ByAaronAlexander
0004730477
Version 1.0 Mar 2015
. CONTENTS
PREFACE ................................................................................ ..................................... ........................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... .......................... ........................................... 3 PART I: BASIC PROCESS ......................................................... 6
BASIC DEMONSTRATION ........................... .......................................... ............................. ................. ... 11 ENTRY, SETUP .......................... ......................................... ............................. ............................ .................. .... 11 FOUNDATION .......................... ......................................... ............................. ............................ .................. .... 12 THE PROCESS AND MEANING ............................ .......................................... ......................... .......... 14 REVELATION ............................ ........................................... ............................. ............................ .................. .... 16 PAUSE, RECAP ............................ .......................................... ............................ ............................. ................. 22 PART II: YOUR BRAIN ON ZODIAC ....................................... 23
STRONGER, BETTER, FASTER ....................................... .................................................... ................ 24 THE HIGH-TECH CRAM ........................... ......................................... ............................ .................... ...... 29 TWO DOWN, ONE TO GO ........................... .......................................... ............................. ................ 30 PART III: THE NEXT LEVEL .................................................... 31
THE SOCIAL “SLEIGHT ” ........................... ......................................... ............................ .................... ...... 32 CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT .......................... ......................................... ............................. ................ 34 ........................................... ............................. ........................ .......... 35 “REAL” REVISITED ............................ PUTTING IT TOGETHER. ................................ .............................................. ............................ ................ 37 PART IV: DEMONSTRATIONS .............................................. 40
THE ZODIAC KILLER ........................... .......................................... ............................. ........................ .......... 41 M.B.S ............................ ........................................... ............................. ............................. ......................... .......... 48 SIGNS AND WONDERS ............................ .......................................... ............................ .................... ...... 56 CONCLUSION ....................................................................... ......................................................... .............. 61
Sometime around 2007 I decided that I didn’t feel like a real magician with my pockets full of props, and decided to take up mentalism. Mentalists seemed to be doing what looked like real magic. Soon after, I realized the same was mostly true for mentalism. It looked more real from the outside, but on the inside I could see that a lot of what had sold me on mentalism really involved gaffs, editing, and pre-show. Hypnosis, readings, memory work and linguistic deceptions felt more like real magic to me, and dotted here and there were the diamonds in the rough, but something was missing. I wanted something that was genuine and honest— honest—you were really doing as you said, universally reliable (your favorite author might call this “the bus stop test”) and leaves the audience with a feeling of magic. I had an ACAAN that would melt your face off but found myself not wanting to use it. it. There was this nagging thought in the back of my head: do I really need a pack of cards to create a feeling of magic? I immersed myself in mentalism, but kept an eye out for something that felt authentic. Then, in walks Aaron Alexander, bending all the rules that we had about what was possible like he’s straight out of The Matrix —in fact right down to the spoon that bends itself. When you see a technique of his in action, it looks too good to be true. Then you read it, and it still seems too good to be true, yet somehow becomes imaginable. And when you finally learn it and use it, it feels real and plays like a dream. 1
That is why when Aaron contacted me about building a beloved pet idea of mine into his own work, giving my blessing was difficult but also the obvious choice. He is humble and charming but also ridiculously clever, with a vision unlike any I have ever seen in the world of mystery arts. I knew that the idea would go places with him, and indeed it has. Like most of my brain children, Zodiac Killer was born in my bathtub. His humble beginnings involved seven marked cards, and he later developed into a more streamlined fivecard impromptu version. Like a proud father, I let this idea of mine go, to take a gap year on the other side of the world. Over the course of a year I saw the method improved on again and again, it was just becoming so brilliant, and I couldn't believe what I was reading. I kept thinking: My god, my brain child has grown up. (R)evolution: from trick to effect, from prop to pure, if you want the best, cleanest way to know someone’s sign and/or birthday and nothing more, you’ll find it in this book. But there is much, much more to be found. And there will be no gaffs or gimmicks— gimmicks—this is the real thing. Thank you, Aaron, for being a gentleman and for adopting my brain child. Thank you, reader, for being a part of the next chapter of this story of a trick that became true art. “[This] is not for for the magicia magician n who doesn’t doesn’t like like rock and and roll!” roll!”
-Corinda
Warren Thackeray New York, March 2015 2
I had only one field trip in university, and it was for a course in the History of Astronomy. One evening evening we went on a special VIP tour by a guy at the local planetarium that the professor knew. I have to think that this kind of “I know a guy” connection that smooth history professors use to seal the deal on a third date, but we can't know for sure. In any case, there was a moment when the operator showed a night sky, projecting onto it the various constellations and zodiac symbols that people have seen in the sky over millennia. Then, we flew into the sky. Traveling at many times the speed of light away from earth, the pictures and symbols in the sky warped into increasingly unrecognizable shapes. Two stars that looked like twins from earth were just of a different brightness and millions of light years apart. You have to wonder what would happen if an ancient astrologer/astronomer were to there to see the stars— stars —once believed to be points of light sitting on the physicaledgeof chaotically in all directions as one flies theuniverse—explode chaotically among them. The world is not the center of the universe, there is no firmament, fire does not rise because it tends towards the sphere of fire, and if the world was created in six days, the days must have been pretty long. Our observable universe is, almost ironically, still limited to a sphere or bubble around this earth, only the sphere has grown to a distance of some 3
13 or so billion light years. We know orders of magnitude more about the nature of things, and every discovery further proves what a giant, fascinating place we live in. We are materially advanced to the point that we are not even impressed by technology that the mere sight of could have started legends and religions a few centuries ago. And when modern man and woman get lost, confused in this giant universe.... ...they go to an astrologer. And they get their chart done. If you walk down the street in a busy city, you're likely to see an astrologer's storefront. And not only there, but you'll find astrological services at any New Age festival or book shop, in online and print ads, in Ronald Reagan's rolodex, through hundreds of mobile apps. And if that weren't enough to show its continuing popularity and relevance, horoscopes remain in physical newspapers even as those papers viciously cut costs, staff, editions, and quantity of paper in every single issue. On the other hand, it would have to be a fairly large city for you to come across a planetarium. And, equally relevant, you will die on your feet before you ever come across an alchemist's shop, though there will be plenty of chemistry labs and pharmacies around. It's an interesting state of affairs, and maybe quite strange if you think of how different the world where Astrology came from is from the one in which it is still thriving. But the fact is that the bubble around modern people isn't 13 billion years across. It's roughly the same size as it has always been. In it there are hopes, fears, worries, 4
doubts, aspirations. There is room for a relatively small number of significant people, to which we associate affects from an even smaller pool of feelings. There are billions of unique tapestries, all woven from a small number of these common threads, and, whether we know it or not, we are all intimately familiar with every one of them. Whatever else might be going on, the human story seems to involve finding patterns in chaos, creating and sharing meaning, to connecting ourselves to one another and searching for our place in the great unknown, whatever that is at any given moment in history. Which is, in a roundabout way, how we have here a book on star signs that, fundamentally, fundamentally, has nothing to do with star signs. And that is because what we're doing isn't a horoscope reading; it's an interaction. Star signs are just a loose thread to grasp at; a strand that in and of itself could be arbitrary but is connected to something bigger that does have some significance. They don't have to be objectively real, and it wouldn't make a difference here if they were. We will not harness some ultimate meaning from the stars, but build it together in a uniquely human way. Whatever your stance on the stars' influence, this seems like a more interesting and poetic mechanism for the magic, anyway. Underneath and over top of the method that is shared in this book, the whole thing is very pure and simple. It's a meaningful interaction that works because of who and what we all are, and how we build meaningful interactions. interactions. And, best of all, you don't even need to “know a guy” to pull it off.
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Imagine holding a beautifully crafted work of art, a heavy book that was bound generations ago, and has been carefully studied and dutifully maintained over the course of each owner's life. The words inside are from a distant golden age, copied faithfully by monks over the span of more than a millennium. And this ancient book is the most advanced and up-to-date material available on the nature and workings of the universe. That is what a book on Astrology would have been in the middle ages. Astrology was at the core of how the entire Universe was understood. It was a crucial part of the theory of everything, just like physics or chemistry today, and it spoke to how the stars moved in the sky, the progressions of the seasons, the affect, health and destiny of individuals and empires. Today, that kind of ancient, mystical book only exists in fantasy stories, but at one time that was the world we lived in. I don't read my horoscope religiously or anything, but they're fascinating to me because of what they are. At one time these weren't just personality quizzes, they were part of a complete system of the universe and our place in it. That's how we came to believe that they influence our personalities and lives.
This text is taken from a sample script from one of the later demonstrations in in this book. Everything we we are saying 6
is both true and very relevant, both in the context of the real conversation that we’ll have, and for our underlying method. For the better part of recorded human history, Astrology was about quite a bit more than vague predictions of how your day would be. And all those reasons are also a big part of why it will be so helpful to us now. And even though the cosmology might not make sense to us now, some of the insights that people had about how humans behave and move in the world are as relevant as they ever were, like how a love poem from 500 years ago still makes sense to us today.
