The Art and Science of Misdirection

The Art and Science of Misdirection Many debates have started over the question, “Is magic an art or a science?” This single, simple question has evoked heated debate in the many circles of magic, from the hobbyist to the professional. Worked out completely, it can be ascertained that magic is both a science and an art. The science lies in the sleight of hand and technical work that goes into any routine. The art lies in the presentation, the story line and the creative way that any given magician combines several techniques to come upon a logical sequence of events to make magic happen. This sequence, pasted together properly, contains many factors. One factor, whether built in by design or by accident, is misdirection. In the following series of articles, we will be looking at this fascinating tool of our trade, which is a form of mind control, called misdirection. In “The Books of Wonder,” by Tommy Wonder and Stephen Minch, this topic is dealt with immediately at the beginning of Volume 1. So important is this tool to a magician, that Tommy Wonder feels it imperative to begin his 2 volume set with this subject. However, before delving into a serious discussion, Mr. Wonder considers the name, “Misdirection” and whether  or not this is a misnomer. Misdirection is a negative word. Consider that we, as magician, are misdirecting our  spectator’s attention away from the technical work and directing that attention to where the magic is happening. To fully appreciate the magic as it is happening, the spectator must be unaware of the things that we are hiding. By thinking of our misdirection, we, the magicians, are directing our own thought to the exact spot where we do not want our spectator’s attention to be drawn. As a result, we psychologically and inadvertently direct attention to the wrong area. Therefore, when we consider misdirection in all its technical and artistic glory, we should not be calling it misdirection, but rather “Direction.” Our own thoughts must be on the direction and not the misdirection, to completely give our magic the power that it can and should have. With full consideration to this fact, this article will deal with misdirection as misdirection, as that is the name that we are comfortable with and to change it at this point could be an easy cause of confusion. MISDIRECTION IN THEORY Misdirection is a constant in our lives. Anyone who reads a book while the television is on is dealing with misdirection. Reading while listening to music is also misdirection. Have you ever  been reading while your thoughts have gone on to something other than the book? You stop reading, realizing that you have not comprehended anything from the last paragraph or two and now have to go back and reread the whole thing. You have experienced mental misdirection. misdirection. You are playing a game, such as cricket or  baseball, with your friends and two hours goes by like 15 minutes - that would be temporal misdirection. Misdirection comes in many forms that we deal with from day to day, but don’t take the time to consider that fact. Walking along, you hear a loud noise and immediately turn to see what it was. This is misdirection, as is when someone calls your name. name. You hear your  name and everyone who hears it who has the same name as you, looks. Misdirection. Misdirection. There are many more examples of misdirection in our day to day lives. The magician, however, makes a study of this basic principle. To overlook this ultimately important part of  our hobby is to overlook a very basic principle of magic. Sleight of hand and gimmicks make magic, misdirection makes magic powerful. Try this experiment: Right now, look at a picture on the wall. Do it, right now. Now you’ve come back to reading this article. How long did it take you to refocus on this article? How long did it take you to find your place? You’ll note that it took a second just to find your place and begin reading again. You were misdirected and now you are back, but for a second in time, you needed to refocus and find your place. You may think that this was no big deal, but if you spend some time considering what just happened, happened, you’ll realize that if you are doing a magic effect and you

need a second to make a move or manoeuvre unnoticed, what you have just learned is of  extreme importance. As an example, you are doing some close-up work with a deck of cards and you need to do a pass, which is not fully invisible. If the spectators look at the deck in your hands, they will see you make this manoeuvre, but it only takes you a second to pull it off. You need some misdirection, and you need it fast. So, what will work in this situation? A quick break in the action while you ask a question or make an observation would work. All you need to do is ask one of the spectators a question, they will reply and for the most part, the other spectators will look at the person replying, or you, while you ask your question. This can even be made stronger, using only the information that is in this article at this point in time. Rather than just ask a question, use the name of the spectator that you’ll be asking the question to, “Bill, have you ever seen a card trick like this before?” Using the name immediately draws Bill’s attention - you’ve used his name and by human nature, Bill is instantly drawn to look at you. Also, out of human nature, the other spectators are drawn to look at Bill while he answers this question. The specific name given to this (by Tommy Wonder) is “The Ricochet.” However, misdirection should not be overtly used. Misdirection needs to be subtle. In the example above, you ask Bill a question. That question needs to fit into the natural flow of your  routine. The question proposed in that