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For my Mom and Dad
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Watkins
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Watkins
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By Watkins
© Psychonaut
Publishing 2017
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Watkins
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Watkins
Contents (+)
Foreword by Jacob Smith Introduction………………………………………...12 Concept……………………………………………..13 ‘Editions of You’…………………………………...15 ‘Ambivalence’………………………………………20 ‘The Strangest Secret’………………… Sec ret’……………………………...25 …………...25 ‘Dark Entries’………………………………………29 ‘Dark Entries II: Weaving a Story’………………..40 Story’………………..40 Challenges………………………………………….58 ‘The Difficult Ploy’………………………………… Ploy’…………………………………61 61 Another Reality…………………………… Reality…………………………………….63 ……….63
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Foreword by Fraser Parker Introduction……………………………………….69 Creativity…………………………………………..70 Classic VS Avant Garde…………………………...72 ‘Entheon’…………………………………………..73 ‘Thanatos’………………………………………….79 ‘Another Version of the Truth’……………………83 ‘Mothman’…………………………………………93 ‘Separation Anxiety’……………… Anxiety’……………………………….101 ……………….101 My Preshow………………………………………..115 ‘To One in Paradise’………………………………121 The End of +/-……………………………… +/-……………………………………128 ……128 Special Thanks…………………………………….130
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Watkins Foreword by Jacob Smith
Robert Watkins. This is a name that I believe all of us will someday look back on on as a visionary of modern mentalism, mind reading and hypnosis. Why? Well you're well on your way to finding out through this treatise of original ideas, routines and honest deceptions on the positive and negative aspects of mentalism effects. Who is Watkins? Watkins is one of my dearest friends, I say that with so much sincerity that these words etched to paper will never really be able to fully convey just how valued he is. Watkins came to me like most do, seeing me on Penguin Live then connecting with me on social media then showing interested in creating and publishing material. The main difference between Watkins and everyone else who typically does this isn't that he is world class, but that while many have fertile creative minds, his mind thinks far different than anyone else I know. Creators like Watkins are rare, but friends like him are far rarer. I feel it's important that you know that you aren't just getting a tome on brilliant unique performance pieces by just anyone, Watkins is as sincerely great as they come in all aspects of life as a person. He is truly a down to earth, yet mystical being that has a beautiful mind that thinks in the language of dreams and visions. Nearly two years later, we talk daily, text, Skype call and talk general life while supporting one another, never being afraid to be dead honest. We were fast friends from day one and I can honestly say that I am forever grateful to be able to call him a true friend and cohort. What will you find ahead? You're going to find unique ways to reveal Pin Codes, death dates, birthdates, star signs and make yourself look like a world class hypnotist without the need for hours of training. If you perform one of the pieces in this book then you will receive your money’s worth easily. I want to advise everyone here to view the various videos of Watkins demonstrating his work and ask yourself an important question...
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When is the last time you have you purchased a book boo k where you can see the author do the material contained inside in the real world, exactly as written? Watkins is the type to learn or develop an idea by going directly into the trenches with cameras rolling to refine his craft. He has the amazing ability to see things from his audience's perspectives. This may sound like something you think to be common, but as someone who sees more magic in a year than most see in a lifetime, I can tell you that isn't the case. When will you be able to take this work out and use it? If you're like me or Watkins then immediately you will adopt these ideas, routines and concepts into your working repertoire. Taking something as the Separation Anxiety or even just the Severance concept out will be like taking a gun to a knife fight when you perform. Confidence, belief in yourself and the devotion to performing some truly stunning mentalism are the cornerstones of your success with the material ahead. If you never underestimate yourself or the methods presented then the material will bring massive amounts of success to even the most novice of performer. Finally... You're in for a treat, I know firsthand how powerful these workers are because I in fact use many of them. I still remember the first time I saw Dark Entries and the unbelievable layering of methods that makes everything appear to be way too clean to be simply a pseudo demonstration. It appeared real and the audiences in the video confirmed that further. I'm going to leave something special for those of us that have taken the time to read through this Foreword and learn a little about my friend through my writing. What I am going to share with you is my unique handling for Almost Real Prediction by Jack London. So what I have to contribute is not a lot, BUT it does turn the effect into a multiphase bit of business that has some fun moments of stagecraft. I believe this sequence builds the effect into something that comes full circle while hiding the base method of London's original effect. This also has a lovely moment that is almost identical to my friend Marc Paul's Summing Up effect from his Penguin Live Lecture that adds an incredible extra reveal. I recommend you see Marc's lecture for his handling because there is a tool that makes the effect even easier hidden in his lecture. 4
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Here is the basic effect: After hours of congratulations and awards, a very exhausted business class audience is ready for something exciting. Suddenly almost out of nowhere, a powerful voice comes over the PA announcing the arrival of a special guest presenter, ready to bring this night to a conclusion. With that out pops a finely dressed lad with so much energy and enthusiasm that the audience can't help but wake up from their hypnotic states of boredom. The performer begins with talking about the difference between coincidence and luck, offering a demonstration of luck is created rather than simply being coincidence. The performer presents to everyone three envelopes, each containing an apparent "prediction" of the random events that are about to take place. Three chosen helpers are selected, invited to participate and each are given an envelope randomly. The performer produces his IPhone (obviously from his pocket, not thin air...unless that's your swag) then opens the calculator. After clearing it multiple times before holding it screen down for the three participants to dial the numbers on the calculator three times each at random sight unseen. Finally the phone is dropped into the last participant's hands after his three numbers have been randomly chosen and he confirms whether or not they have successfully been able to each generate a three digit number to build a larger nine digit number. Each person looks inside their envelopes to find a stack of sticky notes which have each one of their numbers in order inside! The whole nine digit number created at random is predicted! The audience is visibly stunned as the performer, looking even more intrigued, grabs his pad and writes something down. The performer asks if the nine digit number or the three digit numbers that make it up have any relevance to anyone in the room, which is met (generally) by silence. Finally the performer has each participant form a new set of three 3-digit numbers to create a sum, which is added together to form a new random number based on their choices. The participants really do choose what order their numbers go in to form this new sum made of the numbers on each sticky note that is now presented on the board. The sum is then added up to come out to the total. The performer turns around his pad to reveal that again he has correctly predicted EXACTLY the sum of the newly arranged numbers! 5
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The audience reacts even louder this time and as they settle down, the performer then begins to have a flash of something in his eyes. When the final sum number is closer examined, it is found to actually be the days date! Now for the explanation... This is a really fun three phase piece of mentalism to perform, the best thing is that if you're doing this table hopping, strolling or simply out and about (which you easily can) then you are INSTANTLY RESET to repeat it yet again! How? The first as well as the last chunk relies on the traditional methodology to Jack London's Almost Real Prediction then the middle chunk relies on a discovery that I made about the current IPhone Calculator based on an old idea from Kenton Knepper that I originally saw in Peter Turner's first book Devious Realities called Kenton's Calculation to force the first set of numbers as hands off as possible. First thing is you're going to need to come up with a series of numbers that add up to that days date (should that be the extra kicker you're looking for) or any number you wish to predict. This is done by coming up with a sum made up of three 3 digit numbers that equal your desired total without using zero. Here is an example for the current day’s prediction: IE: 573 + 381 348 1302 (February 13th) These numbers are going to be typed onto your calculator ON THEIR SIDE. Using above's example, the nine digit number would be 533,784,318, which is the sum above turned on its side, but used as a nine digit number. Hopefully, so far this isn't overly confusing and if it is then let this show you just how deceptive this method really is! So armed with this nine digit number on your IPhone calculator, go ahead and copy it to your device by touching and holding on the highlighted number. Whatever you do... 6
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DON'T COPY AND PASTE ANYTHING ELSE ON YOUR PHONE UNTIL YOU NO LONGER NEED THE NUMBER! This will save you some embarrassing moments that I had when originally performing and crafting this lovely numbers piece. Next, grab yourself some sticky notes and write out one number of the nine digit number on each one, forming them into three packets front to back in order (IE: 5-3-3 top to bottom then 7-8-4 and finally 3-18). These will be our first prediction as well as easily facilitate the rearrangement of the numbers later on to create the final reveal. These can be put into marked envelopes to be used in performance as well as keep them organized. Why are the envelopes marked? Because you need to have them go the appropriate person in performance or you'll have a real cluster fuck from square one (something else I also found out through experience). With that minimal prep, you can now perform this miracle for the day (or continuously should you change the ending to something else that remains constant). Let's dive into the performance and execution of this set... To start, I have found this works very well as an opener because you can actually go out into your audience and have them do the number selection process quickly, but should you desire, you can also have them come onto stage like above. To start, present the envelopes and as you mix them, make sure you keep them in 1-2-3 order. You will now appear to give everyone a free choice of envelope, but really hand them each out in 1-2-3 order! How? This is an old chair test ruse, but you really do just say: "Here take an envelope" And hand them out in order! DUH! ;) How do you force your copied number that is secretly saved away in your phone? The easiest way I've found is to openly clear your calculator turn it to yourself. Touch then hold the zero on screen, hit paste followed by plus then zero. This easily and effectively hold your nine digit number into the calculator despite apparently clearing everything multiple times! 7
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It's now that take the phone between our left index finger and thumb in a pinch like position with your index finger holding down the ‘equals’ key. You will extend the facedown phone to each person, having them randomly touch the phone three times sight unseen each then simply let the phone fall into the hands of the final person. It's very hands off appearing and it seems like you have no control over anything when really you have just rang in a completely new different number! I should stop and say how important it is to ask once we hand the phone off: "Did we make up a nine digit number on the first try or did we accidently hit another key, which means we have to try again?" Ask this with genuine uncertainty and this will sell to everyone that they really did just randomly generate those numbers. It's also important to again point out that you must hold down the equals sign with the index finger the entire time, which negates their touches from registering on the phone. Now we simply have the number listed off as each person confirms number by number that the prediction is correct and take our applause! Now, we are going to be moving into the next section, which is actually going to reverse the work we originally did and get everyone involved in the end revelation. So we now write down our final prediction (in the case we've been exploring 1302 for February 13th) and have each person in sequence select one of their numbers to use to form three new three digit numbers to add together. The beautiful thing is that no matter what order each person wants the numbers in, they will always equal our total! This is essentially a self-working sequence and I feel works best when the total is shown then almost as a genuinely surprising discovery yourself, realize that it is also todays date. Obviously there are a lot of premises that are open to the sequence, ranging from exploring coincidence all the way to talking about how the media and news influence us daily! The world is your oyster and I know from experience that this is a shocker that I know can get you a pearl or two from using. Some additional thoughts here, one of which was provided by Watkins himself and that I will start using is to have the ending number from the Almost Real Prediction phase lead you to a completely new 8
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piece of information to predict. This could be a page and word in a dictionary, book or how I intend on using it...A NEWSPAPER! This is a really fun easy self-worker that keeps your mind focused on the presentation vs having to do any difficult math or methodology. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this tome on creative mentalism by dearest of dear friends Robert Watkins! Your Friend, -Jacob Smith Columbus, Ohio February 13th, 2017
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“You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this and you will find strength” -Marcus Aurelius
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Watkins + Introduction
Ideas are the most powerful force in the world. An idea written in a book can change the world a thousand years in the future- for better or worse. Some great examples being the ancient Holy Bible and the more modern, “Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx. Simple words written on paper have changed and influenced the lives of millions of people all over the globe. And will potentially carry its weight all around the universe in the very distant future, provided our ideas are good. Philosophy is probably the single most important topic in human history and if you look over the course of the world over time, you will see just how influential ideas really are. Ideas Matter. Ideas should be captured and written down immediately after they occur to you. This is because an idea is like a cloud of smoke in the mind. Even if your ideas are wonderful and extremely revolutionary, they have a tendency to vanish from your mind- never to return. The process I described in my previous book, “Jhana” is just one piece of advice that has dramatically increased my creativity and I recommend you give it a try. Give this exercise the chance for at least one week before giving it up. You will be amazed at the creative capacity of your own mind. As long as you have an imagination- you can create: I take the first hour of my day, every day, to sit and think about Magic and Mentalism. I write down every single idea that comes to me in that hour, no matter how good or bad it may be. I am not stressed or doubting myself while doing this, because negativity is the enemy of creativity. I simply write down every idea that comes to mind and then go about the rest of my day. If you do this every day for a year, and you wrote down just 5 ideas a day that equals 1,825 ideas! You are bound to strike gold. The odds are in your favor, and it only takes one hour a day of simply thinking and writing. This process has done me well and I know it will work wonders for you. Try it over the course of the next 7 days and see what you come up with. Here you will find the secrets to inducing Positive emotional states in your participants, make an individual’s wish appear before their eyes, give someone the power to influence reality, and make people feel like children again…
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Watkins The Concept of +/-
I want to give you an explanation of what this book actually represents, and how I came up with this concept. The book is split in two halves: A “Positive” side, and a “Negative” side. The Positive half of the book includes effects that are of an uplifting nature. These routines are routines you can do to give your participant an amazing positive experience with a beautiful message. I pride myself on the fact that each effect in this entire book has a very original and unique premise that I am sure will set up your own creative energy. The Negative portion contains routines that exist on the borderline of morality. These effects are meant to be on the verge of the unethical. They are to be used at your own risk. This is a disclaimer to let you reach your own conclusions about whether or not these are things you don’t mind performing for people. They have a dark feel to them, and have the potential to influence people to believe you can do some things that the Mentalism community, as a whole, would deem ‘unethical’. I am saying from the start that these Negative routines are for knowledge purposes only, and whether you choose to perform them up to you. Of course, I do take ethics into account and have arranged these routines to be completely harmless ‘method-wise’. It is the premises of these pieces that make them Negative. This may lead you to ask why I created these in the first place. Let me start from the beginning: I have always been a fan of experimental films, and this sometimes leads me down a rabbit hole and into some dark territory. I once encountered an independent horror film that was very extreme and was not for the faint of heart. It was the kind of film that you don’t watch for enjoyment’s sake. To put it in another way, it was worse than “Human Centipede”. The movie was called “August Underground” and I will leave it to your discretion to find out more about it. Sometimes curiosity does kill the cat in a way that you aren’t prepared for. After being somewhat traumatized by the very idea of this film, it led me to start to question the intentions of the movie’s creators. Why did they make this? What was their motivation? I came to my own conclusion that the real reason that someone would make a horror film like this one was because they were being true to what a horror film ought to be. In horror’s purest form- it needs to disturb you. And an artist that wishes to remain true to the purest 13
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form of his art would make something like this, whether people like it or not. This made me start thinking about how this thi s philosophy applies to Mentalism. If mind reading were really possible, what would humanity do with it? I would imagine that some would use it for good (hence the “Positive” side of this book) but others would undoubtedly use this power for evil. So in order to retain artistic integrity, and remain philosophically pure I thought it would be a great exercise to create effects with the intention of making them somewhat immoral. I am not saying that the methods are immoral, but the premise of the routines themselves are controversial. This means that you can read these effects and learn the method and use them for something else, if you wish. It is a sad fact though that sometimes the darkest presentations bring the most powerful reactions. That is the dilemma of the Mentalist. Constantly being pulled towards darker things, while simultaneously remembering that the Mentalist is an entertainer. Some of us give in to the desire and become mediums, charlatans and conmen. I created these routines for purpose of knowledge for the Magic and Mentalism community. The fact that these effects can be done is reason enough to write about them in my opinion. I also believe that the methods I have used for these have led me to new and interesting principles that can be used for other ideas as well. I like to see myself as a ‘Philosophical Mentalist’. Because Magic and Mentalism deal with different areas of philosophy. The big subjects of philosophy are: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics, and Politics. Magic as opposed to Mentalism primarily works in the area of Metaphysics (the laws of nature), that is to say that magicians manipulate the physical world. Mentalists work primarily in the field of Epistemology (the study of knowledge) and that means they are manipulating what it is possible to know. I wanted this book to push Magic and Mentalism more into the field of Ethics. And in dealing with philosophical questions of right and wrong, these were my conclusions… -Watkins 2017
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“Editions of You” “Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings- always darker, emptier and simpler” -Friedrich Nietzsche EFFECT: The Performer hands a participant a stack of cards with different emotions written on the faces. The participant is asked to cut the pack continuously until they want to stop. After the participant has stopped cutting the pack, they are instructed to peek at the top card they cut to, remember the emotion they have chosen, and mix it back into the pack. The Performer instructs the participant to close their eyes and experience the emotion completely, and to remember a time they felt the emotion very vividly. After some time the Performer explains that the participant has the ability to change their emotional state at any point and when they are ready they are to change to the complete opposite of whatever emotion they are currently feeling. The Performer is able to ‘detect’ the exact moment the participant changes from one emotion to the next and ultimately reveals this new emotional state that was never taken out of the pack of cards. METHOD: This is a very simple and direct effect that I use as an ‘opener’ in a close up environment. I feel it really sets the stage for the type of mind reading that I do, as it is not so much about guessing someone’s thoughts as it is about guessing their feelings. This is the perfect effect for an “Empath” Mentalist. The new idea here is the fact that you are apparently picking up on the “emotional shift” in the participant’s mind. I believe this is a largely unexplored area of Mentalism and these types of presentations fascinate me. The method is mechanical in nature and relies on three different principles: a Rough/Smooth stack of blank business cards, a Timing Force, and a Word Association. I will break down the method according to these three principles, and then give you my script I use to gain extra ‘hits’ along the way.
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Watkins Rough/Smooth Stack
Start by taking 24 blank business cards and write the names of different emotions on 12 of them. Here is a list of the emotions I write on mine: Anger Jealousy Pride Happiness Anxiety Worry Euphoria Kindness Compassion Fear Shame Serenity Now take the remaining 12 cards and write the word “Hate” on them. This will make sense later on in the explanation. Once you have done that, you are going to spray the faces of the “Hate” cards and the backs of the “Emotion” cards with a ‘Roughing Spray’. I usually use hairspray and it works perfectly. Let them sit and dry for about 30 minutes. Then you are going to arrange them in a Svengali order (example: Hate/ Serenity, Hate/ Shame etc…). Every other card in your stack should be a “Hate” card. The mechanical aspect of the set-up is complete. I will now explain the handling, and how we force the “Hate” card hands off.
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Watkins Forcing the Emotion
This process I am going to discuss is something somethin g I don’t believe b elieve a lot of people are taking advantage of as far as Rough/Smooth stacks are concerned. This may be too bold for some, but this is how I force a card completely “hands off”. Start by showing your participant the faces of all the cards, explaining what they are (in reality they are only seeing the different emotions, thanks to the rough/smooth principle). I always throw this cheeky line as I show my participant the different emotion cards: “These cards have different Emotional States written on them. There are about 40 of them here.” This line is a total bluff but trust me when I tell you that no n o one will call you out on it. Because when you say there are 40 cards in the stack and you square them up, showing the thickness of the pack, it looks like a lot more cards than there actually are anyway. This implies an illusion of more choice in the participant’s mind. Here is where you are going to explain to the participant that they are going to take the stack and cut them continuously until they wish to stop. But you are going to show them how to do this in order to be sure they are “cutting” the pack the correct way. Take the stack and spread it between your hands. After spreading, lift off the top half of the stack and place it underneath the bottom half. The act of spreading the cards and then cutting them will be sure to leave a “Hate” card on the top of the pack. Showing the participant how they are to handle the cards will almost always ensure that they do the same. The beautiful thing about this is that if you were to take a stack of blank business cards and handle them in this way, they naturally stick together anyway. So nothing seems unnatural to the participant during this process. The process shouldn’t take too long before the participant has decided to stop cutting the pack. After your participant has notified you that they have stopped, tell them to peek at the top card they cut to, then place it back into the center of the pack and place the pack to the side. Now we know they are thinking of the word “Hate” and we forced it without handling the cards. Here is what we do with it.
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Watkins Timing Force/ Emotional Emotional Shift
Ask your participant to close their eyes and experience this emotion fully. Ask them to go back to a time in their life where they experienced this emotion. Once they have confirmed that they are doing this explain the following: “Now I want to show you that it is possible to change your emotional state at any moment you wish. So at some point I want to change from the emotion you are on now to the complete opposite of this emotion. I am going to try and detect when this happens.” This is a very cool bit of scripting because it has a metaphysical message built into the premise of the routine. It is a very hopeful statement and fits in really nicely with the plot, especially after forcing the emotion of “Hate”. This also allows us a wonderful justification for a “Word Association” force. Since they are focusing on the emotion of “Hate”, we now know that when we tell them to change to the exact opposite emotion, they will undoubtedly change to “Love”. But before we reveal this emotion, I want to introduce a concept that I believe is absolutely original in Mentalism. It is a new effect as far as I am concerned. When this idea first came to me, I wanted to create an effect where you could “detect” the moment a participant changes from one emotional state to another. Think about the implications of this presentation. It is as if the “emotional shift” inside a participant’s brain can be felt by another person. Almost like the Mentalist can sense their neurotransmitters. And the method is so simple that it is practically self working. It shouldn’t even really be called a “Timing Force” but that is the closest thing I could compare it to. Once you have explained to your participant that they are to change to the opposite of whatever emotion they are on, you will just hold your hand up next to their head while their eyes are closed and count to 7 in your own head. Once you get to ‘7’ say this: “You just changed there didn’t you?” They will say ‘yes’. I guarantee it. I can’t really explain why this works, but every single time I have performed this effect the participant actually acknowledges that I am correct! I think the reason this works is the fact that it is very difficult for the participant to actually tell the exact moment they make a decision to change, combined with the fact that they 18
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may have changed earlier because they don’t want to experience the emotion of “Hate” any longer anyway. The other aspect that I believe contributes to their agreeing that you are correct is the fact that you don’t ‘over play’ this aspect of the routine from the start. In giving the instruction to change “at some point”, you have to say this in a relatively half-hearted manner. If you play it up too much, you are giving your participant the opportunity to try and mess you up. Don’t set it up as a challenge. Only make it seem like a miracle AFTER they say you are correct. That is the point where you can emphasize the effect. You don’t even really need to count to ‘7’ in your head, but that’s how I started out doing it. Now I just go for it when I feel it is time. After a couple of times trying this, you will get a feel for it as well. Some participants even give you little ‘tells’ that give it away (a smile, a nod of their head etc…). Revealing the Emotion
After you get the ‘hit’ on the moment they change, explain to the participant that they are to experience this new emotion in the same way they experienced the last one. Now you are ready to go for the reveal. I have found through experience that this line of scripting gets me a lot of ‘hits’ and makes it seem as though you know a lot more about what is going on in your participant’s mind than you actually do: “For some reason I am getting flashes and images of people that I believe are your friends and family members. I am seeing the color ‘Red’ for two reasons. I believe you changed from a Negative Emotion to a Positive Emotion as I can see a brightness in your demeanor now, which leads me to believe you are now fixated on the emotion of ‘Love’.” I recommend going for the final reveal in a calm and ‘matter of fact’ manner. This is not an effect that requires a lot of “Ta Da!”. This effect should be presented in a way that feels like a genuine test with your participant. It will breed credibility on everything you do afterward (as I said earlier, this is an introductory effect in my set). I really love this little piece because it is simple, direct, and creates the right atmosphere for everything else I do later in a close up environment. It is convincing and easy to do as well as having a metaphysical and philosophical point to it. I hope you take this out and enjoy it as much as I have.