Everyone relates to one another, and to some common aspects of being being alive alive and human. We are social creatures creatures with common mental schemas, shared experiences, similar hopes, wants, needs, dreams and desires. Of course the similarities are not always obvious because we also share ways of defining ourselves, of distinguishing ourselves from others, from engaging with or distancing ourselves from other people’s experiences. For example, I find that a lot of people relate strongly to Qualities. These had to do with the cycles of seasons, and, for an individual, it had to do with how they relate the internal and external world, get along with people, engage with change, and so forth.
Everyone also relates to Astrology. Astrolo gy. Even though it is an ancient system, everyone knows their sign and feels a certain way about it. They feel interest or disinterest, at varying degrees of strength. What they feel specifically doesn’t matter so much, because as long as they know their sign and
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feel something about it, we have all we need to learn an incredible amount of information about a person. They had these sort of mystical sounding names, but you could also describe the types of Qualities as “th e Mind, The Body, and the Spirit.”
More precisely, Astrology provides a hard piece of information that every single person seems to know: a star sign. It also relates to all those other things that are shared in ways that are both spoken and unspoken: identity, purpose, hopes, dreams, dreams, and so on. And because Astrology is known to be related to these things, and because everyone feels something about it, we suddenly have a pathway between all these things so long as we have the right context and a way to know know a person’s sign. Our process is so efficient that we can also just use it as a way to engage people and almost instantly nab their star sign without seemingly seemingly trying. But by the end of this book, the way that people relate to one another and to the ideas that we will be presenting will open the door to a sort of network of hard and soft information that is unknowingly shared. And we will will have full control of how and whether whether to use that network of information. In the course of this process, we get to speak of things like cycles, consistency and change, and the relationship of everything to everything else. And in speaking of these things, and lite litera rall lly y becau because se of the the trut truth h in them, we read minds in a seemingly impossible way. Back to our sample script: If your sign is Cancer, Aries, Libra, or Capricorn, you are The Mind. If you are Leo, Taurus, Aquarius, Scorpio, you 8
are The Body. If you are Gemini, Sagittarius, Virgo, or Pisces, you are The Spirit. Without telling me what you are, does that make sense to you?
The demonstration that we’re borrowing from here is called “M.B.S.” M.B.S.” and you’ll you’ll find it on page 48 of this book. book. You will be happy to know that after just that bit of sample text, where you could take or leave the first four out of five paragraphs, we’re95%ofthewaytoknowingtheirsign we’re95%ofthewaytoknowingtheirsign. . We could reveal it 10 seconds from where we stopped without our participant having the foggiest idea of how. Needless to say, if you’ you ’d like a very quick, social method for grabbing a person’ person’s sign, sign, you will have it. But alongside this we will speak about how to build the moment and interaction allows us to know their hopes, dreams, exact birthday, etc. In short, because of where it sits in our culture and imagi imagina nati tion on, , star star sign signs s can canbe be us used ed as aso a sort rt of brid bridge ge ora or a backdoortoseemingly(or,arguably,really ) backdoortoseemingly(or,arguably,really )read reada aperson’s person’s It’s a historical and psychological glitch, and how you mind. It’ use it will be completely up to you. We will start simple. simple. For now, all we need to know is this: this: nobody had a high school English test on Romeo and Juliet where the correct answer is: ”C)Thiswholeplayisirrelevant becaus because ethe the concept concept of“star of“starcro crosse ssed dlo lover vers” s” isbased isbasedonold onold superstitions.” That is to say that when astrology became a scientifically absurd notion doesn't mean that we no longer relate to writing writing before the invention invention of the telescope. telescope. Our point of departure is not the literal interpretations of Astrology, but just the simple idea that we all relate to them in some way or another.
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The Three Keys One way to think of this book is that there are three key concepts that turn an interesting idea into a formidable and reliable tool in the real world. They relate to the first three sections of this book. The first is our foundational idea, a process that invisibly allows us to know a piece of information and a powerful context in which to use it. The second is a tool that allows that process to be learned almost instantly and to become completely weightless and automatic in performance. The third is an approach that allows us to apply the first two in a way that very efficiently weaves together meaning, experience, and social cues/expectations in order to create something that is both genuine and that feels like a direct connection between two minds. Here we go.
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Basic Demonstration In this basic presentation, we create an interaction where a person uses their star sign to think of a memory and a possibility, none of these spoken aloud. Because of the context and emphasis that we've created, their mere thinking of these two things lets us know their exact sign. Simply knowing someone's sign is a great revelation, not an especially captivating process or performance. So as we go, we are learning and sharing things about their personality, their feelings and exact thoughts, and sharing these back in a very engaging way. The information that we secretly learn and the information that our sitter happily shares will come together in a revelation that will not just knock their socks off figuratively, they will probably be in a state of mind to believe you if you were to say that there are no such things as socks. That is all.
Entry, Setup The general lead-in is summarized well in this idea that you can say, imply, think, or, if you like, discard: discard: “I don't need to know your sign, but we're going to use the idea of signs to learn something interesting about you.”
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This is no set script for a conversation, but it's important to know what kind of idea gets conveyed in the setup. Here is a quasi-script with some ideas that lead in well. It's your presentation, presentation, so pick, choose or substitute as you like: I don't really believe in horoscopes per se, but they're fascinating to me because of what they are. We don't think about it much, but these weren't just personality quizzes, they were part of a complete system of the universe and our place in it. That's how we came to believe that they influence our personalities and lives. So for example, the two main aspects of Zodiac signs were the “ E E lements” lements” and the “ Qualities.” The elements were believed to be the elements that all things (including ourselves) were made of from the time of the Greeks: earth, air, water and fire. The Qualities correspond to the eternal cycle of life. So even if there's nothing to them, they're fascinating because they are loaded with every observation about human existence possible. And that has nothing to do with whether the actual cosmology of them was right or not, because it's about human personality and experience, so there's a lot of interesting things that you can do with it. I'll show you. Without mentioning it, do you know your sign?
Foundation The first thing for the performer to know about the idea of Elements and Qualities is that they are real concepts from astrology, not just a clever mentalist's dodge. The second is 12
that no two zodiacs share both an Element and a Quality. The first fact gives us unassailability, the second fact gives us a matrix. If we know a person's element, we know that it's one of three possible signs. If we know their quality, it is one of four. If we know both, we know their exact sign. In case it helps to visualize it:
Aries
Capricorn
Libra
Cancer
Leo
Taurus
Aquarius
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Virgo
Gemini
Pisces
Warren Thackeray first shared the idea of using Qualities/Elements Qualities/E lements as a horoscope divination with “Bridge,” and it is absolutely beautiful. It opens so many doors to easily getting a sign in a way that, so far as I am aware, has not been done before. In this book, we won’t need “Bridge,” “Bridge,” as we will have other tools at our disposal. It is also not a complete dodge: the elements, so to speak, are all standard ideas in Astrology, repurposed to give us some hidden information. I think Warren’s Warren’s matrix is one of the most simple and elegant ways to divine a sign that has ever been used, and that is just the very beginning of how we will be using it. The process that follows will do two things. First, it will tell us a participant's Element and Quality and therefore their specific sign. This will set up both our revelation and our gathering of additional information. Second, it will give us the associations we need to create a full and deep reading and performance.
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The Process and Meaning The matrix (and later memory aids that will make the matrix appear automatically as needed) are the skeleton that needs some flesh before it can live up to its full potential. We are going to start adding flesh by asking for two meaningful things. There was an idea that every sign had different aspects to it, the most important being the Qualities and the Elements. Elements have to do with aspects of ourselves, the pieces and experiences that make up our personality. In this case, these relate to things that have happened to us that have shaped who we are today. I just want you to think to yourself which you are according to your sign. So for example, if you are an Aries, Leo, or Sagittarius, you're a Fire sign. You're an Air sign if you're a Gemini, Libra, or Aquarius. You're an Earth sign if you're a Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn. You're a Water sign if you're a Cancer, Scorpio or Pisces. So just remember what Element you are. Because if you're a Fire element, I want you to think of a time when you had an amazing idea. If you're an Air element, I want you to think of a time that you achieved something that you are proud of. If you're an Earth element, I want you you to think of a time that you were there for a friend or someone you care about. And if you're a Water element, I want you to think of a time you really connected c onnected with someone on a deep level. Got that? Remember your feeling from this moment. It's not important that you remember the element, just remember this exact moment and how you relate to it internally. 14
Almost every time, you'll be able to tell their answer, either at the moment that they initially recognize their sign or when they imagine their memory. You've given space after each and created an atmosphere where they're not hiding these things so it will not seem important. On top of that, the types of memories that they think of are easily divided into binaries that can be subtly determined through conversation conversatio n later. In fact, if you completely missed the element, you still easily know after two questions or assertions, along the lines of shared vs individual, then outer versus inner. Start with something like “this is something you did, there may be other people involved, but the focus is really on your part in it.” That said, the methods in Part IV are streamlined and have all all this built in to the presentation. presentation. The divination divination of whatever is needed becomes much easier and even more reliable without having to fish or interrupt the flow, and whether or not you get them to imagine anything will be optional. Back to our situation current: This is bare-bones, but you'll jazz it up a bit. Mention how these elements have things that we all associate with, but the idea was that people of certain signs would associate more with one. How these relate to the humors, which were believed to be the physical things that governed your mood and personality. Play around, talk. Now we move to the Qualities. List the Qualities and their signs as detailed in the list in the next section. Your sign’ s Quality has to do with the eternal cycle of life. If you are a Cardinal sign, think/imagine a chance or an opportunity you could have that would improve your life. If 15
you are a Fixed sign, think of a place that you would be satisfied. And if you're a Mutable sign, think of one thing that you really want to change. In the first you have something external, chance/luck and a wish for more/possibility.