example is a suggestion, but may not be the best way to go about using misdirection, depending on how the magician has built the routine. If the question comes straight out of the blue and there is no reason for it to exist, other than for  misdirectional purposes, then the spectators will feel, deep down, what you’ve done, which was to misdirect their attention. They may not know what has happened, but they will know in a deep and base way, that you’ve done something you shouldn’t have. Keep this consideration in mind at all times when building a routine and placing misdirection into that routine at key points. The misdirection, or direction of attention, must be logical for it to be effective and undetected by the spectators. Considering the above, we come to how to build misdirection into a routine. There are two schools of thought on this subject. The first, you can build your routine, identify the weak points, then add your misdirection to cover these spots afterwards. This will work, but it is not the strongest way to go about this. The second, you build in your misdirection as you build the routine. This is the stronger use of misdirection, as it becomes part of the fabric of your  routine, rather than a patchwork that you’ve added as an afterthought. Using the example above, with Bill, you realize that this part of the routine must be covered. Prior to figuring out where your routine is going, or adding in any parts beyond the pass that must be covered, you must think of a reason to stop at this point to inject the comment for misdirection’s sake. Should you decide to finish the work-up of your routine, then any comment that you add will be a patchwork, or an afterthought. By deciding to build in the misdirection right at the beginning, this comment will be logical to the effect that you are attempting and may just springboard your thoughts to a logical continuation of the effect based on the misdirectional statement. This will, of course, make for a stronger and more magical routine. In the next article, we shall dissect misdirection and its many forms. We will take an in depth look at what misdirection is and why it works. Eventually, we will get into how to use misdirection not as a misdirection, but rather as a direction and how to build it into your  routines, to make you a better magician and to make your magic as powerful as it can possibly be. There are several specific forms of misdirection, however. In the following section, we will endeavour to list several different forms and look at how they affect our routine. In fact, misdirection can make the difference between a trick and a miracle. 1. The Ricochet - This very powerful form of misdirection goes straight to the heart of the psychology of misdirection. Termed “The Ricochet” by Tommy Wonder, this is psychology at its finest. When dealing with spectators, there are several reasons to ask them their names and use those names while working with them. One reason is listed in “How to Win Friends and

Influence People,” by Dale Carnegie. It is explained, in that book, that the sweetest sound to someone’s ears is their own name. By using people’s names, you not only get them on your  side and help them to like you, but you also put them at ease. This is very important on several levels. When someone likes you and they are at ease, they are much more easily directed in the way that you desire. Influence, a form of mind control, is what you desire in any situation where you show magic as that is exactly what misdirection is - influence. The next thing that using someone’s name accomplishes is that it almost forces them to look at you while you address them directly. “Hey pal,” does not carry the force that “Excuse me, Bill,” does (assuming, of course, the spectator in question’s name is Bill). So, when covering up a special manoeuvre and you need a second or two, a question directed at Bill will immediately get him to make eye contact with you. He is at ease because you are using his name; he is on your side because he likes to hear his name used and he looks at you because you directly used his name in conjunction with a question. This, however, is not the ricochet itself. The ricochet occurs when the other spectators look at Bill as he answers your question. Their  attention is drawn to Bill as he answers you. This is the ricochet. It is deeply ingrained within the human psyche that when somebody is talking that they should be given attention. By putting the spot light on Bill, you have influenced the spectators to look at Bill while he answers you. Let’s assume for one minute, however, Bill’s greatest desire in life is to catch you doing your special manoeuvre - Bill only wants to see how you are accomplishing your  magic. Let’s further assume that Bill is with his girlfriend Joannie. Bill simply will not look up at you; his eyes won’t leave your hands. Here we will invoke the ricochet to misdirect Bill. You see, you will look at Joannie and ask, “Joannie, have you ever seen anything like this before?” Joannie will look at you as you ask your question, having used her name she is compelled to give you attention. Bill, hearing another man use Joannie’s name will be compelled to look at you out of curiosity and hearing another man use her name. Even if he still manages to keep his eyes on your hands, he will be overwhelmingly drawn to look at Joannie while she answers the question since the need to look at her is ingrained into Bill - this is his girlfriend, she is conversing with another man and she deserves Bill’s attention when she speaks. This is a very powerful tool. If this doesn’t work on Bill, don’t worry, there are still more techniques to use in misdirection. This only serves to show you one very powerful tool that you wield in your misdirectional