Pendulums
ANTHEM FLINT
INTRO The Pendulum is a tool that, for thousands of years, has assisted millions of people in their ability to make decisions. It is a tool of not only intrigue and mystery, but science and psychology. Many people believe that the pendulum is a tool that collects magical energy and with that energy it swings one way or another to indicate yes, no, or other information. I am a believer that the pendulum uses a muscular twitch that is controlled subconsciously to indicate our true, inner desires. This twitch is called the Ideomotor response. It is the same thing that, in my opinion, controls the ouija board and other similar phenomena. How can we, as Mentalists, Magicians, Psychic Entertainers, Bizzarists and Normal people (not that anyone is normal) use this device of ancient power? In this packet you hold, I’ll teach you how to use one of THE MOST POWERFUL TOOLS ever created. You can use this in your everyday life, as a theatrical tool, or if you want to create magic carrying nearly nothing you can make some of the most impossible, visual, hands-off magic and mind-reading that you’ve ever seen or done. To practice, all you need is a string and some form of weight. I sell Pendulums at conventions and on my website. I don’t suggest buying them from metaphysical shops as I have found that they are extremely overpriced. I suggest you also get a purse for your pendulum if you carry it out and about. It will keep it untangled and in good condition. The last little bit of preparation I must give to you is PLEASE take notes and PLEASE try it before you knock it. I know some of this may seem unbelievable, but I swear that all of this is workable and all of it will leave people with their jaws on the floor. Please enjoy... ~Anthem Flint i
CHAPTER 1
How To Use The Pendulum In Life The Pendulum is a tool that is very helpful if you are mediocre at making choices. Choice is like a muscle that must be exercised. Using a pendulum is like doing Yoga. I want you to try this right now. Grab something that you can use as a pendulum and try this with me. Hold the string so that the weight hangs 5-7 inches below your hands. Hold the Pendulum at about arms length in front of you and know this... You Have The Will And The Power To Do This! Focus on the weight. In your mind say, “What Does ‘Yes’ Look Like?” and Will the pendulum to Swing. Left and Right, Back and Forth, Round and Round... It will do as it wilt. If it doesn’t swing at first, you can change your arm position, change hands, or stand up and do 5 jumping jacks then try again. Also, pendulums don’t work when you chew gum (don’t ask why I don’t know) so spit out your gum! If your pendulum is swinging, Great! Take note of the way it is swinging and remember that this means Yes! Will it now, in your mind, to slow to a stop. Now we are going to try the other answer, No. Focus on the weight and ask in your mind, “What Does No Look Like?” This time, it will swing a different way! If it swung Back and Forth on Yes it will swing Side to Side or Round and Round for No. If it doesn’t respond at all, That could be another way that it communicates. Often times, when the answer is No, then there will be No response. So keep that in mind. Now that your pendulum is “calibrated” try this next exercise with me. (Calibrate your pendulum Every Single Time no matter what.) Focus on something around you. A person, An object, whatever you want. Find something true to say about it and something false. For example, I see a Bronco’s 2
Football blanket in my living room. It is blue, orange, and white. It isn’t green whatsoever. You and I are now going to make the pendulum tell us the truth... “is the blanket green?” the pendulum swung No. “is the blanket blue? the pendulum swung Yes.
You try this now! Ask the true and false questions. Once you ask and get a response on the first, stop the pendulum and ask the next question! It should tell you the answer! If this worked for you just now, then you can see how many ways you can use this. Is this the right dish? Should I get this Medicine? Should I work harder to show my wife I love her? The subconscious mind will give you the true answer. I believe that the soul rests within the Subconscious mind and will speak for your heart. Keep playing with this and carry your pendulum around with you so you can try this out! If it didn’t respond to you, that is fine. There is something about you that doesn’t want to let the Ideomotor response take over. That’s fine! Go on a walk and try again! The Ideomotor response is stronger in some people than others! Also, if you don’t believe it will work, then it won’t! Believe And It Becomes So! Now I want to remind you, Recalibrate the pendulum Every Single Time you use it! Why? It’s one of those things that is not only tradition, but it psychologically prepares you for using the pendulum. Also when you do it, and it becomes second nature, you’ll look professional. Make sure that if you hand the pendulum to someone else you do a calibration for them too! I will talk about that momentarily. A great way to calibrate quickly is, “Show me Yes... (swings) Show me No...(swings)” Then you should stop the pendulum entirely and ask the question you seek the answer to. Easy as pie! If you enjoy the pendulum, I beg of you to buy a real, crystal, pendulum. If you use a nut on a piece of yarn or twine it looks very unprofessional. If you use 3
something that looks like a piece of jewelry, you will look more professional and that means that when using the pendulum with other people, it will be much more likely to swing. “What?! Why?” I hear you ask. Simply put, the placebo effect. For those of you who don’t know, a placebo is a sugar pill or saline solution that is administered to see the psychological effects of medication. It does nothing. The mind creates the result. I’ve heard studies that at least 70% of antidepressants effects are actually due to the placebo effect. So what do I mean a nice looking pendulum equals better results? A white tablet pill is less powerful than a capsule. A shot is more powerful than either! Things with nice packaging works better than just an orange bottle. Packaging and looks matter! So does process! In psychological subtleties, Banachek mentions the WitchDoctor Principle. ‘When you do something odd on purpose then it Must Do Something!’ At least, that’s the essence of it. So when you pull out a nice, oriental silk purse and open it... take a deep breath... slowly remove the pendulum and let the light hit the gleaming, opal, stone at the end... you create power for that pendulum. It must be important if it has its own carrying case and elicits such a delicate touch. If it’s important, it must be important for a reason. That reason Might Be magical powers. That is where the placebo begins. Keep this in mind with everything you do! If you dress nice, it must mean you’re important. If you dress with clothes that have holes and stains then you are just a slob... which do you think people want to see perform? Which do you think people will Listen To? Every little thing matters! So now you have the know-how about using the pendulum in life and you know about the psychological effects of a nice looking pendulum. Let’s talk about helping others use the pendulum to make choices!