Remember also that you’ you’re not trying to trick them, so there's no emphasis on secrecy. You've set it up so that we use the idea of horoscopes to learn something about them (which happens to be the literal truth), and the ultimate revelation is far removed both in time and in significance from the point at which you gather the information. Both of these facts mean that your method will remain completely hidden unless it is beaten out of you later with a sack of lemons. Not everyone everyone can handle mystery, after all.
Revelation We know their Element and Quality and therefore their sign, but it would really be a shame to just end there and waste all the information you have. By the final phase, we know their Element and we know their Quality. The Element has its own associations with emotions and personality traits, as well as the ones we have given by associating a memory and imagined future. Not only that, but we've primed them. We've had them relating themselves to the Quality/Element ideas by our description of them and of the memories or hopes that get related, so that the aspects of their imagined memories line up with the aspects of themselves that we will be describing. To give a rounded reading, we just state these points with 16
counter-points, describing the person they are while telling them about the kind of of thing that they're imagining. What we say, then, is an artistically rendered version of our earlier prompt filled in with things learned in the interim. That is to say our original instruction pushed the participant towards a certain kind of of memory without stating it outright, and when we later describe and garnish the generalities of that moment, it feels to them as though we're in their heads. For an Air sign, you might start out like this: I think that you'd be drawn to a memory that has a sort of excitement to it. And even though it involves people at some point, this is kind of solitary, if that makes sense. Probably something that you were the first to appreciate. And while some people think of a big event, and this isn't small, but it's less grand and more something that's special to you, more the kind of thing that you'd think of in the shower, it's more personal, it's more you.
Your prompts are separated by a minute or two and the mental task of the Qualities, so they will not track back how exactly the prompts were leading the memory. If you get a very responsive person and you trust your gut a bit, it's possible that you'll be able to land on the exact memory and/or future aspiration. This degree of accuracy is discussed more later both in the Part III and Part IV. The other thing that both enhances your impact and erases your method is that you're linking everything together meaningfully as you go. For example, you might tie together the past, future, and one or two ideas about them based on their element/quality. Supposing that they are fixed: And I think that if this idea was important to communicate, you'd do a pretty good job. Because even 17
though you're sitting there quite composed right now, I think you have a very contagious kind of passion about you when you really care about something. And I think that carries over to when I asked you to imagine something in the future. I think it was probably more vivid than most people imagine a thing, though this isn't even a specific time. But it seemed easy for you to imagine, like you had been there before, and it was comfortable to think of yourself there. And let me know if I'm wrong, but I think you'd have picked not a moment where you achieve that thing, but just being there.
This is just basic, you'll fill it out and interact a lot more. Encourage their reactions, and play on those reactions. Try to get as specific and as close to what they imagined as you possibly can. You could finish off by saying offhandedly, “at least,thosearethekindsofthingsI'dexpectfromaLeo.” least,thosearethekin dsofthingsI'dexpectfromaLeo.” If you happen to have started with the date of birth divination method described below, you end with something like: And not that it's important at this point, but I'd also imagine that you're a Summer baby. May, maybe. Definitely a Gemini. The 25th of May?
In essence, our interaction does three things. It primes them to relate to their element/quality, it informs us of that Element/Quality, and gives a series of meaningful connections of emotions and memories, all of which we will know. As we go along, we get to set up the targets, and then knock them down. It is as if we've said “tell me your birthday, think of a proud moment, a thing that you want to achieve, a happy imagined future, and now forget that you've told me all of 18
that.” Then, somehow they really do forget. Moments later when we tell them these things, their mind is completely blown. This is the power of a good rapport and an organic moment built over a structure that provides context, meaning and, of course, a generous helping of secret information.
The Exact Birthday I left the exact date until the end of all this to be able to talk about it in a bit more detail without interrupting the description of the interacti interaction on too much. The above shows a flow of an interaction, and the method getting the date of birth will not interrupt that flow at all. The method is absurdly simple but very effective. A small piece of information is nabbed very casually right at the start, and clues later on will reveal to you the exact date. This is not a math sleight really; if you think of it as a sleight then it really is a social one. The real beauty is not in getting a number, but rather in making the moment completely insignificant. How it comes across is that at the very start of the reading, you find out something about the person's character based on whether the sum of their birth day and year is even or odd, though you don't know the sum. Add the first and second numbers of your birth date together, so if it's the 17 th , you get 8. If the number is 2 digits, add those digits together again to get a single digit. What is your number? 5, so odd . Now do it again with the last two digits of your birth year , so if it's 81 then your number is 9, whi ch ch is odd again. I don’t need to know the numbers, just tell me if it's even or odd. Even? So one even 19
one odd, and if you add those together you'd also get an odd number, number, so we'd say you're mostly odd with a streak of even, but we'll get back to that in a minute.
At this point you can go into what even/odd/mixed means, or you can leave that to tie in with the later reading. I like to do a little bit up front before diving into the horoscopes. horoscop es. But the number is not yet useful. This is the simple and almost absurd opposite of many ways to get a number, but in this particular case it seems to work just as well, requiring almost no math or memory. Instead of hiding a series of calculations with a series of justifications, justifications, you just need the tiniest bit of information that does not matter when you get it, and then they do a small calculation that they never tell you and that you don’t actually need. That is to say that only the first single-digit number matters. But everything that makes it meaningful meaningfu l and useful comes much later, so no connection is made between the two. If you were to add the numbers 1-31 to make 31 single digit numbers, you'd notice that you get a pattern of the digits 1-9 (no 0). From the first of the month being 0+1=1, all the way up to 3+1=4. This cycle repeats about three and a half times. This means that any single digit number could only represent one of either 3 or 4 days in a month. Of course the possible combination of these numbers is small, since the first digit of their date of birth can only be 0, 1, 2, 3 (and only a rough 1/20 chance of a 3). That means that in the context of the reveal it becomes very, very easy to instantly know which one or two numbers it must be.
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So for example, someone who is a 9 could be born on the 9th, 18th, or 27th of any month. Beginning,middle,andend . Knowing which horoscope and month as we later do cuts everything but 1-3 dates over two months. And these become known easily during the reveal: I feel like you're a Summer baby (yes)... born in July?
If yes, then it's July 9 or 18. If no, then it's June 27. So if one month you're looking at low numbers, if the other you're only looking at high ones. Supposing Lady Luck is not with you and in this case they say “No,” No,” you you just continue: Well definitely a Cancer, at least, June 27 th?
And of course it would be. In this this case, case, you couldn’t get more than one “no,” and if it happens the “no “no”” seems insignificant in context and is always sandwiched between huge hits. If you’ you’re ever unsure, you simply hazard a guess that they they were born towards the change change of a month, and and your number is instantly clear. Needless to say, to do this well, you need to know which months are in each Zodiac. A lot of people know this already, and anyone who doesn't could very easily a) use the software from the next section to learn casually over a few days, or b) derive the months from the handy mnemonic later on. And, of course, although they make two calculations, the calculations calculations are absurdly simple and hard to miss, and one of those is a complete red herring. The only one that matters is adding a number that is less than three to a single digit. The sleight is then erased by the premise that you are helping with the even/odd part.
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Pause, Recap In the later sections the process becomes at least ten times quicker and more flexible than the one above. What’s more, the fact that it is derived from a theory of everything means that there are countless connections to be made within it. That theory and our much simpler system are also ordered— ordered—knowing or relating to one area will have implications in others. We will not be needing to memorize much at all, because everything relates intuitively to everything else, and we will memorize a short key that unlocks it all. The end result is completely congruent. That is to say that it uses real ideas from Astrology, uses them in a way that is honest regardless of whether or not we are physically influenced by the stars, and we use a method that is congruent with what we get: A social, emotional process that gathers social and emotional information. It is not a huge stretch to call this sort of thing real mindreading, but the fact that it is close enough to be a legitimately debated point should at least give an idea of how well it will come across to the participant.
