The Furtive Glance
By Liam Montier
Introduction Welcome to The Furtive Glance. This booklet is designed to be a quick glimpse into bizarre magic, and the impact that that it can create. If you are new to this kind of magic, then the pieces will will surprise you. At first, you’ll be unsure unsure that such simple effects pack any kind of punch. punch. Once you’ve you’ve used them them a couple of times, you’ll wonder why you learnt all the other stuff - trust me, I know. All the routines are a re fairly standard in terms of method. There are some basic card moves, and other familiar gimmicks gimmicks and techniques. techniques. Nothing will will cause the average magician magician any difficulty, aside from the presentation. presentation. That’s what sets these pieces apart from the others. The first effect (Astral Vision) is one of my newer creations, and is around (at a guess) three months old. old. Whilst presentational presentational ideas are included, consider consider it a framework… there is a nice story to be wound around this. And, if you get nothing else from from this booklet, check out the force. I’ve used it for years, in plenty of effects, and it fools. A spectator shuffles, and you never even see the faces of the cards. But they cut to the one you want, every time. Also, don’t skip over the bonus finish – it’s it’s one of the strongest things things you can do. do. It utilises a routine of Luke Jermay’s, from 7 Deceptions. Deceptions. I can’t recommend his work highly enough. enough. The second effect (Pyromancy) was inspired in part by a Tony Shiels effect that used the same candle stunt at the beginning, and the same sort of theme. It is a stereotypical bizarre effect… tarot cards, lit candles, and a finish that makes them scream. Finally, The Cruel Hand of Fate is a pure story telling effect, and I love it. Again, I have given you enough of the presentation… the bare bones. You should add the meat to the story, to make it your own. Anyway, enough chatter for the time being. I leave you to casually stroll through the pages, pages, and enjoy the scenery. scenery. I hope you enjoy enjoy your (furtive?) (furtive?) glance around. Liam Montier June, 2004
Astral Vision Psychic phenomena is the subject of the conversation, and all present share an experience with the rest of the group… tales of telepathy and mind over matter from those who have experienced them first hand. “But have you heard of of Astral Vision? Vision? Projecting Projecting your subconscious subconscious being elsewhere, to witness something? Anyone had any experience?” The silence around the table is a clear indication that a demonstration is required. From a kitchen draw, draw, an old deck of cards is found, found, and shuffled by one of the group, as the magician m agician removes an old looking vial of strange liquid. “Cut the cards, and put the top t op one in your shirt pocket.” The lucky participant does as instructed, as another is directed to take the magicians pulse. “Projecting yourself can be kind of dangerous… it’s your inner self that is projected, your your life force. So to do it, you have to, erm… kind of… Die.” Suddenly, the magi swallows the foul looking liquid, and begins breathing deeply, apparently apparently falling into into a trance. Eventually, his breathing, and his pulse slow until they come to a complete stop. The group gets a little uneasy… but suddenly, the breathing and pulse restart, and the magician awakes. “It’s a three, the three of diamonds, but don’t get it yet… there’s something else… it’s metal, small… a five pence coin?” The amazed participant removes two items from his pocket… A three of of diamonds and a five pence piece. piece.
Discussion This effect came around originally as a showpiece for a very clean force that I came up with sometime sometime ago. Having tried it out, out, it elicited such a response; response; I have performed it regularly since... Especially with the finale detailed below… You need a vial of some strange (yet drinkable) liquid, a deck of cards containing a crimped three of diamonds (I use a breather crimp, so that when the deck is cut, the three comes to the top) and a five pence piece.
The hardest part of this effect is obviously loading the coin into the pocket po cket of a spectator, and although I will describe an impromptu version at the end, for now I’ll assume that you managed to load a coin into a pocket during an earlier demonstration. demonstration. Finally, you will need a balled up handkerchief, or ball in the inside pocket, to stop your pulse.