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“ Ambivalence” “The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.” -Sigmund Freud EFFECT: The Mentalist is performing for a group. He asks one participant to write the name of someone present on a piece of paper as well as the name of a playing card unknown to the audience and Performer. This paper is put into an envelope and held by the participant. The rest of the group each take a card out of a deck of playing cards. The paper is read aloud and the participant is seen to have predicted the card and the person who chose it! METHOD: This effect is interesting to me for a number of reasons. One, being that it is a “Spectator as Predictor” presentation. There are a number of routines out there that allow your participant to be a “Mind Reader”, but very few are based on the participant apparently using thoughts to manipulate reality. I also have a very philosophical presentation for this effect. This premise is based on the philosophical position known as ‘The Primacy of Consciousness”- that Mind creates reality. Otherwise known as Subjectivism. I also love the fact that this routine inherently involves everyone in the group by its very nature. This is a great way to get the attention and rapport of the group you are working with. The best part is that it is very easy to do. It relies on two main principles: A Window Envelope and a Card Force. I will also be adding little additions throughout to increase the impossibility of this effect in the minds of your audience, adding more logical disconnects, including my personal handling of a window envelope. Preparation
I usually use a Window Envelope to peek the billet when I perform this, but any billet peek would be fine. I find Window Envelopes to be the most deceptive billet peek in existence but that is my own subjective opinion. I do want to explain my own handling of a Window Envelope and hopefully give you a few ideas on how you choose to handle them yourself. 20
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I use 2 coin envelopes in the preparation process. One is unprepared and I place a blank billet inside. I then take another envelope and cut a window out using an exacto knife. One tip that I can give you is that it is better to make the ‘window’ towards the bottom of the envelope so as to not “flash” the window in the act of having your participant place the billet inside later on. The further away you cut out the ‘window’ from the actual opening of the envelope- the better. This next thing I am going to tell you may sound ridiculous and paranoid, but it is something I habitually do with these duplicate envelopes. I firmly believe in using small suggestions and “convincers” in my performances. So I make a small duplicate “Accidental Fold” in both of the envelopes. They should look like this:
These folds will indirectly speak to your participant’s subconscious (theoretically) which will be an extra subtlety to reinforce the fact that only one envelope was used later on. Because with this process that I am about to explain to you, your participant should feel that they had the opportunity to examine the envelope. They should look accidental. Now that you have your envelopes set up, you will need a deck of cards (unprepared) and you are ready for performance. Here is a stepby-step on the presentation.
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Watkins Performance
The first thing I do when I approach a group is ask everyone’s name. This is not only good manners, but it is also part of the method we will be using. A trick I learned in bartending is to repeat back a person’s name when they tell you. The act of verbalizing their name out loud, while looking at them should help your memory in case you are prone to forgetfulness. Once you know the names of everyone in the group you are performing for (usually about 3-4 people) you are going to turn to one of your participants and explain the following (change the presentation to your own performing style): “I want to try a rather experimental idea with you by asking you a question: Do you believe that ‘wishing makes things so?’ There are some who do. They believe that if you hold onto a thought long enough, and ‘will’ it to happen- the universe will grant their desire. I want to test that philosophy with you right now” After explaining this, take out the unprepared envelope with a billet inside and show it to your participant. Ask him if he can verify that it is completely opaque. Once he has examined it to his heart’s content, take out the billet inside and explain: “I want you to focus on the people here now and mentally choose one of the individual’s present. Once you have settled on one of the people here, I want you to write this person’s name on the paper and directly underneath that I want you to write the name of a random playing card. Be sure to keep this to yourself as I want you to be the only person in the Universe that knows this information.” While they are writing the information on the card, you are going to switch the envelope for the window envelope in your pocket. You don’t have to make a big deal out of this, I usually place the unprepared envelope in my pocket as soon as I take the billet out and when I go back for it, I take the gimmicked envelope out. Remember our subconscious suggestion with the “Accidental Folds” as a convincer. And since they have already had the chance to examine the envelope earlier, they will have no reason to want to examine it again! Once they have placed the billet back inside the envelope you are going to ask them to hold their hand out, palm upwards. While placing the envelope in their hand, you get your peek of the name and the card. Have them place their other hand over the envelope and instruct them to 22
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stay still and concentrate on this information. This is to insure that they do not lift their hand up and reveal the secret window! I then explain this to the participant as he is holding onto the envelope: “Close your eyes and repeat this person’s name in your mind over and over again. Imagine whispering this card in their ear. I want you to see this event in your mind in as much detail as possible.” Now that you know the written information you can force that card on that person in the following way. The Card Force
The participant who wrote the information down is now holding h olding onto the envelope. You will now turn to the rest of the audience and explain: “We are going to use something as mundane as a deck of cards to hopefully bring about something incredible. In any fair test we need to make sure that this is a truly random choice you are all going to make” While explaining this, you are spreading through the cards as if to show the faces to the rest of the audience. In reality, you are looking for the card that the first participant wrote down and culling it to the top of the deck. You can now force this card in any way you see fit. I personally like to use a Breather Crimp and place the specific card in the necessary position to have the participant cut to the card. If you allow a person to just cut the deck, they will almost always cut directly to the breather crimp. Of course you would have the individual whose name was written down be the first to cut the deck so they can select the target card. This is the most ‘hands off’ way to force the card. After forcing the card on the correct person, you can have the other audience members take cards as well (it doesn’t matter what cards they take). Have them take the cards from the deck but instruct everyone to not turn them over just yet. Now we are ready to reveal the miracle that has taken place. Before having the audience members turn over the cards, turn to the first participant and have them lift their hand off of the envelope (be sure to hold onto the envelope as they do this in case it falls or exposes the window). You are now going to take the billet out and read it out loud. Have the group turn over their cards, and they will be astonished that their friend was able to predict what took place. I usually read the 23
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billet aloud, then have everyone BUT the target participant turn their cards over, then I finally have the target turn their card over last so you end on the big reveal.
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“The Strangest Secret” “Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.” -Earl Nightingale EFFECT: The Performer explains to a participant that through the power of a combination of positive thought and action, any goal can be achieved. The Performer recommends that writing one’s life goal on a piece of paper and looking at it every day will help reinforce behaviors that lead to the accomplishment of that goal. He explains that thought can manifest in reality. He asks the participant to write their goal down on a piece of paper and fold it up. The Performer takes this paper and tears it into pieces and explains: “I want to give you a little motivation towards achieving this goal. So imagine that it never happens, what you would feel if you failed and your passion fell apart before your eyes.” The Performer then takes out a new blank b lank piece of paper, p aper, hands h ands it to the participant and explains: “Hold on to this piece of paper and carry it with you every day. I want you to think about your goal as often as you can for the next three days. On the fourth day, I want you to look at this blank piece of paper and I think you will find the true power of positive thinking.” Three days later the participant looks at the paper which has been blank the entire time (the participant can genuinely look at the blank paper on all three days). Written on the slip is the exact goal the participant wanted to accomplish! METHOD: This effect was inspired by the idea that we are whatever we think about. I think this is a fantastic premise for a Mentalism effect. The method is a very strange and interesting discovery (hence the title) I made with my friend Lance Sinclair and it involves a special ‘gimmick’, that may be somewhat impractical, but it will be a very powerful effect on those special occasions when you really want to impress someone and I assure you it is worth it to go this extra mile.
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Take a small stack of blank business cards and put your signature on the top card of the stack and turn the signed card face-down. Put this stack in your pocket and you are ready. Getting the Goal
Start by introducing the plot to your participants. I usually talk about the idea that our thoughts can manifest in reality if we put in the right effort: “I see you as a very ambitious person but I feel that recently you have run into a stand-still and have been questioning yourself on certain things. There is a goal that you wish to achieve and you see this as your life’s purpose. I want you to take this piece of paper and write down, in a word, what this goal is” This paper is going to be used for a Center Tear. You can use whichever tear you feel most comfortable with. The way this presentation is done leaves no suspicion on the part of the audience because by this point, they do not think I am going to be guessing this information. Once your participant has written their goal down on the billet, casually take it from their hands and start tearing the piece of paper while explaining: “I want to give you a little motivation towards achieving this goal. So imagine right now that it never happens, imagine what you would feel if you failed and your passion fell apart before your eyes.” This is a perfect justification for the Center Tear as it is in line with the presentation. This was inspired by a Stoic exercise called “Negative Visualization”, where you imagine everything you value being taken away from you, and it helps you learn how to appreciate the things you have. I found that philosophy fit really nicely here. You will get your peek while handing the pieces back to your participant. Let’s say they were thinking of “Money”. Here is where the real secret comes into play…
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I was discussing the idea for this effect with my friend Lance Sinclair and I had brought up the question of whether there was an ‘Appearing Ink’ as opposed to the common ‘Disappearing Ink’. He did a quick search and came across this company called “Living Ink”. You can find their website here: http://www.livinginktechnologies.com/ I found this to be revolutionary. It is an ink made out of microorganisms and literally grows over time. It is completely invisible while writing, and appears very magically after a few days. There is only a small catch, and that is the fact that it must be kept in a special box that comes with your order of the ink. I contacted the company and asked if there was any way around this, and their response was a ‘no’. This was because it requires this mini Greenhouse in order to grow. The writing itself will appear in a thick green marker-like style. If you can construct a Sharpie gimmick that writes in this Living Ink you can create a pretty powerful convincer. I plan on eventually manufacturing this gimmick in the future. The ink can be a bit pricey which is why this routine should be saved for special circumstances, but I felt the need to share this discovery with the mentalism community. Because now the participant can look at this piece of paper in the plastic container all they want and will not see anything until way after the performance. It is a truly magical phenomenon. Now how do we actually write their goal? Finishing
After you have torn the paper and handed it to the participant, you are going to say: “Now that you have seen the negative, let me give you a positive exercise.” Take out your stack of blank business cards from your pocket with the signed card at the top (signature (si gnature face-down). Take out the special ‘Living Ink’ pen. You are going to pretend to write your signature on the top card, in reality you are invisibly writing the goal you peeked earlier: “I am going to sign this blank piece of paper and give it to you to hold onto for a couple of days. During those days I want you to repeat 27
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your goal in your mind and give it some emotion. Put this piece of paper in your windowsill and on the 4th day, I want you to take a look. I think you will be surprised at what your mind can accomplish. Give me a call when you see it” Hand your participant your business card as well as the paper in the case. Now all you have to do is await their astonished call. Additional Idea
You could do this without the Living Ink by pretending to sign the card and actually writing their goal with a legitimate pen. I would use that method only if I were going to have them open it later on during the performance as opposed to them keeping the billet for a couple of days. That is up to you. I would do the same process as described above to write the goal on the paper with a regular pen, fold it up and tell them to hold onto it for the remainder of my time with the group. I write the goal on the backside of the billet with my signature on it, and then take the paper off to show my signature. You can then do a double lift as a convincer that the billet is blank before putting it in the participant’s hand. And I would come back to the participant right before I left as an after-thought, leaving them with a beautiful (+) positive experience. Of course it is always a great idea to make a gimmicked pen that writes in a different color ink than it appears (for instance a black pen that writes in i n red) to make an implication that you could not have written the goal down while ‘signing’ the card.
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“Dark Entries” “Your Mind is Nirvana” -Bodhidharma
EFFECT: The Performer approaches a group of three people and makes the claim of being a ‘Mind Reader’ which naturally leads to skepticism from the individuals watching. The Performer claims that because there is a ‘challenge’ from the offset, he introduces a stack of cards and explains that the cards contain common ‘challenges’ to his claims. He shows the group that written on each of the cards are different ‘challenging’ requests, such as: ‘Can you guess my PIN code?’, and ‘Describe one of my childhood memories.’ There are about 20 cards in the stack, all different. The Performer suggests that the test should be determined by a random selection of a ‘challenge card’ by each participant. The three individuals each select a card and they are then placed inside coin envelopes to insure their secrecy, so the Performer doesn’t even know what the challenges are! One by one, the Performer accomplishes each of the participant’s challenges to the astonishment of the witnesses. METHOD: This method is basically a mini Q and A act done ‘close up’. It incorporates a number of different principles and subtleties. This may be the most “complicated-sounding” explanation in this book, but it is actually very portable and easy to set up and perform! It involves a stack of “Challenge Cards” that you make with some blank business cards. I love this concept because it makes the trick you do with your participant seem like a random choice. This is a utility stack of cards because you can use this stack in a number of different ways! You can do this for one participant up to three (and with a little creativity on your part- perhaps even more). You can always force the effect you want to do, and the idea of putting the effects on cards and allowing your participant to choose one adds just one more layer of impossibility to any effect you perform (especially if they think you don’t even know what the challenge is). Think about it. The audience chooses the trick you do. This is something I have noticed a lot of lay people want to do anyway, so why not take advantage of it? 29
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I will start by describing the set up for the actual stack of “Challenge Cards” and then I will describe the utilization of them for a 3 person stunt. Remember you can personalize your “Challenge Cards” to whatever your preferences are. The Challenge Card Set Up
I begin by getting approximately 15 - 20 blank business cards and writing these three ‘Challenges’ on the faces of three of the cards: “Can you guess my Mother’s first name? (Draw a line underneath for them to write the name) Can you describe to me the memory of my first bike ride? Can you guess my Zodiac Sign? (Draw a line underneath for them to write their Sign)” These are the three questions I will be forcing on each of the participants later on so keep these cards separate for now and place them in a stack in the order of which they appear above from top to bottom (the top card being the ‘Mothers Name’ challenge card). On the rest of the cards, write a series of different “Challenges”. These could only be limited by your imagination. Below are a few examples of things I write on my cards (the challenges you choose to write on your cards may even be effects you actually do perform, making this a great utility device to force the effect you want on a participant). Examples: “Can you tell me the winning Lottery Numbers? Can you reveal a childhood memory?* *(This is an important one I use as a convincer for something later on) Can you tell me my PIN Code? What is my Address? Can you describe my living room?” Those are just a few examples of the cards I use. I like to include a lot of ‘Challenges’ that would be impossible to actually achieve. This creates the illusion that the participant COULD have chosen them and the fact that you do accomplish the one they actually chose proves that 30
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you could have achieved the (actual) impossible challenges. An example being the Lottery challenge. This proves, by implication, that I can actually give the winning lottery numbers without having to do it. One of the best ways to use these “Challenge Cards” is when you have an audience member challenge you with something! I always use this line of scripting in those situations (regardless of what their challenge is): “You see, I get a lot of skeptics when I do what I do. And in those situations I have created a stack of cards based on all the different challenges I have gotten over the years (mentalist shows the different cards). I will allow you to choose one of these challenges and I will do my best to meet the challenge. However, I offer to double the risk of my reputation by allowing you to choose one of these at random and not even let me know what the challenge actually is!” Now of course you can force the one you want. This entire system is created specifically to add a layer of impossibility of what you are doing. It’s impossible to really guess someone’s PIN Code (unless you are really lucky!), It’s even more impossible if you don’t even know they are thinking of their PIN Code. With these cards, you can do both. The Envelope Set Up
Now that we have got the “Challenge Cards” created, the next step is to set up three coin envelopes. One of them is going to be a ‘window envelope’ and the other two are going to be unprepared. A window envelope is created by cutting out a segment from the back of the envelope to get a peek. This can be done by placing a card inside a coin envelope and using an exacto-knife to cut out a section large enough to get a full billet peek (or just large enough to peek the required information). In our case, we are only going to create one window envelope to get a peek of the “Mother’s Name” challenge card. The other two are legitimate un-gimmicked envelopes. Now you are going to take your three envelopes and stack them in an order where the gimmicked envelope is on bottom underneath the other three, with the window face-down. Place these in your pocket, and your “Challenge Cards” (with the three force cards on top of the stack) in another pocket and supply yourself with three pens or pencils and you are now prepared to perform the following routine.