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The above is a very nice idea, but it is not yet as practical unless you know your signs and memorize the signs and elements elements to the point of knowing them offhand. The goal in in this project was to have a system that is extremely easy to learn, simple to remember with complete accuracy over time, that would appear as needed, that took minimal thinking in use, and never required a performer to remember or calculate anything even remotely complex in the moment of performance. The first set of mnemonics (available by request if you are interested) accomplished this quite well by having trigger words and phrases phrases for Elements Elements and Qualities. Qualities. It was set set up so that in the context of performance, the fact that we can only hold so much in our working memory at once caused an automatic match that signaled a person’s sign. It felt absolutely beautiful at the moment that the match happened, and effectively turned the weakness of our limited working memories into an automatic matching system. But it was weak in that it required listing both the Qualities and Elements during the performance (making it less conversational), required some work before it felt automatic, and after not using it for a couple of months it took some thinking in the moment to remember the associations. associatio ns. The memorization was systematized, but it still
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felt a little bit heavy while being used unless it was used very frequently. All this was solved with a new approach.
Stronger, Better, Faster One small caveat before we continue: The best solution is not as elegant as the older one in writing, but in practice it feels like an absolute miracle. Bear with me for a few pages, and the rewards will be huge. The solution to the problems with the first system begins with using a slightly different chart, which will have some wonderful implications: implications:
Aries
Cancer
Libra
Capricorn
Taurus
Leo
Scorpio
Aquarius
Gemini
Virgo
Sagittarius
Pisces
The seasons in the old chart were split as evenly as elements, but for the kind of casual performance that I would use myself, seasons were a bit more useful. Most of all, they could be mentioned with no prefacing or listing elements, since everyone knows the seasons already. But also important is that they fit more intuitively with the Qualities: signs are about cycles and changes, and so each season starts with Cardinal, then Fixed, then finishes with Mutable. Both of these traits will come in very handy. As an interesting aside, there is actually pretty good empirical evidence that your season of birth does indeed affect your personality in a statistically significant way 24
(though possibly close to irrelevant on an individual level). Another win for using seasons rather than elements, as the results are almost certainly to do with climate and societal factors (especially how developed a child is when they start school) rather than where the archer in the sky is hanging out.
Mnemonics now 100% more gangster Compared to Elements/Qualities, this version is so much lighter, easier, and more effective. But before we get too deep into things, I want to tell you about a tender-hearted gangster named Cleo Valentine. First, a fun fact: Many rap terms are borrowed from 1920-50 1920-50 gangster slang. Case in point, both “gat” (common slang for a gun) and “cap” (slang for bullet or cartridge or the act of shooting, as in to “pop a cap” or “cap that mofo”) are actually things that were said by people with fedoras and people with baggy pants, though decades apart a different angle of their “gat” holding. If you do you do a Google search, you'll find that there's actually more than one rap song with the line “grabmygat,popacap.” Catchy. Catchy. I mention this because it relates to my good friend Cleo Valentine, a very shy gangster. He never wants to shoot people, even though it's his job, and very rarely even fires a shot into the air. And he's so timid that he has barely talked to a woman in his entire life, much less had a girlfriend. That's why his gangster buddies have named him “Gat Cleo” the same way that they named the the big guy “Tiny.” Though sometimes, they'll call him Cleo V, to make it sound like his last name is Virgin, rather than Valentine, again an ironic play on his romantic sounding name and his own timidity. 25
Luckily, his tough work environment has given us an incredibly concise mnemonic: Gat Cleo, who is less likely to pop a cap. But we'll throw in his last name (or taunted initial) to make it even more useful to us: That, friends, is ev ever ery y se seas ason on an and d ev ever ery y sign sign. “Cap,” for example, is Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. There is no E or O sign, so using those to make words is no problem. The words/seasons are in the most obvious and intuitive order that we will will always use: spring, spring, summer, summer, fall, winter. winter. Repeat this phrase a few times. Knowingitcouldbeallyouneedto pullofftheentireeffectdowntothebirthday. There are a couple of things to address, though. What about the fact that there are two signs that start with L, two with C, and two with A? Might we confuse them? No, because whenever there is a redundancy, one of the letters is not just a letter but the whole first syllable. The C in “cap” is Capricorn and not Cancer, the L in Cleo is for Leo, not Libra. The only exception is A which appears in Gat and Cap, but this again will be straightforward because the first word has another small exception that we'll cover in a moment (or, as mentioned below, you can substitute U for Aquarius). The next thing is that not only do we have the signs, but we ha have ve them them in orde order r . Because Qualities have to do with
cycles and change, there is one in each season: Cardinal at the beginning, Fixed in the middle, Mutable at the end. So “Cap” doesn't just let you know which signs, but also which order: Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces.
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The sole exception to this relates to the exception that I mentioned above with Aries in “Gat.” In Gat, the first word has a slight change in order. The order of signs is actually ATG, but that is not as nice a word. This should be easy since Aries is the the first sign in the cycle, and if you didn’t know that already you will remember after relating it to A being the first letter letter of the alphabet. Or I imagine you could just remember the three letters, ATG. But almost certainly this won’t matter because after after using the system a few times, you will just remember which signs are in which season. Now, when you know the season is “winter,” as you so easily will in the methods to come, you instantly go to “cap,” and you have your y our three possible signs, in order. Using “GatCleoV,lesscap” for just a couple of days was all that it took to instantly match the sign and list the Qualities. Qualities. If I want to list the Mutable signs, signs, I just say the last letter of each word (noting the Spring exception, which is always first so it never interrupts the flow): T, V, S, P. To get the exact date, you still need to know which months are with which elements. Luckily, these are learnt quickly, especially if you are using the mnemonic program. That said, thanks to “Gat CleoV,” you actually don’t even need to memorize the months so long as you know the starting date of each season. Each starts starts on a solstice solstice or equinox and ends on a solstice or equinox, so when you end up with “cap” and determine Pisces, you know the sign straddles the last months of winter, so February to March. 1
1
If you don't know your solstices and equinoxes, there's only 4 of them and as a citizen of the planet you really should know. But luckily the numbers you have to remember are extremely simple 27
It is absurd how easy this becomes, especially within the improved process that we will use. You will be supplied with this information: Summer+Middle. Summer+Middle. If you know your seasons, you already know that Leo Leo is in the the middle. middle. If not, you just remember CLeoV and see that L or Leo is in the middle of the mnemonic word. Suddenly, there is almost no mental energy involved in decoding a sign from the mnemonic. In case it helps to visualize: (ATG) ries
(CUP) ancer
aurus emini
irgo
ibra
apricorn
corpio
q(u)arius
agittarius
isces
For me, this works perfectly and it's set in my mind. The only issue with the system is that if you don't know your seasons, you could confuse Aries and Aquarius. To make it optimal for the laziest among us, we can just change the mnemonic so that Aquarius Aquarius is represented represented by a U. That way you get CUP. Cleo just becomes a moderate drinker rather than a moderate shooter, and the rest remains unchanged. unchanged. : Depending on what route your thoughts take to your mouth, using the letters in “Gat CleoV” will not suit everyone. As an alternative, alternative, we could use the next mnemonic phrase.
because in those too is a pattern: (starting in Spring/March) 21-21, 22-22, 23-21, 22-21. That is to say Spring is March 21-June 21, Fall is Sept 23 to Dec 21. They start at 21 in spring, go up until un til Fall, then come back down for Spring: 1, 2, 3, 2, 1. A palindrome. This is included in the mnemonic cards to make easy memorization. 28
This is all about compression and efficiency, so here's our story: To make room for new shows, a TV network decides to combine their two existing shows that deal with numbers. Calc Tales, a TV show about the struggles of being a math genius, is merged with Keys to the VIP, which is a show about pickup artists competing in getting women's phone numbers. The result is an amazing new show that you read about under the headline: Knowing this phrase lets you list the three Qualities quickly and easily. E and O do not have signs, signs, and all the other letters represent a sign. CALC and TALES are each a set of signs, while GOES VIP is just one. Since we're using letters again, there is the possibility that C, S, and A could be confused if you don't use this for a long time. If there is any doubt, remember that A/Aries always comes first (it's spring, after all) and Scorpions and Lions both have noteworthy tails (tales). If using “U” for Aquarius, this can become a story about the success of the geeks on that show, and how it took them to the Super-VIP life: life: CALC LET US GO SVIP. SVIP. Again, only use this if you don’ don’t know your signs and the way you think makes it hard to take first, second, and third letters from the Gat Cleov mnemonic.
