Robert Watkins - Shadowplay

 

 

Dedicated to Richard Torres

WATKINS 

SHADOWPLAY

 

SHADOW PLAY Watkins

Psychonaut Publishing 2020 © 

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“Look at your body—  A painted puppet, a poor toy Of jointed parts ready to collapse,  A diseased and suffering thing With a head full of false imaginings.”

 ― The Dhammapada

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CONTENTS   About the Author Introduction Secret Messages  The Calendar on the Wall Instant Pre-Show  The Even More Impressive Ploy Severance Recap Severance 2.0: The ‘Mind-Changing Billet’ Center Tear Memory Divination Failed Psychometry for Center Tears Rune Casting  The Mirror People spectator as mind reader  Thought-Switching My Imaginary Friend Challenge Card Additions Dark Entries Excerpt from ‘Positive/Negative’  Your Own Question Super Hero, Disney Movie, Etc.. PIN Code #1 PIN Backwards Code #2 Force  The  Acidus Question  Acidus Drawing  The +/- Force Cryptomnesia

Dyslexia Night Gallery Close-Up Strolling Version Strolling Gig Strategy 4

6  11    1 3  14    30    38  41    50    58  62 63      65  66  72  74  75    86  88  89    92  94 98  101  104  106  108  09 109 110  117

 

SHADOWPLAY Extras  The Purple Force Loading Wallets Name Amnesia  The Yellow Sign

 The Misfortune Cookie

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 ABOUT  THE AUTHOR   Kent Axell “What is  the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm?  An idea. Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it’s almost impossible to eradicate. An  idea that is fully formed – fully understood –  that sticks; right in there somewhere.” Cobb, Inception

Some may  recognize the above quote from the movie ‘inception’. A Chris Chr isto top pher her Nola Nolan n  fi film lm in whi which a crac crackk te team am of hi high ghlly tr trai ain ned ope pera rati tive vess col colle lect ctiv ivel elyy  ente enterr the the drea dreams ms of thei theirr tar targets gets to st stea eall information from the target’s subconscious mind.  We can  already see the obvious connection to mentalism and mind reading present here, but that’s low hanging fruit. It gets deeper.  The basic  conceit of the film is that Cobb, the main character and leader of this team, has been tasked with a very unorthodox assignment. 6

 

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Rather than  stealing information, they must ‘implant’ an idea in their target’s mind.  This turns out to be an impossibly delicate task. They must enter the dream unnoticed unnoticed and orchestrate orchestrate the experience of the target’s dream such  that upon waking he believes that the new idea is his own. If  at any   point in the dream sequence the target becomes aware of the theater at   play, and recognizes that he’s being actively ‘convinced’ of a proposition, he will reject the idea fully and the mission m ission will have failed.  Watkins is the real life Cobb. But let me back up a bit. I met  Watkins several years ago in New York City through my friend and roommate  at the time, Warren Thackeray, (another mentalist and auth au thor or). ). I  was was in a now now closed closed coffe coffeee shop shop in midto midtown wn Manha Manhatta ttan, n, collaborating on  some project with a friend, when Watkins and Warren entered enter ed the the  spac spacee foll follow owed ed by anot anothe herr very very tale talent nted ed NYC magi magici cian an,, Richard Torres,  who at the time was using his talents in videography to film some  of Watkins new material. They appeared to be playing that number numb erss game game  that that magi magici cian anss play play,, goin goingg fr from om pers person on to pers person on in public settings  hoping to find just the right reaction for a soon to be published effect.  If you ever get a chance to watch Watkins work, you’ll notice that  he doesn’t have to search for long to get the reaction he’s looking for, and in this book you’ll find out why. And more importantly, how you can earn those reactions yourself.  Watkins is  a great thinker in the world of mentalism with an insatiable curiosity for  how deep one can take a deception. Since we met, he has climbed right to the top of my very short call list for brainstorming ideas because every  time we speak some inspired thing is born. I’ve read and re-read both  of his other books and they are packed with fantastic ideas and stellar  material. So much so that several of the effects and ideas found their  way right into my working repertoire. There’s just something  7

 

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so classically  familiar, yet groundbreakingly new, about his routines. He uses old  techniques and revitalizes them with the best of theatrical and psychological principles.  Since Watkins was never formally trained in theater I’m  forced to believe that he’s putting together these pieces of  genius intuitively,  which is all the more frustrating. If I had to dissect it,  which I  haven’t been asked to do but I’m doing it anyway (classic Kent), I would  say it all comes down to the combination of ‘motivation’ and ‘storytelling’ which  have especially strong presence in Watkins’ work,  which together form what I’m calling ‘The Primrose Path’. Motivation, that  is, justification, is a necessary trait in every action you take while performing. When your actions are justified, your deceptions stay under  the radar, and you are defended against the audience’s bullshit detectors. Poorly planned beats will call attention to themselves and, like a poorly  acted script, will take the observer out of the moment. In the cont co ntex extt of  magi magic, c, the the obse observ rver er will will also also be forc forced ed into into a st stat atee of  suspicion. The  classic example is the unjustified placement of a coin in the opposite  hand moments before it “mysteriously” vanishes. Why did you move  the coin? This is one of the reasons that Watkin’s work is so effective. Every visible action that Watkins executes in his routines has an inherent justification  which doesn’t break the flow and pull the audience out of   the experience. Whether that justification be explicitly stated, or implied by  an inner monologue, every movement is backed up by a reason which  is understood reason understood by the audience, which makes the deception deception all the  more difficult to unravel. Pay close attention to Watkins “Failed clairvoyance” ploy for a great example of this in action.  When I  say ‘storytelling’ I don’t mean a narrative story. I mean all of  the things  that you do to shape the creation of the experience in the audience member’s  mind. This includes implied details that are planted in

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a routine  that allow the observer to fill in the blanks wi with th their own ideas. It occurs to me that one could call this ‘story-planting’ because it’s really  about adding moments and visuals to your routine that are not ‘presented to’ the  audience, but rather ‘noticed by’ the audience. It’s the under the surface creation  of the story that the observer is meant to tell themself  about who  you are, what you’re doing, and how you’re doing it. To return to  magic for a moment, a rudimentary character example would be how you  hold the coin at your fingertips. If the thumb is pressing the coin against  all four fingertips with the palm facing up it has an almost mafioso feel  while obscuring the rest of the hand. If you’re holding that same coin  between the tip of the middle finger and thumb, palm up, with all all othe otherr  fing finger erss spla splaye yed d wide wide you’ you’re re gi givi ving ng the the impr impres essi sion on of an enlightened mystic  without having to say a word. More than that, though, you can  plant bits of story throughout the routine. A barely noticeable imperfection in  an envelope that couldn’t have been noticed by the magician proves that that envelope hasn’t been switched (it has). It’s also a reframe  which the audience thinks doesn’t matter, but makes all the difference.  The Cobb  comparison is beginning to take shape. He is the artist who let’s you  see things that you’re not sure you’re supposed to see. He lets you believe  that you have freedoms freedoms that you don’t actually have. have. And And he guides your  recollection just enough that you’ll never remember these moments accurately.  This shapes your experience of the performance.  The idea  being that your motivated actions keep the audience unaware of  the deception, deception,  while your subtle hints planted throughou throughoutt allow them to feel like  they’re creating their own story (which you’ve actually written) about your presentations.

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I want  from you to pay close att tteention to the subtle, almost imperceptible guidance  that Watkins offers to his volunteers to allow  them th em to  st stre reng ngth then en the the rout routin inee in thei theirr own own mind minds. s. Thes Thesee care careful fully  ly  conc co ncei eive ved d expe experi rien ence cess  cr crea eate te a la laby byri rint nthi hian an st stru ruct ctur uree wher wheree the the participants unconsciously  close the doors leading back to the method behind behi nd them themse selv lves es..  Then Then they they forg forget et thos thosee door doorss ever ever exis existe ted. d. It becomes impossible  to backtrack. You’ve led them down the primrose path pa th to  the the ul ulti tima mate te priz prize. e. A powe powerf rful ul memor memoryy of an indes indestr truc ucti tibl blee deception. Or,  if you prefer, a real psychic experience. And if you learn the principles  behind these secrets, you learn how to use them in any  magic you’re performing.

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INTRODUCTION 

I want want  to than thankk you you for for pur purchas chasin ingg my thir third d cont contri rib buti ution to Mentalism. It  means a great deal that there are people out there who are  willing to  give my ideas a chance, and I sincerely hope you get some  value out  of the contents herein. All of the material in this book has been been tested over  the last 2 years in a variety of different environments and situations. I  actually don’t really have a typical audience as I perform for anyone in  any situation. And when I get the opportunity to test a new  idea out, I take the chance. It also just so happens that I am writing this book after a two-month lo long ng cros crosss-co coun untr tryy  le lect ctur uree tour tour with with Kent Kent Axel Axell. l. I have have te test sted ed the the material in  this book to over 30 magic clubs across the USA, all with a great response.  I’m also very fortunate to have had the opportunity to  workshop, jam,  and discuss this material with so many performers. Hopefully all  of that work and experience will come through in this book.  The main  theme of this book is ‘Billets’. I know there are countless meth me thod odss for for  gain gainin ingg secr secret et info inform rmat atio ion n fr from om a ‘b ‘bil ille let’ t’ alre alread adyy in existence, but  what I presume to offer here is a different way of using  billets in  performance. You may not really learn anything new as far as acquiring secret information, but more so how to use that information in 11

 

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a more  deceptive way, in my humble opinion, than what may be the norm. This  way of thinking takes advantage of a very useful fact about how lay  audiences think about potential methods: That is- They always think that one ‘trick’= one ‘secret’. The late, great Bob Cassidy called it a ‘logical disconnect’  when a performer layers his effects with multiple methods that  seem to cancel each other out. This makes it to where the audience can’t  backtrack what happened to discover a single solution.  The big idea behind a lot of the material in this book is about about making our entire enti re clos closee-up up  set set itse itself lf a lo logi gica call disc discon onne nect ct.. This This bo book ok is ab abou outt harnessing secret  information, storing it for later use, and then revealing  it in  a uniq unique ue way. way. All All of thi this bein beingg don done in the the shad shadow owss of your your per erfo form rman ance ce as  a whol whole, e, maki makin ng your your cl clos osin ingg ef effe fect ct,, your your mos most mind-blowing.  We did  eventually have to cancel the remaining five lectures of Kent and I’s  lecture tour in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, which is currently going  on now as I type this. But now that I am quarantined and back at  my home in New York, I have all the time in the world to work  on this  book. And hopefully the world will be back to normal soon so we can start performing again.  With all of that said, I hope you enjoy this material. Let’s begin.

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Part I

SECRET MESSAGES   This section  will cover my strategies for more ‘straight-forward’ Billet reading demonstrations.  I have added a few links to secret videos taken from my  lectures going over the ideas that are more difficult to explain in pure text.

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THE  C ALENDAR   ON THE W   ALL   The following  routine is a very simple and direct example of how to use additional  information billets effectively. It isn’t a ground-breaking  new method,  but I believe that by explaining exactly how I go about performing this  type of routine, you will have all of the confidence you need to pull this off. It has a built-in logical disconnect for the audience  watching the effect, making the exact method impossible to backtrack for them, which you will understand soon. I have  always wondered why there aren’t a lot of video examples of  perfor perf orme mer’ r’ss actua actuall llyy  doin doingg a bill billet et swit switch ch in fr fron ontt of re real al audi audien ence ces. s.  Which is  why I made sure to include video performances of this routine being performed  in front of real lay people. I believe that if you follow  the advice  and insight that I am about to share with you, you will be able to confidently  switch and read billets directly in front of your audiences  with no  fear of being caught. With this instruction I will cover my  solutions for a ton of ‘problems’ people tend to run into with both Billet Switches and  Additional Info Billets. That is the ultimate goal here, not 14

 

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necessarily a  ground-breaking new method, but a solid foundation and structure you can use to create your own presentations and perform them in a   way that looks absolutely impossible. I will also talk about the ‘j‘jus usti tifi fica cati tion ons’ s’ for for  touc touchi hing ng bill billet ets, s, as well well as a su subt btle le,, yet yet dece decept ptiv ivee ‘re-frame’ I use to create the idea in your audience’s mind that the billet has nothing to do with your method of mind reading. Then to wrap it up,  we will  discuss how to bring back additional info in a way that seems like your participant was NOT thinking of it already.

EFFECT   The Performer  asks a volunteer if they can think back to a memory of  the last  time they had a party, or ‘get-together’ of friends and family for their birthday.  They are asked to focus on the name of someone who was there in  this memory and write their name on a piece of paper and fold it up. The  Performer takes the paper at the tip of his fingers for a few  seconds trying to get an intuitive impression but then says: “I'm actually  not getting anything from this... so here you hold on  to it in a fist, we will keep this as proof for later. I  think I  am actually going to have to get this straight from  your mind instead is that okay?”

 The participant  takes the billet from the Performer and holds it tightly  in a fist. The Performer then says. “Instead of  focusing on this person, I want you to imagine  going back  into this memory and looking around the envi en viron ronme ment nt until until  you come upon upon a cale calenda ndarr on the wall. wall.

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Imagine seeing  all the X’s on all the days, and a circle around that day’s  date, which is your birthday. Just look at me and  focus on this.”

 The Performer  then writes something down and asks the participant to say their date of birth for the first time and the mentalist’s impression is shown  to be correct! The participant and those watching are both astonished. “So now   I don’t want you to get distracted. Now focus on this person.”

 The Performer then reveals the name as well as other details about the thought-of person’s characteristics and traits. Everything ends clean.

METHOD   As  discussed earlier, this routine utilizes a billet switch that is BOLD and it happens directly in front of everyone, yet absolutely no one in your audience will  even think of a switch as a possible method. This is because ‘additional information  billets’ act as a logical disconnect for the audience  watching the  effect. Think about it. How could switching and reading the paper tell the Performer anything about the participant’s date of birth? I think  once you see how everything has been covered, you will gain the confidence  to be able to perform this yourself with no fear. I’m going  to break  down each component of this routine from the ‘Set Up’ to the completion of the performance.

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PREPARATION   To begin  with, you will need a stack of blank business cards. I use the kind that  comes in sheets with perforation. You want a stack of about 25 to 30  cards. I then take two of these billets and write “The Name” and “Your Birthdate”  with X’s and lines to indicate where they are to write the information. Here is what your billets should look like:

 There are  two reasons I make 2 of these billets. The first being that after the  switch, In case your participants are a tiny bit suspicious, if they  see a  little flash of the same writing in the folds, they will automatically  assume it  is the same billet. It is a super subtle thing, and it might be a case of  ‘over-thinking’ on my part, but it doesn’t take too much effort and it’s  worth it for me. The other reason I make 2 billets to start with is because I recycle the billets I use. The ‘real billet’ from one performance of this  routine will be the ‘Dummy billet’ for the next performance. I cannot express  how important it is to tightly pre-fold your billets so that 17

 

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they are   perfectly flat. This will make any and all switches significantly  easier.  You now  want to take your stack of business cards and place one of  your prepared  billets UNFOLDED on top with the writing oriented to  where it  is facing UP. You can then put the entire stack in your right pocket (If  you are right-handed, it would be the opposite for left-handed performers) with  the prepared writing facing away from you. This billet is going to  be your ‘real billet’ that the participant will end up writing their info on.  You then  want to take your ‘Dummy’ billet, fold it up and place it in the same  pocket on TOP of the unfolded ‘real billet’. What this does is make it  effortless for you to tell the difference between the two in performance. Of  course, if you don’t recycle your billets, and just want a pocket full  of unused billets to grab from as ‘real’ or ‘Dummys’ that is your call, but this is what I do, and it works perfectly for me. Once you  have your pen or pencil, you are ready to go as far as preparation is  concerned. Now we will get into the real inner workings of  this routine.  I will break it down step-by-step and as we go along, I will go over over  the the pres presen entat tatio iona nall subt subtle leti ties es to make make this this more more than than just just a standard “guess what I wrote down” trick.

INTRODUCING THE EFFECT  If you you  hav have ever ever util utiliized zed an Addi Additi tion onal al In Info form rmat atio ion n Bil Billet let in performance you  have almost certainly run into the extremely irritating  problem where  they look at the billet and openly ask “Do you want me to write  my (insert category of information) too?”. This happens to

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everyone at least every once in a while. And there are a few ideas put out there by  other creators to solve this problem. My solution, which I am about to   explain here has totally eliminated that problem completely.  And it  is all about how you introduce the effect for everyone watching! If  you in you intr trod oduc ucee  the the rout routin inee by havi having ng them them thin thinkk back back to thei theirr last last Birthday Party,  it will not seem out of place for them to write their birthday down  when they see it on the billet, and it will actually make the call back  to the information a lot easier as well. And that is exactly what  we are  doing in this particular routine. I turn to the participant and ask  them to: “Think back  to the last time you had a party or get-together  for your  birthday. Imagine looking around the room until you  focus on  someone who was there that is standing out to you. Can you focus on this person’s name for me?”