Performance Begin your opening chatter, and introduce the vial and the deck of cards, handing the latter out to be shuffled. We are now going to use the old old cross cut force on the spectator to ensure ensure that the card that they put in their pocket is the three of diamonds. Direct the spectator to place the shuffled deck onto the table. You now demonstrate what you want the spectator to do… that is, to cut the cards and complete the the cut. So, cut to the breather breather crimp, and then place the the lower half on top at an angle. This accomplishes two things… It places the three of diamonds on the top of the deck, and conditions the spectator to cross cut force the card on himself! So the spectator copies your actions, and forces the three of diamonds on himself, which he places into his pocket. Often a spectator will ask if they can look look at it. Tell him that it’s his decision decision – he can show it around, so everyone sees it, or just peek at it himself, or make sure that absolutely nobody sees it. In my experience, experi ence, they tend to choose the latter. Anyhow, direct the spectator to place the card into the pocket that you loaded the coin into earlier. earlier. All you need is a statement statement like “Place it into your shirt pocket” or whatever. Ask another spectator take your pulse, and go through the script before you drink the liquid, and slow your breathing and pulse, eventually stopping it by gently squeezing squeezing the ball in your armpit. armpit. DO NOT STOP YOUR PULSE FOR ANYTHING LONGER THAN A FEW SECONDS… although I’ve never heard of anyone having health problems performing this effect, I see no reason to tempt fate. fate. I ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY RESPONSIBILITY IF IF YOU INJURE YOURSELF USING THIS TECHNIQUE. Less is more in an effect like this anyway. Finally, recover, and then reveal the card and the presence of the five pence coin.
Final Thoughts Obviously, you do not need to use a five pence coin. You are free to use any object that you can load into the pocket of your spectator, like a key, or safety pin, or paper clip, or whatever. As I mentioned before, you may not have the opportunity to load the coin. You can make an opportunity once you’ve forced the card. If you have the coin in finger palm, you can then pick up the card and drop it into the spectators’ pocket, taking the opportunity to ditch the coin into the pocket to. Then the pulse stopping becomes time misdirection, so that the spectators forget that you handled the card at all. Also, you may have realised that you don’t need to use the potion… potion… however, I like to use it. By implying (but never mentioning) that the potion is responsible for the power, it avoids any issues of you being genuine being raised. It also dresses the the effect somewhat, somewhat, in my opinion.
Bonus Variation This is a killer finish finish to the above routine. routine. In effect, after after performing the the above, you reverse reverse the roles. That is, you choose a card, and reverse it in the deck. Your spectator spectator then drinks the the liquid, and her pulse slows, slows, and then comes to a complete complete stop. When it restarts, she names the card that that she saw. Naturally, it is the card that you selected. Quite simply the method is an invisible deck combined with an effect of Luke Jermay’s, from his first book 7 Deceptions, Deceptions, called “For “For Andruzzi”. I leave the description at that, as I’m sure that most of you will have Luke’s book, if you are interested in this kind of material.
Pyromancy “That card that that you’ve just cut to is a representation representation of your fate. fate. Your unavoidable future. But you don’t don’t have to to believe that. And in these days of daily horoscopes in the papers, and premium rate telephone readings, I wouldn’t blame you”. “But what I’m about to demonstrate; demonstrate; will prove prove that that is your future. I’m sure of it. Although, sceptics are free to pass it off as yet another another coincidence…” “Pyromancy, fortune telling with fire, has been around for thousands of years, although it is rarely seen today – People realise that fire is not something that can be toyed with.” “But now, it will serve our purpose nicely. nicely. Firstly, we must prepare these.” these.” Two plain candles candles are lit, and all the other lights lights are turned off. The mage blows out out one of the the candles, and holds the other other above it. Nothing happens. happens. This is repeated several times, until eventually, the flame from the top candle shoots down and lights the candle underneath. underneath. This is repeated a couple couple of times. “That’s good, very good. good. They are now ready to to reveal your fate… fate… The fate that we already know.” The spectator is directed to pick up the tarot cards and pass them one at a time over the flames flames of the candles. candles. Eventually, one of of them is engulfed engulfed in a momentary flash of fire! “I think they’ve made made their point. Did they confirm what we already knew knew was true?” Gingerly, the spectator turns over the tarot card and reveals the lightly toasted tarot card that she selected earlier… The Sun And now, burnt across the face of the card, is a single word. word. “Yours.” The magician reaches into his case, and removes an envelope which contains a reading. Popping the tarot tarot card into into it, he offers offers it to the spectator as a keepsake.
