James Rolph and Hypnosis Without Trance. Unauthorised copying and distribution are prohibited
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Early in 2009 Anthony Jacquin asked me to write up my take on the ‘card stick’, for the Proper Mental 3 – 3 – the third issue of the ‘magicians only’ supplement to his best selling book Reality is Plastic . I was totally stoked to be asked to contribute to this, and even more so with the response that the piece got. Indeed it was was this that first got me thinking thinking that maybe my approach and ideas may be of interest to others! While this write up pre-dates the full Hypnosis Without Trance methodology, Trance methodology, it really marks the beginnings of the developing that methodology into something teachable, and for that reason I have included it here as a bonus. Please note that I no longer issue the initial challenge as it is written up here. While this works fine, the way that you see me doing it on t he DVD’s is an evolution and works better. It is also worth baring in mind that this was written for performing magicians, so if some of the references go past you, it probably just means that you are not a magician (at least, not that kind). I hope that you enjoy it! James
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This little bit of ‘hypno-business’ is something that I have been doing for a long time now, and is in fact the first f irst thing I ever did to elicit a genuine hypnotic phenomenon. phenomenon. I still love it and do it a lot, and have developed developed it into a bit of a utility tool. The idea is simple – you take a business card or playing card and have it so the subject cannot cannot drop it! This ALWAYS elicits a response response of astonishment astonishment and/or total fascination from the subject and serves as a massive convincer and great ‘wedge’ into full-on hypnosis. First things first: the t he original idea for this came from a recording called Hypnotic Techniques Techniques by by David Calof (Calof is an interesting hypnotist and worth checking out). Having performed it so many times, I have evolved it into something that I can get to work 99% 99% of the time. So here’s how it goes:
I want to have a sense that the person is going to be responsive (I personally don’t like the term ‘suggestible’) ‘suggestible’) before I start the piece. For me, I will either either have been watching their response to my mentalism and looking for signs of absorption, or I will uses magnetic fingers and magnetic palms as a warm-up. Sometimes I go straight in with this if I feel the person is the right type. Going into the piece proper, I arrange the so as their feet are together, they are standing up straight and breathing clearly. clearly. Then I bring their arm (usually the right, but there is no reason for this) out in directly in front of them with the elbow straight and the wrist bent down pretty much as far as it will go (please don’t force this). In setting them up, I do a lot of the moving and positioning myself, supported by appropriate instructions – all the th e time monitoring keenness and compliance. It is very easy in this phase to judge whether they want it or not (this is the key to making this work at 99%). I then place the business/playing b usiness/playing card between their thumb and index finger (the wrist is still bent down and the other fingers are curled in) and elevate the hand so as they have to look up slightly at the card. Once set up, tell the subject: “and just pick a point on that card t hat you can focus on absolutely absolutely and completely”. Or you can draw an X on the back back of the card with a Sharpie. And ask them them to focus on the centre of the X. Or you can use the + card from an ESP deck (my current preference). This is the set up complete!
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So the subject is standing up straight with their arm out str aight, wrist bent and holding a playing/business card. card. They are staring at a point on the card ‘absolutely and completely’. completely’. If all is as it should be you have have both compliance and anticipation at this point. Now I’ll give you you the ‘script’. “That’s right, and as you continue to focus on that point just notice your breathing…and continue to focus…and breath…and breath…and feel your finger and thumb gripping the card (make (make sure you get this bit) as you repeat - inside your mind only - the words ‘I am going to t o drop this, over and over looping round’… ‘‘I am going to drop this, I am going to drop this over and over as you continue to focus…and as you continue to repeat those words, just try and drop the card and notice with amusement that you can’t... as you continue to repeat those words…that’s right…trying to drop the card as your hand sticks and locks tighter and tighter - locking and becoming more stuck in this moment.” From this point you escalate the challenge as much as you need to, wish to or feel is appropriate.