The High-Tech Cram If you are just minimally tech-savvy, this gets even better. I've spent some time creating a way to easily memorize and/or test test yourself yourself should should you need it. If you have any doubts about signs, seasons, or associations, you could have 29
all of that crammed into your skull within a few days, needing to work less than 10 minutes per day. And this work can be done casually while listening to the radio, riding the bus, etc. We will use a sort of modernized flash card system. It uses an algorithm to space cards based on how well you already know them. It's an amazing system for memorizing large amounts of information (though poor for learning meaningful things, which won't matter in this case). Find everything you need at: (password gatcleov) In case you don't take extra time to read the Anki documentation, there is a quick crash-course if you follow the link.
Two Down, One to Go Now we have two of our three keys. The first was the process/chart. process/chart. The second was the mnemonic. The third is is an approach that has been touched on already, but is about to get much better.
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So far this book has shared a basic idea and approach, as well as how to carry an entire system conveniently between one’s ears. This third part is where we get to really start to use the very promising elements. Here, our improved framework and social methods open the door to feats that are more efficient and dramatic, using less time and thinking. The best possible manifestation of this only becomes possible, though, when we have a certain mindset, approach, or at least awareness while creating these genuine moments.
No Special Occurre Occurrences nces Perhaps better translated as “nothing to report,” this is one of the famous phrases that the Allies used as a crib to unravel the Enigma code in World War II. It carries a double sense in this case, the first being that there really is nothing special going on in one way, and in another there absolutely is. Like in Bridge, we’re taking the incredible way that humans connect to one another, and we’re leveraging it to the point that it defies people’s expectations of what is possible and really does does feel like magic. magic. But more pointedly, pointedly, the phrase speaks to how, like a codebreaker, we are using common and decipherable pieces of information in order to “decode” deep thoughts and experiences in another person.
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The Social “Sleight” For those of us who are used to thinking in terms of sleights, we can use the same language to talk about exactly why this is going to be at least as reliable as another method. Really, we could even call it a “social sleight.” I'm sure this is not a new idea by any stretch, but it is worth some more discussion since they will form the backbone of most of the demonstrations demonstrations that follow. A good example already at hand is how in the basic presentation of this book, you get the person's exact date of birth by using what seems on paper to be a pretty cheesy ruse. In practice, that moment always flies well under the radar, because of where it happens in the demonstration and how the performer handles the significance of the number steal. It is really much more reasonable to think of this as not a mathematical sleight, sleight, but a social one. Now that I've been exposed to more mainstream magic and mentalism, I can't shake the sense that people are intuitively using a sort of mechanical standard when they imagine the effectiveness effectiveness of a particular technique. That is to say that on an instinctive level, having something like a spelling or mathematical method that is 100% in theory will safer in practice, even though the social context is not as feel safer pure as the drawing board. It kind of makes sense. A magician drops a coin at the wrong time, and the jig is completely completely up. Same goes for a peek that is spotted. But by contrast, Jim Jones' amazing powers included turning water into wine whil while e pe peop ople le clos closed ed the heir ir ey eyes es to pray. Talk about a social sleight.
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The thing is, we don't want to be like Jim Jones. It's no super power to manipulate and exploit hopeful and hurt people. Honest performers are indeed watched more closely than the faithful of some sham artist, but this can be a strength rather than a handicap in our case. We get to be in a wonderful middle ground. We really are doing what we say we are doing, though there is a bit more to what we are doing than what people will realize. And it's good that honest performers have to hold themselves to a higher standard. Meeting higher expectations expectations gives a higher reward, and doing it honestly and shamelessly puts a performer in a highly favorable position, both in the strategy of a given situation and within the confines of one’ one’s own conscience. By engaging people in a genuine way and creating a certain kind of narrative, we can have impact without false pretense. Our small deception (if it could even be called that in this case) is temporary, and the payoff is honest. The method is effective enough that you don't have to fake having special powers, have a false premise, or attribute your success to astrology or some other bunk. Giving a coy, general idea of how it worked is honest as well as impressive. If we normally think of a sleight as a sort of deception, this is a liberating one that allows us to become honest without without losing losing our punch. punch. And, as mentioned mentioned above, the real way that this works is based on a much more beautiful principle than the performer having special powers.
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Concrete and Abstract With the idea of a sleight spoken to, I hope that soon we are talking about our method as a way of channeling meaning, building significance, and creating a gap of expectation expectation that will cause a moment of of magic. magic. The ability ability to direct and partake in the meaning-making of the situation can be talked about in more and less concrete terms. In more concrete terms, our simple process is what lets us know with certainty their specific sign, which will in turn give us all the hard information we need at the outset. In terms of the hard information, each sign will have two months, roughly days, one element, one order based on its quality. The soft information comes because the qualities, elements, dates of birth, zodiacs signs, all have their connotations and associations. associations. Think of it almost as a network with tendrils that connect nodes: water is associated with a sign, an element, a season, an emotion, and all the complex ideas, memories and feelings that can be related to it as we go along. In the context of our interaction, we become able to invisibly travel forwards and backwards between the nodes. If we were to ask people to imagine something that inspires anger, we also have a meaningful way to connect it to an element, quality, and every other node. There is so much information to be had that you could make any kind of reading you want, and within that reading you secretly learn information that you can reveal at your leisure. But it it is always the meaning, significance and engagement that will allow us to travel along these lines. The nodes align, minds are blown. Birthdays and signs were only just the beginning. 34
And of course, this is not a game of points regarding how much information can be gained, it is about building a certain kind of moment and interaction. The mere idea of talking about the elements, Astrology, etc., primes a person and gives an open path to being open to sharing all sorts of things about themselves. They really do each apply to all of us. Rather than just giving some big stock reading, you actually get to do a more genuine, personal one, because b ecause the framework gives you an area of focus. If you happen to line up with air and cardinal, for example, you get to talk about that person's real dreams, hopes and ambitions. And you actually learn the specifics while describing these things back to the person, which not only gives you a better internal idea of what the person's dreams really are, but it illustrates your understanding in an incredible way.
“Real” Revisited In a few places in this book, we mentioned that what we are doing is, in a sense, real mindreading. Before we cover the newer, stronger, even more efficient methods, it is worth delving into that idea just a bit more. I was once a youth worker for a boy of about 10. I remember one day that he flew off the handle in a park, and went around yelling and trying to break things. As you might expect, all the things that you would normally say to calm someone down did nothing. If I said that what he was angry about wasn't a big deal, he would scream that I didn't understand. If I said I understood he would say I could never understand. 35
A few minutes in, with nothing left to say, I sat in what seemed to be the middle of his meandering path of destruction, and started recalling out loud a memory of mine from when I was about his age. I talked about having some argument, getting sent to my room, and throwing things around, knocking them noisily to the ground. As I was telling the story, I realized that in my young head, I wasn't angry just to wreck stuff. I wanted people to know how angry I was. And when I finished telling the story, he was suddenly calm. That is why we are mindreading: Because we share memories, feelings, and senses of self that are built from common blocks. And when we relate pieces, ideas and feelings to one another in an emotional context, it communicates more than words alone ever could. In the course of our demonstration, we are creating a moment where those blocks line up and mirror one another. The performer and the participant start to feel the same things, to go down similar psychological paths. I can describe your pride because I have felt pride before, I can describe your hope because I have had hope. I have created some other methods that are, in a sense, real mindreading. In these cases, it involves forcing, priming, or otherwise implanting the secret information that will be used as leverage to gain additional information. Using these methods, it feels exactly like you are hacking into someone's head, and, in a sense, you are. Here we are using something that is sitting in all of our heads already, something with meaning and social associations. Using our matrix and our social methods, we
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can learn the sign information, and we can use that as a sort of a key to bring b ring out all kinds of other information. And more than that, we are creating a situation and an interpersonal connection where the performer and participant automatically respond to one another. The fact that they remembered a happy and proud memory triggers our own sense of happy and proud, and as we recite back the feeling and they respond, the performer and participant will paint on a shared tableau in the space in between them. Or, to put it another way, if we start to think of this as a trick, our relationship to the participant is changed, and a trick is all that it ever can be. Focusing on the real magic in the interaction will give us real magic.
Putting it Together This is all to say that there is not just one common point in this reading, there is at least two. The first is the fact that we all know our star signs. The second is that we're all human, and not so different after all. And reading minds this way does not just look like real mindreading, it feels like it. In practice, when I am able to isolate aspects of a person's memory or aspiration, I can feel it. I can describe it using words that I associate with my own aspirations, and supplement it with the feedback that they give me. The collection and feeding back of information gets to a point where you honestly feel what they feel, and describe what they see. On those occasions I am able to find the exact moment, where they are standing, and what they are doing.
