The book of the fallen fraser Parker
Copyright © 2018 by Fraser Parker All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author. For television rights and further information, please contact:
[email protected]
to Jenny boy!
introduction ere it is, The Book Of The Fallen. Fallen . !his is meant to be a companion companion book to The Book of Angels, Angels, although this work will stand on its own " suggest also getting a copy of the afore# mentioned book to complete the series.
!he following is my bold application of what of what has become known as the $ force by %oss !ayler. !his has been detailed in my other limited limited work !he &ook $f Angels, Angels, of which this book is a kind of se'uel.
!he basi basicc idea idea behin ehind d the $ forc force e is to se seem emin ing gly give ive a spectator a free choice to change aspects of a playing card merely thought of in order to create a fairer and more random proc proces ess, s, wh whil ilst st in real realit ity y actu actual ally ly se secr cret etly ly rest restri ricti cting ng th thei eirr choices to the point where the thought of card they end up
1
focusing on is one out of only two to four outs ( they will always be focusing on one of the )ueens from out of a deck of cards.
%oss created created a beautiful method in order to achieve this effect. owever, what %oss wasn*t aware of at the time he came up with his version was that the method he ad+ust usted and improved upon was in fact, a different variant on an even older idea of mine.
!his his firs firstt atte attemp mptt at
crea creatting ing a forc force e out out of offe offeri ring ng a
seemingly free choice was published in enton*s -ind %eading essons and is something that " abandoned before creating the second variant %oss eventually read and updated. " felt my first ideas on this were too bold at the time but it is only after rev revisit isitiing my note noteb boo ooks ks that hat " real realiise sed d it coul could d be used used deceptively if the /re#frame0 also invented by %oss !ayer was applied to it.
!his basic concept has now come full circle and is perfect in terms of its ease of use and its deceptiveness. For me, this method highlights my current drive and state of mind when
creating prop#less effects ( " always try to create the most streamlined and simplified methods, often with method and effe effect ct runni running ng alon along g th the e same same line line se seam amle less ssly ly to th the e poin pointt where the effect is the method and visa versa.
!he go goal al is to blur lur me metthod hod wit with effe effect ct so that hat all all th that at is discernible from the point of view of your audience members and those who watch you perform is the outward appearance of the performance itself. !hey are left with a beautiful lie and thank hankss to the /re# /re#fr fram ame0 e0 prin princi cipl ple e and and how how what hat you do appears outwardly, in and of itself, only illusion remains. And yes, once they accept what appears you have done is fact and is indeed, what has taken place, there is no way for anyone to backtrack method or for the false appearance of real magic to unravel.
"n terms of the following method, it is bold with an almost childish simplicity. owever, it looks and feels how it should to your spectator and will therefore be accepted as so. !hey will perceive the illusion and be fooled by it, even if the method is hidden in plain sight and is staring everyone right in the face.
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"f you act as if what you are doing is what you are pretending to do and trust the outward appearance of the performance itself to create the illusion and fool your audience members then this type of material will fly.
Naturally, as with all of my prop#less work, you should only perform one prop#less item in a set of more solid effects. Not only will this cover any failure that may occur whilst performing these slightly bolder effects, performing other solid effects will help establish a credibility in what it is you do that is essential to getting my work to play.
3ou have to believe in what it is you are doing and act as if it is real 4to some degree5 in order to get away with performing these methods to ensure they work, as well as perform with confidence and in such a way that you make what you do believable.
!his is hard to teach but you can begin with a silent script and an atti attitu tude de to towa ward rdss th the e mate materi rial al yo you u perf perfor orm m or how how yo you u approach thinking about method versus effect ( personally, " feel that these methods are closer to real due to the fact they
6
e7ist in words which are forgotten after they are spoken8 " use words to shift perception and their understanding of reality to lite litera rall lly y crea create te a mo mome ment nt of real real magi magicc 4or 4or th the e illu illusi sion on of magic5.
For me, there is little difference between the illusion of real magic having taken place and a situation where it has occurred for real8 the e7perience in their imagination, is the same.
"t is because of this outlook " secretly hold within myself as " perform that others feel what it is " do is real ( " believe in it myself, to this degree and this is translated to my audiences via th the e outw outwar ard d appea ppeara ranc nce e of wh wha at it is " do and mo more re importantly *ow9* !hey sense that it is something to do with my words and how " am able to twist their sense of reality.
!he performance itself, is the ultimate /re#frame0 and the key to making what you do appear real ( this type of thinking started with my first release !rue -ysteries and was applied more
generally
to
the
performance
of
believable
demonstrations of ypnosis, without the need for trance and has been a thread throughout all of my thinking and within the
work that has followed since.
;o after that slight detour serving as a means of introducing this work, let*s get back to the work at hand and the first method in this book of real secrets and principles.
<=A;= read this book in its entirety from beginning to end and then re#read it a few times before performing any of these effects. =verything needed to understand this work fully, as well as to perform these effects and apply these principles to your own work is taught within its pages but not necessarily in the order you may choose to read it ( do N$! +ump to a specific section and try to learn that method or effect in isolation ( &>! read the book from cover to cover a few times.
!hat is my last warning to you for you to be able to learn this material completely and in the way intended.
=n+oy?
Fraser, 2018
bold o $riginally, in the first version of what later became the $ force " was only offering one side of a change of polarity ( or between two possible options, such as red or black playing cards. "f " wanted to create the illusion of a free choice as to how the spectator could change an element of their card " would only stat st ate e one one poss possib ibili ility ty of th that at said said chang change. e. For For e7 e7am ampl ple, e, if " wanted the spectator to eventually end up thinking of a black card " would say,
“If you are now focusing on a red card change change to one of the black suits …”
Naturally, if " was giving them full freedom of choice " would also offer the opposite to this change also. !his way they would have a completely fair choice within the polarity of available
choice.
owever, by only stating one side of the polarity " realised that this still sounds like you intend to give them an entirely free choice after the fact, and that you were perhaps laBy in giving your instructions or assumed it was obvious that they knew they could also go with the opposite of your instructions. "n this way, you are seemingly offering a complete free choice for how the spectator can change their thought of card but e7pressing this notion in a casual manner.
$f course, they will only be able to follow your direct instruction for them to change from one side of the polarity to the other. Naturally, this will always force them to whichever side of the polarity you wish for them to focus on. =ven when having this e7plained to you, it may still seem completely fair and as if there couldn*t actually be a method but think about it.
"f " said to you,
“If you are focusing on a black card, change it to red …”
C
3ou can only ever end up thinking of a red card. "f you were focusing on a black card you would follow the instruction to change and if you were already focusing on a red card then the instruction wouldn*t apply to you. !herefore, you will stay on the same side of the polarity and ultimately be focusing on a red card.
!he trick to getting this to work is to deliver your scripting and the possible changes of each of the attributes of a playing card in a casual and off hand manner, as if you are literally opening up their freedom of choice, whilst at the same time only ever directly stating one side of the polarity for each characteristic of their thought of card and are simply leading them towards a specific force item, in the process.
Dhat makes this effect deceptive is the way these choices are tied up with a re#framing of what has taken place, once the spect pecta ato torr has has set etttled led on a th thou oug ght of card card.. !his his was was th the e miss missin ing g piec piece e of th the e puBB puBBle le th that at made made so some meth thin ing g th that at was was perhaps too bold before, now workable in the real world. $f course, when " first came up with this notion " didn*t have the /re#frame0 from %oss to apply.
E
ere is the full scripting you can use to force a low value of playing card of any suit you wish.
%emember to deliver your script to the spectator in a seemingly care#free and off#hand manner, whilst actually still being very direct with your instructions. !here is a balance to delivering this script correctly, you will have to learn, with practice.
“Think of a random card in the deck …”
!he !he sp spec ecta tato torr will will now now be focu focusi sing ng on any any card card out out of an imaginary deck of playing cards.
ere is where we begin to apply the change up.
“ust to ensure this choice stays entirely entirely random … if you are now focusing focusing on a red card card change it to a black card and if you now ha!!en ha!!en to be focusing on a "!ade change it to a #lub … and finally, if you you are on a high card change it to a low card”$
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N$!=: the language in bold type makes your second specific inst instru ructi ction on se seem em ev even en mo more re care care#f #fre ree e th than an it actu actual ally ly is. is. "t appears as if you are simply offering a choice to change and are doing so by briefly mentioning one of the possible changes that could be made.
!his would perhaps all be a little too obvious if it were not for the re#frame that follows this scripting.
“Okay, so you now ha%e ha%e a random !laying card card in mind, yes&”
"t is important here that we don*t ask the spectator to confirm they have a /different0 playing playing card in mind, as that might not be the case if they have not had to apply any of your polariBing instructions to change their card and have instead stuck to the same card. owever, this general statement will still fit the reality that they have changed the card, from the perspective of the audience ( even if this is not the case.
As soon as the spectator confirms con firms they have a card in mind you 11
say the following.
“"o 'ust to reca! you literally literally had a free choice to change this card howe%er you wanted (
“Ob%iously, if you had started on a different, random card to begin with with then you would would ha%e changed this card in a com!letely differently differently way, as you always always had the choice to think of of its o!!osite characteristics and and traits, correct&
“Therefore, there is no no way I could know know the card you you ha%e 'ust settle on, correct&”
!he re#frame re#frame as to what has in fact taken place, place, is in bold type and serves to ensure the spectator perce rceives what has happened in the way you wish and to believe in the false hood of the illusion. As soon as they confirm what you say to be true the illusion comes full circle and the false reality is sealed. !hey can no longer back track what has happened due to the fact your words have now been spoken and have disappeared 1
only to be viewed through the lens of the false reality within the fra frame wo work rk of the perc perce eived ived effe effect ct,, of which hich you are are building with the performance itself.
3ou may wish to say the same thing in less words. "n fact, it may be better to keep the whole of this scripting 'uick and cas casual ual to hav have th the e bes best out utco come me,, in te term rmss of impa mpact and and rea reactio ction. n. "t shoul hould d appe appear ar as if you simpl imply y me mean an for for the spectator to 'uickly change their original thought, to ensure randomness and not bring any more attention to the process other than to briefly re#cap on the fairness of proceedings.
Dhat is nice about this particular re#frame is the fact, you are linking their final choice with the randomness of their first choice. "t will feel to everyone involved as if this outcome would have been entirely different if they had started on a different card to begin with. !his of course, is false. owever, it really does seem as if, due to the fact their first choice was entirely random then it must follow that their second choice is also completely free.
"f they didn*t need to change any of the elements of their card
12
and in fact, stuck to the same card all along then it will still seem se em impo imposs ssib ible le th that at yo you u are are able able to know know th thei eirr orig origin inal al randomly thought of playing card.
!hey may change one or more elements of their card along the way and even in a worse case scenario, if the spectator is a parti articu cullarly arly log ogic ical al think hinker er,, they hey will ill still till feel feel like like you somehow knew what they were thinking of originally and this is how you were able to guide them to change towards your prediction or towards the card you eventually take out of the deck.
3ou will now be down to four outs which you can further filter to two. -ost of the time your spectator will be focusing on a low card: either the two, three, four or five of Glubs.
Naturally, you can change the colour and suit of your force card by simply guiding the spectator*s choices down a different path of your choosing. " have found that Aces are usually not chosen due to the fact they appear to spectators as too obvious a choice. $f course, you can eliminate this as a choice by simply mentioning it, earlier on in the routine:
16
“Think of a random !laying card but but !lease don)t 'ust choose an ob%ious ob%ious card, e%eryone e%eryone would go for, like the Ace of "!ades”$ "!ades”$
3ou will now likely be left with the card values two to five with si7 usually being considered a higher card by most spectators. $f course, you can arrange for four outs depending on which type of effect you wish to perform. " might simply place each of the outs in one of my pockets and then take out the correct playing playing card after it has been named, showing showing my pocket to be empty 4other than the card5 in the process.
owever, if you want to get down to only two outs you can use a hanging statement to find out if the thought of card they have now settled on is an odd or even value of card.
ere " would use a ruse from
1
“This is an odd card …”
"f they react to my statement then " know it is and odd card and " don*t need to ad+ust, otherwise " 'uickly change my mind, as if correcting myself.
“*O … +%en”
Now, " would take out the 2 of Glubs from the deck of cards and place it face down on the table, as this is the most likely choice choice and have the spectator name their card.
"f " am wrong " don*t care as " am close and this is only meant to be a 'uick way to warm up at the beginning on my set.
!hose of you who prefer to be e7actly e7actly right and wish to be able to pla place one card card on the tab table as a pred predic icti tion on,, befo before re th the e spectator seemingly names their final card out loud and always nail the card, can use this updated scripting.
“Think of a random !laying card …
1
“ust to ensure this stays stays entirely random random … if you are are focusing on a number number card, change it to a !icture card card … if you ha!!en to now be focusing on a male male !icture card then change it to a female … otherwise, change change this howe%er you want”$
Now all you need to know is the suit of the spectators chosen card to be able to place the correct card face down. "t will always be one of the )ueens.
!he idea for changing from a male card to a female card in order to bo7 the spectator*s choice into one out of the three possibilities 4there being two male cards and only one female5 is
!he way " personally handle knowing what suit the spectator will be thinking of is e7plained in !he &ook $f Angels.
ere it is again briefly e7plained:
As you spread through the cards 4faces towards yourself5 you say the following to the spectator: 1
“I want you to 'ust name the first suit that that !o!s into your head …”
"!ectator- “.earts”
"magine they say *earts*. 3ou now find the opposite suit to whatever they say, of their thought of value. "f they say a red suit then " will +ust take out a card of the opposite colour. For e7ample, if they are thinking of a and say *earts* " would spread through and take out the of ;pades and place it face down on the table as " say:
“"orry, I need to commit to a !laying !laying card first before you say it any any of the details out out loud”$
$ften the spectator will apologiBe for making a mistake at this point? =ven though this moment has been engineered by the performer to always take place.
" now miss#call whatever suit they said out loud and don*t give
1C
the spectator time to correct me. ere " always call out the opposite opposite suit of the same colour " have now committed committed to. !his ensures the spectator is lead away from choosing this suit in a moment.
“"o you said #lubs /slight !ause0 … in in fact, to kee! this this entirely random, whate%er suit you you 'ust said out loud loud change it to a completely different suit”$
!his scripting will cause the spectator to change the colour of whatever suit they first named out loud and due to the fact you have mentioned the only other possibility within this colour restriction they will always have to end up thinking of the suit of the card you placed face down on the table.
!he scripting /change to a completely different suit0 different suit0 will be understood as an instruction for them to make the suit as different as possible which will more often than not cause the spectator to focus on a suit of the opposite colour to the one named.
Also, the miss#call of the suit they named previously acts as a 1E
convincer cer
that you
couldn*t n*t have
been
doing anything
suspicious or trick like as you spread through the deck because how would you control the outcome of the card they would eventually be focusing on, if you weren*t even paying attention to whatever suit they said out loud.
"t is important that when you ask for the suit to be called out whilst beginning to spread through the deck, you act as if you are not paying attention to it. " would also begin to say the line, /actually, /actually, sorry " didn*t want you to say it out loud H0 whilst whilst " am still looking through the deck and then finish the statement as " commit to a card and take it out of the deck / H " need to commit to a card first0.
!hose who don*t want to apply any further linguistic manoeuvrers can simply apply the following bold ruse, of which " have also been getting away with.
" simply ask the spectator to name a suit at random.
