A fragment from the
Orbis Ardentis Libris I de omnium rerum mentabilis by Alain Bellon
A fragment form the Orbis Ardentis, Libris I, de omnium rerum mentabilis (The Flaming Sphere, book I, of all things of mind power) by Alain Bellon © 2001. All Rights Reserved. Layout, typesetting, printing and binding by Alain Bellon.
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The Hidden Choice We are all familiar with the equivoque principle. It is another way to create a force or, as we saw in the previous section, to reduce the set of possible selections. Unfortunately, the equivoque technique has been used and abused while its psychological principles have been understood by just a few. Most practitioners use the equivoque exclusively as an object force, which is a very limited perspective on such a powerful technique. Equivocation can be employed for forcing, reducing selection sets, interpreting an outcome or a situation to our own convenience, etc. Limiting the use of the equivoque to just forcing, one object from three, is nothing but a gross trivialization .
An Example Commonly we see the equivoque being presented in the following way: Mage: We have 3 items here. We are going to eliminate two of them. Please point to any item you want. The participant points to an item. If this item is the desired one, the procedure stops and the performer continues with the rest of the effect. If, on the other hand, this item was not the “force” selection, the procedure resumes: Mage: Ok lets take that item away. Now I want you to keep one of the items and give the other one to me.
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If the kept item is not the desired one, the performer says that they will use the one given to him in the experiment. Otherwise the performer announces that they will use the item that the subject kept. This procedure seems effective but does not tap into the potential of the force method. So lets go back and examine how the equivoque works. Keep in mind that there are far better presentations for the three-object-equivoque but I chose to present the mediocre version as performed by many tricksters because it has more pedagogical value.
The Analysis The objective of a force is to limit the set of possible selections. In this case, with every repetition of the equivocal procedure, the set is limited more and more and perhaps (as described in the previous example) ends by singling out an item from the original selection set. The desired reduction of the selection set is to be achieved by as little repetitions as possible. Otherwise the procedure will start showing its true nature. So far this fits a general description of a force, but what makes this procedure special is the hidden choice principle. In simple terms, the subject is given a free choice, but no matter what is chosen, the performer will eliminate the undesired part of the set and keep the rest. I call it hidden choice because the subject does not know if his choice is going to be discarded or kept. In fact the subject should not be even know that he/she is making a choice!
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I think that one of the factors that can weaken an equivoque is the making it obvious that the participant is selecting something. Furthermore, if repetitions of the procedure are to be made, it’s in our best interest to present the choices in different ways each time so that the principle is not discovered. We cannot present them identically because our selection mechanism will change depending on the choices. Lets keep in mind these very important notions. Finally, the hidden choice principle is not limited to binary set reductions, but can most effectively reduce the selection set if used in binary form. In some cases a more efficient set reduction is possible by using tendency analysis and/or a little luck. An example of this at work can be observed in the previous dialog. If the participant selects the desired item on the first choice we rule out two thirds of the selection set in a single operation, which makes the procedure extremely clean. Psychological tendencies can help us make the initial setup the most desirable one so that we have a higher probability of getting to the force using fewer repetitions.
The Elements We have now dissected the hidden choice principle into 4 distinct elements that we can use to maximize the potential of the procedure: © A choice of selection is given to the participant, but the selection mechanism is never specified. © Repetitions must be presented differently to hide discrepancies in the selection mechanism. 5
© The mechanism is better disguised if the participant doesn’t know he/she is making a selection. © The selection set must be reduced as efficiently as possible. Armed with our 4 elements we can now analyze the previous sample dialog and find the points at which is falls short. First, while the selection mechanism is not specified, the participant is told that his choice will be used to discard some items. This statement brings the participant’s attention to the selection process, which precisely what we want to avoid. Second, if the repetition of the procedure was stated in the same way as the first time around, a smart person might question why the first time the selected item was discarded and the second time it was selected. This is very undesirable even if the situation will only happen half of the time. In the example, the performer disguises the statement for the second selection by asking the participant to give one item to him. This statement hides the fact that a selection is being made. Third, it is clear from the very beginning that the participant is involved in a selection process of some kind. This fact alone is quite troublesome. Why would one go through such a process if one can pick a single object at once? It makes no sense. Also, in most situations, the mechanism of the equivoque is more visible if the participants know they are making a selection. Words such as choose, pick or select should be avoided if possible. Instead a more ingenious presentation can be devised around words that will ultimately select but that don’t point to selection right away. This point in particular will be more clear in the effects following this section.