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It is a sort of intense merging of experience through social channels. This is true not only of hopes, dreams, and so forth, but of personality characteristics. In that, for example, everyone feels similar things about themselves. Most people think of themselves as creative and will respond to this. You can take this as a cold reader's hit and move on, or make something useful of it. “You smiled when I said you're creative, what do you create?” Again, this isn't used as a sleight or a tactic, but a leveraged way of learning more things about the interesting interesting person in front of you. As you get more comfortable with this, it gets easier. You are able to extrapolate that initial “known point” of the Zodiac sign to much, much more. For example, if I meet someone and know that they are an athlete, I will slightly rephrase the prompts to subtly push them towards an athletic goal or achievement, so that the reveal later will likely contain more specifics that I have an idea of. And none of this has to sacrifice honesty. As it shows in my own presentations below, I never attribute the revelation to the power of the Zodiac, or anything else. I always put it on the interaction, on their engagement, and will sometimes concede that I'm always genuine even when I'm being a little bit sneaky. I would have no shame in telling a person that I know a few things about Astrology, and I know a few things about how people react both physically and emotionally, and that by combining these I can find out a lot more than it at first seems. Because really, that's a pretty interesting skill, and we have it. No need for a front. As long as I am clear that the fact that they are interested and engaging is what makes
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this possible— possible—not being an all-knowing swami— swami—and that is the more interesting mechanism anyway.
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In this section, we have three simple yet highly effective demonstrations of applying the methods described above. Think of it this way: when a magician is getting you to lose track of a coin or to see one where there is none, the participant follows the social and perceptual cues in a logical path towards an unexpected conclusion: The coin is gone. But it only mattered because they were invested enough in the experience to follow the coin and interested or patient enough to tolerate the magician, and had a set of expectations to be broken. In a sense, that is what we are doing here, just using different senses. In the three demonstrations, we use slightly different tools in order to create the investment, attention, and expectation. The first relies a bit more on social cues, pacing, and playful bits of pressure here and there. The second focuses more on meaning and interest, and delivers a result in an even more subtle and streamlined manner. The third uses a powerful experience to astonish a participant and bring them into the moment that we will create.
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The Zodiac Killer This is a very simple demonstration where it is the pacing and the nature of the social interaction that obscures the leverage and causes the impact. It might not be as astonishing a presentation as the ones that follow, but is a good first simple example of our approach that will be useful to many. It is also well suited to a noisy, distracting, lowfocus environment where attention can come and go. We will build on the basic idea in the next demonstration. This is a little bit hard to describe well since it is most effective in a fun, casual situation, with someone who has interest but where you will be playfully questioning or challenging one another. So take it with a big grain of salt, keeping in mind how your most lighthearted self would go about doing something like this.
Basic Conversational Once the moment is right, you can start with something along the lines of: Don't tell me, but you know your sign, right? (Yes.) So a lot of people know what their sign is, but they don't know their element or quality, which were more important back when Astrology was considered a legitimate explanation for things.
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I can try to guess yours. (Sure) Okay, you don't have to tell me your sign to know. Just listen for your sign and remember what quality it is.
Remember, this is not a script. Get to these points in a way that comfortably fits fits the the situation. If you say say these all one after another, many people will clue in on how you have their sign. I can tell you yours, if you like. You're Cardinal if you're Aries, Libra, Cancer, Capricorn. You're fixed if you're Leo, Taurus, Aquarius, Scorpio. You're Mutable if you're Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces, Gemini.
Before we go on with the presentation, let's just be clear: You already have their Quality. When you list the Qualities, you said the Quality first and then list the signs so as to create a moment that will give you their answer. As soon as they hear their sign, they click in and then immediately have to recall what the Quality you just listed was. And this is easy to see, even more so because the words are slightly unusual. Once you've listed the qualities, you think for a moment and say something along the lines of: You seem like a fairly warm person, at least having just met you. You were born when—spring? Summer?
The thing is, this doesn't doesn't need to “hit.” Just make a real observation in a playful spirit. By wording it similar to the example script, you get get a 50% chance of a “yes” that will narrow it down to the right season with no perceived misses. But also because of the phrasing, you have a 100% chance of them just telling you the season outright and without much significance being attributed to it. You could then say:
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So in Astrology that'd be what, between June 22 and September 22?
Needless to say, you now have their sign. I add “so astrologically between....” and say the dates because some people will occasionally answer based on what season it feels like in the climate they grew up in, which could vary quite a bit. By throwing it in afterwards, it fits the context and does not feel like some sort of pump for information. Now you do a really short reading based on your first impressions, stock observations, or just some light bullshitting of things that will have your “sitter” laughing. Then you end by mentioning that you're almost certain that, for example, they are a Cardinal sign, because you're even more certain that they are a Libra. L ibra.
Debatably Sure-Fire Challenge Approach Here's an even more casual and less transparent version based on the last one, restructured to give a star sign based on how the social context is created. I'm not sure how it comes across in writing, but in practice this is the pure, crisp, fun and surprising star sign divination that I was hoping for back when I started. This is a lot more conversational, using a playful challenge as a vehicle for all the information you need. Again the presentation is fluid, even more fluid this time as it's a playful interaction where you are free to make up whatever you like, as the key points to gather information are so tiny and seemingly insignificant. You know your sign, do you know your quality? OK, hold on, I can probably guess it. 43
Explain what a quality is if needed. A somewhat thoughtful pause is followed by some very serious questions such as: Backstreet Boys or NSYNC? (adjust boy band for likely age) Favorite TV show growing up? Favorite ice cream? And you were born in the spring? spring? Summer? Kind of personal, but... when you sing, can you hold the tune?
Just make up anything, use the environment for inspiration inspiratio n if needed. Each question sparks a moment of discussion and playful analysis. NSYNC over Backstreet Boys? So shorter group success, longer individual success. Maybe a bad team player, maybe someone who would risk greatness rather than be content with mediocrity, maybe just someone who tends to see trees rather than forests (note: this is based entirely on a single fact that one person from one of those bands got famous. No need to be an expert in anything). They can hold a tune? Would their best friend agree with with that? Shower or Karaoke preferred? preferred? If you clarify clarify about the season, you can follow up with “and are you sure?” sure?” as people often seem to mis-call mis -call their own season of birth, which you can also mention. This is all just evidence about their personality. You get to play around and make whatever kind of reading you like based on their answers. Play it up however you like, as you're about to wallop them with their sign. You can also wallop them with their exact birthday, if one of your questions is whether they are even or odd, though you
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would want to be careful with this one in a challenge context. Okay, I have my guess. Tell me if I'm right: Your Quality is Cardinal if your sign is Libra, Aries, Cancer Capricorn. It's Fixed if you're Leo, Taurus, Aquarius, Scorpio. It's Mutable if you're Virgo, Sagittarius, Gemini, Pisces. And I'm guessing that you're... Mutable.
Some people will think of this as just as good as 100% because you have 3 possibilities to guess from in a social context where missing is no big deal. Others will see that just the cold odds odds go from 1/12 to nearly100%. That is to say that it is not actually a 1 in 3 chance at a direct hit. Your chance is actually ¾ for hitting dead-on by chance alone. alone. That is because if they are from the the first set, you’ll hit 100% of the time, and if not you’ll go on to a 50% chance of hitting. You hang a moment after “Capricorn” in which they will react if that that is their sign. If they do, you simply finish there, or contrast it with the other qualities in order to justify justify your conclusion. conclusion. If it does does not hit, you list the next two. And these are not really 50-50 guesses, as you are watching for the kind of “click“click-in” reaction that we were looking for in the “basic conversational” method. The presentation is flexible enough that it can be played as a sort of a call-back over minutes or hours where you guess on and off, playfully relate random things to your suspicions, and then adding a final twist to what seemed just like a random game by revealing their sign and/or birthday. Really, this version is so light and malleable that you can use this in virtually any way your heart desires.
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The Shameless Question It is worth mentioning that in the right context there is no shame in just asking straight out. One example, as Thomas Heine pointed out, is to just ask earlier, and then use the information later after a time delay. Peter Turner suggested putting out the question of season casually to a group of people, then later using the knowledge to jump straight into the Quality. Another is to get the season by countercounterpositioning while talking about signs in general: For example, what season were you born in? (Summer.) So in astrology that'd be what, between June 22 and September 22? (yes) So in modern astrology, astrology, we might say say that people born in the summer are very creative, warm and friendly when you meet them, though a lot of the time they hold back internally, and it takes a while before they open up and trust people. But I'll try to do one better. If you go way back, astrology wasn't just this box in the paper that tells you “today, remember that forgiveness is good.” It was part of the whole system of the universe. And more important than the sign was a person's astrological Quality. Now everyone knows their sign, but nobody knows their Quality …
This would be followed up in the same way as the last presentations.