“ust say a suit at random, for me now”$
!his looks like a throw away remark and a simple way for the spectator to complete their playing card fully in their mind.
" then place the relevant )ueen face down on the table taking it out of the deck, in the process then apply the re#frame and finally have the spectator name their complete card.
Now all of the information blends into the one reveal as " turn over the face down card or have the spectator do so.
!he !he effe effect ct will will appe appear ar larg larger er th than an wh what at it is as yo you u have have seemingly nailed the e7act card they chose at random or you somehow knew their thoughts in order to guide them to the correct card.
!his is bold an you may only want to use this sparingly in and amon amongs gstt ot othe herr effe effect ctss in a se set, t, so th that at it beco become mess hidd hidden en amon amongs gstt ev ever eryt ythi hing ng else else yo you u do and and is remem remembe bere red d as ye yett another hit or moment where you were correct.
"f you prefer to not have the spectator name the suit then you can use a genuine free choice of suit as a way to bolster the
1
fairness of their previous choices, as follows.
“Think of a random card from out of the deck …
ust to ensure this stays stays entirely random random … if you are are focusing on a number number card change change it to one of the !icture cards … if you happen to now be focusing on a male card, change it to a female …
“And now we are going to do the e1act e1act same thing ( always going with the opposite of whatever your choice was before ( so if you are are focusing on a red red suit,
change it to one of the black suits and visa versa …”
!his will serve as a re#frame in and of itself. Needless to say you will now have to use a four way out of some kind, covering covering the four possible suit choices for each of the )ueens.
Naturally, these variations are closer to the $ force by %oss !ayle aylerr and and uses uses the mo more re conv conven enie ient nt way way of bo7 bo7ing ing th the e thoughts of the spectator, into thinking of one of the picture
cards. !hese are much easier to handle as outs, as there are less of these cards in the deck. "n the past, when forcing a playing card using binary choices enton preferred to force the )ueen of earts, for this reason 4as can be outlined in his now out of print *!he ;ecret* manuscript5.
Feel free to play around with outs and these different verbal techni'ues to build your own uses for said bold ruses, within your own routines routines ( remember, it is the simplicity of what it is you are doing and its seeming innocence that make each of these techni'ues fly? As well as your own performing character and your believability in performance.
$ne of the outs " have used is from Annemann. "t allows for a kind of *Any Gard At Any Number* " place an indifferent card followed by !he )ueen of ;pades, )ueen of earts, )ueen of Glubs and )ueen of Iiamonds on top of the deck and then bo7 the deck.
" then perform the previously described version of bold $ and after the spectator has named one of the )ueens " then ask them for a number ( without repeating their number " simply
2
take the deck out of the bo7 and begin to deal cards face down one on top of the other onto the table, counting as " deal.
" now count past their named number. "f they are focusing on the )ueen of ;pades then " know to deal one e7tra card past their named number. For the )ueen of earts, two cards, for the )ueen of Glubs, three and finally four cards past their named number for the )ueen of Iiamonds. ow many cards needed to be dealt past their named number is easy to recall as each of the suits has a built in mnemonic based on how many points each of them contain: !he ;pade has one downward point, the eart has two bumps, the Glubs have three bumps and the Iiamonds have four corner points.
" now look up and repeat the amount of cards " have dealt asking if the spectator is content:
“/20 cards, that is correct, yes&”
!hey will now correct you at this point. "f they don*t right away then hen +ust +ust act act as if you rea realiBe liBe yo you u have have made ade a mist mista ake, ke, yourself. 6
!hen take the cards you have dealt and place them on top of the remaining cards in your hand and give all of the cards to your spectator, saying:
“"orry, I made a mistake$ mistake$ In fact, you count these so that it is fair, I don)t want to touch them at all”
!hose versed in *Donder Dords* by enton will appreciate how the last line will make it seem we never actually touch the cards or control anything.
!he spectator will now deal down to their named number and find their freely thought of card is at that position in the deck.
!his works due to a displacement which takes place on your firs firstt dea deal, with with your rev reverse erse coun countt pla placing cing th thei eirr speci pecifi ficc thought of card in the correct position due determined by how many cards you miss#count by.
bold drawing !he following is an application for the &old $ principle taught above that may at first appear far too bold and obvious to be fooling but trust me " have fooled magicians with this as well as lay people ( for whatever reason, r eason, it plays beautifully?
" think this is because of the fact, everything appears and more importantly feels e7actly as it should.
"t is bold in it*s simplicity but here in lies the key to its success ( it appears simply as if you give a spectator a free choice to think of literally any drawing and then 'uickly get them to change change their mind in order to make the process fairer ( that is it?
"t uses the frame#work and structure already established in my
prop prop#l #les esss draw drawin ing g dupl duplic icat atio ion n *" Fall Fall !o
!he only difference between what takes place if you were to genuinely perform this effect for real and what in fact takes place due to the necessary, small compromise in method is the omission of one of the possible polarities of change.
ow owev ever er,, beca ecause use a com complet pletel ely y free free choi choice ce of cha change nge is suggested by the outward appearance of the effect itself and the off hand manner in which you deliver your instructions, it will always appear fair and e7actly as it should, if you were actually doing this for real. $f course, we add in the re#frame as in the previous use of this bold principle to further cement this as reality in the minds of everyone involved.
First of all, we get the spectator to focus on a random drawing. De do this in a specific way to ensure they will likely be thinking of one out of a few likely drawings. !his method uses the same limited field of potential thought of drawings as the original *
" will not list all of the possible drawings as most of the time you will only be down to a couple of outs when applying the following scripting but those who wish to have a larger safety net when performing this should check out either of the afore# mentioned releases.
“I want you to focus on a random random drawing$ 3ake this a sim!le ob'ect and and something that others would instantly instantly recogni4e, if you were to actually draw this”$
!his !his is my st strea reaml mlin ined ed way way of ensur ensurin ing g th the e sp spec ecta tato torr will will eventually think of one of the force drawings ( if you want to make this more sure fire then you may want to use the lang langua uage ge prov provid ided ed by
!hey !hey will will be th thin inki king ng in te term rmss of simp simple le ob+e ob+ect ctss th that at are are instantly recogniBable and will therefore, more often than not fall into the trap of thinking of only a handful of potential basic drawings. C
!he outs that " deal with in this routine are:
!%==
$r
$>;=
!hese are both psychological forces and likely thoughts in and of themselves which is in part why they are eventually chosen.
Dhich of these the spectator eventually focuses on is dependant on how you prefer to guide their choices.
ere is an e7ample of the script that will lead the spectator to ultimately be focusing on a tree.
“I want you to focus on a random random drawing$ 3ake this a sim!le ob'ect and and something that others would instantly instantly recogni4e, if you were to actually draw this”$
E
" now continue with the bold ruse:
“ust to ensure this stays stays entirely random random … if you are are focusing on something something man made, made, change it to something natural natural … if you ha!!en ha!!en to now be on on something you can easily easily hold in your hand, change it to something much larger …”
!his language bo7es the spectators into thinking of something within the categories of natural and something much larger than they can hold in their hands and will more often than not lead them to be thinking of the most likely force item, of a tree.
%ememb %emember er these these instru instructi ctions ons are delive delivered red in seeming seemingly ly off hand manner, as if you are simply offering the spectator a choice to freely change their drawing however they want, to make this process even fairer.
Now comes the re#frame that wraps everything up beautifully and and make makess yo you u guess uessin ing g th thei eirr th thou ough ghtt of draw drawin ing g appe appear ar impossible.
2
“To re5ca!, you could ha%e literally changed changed this drawing howe%er you you wanted to … ob%iously, if you had started on a different different drawing to begin begin with then you would ha%e changed changed this to a com!letely com!letely different drawing … so there is no way I could could know what you are now focusing on, correct&”
!hey will agree with you and you are now ready to reveal their thought of drawing under seemingly impossible circumstances.
;tating the reframe as something obvious and seemingly self# evident helps to convince the spectator that what you say is indeed the true situation. !hey will not want to feel stupid or feel they have missed something so blindingly obvious about the proceedings and will therefore, simply follow along with your our stat tatem emen entt and agre agree e with ith what hat you say and in th the e process, fool themselves into believing in the illusion.
" would usually +ust reveal that they are thinking of a tree at this point.
21
"f you know the other potential outs they could be thinking of then you may wish to have the spectator focus on their drawing as a word and throw out an amount of letters getting the spectator to correct you if you are wrong and then narrow down on their drawing that way.
" don*t feel this is necessary as " usually perform this as a 'uick bit in and amongst other pieces in my set. !herefore, any miss is easily washed away and can be 'uickly 'uickly moved on from. 3ou have not placed much importance on the process to begin with and are using it as a way to get in sync with your spectator.
"f you wish you could throw out another out verbally and if you hit end there, otherwise otherwise proceed to have the spectator actually actually draw their thought of drawing and duplicate it in the same way you would, classically.
!he only other item they could be thinking of at this point is a -ountain or perhaps the ;un or -oon.
3ou can kill the ;un and -oon by mentioning these earlier on
2
in your script whilst giving your instructions for the spectator to think of something simple /... like the ;un or the -oon but obviously, don*t now think of those as " have mentioned these0 and th then en cov cover yours oursel elff by th thro row wing ing out out -ount ountai ain n as a potential hit before moving into the actual duplication.
" usually don*t bother with these safety nets. As %oss &artels will testify /... it*s tree all day long?0
"f " was dealing with the polarity of a man made ob+ect and forcing the spectator to think of something much larger than would fit in my hands then " would force a house. !he other potential drawings they may go for being a car or table and chair. Again these can be eliminated as already e7plained by giving the e7ample of a table or chair at the start and then being down to the two outs of house or car.
" find forcing something natural is easier due to the fact more often than not a tree will be chosen with no need for the use of any other outs.
"t will seem to the spectator that they literally had a free
22
choice of any drawing or ob+ect and even when given a choice you were able to somehow nail their drawing out of thin air?
!his !his is th than anks ks to th the e use use of a rest restri rict ctiv ive e fiel field d of pote potent ntia iall drawings that doesn*t appear to be restrictive, as well as the old use of psychological forcing coming into play.
26
touches – prop-less utility !his ne7t piece is something that " first attempted to solve around the time " was working on the $ui+a name guess with my good friend %oss !ayler.
" knew that it must be possible but couldn*t find the missing piece of the +igsaw puBBle, at the time.
" wanted a way to incorporate the use of the classic timing force with playing cards and more specifically the *Irop force* by =ddie Fetcher in a way that would allow me to perform with it prop#less and without the need to have a deck of cards on my person.
&riefly, the drop force works as follows:
2
A force card is placed on top of the deck and the deck is then cut around one third from the top of the deck and this packet is placed to the bottom of the deck held with a finger break.
!he deck is held with this finger break in a dealer*s grip.
!hen to achieve the force a third of the packet above the finger break is cut and placed onto the table, followed by another third 4also placed on top of the tabled packet5 and finally the remaining cards above the break are dealt to the tabled packet.
"f you instruct the spectator to /say stop somewhere H0 as you begin to deal these packets to the table, they will invariably say stop when you have dealt the last packet above the break.
!his works due to the classic timing force. "t will feel right for them to stop on the third packet or third beat in the timing. 3ou yourself have to get used to the correct pacing and the speed at which you deal each of the packets in order for the timing to feel natural and free to the spectator. owever, with a little practice this becomes fail safe and one of the fairest ways to force a specific playing card.
2
"f they are slightly delayed or out of sync with the natural timing and say /stop?0 a beat after the classic three beat timing then all you need to do is continue dealing another smaller packet onto the table from the cards remaining in your hand and it will be at this point the spectator will now say stop.
Now all you need to do is utiliBe the card on the top of the tabled packet instead of the top card of the packet cut to, in order to ensure the force card is always selected.
$f course, if they don*t stop you during this e7tra beat of the timing force and you can*t use this as a safety net then " would simply pick up the cards on the table and place them back onto the cards held in dealer*s dealer*s grip, false shuffle retaining retaining top stock and then begin the process again remarking in a +oking way,
“$$$ before we run out of cards”
"n order to ensure they don*t stop you too soon the ne7t time you apply the force and try to trick you by calling out /stop?0 right away on the first cut, " would say the following: 2
“3ost would 'ust say sto! sto! now but I want this to be fair …”
" pause after having said this line and cutting the first packet to the table and then continue with the usual forcing procedure, /... +ust say stop somewhere0. 3ou will now cause the spectator to either say /stop?0 on the third or fourth beat as usual.
!his is such a reliable forcing techni'ue with playing cards " knew " wanted to use it for other things.
" feel my adaption may be a little easier to pull off and more 2C
self working, due to the psychology at play. Not to say that
" realiBed that the reason the *Irop force* 4e7plained above5 is so reliable is because there is a natural cap that occurs during proceedings. !he spectators understand that you are running out of cards in the deck that can be dealt and it is for this reason they will always feel slightly pressured to say stop when they do. !his may only be something that they pick up on subc subcon onsc scio ious usly ly and and in no way way se seem emss to affe affect ct th the e se seem emin ing g fairness of the force.
$riginally, " was trying to touch different areas on my arm and then move onto each of my fingers in order for the spectator to think stop on one of those areas, utiliBing the classic timing force. !hen " would label the different areas and this would allow me to either force information or retrieve information from from th the e sp spect ectat ator or depe depend ndin ing g on wh whic ich h of th thes ese e area areass was was marked out, mentally.
!he reason for using areas on my arm and the fingers of my
2E
hand was so that " had a physical way to refer back and forth between a list that could be created on the fly, without the need for a piece of paper and pen.
"t was only recently whilst reading back through my notebooks that the *penny dropped* and " suddenly knew how all of this would fit together ( it was all down to the choreography of the force.
!he use of the fingers is key. Not only will they allow you to define a specific area the spectator will be focusing on that is hard for them to forget they also allow you to create the notion of a limited range that will ensure the spectator thinks stop when you want them to. !his was what was missing in my first attempts at creating a timing force with touches.
" begin by directing my spectator not to say anything out loud.
“"tay com!letely com!letely silent as we do this, okay& 6on)t 6on)t say anything out loud”$
" now begin to touch different areas of my arm and hand in 6
turn at a steady pace. First of all " touch the front of my forearm then the middle of the back of my hand and then as " touch my thumb on the middle phalanger " say the following:
“ust think sto! somewhere …”
" then touch each of my fingers in turn at the same pace of timing but slightly slow slow down as " reach my fourth finger. !he fingers " touch in order are as follows: -y first 4inde75 finger, second 4middle5 finger, fourth 4ring5 finger and my little 4pinky5 finger.
" then continue to touch the first two areas of my arm again 4in reverse order5 without missing a beat on the timing.
Dhat this does is forces the spectators to think stop on either the middle or ring finger due to the fact it will feel to them that you are running out of possible fingers for them to choose from. !his is the same psychology that happens with the *Irop force* when the spectator feels you are coming to the end of a limited stack of cards.
61
owever, what is beautiful is you will continue right along after the little finger finger and touch the other areas of your arm 4in reverse order5 also adding a final touch somewhere else on your arm and this will suggest they truly truly had a free choice of where to stop that was not only limited to the previously seeming restricted choice that was capped by the fingers.
!here choice will appear much bigger than it actually is.
Not only will this ensure one of these fingers are chosen the fact you don*t give your instruction for them to think stop until you are touching your thumb also ensures they can*t select any other area of your body that proceeded this thumb touch.