Discussion This effect is designed to be a follow up to any other effect where a spectator chooses a tarot card, and you give give her a reading. In short, the effect is that that the tarot proves that the card she selected is relevant to her fate, or future. Anyhow, you will need two candles, ideally in holders. A nice, expensive lighter (there is something that makes me cringe when I see a bizarre magician with a Bic lighter) or alternatively, matches, although I prefer lighters as they are more reliable. Then find a tarot deck, and a matching duplicate duplicate of any one. On the duplicate, attach a square of flash paper, sticking it to the face of the card with magicians wax. It is important that this square is stuck on the top half of the card, so that your spectators’ spectators’ fingers fingers will not not be burnt to a crisp. I ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY IF ANYONE INJURES THEMSELVES – If you have any doubts, either handle the card yourself, or perform something else. Before we head into performance, we’ll assume that you’ve already forced your regular tarot card, or performed Fate. Fate. Your spectator spectator knows what her card is, and the gimmick lies about fifth or sixth from the top of the deck.
Performance Bring out the candles candles as you begin your presentation, presentation, as detailed above. Light them, and have the the lights turned turned out. You are now going to use use a very old stunt to apparently charge the candles. Hold the two lit candles, one in each hand. Blow one out, and hold the other one above it, but turned on its side, so that the wicks make a right angle with each other. If you get this right, the flame from the lit candle will light the fumes coming from the extinguished candle, relighting it. If it doesn’t doesn’t work first time in performance, don’t don’t worry. Keep trying. trying. You’re supposed to be charging the candles with some mystical power anyway. Something to bear in mind is that when you do this, there is a possibility of candle wax dripping down, so perform this over your own surface, as opposed to somebody’s carpet or table. Once that is done, it is indeed a simple matter to hand the spectator the tarot deck, and to have her her pass the cards over the flames flames one at a time. I use a one way tarot, so that I can be sure that her fingers fingers will not touch touch the flash paper. paper. So once the card has revealed itself, simply give a brief reading on the card, before dropping it into the envelope containing the full meaning, and hand it to your spectator as a gift.
Final Thoughts Colin Mcleod was the clever guy that suggested that a message could be burnt onto the card after after the flash paper has been set off. For example, example, if you know a spectator’s name, you could burn that onto the duplicate card before sticking on the flash paper. That way, there is a flash of of flame, and the tarot tarot proves the spectator’s fate by writing her name across it. He also suggested just using the word “Yours”, in place of knowing the spectators name before before hand. This is the approach that I’ve used used since. If you decide to use this clever little touch, the nice way of writing the message on is to scratch the word on with a sharp point, and then rub ashes into the scratches.
