start and end in roughly the same positions, with 6 generally being a little above 5. Also, 0 and 8 can be hard to tell apart, as they both start and end at roughly the same point. An fair way to tell them apart is that 8 usually starts/ends in a corner or in the center. If it's in the center it's an automatic 8. I write so that it ends in the center, and messing around with different participants I've found that sometimes this does happen. The rest of the digits are pretty easy to tell apart, so you can now get someone's PIN number of phone number. Additionally, I often use this for months of the year or days/times. Birthdays and birth years are now simple to gain access to. Sometimes I ask if it “isn't an even digit is it?”, which can help you by letting you only look at the end of their number sometimes to make it a bit simpler on you and them. I honestly use this one more then I perform with words, because it's a bit more surefire. I've gotten my hit rate with words up to about 80-85%, but with numbers it's generally 90-95%, so I tend to use them more. Book tests, PK time routines, converting their number to a letter and then Elephants in Denmarking it are all possible and fun ways to use numbers. Plus it's a lot easier to remember then letters, and in a pinch you can always just run through each number to find the right one fairly quickly. Of course it is a lot more impressive to reveal a thought of word, but the debate could go on... Now to zodiac signs.
Zodiac Signs Wouldn't it be fun to tell someone their zodiac sign without fishing? If you carry around a convenient little card you'll see just how easy this is to do. First, get yourself a double blank business/index card, and write 6 zodiac signs on each side. Here is a table of the symbols: As you can see, the table won't be that hard to memorize. But to make it even easier for yourself, you have the card, and the fact that 6 symbols are written on each side (this subtlety came from Paul Carnazzo's wonderful ESP cards). You ask them to find their symbol on the card, then place it on the table, and then draw their symbol in the air, while you look away. The card is convenient to them because they can see the symbol to figure out how to draw it. It's convenient to you because it acts as a mini crib sheet in itself, and narrows down their symbol to two.
Alternatively, you can ask how many letters it is. If you choose to use letters, I recommend putting Aries (5), Taurus (6), Sagittarius (11), Cancer (6), Libra (5) and Aquarius (8) on one side, and Gemini (6), Leo (3), Virgo (5), Scorpio (7), Capricorn (9), and Pisces (6) on the other side. This way the only ones you have to tell between are Aries/Libra, or Taurus/Cancer, on the first side, and Gemini/Pisces on the other side. Thus, you will ask them to write the first letter in the air, if the
number of letters is 5, and the 3rd letter if the number of letters is 6. All of the other times you will instantly know their sign.
If you don't want to ask how many letters it is, you can just ask them to write the first letter in the air. C, A, L, T, S, P, and V are all distinct letters from each other. If it's a C, however, you should follow it up with asking them to write the 3rd letter. N, M, and P are very distinct. In fact, you can just ask them to hold the end position if it's one of N, M and P, they are so distinct, you don't need the starting position. Or, if it's an A, you can go for the second letter. You can easily perform this method with nothing but your mind, you won't need a card if you're doing the letters. Out of the three ways, this method is my preferred for getting their sign. It's simple astounding, impromptu, and gaff-less.
Additionally, you can give them a card with all of the signs numbered from 1 to 12, and then have them write their number in the air (you won't have a 0 so 8 won't be a problem), but as I said above, I really like the 1-2 letter method.
Using this as a branching technique, you can easily use it for other things, such as states, countries, animals, months, just by having your spectator write a few letters in the air, no fishing. The beauty of working with a limited range of choices is that you can easily select sets of letters that have no overlap (e.g. no R/L/E guessing), you don't need to ask for every letter, and you can always ask for another letter to make sure if you're a little unsure.
Book Tests Book tests. I'm sure your head is already spinning over the many possibilities. Just like with the zodiac revelation, there are many, many ways to accomplish the same thing. Using just Mene, Mene, Dekel, you can ask your spectator to think of a number with two even digits (from 1 to 100), write it in the air, and then have them flip to that page, and look at the first word(s). I have done this and it plays very big. It's easy to do, you just need to memorize 16 words from the pages 22, 24, 26 28, 42 44, 46, 48, 62, 64, 66, 68, 82, 84, 86, and 88. It seems like a very free choice that uses about 50 numbers (even digits seem like an even number), but in reality there's just 16. Memorize those or make a crib of them. You can hide the crib sheet and peek at it, or you can write it on your hand, a 4 x 4 grid. As they write the number, just look at the end points, and then look at the crib on your left palm. The rest is simple. You can do equivoque to choose a book, put different covers on identical books, or memorize 2+ sets of words, or just make a mini-crib sheet to peek at.