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Presentation (for three participants)
Now we are going to introduce the “Challenge Cards” to the audience you are performing for. While introducing these cards, show the faces of all of them and read a few out loud as examples. It is very important to show the audience the card that says “Can you reveal a childhood memory?” because later on, this will be used as a subtle convincer in the routine (more on that later). It is also important to point out to your audience that some of the cards have a space on which to write a piece of information. This makes sure that the participants who get the cards for the Name and Zodiac Sign know what they are doing. I then do a false shuffle with the stack, while retaining the three force cards at the top. I will then force the top three cards to the three participants I am working with from left to right. This means that the person on my left will have the card that says “Can you guess my Mother’s first name?” the person in the middle will have the card that says “Can you guess my Zodiac Sign?” and the person on my right will have the card that says “Can you describe my memory of my first bike ride?” Now that each person has their challenge cards, hand them all a pencil and explain: “I am going to turn around so I cannot see what you are doing. I don’t want you guys to even show each other what your challenges are, so keep them to yourself. If your card has a space to write down the information you are thinking of, write it down. Let me know when you three are finished” Allow some time for your participants to complete their tasks. Meanwhile, I like to talk to the rest of the audience (if there are more people watching) to get past the dead time. This shouldn’t be a long process anyway as they are just writing one piece of information. Remember that the “Bike Ride” card doesn’t require anything to be written down. I also explain to the participants that I am going to turn my back to them so I won’t know whether they have written anything or not. This is because some of the cards don’t require anything to be written. Once your participants are finished, ask them to keep their cards face down when you turn around to be sure that there is no way you can 32
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see what their information is. Bring out your stack of envelopes, remembering that the “Window Envelope” is on the bottom of the stack. Start by handing the two legitimate envelopes to the participants on your right (the Zodiac and Bike Ride challenges). Once you get to the participant who is thinking of their mother’s name, you are going to ask them to place it into the “Window Envelope” while you are holding onto it. This is done as an example for the other two participants to do the same thing. After the participant on your left has put his billet into the “Window Envelope”, you are going to ask him to hold his hand out palmup and place the envelope in his hand, meanwhile getting a peek of his mother’s name. Ask him to place his other hand on top of the envelope and to remain in that position. The other two participants are instructed to do the same. Now we are in a position where we know the first participant’s mother’s name and everyone is holding onto their envelopes. This technique of peeking one piece of information as an example while the other participants put theirs in their own envelope cancel out the idea that a peek is going on. This is because if a lay person saw that the two participants could put the billets in the envelopes themselves, and you were still able to get their information, then a peek is not possible. p ossible. And so it is seen as improbable that a peek would have been used in the case of the first participant’s billet (the one you do actually peek). This idea of getting a peek of one billet as an example for the rest of the participants is inspired by the 4th dimensional telepathy routine in “Practical Mental Effects” by Annemann. Revealing the Information
Now you have the essential peek, you are ready for the reveals. I always start with the “Mother’s Name” billet because I want to get rid of the ‘Window Envelope’ as soon as possible. You can reveal in any order you wish- that is just my recommendation. Once the ‘Window Envelope’ is out of play, you are home free. I am of the opinion that revelations of a Name ought to be more about revelations of a person. This is not just simply name we are revealing. Make it about the human being attached to the name! You should at least do some form of reading on the person. After all, you are definitely getting the hit at the end anyway. ‘Psychometry from A to Z’ by 33
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Richard Webster is a great place to start learning how to give readings based on a name. Always write the name down on a piece of paper and place it i t face down to the side before taking the envelope from the participant to verify the name, THEN have them turn over the paper for the reveal. Otherwise it makes no sense to reveal the name verbally then open the envelope for verification. Doing it this way also leads to a great misdirection from the gimmicked envelope: Once they are turning over the paper to see what you have written, you can now put the gimmicked envelope away. The heat is totally displaced (not that anyone would suspect the envelope anyway due to the logical disconnect, being that the other two participants could put their cards in their own un-gimmicked envelope). As another devious ploy, you can also take the ‘Challenge Card’ out of the gimmicked envelope and misread it to imply that the participant never wrote down their mother’s name! After writing the name on a piece of paper, I would take the card out of their envelope and say something like: “Let’s see what the challenge was… ‘What was my mother’s name?’ can you tell everyone here what your mother’s first name actually is?” (Participant says the name aloud) “Would you turn that paper over and see what I’ve committed to…” Casually take the billet they wrote on and put it in your pocked with the envelope. Remember the misdirection is placing their attention on the revelation on the paper you committed a name to! With the Zodiac reveal you have plenty of methods to choose from now days. I personally use the classic “RAISE” anagram myself. Fraser Parker’s “Seeing Signs” is another great method. I also recommend getting Peter Turner’s monthly PDF master class on “Zodiac Mentalism” for some really great ideas. Pete has a great concept called “The Frame”, which is as close to the real thing as you can get! Here is the RAISE Anagram for divining any Star Sign. Simply throw out these letters one at a time, spelling the word “RAISE”. Once you get a “No” move to the right/ when you get a “Yes”- move down, and keep spelling ‘RAISE’:
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R- Leo, Pisces, Gemini A-Virgo, Scorpio I-Cancer, Taurus S-Libra, Capricorn E-Aquarius, Sagittarius (Yes to All Letters)-Aries Peter Turner has a lot of great work on more subtleties toward using this anagram. You should notice that if the participant says “No” on the letter ‘R’, then you are left with three possibilities (Leo, Pisces, or Gemini). In our situation, we can use this line of scripting to eliminate one of the possibilities (we will talk about nailing the exact one later on): “Focus on the first letter and repeat it in your mind over and over again. Now the second… Now the third, and this one is really coming in strong like ‘M, M, M’!” If they react to the letter ‘M’ than we know it is Gemini. If not, we know it is either Leo or Pisces. Now let’s talk about how we can get to the exact Star Sign. In the event that you are down to two different possible Signs, you can use this ruse (Also by Peter Turner). Write down one of the signs on a piece of paper, and verbally reveal the other possible Sign. If you hit on the verbal reveal- you’re done. If not- you can say, “Good thing I committed to this…” and turn over the paper showing you had in fact got it right! What makes this entire routine really great is the fact that the participant (and audience) do not know that you know what the challenge is in the first place! So what would usually be a rather transparent anagram suddenly seems so much more impossible. This is because as far as the audience is concerned, the participant could be thinking of ANYTHING. So you can throw out as many letters as you wish and nothing will seem too transparent. That is the beauty of the “Challenge Cards” concept. For the sake of completion I will explain my own personal method for using the Star Sign anagram in the event that you are not using this routine, and just want to perform a straight Star Sign divination. This is an excerpt from a contribution I made to Peter Turner’s Monthly Masterclass PDF on Zodiac Mentalism. I call it “Astrology from A to Z”:
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(Move past this section to continue with Dark Entries) The “RAISE” Star Sign Anagram is a wonderful and amazing tool to use in any situation where you have nothing on you. The ability to just walk up to anyone and give them a reading and reveal their Star Sign is everything you need to come across as credible. I agree with Pete when he says the Astrological material is a largely unexplored area that needs more attention. There is only one problem with the “RAISE” anagram. The problem lies in the fact that you are guessing letters, and the letters that spell someone’s Sign are probably the least personal aspect of a Star Sign divination. So it begs the question: “How can we make the revelation of letters personal?” In other words, I am going to give you my own solution on how to reveal the letters of someone’s Star Sign in a way that links to your participant’s characteristics and traits, which will also help with your Readings as well! I was inspired by cold reading systems such as “Psychometry From A to Z” by Richard Webster when I realized that you could use the letters of the anagram to represent words that would be characteristics of your sitter. I will give you the list of words I use, along with the script for each of the letters (R,A,I,S,E). R-espect A-ccomplished I-ndividualistic S-elf
Confident
E-nthusiastic
If you can come up with your own words that start with the letters used in the anagram that is fine as well as long as they are descriptive words that you can do a reading with. Once you have your participant thinking of their Sign, have them mix the letters up in their mind. Now I say the following line: “In a moment, I am going to call out words that I feel describe you as a person. These characteristics should give me information I need to determine your Star Sign” Now that they are mixing up the letters, tell them to stop. You will ask them if there is an “R” in their sign. If they say “No”, then you 36
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already have it narrowed down to Pisces or Gemini. If they say “Yes” you can now say: “Yes I was picking up on the word Respect because I see that you are a very respectful person. Family and Friendship are very important to you” As you can see, you now have taken the reveal of a letter and turned it into a reveal of the person! This is a good way to start off a reading. Now you will throw out the letter “A”. Once again, if they say “No” then you will move on with the reveal. If they say “Yes”: “The reason I asked is because I see you as a person who will Accomplish everything you want in life, if you try” Now that you get the idea, here are the lines I use for the rest of the letters: I- “I see you have an Individualistic nature. You don’t follow the crowd” S- “You have a strong sense of Self Confidence most of the time. However, you do have periods of under confidence that you continue to rise above” E- “I was getting the word Enthusiasm from you. You have a project you have been working on that you are very enthusiastic about. Keep at it.” You may only want to use this idea for one or two of the letter reveals, but I personally like using it for all of them because it takes the heat off of the letters and places more focus on the person you are reading, which is what Astrology is all about! Here is an idea on what you can do when they say “No” to one of the letters you throw out. Just for example, let’s imagine they say “No” to the letter “I”: “Yes I didn’t think that was in your Sign because I was getting the word ‘Irritable’ and I don’t see you as a very negative person” Always being sure to turn it into a positive statement, you could play it off as if the letter they said “No” to, was a letter that stood for a negative characteristic. This is just a little idea, food for thought. So there it is! I hope you enjoyed this idea and use it as much as I have. In my opinion this is just a way to turn a Star Sign reveal into what it is supposed to look like. End 37
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Now back to the original routine. We are now ready to reveal the ‘Bike Ride’ memory. We are going to do this in a very sneaky way. The goal is to imply that the participant got the card that says “Can you reveal a childhood memory?” which is why we actually show that card as an example at the beginning of the routine when we are introducing the cards. The audience HAS to know that that card was in the stack! So when we first introduce the “Challenge Cards”, we make a point to show the ‘Childhood Memory’ card to the audience so they know that it was an option from the get-go. Here is how I reveal the ‘Bike Ride’ memory while simultaneously implying that they had a free choice of ANY childhood memory. You have to remember all of the logical disconnects (a concept expounded upon, and credited to Bob Cassidy) that are in place in this routine. Since there are so many methods piled onto each other in this effect, there is almost no way a lay person would ever be able to dissect the method. When we turn to our third and final participant, we are going to start the reveal with this script: “I’m sensing that your thought is a little more ambiguous than the previous two. I am feeling that this is a memory. I want you to close your eyes and imagine re living this memory as if it were happening right now. Think about the sights, sounds, emotions, and the atmosphere of the environment that this memory takes place in. I want you to also focus on who you were with at this time. Take a deep breath and begin to experience this memory now.” Now we are creating a pseudo-process for the audience to follow. While the participant’s eyes are closed, I hold my hand up next to their head as if I were getting ‘impressions’. It is very important and powerful to pause for a few seconds and really believe in what you are doing at this point in time. Believe in your own magic. If you take this moment to really feel it, I promise your participants will feel it too. There is a wealth of information on this topic in Richard Osterlind’s book, “Making Magic Real”. After a few seconds have passed, start to give a description of a typical ‘First Bike Ride’ experience. I usually describe elements of my own first time I rode a bike. Here is a good outline to base your script on. I have incorporated some lines that I found ‘Hit’ quite often (this script will also be what implies to the rest of the audience that the memory could have been any childhood memory): 38
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“Okay so I’m seeing that there is a male presence with you during this time… I also see that you are looking up at this person, which tells me that this is a childhood memory. I’m getting the impression that this is about new beginnings and there is a strong sense of pride here. There is also a feeling of heat, which tells me that this took place in the Summer time…. Be honest, is this the memory of your first Bike Ride?” This is just a basic outline of the script I use. Of course it will change from person to person. Be sure to give the participant enough time to respond and confirm all the impressions that you are getting from them. Every ‘yes’ you get makes you look more credible. You are now getting a great deal of ‘Hits’ out of what is essentially a card force! Notice that the script also implies that this could have been any childhood memory, which also adds to the impossibility of this routine. After I have revealed this information, I will usually take the envelope from them and just simply place it in my pocket (the participant usually doesn’t care about the billet anyway). This leaves you completely clean at the end. I hope you enjoyed this routine. I believe the “Challenge Cards” concept is a great tool to use in a number of different situations. You can always force the effect you want to perform. There is also something else you can do with these cards that I didn’t want to tip at first, but If you enjoyed this routine, I think you will love were I have taken it to the stage…
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“Dark Entries II: Weaving a Story”
(A Question and Answer Act) “The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see” -Ayn Rand The following act is a combination of subtleties, methods and routines that have inspired my mentalism for a number of years. My inspirations were Bob Cassidy’s “Jazz Mentalism”, Jerome Finley’s “Guerilla Q and A”, and Luke Jermay’s work on the Q and A approach. EFFECT: While on stage, and at the last act of his show, the Performer explains to the audience: “I now want to give you all permission to do something counterintuitive. Something that society tells us we shouldn’t do (at least not too often). Although this is something we all intrinsically want to do, we try not to. I want you all to think about yourselves for a moment. For the next few minutes I want you to focus on your personalities, your hopes, your dreams, your fears and questions that you would like an answer to. I want you to do this seriously and project your personalities and questions toward me, and I will do my best to pick up on them, and give you an answer to the best of my ability. Now I know that there are some skeptics in the room, even after everything else they have seen tonight, they are prone to disbelief. To those skeptics, let me give you some relief in telling you that I have you covered! Over the years I have acquired a list of challenges that skeptics have given me. I have taken the best of challenges and written them on the faces of these cards. There are about 25 of them here. Each card has a different ‘challenging question’ written on them. These are questions like, “Can you reveal a childhood memory?” and “Can you guess my PIN code?” and “Who will be the next President?” etc..
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I am going to have three members of the audience each choose one of these “Challenge Questions”. These are going to be three tests to please the skeptics, and allow everyone to relax and stop focusing too much on challenging me, and instead allows you to focus on your real personal questions about your life and goals.” The Performer proceeds to set up three special tests with three audience members. He then goes on to: ‘Read’ multiple members of the audience, Answer multiple thought of questions, reveal personal information, and accomplish all three tests, ending in the revelation of a personal childhood memory on the third, and final test. METHOD: The wonderful reasoning behind everything in this Question Answering act provides the routine with a good framework. The implementation of the three envelope test gives the act a definite beginning, middle, and grand finale. It also does more though, as we will soon see. This was partially inspired by Bob Cassidy’s integrating his classic ‘4th Dimensional Telepathy’ into his ‘Jazz Mentalism’ Q and A. The handling of the three envelopes changes somewhat in this, seeing as how we are in less control of our participants while on stage. And it may seem extremely bold to have an audience member, sitting amongst the crowd holding onto a Window Envelope gimmick. I provide a way around this and also provide an alternate option in which you won’t ever have to touch the billets or envelopes at all! This is a semi-propless Q and A act, in that the only written information is the three envelope tests (and soon you will see that we make even that appear to not have written information). The rest of the question answering is done for real. This is inspired by the great classic propless Q and A’s of George Anderson’s “Dynamite Mentalism”, Jerome Finley’s “Guerilla Q and A”, and Luke Jermay’s work on the subject. I have my own way of doing this, but the inspiration is primarily from these greats. I know the idea of doing a propless Q and A act can scare a lot of performers. That is where the “Challenge Cards” come into play. This routine provides a beautiful safety net that you will always be able to fall back on in the event that your readings go downhill (which I promise they won’t, but it ought to make you feel better).
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There is some amazing logic behind these “Challenge Cards” in this premise. By telling your audience that the cards are specifically made for the skeptics in the group, you are also telling the audience NOT to be skeptical and come up with their own challenges- which effectively makes your reading’s go over a lot better. Another thing that makes the readings go well is the introductory script. We don’t actually tell the audience to focus on specific questions. The line is: “I want you to focus on your personalities, your hopes, your dreams, your fears and questions that you would like an answer to.” With this instruction, your readings can be about anything. We will be discussing a way to ‘reframe’ our readings as if they were answers to questions later. So with all of this, let me explain the entire act. I will go over every single detail and subtlety and not hold anything back. This is the Q and A act I use in my performances for Bars, Comedy Clubs and Variety Shows all around New York City. This stuff works, and you have nothing to fear with the built-in safeguards put into place. I believe this is the very first ‘Training Wheels’ approach to a propless Question Answering Act. So here it is, let me start with the handling of the “Challenge Cards”: The Challenge Cards and and Their Revelations
The “Challenge Cards” are introduced as shown in the script above in the effect description. The idea is to present these as a collection of difficult challenges that the Mentalist has acquired over the years. While introducing them, you want to point out the same cards you would in the Close Up variation described in the previous chapter (The childhood memory card). This sets up the implication later on that the third and final participant is thinking of ANY childhood memory when in fact they are thinking of their first Bike Ride. I then look for three participants in the front row to be the ‘Test’ participants. They are effectively the skeptics of the audience, remembering that we have explained that the audience is not to have a skeptical heart- and they are to focus on their true personalities and questions. I recommend choosing participant’s that are not sitting next to each other, as we don’t want them to see one another’s billets either. Preferably one participant to the far left, the next in the center, and the third to the far right of the audience. I also suggest choosing participants in the front row, so they can be properly managed and observed from the stage. 42
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I force the same three “Challenge Cards” as I do in the Close Up variation (The Mother’s Name, The Zodiac Sign, and the Bike Ride cards) from left to right. Here is a clever line that my friend Lance Sinclair has suggested and I started to use in order to create a Dual Reality with the rest of the audience that implies that the participants got to look at the cards and choose them (as opposed to me just giving a facedown card, which is the truth of the matter). Once the participant has said “Stop” during the ‘Riffle Force’, I then say: “Are you happy with that one?” They will say ‘Yes’ and I will give them th em the facedown force card. But for everyone else in the audience, the question makes it seem as though the participant got to look at the card and decide if they wanted that challenge or not. It’s the little things in performance that count. I will use this ploy for all three participants. Once the three cards have been forced on the three audience members you are going to explain to the audience: “Now keep in mind some of these cards have a space to write some information. I want you three to imagine you are giving me these challenges. If there is a space to write your own answer to these questions on your card I want you to do so. Here are some pencils for each of you. Remember to keep these cards to yourself and don’t let anyone else around you see them either.” I hand each of them a pencil and then I turn to the rest of the audience and begin to talk to them. I pay no attention to the three Test participants until I believe they are done writing their information. I will get into what I do with the rest of the audience later on but for now we will continue discussing the handling of the billets. When I believe the three Test participants are finished I will begin to hand them their envelopes in the same process used in the Close Up variation, remembering to give the two un-gimmicked envelopes to the participants with the Zodiac and Bike Ride cards, and then using the window envelope for the Mother’s Name card. Here is where a big difference comes in. Most of the venues I perform in have tables that the audience is sitting at. So instead of asking the participant with the gimmicked envelope to hold their envelope in between their hands, I will ask them to hold their hand ‘palm-down’ above the table, getting my peek in the process and placing the envelope on the table (window face down of course) and asking them to place their hand on top of the envelope. I ask the other two participants to do the same. This is a way to restrict the participant’s movements. We don’t want 43
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the participant with the window envelope to be messing about with a gimmicked envelope in the audience, because we have no control over their movement. So by having them place their hand on top of the envelope on the table and telling them not to move from that position, it is less likely that they will turn the envelope over! The three participants should be holding their hands over the envelopes at their tables like this:
Now everything is set up for the three successive reveals. These are going to be revealed within the context of an entire Q and A act with the rest of the audience. I will discuss how we deal with the rest of the audience in the next section but for now I am just dealing with the billets. In performance I will usually reveal one Test after every two or three regular audience members have had their questions answered. The most important thing to do at this point is getting the first reveal of the Mother’s Name out of the way. This is because the overwhelming nerves you will probably feel because there is an audience member with a gimmicked envelope sitting out there unattended. This is a very bold bol d situation to be in, but as soon as you do get that Test finished, you are home free. I will assure you that you have nothing to worry about because I have never had a participant turn it over. However if you are worried about it, I offer a solution later on in which you don’t use any gimmicked envelopes and you don’t have to touch any billets whatsoever. For now, here is how I reveal the three Challenges.
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Watkins Test 1: Mother’s Mother’s Name
I have to say, this is one of my favorite moments of the entire act. I believe I have created a beautiful and dramatic way to reveal this piece of information AND insure that it hides the method while creating even more deception and logical disconnect. After I have worked with some of the regular members of the audience propless-ly, I look over to the first Challenge participant. I will say this: “I am getting a very powerful emotional connection with this. This has to do with a person. This person has a lot of wisdom and has guided you through hard times. I am also getting a sense that this relationship has had a lot of ‘ups and downs’, but when all is said and done, you care about this person and the relationship is very close.” I pick up a clipboard and write the name I peeked earlier. I place the clipboard face down on a table on the stage and I don’t show the audience what I have written. I then walk over to the participant and ask them to lift their hand off of the envelope (remember WE have to be the one to open this envelope because it is gimmicked). I carefully take out the billet and put the window envelope in my pocket. Here is where the real sneakiness comes in. This is a subtlety that my friend Lance Sinclair and I have come up with to layer the deception. I read out loud the Challenge Question ONLY. I look at the billet and say, “What is my Mother’s First Name? Can you say out loud, so everyone else can hear, what your mother’s name is?” This implies that the participant never wrote their thei r mother’s name. Because why would I have to ask the participant if I could have read it off the billet? This is a little subtlety that goes a long way! Once the participant has said her mother’s name out loud, I then say to her: “You should notice that I wrote something on that clipboard on the stage. Would you please go over and take a look at it and show everyone else what it says” Now you get this beautiful moment where the participant is alone on stage freaking out. I personally like this way of doing it, because it is a little different to how most people do revelations. You can do what you
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like, but I just wanted to share my own thinking. Sometimes it’s a good thing to break away from the norm. Test 2: Zodiac Sign
After the revelation of the first participant’s information, I continue giving readings to the rest of the audience members. This is a very ‘Jazz’ approach. I will go on with the rest of audience’s unwritten questions until I feel it is a good moment to move on to the next test: The Star Sign challenge. There are a few subtleties in this that I would like to point out where this test is concerned. con cerned. The first being that we should always keep in mind that the audience doesn’t know that we know what the challenges are, let alone the answers to them! This makes the Star Sign Anagram (explained in the previous chapter ‘Dark Entries’) especially deceptive and fair. Another aspect that can be forgotten when doing a Zodiac routine is the fact that this piece of information is intrinsically linked to a person’s characteristics and traits- not just letters. So even though the Anagram is very well hidden in this context, we still need to add more to it than just throwing out letters and guessing the Sign. I am guilty of forgetting this myself from time to time. That is the reason I am pointing this out. Always remember to give gi ve a reading once you know what the sign is. This Thi s makes it even more deceptive in the long run and gives the process logic and meaning. This challenge/test is really up to your own subjective preference on how you want to go about revealing the information. One piece of advice I can give you on this is to not give the game away too quickly. What I mean by this is that you ought to go about the anagram and ‘process’ in a way as to not let the audience members know that this is a Zodiac revelation (at least not until you ultimately reveal the Sign). Here is my script on how I introduce the test: “Let’s move on to our second Test. I am getting an impression that you are a very strong individual and have a very great moral compass. I see you are of a somewhat skeptical mind, but it is not completely closed to new ideas. This challenge has to do with a specific piece of personal information like a word, password, or some other aspect of your character, correct? Imagine spelling this information in your mind….” I then go into the Anagram from that point.
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You may notice that I threw out the idea that this could be a ‘password’. This is because sometimes I may try to imply to everyone else in the audience that I am revealing a facebook password. This is a bold dose of Dual Reality, but you definitely don’t have to use it. I only add it here for the sake of completion. The way I do this is by utilizing Peter Turner’s BOB Principle (whispering the revelation to the participant, while implying that you are revealing something else. In this case, we are going to whisper the Zodiac Sign and imply it is a Password). Another thing you ought to do if you want to go this route, is to let the audience know that there is a Challenge Card in the stack dedicated to guessing a facebook password (much like we do for the Bike Ride challenge). You would of course do this at the very beginning of the routine to implant that impression in the mind of the audience. Here is the scripting I use to imply that I am revealing a password after I perform the Anagram: “I am not going to say aloud what this piece of information is for the sake of privacy, because for all I know this could actually be your password. So I am going to whisper this information into your ear and I just want you to confirm whether or not I am correct with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.” You would then lean in and whisper the Sign. Here is an interesting thought that you might take and run with. While whispering in the participant’s ear you may begin to cement the Dual Reality in the participant’s mind through implication. Let’s say for example that the participant is a Sagittarius. I would lean in and whisper: “I am picking up on the word sagittarius24” The number would be my estimate of their age. This makes it seem to the participant that I really do believe that this is a password, but the information is still correct –just not in the context I am giving it. And since I asked them to simply give me a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for confirmation, they won’t be able to call you out on it. i t. Once again, you do NOT have to do it this way if you choose not to. I just think it’s something to think about. In any event, you will take the envelope from them (don’t bother taking the billet out and ‘confirming’ it. That would be redundant) and move on with the rest of your audience’s unwritten questions.