=verything will blend together to create the illusion of a free choice. "t will appear as if you always meant for the spectator to think stop even if you give your instruction slightly late. Not only will this be a factor but it will also seem they could have chosen those areas after the command when you go back over them with your touches.
" love this method due to the fact " have tattoos and it allows
6
me to +ump from tattoo to tattoo as stepping stones. owever, this is +ust as effective without a visual reminder of where the spectator has thought stop.
"n fact fact,, so some me may may pref prefer er to perf perfor orm m th thes ese e to touc uche hess on th the e spectators arm or to do so and then pretend to be able to feel energy by hovering their hand over each of the areas, as the spectator focuses mentally on their thought of area 4without the spectator giving it away by looking5. Io whatever works best for you.
!here is a small chance the spectator may think stop on the little finger. finger. !o get around this " use a hanging hanging statement statement as a way to generate a hit that can be perceived as a throw away effect, if and when the timing has missed.
After performing the timing force, " would simply simply say:
“3ost !eo!le !eo!le now would be thinking of the !inky or or little finger”
" pause for a moment to see if " get a reaction and if there is no 62
reaction from the spectator " can continue along confidently with the rest of the routine " am using this timing force for.
“But I am glad glad that you are not !redictable and and think differently to most most !eo!le and ha%e genuinely chosen chosen at random an area to focus on”$
As well as serve as an out this will also help bolster the fairness of proceedings.
3our spectator should now be thinking of either the middle or ring fingers.
!hese two possible outcomes are dealt with within each of the uses of this timing force, themselves. For e7ample, if utiliBing this timing force to reveal a single digit number then you can label the fingers as follows:
“I am going to name single digit digit numbers from 758 and I want you to focus on the number number that corres!onds to the area you are now focusing on”$
66
" now perform the same touching procedure but this time say out loud each of the numbers in ascending order from Bero to nine as " touch each area of my body.
Dhat is nice about this method due to the compactness of the touc to uche hess is cert certai ain n area areass will will have have mo more re th than an one one piec piece e of info inform rmat atio ion n atta attache ched d to it. it. owe oweve ver, r, th thes ese e are are alwa always ys th the e areas of the body that are redundant and will not be thought of by your spectator.
3ou may want to mention this in performance as a way of suggesting that what it is you are doing is that much more impossible.
“There is no way I could know the number number you are now now focusing on or whether whether you ha%e had had to choose from more than one number”$
Now it is a simple case of throwing out a closed 'uestion or hang hangin ing g st stat atem emen entt pose posed d in th the e nega negati tive ve th that at deal dealss with with whether their number is odd or even, to nail down on which of 6
the two numbers they could be thinking of.
"t will always have to be odd or even due to the fact the pote potent ntia iall th thou ough ghtt of finge fingers rs and and th thei eirr subs subse' e'ue uent nt labe labell llin ing g with numbers will always be ne7t to each other.
“9ou)re not thinking of an odd number are you&”
"f they say *yes* then you follow up with:
“I thought so”$
"f they say *no* you say:
“I didn)t think so”$
=ither way you will appear to be correct in your statement.
Now you indefinitely indefinitely know their thought thought of number number and finger they were focusing on.
!his is +ust one use of this force. 6
"f you wanted to reveal a playing card then you could label each area Ace through to ing ensuring you count three times on the arm before touching the thumb and the rest of the fingers and cycling through the touches so that the middle and ring finger do not have any repeated values applied to them.
!hen you can simply cycle through the suits Glubs, earts, ;pades and Iiamonds in order to create two possible thought of playing cards.
Now all you would need to do is perform a hanging statement on either odd or even for the value or on whether it is a black or red card, in order to distinguish the correct thought of card.
As most people don*t think of picture cards as having a corresponding odd or even value, it may be better to use the red and black suits as the distinguishing feature.
"f you want to use this utility as a force then after you have gone through the timing force you can say:
6
“ust to make this e%en more random random I want you to 'um! to the %ery ne1t !osition to the one you you are now focusing on but only if you don)t don)t end u! on the !inky !inky finger ( for some reason e%eryone e%eryone goes for that finger and I want this to be entirely random”$
!his will ensure they will more than likely now be focusing on the ring finger and you can label this finger accordingly to ensure your force outcome.
"n fact, you may want to add this as a way of making the timing force more sure fire whenever you prefer not to be down to two possible outs.
Naturally, this utility is only limited by your imagination.
"f you want to establish a truth or liar situation then you can label each of the areas ne7t to each other as either truth or liar and alternate as you touch each area in pairs. !his will ensure that no matter which of the two possible fingers they could be thinking of they will always be thinking of either truth or liar as these are dealt with as a pair. 6C
Now you can control whether or not the spectator will always lie or tell the truth in response to your 'uestions about a freely chosen item such as a playing card or thought of drawing.
3ou could label each of the areas with a letter of the alphabet in ascending order and then force a specific Gountry or common thought of name.
"f you wanted to obtain the first letter of a thought of name then you could instruct the spectator to name the first letter of their heir thoug hought ht of name name wh when en you to touc uch h the area area they hey are are focusing on, otherwise they are to say a random letter each time you touch each of the non thought of areas.
"f you are using it this way, " would suggest also instructing the spectator to pause slightly before giving each of the letters as to not give away which of the spoken letters is their thought, due to the fact it may take longer for them to generate each of the random letters compared to the letter they already have in mind.
6E
"t is also also wo worth rth me ment ntio ioni ning ng th that at afte afterr appl applyi ying ng th this is timi timing ng force you may want to instruct instruct the spectator spectator not to +ust look at the area they are focusing on or give anything away.
3ou could also get the spectator to name random random star signs and to name their star sign when you are touching their corresponding thought of area. !his would have to be performed with someone who is familiar with each of the star signs or at least knows five or si7, so that if they repeat a few signs it will still be impressive if you can nail theirs out of si7 possibilities.
3ou could easily perform a drawing duplication based on the limited restriction field of drawings if you get the spectator to name the first letter of their thought of drawing.
ere is the restricted list of potential drawings they could be thinking of:
!%== $>;= GA%
&$A! ;>N -$$N !A&= GA"% ;!"G#-AN A%=$<AN= or <AN= GA! I$J -$>N!A"N
Dith ith a lit little tle fis fishing hing you will will be able ble to eas easily ily nail nail th thei eirr drawing, providing you instruct the spectator to think of a simple ob+ect that would be instantly recogniBable.
N$!=: "f you know -ichael -urray*s Gups principle then you can apply it during your performance of the &$I Irawing Iuplication 4taught previously5 in order to narrow down which out of this list of drawings the spectator is likely thinking of. All you need to do is have the spectator focus on the word for their drawing 4whatever it is called i.e. A%=$<AN=5 and to count the amount of letters in the word secretly to themselves
1
in their head. !hen throw out an amount of letters and if you are are wron wrong g th then en have have th the e sp spec ecta tato torr te tell ll yo you u th the e amou amount nt of letters. !his will narrow their potential thought of drawing down to one or two possible possible images. !hen you can use any out, accordingly.
3ou can also unlock someone*s phone by getting the spectator to call out each of the digits of their pin combined with random numb number ers. s. 3ou 3ou wo woul uld d simp simply ly use use th the e odd odd or ev even en hang hangin ing g statement on the first number then repeat the process for each of the other numbers in their pin and then after going through through the process the re'uired amount of times for either a four or si7 digit pin number, pick up their phone and unlock it.
"f you decided to use this method to gain the first number needed to perform the reverse pin from !he &ook $f Angels, using my *shift in premise* principle then you may want to apply apply something something my good friend
tsukushii* method, also taught in !he &ook $f Angels.
"nstead of applying a closed 'uestion or hanging statement to
find out if the number the spectator is focusing on is odd or even ( you can simply have have them tell you.
“6o you feel this number is odd or e%en&”
Dhat Dhat is beau beauti tifu full abou aboutt th this is ruse ruse is th the e fact fact th the e sp spec ecta tato torr already knows whether the number they are focusing on is odd or ev eve en and and will will have have no oth ther er choi choice ce but but to ans answe werr th this is slight slightly ly strang strangely ely placed placed 'uesti 'uestion on in a truthf truthful ul manner. manner. $f course, this will tip whether their number is odd or even to you.
Dhat is nice about this is the fact it fits perfectly from a theatrical point of view, as it is in#line with the premise of the spectator guessing information about your pin number.
=n+oy, =n+oy, finding all the different ways you can apply apply this update update on the classic timing force.
!his techni'ue is only limited by your imagination?
2
rose 3 Dhat follows is my latest and perhaps final update on the prop rop#les #lesss name name guess uess.. " feel feel th the e fol follow lowing ing me metthod hod is an improvem eme ent on my previous release /%ose0 due to its stre st ream amli line ned d natu nature re as we well ll as th the e fact fact th that at th this is upda update ted d method allows you to get multiple letters of the name with very little additional work ( in fact, the entire method is practical and self#working.
!his is something " have attempted to do with all of my work8 simplify it to the point where all that is left is the illusion crea creatted by the bold old use use of word ords and ps psyc ycho holo log gy. " hav have realised that as long as your words and actions get the work done done,, in th the e easi easies estt way way poss possib ible le wh whil ilst st at th the e same same time time creating an outward appearance of an effect that is deceptive then it is better to work less, in this way8 by working smarter
6
instead of harder.
Not only will this make the presentation more streamline and eliminate any heavy process from the performance of the effect itself, it will also make it easier for your spectator to follow along with your instructions in order for the effect to play out as intended.
"t is surprising how such bold manoeuvrers can be gotten away with when performed with confidence and within the conte7t of other effects that help bolster a believability in what it is you are doing. $f course, it is necessary to already put across a believability in your character and performance to those who you perform for, in order for the material of this nature to fly past your audience members. !his newer work is no different, it +ust happens to be even simpler in nature and that much bolder.
"t is the outward appearance of what it is you seemingly do that convinces everyone that everything is as it should be and there could be no chance of deception or at least none that they can perceive. !he fact that this is done with almost childish
simp implicity, is what makes this approa roach so beaut utif ifu ul ( ever ev eryt ythi hing ng appe appear arss as it shou should ld ( yo you u are are acti acting ng as if th the e illusion illusion is all there is to it and all that those who are watching are able to hold onto and perceive "; precisely !A! illusion.
;o without further ado, let*s get right r ight into the words at play.
N$!=: %emember to always act as if what you are doing is so from the point of view of illusion and perform with confidence.
!hat is the key to making this material work.
!here is a little little memory work re'uired if you don*t wish to use a crib in performance but this really is minimal for the impact this routine will have on those who you perform it for.
" will be brief with this e7planation as there really isn*t much to it at all.
%ead this effect as well as the entire book in order a couple of time timess to ensu ensure re yo you u unde unders rsta tand nd full fully y ev ever eryt ythi hing ng th that at is at work in this method and its applications.
iter iteral ally ly,, wit within hin a few few se seco cond ndss, you will ill hav have all all of th the e information you need to successfully guess the name someone is merely thinking of.
ere is a performance script e7ample, with the secret work hidden in plain sight 4as it will be to everyone else watching, in actual performance5:
“There is someone close to you who who has been on your your mind recently$ This is a 3ale !erson !erson and they ha%e a common s!elling of of the name$ #an you think of who this is without saying their name&”
"!ectator- “9es”$
“:ho is this&”
"!ectator- “3y work colleague”$
“Okay, is there any any way I could know who this is or
know anything about this !erson&”
"!ectator- “*o”$
“:ould you mind mind if I continue to read you to find out more about this !erson and what they mean to you&”
"!ectator- “"ure$ 6o it”
“Okay$ "o that we we can more easily generate generate characteristics and and traits about about this !erson that relate relate to them on a !ersonal !ersonal le%el, 'ust focus focus on the first letter in their name for me”$
"!ectator- “Okay”$
“And in a moment, I want you you to 'um! a few letters forwards in the al!habet$ al!habet$ "o if this was was the letter )a) )a) you would think to yourself yourself )a) … )b) … )c) … "o 'ust do this this for me now, starting starting with whate%er whate%er the first letter letter of this C
!erson)s name name is”$
"!ectator- “Okay”$
“And now 'ust say a !ositi%e !ositi%e characteristic or trait trait that begins with this new letter, you feel would would best sum this !erson u!”$
"!ectator- “;o%ing”$
“Okay$ *ow *ow focus on the second second letter in the name name and do the e1act same thing again again but this time gi%e me a negati%e characteristic or trait”$
"!ectator- “Okay$ “Okay$ +r …
“Okay good$ "o 'ust to to reca!, there)s no way I could know how many letters letters you decided to 'um! each time, so there)s no way way that these characteristics characteristics or or traits could tell me anything anything about the name name of this !erson, !erson, E
correct&”
"!ectator"!ectator- “#orrect”$
/I would now deli%er a =uick reading which is out out of the sco!e of this manuscri!t to outline0$
“Okay$ "o based on all all of the characteristics and traits traits I am starting to get a sense of this !erson$ #an you 'ust focus on the name name for me&”
"!ectator- “Okay”$
“And if you can abbre%iate abbre%iate the name name then think of it in its short form”$
"!ectator- “6one”$
“This is > letters, correct&”
"!ectator- “9es”$
“Imagine saying the the name o%er and o%er to yourself yourself … so this would be O". … O". … O".”$
"!ectator"!ectator- “O3? … 9es … .ow did you do that&”
Now that " have walked you through a typical performance of this effect " will start to break down the script and why this works.
ope opefu fully lly,, th thos ose e not not alre alread ady y accu accust stom omed ed to my wo work rk wo woul uld d have been fooled by the method hidden in plain sight, in the above performance e7ample. !hose who are already familiar with %$;= will hopefully delight in the changes made to the original handling of my trade#mark name guess.
First of all, we restrict the potential names the spectator could be thinking of using an aspect of
1
“There is someone close to you who who has been on your your mind recently$ This is a 3ale !erson !erson and they ha%e a common spelling of of the name$ #an you think of who who
this is without saying their name&”
De simply claim to know that someone has been on their mind rece recent ntly ly.. !his !his dire direct ctss th the e sp spec ecta tato torr to th thin ink k of a sp spec ecif ific ic thought 4in this case a person5 without having to tell them to do so.
!his is a problem with how most performers get the spectator to think of information when utiliBing classic methods. !hey ask them to think of specific information and to write it down. Dhereas, by stating we are receiving impressions we achieve the same results indirectly, without it looking as if we are +ust telling the spectator what to think, whilst at the same time creating the illusion we have already begun to read their mind.
"!ectator- “9es”$
“:ithout saying their name … who is this&”
&y asking the spectator who this person is we get them to confirm that there is, in fact, someone who has been on their mind and in the process of asking, get them to reveal their relationship with this person. !his is beautiful because now it is not +ust a random name but someone that means something to them. !hey have +ust made the thought relevant.
3ou may have also noticed that due to my being specific about certain details about the person " was receiving impressions, " have also created a restriction that will help to guess the name easier, in a moment. !his is important when using such a streamlined prop#less method, as follows.
" have restricted the spectator to find someone who has been on their mind recently who is close to them but not only that ( " have also indirectly directed them to think of a -ale name 4ea 4easier sier to guess uess in my Goun Gountr try y5 that hat also also has has a com commo mon n spelling. !his will ensure you won*t ever be in the position where you are trying to guess a difficult spelling of the name or unusual name with this method.
2
N$!=: 3ou should always add the line KH without saying their nameK so that the spectator doesn*t +ust blurt it out and end the effect before it has even started.