So as   you can see, this scripting has their Birthday built into the memory, but  it seems like I am only asking for them to focus on this person.  The next thing I do is reach into my right pocket and fold up the billet that is  at the top of the stack of business cards in my pocket. I literally  fold it  up in my pocket as I take it out, making it look like I just take out a folded card. I then unfold it in front of the participant to only she can see the prepared writing on the card and say: “I want you to write this person’s first name here, and when  you’re finished  writing this, fold it up and let me know, but it is essential  you don’t say anything out loud at all, as I don’t want anyone else here knowing what you’re thinking of either”

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 That last  line helps so much, as it can basically be understood by your participant to  literally mean NOT to even say they are thinking of their date of  birth. birth. And they have no reason reason at all to argue argue about about this this because because they have no idea what is about to happen anyway!  You are then going to turn your back while the participant fills out the card. It  is very important that you make sure to keep the conversation going with  the audience while this is going on. For starters, it kills the dead time.  It also serves well to distract everyone from two things that are going  to be happening: 1. Your participant is writing more than a single person’s  first name and 2. You are about to go into your pocket and palm  the Dummy. I used to be so scared of reaching in my pockets at this point, but only experience taught me that no one is watching you, or cares  at all. Especially when you are engaging with them. They have NO IDEA what you are about to do. When I palm the Dummy, I make sure the  folded edges are uppermost in respect to my hand. And the folded side  will be towards my  fingertips. I  then just keep it to my side unti un till the the  part partic icip ipan antt tells tells me they they ar aree finished. Or you  can use a subtlety I came up  with for  those occasions when you are completely surrounded  while palming a Dummy and  are worried about it being  seen: een: You You  will will tak take the the hand and tha that is palming the billet and cover your eyes with it like the image on the right.  And here  is where the switch is about to take place. I want to share  with you  a technique I use for Peeks, Switches, or Tears. This following  presentational technique  can be applied to any billet routine, so I am 20

 

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going to discuss it as a general ploy, then we will talk about how I utilize it in this particular effect.

F AILED PSYCHOMETRY    The first  thing that is important for you to keep in mind with the way  I think about performing is that everything I do in a Close-Up situation is strategically performed  in a very particular order. I obsess over the idea of routines  seamlessly flowing into each other and there must be some kind of  logic or pseudo-logic to make the set make sense. And for this particular effect,  I always do something before it that implies some kind particular of Psychometry  with my hands. I perform my version of Par-Optic  Vision using   playing cards in the participant’s pockets. There is a reason forr this fo this  that that will will be extr extrem emel elyy help helpfu full for for you you if you you want want to st star artt performing this  way but it isn’t necessary to do an effect like that before this routine for the following technique to be applied to ALL billet work  including Peeks,  Tears and in this particular case- Switches. I call this technique “Failed Psychometry”, and here’s how it works. w orks. “Failed Psychometry”  is a presentational re-frame that comes after the performer takes  a billet that has information written inside. It is an excuse to  touch the billet (receiving impressions) for a few seconds. You don’t need  to over explain this pseudo process, just let the audience come to this conclusion on their own (which is why I perform a routine before this  one, that implies as much). I usually take the billet back and say something something  like “This sometimes sometimes helps...” while I hold my hand over the billet  while looking far away from it, pretending to try and ‘sense

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something’. So  far this is standard stuff, but what makes it different is the re-frame that comes next.  After holding  the billet to get impressions for a second or two, the Performer then  starts to look like he is struggling and he says, “I'm actually not  getting anything from this, so I think I’m going to have to get this  straight from your mind”. You can then execute your peek, switch or  tear! Think about what this says to your audience and how it  will be  understood. Why would you openly and voluntarily fail at something unless  it really wasn’t working? That means this process will be subconsciously  discounted in your audience’s minds, and they will have to grab onto your next pseudo-process as the real process, and that process is  now direct telepathy. And the billet has become what we always wanted it to become: Proof Only. So what this means is that in a few lines of scripting we have justified the writing,  justified the touching of the billet, then totally reframed the process we are using AND the only process left is apparently real mind reading. And if that is the process your participants are assuming you are using, usin g, then then  your your ef effe fect ct has beco become me meth method od-l -les esss in thei theirr mind minds. s. Remember this  technique as we are going to be coming back to it later on in  this book. And I think you will really appreciate where I have taken this very simple presentational ploy. Onee othe On otherr  very very impo import rtan antt addi additi tion onal al subt subtle lety ty I use use with with ‘Fai ‘Faile led d Psychometry’ is  to ask your participants (after the peek, tear, or switch has been  executed) “Do you mind if I get this straight from your head?”.  This is  a suggestion and a very powerful one at that. Why would you ask  someone permission for something unless it was real? Here is a line I like to use  personally for this: “It is not my custom to go where I’m not  wanted, so  I’d like to ask your permission before I climb inside your 22

 

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mind”. By  simply answering this question, they are playing along with the silent script  you’ve created. This type of thinking is heavily inspired by  the propless work of Fraser Parker and Ross Taylor. EXTR EX TRA A THOU THOUGH GHT: T:  I haven’t done this myself as it doesn’t seem

to fit   with what I want to present to my audience, but I believe there must be   some performers out there to whom this is a valuable idea. Basi Ba sica call lly, y, in inst stea ead d  of takin takingg th thee bill billet et and and pret preten endi ding ng to pi pick ck up on ‘impressions’, and giving it back to them saying “It didn’t work”, you are going to  turn the entire entire thing into a joke. Take the bill billet et from from them, and pretend to   pick up on “vibrations” in the most ridiculous-looking way  possible, then  laugh and say “I’m just kidding, it doesn’t really work that  way” and  hand the billet back after the dirty work. What’s great about this is   that it has the potential to really discount the process in your participant’s minds.  Anyway, let’s get back to the routine and how I use this ploy now...

THE S WITCH   We are  now in the position where our participant has indicated to us that they  are finished writing their information, and we have a Dummy  finger palmed  in our right hand. Here is exactly how I execute the switch, along with  some helpful tips I have learned over the time I have been performing this. Start by  using your empty left hand to reach for the pen, grab it and hand it  over to your right hand palming the Dummy. This is the ‘Magic  Wand’ principle  at work, and I have yet to hear of anyone else talking  about the  usefulness of this for billet work. Especially for someone like

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me with very skinny hands and fingers, its difficult to look natural while palming something.  By holding onto the pen with the ‘hot’ hand, it will look totally natural and above suspicion. I then use my left hand again to reach for the billet and deliver the line: “Just real  quick, I’d like you to verify that you can't see what’s written inside there, correct?”

 As I  deliver this line, I take their billet and put it in “Annemmann position” with  my left hand. This means that the billet is clipped between my first  and second fingers of my left hand. I believe it is important to make sure  the orientation is so that the folded edges should be AWAY  from your left fingertips. So if you were to take the Dummy and put your hands together,  the billets will be in the same exact orientation. With their billet in left-hand Annemmann position, have them verify and look  at the billet. Once they agree that you can’t see inside, you will say: “Excellent, we  are going to keep this folded up tight, I just want to see if I can feel anything from this...”

 As you  give that line, you are going to execute a switch based on Barrie Richardson’s  ‘Business Card Switch’ from his “Theater of the Mind 2”.   Instead of explaining the mechanics of the switch in print, I have made a secret video explanation. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IohoWDVGY88  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IohoWDVGY88  I have  done this move countless times right in front of people, and over time  I have discovered things that have helped me significantly. If  you are  the sort of performer who is terrified of billet switches, pay close

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attention to  my advice here and you may find one little bit of wisdom that makes a world of difference in your confidence.

 AFTER  THE S WITCH 

 After you have switched the billet, you are now in the midst of “Failed Psychometry”. You  hand the billet back to the participant and tell them to hold  it in their clenched fist, as it will be used as proof. When I tell them “I’m  going to have to get this straight from your head” I put the pen up  to my head which creates a sort of Ramsey Subtlety for a billet.  After that  the pen goes into my pocket where I proceed to at least partially unfold the billet. I don’t want to spend too much time fumbling  in my  pockets at that point. As you are putting the pen/billet into your pocket you are then going to say: “Instead of focusing on this person..”

 As you  give that line, tap on their closed fist. This is the first time you are going  to subtly indicate that a name was the only thing written down. Continue: “I want want  you you to imagi magine ne goin going g back back into nto thi this memo memory ry.. Imagin Imag inee seei seeing ng  ever everyo yone ne ther there, e, reme rememb mber er all all the the sigh sights ts,, sounds, smells,  anything you can... and once you are totally in this memory, imagine looking past the people there, and over at the calendar on the wall. Imagine seeing all the ‘X’s on all the days,  and a circle around that day's date- which is your birthday.”

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Everything about  this bit of scripting is to create the illusion that we are going  inside their mind and looking into this memory. This creates the feel  of a memory divination (even though we are really only getting 2 guaranteed pieces  of information). As you may have noticed already if  you are particularly insightful, by saying the words, “imagine looking over at the calendar on the wall” you are implying that you KNOW there is a calendar on  the wall in this memory the participant is thinking of. The participant themselves however, never question this and they seem to just interpret it  as you telling them to imagine seeing a calendar in their mind. It’s very subtle, but I think it’s a nice extra touch. It also helps us bring  up information  that has already been harvested (their birthdate) in a way  that seems spontaneous. This way of revealing information is similar to Peter Turner’s  ideas in his Devil in Disguise routine where he uses a  word from  a book to inspire a childhood memory in his participants mind. It  is essentially guiding your participant’s participant’s imagination while making  it look like you are revealing a memory. The trick is to just talk like what you are  saying is a revelation. What is your participant going to say  anyway? Now you  have them focusing on their birthdate, which the rest of the audience has  no idea has even been written down. You go into your pocket and  unfold the billet against the stack of business cards and take it out (obviously  don’t expose their billet while doing this). You can now  look and  pretend to write while reading their entire billet. Pretend to  write their  birthdate and then act as though you want to change your mind. Pretend  to scratch out what you wrote and bring the card at the back of the stack to the face and this time really write their birthdate on the card.  This is where you will ask them for the first time to say their birthdate aloud. You can now show that you were correct.

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 What’s really  great about revealing this additional information before the revelation  of the name is that you now have a reason to keep your participant quiet  when you need to. Suppose they start freaking out about the fact  that you just guessed their birthdate and you let them keep going  on about  it. Eventually they might say something about writing it down and you  don’t want that to happen. happen. So all you have to do at this p point oint is is use the  line “Don't get distracted” and tell them to concentrate on the name (tapping their closed fist containing the billet). •

Once Once they they  are focusi focusing ng on the name name of of the the person person you can start start

to cold  read or whatever you would normally do in your process of  mindreading and write down the name you peeked earlier. •

You don’t don’t want want to to rev reveal eal what what you wrote wrote becaus becausee we we are about about to

clean up  by swapping billets with the participant. participant. Tell them not to look at  what you wrote. • You You are  now now going going to do a ‘mi ‘miss-ca call ll’’ by by ope openi ning ng up the the dumm dummy  y  and pretending  to read the name. One great tip with this to add some realism is  to rotate the billet as if you opened it where the writing was upside-down. It’s a great suggestion that adds add s a layer of deception. Once you  reveal reveal the name and ditch the Dummy, you you are now now totally  totally  clean and  the routine comes to a close. If you aren’t using the ‘Additional Info’ idea in this routine, you can always go back into your pocket while everyone is reacting and bring out the original billet again to give back to your participant.

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 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BILLETS  I want wanted ed  to ta take ke this this ti time me to ta talk lk a bit bit more more about about ‘Addi ‘Additi tion onal al Information Billets’  because it really just might be my all-time favorite ploy in  Mentalism. One thing that I get asked about all the time is  whether or  not they can be utilized in a close-up scenario and my answer is always  ‘absolutely’. The very night before writing this essay, I was at a karaok kara okee bar bar  in Wich Wichit ita, a, Kans Kansas as and and I perf perfor orme med d an ef effe fect ct usin usingg an ‘Add ‘A ddit itio iona nall Info Info  Bill Billet et’’ and and abso absolu lutel telyy fr frie ied d ever everyo yone ne watch watchin ing. g. My  participant never  ruined the Dual Reality and was just as amazed as everyone else. Just as with all Mentalism, it is about attitude, at titude, and knowing  how to   control your participants. When you guess information that is apparently not  written down in a close-up performance you are as close to the  Holy Grail as you can get as far as I’m concerned, and that is what makes it  worth it to try. And I can tell you that after doing it hundreds of  times, just  like everything else- you get really good at it. It really isn’t as bold bo ld as  you you migh mightt thin think. k. The The wors worst-c t-cas asee scen scenar ario io (part (partic icip ipan antt says says something to  ruin the Dual Reality) is that you divined two pieces of  secretly written  information. However, if you are afraid of such thingshere is a really nice ‘out’ for those moments... moments.. .  While on  tour, Kent Axell and I did a show for a 55+ community in  Arizona. He  was performing a stage routine which used an ‘Additional Info Billet’  and while the participant was filling out her billet she called out, “You want me to write my Birthday too?”

 Which is  the question that typically kills the entire ploy. But this time Kent remained relaxed and simply said:

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“Go ahead,  write whatever you want to write. Write your Social Security Number while you’re at it!”

Everyone started  laughing and she kept silent after that. Think about  what that  accomplishes. Now everyone in the audience thinks that it was HER idea  to write her birthday down, and the Performer is apparently  making a joke out of it. But here’s the best part: it remains ambiguous as to whether  she actually DID write her extra information, so the Dual Reality is still there. Now, when it comes time to reveal that extra piece of information you can say, “Oh yes,  you wanted to see if I could guess your Birthday as well”

 This reframe  makes it appear as though it was your participant’s idea to challenge you to guess the information. Kent basically discovered that on the spot in performance and we both immediately started using it on those occasions  ever since. So there’s a solution for the biggest problem  with “Additional Information Billets”.

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INSTANT  RE HOW  P -S    This next  routine needs to be described as it is remembered by the audience before  I describe what actually happens, then we will get into the explanation.  This is because this routine will be remembered in a completely different  way than it is actually performed (this will make sens se nsee when when  we get get to the the expl explan anat atio ion) n).. I call call this this rout routin inee ‘Ins ‘Insta tant nt Pre-show’ because  it is so clean, it looks and feels like Pre-show in real time.

EFFECT  (THAT IS R EMEMBERED EMEMBERED) In a  close-up and casual environment, a participant is asked to think  of the  name of someone close to them and write it down on a small business card,  fold it into quarters and hold onto it. The Performer then proceeds to  read her mind and reveal her date of birth, and then guess the name, without ever touching the billet!

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EFFECT  (THAT R EALLY  EALLY  H  H APPENED)  The Performer  asks a participant to think of a playing card as a ‘warm up’ exercise.  But before he tries to guess the card, he asks another part pa rtic icip ipan antt to  writ writee down down a name name of some someon onee clos closee to them them on a busi bu sine ness ss card card  and and fold fold it up into into quar quarte ters rs and and hold hold on to it. it. Afte Afterr revealing the card, the performer then turns to the other participant revealing participant and tries to  read her. He guesses her date of birth and then the name she was thinking of!

 W HAT’S R EALLY  GOING ON?  The reason  I needed to explain the effect as it is remembered is because this  particular routine utilizes a principle that I use throughout my performances  and much of the material in this book. And that is the fact that  lay people almost universally believe in two things without realizing it: 1. That each effect must have it’s own method. 2. Each method takes place during an effect... and nowhere else. So when  you start a routine, the lay people in your audience will assume automatically  that the ‘trick’ MUST have happened in the same time-frame that  the EFFECT happens. This is where almost all the ‘heat’ is, and this is the reason why using a Swami Writer immediately before a reveal is the worst time to do it. This is also why real preshow work is so deceptive for  people- lay audiences intuitively believe that everything that 31

 

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is to   be ‘figured ‘figured out’ must happen happen after the start of a particul particular ar effect. effect. In other words,  they assume a level of fairness and honesty from you. But  we are deceivers and that is our job, so we don’t need to play fair. So if you think about it, what is the optimum time in any routine to do the ‘dirty  work’? One possible answer to that question is: while you are perf pe rfor ormi ming ng the the  prev previo ious us routi routine ne.. This This is co commo mmonl nlyy call called ed ‘c ‘cha hain inin ing  g  effects’, where  the performer sets up two or three of his routines and then gets  on with the revelations one at a time. This is the basic start of  the idea here. In this routine, every bit of the method is achieved before the routine actually ‘starts’.