arsenal. Always keep the ricochet in mind. 2. Entertainment - This sounds simple but is probably one of the most important parts of  misdirection that we can use. This not only runs on a psychological level, but on a biological level too. The fact of the matter is, when people are entertained they are at ease. Alright, maybe not all the time, since deeply emotional things can be entertaining but still not put an audience at ease, like a disturbing and scary movie, for example. However, as a general rule, entertainment comes in the form of having fun and enjoying oneself. On the psychological level of entertainment, we have something similar to the ricochet above. We’ve put our audience at ease through entertaining them and this opens them up to being properly directed by the entertainer. This feeling of ease is used by the magician to force the spectator’s attention to where it is desired. By using this feeling of being at ease, the astute magician will use this in conjunction with other powerful forces of misdirection, such as the ricochet. The audience, already at ease, is more susceptible to the effects of other misdirections. Which brings us to the biological factors of entertainment. Normally, when the performer is entertaining, he/she is evoking laughter. It cannot be denied that laughter causes powerful enzymes to be created by the brain – this is a biological fact and has been studied under  laboratory conditions. These enzymes, called endorphins, give the spectators an overall feeling of well being and this, in turn, helps them to like the performer. Once again, when the spectators are on your side, you’re using their names and you are entertaining them, they are much easier to lead along in the direction that you want to take them.

3. Temporal - This is a misdirection of time. Temporal misdirection comes in many forms, from the physical to the psychological. One of the most powerful of temporal misdirections is in the classic illusion, “Metamorphosis.” In this illusion, the magician and his assistant use temporal misdirection to make the impossible happen. Anyone familiar with the workings of this illusion will understand what is being explained. In this example the temporal misdirection is both psychological and physical. Another temporal misdirection is when the manoeuvre that the magician needs to make to get the magic to happen has already been done and the magician spends time building to the end of the trick. You are leading the spectators farther away from the actual manoeuvre and misdirecting them psychologically. The farther you get from the manoeuvre, the less are the chances that anyone will figure out the technique that made that magic happen. As an example, let’s look at a simple coin vanish. Using a French Drop, you pretend that you have the coin in your right hand while secreting it in the left. If you immediately show the right hand empty, attention will naturally go to your left hand since the coin must have gone somewhere. Rather than immediately showing the right hand empty, we will use temporal misdirection. The coin is now secreted in the left and the spectators believe that t he coin is in the right. Reaching into a pocket to pull out a wand, the magician leaves the coin behind. Then, explaining the use of the wand, the magician takes the spectators even farther away from the time of the sleight. The farther the magician gets away from that second when the sleight occurred the harder it will be for the spectator to realize that anything at all happened. The above may not be the most powerful of misdirection, but coupled with the next example of misdirection, it becomes very powerful… 4. Subtlety - Subtlety is a way of drawing attention without actually drawing attention. Sounds like a paradox, but it isn’t. Subtlety is proving something fair without actually saying, “As you can see, this is completely fair.” One example of a subtlety can be found in a cups and balls routine. While the human hand is capable of doing several things while secreting an object, as magicians well know, the general belief is that the human hand is only capable of doing one thing at a time. By using this misconception, we can point out that our hand is empty while using a wand wherein a ball is secreted. Using the wand in conjunction with a secreted item subtly tells the spectators that there is nothing in that hand, except the wand. Subtlety in conjunction with temporal misdirection would be something like this: Using the example above, the spectators believe the coin to be in the right hand. By using the Ramsay subtlety just prior to garnering the wand from your pocket you’ve proven that the left hand is empty in a very subtle way, prior to accessing your pocket. Now, the spectator has no reason to believe that you’ve done anything wrong and will not suspect the left hand when it goes into the pocket to retrieve the wand. Using temporal misdirection, you move their attention farther away from the point where you accessed the pocket and dropped off the coin. When you make the coin disappear, you’ve not only proved to them that your hand was empty prior to accessing your pocket, but you’ve moved them farther away from the time that the sleight was done. You’ve now taken a simple coin vanish and have come closer to a miracle. 5. Repetition - When something is done the same way, time and time again, the spectators come to expect that it will be done exactly the same way, every time. By using repetition, you draw off any suspicion of what you are doing. When you do a specific manoeuvre once, it may draw attention, when you do it the second time it may garner a passing glance but the third time it will go completely unnoticed simply because the spectators expect it and will pay it little, if any, attention.

