State of Mind
No part of this publication publication may be duplicated or transmitted transmitted in any form without written permission from the author. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2015
State of Mind
No part of this publication publication may be duplicated or transmitted transmitted in any form without written permission from the author. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2015
Dedication:
To my mom and dad: two of the most kind-hearted people that I know, and without whom, I wouldn’t have these ten, perfectly formed fingers with which to type this book. Love you!
Contents Introduction…………………………………………...……….…………..……….5 Chapter One: Who’s the Psychic? ………………………..……….…………… ………………………..……….…………….....7 .....7 Chapter Two: Mental Bending………………………………..…..….…………...10 Chapter Three: The Line Test …………………………..………....……………...23 Chapter Four: Heritage……………………………….…….……...…..………….31 Chapter Five: Instrumental………………………………..……….….…………..43 Chapter Six: Mind Matrix………………………………………...……....……….48 Chapter Seven: Solar System ……………..……………...……...… ……………..……………...……...…….…………55 ….…………55 Chapter Eight: A Subtle Afterthought………………..……………... Afterthought………………..…………….....…..………61 ..…..………61 Chapter Nine: The Hidden Temple……………………………………………….67 Chapter Ten: Ideomaster……………………………….…………………………73 Final Thoughts……………………………………………………..……………...81
Introduction: Before anything else, I would first like to personally thank you for your purchase of this manuscript. It is beyond words to explain how incredible it feels, knowing that someone enjoys your material enough to not only invest their money, but their time and energy to learn from you. It is a great honor, so once more, I deeply thank you, and am ever grateful. I have chosen to include some of my favorite psychological pieces in this book, working purely through different types of real mental manipulation. These techniques will allow you to guess a specific object a person may pick out of a bunch of items, to predict drawings, to guess a name a person is thinking of (along with their relationship to that person) as well as revealing personal things; like what instrument or sport a person may play. I have also chosen to include my pet effect, “ Mental Bending”. It is a metal bending effect that happens in a person’s mind, and includes a twist prediction that no one is expecting. This is the only effect in the book that requires a gimmick, but as it has a few psychological subtleties, I figured it would be a good fit. This is stuff that I’ve never tipped anywhere. Some of the concepts are as close as I have gotten to producing demonstrations of real mind reading, and can conjure up that feeling of realness when performing them. “ Heritage”, “ Instrumental”, and “Mind Matrix” in particular allow you to really be in your participant’s head for a few moments, knowing exactly what they’re seeing and what they’re thinking. “Mind Matrix” takes the concept into genuine mind reading territory, without the spectator ever needing to say or write-down what they are thinking of.
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Needless to say, I am incredibly proud of the mentalism that resides within these pages. They are undoubtedly some of the strongest psychological demonstrations that I perform. Almost every effect demonstrates a simple, straight-forward premise, alongside a practical, real-world method. I know that this was a rather large investment, so I can only be thankful that you found the courage to push the buy button. I can imagine how hard it may have been, with that lingering, foreboding feeling that comes from the post-traumatic stress of having overpaid on much of the magic paraphernalia that clutters your home. With that said, I’m positive that you won’t feel negatively about this purchase. You will fall madly, and inappropriately, in love with these ideas. Your eyes are getting very sleepy. Okay, I will stop projecting my thoughts and shall allow you to make up your own mind about these pieces. I can only hope that you cherish them enough to keep them secret, as that is where their true value lies.
Matt Mello
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CHAPTER ONE : WHO’S THE PSYCHIC?
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Who’s the Psychic? This is the only short essay that I’ve decided to include in this book as its own chapter. It is more of a presentation angle than anything else, which gets your audience to perceive what you do through new eyes. That is what art is: affecting someone’s perception of something, getting them to look at it in a unique way with a new purpose and understanding. This perception shift is applied to a logic problem in this example. The question that I ask my participant is simple, “If I guess something that you’re thinking of, am I the psychic, or are you the psychic?”
They will almost immediately say that you are the psychic in that scenario. Then I add, “But did I really guess what you were thinking, or did you somehow think of what I was going to say before I said it?”
You will see their perception change the moment you introduce this idea. You then continue, “It is impossible to say for sure who is responsible for the event, but we know that it couldn’t have occurred without both of us acting exactly as we did.”
For any Game of Thrones fans, it’s like the question, “Does winter bring the white walkers, or do the white walkers bring winter?” Of course, there is no way to know, but you know that they always coincide with one another. Yes, I am a nerd. Including this bit of scripting before a variety of mind-reading pieces will all but guarantee that your participant demonstrates a more vested interest in the procedure. It lends itself particularly well to effects that appear to work through telepathy; something like a drawing duplication effect or even a nail writer 8
prediction will only be enhanced by this addition. They can now observe and experience the happenings in a special way, with a newfound understanding of the situation, and the vital importance their role plays in it.
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CHAPTER TWO : MENTAL BENDING
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Effect: A spectator closes their eyes and the performer gives them a quarter to hold. He then mentally manipulates how it feels in their hand in a very peculiar way.
Introduction: “Mental Bending” is an effect of which I’m particularly proud, making it particularly difficult to share. I know everyone says this, but I’ve really gone back and forth many times about releasing this. This will be worth the price of admission all on its own for many of you—I would certainly feel that way had I learned it elsewhere. It has a similar structure to the cork version of my effect “ The Imaginary Object”, but uses the most common of items, things you would naturally have on your person while on the street or in a walk-around situation. It is a bold method that produces one of the most unique, realistic psychokinetic metal effects that you can perform.
Presentation and Method: I ask the participant—we shall call him Mark—to close his eyes. When they are shut, I reach into my pocket and remove a quarter, showing it cleanly to everyone. “Mark, in this demonstration, I will attempt to unlock your mind and put a thought into it. I’m going to put a common object into your hand, and I want you to make a tight fist around it.”
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The coin is given to the spectator to hold in silence. “Concentrate on the way that it feels to you…focus on the metal.”
I make a motion with my hand above his fist, suggesting to the audience that something strange is happening. “I don’t want you to say anything aloud, but I want you to make a mental image of what you’re feeling in your hand. I am going to try and warp and bend that mental image a bit. Yes or no, can you feel the metal elongating in your hand?”
Mark will say, “Yes.” As I’m stating the above, I am making a quick drawing on a piece of paper, folding it up and handing it to someone in the crowd. I now take the quarter out of Mark’s hand and put it back into my pocket along with the marker. I have him open his eyes and re-acclimate to his surroundings. “Welcome back. You did wonderfully. Are you confident that you know what you were holding?” He will say that he’s certain. “What did you feel?”
Mark will confidently say, “I felt a key.” Most of the crowd will be confused at this revelation, but when the piece of paper is opened, things get even stranger, as they see an unmistakable drawing of a key. I really, truly love this effect. The premise is easy to follow and it showcases a great twist that no one expects—something rare in mentalism routines. As I said, the workings are similar to “The Imaginary Object”, but this has some distinct advantages. Don’t get me wrong, if I have the I.O. gimmick on my person, you can
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rest assured that it will be placed into someone’s fist. But I always have this version in my wallet, ready to go at a moment’s notice. The gimmick is pictured below in figure 1.
(Figure 1)
Many of you will recognize this as an almost exact replica of the gimmick from Jay Sankey’s “ Killer Key”, although a cruder version. Rather than using it to perform a magical effect, you are using it to produce an immensely powerful mental demonstration. I used the original “ Killer Key” gimmick to achieve this effect for a time, but ended up losing it. It seems to be discontinued now, so you will have to make due with a homemade gimmick.
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You are simply super gluing a small key to the back of a coin, figure 2. Metal-tometal bonding super glue is what you will need, and you will want to be generous.
(Figure 2)
Normal house keys have too large of a head, so if you were to try and use one, you would have to be very careful on your angles. The key that I use is small, belonging to a padlock; the working end of the key is still completely functional. It is small enough that I can grip the gimmick and don’t have to worry about people catching a glimpse of any part of the key peeking out. With your gimmick dried and set, you can now cleanly grip it as in figure 3, hiding the key with your first finger. Or, if you are completely surrounded, grip it as in figure 4, with your thumb on top. Everyone will take this at face value, accepting that you are simply showing them a normal quarter. 14
(Figure 3)
(Figure 4)
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Putting it into the spectators hand is where the real boldness takes place. With their hand outstretched, I push the quarter into their palm, keeping my thumb or first finger covering the working end of the key. I use my left hand to assist them in closing their fingers around the object, figure 5. Placing the key into the palm is important, because if you put it on their fingers, they will flip the key as they make a fist.
(Figure 5) Only when the coin/key is out of view of the audience do I remove my hands. It reads like a complicated moment, but it is over in a second. You are treating it how you would treat placing a bent coin into someone’s hand, hiding that it’s bent, and gently forcing their fingers shut around it. It’s a nonmoment to your audience. 16
You now talk to your spectator about what they are feeling, but the most important line is, “Can you feel the metal elongating in your hand?” To your audience, they will take this line as you making the coin change shape and elongate in their hand. To the spectator, they will be thinking to themselves, “Yes, the metal elongates, because it’s a key.” Another significant line is in the beginning, when you say, “I’m going to unlock your mind and put a thought into it.”