EXPLANATION 

Firstt you Firs you  will will need need a stac stacke ked/ d/me memo mori rize zed d deck deck of play playin ingg card cardss (systems are  fine, but memorization is better) and an impression device that can  be stuck to the back of a Joker and can get a clear impression through a card box while the cards are inside. I use B Smith’s ‘Psypher’ myself but  I also hear good things about the Parapad and some other devices. These impression devices work with a magnet inside the tip of a Sharpie and  the impression pad itself is sort of like the ‘magna-doodle’ materi mate rial al.( .(Do Don’ n’tt jump jump  ahea ahead d beca becaus usee you you thin thinkk you you have have ever everyt ythi hing  ng   worked out  yet, because there are some subtleties that I use with this routine that  makes it to where your participants won’t ever suspect an impression device  of any sort). You should now have a deck of cards in a box with  an impression pad set up to where if someone were to use the card ca rdbo boxx as  a surf surfac acee for for writ writin ingg on a bill billet et,, you you woul would d get get a clea clearr impression.

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Once you  have your memorized deck and impression device set up, you yo u can can  then then take take a bl blan ankk busi busine ness ss card card and and cr crea eate te an ‘add ‘addit itio iona nall information billet’  like the one in the previous routine. You are now all set up.

THE C ARD EFFECT  In performance  you are going to start by setting up the premise of  reading someone  to guess a playing card from their mind. I usually use playing cards  as a ‘warm up’ routine and explain that to the audience as  well. Take  out the deck and have your participant select a card. I like to hold the  cards spread with the faces toward the participant so they can see they  do have choices and I am not ‘influencing them’. Cut the deck   where they  take out a card so I can see my key card at the bottom of the deck while they show everyone else the card they selected. You will then know the  card so you can hand them the deck and instruct them to put the card  in the middle somewhere. The reason I do this is because I have had lay  people in the past who were savvy to ‘key cards’ in some respect, so I   like to let them choose where to put the card back in the deck  themselves.  This now  the point where you will turn to someone else watching and use the following bit of scripting:

“Do you you  mind If I use you you for some omething AFTER I’m  finished with (insert participant’s name)?”

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 This line  is important because it implies that what you are about to do  with them  is going to take place after you complete the current effect.  This is what is remembered later on. Either way,  when they say ‘yes’, you can take the deck back from the first participant  and put it in the card box, while grabbing the ‘additional info billet’ you set up earlier and placing it up against the card box. Hold it towards the second participant and continue:

“Excellent, I  would like you to take this, think of the name of someone important to you..”

 You can  then use the same handling discussed in the previous routine routine for ‘Additional  Info Billets. Ask them to fold the card up into quarters  when they  are finished. Then immediately turn back to the participant thinking of  a playing card. You now want all of the attention in the audience audien ce on  this participan participantt and this process. process. Because you already already know  the card,  it is only a matter of revealing the color first, whether it was a picture card  or number card, and then the suit. Basically you want to stretch this  out as long as it takes for your other participant to fill out her billet, revealing everything about the card besides the value. Now think  about this for a second, as far as your second participant is concerned, there  is no way you could be looking at what she is writing   while you  are reading the other person’s mind. She will also assume her ‘trick’ hasn’t  started yet because of your implication in the script. She is also also only only  hold holdin ingg onto onto the the deck deck of card cardss as a surf surfac acee beca becaus usee you you ‘happened’ to  be using cards in the effect you are currently performing.

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 Another thing  that is worth noting is that all the time it takes for her to fill out  that ‘Additional Info Billet’ is covered by you reading the mind of  the first participant. Now something beautiful can happen.  While your  second participant is writing her information down it is important for  you to at least keep an eye on her because when she is finished, if  you time it just right you can simply hold your hand out in her direction and  she will give you your pen and cards back without you even needing to  ask. This is great because then the entire memory of using the card box  as a surface disappears in her mind. Especially if it is never brought to attention. So anyway,  once you have revealed everything about the playing card besides besi des the  suit, you can now take the cards and in the process process of taking  taking  them out  of the box, you can get your first glimpse of the impression. I try to  remember the ‘name’ first. You can take the cards out and retain the Joker  with the impression device in the card box. You can now go through the  deck to take the card out for the reveal. The best part is, bec ecau ause se of  the the hand handli lin ng earl earlie ierr, in cas case you you forg forgo ot the the card card your your participant was thinking of – your key card is still there waiting w aiting for you!  Take the  card out of the deck and ask the first participant to name their card, then turn it around and the card effect is over. Now you can put the the  card cardss back back into into the the box box and and get get your your seco second nd look ook at the the impression. You  will now know both the Name and their Date of Birth.  All well before the next routine apparently ‘starts’.

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THE BILLET EFFECT  Now we  get Now get to do somet omethi hing ng real eally chee cheekky. Turn urn to anot anoth her participant and  ask them if they would like to try having their mind read then th en sudd sudden enly ly  act as thou though gh you you jus just reme rememb mber ered ed your your secon econd d participant (or  better yet, she will remind you herself). This is awesome because how  could you have done anything sneaky if you supposedly  ‘forgot’ you were going to do something with them? Once you  know the information information and you are starting the ‘next’ effect it is   now every bit as clean and easy as pre-show! Now it is all about delivering the information. Once the participant has kindly reminded me that we were going to do something, I then tell them:

“Oh yes,  you were thinking of this person. This may be difficul cult for  me so let’s sta start by having you imagine a cale ca lend ndar ar.. With With  ‘X’s ‘X’s’’ on all all the the date dates. s. But But you you see see a circ circle le around your  date of birth. Now imagine the month written above it  for me... Okay I’m really not sure about this but I'll whisper this  in your ear to see if I'm on the right track. Your reaction will be verification for everyone else okay?”

I then   lean in and whisper their birthdate in their ear. I think this is just fun  and a mysterious and interesting presentation. It also seems to help in regards to keeping your participant from spoiling any Dual Reality  you have  built up. It comes across to them as if it is a personal bonus effect just  for them not anyone else. I also think it builds anticipation and

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drama in  the revelation and makes the participant react strongly (you basically tell them to react in the script!).  After that  I will then write the name on another billet and swap it for theirss for  me to read aloud just like the handling for a ‘Dummy their ‘Dummy Billet’ Billet’ in the previous  routine. This is obviously because we want to get rid of the evidence of an ‘Additional Info Billet’ being used.  What I  love so much about this sequence, is how much work you get done well   before the routine even starts in the participant’s mind! I’ve fooled many  magicians and mentalists with this exact handling all across the USA,  even the ones who knew about impression devices. It is all because of  the subtleties and the strategy of doing the sequence in the  way I have described here. One last  thing to mention here is: What to do if your impression device fails? Here’s the cool thing, you already know what to do: you will know if   you didn’t get a good impression long before the trick ‘starts’  when you  take the cards out of the box. So all you have to do in that case, is  continue with the handling of the previous routine “The Calendar on the Wall” using Barrie Richardson’s Business Card Switch! Everything  else from that point will be exactly the same, which is why I recommend keeping a stash of ‘Dummy Billets’ handy at all times. Here is a link to an explanation of this routine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5lBXxKz-yY  

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THE E VEN MORE  MPRESSIVE LOY  I  P    After I  put out my “Difficult Ploy” idea in my second book, ‘Positive/Negative’, my good friend Steve Wachner released an idea that took it  to an entirely new level and he called it “The More Impressive Ploy Pl oy”. ”. The The  mai main idea idea is to give give your your parti artici cipa pan nt the the fr free eedo dom m to apparently change their mind to a different piece of information AFTER  they have  already written something down. What Steve would do is have a participant write down a piece of information, then he would say “Would you  like me to guess this piece of information OR would you  like me to go for something more personal like your Star Sign?”

In case  they did want to change their mind, you would then perform a perfectly justified  Center Tear gaining access to the information, then perform Steve’s perform Steve’s  great Star Sign anagram to guess the Sign. You can then proceed to  reveal the extra information written previously as well. If they  DIDN’T want to change their mind, you can then say:

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“Remember, you  did have the chance to change your mind to something more personal”

 When  Steve first shared this idea with me, I instantly fell in love with it as this vision is something I have been fascinated with for a very long  time, as  evidenced by my work on Center Tear ploys in both of my last two books.  What follows is an additional idea to add to Steve’s original ‘More Impressive  Ploy’ as well as a routine I use it for at my strolling  gigs.  The first  thing I thought to add was increasing the amount of choices and apparent  freedom of the participant. After having my participant  write down a 4-Digit PIN, I would say: “Now I want to give you the chance to either stick with this  piece of  information, or you can change your mind to somet so methi hing ng else else  like like your your Star Star Sign Sign or your your favo favori rite te Super Super Hero”

 This creates  a situation where if the participant chooses to change their mind  to their favorite Super Hero you can then perform Atlas Brooking’s wonderful  Super Hero anagram taught in his book “The Prodig digal”. You  can use any anagram or psychological force in combination with  the “More Impressive Ploy” to increase the range of  choices. The  subtle multiple out that exists in this presentation is very  nice. It  is important to give them their choices with an attitude that implies they  could think of ANYTHING. That way when you reframe later ater on  (i (iff they they deci decide ded d to stic stickk with with the the PIN) PIN) you can can say say “you “you genuinely could  have changed your your mind to any any different thought”. This concept is  only limited to the amount of prop-less methods you have in

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your arsena your arsenal.l. One of  the other really really fant fantast astic ic aspects aspects to this this ploy ploy is is that it   allows you to practice your prop-less methods with a back-up guaranteed hit with the written information. One very  good propless method that works well with this ploy is Peterr Turn Pete Turner er’s ’s  fa fant ntas asti ticc ‘Gue ‘Guess ss Who’ Who’ ef effec fectt foun found d on hi hiss ‘Dev ‘Devil il in Disguise 2’ project. For those that know the method now you can say to your participant, “You  can choose to either stick to this thought or change  your mind to a random name or country”

If they  say they would like to change their mind, ask them if they’d like to  think of a random name or a random country. Whichever one they choose, go ahead with the ‘Guess Who’ method and get your ‘hit’. I would  highly recommend picking up Steve Wachner’s “War of the Curren Curr ents ts”” to  fi find nd a huge huge amou amount nt of grea greatt re reli liab able le mate materi rial al.. Steve Steve’s ’s thinking is top-notch.

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SEVERANCE R ECAP ECAP  Beforre we  get into Befo nto th thee exp expla lan nat atio ion n of what what I am now call calliing  “Severance 2.0”,  I thought it would be a good idea to go over the original “Severance” concept  for those that are not familiar. Here is an excerpt from my first book, “Jhana” where I first described d escribed the effect.

EFFECT   The Performer  is seen to ask a participant to think of their best friend from grade school (or a PIN Code, date, etc.). The Performer is then able to reveal this information, apparently without it being written down.

METHOD   The idea  for this principle came to me one night while I was laying in my bed  about to fall asleep. I was in a state right in between being asleep and awake when this concept appeared appeared in my mind. I have no idea idea what what led me  to think of this but the next morning I tried it out on a friend and it worked  beautifully and it has continued to be something I can rely on to get great reactions.  You are  going to essentially peek the information before it is appa ap pare rent ntly ly even even  thou though ghtt of by your your part partic icip ipan ant. t. Th Thee “Sev “Sever eran ance ce”” 41

 

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technique is  a way to 'unlink a thought’ from a billet. It is in my humble opinion that  this technique answers two questions that have existed since Mentalism was  born: How do we reveal names, dates, and other thoughts  without them being written down? And how do we justify a Centre Tear?  This can  be used with any billet peek, but I find it works best with a Centre Tear  for reasons I will explain later. What makes this technique diff differ eren entt fr from om  simi simila larr id idea eass rele releas ased ed befo before re,, is th that at this this ef effe fect ct is self-contained and  does not require any real pre-show. It can be done in one sitting  and in real time. The name “Severance” is a homage to Michael Murray’s  'Thought Unlinking' principle from his book “A Piece of My  Mind Mind”” whi which I hi high ghlly reco recomm mmen end. d. With With the the “Sev “Sever eraance” nce” technique you  are going to 'sever' a thought from a billet. Let us start  with the preparation:

PREPARATION  I  am going to explain the set up and script for the routine in which you guess  the name of your participant’s best friend from grade school. I  will then  tell you how you can use this for dates and PIN codes. As I said earlier, I believe this works best with a Centre Tear. The reasons for this are for  presentational purposes and the method is somewhat dependent upon it  being a Centre Tear. I won’t go into how to do Centre Tear but I  will recommend  Ran Pink’s work on this subject. “Think Pink” and “T Rex” are  both wonderful tears and I recommend them highly! The first thing you  will need is a billet. This will depend on which Centre Tear you choose, but  for the “Severance” technique we are going to prepare the billet and turn it into an “Additional Information” billet. Take your billet and write  the following at the very top of the paper, being sure to leave

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room in   the centre for the participant’s writing. “Think of your best friend from grade school and write their first name below”. Underneath your  writing, draw a line for the participant to write the name on it. The billet should look something like this.

Think of  your best friend from grade school and write their first name below: x _________________

 Also, think of a number between 1 and 10.

Note: The additional instruction “Also, think of a number between 1 and 10” will become important later on in the effect. Fold this paper up, as required  by whichever Centre Tear method you are using and you are prepared. That’s  it! This only takes a second, but the payoff is well worth it. Now let’s talk about the actual “Severance'' technique.  This is  how we 'unlink the thought’ from the billet itself, creating the illusion that  this information is only thought of and not written down.  This method  will make the billet truly invisible in the minds of your audience. It is the words you use that make this work.  As I  said earlier, this relies on the words you use in order for this to  work. So I will supply the scripting I use. After you approach a group group in a close up  social situation and you have already performed a few effects,

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turn to  a member of the group and take your prepared “Severance” Billet out of your pocket, still folded, and say: “In a  moment I’m going to hand this piece of paper to you. You are going to  take this and stare at it for a few moments, then you are to write down a  piece of personal information. You aren’t going to know what you are  going to write until you actually start writing it. I also ask that you remain completely silent while you write this, as I don’t want anyone here to have  any idea what it is that you are thinking of. You are going to stare at this  paper for a few seconds and write this information down. When you are done, just fold up the paper and let me know.”  This script  will ensure that your participant knows not to reveal that there is  writing on the paper to begin with. It also creates a logical reason for them  not to say anything out loud, as you don’t want anyone else there to  know what it is that they are writing either. This script will also let your participant know not to think of something of their choosing by  telling them  that they aren’t going to know what it is they are going to  write until  they look at the paper and start writing (i.e. they will read the instructions). And  furthermore, it also accounts for the time that it takes for them  to read the instructions by telling them to stare at the paper for a few  seconds. It is implied that they have a completely free choice as to  what to write. While giving the line “You are  going to stare at this paper for a few seconds and and write write this this information down” you want  to actually unfold the billet and show it to them as you say  it. This  will make it very clear to your participant, what it is you want them to  do. Be sure not to flash the written instructions to anyone else. Here is where the actual 'Unlinking' takes place.

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 After your  participant has written their information down and folded it up,  you are going to begin to give them a reading and start getting  'impressions' while  they are still holding on to the billet. But you must now pretend  to struggle getting this information. Your acting ability must be spot  on, and convincing. One way to really give the impression that you are truly struggling at guessing this information is to try to guess the name in  your head for real, first! This idea was inspired by Richard Osterlind’s brilliant “Making Magic Real” book. That of doing something  that requires  you to perform actual mental processes to create the illusion you are  deep in thought and attempting to pick up on impressions. Once you have  begun to seemingly struggle to get this information, you are now going  to take the billet from their hand and use the following line,  whilst ripping the paper (performing your Centre Tear, Tear, in the proccess): “I  have to tell you the truth, I don’t think I am going to be able to  get this because I see you as a more visual minded  person as  opposed to just thinking in terms of letters and numb nu mber ers. s. So  let’ let’ss just just forg forget et this this,, and and let’ let’ss try try some someth thin ing  g  different.”