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Watkins Test 3: Bike Ride
We have now reached the third and final Test. After this I will discuss how I handle the rest of the audience in a propless way. This Test is meant to be the finale to the whole act and I believe that the revelation of a childhood memory is the most powerful way to end the act, but it’s all in the presentation. It’s actually very interesting that the most powerful piece is the easiest of the three tests, as it really doesn’t require any peek or process (as is the case with the previous two tests) and the method is finished the moment you forced that Challenge Card on the participant. Seeing as how this revelation is almost entirely presentationdriven, I will give you my script on how I reveal the information, as there is nothing else to do as far as the method is concerned (aside from implying that it could have been ANY childhood memory). This takes place after I have worked with a couple of the other audience members. Here is the script I use: “We are now approaching the end of our time together and I have one final Test I need to accomplish to bring this demonstration to a close. Will you please join me on stage? (Participant walks on to the stage holding the envelope) Now I’d like you to close your eyes and focus on this Challenge you are giving me. Bring it to the forefront of your mind and concentrate… My first impression is that this has to do with a memory of some sort, perhaps even a Dream. I want to imagine this even playing out in your imagination as if it were happening again right now… I am picking up on a male presence in this memory so I believe this could be your father or grandfather (Participant nods in agreement) I also see you looking up at this person which tells me that this is a childhood memory, correct? There is also a sense of ‘moving forward’ as well as a sense of pride and accomplishment.” I then take a long pause and finally reveal the fact that they are thinking of their very first time riding a bicycle. As my friend, Lance Sinclair always points out, pauses are important for drama and atmosphere. You have to really believe in your own powers for this to truly come across as the real thing. The more dramatic you make it, the bigger this finale will be. It really is such a simple thing, but it can fall flat very easily. I invite you to think about your own creative ways to reveal this information to create a very compelling atmosphere. Now that we have discussed each of the three Tests, I want to give you an alternative to the “Mother’s Name” challenge which will make this entire act even easier because you will no longer need to use a 48
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window envelope and you will NEVER touch the billets or envelopes after you hand them to the participants. This is such an easy adaptation that it should give you the confidence to do the Propless segment discussed in the next section. Alternative Handling Handling
The change is simple. It is based on a ruse (and clever joke) created by Bob Cassidy. Instead of forcing the “Mother’s Name” card on the first participant, you are going to force a different Challenge Card. This card says: “Can you tell me next week’s Lottery Numbers?” What this does is create a situation where all three of the billets are dealt with completely fairly and hands off. How do we handle this billet? Easy. Once we have done a bit of propless question answering with the rest of the audience we will suddenly and quickly say: “ 3 43 22 31 10 17…I hope you were paying attention that was next week’s lottery numbers for those of you asking I will not repeat them but I believe that answers our first Challenge Test is that correct?” Turn to the first participant with an envelope as you say the final line and they will confirm you are correct! This is great because it is such a freebie, but still creates credibility and is seen as accomplishing the test you set out to achieve. It also has built in humor and can be taken as a joke (or the real thing). You excuse yourself by saying you will not repeat the numbers and that creates a laugh. Now that you can be so hand’s off and free, you can feel more confident to perform what I am about to teach in this next section on propless question answering. After all, that was the whole purpose of this - to create a safety net for ‘Real Q and A’. Propless Question Answering
There is much written on propless Q and A from the likes of Jerome Finely, George Anderson, and Luke Jermay (all of them great thinkers and I recommend very highly). There are so many examples of “Psychic” TV shows and Mediums that talk to the dead that you can study and watch to see how strong this kind of material is. 49
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Here is some advice I am going to give you right from the startthis is easy. So easy in fact, that the hardest part of this act was the previous handling of billets and envelopes. Propless Q and A is only hard because you tell yourself it is hard. It is a story you have created in your own mind that wants to believe you can’t do it. You tell yourself you are afraid- so you feel afraid. You imagine going on stage and choking up, or running out of things to say. We create stories in our mind almost automatically that have a tendency to be negative. That is why the subtitle of this routine is “Weaving a Story”. This is for two reasons. The first being that we are going to stop telling ourselves that we can’t do it. We need to stop creating these stories in our mind that assume the worst situation. The second reason is the guiding principle I use for propless Q and A (and other readings in general): we are going to create stories about our audience members, and reframe them as questions they are asking us. Within this next section I am going to give you some psychological tricks you can use to perform readings for anyone, anyplace, and anytime. Not just the tricks that we play on our participants, but tricks you can do on yourself. Because the real truth of the matter is that a good reading has more to do with hacking your own brain than it does your participant’s. We already have loads of information out there on linguistic techniques and cold reading that we don’t need to go into too much depth with them here (although I will give you some stock lines I use myself). I have faith that my readers are familiar with the classics. My teaching here is concerned with how to hack your own brain and mental processes to create the ‘Divine Eye’. These are meditations that you can use to overcome fear, and give real readings on people you have never met. I am also going to tell you how I implement these techniques into the act as a whole. So let’s get on with the first technique. You Are IT
The real secret to no-prop question answering is so blatantly obvious that it goes under the radar. Think about this for a second- who are the most successful readers? What is their common trait? What is the one thing they all have that guides their work? Almost every one of them believes in their own power. You may think that some of these pseudo psychics are purely con men that know what they are doing is wrong and do it anyway (which may be true) but the truth of the matter is that they believe in themselves. Every single action a person takes is based on some 50
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philosophical postulate, whether you know it or not- you are acting on a philosophy every second of your life. When you do something you don’t want to do (like going to work), you are doing it because you believe that it is the right action to take. This is an ethical philosophy, and every individual has one, whether has thought it out or not. So with this knowledge, I submit for your approval the following idea: You are what you think about. Your thoughts color your mind. If you believe that you have a gift of insight into the human condition, and can give good advice to other people- you are going have that ability. If you think about it long enough, and trick your mind into believing your own powers (at least during performance) everything else will come with it. I recommend reading Richard Osterlind’s “Making Magic Real”, “Making Real Magic” and “Essays” as these books cover this topic very well. You can train your mind, during performance at least, to believe in two things at once. The method and the effect. I am not preaching some philosophical mysticism. I am not saying that you will have real psychic powers simply by believing in them. But you will create the illusion of psychic powers by believing that you have them. It’s a very interesting case to watch some of these TV psychics work. They use the same linguistic techniques us Mentalists use, but they don’t even know it. All they do is believe in their own gifts and they automatically and spontaneously use tricks and techniques that we try so hard to create through reason and logic. It comes naturally to them. So while on stage, believe you have a gift of insight. Imagine yourself as having the ability you are acting out. Ancient Wisdom
This is one of the most profound techniques I have found to bring a lot of success in giving readings. The advice is simple: read about advice. I recommend reading about ancient philosophies and their advice on dealing with problems in life. This is because in a true Q and A act, most magicians and mentalists claim that it is the answer that is important, not how you get the question. I’d like to add something to that: It is not even the answer, it is the advice you give them. Even if your reading of the participant’s characteristics was not spot on, if you give them some good and insightful advice- they will believe in you. There has been so 51
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many times where I have given readings to people and I could tell that they weren’t really feeling it, but once I gave them a piece of wisdom that made sense to them they immediately took me as credible. Read about the ancient Stoic philosophy and you can find a lot of good advice that you can put out there in a reading. The Stoics were very big on getting rid of negative emotions like Anger, Fear, Anxiety etc. and those are the real roots of a participant’s Question. A lot of mentalists break readings down to the categories of Love, Travel, and Finance. I choose to break readings down into emotions. This is because every single trouble or obstacle in a person’s life is really based on an emotional response that they want to change. The Stoics have many teachings that can pacify the mind and I recommend implementing them into your readings. If you can make someone feel better emotionally, they won’t care if you got anything else in the reading right. I will go more into this concept later on when I give you some of my own stock lines. It is also important to never offer advice that you are not qualified to give. I stay away from matters that have to do with medical or financial decisions, and I keep my readings vague enough to be interpreted in a number of ways depending on the individual. This sort of thing has been repeated so often I feel it goes without saying: Keep your readings ethical and use common sense. Reframing
This is a real important one for my approach. Basically you are never asking the audience to think of specific questions, so when you give a reading to them, you reframe the reading as if it was an answer to a question they had thought of even though it may not be. You may notice that the script I give at the beginning of this chapter actually never asks them to get a specific question in mind necessarily: “I want you all to think about yourselves for a moment. For the next few minutes I want you to focus on your personalities, your hopes, your dreams, your fears and questions that you would like an answer to.” It is a very broad request. You ask them to think about their personalities amongst other things. This way you can give a reading on someone and it automatically implies that they were ‘projecting’ their personality on you as per your request. 52
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Let me give you one example on how you can turn a reading into a question that is answered. Here is a script I use in my stage act quite frequently: “I am sensing that you are a very intelligent and caring person. You have a very critical mind and I think that this leads to a lot of negative tendencies toward misery for yourself. I feel like recently you have developed a ‘fault-finding mind’. This is a tendency to constantly question yourself, your motives, your actions, and your decisions. And while this is a useful thing in many cases, I feel with you that this has gone a bit overboard. So I feel the real question with you, is ‘How do I calm my mind?’ let me give you a piece of advice, I don’t want you to ignore your negative thoughts, I want you to question them and analyze them. I believe that if you analyze them with logic and reason you will be able to sort out which thoughts are rational or irrational responses, which will in turn lead to more peace of mind. Does that make sense to you?” The underlined phrase is the actual reframe of the reading into an answered question. I honestly have no idea what the participant was thinking, or if they even had a question to begin with. But I give them a reading and build up a story about a person who has an overly critical mind, and I give some advice on the subject. It is also a very common trait for a person to be overly critical of themselves and others, so the advice is actually very down to earth and applies to anyone. Nirvana Words
As I said earlier, I break my Q and A readings into categories of emotions as opposed to categories of interest. This is because I believe that every question a person would ask advice about ultimately comes down to getting rid of a negative emotion. All of life’s problems are really a question of emotion. So if we can help a participant understand their emotional situation better by offering an outside perspective, we are inadvertently answering any question they may have about their life. I will give you a list of stock lines I use for a series of negative emotions. You may wish to think of these readings as mini effects that you can do any time and any place. These little readings can be adapted and changed to fit your own style and character and they are only a stepping stone for you to create your own. These scripts, in combination with the previous sections on giving advice and ‘re-framing’ questions create impromptu effects that will amaze and breed credibility. Here they are- broken down by emotion. 53
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Anger: “I see you are a person with a very great ambitious spirit. I believe you have what it takes to accomplish all the things you set out to do. However there is a downside to your ambitious mind that I believe you ought to be on your guard with. I see a tendency towards irritation and in some cases even anger. I know that the times that anger arises upsets you because you are a very kind hearted person. So I believe your question is- ‘How do I gain more control of my irritability?’ I offer a piece of advice that I want you to keep in mind whenever anger arises: remember what is in your control, and what is not in your control. You have power over your mind, not external events. Realize this and you will find strength. Anxiety: “You are a person that cares a lot for other people. I can sense that you take joy in socializing with others. I see you as having 2 or 3 really close friends and then a bunch of acquaintances on the side. There is something else though that I feel has been troubling you recently and that is a tendency towards worry and anxiety. I see you as someone who thinks about the future quite frequently. The answer to the question of anxious feelings is to turn your attention to the present and ask yourself, whenever anxiety arises ‘am I having a problem now? And is there anything I can do about it right now?’ if the answer is ‘yes’, take care of the problem and be done with it. If the answer is ‘no’, you have nothing to worry about. You suffer unnecessarily when you suffer before it is necessary” Doubt: (This one uses the same script on the ‘fault-finding mind’, used earlier) “I am sensing that you are a very intelligent and caring person. You have a very critical mind and I think that this leads to a lot of negative tendencies toward misery for yourself. I feel like recently you have developed a ‘fault-finding mind’. This is a tendency to constantly question yourself, your motives, your actions, and your decisions. And while this is a useful thing in many cases, I feel with you that his has gone a bit overboard. So I feel the real question with you, is ‘How do I calm my mind?’ let me give you a piece of advice, I don’t want you to ignore your negative thoughts, I want you to question them and analyze them. I believe that if you analyze them with logic and reason you will be able to sort out which thoughts are rational or irrational responses, which will in turn lead to more peace of mind. Does that make sense to you?” Hopefully you get the idea with this. By using emotions as the basis for a reading, and offering real practical advice that is genuinely helpful information (and not unethical), we can give someone a very accurate reading and something they can take home with them and put into practice. 54
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As a side note, n ote, all of the t he advice I give in these few stock scripts is advice from the ancient Stoic philosophers and is seen as the basis for modern Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. This advice is also useful for yourself and your performances and if you get the time, I strongly suggest you read about Stoicism. I want to end this segment with a Zen Koan that inspired this line of thinking: “Bodhidharma sits facing the wall. His future successor stands in the snow and presents his severed arm to Bodhidharma. He cries: "My mind is not pacified. Master, pacify my mind." Bodhidharma says: "If you bring me that mind, I will pacify it for you." The successor says: "When I search my mind I cannot hold it." Bodhidharma says: "Then your mind is pacified already."
Minds of Smoke
One thing that I don’t think a lot of others have really talked about when it comes to propless Q and A is that it is actually easier than a billet-based act in one respect. That is the fact that when we ask a participant to think of a question and write it down, we are asking them to commit to one piece of information that we have to guess. On the other hand, if we ask them to think of their personalities, their goals, fears, hopes, dreams and questions, we have created more ambiguity in our participant’s minds. I think of this as a mind of smoke. There is no commitment on a single piece of information that the performer MUST reveal, so it actually makes our job a lot easier as we can see in the section above about Reframing. We can manufacture a question by weaving a story about our participants. If there is no commitment, there is less risk. Think of this as another tool to convince your mind that you can do this without fear of failure, because you can.
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You should remember that you can always fall back on your three Challenge/Tests. That was one of their main purposes- to create a safety net to go to in case your readings start to fall flat. If I am having trouble with a difficult d ifficult audience member receiving a reading, I will just simply tell them “Well that’s all I’m getting from you at the moment, let’s go to one of our Challenges” it’s as simple as that! Good selection of your audience members is important. I do my Question Answering act at the end of my stage show, so that gives me my entire show to see who is responding well throughout. I will mentally take note of certain individuals that look like they are actively engaged in the show and show signs of wanting to be involved. Females also take better to readings than males in my experience. Characters
Here is a simple and formulaic technique to make this entire propless segment easier for you. Create about four or five characters and give each of them a stock line to accompany them. These are going to be building blocks that you use for five readings for five audience members, separated by the three Challenge Tests. For example, you may have a stock character called ‘The Fault Finder’ as the first reading you give. Create a reading around that character as a starting point (once you start giving the reading you can bounce off of that and go on from there). I use this formula for the entire act: Reading 1, Test 1, Reading 2, Reading 3, Test 2, Reading 4, Reading 5, Final Test. You only have to do a maximum of 5 readings with 5 audience members. So if you use the techniques I have described above, and create Stock Characters for those 5 audience members you have something to springboard off of! You Have All the the Answers
This is the last ‘Reading’ I will do, and it takes place after the finale of the third ‘Test’ (Bike Ride). This script has a built-in disclaimer so you won’t have to worry if you are one who doesn’t want their audience thinking you are a real Psychic. It also makes sure everyone in 56
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your audience has the advantage of feeling as though they got to take part in the act: “In closing, I want to tell you all that in reality- I was only revealing information that came from your own minds. You do not need anyone else to tell you about yourself and you do not need a ‘Psychic’ to give you advice about how to live your own life. Take a few seconds to silently ask yourself the question you would have liked to have asked me, and you will hear your own intuition speak back to you. That is your own rational faculty that will guide you through your life’s obstacles. You have all the answers already. Trust yourself. Thank you.” So this is the conclusion to my own personal Q and A act. I actually use this in my sets and I hope that it inspires you to think about your own ways of using these techniques, subtleties and plots. The Q and A act was meant to be Jazz by its very nature. I would hate for anyone to copy my way of doing it verbatim. I want you to take the basic building blocks, and add your own interests and personality to it. In any case, practice and enjoy.
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Challenges
Let’s take another look at what we can do with these ‘Challenge Cards’ and how we can implement them in different situations. One of the things that I know some may have issue with in regards to “Dark Entries” is the fact that it requires an item to be written down (The Mother’s Name) and in order to do that it also requires a window envelope peek. Here is a Close Up variation that no longer requires any peeks, nothing written down, and is completely impromptu. It utilizes the principle from my effect, “The Flutter of Black Wings” found in “Jhana”. This version requires nothing but the challenge cards themselves and it will look exactly like it should: Three participants choose a Challenge at random and you proceed to reveal and answer each one in succession. The second and third challenges forced are the same (Star Sign and Bike Ride). The only difference is that the first participant will get forced a Challenge Card that says, “Guess the first digit of my Credit Card”. I revealed in “Jhana” that every Visa credit card begins with the number 4. And Visa cards are the most popular credit cards. So you have a pretty safe bet with going with a 4. This is a very simple and bold alternative where you have a ‘nothing written’ solution. The only issue you may run into with this version is if the participant is knowledgeable about credit card numbers. But that can be saved by the fact that you didn’t know what the Challenge was in the first place! If this version doesn’t satisfy you, here’s another alternative: Instead of using the first Challenge as a means to guess the first digit of a credit card, we are going to force a different Challenge on the first participant. This one will say, “Guess my facebook password”. I know this seems insane, but that is actually the point. If your participant gets a Challenge Card that asks to guess their facebook password, I can guarantee that they will NOT want you to actually guess it, but we can use this to create a really interesting, and credibility-building situation. When using this version, save the Facebook password challenge for last. Reveal the Star Sign first and the Bike Ride memory second. The whole time you are revealing this information, your third participant will be sweating, believing that you really can guess this information. This is all 58
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going to push them further into belief (and fear). Now you can turn to this participant and say the following: “I am sensing a little worry from you in regards to your challenge. I can assure you that I can guess this, but only if you truly want me to and I am really getting the feeling that you don’t sincerely want me to go for this. I will save you the anxiety and just tell you that Yes, I can guess your facebook password but I will not do it here to protect your privacy” Now you have a really cool and dramatic ending, a ‘hit’ on revealing the challenge, an implication that you could guess facebook passwords, and you have them a little freaked out (which is as good as you guessing it for real). Here’s another way to do it. This was partly inspired by Michael Murray’s “ATM” routine. After building up the fear of your guessing the third participant’s facebook password, you can now create a wonderful effect that makes it appear as though you really did guess the password. Once I turn to that third participant I use the same script as before, but I add this really sneaky subtlety: “I am sensing a little worry from you in regards to your challenge. I can assure you that I can guess this, but only if you truly want me to and I am really getting the feeling that you don’t sincerely want me to go for this. However I want you to imagine that this piece of information was written out in the air in front of you… I’m sensing there is an ‘E’ ‘E ’ in this, yes?” Now the participant may say either ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Basically we are creating a pseudo process that is symmetrical to the process we use for the Zodiac Sign. If they say ‘yes’ to the letter we are now implying to them that we are really going to guess their facebook password (remember the audience doesn’t know that is what their challenge is at this point). After getting a ‘hit’ on a letter, I then grab a clipboard and write the words: “MY FACEBOOK PASSWORD”. Now I can say this: “I know you were a little freaked out about this and that is understandable. Just so everyone is on the same page, can you say for the first time what your challenge question was?” They will tell the audience that they wanted you to guess their facebook password and you will immediately show the participant your clipboard saying, “And what does this say?”. They will read it aloud and also be freaked out at the fact that you were able to guess the challenge. They will also be relieved that you didn’t reveal it. What makes this great is that now you are totally justified in not showing the audience what the clipboard says. 59
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I really do love the utility device that the Challenge Cards are. You can always carry them with you and have an impossible demonstration at all times. Another great thing these can be used for without anything being written down, d own, is any of the great ‘Billetless Name Guesses’ Ross Taylor and Fraser Parker have put out. For instance, it is always easier to guess a male Christian name. So instead of having to ask your participant to think of a male name, just force the Challenge Card on them that asks you to guess male name! I also recommend Seamus Maguire’s work on the propless name guess as well. One more idea with these cards is to use them as a ‘Call Back Billet’. Let’s say I stole a piece of information earlier in performance, a Birthday for example. Now I can force that particular Challenge Card on the particular participant and make the whole process look ultra-clean. This can be used in preshow or even sneakily looking lookin g up information on a person’s facebook before a show. If you see a picture of the person’s living room you can force that card on them that says “Describe my Living Room”, and they will be none the wiser. As it has been a fair selection of the Challenge.