Another way, is to ask your spectator to flip any book open to any page and look at a “short word, let's say two or three letters long, something plain”. You could also extend it by saying “three or four” letters, but two or three tends to be the easiest to keep track of if you have the choice. Here are the most common two, three, and four letter words:
of, to, in, is, it, be, as, at the, and, for, are, but, not, you, all that, with, have, this, will, your, from, they
Make up a quick crib list on your hand, and have them write the letters in the air. It will be short and simple, and even if their word isn't on the list chances are very high that you will get it. Don't ask how many letters their word is; if it's a word like of, to, at, or in, it will be obvious that that's the end of the word. If it's something like your or and, however, you can just ask “there's not another letter, is there?” The crib list just makes it easier for you to keep track of. The beauty of this is that they can choose any book and any page, and what they will probably remember as a free choice of word, and yet you don't need to fish at all for letters.
Another book test, and probably one of my favorites, involves performing a force of a page number. I generally use Hoy's book test, you should already know this one as a mentalist, it's invaluable as an impromptu book test. This basically makes the Hoy book test seems far more powerful. You are going to choose a page that doesn't seem to have a lot of long words in it. You can choose pretty much any page from the middle with the Hoy book test, so take your time and choose one with few words of 7 letters or less. Now you can force the page quickly and fairly, and then ask them to look at a “really hearty word with a lot of letters, let's say, 8 letters or more”. You can have a crib (if you need one) with these words written on your hand. You simply select one letter, such as the first letter in the word, that's very distinct in all of the words, and then have them write that
letter in the air while you close your eyes. If the first letter is not enough, you can go on to the second letter. Also note, in many cases, there will be less then 10 words of 8 letters or more on the page if you look for the right page, and then you can carefully choose a letter and only look at the end of the letter instead of the beginning as well. Additionally, even if you choose a word that requires that you sometimes look at the second or third letter, many times with this additional letter you can just look at the end. This adds another level of secrecy to the effect.
Also, if you happen to have a MOABT (Mother Of All Book Tests), you might find that the Air Writer (with just one letter, as I just described), will work very well in conjunction with it. I don't own any form of MOABT so I'm not sure, but I think it would work very well.
Cards Cards are also quite simple, just like zodiac signs. We have Ace, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Jack, Queen, and King. Ask your spectator to think of a playing card. If you like, you can make your job a little simpler by just asking them to think of a number between 1 and 10, and then add a suit to that. If you choose not to, the just make sure to ask if its a number or not. Then proceed to either the digit system, or ask for the last letter if its a court card. You can have a mini crib sheet if you want: two rows for the numbers, and just memorize the court cards. The number 10 is the only exception, it will generally start and end at top; the start in your top rightish and the end in the top leftish, a bit like the letter U, just with the ends squished closer to the center.
The suits are equally easy, Clubs, Hearts, Spades, and Diamonds. You have all of the first letters at your convenience. You can play around with which letters work best for you, and set it up so you only need the ends of the letters (albeit sometimes you might need two letters to get this to work). You can now reveal the card, or use it in a bigger effect, such as an ACAAN. I'd never really recommend just performing the effect by itself, I almost always combine it in a larger routine.
Think of something like a Mind Power deck, for instance. You can have them look at a card, write one letter in the air, show them that their card is not in the deck, and then reveal that they're card was in your pocket from the start with no fishing.
Drawing Duplications As Banachek noted in his book, Psychological Subtleties, when put on the spot, most people will draw one of these items:
A House A Flower A Person or a Smiley Face A Tree A Car
… and one that I feel needs to be added: A Boat. This is simply because most people can't (or think they can't) draw something like an animal or a non stick figure, plus it would be embarrassing if their drawing came out poorly.
What I've done with this is have someone draw “an noun, something that you can see” often on a billet, and then ask them to think of how they're object is spelled saying “so if you're drawing is of a face, think F-A-C-E. If it's of a Person, or a Human, then think P-E-R-S-O-N, or a Boat, then think B-O-A-T, etc.”
This covers the cases when someone might think Smiley Face, or Sailboat, or Man, instead of simpler words. Then I simply have them draw the first letter. H/F, P, T, C, and B, are all easy to get at, and if its an H/F, you can just ask them to draw of the second letter, or the last one, and only look at the end of the letter.
All that remains is to draw the object, based on their first letter, and write the name of the object below it. If it is a different letter then one of these, I do one of two things. If it seems like something simple, I often guess. Otherwise, you can just peek the billet and proceed to draw it yourself. Or... You could have them write the entire word in the air. Even if they thought of something not quite like what you had, most of the time, because you wrote it's name, you will get credit for getting the right first letter.
There are many ways to accomplish this, as with everything, but by using the Air Writer as an alternative to fishing, you increase your hit rate considerably above any random word that they could think of.