I hope  you can see where this is going. We have now created a logical reason for ripping up the paper and getting a peek. We have also created a situation  where we know that the participant is thinking of their best friend from  grade school, without the rest of the audience being aware that they  are doing so. We further justify the reason we are not able to get the  thought thought of information information by implying implying they think better in terms of  images as  opposed to letters. This opens us up to different presentations. For example,  we might rip up the billet as if never meaning to return to this information  and attempt a drawing duplication with this participant inste nstead ad.. The The  reas reason on the the Cen Centr tree Tear Tear lend lendss its tsel elff per perfe fect ctly ly to the the 45

 

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“sever “sev eran ance ce”” tech techni niqu quee  is the the fa fact ct,, it allo allows ws us to get get a peek peek of the the information in  the most natural way. Needing to tear up the billet now  makes complete  sense and is entirely justified within the context of the performance. What would you naturally do with a piece of paper you are no longer  intending to use? Tear it up and discard it. It is the perfect justification for  a Centre Tear! I should mention that the idea of using a Centre Tear after apparently not being able to pick up on the information has been  utilized by others before me and has been used for different ends (a ends (alt ltho houg ugh h  it was was some someth thin ingg I cr crea eate ted d inde indepe pend nden entl tlyy with withou outt knowing of  others thinking on this). What I am sharing is my own unique use for this ruse.  The script above also uses an ambiguous ambiguous line: “Let’s try something different”

 This line  will mean two different things in a moment. To the audience, it will mean that the effect didn’t work, so you are going to try  something someth ing completely  different. different. To the participant, participant, it will mean that you you are just going to go about it in a different way! We are now going to take advantage advan tage of  the fact that we know that they are thinking of their their friend friend from school and use it to create the illusion that this is a new thought and exists purely in their mind and is not written down.

ISUALIZATION PROCESS  THE V ISUALIZATION Since we  have explained to the participant that they are a more “visual thinker”, we now take them through a visualization process. This will be seen to  be the ‘new effect’ for the audience, and will be seen to be the ‘new process’  for the participant. With this process, we are also going to 46

 

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further imply  that the thought is just thought of, in the moment, by  making it  seem as though the participant has choices throughout the  visualization process.  This is an aspect of Ross and Fraser's ‘reframe’ or ‘perception shift’  principle. I will give you the script for this, and then break it  down so you will understand every nuance. Here is what you say, right after ripping the paper up and telling them 90 you are going to try  something different: Performer: “As I   said, this didn’t seem to work and sometimes this happens so let’s try this. I want you to imagine travelling back in time time  to a mome moment nt when when you you we were re in grad gradee scho school ol.. See See  yourself in  your classroom. You will see all your classmates sitting next  you but you focus on just one of them and this is  your best  friend. Are you still in contact with this person? (Participant responds).  Can you think of this person’s name  for me?  If this name is very complex or difficult, feel free to change to  someone else. Really imagine this person standing  in front of you.”

So with  this script you have heavily implied to everyone watching that this th is thou though ghtt  is bein beingg cr crea eate ted d in the the mome moment nt and and that that the the pape paperr is completely unrelated.  If you use your acting and presentational skills properly they  should forget about the paper. It all depends on how well you convince them that you are going to try something different.  This process  creates amnesia in your participant’s mind. The more detailed and  drawn out the process the more they are likely to forget about the  paper. This is a case of: “The larger action covers the smaller acti ac tion on”. ”. Howe Howeve ver, r,  inst instea ead d of acti action on – we use use lang langua uage ge and and thei theirr thoughts. The  little things in the script above can really imply that this

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thought is  truly created in the moment. For instance, we tell them to imagine ALL  of their classmates but we tell them to focus only on one of  them. This   creates the illusion of choice, even though we have already  asked them  to think of their best friend (and we already know their name). The  second subtlety is the “Difficult Name Ploy”. You can use this bit  for any name reveal that uses a peek. If you already know the name, you  can tell them that if it is a difficult name to guess than they are free to change their mind. If it is a difficult name – when you guess it, it  will be  that much more amazing! And even if they do change their mind, you are  just going to reveal the name you know anyway. If it is NOT a difficult name  – they wont change their mind to begin with. It is unlikely  that they  will change their mind, because the likelihood is that they only  have one  best friend from grade school anyway. But once again, this creates the  illusion of a choice, in the moment. That is “Severance” in its most basic  form. You can see how this can be used for dates and PIN code co dess. Just ust  chan change ge the the wri writi ting ng on the the bi bill llet et,, and and come come up with with a “Visualization Process”  to go with it. For PINs, I have them imagine they are  walking down an empty street, and find an ATM where they  start punching  in the code. You can then reveal the individual digits in real time!  For dates, I have them visualize a calendar and have them imagine drawing X’s on the days. You get the idea. I hope you enjoy and get as much out of this principle as I have! One extra  subtlety before we move on that comes from my very good friend Jacob  Smith is to ask your participant after they have written down their thought, “So you  have only written down one piece of information and you are just thinking of one thought correct?”

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 You can  see how this reinforces the idea in the audience’s mind that only one thought is the target!

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SEVERANCE 2.0: THE ‘MIND-CHANGING BILLET’  For those  that have been following my material over my last two books, “Jhana”  and “Positive/Negative”, they will have already known my love  of the Center Tear and my quest to find the best way to handle the technique  to make it more deceptive. The main goal is to make the billet invisible  in the minds of your participant. And 90% of the time, most performers  will have someone write down a name, a date, or a PIN then immediately rip the billet up to hand it back to the participant, then reveal the  information. To me this is decent and it does work, but not for the most  skeptical skeptical participants participants.. I consider consider it worth the effort to perform perform to the the  most most skep kepti tica call par partici ticipa pant nts, s, not not just just the the lowes owestt comm common on denominator. And if I can find a way to make the Center Tear plot more deceptive for  everyone, and at the same time do it in a way that is easy  enough for any performer to start doing, it is a worthwhile task. I started  with my  original “Severance” idea in my first book, but one of the problems I  found with that method was that it required you to set up multiple billets  with extra written instructions. I wanted to get the main id idea ea down down  to just just a busi busine ness ss card card and and a pen pen and and requ requir iree no more more additional handling  while still creating the illusion that the billet has absolutely nothing to do with the method employed.

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 What follows  may seem very convoluted and hard to understand at first but if you trust me, by the end of this everything will make sense and I think  you will come to appreciate the subtle nuance that creates an illusion that  is almost impossible for even the smartest of skeptics to back-track. Here is what the effect will look like:

EFFECT   The performer  asks a participant to think of either the name of their best friend,  their date of birth, or a PIN code that is important to them.  They are  told to write down whichever one of those thoughts they like on a business card and then fold the card back up when they are finished.  The Performer then says to them: “So you you  are thin hinking king of this totally ran random piece of  information from  your life. How many times did you change  your mind before you committed to this thought?”

 The participant  responds and then the Performer proceeds to rip the business card up while saying: “Ill tell  you what, keep changing your mind. Think of your date of  birth.. And imagine sending it to me now. Change  your mind  to another thought now... Okay I'm struggling  here. I  want you to choose either your Best Friends name or  your PIN  don’t tell me which one of those thoughts you are sending me now but just keep focusing...”

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 The Performer  then writes down what he is receiving. The participant says she  was focusing on her Best Friend’s name. It is shown that the Performer is  correct! They genuinely do change their mind AFTER the tearing of  the billet and they truly do have a free choice. How is this possible?

METHOD   There are  multiple things going on here and it is assumed that the reader is  familiar with a decent Center Tear technique to begin with. I personally use  Ran Pink’s “T-Rex” because it is great with business cards. But any good instant-access Center Tear will work for this. What we are more concerned  with right now is the subtleties used before and after the Center Tear. Here is the step by step process:

●   You start by asking your participant to think of one of three different

thoughts: Their  Best Friend’s name, Date of Birth, or a PIN. Tell them to  change their mind a few different times before committing to one of those thoughts in writing. ● Cen ente terr Tear Tear::  Once they are finished writing this thought they will likely hand  you the billet back (especially if you just hold your hand out). When  they do ask them how many times they changed their mind before  committing to this thought. No matter what they say, start your  Center Tear and say “Actually keep changing your mind”.  This implies to everyone that the thought doesn’t need to be what was  written and it justifies the tear at the same time. ●   Get your your  peek peek.. For For the the sake sake of this this expl explan anat atio ion n let’s let’s assume assume we peeked the  name “George”. You are then going to tell them to think  52

 

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of one  of the OTHER options (Date of Birth or PIN) and pretend to read them  for this information. You may try and legitimately guess some information for real. If you get a ‘hit’ at this point all the better. Either way, tell them you are struggling and then... ●   Give them  the option to think of either their Best Friends name (which we  know now) OR the other option you didn’t give them in

the last  step. Tell them this is a free choice and they are not to tell you  what thought they are sending to you. ●  Write down  the name ‘George’ and have them hold their hand out.

Place your  written card face down on their palm. Now ask them  which thought  they were trying to send you. This is where it can go one of two different ways: ●  If they  say they are trying to send you their best friend's name, you simply ask  them what the name is and get your hit and the routine is finished. ●   If they t hey  said one of the other options, options, ask them what it is and now you are set  for a one-ahead. one-ahead. Let's say they said they were were thinking thinking of their their Date of  Birth. Ask them what their Birthday is. Once you know you can then  pretend to get ready to turn over your revelation in their palm but you want to act as though you just got an impression and say  “Wait a  second, do you mind if I try and guess your best friend’s name as  well?”. Write down their Date of Birth they just told you and you are ready to get two t wo revelations for the price of one!

Now that  you understand the basic structure, we can now talk about some additional subtleties and hints.  The main  idea behind this presentation is to imply to both the audience and the participant that they are free to change their mind and 53

 

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 what was  originally written on the billet is of no importance. The reason this works  for your audience is because they see you tear up the billet and ask your  participant to keep changing their mind. The reason it works on your participant  is because you do genuinely give them a free choice at the end  of either the thought they wrote down or another thought. Since they really are free to choose, the illusion is perfect. But because  this is a ‘One-Ahead’ out, I'd like to talk about a few  subtleties that  make the ‘One-Ahead’ more deceptive. The first thing that is important  to remember is that 8 out of 10 times you perform this, the participant will  stick to the original thought they wrote down anyway  even if you do give them a free choice. So it is actually not very often that you will  need to perform a ‘One-Ahead’. Another thing that works in our favor is  the fact that you ask them to choose between two different thoughts, so  once you write down your revelation and place it in their face up  palm, when they tell you they were actually thinking of their other thought and tell you what it is, it makes sense to suddenly say, “Actually I  think I just picked up on something else, you mind mi nd if  I try try and and gues guesss (wha (whate teve verr the the thou though ghtt they they wrot wrotee down is)”

I like  to pretend that I am going to turn over my revelation right before saying  that and then ask them to put their other hand on top of  that in a sandwich fashion. When I do write down my second revelation I ask them to lift their top hand a little and say, “We will just put this right under there”

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I actually actually put it on top to reverse reverse the order to to where it is suppos supposed ed to be. But  when I do this, I lift up both cards and place the one on top  while maintaining  eye contact with the participant. By using the line above, I am reiterating that the billets will be in the proper orientation.

COMBINING SEVERANCE 2.0  WITH PROPLESS  METHODS  If you  happen to be familiar with propless methods to guess Names, Dates, or  PIN codes, it is a pretty cool thing to combine it with the sequence described  above. Let’s say we peeked the name ‘Richard’. When  we ask the participant to keep changing their mind, we can then say, “Focus on your date of birth”

If you  perform a propless Birthdate revelation such as Isabella’s Star 3 by Pete Peterr  Turne urner, r, once once you you ar aree fi fini nisshed hed you you can can THEN THEN ask ask your your participant to  focus on either their PIN or their Best Friend’s name (Richard) giving you 3 potential hits! It also helps you have an automatic ‘out’ for those times when your propless method fails. I’ve also  done this with the Zodiac ‘RAISE’ anagram and it works just as well.  Fraser Parker’s name guesses and some other propless PIN code guesses are always a great option for this. “Change Your Mind Again”

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sleight, but this can also be used in your verbiage and presentation itself.  Whatever words  you use the most are probably going to be what is remembered later  on. One thing I like to leave people remembering after a Center  Tear is me using the words, “Change your mind”. I want to be able to  say that as many times as I like because it completely severs the target ‘Thought’ from the billet itself. One way  to use this with ‘Severance 2.0’ is to ask your participant, after getting  your peek, to keep changing their mind. Tell them to change their mind again as many times as you like, then bring them to the target thought by either ●  Asking them  what the category of the thought is (Name, Date, PIN)

and going from there ●  Tell them  you picked up on something as they were changing their mind, and  simply tell them to focus on whatever thought they wrote

down. ●   Or you you  can can te tell ll them them to keep keep chan changi ging ng thei theirr mind mind to diff differ eren entt

thoughts until  you feel a strong connection, and lead them to the thought they wrote down.  The main  idea is to create a moment that can be remembered later on. How could the method be as simple as looking at what they wrote down if you had them keep changing their mind after the billet is destroyed?

R EFRAMING EFRAMING THE OPTIONS   This one  reframe will go a very long way in performing the Severance 2.0 sequence. At the very beginning of the presentation you want to give them the  options of either their Best Friends Name, Date of Birth, or

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PIN in  a way that is clear that those are their only 3 options. These are the 3 options I chose because they are STABLE thoughts. They will not change by  asking a participant to think of them. Once they write their thought down, you will then want to reframe it by using the line, “So you  have written down this totally random piece of  information from your life, correct?”

 This heavily  implies that you were really asking them to write down any thou though ghtt  fr fro om thei theirr life, ife, and and ear earlier lier the the opti option onss were were simp simply  ly  recommendations. It  seems like a small thing but that reframe will come in handy in a later section titled “Thought Switching”.

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CENTER  T  TEAR   EMORY  IVINATION M  D    This next  routine is just a bonus idea of something I’ve been doing  and experimenting  with for a few years. It started with watching Peter  Turner’s pre-show  effect on his first ‘Devil in Disguise’ DVD. In his routine it appears as though he is able to reveal details about a memory  the participant  is thinking of including the name of someone in this memory as well as a personal secret about the memory that is whispered in the participant’s ear.  We actually  don’t really need to know Peter Turner’s original routine or any any  prepre-sh show ow to do this this in real real time. time. All you you need need is a dece decen nt instant-access Center  Tear and you can recreate the effect from there.  Another big  inspiration for this routine is Looch’s ‘Memory Test’ found in his book, “A SAD Night in Hamburg”. Here is what it will look like:

EFFECT   A participant  is asked to think of a memory that they shared with someone close  to them. They are then handed a billet and instructed to 58

 

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focus on  one word that encapsulates the memory and write the word and the name  of the person they shared the memory with down on the billet.  They are told to stare at this written info for a few seconds while thinking  about the  memory. It is then destroyed. The Performer then reveals details about  the memory (some not even written down) as well as the person’s name!  The performer then says there is one thing from this memory that the participant has kept inside their heads this entire time. He whispers this secret in the participant’s ear and they are seen to react accordingly.

METHOD   This effect  is all about getting as much information out of a Center  Tear as  possible. I highly recommend learning Ran Pink’s ‘T-Rex’ Center  Tear as  it has a method to get a peek of 75% of the billet in the act of  tearing. This allows you to peek two pieces of information.  The two pieces being peeked in this particular circumstance circumstance will be ●

 

The Name of the person with whom they shared this memory

●

 

A word they come up with to encapsulate the memory

Start by  instructing your participant to think of a special memory they  shared with  someone close to them. Once they say they have a memory  in mind,  ask them if they can think of a single word to describe this memory. For  example, if they were thinking of their friend's Birthday  theyy may  think the think of the word “Birthda “Birthday”. y”. Once Once they they have have a word word and and a name, you  want to hand them the billet and present this as a way to ‘bring the  memory into the forefront of their mind, by writing the name

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and the  word down and staring at it for a few seconds while focusing on the memory.  What makes  this presentation so great is that it justifies the billet, and its destruction  at the same time. It also remains unclear what you are about to  do, and it seems to make the Center Tear a bit more deceptive  when you  have two pieces of information written down instead of just one.  After they  have done what you asked, you will perform the Center  Tear and  peek both pieces of information. It is now time to start Cold Reading based  on the word you have just peeked. This will be different every time of course and sometimes you will get more information from a particular  word than others. But the good thing about this structure is that if  you do find yourself in a situation where you aren't getting a lot of  good information  out of your Cold Reading, you always have the name to fall  back on. You have to take control and know when it is time to frame the effect as a Name Divination when you need to. But even  in those situations, you are still set up for something really  great.. Since  you know the word they wrote down you can still utili great utilize ze the BOB Principle by saying to the participant: “There’s one  thing about this memory you have never told anyone and kept inside your head this entire time..”

 You then lean in and whisper the line: “This memory  made you think of the word (insert the word they wrote down)”

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So as  you can see this presentation provides ways to get multiple ‘hits’ and a  bigger overall effec fect from a Center Tear. I wo wou uld highly  recommend reading  Looch’s “A SAD Night in Hamburg” to get some great insight  on how to get the appearance of a memory reveal from a si sing ngle le word word..  One One thin thingg I usua usuall llyy do with with this this rout routin inee is to te tell ll my  participant to  give me a ‘Yes’ if anything I say makes sense to them. At that point I can start to vaguely describe the word in a general sense and get as  many ‘Yeses’ as I can . That’s the real name of the game here. If  you do  decide to experiment with this routine please let me know what kinds of ruses you come up with!