The above script is an example of the type of wording and the concepts I use. The idea is not to stick to the t he script, but simply to understand what you are doing and what you want to achieve. Don’t rush this bit, just focus on making it all happen. Here’s my thinking on what’s going on: First of all, put yourself yourself in the set up position and hold hold a card. With your arm straight out (elbow locked) and your wrist bent, a lot of tension is created in the arm, wrist and hand. hand. This tension is strongly strongly felt and will will later create a kinaesthetic base base for feelings of lockedness lockedness and stiffness. I also think that that it is physiologically slightly harder to open your fingers in this position (not massively but slightly – enough enough to use). Also elevating above above eye level adds something here (beyond just eye fatigue). Try doing this and taking a moment to convince yourself that your fingers are stuck and that that you cannot drop drop the card. This will give give you some great great insight into how to make this work with others. Now after the physical set up, we encourage multiple points of fixation, and for those with an NLP bent you will notice that we have visual, kinaesthetic kinaesthetic and auditory: ! !
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Visual – focusing on a point on the card. Kinaesthetic – focusing on the breathing and especially the finger and thumb gripping the card (see script ). ). Auditory (internal) – focusing on the phrase “I am going to drop this”
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My reckoning here is that if they are truly f ocusing in these three channels, their ‘critical faculty’ is well well off-line. So this is my aim aim for this section – get them simultaneously simultaneously focusing on these these three things. If you like, you can think of this bit as a ‘trance ‘tr ance induction’. For those who are fans of ‘indirect’ suggestion, think about ”I am going to drop this” – it presupposes that you are holding the card and really doesn’t make any sense if you you are not. The idea is that this ‘linguistic logic’ keeps the person holding the card in order to keep keep reality constant. constant. Feel free to ponder ponder that idea or disregard it – I think it is pretty powerful and uses conditioned logic and expectation to your advantage. Now for the main suggestion that triggers the phenomena “and as you continue to repeat those words and hear those words, just try and drop the card and notice with amusement that you can’t... as you continue to repeat those words…that’s right…try to drop it and continue to feel your hand sticking and locking and becoming more stuck and locked in this moment.” This is a simple challenge, but I want to make sure they continue to do things my way (don’t want want them taking control control at this critical juncture). This is why I place so much emphasis on them continuing with the “I am going to drop this’ loop. I sandwich the challenge challenge between two instructions to continue continue with the auditory loop. I am highlighting this because doing this has increased my success rate with this by about 40% 40% when doing it all all from cold. cold. Another element element to this suggestion is ‘notice with amusement that that you can’t’. I think this works to create an extra layer of processing and something else to draw the mind. This increases the moment of indecision and overload and compounds the suggestion. It also suggests suggests enjoyment of the experience, experience, which is is all for the good. After this ‘sandwiched suggestion’ suggestion’ I continue with further suggestions suggestions toward the hand sticking and locking. I think there may be a couple of other factors at play that make this work: Firstly, a lot of subjects believe on some level level (it has been reported to me) that you are setting them up to involuntarily drop the card, so when you suggest the opposite it derails their thinking and throws them into a moment of confusion (and therefore openness to suggestion). Secondly, as soon as they experience a hesitation in dropping the card they t hey start to autosuggest (inside their own minds) that they are unable to drop it. Suggestions that come from within are, I believe, the most powerful.
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You can use this as a piece in and of itself, bringing it to a close with “you are unable to drop the card until now (touch the back of the hand)…your muscles release and you can can move your hand completely”. completely”. However, once you you have the stick nice and and good you may as well ride it for all all that it is worth. One option is to expand it straight into a full arm-lock, which follows quite naturally. I also like to utilize the arm catalepsy to t o position the arm in various poses and stick it there. Then take the card and stick the the hand to the head. head. Another option is to position the hand for a ‘hand-to-face’ induction. I like this because it is a great way to give out my business card, and with a playing card/ESP card it is a natural segway from card magic/mentalism into pure hypnotic fun!
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