You can bring this up after the fact, claiming that you were suggesting a key with the word “unlock” . So once the key is tucked away, guarded by their skinny fingers as you deliver your spiel, you can now draw an outline of a key on a piece of paper, giving it to an audience member for safe keeping without letting them see what you’ve drawn. Removal of the gimmick is just as simple a procedure as putting it in. They still have their eyes closed and you just make sure your hands are right on top of theirs before they open their fist. You can easily block the gimmick from view and pick it up, as in figure 6, and give it a quick flash to the crowd, figure 7, before pocketing it and ‘waking’ your participant from their altered state and going into the revelation.
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(Figure 6)
(Figure 7) 18
As in “The Imaginary Object”, you can either choose to reveal with the drawing, or you could present this as a synchronized, psychokinetic effect—which I prefer. After placing the gimmick into their hand, you would go into your pocket and silently remove and display a key. Give this to another spectator to hold, or hold it yourself, and you suddenly have an effect where a person holding a quarter then impossibly feels and describes something that someone else is holding. In this case, you would almost have a mental “ Killer Key” occurring, with the object somehow switching places mentally. The big advantage here is that your participant instantly knows that they are holding a key, unlike in “The Imaginary Object ” , where they might not be able to correctly guess what they’re holding, but only describe it’s texture, shape, size, weight, etc. The fact that they are certain of it being a key makes for a great argument between your audience and your participant about what just occurred, forcing themselves further down the rabbit hole. I would say that this is one of the most unique psychokinetic metal demonstrations that you can perform for a person. It has much more realism than bending a quarter or a piece of cutlery. You are literally bending and manipulating the way a piece of metal feels in their mind . This plot has never been explored like this before. I beg and plead for you to keep it a secret.
Additional Thoughts and Ideas: --You could take a chance at having a spectator sense if the key they felt was silver or gold, saying, “Interesting, and if you had to guess if it was a silver key or a golden key, which do you think?” 19
I raise my tone slightly when I say silver, and I find more often than not it is chosen. So under my key drawing, I would have written out SILVER. You could get into multiple outs, but I really wouldn’t bother when it is a fifty-fifty chance. --You may choose to have the key pre-drawn and folded in your pocket rather than to draw it on the spot. This presents us with a few different handling options. You would take the gimmick out of their hand, give a quick flash, and then naturally go into your pocket with the gimmick to retrieve a prediction. Give this to someone to hold, and have the participant say what they think they were holding. I would also suggest putting a normal quarter inside the folded prediction. This way you can ditch the gimmick, grab the prediction, and when you take it out of your pocket, it’s an easy move to flip the paper so the quarter slips out into your fingers. You are now left clean, the participant can say what they felt, your other helper can open the prediction, and everyone can immediately examine the quarter if they wish to. --You could also go into your pocket after you take the gimmick out, and just do a simple switch for a regular quarter. Under the guise of forgetfulness, you would take it back out to give to someone else to hold. Your inner script would be, “Okay, we don't need that anymore…actually they better hold onto it”. It becomes a non-moment. Now, their friend holds an innocent coin, and no one knows what’s happening yet. You go to the pocket to get pen and paper, draw the key, then ask the participant to name out loud what they felt in their hand. They will say key, their friend will say coin, and you can let them argue. This creates more punctuation which might make the false memory even better, with no possibility for switching.
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--If they demand you turn out your pockets, you can tell them to go screw. Or you can palm the gimmick as you pull out your pockets, showing them empty and quickly pushing them back in. --You could appear to have the objects borrowed, but I feel it is unnecessary when using such ordinary items. It makes for a lot more work on the spectator’s behalf to empty their pockets of any change, and to have someone remove a key from their key ring before we begin. I may even have someone remove a finger ring to add to the group of items. Not only does this process create lag in your performance, it makes extraneous work for your spectators, and even more for yourself. The more moves that we include, the further it feels from the real thing all around. But if you are so inclined, once the items are on the table, have a spectator close their eyes. You tell them you’re going to put one of the items in their hand, reaching over to the pile of change with the gimmick palmed in your right hand. You would then pretend to pick up a coin, letting the coin end of the gimmick protrude from behind your fingers. This is placed into the spectator’s hand as per usual, and then you pick up the key and give it to someone else to hold silently. You have them both focus on their objects, and then you take the gimmick out of the spectator’s hand and pretend to add it to the pile and steal it back, or false transfer to a real quarter you have palmed in your left hand that you add to the pile—that is, you lose a quarter every performance—before going into the revelation. Hopefully I have impressed upon you the amount of extra work—and money—that this would involve to seemingly make things fairer, when it is pointless.
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No one is chasing you. No one knows what the effect is going to be when you first pull out that quarter. When they see you openly place it into someone’s hand, this makes the coin seem even less suspicious and un-gimmicked and unimportant, otherwise why would you allow them to handle it? There isn’t a single person in that room who won’t think that you simply placed a quarter into their hand. And even when you take it out, nothing has been revealed quite yet to be out of place; they just know he felt it elongate. Everyone has seen you fairly put a quarter into their hand and take it back out, nothing more. If you treat it like that is all that’s happening, the audience will take it at that. The audience is waiting to see what is going to happen with the quarter, maybe expecting it to bend or something, and then you show it again as plain. This makes the revelation of the key that much stronger, unexpected and powerful.
Credits: This effect likely wouldn’t have seen the light of day without Jay Sankey’s amazing “ Killer Key”. Although the gimmick isn’t exactly the same, it is absolutely inspired by that effect. I have simply taken the gimmick and utilized it in a new way. The closest demonstration that I’ve seen to “ Mental Bending ” was in a Derren Brown special, where he hypnotized people to hallucinate a spoon bending in front of themselves. It’s along the same plot line, but a very different effect.
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CHAPTER THREE : THE LINE TEST
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Effect: A spectator is handed a card with a single line on it, and is given a marker to complete the drawing however they want. When they finish, the image is shown to be predicted.
Introduction: I love psychological tests. Whether it be a psychological force, word association or inkblot test, I find them all to be fascinating. The Line Test is a genuine test that I developed out of my love for the science. I can remember when I first had the concept of it years ago and started trying it out with people. It was such a quick and easy thing, and having worked it in a restaurant setting, I soon had tested it on hundreds of patrons. The results spoke for themselves. That was when I realized I had a dependable force that I could do pretty much anywhere, at any time.
Presentation and Method: “Many of you will be aware of classic psychological tests like word associations or inkblot tests, but we’re going to perform a lesser known experiment, called the line test. It demonstrates how most of us think when under pressure. Who would like to take part?”
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A willing volunteer raises their hand and you give them a folded piece of paper to put in their pocket. “On that folded paper is a simple drawing that I’ve made, and you are going to try and intuit what it is. Because you don’t do this sort of thing every day, I will give you one clue.” I take out a second card and draw a single, straight line on
it. “I don’t want you to think about it, the very first thing that pops into your head when you see the line, that’s what you draw. Go.”
I put the paper down in front of him, and he almost immediately starts drawing a house. “That’s perfect. You see that you could have made it into a flag, or you could have turned the card and made it into a little boat, or any number of things, but the very first thing that came to mind when you saw that line was a square. And instead of making that into a television, wrapped gift or something else, you made it into a house. The study found that there was a reason for this. When feeling pressured and stressed by our environment, the thing we want more than anything is to be in a state of comfort, which we associate with our homes, family and friends. Nearly ninety percent of the population, when presented with this line, will draw a house. And so you know that I’m not making that up, please unfold the prediction.”
This is the most basic version of this effect, but I will also teach a version where you can include multiple lines and multiple drawings. Starting with the very basics, we know that if a person is pressured to quickly think of something simple to draw, it will likely be one of the following: a house, stick figure, flower/tree, car, or boat.
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With the simple inclusion of a single straight line, you can narrow things down substantially. The specific positioning and orientation of this line is highly suggestive of what the drawing is. When you see a vertical line near the left edge of the card—low enough to allow room for a roof—it doesn’t leave a large amount of room for much else. Certainly, they could draw a flag or a ladder or a television or giftwrapped box, but when rushed under pressure to go quickly and not think, you will find that they practically always draw a house for Line One, figure 1.
(Figure 1) The moment a person sees that line, an image of a square is conjured up in their mind; and when forced to make quick decisions, that square becomes a house. Knowing this is the thought process of the spectator, we can pump up the presentation by simply saying, “Just to go through your thinking, I know the moment you saw that line, a square popped into your head, yes?” We know
this because they draw the square first. “And then you could have made that into 26
a television set or laptop, or any other square thing, but a house almost instantly flashed into your mind, correct?” They will confirm. “You really did brilliantly.” Reveal the card to show the house.