States When I performed this, I used a full fledged crib sheet, not just the notes on the hand thing, and I also had a list of the states, with the fourth letters circled. How do I hide this? When I was performing this routine, I sat at a table, and had the sheet in my lap. I just brought my hand to my forehead to think and looked down under that cover. It's quite easy actually, you just need the first letter, and sometimes the fourth letter. The fourth works the best. So get yourself a real crib sheet, because some of these letters are obscure, and a list of the states. Many times you can get away with only the end of the fourth letter, and sometimes you won't even need the fourth letter, such as with states like Utah or Georgia.
This can play very, very big, if you combine it with a larger routine. If you have a 52 card index (or can make one, from the CardSource System) then you can make up cards with the states on them, put the 50 cards in the indexes, have a card on the table, find the state, and then switch it out with the one in your pocket.
If you can memorize the states (or already have them memorized), then this is even easier and harder hitting; you can do it standing up with nothing but an index, and hold the card (with a state such as California on it) in your hand. Then, when you hear the first letter, run through the states until you get to that letter, locate the few states, and decide whether or not you need the fourth letter or not. You can write a more detailed crib list on your hand, and be ready to go. I can't overstate (pun intended) how well this plays.
ESP Symbols This should be second nature to you. You show your spectators the five ESP symbols, and then have a spectator (or three) think of one. Call your spectator(s) up, and ask them to draw their symbol in the air while you turn around so that the rest of the audience can see what it is. They do so, and then you proceed to read their mind. Personally what I like to do is get one spectator up on stage to do this. On a table nearby I have a small envelope with an index card in it. This envelope can have either a window (which I prefer) in the back, or carbon paper (in which case you need a dull ended TT). I note to them that this is my prediction. I have a TT in my pocket. I then run through the process, and then pick up the small envelope, slip on the TT, and draw the symbol. Then I open the envelope, slide out the card, and show the prediction. Here's a map for each of the symbols. It's mirrored so you can make a crib if you like or just memorize it and then you're ready to go. You can also do it with just the end of the symbol.
Routines by Timon Krause When I spent some more time thinking about “The Airwriter” I came up with some more lice little ideas for routines that you might enjoy.
Routine 1: Restaurant: Imagine this – you’re sitting in a restaurant with your date/mum/friends and are just about ready to order. “Wait”, you say. “I want to try something out. Draw the number of your dish into the frame formed by my fingers here. I will look away. Once you’re done I’ll try and read your mind.” – they do so. You use “The Airwriter” to find the number of their dish, then check the card and find what dish it is that they chose. As soon as the waiter comes to take your order you’re able to tell here what you and your companion want – and hopefully your companion will be awed by your powers!
Routine 2: ACAAN-Variation: They pick a card. Shuffle the deck. Write a number into the air – and their card appears at that thought off number. As I’m not a card guy I won’t teach you any flash moves right here as to how to bring the card to the thought off number. I’ll describe to you how I do it – which is bold and not very elegant, but works anyways: Have your spectator pick a card and put it on the bottom of the stack – you’ll have to remember the bottom card before the effect to use it as a key card.
Then ask your spectator to write a number of two even digits from 1 – 52 into the air. Use “The Aiwriter” to find their number. Go through the deck, find their card ( using the key card ), then just count as many cards on top as it takes to bring their card to their thought off number. Then let them count cards off until they arrive at their number.
Routine 3: Chemical Knowledge: “The Airwriter” is very easy to perform in conjunction with a Periodic Table of Elements ( chemical ). The Elements are written in short with about 1 or 2 letters which will enable you to perform this effect very fast. Ask your spectator to choose one of the elements from the table and write the initials into the air. As no one ever sees through the table of elements ( apart from those chemists ;D ) this will make the choice seem broad and complicated to read their mind from. However, it’ll be hard to find a real good presentation for this. I thought I’d let you know about this anyways – who knows, you might one day find yourself performing for a chemistry class. (Note from Bill:) If you know the effect Stigmata, by Wayne Houcin, this would be the perfect time to use it. :)
Routine 4: Magic Square: Well, the title will tell you most of it. Ask your spectator to write a number into the air ( with two even digits if possible ) – you then read his mind and make a magic square of it. You might however want to have him write the number down for verification so they don’t “cheat”.
Notes by Timon Krause When DekEl sent me his Mindcraft: Psionics book to review I was truly intrigued by the idea of Mene, Mene, Dekel. I believe all of us were. So I gave it some thought and had some conversation with Bill and ended up writing some additional notes for this particular effect. However, we both felt that there was something we hadn’t figured out yet – something that just escaped our hands whenever we tried to catch it. Well, one afternoon I was sitting around, thinking ( as you do ) when I came up with the idea presented to you in this book. If letters have ending points, they obviously have starting points, too. So why not see if I could do the MMD effect with looking at where a letter starts? It would make the whole process a bit cleaner again, and by having them write the word as fast as possible there would be a perfect reason as to why they’d have to have their finger on the starting point while I’m still looking. Usually, I wave my hand really fast in front of their face to demonstrate the afterimage I’m talking about.