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“The Difficult Ploy”
This is a tiny principle that I used in an effect from my previous book, “Jhana”. The effect was called “Severance” and it was basically a way to make billets invisible in the mind of your audience, effectively making it appear that you can guess names, dates, and PIN codes without them ever being written down. I used this subtlety in the context of that routine and since then, I have captured it and will explain it here, as well as a few ways you can use it for different types of information. The ‘Difficult Ploy’ is a way to make your audience believe that the participant has changed their mind on something, creating the illusion of choice where there is none. In its simplest form, imagine you had just done a billet peek of the name “Sarah”. You are then going to use this little line of scripting to imply to everyone watching, that the participant can change their mind about the person they are thinking of (even though they won’t): “Focus on this name. If this is a very difficult name to guess, or a foreign name, feel free to change your mind but don’t give anything away.” We already know the name, so we know it is NOT a difficult name to guess! This is a case of taking something we know, that the audience doesn’t know we know, and using it in a way to create a strong suggestion in the minds of the people watching. I think this is a very useful tool and it doesn’t require anything other than a simple statement. This is why I always believe it is a good exercise to think about different ways to use peeked information. Always ask yourself “How can I make this illusion stronger using the information I know now?” That question led me to the creation of the effects, “Thanatos” and “The Strangest Secret”, which are both described in this book. Let’s look at another way we can use this principle. Imagine someone was thinking of the PIN code, “4831”. I would then use this line of scripting: “If this code has repeating digits, feel free to change to a different code but don’t give anything way.” 61
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Simple and elegant. This really sets your credibility for people watching you. It creates the illusion of the participant being able to change their mind- even though they don’t! And since you end up revealing the code with no repeating digits, it reinforces the suggestion that they did change their mind. Everything is as it should be. And even if the participant says “I didn’t change my mind” (which never happens because you tell them not to give anything away) nothing is hurt. You just go about your reveal as you would have anyway! Think about a few other ways you might use this technique and let your imagination take over. When it comes to the actual revelation of the information when using this principle, I always write down and commit to the information and place it face down on a table. I then use this line: “So now that I have committed to this thought, you can now tell everyone what PIN code did you end up thinking of?” The participant will take this to mean that you are asking what PIN they committed to when they wrote down the information. The audience will take this to mean that you are asking what PIN they ended up on after they changed their mind. You can implement this into the “Dark Entries” routine for the Mother’s Name divination. Once you have got your peek of the name and everyone is holding their envelopes, use the ‘Difficult Ploy’ on the first participant, commit to the name you peeked, and then you take the billet out of the envelope and use the subtlety of just reading out loud the question without the answer (implying that they didn’t write anything down) and then you ask them what name they ended up thinking of. You are then really leading your audience astray. Keep in mind that this can also be used the other way around for Names. If they did in fact think of a foreign or ‘difficult’ name, you can just as easily say, “If this name is a very simple and easy name to guess, feel free to change your mind but don’t give anything away”. What makes this principle really cool is that it is not necessarily Dual Reality because the illusion and implication is just as strong on the participant in their eyes. Because they will also believe that they could have changed their mind. So you can use this ploy even in a one on one performance. Implication is the real key to powerful, clean and astonishing Magic and Mentalism.
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Another Reality
There is something that keeps popping popp ing up in my mind with some of the subtleties that I have discussed in the routines contained in this book. It is one of those principles that is very hard to grasp by nature of its subtleness. It has strong implications and a vast array of possibilities attached to it. It is not quite Dual Reality, but more likened to a ‘Triple Reality’. The best example I can point to that involves this principle is “The Difficult Ploy” discussed in the previous section. There are multiple layers of perception in this case: 1. The perception of the audience that the Participant has the freedom of changing their mind on a piece of information. 2. The perception of the Participant that he has NOT changed his mind. This, by itself is Dual Reality. But here is where it does differ in a very devious way. It contains yet another perception that may be over looked: 3. The perception that the Participant himself ALSO believes he had the freedom to change his mind. This is well different from classic DR in the respect that the realities are both separate AND congruent. The participant will not change his mind on the information he has committed to, but he will also believe the same thing the audience believes: That he could have changed his mind on a piece of information if it was deemed “too difficult” or “not difficult enough”. This creates a near perfect deception. Let’s take a look at another example in this book that contains the same principle at work. In “Dark Entries” we force the third participant the ‘Challenge Card’ to get them to think of the memory of their first time riding a bicycle. We also point out, while introducing the Challenge Cards that there is a card that asks to reveal ANY childhood memory. Through implication, we create a Dual Reality where there are two perceptions: 1. The perception where the audience believes that the Participant could be thinking of any childhood memory. 63
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2. The perception of the Participant where she is thinking of a specific childhood memory of her first Bike Ride. And here is the third perception that is contained con tained in just the same way the “Difficult Ploy” merges the realities: 3. The perception where the Participant ALSO believes that she could have thought of any childhood memory This is so because we have pointed out the Challenge Card that does give them the freedom to think of any childhood memory. So we can quite freely, and openly say to our participant: “So this could potentially be any childhood memory” And they would undoubtedly agree with us. The realities have merged into a single congruent truth. There will be hardly any disagreement with your audience when this principle is used with skill. This is very subtle but it’s implications are vast. Now I want to leave you with a devious technique that I was going to keep for myself, but I felt it belonged here. In “Dark Entries” when you get to the third participant’s challenge (Bike Ride), you can combine it with the Difficult Ploy with the following scripting: “I’ll tell you what, if your challenge is asking me to go for a piece of information you would rather I didn’t go for, like your Facebook Password, feel free to change your mind to a different challenge in your head but don’t give anything away.” I’ll let you see where this can take you.
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“Hello and welcome…Do not be afraid…Be comforted…Remember…Our origin…” -The Din of Celestial Birds
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Foreword by Fraser Parker
Who is Watkins? Put simply. He is one of the rising stars in Mentalism. Not only does he create in a way which appears effortless to an outsider – whilst doing so, he ensures effect and presentation come first before clever methods – although, he has many of those too. He blends the old with the new, combining classic technique and methodology with the modern approach of working smarter instead of harder using linguistic deception. It is this mix that allows effects otherwise thought impossible to come to life in such a pragmatic way – it makes performing them a joy. The result is a hybrid tool set that really works and hits hard in actual real world performing environments. You only have to watch a couple of his performances on YouTube to know how much this is the case; He is creating a name for himself and a small following within the magic community based purely on his ability as a performer. It is when others find out there is a way to learn how to do what Watkins does that they start to go nuts! I am glad I was there at the start and could help Robert create a name for himself with his first release Jhana. I knew at the time he was one of the few who “got it” and understood the difference between performing magic and doing tricks. I now leave him to continue on his own path of discovery – of which is often a lonely journey, if you are truly innovative – just know that I will always be there as a friend to lend a hand up whenever we risk stubbing our toes on the rocks. Usually, if a work is relevant it will polarize opinion. Watkins has decided to create this polarization within the work itself. I understand why he has had to do this. The dark half of the book probably should never be performed. He is bringing what is possible to your conscious attention and rightly allows us to decide for ourselves whether or not we ought to perform this material. 67
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We our responsible for how we decide to use this negative side of the book – if we do decide to. I would not be comfortable using any of these darker effects but I know it can still be a worthwhile thought exercise to consider how we can use our abilities in this way, even if it is only to discover what we would never do. -Fraser, 2017
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Introduction
We come from a long history of con artists, frauds, and charlatans who pushed ethical boundaries and discovered amazing principles along the way. A lot of what we know now in Mentalism came from psychics and mediums. Sometimes thinking about the negative can bring about great positives. As Johnny Rotten once said, “Sometimes the most positive thing you can be in a boring society is absolutely negative.” I am not recommending that you become a fraud, or even that you start behaving unethically. I am simply hoping for you to enjoy a point of view that I enjoy. The following routines where designed to be on the ‘Dark Side’ of Mentalism. Not that the methods employed are done in an immoral fashion, but that the presentations themselves are disturbing, or imply a controversial premise. Here you will find the secrets to stealing a person’s bank account information, cause a ‘Near Death Experience’, predict the date of an individual’s death, and contact the dead. Please use caution and care with this information. I do not condone the unethical performance of the following routines. Enjoy…
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Before we get into the material, I want to take a few paragraphs to give you some more advice on creativity and how you can come up with your own unique presentations. One principle I have discovered while creating things in the field of Mentalism was that new premise equals new methods. I say this because we always hear from creators that they put ‘effect first’ and don’t worry about method. I tend to agree with this but b ut I have an addition that I’d like to add to this statement. I have found that by thinking of new presentations, you will more often than not find new principles and methods indirectly. Some very good examples of this are the effects in this book called “The Strangest Secret” and “Thanatos”. You will find that the methods are completely unique. Think about premise and you will find new methods, or a new way to use an old method. Another good piece of advice that has helped me immensely is to get inspiration from art outside of our field. I think of my effects as mini ‘Twilight Zone’ episodes that take place in reality. This is because I am very inspired by the show and it i t helps me think of new stories that I want to impress on my audience. The main inspiration for most of the routines in this book comes from my favorite TV show, “Neon Genesis: Evangelion” which, if you haven’t seen I highly recommend. Always look for inspiration outside of your field. Philosophy is another great source for inspiring creativity. You would be impressed at the depth of thought the ancients had in both the East and West. As shown in my previous book I find the Zen traditions of China and Japan a wonderfully vast area of ideas for mentalism just waiting to really be explored. This is because these ancient philosophers were so focused on the Mind, they had time to come up with really interesting ideas. Go read some Zen Koans to see what I mean. Keep in a positive state of mind while writing your ideas down. As David Lynch said: Negativity is the enemy of creativity. It seems counterintuitive, seeing as how this half of the book is all about the Negative. I should clarify that I am discussing attitude. You must remain in a positive attitude while you generate ideas. Here’s a good way to get yourself into a positive state of mind while trying to generate ideas. id eas. Tell yourself that for the next hour you will temporarily remove any mental hindrance and it can be put off until later. I think of the Buddha’s five hindrances to meditation: Sense Desire, Ill Will, Restlesness, Sloth, and Doubt. By telling yourself that you will ignore ig nore 70
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them until the hour is over, you are giving yourself a break and still allowing them permission to come back once you are done. This sort of psychological exercise makes dealing with negative emotions a lot easier. It is almost like telling a child who wants a piece of candy that they can have it when they remain silent for an hour. It may not completely eradicate all negativity, but it will definitely help! Take in the good, and start writing your ideas down tomorrow. I’ll be excited to hear what you come up with. -Watkins 2017
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Classic vs Avant Garde
It has become apparent over the last few years that there seems to be a small divide amongst the mentalism community. It looks as though there are some on one side of the debate that believe all mentalism ought to be fool proof, 100% sure-fire methods. This is good reasoning for the corporate performer who makes a living on their ‘hits’. No one could possibly blame this mentalist for wanting things to work all the time. On the other side of the debate are the bold performers who don’t mind utilizing methods such as Dual Reality, Preshow, and other ‘Avant Garde’ approaches. Once again, there is no reason to blame this performer for wanting to think outside the box, and it could be said that this mentalist is the driving force behind bringing our art into the future. There may have been a time when a Billet was considered ‘bold’. I’d like to make the case for both sides, as I love all mentalism in all of its approaches. I find myself performing in many different environments: corporate events, bars and comedy clubs, video, and even busk from time to time. In some cases I may prefer a bold approach and in others, a more sure-fire angle. It all depends on the context and situation you are performing in. When I go to a corporate event, I am doing very basic and classic material, and I have a great time doing it. I see it as a time to practice presentation in a safe and easy way. When I perform for a comedy club I will usually do some very bold stuff. I look at these environments as an opportunity for experimentation of new methods (much of the material in this book was tested in this kind of environment). In the end, I recommend following both sides and learning as much as you can. We are the only industry where you buy a product and not know what it is until you buy it. Of course, it must be this way or there would be no industry. So instead of deciding you don’t like something because it is “too sure-fire” or “too bold”, I suggest trying to find an environment you can use it in and see it as an opportunity for growth. I hope and wish for my material to suit both parties and present a mixture of the two. Just my own thoughts. 72
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“Entheon” “I knew that someday I was going to die. And before I died, two things would happen to me. That number one: I would regret my entire life. And number two: I would want to live my life over again” -Hubert Selby Jr. EFFECT: The Mentalist induces a ‘Near Death Experience’ in his participant, and reveals a name from beyond the grave. METHOD: This routine may be too controversial for most performers but I have fallen in love with the concept and have performed this on special occasions and have received amazing feedback from the audiences that have witnessed this effect. This is a very surreal presentation and one that I am sure has never been done before. Even if you don’t like the presentation I am sure you will take something away from this. The inspiration for this routine came from reading stories about NDE’s (Near Death Experiences) reported by individuals who have either died, or have come close to death only to come back to tell amazing stories of going to heaven and seeing brilliant white lights at the end of a tunnel. Some report meeting with dead relatives, Jesus Christ, Aliens, and Angels. It is even more mo re amazing that some of these th ese cases are from people that were pronounced dead for an entire 9 minutes, and in some reported cases even longer! As a Mentalist, how could you not be inspired by such an occurrence? As far as I am concerned- this phenomenon is fair game for the Mystery Entertainer, so long as it is done in an ethical way by creating an illusion that an NDE has occurred, without actually bringing up emotionally disturbing elements for the participant. We already have a well-established method for making events appear differently by changing perception in a performance situation. We call this Dual Reality. If the goal is to create the illusion that a Near Death Experience has taken place while retaining an ethical presentation for the individual experiencing it we must rely on Dual Reality. And if we do rely on Dual Reality for a method, we must also insure that the participant is getting an effect as well. So what follows is an explanation that satisfies all of the 73
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above and creates an entirely original concept that I believe will inspire your own creativity. The Main Idea
To begin, I recommend that you only perform this in special circumstances where the time feels right with the right participant. You wouldn’t perform something like this for an individual that may be offended easily. This is for a more open minded person that believes in your credibility as a Mentalist. The basic idea of the method is this: To everyone watching, it will appear as though the participant is put into a trance and has just reached the borderline between Life and Death and is experiencing an NDE. The Performer then reveals a name of a relative the participant sees ‘on the other side’. To the participant, they are experiencing a kind of ‘guided meditation’ and the effect is the name reveal. That is the key that makes this effect work, and I believe it is a new principle that we can use in other routines to make a participant do exactly what we want them to do. Think about it this way, if you are a real Mentalist and you have an insight into the nature of the human mind, wouldn’t you do a guided mediation with someone? If a person sees you as credible, this would make all kinds of logical sense! The revelation of the name will be done with a Swami device, but I have a handling that I will describe to you later on that will make even those who hate Nail Writers want to try this. So now that you understand the general idea of the method, let me describe the specifics in a step-by-step manner. Presentation
After performing some effects for a group, turn to one of your participants and explain: “I want to try something with you that may seem a little strange at first, but if you trust me and follow my directions to the best of your ability, you will experience something amazing in the end” By using the scripting above, you are setting your participant up to follow your instructions even if they do not make sense in the moment. 74
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You are also suggesting to them that if they do exactly what you tell them to, they will get something out of it in the end. This type of routine is something that can only work once you have really built up your credibility. No one would follow your every instruction unless they believe in what you are doing. If they have already seen you do some amazing things, everything you do will seem to make sense to them even if they don’t fully understand it in the moment. Continue explaining to the participant: “If you don’t mind, give me your hands and listen to me very carefully. I am about to say the word ‘Now’. When I do, you are going to close your eyes and bow your head all the way forward for me. 1…2…3…Now.” This is a Pseudo Induction technique I use a lot. It is basically giving the participant direct instructions, and when they follow them it will appear as though they were put into a trance (and for all intents and purposes they may be!). After telling them exactly what is going to happen, simply take their hands and after counting to ‘3’, you will lightly tug on their hands causing them to bow their head immediately. This light tug enhances the effect in the audience’s mind. Now that they are standing like a person who has just been hypnotized, you will say the following: “Now I am going to whisper a very light suggestion in your ear. If you follow this instruction to the best of your imaginative ability we should be able to make something incredible happen. I am going to guide you through this meditative exercise.” You are then going to lean in and whisper these exact instructions. This is the heart and soul of this method. This specific script will allow us to create a completely original effect. Something I promise your audience has never witnessed before. Here is the script: “In a moment I am going to snap my fingers. When I do, I want you to show your trust in me and begin to fall forward, I will catch you. Once I catch you, I want you to imagine dying and going to the afterlife as you imagine it would be. Nod your head if you understand” This will be taken and understood by your participant as long as you have built your credibility enough, and have chosen a cooperative person to do this with. You will be amazed how well people can play along with this sort of direct instruction! It is bold, but powerful. Now watch where we take this. Lean out and start to speak to the rest of the audience: 75
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“I have just whispered a small suggestion to (Participant’s Name). This instruction should put her into a relaxed state of mind. I have always been fascinated by the idea of life after death and the phenomenon of Near Death experiences. Some people come back with the most amazing stories you will ever here. Let’s see what (Participant’s Name) comes back with” As soon as you say that last line, snap your fingers next to the participant’s ear. They will immediately start to fall forward and you will catch them. This looks so great theatrically. It looks to your audience as though you can cause someone to fall into the cusp between Life and Death with the snap of a finger! This is just a little subtlety that goes a long way in the audience’s mind. It goes to show how, with just a little bit of extra scripting, you can create an extremely enigmatic moment. Now you have caught them. Straighten them back out and begin asking them questions: “You’re doing great, just relax and tell us exactly what you are seeing in your mind right now.” Usually the answer to this question will be something like the typical “Light at the end of a tunnel” situations. Sometimes it will be different but that just depends on the participant’s own imagination and beliefs about their vision of the afterlife. You will have to work around whatever answers they give you. The trick is to ask Leading Questions. This was inspired by the fact that a lot of psychologists psychol ogists in the th e 80’s would ask certain leading questions to influence kids to believe that they were part of a Satanic Cult. The same principle applies to so-called “UFO Abduction Memories” brought up in Hypnotherapy sessions. These are false memories implanted into a person’s mind by asking questions. You can lead someone to imagine seeing Angels, and God if you so choose. Let’s assume that the participant does describe seeing a light at the end of a tunnel. Here is a great example of a leading question that you can ask: “Do you see any one on the other side of that light? If so, who is it?” This question is an attempt to lead the participant to admit to seeing their dead relatives. You can come up with your own leading questions for this routine because there are so many ways for this to go depending on the participant. The truth is, once you have gotten the point across to the rest of the audience (that the participant is experiencing a taste of the afterlife), you should ‘wake up’ the participant. I recommend putting a process into 76
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the ‘wake up’ as if your participant is truly hypnotized. This will involve “counting up from ‘0 - 3’”, giving suggestions that “they are feeling more energy and becoming more aware of their environment” etc… But before we wrap this up, here is how we can create a revelation of a dead relative’s name before waking the participant up from the trance (therefore, giving the participant an effect as well). The Revelation
After asking the leading question to get the participant to claim they see their dead relatives, immediately reach into your pocket and pull out a pad and pencil. I usually hold one of my hands next to the participant’s head and give the impression that I am ‘picking up on thoughts’, the participant is not aware of this. I tell the audience that I am going to be taking notes. Pretend to write something down, hand the pencil to an audience member and ask the participant for the name of one of the relatives. You are going to Swami the name as soon as they verbalize it. Here is the trick, after you have Swami’d the name on the pad, ask the participant some more leading questions (such as ‘what else are you feeling?’) and then casually hand the pad face-down to an audience member. Make no big deal about it. The audience just assumes you were taking notes, as you stated. So they have no idea that the name will have been written on the pad, and the heat is off of the actual writing because you are asking the participant questions! Furthermore, the participant himself can’t see what you are doing because their eyes are closed. This is a very safe way to use a Swami. I have always hated when a Nail Writer was used after asking someone to name a number. The heat is immediately drawn to the pad, the last place you want your audience to look at that moment! I feel this routine has a proper misdirection for a Nail Writer. Now you can wake your participant up and ask them, again to name the relative they saw. You can now have the person holding the pad turn it over and show them that you had written the name down before they ever said it. It is very important that you make a sort of big deal about handing the pencil to the audience member before asking the participant for the relative’s name. This is to insure that the audience knows for a fact that it was written before the participant said anything. The time-delay may also insure that the audience thinks the person 77
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holding onto the pad was holding it at the time the participant said the name as well! Think about that. I hope you find this routine as fascinating as I do. I hope it sparks a drive in you to think outside the box and create new premises for yourself.
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“Thanatos” “God judges above the starry firmament as we have judged” -Excerpt from ‘Ode to Joy’ EFFECT: The participant asks the Performer to tell her the date on which she will die. The Performer writes down a date and explains that a person will get a strange feeling once they see their ‘Death Date’ and they will know it is correct. The participant reads the date the Performer wrote down and visibly reacts. She knows this date is correct… METHOD: This is probably the most controversial effect I have created so far. Use this with caution and care. If this presentation is too extreme for you, read the method for knowledge purposes only, unless you are willing to step into the dark side of mentalism and gamble with morality. The method can be used for other effects, to be sure (for example, predicting the date a person will get married). However, it is rather unfortunate that it plays best with the presentation of revealing the day and month of someone’s death, at least in my opinion. It will take a creative Mentalist to conjure up a presentation that surpasses this one in power and positivity, yet uses this method I am about to explain. I know this seems like a preposterous idea. How in the world could this be an effect if there is no way to know if your date is correct or not? Can’t you just name any day and month and be done with it? That is what most people would assume. Because the trouble with a presentation like this is the fact that it cannot be verified. So after a long while of thinking and meditating on this subject, I have found the solution. This is a way to show a participant a date that you claim will be the day and month that they are going to die, and they will know you are correct. There are three principles that go together in this routine. The first is a Centre Tear. The second is my take on Peter Turner’s ‘Confirmation Principle’. The third is the linking of thoughts and ‘piggy backing’ off of a piece of information that is peeked. This will all come together in the following explanation. Here is a step-by-step instruction on how to achieve this effect. We will talk about how to introduce this effect in a set later on, but for now we will just assume that a participant 79
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believes in your credibility so much that they ask you to tell them the date of their death… Presentation
The participant asks the Mentalist Mentalis t to reveal her ‘Death Date’. The Mentalist explains: “So you want to know when your life will end. That is something I can do. However, I just warn you that what is seen cannot be unseen. By hearing your date of death you will watch yourself more carefully on that promised day… and that, in itself could be your undoing. I must tell you that I can only give you so much information. I can only tell you the day and month of your passing-but not the year. Are you sure you still want to know?” The participant says ‘Yes’. The method is about to begin. Hand a pre-folded billet to your participant. This is a billet that you are prepared to perform a Centre Tear with. The reason it must be a Centre Tear is because I feel it goes best with the presentation I am about to explain to you. Feel free to use whatever billet peek you like. “There is a process to determine a future event like this. I need you to focus on your birthdate for me. Just the day and month. Write it down on the paper I just handed to you. Then I want you to fold it up and let me know when you are finished” Once the participant has written their Birth Date on the billet and folded it, you are going to take it back and perform a Centre Tear. While you are doing the Tear, you are going to use this script. This is excellent because it fits perfectly with the presentation AND it justifies the Centre Tear. “We are now going to destroy the day you were born, as this represents life- and for now, we are concerned with death. What happens in objective reality, will bring on a subjective experience. This is symbolic.” Get your peek and hand the pieces back to your participant. Now you know their Birth Date we can use this information to link it to a supposed Death Date. “Hold on to these pieces and think about your entire life for a moment. Imagine a time line in your Mind’s Eye. I will write down the Day and Month once it comes to me.” 80
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Now you are going to take out a piece of paper and write down a date that is exactly one month and 2 days after their Birth Date you just peeked. “Remember I cannot tell you the year, only the day and month. I am getting a strong impression that you will die exactly 1 month and 2 days after your Birthday. I have written a date on this paper. Most people who view the day and month of their Death will usually get a strange feeling and have an intuition that this date is correct. Take this paper and read it to yourself.” Now you can probably see where this is going. The participant will see that you have in fact written a date d ate down d own that t hat is exactly 1 month and 2 days away from their Birthday. This creates a reaction just based on that fact alone (it is just as astonishing as guessing their Birthday). In reality you have only guessed their Birthday in an indirect way. But the Confirmation Principle will tell the participant’s subconscious that if the date was correct as far as it’s relation to the Birth Date was, then the Date must ALSO be correct as far as the Death Date is concerned. If one amazing thing is true, then it isn’t too much of a stretch to believe the other amazing feat is true. These principles go together so well for this that I felt it had to be shared with the world of Mentalism. Even if you see this routine as unethical, it is still a worthwhile endeavor to teach it as far as I’m concerned. People are naturally going to ask you this question at one point or another if you do things like Question Answering, and now you know what to do… If you are bold.
