The Portugal Notes
Peter Turner
Introduction Welcome to the Portugal notes! In these notes you will learn to successfully read someone--using branching, steer, box reframe, delegate--allowing you to conversationally lead any reading down the avenue you want. Use these notes as a key to spice up your readings; learn to billetlessly guess a person’s name using the lipping technique; reverse psi force a number of playing cards; use the fail safe principle to ensure that your readings are accurate and never miss; successfully tell someone what they wanted to be when they were a child; divine any person's birth date or star sign; share a remote journey with your participant; and describe thoughts and feelings that they are experiencing mentally. For the first time I reveal all, no holds barred, nothing held back. This is material I have kept close to my chest for a very long time, and now I am sharing the secrets with you. This isn’t just one reading. Each section can be used separately to create smaller routines or effects. You are not limited to using the readings in the way I
constructed them in the video. With these tools and principles and a small part of your own imagination, anything is possible!
Introduction to the routine This is the most important part of the routine in my opinion. The way in which you portray yourself in the first thirty seconds will determine how the subject decides to treat you during the experience. It is essential for a routine like this to start off on the right foot. You need to reduce the possibility of the participant making any objections. The main mistake performers make is to make outlandish claims before a routine starts. Claiming you can read minds instantly puts the participant into challenge mode so first you need to remedy this. I usually sit with the participant and make casual conversation, small talk. The best people to study in regards to making small talk are shop keepers or hair dressers (influence can be taken from anywhere). You need to become friendly with the person and there is no better way to do this than let them talk about themselves. I promise you it is worth it; in the Portugal clip she gives me one valuable piece of information that I use later on.
Ask the participant their name and what they do for a living. Asking them what they do for a living is very important because we are going to use it. In the video she is a student. (I could have made a guess at that) but there is no point as it kills rapport (if you are wrong). Your job at this point is simple: REMEMBER WHAT THIS PERSON DOES FOR A LIVING! Ask the participant how long they have been doing the thing they are doing and let them answer you. There are three possible answers they can give you: 1) Over 5 years 2) Under 5 years 3) Just started or not very long You need to really listen to what they are saying to you, because the answer you are going to give now is going to build rapport. If it is over five years you can say something along these lines: “Wow, so you have been doing that for quite a while then. Do you enjoy it?”
Under five years: "You have been doing that for a fair amount of time, I bet it seems like a lifetime." Just started: (This is the one you can play around with a lot, because they will be excited about the job and most people give it their all to start with). This is a line I use (setting myself up for getting the upper hand psychologically): "Congrats, I just know you are going to love it. Let me give you a piece of advice that I have found to be most useful. When starting at a company we generally try to give it our all and that is the worst thing you can do in this scenario. Stay in the middle, not too much not too little. Get done what is required. This sounds like a crazy piece of advice, but your boss will want to see an improvement in your work over time. And if you have given it your best from the start then it is very difficult to show improvement." (Wait for acknowledgement)
"Not only that, but too much will be expected from you from a very early time." Let them give you a response and move on to asking them if it is something they always wanted to do, with just a yes or a no for an answer. If it is a yes proceed straight to palmystery. If no, this is where we segue to some probability based reading.
Past reading You do not have to be a skilled reader here to be able to correctly determine what someone did as a child. I use one set of lines that will almost lead me exactly to what a participant did as a child. Start by asking the participant if they would be impressed if you could guess what they did for a hobby in the past. Asking them is important: you are performing for them and asking them questions along the way makes them feel part of the process. It also gets them accustomed to answering questions in a relaxed sense instead of a confrontational sense. Let them answer. If the person is too talkative or wants to spill the beans about what they did as a hobby (even though you never asked them to), let them tell you. Store the information and fire it back at them later, boxed and reframed. This shouldn’t happen as you have given them a question mixed with a statement that implies you are going to guess it.
This is where we apply the “work”. A massive, massive piece of advice I can share when giving any reading is to view the reading as a progressive anagram. Even if you get a soft “no”, the branch from that “no” leads off to a hit to end with. When you view a reading like this there is no way to fail. First you need to set up the basis for the reading, apply this line. “Generally, when we are children our parents can often force us into one direction by picking our hobbies for us”. All you need to do is watch the participant’s reaction, if they are nodding/ smiling or overly reacting you know this is the case... ...giving us our “Yes” when thinking in terms of a progressive anagram. If the subject is just staring at you waiting to see where this is going, this often implies this was not the case with them... ...giving us our “No” when thinking in terms of a progressive anagram.***
This is what I have found to be a most accurate representation of what the person is thinking. It is not 100%, but it doesn’t matter as the next lines will help you, should this be wrong. ***If you get a no jump straight to the “If No” section
If "yes" “I think that was the case here, yeah?” {Say this in a very conversational sense, finishing with "yes?" or "yeah?" depending on how laid back the person is you are talking to. Ending with “yes?” is very important. If you end with “correct?” you are setting up an objection that can only lead them to say "no, you are not correct." They still can say that their parents did not push them into a hobby but they will do it more politely. This is what you counter with: “Ah ok because the vibe I am getting from you, is that your parents constantly wanted to ensure you were constantly on target, even though they didn’t always show it in obvious ways. They did this sometimes to the point that it became slightly overwhelming”. {This covers all bases and erases the earlier miss. Just to show you this reading will not miss what parent’s didn’t want their kids to do well? Also notice I never mention a “hobby” I say a “target” this could be school work or life in general. Also what child has not been mad at their parent’s for being too pushy?}
That’s the miss covered. Let’s for the sake example (like in the video) say that they agree with their parents pushing them into a specified area as a child. This is where I get to milk another “yes” from nothing. This is nothing more than logical and it will make complete sense upon reading it. "If you were pushed into something as a child I am willing to bet you went in the opposite direction when you got your independence, unless it was something that you grew to love. Only to prove your own independence." I use this line in the video. “Because what you are doing now is mentally testing and you were pushed into something as a child, I think when you got your own independence you took a different route. This tells me what you did as a child was probably MORE physically testing”. Of course if the job they are doing now is physically demanding I wouldn’t use these lines. More is the key word here; anything is “more” physically testing than thinking.