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F AILED PSYCHOMETRY  FOR   CENTER  TEARS   You can  use the ‘Failed Psychometry’ presentation with any Center  Tear effect.  I like to take the billet back and hold my hand over it as if  trying to  pick up on ‘impressions’ and then start ripping the billet up  while saying “I actually  am not getting anything from this. I think I will have to get this thought straight from your mind”

 This automatically  discounts the billet in the presentation and appears as though  the written information didn’t help you while justifying the tearing at  the same time. The only thing left for them to fall back on is  whatever pseudo-method you use after the tear.

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R UNE UNE C ASTING   This idea  started from Kent Axell and I workshopping Steve  Wachner’s routine  “The Man Who Fooled Edison”. Without going into Steve’s fantastic  routine all that is needed to understand the following  principle is  that the routine was based on a ‘One Ahead’ using the ‘RAI ‘R AISE SE’’ anag anagra ram m  to get get one one of the the part partic icip ipan ant’s t’s Star Star Sign Signss with withou outt having to  peek a billet. Essentially three participants are asked to think of  a piece of information, one thinks of their Zodiac Sign, the t he other two can think of anything of your choosing.  While performing  the routine Kent started trying to come up with a  way to  hide the anagram process with the Zodiac participant. His or original iginal idea started like this: He would  have all three of the participants think of the letters in their thoughts and  then do the anagram on the Zodiac person while just throwing random  letters out to the other participants. This would help hide the  fact that you are asking a particular person to focus on letters in their sign and then guess it that way.  After Kent  described his original idea I changed it in the following   way. Assume  we have three participants thinking of different thoughts (example: a  friends name, a favorite movie, and a zodiac sign) and they  each wrote them down on a billet.

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I start by telling the participants: “Before we  start, I need to do a ‘warm-up’ exercise to get in tune with  all of you. I’d like each each of you to silently silently think think of all the letters  in your thoughts and imagine sending them to me. I will  attempt to pick up on the letters that are coming to me the strongest.  So, if you hear me say your letter just give me a ‘Yes’…”

 You will  now perform the RAISE Zodiac anagram by calling out the letters R,  A, I, S, and E in order. What makes this so great is that now all the attention  goes to the ‘Yes’s’ and you will never get a ‘No’. You are also hiding  the fact that you are only paying attention to the participant thinking of  their Zodiac Sign. This also streamlines Kent’s original idea so you  don’t have to throw out random letters for everyone. Now you  will have  all the information you need to get the Zodiac Sign before even focusing on that participant!  When Kent  and I started performing this and workshopping it on our lecture tour  we also discovered another subtlety you can add on to the ‘Rune Casting’  method. You can ask the participants to simply raise their hand slightly  to signify you are picking up on letters in their thoughts.  This makes  it to where the participants never actually have to say  anything aloud,  and it obscures what information you are actually gaining  because members  of the audience may not see everyone who raises their hand ha nd.. You You  are are gain gainin ingg a lot lot of info inform rmat atio ion n whil whilee seem seemin ingl glyy getti getting  ng  nothing! Check out  Steve Wachner’s material to find out where you can go from there in his routine “The Man Who Fooled Edison”  

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Part II

HE IRROR  T  M  

PEOPLE 

SPECTATOR   AS MIND R EADER    This next  section of the book will be my ideas for ‘Spectator as Mind Reader’ effects.  I always like to build my close up sets to end on a ‘Spectator as  Mind Reader’ plot because it creates an interesting arc for the entire  set. I love the idea of a performer meeting a group of people, demonstrating a  simple feat of mind reading, then a more difficult and personal demonstration,  and ultimately showing a member of the group how they  might be able to do this themselves. It gives a sense of purpose to the performance as a whole.

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THOUGHT-S WITCHING   This technique  is essentially another handling of the ‘Severance 2.0’ ploy, but it flips it on its head. It is a combination of multiple subtleties that I   find very effective. It is basically a way to turn a Center Tear presentation into a ‘Spectator as Mind Reader’ effect.

EFFECT   The Performer  asks a participant to think of a piece of information and write  it down on a business card and fold it up. The performer holds his hand over the billet and then says,

“I’m actually  struggling to get this and I think I will have to do  this this a tota totall lly y diff differ eren entt way way with with you, you, whic which h I will will explain why  here in a second, but for right now I want you to  forget about  this and push it into the back of your mind somewhere for now”

Performer rips the billet up and hands the pieces to the participant to discard. He continues,

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“The reason I think I need to do this differently with you is because I  actually feel that you are more like me in the respect that you  are far better and receiving receiving thoughts than you are at at sending them.  So before I can get inside inside your mind, mind, I'd I'd like to see if  you can get inside mine. I am going to write down the namee of  my best friend nam friend and we will see if you can pick up on it”

 The performer  writes something down on a card and puts it in the participant’s hand  facedown. The Performer has the participant try and divine the name. She says “Larry”. The Performer then say’s, “Great, now don’t get distracted. Focus on your PIN... okay now change your mind to your Birthdate”

 The Performer  then writes down something on another card and places it  in the participants hand facedown. She says her birthdate is the 11th 11 th of  Nove Novemb mber er.. It is then then re reve veal aled ed that that the the perf perfor orme merr corr correc ectl tly  y  divined divin ed her  date of birth. And it is also shown that she ccorrec orrectly tly divined divined his best friend's name!

METHOD  If you  have already read the handling for ‘Severance 2.0’ you may  already have a good idea of what is going on here. As far as the set-up, it is exactly  the same. You start by giving them 3 different categories of 

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thoughts to choose from at the start (PIN, Best Friend’s Name, Birthday) and have them write it down on a billet. Once you  take it back you are going to want to reframe the process  via a  combination of the principles we have already covered in earlier sections ‘Failed Psychometry’ and ‘Severance 2.0’ by using the line: “I’m actually  struggling to get this and I think I will have to do  this this a tota totall lly y diff differ eren entt way way with with you, you, whic which h I will will explain why  here in a second, but for right now I want you to  forget about  this and push it into the back of your mind somewhere for now”

 This will  justify the tearing of the billet and it comes across as a total re-start of the effect. It also tells the participant to push the thought into the back  of their head, which is to make sure they don’t forget that thought later on. Once you peek the information from the Center Tear, you will  hand them the pieces to discard and you ‘start over’ with the participant explaining: “The reason I think I need to do this differently with you is because I  actually feel that you are more like me in the respect that you  are far better at receiving thoughts than you are at sending them.  So before I can get inside inside your mind, mind, I'd I'd like to see if  you can get inside mine. I am going to write down the namee of  my best friend nam friend and we will see if you can pick up on it”

Because you  are ‘starting over’ with the participant they will assume the information they wrote down and was then destroyed is unimportant and not  part of what is about to happen. I also really love the justification 68

 

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of telling  the participant that they are more like the Performer in the respect that  they are a better ‘receiver’ of thoughts. You are also telling  them that  before you can read their thought, you want to see if they can read yours.  You can now take out another billet and write down what you just peeked and place it face-down on their palm.  You can  now tell them you wrote down a piece of information that is important to  you. This could literally be anything you like but I would recommend a  name as opposed to any kind of number. The reason being  that it needs to be easily remembered for the effect to be as powerful as it can  be later on. So if you made it your PIN code, the participant might forget what they thought your PIN was by the end of the effect. Now you Now you  can can have have them them gues guesss vi viaa any any pseu pseudo do proce process ss of your your choosing. My preferred way is what follows:

I JUST GOT  A FEELING   When I’m  having my participant ‘read my mind’ I start by telling them to relax  and then I hold my hand next to their ear without touching and I say, “You will  get a feeling when I hold my hand next to your head. Once  you get that feeling, feeling, I’d like you you to tell tell me the the first name that pops in your head at that moment”

 After saying this you want to wait awhile to see if they say the name of  their own  volition. If not you can just tell them to say the name that pops in their  mind. Once they tell me the name, it appears that they must have gotten the  feeling I was telling them they will get, whether they really felt

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something or not. This is just a minor additional suggestion that I think   works well  with any ‘Spectator as Mind Reader’ presentation. Most of the time if  you tell someone they will feel something with confidence, the participant will just agree with you and play along anyway.  Whatever they  say, you will then want to use this line of scripting, remembering that  what follows is based on what you peeked earlier as this is   basically the same handling for Severance 2.0, meaning you will instruct them to think of a thought they DIDN’T write down first: “Great! And  that just popped into your head right? Now don’t get  distracted, now I would like you to focus on your (Birthday)… no  change your mind to your (PIN)… okay one more time change to your (Best Friend’s Name)”

 The last  piece of information you tell them to focus on will always be  what they  wrote down on the billet earlier (and what you have written on the billet in their hand). But because so much has happened since then, they th ey will will  neve neverr make make the the conn connec ecti tion on (e (esp spec ecia iall llyy not not the the audi audien ence ce  watching). Now  that they are focusing on the target piece of information, you will now ‘read them’ and write down whatever name they called called out earl ea rlie ierr when when  gues guessi sing ng your your Best Best Fr Frie iend’ nd’ss Name Name.. This This make makess for for an extremely deceptive  ‘One-Ahead’ because of the presentation re-frame, the justification  for the tearing and discarding of the billet, and the fact that they  have now changed their minds several times since the billet was discarded. This  is why the line “Don’t get distracted” is so important after they  call out their guess of your thought, it keeps them focused on the fact that now you are about to read their mind instead of wanting to see what you have written on the card in their hand.

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Once you  have written their guess on the card, you can now place that in their hand as well and ask them to say their thought aloud for the first time. From there on it is just a matter of showing both ‘hits’.

LEWIS LE V  AL’S OTT MOVE I highly  recommend seeking out Lewis LeVal’s ‘OTT Move’ because it work workss  so well well with with the the ‘Tho ‘Thoug ught ht Swit Switch chin ing’ g’ rout routin ine. e. I won’ won’tt be expl ex plai aini ning ng the the  move move here here but but I will will desc descri ribe be how how it appl applie iess to this this routine. In this  version, instead of writing the participant’s thought on a billet and placing  it in their hand face-down, you are going to fold it into quarters and  put it in their hand in a ‘tent-style’. On the second billet  when you  write down their guess of your thought, you will also fold it into quarters  and get ready to do the move once they say their thought aloud. I  put all the heat on the billet that ‘ends up’ in their hand after the move and  allow them to open it up and read your ‘hit’ first. I then tell them what  is more interesting is that they were able to guess my thought, then unfold the billet showing their ‘hit’. I can’t  recommend using this move for this routine enough, it really  looks exactly the way it should.

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M Y  I  IMAGINARY  F  FRIEND   This is  a bonus idea that I have been experimenting with recently. It is entirely impromptu and ‘prop-less’ but is not 100% fool-proof. fool-proof. However, the effect  is very strong when it works and I thought it was worth describing in this section.

EFFECT   The Performer  tells a participant that he is going to attempt to ‘switch roles’ and  have the participant read his mind to reveal the name of the Performers imaginary friend he had when he was young.  The Performer  writes down a name on a billet and folds it up. It is then handed to the participant. The Performer says: “Here in  a moment I am going to begin touching the air. As I do  this I am going to be going through the alphabet from A to Z.  All I would like you to do is follow along silently with me in your head”

 The Performer  does this and instructs his participant to say “Stop”  when they  like. The participant is then instructed to think of the first

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male name  that pops in their head that starts with this letter. They say  “Frank”.  The billet  is opened by the participant and it says “Frank”. The Performer never touches the billet once it is handed to the participant.

METHOD   This makes  use of Peter Turner’s clever handling of the “Stop Force” applied to  letters in the alphabet. You are going to start touching the air for each  letter and once you get to the letter ‘B’ you will ask your participant to  say “Stop” when they like (you can also have them just think “Stop”, but the likelihood of a ‘hit’ goes down somewhat).  When you  time it right, they should end up on the letter ‘F’, and when you tell  someone to think of the first male name that pops in their head that starts  with the letter ‘F’ they will almost always think of the name “Frank”. Sometimes they will say “Fred” but it is not as common. If you are worried  about this you can have both names written on different areas of  the billet and open it to show the correct name while covering  the other name with your hand.  Another thing  I have done before when I think the ‘Stop Force’ isn’t going to  work is to tell the participant that I will give them one clue- as they haven’t  done this before it seems totally fair. The clue I give them is a whisper telling them the first letter is the t he letter ‘F’. If you  are interested in a fool-proof way of allowing your participant to divine  a piece of information from a billet, read the section called “Night Gallery”.

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Part III

CHALLENGE C ARD   ADDITIONS  “The best way to control the opposition is to lead it ourselves” -Vladimir Lenin

 This next  section will cover numerous additions to my original “Challenge Cards”  routine. In case you don’t know what “Challenge Cards” is, we will start with a re-cap from my book “Positive/Negative”

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D ARK ENTRIES   

EXCERPT FROM ‘POSITIVE/NEGATIVE’

EFFECT   The Performer  approaches a group of three people and makes the claim of  being a ‘Mind Reader’ which naturally leads to skepticism from the individuals  watching. The Performer claims that because there is a ‘challenge’ from  the offset, he introduces a stack of cards and explains that the  cards contain common ‘challenges’ to his claims. He shows the grou gr oup p that that  writ writte ten n on each each of the the card cardss are are diff differ eren entt ‘c ‘cha hall llen engi ging ng’’ requests, such  as: ‘Can you guess my PIN code?’, and ‘Describe one of  my childhood  memories.’ There are about 20 cards in the stack, all different. The  Performer suggests that the test should be determined by a random selection  of a ‘challenge card’ by each participant. The three in indi divi vidu dual alss each each  sele select ct a card card and and they they are are then then plac placed ed insi inside de coin coin envelopes to  insure their secrecy, so the Performer doesn’t even know   what the challenges are! One by one, the Performer accomplishes ea each ch of  the participant’s challenges to the astonishment of the witnesses.

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METHOD   This method  is basically a mini Q and A act done ‘close up’. It incorporates a number of different principles and subtleties. This may be the most most  “compl “complica icated ted-so -sound unding ing”” explan explanati ation on in this this book, book, but it is actually very  portable and easy to set up and perform! It involves a stack  of “Challenge  Cards” that you make with some blank business cards. I love this concept because it makes the trick you do with your participant seem like a random choice. This is a utility stack of cards because you can use this  stack in a number of different ways! You can do this for one participant up  to three (and with a little creativity on your part- perhaps even more).  You can always force the effect you want to do, and the idea of putting  the effects on cards and allowing your participant to choose one adds  just one more layer of impossibility to any effect you perform (especially if  they think you don’t even know what the challenge is).  Think about  it. The audience chooses the trick you do. This is something  I have  noticed a lot of lay people want to do anyway, so why not take advantage of it? I will  start by describing the set up for the actual stack of “Challenge Cards” and  then I will describe the utilization of them for a 3 person st stun unt. t. Reme Rememb mber er  you you can can pers person onal aliz izee your your “Cha “Chall llen enge ge Card Cards” s” to  whatever your preferences are.

THE CHALLENGE C ARD SET UP  I begin  by getting approximately 15 - 20 blank business cards and  writing these three ‘Challenges’ on the faces of three of the cards: 76

 

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●  Can you  guess my Mother’s first name? (Draw a line underneath

for them to write the name) ●   Can you describe to me the memory of my first bike rride? ide? ●   Can you  guess my Zodiac Zodiac Sign? (Draw a line undern underneath eath for them to write their Sign)”  These are  the three questions I will be forcing on each of the participants later  on so keep these cards separate for now and place them in a  stack in the order of which they appear above from top to bottom (the top  card being the ‘Mothers Name’ challenge card). On the rest of  the cards,  write a series of different “Challenges”. These could only be limited by  your imagination. Below are a few examples of things I write on my  cards (the challenges you choose to write on your cards may even be effects  you actually do perform, making this a great utility device to force the effect you want on a participant). Examples: ●   Can you tell me the winning Lottery Numbers? 1

●   Can you reveal a childhood memory? ●   Can you tell me my PIN Code? ●   What is my Address? ●   Can you describe my living room? room?

 Those are  just a few examples of the cards I use. I like to include a lot of ‘Challenges’ that would be impossible to actually achieve. This creates the illusion  that the participant COULD have chosen them and the fact that you  do accomplish the one they actually chose proves that you could have achieved  the (actual) impossible challenges. An example being the Lottery challenge.  This proves, by implication, that I can actually give the  winning lottery  numbers without having to do it. One of the best ways to use these  “Challenge Cards” is when you have an audience member 1

  This is an important one I use as a convincer for something later on.