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“Another Version of the Truth” “Nothing exists except Atoms and Empty Space. Everything else is opinion” -Democritus The previous description of the method was a simple way to perform the main effect. Its purpose was to help you understand the basic idea behind the ‘Death Date’ revelation using a simple Centre Tear. Now that you understand that, I would like to share with you a more subtle and deceptive way to perform this premise. In my last release, “Jhana” I shared an effect of mine called “Divine Moment of Truth”. In that routine, I described my own personal way of getting an additional piece of info i nfo and stashing it in the back of my mind for later use. The technique I use is based on Michael Murray’s wonderful “Thought Unlinking” Unlinking ” principle explained in his book, “A Piece of My Mind”. In this version we are going to do the same thing. Before I go into how, here is what the effect would look like from the point of view of the audience: EFFECT: After performing for a group the Mentalist claims he wants to do one more special test with one of the participants. He explains that he has collected a series of ‘Challenges’ to his abilities and wrote them on small cards. He shows the group that each card does in fact display different challenges such as, “What is my Facebook password?” and “What is my Mother’s Maiden name?”. The Performer asks one of the members of the group to select one of these cards at random by saying the word, “Stop” as he riffles through the pack. The participant looks at her challenge and keeps it to herself. The Mentalist intuits that the question was “What will be the date of my Death?” The Mentalist explains that upon hearing the date of one’s own death, such a person will get a very surreal feeling and know that the date is true. He whispers a date in the participant’s ear and she is seen to react in astonishment.
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METHOD: This routine is very easy to accomplish and it looks so clean and fair. Part of the reason is because all of the work is done well in advance, in earlier routines. When I first approach a group and I feel that I want to perform this effect, I will start by doing a simple demonstration to build rapport and so the audience understands what it is that I do. After my opener is finished, I will eventually hand one of the audience members an impression device (I use the Psypher in my deck of cards but you can use any impression device you are comfortable with) and asking them to write down two thoughts: 1. A name of someone close to them 2. Their date of birth I then explain the following to them: “We are only going to go for one piece of information so what I would like you to do is focus on these two thoughts and choose one of the thoughts you would like to transmit to me, and forget about the other one and completely destroy the piece of paper so that way it is no longer written down, and it only exists in your mind” This script explains to the participant that we are only going to guess one of the pieces of information, and it actually tells them to forget the other piece. This is going to work out in our favor later on. But for right now, we know they are thinking of either a Name or their Date of Birth. How do we know which one? This is almost like a psychological force. The participant will almost always go for the name. This is because the name has more emotional relevance than a date (that is not to say a person’s birthday has no emotional relevance). But even if they do happen to have chosen to focus on the date, I just lead them into thinking of the name by telling them that I am picking up more on the name because it does carry more emotional content. If I take a guess and tell the participant I believe they are thinking of the name and they say “No” I will take a few seconds to pretend I am receiving impressions and say: “Okay so the reason I was assuming you went for this person’s name is because I pick up on emotions more than thoughts and I was getting a stronger impression from your feelings about this person so I am going to try and pick up more information regarding this person” In any case you can usually feel pretty safe that they will think of the name as it’s almost guaranteed. Let’s move on to the next step. 84
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Since I usually use an impression device in my deck of cards, I will get a peek of the name as I take the t he cards out of the box and instruct the participant to take a card that reminds them of this person. I can then go into the revelation of the card and the name and I will leave that to your discretion as we are interested in what we do next. The important thing to recognize about this first routine is that it will be seen as a single effect in your participant’s mind. They will completely detach the Date of Birth aspect and see it as irrelevant. They will see the t he effect as “This guy told me to think of a name of a friend and he guessed it!” and that is what they will remember. So meanwhile on the off-beat and after the revelation of the name, I will get a peek of the Birthday as I put the cards back into the box. This is covered so well because everyone will be freaking out about the Name Guess. Now we are in a beautiful situation that any Mentalist should love to be in. We now know the participant’s Birthday and they don’t know that we know it, and will actively disassociate the Date from the routine we just performed simply because we instructed them to! This routine creates amnesia in your audience’s mind because the truth of the matter is that lay people think of effects as ‘stand-alone’ pieces and would NEVER suspect that you are preparing for something later on down the road WHILE you are performing one effect. The method is so well hidden already, but now we can hide it even more by introducing a logical disconnect in addition to a time-delay principle as well as a small dose of dual reality and Thanatos principle. The next step is to perform at least one other effect for a different participant. This is the time delay we need to further enhance the amnesia we want. The longer the time between the two routines, the more likely they are to disconnect the method. I structure my close up performances in a way that I usually do one effect for each of my participants and then go back to the person I want to do this routine with. So If I have a group of 5, I will start with my opener on the first participant, do the name guess with participant number 2, and do something for the next three people, and finally go back to the second participant before leaving. This also takes any suspicion that may arise if someone sees me going to the same participant twice when there are others to perform for. So with good time misdirection in place, we can now add yet another logical disconnect that will completely pull any idea of a method away from your audience’s mind- the Challenge Cards. Once again these Challenge Cards are designed to create the illusion of choice of an Effect. So even if the audience and participant think that I stashed the Birthday 85
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for later use, they will still not know how I knew they would choose a card that has anything to do with their birthday! For all they know, their friend could have chosen a Challenge Card that asks for a PIN code or Memory. This is just one more little piece that diverges everyone away from the method because they: 1. Do not know that I know their Birthday 2. May not even remember the writing down of the Birthday 3. That I forced a card that has anything to do with Dates at all It’s all the pieces put together to create a moment of impossibility. But now we have another technique to even further separate method from effect: The Thanatos principle itself. On top of everything else have already established the audience will still not know that we have metaphysically linked the participant’s date of birth to their supposed date of death. That is because we deliver the previously explained link via a whisper. Once I have performed something for each participant in the group and I have done all the dirty work it is time to introduce the Challenge Cards and begin the actual routine. Upon introducing these cards I use the following script: “Before I leave I’d like to do one more thing with you. I usually do this as a final test to completely verify this sort of phenomena for skeptical people. I have collected a series of hard challenges to my claims over the years and wrote them on these cards. As you can see there are about 25 of them. I am going to give one of you the opportunity to choose one of these challenges to give me and we will see if I can meet it. There are a few rules to this though. We are going to let fate decide which card you choose. It will be completely random. Another stipulation is that once you have chosen a challenge, you cannot change to a different one. I also want you to know that some of these challenges ask me to reveal information that some may not want me to reveal. For example, your facebook password. So you do have the option to back out. With all of that being said, would you like to participate?” This script makes sure they know that they cannot change to a different Challenge once they have taken one as we are forcing a particular card. It also makes sure that they are willing from the beginning and that they are basically giving you consent to reveal really powerful information (so they won’t be automatically put off once they see the Death Date card) and they know that they can back out whenever they like. I like setting up this demonstration with ‘rules’ because it makes it seem that much more ‘Test Conditions’. 86
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So now all you have to do is use whatever force you feel most comfortable with. I use a Riffle Force myself but that is up to you. After I have forced the particular Challenge Card on the participant, I will use this script to finally deliver the revelation of a Death Date: “So focus now on your Challenge and imagine actually giving me this Challenge as a skeptic. Now remember I have no idea what the question is, never mind how I am going to answer… I am getting a dark impression as this has something to do with a matter that some may not want to talk or think about. So I am going to give you the option to back out of this if you want to. You want to continue? Okay just so everyone here is on the same page, she is asking me to tell her the date of her death. Now I will not be able to give you the year but I can give you the day and month. Let me ask you something first. Have you ever got the sudden ‘chills’ for no reason at all? When that used to happen to me when I was young, my Grandfather used to say “That is someone walking over your grave”. As if somehow I could ‘feel’ the moment a person walks over the patch of land that I will end up buried in. In some cultures they believe that strange feeling is associated with the spirit of ‘Death’ walking through you. I have found that upon hearing the day and month of your death, the same thing happens. You will get a strange feeling and you will know that the date I tell you is correct. I am going to whisper this date to you, as I feel it is personal to you alone” I then lean in and whisper the line: “I believe your death date will be exactly 1 month and 2 days after your date of birth. The date is (name a date that is 1 month and 2 days after their date of birth you peeked earlier)” They will invariably freak out at this point once they have made the connection especially if they have already disconnected and forgot about their writing down their Birthday earlier. I think the justification for them feeling that the date is true is great. Because my Grandfather really used to tell me that when I was a kid. It’s a very creepy premise. This is undoubtedly a powerful and disturbing effect but I absolutely love it! And if it is performed responsibly, it could be the most powerful effect you perform.
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Additional Ideas
Fraser Parker gave me a really great idea for this where instead of telling the participant a death date that takes place after their birth date, you could tell them their death date will take place a few days before their birthday so that every birthday they have is an even bigger celebration of life and a reminder to be grateful for every year! This creates a more positive ending to a negative effect. If you do not like the idea of using this for revealing a date of someone’s death, you can simply force a Challenge Card that asks to reveal their Birthday. All the logical disconnects are still in place and it creates the illusion of an ultra-clean Birthday Divination. In fact, the Challenge Card system could allow you to reveal any and all information previously written down and stolen before-hand in a very clean and direct way. I’ll leave you to come up with your own ideas as far as that is concerned. Here is a fantastic addition from my good friend, Warren Thackeray: This is my two cents worth: I feel that when you have come to the participant for whom you have to divine their death date, you can make this more powerful. (Not that it is not the most hardcore and terrifying thing ever!) Because now you have given them a date and you are essentially showing them a psychomagic way of changing/ erasing that date by empowering them to fight off the reaper. I would stop and walk over to them. Ask if they are left or right handed. "You want to know when you will die." Take the dominant hand and trace your finger down their lifeline. Squint, and then reveal their death date. Either before or after the other reveals you can add these lines. I frowned looked him straight in the eyes. I asked: “what is it that you are doing right now that you should not be doing? No wait, don't tell me, I do not want to know. I sense that there is something that you have been thinking about and know that you have to change. You might be justifying this by saying it's only one or two, or I'm going to change it sometime soon anyway. If you don’t this looks like it will play havoc on your health in the future. As I look at these lines here, I see that you are mentally stronger than this. In fact, if you look at this line right here, I can see that you will give this up or change it permanently if you set this 88
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as a goal to work on. I find that writing it down helps me to focus on and achieve goals much easier than just having them as a thought in my mind. Feel free to use this as a segue into something else, as it is written down (!) as well as change the scripting to suit your needs. I use this beautiful technique in my readings all the time and it is killer. - Warren Thackeray
Death Prediction
My friend Lance and I were discussing this routine when he had this great alternate variation to the Death Date effect: You can write down a date (any date) on a piece of paper, memorize it, and put it into a small black envelope. At the beginning of your close up performance, hand that envelope to the participant you are eventually going to perform “Thanatos” on. Once you have discovered and stolen their date of birth, as described earlier, you are going to mentally calculate how far away their Birthday is from the date you have written in the envelope. You can now tell them that their Death Date will come this many days past their date of birth. For example, if you have January 1st written on the billet in the envelope, and we find out that the participant was born on December 26th, we can tell the participant this: “I can’t tell you the exact year, but I can tell you the month and day… It will be six days after your Birthday. Now I know you may not believe me, but when I meet new people, I get a feeling on their death date as soon as I meet them. I often write it down on a piece of paper if they want to know. There is only one way for me to prove to you that this date is correct… I handed you an envelope before we began. Would you mind looking inside?” Be sure to give them enough time to do the calculation in their own mind to understand how it relates to their own Birthday. One really cool advantage to this is that if they happen to be born on the date you already have written in the envelope, you have an amazing and impossible Birthday prediction. This opens the door for miracles.
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Forcing the Question
There are a number of ways to get into performing this routine, however one of the troubles is that it could be seen as inconsiderate and even rude to offer to reveal someone’s death date. The question becomes a matter of forcing the participant to ask YOU to reveal the date. Here are a few options: The first option is to simply wait with the knowledge of this method constantly at hand. It has one benefit being that you are now not the one creating the proposition (which leads to more credibility when you do actually perform the routine) but it also has the possibility of never happening. Anyone who does a Question Answering act will know that you get some questions along these lines, (and by the way the Thanatos method can be used for confirming any predicted date such as telling someone when they will get married etc…) but what do we do when we never get the opportunity? I have already discussed earlier in the chapter, “Dark Entries” the concept of ‘Challenge Cards’. You can add a card to the stack that says “Tell me my Death Date” and simply force the card. That way you are still not the one to bring up the challenge and it is instead fate that led them to choose that card. This is the most fool proof way to force the question. But you may prefer to be a little more subtle. Here is another interesting way to force the participant to ask me to guess the date of their death. I still use the ‘Challenge Cards’ with the Death Date challenge in the stack, but I write the question on the card in a way that grabs attention. Every other card in the ‘Challenge Card’ stack is handwritten in a neatly printed fashion, however the Death Date card will be written in a more dramatic and haphazard way. This means that when I begin to perform “Dark “ Dark Entries” in a close up environment, I can introduce the Challenge Cards and make a point to slow down the spread of the cards so that the Death Date card pops out more. This usually gets the participant to say, “Does that say tell me my Death Date?!” which means that the thought is in their mind from that point on. And you wouldn’t believe how often the participant will ask you to tell them their death date later on because their curiosity will grow as they see you perform other stunts (especially Dark Entries).
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Imagine you were sitting in a bar with your friends. Picture yourself as someone who has never seen magic or mentalism and you have no knowledge about it whatsoever. Now Imagine a complete stranger walks up to you and says “You are going to die two days before your birthday” and proceeds to tell you a date that IS two days before your birthday. Imagine how that feels. That is exactly what your participant will feel with this routine. I hope you can appreciate the power this has.
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“Moth Man” “The syntactical nature of reality, the real secret of magic, is that the world is made of words. And if you know the words that the world is made of, you can make of it whatever you wish” -Terrence Mckenna EFFECT: A participant is asked to think of two questions she would like an answer to. Two questions about her future. The Performer hands her a piece of paper to write the two questions down, unseen by the Performer. She is then asked to choose only one of the questions for the Performer to try and answer. After ‘Reading’ her, the Performer reveals and answers her question. He then looks at her in a very serious way and says “Your second question will be answered on the third day.” And he walks away. Three days go by and a call comes through to the participant’s phone a strange and cryptic static is heard to reveal and answer the participant’s question. And she never gave the Performer her number. METHOD: This is a very interesting and scary effect that should only be performed every once in a great while. This isn’t something you would do as your regular set. Much has been written in regard to phone effects but a large majority of them prove impractical, or too much work. I believe this one is different. It is very simple in method, though it is not necessarily easy. A certain amount of quick photographic memory is involved but this is something you can practice. This has the potential to really freak people out so choose your participants wisely. This routine rightly finds its home in the Negative portion of this book, as it has a very dark tone. This was inspired by the movie and book “The Mothman Prophecies” which I believe ought to be required viewing for every Mentalist. It has certainly inspired me, and for those who have read the book, they will probably have found out that the title of my credit card effect, “The Flutter of Black Wings” comes straight from the book by John Keel.
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Getting the Questions
The first part of the method is a pretty standard close up ‘Q and A’ and relies on an impression of the 2 questions written down by the participant. Use whatever impression device you like, I recommend carbon paper inside a playing card box. The reason carbon paper is recommended is the fact that you are getting an impression of two questions and you need to get as clear an impression as you can (I have experimented with other impression devices like the Psypher by Robert Smith and it does get the job done). I usually use a script like this: “I want you to imagine that you had the chance to sit down with a psychic and were given a chance to ask just two questions that you would like an answer to. Take your time in deciding on what questions you would ask this psychic, make them specific, personal and meaningful. Once you have come to two questions in your mind, let me know.” After they have settled on two questions, I hand them the impression device. I use an imp device on the back of a Joker at the top of the deck inside the card box. I put a post-it note above where the impression device is and let them write their questions.
The Peek/Force
Once they have written the two questions, you can ask them to fold up the slip of paper and put it in their pocket. I immediately start giving them a reading on their personality. Take as much time reading them as possible, because the more time between the writing and the peek- the more misdirection and less heat on the deck of cards. Also, by giving a reading immediately after they have written on a billet and folded it up implies that I am already picking up on information before any trickery could possibly have been done. Bob Cassidy uses this in his famous “Name and Place” routine, where he starts describing the Place well before he actually peeks what it is. i s. So give this person a reading while implying that you know what kind of questions these will be. The next thing we need to do is force the first question on them. Since we had them write two, we only have time to peek one of them as 94
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there is too much information to get both in one glimpse- and we have no need to get both of them at the current moment. Here is how we force them to think of the question we peek, justify the use of playing cards, and imply that they could have chosen either one of the questions they are thinking of. After giving a short reading, I begin explaining to the participant: “Now I am only going to answer one of these questions on your mind. I will assume that both of these are very meaningful so in order to keep all things equal, we will let fate decide which question we are going to find an answer to. I will let you take a card at random from this deck. If you choose a Red card, we will go for the first question. If you choose a Black card, we will attempt to answer the second question.” This fully justifies you taking the cards out of the box and it allows you the chance to peek the question before they know which question they are going to end up with, because all you have to do now is force a Red card on them using whatever force you like. As an addition, you can now reveal the specific card if you like in a pseudo-Tarot presentation. That’s up to you. In any event, we now know the question we are going to answer. There is so much out there in regards to question answering that I don’t need to go into that here, however there is a lot of my own tips and handlings of questions in the “Dark Entries II: Weaving a Story” section of this book to get you started. Getting the Phone Number
This is the trickiest part of this routine, as you will have to develop a pretty good photographic memory. This is something you can practice and it can be done. The good news is that this routine has been structured so that even if you were not able to get the phone number of your participant to perform the ‘phone call’ reveal, nothing will be lost as they had no idea what you are going to do anyway. In any phone (Iphone and Android) you will find the phone number for that phone at the very top of the ‘Contacts’ list. The best way to get the number is to do an effect that requires their phone anyway earlier in your set. Here is the process I use to get the number and write it down immediately without anyone knowing what’s going on: In performance, and earlier in your set, write down an “add a number” force number on a business card and place it face down on a table. Use any ‘add a number’ method you like to force a number with a calculator. Ask the participant you are eventually going to be doing the Q 95
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and A with if you can use their phone. Once it is unlocked and handed to you, immediately go to the ‘Contacts’ list and peek their number while acting like you are looking for the calculator app. Yes, it is a lot of information to remember but if you practice this enough you will be able to remember it. Here is how you can write it down immediately after seeing it and the participant will have no idea. Have your prediction number on a business card face down on the table. Ask for the participant’s phone and get the peek of the phone number. Once you hand the phone back to your participant you act like you changed your mind on your prediction. Pull out another business card and write the phone number down on it. You are then going to perform a switch by Bob Cassidy. Here are some pictures describing the switch. Ultimately you will not have switched the original prediction at all. This is a very counter-intuitive way to use this technique, but it will appear as though you changed your mind on your prediction, and switched in your new prediction. In reality you are just putting the original prediction back down on the table and putting the other card with their phone number in your pocket. Here are some photos showcasing the move:
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Once this move is executed, perform the ‘Add a Number’ routine and show your prediction was correct. Now you are in a great position where you have the participant’s phone number on a piece of paper in your pocket. You then move on to having them think of their questions and write them down, as described earlier. The way I make all of this logically consistent is by performing Peter Turner’s handling of the ‘Life Equation’ while presenting it in this way: “I’ve written something down on this card here. This is my way of testing myself to see how well I am intuiting your personality. I’d like you to focus on two questions you would like an answer to. Take your time thinking about this and in the mean time I am going to test myself on our connection before we even address your questions. Have you ever heard of Numerology?...” Now the ‘Add a Number’ is seen as a preliminary test of your own ‘psychic’ work. And it does make a lot of sense in this way. If you were able to guess the participant’s ‘Life Number’ before they write it down- it does prove that you must be able to understand their personality (at least according to the logic of Numerology). This justifies the whole process and makes everything congruent. In case you do not know the ‘Life Equation’ force, here it is in its basic form. Add these numbers into your calculator, and it will always equal the current year, doubled (as of 2017, it would equal: 4034). The only time this may not be exact is if the participant has not had their birthday yet, in that case it will be double the previous year. 4 digit year you were born 4 digit year that was important to you Your age The number of years years since the important year
This will equal your current year x2 So once you have answered their first question and you have their phone number in your pocket, you can now say to them: “You will get the answer to your other question on the third day…” Then leave them with that enigmatic note.