DekEl did a great job at expanding on my idea ( which expanded on his idea ) and figuring out practical routines for them. I won’t bother describing everything that DekEl described again but instead inform you about some of the additional touches to make this effect maybe just a little bit stronger.
Looking away:
As I mentioned in my notes for MMD already I often had spectators suspecting that I was watching out of the corner of my eye what they wrote although I actually turned away far enough and didn’t see anything. That’s why I now instead opt for keeping turned towards them but to have my eyes closed. In general, if you don’t need to see what the spectator does and want to convince the spectator that you can’t see anything just close your eyes. It’s so much more convincing than a blindfold, I never had a spectator suspect me of having seethrough eyelids. Personally I found that this effect is made a bit stronger by just closing your eyes.
Practicing:
Here’s a list I made up for you to practice this effect with a little bit of security. I’ll explain to you how to use it in a moment. First the list: -
NAMES
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WATER
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PUDGY
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DISCS
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TROLL
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WHITE
This list includes words which, spread over all of them, include all of the blue letters in DekEl’s diagram. Also, I tried to make an effort so that each word would be made up of mostly blue letters.
If you just started learning “The Airwriter” you’ll find this list very useful. Instead of giving the spectator a totally free choice of word, give him the choice of a word from the list. Of course, this isn’t near as amazing as the normal “Airwriter” but until you feel comfortable to have the spectator choose any word you can use this list to get used to the ‘blue’ letters. Obviously, if you know the list you’ll latest after two letters will know what word the spectator is about to write.
Obviously, as always, be careful to instruct the spectator to write in capitals!
Additional ideas: -
Use this principle with Ben Harris’ “Silent Running” procedure. Instead of doing all the fishing, have them write their number into the air and reveal their card.
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Use this in a psychic reading – have them write their problem or the name of a passed away person or someone close to them into the air. Then consult the spirit world and reveal their thoughts. A very nice premise is that while closing your normal eyes you open your third eye to see what they’re writing.
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Use this for a booktest – they’ll be able to choose any word, any page, any book. You determine the word.
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After you know what word they are about to write, say “Alright, we’re going to make this a little bit harder for me. I’ll take my frame away and turn around, you draw the next letter and then wipe over it. I’ll try and still see the after image.” Do so, it works quite well.
I really feel that DekEl got most out of the potential of this technique and although I provided the extended idea he did creative and good work on writing the instructions and creating routines.
After I saw DekEl’s work on this idea I felt like that’s what we were looking for when we first started on working on additional ideas for Mene, Mene, Dekel. We definitely took this idea further than we first thought and created a great routine. Most of this resulted out of just thinking about the principle and performing over and over again until maybe something else would come to mind to include. Thanks to DekEl for his great work and the interesting conversations we had – this shows how far two people can take something were one person maybe has a temporary block.
I am sure you enjoyed “The Airwriter”.
[email protected] – my email address in case of any questions.
All the best,
Timon.
Justification by Steven Keyl After spec #1 has been chosen I turn to someone next to them and say "Just to make sure that they don't forget or have a change of heart, I need you to know the number in their mind. Instead of whispering it, I'll turn around and you (spec #1) write it in the air large enough and clear enough that they can see it..." etc. Of course, at that point you include instructions for the MMD technique (or the Air Writer technique if it is different) and go from there.
This serves two useful purposes. First, it provides a rational justification for writing in the air. Second, anyone else around them is going to really focus on figuring out the number as well and will pay NO attention to the performer or what they are looking for.
Bill's notes on this:
I LOVE this justification and makes the effect far stronger, in my opinion. This also makes it easy to perform with a group of spectators. Instead of just using two spectators, however, you could say that they should write it large enough for the whole group to see.
Conclusion Before I end, I want to give credit where credit is due. While I did come up with the letter maps, writing in the air, and looking at where each letter ends, I did not come up with looking at where the letters start. I am quite sure that I would never have thought of this if it weren't for Timon Krause. Timon received a MindCraft: Psionics review copy and really liked Mene, Mene, Dekel, as every single one of the reviewers. I wasn't satisfied, however, with just even digits. I wanted it to work with all of the numbers, but more importantly, I wanted it to work with letters. Timon and I worked towards this goal, using the technique to fish for names/words from a selection, but I couldn't come up with something that worked reliably for letters. I set up fishing techniques, similar letters, guessing techniques, all to no avail. Then Timon brought to my attention the simplest yet most logical option: looking at where the letters start. I quickly got the percentage rate up to about 85% from there. The Air Writer method allows you to entirely bypass progressive anagrams in a much simpler and less transparent way.
In regards to the effects themselves, probably my favorite to perform is the zodiac sign revelation. It's simple and personal, in most cases it only uses the technique once and in a surefire way, there's not much to keep track of, and it ends powerfully. I hope that you enjoy all of the routines.
- DekEl