I think it’s important to build the idea that the line could be many different drawings before revealing the house prediction. I have offered a few suggestions, but I’m sure you will come up with some on your own. Demonstrating with their house image, I start mentioning drawings that other people have made. I single out the original line in the test, and say all of the things it could be, even turning it sideways and mentioning how some have made it into a boat. Another way to enforce the idea of multiple drawings is to actually use more than one line test. I have found that Line Two, shown in figure 2, when presented to a man, will typically be turned into a stick figure. It is smaller than the first line, perfectly centered on the card. When presented to a woman, it will typically be turned into a flower, or they will add wings on either side and make it a butterfly. Because of the options, I typically use this one with men.
(Figure 2) 27
In a perfect world, you will get the following results, figure 3:
(Figure 3) This also makes your finishing line about the comfort of ‘home, family and friends’ resonate even more.
Additional Thoughts and Ideas: --I tend to favor using these two lines as genuine tests, but you could also employ a one-ahead idea with them. Physically write out the word “HOUSE”, fold it up and have them put it into their pocket. Now you would actually draw Line Two first; typically a stick figure, flower, etc. But when presenting Line Two first, you will sometimes find people will draw a small house. Here, you would have a clean revelation. In the more likely circumstance that they draw a flower or stick figure, you can continue and say that you will attempt to send them a second drawing. 28
Now on a second card, you write out whatever they’ve drawn. Whether it be a stick figure or a street light, you write it down, fold it up, and have them add it to the other in their pocket. You would then present them with Line One, and hope that they draw a house. If that is the case, you will have a hit on both drawings; this happens more often than not. If they don’t, you at least have one guaranteed correct prediction. You could also continue with the one-ahead if you miss, and draw a third line on another card, basically a mirror of Line One, to give them one last chance to draw a house. But you will find you rarely have to go this route. People love drawing houses. --To increase your chances of success with Line Two on women, you could get rid of the idea of a butterfly by mentioning that someone has drawn a butterfly before, putting wings on either side of the line. Mentioning a butterfly also tends to help with psychologically forcing the image of a flower. --I often make subtle motions with my fingers of what they should draw. I’m not doing this in an obvious way, but just very quickly, offhandedly tracing things out with my finger. I subtly direct their attention to the top of the line in Line Two, trying to get them to imagine a circle, hopefully to make it into the flower or stick figure. --It’s essential to layer our performances with genuine psychological tests like these to imbue our performances with an innate level of realism. Performing many impossible feats in a row may seem like the best way to convince your audience that you’re doing the real thing, but it often just comes across exactly as that: impossible; and consequently unrealistic. Don’t be afraid to include these small pieces of real psychology in your sets, because while they may not be showstoppers, they complete the larger puzzle of your performance. 29
Credits: The Psychological Subtleties series displays a ton of work on subtle drawing effects. I would highly suggest reading them if you are one of the few who haven’t. Chris Carter’s “Geo-Psycho” from PS1, needs to be specifically mentioned, because it involves the idea of forcing two shapes, which the spectator then turns into a house.
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CHAPTER FOUR : HERITAGE
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Effect: The performer guesses the names of three important people that a spectator is thinking of, as well as revealing their relationships to the participant.
Introduction: Before I explain the inner workings, please don’t expect to get real mind reading in this chapter; that comes later. The spectator isn’t just thinking of the name silently as you guess it with no issue. You will be revealing information that you shouldn’t possibly know, but it is a subtle bit of mentalism, with numerous applications. I feel it is of utmost importance to have a process involved in your mind reading. Whether it be fake or real is irrelevant; so long as you believe in your pseudo method, there is no difference in the eyes of your spectator. Your audience wants to see how mind reading occurs. It is up to us as performers to give our best interpretation of what we think that should look like. Luckily for us, the nature of this piece provides an organic process to be observed, allowing you to focus entirely on your presentation at all times. There is nothing involved other than you, a spectator, and the power of their imagination. You are so far ahead of your audience that it gives you the ability to produce a ton of relevant mind reading from one moment of manipulation.
Presentation and Method: “Do you mind partaking in a quick visual exercise? I’m going to have you think of three women in your life that are important to you: a friend, your 32
mother, and your grandmother. So, a girlfriend, your mother and your grandmother.” Give your lovely participant a moment to choose a friend, as well
as to think of all three women together. “Imagine the three of them standing in front of you, one of them here, one of them here and one here,” I say,
indicating three specific spots on the floor. “I don’t want you to tell me how they’re related to you, but just say all three of their first names out loud, with as little emotion as possible, so as to not give anything away.”
She says, “Mary, Susan and Jane,” in her most depressing, monotone voice. “Those are beautiful names, but I think it should be fairly safe to say that I’ve never met any of them, and couldn’t know if Mary is your friend, mother, or grandmother, and the same goes for the other names. But this is what I will attempt to figure out. You are imagining all three of them standing here. Can you see them clearly? Whoever is standing in the middle, I want you to imagine them walking forward. Look into their eyes. I can see that you are fairly similar in height, based on your eye line. I also get the sense of a daughter looking into her mother’s eyes. Your mother is the person that you’re thinking of, yes?”
She will say, “Yes.” “Perfect. Now just think of what her name is. Concentrate on the first letter in the name…repeat it over and over in your mind…I’m getting an SSSS sound. So I would guess your mother’s name is Susan?” She will agree. You can either
finish here—as I prefer to—or continue with the other two women.
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“You’re doing wonderfully. Let us continue. Now imagine your friend and your grandmother.” “The friend isn’t your sister, is it?” If they say yes, you can say, “I thought so.”
If not, continue like you were just curious, “Think of her name. I know it’s either Jane or Mary. Again, just think of the first letter, and imagine yourself saying it over and over in your mind” Taking a last pause to look intently at your
participant, you say, “I believe you’re wanting to vocalize a close-lipped sound, so it has to be an M at the beginning. Your sister’s name is Mary,” pointing to
the invisible person on the left, “and your grandmother’s name is Jane. Is that correct?” you say, pointing to the invisible person on the right. Undoubtedly, you
are correct on all counts. So, how do we get all of this information to reveal? It’s as simple as saying, “…a friend, your mother, and your grandmother.” Seriously, say that fragment
sentence aloud. Congratulations, you just mastered the effect—not really, but you’ve practically mastered the method. Everything hangs on the idea that when I name those people, in that order , my spectator says to themselves in their heads, “A friend, my mom, and my grandma…got it!” They reinforce the order in their mind, so that when you say, “Imagine one of them here, one of them here and one here,” they will think: ( Friend) (Mom)
(Grandma). It is the natural thing to do when on the spot, having heard that order twice. Learning to say the relationship titles with enough force that they are remembered in that order, without being too forceful, is the key to making this work. As long as
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you can see that your participant is paying attention to what you’re saying, and actively following along, I can guarantee that you will have success with this. The order is then reinforced three-fold when you have the person say the names aloud. Although you say not to include how they are related to the participant, you’ll find that they’ll continue with the pattern, saying the names in Friend/Mom/Grandma order. I specify that they say the names “with as little emotion as possible, so as to not give anything away.” I find that this diverts their attention from the method. It
distracts them from worrying about the order, letting it happen naturally as they focus on being emotionless. Once they give you those names, this gives you all of the information about who is who. When they say, “Mary, Susan, and Jane” you know Mary is her friend, Susan is her mother, and Jane is her grandmother. It then becomes about pretending that you have no idea who is standing where as you make your revelations, even though, in your mind, you are imagining exactly the same scene that your spectator is imagining. You can visualize her friend on the left, likely about the same age as her, sharing similar interests. You can imagine her mother in the middle, probably sharing a resemblance. And the little old grandmother stands on the right with her knitting needles, likely shorter than the rest with a purse full of sweets or bricks, depending on the day. All that’s needed now is to have your participant interact with her family as you make your ‘guesses’.
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I can guarantee that they will be impressed that you were able to figure out which name belongs to which person. We are dealing with the revelation of powerful information; literally some of the most important people in their life. It doesn’t matter that you aren’t directly guessing all of the names that were merely thought of without speaking a word. It is still a strong impromptu demonstration, leaving a very meaningful effect on your participant.
Additional Thoughts and Ideas: --If you don’t like your participant saying the person’s name first, you could present this as a strong one-ahead routine. Have them imagine their ‘girlfriend, mom and grandma’ and then guide them to focus on the person in the middle. We know this is the ‘mother’ position. You could also let them pick the person. I now ask them to focus only on the name of this woman, openly asking if it is a long name or a short name. After they answer, I tell them from this moment on to think of everything only in their mind . I ask them to think of and send each letter. If they said it was a long name, I write, ‘Mother’ on the piece of paper. If they said short, I write, ‘ Mom’. I fold this up and give it to my participant to put into their pocket without showing anyone. “We’re going to do one more, but for the first time, could you please say the name that you’re thinking of aloud?” Let us assume they say, “Charlotte.” I
would complement the name, and then say, “One last thing, I now want you to just think of her relationship to you, whether she be your grandmother, mother or friend. Just think about that now.”