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SECTION 1
Helping Others With Pendulums Let’s say that you’re at a restaurant and your date can’t decide what to have. They have 2 dishes in mind and each sounds amazing. Here is a short, script-like, explanation of how I would handle this situation! “What are you having a hard time choosing between? Which two dishes?... The Filet Mignon and The Lobster! Both great choices! I always have a hard time making choices too, But I found a really great tool for making decisions!” (Begin gently removing the pendulum) This sentence is somewhat important as it builds credibility both in you and the pendulum. You state that you are bad at something BUT this tool is great at it. It’s a well known theory that pointing out a disadvantage and then following it up with an advantage makes the advantage more believable. Peter Turner uses an example of a job interview. “I’m rubbish with a calculator, but my Mathematics are impeccable.” See what I mean? Your skills in Mathematics is now more credible. The next thing to note is that I use the word But. Anything said before the word But doesn’t actually matter. “You’re a great friend, But I think I need to hang out with a new crowd.” The compliment means nothing at all at this point. So when you say that you used to be bad at something But this is better, then it also implies that you are better now. “Have you ever heard of a pendulum? You have? Great! Mine is essentially a gemstone that has been made into a weight. This weight, when used properly, Feeds off of our energy that our body puts out and shows us what our heart truly desires!” This is a truthful Lie. It makes it sound magical without saying it’s magical. I personally would just say that, “It uses Psychic Energy that we all emit from ourselves...” Since that matches my character. To each his own, right? “Let me clear my energy from the pendulum so that you can use it!” 5
This is all placebo and WitchDoctor principle. Close your eyes, focus on the pendulum, make it swing and come to a stop and then... “Awesome, now it will work for you” Hypnotically powerful statement. What you really said was, “This will work.” But it wasn’t a Command, it was a Statement! This sets up your date psychologically and makes all of this much more likely to work. “Take the Pendulum by the little bead at the end and ask it to show you what Yes looks like, it will swing either Back and Forth, Side to Side, or Round and Round!” This is important! I’m about to share with you a few little secrets to make sure all of this works. Trust me when I say This Will Work. It not only uses Hypnotic statements, but also powerful Psychological techniques to make sure the pendulum swings! Practice these techniques in All You Do! Wait for the pendulum to start swinging. As soon at it is Clearly Swinging by the Ideomotor response and not just because their hand isn’t steady... Say this. “Very good! You’re Doing Great! Keep Going!” This is Super Important!!! Reward them for making it swing. Smile and Look Excited!!! When you do this, there will be a small release of ‘happy chemicals’ in their brain and they will be more likely to follow directions. If the pendulum Doesn’t swing, shift in your seat and say, “Let me Help you a little” Bring your hand nearer and focus your energy on the pendulum. Really believe that you can make that Pendulum move using only your mind! By appearing to concentrate, you add credibility to what you’re doing. The WitchDoctor principle kicks in and and they think, “He must be doing this for a reason, I bet it will make the pendulum swing.” That is enough faith to cause the pendulum to move. If this doesn’t work, I suggest you try muscle testing or perhaps just letting her decide under the pressure of the waiter. Anyway, let’s return to where we were! (The pendulum Swings) “Great! That means Yes! Grab it and lets figure out what No looks like!” 6
So now they know what Yes looks like. Perfect. Now we need to keep them in that mood. The way I worded this is important. I could have said ‘Stop the pendulum...’ But I do not want them to stop anything! I want them to keep going! So I say ‘Grab’. I know that this seems ridiculous. It’s so small, how could it effect them at all. As I said earlier, Every Little Thing Matters!!! The difference between “Always Remember” and “Never Forget” seems trivial on the outside, But on the inside... Always: people want always (I love you forever and always) Remember: Reminiscence is the most powerful tool our mind has. (Storytelling is reminiscing and we live in a story society). Both words are Positive. As for Never Forget... Never: No chance (I’ll never make any money at this) Forget: forgetting things causes embarrassment and stress (I forgot my phone at the restaurant{also, forgetting is something that causes people to think about getting older and is a struggle for many, especially since Alzheimer's is a big fear for lots of people}). The difference between Stop and Grab is essentially the same as always remember and never forget. Go through your scripts and see how many of these negatives are hidden in your words. A quick example, “As I riffle down say Stop...” As soon as they say Stop, they could subconsciously set up negative feelings about the card trick. Ask them to say, Now or There instead. Let’s get back to business though... “Concentrate on your pendulum and now ask it what No looks like. It will swing in another direction this time...” You will do the same thing that you did with Yes. You will reward them if it swings and tell them to keep going. Make sure you don’t tell them to repeat No as it will mess up their positive thought pattern. Make sure you tell them it will swing in another direction otherwise it might not swing at all. Sometimes people just don’t get the pattern and you want to be very clear. As soon as you get a clear No, then you will continue. “Now will the pendulum to slow down till it is entirely still...” Wait until it is nearly still and reward them. “Yes! Very good! Now, I want you to ask the pendulum, ‘Do I want the Filet Mignon?’ ” 7
Gesture to the pendulum and they will ask. You want to tell them to ask the pendulum and never say anything like, “Dig inside yourself and Find the answer.” The point of this is to make decisions easier, and the pendulum will take on the weight. Don’t put the pressure back on them. The pendulum will either swing Yes or No. (If yes) “Awesome! You should totally order the Filet! You definitely made the right choice!” Once again, simply rewarding them and making them feel great! (if no) “Alright, very good! Try the other one!” Reward them and excitedly say ‘Try the other one’ as if you're anxious to see what their choice will be. As if everything has built up to this moment! If it answers Yes, do the same as you would have in my first example. (if no) Alright... Check the menu again, see if there is something else you truly desire. Perhaps your subconscious wants something leafy or fishy instead!” Say this with a chuckle and a twinkle in your eyes. Never say, ‘...something healthier...’ to your date... I think that we all know what happens when you suggest healthier food to someone on a date. If they pick a new food then ask them to do the Pendulum test with that food. The pendulum does not work with All people, but it will work with most. People want to believe in magic. As James Randi would say, “There is a need to believe.” Hope is something that all humans have and need. If you give up hope, you give up a bit of life and Magic loses its magic... Make your date, client, helper, or whoever have, hope in the pendulum. If they hope, they will create. Of course, This example has been fairly specific to a date. I obviously could not give you every example ever as that is bordering on the impossible. But what I have given you are rules, principles, and a basic skeleton. So lets quickly review.