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Third, the selections are done visibly so the performer knows what to discard. There is no attempt to cover the fact that the choices made are known to all. When the selection process is hidden from the participants, one can give a better illusion of a wide and free selection. Remember that we can use the equivoque on more than just selecting objects, and in these cases it is much more important to have an apparently wide selection. Fourth, the selection is reduced as effectively as possible with 3 generic items. In the case of specific items, the selection could combine known tendencies such that the desired item is reached as fast as possible. Tendencies can range from position to colors or appearance of the items (a center item might be selected more often than any of the two extremes, or perhaps some colors are preferred over others, etc.). The sample dialog was not a bad procedure but it should be clear that we can do much better.
A Broader Perspective The equivoque is much more than a forcing method. Imagine we start with a large selection set, perhaps world countries. We could use an equivocal presentation to limit the set to a given continent or even a few countries. Instead of using the words choose, select or pick, we can easily construct a presentation based on the premise of world conquering. “Which country would you like to conquer first?...” I use this particular presentation in an effect that uses the equivoque to limit the selection to four countries that can be predicted using any multiple outs technique such as the Quaddro.
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The equivoque can also be used in conjunction with other techniques that use verbal or mental manipulation to create the illusion of a free choice, as will be shown in my Destiny’s Choice effect. It can even be used to accommodate an outcome to make it look as if it was the predicted or desired one. It can also be seen subtly employed in Cold Readings.
Destiny’s Choice By Alain Bellon
The Effect The mage hands a boxed deck of cards to a person. The participant is asked to consider two aspects of his life to freely select a card. The participant then takes the cards out of the box and is asked to count the cards one by one on the table and to stop when his mentally selected card is seen. The deck runs out and there are only 51 cards in the deck. Amazingly the mentally selected card, which has not even been named, is missing. The mage asks the participant for the identity of the card, and this same card is produced from a sealed envelope inside the mage’s pocket.
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The Secret The strong points of this effect are the facts that the card appears to be a free choice, never named and is missing from the deck. The production of the card in the sealed envelope corroborates the notion that the card was removed from the deck prior to the performance. Presented correctly this is a very strong piece of mentalism. Before going into the specifics let me outline the basic concept of the effect. The card is a force using the hidden choice principle in a very clever way (optimizing the 4 elements of the method as outlined in the previous section). The force is not a single card but a set of 8. These eight cards are removed from the deck and replaced with duplicates of some cards in the deck. The 8 cards are then placed in diverse pockets for the final revelation. To create a convincing force we must give the impression of great latitude when allowing the subject to chose a card. This is done by limiting the value of the cards and limiting the suits. I have devised two different ways to limit the values. First we limit the subject to a number, this rules out the king, queen and jack. Then we limit the subject to odd or even numbers. If odd numbers are used, we further limit the subject by ruling out the seven. If even numbers are used then we limit the choice by asking for a single digit. In both cases we end up with just four possible choices: 1, 3, 5, 9 or 2, 4, 6, 8. The suits are grouped together in pairs and a group is forced. This sounds like a hell of a lot of forcing, but as you will see in short, the presentation makes use of the 4 elements in the hidden choice principle to make it look absolutely natural and beautiful. Only 2 choices are made to achieve the force! 9
So bear with me and you will see the forcing methodology.