Upon reflection, if I had a chance to go back and do this routine again, I would have said: “When I look at you I can see you’re a very independent person." Compliment them and let them acknowledge this. "This tells me that the thing you did as a child is almost the complete opposite of what you are doing now. It would have been MORE physically testing”. Either way you end with the same thing, the only difference is in the latter you generate two hits and build more rapport. This again has answered another branch in your large anagram. They have told you that it was physically demanding. I usually throw in a very Koi line here, “You can see the logic there, it makes sense”. Let them respond. “But it’s not exact”. Look at your participant, are they male or female? This is very important. I now play the probability card.
In the case of the video I am working with a female, what hobbies do females have as a child? Gymnastics, dancing, singing, playing a musical instrument, hockey or volleyball. There aren’t many and notice they fit into pairs quite nicely! Gymnastics and dancing focus on movement of the body. Singing and playing a musical instrument are sound and notes. Hockey and volleyball are general sports. So I take each of these pairs as one thing, giving me just three hobbies! I now need to know which branch to go off on to hone in on which of these it was. “I think with you this was a sport of some kind.” Look for the acknowledgement, a smile or a look of them thinking “well, not really”. A good reader bases his answers on the feelings he is getting from the participant and probability.
In the case of the video she smiles, which gives me a “yes”, taking me on another branch to hockey/volleyball or dancing/gymnastics. This is the final piece of the branch: to decide between the two. In the video I look at the participant’s physique and take a chance based on my own gut feelings and probability. All of these things need to be taken into account. I quickly realize she acknowledges it was a sport and move on: "I don’t think this would have been a general sport (slight pause) like hockey/ volleyball." This cleverly gives you a 'two birds one stone' way out. She might think that you are stating that it wasn’t a general sport and then you’re asking her if it was hockey or volleyball. If it is neither, she will just comply and nod politely to confirm it wasn’t a general sport, giving you the verification you need to take you down to dancing/ gymnastics. In the video I cheekily throw in: "you wanted to teach… teach gymnastics."
In something like gymnastics that is one of the things you aim for, you often idolise your teacher. If it had been dance I would have thrown in a similar line. So what would I have done if she had given me a look of “not really” to the “this is a sport of some kind” question? I would have quickly corrected myself saying: “I was seeing a lot of people move, but it wasn’t you. You’re musically talented, right?” I would have said all of this with a smile on my face. This erases the miss from before and explains why I thought it could have potentially been people moving (she will take this for people jumping or dancing). Just like I threw in the cheeky question about her teaching in the video, if it was an instrument of sorts (or vocals), I would have said something cheeky like: “You wanted to change the world with your music." (What person who is musical doesn’t want to change the world??) *** If you are the sort of person that isn’t comfortable with readings you can always leave this out.
“I think you are a very creative person, very independent-minded even from a young age. You used to be very interested in art and have not given it as much attention recently as you should have done." Let them answer. Every person loved art as a kid, I do not know one that did not.
If "no" What if the participant wasn’t pushed into a hobby as a child? Address the participant: “I don’t think you were pushed into a hobby as a child. I think with you, you have been a very independent person for a long time. The vibe I am getting from you is that your parents constantly wanted to ensure you were constantly on target, though they didn’t always show it in obvious ways." They did this sometimes to the point that it became slightly overwhelming. I think this sometimes became so overwhelming for you, that you often did your own thing much to your parents distaste”. There is a subtle but important change given to the people that weren’t pushed into hobby. Look at your participant, are they male or female? This is very important in figuring out out what sort of hobbies they might have had as a child. I now play the probability card.
In the case of the video I am working with a female, what hobbies do females have as a child? Gymnastics, dancing, singing, playing a musical instrument, hockey or volleyball. There aren’t many and notice they fit into pairs quite nicely! Gymnastics and dancing focus on movement of the body. Singing and playing a musical instrument are sound and notes. Hockey or volley ball are general sports. So I take each of these pairs as one thing, giving me just three hobbies! I now need to know which branch to go off on to hone in on which of these it was. “I think with you this was a sport of some kind” Look for the acknowledgement, a smile or a look of them thinking “well not really”. A good reader bases his answers on the feelings he is getting from the participant and probability.
In the case of the video she smiles, which gives me a “yes”, taking me on another branch to hockey/volleyball or dancing/gymnastics. This is the final piece of the branch: to decide between the two. In the video I looked at the participant’s physique and took a chance based on my own gut feelings and probability. All of these things need to be taken into account. I quickly realise she acknowledges it was a sport and move on: “I don’t think this would have been a general sport (slight pause) like hockey/ volleyball”. This cleverly gives you a 'two birds one stone' way out. She might think that you are stating that it wasn’t a general sport and then you’re asking her if it was hockey or volleyball. If is neither, she will just comply and nod politely to confirm it wasn’t a general sport, giving you the verification you need to take you down to dancing/gymnastics. In the video I cheekily throw in “you wanted to teach… teach gymnastics”.