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When You Call
It is recommended not to call in the middle of the night as that would be rude. You are actually in a very good situation when you leave the participant. You have a question that they WANT an answer to. And you have all the time in the world to sit and think of a great way to answer it! Once you do think of a creative way to answer the question, get some voice editing software and record yourself giving an answer. Then it’s time to get really creative. Make it sound as disturbing as you desire. I call them with *69 to hide my number. Even if they don’t answer, leave them a message. This effect is all about giving the impression that this is something trying to “come through the other side” to get this message to the participant. And it is struggling to do so. Be responsible and get creative with this. I believe it is very practical once you get the knack to remember the phone number as soon as you see it. I practice on my friends phones, as I don’t remember all their numbers anyway. I casually ask to look at their phone and practice glancing at the phone number, and testing my work. It is imperative that you get the right number. You don’t want to call some other person with this disturbing message.
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“Separation Anxiety” “Whatever is not yours, let go of it. Your letting go of it is for your long term happiness and benefit” -Buddha The following routine is an alternate presentation of my previous effect called “When the Sky Was Opened” explained in my book, “Jhana”. This version has a different feel to it and it creates a different philosophical point. I have created this routine specifically for stage and it is now part of my regular show. It does rely on genuine suggestion but I promise that you will be able to pull it off as I have structured everything to work in your favor and I have designed this routine for people just starting out to get into genuine hypnosis. So even if you have never performed any hypnotic effects, this is a great place to start. I know this because I never did hypnosis before performing these routines. I will show you exactly how you can make it work for you as well. There are ‘back up’ plans throughout this entire routine to fall back on so do not be afraid. Here is “Separation Anxiety” **I do need to stress a point before we get into the method. This is on the Negative side of this book for a reason. You could theoretically use this to legitimately steal a person’s identity using Post-Hypnotic Suggestion. I am putting a disclaimer here because this material can be dangerous in the wrong hands, just as any hypnosis can be used for unethical means. Please be responsible. The presentation of stealing the memory memory of a person’s bank account information is very intriguing and powerful. Use for entertainment purposes only***
EFFECT: An audience member is chosen and brought up to the stage. The Mentalist is seen to put her into a trance. Her eyes close and her head bows forward and the Performer begins to instruct her: “I want you to imagine you are walking down an empty street at night. Up ahead you will see an ATM. I want you to go up to that ATM and imagine punching in a four digit PIN code. After you have punched this code into the machine, I want you to imagine deleting the number. To the point where it no longer exists in your mind, to the point where if I were to ask you what this PIN was you would not be able to answer me. Nod your head when you understand that. Because the only way I will be 101
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able to pick up on this thought is if it vanishes from your mind completely so it can appear in my mind. Nod your head when it has completely vanished from your mind” The Performer writes something down on a clipboard. He puts the clipboard down on a table and brings the participant out of her trance. He asks her what her PIN code was and she is seen to have actually forgotten it! The Performer explains to the audience: “You see, a lot of people ask me if I can guess a person’s bank account information but that is not enough! If I can effectively steal the information from a person’s mind it leaves them in a very bad position as she can no longer go to a bank and confirm her bank info, nor can she stop me from taking her money. However, I am not an unethical person so let me just remind her what this PIN was” The Performer touches the participant on the head and she can now remember her PIN code and reveals it out loud. The Performer turns over the clipboard he wrote on earlier and proves that he did in fact steal the PIN from her mind. METHOD: We are about to go really in depth with this routine because there is quite a bit to cover. It is very difficult to explain every little nuance in writing but I want to make sure I cover everything. This is probably my favorite effect in this book because of the real power it has. It can literally be used to legitimately steal a person’s information and make them completely forget their own PIN code. It is a very disturbing premise in my opinion so I find it perfect for the Negative side of this book. However, if you perform this routine the way I describe it here, you will have an entirely ethical presentation that looks amazing. Even though I describe this routine in a Stage context, it can be used for Close Up situations as well. You can see a video of me demonstrating this routine for some strangers in Central Park by doing a search on Youtube for my channel, “Watkins Mentalism”. You will see a video entitled ‘Separation Anxiety’. I encourage you to watch the performance so you can get a visual aid in the process of my instructions. Here is a link as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLfOApcox-U&t=2s
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I hope you watched the video so you will understand this entire process a lot easier. I will begin by explaining how I get the PIN using a technique I call “Severance” which was explained in “Jhana” and then I will give a complete step by step run down of the entire performance in a stage context. I will give a brief rundown of the basic idea behind the principle, and how I use it in this routine. “Severance” is ultimately a way to unlink a thought from a billet, making it invisible… Severance for PIN Codes
Imagine you were an ordinary layperson who has never seen any form of magic whatsoever. Imagine a strange person walked up to you and claimed to be a ‘Mind Reader’ and handed you a piece of paper that said: “Please write down your PIN code”. How would you react? What would you do? I would imagine that you would object to the request. Or at the very least ask for more clarification. This is something I have run into many times with Additional Information billets that call for a PIN code to be written. This is a problem because the entire purpose, with regard to my ‘Severance’ principle is to create the impression that the participant could write down whatever they wanted. And the rest of the audience is supposed to remain oblivious to the fact that there was any requests on the billet itself. I will tell you how I solved this dilemma later on. In my original “Severance” technique, the principle was simple: If the Performer is the one to ask a participant to think of a specific piece of information, it is automatically implied that the participant was not not already thinking of it. it.
In other words, if a Performer hands a participant a piece of paper and tells them to write something down on a billet, and then proceeds to change his mind and asks the participant to think of their Mother’s name and reveals it- doesn’t that seem miraculous? Because in that scenario, we automatically assume that the request from the Performer to think of that specific piece of information came from the Performer himself off the top of his head, in the moment. And in “Severance”, we take advantage of that. So basically, we create an Additional Information Billet that calls for the participant to write down their Mother’s name (without the audience being aware of that, of course). We can then pretend to change our mind and perform a Center Tear and get a peek of the info. Then we 103
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ASK the participant to think of their Mother’s name in such a way to imply that the idea to think of a Mother’s name has just occurred to us. We justify changing our mind by saying something like “I think you tend to see things in your mind as images as opposed to just letters so let’s do this a different way” while ripping the paper up. I then instruct them to close their eyes and I will guide them through a visualization process. I say “I want you to imagine someone very important to you is standing in front of you. In fact, imagine your Mother standing in front of you. Imagine her saying her name over and over again…” You should be able to see what I mean by now. By asking them to think of their mother after we have already peeked the info, it implies to the rest of the audience that the information we are currently going for was NOT the information written down and discarded. That is a very brief explanation of the “Severance” Technique. If you would like to learn more subtleties involved with it, you can read about it in “Jhana”. Now that we have seen how this works for a Name, how do we make it work for a PIN code? With all of the aforementioned problems with handing a person a piece of paper that asks them to write down a PIN, I had to come up with a solution that keeps the Dual Reality in place. After a lot of thought, I figured the best way to get a participant to write down a 4-Digit PIN on a “Severance” Billet was for it to ask for the last 4 digits of the participant’s phone number. The great thing about asking for the last 4 digits of their phone number is that it will not be questioned and it won’t cause any disturbance to the Dual Reality we are trying to create. Better yet, I will show you how we can still create the illusion that it is their Bank PIN that we are divining. It also allows for a few other really interesting implications as well, which we will be getting into in a moment. To create the “Severance” PIN billet, grab a piece of paper that you would use for a Center Tear of your choosing. I personally prefer index cards and I use Ran Pink’s ‘Think Pink’ Center Tear myself. You’re going to write a note to ask the participant to think of the last 4 digits of their phone number. Here is what the billet ought to look like:
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Now that you have prepared your billet, all you need is a clipboard and a marker and you are completely prepared to perform this routine. It is incredible how much of an effect you can create with a simple piece of paper, some writing utensils, and your words. Upon choosing a participant from the audience and bringing them to the stage, you are going to use this script as you introduce the billet: “What I want you to do is take this piece of paper and unfold it. You will see that it asks you to write down a piece of personal information. It is essential that you remain silent while you do this as I don’t want you to give anything away as to what it is you are thinking of. So take a few steps back and write the information and fold it back up” This script is very sneaky as it creates the illusion for the rest of the audience that the participant could write down ANY piece of personal information on the paper. You should notice that in this version of the routine, we are letting the audience know that there is a message on the billet- but we are misleading them as to what it says. It is important to unfold the paper yourself and actually show the participant what is written on there as you give this instruction. This makes sure that they know exactly what to do by pointing to the message written on the billet. The really cool Dual Reality is the fact that the four digit number they are going to write IS a piece of personal information! This is far better than having them write down a random four digit number. Sometimes if you are worried that the participant will refold the billet the wrong way, you can ask for their initials and write it on the outside of the folded billet to ensure that they fold the Billet so that their 105
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initials remain on the outside. There is nothing worse than trying to do a Center Tear with an incorrectly folded billet. Especially on stage. Of course we also ask the participant to remain silent while they are following our instructions. This is for the obvious reason that we don’t want them to give the game away for us, but the great justification we give the participant is that we don’t want them to give anything away as far as the information is concerned- as if by them talking, they will give a ‘tell’. Here is another cool thing about having the participant write down the last four digits of their phone number: Quick! Think of the last four digits of YOUR phone number right now. I bet it took you a second and you had to think about it. This phenomena further enhances the illusion that the participant could have written down ANYTHING because the participant will have to think for a second. It’s a small detail, but very convincing nonetheless. Once your participant has written the information on the paper, folded it up, and walked back- you are ready to begin with the real work of this routine. Remember that we know they are thinking of the last 4 digits of their phone number, and the rest of the audience thinks that the participant is thinking of ANY piece of personal information. This is where the ‘Severance’ principle actually occurs. We need to unlink the thought from the billet. Here is how… Making the Billet Invisible
The participant has just come back from writing down the last four digits of her phone number. The next step is to hold your hand close to the paper and pretend that we are picking up on impressions. I don’t actually say anything while I do this, but in my head I am imagining that I am legitimately receiving information. This is a complete bluff, but it is necessary to the presentation. After a few seconds of this, I begin to give a reading of the participant. This is a stock line with one purpose: to create a narrative that the participant views things in images as opposed to letters and numbers: “I see you as a creative individual. You think outside the box and have a very great capacity for imagination” After I give that line, I sometimes take a guess at their star sign but that’s not necessary. Once we have given this mini reading it is time to 106
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unlink the thought from the billet by taking the billet from the participant and performing a Center Tear while saying: “You know I have to be honest, I don’t think I am going to be able to get this. The reason being that I see you as a person that sees things in images as opposed to numbers and letters. (*point to the ripped pieces when you say letters to imply that the info written down was a word or name) So I want to try this a different way. We are going to do something different and start again. Here take these pieces and we will do something a little more visual” *(get your peek when you hand the ripped pieces to the participant)
So you should see how this creates the illusion that we are starting over again and that the feat we were trying to attempt was not going to work because the participant is a more ‘visual’ thinker. I don’t mind doing this in my stage show because it implies that I have to do things according to the personalities of my participants. It also creates a supposed ‘limit’ to my capabilities, which is a good thing for your character. It also doesn’t come across as a failure because you never took a guess at the information. You are simply trying something different. So here is the situation we are at now. You have just got a peek of the last four digits of your participant’s phone number, the audience doesn’t know the participant even wrote her phone number, and now you have just said that you are going to try something different. Soon this is going to mean two different things for the participant and the audience: For the audience it will mean that you are starting over with a completely different routine and that the information written down is not the target anymore. For the participant it will mean you are going about the process in a different way while still going for the same piece of information. Once you have got your peek, discarded the ripped pieces of paper, and implied to the audience that you are going to ‘start over’, we are now about to go into the actual hypnotic section of this routine. Pay close attention to this section as there are a lot of subtleties that make this whole thing come together. What’s great about this routine is the fact that it doesn’t matter if your participant experiences the amnesia or not- you will always end on a strong note.
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The Induction
So far we have acquired the last four digits of our participant’s phone number, the audience doesn’t even know the participant wrote down the last four digits of her phone number, and we have just ripped up the piece of paper and told the audience we are going to try something else that is a lot more visual. This new process is going to be a ‘pseudo’ induction. The reason I call it ‘pseudo’ is because it is not necessarily a real induction unless your participant believes it is. I’m not going to discuss what real hypnosis is because it really isn’t important here for what we are doing. The bottom line is that this works. I have no idea if the participant is truly ‘Hypnotized’ when I do this or not. The only thing I am concerned with right now is creating the illusion of an induction. Start by asking your participant to give you her hands. Then say the following: “I want you to really relax and trust me. If you follow my instructions to the best of your ability, I promise you something amazing in the end. If I tell you to imagine something, I want you to imagine it vividly. If I tell you to do something I want you to try your best. It may seem strange at first but I promise there is a reason for everything I do” This is a very suggestive script because it really just tells the participant to do what you say and they will experience something amazing if they do. The reason for this is that we need the participant to trust in what we are doing and not question it. This puts them in a very suggestible state, and creates a reason for them to follow our instructions. I usually choose someone from the audience that I think looks like they are a person who will follow instructions. Obviously don’t go for the heckler with this. After you have done this a few times, you get an eye for who it will work with. Anyway, let’s continue: “Take a deep breath and relax. In a moment I am going to say the word ‘Now’. When I do, your eyes are going to close and your head is going to bow forward…1…2…3…Now!” As soon as you say “Now”, you are going to lightly pull on their arms and you can watch their head fall forward. This really creates a great visual for the audience. Audiences love seeing inductions because they look so amazing. In this case, we are simply telling the participant what to 108
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do and it still looks like she has been ‘put under’ (she may be, but that doesn’t really matter at this point in time). Now the participant is in a situation where their eyes are closed and they look like they are in a trance. We are immediately going to move into a guided visualization process with the participant (remember she is a ‘visual thinker’). The participant is in a very suggestible state right now. We are now going to give further instructions. The Visualization Process Process
As soon as the participant goes into the supposed ‘trance’, I immediately give the following script: “That’s right, you are doing a wonderful job. Just relax and drift while listening to the sound of my voice. I am going to start counting backwards from 3 to 0. As I do I just want you to relax even further. Completely clearing your mind and listening to my instructions. 3… still relaxing...2…you’re doing great…1…and 0. I now want you to vividly imagine you are walking down an empty street at night. Up ahead you see an ATM. I want you to imagine walking up to that ATM and punching in the last 4 digits of your phone number just to protect your privacy. Once you have punched that number into the ATM, I want you to now DELETE the number from the machine and from your mind. To the point where it no longer exists in your mind. To the point where if I were to ask you what this number was, you would NOT be able to answer me. Nod your head when you understand this.” Once the participant nods, you know you are doing well as this means they are implicitly agreeing to clear their mind of this number. Continue: “You must completely delete this number form your mind because the only way I will be able to pick up on this thought is if it completely disappears from your mind, so that it can appear in mine. Nod your head when you understand that. So later, when I ask you what this number is, you will NOT be able to answer me. It will be almost as if it were on the tip of your tongue. You will be able to answer any other question I ask you, but you will NOT answer when I ask you what this number is. Nod when you understand” This script is almost fool proof. It works 99% of the th e time for me. I can’t really explain how or why it works- it just does. You may have your 109
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own theories on hypnosis and I have mine. As I said earlier, I am not going to go into theories on how hypnosis works. I am just going on experience and practicality. And this scripting seems to get the job done when given with confidence and clarity. It is a combination combin ation of o f suggestion and direct commands. It is also a case of the participant not wanting to mess you up. You have literally told them that the only way you can pick up on the thought, is if they clear their mind of the information! Here are a few more points that are very important before we get into the “Wake Up” phase. You should probably notice that we have asked the participant to think of the last four digits of their phone number in the process. This is what ties the “Severance” principle together. Remember the main principle of “Severance” is: If the Performer is the one to ask a participant to think of a specific piece of information, it is automatically implied that the participant was not already thinking of it. When we ask the participant to imagine punching punchin g in the last four digits of their phone number during the visualization process, we are automatically implying to the rest of the audience that the information was not already thought of. We are also implying to the participant that this whole visualization process is how we go about getting the information- which in turn increases the strength of our suggestions. Here’s the really sneaky part: When we ask the participant to think of the digits, we are going to give body language to the rest of the audience that implies that we are just now coming up with the idea to go for the last four digits of the phone number. Remember that the participant’s eyes are closed, so they can’t see what you are doing. I usually make a motion that makes it seem as though the idea to think of the digits in a phone number has just occurred to me. Now if you are not wanting to say that these numbers are the last four digits of the phone number, and instead want to imply that it is a genuine random PIN code, you can be bold and say to the participant: “I want you to imagine punching in the four digits into this ATM” The audience will not catch you on saying s aying “The four digits”. You are so far ahead of them they will not put it together in their mind. But your participant will. One way to enhance the illusion is to once again make a motion with your body language to imply that this was a ‘spur of the moment’ idea to focus on four digits. So now that we have given our suggestions to the participant to forget the number we are going to continue by instructing them further:
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“Nod your head when you have completely deleted this number from your mind” As soon as they nod their head, grab your clipboard and write down the code. Once they nod their head they are agreeing that they have deleted the number. This is where something very interesting happens. This is the thing that is going to save you. This is the thing that is going to give you the courage to perform this routine even if you are terrified of Hypnosis: By writing down the information as soon as they nod and before you wake them up, you have a beautiful “Out”. I will explain more after I describe the wake up process. The Wake Up
At this point we have committed to the information by writing the PIN on a clipboard and we have just given our participant the suggestions to forget the PIN and experience amnesia. I know all of this sounds like it wouldn’t actually work, especially for people who have no prior experience with Hypnosis but this is such a safe situation to try it out because as you will soon see, you are completely covered. It is now the moment of truth. Here is where we get our participant out of the trance and finally see if our suggestions were taken on. Explain to your participant: “I am about to say ‘123 wide awake’. When I do your eyes will open. I will ask you what this number was and you will NOT answer me. You will be able to answer any other question I ask you, but b ut you will not n ot be able to answer when I ask for the number… 123 wide awake!” The participant opens their eyes and lifts their head. “So where are you from? (Participant answers) And what was the 4 digit PIN you put in that ATM?” It is highly recommended that when you ask for them to say the PIN that you ask it in a way that appears as though you, yourself have forgotten it as well. This creates an effect of empathy in a weird way. For some reason it seems to suggest amnesia and strengthen the entire effect’s reliability.
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This is the critical moment. Because if they show that they have forgotten it (a blank stare, or signs of confusion) it is vital that you give them just enough time to show the audience that they have forgotten the PIN, but not enough time for them to ‘snap out of it’. So after a couple of seconds, I quickly say: “Just stay like that for a moment. Now a lot of times I get asked if I can guess a person’s bank account information but that’s not enough! If I can effectively steal that information from a person’s mind, then they can no longer verify their identity and they cannot stop me from taking all of their assets! However I am not an unethical person, so let me just remind you what this PIN code was” By interrupting their confusion and giving patter to the audience, you are in effect making a great presentational point AND you are keeping them silent even longer. This creates a sort of false memory in the minds of your audience (and perhaps your participant) that they were silent for a much longer period than they actually were. In reality, they are simply remaining silent while you were talking and perhaps they could have said their PIN during that patter. Once you have told them you are going to remind them of the PIN code, I usually tap them on the head and tell them that they can say it now. This is usually enough to get them to remember it, but sometimes the participant will still forget it (if they are very suggestible). What you need to do then is really make sure you clear them of any suggestions by telling them that everything is back to normal. Be sure to stay ethical and read about proper handling of people under hypnosis. It is rare that this happens and in the worst case scenario you can legitimately remind them of the PIN by revealing it. Which is what we are getting into now… The Reveal
What makes this routine so great in my opinion is that it creates a solid ‘out’ and gives a point of reference for the reveal. The moment the participant actually says their PIN out loud- you have this great moment to turn over the clipboard and show to everyone that you did in fact steal the thought from their mind! But what if it doesn’t work? What if the amnesia doesn’t happen? Well I can tell you that 9 times out of 10 it does happen for me. But in the rare event that the participant actually says their PIN when you wake 112
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them up, it’s no big deal. Just immediately turn over the clipboard and you have an amazing PIN divination. The induction will be seen as simply a process to get the PIN. And you will also notice something very clever in the actual moment I write the PIN on the clipboard. I write it after I have told them to ‘nod’ when they have completely deleted the PIN from their mind. There is a reason for this. It makes the presentation completely smooth even if the amnesia doesn’t occur because it implies that they did delete the information in that moment. And that is why it was committed to at that point in time. The presentation is not lost. And in all honesty, lay audiences will be so shocked at the revelation of a (supposedly not written down) PIN code that they won’t care if the amnesia doesn’t work. Mainly because they won’t know the difference. There are only three possible outcomes o utcomes with this routine, and you ought to prepare yourself to be happy with all three: 1. Best case scenario: The participant experiences true Amnesia 2. Second best case scenario: The participant simply plays along 3. Third Best case scenario: The participant doesn’t experience Amnesia and you still get a beautiful ‘hit’ on a PIN that was simply thought of. Now for those of you who would like to see what to do in the worst case scenario, I have provided a link to a private video of me performing this routine on stage at a comedy club in New York City. This was in front of a live audience. Notice how they react, and realize how you have nothing to lose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fLgcJJNZ30
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You can use my friend Lance Sinclair’s wonderful ‘Nicaraguan Principle’ to create the illusion that your participant can feel the thought being put back in their head. This routine is a perfect fit for that technique. It was released on Fraser Parker’s website for a short time, and I highly recommend you contact Lance yourself to find out more.