"!ectator- “3y work colleague”$
Now that we have got the spectator to think of a name we can easily guess, we move on with the script.
“Okay, is there any any way I could know who this is or know anything about this !erson&”
"!ectator- “*o”$
$f course, they will say no at this point.
%emember, it will seem as if you have picked up on a person who wh o is clos close e to th them em and and conf confir irm m th this is by te tell llin ing g yo you u th this is person*s relevance in their own life.
“:ould you mind mind if I continue to read you to find out
6
more about this !erson and what they mean to you&”
"!ectator- “"ure$ 6o it”
!his line moves the premise from mind reading to a more readings based presentation, of which will ultimately allow you to obtain the information you need secretly and in a way that makes sense theatrically. !he following process is +ustified by the premise of giving the spectator a reading surrounding the person they are focusing on.
“Okay$ "o that we we can more easily generate generate characteristics and and traits about about this !erson that relate relate to them on a !ersonal !ersonal le%el, 'ust focus focus on the first letter in their name for me”$
"!ectator- “Okay”$
De direct the spectator to focus on the first letter in their name and then apply the main linguistic manoeuvrer, as follows.
“And in a moment, I want you you to 'um! a few letters forwards in the al!habet$ al!habet$ "o if this was was the letter )a) )a) you would think to yourself yourself )a) … )b) … )c) … "o 'ust do this this for me now, starting starting with whate%er whate%er the first letter letter of this !erson)s name name is”$
"!ectator- “Okay”$
!hey will now fall into the trap of following your e7ample for how you want the spectator to +ump forwards in the alphabet and +ump two letters forwards forwards from whatever whatever letter is the first letter in the name they are thinking of.
!his will later be re#framed as the spectator having been free to +ump literally any amount of letters they wanted to and will be seen as +ust an e7ample later on, from the spectator*s point of view, as well as everyone watching. Iue to the re#frame the spectator will believe they truly had a free choice and there is no way for you to know how many letters they +umped.
"f you prefer you can apply the re#frame early after obtaining
the th e firs firstt lett letter er,, as outl outlin ined ed belo below w and and th then en use use th the e ot othe herr standard second letter ploys to nail down on the e7act name they are thinking of 4taught later5. owever, " will continue with my e7ample, which allows you to get two of the letters from the name before re#framing and bringing everything full circle.
&efore moving onto the second letter in the name " use the following +ustification for the process that has +ust taken place.
“And now 'ust say a !ositi%e !ositi%e characteristic or trait trait that begins with this new letter, you feel would would best sum this !erson u!”$
"!ectator- “;o%ing”$
" now get the spectator to generate a characteristic or trait with their random letter. !his will +ust seem to be part of the read readin ing g proc proces esss and and a way way to help help th the e sp spec ecta tato torr ge gene nera rate te specific specific characterist characteristics ics and traits traits surrounding surrounding their thought thought of person*s life.
$f course, whatever characteristic or trait they say will give us the first letter of the name.
All we have to do is back#track in the alphabet from whatever letter the characteristic or trait they say begins with. !here are a few ways this can be done ranging from a crib of the letters of the alphab alphabet, et, writte written n in your your notebo notebook, ok, mnemon mnemonics ics 4taugh 4taughtt later5 and simply learning the alphabet backwards.
Io whatever you are more comfortable with. " personally feel you yo u shou should ld be able able to know know th the e firs firstt lett letter er inst instan antl tly y from from whatever characteristic they say out loud and the best way to do this is to learn a mnemonic list that instantly converts the firs firstt lett letter er of th the e cha charact racter eris isti ticc back back int into the let ettter th the e spectator is focusing on.
$f course, the letter they are focusing on will always be two letters in the alphabet before whatever is the first letter of the characteristic or trait the name.
"n our e7ample, the letter they are focusing on is the letter /L0.
C
N$!=: "f you see the spectator
struggling to
find a
characteristic or trait then simply say,
“ … or the first word word that !o!s into your mind, beginning with this new letter”$
!hey will now be able to easily find a word.
"f you prefer not to do the re#frame now but instead want to get the second letter of the name, for e7tra security then you can use the following scripting.
N$!=: " am confident enough with the method to only obtain the first letter of the name then re#frame and use additional ploys 4taught later5 to nail down on the e7act name.
“Okay$ *ow *ow focus on the second second letter in the name name and do the e1act same thing again again but this time gi%e me a negati%e characteristic or trait”$
Dhat this language does is instruct the spectator to go through the e7act same process again but this time starting on the E
second letter in the name. !hey will take this to mean for them to agai again n +ump +ump th the e same same amou amount nt of lett letter erss forw forwar ards ds in th the e alphabet they did previously. !his ensures they will always +ump two letters forwards. "f you are worried that they will deviate from this meaning of the instruction then simply offer the e7ample of +umping through the letters again. Io this in a casual casual manner as if you are +ust reiterating reiterating how they are to do this.
N$!=: "f you see the spectator about to 'uery your instructions for how they are to +ump forwards in the alphabet, each time you deliver your script or note any confusion on their faces be sure to interrupt them and stop them from speaking by saying the following.
“6on)t say anything anything unless I ask you you s!ecifically$ I don)t don)t want to know your thought !rocesses”$
!his will mute the spectator and ensure they don*t blow the illusion or ruin the effect by being unsure and asking what it is you want them to do. Now you can re#iterate your instructions so that they are clear in their mind and proceed.
"!ectator- “Okay$ “Okay$ +r …
!hey will say a negative characteristic or trait and we are now ready to apply the re#frame and tie everything up.
“Okay good$ "o 'ust to to reca!, there)s no way I could know how many letters letters you decided to 'um! each time, so there)s no way way that these characteristics characteristics or or traits could tell me anything anything about the name name of this !erson, !erson, correct&”
ere we make it appear as if we meant for the spectator to decided in their own mind how many letters to +ump forwards in the alphabet each time. !hey will feel like they perhaps made a mistake in following what now appears to have only been been an e7 e7am ampl ple e and and due due to th the e fact fact,, appa appare rent ntly ly yo you u th the e perfo perform rmer er are are not not awar aware e th they ey foll follow owed ed yo your ur e7 e7am ampl ple e ( th the e actual amount of times they +umped will still seem unknowable to you, from their perspective. !hey will, therefore, be content with the fact you couldn*t know they followed your e7ample
1
and also don*t know the number of letters they +umped.
=verything will appear to be fair and above board.
!hey will, therefore, agree with your statement that there is no way what they have said could tell you anything about their thought of name. $nce they agree to this falsehood there is no way for them to back#track. !he illusion has come full circle and any loose ends have now been tied up beautifully.
!hanks and credit to %oss !ayler for allowing me to use his wonderful re#frame notion in my own work.
N$!=: 3ou may want to wait longer than is re'uired before asking if the spectator has finished +umping letters each time you apply these instructions, in order to create the illusion they could have +umped more than two letters and that you are not aware they are +ust following your e7ample and +umping this small amount amount of letters. letters. !o ensure they don*t +ust tell you they are finished +umping and give away that they have done this 'uickly you can tell them not to say anything by adding the following scripting to your instructions.
“ 6o this for me me now, starting on the first letter in the the name but don)t say anything out loud, as you do this”$
!his will also take care of muting the spectator so that they don*t 'uery your instructions and potentially blow the illusion.
"f only applying your instructions to the first letter in the name " might take this opportunity to look away as " take a pen out from my pocket, in order to create a further apparent time delay elay.. " wo woul uld d then hen use use the pen pen to writ rite my rev reveal eal on a notebook or other surface.
owever, owever, " think this is overthinki overthinking ng the method method and creating a time delay in either way is not necessary for the effect to still be deceptive.
"f " was only working with the first letter of the name and get etti ting ng th the e spect pecta ato torr to +ump +ump once once th then en " would ould use use th the e following alternative scripting and re#frame.
“"ay a characteristic characteristic or trait trait beginning with this this new 2
letter, you feel would best sum u! this !erson”$
!here is now no longer any need to deal with both a positive and and nega negati tive ve char charac acte teri rist stic ic or trai traitt beca becaus use e we will will not not be applying the method to two letters. !he use of positive and negative characteristics is to apparently provide a polarity of information to base your reading on.
De can, therefore, be much more general and only ask for one characteristic.
!he re#frame would then be as follows:
“ust to reca!, you you could ha%e literally literally 'um!ed any any amount of letters ( so there)s no way this characteristic characteristic or trait could tell tell me anything about about the name of of the !erson you are are focusing on, correct&” correct&”
Dhen re#framing you may wish to be more indirect by saying, / H so there*s no way " could know anything about the person you yo u are are focu focusi sing ng on from from th thes ese e char charac acte teri rist stic icss and and trai traits ts,, correct90 and not refer to the thought of name during your 6
wrap rap up. up. !his his will ill sto top p the tw two o pot oten enti tial ally ly being eing link linked ed together in the spectator*s mind, from you mentioning them i.e. the naming of characteristics and the letters in the name.
Now all that is left to do is give a short reading based on the characteristics or characteristic the spectator has provided and then use the following ploys to nail down on the e7act name they are thinking of.
"t is out of the scope of this manuscript manuscript to give you my reading tech te chni ni'u 'ues es and and appr approa oach ch.. ;uff ;uffic ice e to say, say, " alwa always ys rely rely on *Gompletely Gold* by enton.
3ou only have to deliver a few stock lines here +ust as a way of proving you are picking up on information about the thought of person or attempting to do so.
Another ruse " have used is to claim that " know about this person without actually having to state anything out loud.
After saying a few general things " feel about the person being thought of " say.
“I ha%en)t told you you all of my im!ressions im!ressions about this !erson but based based on the characteristics characteristics and traits I am recei%ing from you you I feel I know them well enough to try try to guess their name”$
!his creates the illusion you know much more about the person than you do and makes the subse'uent name guess logical ( if you can pick up on other information about this person than it makes sense you could also guess their name.
3ou are now ready to begin applying the other ploys that allow us to narrow down on their thought of name.
%emember %emember we have already indirectly indirectly instructed instructed the spectator spectator to think of a -ale name with a common spelling which will make this task much easier and incredibly incr edibly reliable.
First of all, we apply the *Abbreviation ploy* from my good friend
!his piece of information will make guessing the name a piece
of cake as it will instantly narrow down our options of names the spectator could be thinking of.
De say the following to our spectator.
“Focus on the name name written out in front of you$ If you you can abbre%iate the name then think of of it in its short form ( don)t shorten it any more if you you are already thinking thinking of it in its short form”$
!hey will confirm they have done so and we can now assume they are thinking of the name in its short form due to the way we have worded our instruction. "f they struggle to do so then we know it is a name that can*t be easily shortened.
De can now use this information to help decipher the potential name they are focusing on.
Ne7t, we need to know how many letters are in the short form of the name.
" usually +ust throw out a number of letters depending on the
common common names beginning beginning with the letter " know their thought thought of name begins with.
"f " hit right away then " stick with that amount of letters but if there is any hesitation from the spectator " instantly correct myself and throw out a number of letters one higher.
"f " am still wrong then " simply ask for the number of letters. !his is such a small piece of information it won*t seem to help you guess the name and the name guess will seem to come out of nowhere anyway.
owever, if " throw out four letters and then five and " still get a *no* response from the spectator and " now know it is likely three letters. " won*t ask for the number of letters but will usually take an educated guess on a three letter name. For instance, if " know the name begins with a *L* and is not four or five letters then it can only really be three letters and " would now be down to the two names *Loe* and *Lim*. !his is where " would apply one of the two#way outs 4taught in a moment5 if " haven*t already divined the second letter in the name using the main method.
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“Focus on the number number of letters in the name … so this is > /no reaction from from the s!ectator0 s!ectator0 … no, @ letters, correct&”
"!ectator- “*o”$
“6on)t say how many many letters$ ust focus on the name and and imagine saying it to yourself”$
!his is great from a theatrical point of view as it looks like you are completely lost and think that the name is much longer.
3ou don*t want the spectator to tell you it is three letters otherwise it will become obvious there are only a few names that are this short.
Iealing with such short names in this way ensures you don*t potentially ruin the reveal by it becoming obvious.
$f course, if you know -ichael -urray*s *Gups* principle then
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you can apply it here also, in order to get the number of letters.
Now that you know the number of letters and whether the name can be abbreviated you will usually be down to only a few common names.
"f you have decided to only use this method to obtain the first lett letter er of th the e name name th then en yo you u can can dist distin ingu guis ish h betw betwee een n th thes ese e using the *%epeat it ploy* " first read in Ierren &rown*s book: /
et*s say you are down to the following name options.
3ou know it is four letters and can be be abbreviated.
!he common names this could be would be *Losh*, *Lohn* and *Lake*.
" know it can*t be *Lack* as this name can*t be abbreviated and is already in its short form. $f course, *Lake* would be short for
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*Lacob*.
All " have to do to begin to narrow down on the correct name is say the following.
“Okay, 'ust focus focus on the second letter letter in the name and and imagine re!eating re!eating it in your mind to yourself o%er and and o%er … so this would be )O) … )O) … )O) …”
Now if " get a reaction from the spectator " know it is one of the names with *$* as the second letter, either *Losh* or *Lohn* and can use whichever two way out 4e7plained later5 " wish to nail down on the e7act name.
"f " don*t get a reaction then " continue with my script as if " was simply giving an e7ample of how " want the spectator to focus on their letter.
“ … for e1am!le”$
" now know the second letter is likely an *a* and can confidently guess *Lack*. " may also use a two way out +ust to cover the C1
potential for *Lake* or write my reveal as *LackM Lake* as they both sound the same. " might even reveal the two together verbally instead. >sually, this will be taken as a hit if the spectator is thinking of either one of these names.
$f course, some of the time you will need to apply the *repeat it ploy* to a different letter in each of the possible names to be able to distinguish between each of the outs ( for e7ample, if both both poss possibl ible e name namess have have th the e same same se seco cond nd lette letterr th then en yo you u would need to apply this ploy to the third or fourth letter in each of the names or to whichever letter position where the letters in each of the names differ.
"f you are only obtaining the first letter with the main method and relying on these additional ploys only to nail down on the name then you can add further obfuscation to proceedings by getting the spectator to focus on the second letter of the name and instruct them to truly +ump at random to any letter of the alphabet before giving you a negative characteristic or trait. !his would happen after the re#frame of the first letter +ump and is only meant as a way to further misdirect misdirect away from the directness of the method.
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!hen you would apply these ways of narrowing down on the potential names.
3ou really have to play around with the information you are getting and trust your instincts using these ploys to narrow down.
;ometimes the spectator may not think that a name can be shortened so you have to be ready for that also. &ut usually from the first and second letters of the name and length of the word you will be able to most of the time successfully guess the correct commonly thought of names.
-ost of the time you will now be down to two possible names and can apply the following two way out from
"f you still have another possible name it could be on top of the other two 4which is rare5 then you can use the *%epeat it ploy* again using the whole name to kill one of the options before moving into the following written out if needed.
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ere " would simply write one of the options sight#unseen on a billet and place the billet face down on the table as " say the following.
“9ou)re not thinking of O". are you&”
"f you are correct then they will freak out. " then simply pick up the billet and place it away in my pocket.
"f they say *no* then " continue.
“:hat name are you focusing on&”
!hey will answer with the other possibility.