Props For practical matters I have decided to force the even numbers and the spades and hearts. This leaves us with 8 force cards:
2 « , 4 «, 6 «, 8 « 2 ª , 4 ª, 6 ª, 8 ª We remove these cards from the deck. The rest of the deck consists now of 44 cards to which we need to add 7 to obtain 51. The seven cards I use are:
10 ©, J ©, 3 ©, 5 © 10 ¨, 3 ¨, 5 ¨ You can choose any cards you want, but avoid cards that are highly visible, like the A«, or cards similar to the force cards, like the 4¨ (since the person will be looking for the 4« and may recognize the 4¨ as appearing twice in the deck). To assemble the deck remove all instances of the duplicate cards (all 14 cards) and set them aside. Then shuffle the deck several times to achieve a random distribution. Now, divide the deck into two piles of 22 cards. Deal one card from each pile on the table. At any point take a pair of corresponding duplicates and place one copy on each of the two dealt piles. After all the duplicates are in, put one pile on top of the other to reassemble the deck. This ensures that each duplicate is 26 cards apart from its copy, allowing maximum time for the subject to forget the dealt cards. 10
As a final step in preparation, place the force cards in separate pockets (and if you like, each in a separate envelope). I usually use only two pockets, one for spades and one for hearts, since it is relatively easy to pick the right card out of the pocket. If I have more pockets I distribute them more. The important point is that you should know exactly where each card is and be able to produce it very quickly. I have found that the envelope adds to the effect, and so does a signature or message written with marker on the back of the cards.
Performance Mage: Could you please hold this deck of cards for me? I don’t want to touch it from now on. Cards have traditionally been used as a divination system. The playing cards that we use now stem from the original Tarot cards used for fortune telling, and some believe that they still posses some of their predictive attributes. At this point one can spice up the presentation by introducing the classic card facts used everywhere by mentalists: There are 52 cards and 52 weeks in a year, 13 values and 13 moon cycles in a year, 4 suits and 4 seasons in a year, the values add up to 364, etc. This also helps remind the audience that there are 52 cards in a deck. A fact that will be important at the end of the effect. Mage: I want to try an experiment with you but first I want to explore a bit of your personality. Perhaps it is chance or perhaps it is destiny but symbols always seem to tell us something about people. For example, I assume you have a boyfriend (husband, partner, best friend, etc.) Think about this person who is very important in your life. If you 11
were to assign numbers to you and him, would you be an even number and him and odd number? Or the other way around? This is the first hidden choice. We will reduce the selection set in half by selecting the even numbers. The participant does not know she is making a selection! Participant: I would think I am an even number and my boyfriend an odd number. Mage: Good, but have you ever thought that maybe thinking of yourself as an even number has a deeper meaning? I am willing to believe that by destiny you were assigned an even number. Or do you think is just an interpretation? Let’s go further. Think of an even single digit. Perhaps one that you like or one that you feel associated with, but chose it mentally only, don’t tell anyone. An even single digit... This is the second question and it is a free choice, any even single digit can be selected. If the subject had selected to be odd and his partner even, the line would have been: “Please select a number for your partner, one that will represent him or her. A single and even digit”. No matter what the participant chooses we ask for an even single digit. Notice that at this point the participant is not aware of the huge reduction in the selection set that we have achieved. As far as she knows she has freely answered the question and freely selected a number! Also be aware that in this kind of presentation much value can be added by the implicit meaning of the words odd and even when it comes to personality traits. Take advantage of this fact if you like or are conversant with cold reading. Participant: Ok. I got a number.