I look at them for a moment, and then quickly write “Charlotte” on a second card, fold it up and hand it to them to add to the billet in their pocket. This naturally 36
mixes the billets, so she can’t keep track of which was given to her first. “I can’t be certain, but I got the sense of a daughter looking into her mother’s eyes. Can you tell us what Charlotte’s relationship is to you?” She will say that she is
her mother. I like revealing this bit of information before having them actually say the relationship aloud. I think it adds a bit of credibility to your lack of showing the predictions. Your participant can now open both papers and see that you’re correct on both the name and relationship. --Never rush your participant’s imagination. If you go too quickly, it could throw off the spectator’s mental process. Allow the spectator ample time to imagine what they need to. Take a quick beat between, “Imagine one of them here…and one here…and one here.”
--No one can say a psychologically-based effect is going to work every time, but this sort of thing is surprisingly consistent, mostly because people are simply following your instructions. You haven't told them to mix them, they don't know what's going on, so they naturally imagine them in the order they named. When you say, “Imagine them standing in front of you,” gesturing from left to right with your hand, their subconscious silently suggests, “in that order”. When you say to imagine each one in their specific position, it seems like you are giving them a reference of where to imagine those three people, “in that order”. They have no idea where this is going, only that they should follow your instructions. At worst, they might imagine a mirror image; which is another reason I just guess the person standing in the middle. But you will find this is a rarity. All that’s needed now is to build it up that you couldn't possibly know who is standing where, and can't really see what they are imagining, yet you will attempt to. Hopefully this breakdown of the participant’s mental process will be of a bit more help to you in aiding how you guide the spectator to imagine what they imagine. 37
--Using this effect before a center tear makes you a lot more believable and trustworthy. They have already seen you pluck letters out of a person’s mind, so they have no reason to suspect you of cheating by peeking or any other chicanery. Now, when you tell them to write the name down so they can visualize it as clearly as possible, it will at least be a bit more convincing of an excuse. --It should be obvious that you could use this to guess “a guy friend, your dad and your grandpa,” just as easily as naming three important women in their life.
--As I said, I typically just reveal the mother’s or father’s name, and their relationship to the participant—along with touches of cold reading—but you can easily guess all three names and relationships as I’ve demonstrated in the original text. I just like to build to that one, memorable moment, tending to favor the more simple performance, but it’s your choice. At most, I may offhandedly state how the other two women are related. I wouldn’t build it up like the first name, having them think of letters, but just an afterthought of, “And (insert name) is your friend, and (insert name) is your grandma?”
--Changing the presentation, you could name three celebrities, “Elvis, Madonna and Oprah,” and have the participant imagine them standing in front of them. You
could have the spectator shake hands with one of them, and then get impressions about the celebrity they are meeting, revealing it however you wish. You could also give a spectator a prediction and control the situation a bit more. After having them imagine the three celebrities, rather than having them choose who they shake hands with, you choose who they shake hands with, as well as a couple of other things. In this case, you could say, “Whoever is on the left side, I want you to imagine shaking their hand. Whoever is in the middle, I want you
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to imagine kissing them. And whoever is on the right side, imagine slapping them in the face. Go!”
Using my choices of celebrities, they would be shaking hands with Elvis, kissing Madonna, and slapping Oprah. I can’t tell you how many hilarious lines can be written into your prediction about this situation. --Instead of naming celebrities yourself, you could say, “Imagine a male actor…a male singer…and a male athlete.” In this version, they are actually giving you
even more information to work with. “I don’t want you to say their profession, but just say all three of their first names out loud.”
If they say Johnny for the first name, as it’s in the actor position, you have a fairly good chance that it will be Johnny Depp. Or if they say Michael as the second name, you can guess with a fair amount of certainty that it is Michael Jackson. The same can be said for any name and any profession. When you have the first name of the person, plus their profession, you can make a fairly good educated guess and tell them the exact celebrity of which they are thinking. And if you don’t have any idea who the person is, then you would only guess the name and profession of the celebrity standing in that position, and take a chance on one that you’re surer of. The only downside with this is that you need to instruct your spectator to choose fairly common names. If they say ‘Elvis’ for the male singer, it isn’t very impressive, as it’s obvious who the person is. I would suggest sticking to the family, due to the more personal nature of it, and the effect that that has on the moment. --I also received an idea from “Ouija” co-creator, Ross Tayler, which I will share with you in his words. You may need to know “Ouija” in order to understand the full workings and nuances, but this will work for you either way. 39
Essentially the idea is this: The “Ouija” and “ Heritage” methodologies are fused to create a living-and-dead test. So the script would be: "I'd like you to focus on the name of someone who's passed on. When I snap my fingers, I'd like you to say this person's name, and the names of three or four people you know who are still alive."
Let's say they say: "Peter, Henry, Alice, Joanne, Alex" Now that they've listed people, the bold reframe is used: "Obviously I couldn't know which of these people are living and which are dead, or in what order you would have placed them."
They agree. "Now I'd like you to picture each of these people standing in front of you: Peter, Henry, Alice, Joanne and Alex"
(Gesture to label positions—alternatively you could ask them to decide where each person is standing.) "You can see them all clearly? Now I'd like you to reach forward and to shake one of their hands for me. Okay…so first, I think the person whose hand you're shaking is a female, pretty, dark hair...and I think this person is alive, yes?"
You'd proceed in this fashion until they reached for the first position (or wherever they placed them). At this point a "shift" is noticed, a more detailed reading takes place, and you can finally reveal that the person they're now interacting with has passed away, and their name is Peter. 40
It is kind of a blend of the two with a new presentation. You could omit the initial naming of people, and just have them see the people in front of them and then name them, as well. --Jumping off of the living-and-dead topic, there is another subtle thing that you could add to “ Heritage”. I mentioned the offhand question about the sister, but when you get to the grandmother you can also ask, "Your grandmother hasn't passed on, has she?"
If they say yes, you have another hit, and can say, "I thought so. I'm sorry for your loss. But you can still imagine her very vividly, and that is a lovely thing."
If they say that she is alive, you can say, "I didn’t think so, as I can see you’re able to still picture her very vividly," or anything you want to transition into the
revelation. This may be a bit too emotional of a thing to bring up, so I don't typically say it, but it is something that I wanted to include. --Similar to “Ouija” , but using a different process, they could think of a person’s name; I tell them to pick a short name, three or four letters. They are then to say a few random letters aloud, saying the first letter of the name in any position they choose. After they say the letters, you repeat it back, “So G, B and D. I want you to imagine those three letters floating in front of you: one of them here, one of them here and one here. I can’t see what you’re imagining, but whichever letter you’re thinking of, I want you to press it like a button on a keyboard.”
Where they press gives away the letter they are thinking of. You then continue with the second letter. I usually say, “If the second letter is a vowel, please name 41
three vowels.” As you gave the instruction to pick a short name, you can typically
figure it out within two or three letters. I would suggest “ Ouija” for a more streamlined process.
Credits: My first introduction to this type of verbal forcing was in a card effect by Derren Brown, titled the “ Invisible Deal ”. He would say something in a certain order, knowing that a person was going to act things out in that same order. This idea goes back at least fifteen years. There was also an effect in Psychological Subtleties 3 called “Ultimate Imagination” by Andrew Gerard. It is a coin effect that makes use of the exact same verbal force as used in Derren’s routine, as well as my own. I just use it to drag a lot more personal information out of the process. And more recently, I was introduced to “Ouija” by Fraser Parker and Ross Tayler, after sharing “ Heritage” with them. It uses a similar ploy to influence positioning, but the underlying concepts are very different. I would highly recommend that you check it out if you want another impromptu way to guess a name of which a person is thinking.
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CHAPTER FIVE : INSTRUMENTAL
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Effect: The performer guesses what instrument a spectator plays, or is imagining.
Introduction: I had initially put this in the additional thoughts section of “ Heritage” , but as the section grew and grew, I decided that it rightly deserved its own chapter. This tweak on the concept will allow you to learn personal things about an individual in a very organic way. I explain the effect using instruments as an example, but there are many applications to be explored.
Presentation and Method: I start by asking if anyone in the group is musical. When you have located someone, you instruct them to say three instruments aloud, saying the instrument that they play in any position of their choosing. “Piano, Guitar, Drums,” says a rocker-looking guy. “Piano, guitar and drums…I would like you to imagine one of them here, one of them here and one here.” Specify three spaces in front of the participant, and
give them the time to imagine everything. “I obviously can’t see what you’re imagining, so I want you to just touch the instrument that you play. Don’t perform any movements that you would make if playing the instrument, but just visualize it as you touch it, imagining yourself playing the instrument in your mind.” Look at him for a bit and say, 44
“I’m getting the sense that there are strings involved, so that would eliminate the drums. Really imagine that you can hear the instrument now. Focus on the sound…I’m getting a strumming sound. You play the guitar, yes?”