"!ectator"!ectator- “O.*”$
Now all you have to do is a gesture for the spectator to turn over the billet as you say:
“?ood$ I)m glad I committed to this”$
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And wait for the reactions?
"f you are worried about the leaving the billet face down with the wrong name written on it or think they will ask to see what was written 4which has never happened to me5 you can +ust say that th at yo you u chan change ged d yo your ur mind mind at th the e last last minu minute te.. !his !his will will e7pl e7 plai ain n an inco incorr rrec ectt name name bein being g writ writte ten n down down befo before re yo you u reve reveal al th thei eirr th thou ough ghtt of name name ve verb rbal ally ly.. =ver =veryt ythi hing ng st stay ayss congruent this way.
"f you prefer you can write your reveal on a pad 4if using a crib of the alphabet then this will be the option you will want to go with5 then +ust close the pad and put it to one side if you don*t need to use an out. Naturally, you would write the reveal on a different piece of paper where the crib will be hidden when it comes to revealing what is written. "f you are only down to one poss possib ible le name name th then en yo you u wo woul uld d simp simply ly writ write e th the e name name and and reveal accordingly.
!hat*s it? " hope you en+oy performing this piece as much as " do, now that you have learnt it*s devious secrets.
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Naturally, you can also use this method for star signs.
"n fact, " would suggest practising applying the method to a star sign divination first, as you will only ever be down to one or two possible star signs.
owever, there is one more linguistic dodge you have to apply when working with star signs to ensure the method doesn*t become obvious due to the fact the first letters of each of the star signs are much more spread out and separate from each other in the alphabet.
"n order to ensure the spectator doesn*t think you +ust back# trac tracke ked d to th the e clos closes estt avai availa labl ble e lett letter er to th the e firs firstt lett letter er of whatever characteristic or trait they use, to sum up, either themselves or the personality of someone who*s star sign they are focusing on, you need to get the spectator to +ump forwards in the alphabet twice then muddy proceedings further with the re#frame.
ere is the script " use.
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“Focus on the first letter in the star sign$ sign$ And in a moment, I want you to 'um! 'um! a few letters forwards in the al!habet$ "o if this this was the letter )a) )a) you would think to to yourself )a) … )b) … )c) … "o 'ust do this for me now, now, starting with whate%er the first letter of your star sign is$
“*ow do the e1act same same thing again but start on this new letter”$
!his adds another +ump into proceedings that helps obscure the method even further. $f course, the spectator will fall into the trap of copying your e7ample and then doing the same process again, effectively +umping twice the number of letters. !his will mean you will have to learn a different crib or become proficient at working backwards through the alphabet.
$r you coul could d crea create te a mnem mnemon oniic simil imilar ar to th the e one one " use use 4taught below5 that allows you to +ump backwards instantly, four letters in the alphabet when using it for the star sign guess.
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" will also provide you with the mnemonics " use to easily +ump back two letters when guessing names and or words.
!he re#frame would be as follows:
“Okay, 'ust to re5ca! you you 'um!ed a number of letters and and then 'um!ed again$ again$ There)s no way I could know how many letters you decided to 'um! 'um! in the al!habet each time, correct& "o "o there)s no way way this characteristic characteristic or trait could tell me anything about your star sign&”
%emember, all of the other points already discussed can still be applied to ensure this stays reliable as well as deceptive.
3ou can also apply the main method to short words with a little thought. Naturally, you can apply the letter +umps to as many letters as you wish before delivering the re#frame. Dith short words that have a natural limited field or restriction, such as ob+ects in a room it is only necessary to get the first, second and last letter of the word to be able to nail the word. Naturally, realising you only need to use the first, second and last letters is a discovery made by Atlas &rookings for those CC
who know his ingenious *!rain !racking* routine. r outine.
!han !hanks ks to uke uke !urne !urnerr for for his his sugg sugges esti tion on usin using g th this is with with ob+e ob+ect ctss th they ey can can se see e with within in th thei eirr envi enviro ronm nmen entt as a way way of restricting without seeming restrictive. " had done something similar in the past with a remote viewing demonstration that was published by enton, without uke being aware. Atlas &rookings has also used a similar restriction in his own work.
uke Lermay has also played with restrictive fields that don*t seem restrictive.
ere instead of using characteristics and traits, " would +ust get the spectator to come up with a word that is in no way associated with their word. Now it appears you are able to perha perhaps ps read read th thei eirr subc subcon onsc scio ious us th thou ough ghtt asso associa ciati tion onss ev even en when they have tried to think of words dis#associated with their thought of ob+ectM word.
" should also mention that both myself and %oss !ayler have played with using characteristics and traits as a way to hide simply asking for whatever letter the spectator is focusing on
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within the conte7t of a readings situation. situation. "t is something that came out of our early discussions on the prop#less name guess.
%oss has some great work utiliBing this ruse and you should check out all of his work. e is a genius?
"f yo you u know know th the e th thou ough ghtt of draw drawin ings gs restr restric icti tive ve field field from from /
Finally, if you miss occasionally +ust move on? "f you could really read minds then you wouldn*t get it right all of the time.
!here you go.
For completeness, here is the mnemonic " use for the star sign guess and name guess.
" memoriBe the following words 4for use when guessing star signs5:
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=N"J-A JN$;!"G $NJ <=NG" !$< DA; 3$<$N";! O#PA>=
Now, as soon as " hear the characteristic or trait from my spectator " think of the word from my memoriBed list that begins with this letter and then focus on the last letter in this word.
!his his last last lett letter er then hen gives ives me th the e let ettter four four back back in th the e alphabet in the most natural way possible.
N$!=: "f you see your spectator struggling to come up with a word after trying to come up with a characteristic or trait using the letter humped to then you can safely assume they are thinking of either the letter *7* or *B* and can say:
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“In fact, 'ust 'um! 'um! to any other other random letter letter of the al!habet to make make this easier … And now gi%e me a characteristic or trait beginning with this letter”$
Now you can safely assume they were thinking of either the letter *t* or *v* and are now down to the two possible signs *!aurus* or *Pirgo*.
"f you prefer, you can write these lists out as a crib in your notebook or simply write the letters of the alphabet and count back backwa ward rdss th the e re'u re'uir ired ed amou amount nt of lett letter ers, s, depe depend ndin ing g on whichever routine you are performing.
ere is the mnemonic " use for guessing names and words that allows you to +ump backwards two letters of the alphabet with ease:
G$--A I";!>%& =<"G F=I E
JAO= "-;=F "I"NJ L=3F"; $" >= L=%-A3 -$N N" $<=N )>ANJ$ %=GA< ;>) !=A% >;=; P=! D>
#PA>= 3#DAP= OAN=
E2
!he only difference to the rules in the above mnemonic is with the name >= L=%-A3 ( if you get a characteristic or trait beginning with the letter KlK then you know to focus on the first lett tte er of the surname. Also, if you get to a hyphenat nated mnemonic then you use the first letter of the second word.
3ou are not likely to get names beginning with the last three letters of the alphabet and so they are not covered in the crib. owever, if you do happen to get the name *Oach* and the spectator cannot +ump forwards in the alphabet this will be covered in the following way.
Again, if you see your participant struggling to think of a word beginning with their letter then you can fairly safely assume they are focusing on either an *7*, *y* or *B* and are likely think of the following common males names: *Dilliam*, *Dayne* or *Oach*. Now you can apply the random letter +ump outlined above in the star sign mnemonic and nail down on the name as usual.
!hat*s it? " hope you en+oyed this latest version of rose.
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which hand? Dhat follows is my ultimate solution to the which hand plot ( performed, without any need for gimmicks, electronics or props of any kind ( e7cept the coin or ob+ect being hidden.
-y entirely verbal and prop#less approach will allow you to perform a three phase *which hand* routine, flawlessly.
=ach time a coin or other ob+ect is hidden by the spectator in one of their hands, behind their back and then both fists are broug rought ht out out in fron frontt of the spect pecta ato torr and each each time ime the perf perfor orme merr can can corr correc ectl tly y gues guesss th the e hand hand th that at cont contai ains ns th the e ob+ect.
!his is repeated three times in a row, with each of the phases building in seeming difficulty.
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Dhat is beautiful about my approach is, you will appear to be using a readings style of method in order to essential read the spect pecta ato torr and and secon econd d guess uess their heir actio ctions ns,, as opp oppos osed ed to applying psychology or having to play a game of truth or liar where you apparently read their tells.
!he good news is there are also no logical puBBles or anything obvious to back#track.
" prefer a readings style presentation as " prefer to perform with the aesthetic of a real psychic and dislike using the also fake, pretence that " am somehow picking up on psychological cues or tells and using psychological profiling to be able to predict outcome of behaviour ( for me this is too scientific and over e7plained in terms of presentation and will seem less magical to the audience, for this reason.
" prefer to be vague with how it is " achieve the things " do and prefer to leave behind more of a mystery.
" will being by e7plaining the third phase as this was the first
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and stand#alone method " came up with that later became the clima7 of the routine. "t is the fairest looking in terms of the seeming complete freedom you give the spectator to change hand hands. s. !he !he ot othe herr phas phases es e'ua e'uall lly y as devi deviou ous, s, we were re adde added d afterwards to create the full routine.
third phase "f you wish this can be performed on its own and as you will see the basic methodology behind it can be used for many other thin th ings gs ot othe herr th than an +ust +ust a st stan anda dard rd gues guessi sing ng of wh whic ich h hand hand contains an ob+ect.
As with most of my work it is the principles that is useful.
!his began with me first attempting to finish something from my notebooks, namely ( the use of mental calculation or timing as a way to get a cue from a spectator.
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" remembered reading in one of enton*s works about an old ruse where the spectator would be instructed to multiply two different amounts of money by a specific number and then tell you wh when en th they ey had had done done so. 3ou 3ou would ould th then en know know which hich amount of money or denomination of coin was in each of their hands due to how long it took the spectator to perform the maths.
As one of the sums would be slightly more difficult to perform due to the numbers invo nvolved there would be a definite ite difference in the time it took the spectator to make his or her calculation and this would tip which coin or series of coins they were focusing on.
" real realiB iBed ed th that at inst instea ead d of usin using g math mathem emat atic icss ot othe herr opti option onss woul wo uld d be viab viable le such such as ge gett ttin ing g th the e sp spec ecta tato torr to visu visual aliB iBe e some so meth thin ing g taki taking ng plac place e in real real time time and and th then en to visu visual aliB iBe e something that takes a little longer to perform, mentally as a way way of mark markin ing g out out a sp spec ecif ific ic th thou ough ghtt th that at each each of th thes ese e visualiBations would be linked to.
EC
ooking
at
older
mathematics
based
magic
books
for
inspiration, " knew that it didn*t matter if you multiplied an odd number with an even or an odd number, it would always e'ual an even numbered total. !his was played with a little and " had a nice way to get which half of the year a spectator was born. Alas, this was too mathematical in appearance and something " abandoned.
!hen " realiBed if " was to multiply something by two this would be the same as multiplying either an odd number by and even number or an even number by an even number to always arrive arrive at an even number. " would be able to then say /double0 /double0 this number instead of having to provide a specific number odd or even for the spectator to multiply.
Around the same time " was also looking into a different ruse found in one of Lim ;teinmeyer*s books 4Gredit at the end of this book5 which allowed you to know where a coin ended up after the spectator had switched it back and forth between their hands and amount of times. !his was based on odd and even lengths of words they would spell out letter for letter as they switch hands and would ultimately leave the coin always
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in the same hand, no matter which hand the coin started in.
All of a sudden everything fell into place. " realiBed that " could elim elimiinate nate any not notion ion of math mathem ema atics tics in th the e mind mind of my audiences by changing my language and making it even more indirect. "nstead of asking them to think of a specific number of times to change the coin back and forth between their hands and then asking them to double the number or to even /change the same amount of times back and forth again0 " could be even less direct and simply say,
“"o you changed changed this a number of times … 'ust do the e1act same thing again, so that this is random”$
And viola? " all of a sudden had a perfect solution to a verbal which hand.
" immediately video called my good friend
" remember "an %owland grinning like a child for ten minuets after it dawned on him what was going on, as he marvelled at the simplicity of what had fooled him.
" showed it to -ichael -urray and he informed me that -anos artsakis had already got there before me. Needless to say, -anos gave me full permission to release my independantly created version of this effect as he hadn*t yet published his think hinkin ing. g. "n fact fact,, as a bon bonus he has has allo allow wed his his orig origin inal al thoughts on this method to be released in this work for the first time and is shared here as bonus material at the back of the book.
" also also late laterr disc discov over ered ed th that at =ver =ver =liB =liBal alde de also also creat created ed th this is method independently and has published his thinking but was also gracious enough to allow me to release my work on it. "n fact, he actually confessed he preferred my version.
" think the benefit of my method over both of these other fine thinker*s take on it, is it doesn*t deal directly with an amount of numb number er of chan change ges. s. !he !he amou amount nt of time timess th the e sp spec ecta tato torr
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changes back and forth between their hands is only referred to indirectly in my scripting and for me this is how it should be performed. "t should appear open and fair and nothing to do with actual numbers. " never mention an amount of changes directly, in terms of a number and " feel this is what makes my approach so strong.
-anos did originally consider performing it the way " do now, without specifically referring directly to numbers but felt it might not be sure fire and so fell back on the less subtle version he has shared at the back of this book.
" can say with confidence that my version of this works and works orks well. ell. As long ong as you deliv eliver er the scri cript e7 e7ac actl tly y as provided in this write up and are clear with your instructions you will find this is an e7tremely reliable method that is also e7tremely fooling.
!o show you how this feels to an audience member, " will first perform it to you via the written word.
!hen " will break down what is happening as well as e7plain
1
each part of the scripting and what it achieves.
First of all get a coin and hold it in your right hand 4this inst instru ruct ctio ion n is only only rele releva vant nt in th this is writ writte ten n perf perfor orma manc nce5 e5.. >sually, the spectator would simply get a coin out of their pocket in either of their hands and you would be ready to begin the effect.
Now follow along with the scripting and instructions.
“It is essential you remember how how many times you change back and and forth between your your hands in a moment moment and remember e1actly where the coin ends u! …
“"o 'ust !lace the coin behind your back and switch back and forth between your hands a few times”$
“?ood$ "o you ha%e mo%ed mo%ed the coin a number of times … 'ust do e1actly the the same thing again, again, so this is random”$ random”$
“And now bring both hands out in front of you in a fist”$ 12
"f you have followed along correctly and this has worked over the written page then you should be left with the coin in the same hand that it started in. "n this case, it would be your right hand.
"f it isn*t in your right hand. Ion*t worry as this method is really only only meant to be performed performed in person and it is harder to deliver the scripting and time it correctly, via the written word.
;o how does this work9
3ou will essentially be directing the spectator to move the coin a number of times and then effectively tell them to repeat the e7act same process ( changing the coin back an forth the same amount of times as before. $f course, this happens indirectly and and with withou outt inst instru ruct ctin ing g th the e sp spec ecta tato torr to chan change ge th the e same same number of times again or directly referencing the amount of changes.
Dhat this does is always converts the amount of times the coin chan change gess back back and and fort forth h betw betwee een n th thei eirr hand handss into into an ev even en
16
numb number er wh whic ich h me mean anss th the e coin coin will will alwa always ys retu return rn back back to whichever hand it started off in.
First of all, we take note of which ever hand the coin happens to be in to begin with. !his is our base#line and the hand it will always return to after the doubling up of the amount of times they hey change back and forth betw twe een hands nds. De do this naturally by simply taking note of which hand they hold it in as they take out a coin.