*Build credibility in the pendulum and yourself *Clear the pendulums energy to build the WitchDoctor and Placebo *State that it will work for them and when it does, Reward Them 8
*Keep them in a positive state! *Be Extremely Clear as to what will happen! *Put the pressure on the pendulum *Reward their final answer to make them feel awesome about it. *Give them hope and they will give you results The things that we have talked about here can work in any situation. Practice these techniques with all you do and you will see lots of interesting changes in your work. If you have any other questions about this, send me an email at
[email protected] Now, I’ve shown you real world usage of the pendulum both for yourself and for another person. It’s time to talk about performing with the pendulum. Before you continue, take just a few moments to reflect on the scripting and principles
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CHAPTER 2
The World Is A Stage Performing with a Pendulum is something that is very liberating. It’s also a learning experience about control. Sometimes, It’s not about control and putting things in the hands of others is often times the only thing you can do; in life and in performance. What I am saying by opening with this statement is simple. Don’t try to control the pendulum. It does what it wants, it cant always be tamed. Are there things you can do to make the effect more likely to work? Yes. Just remember, you cannot control someone or something without causing a little damage to either yourself or the things around you. Control is not a good thing, simply peace. Nonetheless, I want to talk about using the Pendulum first as a prop, then as a method. The pendulum is intriguing and mysterious. The motion it makes is connected to hypnosis and the purpose it serves is connected to psychics and the occult. This makes the pendulum an extremely powerful tool! Not only will people have trepidation towards it, but some people will be skeptical of it. This means that everyone will want to see if it works or not. The thing that I find even more fascinating and useful is that it supplies the thing that mentalism so often lacks, a visual element. The pendulum has an inherent mystery and the motion and beauty of the stone will catch the eye of anyone who might be passing. I learned the importance of visual props in mentalism the first time I ever tried Busking on the street as a mind-reader. In several hours I had made 6 bucks... I was not getting a crowd. When I did tarot I had HUGE crowds... Same with magic... Why wasn’t I getting a crowd? Not too long after I started to get desperate, a young couple approached me. I did a billet effect and as I “sensed” their 10
thought, I struck a dramatic pose. This was something I had not tried yet as it was not something I normally do. Suddenly, people stopped. They were intrigued as to what I was doing. After they left, I conversed with my partner and she said that the visual nature of that pose drew people in. I thought back and remembered that I always drew a large group when I did my close-up Q&A because I used a Crystal and Pendulum as visual aids. At this point I realized that the tools of Psychics and Vaudeville entertainers of olde are more than just props, they are part of the intrigue. They are the tool that teases the eye and entices the mind. Books are grand, but some are better with pictures. Paint a picture for your audience that they will never forget! The Pendulum is something classic and elegant. It is telekinesis, spirit contact, hypnosis, psychology, and so many other possibilities all in one! Using this as a visual aid is a great way to spice up your mentalism and magic. I don’t find it entirely necessary to give many different examples of how the pendulum can be used but here is a few. *Discover the hidden contents of a billet *Get yes and no answers from the spirit world *Find a card lost in the deck *Answer an audience members question *Find your lost check in the theater The list goes on and on. Look at your routines and see which ones could benefit from something visual. Practice it with a pendulum. It will feel funny, but think about if it adds anything from the audiences point of view. Also, while you’re at it... Think about how things like a crystal ball or a tibetan singing bowl could add even more great visual and audial value to your performance. Perhaps think about using different scents and how that could add to your show. The more you puzzle on this, the more ideas will come to your mind and you will find yourself neck deep in creativity. I think I have covered the usage of a pendulum as a prop, lets see what kind of ways we can use it as the method! 11
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The Method With No Method In this section I am going to cover several effects that will fit different styles of performers. I will teach an emotional mentalism effect that can also be an unwritten Q&A, a ghostly card effect that has two super clean methods, a Demonstration of either hypnosis or simply the power of the mind, and a few little subtleties. The only thing you need is a little courage and a pendulum. Max Maven said something on his DVD, Multiplicity, that will also help. “Imagine you have a schizophrenic magician in the back of your head. No matter what your audience member does, the magician says, YES YES! ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!” No matter what the pendulum does, it is right. If you have no familiarity with equivoque or as it is also called, Magicians choice, I suggest Max’s Multiplicity. You will need some skills with this craft to perform some of these effects and Multiplicity is, in my opinion, the best way to learn it. The only other thing I really have to say is Be Creative. Take these ideas and methods and change them to fit you.
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BROKEN HEARTS: Soulmates This is a piece that I use in a few different situations. Either with someone who has recently lost someone they love, A couple who love each other, an unwritten Q&A, and if I feel that it’s a good idea, a corporate event. I’ll quickly explain if I was doing it for someone who has experienced the loss of a loved one. Effect: The performer asks for someone who has lost a loved one recently. This person identifies themselves and you welcome them to the stage. You ask who the person they lost was and how long ago the event happened. After hearing what your helper has to say, you present a simple bit of philosophy. “Many wonder about the afterlife... In fact, I can guarantee that everyone in this room has thought about it. I can also guarantee that there is an afterlife. Now this afterlife is not the one we all imagine. It’s not heaven, valhalla, or some other holy gated community in the sky. It’s actually here on earth, in the minds of those who knew you. Someone once said to me, “You die twice. When your heart stops beating and the last time someone speaks your name.” In life, the impressions we leave on people are the afterlife. The memories we shared and created. The stories we star in.” You turn to your helper and ask if they remember happy memories and stories about this person. When they say yes, tell them that they’ll be perfect for this and give them a stack of business cards and a sharpie. “Please, write their name on that business card there.” They write the name on the first, blank, business card and keep it hidden from you. “When they passed away, they were torn from the world of the living. I want you to take that whole stack and rip it in half. If you rip them all at once, it ensures that they are identical. Do that now.” They rip the stack and you ask for one half. You state that you and your helper will mix the pieces so that there is no way to know where each of the pieces with writing on it is. You mix it once, trade piles, and mix it again. The two piles are spread out on each side of the table so that they are scattered but not mixed together. “This may seem like a huge mess,” You state, “But when a loved one dies, this mess is often how we are left feeling. Like everything is in shambles. What we must remember is that everything happens for a 13
reason and that even in the greatest chaos, there is order.” You produce the pendulum and talk about what it does and how to use it. You calibrate it for the helper and state that, “As you move the pendulum over the pieces, it will start to swing over one. I’ll push the ones you feel energy from away from the others.” They bring their pendulum over a piece on the left. Nothing. They move to the next piece and the pendulum swings. “Excellent!” You push the piece forward. “Check the others, do you feel any energy from those?” They do not. You take the pieces that the pendulum did not swing over and you throw them away. You repeat this process with the other scattered pieces and you throw the unused pieces away leaving one piece from each side of the table. You bring these together so that the tear lines up and you say, “Memory will bind us. Good or bad, For better or for worse. In memory, there is pain and pleasure. I want to dedicate this to the loved one you lost and their memory. I want this moment to stand in everyone’s mind like a monument of the energy that they left with you. You will always have a part of your loved ones and they will always be there to guide you in times of trouble. I want everyone to see how the memory of our loved ones will guide us to greener pastures. One more time, what was the name?” After the name is spoken, you turn over both pieces to reveal that the name that they wrote and ripped in two, is the pieces that the pendulum swung over. You give them the pieces, a round of applause and welcome them back to their seat. Method: I’m well aware that was a Long effect description. I’m sure that some of you will need to read it two or three times to understand what’s happening. Not because you can’t read, but because it’s a semi-difficult effect to explain in writing. If I could put it in one sentence, “Two pieces of a business card with a name on it are found with a pendulum out of two piles of blank cards.” I feel that even that isn’t a very good description, but it’ll have to do. The method is simple and the only real requirements are that you have confidence in what you’re doing, you have a stack of cards, and you have a pendulum. No matter what happens, act like all is going according to plan. The description of the effect described above is the best case scenario. It’s also the most common outcome. There is another way things can happen. It’s not as clean, but the effect remains as powerful.