As an example, when doing a double lift, if you’ve turned over every card prior to your double lift exactly the same way that you execute the double lift, it will always go unnoticed. Now, there are many ways of executing a double lift to make it look completely fair. However, no matter how fair the double lift may be, if you’ve flipped over any cards in a different way prior  to executing a double lift, you will immediately draw attention to the manoeuvre. Repetition is a very important thing to remember when putting together any routine. Using the coin vanish example above, if you’ve reached into your pocket earlier in your  presentation and used the wand, the repetition of going in to retrieve that wand, in conjunction with the Ramsay subtlety, will overwhelmingly go unnoticed by even the most discerning of  spectators. You’ve now moved from a puzzle (the coin vanish) to a near miracle (the coin vanish with subtlety and temporal misdirection) all the way to impossible miracle (subtle, temporal and repetitive misdirection) and, with entertainment added in you’ll have a real winner from something that started off as a mere coin vanish. Any time that you can use several forms of misdirection in conjunction with your routine, your magic just becomes more powerful and more convincing. We’ve taken the time to consider that misdirection is probably a misnomer of what we are actually doing, and that is directing attention and not misdirecting. This is an important consideration in the study of misdirection, which is why I am repeating it here. Never forget, you are not misdirecting attention, you are directing attention to where the magic happens and that is where your own attention belongs. You will not master this technique that is so important in our art until you believe in your own magic. When something disappears, you need to believe it yourself and you need to react to that vanish much the same as your  audience. This is a psychological subtlety and one that you are strongly advised to study, learn and use throughout your career as a magician. This really is the difference between strong magic and weak magic. If you have been following this article since the beginning, you will have noted that we have already discussed 5 important forms of misdirection. Of those 5, entertainment is really the strongest. Honestly, entertainment is the strongest of all the forms of misdirection and we will soon discuss more methods of misdirecting. However, you must stop to consider that entertainment is what paves the road for your audience to follow along with the magic that you are presenting. By entertaining your audience, you are taking them along for the ride. Think about the fact that misdirection happens naturally during entertainment and you don’t need anything overt to misdirect with. No, misdirection is a subtle thing and if you don’t use this powerful form of mind control subtly, you will never be anything more than a trickster. This point is driven home in a routine by The Amazing Jonathan. Jonathan holds up a spoon and explains that he will bend it with his mind. He begins to concentrate on the spoon, raising one eyebrow and bulging out one eye. He cocks his head and his mouth becomes taught, the audience can see, in a humorous fashion, that Jonathan is putting everything he has into making the spoon bend. Suddenly, from off to the side of the stage there is a big explosion with a boom and a flash. This explosion is almost impossible to ignore and the audience immediately turns to look. Jonathan seizes on this chance and openly bends the spoon with his other hand. By the time the audience looks back, the spoon is of course bent, the suggestion being that the spoon was bent with mind power but, unfortunately, the audience missed it. Jonathan explains that it took too much mind power to do and he can’t do it again, so they must take his word for the fact that the spoon bent by power of his mind. This is all in good humour, as Jonathan is a comedian first and a magician second. Nobody is fooled by this display, hence the comedy behind it. However, consider that when you openly misdirect attention, you are using the off stage explosion technique. The audience is misdirected, of course, but they will know that you used overt misdirection to get them to look away and did your dirty work in that instant. Don’t fool yourself into believing that just because you can make someone look away that they won’t know exactly what you’re doing. They will. So, you must entertain, you must lead them along and keep their attention on the entertainment to successfully use misdirection. It is in this that we see misdirection as