Ne7t, we apply the
“It is essential you remember how how many times you change back and and forth between your your hands in a moment moment and remember e1actly where the coin ends u! …”
!heatrically, this +ust appears as if we need them to focus on such uch th thin ings gs in ord order to be able able to read read th thei eirr th tho ought ughtss to 1
ultimately divine where the coin ends up. "t is important that this instruction is given to the participant before we direct them to place their hands behind their back as we don*t want them to begin randomly changing the coin between their hands as we say this scripting, as this would mess up the workings of the method.
“"o 'ust !lace the coin behind your back and switch back and forth between your hands a few times behind behind your your back”$
!his line is important. De purposefully break up the instruction into two parts. First, we instruct the spectator to place the coin behind their back. !his ensures they don*t switch the hand that contains the coin due to the fact they will have to first put the coin holding their coin behind their back and then follow along with the rest of the instruction for them to change back and forth between each hand behind their back. $nly upon upon comp comple leti ting ng th this is inst instru ruct ctio ion n will will th they ey now now plac place e th thei eirr other hand behind their back and begin to switch the coin between their hands.
1
!he words /a few times0 ensures the spectator doesn*t change back and forth a larger amount that will be easily forgotten. >sually, they will change three or four times. !his ensures the method stays solid. "n fact, " only give a few seconds for the spec sp ecta tato torr to foll follow ow each each of th the e inst instru ruct ctio ions ns th thro roug ugho hout ut th this is effe effect ct befo before re brea breaki king ng proc procee eedi ding ngss by deli delive veri ring ng th the e ne7t ne7t instruction. instruction. !his ensures they follow along closely and there is little room for any mistake to be made on their part.
After giving them a few seconds to change back and forth " stop them and say the following.
“?ood$ "o you ha%e mo%ed mo%ed the coin a number of times … 'ust do exactly the same thing again, again, so this is random”$
" don*t specifically state a number or refer to it directly but remind them of the amount of times in a casual manner and then link this idea with the idea of doing the same procedure again. " use the word /e7actly0 here so there is no confusion as to what it is they are to do. !his will cause the spectator to +ust repeat the e7act same moves again. !his feels natural to the 1
participant and won*t be challenged. !hey will +ust go along with it.
Dhat is beautiful is how casual this appears.
"f you prefer you can then add on a re# re#frame to furt urther conv convin ince ce ev ever eryo yone ne incl includ udin ing g th the e sp spec ecta tato torr th that at th the e enti entire re process was random. owever, " don*t feel this is necessary.
“To re5ca!, you you changed back back and forth between your hands a number of times at random random and e%en had had the chance to change again again afterwards and there is no way way I could know how many times times you decided to change, each each of these times, correct&”
Now the coin will always be in the same hand that it started off in.
" also, lso, add add in an e7 e7tr tra a bea beat to proce roceed edin ings gs and offe offerr an additional choice on the end. !his is something -anos also does for the same reason, so that it won*t always be in the same hand hand it bega began n in. in. Afte Afterr sha sharing ring my idea ideass with ith -ano -anoss he 1C
info inform rmed ed me th that at he give givess th this is addi additi tion onal al free free choi choice ce as a 'uestion ( which " agree, is much better than +ust stating for them to do so.
“6o you want to change change to the other hand or kee! it in the same had it is now in&”
"f they say change then you know it has to be in the opposite hand to the one the coin began in and if they don*t want to change then you know to +ust stick with the same hand it was in to start with.
;o there you go, the first piece of the puBBle and what became the third phase for the which hand routine.
Ne7t, " will show you the first phase followed by the second and you will then be able to piece this beast together.
1E
first phase !his is essentially a hanging statement in the theme of one of the outs " use in my prop#less prop#less star sign divinations. divinations. "t is based based on a !D$ way verbal out from
=ssentially, you would throw out one of the two possible star signs by stating the following:
“:hat is interesting interesting is when I first sat sat down in front of of you I instantly felt you was a irgo irgo …”
" snap my fingers here to provide some emphasis on the fish so that if this is there star sign or piece of information information relating relating to them they will take this as the definitive moment of magic.
3ou now pause slightly and take note of any reaction from the 11
spectator. "f they react then &$$-? you are finished? 3ou can take your hit and there is no other work to be done.
"f however, they don*t react then you continue right along with your statement and reveal their sign in the process.
“But I)m glad I didn)t didn)t 'ust trust my sna! sna! decision but actually got to know you you a little better first because based on all of the the characteristics and traits I am !icking u! from you there)s only one sign that would would best re!resent you … are you a ?emini&”
"t was $ri Ascher*s idea whilst +amming this effect with him to use this hanging statement within the which hand routine. !he only problem was if " applied the hanging statement directly to their hand that contained the coin there would be a chance they would also reveal reveal that their hand was empty before " was able to move on and resolve the rest of the hanging statement. !his would of course, ruin the effect.
e then suggested getting the spectator to think about which hand and to focus on a word linked to the correct hand so that 111
the hanging statement could be applied to something mental. !his way it would be uncoupled from the hand enough for the spec sp ecta tato torr to leav leave e both both hand handss clos closed ed and and inst instea ead d simp simply ly confirm with a reaction or non reaction which word they are focusing on, in the usual way. !hen from this reaction or lack there of the performer would know which hand contained the coin and be able to reveal with confidence.
" thought this was beautiful and decided to make the words relevant and in line with the psychic reading aesthetic of the piece " was ultimately going for.
ere is the result of our +amming session.
" direct the spectator to place the coin behind their back and place it in one of their hands and to then bring both hands out in a fist so that there is no way " could tell which hand the coin is in.
“sually, those considered considered as more creati%e ty!es ty!es would !lace the coin in their left hand and more more analytical thinkers would !lace it in their right hand … "o based 11
on this you now know which of these characteristics characteristics would relate to you&”
!his is beautiful because not only will it get them to think of a spec sp ecif ific ic wo word rd or cate catego gory ry we can can th then en appl apply y th the e hang hangin ing g statem eme ent to, it also makes it appear as though we are some so meho how w readi reading ng th thei eirr pers person onal alit ity y in orde orderr to know know wh whic ich h hand they have placed placed the coin whilst in reality, we don*t need to know anything about them. !hey will take on this label for the purposes of this trick and may or may not reflect how they really think and feel about their own personality traits. !he language is important here. De don*t ever ask 'uestions about their actual characteristics or traits but the traits they are focusing on in the moment.
De now apply the two way verbal out or hanging statement.
“:hat is interesting interesting is, when I first sat sat down in front of you I instantly felt you you would be thinking of yourself as a creati%e ty!e …”
Again, we are only referring to whatever label they are 112
focusing focusing on in the moment and not relating this to their actual characteristics and traits.
ere we pause a second to wait for a reaction and then if none comes continue as follows:
“But I)m glad I didn)t 'ust trust my my sna! 'udgement 'udgement because I feel with you, you would be the ty!e of !erson !erson to !erha!s !erha!s o%er think this and therefore, therefore, the coin has has to be in your right hand, correct&”
$f course, you will now be correct as it has to be in the opposite hand to the hand labelled as /creative0. !he line about /over# think hinkin ing0 g0 als also se seem emss to conf confir irm m an /anal analyt ytic ical al00 ty type pe of personality,
so
that
everything
comes
full
circle,
presentationally.
"f you get a reaction on the hanging statement then you can continue as follows:
“ … which means you ha%e to ha%e ha%e !ut it in your left hand, correct&” 116
"n either case, " point to the correct hand and get the spectator to confirm " am correct by opening their hand.
second phase !his is e'ually as streamlined and beautiful in the sense that it is wrapped up in the presentation of seemingly reading the spectator.
De now know which hand the coin is going to start in for this round based on our successful conclusion to the first phase. All we need to do is make sure the spectator leaves the coin in that hand as we deliver the ne7t piece of scripting.
“Those who !refer !refer a certain amount amount of change and %ariety in their life and and dislike being hemmed hemmed in by restrictions would would kee! this in the same same hand whereas whereas 11
those who would would disagree with with this statement would would usually swa! hands … so think about about what you would ty!ically do and do the o!!osite”
!his uses a *forer* statement or a cold reading stock line that everyone has to agree with and links it to the action of keeping it in the same hand. Now to seemingly not make it obvious you direct the spectator to do the opposite of whatever they would naturally do. $f course, this means that the coin will always end up in the opposite hand.
!his is similar to something !om &ennett shared in *!he &ook $f Angels* but is something " feel is much more sure fire. is used
a
binary
linkage
that
was
based
on
a
positive
char charac acte teri rist stic ic and and trai traitt and and a nega negati tive ve char charac acte teri rist stic. ic. !he !he problem with his version was that sometimes the spectator would agree with the negative statement. " feel " have got around this problem by using a cold reading stock like they simply have to agree with. e used it to find out which half of the year someone was born.
"t will will st stil illl appe appear ar yo you u coul couldn dn*t *t know know wh whet ethe herr or not not th the e 11
spec sp ecta tato torr wo woul uld d agre agree e or disa disagr gree ee with with th this is st stat atem emen entt and and therefore, could not know the outcome of their decision unless you were somehow reading the spectator.
All of this is suggested by the performance itself but if you prefer you can state it even more directly, to highlight the fairness of proceedings.
“The only way I could guess where where the coin has ended u! now, is if I could truly read you”$
Again, " point to the correct fist and end successfully a second time.
“*ow to make this e%en more more random I am going to ha%e ha%e you change which which hand the coin ends u! in a few times …”
3ou now go into the third phase and end having successfully guessed which hand the spectator places a coin in their hand three times in a row ( entirely verbally?
11
Dhat is nice about the structure of this routine is the fact it seemin seemingly gly builds builds in imposs impossibi ibilit lity. y. !he last last phase phase seemin seemingly gly being entirely random. 3ou then have to read the spectator much more intuitively.
“"o now I ha%e to 'ust trust what what my instincts say about you des!ite all of of the randomness”$
N$!=: "f you are particularily worried that the spectator may argu rgue after the effect that they hey are not really how you described them throughout the routine and say for e7ample, " am actually much more anylitical anylitical then you can simply end the routine with the following statement, as a way to ensure this won*t ever be a problem and the spectator will never feel the need to bring it up.
“Of course, each each of us are different and ha%e %arying degrees of each each of the characteristics characteristics and traits I ha%e !icked u! on ( in fact, I sense you may may not be com!letely com!letely how I ha%e described described ( e%en so, I feel feel I got to know you you well enough to successfully successfully guess where you would !lace !lace
11C
the coin each time ( Thank you for !laying”
which hand? drawing Naturally, you can use the third phase of the which hand in order to force other pieces of information if you link the hand you secretly know the coin is in to different information or categories.
!he
first
person
"
witnessed
applying
a
which
hand
meth me thod odol olog ogy y in orde orderr to se seem emin ingl gly y divi divine ne ot othe herr piec pieces es of information was Golin -cGloud in his
" have also been informed that the idea of linking information in this way using a which hand pre#dates Golin*s use of it and was first utiliBed by Ian Dhite.
owever, his used a standard piece of electronics to secretly 11E
know which had a coin was in to then subse'uently label each of th the e hand handss and and kno know which hich of th thes ese e th the e spect pectat ator or was thinking of.
-y use for this lin linkage of ideas is different in terms rms of presentation. " use it to get to a specific piece of information as opposed to generate multiple hits.
Golin*s routine is beautiful and is something worth checking out all on its own due to the many different subtleties and presentational ideas utiliBed.
-y method lends itself perfectly to the structure of my various different prop#less drawing duplications.
" first get the spectator to change a coin back and forth in between their hands ala. the third phase of my which hand and to then bring both hands out in a fist. !his is to seemingly randomiBe their choices.
" th then en labe abel each each of their heir hand handss by givi iving th the e foll follow owiing instructions, as follows:
1
“I want you to focus on a sim!le sim!le drawing ( make this a sim!le ob'ect that that others would recogni4e recogni4e instantly instantly if you were to actually actually draw it for them ( if the coin is in your your left hand then make make this something man man made, if it is in your right hand hand then make this something something natural”$ natural”$
3ou now place whatever category corresponding to whatever draw drawin ing g yo you u want want to forc force e alon alongs gsid ide e wh whic iche heve verr hand hand yo you u secretly know the coin to be in.
For e7ample, if the coin is in their left hand " would say: /if this is in your left hand think of something natural0 when going for the force of a !%==.
3ou can then either go into the second phase of the which hand and use the previous ruse to direct the spectator to change to something much larger than they can fit in their hands or you can +ust use one phase and simply say the following, as a way to seemingly make the process even fairer.
“If you ha!!en to now be focusing focusing on something you can 11
hold in your hands, change change it for something something much larger”$
3ou can now reveal they are thinking of a !%== and where the coin has ended up in 'uick succession succession ( so that both of the hits blend into the same reveal and therefore, do not weaken one another.
A presentational idea is for a folded billet with the drawing of a tree to be used in place of the coin. ;o that you can perform the which hich hand hand and and th then en at th the e end end ask ask th the e sp spe ectat ctato or what hat drawing they are focusing on and reveal by getting them to unfold the piece of paper or billet, themselves.
3ou could also throw out one of the outs verbally 4the ;un for instance5 if you are worried about being able to hit on !%== directly and if it hits great? ( you never unfold the billet. "f it doesn*t hit however, you can ask them what they went for and then have them open up the billet to reveal the hit of the !%== drawn on the inside of the billet.
1
which hand? star sign !he third phase of the which hand can also be used to divine the spectator*s star sign.
!hanks must go to uke !urner for his idea of instructing the spectator to place the coin in either their right or left hand to begin with based on whether they were born in the first or second half of the year. !his gets rid of the need for a hanging statement to find out which half of the year they were born.
As well as for his idea of linking a piece of information you already know to another piece of information in order to know both.
"t is a beautiful concept and there will be more on this later.
;o to start with we give the instructions to the spectator in
12
e7actly the same way we would when performing the third phase of the which hand in isolation but with the small change of directing the spectator to begin with the coin in the hand which corresponds to the half of the year they were born under.
owever, before having the spectator change the coin back and forth between their hands we set up the following structure that ultimately ultimately allows allows us to divine their star sign at the end of the which hand process.
“Traditionally, each each of the star signs signs would be said to to relate to the different different sides of the body and and s!ecifically each of the hands$
"o 'ust remember which which hand your star sign belongs to, okay& …
Aquarius, Pisces, Aries Aries, ;eo, irgo, ;ibra are on the the
right hand and Taurus, Gemini, Cancer , "cor!io, "agittarius, #a!ricorn #a!ricorn are on the left hand”$
16
3ou will notice that =ach of the different signs for each of the hands are staggered between the two different halves of the year. !here is a reason for this. "t will allow you to nail down to three hree pos possib sible sig signs for for th the e spect pecta ato torr with ith tw two o piece iecess of information which is really only one piece of information due to uke*s brilliant concept of linking the two pieces of information together being at play.
!he signs in bold type are from the first half of the year.
“If you were born born in the first half of the the year between the 3onths C5D or are are a #ancer then !lace !lace the coin in your your right hand behind your your back$ If you were were born in the second half of the year year between the 3onths E5C or are are a #a!ricorn then !lace !lace it in your left hand behind your back”$
!here is a different way to handle the cross over signs Gancer and and Gapr Gapric icor orn n taug taught ht late laterr on. on. !his !his is th the e easi easies estt way way to ensure no problems arise during the labelling of the signs in a moment, with the added scripting of the which hand running
1
parallel to this methodology.