In something like gymnastics that is one of the things you aim for, you often idolise your teacher. If it had been dance I would have thrown in a similar line. So what would I have done if she had given me a look of “not really” to the “this is a sport of some kind” question? I would have quickly corrected myself saying: “I was seeing a lot of people move, but it wasn’t you. You’re musically talented, right?” I would have said all of this with a smile on my face. This erases the miss from before and explains why I thought it could have potentially been people moving (she will take this for people jumping or dancing). Just like I threw in the cheeky question about her teaching in the video, if it was an instrument of sorts (or vocals), I would have said something cheeky like: “You wanted to change the world with your music." (What person who is musical doesn’t want to change the world??)
***As you can clearly see it is only really the first set of lines that change when applying the large branching system. I put the rest in for ease of reading and nothing more.
Gender In the examples that I provided above, the gender of the participant was female. What happens if the participant is male? First, let's take a look at possible hobbies of general male participants. Football, rugby, a martial art, singing or playing a musical instrument. Football and rugby can be grouped as one. Singing and playing a musical instrument can be grouped as one. Martial arts is on its own. There aren’t as many hobbies for males as there are for females. This is makes it a lot easier as you are one branch closer to knowing what they did as a child from the start. “I think with you this was a sport of some kind.” Look for the acknowledgement, a smile or a look of them thinking “well not really”. A good reader bases
his answers on probability and the feelings he is getting from the participant. If the male smiles this gives me a “yes”, taking me on the branch to martial arts, or football/rugby. This is the final piece of the branch: to decide between the two. I have found most males at some point in their lives studied a martial art, so it is a good bet to go with that (if you want to trust probability outright). Look at the participant’s physique and take a chance based on your own gut feelings and probability. All of these things need to be taken into account. Make a simple guess. I promise it is very rare that you will fail. So what would I have done if he gives the look of “not really” to the “this is a sport of some kind” question? I would have quickly corrected myself saying: “I was seeing a lot of people move, but it wasn’t you. You’re musically talented, right?” I would have said all of this with a smile on my face.
This eraes the miss from before and explains why I thought it could have potentially been people moving (he will take this for people jumping or dancing.) Just like I threw in the cheeky question about teaching in the video, if it was an instrument of sorts (or vocals), I would have said something cheeky like: “You wanted to change the world with your music”. (Moving into the same ending I would have used if it would have been a female.) When you have successfully stated what the participant did as a child it opens up for you the possibility to use the line: “Fantastic, by thinking about what you are doing presently I tried to intuit what you did in the past."
Palmystery This is by far the simplest routine in this performance. I received a lot of messages “assuming” this was a psychological force. It is nothing of the sort. (Although the psi force can be your saving grace!) I start this routine by asking the participant the following question. “Do you believe in psychics? Mediums? How about palm readers?” As I say “palm readers” I pick up the person's right palm and casually peek at the lines in their hand to try and see a number. (It has to be the right hand.) Lift up your own right hand and stare into your palm. Read your own palm; can you see a number? There will probably be a seven in there, other numbers I have found are eleven and seventeen and to be honest I have not come across any more. That is essentially the method. Please don’t skip this section as there are some subtleties within these notes
that ensure a higher hit rating. There are some other subtleties that will come into play later that I would also advise you to pay attention to. In the video I shake her hand at the start of the perfomance (when I am introducing myself). That is where I casually take a peek; I would advise you to get the peek as early as possible, store the information and use it later. You should notice a common theme occurring here: saving information to use later. This routine is very, very simple in nature; please don’t be put off by that. This should just lead into greater things and is used to simply build more rapport and create compliance. Ask the subject: "Do you believe in psychics? Mediums? How about palm readers?" Dismiss the answer about the psychics and mediums; the only answer that is important to us is the answer regarding palm readers. There are only two potential answers the participant can give us at this point: a “yes” or a “no”.
(She might be on the edge about it but try to get her to say yes or no.) It really doesn’t matter what answer she gives at this point, I have found most females generally believe in palm readers whilst males don’t (you could generate another hit by guessing that the participant does or doesn’t believe). If she gives you a “yes”: “Great, well, I am about to try something interesting. I am not going to read your palm. I am going to get you to read your own palm." If she gives you a “no”, use these lines: “It’s not something I particularly believe in either. That’s why I am not going to read your palm, I am going to get you to read it”. (What is important to think about here is the line “READ your own palm." This is telling the participant to read what they can physically see.) Take hold of the participants wrist (while looking away) lift their right hand towards their face and say
“Take a look in here (tap their palm with your finger while still looking away) and in your mind’s eye you'll see a number”. Let go of the wrist. Whilst still facing away, ask them to drop their hand facedown into their lap. Make a conscious effort to be facing away. This is very important body language: it suggests you are trying to not to look. If you are trying to suggest not to look it’s because you don’t want to see something that is physically there and this is the key factor in ensuring that they actually see a number instead of thinking of one. Here I offer two options, the ballsy option (which I take in the video) or the safe option. The ballsy option: look the participant square in the eye and in a soft tone say: “Now this could potentially be any number." Let them respond. “There is no way I could know your number, right?”
Because of the way you made a conscious effort to look away, their answer will be that there’s no way you could know. Don’t be afraid of them saying that you might have looked earlier; staring at peoples palms is not a normal thing to do and will never be suspected. Using the line “your number” (something I do not do in the video) makes this a little more personal and generates a bigger reaction. The safer option: look the participant square in the eye and say: “Now if this was someone else, this could potentially be a different number." Let them respond. “There is no way I could know your number, right?” Again they will respond that there is no way that you could have known. This is where we introduce the invisible screen. There is one thing I never do, this is just a personal preference but I think it is very important none the less. When I draw an invisible screen, I never do this facing the participant (even in close up).