Cruel Hand of Fate “How many of you here here have heard of Marcus Marcus Blacke? He was an occultist occultist expert, and the author of many books on witchcraft, cartomancy, astrology, and so on, who died in 1996.” “However, for an expert in his field, he had one embarrassing phobia… he was petrified of tarot cards.” “Eventually, however, he had to research their meanings and study them, to form part of a forthcoming book, book, so he summoned summoned up the courage.” “According to the story, his plan was to select a tarot card, and place it, sight unseen, into a sealed sealed envelope. He scribbled the date date onto the envelope, and continued with his day, the idea being that he could record the day’s events, and then check if the tarot reading was accurate when he arrived home.” From a box, the performer removes a deck of tarot cards and a brown envelope. The spectator shuffles the tarot, and then cuts them placing one of the cards into an envelope. “However, on the day day of the experiment, experiment, Marcus was killed. killed. Since then, this envelope has sat in the folds of his wallet, with the date of his death crudely scribbled on it in pencil. Just hold your hand out for me.” me.” The envelope is laid onto a spectators’ hand. “Close your eyes, and imagine a date in your head. Name it out loud for me.” The envelope is turned over, and has the same date scribbled on the other side. “And had he been able to check the results of his little experiment, he’d have found that the tarot tarot predicted predicted his sudden sudden end quite quite nicely…” For the first time, the spectators’ tarot card is tipped t ipped out of the envelope… It’s the Death card. “Perhaps a lesson to us all that these things are to be taken seriously?”
Discussion This effect was inspired by Paul Hallas, who, in Son of Totat, published a story about an occultist who was afraid of the number 13. I have changed the story a little, and the method, doing away with the need for a switch wallet or pad.
The effect has also been expanded, now featuring the coincidence of the date matching. Finally, the climax climax has been altered for maximum maximum impact, as the production of a blank tarot card didn’t make as much sense to me as the Death card. The story is set in modern times, so this is one routine where your props do not need to smell smell of coffee. As long as the items look look a little worn, as in used, they will do nicely. To perform this little routine, you need to assemble the following…
A deck of of tarot cards. An envelope envelope that fits the the tarot cards, and and in the wallet. wallet. A thumb writer. writer. By now, I suspect the working working is clear. You introduce the the props, and force the spectator the death card, which goes into the wallet. The thumb writer is then used to write the date on the envelope, and that’s about it. However, for the sake of completeness, completeness, allow me to detail a rather special little force that I use. Prepare by taking your tarot deck, deck, and removing the death card. You need to crimp this card so that you can can cut it straight to the top top of the deck. Although I personally use the the Breather Crimp, you can use whatever whatever one you like. Hell, you can even even just bend the the corner up. Whatever works works for you. Anyway, with the crimp crimp done, hand out out the tarot deck and have them shuffled. shuffled. Do not give them to some wise guy to riffle shuffle… The tarot deserves deserves respect. This isn’t a card trick, after after all. Anyway, they’ve been shuffled. So you say “Cut the cards, and mark where you’ve cut”, and apparently as an example, you cut to your crimp, and then drop the lower portion on top, but at an angle, like the old cross cut force. When you square up the cards, the force card (Death, in this case) c ase) will be on the top of the deck – ready and waiting for a spectator to cross cut force the card on themselves. This is when I remove the envelope from a pocket (which also has the thumb writer in it, so I pick up both at the the same time) and I patter patter about it having the date still written written on it. It acts as time misdirection, misdirection, so nobody nobody notices the the force.
The force card is placed into the envelope, which is then placed on the spectators’ hand. The reason for this is to give them them some kind of reason reason for getting the date date right. Without them them touching the the envelope, it seems seems like a lucky guess, where as if they contact it, they may think that the envelope was responsible for them thinking of one particular date. Anyhow, they name the date; you pick up the envelope, and then write it on with the thumb thumb writer, before displaying it. Now, to get rid of the thumb writer so that you finish clean, remove the card and lay it face down on their palm, leaving you to pocket the envelope and the thumb writer. Then, all that remains is to reveal the death card in relation r elation to the story.
Final Words Just a few thank you’s before I go. Sean Coverton, for the title of this little collection, and the artwork that appears on the front cover. Andi Gladwin, Gladwin, for constant constant support and appreciated feedback feedback on these routines (and all the others!) Colin Mcleod, for the lovely addition to Pyromancy, Anabelle, for the encouraging encouraging words and friendship, Luke Jermay, for bouncing ideas around with me back in the days when we both had time to spare, And to yourself, yourself, for taking the time to read and support support my work. Cheers, Liam.