an art over a science, for the magician must artfully bring about the entertainment that gets the spectators to willingly follow of their own volition. That, dear readers, is the secret, right there, for you to read and use. When the spectators feel that they willingly are looking in the area that you want them to, they will not suspect any misdirection at all. When the spectators are forced to look in a certain spot, they will know what you did to them every time. Please, go back and reread that, it is the most important thing that you can learn from this column. 6. Prevarication - This is a term used by Tom Crone in his manual, “Misdirection for Close-up Magicians.” Prevarication is, quite literally, lying, or to deviate from the truth. This can be both a mental and/or physical misdirection that requires subtlety to properly use. In prevarication, we are telling our audience that specific conditions exist when, in fact, they don’t. As an example, using prevarication, we wish to point out that we have no more than three coins when we actually have four. Overtly used, the magician would say, “I have three coins.” This is very poor. Rather, in the form of explanation, the magician should say, “These three coins were handed down to me by my great grandfather.” That is subtle prevarication. You’ve pointed out that you only have three coins without actually stating that you only have three coins, and either way you go, you are lying. Prevarication in the above example is a mental misdirection. In misdirection, there are two ways to go – mental and physical. As was mentioned earlier, there is repetition of action as misdirection, which would be a physical example of misdirection. However, prevarication can fall into the form of physical misdirection also and, once again, requires subtlety to use properly. As an example of using prevarication both physically and mentally, we shall add on to the example above. After using the mental prevarication as in the example, we shall follow it directly with physical prevarication. Ordinarily called a “shuttle pass,” after drawing attention mentally to the fact that you have three coins, let’s assume that those three coins are sitting on your left hand with one hidden in your right. You show those three coins to the spectators on your left and, while in the middle of saying, “These three coins were handed down to me by my great grandfather,” you swap the coins from the left hand to the right, holding one back in your left hand, and display the coins openly on your right hand (which, by holding one back, you now have 3 coins sitting on your right hand). This is a physical prevarication because you have shown exactly three coins but the prevarication is that only three coins exist, which, in fact, there are four. Subtle, but effective. 7. Eye Movement - Time and time again, you have probably been told that the audience looks where you look. There is a reason you’ve heard this so many times - it’s true! When you want the audience to look in a certain place, you must also pay attention to that place. This is a terrifically subtle misdirection. This can go back to the ricochet, discussed earlier, in that when you speak to someone, you look at them. Of course, they look back at you and maintain eye contact. This is a natural thing to do. Never forget the power of eye contact with your  spectators, but also pay attention to the fact that their attention follows your attention. Where you look, they look. If you follow the hand that is empty, while the other is dirty, then so will your spectators. If you follow the dirty hand trying to get the spectators to follow the area that you are trying to misdirect them to, give it up, t hey won’t. Once again, we go back to entertainment and the need for your attention to follow, naturally, along with where the spectator’s attention must be placed. You can use the “off stage explosion” technique to get their attention away from yours, but you will not be a magician by so doing. No, you must use your attention to follow the area where the spectator’s attention belongs. It is in this form of misdirection that we see the extreme importance of practicing our  craft. If you cannot palm that item perfectly, without concentrating on it, then this form of  misdirection will fall flat. You must concentrate on the area that your spectators are to concentrate, or you will lead them away from where their attention belongs - which is exactly where your attention belongs and not on the palmed object.