The hardcore rocker vigorously shakes his head up and down, long hair whipping through the empty air as he jams out on his imaginary air-guitar—a long way of saying, yes, indeed, he plays the guitar. The methodology here is exactly the same as in “ Heritage”. Whatever order they say is the order that they will imagine the instruments being in. You simply look at which instrument they ‘touch’ and go from there, building on the moment as much as you like. This is one of the most efficient ways of guessing personal things about your spectator, and is an easy way to truly manipulate someone’s mind.
Additional Thoughts and Ideas: --Taking a little risk, rather than having the spectator name the instruments, you could outright guess three or four that you think are likely choices, hoping that their instrument is one of the few that you name. Assuming that they say yes, you then have them imagine the instruments. They will be visualized in whatever order you guessed, and you can continue as per usual, with them never having stated what instrument they play aloud. Now it looks like you had a rough idea of which instrument it could be, and then honed in on it through their imaginative process. This is real mind reading. And if you are completely wrong on your guesses, then you can go into the original, or just have them imagine playing one of the instruments that you named.
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--Further applications of the verbal force include using it to guess what sport a person may play. Have them name their sport among two or three others. You then have them imagine the sports balls in front of them. Have them pick it up and imagine throwing it or kicking it, ending with your revelation of what it is, and what sport they play. As just mentioned, you could also choose to genuinely guess three or four sports that you think are likely candidates, and then zone in on their sport through the usual process. --You can use this to guess a person’s profession. Have them name their current profession and a couple of old jobs that they’ve worked, in any order. You could also choose to have them imagine objects that represent each job and say those. Once they touch the object, have them imagine doing their job. If they were a ‘chef’, you could say, “I’m seeing knives and flames and spices, so I would guess you worked in (insert job A) and (insert job B) at an earlier time in your life before becoming a chef.” They will agree.
--You can also guess a person’s favorite color. Have them name their favorite color among a few others, and then have them imagine the colors floating in front of them like orbs of light. You then guess their favorite color as they lay their hand upon it, absorbing its energy. --You could also guess a favorite pet (dog, cat, rabbit, etc) shape, what kind of car they drive (as well as their old cars), or any other imaginable item with which they can interact. --Instead of having the person ‘touch’ the object, you could just tell them to look at it and focus intently on it. Tell them to imagine as much detail as they possibly can, letting it come into clearer and clearer focus. They will, of course, simply look where their imagined item is. You can easily follow their eye-line and figure out 46
what they are thinking of, without them having to physically interact with anything. --I would never use all of these applications in the same show, but I hope that you can see what a diverse tool this is to add to your impromptu arsenal. I want to reiterate that it doesn’t matter that you’re not guessing these things with nothing spoken—although I’ve provided you with options around this. The visualization process is a powerful cover, and everything still comes across as very psychological.
Credits: All credits from “ Heritage” can be carried over to this piece.
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CHAPTER SIX : MIND MATRIX
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Effect: The performer guesses personal information which is merely thought of.
Introduction: I always aim to provide practical approaches within my mentalism pieces. If it isn’t simple, I typically don’t give it any more thought. Preferring practical methods in traditional mentalism, I would only attempt real mind reading techniques if the process and effect were practical and deceiving. Anything that takes a while to get to the payoff, where you’re asking questions and getting ‘no’ in some responses, put me off of attempting most systems. Here, the spectator never says their thought out loud, and you are able to consistently guess what it is. “Heritage” and “Instrumental” are simplified versions of this process. What you are learning in the “Mind Matrix” is an expansion of the concept, layering things to achieve near perfect success rates in a genuine mind reading demonstration. They never speak their thought aloud or write anything down, and you can guess what they’re thinking of in one of the most straight-forward ways.
Presentation and Method: This is essentially the same as the real mind reading version of “Instrumental”, but an advanced form of the system, with further safety nets. In “Instrumental”, we had what I like to call a ‘matrix’, which was, (Guitar, Piano, and Drums). If the person isn’t thinking of one of these, you have missed. You could still have them
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name what they play along with two other random instruments and then guess, but you’ve taken a negative hit. We can avoid this altogether with a set of multiple matrices. “Mind Matrix”, as the name suggests, takes you through a series of matrices. When hearing that word, some may associate it with ‘anagram’, but this is very different. For most anagrams, they can be rather tricky to translate, because the letters are different for the word in each language. Here, it is more of a categorical anagram. All that’s need is to exclude the English word and replace it with the word in your language. I won’t go into every single application, but it should be more than enough for you to get a feel for the workings. INSTRUMENT - For the instrument, we can increase our chances of success by
having them first imagine the categories, (String, Wind, or Percussion) instruments. “Visualize them all set out in front of you like an orchestra from left to right.” They focus on which category their instrument belongs, and you
learn it through the various methods I’ve discussed. I typically just have them look in the direction. If they look at String, I can now name a subset matrix of likely String instruments, saying that I’m getting the sense of (Piano, Guitar, Violin) They interact and visualize details of their choice, and you guess it without them ever having said their thought aloud. Wind instruments would be (Flute, Clarinet, or Horn) Subset matrix of Horn could be (Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone) I typically guess (Flute, Clarinet, Horn) for a girl, and just (Saxophone, Trumpet, and Trombone) for a guy.
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Percussion (Drums or Tambourine) If I see them look to the percussion section, I almost always just immediately guess ‘drums’. I would say, “It could be the tambourine as well, but I can see you doing some sort of drumming.”
As you can see, this narrowing process through the matrices increases your chance of zoning in on and hitting their thought. You have eliminated a ton of instruments and increased your chance of success exponentially by including one extra matrix. STAR-SIGN OR BIRTHMONTH – Star-sign divinations seem to be a popular
trend these days amongst mentalists, and this is a perfect use for the system. Your first matrix would be for (Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall), having them imagine, (Snowflake, Flower, Sun, Leaf) repeating the order a couple of times as if making sure they remember each choice. They are instructed to reach out and touch the representing symbol of their season. Feign difficulty in reading them, and then announce the season. Depending on which they pick will tell you which three star-signs or birth months to say. They will then imagine the star-signs, touch their palm to it and visualize the sign before you make your guess. I personally consider myself much more of an astronomer than an astrologer, but I know some of you will get a kick out of this. ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE - “Think of an alcoholic beverage” , says the
performer. We know that they can only be thinking of, (Wine, Beer, or Hard Alcohol) Your participant imagines them on the table in a line, and if they pick up the Beer, I just guess that they are thinking of beer. If they choose Wine, I tell them that I’m getting the sense that they are a classier drinker, a wine connoisseur, and have them imagine a glass of red and a glass of white. They pick it up and have a taste, and you can now add to your guess if they prefer a red or white. If they 51
choose Hard Alcohol, you will need to go through one more matrix, “I’m seeing things like Rum, Vodka, and Whiskey, so I’m assuming you’re thinking of a hard alcohol. Yes or no, is it one of those, Rum, Vodka, or Whiskey? Excellent, now imagine the three of them in front of you on the table, each in their own spot.” I point to three spots from left to right. They now pick up their
hard alcohol and take an imaginary shot. I guide them focus on the burn in their chest before making my revelation. CHRISTIAN NAME - Ask them to think of a Christian name, of someone that
they personally know, “Like Matt or Peter, but not one of those, as I’ve named them.” After they confirm that they are thinking of someone, you say you are
getting the sense it’s either “Mark, Luke, or John”. It will nearly always be one of these three names, especially when asking about a person they know with this name; not many people named Moses anymore. You then have them imagine the three of them standing, and have them hug or shake hands with the person before revealing the name that they thought of is John, etc. I would personally rather use a center tear to guess any name, but if you want an impromptu way to guess a name that a person is only thinking of, this is one method. SPORT – Could first be honed in on through, Kicking (Soccer or Football)
Throwing (Football, Basketball, Baseball) or Hitting (Golf, Hockey, Tennis) before moving into the next matrix. PSYCHOLOGICAL FORCES - If you don’t wish to go into two matrices, yet
still increase your success, you should use the “Mind Matrix” system with classic psychological forces. So, rather than have them think of their favorite vegetable to eat, I would use the classic ‘carrot’ force, by hurrying them along to quickly think 52
of the first vegetable that pops into their head. But now, rather than just guessing carrot and praying, I can say, “I’m getting the definite sense that I can narrow it down to a potato, carrot, or broccoli. Is that correct?” After they confirm, I
typically say the order once more before having the participant visualize them. They reach out to take the imagined vegetable from the empty air and you make your ‘guess’. If rushed to quickly think of an instrument, not allowed to change their mind, you will find a person will almost always think of a piano or a guitar. In this case, you have likely eliminated the chance that they are going to say they play the obo, or some other obscure instrument. You could also simply include the instruction that it be a common instrument. If trying to psychologically force a card, we can guess common choices among women and men. I would first guess the suit, saying that most women choose a heart or a diamond. Have the participant imagine both suits floating in front of them, and focus on the one that they are thinking of. You then say (Seven, Queen, Ace or Three) along with whatever suit they’ve named, and allow them to grab the card out of the air if it’s there. Personally, I would rather just peek a card for this type of demonstration. This process will really help to enhance any psychological force. Even a simple, mental drawing can be discovered with a first matrix of (man-made or nature) and (House, Car, Boat) or (Stick-figure, Flower, Tree) as your secondary matrices. We know these are the likely choices if asked to draw something simple and not change their mind. You then have them put a single finger on their imaginary drawing, and you move it through the air to discover their image.