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My Preshow I think it goes without saying that you can drastically enhance the impossibility of this routine with preshow work. Here is my method for doing so. This is my standard way of doing preshow in any event that I may use it. The first rule I have discovered for preshow is that it can always be done. I have been in some situations where I have 5 minutes before I go on stage and I have still got the necessary information I need. There was one occasion where I showed up at a venue 2 hours before my set and I stuck around until I found a person that I could work with. I got the info I needed and asked her if she was going to stick around until 9 pm and she said ‘yes’. Lo and behold, 9:25 comes around and I look at the audience and my preshow participant had left. I got extremely nervous as I was fully prepared to do a specific routine that involved that preshow. So I ran outside the venue and saw a couple smoking outside the door. I asked them if they were coming to the show and they said they were. I preshowed them as fast as I could and ran back inside. The magnificent result was something I didn’t expect. They finally came inside right before I was about to need them. So I had the amazing opportunity to actually point out the fact that they just arrived so I couldn’t have possibly done any preshow work. It’s all about implication. Another great moment was when I was going to perform for another venue. Once again, I showed up 2 hours early to no avail. My preshow left again. This time at least she apologized to me before going. Things happen. h appen. I decided to step outside the venue again. And as I stood next to the front door, a woman approached me and asked “When does the show start?” so my reply was, “It starts right now”. I have always been able to get my preshow done in a nick of time. It isn’t the best way to do it, but it works if you work it. Now I want to share my way of preshow with you as I feel it is perfect for people like me who perform in Bars, Night Clubs, and Variety Shows. This preshow sequence is one where the participant doesn’t feel that they have been preshowed at all. Here is my technique: I usually show up early to the venue I am going to be performing at. I make a point to not communicate with people as much as possible because I don’t want others to see me talking to future audience members 115
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and assume that they are my friends. Don’t worry about this too much because it ultimately doesn’t matter in the end but if you can avoid being seen doing preshow, do it. I look for either a single individual sitting alone, or a couple. I don’t want to go up to a large group of people to do the preshow for obvious reasons. When I have found a person that I feel good about I start by asking them this question: “Hello! Are you going to be performing tonight or are you just here to enjoy the show?” This question is a great introduction to communication with the individual and it also makes sure that this person is NOT going to be a performer. I don’t want the audience to see this person on stage doing their own thing because they will automatically assume that I had told them to play along backstage. Or that I am simply friends with them. Another reason it is important to ask this is the fact that if they are on stage after my performance, they are more likely to reveal that I had preshowed them before-hand. To put it simply: I only want this person on stage with me when I need them, and no longer. Once they have answered this question, I use this script: “Okay that’s great. I don’t want to ask you your name. You see I am going to be performing later on tonight, and what I do is sort of like Mind Reading. And one of the problems I run into when doing this sort of thing on stage is that I need to make sure I get a good ‘sender’ of information. So I was wondering if you don’t mind me testing you out to see if you are a good ‘sender’ and if you are, I might choose you for something else when I go up?” This scripting implies that I am just doing a simple ‘test’ of their abilities to psychically send information. Framing it in this way means that they will not feel like it is preshow in a sneaky sense because they will see this ‘test’ as being separate from what I am going to be performing later on stage. So it is important to actually do something for them right then and there so they can see for themselves that they are a good ‘sender’ after all. And in the process we are going to be stealing a piece of information. This is going to be the same procedure used in “Thanatos: Another Version of the Truth”. I will hand them an impression device and have them write down at least two pieces of information, only focus on one and forget the other, rip up and discard the paper they wrote on, and finally reveal the piece they are thinking of. Now they will not know that I have also stolen the second piece of info, and they will not connect it to the first performance. 116
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Once they have seen that they are able to send information telepathically, they will then give you more credibility and gain confidence in themselves-making them more open to the entire process and more likely to play along with you. Also by saying that you ‘might’ use them later on suggests to them that you do not need to use them and that you could do the performance with anyone else. This further takes away any feelings of there being a ‘set up’. So after I have performed one thing for them and stolen a piece of information, here is the scripting I will use afterward: “Alright so that went really well. As I said, I may use you later on tonight. I also said that I didn’t want to ask for your name because I want later on to be the first time I get your name. This is because people in the audience are more than likely to think that this is a ‘set up’ and that you are an actor, which you know you are not. So when I bring you up I am going to ask you if we know each other and you will obviously answer ‘no’ because that is the truth. So because I don’t want you to simply play along with me, I am not going to ask you anything about yourself because I want this to be as fair as possible does that make sense?” This script is basically a way of telling tellin g the person to act as though you have never met them before. It is great to present it in this way as now it makes the whole situation appear to be in their interest. You are turning it around and instead of saying “play along”, you are pushing the objection on them by saying “you know you are not playing along, but others might think you are”. One of the things I have noticed in my own preshow experience is that as long as you have chosen a kind and friendly individual to work with, you will be okay even if they do have any suspicion or skepticism. It is of course always best (and more common) to fool your preshow as much as the rest of the audience but I am just pointing out that a nice individual will not want to ruin your show anyway. So don’t stress over it. It is also good to find someone that you feel would be mildly uncomfortable on stage. A person in a state of nervousness is highly suggestible and will follow all of your directions with no argument, as they just want to get off stage as soon as possible (which is another reason I don’t choose participants who are also performing). So as far as the “Separation Anxiety” routine is concerned, the piece of information stolen is a 4 digit PIN. If you are planning to perform this routine, you can also add some things to the preshow process to enhance the effect. You can do a suggestibility test such as a ‘hand stick’ to reinforce your participant’s belief in your powers, making the Amnesia more fool proof. I also give them a prep talk on what is 117
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going to happen on stage. I will explain that I need them to follow my directions and imagine things to the best of their ability, otherwise it will not work and make us both look ridiculous (once again pushing the objection). All of these things can really enhance the cleanness of the performance. I enjoy the entire process of preshow work because it feels so exciting. I like the strategy of it and hopefully you will be able to take some of the advice here and put it into your own performances. ‘Challenge’ Preshow
You can use the Challenge Cards discussed in ‘Dark Entries’ to create a really great logical disconnect with your preshow. Let’s say you preshowed an individual and stolen their Birthday. Since they do not know you have this information and they don’t know that you are going to be trying to receive this information on stage you can now have them choose a Challenge Card at random while they are on stage with youforcing the card that asks to guess their Birthday. Think about it from the audience’s point of view: you couldn’t have preshowed them because they have a legitimate choice on what the effect will be. And from the participant’s point of view, they t hey will not associate it with the information written because they too will feel they had a free choice and they could have chosen a different challenge! The Challenge Cards are inherently a logical disconnect. Star Sign Qualifier
If you watched the video of the stage performance of ‘Separation Anxiety’, you will probably notice that I got g ot a ‘hit’ on the participant’s star sign. This is a cool ruse you can use in conjunction with the Severance Technique. Once your participant has written the information and brought the billet back to you, start picking up on ‘impressions’ and giving them a reading (creating a narrative that the individual is a ‘visual thinker’). I then simply follow my own intuition on what Star Sign I believe they are and ask them the following qualifying question: “Are you an Aquarius?” 118
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If they say ‘yes’, you have an ultra-clean Star Sign revelation. If they say ‘no’, you are going to use this script, which fits beautifully in the context of the Severance Technique: “Oh now I understand, you see you are a more visual thinker. So I don’t think I will be able to get this as I see you as thinking in terms of images as opposed to letters and numbers” Now you should be able to see how this becomes a qualifying question on whether we can pick up on the written information. And since the entire premise of the Severance method is the idea that I read thoughts in a different way depending on the way a certain individual thinks, it fits into the context of the presentation AND it actually creates a pseudo-justification for ripping the paper up. Almost as if the fact that the participant was not an Aquarius determines the way I can receive their thoughts. It will not be seen as a miss. This also does something else that is important: it creates a limit on your abilities. If you don’t have any limit on what you can read from a person, that’s how you get skeptical challenges and a lack of credibility. The idea that you change your methods of thought reading depending on the Sign of your participant is an interesting way to limit your abilities as a Mind Reader.
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“To One in Paradise…” “The art of living well and the art of dying well are one.” -Epicurus This is a pseudo-mediumistic stunt. If you aren’t comfortable with revealing information that deals in this area I suggest you read this explanation carefully, as it takes the ethics into account. It is ultimately a psy-force to get any participant to think of a dead relative without having to ask them to. It is also a very subtle dual reality script that makes your revelation look mediumistic whether the thought of person is alive or dead. EFFECT: The Performer speaks to his audience: “Everything I do is based on a mixture of Psychology, Intuition and Empathy. And of those three I believe the most important is Empathy. Being able to feel what another person feels is in my opinion the only true form of psychic connection. So I want to try something that has more to do with emotions than thoughts, and there’s nothing more emotionally inspiring than other people. Our family and friends. So I want everyone here to bring to mind the most inspiring person in your life. And once you have this person in mind, raise your hand so I can know you have done this.” The audience raises their hands and the Performer chooses one of the audience members to join him on stage. “I think it is important to point out that we have not met before and I know nothing about you, correct?” Participant agrees. “I would like you to close your eyes and focus on this individual for me. Bring your mind to the last time you saw this person, along with all the emotions you felt back then.” The Performer takes the participant’s hands and closes his eyes for a number of seconds. “This is interesting. You see when we lose someone we care about it is such a surreal feeling. It is almost as if a piece of us has died as well. And when you really study that phenomenon, you get a real insight into how connected we all are.” 121
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The Performer picks up a clipboard and writes down a letter (for example ‘M’) “What was the first letter of this person’s name?” The participant responds and the audience is stunned. The Performer takes the participant’s hands again and continues: “Go back to this moment again and think about what this person was saying to you… I want you to remain silent and I will tell you what I am picking up on. I am seeing a Male. Dark Hair. He is coming through clearly now… wow…” The Performer writes something on the clipboard and asks for the participant to say this person’s name for the first time. She says the name “Matthew” and the Performer turns the clipboard around to show he was indeed correct and he has managed to pick up on a name from ‘the other side’. METHOD: This explanation is not going to be so much about method as it is about presentation. There is no doubt in my mind that the revelation of a dead person’s name is automatically more powerful than anything else we can possibly perform. This is also a very controversial topic, and it can upset certain individuals. So it goes without saying that if you wish to include an effect of guessing the names of your participant’s lost loved ones, you will most certainly run into the problem of asking them to do it. This can lead to an awkward situation because it can be considered very rude and inconsiderate to ask someone, “Hey think of the name of someone who has passed away”. But still… something draws us bold mentalists to this kind of material, for better or worse. So what I offer here is a way to apparently reveal the names of lost loved ones without having h aving to ask your participant’s to think thi nk of them while creating a dramatic and dark presentation. I will also show you how to go about revealing this information in an ethical way while taking your participant’s feelings into account. Here are my thoughts: Who are they thinking thinking of?
The very first thing you should know is that in this technique I am about to share with you, I genuinely have no idea if the person they are thinking of is alive or dead. This is only a method to make the 122
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appearance that this is a lost loved one. They may be thinking of a dead person and they may not, either way we are going to reveal this information in a way that implies that they are thinking of a person who has passed away. I have discovered however, a way to psychologically influence a participant to think of a person who has died, but it is by no means fool proof. It does work very often, and you will not have to ask them to think of a dead person’s name, so the responsibility is on them and leaves you ethically neutral. Here is the scripting I use: “I want you to think of the name of the most emotionally inspiring person in your life. Perhaps someone you haven’t seen in a very long time but they are always in your mind. And you carry their memory with you” As you can see, this could be anyone for all we know. But for some reason it does tend to get your participant to focus on a dead relative more often than not. The interesting thing here is that even if they are not thinking of the name of a dead person, they are thinking of a person who they miss very much. A person who they feel is the most emotionally inspiring person they know. So the reaction will be very strong either way. This is going to be important because we need a very strong reaction in order for this ploy I am about to describe, to work. I will usually only use this type of performance for a stage show because I use the preshow method I described in “Separation Anxiety” to get the name itself. For a revelation this strong, I feel it deserves an ultraclean look. The Technique
Here is the real secret to this entire thing. This script alone does all the work for you. It implies to the audience that you are revealing the name of your participant’s lost loved one, and it does not conflict with your participant’s experience. It is only a Dual Reality script if the participant is NOT thinking of a dead person. If they are thinking of a dead person, the presentation will fit either way to your participant’s experience. For the sake of your understanding what I mean, try reading this script while imagining you are thinking of someone in your life who has passed away. And then read it again while imagining that you are thinking of someone you care about that is still alive:
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(This first portion is said to the participant with her eyes closed on stage) “Okay I want you to go back to the memory of the last time you saw this person and relive that memory right now… I am seeing a male presence…” (The performer begins talking to the audience) “You see, one thing I have really come to understand is that when we lose someone we care about it is such a surreal experience. It is is almost as if a piece of us has died as well. And when you really study that phenomenon, you get an insight into just how connected we all are” (Performer writes down a letter and it is shown to be the first letter of the thought of name. He now turns back to the participant with her eyes closed) “I have to tell you, I am seeing a man standing next to you right now, and he is saying something to me over and over again and I’m trying to make it out…I know you haven’t seen this person in a long time…wow…” (Performer writes down a name and it is shown to be correct) Breakdown Okay so let’s analyze this. If you read this twice the way I recommended, you will probably see how this script could be interpreted in two different ways. This is very subtle so I am going to take each line and describe it one at a time. Let’s look at the very first line. This is said to the participant while their eyes are closed and they are thinking of the name of the most inspirational person in their life (living or dead, we do not know). I have preshowed this information earlier. “Okay I want you to go back to the memory of the last time you saw this person and relive that memory right now… I am seeing a male presence…” This is a very devious and subtle bit of scripting and it was directly inspired by watching mediums. They talk in a very different way and use terms that mentalists don’t really use, but could. By using the word ‘presence’, we are talking like a medium. This type of language will be recognized by the audience as the language of a psychic and interpreted in that way. It will also be interpreted that way by your participant IF they are thinking of a dead person’s name. If they are not- they will interpret it as a sort-of ‘mental presence’. The reason they don’t interpret it in the same way as your audience is because they know this person is alive, but 124
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your words can be seen as describing your mental process of picking up on ‘psychic presence’. Let’s move on to the next line. This is the real ambiguity and the heart and soul of this method. It is vital that you understand that you are going to give this line to the audience and not the participant: “You see, one thing I have really come to understand is that when we lose someone we care about it is such a surreal experience. It is almost as if a piece of us has died as well. And when you really study that phenomenon, you get an insight into just how connected we all are” This will interpreted by the audience as you telling them that the participant is thinking of a dead relative. It will be seen this way by your participant too if they are thinking of a dead relative. On the other hand, it can also be interpreted in the correct way- as you making a point about how connected human beings are. Think about it like this, you could read that line as the Performer making a point about how connected we are by bringing up an example of losing someone you care about. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the participant is thinking of a dead relative. If you take the words literally, they never make that claim. You also make it clear that you are talking to the audience during this line, so it will be taken by your participant as you making a ‘side note’ while you are talking about psychic connections. I also instruct my participant to remain silent during this whole process anyway, so they aren’t going to argue with you (even though there is nothing to argue with). But here is where we divert the attention from this last script and take the ‘heat’ off of it from your participant’s point of view. After I give that line, I immediately grab my clipboard and write the first letter, and get the participant to confirm it. Your participant will freak out about your getting the first letter right, and thus confirm for the audience that she is, in fact thinking of a dead person’s name. So to break it down as simply as I can, this script can be seen as you talking about the participant thinking of a dead relative OR it could be seen as you making a general point about the connections we have with others. In fact, the previous line could even be seen as the Performer talking about his own experience if read in a certain way. The line is so ambiguous in its interpretations, yet it sounds so concrete. After you have got your ‘hit’ on the first letter, take your participant’s hands again, close your eyes and continue:
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“I have to tell you, I am seeing a man standing next to you right now, and he is saying something to me over and over again and I’m trying to make it out…I know you haven’t seen this person in a long time…wow…” Once again, by speaking like a medium you are giving a strong implication to the audience. Talking about seeing this person standing next to the participant is creating the impression that you are seeing their spirit, but it can also be seen as you getting a ‘mental vision’ of this person if they are still alive. Conclusion
I hope you can see the value this little idea has, as well as the power it can have on any name reveal. Be it close up billet peeks, or stage with preshow- you can now appear to reveal the names of the dead without the awkward situation of asking someone to think of such a thing, and it also adds more of an impression that you were able to ‘pick up’ on the fact that this person has passed away, which is a ‘hit’ in itself. I cannot tell you how many times I have used this scripting and the participant was indeed thinking of a dead relative or friend (thanks to the psychological ‘push’ we discussed earlier). The responsibility is on them for who they choose to think of so you are ethically neutral (kind of). I think this sort of thing has tremendous value. In fact, just to prove a point to myself and to the reader of this book I did something rather counter-intuitive. I performed this exact routine for a comedy club during a show where the comedians were part of a panel on stage with me. This is a very absurd situation to be in and rather difficult to create the right atmosphere- but that was the point. I wanted to show you that even in an environment that is based on comedy, you can still see the power this script has. I have included a link to the performance of this routine here so you can see how this plays out in the worst situation possible. Keep in mind that this was a comedy club filled with hecklers and skeptics. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX5RDgfYXJs&t=101s In case you are wondering about the whisper, I am using Peter Turner’s BOB principle. While doing my preshow I asked the woman to not only think of the most inspiring person in her life, I also asked her to 126
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think of an item of clothing she visualizes this person wearing when she thinks of said person. This makes the ‘seeing the spirit’ premise very powerful and strongly implies that I am actually seeing this person standing next to her. You do not need to use a whisper for this, you can actually say this out loud while talking about seeing the thought of person on stage with you. Use this technique at your own discretion and be careful and mindful of how this affects your participants. And yes, I used the ‘Dunninger Ploy’ to get her Star Sign. You can see the modesty subtlety in action while the audience gasps in astonishment.
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The End of +/In closing I want to thank you for taking the time to read this book and I sincerely hope that you have gotten something out of this. In my humble opinion I believe there is enough variety in material included here that I would bet there has been at least one idea, piece of advice, or premise that has been taken on board by the reader. If even one thing is useful to you here, I will consider this work a success. Some may think that by creating and releasing some of the routines in this book is irresponsible. I don’t want that to be the case, as I see the responsibility is on the reader to decide if he or she wants to perform some of the darker effects presented here. In the end, this is more of a mental exercise in creativity than anything else and in order to think outside the box you must first discover what the box is. If we are told what is or isn’t moral in our art, we should at the very least question it and experiment outside the conventions. I went out and performed the ‘Death Date’ premise over and over again while writing this book. What I learned is that it really does matter what you say in performance. There was one female participant that I tried this particular effect with that seemed like a die-hard skeptic throughout my time with her and her friends. However, upon revealing her ‘Death Date’, she had become a believer. I eventually had to talk her down and explain that I was NOT a psychic and had no supernatural abilities (I never claim those abilities in the first place). This was a very interesting phenomenon for me because she seemed so cynical at first. This goes to show that some people may put up a front when participating in a Mentalism effect and want to appear to be the ‘skeptic’ of the group, while simultaneously holding some form of belief in the supernatural in the back of their minds. And in some cases, the true skeptic may become a believer based purely on the fairness and clean presentation of a given effect. If the performance is convincing enough, you may convert people. In any case, I feel the need to repeat again that this type of material needs to be done responsibly. If you ever feel that you have affected a person in a negative way, I recommend you explain the truth to them. I gave myself a rule that if I got into a situation that I felt I had manipulated a person’s emotions in a harmful way, I would explain that I had no supernatural ability. And if that didn’t work to calm their fears, and I am left dealing with an extremely distraught individual, as a last 128
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resort I would legitimately explain the methods to them (this hasn’t ever happened in my case). And if that doesn’t do the trick, you have nothing else you can do. Everyone is responsible for their own beliefs. Most of the methods used in the Negative portion of this book can be used in a million different ways with more Positive premises. That is up to you to discover how you choose to use these for yourself. Once again I thank you for taking the time to read and explore my thinking and one day I hope to hear where you may have taken it. -Watkins, 2017 New York, New York
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Special Thanks A huge ‘Thank You’ to the following people people for your inspiration, inspiration, criticisms, advice, support, and overall friendship:
Courtney Williams Richard Torres Lance Sinclair Warren Thackeray Fraser Parker Peter Turner Jacob Smith Jerome Flanagan Reza Mikhaeil Tatanka Tan Jay Losa Edited by: Lance Sinclair Cover Photo Credit: Julieta Triangular
© Psychonaut
Publishing 2017
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© Psychonaut
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