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Let’s begin. Grab 5 business cards, a sharpie, and make sure you have a surface to place everything. Obviously, you also need a pendulum. If you currently don’t have one, grab a string and a paperclip. It’ll do the trick. Now that you have everything, grab a business card from your stack. This is the first part of the method, this business card is marked. There are several ways to mark it. You can lightly dog ear each corner, you can lightly bite each corner with your canine leaving little indents, you can use your nail to scrape the edges and make them just a little wider then the other cards, if you have the right card you can pencil dot somewhere hidden like inside the loop of a lowercase “e”, and there’s a million other ways to do it. What is truly important is that you mark both ends of the card. If you don’t, you’ll be able to find one half of the card but not the other. So remember, mark both ends. Take that marked card and put it on the face of the stack so that if your business cards were info side up, it’d be on the bottom of the stack. That way, when you hand them the stack with the blank sides towards them and tell them to write, the first thing they see is the marked card. I hope that makes sense. So lets look at this in performance. You bring them onstage, you stand them behind the table next to you. (standing to the side of someone makes them more suggestible) and have them think of the name. Have the sharpie in your pocket and the cards, writing side down on the table. When the time has come to write the name, pick up the entire stack and hand it to them with the blank, marked card facing them. Then, hand them the sharpie and point to the marked card and say, “right here.” They will, in turn, write it there. So what I want you to do is mimic this situation. Write a name on a marked card and mix it into the stack till you do not know where it is. You are now going to do exactly what the audience member would do and rip the whole stack in half at one time. That way all the cards are ripped exactly the same way. Mix the two separate piles and put the left side of the cards to your left and the right side of the cards to your right. Spread them out on each side of you and spot the marked card on each side. Now this is where you give your helper the pendulum. A lot of the time, believe it or not, they will swing over the two marked halves and not over anything else instantly. In which case, there really isn’t much to say. You push those 15
two pieces forward and reveal it. When this happens, about 70% of the time, it is the most fair and impossible effect ever. Completely hands-off, visual, touching... it is impossible. Alas, there are still another 30% of your performances where they will swing the pendulum over the wrong card. When this happens, there is one thing you must remember. No Matter What They Do It Is Right. Let the schizophrenic magician in the back of your head scream, “YES!!! PERFECT!!!” In fact, imagine that the crazy magician in your head is Juan Tamariz. No matter what happens, you are ok and they are doing exactly what you want. So, the pendulum swings over the wrong card... Big deal. You say they are doing great and that they should check the other cards. Now, this is all very important. Your script would sound something like this. “Wonderful, push that one towards me and keep checking for energy.” They keep checking. Keep doing this till they sense energy on all the cards except the name, then just act like everything went perfect and get rid of the others. Or, they could sense the energy on the name and then eliminate the others leaving you with two. Tell them on the count of three to hand you one, and if they hand you the name, place that carefully in the center. If they hand you the blank, eliminate it. Classic Magicians Force Style. Now there’s one other thing they could do. They could say they only felt energy on the blank card. Remember, it’s all ok. In fact, besides the perfect double hit, this is my favorite outcome. Why? Because I get to Jedi Mind Trick them. I point right at the marked one and say, “Are you sure? I felt energy on this one. Try again...” This is nice-speak for, ‘You got it wrong.’ They don’t want to look silly and they will wave that pendulum over that piece. In fact, then they will choose that piece as their final choice. Why? Because you’re the expert. You are to be trusted. You want them to succeed. They perceive this as a giant help and you trying to keep them looking dignified. They will trust you. How do I know this? Simple. People will always trust a calculator’s results over their own ‘pen and paper’ results. Studies show that people will trust a calculator with a Blatantly wrong answer over their own work that they did themselves. This is why the add-a-number calculator works so well. What this means is that if you are as confident and unwavering in
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your ‘senses’ as the calculator is in its ‘answers’, they will trust you. So key word here... Believe in what you say and so will they. If for some reason they don’t swing over the piece with the name on it AND say that they are confident in their choice, (which, by the way, has never happened) take the pendulum yourself, swing it over the card and say, “See, I knew there was energy there!” This is my least favorite thing to do, and luckily I have never had to do it. The reason I don’t even like the idea of it is simple. It involves too much control. I hate control so much. I have control issues. My whole life I’ve had the need to control things. This is unhealthy. It causes people pain. If you have the same problem I do... Let Go. Release your grasp on things that you ‘need to control’ and let them fly free. When you do that your hands are open. You cannot receive a gift when your hands are full of the things you wish to control. Open your hands, relinquish control, receive the gift of freedom. That’s enough preachy philosophy for now though. You have now, one way or another, gotten them to choose the name card. Get rid of the rest of that pile and move onto the next. Really, it’s just more of the same from this point on. You repeat the process with the second pile and like magic, you will get both of the name halves culled from the rest of the blanks. If worse comes to worse, PATEO Force or Equivoque the halves you need. I know this all seems very lazy, but in all honesty there’s just not much to say other than trust in the pendulum, your voice, and the pliability of peoples choices. If you would like, you can put the pieces in the “Psychologically Most Likely” spot. Alas, then you sacrifice the hands off nature of this just a little. Is it ok to do that? Yes. I also think that people will always find a solution to a problem, even if it’s the wrong solution. By touching the cards, I believe it gives people just another idea of how it could be done. By never touching the cards, it really limits the possibilities of ‘how?’ and they are left with only a few logical explanations. Luckily, the most credible explanation is the most illogical one. The pendulum amplifies psychic energy and it told him where the pieces were. Now, there are a few subconscious things you can do to improve your hits. I know that this sounds funny, but what I’m about to say is true. In your mind, focus 17
on the position of the name card and silently repeat, “swing over that one.” Really concentrate on it and really try to will them to pick that one. Many great mentalists have found that thinking about the card, number, or whatever other thing you want to force and trying to ‘telepathically’ send it to your audience member, has increased their hit rates greatly. I agree entirely, especially when doing the ‘7’ force. When I imagine sending the number ‘7’ to their mind, I hit more often then when I don’t. Another way to increase likeliness is to subliminally suggest it. One way to do that, is to put the piece in the third position in a line and say something like, “It’s a totally Three choice...” Also, the third position is psychologically most likely to be chosen. Another way to suggest it is, as you’re pointing at the pieces say something like, “Out of these five pieces, you will let the pendulum swing over the one that calls to you.” As you point to the choice card say, and stress the words, “The One...” Make eye contact and nod as you point to the next cards. I might use these, but I wouldn’t rely on it alone. Of course you could find a way to switch the pieces using misdirection and sleights, but again, I have found no need for this, Nonetheless, I love this effect and I hope you love it too. Try it and see how magical it can be! Before moving to our next effect, I want to talk about some other ways this premise can be used.
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SECTION 3
Other uses for the Broken Heart Principle This doesn’t have to only be about dead loved ones, it can be about anything. For example, a PIN code, a Phone Unlock code, an address, etc. If you’re doing a corporate event, you can write the name of the company you’re working for on the marked card, and competitors on the others. Of course, business cards are only one of the possibilities. You can use coins, stones, colors, puzzle pieces, etc. etc... Let your imagination go wild. I know that you may feel that the method is obvious. I know that telling them that you feel something different than them seems like you’re just blatantly giving the method away. Trust me, you are not. I have had dozens of people fooled with this. Of course, when it hits both pieces right off the bat, it’s a miracle. There is one thing that I want to teach you using the Broken Heart Principle. It is by far one of my all time favorite effects I’ve ever performed. An Unwritten Q&A that essentially eliminates all the stress of answering their question. It also doesn’t fill them in on everything till the question is revealed which allows you to veer out if you are unsure or not confident about it. Lets jump right into the effect, enjoy!