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challenge you  with something! I always use this line of scripting in those situations (regardless  of what their challenge is): “You see, I get a lot of  skeptics when  I do what I do. And in those situations I have created a stack of  cards based on all the different challenges I have gotten over the years (mentalist shows the different cards). I will allow you to choose one of these challenges and I will do my best to meet the challenge. However, I offer  to double the risk of my reputation by allowing you to choose one of these  at random and not even let me know what the challenge actually  is!” Now  of course you can force the one you want. This entire system is created creat ed specifical specifically ly  to add a layer of impossibi impossibility lity of what you are doing. doing. It’s impossible to really guess someone’s PIN Code (unless you are really  lu luck cky! y!), ), It’s It’s  even even more more impo imposs ssib ible le if you you don’ don’tt even even know know they they are are thinking of their PIN Code. With these cards, you can do both.

THE ENVELOPE SET UP  Now that we have got the “Challenge Cards” created, the next step is to set  up three coin envelopes. One of them is going to be a ‘window  envelope’ and  the other two are going to be unprepared. A window  enve en velo lope pe is  crea create ted d by cutt cuttin ingg out out a segm segmen entt fr from om the the back back of the the envelope to  get a peek. This can be done by placing a card inside a coin envelope and using an exacto-knife to cut out a section large enough to get a  ful get full bill billet et peek peek (or (or just ust lar arge ge enou enough gh to peek eek the the requ requir ired ed info inform rmat atio ion) n).. In  our our case case,, we ar aree only only goin goingg to cr crea eate te one one wind window  ow  envelope to  get a peek of the “Mother’s Name” challenge card. The other two are legitimate un-gimmicked envelopes. Now you are going to tak take your your  thre threee enve envellopes opes and and stac stackk them them in an orde orderr wher wheree the the gimmicked envelope  is on bottom underneath the other three, with the  window face-down.  Place these in your pocket, and your “Challenge 78

 

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Cards” (with  the three force cards on top of the stack) in another pocket and supply yourself with three pens or pencils and you are now prepared to perform the following routine.

PRESENTATION  (FOR  THREE PARTICIPANTS) Now we  are going to introduce the “Challenge Cards” to the audience you are  performing for. While introducing these cards, show the faces of  all of  them and read a few out loud as examples. It is very important to show sh ow the the  audi audien ence ce the the card card that that says says “Can “Can you you reve reveal al a ch chil ildh dhoo ood d memory?” because later on, this will be used as a subtle convincer in the routine (more  on that later). It is also important to point out to your audience that  some of the cards have a space on which to write a piece of  information. informatio n. This  makes sure that the participants participants who get the cards for the Name  and Zodiac Sign know what they are doing. I then do a false shuffle with  the stack, while retaining the three force cards at the top. I  will then  force the top three cards to the three participants I am working   with from left to right.  This means  that the person on my left will have the card that says “Can you  guess my Mother’s first name?” the person in the middle will have the  card that says “Can you guess my Zodiac Sign?” and the person on my right will have the card that says “Can you describe my memory of  my first  bike ride?” Now that each person has their challenge cards, hand them all a pencil and explain: “I am  going to turn around so I cannot see what you are doing. I  don’t want you guys to even show each other what

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 your challenges  are, so keep them to yourself. If your card has a space   to write down the information you are thinking of, write it down. Let me know when you three are finished”

 Allow some  time for your participants to complete their tasks. Meanwhile, I  like to talk to the rest of the audience (if there are more people watching)  to get past the dead time. This shouldn’t be a long  proces proc esss anyw anyway ay  as they they ar aree ju just st writ writin ingg one one piec piecee of info inform rmat atio ion. n. Remember that  the “Bike Ride” card doesn’t require anything to be  written down.  I also explain to the participants that I am going to turn my back  to them so I won’t know whether they have written anything or not. This  is because some of the cards don’t require anything to be  written. Once your participants are finished, ask them to keep their cards face down when  you turn around to be sure that there is no way you can see  what their  information is. Bring out your stack of envelopes, remembering that the “Window Envelope” is on the bottom of the stack. Start by  handing the two legitimate envelopes to the participants on your ri righ ghtt (the (the  Zodi Zodiac ac and and Bike Bike Ride Ride chal challe leng nges es). ). Once Once you you get get to the the participant who  is thinking of their mother’s name, you are going to ask  them to  place it into the “Window Envelope” while you are holding onto it. This  is done as an example for the other two participants to do the same thing.  After the participant on your left has put his billet into the “Window Envelope”,  you are going to ask him to hold his hand out palm-up and  place the envelope in his hand, meanwhile getting a peek of  his mother’s  name. Ask him to place his other hand on top of the envelope and  to remain in that position. The other two participants are instructed to do the same.

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Now we  ar Now aree in a posi positi tion on wher wheree we know know the the fi firs rstt part partic icip ipan ant’ t’ss moth mo ther er’s ’s name name  and and ever everyo yone ne is hold holdin ingg onto onto thei theirr enve envelo lope pes. s. This This technique of  peeking one piece of information as an example while the other participants  put theirs in their own envelope cancel out the idea that a  peek is going on. This is because if a lay person saw that the two participants could  put the billets in the envelopes themselves, and you  were still  able to get their information, then a peek is not possible. And so it  is seen as improbable improbable that a peek would have been used used in the case case of the  first participant’s billet (the one you do actually peek). This idea of  gettingg a peek of one billet as an example for the rest of the gettin the particip participants ants is inspired by the 4th dimensional telepathy routine in “Practical Mental Effects” by Annemann.

EVEALING THE INFORMATION  R EVEALING Now you   have the essential peek, you are ready for the reveals. I always start with the “Mother’s Name” billet because I want to get rid of  the ‘Window Envelope’ as soon as possible. You can reveal in any order you wish-  that is just my recommendation. Once the ‘Window Envelope’ is out  of play, you are home free. I am of the opinion opinion that revela revelations tions of  a Name  ought to be more about revelations revelations of a person. person. This is not not just just simply a name we are revealing. Make it about the human being attached to the  name! You should at least do some form of reading on the person.  After all,  you are definitely getting the hit at the end anyway. ‘Psychometry from  A to Z’ by Richard Webster is a great place to start learning how to give readings based on a name.  Always write  the name down on a piece of paper and place it face down to   the side before taking the envelope from the participant to

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 verify the  name, THEN have them turn over the paper for the reveal. Otherwise it  makes no sense to reveal the name verbally then open the enve en velo lope pe for for  veri verifi fica cati tion on.. Doin Doingg it this this way way also also lead leadss to a grea greatt misdirection from  the gimmicked envelope: Once they are turning over the paper  to see what you have written, written, you can now now put the gimmick gimmicked ed envelope away.  The heat is totally displaced (not that anyone would suspect the  envelope anyway due to the logical disconnect, being that the other two  participants could put their cards in their own ungimmicked envelope).  As another devious ploy, you can also take the ‘Challenge Card’ out of  the gimmicked  envelope and misread it to imply that the participant never wrote  down their mother’s name! After writing the name on a piece of  paper, I would take the card out of their envelope and say  something like: “Let’s see  what the challenge challenge was… ‘What was was my mother’s mother’s name?’ can  you tell everyone here what your mother’s first name actually is?” (Participant says the name aloud) “Would  you turn that paper over and see what I’ve committed to…”

Casually  take the billet they wrote on and put it in your pocket with the envelope.  Remember the misdirection is placing their attention on the revelation  on the paper you committed a name to! With the Zodiac revea eveall you you  have ave plen plenty ty of meth metho ods to choo choosse fr from om nowa nowada days ys.. I person per sonall allyy use  the classi classicc “RAISE “RAISE”” anagra anagram m myself myself.. Fraser Fraser Parker’s Parker’s “Seeing Signs''  is another great method. I also recommend getting Peter  Turner’s monthly  PDF master class on “Zodiac Mentalism'' for some really great ideas. Pete has a great concept called “The Frame”, which is as close to the real thing as you can get! Here is the RAISE Anagram for

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divining any  Star Sign. Simply throw out these letters one at a time, spelling the  word “RAISE”. Once you get a “No” move to the right/  when you get a “Yes”- move down, and keep spelling ‘RAISE’: R

- Leo, Pisces, Gemini

 A

- Virgo, Scorpio

I

- Cancer, Taurus

S

- Libra, Capricorn

E

- Aqua quarius, Sagittar tarius

(Yes to All Letters) - Aries Peter Turner  has a lot of great work on more subtleties toward using  this anagram.  You should notice that if the participant says “No” on the lette letterr ‘R’, ‘R’,  then then you you ar aree le left ft with with thre threee poss possib ibil ilit itie iess (Leo (Leo,, Pisc Pisces es,, or Gemini). In  our situation, we can use this line of scripting to eliminate one of the possibilities (we will talk about nailing the exact one later on): “Focus on  the first letter and repeat it in your mind over and over again. Now the second… Now the third, and this one is really coming in strong like ‘M, M, M’!”

If  they react to the letter ‘M’ then we know it is Gemini. If not, we know it is either Leo or Pisces. Now let’s talk about how we can get to the exact  Star Sign. In the event that you are down to two different possible Signs,  you can use this ruse (Also by Peter Turner). Write down one of  the signs on a piece of paper, and verbally reveal the other possible Sign.  If you hit on the verbal reveal- you’re done. If not- you can say,

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“Good thing I committed to this…”

 Turn  over the paper showing you had in fact got it right! What makes this th is enti entire re  rout routin inee real really ly grea greatt is the the fact fact that that the the part partic icip ipan antt (and (and audience) do  not know that you know what the challenge is in the first place! So  what would usually be a rather transparent anagram suddenly  seems so  much more impossible. This is because as far as the audience is concerned, the  participant could be thinking of ANYTHING. So you can throw  out as many letters as you wish and nothing will seem too transparent. That is the beauty of the “Challenge “C hallenge Cards” concept.  We are  now ready to reveal the ‘Bike Ride’ memory. We are going to do this  in a very sneaky way. The goal is to imply that the participant got the card that says “Can you reveal a childhood memory?” which is why   we actually  show that card as an example at the beginning of the routine  when we  are introducing the cards. The audience HAS to know that that card was in the stack! So when we first introduce the “Challenge Cards”,  we make  a point to show the ‘Childhood Memory’ card to the audience so they know that it was an option from the get-go. Here  is how I reveal the ‘Bike Ride’ memory while simultaneously  implying that  they had a free choice of ANY childhood memory. You have to   remember all of the logical disconnects (a concept expounded upon, and  credited to Bob Cassidy) that are in place in this routine. Since there are  so many methods piled onto each other in this effect, there is almost no  way a lay person would ever be able to dissect the method.  When we  turn to our third and final participant, we are going to start the reveal with this script: “I’m sensing  that your thought is a little more ambiguous than the  previous two. I am feeling that this is a memory. I 

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want you  to close your eyes and imagine imagine reliving reliving this memory memory as if  it were happening right now. Think about the sights, sounds, emotions, and the atmosphere of the environment that this memory  takes place in. I want you to also focus on who  you were  with at this time. Take a deep breath and begin to experience this memory now.”

Now  we are creating a pseudo-process for the audience to follow.  While the  participant’s eyes are closed, I hold my hand up next to their head as if I were getting ‘impressions’. It is very important and powerful to pause  for a few seconds and really believe in what you are doing at this point in  time. Believe in your own magic. If you take this moment to really feel it, I promise your participants will feel it too. There is a wealth of information  on this topic in Richard Osterlind’s book, “Making Magic Real”. After  a few seconds have passed, start to give a description of a typical ‘First  Bike Ride’ experience. I usually describe elements of my  own first  time I rode a bike. Here is a good outline to base your script on. I  have incorporated some lines that I found ‘Hit’ quite often (this script will  also be what implies to the rest of the audience that the memory could have been any childhood memory): “Okay so  I’m seeing that there is a male presence with you during this  time… I also see that you are looking up at this  person, which  tells me that this is a childhood memory. I’m  getting the  impression that this is about new beginnings and there is a strong sense of pride here. There is also a feeling of  heat he at,, whic which h  tel tells me that that thi this took took plac placee in the the Summ Summer er time…. Be honest, is this the memory of your first Bike Ride?”

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 This  is just a basic outline of the script I use. Of course it will change from person  to person. Be sure to give the participant enough time to respond and  confirm all the impressions that you are getting from them. Every ‘yes’  you get makes you look more credible. You are now getting a great deal of ‘Hits’ out of what is essentially a card force! Notice that the script also  implies that this could have been any childhood memory,  which also  adds to the impossibility of this routine. After I have reveal revealed ed this information,  I will usually take the envelope from them and just simply place  it in my pocket (the participant usually doesn’t care about the billet anyway). This leaves you completely clean at the end.

 Y OUR  O WN QUESTION   The first  addition to the original ‘Challenge ‘C hallenge Cards’ plot is to add in an extra phase where you tell the participant: “The way  I created this stack of Challenges is by asking   people to  come up with challenging questions for me. I’d like  you to think of your own question, but instead of focusing on a question you  know the answer to, I’d like you to think of a ques qu esti tion on abou aboutt  your your futu future re that that even even you you don’ don’tt know know the the answer to and write it on this blank card here”

 This presentation  is great because it justifies the billet naturally as an addition to  the stack. Once they are done you can use any peek that  works well  with a billet lost in a stack. Fraser Parker’s ‘Dragon Peek’ and 86

 

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Patrik Kuff’s  ‘Bold Business’ work very well with this. And since you are asking for  a question that they don’t know the answer to, you are now  ready to perform a standard ‘Q and A’ handling!

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SUPER  H  HERO, DISNEY  MOVIE, ETC.. Nowadays I  don’t perform the routine with the envelopes or anything   written. I  just made the three force cards questions that I can gain the answer to  without the need for a peek at all. I highly recommend Atlas Brooking’s ‘The  Prodigal” for a host of anagrams that are perfect for this presentation. I use his ‘Super Hero’ and ‘Disney Movie’ anagram to great success with  Challenge Cards in the same way the ‘Zodiac’ challenge is handled in the original routine.

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PIN CODE #1 One of  my favorite ploys with the ‘Challenge Cards’ is to force one on a participant that says: “Guess my PIN Code”  When it  comes time to read this participant’s mind, I use the following script: “I am   getting the sense that your thought has to do with numbers of some sort. There’s a ‘2’ in there somewhere correct? Grea Gr eat. t. I  am sta starti rting to feel feel that that ther theree is a ment mental al bloc block k though... almost  as if you don’t want me to actually reveal this information  in front of everyone here is that right? I will whisper this  in your ear and your reaction will be verified to everyone...”

 The Performer  whispers in the participant’s ear and they are seen to  visibly react. The Performer continues: We will keep the answer between you and I but would you mind telling everyone now what your question was?

 The participant  tells the audience the ‘Challenge’ was “Guess my PIN Code”.  This ploy  works best when you use a participant that reacts very well and an d trul trulyy  beli believ eves es in your your abil abilit ity. y. When When we fi firs rstt st star artt read readin ingg the the 89

 

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participant, we want to make a legitimate ‘guess’ on a random digit, as in the above  example the number ‘2’. It really makes no difference what the numberr is  as it is truly a guess but it opens up the opportunit numbe opportunityy for a ‘hit’ ‘hit’ that gets  that participant to start freaking out in their mind. Whether you get a ‘hit’ on this or not you want to use the following line: “I’m starting to feel as though there is a mental block..”

 This works  as an ‘out’ because it is understood that this is a private piece of  information, so the participant is subconsciously ‘blocking’ you from getting  the thought. It also sets up the fact that this is information that the  participant DOESN’T want revealed in front of everyone, which justifies the  whisper. Who wants their ATM PIN revealed in front of an entire audience? Once they  have confirmed they don’t want this information revealed out loud,  you will then tell them you will whisper this to them and that their reaction  will be verification for everyone else (this subtly tells the participant to  react). So what do we whisper to them? You will lean in and say: “We wil will  keep keep the the answ answer er betw betwee een n you you and and me but I’ I’m m  getting the  feeling you were thinking of your PIN Code, correct?”

 At this  point they will react to the fact that you have revealed the ‘Challenge’ and  also feel relieved that you did not reveal it for everyone else. We  are also speaking to them as if we DO know what the PIN is, or at the very least that we COULD guess what it is but we are choosing not to say  out of respect. This is important for what comes next. Since we 90

 

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end the  whisper by asking if we are correct, they will have to answer ‘yes’  which will be confirmation for the rest of the audience that we must have got the  answer correct. Keep in mind that the rest of the audience at this point only  knows that they are thinking of a number that is private. So  when you lean out and use the line: “We will keep the answer between you and I but can you tell everyone what the ‘Challenge’ was?”