I sit at the side of the participant and just like we are actually watching tv we both sit side by side and we look at it together. I draw it in front of the two of us; this serves a purpose. The participant is more accustomed to sitting like this; they do not feel pressured as I am not invading their personal space and we are going through this experience together. The reason I am not facing her is because to me this seems confrontational. Draw the invisible screen in the air and ask the participant to imagine their number projected upon it. Look at the screen and then bring a look upon your face that suggests your thoughts were interrupted. This is where I throw in another cheeky line that generates a hit. In the video you will notice that I say: “You love singing don’t you?” What female (or male) doesn’t like singing? It’s even better if the person only likes to sing in the shower or somewhere else in private, as it seems like you are seeing that they secretly love it. And it psychologically suggests that you can see these things.
There are only two answers they can give: a "yes" or a "no". I have never had anyone say no to that question. Should you get a “no” just smile and say: “Singing in private when no one is around still counts as loving to sing”. This will bring you back to the same place and erase the no. “I want you to just imagine singing this number so everyone in this (insert wherever you are, in the video it is a park) can hear you”. Concentrate for a few seconds and say the number. (In the video it is a seven) If this hits, proceed. There is a simple way to deal with this. Simply ask the participant to turn over their palm and show them the number in the lines. Smile and say: “I thought by your independent and creative characteristics that the lines in your palm would be shaped like a (whatever number you just said)."
They will react at this point (especially believers). Sometimes this is more surprising for the subject. You can ask them what the number they thought of was. Let them tell you and give them a number reading, starting with: “The number you thought of was thought of for a very specific reason, it is how you see yourself subconsciously. Let me elaborate. "The number (insert whatever number they said) tells me…" Here are two stock number readings. Reading #1 "…You are a kind, caring person that is warm hearted. You are the sort of person that has had some sort of past despair and as a result of that, you keep people at arm’s length. "When you let someone in to your private circle, you really treasure them and are a very loyal person. "I think this often frustrates you, because as much as you go out of your way for your friends at times, it
often seems they don’t do the same for you. I think you often go so far out of your way for people that you often end up forgetting what is important within your own life. You really need to focus on the things you have been thinking about recently and take action, because if you don’t it will never happen." Reading #2 "It tells me you are a worrier. I think you put up a front, a hard exterior and hide from people what you are really thinking at times. You are the sort of person that is strong willed (smile) often too strong willed and you find you argue with yourself. Stop bottling things up. "You are destined for greater things, but you just need to learn to focus your attention on one thing at a time instead of focusing on multiple things. The recent stress you are going through is something that can be resolved if you don’t over think it. You have had a rough time but it makes you one of life’s more appreciative people. The bad times you have experienced really makes you appreciate everything you have now. Utilize this as a strength."
Reverse psi force After the palmystery routine I move into a reverse psi force. This part of the routine is ultra, ultra simple but it utilizes several subtleties that I again believe you will find nothing short of beautiful. I start this section by again asking the participant a question; this time I guide them with a statement before asking them what could potentially be classified as a “closed” question. Here is the line I use: “In the 1930’s there was a professor named Joseph Rhine who used E.S.P symbols to test for psychic phenomena. He for example used a square, a circle and a star. You know those symbols, yeah?” This leads to them answering that they know the symbols. (This is very important on film as it suggest to the audience at home that the participant has heard of E.S.P symbols (when in fact the participant believes that you just asked them if they have heard of squares and circles, etc.) Let them respond (it really doesn’t make a difference what they answer).
“If I was to ask you what they used from the 1920’s until the 1930’s before E.S.P symbols would you have any ideas?” For the most part the answer is definitely going to be “no”, although I have received the correct answer on more than one occasion based on what I believe to have been nothing short of guesswork. “They used playing cards. They would invite a sitter, that would be you (point at them) and the conductor (tap your chest to imply that is you, do not verbalise it) would hold up a playing card and ask the sitter to think of a card. Can you THINK of a card for me now? First one that just pops into your head?” Accentuate that they are to think it, not say it. At this point in the routine it is generally a good time to take account of whether the person you are thinking of is male or female. There are several ways to reveal the card, I will outline two. The first is the way depicted in the video; I simply pretend to hold up an invisible card and don’t bring any attention to it.
If the person is female it is a good bet that the card they will be thinking of is the Queen of Hearts. If the person is male the chances are it will be the Ace of Spades. Outlined underneath this routine are several more psi forces of playing cards. Let’s say this is a female. This is where I employ a cheeky little subtlety that is great for anything in front of an audience: “I THOUGHT with you, that you MIGHT have thought of diamonds first and then changed your mind. Right NOW you are thinking of hearts, right?” Let them respond. To the audience, when they confirm that they are thinking of hearts, it also confirms that they thought of diamonds (even though they didn’t). “Would I be right in saying that you believe this (I return my attention to the invisible card) is the Queen of Hearts?” Let them react to the fact it is right. What is important here is to give them the credit for the hit. What I really love about this is that you set up a context (with the invisible card), you then seem to completely forget
where you were going with it and ask the person to just think of a card. You then redirect the person’s attention to the invisible card implying that that is hopefully the card they are thinking of. This ensures the psi force still works and doesn’t have their mind wondering off to a ridiculous place. “That’s amazing because you have never done that before, it really shows you that our minds are now in sync, combined." If it is a male you would obviously use a line like this: “I THOUGHT with you, that you MIGHT have thought of clubs first and then changed your mind. Right NOW you are thinking of spades, right?” There isn’t much difference in a presentational sense. What happens if the card misses? Nothing, there is no need to rectify this. This effect is only used as a means to introduce a physical deck later on. I would use this line: “I can understand why that would be difficult for you as there was nothing actually there to visualize."