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SECTION 4
Broken Hearts Q&A Effect: You begin by asking your helper,“Do you have a question about your future that you really want to know? Like... Will I make more money this year? Or... Will I get married? Something that you really want to know. If you could ask a psychic any question about your future, would you know what that question might be?” Give them a moment to really get their question in their mind. Once they have the question, state, “You probably think that your question is really specific to you and that you are the only one thinking about this exact question, but the truth is everyone tends to think about one of four kinds of questions. They think of either health, (draw a medical cross on a business card) Relationships, (draw a heart on another card) Education, (draw either a book or a graduation cap on another card) or Money. (Draw a money sign on the last card) Does your question fit under one of these categories? Don’t tell me which.” They will say yes. “I want you to really concentrate on the card that has the symbol that relates to your question...” You count through the cards and ask, “Is your question about education?” They look at you with shock in their eyes and say yes! “Is your question something about college?” Once again, they let their jaw drop in astonishment of your psychic demonstration. You mix the cards, tear them in half, and you go through the motions of broken hearts. There are two pieces left and you say, “Ok, you have eliminated all but 2 pieces. If these two pieces match, that means that your intuition is impeccable and that if you follow your intuition you will hit your goal. If these two pieces don’t match, it just means that you need to practice your intuition. I’ll let you do the honors...” They turn over the two pieces and it is the education pieces matching perfectly! Method: This is uncannily easy. I’m just going to cover how you deduce the question and how to get out of a tough situation. This follows two principles, The age old question principle and the watch principle. The age old question principle is essentially dynamite mentalism simplified. This table should explain it pretty clearly.
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IMPORTANT SUBJECTS
AGE 15-25
25-35
35-45
45-55 and up
education
money
relationships
health
relationships
relationships
money
relationships
money
health
health
money
Now, how this works is simple. The question category on top of each age group column is the most important thing to people of that age... At least, most commonly. That’s why I included a second and third most important. Not everyone is the same, so if your first guess or feeling isn’t right, then you at least know what else might be on their mind. This allows you to take a really good guess as to what their question might be. Now of course, that is just the first piece to getting their question. Here is a second grid touching on the most common questions in each category.
money
education
relationships
health
will I win the Lottery? Will I do well in stocks?
What college will I go To? what will I major in?
Will I find my soulmate?
when will I die?
should I start my own business?
will I marry soon? will I pass this test? Will Will my son/daughter/ I pass this class? other relative marry soon?
will my beloved family member get healthy soon?
will I make more money this year
Should I go back to college?
Is my husband/wife cheating on me?
should I see a doctor?
should I quit my job? will I get a job will I get a raise
Will my son/daughter/ other relative do well in school?
should I ask my crush on a date?
when will I be healthy?
will I have my dream job?
will I have a better School year this year?
will I have a baby?
will I lose weight?
These are in no particular order and some boxes have more than one question within them. The reason for that is that everyone is different but some questions fit in the same area of wonder. This is very much an intuitive thing and also a logical thing. For example, a fifteen year old boy is not going to ask if he should go back to college. Nor will he ask if he will do well in stocks. He will ask about getting a 21
job or dream job, passing a class, having a better school year, asking his crush on a date, (and depending on his weight) if he will lose weight. Of course, there will be the odd balls who will ask about having a baby or knowing when they will die, But these are few and far between. Now I know this sounds like a bunch of guess work and in a way it is. What you must remember is that most people will think of the same question over and over again. They will think that their question is so specific to themselves when in reality, they are thinking of the same question that everyone else thinks of. You will be fine! If you hit it, great! If you don’t hit it, That’s fine too! And besides, here’s a little scripting trick that you can use to make a guess seem to be an example. “So your question was about education yes? What was your question? Was it like, ‘Will I go to college?’” Once you figure out the kind of question, you can say what is in bold a little unsure of yourself and if they say yes, you guessed their question. If you are incorrect, they will just say the question they were thinking of because what you said was simply an example... at least, in their mind. Although, if you are super confident, just ask if their question was ‘Will I go to college.’ If that hits, it looks like a miracle. So there’s a little confidence building script trick! Nonetheless, that leads me to how you execute the watch principle. The watch principle is how you deduce the category. The watch principle is simple and straight forward. What’s more, not only is misdirection built into the method, but the method is completely un-detectable by the person who is helping you. As you tell them to focus on which card correlates to their question, you pass the cards in between your hands in front of them. Dealing them one at a time, you watch their eyes. Their eyes will follow one card in particular. Deal through them twice. This time, their eyes will stick to one pile until they see their card. Now you know which category they are thinking of. Let’s review this in a real world example. You hold the cards in your right hand and lift them up preparing to deal them to your other hand...“Focus on the card that correlates to your question...” Start dealing from your right hand to your left Slowly.... One at a time... Their eyes will stick to one card. Finish going through the stack and repeat. Their eyes seemed to have fol22
lowed health, let’s see if it happens again. You start passing the cards to your left hand again. Their eyes land on health and they quit looking at the cards, secure in their minds of where health is and what health looks like.“Is your question about health?” They confirm your suspicions. They are a 50-60 year old male. My suspicion is that he want to know when he will die or if he should go see a doctor. “Are you wondering how long you will live?” Once again they confirm. If perchance they are not thinking of that question, you can either guess again, use that neat little script trick I showed you, or just ask them to tell you. That’s it. You now know the question. Now, once in a blue moon, they think of a question that doesn’t fit under any of the categories. They will tell you so when you ask them if it fits under one of the categories on the cards. In which case, the routine gets a lot easier, but not as impressive. You ask them to either tell you the question, a category it could fit under, or you ask them to write the question down. In the last situation you can use a peek of some sort to figure out the question they have written. This can really make the routine impressive again. I have a peek that will be released in a later work by the name, “My love letter to card magic.” Keep your eyes open for that! If they name the question or a category aloud, think up a symbol for it and draw it on a fifth card. This makes the routines method super easy. No matter what happens, you have to dog ear the category they are thinking of on both sides. This of course allows you to do the broken heart method! That’s really the meat of this routine. The rest is rinse and repeat of the last routine. This also allows you to “Repeat” the broken hearts effect with a twist. The last thing I should cover is how to answer questions. I’m preparing to release a DVD called “Question and Advice” which is exactly what I think Q&A really should be called. Answers are dangerous. Advice is an opinion. It will only be followed if the sitter agrees with that opinion. That makes it waaayyy safer than an answer. Answers to questions like, “When will I get married” will often sound like this. “You will be married in June of 2023!” That is dangerous! Why? If you know anything about the bible, you know the saying, ‘Faith the size of a Mus23
tard Seed.’ The idea is that if you have just a little faith, you can move mountains. Well... if someone has faith in what you say... just a little faith... it affects their actions deeply! It can move mountains in their life... Sometimes these mountains are not meant to be moved, but climbed. What I mean, is that if they are dating someone that isn’t really their soulmate or someone that they don’t know all that well and it’s March of 2023, They will do anything to make that prediction come true and they might end up doing something stupid. I know this is an extreme example, but truly, it’s not too far from the truth. Teenage girls always ask me who they will marry. If I say his name will be Harry, they will only date guys named Harry. If I say he has glasses, they will only date guys with glasses. Do you see the problem you could cause? They will ignore people that they could possibly spend their life with because they are chasing all the boys in their school named Harry who wear glasses. So what do we say instead? “Well, I can’t tell you their name since I feel that you need to have a few life experiences in dating before you know this person. If I tell you their name, you will simply rush past these experiences and be left completely unaware of what you truly need. What I can say is if these two pieces match, it means your intuition is really strong and it means that you will end up guiding yourself to your soulmate. If they don’t match, it’s OK. It just means that you need to practice decision making and intuition. The one piece of advice I can give you either way is this... Never settle for less than amazing... I’ll let you do the honors.” They turn over the card and get excited knowing that they will guide themselves to the right place. You see how this is nice, safe, inspirational, logical, and personal. This is how every Question should be answered! Memorize as many sayings as you can. For example... Perfect love vanquishes all evil, Don’t throw out baby with the bathwater, Never settle for less than amazing, Ask and ye shall receive, etc., etc... These are excellent answers. Not only are they great because they are good advice, they are also popular and based on the 100th Monkey theory, ‘the more people who believe in something there are, the more true that belief becomes.’ They will see your answer as true because they will have heard it before. So really, that’s my thoughts on answering questions. So let’s finish with a recap. 24
1: Ask them to think of a question and then categorize it under Health, Wealth, Relationships, or Education. If they cannot categorize it, make a new card. 2: Use the Age Old Question principle and the Watch principle to decipher what their question is. Reveal the question and accept the gasps of amazement as compliments. 3: Dog ear mark the thought of card in the same fashion as you would for Broken Hearts, Being sure that both sides are marked. 4: Mix the cards and rip the pile in two. Give one half to spectator to mix as you mix the other half. 5: Spread out the cards in any fashion you desire and teach them the way of the pendulum. Be super sure to use your hypnotically powerful words. 6: Let them find their pieces. If they get off track, get them back on track by telling them that you feel energy on the right piece. 7: Bring the pieces they found into the middle and align the tears. 8:Tell them that if the pieces match their intuition will obviously guide them to the right outcome. Turn over the pieces. 9: Allow your audience to bow before you as you have now shown your power. You will now be renowned as a Guru of great knowledge as well as...THE GRAND POOBAH! All silliness aside, that’s all there is to it. This routine is one of the most powerful things you can do one on one and it will always stay in the mind of the person you do it for. I know it seems a bit uncanny and perhaps impossible. Go out and try it, I promise you’ll see results. Now I want to move from the Heavy-duty Strict Mentalism into the mental magic realm. The next routine has befuddled hundreds of people including magicians and I do it more than almost anything in my repertoire. Please enjoy.