 At this  point, the participant will have to tell everyone the ‘Challenge’ they were  thinking of and the audience will assume that we have just  whispered their  PIN in their ear. You can now wink at them and remind them that you will keep the PIN a secret! I know this ruse seems bold but I have performed it so many times  without ever  having any problems. In fact, with the subtle scripting and the way  the routine is structured, I’ve even had participants come up to me after a show and say (in ( in front of other audience members even): “Thank you  so much for not revealing my PIN in front of  everyone, I was worried!”

 Think about  how that comes across to everyone listening. The Dual Reality is  very subtle, but very powerful. This ploy also works with any  private piece of information such as passwords or other secrets.

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PIN CODE #2  Another  application for guessing a PIN with ‘Challenge Cards’ is to use them  in the context of a full Q and A act where the audience writes questions on  billets and places them in a bowl. This is something Kent  Axell and I worked on together for a show he was doing. Before the show make a pre-written billet with the question: “Can you guess my PIN Code? 4277”

 After collecting  the questions into a bowl and answering a few  questions, you  can secretly reach in with that pre-written billet palmed and take  it out as if it were a question from an audience member. Hand that billet to a member of the audience and say to them:

“I woul would d  like like you you to read read this this ques questi tion on to your yourse self lf and imagine that  this question was your question, and imagine the answer to this question was your answer.”

 This set  up makes it to where the audience at large will assume the part pa rtic icip ipan antt will will  thin thinkk of th thei eirr own own answ answer er to the the ques questi tion on,, but but the the participant themselves  will see and assume that the original audience member who  supposedly wrote the question also wrote their answer. Now because  they aren’t going to want to reveal their actual PIN, this 92

 

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forces them  to imagine that the PIN: 4277 is their own and react and respond accordingly.  This is great as when you reveal these digits, the audience will believe you can guess someone’s PIN without it ever being   written down.  It is important to reiterate to the participant that they are to read  over the entire billet and memorize it to pretend it was their question. There  are so many layers to this, it is almost impossible to backtrack.

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THE  B ACKWARDS FORCE  EFFECT   The Performer  asks a participant to think of the name of someone  very important  to them and write it down on a billet. As that participant is doing  that, the Mentalist performs with a stack of ‘Challenge Cards’ on some other  participants. Once he is finished with them, he turns to the first participant  who is now finished and holding onto their billet. He explains: “I am having some trouble reading you at the moment so I  need you to focus a little harder. Please close your eyes for me and clear your mind”

Once the  participant has closed her eyes, the Mentalist reaches over to the stack  of ‘Challenge ‘Challenge Cards’ and cuts to a random card. It says “Guess “Guess my Birthdate” and he shows it to those watching. The Mentalist asks the participant to  focus on their date of birth and immediately reveals it. He can then go on to reveal the name of the thought-of person.

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METHOD   This is  one of my favorite ideas in this book because it makes use of a lot of  the principles principles we have discussed discussed so far. The main idea behind behind this is to  be able to force a card on yourself, which is why I call it “The Back Ba ckwa ward rdss Forc Force” e”..  This This is al alll abou aboutt im impl plic icat atio ion n and and allo allowi wing ng your your audience to fool themselves.  To start,  take your stack of “Challenge Cards” and make one that says “Guess my Birthdate”. With a pair of scissors, cut a small amount of the  width of  the card, making it shorter than the rest of the cards in the stack. I  use an impression device made out of a small business card wallet that contains all my billets. I put the impression material on one of these business cards  and place it on top of a small stack of blank billets, then insert it into the business card wallet. I set up an ‘Additional Information Billet’ that asks for a Name and a Date of  Birth (follow the instructions for the handling of this billet in the section titled  “The Calendar on the Wall”. Wall”. This billet billet will be held against the business card wallet while the first participant fills it out. While they  are doing  this, you can get the heat away from them them by introduc introducing ing your your st stac ackk of  “Cha “Chall llen enge ge Card Cards” s” an and d forc forcin ingg two two of them them on two two othe otherr participants (I use the cards for a Zodiac Sign and Superhero). Once your first participant is done writing (the other two participants  will be  reading their ‘Challenge Cards’ at this point) you can take the prepared business  card wallet back from them and place it in your pocket for now.  You can now begin to perform your anagram for the ‘Zodiac’ participant at  this point. Once you know what their sign is, you will take the business  card wallet out of your pocket and take out the stack of  95

 

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blank billets, getting your peek/read of the first participant’s information in the   process! You will have plenty of time to read the information as you are holding onto the stack with the impression facing you the whole time. Simply  take one of the blanks from the back of the stack to write the Zodiac Sign when you are ready. It is  always a great idea to get your peeks while doing a reveal of a different piece of information, just like in the routine “Instant Preshow” found earlier  in this book. The reason is that all the heat and anticipation  will be  on the information you are about to reveal and lay people will rarel arelyy sus suspect pect  you you of doi doing the the dirt dirtyy work work for for one ef effe fect ct whil whilee performing another.  At this  point, we now have the first participant’s thought-of  Name and  their Birthdate, and we have just written down the Zodiac Sign of  another participa participant. nt. Get your ‘hit’ ‘hit’ on that, and then then proceed proceed to  work with  the ‘Superhero’ participant, and reveal that information. You are are now now  read readyy to work work with with the the fi firs rstt part partic icip ipan antt who who fill filled ed out out the the ‘Additional Information Billet’.  As in  the effect description, you will fake struggle with this participant and tell  them you need them to close their eyes and clear their mind for a few seconds.  This makes it to where that participant will not be able to call you out on what you are about to do. Once they close their eyes reach over to the stack of cards and cut to the short card in the stack (the birthday challenge) and read it to yourself  before showing  it to the rest of the audience while telling the participant to think of their date of birth. That is all you need to do for the rest of  the audience  watching to fill in the blanks themselves and ultimately fool them th emse selv lves es in into to  beli believ evin ingg th this is was was spon sponta tane neou ous! s! You You don’ don’tt need need to actually make  a big thing out of this, just act like what you are doing is 96

 

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legitimate and  no one will question it. Your participant with their eyes closed will  be none the wiser and just assume you are asking them to focus on  the their date of birth. The rest of the routin tine should be self-explanatory from  there. Just reveal the birthdate and then reveal the name and the routine is finished. Even if  the audience does point out the fact that you took out a ‘Challenge Card’  at random to the participant, it is unlikely they will be able to put all of the pieces together. t ogether.

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 ACIDUS QUESTION  EFFECT   After performing  with the ‘Challenge Cards’ the Performer asks a partic part icip ipan antt to  thin thinkk of thei theirr own own ques questi tion on and and the the answ answer er to that that question. The  Performer hands them a billet and the participant fills it out and  folds it into quarters. quarters. The Performer can then reveal reveal the answer answer to that question.

METHOD   This is  a different way of utilizing Millard Longman’s ‘Acidus Novus’ billet peek. For anyone that already knows this method of peeking a piece of information on a folded billet, you will know that the participant will have to  write a single piece of information in just one quadrant of the folded billet  in order for it to be peeked once the billet is taken back by  the Performer (see the section, ‘Failed Psychometry’ for my justification for taking  back billets for peeks). In this version we are going to imply to the audience  that the participant is writing down a challenging question for the  Mentalist to reveal the answer to. In reality, they are going to  write down  their question AND the answer, and the answer will be

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 written in the designated space for the ‘Acidus Novus’ peek. Here is what the billet will look like:

 As for  the presentation, all you need to do is ask the participant to think of their question and their answer, present the prepared billet with the instructions  facing only them, and use the same type of handling  found foun d in  the the secti ection on ‘Th ‘The Cale Calen ndar dar on the the Wal Wall’ on ‘Add ‘Addit itio ion nal Information Billets’ so they understand what they are to t o do. Once you  have peeked the answer, you should be able to deduce the question, or  at least get a pretty good idea of it. Not that this matters anyway because  it is the answer that is most impressive anyway. But if  you do   have trouble guessing at the question, it actually opens up a natural presentation  using the ‘Failed Psychometry’ ploy. When you take

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the billet  back pretend to try and guess the question and then act as though you are struggling. Then say to them: “I’m actually  struggling struggling with this, do you mind if if I get this straight from  your head? In fact, just THINK of the answer to  your question”

 After saying  this, you will get your peek as you hand the billet back to them. This  also works well with a Center Tear if you can prepare a Center Tear  billet to where the answer to the question will be in the spot you peek. Next is  another another variatio variation n of a similar similar idea idea that I actually actually prefer prefer used used for drawings.

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 ACIDUS DRAWING  EFFECT   The Performer  asks a participant to think of an object and is instructed to  make a drawing of the thought-of object inside a folded billet. The Performer can then duplicate the drawing.

METHOD   This is  a pretty sneaky way of using the Acidus Novus peek to duplicate a drawing because you actually never peek the drawing at all! It is all  in the preparation of the billet itself as an ‘Additional Information Billet’. Here is what it should look like:

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 As you  can see, the billet asks for the participant to write down what the object is they are thinking of in the area for the peek. This is what you are going to  be peeking, and the fact that they are writing this object down is going to  be hidden from the audience at large. The reason this is so deceptive is  because no one would suspect you to get a peek of a full drawing on a folded piece of paper, so that doesn’t enter the audience’s minds.  When showing  the instructions to the participant I use the following  script to ensure they know exactly what they t hey are supposed to do: “I want want  you you to take take this this and and ma make ke the the draw drawin ing g of this this object here  and   when you are done filling this out,  just  fold it back up and let me know when you are finished”

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 The words in bold text are said as I point to the area where they are to  write the  object. This is why we instruct them to think of an object because you  don’t want them to think of something too abstract that you  won’t be  able to draw by seeing what they choose to call it. It's better to get words  like ‘Tree’, ‘Cat’, or ‘House’ than something the participant has made up themselves. I highly  recommend getting Richard Osterlind’s ‘Design Duplication System’ as  it deals with the same type of duplication of a drawing based on a  word randomly chosen by a participant where you don’t actually  ever see their drawing.

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THE +/- FORCE  EFFECT   A participant  is asked to take a few ‘Challenge Cards’ from the stack  and is instructed to look through them and choose one for the Mentalist to perform  for them (without ever showing the Mentalist the cards). The Mentalist then proceeds to divine the information.

METHOD   This ruse  is relatively bold and there are two different ways this can  work. One  is ‘negative’ and the other is ‘positive’. Here is how the ‘positive’ version works first.

(+)  The participant  is forced to take a predetermined amount of cards  where all  of them have ‘Challenges’ that ask for extremely personal information (PIN  Codes, Secrets, Facebook Passwords etc..) and ONE that says  ‘What’s my Zodiac Sign?’. Sign?’. When the participant participant looks through through these cards  you will want to instruct them to keep whichever one they   would feel  most comfortable with you guessing and discard the rest. 104

 

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Natura Natu rall llyy they they  will will take take the the ‘Zod ‘Zodia iac’ c’ one one if th they ey are are foll follow owin ingg yo your ur instructions correctly!  They won’t know that you determined the cards they are holding so should have no idea that this is a manipulation. This gives the  implication and false memory that they actually got to choose any card they wanted while looking through the cards.

(-) In this  version you will force a few cards where all of them are more easy things to guess and the ‘Zodiac’ or ‘Superhero’ challenge is the only  one that  seems difficult out of the selections. So for example you might have 3  ‘Challenges’ that ask ‘What time is it?’, ‘What number between 1 and 10  am I thinking of?’ or ‘What color of the rainbow am I thinking  of?’. Then  you can instruct them to take out the ‘Challenge’ that they feel  would be most difficult for you to guess.

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CRYPTOMNESIA   This idea is to force two predetermined ‘Challenges’ on the participant and allow  them to decide which one to choose and discard the other. If  you force the ‘Challenges’ “What is my Zodiac Sign?” and “Describe the memory of my first bike ride”, then t hen instruct the participant to “Keep the  ‘Challenge’ that is a question you would like me to answer  and discard the other and push it into the back of   your mind”

 This forces  them to keep the Zodiac Sign question and you have now  implanted the  memory of their first bike-ride in their mind. You can now  reveal the  participant’s Zodiac Sign using the anagram and whenever you are finished  you can then (or later in your set) use this script to get a really interesting effect: “This is  interesting, I am getting a few images from the back of  your mind right now. I believe this is a childhood memory. Can you focus on this for me?”

 You are  then able to seemingly pull out a random thought-of  childhood memory that has been on their mind at any point you like and reveal that it is the memory of their first time riding a bike! 106

 

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D YSLEXIA   The last  idea I’d like to share here is one I have been using in conjunction with  the ‘Challenge Cards’ and the classic “Card Calling” effect. For  those that aren't familiar with that routine, it is where you have a   participant take about 5 cards from a deck and hold them in a ‘po ‘poker ker han hand’  fa fash shio ion n with with the the fa face cess of the the car cards away away fr fro om the the Performer. The  Performer will tell the participant to scan their eyes across the  cards in their hand and the Performer is seen to reveal the cards the participant is looking at, apparently in real time. I like   to use that routine as an opening ‘warm-up’ exercise before bringing out  the ‘Challenge Cards’ because the process of the effect is almost identical  to the process of performing an anagram. So I will tell the participant after they are thinking of their Zodiac Sign:

“Imagine your  thought written in the air between us, and just like you did with  those playing cards earlier- I want you to imagine scanning  through those letters. Don’t focus on any one in particular. I will tell you  which ones I am getting as you think of them”  This feels  right to the audience and the participant because the processes are  so similar, and it justifies the random order in which the letters are revealed.

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Part VI

NIGHT G ALLERY   In this this  sect sectio ion n we will will go over over a fe few w diff differ eren entt vari variat atio ions ns of an inte intere rest stin ingg ‘Spe ‘Spect ctat ator or  as Mind Mindre reade ader’ r’ ef effe fect ct wher wheree a part partic icip ipan antt can can apparently reveal  a drawing the Performer has made on a folded billet. Using some of the principles already covered in this book, we can create a real-time, super clean miracle.

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CLOSE-UP STROLLING  ERSION   V ERSION EFFECT   After divining  a playing card from one participant, and duplicating a secret drawing  from another, the Performer brings out of his wallet a folded billet  and explains to a participant that he has made a drawing on the inside.  They are to hold onto it and change their mind a few times unti un till they they  name name what what the the draw drawin ingg is is.. They hey open open the the fol folded ded card card themselves and are seen to be correct.

METHOD   This routine  is very much like “Instant Preshow” as it requires doing  all of the work in your previous routines before the ‘start’ of this effect. It is a   layered process that may at first seem complex but if you follow  along with  the following step-by-step instructions it will become clear how easy  and deceptive this is as well as how you can adapt these principles to  your own close-up sets. It is unlikely that you will want to

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do everything  the exact way that I do it here, but I do recommend reading all  of the instructions here carefully. Here is the breakdown of  exactly how I do this.

PREPARATION   You will need the following items: •

A st stac acke ked/m d/mem emor oriz ized ed deck deck of card cardss

•

A Coin Coin Envelo Envelope pe made made into into a Window Window Envelo Envelope pe

•

An Impression Impression Device Device setup inside inside the deck of playing playing cards

• A ‘Card ‘Card to Wal Wallet let’’ (I use the ‘Real ‘Real Man’s Man’s Wallet Wallet)) • Blan Blankk Busi Busine ness ss  Cards Cards (ta (take ke one one of of the the card cardss in the the stac stackk and and pre-fold it into quarters, then lay it on top of the stack unfolded) It will  all make sense as we go along. As long as you have all of the items you are set.

EFFECT #1 THE C ARD DIVINATION   The first  thing you will do when you approach the t he group is present a card divination  on ‘participant 1’ using the stacked deck. I spread the cards and  have them take one out, cut at the break and peek the key card to know  what the card is. As this participant is memorizing their card, you will then turn to what we will refer to as ‘participant 3’ and say the following line:

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“Wou “W ould ld you you  mind mind if I do some someth thin ing g with with you you late laterr on? on? Great. I want you to look into my eyes and allow two random objects to  pop into your head. Here take this and write those two objects  down and when you are finished, fold fold the card card up and put it into your pocket. I will get back to you later”

Hand them  the deck of playing cards in the box with a blank business card on   top to get an impression of the two objects they are going to  write down. While they are doing this, you can begin to divine the playing  card. So  far, this is basically the same handling as the routine ‘Instant Pre-show’. Once  you have revealed the color and suit of the playing card, you can  then go into the box of cards and get your peek of the objects ‘participant 3’  has written down. You only need to remember one of  them, but  if you can remember both that is better. better. Reveal Reveal the card. card. That That is Effect #1.