If the card they name is very close, you can also use the line mentioned above. There have been occasions when I was performing this where the person is so, so wrapped up in the situation at hand that they want to believe so badly that they thought of whatever card you said aloud, they lie to make it seem that they did think that. It honestly doesn’t matter either way, and you excuse them by saying it was because they didn’t have a visual aid. This can play a more important role later on as to the participant it seems you have done them a favor by excusing them and this can often lead to them wanting to excuse you later. The important words here are "for you": this implies that it was in fact their miss. The second way to reveal the playing card is to have it in your pocket and have them pull it out and turn it around. Ask them to keep hold of the playing card and then you pull the deck out later. This scenario gives you a lovely way to introduce the deck as they have to put the card back inside it.
Psi forces (alternative playing cards) A very, very easy card to force here would be a four of spades/hearts. The reason that this is very, very simple to force here is that seven was mentioned earlier. “Earlier you saw the number seven nice and largely in your mind, I want you to imagine that you can see that seven in the air again. When I snap my fingers, I want you to imagine that you JUMP BACK to another number…Like a nine. Now think of a suit." Males tend to think of spades, females of hearts. What is important here is that the words jump back to the elimination of nine. Try it, it is very simple and rarely misses. If you are not going to use the “Palmystery” routine the number seven with females is incredibly simple to force. “I would like you to envision the numbers one to ten in the air, and focus on one of the numbers. For example: if you thought of three, make it really bright and bold. Have you done that?
Now think of a suit." Again females normally think of hearts. This is my preferred force for male participants: This forces the eight of spades. “I want you to think of red (snap fingers) or black. Forget the suits for now, you’re going to think of a picture card or a number. Numbers are ace through to ten, pictures are jack, queen king and when you have one in mind, think back to if you went for red or black. If you went for red, there is hearts or diamonds, for black there is club or spades." Don’t rush! Contrary to popular belief, it will more often than not miss if you pressure someone when performing a psychological force. Take your time; let the participant come to it on their own merit. Trust me, your hit rating will go up! This will force the Jack of Spades. This may seem a very obvious force, but trust me, it goes undetected. “If you were to think of the most mysterious card inside the deck what would you think it is?”
Give them a few seconds to think of what it might be, and then say: “Would it be red or black?” Let them answer. “Clubs or a spades?” Let them answer. “Picture or a number?” Let them answer. “Finally the value?” Let them answer. With forces like the last few, unless you have them mentally make choices, you will need to use the second way to reveal the cards (having the card in your pocket). After the reverse psi force of the playing card, you need to segue gently to what for me is the most important part of the routine: the story.
The story “My granddad was an antiques dealer and before I was born he moved to Romania. "Being an antique dealer, he met people from all walks of life and frequently traded with the local gypsies. While visiting the local gypsy camp, my granddad met the eyes of a beautiful gypsy and he instantly fell head over heels. He smiled at her, she smiled back and then she fled. "To us that smile means absolutely nothing (wait for acknowledgement) but to him it was a life changing experience as it gave him the courage to make her fall in love with him. "Several months passed and they fell in love and moved back to England; she was called Isabella. Then I was born. When I was a child she told me many stories; beautiful tales of seeing dreams and overly colorful stories of her family members and she constantly stressed that our lives were mapped out for us in the stars. "Years passed and my interest for the stories dwindled to the point where I completely forgot about them. And
it wasn’t until five years ago when Isabella was on her deathbed, where she took my hand and looked at me and said: "never forget that we start our existence as stars and the moment our life fades we become the brightest star in the sky." "What I took from that is that life is the biggest mystery of all and all the small things we give no relevance to suddenly become relevant. All of this started with one smile and it led to me being in this park in Portugal, talking to you right now. You can see how things suddenly gain relevance." Obviously you can replace Portugal and park with where you are in the world. The beautiful thing about this story is that it proves in some way (for them at least) that our worlds were meant to collide. If the smile never happened then they would never have done the things they have done, they wouldn’t be in that place at that time. It makes a really deep point about how the small things in life are the real deciding factors. Address the participant: “So what do I see when I take a look into your world? (This is a rhetorical question.) I see there are several
subconscious thoughts floating around in the back of your mind and there is one of these thoughts that stands out to me more than rest”. This is where you will again need to use your own mind, look at your participant, gauge their age, what you think their social circle is like. Remember they have already told you what they were interested in as a child and what they do for a career now. It is a safe bet the person's social circle will be a similar thing. The aim here is to get them to think of a brother or a sister, but we need to ensure that if they have neither, we force them towards a friend. Look at the participant’s age, go with your feelings if you thought they would have a younger brother or a sister: how old do you think that person would be? First, we will start with the bold option throwing out a number and letting them find the person. (This is a guess based on probability. Remember: look at the participant's age.) In the video the woman is roughly twenty-four; a good average age is eighteen. “When I look at you, and I look at your thoughts, I am seeing someone who is younger than you, who
people have said looks a lot like you, around seventeen or eighteen?” You are telling them indirectly to think of someone (never male or female) who is younger, looks like them and is around (very ambiguous word) *insert your year here*. Now let them acknowledge that. If you notice that they are taking a while to think of this person you know they don’t have a younger brother or sister as they would find this person instantly. If they don’t chime in with the line, “this is a friend, which is strange because the connection I was seeing was like (If male participant) a brotherly connection. (If a female participant) a sisterly connection. They aren’t as young as I first thought, it’s just because you are like an older (brother or sister) to this person. You know who this is, yes?” Ending with “yes?” implies you want a yes or no answer and not anything else.