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CHAPTER 3
Mental Magic The following routine requires an extra prop that you can buy from any magic retailer. In fact, you may already own one. I suggest buying seven or eight of them. Not because you can break them or lose them, but because if you need to repeat the effect for the same group, you’ll need another. The other reason that you want seven or eight is that you might want to do what I did and change every trick using cards to this methodology. It’s up to you. Fear not, I will also teach an impromptu way using all normal and borrowed items. That method will be completely examinable and impromptu. If you don’t have a pendulum, you could fashion one quickly from some thread and a paperclip. You could also just use magicians choice instead of a pendulum. No matter what you choose, this is a reputation maker. It looks like broken hearts except it’s even easier. I really hope you enjoy these routines. They have served me well and as before, I really hope you send me videos of you performing. Please find me on Facebook or E-mail me at
[email protected]. SO... without further ado, I present to you some mental magic. Enjoy.
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SECTION 1
1 in 52 Effect: You present a pack of cards and ask to have a single card selected. A young lady with excitement dancing in her eyes plucks a card out. Unbeknownst to you, it is the Jack of Hearts. They bury the card back in the pack and the pack is shuffled. You produce a pendulum, place it in the young lady’s fingers and state, “I know this seems weird, but you’re going to ask that little rock on the end of this chain Two questions and these Two questions are going to tell us everything we need to know about your card. The first question is what does yes look like? When you ask it what yes looks like it will swing either back and forth, side to side, or round and round. The second question is what does no look like? When you ask it what no looks like, it will swing either back and forth, side to side, or round and round BUT this time it will swing in a different direction. That way, we know what yes looks like and what no looks like. Okay?” The young lady responds with a nod. You proceed to find out what yes and no look like. Now the time has come to find out where the card is. The pack is split into many little piles. The young lady positions her pendulum over each packet. The pendulum signals which piles are devoid of the Jack of Hearts. No... No... No... Yes! The pendulum signals that this is the pile! You collect the other piles. You spread the cards in the selected pile out. There are 7 cards laid out on the table now. They repeat the process. No... No... Yes! The third card seems to be the winner. You collect all the other cards. You ask them which card they selected. The young lady responds “ It was the Jack of Hearts, spooky magic man...” You tell the young lady that the honor of revealing the card is hers. She turns over the card and bursts into hysterics. The card is indeed her card. Abracadabra.
Method: This is the easiest effect in this book. It is also probably the most light-hearted. The method, I can tell you in four words...
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SECTION 2
One Way Force Deck That’s right kids. A One Way Force Deck. A deck of cards consisting of only one card. 52 of the same card. It doesn’t get more simple than that! No need for deck switches, no need for card controls. Nothing. This is totally self working and completely fair. You simply allow them to eliminate the cards. In the end, no matter what, they will chose the Jack of Hearts. There are a few little things you can do to “improve” the effect, but these are all personal choices. I suggest having one indifferent card on bottom so that you don’t flash a second Jack of Hearts. The only disadvantage to this is that they might choose the indifferent card during the elimination process. This has never happened to me, but it could. So if you’re worried about that, either palm it out, keep track of it, or just don’t use it. Having an indifferent card, you can also eliminate all but two, top change the last “No” for the indifferent card, and turn over the chosen card with the indifferent one. This may give the illusion that they are all different. I personally have found that by showing more, I’m trusted less. I have done everything in my power to appear to be fair, yet people always try and catch me when I do that. When I am unfair, people tend to trust me more. Why this is, I’m not sure. Nonetheless, this is just my personal experience. Another thing you can do to make sure that you are not discovered to be using a one way force deck, is to put the cards back in the box as soon as the final card is chosen. Meaning that as soon as they eliminate all but one card with the pendulum, you take the deck, box it, and pocket it. I love the line that I use when I do this. “Fifty-two cards came out of the box, Fifty-one go back in. There was only one other time when only Fifty-one cards were in this deck. That was the moment that one was in your hand. What was the card in your hand, the card you selected?”
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They reveal the card to you, you build the pressure, you reveal the card, and you accept your applause. By putting the cards back in the box and pocketing them, you put the cards out of sight and out of mind. No one will ask to see the cards. The dramaticism of the single card on the table, as well as the fact that humans will always take the easiest route, assures that they won’t ask to see the deck. If they did, it would kill the mood and it would simply be too much work for them. So let’s review... 1: Remove the pack from the box and have them select a card. 2: Bury the card and shuffle. 3: Teach them how to get Yes and No from the pendulum. 4: Cut a bunch of piles all over the table. 5: have them select one pile with the pendulum. Continue eliminating till two cards are left 6: Eliminate one of the final two cards and put the whole deck in the box. 7: Build pressure, reveal the card, live on forever in legends and stories. And that is it. It is super simple. Try it, love it, and cry the tears of italian angels. BUT what if you are without a one way force deck?!?! What if you are stuck in the woods with nothing but a rock, a string, and half a deck of cards?!?! Dear God!!! Fear not Plebeian, I have a solution. This is the exact same routine with one small change. It will serve you well in impromptu situations where you have nothing. So without further ado, 1 in 52 (without a net)...