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I prefer exclusively using this concept with visual items, and I would advise you do the same. I feel it would be too awkward to use it with letters and numbers, but I love using images. There are still many avenues to travel with this. Using images keeps everything easy to visualize, making the process quicker and a bit more deceptive. Once familiarized with the concept, it is an easy thing to design a matrix system that will work for whatever it is you wish to guess. And if you’re wrong, you’re wrong. At the very least, you can hold your head high knowing that you are one of the few people who can say they do the real thing. Actually tell your audience that they are about to witness something as close to the real thing as possible, and be proud of it. It is far much more gratifying than a sleight-of-hand based effect. Well worth the extremely rare misses.
Credits: The broken record spins once more to tell you that all credits and ideas from “Heritage” can be carried over to this piece.
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CHAPTER SEVEN : SOLAR SYSTEM
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Effect: The performer is able to give an accurate psychic reading on a subject of which a spectator is only thinking of.
Introduction: I must say, before creating this system, I never got much use out of the practice of cold reading; other than lightly peppering it into solid mentalism routines. I mostly disliked that you start with absolutely nothing, throwing out ambiguous phrases and hoping for a hit before expounding upon it. I am very weary of that kind of thing being overly obvious. Many systems work through stocked lines or some other form of readily coming up with information that is applicable to most human beings, get-outs, and redirecting the effect and meanings through your wording. This still takes a rather large amount of mental effort to hit upon specific thoughts. It is also mostly about the performer directing the proceedings, whereas Solar System is entirely spectator oriented. They lead you without saying a word, and you follow. There are also hot reading systems, where you get a bit of information beforehand—typically through some form of cheating—and get as much use out of it as possible. This system is technically a mix of both cold and hot. You start in the dark cold nothing, and organically escalate into a hot spot. With Solar System, you will be able to give accurate readings about specific personal worries, the future, or questions a person may be focusing on, with no guessing or pumping. 56
Presentation and Method: This is the last chapter that will discuss the verbal positioning force and using a mind matrix. I am only teaching this as it shows another application of the concept, having a totally different feel, pushing into a new territory for personal readings. I won’t spend long on this, but by the end, you should have everything you need to start reliably journeying into this kind of work, should it interest you. When getting a psychic reading, the population is focused mostly on a few main categories: Health, Relationships, and Money. Using a mind matrix, we can instantly know the specific area a spectator is looking to focus on. I have them imagine a doctor for Health, a family member or friend for Relationships, and dollar bills for Money. You could certainly include other categories if you wish. Have the person imagine the three subjects that their reading could pertain to, and place their hand on the subject that they are worried about, or interested in hearing your input on. For this demonstration, I typically sit quietly and look at the spectator, writing all of my insights on a piece of paper, since we are dealing with a person’s personal worries or concerns. But when they open the paper and see that you were able to pick up on the fact that they are having relationship issues, and that they will naturally resolve themselves in an unexpected manner, your spectator will be quite amazed. For the Money category, concerns mostly come down to too little, due to an awful job that they wish to get out of. So I would jot down that I feel the person may 57
wish to get involved in another job which will bring them more joy, and the financial security that they are looking for. I end almost every reading with the line, ‘It will work itself out in an unexpected way’ , because this is mostly the case in any given personal problem. I would probably phrase the ending line, “Your money issues will work themselves out in an unexpected way.” Relationships category will typically focus on boyfriends or girlfriends more than family, but you can keep it vague. ‘ Relationships can always be worked on, and new love created. You will find your problems will work themselves out in an unexpected way’. This could be the only thing that you write and it would still be a great and memorable moment for your participant. For the Health category, the person is clearly having some sort of health concern, or someone close to them is going through something. In this case, I would typically write something like, ‘I am getting the sense that you’re worried about a certain health concern. I can only wish you and your family the best. My thoughts and prayers are with you.’ The wording is ambiguous that it could be referring to them, or a family member. I wouldn’t ever say to someone that they are going to be healed. As much as positive thinking is certainly a beneficial thing, they don’t need a random stranger telling them these things. This is the only area that I would recommend showing caution, as it is typically something serious if they choose this category. You may choose to replace this category entirely. Now that you know the basic idea, you can use it however you want, with any categories. The starting point is the biggest challenge concerning a cold reading system, making it, in my eyes, one of the most important things to overcome. This is the highlight of Solar System for me. It secretly gives you relevant information 58
that they are focusing on, giving you a huge head start. Once you have that base category, it is very easy to build off of it using your natural intuition. Depending on how you present and frame it, you can have a person focus on a concern, as I’ve been describing, or you could treat it more like a psychic reading of the future. Have them focus on a topic they want to explore, and then reveal your impressions. This makes your job much easier and safer, because you aren’t guessing things, but simply telling your spectator things that they would want to hear happen to them, secretly knowing their chosen category. You could also open subset matrices for each category, as in, “Mind Matrix”. Money could be job related or spending/gambling related, and you can have them imagine and go down either path. Relationships could be problems with the family, friends, or boyfriend/girlfriend, and have them touch the person that this concern relates to. Personally, once I know the category that they are focusing on, I freestyle from there. I don’t do another subset. I just go straight into writing out my thoughts on what they are thinking of. The fact that you are able to know what basic concern they are focusing on is impressive enough. It will make your ‘predictions’ of the future, or your impressions on their worries, seem much more real.
Credits: Same credits from the previous versions apply, but as this goes more into personal readings, there are other people to credit.
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My first introduction to cold reading was in Ian Rowlands The Full Facts of Cold Reading book. It is a tome of classic cold reading techniques, and is a must-have for this kind of work. Luke Jermay has a couple of resources, but I’m only familiar with Emotional Intelligence, where he writes topics on seven different cards and has one selected that he reveals information from. Kenton Knepper also has an idea in his Wonder Readings, where he verbally labels packs of cards, and then depending on which the spectator chooses, adds in the extra information that this has given you. The only other reading systems that I am familiar with come from Jerome Finley’s work. He has many different approaches to personal reading systems, and is a brilliant resource for knowledge in this area. Almost any of his books will have some type of work on readings, but I have never come across anything that exactly resembles “Solar System” in print anywhere.
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CHAPTER EIGHT : A SUBTLE AFTERTHOUGHT
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Effect: The performer starts calling cards aloud, the spectator is asked to think of one, and it is correctly guessed by the performer.
Introduction: I actually discovered this subtlety unintentionally. Like most accidental discoveries, it happened during a live performance. I will go into more detail on what happened as I explain the method, so as to not to give it away just yet, as it is a very small thing. As we are venturing into real psychological principals, it isn’t going to have a perfect finish every time, but like a lot of the psychological techniques I’m teaching in this book, you will find that they provide marvelously consistent results. And on the rare chance that it misses and you’re wrong, it doesn’t matter, as it is often forgotten in the midst of your surefire effects. The last three chapters of this book are essentially different means to achieve the same end: revealing a single thought amongst a bunch of other thoughts. Some will be more to your liking than others, or you may hate or love all three. I can only hope it is the latter.
Presentation and Method: “Thank you for helping, Alice. Your job will be incredibly simple, almost no thought involved. In a moment, I’m going to start naming playing cards
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aloud. I don’t want you to think of one yet, I just want you to listen as I say them.”
Five random playing cards are spoken, “Two of Clubs, Five of Diamonds, Eight of Spades, Seven of Hearts, Nine of Clubs. Please think of the first one that pops into your head.”
In this scenario, the person would most likely think of the Seven of Hearts. Reviewing the way that this is presented, you’ll see the subtle ways in which you guide them to that selection. It relies almost entirely on the idea of introducing the choice as an afterthought. During the performance that led to the creation of this piece, it was a different effect, and I had simply forgotten to tell the participant that they were to think of a card beforehand. Of course, I realized my mistake, asking them to think of one after the fact. I remember them being visibly befuddled by the sudden revelation that they now had to think of a card. I could see them struggling to remember the cards that I had named. I then started tinkering with the idea, coming up with concepts to try and make it even more psychologically controlled. The lines “Your job will be incredibly simple, almost no thought involved” and “I just want you to listen as I say them” are said in casual, unimportant ways.