8. Hand Movement - The eye follows the movement, or the action. The hands must always have purpose and meaning. Consider coming up to a light at an intersection. The cars that are stationary take up none of your concentration. However, as you prepare to go through that intersection, if a car begins moving to your left or right, it immediately garners your  attention, even though it may be in your peripheral vision. The same for the hands when performing magic to the spectators. The hands must always be held in a natural manner, even when palming - especially  when palming. If you just made a false transfer, the hand that draws the attention is the hand that moves. There can also be a diffusing of attention. As an example, both hands move simultaneously. The attention can only go to one hand. So, you’ve made the false transfer and you want to move both hands at the same time, one drops to your side (the dirty hand) and the other is brought to centre stage in front of you. First, of course, we must consider eye movement your attention should be on the hand that you want the spectators to follow (and that ain’t the dirty hand!). So, you follow the clean hand. If you’ve done your false transfer properly, then the audience will give attention to the clean hand automatically. In that, you add your attention which strengthens that misdirectional manoeuvring. When the dirty hand hits your side, then you allow it to swing (which actually goes back to repetition of movement because the hand dropped to the side will naturally swing, which is repetition of natural movement). Your  attention on the clean hand takes the attention off of the dirty hand, combined with repetition of movement, lightly salted with prevarication added to entertainment and you’ve got the makings of a miracle when that object disappears. But, keep in mind, if you simply make the object disappear, you will need to draw attention elsewhere, or the audience will immediately begin looking for where that object went to and, of course, the only place that it can lead them is to your other hand. We have touched on the fact that misdirection can be built into the routine as an afterthought, which is the most common way of using misdirection. The magician has his/her routine all set up then goes back and looks at the different areas where he/she must take attention off of the secret manoeuvres. At this point, he/she begins to put misdirection into the effect, so that heat is taken from the secret manoeuvre and placed elsewhere. In the various techniques on misdirection that we’ve discussed, you’ll find that you can use several of them together to achieve this “after thought” way of misdirecting attention. However, there is a more powerful way of using misdirection and, while it won’t be easy at first (and will never be as easy as the “after thought” technique), you’ll find that this other way will make your magic so much more amazing. The most powerful way of using misdirection is to build that misdirection into your routine or  effect right from the beginning. Slydini has spoken of magic as being like a piece of woven cloth. Misdirection is one of those threads that runs through the cloth. If you weave a handkerchief, then go back and fix any problems with it, you will not have as beautiful a piece of cloth as you would have you woven it correctly from the start. So, too, with misdirection in magic, it must be woven in as part of the cloth, rather than something to go back and fix the holes with later on. Before we get into that, we need just two more specific tools, another two techniques of  misdirection, which will weigh heavily in the method of using misdirection as a part of your  routine or effect as you “weave” it. These are numbers 9 and 10 in our misdirection technique tool chest. 9. Control of Interest - You must give the spectators something of interest to take away their  desire to look where you don’t want them to. Sounds like a no-brainer, but this is so often overlooked. A person is going to look where ever their attention takes them, if you do not control that attention, then you cannot get them to look where you want. You must offer them something of greater interest than the area where your secret manoeuvre is taking place. If  you are palming an object and both hands appear empty, then both hands are of equal interest. You obviously want the eyes on the hand that is honestly empty, so you should fill that hand with something - be it a piece of paper, a cup, a pencil, whatever, just make your 

clean hand more interesting than your dirty hand. If you really want their attention somewhere else, other than your dirty hand, you must offer them something of greater interest. This is where building misdirection into a routine as you go along, rather than as an after  thought, begins to take shape. As you build your routine or effect, consider right from the start that you need to offer something of greater interest. Now, understand that you can use subtlety, as in number 4 found in as a way of showing the hand empty. In other words, by offering something of interest to pull the attention to the dirty hand as a subtle way of showing the hand empty will be a powerful tool, but will it work the way you want it to with the routine or effect at hand? Now is the time to figure this question out, not once you’ve completed the effect. What this will garner for you is a logical reason to do everything that you do. This misdirection that you are building in will give you reasons to go to the next point of the effect or routine. If it comes as an after thought, it may not logically or psychologically fit into the effect or routine. Still, you need it there, so you will use it and all the while your audience will pick up on this discrepancy, even though they may not even realize that they’ve picked up on it. What happens is that your magic will be viewed as a trick, rather than magic. This is something that, I hope, you want to avoid. That is the power of building in misdirection while you piece together your routine or effect. It gives reason to your movements; it is built into the fabric of your effect. Of course, you will want to use the other misdirectional techniques if you can at this point, to strengthen this even further. You must work on this, just as you’d work on creating your effect or routine. When given the proper tools, you will be able to make up a routine or effect and now you have tools for misdirection, which