If the participant instantly acknowledges the person you want them to find, you know they have a brother or a sister that is younger! “What kind of relative is this person?” Let them answer. This is where we employ something sneaky, a principle I call “Failure Free”. “How old is this person?” Let them answer. If they answer seventeen/eighteen (the age you threw out) steal this as a hit. “I thought so, this shows us that we are really on the same thought paths here, and you are doing wonderfully”. If not, don’t worry! It was just a simple conversational question, never mention the fact you missed. I promise, they will not notice. If you are scared or worried about missing the age, you never need to mention a number for them to find; just say the lines about looking similar and that way you leave it open, should they have an
older brother or sister. Make sure in this scenario you ask them how old their brother or sister is! Now we move onto what I consider the hardest part of the routine. This is the bit where you are either going to stay completely billet-less or have to employ classic technique. Either way, it doesn’t make a difference because it gives us an excuse to introduce the deck. What I am about to share is a technique I call lipping. I discovered this purely by accident and have used it thousands of times with massive success. It is not 100% but when you start to get better at it the possibilities are endless. The first time I performed this to a room of performers was in Holland at a workshop and it killed! The method is totally undetectable but it does require a lot of practice. First try this: "Open your mouth slightly and try to say the letter “b” without closing your lips….Impossible right? That is the same for a “p”. "Right now I bet your wondering well what the hell has that got to do with anything?
"I want you to imagine this wanting to work; I want you to will it to happen with your entire mind. "Open your lips, take a deep breath in……Now imagine just saying the letter “b”. Imagine screaming it out loud and sending that thought to me….. "Your lips started to close right???" If you push your sitter to imagine screaming it (after they have taken a breath) and keep willing them to say it you will notice that they will move their lips in a certain way! This is because they are imagining it and they have to let the air out at some point. If you ask someone to think of a word (or a name) and then use this technique, they will say the first letter of that word or name! This will make the probability of your guess being successful much, much greater. This is a technique I call “Lipping”. So how do you practice this? The way that I did it, was to stand in front of a mirror and just say each letter and notice the difference in shapes that the mouth forms. It takes a little time but
trust me, it’s worth it. You will notice certain letters form certain shapes. For example: You wouldn’t think there was much of a difference between 'C' and 'D'. When you say the letter 'D', your tongue touches the front of your mouth: dead giveaway. E: the corner of the mouth moves back. L: your tongue touches the roof of your mouth. Once you know what the first letter is make a guess. If it’s a male participant and it’s a brother (this is for English speakers) and you know the first letter is a 'P'or a 'B', it’s Peter, Paul or Bob. Because there are two names beginning with 'P', the chances are that is the first letter and all you have to say is: “Is this like Peter or Paul?” I am very lucky in the video, the woman is overly compliant. She believed in psychics and therefore wanted me to succeed. She lip syncs the entire thing, if
you look at her reaction and her testimony at the end; she clearly never knows she had done it! There is an alternative for English speakers (I don’t know how well this will work with non-English speakers.)
See video below. http://youtu.be/wT5_y_8skSA If you are nervous about trying this out, get them to write it, peek and then use the “lipping” principle. “The thing that I am seeing about (insert the relation; in the video it was sister) is that she really looks up to you. I don’t think she (or he) wants to make this obvious, but she does”. If it is an older brother or sister use this line: “I think you really look up to this person, I don’t think you want to make that obvious but to me it is clear”. There are two branches here (depending on if it’s an older or younger relative.)
The first branch is if it is younger (the same in the video): “I can tell this person looks up to you, because..” This is interesting; I would like you to think about your own life for a second. If you have a same sex relative that is younger I bet that what you did as a child (or teen) your brother or sister did something very similar. I had a skateboard, my brother bmx’d. I played guitar, my brother played bass. I worked in a studio, my brother wanted to create music. Little brothers will go through bouts of similar things to what you did (the same with sisters!). If you have an older brother (or sister) I know it might be hard to accept this but think back to the things you have done similar to them. It is very rare that you will find a case where you didn’t do something that was similar. If you think back, she told us exactly what she did when she was a kid, so we are going to base our reading off of that. This takes the conventional “box and reframe” and makes it a little more hard to backtrack. You have to gauge the person's age in comparison to their relative.
In the video the sister is roughly twenty four, her sister is 18. Her sister is still a teenager, so there is a possibility she still has the hobby. If your participant is in her 40s and it’s an older sister, I highly doubt she would have been playing hockey. For the most part a reading will hit if you just use logic and the things that are around you as clues. I use the same branching anagram used earlier to determine what it was her sister did (you are essentially performing the same thing twice; the only difference is that you are gauging what the relative does.) It is now that we move into “Isabella’s star”. This is a technique that I and David Sena created to determine the exact day and month that someone was born. In this video I use a marked “Boris Wild” marked deck. Below I will outline the method and then explain where the cards come into it. Once you have the basis down you will realize you have one of the strongest/ clean effects possible in your hands. There are some mathematical oddities that we found when working this routine that made this entire thing possible (we will not get into the LONG scientific
process, we will just give you the necessary information to make this routine work). This routine is broken down into several pieces for the ease of learning: - Getting the audience to work out an astrological number - Obtaining the number - Making the subject believe you have predicted the number in advance - Using the number she gave to work out the date of birth she’s thinking of
Work out The first step is to get the audience to work out their astrological number. The way they do this is to ask them to take their relative's date of birth (forgetting the year) I.E. 3.03 (3rd of March), take the day (in our case 3), double it (6) and add the month number on top (In our case it’s the 3rd month so the total would be 9). This is very simple mathematics and over VERY fast. If you look at the total there is a multitude of days and months that will make up this astrological number so in no way does it represent the person’s birthday. Upon reading this first bit you may think you know what is about to come. I assure you, it’s worth reading as this ties itself up so that everything is solid.