You aren’t forcing your words as if your participant should listen carefully. Supplementing the word ‘listen’ over the word ‘remember’ is the subtle thing here. You aren’t saying it like they need to remember . You never say the word ‘remember’, so they don’t know to put in the effort. Your body language and actions as you say the script should suggest, “Relax. You have nothing to worry about. You will barely be doing anything. Just sit back and let my words flow into one ear and drift out the other.” Keeping this silent script in mind while speaking, 63
you will find that you can easily manipulate your spectator into acting exactly as you need them to. Understanding this thought process, we can take advantage of it. I enjoy exploring a person’s thinking after the fact, verifying that I knew the exact mental route they would take to arrive at their choice. In the case of “ A Subtle Afterthought ”, we know that the person will be taken aback that they now need to recall the choices. They will usually remember the last card fairly clearly, but the card before that will still be hanging in the subconscious of their brain. When they remember what that card is, they typically choose it, because picking the very last card is too obvious. To get some free mind reading from my spectator, I say all of this to them. I retake them through their thought process, showing that I knew how they would think, saying, “I could see that you remembered the Nine of Clubs instantly, but you had to stretch your memory a bit to remember the Seven of Hearts. And I assume you chose that because you felt that picking the very last card was too obvious, correct?” Assuming they chose the Seven of Hearts, you will
find the spectator will agree with all of these statements.
Additional Thoughts and Ideas: --You could also reframe your revelations. After naming the cards, and giving them a brief moment to think, say, “You aren’t thinking of the Nine of Clubs, are you?” If they say yes, you have a hit. If they say no, you add, “I didn’t think so, as I’m sure you found the very last choice to be too obvious. I can also see that you’re having a hard time remembering some of the first couple of cards that I named, so I would guess that you’re thinking of the Seven of Hearts, yes?” 64
You have now taken a stab at two cards—the two most likely choices—and will have a near hundred percent success rate. --You can further increase your chances of a hit by saying a bunch of unpopular cards before saying a popular card in the second-to-last position, as exemplified by my choice of cards in the script. --I would urge you to employ voice forcing as well, raising your tone just enough on the Seven of Hearts to make it stand out in their subconscious mind. With all of these psychological controls in place, it is as failsafe as this kind of work can get. --Taking things down a different route, you could also augment the situation as a way to induce a full amnesia state. “Your job will be incredibly simple, almost no thought involved. In a moment, I’m going to start naming playing cards aloud. I don’t want you to think of anything yet, I just want you to listen as I say them, so…Two of Clubs, Five of Diamonds, Eight of Spades, Seven of Hearts, Nine of Clubs…”
The difference here is that I pause, as if I’m trying to think about another card to name, and then I say, “Ah…you know what, that should be enough. Besides the Nine of Clubs, you will now find it almost impossible to recall any one of the other cards. No matter how hard you try, you can’t remember one card. Can you name one other than the Nine of Clubs?”
You want to sort of barrage and bewilder them with these statements. As they are fumbling in response, it is a good moment to raise their hand to their forehead and to put them into an ‘altered’ state. I then try to guide them back to the Seven of Hearts, having them visualize a number, and their favorite suit. Some people will suddenly remember the Seven of Hearts and say it, which provides an intriguing 65
routine where they are put into an amnesia state, and then you cause the Seven of Hearts to pop into their head, which is predicted. Other times, they will have no idea, completely forgetting all of the cards—still an interesting demonstration.
Credits: Continuing the praise for Psychological Subtleties, there is a lot of work about psychologically forcing positions. But after looking back through them, I couldn’t find anything using this specific afterthought subtlety.
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CHAPTER NINE : THE HIDDEN TEMPLE
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Effect: The performer starts naming items aloud, and is able to detect what the spectator is thinking.
Introduction: It is truly amazing the way that ideas can evolve like living things. They change and adapt to the times or are often disregarded and forgotten. This demonstration evolved from something that I learned when I was a child, originally used with a stooge to guess a number. It was something that I would perform with a friend to trick other people and is something you may have played with, as well. I have since removed the need for a stooge, yet achieve a very similar effect. “The Hidden Temple” is a subtle way to know when a person is thinking of something. I would liken it to Banachek’s Stop Sign technique. For those of you who are familiar with the workings of that piece, you will know that it isn’t onehundred percent surefire because of certain twitches that can occur. That is all I will say on the matter. Likewise, “The Hidden Temple” isn’t spot on all of the time, but I have found it to be very dependable, and it looks like the real thing. I am actually doing what I claim to be doing, watching for small cues that the spectator gives off, along with influencing the way that they act. It is how the spectator is set up to give away those cues that is of interest. Let us make our way through the hidden temple.
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Presentation and Method: “I want you to think of a color in the rainbow, the first one that comes to mind. Now stand up nice and straight with your arms at your side. Tighten your jaw, take a deep breath through your nose and close your eyes. I want you to visualize your chosen color clearly in front of you.”
I physically handle the spectator a bit in this sequence, putting their arms by their sides, but you can choose to just say the words if you are uncomfortable with touching someone, or feel that they may be uncomfortable being touched. “I am going to name the colors, and when you hear me say the color you’re imagining, I want you to allow your mind to relax.”
You now start naming colors, “Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple.” The performer now guesses the color blue, and is correct. This won’t be one-hundred percent, but it is very close. The basis for this demonstration came from, as previously mentioned, an effect where there was a stooge and a subtle cueing system. The scripting and leading in this effect creates that same cue, using it in a new way. The original is a very old system, and I don’t think anyone knows of the exact origins. It is one of those simple things that are lost to history. I can find a brief explanation of it called “ Numbered Thoughts”, in 110 Amazing Tricks with Everyday Objects. In other words, it is in a children’s book. That book was published back in 1998, but it certainly goes back much further.
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The workings of that effect are very simple. If you clench your jaw, it activates the muscles in your temple. You will see this area, as well as the back of the jaw, move slightly. In “ Numbered Thoughts”, a stooge would be secretly told a number between one and ten. The performer would then place his fingers against the stooge’s temples, and suddenly reveal the number. Little did the audience know that my stooge was biting down and releasing repeatedly for the number they choose. So if they choose three, he would bite and release three times, and I would know the number is three. This could go all the way up to ten. I’ve taken that ‘cue’ that would typically be used, and tweaked it so that it removes the stooge. You’re using the same technique, but through a different process. It looks like the real deal, and many mentalists claim to be doing things similar to this. The script sets them up to give away the information. The command “tighten your jaw” is the important suggestion, and it gets hidden amongst the other instructions
to stand straight with hands at their sides, etc. You can choose to add any distracting actions that you wish. You then give them the line, “When you hear me say your thought, I want you to allow your mind to relax.”
Now, when you speak their thought-of color—or any number of things they could think of—you will see their temples contract as they relax. Even though you are just telling them to relax their mind, you will find that they will typically relax their jaw. You may also see their arms relax a fraction of an inch. All of this is real non-contact mind reading.
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In order to guarantee this response, after saying, “allow your mind to relax,” you could choose to add, “let everything relax.” I prefer to be more subtle, just asking them to relax their mind. It then becomes about how they interpret your suggestion. What does it mean to relax your mind? Well, most people take it to mean, try to stop thinking, and relax your muscles. This is exactly what your participant will do. You may choose to stand behind your willing participant and to put your fingers on their temples, if they will allow it, so that you can feel the moment that they relax. Or, you could place your palm across their forehead, with your thumb running along one of their temples. I don’t find this to be necessary. The non-contact method works just fine when you know what you’re looking for.
Additional Thoughts and Ideas: --For those of you thinking that this is too obvious, and your audience will see the moment, you would be surprised. I mentioned that a friend and I used to do this together. In the original version, you could be biting up to ten times—more often three or seven. In either case, he was performing this action multiple times, and the people watching never noticed. Everyone was staring directly at my fingers on his temples, looking exactly where they needed to, yet didn’t see it. With “The Hidden Temple”, the action only occurs once. The moment you see it, you know what they are thinking. Even if a spectator calls you out on this, you are still being credited for using real manipulation techniques.
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--Using this in a truth-teller routine to know when a person is thinking a lie or the truth is a great application of the technique. You set them up exactly the same with their jaw tightened, telling them that you’re going to ask them questions, and they are to answer only in their minds. They are to lie on every question you ask, but will tell the truth once, whenever they choose. “The moment you tell the truth, I want you to allow your mind to relax.” You now ask them easy questions about
their life, and watch for the one where they relax. --I would keep it to about five or six items. If the person has their jaw clenched as you say the alphabet, you may find that they unclench due to ache, rather than relaxing their mind.
Credits: The only credit that I have for using the temple to gain someone else’s thoughts is “ Numbered Thoughts Thoughts”, from 110 Amazing Tricks with Everyday Objects. Objects . I also mentioned Banachek’s Stop Sign technique, which is a similar idea of setting up the spectator to give away a piece of information. This can be found in his Psychophysiological Psychophysiological Thought Reading Reading book. book.