Reminder Here, we are just focusing on a general idea, and being very efficient. Once you get the sign sign this this easily, easily, you you can either give a simple reading that zeroes in on their sign for the final reveal, or, since you have this information and all 46
the memory/meaning associations from the basic version, you can backtrack and very elegantly do a full reading where you pull things out of their head. This is your key, and having them associate things with this invisible knowledge will now give you access to anything that you can conversationally associate with it. Given that I take Astrology in its serious form not seriously at all, my “reading” will also skew towards “not taken too seriously.” seriously.” This turns out to be a perfect approach in many contexts, as you get to splice entertainment with some absurd guesses and suppositions, yet still clobber your participant participan t with an impossible revelation. Plus, any accidental misses are light and forgotten, while the hits still land with their usual weight.
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M.B.S This is a very conversational approach that is in many ways smoother than “The Zodiac Killer” Killer” above, and also gives an opportunity to automatically get lots of information for a full reading as well as nail the date of birth. birth. Again it involves involves a sort of social push-pull, but it is the meaning and associations that give you your information and cover your method. We use or set up a situation where someone relates strongly to an idea and is curious to learn something small and fun about themselves. With that done, the rest will just about take care of itself. Also, even though this is very casual, it almost effortlessly accomplishes everything in the first part of the book without compromising the impact. impact. The priming of one’s one’s association association to the aspects of themselves that are discussed, the sewing and reaping of the invisible information and associations, the priming, the hit on the exact birthday, are all just part of the flow. If you like, there is is plenty of room to add in the reading of experiences/aspirations like in the first example of the book.3
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If you’ve skipped from the from the start just to see if page 48 was all you had dreamt of, it’s really worth going through the book in order to get the full effect. 3 There are also Element associations with the seasons, so if you like the depth of Quality/Element, you’ you’ll find a nice gift here here.. 48
As always, we start by moving into the subject of signs in wherever way makes sense given the situation and the performer. Then, we move to something like: Don't tell me, but you know your sign, right? (Yes.) So a lot of people know what their sign is, but they don't know their quality, which was more important back when Astrology was a part of how people explained the universe. Qualities had to do with how people engage with the world. They had these sort of mystical sounding names, but you could also describe the types of Qualities as “the mind, the body, and the spirit.”
Or, depending on your situation and personality, you might go for a sort of silly entry instead: Don't take this too seriously. It's more like those viral ch Scrubs character are you?” I just Buzzfeed quizzes of “whi ch happen to know the trivia to do it...
If you are not feeling the conversation sliding into the right place, have a look at how it is introduced at the beginning of the book (Page 6) and in the full script on page 53. Honest, direct, and sets the scene very well. That version, we should note, is altered to only focus on the sign, when in this demonstration we’re actually going to get the date of birth and a lot of other information. information. In any case, start by spending a moment to find out whether they are even or odd, in the usual way. First, do you know if you’re even or odd, astrologically?
Just take the two digits of your birthday and add them together, like if you’re born on the 11 th , 1 and 1 is two, so even. Got it? And what was it? So odd . Now do it again with the last two digits of your birth year —again the 49
numbers don’t matter, just tell me whether you’re even or
odd.
The example at the start of the book is simplified, and you could easily cut this and go for the jugular in 10 seconds in the way implied at the start without getting the birthday. This approach is described below, but b ut for now, we’re doing the whole shebang. Discuss whether their even/odd diagnosis seems like it fits. This is the start of the “does that make sense?” answers that will have them handing over the info you need for the reveal. Next, we mention the Mind-Body-Spirit connection to star signs. If your sign is Cancer, Aries, Libra, or Capricorn, you are The Mind. If you are Leo, Taurus, Aquarius, Scorpio, you are The Body. If you are Gemini, Sagittarius, Virgo, or Pisces, you are The Spirit.
So here we have our three categories, but with an additional personal hook to read their response. Rather than being words that take a moment to think back to like in “The Zodiac Killer,” Killer,” they are words that a person relates to powerfully. So now we put a little emotional pressure as we say the signs, and hang for a short moment for expectation and interest to build after saying the signs, before saying what the signs correspond to. The Mind is the instigator, AKA the first in each cycle, therefore corresponding to Cardinal. The body is physical and resistant to change, and corresponds to Fixed, while the spirit is ephemeral and corresponds to Mutable. In any case, you can follow-up with:
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Without telling me what you are, does that make sense to you?
Let’s be clear about one beautiful thing: Atthispoint At thispointyou you don’ n’tt just hav ave e the heiir type, yo you u hav ave e their type and their feeling about their type. “The Mind” really resonates with them, so suddenly you have the points and the counterpoints counterpo ints for a hell of a reading of the person. You hit on “The Body” and they say that while they relate to it strongly, it it doesn’t fully describe describe them. them. And you go on to to speak about someone who is caring and emotional, but who has a very creative creative and intellectual intellectual side, side, or what have you. you. If it is unclear, you also have a very clear set of associations that you can poke and prod at conversationally in order to be sure. In all cases, you are just describing a person from a certain angle. If they they are The Mind, Mind, you are talking about aspects of that person that we all have, and can all relate to, while also warm reading into some specific hits where possible. You already hit on their type, so no need to try to convince anyone that they are a very cerebral person because they are The Mind, rather, just ride their responses to an accurate description of them, using their type as a starting point. From there you progress in a similar way to how you connect the past memory and future imagination in our Element/Quality readings in the basic method, only they don’t need to imagine anything because the things you will be connecting are their personality elements that you already have a good idea of. How they they think and feel is connected with their birth in a way that subtly gives the season. 51
Imagining that they related strongly to The Mind, you might follow up with something along the lines of: ...And I feel like the fact that you relate to the world in a kind of intellectual way, maybe it makes some people think of you as a little bit cold, even when you're not being that way. I'd maybe guess that you were born in the fall or winter... winter? So astrologically that'd be what — December 22-March 21?
Essentially, you have covered your guess of the seasons with the hit that you got about the way they interact with the world, world, and you already know you’re right here because they told you in the phase before. Even if you miss outright, you have framed it so that instead of a miss you just have an interesting interesting contrast contrast to explore. I have yet to have anyone react to this progression in the way that they would react to something perceived as a “miss.” Since we’re pretty much golden at this point, let’s imagine that in this particular case our participant is a November baby, but they think of themselves as born in winter. The participant rarely misses the season, but when they do it seems like Fall/Winter is where it is most likely to happen. Of Of course because of how we set it up, this doesn’t matter as they just correct themselves when you mention the exact dates, and you continue and again link meaning to reveal the hard information: So fall, then, but as the season is changing. It makes sense that you'd be born in a change of seasons, and I'd guess that you're probably born around the change of the month, too, the beginning or the end. (yes) Because you're a Sagittarius? (yes!) November 30? (YES!)
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This will give a direct hit 100% of the time, because of how we have structured it. There is so much room to get the Mind/Body/Spirit bit, and it makes so much sense in the context. Of course this again is presented very quickly in text, and the real fun comes in with all the by-play and interaction that you and your participant put into the spaces in between.
MBS Direct Now that we’ve discussed smoothly discussed smoothly transitioning in a way that gives you the season, we might as well give a full sample script (not a script that you stick to exactly!) that is a conversation with a lot of potential and without bothering with the big impact birthday reveal. This is a lot more like what we talked about at the beginning of the book. Again, you would make plenty of space for the normal back and forth interaction, but this gives a good idea of how direct you’re able to be while still giving a full, personalized experience. I don't read my horoscope religiously or anything, but they're fascinating to me because of what they are. At one time these weren't just personality quizzes, they were part of a complete system of the universe and our place in it. That's how we came to believe that they influence our personalities and lives. And even though the cosmology might not make sense to us now, some of the insights that people had about how humans behave and move in the world are as relevant as they ever were, like how a love poem from 500 years ago still makes sense to us today.
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For example, I find that a lot of people relate strongly to Qualities. These had to do with the cycles of seasons, and, for an individual, it had to do with how they relate the internal and external world, get along with people, engage with change, and so forth. They had these sort of mystical sounding names, but you could also describe the types of Qualities as “the Mind, The Body, and the Spirit.” If your sign is Cancer, Aries, Libra, or Capricorn, you are The Mind. If you are Leo, Taurus, Aquarius, Scorpio, you are The Body. If you are Gemini, Sagittarius, Virgo, or Pisces, you are The Spirit. Without telling me what you are, does that make sense to you?
Again, because of how you have set up interest and investment, investment, their reaction puts you y ou within a hair’s breadth of their sign sign and could could just go for the jugular. But really, really, what you want is to catalyze a reaction, and to kind of pace and lead with what they give you, to really come in for a smooth landing. When they talk about something, listen well, and follow up with an insight that’s not based on some system, but on what they’ve told you and the vibe you’re getting. Take a few key ideas from that interaction, and just relate it to a season. They’ve talked talked about friends, or they’ve they’ve said stuff that they’re passionate about? Go with Spring/Summer. ...And I feel like that warmth and o penne penness ss you’re talking about It makes me want to guess, completely unscientifically of course, that you were born in the Spring or Summer…
Then, based on their reaction, you relate the season back to the conversation. conversation. Somewhat like the classic forking 54
Barnum, every side has a reverse, and we all have both inside of us, and you are relating what you need to know to one such thing. This makes your “miss” into just an opportunity for an even deeper and more interesting interaction, before you finally let drop the sign in whichever way you choose.