Obtain The next step is to obtain the total so we can work our way backwards and reverse the process without the spectators ever realizing we’re doing it. This is where the “Boris Wild” marked deck comes into play. You may be sitting there now, thinking: "well, why doesn’t he just use the marked cards to get the date and the month?" The answer is simple: I want to reveal the card at the end! Not only that, if you give each suit a meaning you get a free reading about the person that cannot fail. Here’s an example. “Each suit represents a different characteristic: clubs would be bubbly out going, spades mysterious, diamonds sharp witted and intelligent and hearts very loving”. All you need to do is explain to the participant that an ace represents one, a joker represents a zero and tell them to forget the picture cards. So if the number is
twelve, you would ask them to take out an ace and a two and the suits that best represent the relative. If they take the hearts out you know that they see that person as a caring person, someone who is at times overly kind and a very loving person. The main thing is to make sure they understand; I think in the video I tell her three times just to be sure. Turn your back to the participant and then ask them to take the card or cards out and keep them to themselves. Then place it face down on their palm, for details watch the performance video attached to this pdf. Ask them to tell you when they are done. When they say they are, turn back around and casually glance over to see if there are one or two cards. If there is one card, don’t try to look for the marking. Take the participant's wrist and bring it up to your eye line while simultaneously saying: “Can you hold your hands like this, sandwiching the card?"
When the card comes up in your sight, look for the marking. If there are two cards (or if you don’t have a marked deck) this is the peek I use: Ask them to hold the date card up and visualize it in their mind, really taking in all the detail. Take the pack from them, extend your arm and ask them to place it on top. I apply this peek as the deck is coming towards my body: Place the first finger of the other hand on the back of the deck and the thumb on the short edge of the cards (the side nearest to you). Raise one card just enough to see the index at the corner closest to you. The photo shows an exaggerated lifting.
This is done really, really quickly; a little flick of the corner and that’s it. I move straight into cutting and shuffling the deck from this point and then ask them to place the second card on top (again extending the arm and repeating the peeking process). {It is essential that you take a peek as the cards are coming towards you and just as you are about to shuffle}. Now either way we know the astrological number and the suits of the cards (should we want to give a failsafe character reading).
Work out the birthday! This is where the astrological number makes everything work for you. Without your even knowing it, the astrological number instantly eliminates 6 months! Take a look at the list below, you will notice that the months are numbered (as an aid when you first start rehearsing/performing this routine I advise you to have a small crib if you think you might have problems with the month numbers). January
1
February
2
March
3
April
4
May
5
June
6
July
7
August
8
September
9
October
10
November
11
December
12
If the astrological number is odd (like in our example 9), the month they are thinking of can only be an odd numbered month (i.e. January, March, May, and so on and so forth). If the astrological number they’re thinking is even (for example fourteen, it will be an even month I.e.. February, April, et cetera). We are now 6 months closer to getting to the month without doing anything! I like to start by mentioning the date. I look at the subject and ask them to concentrate on the date and in their mind just think of whether it is an odd or an even date. Pick up a small note pad and boldly write Odd on it (make it look like you are just making notes). Address the subject:
Performer: “It’s an even date correct?” If they say yes, don’t make a fuss about the paper. Just keep using it to make notes (you can always have a tiny drawing of the crib in there, nobody will notice). If they say no say: “Ah well it’s a good job I committed to this." Turn the paper around.
We need to know if their date is odd or even. It’s essential to make this work. This is where we employ a clever anagram system; there is no questioning and it will never look like fishing. Let’s take a look at the odd months (because our example was an odd month). Odd Months
Even Months
JAnuary
April
MArch
June
MAy
August
July
FeBruary
September
OctoBer
November
DecemBer
You will see the common occurring letter for 3 of the 6 months; they all share the same second letter ‘A’ which allows us to reduce the months from six to three. Ask the spectator to visualize the letters of the month they
are thinking of in their mind. Ask them to imagine the first letter and repeat it in their mind, then to see the second letter more brightly and to imagine screaming it over again like “A, A, A”. At this moment one of two things will happen: - The spectator smiles/ freaks out, meaning you’ve hit the second letter and we now know it is January, March or May, - or they don’t and just nod as though they are repeating the letter. This means you’re working with the remaining 3 months July, September or November. If we were working with the even months, you will notice there is a letter ‘B’ three letters in from the end of DecemBer, OctoBer. In one month, FeBruary it is three in from the beginning. You have a couple of options open to you. Because we need to get rid of three months, and February doesn’t have a B three letters from the end, it makes it difficult to eliminate (or to keep depending on the branch we go down.) The first option available is when we ask them to create the astrological number to not use February…
Performer: “In a moment you will think of the date on which a friend of yours was born, for example the 2 nd of February. I want you to take the day which in this case is the second and double it. This equals 4 and then add the month on top. Now February is the second month, so the total would be six and this is that person’s astrological number. "For the sake of making this a little more impressive, please don’t pick someone who was born in February”. This means when we come to use the anagram later (remember: it’s an even month) we can do this. Performer: “Imagine the month written in the air, see it flipped around so it’s backwards and imagine the last letter, and repeat it in your mind over and over. Then the second from last, each time the letters get brighter and brighter and now the third letter in from the end scream this in your mind like B, B, B. If they freak out, we are right down to two months (because only October and December are the only even months with a B three letters from the end!) If they do not freak out, we are down to three months because we have already eliminated February right at
the start and we have just eliminated October and December. If you want to perform this routine to guess the participants birth date, you obviously don’t have the excuse to steer them away from February. So you have the option (after they are repeating the B in their mind) of using a closed question: “There’s not a 'B' third letter from the beginning is there?” We personally do not use this as probability is in our favor, meaning that they won’t be thinking of February (it is 1 in 12). We just ask them to repeat the third letter from the end in their mind. Either way if you have followed the steps, here’s everything we now know: - The astrological number - Whether the date is odd or even. - We have reduced it down to three months. Bear in mind that to the audience it could still be any day and any month!