3ou may want to add to the presentation with your scripting scripting by first talking about how each of the different sides of the body relate to conscious and subconscious modes of the mind and how these also relate to the different times of the year people are born etc.
ave them perform the coin changes back and forth between their hands 4using the method from the third phase of the which hand routine5 and then instruct them to bring their hands out in front of them, both closed in a fist.
“"o 'ust focus on where the coin is …”
" now hover my hand over each of their hands and ask one final 'uestion, of which seemingly tells me nothing. n othing.
“ust out of interest … 6id you start off with the coin in the hand that related to your star sign&”
&elieve it or not this seemingly innocent 'uestion will allow 1
you to narrow their sign down to three possible signs.
All you have to do is either guess which hand contains the coin and sometim times be wrong or use the two way verba rbal out e7pl e7 plai aine ned d in th the e firs firstt phas phase e of th the e wh whic ich h hand hand rout routin ine e to always be seen to get it right? r ight?
"t won*t matter if you guess which hand incorrectly at this point as you will go on to reveal the spectators star sign under seemingly impossible circumstances.
" suggest always giving a reading before the subse'uent reveal of their star sign, in order to bolster proceedings. "t should look as if you are obtaining information about their personality and it is via your knowledge of their characteristics and traits that you are able to take a guess on their star sign.
"f yo you u prefe referr not not to give ive a read readiing th then en " would ould sug sugge gesst throwing in the following line before revealing their sign.
“I ha%en)t told you you all of the different characteristics characteristics and traits I ha%e recei%ed recei%ed from you as I ha%e sat in front of 1
you but based on all of the im!ressions im!ressions I ha%e recei%ed about your !ersonality !ersonality there is only one sign you you could be …”
!his his will ill sug sugges estt you know know th thin ing gs abou aboutt th the e spect pectat ator or*s *s personality personality,, without without you actually actually having to give a reading reading and thanks to enton*s *confirmation principle* the hit on the star sign will prove that this is so.
&ack to the effect ( based on which hand the coin has ended up in, along with the answer to the previous 'uestion ( you will always be down to three possible star signs, for the spectator.
Dhat is beautiful is the answer to the 'uestion won*t seem to give give yo you u any any info inform rmat atio ion n as th the e sp spec ecta tato torr has has se seem emin ingl gly y changed where the coin ends up via a series of entirely random moves. !herefore, obscuring the original position of the coin and any information this could have given you.
owever, thanks to the third phase method ( where the coin ultimately ends up will tell us where it began. !his is a kind of reverse use of the method. 1C
!his his will will give ive us the firs firstt or secon econd d half half of the year ear th the e spectator was born in and their answer to the 'uestion will give us the second piece of information we need to divine which of the three signs relate to the spectator.
For e7ample, if we know that they were born in the first half of the year due to the fact the coin ends up in their right hand 4without applying the e7tra choice for the spectator to swap hands5 and they also answer with a *yes* to whether or not they started with the coin in the hand relevant to their sign then we know it must be one of the three signs from the first half of the year we previously labelled as right hand signs:
A'uarius,
"f they had answered with a *no* then we know it has to be the first half of the year signs from the opposite hand 4in this case the left hand5:
!aurus, Jemini or Gancer.
1E
"f the coin ends up in the left hand and they answer *yes* then we know it has to be the second half of the year signs from the left hand:
;corpio, ;agittarius or Gapricorn.
And if you get a *no* then in has to be the second half of the year signs from the opposite hand:
eo, Pirgo or ibra.
"t really is simple to discern which signs you are down to, once you understand how each of the signs are staggered. First, learn the signs in order as they appear throughout the year then you will be able to visualiBe where each block of three signs needs to go where, when labelling each of the spectator*s hands 4leading to an arrangement of si7 signs per hand5.
" will leave the e7planation for how we get down to one sign from out of the possible three outs when " e7plain my most up# to#date solution to the prop#less star sign, in the closing effect of this book.
12
&efore moving on from the which hand it is worth mentioning that -anos has a handling that seemingly predicts the number of times the spectator changes the coin in their hand. !his is taught at the end of the book. ;uffice, to say due to the fact " state they are to change the coin back and forth /a few0 times will more often than not result in the spectator changing three or four times, ma7imum 4to begin with5.
3ou can then later reveal this number of changes or use this elsewhere in another routine. All you need to do is have the spectator focus on the amount of times they changed back and fort forth h befo before re yo you u had had th them em chan change ge agai again n 4rep 4repea eati ting ng th thei eirr actions5 actions5 and then apply a hanging hanging statement to know whether this number is odd or even, in order to accurately guess or know the e7act thought of number, most of the time.
121
timing “yes! !his ne7t piece is an odd idea. "t is a way to get a binary cue from from your our spect pecta ato torr in such such a weird eird and and wonde onderf rful ul way, way, everything appears above board and fair to everyone involved.
!he basic concept behind this ploy is to seemingly make the process openly fair, whilst in actual fact, it is the addition of this element that actually provides the compromise of method needed to get this to work.
3ou will instruct your spectator to think of either a /yes0 or /no0 response but due to a seeming inconsistency in how long it will take the spectator to process each of the instructions, you will then appear to provide a balance to get rid rid of this inconsistency which will in fact, actually create one.
12
ere is the script and a break down of what is taking place, in order for this basic concept to become clearer.
“I am going to ask you a =uestion =uestion and I want you to answer in your head ( so stay com!letely com!letely silent and only answer, mentally$
“If what I ask is true then imagine saying saying the word )yes) in your head … If what what I say is false false then I want you you to imagine saying the words … )you are wrong), to me$
“And when you are done 'ust nod your head”$
Dhat this scripting does is sets up a seeming inconsistency with how long it will take the spectator spectator to first answer answer silently to themselves and then nod their head as confirmation they have sent their message telepathically.
"n actual fact, there won*t really be any discernible difference in the amount of time it takes the spectator to respond with a sing ingle word ord /y /yes es00 res respons ponse e or a sli slightl ghtly y long longer er res respons ponse e 122
indicating a /no0 with the spectator saying to themselves: /you are wrong?0.
!his is where we create an inconsistency in the process of seemingly seemingly eliminating eliminating an inconsisten inconsistency cy which doesn*t actually actually e7ist, in order to make the entire process appear fair.
“ust so there isn)t any inconsistency between how long long it takes for you to to answer$ If you you answer with the single word )yes) then wait a couple of seconds before nodding, okay&”
!hey hey will ill now now wait wait tw two o or th thre ree e secon econds ds befo before re nodd noddin ing g whenever they are thinking of the word /yes0 as opposed to nodding almost right away after thinking of the phrase /you are wrong0 and this will tip to you which answer they are focusing on, whilst at the same time making everything appear fair and above board.
A /couple0 of seconds usually implies two seconds in the =nglish language.
126
No one can imagine how long it should take to say a phrase instead of +ust a single word and whether they would give a nod nod righ rightt awa away or wait wait to make make it more ore diff diffic icul ultt for for th the e performer. !he spectator as well as everyone else watching will assume there is no way the performer could know the pace at which the spectator has either mentally spoken their phrase or if they have paused to even up any inconsistency. 3ou can therefore, now say the following as a way to wrap everything up.
“Okay, so there)s no way way I could know if you were 'ust focusing on a )yes) )yes) res!onse or telling me mentally mentally that I was wrong”$
!hey will agree and in the process, complete the illusion and bring everything full circle.
Note: " would only perform this once and not repeat the same process. !he reason for only performing this once for the same group is so that different different mental answers can*t be compared compared to one another and the method stays hidden.
12
" suggest setting up a !ruth or iar situation this way. ;imply have the spectator focus on whether they are going to lie or tell the truth and then ask the following 'uestion:
/Dould " be right in thinking you are going to tell the !ruth, in a moment90
Now you can ask 'uestions with the spectator answering out loud in the open and always know based on the calibration if they the answer they give is true or false. "f they are going to be answering out loud and you know they have decided to tell the truth then " suggest reversing this with the following line:
“ust to kee! this entirely random, random, if you are now focusing on telling the truth I want you to become a liar and if you are a liar then tell the truth”$
!his will ensure the spectator spectator won*t be able to +ust follow their truthful answers and arrive at the piece of information you are divining 4i.e. a playing card5 before the you come to the actual reve reveal al.. !his !his wo woul uld d ruin ruin th the e impa impact ct of th the e rout routin ine e yo you u are are performing. 12
erbal “yes! " have always wanted a way for the spectator to cue information to the performer without them ever being away they have done so. !he following ruse came about in a back to front manner, whilst thinking about how to get a cue from the spectator.
For many years, " have also always wanted a way to be able to perform a two person code with only the spectator, where they would give me the cue without knowing they had done so. !his was a high concept " never really found a solution for, until now.
!he following method will seem similar to something my friend %obert Gostley 4%ed Ievil5 has released in terms of concept but
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was was so some meth thin ing g " came came upon upon from from a ve very ry diff differe erent nt st star arti ting ng place. " did not set out to make what %ob has achieved prop# less but instead happened upon my solution in a very round about way. Although, " am sure others will see its similarity they will also be able to see where our two methods differ.
%ob Gostley has created a near perfect way for the spectator to cue you without them ever being aware they are doing so that " highly suggest you check out. is manuscript is called !.".!.= and " highly recommend devouring its secrets?
" was only really concerned with being able to discern a binary or choice out of two possibilities, whereas %ob*s method allows you to do much more.
;o with withou outt furt furthe herr ado, ado, here here is my scri script ptin ing g to be able able to always know which out of a binary pair the spectator will be focusing on, as applied to the beginning of a star sign divination ( specifically, secretly finding out which half of the year someone was born.
" say the following words to the spectator:
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“If you were born born in the first half of the year, in a moment I want you to take take a cou!le of seconds to imagine the colour colour red !ainted brightly brightly and %i%idly in loud front of you and 'ust give me a clear yes out loud when youve done this $ If on the other hand, you were
born in the second half of the year then all ! want you to do is say the colour colour blue, to yourself a few times,
mentally ( don)t nod or gi%e gi%e anything away, 'ust say say the colour blue silently to yourself”$
!hat*s it? 3ou will now always know which out of the two colours the spectator is focusing on and therefore, which half of the year they were born.
&ut how9
3ou are telling the spectator to give you a verbal cue, essentially.
"nstructing the spectator to say /yes0 out loud when they have 12E
perfo perform rmed ed only only one one of th the e task taskss and and leav leavin ing g th them em sile silentl ntly y repeating a word for the other possible binary, means they will cue you in by their actions 4or non action5 as to which thought they are focusing on.
Iue to the fact, the spectator will not want to mess up the effect effect and will will theref therefore, ore, listen listen closel closely y to your your instru instructi ctions, ons, means eans they hey will will pay pay clos close e atte attent ntio ion n to only nly th the e sp spec eciific fic instruction relevant to their thought which will in turn, mean they will miss the fact there are two possible responses that can be given.
!his will later be wrapped up beautifully with an indirect re# fram frame e as well ell as with ith the overa erall illu illusi sion on crea create ted d by th the e performance performance itself, itself, so everyo everyone ne is fooled no matter matter what what ( not only the participant but also those watching your performance.
"f the spectator is focusing on the colour red due to the fact they were born in the first half of the year then they will take a couple of seconds to imagine the colour red and will then say /yes0 out loud.
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"f they are instead, focusing on the colour blue and were born in the second half of the year then they will simply focus on repeating the colour blue to themselves silently.
!he reason these instructions work so well is due to the e7act scripting as well as thanks to the instructions highlighted in bold type. De are telling the spectator 'uite literally, to follow one of two different responses knowing that these differences will be hidden within the seeming fairness of what takes place.
3ou may prefer to tell the spectator to say /yes0 instead of giving he same instruction with the more indirect language " provide. !his will ensure there is no confusion, as to what you want the participant to do, if they will be focusing on the colour red.
All you have to do, is wait a few seconds to see if the spectator eventually says /yes0. !his will cue you into the fact they are thinking of the colour red. "f they don*t say /yes0 then you simply say it for them, as if asking for confirmation that they have gone through either of the outlined processes.
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“"o you)%e done this … yes" ” ”
!hey will say /yes0 back to you and in doing so, will complete the illusion and bring it full circle. !he spectator will now feel as if they were always supposed to say /yes0 after completing either of your previous instructions and it is this moment that clears up any inconsistency with your previous instructions, in the minds of everyone involved.
!his is one aspect of the indirect re#frame. !he performance itself is what sells this as fair. "t should always seem as if you always intended for the spectator to give you a /yes0 when comp complet letin ing g eith either er of yo your ur prev previo ious us inst instru ruct ctio ions ns ( Qyou Qyou +ust +ust didn* idn*tt say say /g /giv ive e me a cle clear *ye yess*0 after fter givi giving ng each each of th the e inst instru ructi ction onss or plac placed ed th this is part part of th the e inst instruc ructi tion on mid mid way way through the instructions, instead of at the endR.
!his idea is then further bolstered in the minds of everyone watchi ching, as you continue with the scrip ripting and your performance.
“?ood$ "o there)s no way way I could know whether you 'ust 16
%isuali4ed this colour in front of you or you you 'ust imagined re!eating it o%er to yourself&”
As soon as you get confirmation from the spectator that what you have +ust said is true then this false notion will become true and be completely cemented in theirs, as well as the minds of everyone watching ( making it impossible to back#track.
Iue to the fact, the method and previous instructions e7ist in word wo rdss wh what at was was trul truly y sp spok oken en will will be forg forgot otte ten n and and miss miss## remembered in a way that fits the overall appearance of the illusion illusion being created by the performance, performance, itself. "t will appear as if you always meant for the process to be fair ( otherwise, it wouldn*t make sense that you are now claiming everything is above board and legitimate.
This is like pieces of a jigsa, some of hich may ha!e been omitted b"t implied in the instr"ctions and the o!erall performance# They fill in the blanks once yo" apply the re$frame part of the scripting# This does not necess necessari arily ly happen happen consci conscio"s o"sly ly b"t b"t is implie implied d by the performanc performance e and seeming fairness, fairness, in and of itself# itself# This 162
is childishly simple, yet herein lies its poer % if it feels right to the spectator and e!eryone atching then it is correct, period& 't looks and feels the same as if all of the instr"ctions (implied) and all of the pieces of the jigsa that o"ld make "p the process, if yo" ere to act"ally do this for real, are present#
!his should be performed casually and with the attitude as if you always intend on this being as fair a process as possible.
"f you prefer you can use this by tying any other piece of information information to the colours or in fact, give other instructions instructions for what it is the spectator is to visualiBe, think or feel. Dhat is nice about linking binary information to the colours within the inst instru ructi ction onss th them emse selv lves es,, is th the e fact fact yo you u not not only only know know th the e colour after giving the instructions but have also gained an additional piece of information.
!he reason " taught you this principle using which half of the year someone was born, is so that " could teach you how it is applied to my most up to date prop#less star sign divination, which follows.
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tbotf star sign guess "n order to perform this piece correctly, you will need to ensure the spectator knows which half of the year they were born and eradicate any problems that may occur due to the cross over signs appearing at the mid way point and end of the year, name namely ly Ganc Gancer er and and Gapr Gapric icor orn. n. Natu Natura rall lly, y, th thes ese e coul could d be thought of as wither first or second half of the year resp respec ecti tive vely ly,, depe depend ndin ing g on wh whic ich h -ont -onth h th the e sp spec ecta tato torr was was born.