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Mage: Good. Please keep that number in your mind and don’t forget it, as it will become very important in a moment. As I said before, the playing cards that you hold come from the ancient Tarot cards that first appeared in Egypt. They even keep the same symbolism. For example, each suit represents something. Spades peace, Hearts love, Clubs Strength and Diamonds Fortune. I want you to consider something. What do you have more of in your life? Love and Peace or Strength and Fortune? This is the second hidden choice we need to make. This will rule out half of the suits and leave us with Spades and Hearts. Participant: I think I have more Strength and Fortune. Mage: Excellent, those are great qualities. So in your case you are in need for the balancing nature of Love and Peace. Allow yourself to have more peace and love in your life that will come if you truly desire them. But they come to you one at a time. Pick one mentally, by its symbol: Hearts for love and Spades for Peace. Select one of your balancing attributes and imagine its symbol in your mind. Don’t tell anyone. If the subject had selected Love and Peace, then the line would have been something like: “Good, of those two aspects, I want you to concentrate on one. Mentally select either Love or Peace, select the hearts or the spades”. Notice that in our two hidden choices no answer seems to be discriminating or eliminating anything. We are using questions with personal implications to hide the fact that we first eliminated half of the digits and then half of the suits. This is a very important point to remember in any hidden choice applications. Also the illusion of free selection is enhanced by the use of the words pick and select at this point where she truly has a free choice. 13
Participant: Ok. I got it. Mage: Good. Now you have a card in your mind, composed of the number you selected previously and the suit just chosen. A card that you freely thought of. A card whose identity no one has any idea of. A card that represents what you are and what you desire. Keep that card in your mind and don’t forget it. Now we will see if it is by destiny or by chance that we associate ourselves with given symbols. I want you to take the cards out of the box. Start counting the cards one by one on the table and as you count, I want you to look for your card. When you come to your mentally selected card I want you to stop so we can see at what number your card appears. Do it outloud so that we all can hear the number for your card. At this point the subject will count card after card just to reach 51 without finding it. It is important to point out and stress as much as reasonably possible that the card is not known, has not been named, was freely selected and that it was mentally selected. These aspects are what give the effect its main strength. Also, the fact that you emphasize the “number at which the card will appear”, misdirect people towards the real ending of the effect. This is an uncommon quality for a mental effect, as most mentalism lacks in surprise or suspense. Sometimes at some point near the end of the count, I interrupt the count and ask the participant if she has not seen her card yet (be sure to remember the number at which you interrupted, so that you can remind the subject if needed). Of course she has not, so I say: “Really? Hmm what card did you think of? Oh that one. Well keep counting, it must be at the end of the deck”. This interruption gives me enough time to find the proper envelope and have it ready in my hand (or on the table) when the count ends. This 14
can make the final production cleaner if presented appropriately. You do not have to use this method. You can just wait to the end of the count to ask about the card. Participant: 48, 49, 50, 51. Hmm, my card is missing. (Audible gasps and looks of amazement) Mage: It’s missing? That’s very odd isn’t it? Much more so since nobody here knows the identity of your card yet. Could you tell us all what card you mentally selected? Participant: Six of Spades. Mage: Last night I had a vision. I knew we would meet here and now. I decided to remove a card from the deck, and perhaps by chance I decided to remove the Six of Spades. Take the card out from the envelope and show it around. Mage: This is the card that represents you and your desires. Maybe it was not chance... but destiny. Keep in mind that this is just an example of a great number of possible presentations you could achieve by using the same principles and this same deck. As we can see in this effect, the 4 elements of a hidden choice are exploited to create a very powerful and very natural effect. The selection mechanism and the selection itself is hidden from the subject. The repetitions are totally different and even separated by a free selection. Furthermore, it is not clear until the very end what all the questions are leading to. The choices are verbally known by the mage, and the selection set it reduced very 15
efficiently to 8 cards with only 2 Hidden Choices! The rest of the set reductions is achieved through verbal subterfuge and the fact that the selection process is never evident. The whole hidden choice procedure takes less than minute and looks very natural. The effect itself when presented correctly is likely to astound your audience. Be prepared to be accused of using stooges. It is much more impressive to the participant of course, since for her it has special meaning. In the eyes of your audience, you had a person select a card mentally. She looked for it in a deck that you never touched and even though it had not been named yet, it was missing. Finally you show that you had removed the card beforehand and placed it in a sealed envelope. I will not touch upon the importance of the presentational elements that make the effect a more intimate and romantic one, those will be covered later on. As a last comment, I would like to address the case of the odd cards: 1,3,5,9. If you choose to use odd cards instead of even ones, the line could be: “Select an odd number from 1 to 10. (slight pause) Oh, and don’t choose the 7, every one picks that one” (if he actually picked the seven it will be confirming your statement, if not you are ok too). The rest is the same as with even numbers. I have tried both with equal success. Except that when using odd numbers people tend to pick the 9 of spades. This is a tendency you might want to take advantage of by placing the 9 of spades in a sealed envelope and in some visible place prior to performance. As a variation of the odd number scheme, you could discard the Ace by using the same line for discarding the seven. Predicting an Ace of Spades is not very impressive and it will happen some times, so you might want to use the 3,5,7,9 force cards instead.
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