Here comes the magical moment! In our example, our astrological number was 9. We have determined it’s an odd month (based on the astrological number). They freaked out on the second letter being an 'A' and we know the date is odd (because we used the two out described earlier). So we know it’s an odd date in January, March or May. This is where the routine becomes genius (in our opinion): We take our astrological number (9). And quickly do a bit of simple math. 9 minus January (1) = 8 half of 8 = 4 (this is an EVEN number so it cannot be our month!) 9 minus March (3) = 6 half of 6 = 3 (this is an ODD number, it MUST be our date!) 9 minus May (5) = 4 half of 4 = 2 (this is an EVEN number so it cannot be our month!) This works every single time!
You will find that you may come down to a choice between two dates; this seemed to be a problem for a lot of performers with the original Isabella’s star. In this scenario there are a few things we can do: Take a guess (this is the simplest, its 50/ 50 and what I do in the video). We will say the date is either: 4th of the first or the 2nd of the 5th... ...which is the case in the video; tell them to imagine seeing the date on a large blackboard and just imagine writing a big number two. If they freak out, it’s the second of the fifth. If not you know it is the fourth of the first. Such a simple solution, but often overlooked. If you want to go a little over the top, you could reveal the star sign first and then nail the date; with the complexity of this reading there is a lot to think about. Let the participant take in what has happened, just make sure they don’t turn the card or cards over and keep them sandwiched as we want to reveal them later. The interesting thing is, not one participant I have
performed this for has ever caught onto the fact that once I know the birthday I am only a stone’s throw away from being able to reveal the card (as it is the astrological number). Look at the participant: “Let’s take this a step further." We are about to force a landscape. “I want you to imagine sitting on top of a rainbow looking down at an open canvas. I want you to imagine that the rainbow is made of paint and the colors are: "red, yellow, pink, green, orange, purple and blue. "I want you to imagine reaching down and picking up one color, so if for example if you have chosen Pink, you might imagine yourself in a field full of flowers. Green might be a pasture or a park. "If I had asked you to imagine a real place, you might think of somewhere you went when you were young and therefore you would have emotional ties to that place. If you have emotional ties to a place, you might be more inclined to give signs away and therefore you are
creating your own little landscape in your mind to make this a little more special.” Let her reply that she is thinking of one. The amazing thing here is that if the participant goes for yellow, they will think of sand. Orange will be sand too and blue will be the sea. And when you stress it’s a landscape it will be the beach. It’s very difficult to think of a landscape that’s purple or red. “Peoples creations are often reflections based upon their own characteristics and preferences. "I believe the place you are thinking of will be a reflection of a recent mood you have had, maybe wanting to escape from something, a particular scenario, because in the picture you painted there are no people and there usually are." No one paints a landscape with people if they were not asked to; this again is the “Failsafe” principle as you asked them what to create. In the video you will notice she tells me she is a student and has been for five years. I know when the term ends, so it is a massively probable bet that she is taking
exams at that time of year. I throw out: “are you recently taking exams?” Of course she takes this as a hit; she has given me that piece of information!! Look back to what she told you she did for a living right at the start, and just throw something out based on the participants job. This ensures that you cannot really fail. “So what do I see when I look into your mind, it almost looks like I am looking at a lot of water. Can you imagine what it feels like in this place?” Let them respond. “I am getting a really nice sensation of warmth, I think I am feeling something like sand under my feet." They will react at this point confirming it’s a beach. The greatest thing about this is that you are not only sharing a thought; you are now sharing a sight and feelings, which is important as you are almost becoming one with the participant (which is the fastest way to build rapport). “This is a beach, right?” Let them say it is.
“I want you to imagine looking out and seeing just one boat on the water, there is a man standing on top of that boat and he drops a bottle and it cascades towards the shore. Imagine walking over to the bottle and picking it up and holding it in the sunlight. "Do you know what is inside the bottle?” They will not have a clue. “There is a playing card” (or two depending on how many they are holding). This is an amazingly theatrical moment; most performers would be tempted to state the card when they said they had no clue. I don’t, I let them come to the realisation that it’s the card/cards in their hands. That way it creates anticipation. Their minds are saying: “No way, No way!" “As we hold the bottle in the light and I look inside I can see it’s the (state whatever card you peeked at earlier)." Watch them freak the hell out, take their cards back and thank them for their time!