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SECTION 3
1 in 52 (without a net) Effect: The exact same as 1 in 52, Except that instead of learning yes and no, you simply teach them to make it swing. Otherwise, It’s pretty much the same thing. Method: Goodness, I didn’t think I’d be teaching the same trick twice. What I mean is not that this is the same as the previous effect. I mean that it is pretty close to identical with Broken Hearts. Here is what happens. They remove their desired card, show it around, and before they plant it back in the pack you take the card from them and crimp the corner. Now I mean REALLY crimp it. The idea is that when it is buried, you’ll be able to see a break in the pack. As you take the card from them to bury it, you simply use your pinky to crimp the corner. As you bury the card, make sure that you bury it crimp side in first. That way, you can display the card half buried and no one will see the giant crimp you’ve made. Also, this ensures that when you set it down, naturally the crimp will face you instead of your audience. So let’s catch up. They have selected a card, shown it around, you have taken the card and crimped the corner and buried that corner in the pack. As you slide the card in, you’ll notice that the crimp is on the lower half of the pack. Set it down in front of you with the break towards you and you’ll see a big old break. That’s your card. Now, feel free to shuffle the cards as much as you like. That break will still be there. Just as before, use the time spent shuffling to teach them how to use a pendulum. This time, you’ll teach them a bit differently. Instead of teaching Yes and No, you will simply make it swing. Just like it did for Broken Hearts. In the end, this will be the exact same thing as Broken Hearts. You will simply guide them down a path. They usually do a good job of walking 30
the path themselves, and if they happen to stray you can guide them back with the, “Are you sure? I feel energy here, try this one again.” Jedi mind trick. So once again, not too much to cover other than the end. After shuffling and teaching pendulum use, you cut the pack into more than two piles (so that you have some wiggle room) and you start eliminating. All you have to do is keep the crimp card on the table. Do the exact same things you did in Broken Hearts. Once you eliminate the first piles, split up the pack again and eliminate even more piles in the same fashion. Now, you’ll probably be down to about 8 cards. This is the only thing that can go sour if you aren’t paying attention. With these last cards, you will want to make sure you ‘Un-Crimp’ the chosen card. That way, no one can tell how you would have known where the card is. Spread the cards out and allow them to find their card. Make sure you keep track of their card. Since it’s no longer marked, it could be easy to lose track of. Let them do what they always do and let them eliminate down to One card. If you need to help them, do so. Finally get rid of all the other cards, reveal that they were right, and give them a round of applause. I know that I’ve been very slack with explaning this routine. The reason for this is simple. You already have the tools to do this, I already taught you how to use these tools, and I think that, in the end, if you needed to do this impromptu, you could have figured this out on your own. So let’s wrap this baby up with a recap. 1: Have your willing and oblivious victim pick a card. 2: As you take the card to bury it, Crimp the Hell out of the bottom corner. 3: Bury the card, crimp side first, into the pack and lay down the cards with the crimp facing you. 4: As you teach them to use the pendulum (Remember, not Yes and No, just a simple swing) you shuffle the cards. 5: You cut at least 3 piles and they eliminate all but one pile. The pile with the crimp.
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6: Cut more, even smaller piles, onto the table for elimination. 7: Once all but one small pile is gone, un-crimp the chosen card and spread out the final cards on the table. 8: Keep track of the selected card and let them eliminate all the others. Remember that if they aren’t hitting the nail on the head, it’s just like magicians choice. Get them back on track with your Jedi Mind Trick 9: Once the selected card is left, reveal it and hear the praises of your name sung throughout the eons.
So just remember while performing this, it’s just like Broken Hearts but without all the tearing. Just keep track of their crimped selection and if they don’t follow the right path, guide them back to it. Remember, you are like a Shepard guiding your audience through an inspirational and magical journey. In all these effects, you are a leader. You are not in control, you are letting the magic happen around you. You simply show the road to them, you don’t force them down it. Remember that in all you do.
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CHAPTER 4
Ideomotor Testing This will be the final chapter of this book. I hope you enjoyed and I hope that you've learned a lot! This last chapter is just a little extra tool that you can use for several purposes. *A really great (as Bob Cassidy would call it) Macro effect. *Finding the best subjects for ideomoter based effects such as the ouija board and table tipping. As well as finding great hypnosis subjects and muscle reading subjects. *Turning your audience from onlookers into participants. *A lot of things I haven’t even thought up yet. So let’s jump right into it! This is a super useful tool that you will find lot’s of use from. You already have the foundation to do this, and I promise it will come naturally.
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SECTION 1
Mass Hysteria If you could have every single person in your audience experience a magical moment in their hands, that they could take home and experience again and again... Would you put that moment into your show? I did. In fact, It serves many purposes for me. I call this Mass Hysteria. Here is the original idea and effect. Effect: You state, “Under each of your chairs you will find a washer on a piece of yarn. Please, retrieve the items beneath you. You’ll notice that on one end of the thread is a knot. Please hold the knot at the opposite end of the washer so that the washer is hanging below your hand. We are all going to experience the power of Psychokinesis together.” You ask everyone to stand and hold their pendulum in front of them. You tell them to focus on the pendulum. “You have the will and the power to do this. In your mind, will the pendulum to swing side to side. Imagine that two invisible forces are pulling it left and right.” The whole room starts to fill with moving pendulums, you come over to several people who are really making the pendulum swing. You tell them that they are doing excellently and ask them if they are moving it with their hand or if they are moving it with their mind. They state that they are doing it with their mind. You tell them that this makes them very powerful and that if they master this ability, they could move mountains and make amazing things happen in their life. “Keep focusing... Great. Now, I want you to tell that pendulum to shift weight and begin to swing in a circle. For those of you still having a hard time getting your pendulum to swing, try really hard this time. It might be easier this time, the energy of the room really is getting strong.” You keep telling your audience that they have the power to do this, it will swing round and round, and that the energy really is building. The room becomes very warm and you have to remove your jacket. The audience feels this temperature 34
change as well. You start to ask people if they are moving the pendulum with their mind. They confirm this and say that they are not using their hand to move the pendulum. You close the routine out. “Finally, focus on the pendulum and will it in your mind to slow down till it is totally still.” You wait a moment and the pendulums become still. You put your jacket back on and move to the next effect. Typically you would select people who were especially good at making the pendulum swing and go into something where the method is involving either muscle reading, ideomotor response, or hypnosis and suggestion.