EFFECT #2 THE DRAWING DUPLICATION   The next  step is to move on to ‘participant 2’ and perform a drawing  duplication with  the ‘Window Envelope’ that you prepared earlier. The  way I  usually do this is to set up an unprepared envelope with a blank  business card  inside and introduce it to the participant so they can see there is  no way to see inside the envelope. Then I have them make a drawing dra wing and and  whi while they they ar aree doin doingg tha that, I swit switch ch in the the ‘Win ‘Windo dow  w  Envelope’ before  they put it back inside. I get my peek and place it in their hand and ask that they put their other hand on top. Now tthat hat I have the peek  of the drawing they made, it is time to bring out the stack of 

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busine busi ness ss card cardss  with with the the prepre-fo fold lded ed card card on top, top, hidd hidden en fr from om the the audience's view.  You will  now pretend to try and duplicate ‘participant 2’s’ drawing, but in  real but realit ityy you you will will be maki making ng a draw drawin ingg of one of the the obje object ctss ‘participant 3’  wrote down on the impression device. You will have two objects to choose from, just pick whichever one is easier to draw. Make this drawing  on the pre-folded card. Now you are going to perform something I call...

THE ‘TRASH BILLET’  After you  are finished making ‘participant 3’s’ drawing on the pre-folded card you will pretend you messed up and want to start over on a new  card. If you take the pre-folded card off the top of the stack and act lik ikee  you you ar aree crum crump pli lin ng it up whil whilee secr secret etlly fold foldin ing, g, it is very  ery  convincing. Just  mime the action of crumpling the billet up and it will pretty much  fold itself. Once you have it folded, you can just load it into your ‘Card to Wallet’ as if you are just putting it in your pocket! One sneaky  idea that Lance Sinclair and I came up with for this subtle subt lety ty is  to have have a prep prepar ared ed cr crump umple led d bill billet et with with a scra scratch tched ed out out drawing in your back pocket along with your ‘Card to Wallet’ so you can take take that that  out out af afte terr load loadin ingg the the fold folded ed bill billet et and and hand hand it to anot anothe herr audience member  as if you don’t have enough space in your pocket. So it should look like you made a drawing, changed your mind and crumpled it up, tried  to put it in your pocket and found there wasn’t enough space, and handed it to another audience member mem ber as if it were ‘trash’.

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Now you  can go back to really duplicating the drawing you peeked from ‘participant  2’ on a new blank business card. Go ahead and reveal this. That is Effect #2

EFFECT #3 ‘NIGHT G ALLERY ’ Now we  have a drawing of one of the objects ‘participant 3’ wrote down earlier  in our set folded up and inside our wallet. They decided on these two  objects after we told them to look into our eyes and allow two objects to  pop into our head and write them down secretly. We are so far ahead of everyone and no one has any idea what w hat is about to happen.  When asking  ‘participant 3’ to allow the objects to pop into their mind,, it  shou mind should ld be done done with with the the in inte tern rnal al sc scri ript pt bein beingg that that we are are attempting to  ‘send’ them a specific object. We never mention this at the time, but  it should be implied subtly. So here is how we perform the final effect.  Turn to ‘participant 3’ and say: “Earlier I was trying to ‘send’ you a specific object. I know  you have  never read someone’s mind before so I gave you two chances to  get this right. Do you remember the objects that came into  your mind earlier? Great, we don’t need that card then th en.. Here Here  in my wall wallet et I hav have a draw drawiing I made made befor beforee approaching you.  It is of a specific object. I want you to take this and  hold onto it. Get those two objects in mind and keep changing your  mind back and forth between the two objects until you want to stop.”

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Now we   know they are going to change their mind back and forth between the  two objects they wrote down earlier. Note that by asking if  they remember  the objects and saying that we don’t need the card makes it seem  as though they only wrote them down in the case that they forgot them. Now  we have a few different options here. I highly recommend using Michael  Murray’s ‘Tombola Principle’ as a way to get them to the correct object  but seeing as how that is not my idea to share here, I won’t be giving that instruction (although I do think it is the preferred way to do this).  You can  also ask them to describe the object they ‘stopped on’. So for example, if  they wrote down the words, ‘tree’ and ‘car’, and we drew a tree on  the folded billet they are holding, once you ask them if the object they stopped  on is natural or man made, you will know which object they  are thinking  of at that time, and can guide them to the correct object by  asking them to change their mind again as many times as you want.  The idea  here is to create the memory of someone holding onto a folded card  and changing their mind as many times as they want, and ultimately divining  the drawing inside! This is how the effect will be remembered. And it will be impossible for anyone to back-track because all of the work was done whilst performing the previous routines.  All that  is left is for them to open the billet themselves and see that they were correct.

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 This type  of set-up during the close-up set can create a situational effect where  if the ‘Drawing Duplication’ participant happens to draw  one of  the objects ‘participant 3’ wrote down. If this ever happens, you can now  create a true miracle where instead of ‘participant 3’ reading  your mind, they read ‘participant 2’s’ mind! This is why it is so valuable to use the  ‘Instant Pre-Show’ ploy early on in your set as it opens up the doors to truly impossible demonstrations of ‘Spectator as Mind Reader’.

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STROLLING GIG STRATEGY   Here is  a strategy you can use at a strolling gig that creates the same illusion as the previous version. In this case, we will assume you are going  about the  party and performing your standard effects and routines. What I do  is wait until I have a participant who seems to respond particularly   well to  my performances. I will then take out my impression device d evice and say the following to them: “Later on  I want to try an experiment with you where we will reverse the roles. Instead of me reading your mind, I am  going to  see if you can read mine! But since you have never done this  before, I am going to give you a head start. I am thinking of  a specific object. I would like you to look into my eyes for a few seconds and allow two objects to pop into your head. Here  write them down so you don’t forget the two objects that pop into your head now...  Keep that  folded up and don’t let anyone see it. So now, out of the the  infi infini nite te opti option onss you you have have narr narrow owed ed it down down to two  potential objects.  I am going to continue going around the event and  in the last 10 minutes before I leave, I am going to have you  settle on one of those objects you are thinking of. When I  ask you to keep changing your mind, I want you to keep changing  back and forth between the two objects you

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have in   mind before I tell you to commit to one of them. We will do this in front of anyone who wants to see. Do you think  you can  remember those two objects that came into your mind? Great  if you can be sure to remember them, go ahead and destroy  that slip of paper as we don’t need it anymore. I’ll see you later.”

Now you  can go around performing for the rest of the party, but after every group  you perform for, be sure to tell them that you are going to do one  more big thing for everyone before you leave. This will be a great  visual for  the host and it creates a ‘finale’ for your close-up gig. But at some point,  you will want to make a drawing drawing of both of the objects objects they   wrote down  on two different slips of paper and place it into a ‘Two-Way  Enve En velo lope pe’.’. Now Now  when when it come comess time time for for the the perf perfor orma manc ncee you you will will produce the  prepared envelope and explain to the audience that you have made a   drawing drawing and sealed it inside, inside, and that your particip participant ant is going going to to attempt to divine the drawing. Because  of how we set things up with the participant, all that you need to  do is ask them to bring a couple of objects into their mind and change their  mind back and forth until they feel like stopping. They will now follow  your instructions given earlier and change back and forth between the  two objects they thought of. And because these objects were truly their  own thoughts thoughts and not a force, you can use this line line once they  settle on a thought: “So now  out of the infinite amount of options, you have now settled on one object.”

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envelope, I'd  recommend Ken Dyne’s ‘Band Envelope’ which he teaches on his Penguin Live lecture (as well as much more great ideas).  This way  of doing pre-show at a gig is useful for any super-clean effe effect ct as  a fina finale le to a cl clos osee-up up gig, gig, and and I high highly ly reco recomm mmen end d Pete Peterr  Turner’s ‘The  STEM System’ for some excellent subtleties during  pre-show. Luke  Jermay also has great work on this sort of thing in his DVD Set “Premise and Premonition”.

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Part V

EXTRAS   To close  this book off, here are some bonus ideas. These are just bits of wisdom I’ve learned, presentational ideas, experimental thoughts etc... including two  ‘lost effects’ from the ‘Negative’ side of  ‘Positive/Negative’ (‘The Yellow Sign’ and ‘The Misfortune Cookie’)

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THE PURPLE FORCE   This is  a quick psychological force of a color that I have discovered after experimentat experimentation. ion.  Most Mentalists will be familiar familiar with the fact that if you  ask a participant to quickly name a color, they will usually say  “Red” or  “Blue”. But I have discovered that if you don’t ask them to name a  color, but to think of a color from the rainbow, they will think of  “Purple” 90% of the time. The wording I use is this: “I’d “I ’d like like  you you to think think of a rand random om col color or of the the rain rainbo bow. w. Imagine this  color getting brighter and more vivid, this is how I get inside your head”

 Then after they have done this I use the almost fail-safe line: “I’m seeing what is almost like a purple...or blue”

 The ‘pause’  gives them a moment to tell if you are correct, if they  don’t react  then it is probably “Blue”. But here is what you say in case they say you are wrong:

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“What color  was it? Orange? Okay just keep repeating the word ‘Orange’  in your mind for me.... Okay excellent now I  think I can do this”

Because this  was presented as a ‘warm up’ exercise before a larger effect, it  will come across as you still attempting to get in their mind.  While they  are repeating the color in their head, imagine as if you can really hear  their thoughts and even nod your head as though you are going along  with the repetition of their thought. This is exactly how I open up  a performance of “Card Calling”. Once I say, ‘Okay now I think  I can do this” I begin to reveal the cards they are looking at.

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LOADING W  ALLETS   This is  just a little subtlety I use when bringing out any kind of  prediction out  of my ‘Card to Wallet’. I will usually take a second to ‘forget’ where  the prediction is. This will look like I am trying to find  where I  put the prediction inside my wallet, because it strongly implies that if  I don’t even remember where I put it, how could I have ‘loaded’ during the  performance? It’s a super quick subtlety but since it takes no more effort,  and adds a bit of realism to the performance, I think it is  worth it.

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N AME AMNESIA  I have  always had an interest in hypnosis and ‘hypno-effects’ but after much study and practice, I found my favorite effect is simply the ‘Name  Amnesia’ premise.  I don’t get too excited about sticking someone’s hand to a  table unless it will ultimately lead me to a more psychological feat, and amnesia  is the one I personally find the most impressive and still believable, as  opposed to hallucinatory effects. But that is just my own opinion. Since I  love the premise so much, I would like to share my process that has  given me the most confidence and success at achieving this in the quickest  way I know how. To start with, I don’t even bother with any  le leng ngth thyy indu induct ctio ions ns,,  I just just go stra straig ight ht into into the the ‘Mag ‘Magne neti ticc Fing Finger ers’ s’ demonstration (I  will assume that anyone reading this already knows that classic clas sic ‘hypno-test’ ‘hypno-test’). ).  This is usually a quick demonst demonstratio ration n that increases increases the partic participa ipant’ nt’ss  confid confidenc encee in me (and (and almost almost more more import important antlyly-my  my  confidence in myself), it allows me to gage the participant’s ability to be quickly hypnotized,  and once their fingers to go together I can then seamlessly, and  without changing the visualization move straight into ‘Magnetic Hands’,  telling them their hands are stuck together after their fingers moved  together usually does the trick. I tell them to imagine that magnetic feeling  keeping their hands stuck to the point that they can no longer separate them.

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 At this  point if their hands don’t become stuck, it’s no problem as I  will immediately  tell them their mind is pretty resilient to having my  thoughts influence  theirs and suggest we try the reverse which will be their thoughts  entering my head (then do a mind reading demonstration). But if  their hands DO stick, I will then tell them to imagine that ‘stuck’ feeling moving  up their arms and into their mouths making their jaw  ‘stick’ and they will not be able to say their name. I can almost guarantee that if  their hands stick together together then this suggestion suggestion will work. The fact fact that we   have never suggested to them that they have forgotten their name, but  only that their mouths were ‘stuck’ makes this a lot easier for them to   accept and act out. It is only after we bring everything back to normal that we re-frame it as amnesia (which is a kind of post-hypnotic suggestion in itself). So there  is my very brief description of how I practice a super quick  ‘Name Amnesia’  effect. The fall back for me is always a ‘reversal of  premise’ where I bring up the idea of them sending me their thoughts as opposed to  the other way around. If you haven’t already performed some ‘mind-reading’ effects  for them, this will probably even be seen as more exciting and interesting anyway. For more For more  info inform rmat atio ion n on hypn hypnot otic ic ef effe fect ctss I high highly ly reco recomm mmen end d anything put  out by Anthony Jacquin starting with his book ‘Reality is Plastic’.

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THE Y ELLOW  ELLOW  S  SIGN   This next  idea is something I do after almost every close-up set. I believe it  takes any performance to an entirely new level and makes sure your mystery  carries on long after you leave. I was highly influenced by  the work  of Jerome Finley when he describes opening his show with sugges sug gestio tions ns that that  increa increase se the possib possibili ility ty of his audienc audiencee experi experienc encing  ing  ‘extra’ miraculous  spiritual sensations and hallucinations during his show.  The big difference here is that I do it after a close-up performance.  You will  have to believe me when I tell you that this idea definitely   works and  the best part is, you don’t have anything to lose. I have had people tell  me long after seeing my performance that they have seen me  visit them  in dreams making predictions about their future using this ploy. It’s  not guaranteed to work every time- but this opens the door and allows those  types of things to happen. I am going to leave the debate about disclaimers  aside and just describe the process. All you need to do is plant  the seed and here is what I say after my performance is over (especially to  specific participant after performing a ‘Spectator as Mind Reader’ effect): “I woul would d  like like you you to take take my busi busine ness ss card card for for a very very specific reason.  It is not uncommon for people who have done this sort  of thing with me to have strange dreams later on where I  visit them and tell them about their future. I have

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noticed this  after having several people reach out to me telling  me about bout  thes thesee drea dreams ms.. I’m I’m not not sure sure exac exactl tly y why why thi this is happ ha ppen enin ing g but but  I am inte intere rest sted ed in lear learni ning ng more more abou aboutt it myself. So  if anything like that happens to you, I would like  you to please let me know”

 As you can see, you are planting the suggestion in their mind by telling  telling  them this.  It increases the mystery of your performance and allows it to carry on  long after you have left. It also works. After I initially started doin do ingg this this,,  I star starte ted d to hear hear back back from from some some of the the peop people le I have have performed for  telling me that they did in fact see me in a dream telling  them things about their future. It is also a great way to keep in touch with potential clients!  The fact that you present this as if it is a curiosity even to yourself  gives the suggestion of humility and I believe this increases the likelihood  of the suggestion being taken on. And since it is totally  unfalsifiable, and  they just witnessed you performing supernatural feats, they have no reason to doubt it.

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THE  MISFORTUNE COOKIE  I’m going  to close this book off with one of the most ‘out there’ ideas I have  had. This effect is more of a thought experiment than anything  else, which  is why it should have gone into the ‘Negative’ section of my  last book. I have never performed this but the idea is so interesting and funny that I wanted to t o share it here as a bonus.

EFFECT   The Mentalist  approaches a stranger and has a brief discussion about ‘Numerology’ and  helps the stranger calculate her ‘Life Number’ (she keeps this  secret and never shows anyone. Her number is 4040). After the discussion, the Mentalist brings out a folded card says to the stranger: “Here, I am supposed to leave you with this. I can’t explain why but I think you will understand once you read it”

 The Mentalist leaves. Written on the card is the following:

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IF YOU  ARE READING THIS YOU HAVE BEEN IN A COMA AND  WE ARE TRYING A NEW WAY TO REACH  YOU. PLEASE WAKE UP PATIENT 4040

METHOD   This performance  was inspired by a ‘meme’ I saw while scrolling  through Facebook that had a similar message. This is the ‘Life Equation’ forc fo rcee orig origin inal ally ly  cr crea eate ted d by Anne Annemma mmann nn and and made made famo famous us by Peter Peter  Turner. The  equation will always equal the current year times two. So as of the time of writing this it will be 4040. The equation is •

The partic participa ipant’ nt’ss year year of birth birth +

•

A year year that that is specia speciall to the partic participa ipant nt +

•

The The part partic icip ipan ant’ t’ss age age +

• The numb number er  of years years sinc sincee the partic participa ipant’ nt’ss ‘speci ‘special al yea year’ r’ though thoughtt of earlier  The presentation is obviously meant to bring bring about an existential crisis in the   participant if performed well and is described here simply as a thought experiment.  I don’t recommend actually performing this. It is just an example of thinking ‘outside the box’.

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 Thanks for  reading. I sincerely hope you enjoyed the ideas presented here and  would love your feedback, stories, and any ideas this book has brought into your mind.

-Watkins, 2020

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Special Thanks to:

Richard Torres Kent Axell  Adrien Lochon Lance Sinclair

Psychonaut Publishing 2020 ©