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CHAPTER TEN : IDEOMASTER
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Effect: The performer repeatedly guesses an object someone is thinking of in a line of items.
Introduction: This last chapter will be dedicated to my thoughts on reading the ideomotor response, popularly known as muscle reading. Please be sure to read everything in its entirety, as there are many subtle changes to the classic method that will be explored here. Most mentalists will tell you that finding the Perfect Participant is the most important factor in this form of mind reading. Many will also agree that they must have two main qualities: they follow instructions and have a good imagination. In most texts on the subject, it would seem like these are rare gifts, and that it's difficult to find the Perfect Participant, yet nearly all of the population possess the ability to do both. Every day we follow suggestions and instructions of some kind, and nearly all of us engage in some sort of imaginary exercise before falling asleep, where our minds go into imagination overdrive, even if you can't remember it. So with all of these rule-followers walking around, anxiously waiting for you to give them a new rule to follow, why is it still so damned hard?! To put it bluntly, it's because most performers believe it should be that easy. They want to simply say, "Grab my wrist and guide my hand to your object with your mind alone!" alone!" and then expect to be able to easily feel the movements as if the 74
participant were deliberately dragging them to the object, yet somehow remain unaware that they just pushed or pulled you. This is a dream scenario. The ideomotor response deals with subtle movements. This is what makes it impressive to the spectator, because they are unaware that they're giving anything away. With that said, I will be teaching you the easiest way that I know to dramatically enhance your spectator's movements, thus increasing your sensitivity to them. Best of all, this technique t echnique works reliably with nearly anyone. anyone. It boils down to properly eliciting those two states from your participant. As I mentioned, having someone grab your wrist and instructing them to guide your hand with their mind alone is not enough, though it will work in some circumstances. But I can guarantee that you will not see consistent results using that process. And while what I'm about to describe doesn't come across as much more than that, you'll find that these small changes can have a huge impact on your success.
Presentation and Method: I will teach this technique through the examination of a simple premise: finding a thought-of object in a line of items. We shall assume that the spectator already has one in mind. "What you're about to see is the earliest demonstration that we have of real mind reading. It was discovered by a man named J. Randall Brown, and the feat dates all the way back to 1879. It always began with a person grasping the wrist of the medium."
The spectator, standing on your left side, grips your left wrist with their right hand. 75
"Take one last look at all of the objects, locking your item and its position securely in your mind, and then close your eyes. You're going to guide my hand to your object using your thoughts alone. Even though you can't see the object, your subconscious knows exactly where it is. Focus clearly on the object. Imagine my hand going to it and picking it up."
I now make slow, sweeping motions back and forth across the objects, feeling for any tension or lack thereof. "Imagine that your mind is directly connected to my hand. Actually talk to it, thinking 'come this way' or 'go back that way'. Wherever you want it to move, imagine it moving that way.” "I think I have an idea of what you're thinking. I'm now going to go along the line and pretend to pick up each of them. Just move along with me."
I then pick up the object that I believe they're thinking of, as well as mock picking up the other objects. It provides a nice little surprise when they open their eyes and see their object in your hand. This can then be repeated multiple times to the same end. At first glance, this won't appear to be much more than a regular, run-of-the-mill muscle-reading routine. For all intents and purposes, it really isn't much more than that. You are still reading the ideomotor response, but with very subtle additions, as well as doing away with a common practice of most mentalists regarding the handling and instructing of the participant. Before going further, let me quickly describe an old classic that all mentalists and magicians know and love, “The Nose Knows”. A spectator is given a small item and is told to hide it in one of their fists. With both fists held in front of them, they 76
are instructed to close their eyes and to imagine a line shooting from their forehead to whichever hand holds the object. Allow the person to focus on the task, and after a few moments you will notice the person's nose will point slightly in one direction. Ninety-nine times out of one hundred, the direction of their nose will give a clear indication of which hand is hiding the object. This is probably one of the very first ideomotor-based effects that magicians and mentalists learn, and anyone who has tried it can attest to the fact that they have a surprisingly high success rate with it. How is it possible that this demonstration of muscle reading is more reliable than most? The answer is twofold. The first is the main reason why pendulums work so effectively: it allows for a building of the motion. With a pendulum, a person thinks of it moving in a circle, but it takes quite a few small rotations before it starts making solid circles. In “The Nose Knows”, you similarly achieve that gradual building effect. They move ever so slightly in the correct direction, and then they continue to move slowly in that direction until it becomes obvious to you. In “ Ideomaster ”, it's about portraying a rise in the intensity and spectator involvement as the effect progresses. You start with them focusing on the position, gathering some general feedback from their subtle pushing and pulling as you move along the objects. At this point, I'm typically just gauging on which side the object is. After that preliminary sweep, you are connecting them more deeply with your hand, having them actually speak directly to it in their mind, telling it where to go. I usually put my hand over each object and say what it is aloud at this point—this way they now know exactly where it is—feeling for them to pull or push my hand back to the correct object. This won't make as big a difference to your success as 77
the next bit of information, but the idea of layering and intensifying the process is worth implementing. The second reason “The Nose Knows” is so effective is because the spectator closes their eyes. This tiny little change changes everything for the better. An alpha state is instantly induced the moment any human being closes their eyes and imagines something. Entering this state of mind makes your spectator much more open and susceptible to your suggestions. Now, when you tell them to imagine the object, to control your hand with their mind— talking to it —they will be much more engaged imaginatively, as well as following multiple suggestions. They will suddenly be using their mind in a different way, recreating their surroundings and the items in front of them from memory. Of course, the subtlety here is that the participant isn't sure exactly where their object is. They know the general position and direction, but are disoriented by their lack of sight. Because of this, they will subconsciously pull or push you in either direction much more noticeably, because they are less aware of their movements. I mention having the participant grip your left wrist with their right hand, and there is a reason for this. It may just be in my head, but I tend to feel that my less dominant arm is better at feeling the odd push and pull sensations. I also believe that a participant gives off more information through their dominant arm— typically the right hand. The muscles and coordination in the dominant arm are more tightly connected to the brain. It is used to doing more complex things when the brain thinks. So while I have no scientific proof, it is my belief that using the dominant arm amplifies the ideomotor response within the participant. As an additional note, and quite a large departure from classic literature on the ideomotor response, I've never quite understood the idea of having the spectator 78
relax their arm during a muscle-reading routine. Using the pendulum once more as an example, when they are holding it out in front of themselves, they are using their muscles. They aren't limp and slack; they are activating all of the muscles and ligaments in their shoulder and arm, all of which are vibrating, sending information from their brain, through their body and into the pendulum. If you give a person the instruction to actively concentrate on relaxing their arm, you are giving them conflicting suggestions. You are telling them to guide your hand with their mind, and then you're telling them to be slack and limp. I prefer to leave it at what naturally feels right to the spectator. I merely tell them to grab my wrist. I give no instructions to relax. This way, when they imagine my hand moving in a certain direction, they aren't trying to suppress the action quite as much. On the flipside, I relax my arm. I pull them along the items gently, but my arm is otherwise relaxed. This helps increase my sensitivity to their movements. I will admit that there could be a bit of dual reality going on here, but this is completely dependent on your spectator and how they interpret your instructions. Certain spectators could mistake your words almost as a challenge of "Lead my hand to the object, even though you can't see!" In either case, you arrive at the
same conclusion. I would say more often than not, the spectator is just as amazed as everyone else when they open their eyes and see their chosen object in your hand. It is a great moment. I almost exclusively use muscle reading with two objects and just repeat it over and over, but you can easily use five or six objects, or apply these concepts to other muscle-reading routines, making them much more reliable. If you've had a hard time feeling the ideomotor response, these might just be the tricks you need to improve your success rate. 79
And some of you may already be proficient in muscle-reading, finding that these techniques negatively affect what you’ve already practiced and learned. For the most part, I imagine these ideas would only add to your sensitivity, but it’s only natural that some will feel things differently than others. It is all about our personal experience and what we have become comfortable with. So if you have a good thing going and don’t want to mess with it, I understand. It’s like trying to change your golf swing: if it works, leave it alone. All I know is that I used to have inconsistent results with muscle reading and these subtleties drastically improved my proficiency. If even one of you is inspired to start using muscle reading regularly because of this chapter, then I have done a good deed for mentalism. Now, off you go to find those Perfect Participants—they are everywhere!
Credits: My
first
introduction
to
muscle
reading
was
through
Banachek’s
Psychophysiological Thought Reading , as well as his PSI Series DVDs. As I said, there are some instructions in those volumes in which I don’t fully believe, but it is still a brilliant resource for ideas and different ways to use contact mind reading. Jerome Finley’s Full Contact Mind Reading is also an amazing source on the subject. I know he speaks of the importance of having a spectator close their eyes and imagine their choice, but they don’t keep them closed, which is one of the major points in “Ideomaster”.
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