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Signs and Wonders This can be by far one of the most striking presentations possible. It is an experience across all the senses, every element falls into place exactly as it should on your side and theirs. Signals that will lead you to their star sign are are brighter than the Vegas strip during a power surge. Between this and the leveraging used in the basic and the two previous versions, you really have all the tools that you need in order to have total mastery of star signs in any kind of situation, and the ability to turn that into a real connection, reliable mindreading, and a real experience of genuine, pure magic. Because this has to do more with experience, you don't even have to mention astrology, other than very innocently asking if they know their sign— sign—without telling you of course. You get them to agree to experience something that will be a bit strange, but fascinating. Two things first: This has to do with the Zodiac, so when I say things like “spring,” it means March 21 to June 21, okay? (yes) Second, I'm going to have to use one of your hands, if that's alright. (yes it is) But we have to figure out which hand, first. (okay)
Could you just take the two digits of your birthday and add them, so if it's the 12 th, that's 1+2=3. Make sure you end
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up with a single single digit. Got it? And And what was it? it? So odd. We'll We'll use your left hand for this. If you like, you can do the year as the red herring and to create space, but it is not very necessary. The premise of choosing the hand and the special effects that are about to follow will completely cover any suspicion of a numbers game. Just give me your hand like we're introducing ourselves. So right now you can feel both our pulses, and they're going at different speeds. Which is faster? Alright, and what do you notice starts to happen?
This is Bill Montana's ThePulse, but here it becomes an incredible tool rather than an end in and unto itself. We are using the same ritual arc from Bridge in which we have first primed people, framed our feat, and now we give them a first, completely reliable, unusual experience that also implies connection. This will move seamlessly into the next part, which escalates the experience and also gives us all the information we need at the same time. We're also getting agreement and consent at every stage. Can I do this? Yes. Can I do this? Yes. This is going to be very unusual, are you still in? Yes. We're building comfort and that positive frame and bias towards affirmative responses and experiences all along, well before we start with the odder things. Now here's the really interesting part. As we keep holding here you might start to feel a sense of increased sensitivity or even a sort of energy in that hand. That's okay. Think of the season you were born in. If it was spring, your hand will start to feel lighter, if fall it will be heavier. If it is summer it will get warmer, if winter it will get colder. 57
The “increased sensitivity” is a more subtle and context appropriate way of doing the fail-proof fail-proof “point of awareness” thing that I use in some of my other work. They absolutely feel the increased sensitivity because their attention is there, and as they merge their attention and focus with yours, they will begin to feel the other sensations as well. As I say the seasons and the feelings, I also lead with my own hand and imagine the sensations myself. As I say spring/lighter I lift up slightly, as I say winter/heavier I lower down slightly, summer/warmer I squeeze slightly, and winter/cold I loosen slightly. Do you feel that start to happen? (And, if you want to be sure:) And what do you feel?
Now, we get to lower our hands from the handshake position, down to a table if there is one, or resting on/between both sets of knees if there is not. This creates a perfect position that is somewhat reminiscent of palm reading, where they forget about the hand but you keep the relaxed yet close position as you continue to speak. We have created an incredible real connection, a moment of fascination, and complete buy-in to the strange, emerging reality of this experience. We are also, after this simple exercise, narrowed down to 3 months and 2-4 specific days. And the next stage is just as easy and straightforward. Now I'll show you something that, to more ancient astrologers, was much more important than seasons. And I'll just show you by having you imagine something. If you hear your sign I want you to imagine what I ask, otherwise keep your mind completely blank. 58
Here, we list the Qualities and relate them to an imagined high-energy memory (past) or aspiration (future), just like in the basic version. For example, a goal or or achievement for Mind/Cardinal, a place of peace for Fixed/Body, and a change or improvement for Mutable/Spirit. List these out, and be prepared for the reaction. Here's the thing. Even though I said clear your mind, you just mentioning those things, you did kind of jump to a feeling or maybe even a memory. But that's part of the point of all this.
This happens to completely cover your tracks, but also is not a lie. It is actually what happens, so just say what happens as you go along. That's also why there doesn't have to be such a thing as astrology or Zodiacs for this to be interesting, because we all respond automatically and emotionally in a really amazing way, just by being human. And just from what I've learned from sitting here with you, I can tell that you are....
Here you do your full reading, as you would, which there is no need to cover in detail here. You not only have the one that they jumped to because they were supposed to, but the ones that they related to strongly because they were not supposed to. It’s a really interesting interesting area area to explore with the participant. You have also created a “yes” frame and a way w ay of relating strongly to a certain part of themselves. That means that you could add things like “sometimes I ask people to think of memories. I didn't ask you to do that, but I have a sense that you'd have picked a special moment where you really 59
connected connected with a friend....” Now you know that their new memory is in a similar domain and they are in a “yes” frame already, so they will almost certainly say “yes” to this, allowing you to basically explore this hypothetical past memory, and to connect it to aspects of personality and to the hope, dream, change part. And in doing all this, you create such a fun, interesting and fascinating vibe, that you don't even need to blow their mind with what you're about to do. But, likely, you will anyway. Interesting, right? And not that it matters, but I'm guessing that you were born during a warm month... but probably around when seasons were changing. September? (Yes!) And early in the month (yes...?) September 13th? (YES!)
I think this presentation speaks beautifully for itself. It is worth spending a moment for those who are not sure that they can get a sensation. If familiar with Bridge and/or PE , you'll get the sensations almost always. But even if not it is easy to have the person imagine what the sensation would be like. This increases the odds of the feeling actually happening, but also gives the premise for you to ask “and what are you feeling now?/and what are you imagining?” Don't be afraid to let the silence and expectation hang for a bit; for some people it takes a few moments to feel the sensation.
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This book started with an introduction that implied that we shouldn't worry about whether horoscopes are real or not, and to set that whole question aside for a moment. It is important to leave things as you came, so I will take a moment to list all of the bigger-picture cosmic implications that we have been ignoring this whole time. 1) Horoscopes are, in the grand scheme of things, rubbish. In a smaller scheme, they still have personal meaning and significance in the human story, and are also a touchstone that everyone is familiar with regardless of their beliefs. This touchstone still allows the method in this book to craft a fascinating experience, but not immediately know something about a person based only on their date of birth. That's not really a loss since unscientific studies that use star signs as a control are still good. Creeps who used to say “hey baby, what's your sign?” can forget about horoscopes all together and just ask about beer preference. preference. 2) Horoscopes are accurate, and it's because of the influence of stars and nothing else. From the moment this is proven, many mainstream scientists just give up and decide to start secret meth labs, flooding the market with high quality drugs. Prices plummet to the point that those scientists have to use wheelbarrows full of meth to pay for a single precious Brea Breaki king ng Ba Bad d poster for their lab. The remaining scientists are uncomfortable with so much change but also realize that such a long-shot theoretical upset 61
means that this is probably the most exciting time in science in the past 400 years. New discoveries are tremendous and nearly constant for decades. Lacking proper astrological skills in a world where Astrology means legitimacy, the methods from this book allow you to make a modest living wasting those scientists time and grant money like you're a mentalist in a 70's parapsychology lab. Creeps who still think it's smooth to ask “hey baby, what's your sign?” not only can't fall back on beer correlates, but have to start learning charts on the off chance that a woman actually answers them. 3) You never get to know the real cosmic place of all this nonsense. You do, however, use the completely apolitical method in this book, and it is wonderful. Almost as though you created pure magic just by sitting there and being with someone. And even though you just want to relish the moment, the whole experience somehow tickles something in the back of your mind. You had all but forgotten about that one time your primary school teacher tried to convince you that you y ou were a super hero, and your super power was listening. Strange that you would remember this right now, yet so appropriate. Never in her wildest dreams would that old bag have thought that you would— would—or even could— could—come so close to having powers just by listening. And yet there you are, and it is oddly vindicating. That teacher must have thought kids were so dumb. “Kids are so dumb,” the same teacher chuckles to herself at that very moment, though a thousand miles away and in another world from where you had known one another. She wonders why that clever old listening superhero ruse 62
popped into her mind out of the blue, all these years later. She feels a trace of her old smugness as she shifts her old bones, glancing absentmindedly up at the night's sky. There, she pauses, as though struck by a sense that something about the familiar pattern of the sky is a bit off. She squints hard to figure what exactly it might be before her better senses take over. No, she thinks to herself, people just find connections in random data. That’s what constellations have always been. It doesn't have to mean anything. Yes, it means nothing. That's all there is to it. But for a moment there, it sure did look like a giant middle finger.
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