!o ensu ensure re th this is does doesn* n*tt beco become me a prob proble lem m in perf perform orman ance ce " simply instruct the spectator to imagine they were born in either the first or second half based on the following stipulation.
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!his scripting comes at the start of the piece, so that you can get it out of the way early and therefore, don*t muddy the procedure that follows this.
“I want you to focus on whether you were born in the the first or second half half of the year$ If you you were born in the 3onths C5D then this would would be the first half of of the year and the 3onths E5C would be the second$
“.owe%er, due to certain certain cross o%er signs ( if you are a #ancer sign then I want you to imagine imagine you were born in the first half of the year and if you are are a #a!ricorn #a!ricorn then imagine you were born in the second half of the year”$
!hey will now be focusing on the correct half of the year in order for the following method hod to play out with ithout any problems.
" now apply the previous binary /yes0 ruse to establish not only which half of the year the spectator was born but also what colour they are now focusing on. 16
!his is a beautiful position to be in due to the fact, " can now link the colour they are focusing on directly to the star signs, themselves, whilst also knowing which half of the year they were born.
!his will allow you to now further narrow the possible signs the spectator could be from to 2.
!his utiliBes my structure from my previous prop#less star sign divination 4released in a separate manuscript5 which involved labelling the different star signs on each hand of the participant and combines uke !urner*s brilliant idea of using a piece of information you already know 4ala. if the spectator was born in the first or second half of the year5 in order to further reduce the amount of possible signs.
uke originally suggested using this information to then give a furt furthe herr inst instru ruct ctio ion n for for th the e sp spec ecta tato torr to hold hold out out th the e hand hand containing their star sign or to hold out the opposite and this link linkin ing g of the two piec pieces es of info inform rmat atio ion n wo woul uld d give ive you everything, without it appearing to give you anything.
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" then took this basic idea and applied it in the following way, getting rid of the need to label hands.
“?ood$ "o there)s no way way I could know whether you 'ust %isuali4ed this colour in front of you or you you 'ust imagined re!eating it o%er to yourself&
“"o there)s no way I could know if you were born in in the first or second half of of the year, correct& correct&
Not only was each half of the year said to relate to specific colours traditionally, each of the star signs would also relate to a specific colour0.
" would say this previous script and then continue to label the star signs, accordingly.
“I want you to remember remember which of these colours relates s!ecifically to your star sign, okay& …
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Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Aries, ;eo, irgo, irgo, ;ibra corres!ond
to the colour red and Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, "cor!io, "agittarius, #a!ricorn the colour blue$
"o you now ha%e ha%e a colour in mind mind which relates to your star sign, yes&”
!he spectator will again, now be focusing on either the colour red or blue. !hose who have read my previous star sign guess 4shared 4shared previously previously in this this book5 will recogniB recogniBe e the staggering staggering of the star signs, again.
Now all " have to do is ask one innocent 'uestion which will see eemi ming nglly not not te tell ll me anyt nything hing in ord order to be dow own n to 2 potential signs, for the spectator.
“ust answer )yes) or )no) … 6oes 6oes the colour you are now focusing on match match the colour you you were focusing on !re%iously&”
!hanks to the way the star signs are staggered the answer the 16E
spectator now gives will tell you everything you need to know.
!he signs in bold are from the first half of the year and the others are from the second half of the year.
"f they respond with a /yes0 then you will know their star sign is included within the same colour group as the colour you know they were previously focusing on. Not only will you know the correct colour and therefore, the correct group of star signs: the colour will also give you the first or second half of the year your spectator was born in and this will further narrow down to 2 signs in the group.
!his works because of the staggering of the signs. =ach colour group of signs contains three signs from the fist half of the year and three from the second half. "t is therefore a simple matter of following the logic in order to know the possible possible 2 signs that could belong to the spectator.
"f they respond with a /no0 then you know their star sign is from out of the opposite colour group to the colour you know they were focusing on previously. 3ou also know which half of
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the year they were born and therefore therefore which three signs out of the opposite group must belong to them.
"t is a thing of simplified beauty?
&y linking the thoughts in this way, less work is needed to be done and everything ties together perfectly.
!he beauty of this approach is nothing is revealed in the steps leading up to the star sign revelation, as in you don*t hit along the th e way way with with hang hangin ing g st stat atem emen ents ts or subs subse' e'ue uent nt reve reveal alss of smal sm alle lerr piec pieces es of info inform rmat atio ion. n. !he !he fact fact th that at ev ever eryt ythi hing ng is hidden means the final revelation of the star sign comes out of nowhere.
As always, " would suggest providing distance and time misdirection from the process of gaining the information and the subse'uent reveal of their sign by giving a small reading before nailing their e7act sign.
!he reading will also bolster the performance and ensure it stays tays withi ithin n th the e rea realm and and aes esth thet etic ic of a psy sych chiic#es c#es' 'ue
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performance.
*hat is interesting abo"t the str"ct"re of this effect is the fact, e!en if yo" didn+t "se a method to ork o"t hic hich hal half of the the year year the the spec specta tato tor r as as born orn and and instead j"st perform ormed the effect "sing the same presentation, yo" o"ld be correct half of the time % this is a cray tho"ght& -"st by str"ct"ring the effect in this ay and linking tho"ghts e t"rn a 1 in 12 chance of hitting into a .0/ chance of alays being correct#
f co"rse, this o"ld still need to in!ol!e the "se of a three ay o"t, to alays appear to hit their star sign or specific tho"ght of item o"t of 12#
"t ho
Now we are down to three potential star signs. ere*s how " handle each of the outs in order to always appear to nail the spectator*s e7act star sign.
" first use the !D$ DA3 verbal out from
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discussed in this book by simply looking at the spectator and stating the following:
“:hen I first sat down down in front of you you I instantly felt you you were an /20 … ”
" snap my fingers here and say one of the star signs from out of the three potential signs " am left with and then pause for a second and wait for a reaction.
"f " get a reaction here then " know " have hit the sign and " can end there. "f " don*t get a reaction then " continue right along with my scripting.
“$$$ BT I)m glad glad that I didn)t 'ust trust trust my sna! 'udgement or go go with my first decision but instead got got to know you a little better better because based based on all of the characteristics and traits that I)%e !icked u! from you I feel theres only one sign that could belong to you …”
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" now proceed to write down one of the other possible star signs on a billet or black inde7 card and place it face down on the table and then throw out the only other possible star sign, verbally.
“Are you an /20&”
"f " get a hit here " say, /Jood?0 as " pick up the billet 4sight unseen5 and casually place it away in my pocket.
"f they respond with a /no0 then " say: /... what star sign are you90
!hey then tell me their star sign and it will be the one written down. " then bring everything to a close by saying:
“?ood I)m glad I committed to this”$
As " gesture for the spectator to turn turn over the billet.
"t will match their sign, proving you knew the correct sign all along? 16
!here are ways to +ustify the billet not being turned over when you hit verbally and there is no need to do so. " personally, don*t worry about it when this happens. " simply place it into my pocket or leave it face down on the table.
Dorse case is if someone where to turn it over, you would +ust say /" changed my mind at the last minute?0 and that would e7plain away the fact there is a different sign written on the billet.
!he words in bold suggest there was only ever one sign being considered as belonging to themselves even though this clearly wasn*t the case.
!hat*s it for now?
" hope you en+oy these further thoughts from my notebooks and find many ways to utiliBe these principles and put them to good use.
Fraser, 2018 1
bonus "anos# which hand? routine =FF=G! !he performer plays a game of imagination with a participant who is given an invisible die. !he participant rolls the th e invi invisi sibl ble e die, die, reme rememb mber erss th the e imag imagin inar ary y numb number er upon upon which it lands, and then switches the die between his hands that many times behind his back # he is even given the chance to change hands at the very end.
Iespite the free and fair procedure, the performer can reveal
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with accuracy which hand holds the invisible die as well as pred predic ictt how how many many time timess th the e part partic icip ipan antt sw swit itch ched ed th the e die die between his hands.
<=%F$%-ANG=
“6o you ha%e a good imagination&”
%ega %egard rdle less ss of how how th the e part partici icipa pant nt resp respon onds ds th the e perf perfor orme merr continues,
“:ell, I ha%e 'ust the thing to test that$”
!he performer opens his wallet and the participant can clearly see a red envelope tucked within.
“In this en%elo!e I ha%e ha%e a !iece of your your imagination… imagination… but we will get back to that later$ For For now, I want to try something with this$”
!he !he perf perfor orme merr mime mimess taki taking ng so some meth thin ing g out out of th the e wall wallet et between his thumb and inde7 finger. 1
“This is an in%isible die$ Glease Glease hold it and e1amine e1amine it$ 3ake sure all the numbers are there from C to D$”
!he participant plays along and /e7amines0 the die. !hen the performer takes it back in order to demonstrate what he wants the participant to do.
“In a moment, I am going to to turn my back$ :hen that ha!!ens I want you to roll the die and and remember what number comes u!$ u!$ 9ouHll then !ick u! the die, !ut your hands behind your back, back, and switch the die between your hands to match match the number you imagined rolling$ rolling$ "o, for e1am!le, if you roll a C the !erformer !erformer mimes rolling the dieJ youHll !ick !ick it u!, !ut your hands behind your back and switch it one time the !erformer demonstrates those actions as he e1!lainsJ$
“If you get a D the !erformer mimes mimes rolling the die againJ youHll !ick !ick it u!, !ut your hands behind your
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back, and switch switch it si1 times the !erformer !erformer demonstrates againJ$
“*ow take the the die in your hands and and roll a new number number when I turn around$”
!he participant agrees and the performer turns his back.
“OK, roll the die… and remember remember what number came u!$ As I e1!lained, e1!lained, !lease !ick u! the die, !ut it behind your back, and and switch it between your your hands that many many times$
“Glease remember remember where the die ends u!$ I know this this can be tricky when you you are using an in%isible die$ ;et me know when you are ready so I can turn around$”
!he participant confirms he is ready and the performer turns around.
“Glease only tell me yes or no 5 do you still remember remember the 1E
number that you saw on the die&”
!he participant responds in affirmative.
“?reat$ "witch again again that many times 'ust to make make things e%en more random$ random$ ;et me know once youH%e done that$ *ow are you you ha!!y with where the die ended u! or do you want to switch and !ut it in the other hand& ItHs ItHs u! to you$”
!he participant responds that he is happy with the location of the die.
“Kee! both hands hands behind your back back but I want you to to imagine that you you are bringing forward forward the hand with with the die and gi%ing it to to me$ 6onHt do anything !hysically !hysically 5 'ust imagine doing doing the action$ Are Are you doing that& that& ?reat… ;ook at me… 9ou 9ou are imagining that youH%e youH%e brought forward forward your right hand hand and gi%ing me the the die$ That is where the the die is… in your right hand… correct& And yes… that smile smile means I am right” 1
!he performer allows the participant a moment to react to the revelation and then continues, /Now, please tell meH what was the number you saw on the die90
!he participant responds it was the number .
“6id you really see see that number or or was it 'ust in your your imagination&”
!he participant responds that it was +ust in his imagination.
“:ell, at the beginning beginning I did say that that I ha%e a !iece of your imagination imagination in my wallet…” wallet…”
!he !he perfo perform rmer er open openss his his wall wallet et,, remo remove vess th the e red red enve envelo lope pe shown at the start, and takes a card from within. e slowly spins the card around and displays a picture of a die showing the number .
-=!$I
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!here are two parts to this routine. !he first one allows you to locate the imaginary ob+ect in the participantSs hands and the second deals with predicting the number he imagined on the die.
Now all you need to know is in which hand the die begins. !o do this, you merely need to observe 4" intentionally donSt use the word /peek0 because it happens more openly and casually5 which hand the participant uses to pick up the die after he has rolled it on the table.
-ost people use their dominant hand 4right handed people will probably use their right hand and vice#versa5 but it doesnSt really matter because you will see their preference anyway.
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Although you are looking away when the participant rolls the die everyone knows that this is +ust a +oke # they understand you cannot possible see the number on an invisible die.
Dith your peripheral vision you can easily see which hand the participant uses to pick up the die from the table. !hat is the hand the die will end up in after he has switched it two times between his hands using the secret number. nu mber.
$f course this can be any number, but because we donSt want to turn this into a long winded procedure nor do we want the part partic icip ipan antt to be conf confus used ed duri during ng th the e sw swit itch chin ing, g, a sm smal alll number like 6 or works much better than E or 1. !hatSs why " came came up with with th the e invi invisi sibl ble e die die pres presen enta tati tion on so th that at th the e numbers in play are only from 1 to 4and "Sll discuss in a moment how you eliminate another two numbers5.
;ince you already know where the die ended up 4in the same hand the participant picked it up with5 you ask him if he is happy with the location of the die or if he wants to switch and put it in the other hand. " think itSs important to do this
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because you donSt want the participant to feel like he really didnSt have a choice when the die ends up in the same hand it started.
&y giving him the option to switch at the last minute you emphasiBe that it could truly end up in any hand. $f course when he says his decision out loud you are able to follow where the die concludes the game.
Finally, as the whole routine is based around imagination, " like to ask the participant to imagine bringing the hand with the die forward and !=N reveal it # rather than +ust tell him where it is. Now on to part two.
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!hese go into the imber wallet in ascending order so " can remember remember the location of each number. number. Dhen the wallet wallet is flat on the table the top card in the top envelope reveals number 8 the card right below it is number 2 4remember itSs a double envelope58 then the ne7t card in the ne7t compartment of the imber wallet 4in the other double envelope5 is number 68 and the last card 4closest to the table as you are moving from the top of the wallet down towards the table5 is number .
At the end of the routine " casually ask the participant which number he saw on the die. Dith that information " open the imber wallet to the appropriate compartment 4having access to eith either er th the e env envelop elope e with ith the num numbers bers M2 or with ith the numbers 6M5 then open the envelope to the correct side 4some mark markin ings gs migh mightt help help keep keep yo you u orie orient ntat ated ed55 and and prod produc uce e th the e final revelation.
Iisclaimer: " no longer use this routine because " have other /which hand0 effects in my repertoire that work better for me. " decided to take out the /which hand0 element and only keep the ploy relating to the die 4as well as another addition5 that " later came up with. !his evolution resulted in my /"nvisible
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Iie0 rou routine as is detailed in my book >nPeil #
G%=I"!;
en Iyne: For coming up with the line, /"n this envelope " have have a piece iece of yo your ur imag imagin inat atio ion. n... ..00 which hich " think hink is an e7cellent presentational hook.
Andy Nyman: /Iice#man0 is a great routine using a die in its presentation. !om ;tone: /$f Iice and -en0 also has a similar presentation.
%an
-ichael -urray #
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this mathematical 'uirk to force an even date in a Galendar.
Lake 3ates, -el ;tover, Lames ;tewart, -artin Jardner, %yan Frame, and &anachek: "tSs worth mentioning that all of these men have published worked utiliBing mathematical principles to trac track k andM andMor or forc force e th the e posi positi tion on of an ob+e ob+ect ct pass passed ed from from location to location.
-any of these ideas and routines are compiled within =lliott &reslerSs e7pansive ;witchcraft, 4specifically the /"mpromptu -ental =ffects # Polume 10 supplement5.
&ob &rethren: is /A
3anos 4artsakis, -"ne 2018
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