you will build, simultaneously, into your effect along with the sleights that you use to build the effect itself. As I said, this will be hard at first, but this will serve to take you from the level of a good magician to an exceptional magician. The next technique, also important to understand while putting your routine together, helps you to build your misdirection into your routine as you go. In fact, this is terribly important in your overall effect, regardless of it’s misdirectional uses. 10. Continuous Direction - This is a story telling device and is used in every theatrical production worth the time to watch. You must, absolutely, give continuous direction as you work your effect or routine. It is your job to take your spectators on a journey through your  magical realm. It is your job to keep them on the path so that they don’t get lost in the woods. A poorly directed theatrical production will find its audience’s attention going off in different directions, considering this or pondering that, while the story is being told. Do not let your  audience drift like that. You must highlight the important parts of the effect that you are creating. Using #9 above to give interest where you want it, you must also build these highlights into the effect or routine. Given thought, you will realize that to build the effect or routine, then go back in hindsight and add these two important factors into the effect or routine, simply will not work. Taking both #9 and #10 into account as you build your effect or routine will elevate your work to a whole new level. Magic, and I mean real magic, is not easy. The consideration of numbers 9 and 10 above serve to show that a good effect or routine isn’t something that you simply come upon. You must spend the time and effort to build your effect or routine with all the power that you reasonably can. Do you want to be a magician, or do you desire to simply trick your  audience? I am giving you the tools to make you a magician, but it is your choice as to whether or not you will use the tools given you and spend the time and effort to elevate your  magic to the level that it really deserves. The choice is yours. Just to recap, we have discussed 10 different points of misdirection. They are as follows: 1) The Ricochet  2) Entertainment 

3) Temporal  4) Subtlety  5) Repetition 6) Prevarication 7) Eye Movement  8) Hand Movement  9) Control of Interest  10) Continuous Direction Consider your magic as it pertains to your routines. I want you to consider everything in your  routines that you feel is weak, whether it is a spot that doesn’t smoothly flow to the next or a part that you feel is weak in the story telling. Use those thoughts, in conjunction with all of the information that I’ve given you and consider where you can use this set of columns to strengthen those weak spots. Not only that, but I give you a challenge. Take your routines apart, write them down on paper so that you can read your routine, beginning to end and annotate that routine. Reconstruct the entire thing using the pointers given throughout this article to strengthen that routine. If you don’t feel that what you’ve read can be applied, then I’ll give you your money back. Let’s have a look at another form of misdirection, but one that should be used in small doses. 11) The Mix Up - Called the “Wrong-Leg Technique” by Tommy Wonder, this form of  misdirection relies on the performer to tell the audience that one thing will happen, when, in fact, something else does. A good example of this is the old “Salt Shaker Through the Table” bit. You place a coin on the table and tell the spectators you’re going to make it penetrate the table. You then place a napkin over a salt shaker and slam your hand down onto the salt shaker (placed over the coin) and the salt shaker penetrates while the coin remains in place. Most all magicians know this old shtick. This is the mix up. You say one thing will happen, and while the spectators are watching closely, you are able to do your dirty work unnoticed. This is a very powerful technique, but, once again, it must be done in very small doses. If you abuse this technique, you will find that your audience will quit watching where you want them to and begin watching everything else. You will lose their trust. To take the sting out of this technique, a good thing to do is act like you had not intended such a thing to begin with. When the salt shaker penetrates the table, do not take credit for it - act as surprised about it as the audience will be. In this way, you look innocent as to what happened (even though, deep down, the spectators will know you did it on purpose) and the sting of blatantly lying will be taken away from your audience. Another form of this misdirection can be used in a top change. You’ll find that if you are going to physically change a card, you can claim that it will be the spectator’s card that changes. All eyes will be on the card that you claimed will change and will give you great leverage as to what can be done with the card that will really change - the one in your hand. Again, though, you don’t want to abuse this very powerful form of misdirection. Use it sparingly, keep it in mind when you have something that is very difficult to pull off  (again, while putting together your routine, rather than waiting until the end and putting it in as an after though), and it will always come through for you in a pinch. Tommy Wonder talks about the “Chain of Shadows.” These are areas in your routine that naturally create spots where misdirection is automatic. If you have your routine written down on paper, you can easily spot these areas and use them. By using these “shadow” areas, you are keeping your misdirection to the point of your routine. As I’ve stated, the best you can hope to accomplish is to build your misdirection into your routine right from the beginning, rather than as an afterthought. Because these spots are built right into your routine from the beginning, you should pay special attention to these shadow areas that are naturally built into your routine, without the need to create them. These are strong areas of misdirection, since it is a natural spot of direction in your routine and not placed there by device. Learn to f ind them and start using them (go over the list of misdirectional techniques above and find the spots in your routine that have these techniques built in, without having actually put them in yourself).