Method: This is of course very similar to the opening chapters of this book in that it is linguistic. I do want to break it down though as I think it is a really interesting thing to do in a show. I always use this routine to open seance pieces. I do this because I tend to use ouija boards (which requires ideomotor response) or other effects requiring trance states and hypnosis. Let’s begin by saying that you can make pendulum from nearly anything. Jon Stetson told me he used paperclips and thread to make enough for an arena. I use washers because I like the weight of them. Also, people are less likely to lose it that way. You can also be creative if you’d like. Get yarn that reacts in blacklight, use wooden nickels as the weight, etc. Make the pendulum any way that you would like. If you want to do something for promotional reasons, you can make every pendulum have your phone number on it with your name. They will take these home and they will keep them for as long as they can. It is a great way to make 200 or more people keep a theoretical business card. Before the show, set a pendulum on the floor under each seat and then you’re all set. When you’re ready to do the routine, simply draw attention to the pendulums and begin. There are a few things to remember when doing this effect that will increase your odds. One of those things is having a pendulum of your own. The reason for this is simple. People don’t follow directions. You can tell them to 35
hold the pendulum by the knot as much as you want and still, every time I do this effect, someone holds it by the weight. People need visual examples. Otherwise, they just look at you like a cow looks at an oncoming train. It’s not that these people are stupid, it just means that they learn things differently. Some people naturally do better with audio and Some people do better with kinesthetics. The pendulum has both naturally built in. Help out the visual learners and have a pendulum of your own. Another way to make it more successful is to single people out. What I mean is that you select people to come onstage and you only have ten or twenty people doing the pendulum. This puts the ten or twenty people that have pendulums under pressure. They feel obligated to make the pendulum move. Unfortunately, now it is much less of a macro effect. So If you want to make your whole audience get involved, don’t single people out. Instead, reward few to see results from many. I think it is much easier to get results with honey than it is with vinegar. So, instead of putting others under pressure, reward a few people so that others wish to also be rewarded. When you tell one person that the reason that the pendulum swings is because they have the power to make their life great, then everyone else will make the pendulum swing because they too want to know that they can do great things. It’s nearly the same thing as a Barnum statement. You say something that fits everyone, but it makes one person feel special. In this case, you attach an action to a compliment and everyone wants to feel complimented. I think that this is an excellent way of achieving results. Another thing that oddly causes this routine to be more successful is music. Have a floating and gently rocking song. This makes people relax, loosen up, and actually move the pendulum more. Besides music, your body movement can have a huge impact on the success rate of this effect. Moving your arms in the way you want the pendulum to swing always elicits a response. Repeating words rhythmically such as, “ The pendulum will swing Side to Side... Left and Right... Further and Further, Side to Side...” can really get the ball rolling. Otherwise, giving your audience the power is the main reason this routine works. So lets break down this routine.
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1: Everyone has pendulums under their seat. When the time comes, tell them to take the pendulums and hold it by the knot in front of them. 2: Tell your audience that this is about PK and that they will move the pendulum with their mind. A very important statement is, “You have the power to do this...” 3: Allow your words and the music to hypnotize their senses. Remember to speak rhythmically, repeating key words. Start by telling the audience that it will swing left and right. Use statements like, ‘It will swing along an imaginary line, imagine energy pulling it from each side making it go further and further...’ And of course, when it’s clear that it is working, reward them with a, ‘Great job!’ 4: Find someone who is doing a really great job and ask if they are using their arm to move it. They will say no. Reward them to make other audience members pendulums swing even further. Do this with several people and the effect is even stronger. Now, before breaking down the second half, there are a few subtleties I’d like to cover. The first subtlety is when room gets really hot because of the amount of energy in the room. This is merely suggestion. Psychics and Mediums have been changing the temperature of rooms for years. Whether they know that it is suggestion or not depends on the Psychic. This works by telling them that the room is getting warmer. That is it. Good acting definitely helps in this. You may be worried that they won’t believe you... You just told them that they are capable of moving a piece of metal on a string with their mind and then it worked... I wouldn’t be too worried about the audience not believing in you at this point. You can choose to tell the audience that the room will get warmer before they start swinging the pendulums. I think that while this works, it is not as believable as doing it in the middle of the routine. When you do it in the middle of the routine, it seems like it wasn’t expected which also suggests that this group of people is special. I think that when you suddenly have to remove your jacket because it’s so hot, it seems more real than coming out and immediately saying that the room will get warm.
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Now to suggest this, I do several things. First, I take off my jacket and say, “The energy is really moving tonight. You can feel how hot it’s getting in here, right? You guys must be doing a really great job. Even more pendulums should start swinging! Let’s keep going!” The second thing I make sure to do is keep the hot room a constant theme. That way the room gets hotter and hotter and hotter. I don’t do this by saying anything about the heat again. I simply continue doing the things that someone who is hot would do. I roll up my sleeves, I drink water, and I dab the sweat from my forehead with a handkerchief. These all subconsciously say, ‘Gee, it sure is hot in here!’. Of course, afterwards, wait a few minutes and then put your jacket back on. This suggests the room is cooling down. Now, besides the fact that it’s a neat thing to do, why do this? Well... partly the witch-doctor principle. This is like an inception witch-doctor principle. First, you make the pendulums swing and because of that, it makes the heat seem more real. It attaches something true (The pendulum is swinging) to something untrue (The room is getting hotter). That in itself is the witch-doctor principle. Then you add a layer, and this is the Inception-like part. Because the room is getting hotter, the energy is getting stronger. This means that people who are having a hard time will start to suddenly have success. This happens because they believe that since there is more energy in the room it will help the pendulum swing. Literally you attach something true (The room is getting hotter [True because of the 100th monkey theory]) to something untrue (Suddenly this will work even better) and the untrue thing once again becomes more true. Meaning that you just double witch-doctored people. Now, even more of the room will start to swing. So, now that I’ve covered that, let’s continue with the breakdown. 5: You remove your jacket claiming that it’s getting hot because of the energy. You also state that even more pendulums will start swinging. 6: You now state that the pendulum will swing round and round. It will struggle with its weight and shift directions. Remember to say things like “Round and Round... Further and Further...”
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7: The pendulums will start to shift directions and swing in a circle. As this happens, roll up your sleeves and drink some water. 8: Approach some people who are doing really well and ask them if the pendulum is moving on it’s own. They will say that it is. Reward them and return to the stage. 9: Wipe your brow and state that the pendulums will now slow to a stop. They do. The audience applauds. 10: Take donations and start the church of the Grand Poobah. That’s all there is to it really. This can be adapted to fit many situations though. Like I said, I use it to find the most receptive people to hypnosis and suggestion as well as those with a strong ideomotor response for things like the ouija board or table tipping. You can use it to find the people who will work best for Broken Hearts and 1 in 52. You can have only people who have lost a loved one do it and then go into a mediumistic routine with one or more of them. If you are doing a Q&A, you can have every question in the whole room answered at the same time. Lot’s of cool Ideas to be had. If you have any neat ideas, questions, or success stories, PLEASE send them to me. Email me at
[email protected]. I would love to hear what you have to say. Thank you so much. Let’s wrap this puppy up.
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CHAPTER 5
Afterword Well I hope you enjoyed this little book. I want to thank you for your time and I want you to know that it means a lot to me that you read it all the way to the end. If you want to see more of my products, visit www.anthemflintshop.com and if you want to see me performing, visit www.anthemflint.com If you have a PDF copy of this book, please don’t email it to your friends. You paid good money for this book. If they want it, tell them about my site. You deserve to perform these without your friends butting in on the methods. You deserve to do something unique. You also deserve the gratitude of fooling the pants off of your magic friends. Before we part, there are a few things that I want to say that summarize this book and the lessons within it quite well. 1: There are lots of numbered lists 2: The author is a bit tongue in cheek 3: Magic is the art of letting go. Control can hurt you. Stop trying to control every little detail and let the magic have its own life. We all know that there is no way to control life. Life barrels on like a runaway train. 4: The pendulum is a real tool that does real magic. Not because the object is magical but because we as people are magical. Let’s show people how magical they really are. There are a lot of people who really need to know that right now. 5: Lastly, love your audience and they will love you. I really hope you learned some cool stuff from this book. If you did, and if you enjoyed it, please leave a review on the blogs and forums around the web. On the other hand though, if you didn’t like the book, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! Thank you for reading. I’m Anthem Flint, God Bless. 40
