Psychic Pselections

Psychic
Pselections

John Riggs
Mentalism routines you’re gonna love

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 Psychic Pselections

Copyright 2004 by John Riggs. All rights reserved.

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Introduction
When I was five years old or so, I remember
watching the great Mystery Entertainers on
television -- magicians, mindreaders, psychics,
wizards, People Who Did Extraordinary Things --
MAGICKAL people. I was, in a word, enthralled.
I knew that I had found my path. I wanted to make
others feel what I was feeling: delight, wonderment,
awe. A feeling that the world was a magical,
miraculous place.
I've been a mystery entertainer for most of my
life. I've practiced, struggled to perfect my skills, learned to do things with
my hands, my mind, my body, my bodily FUNCTIONS even, that are
almost miraculous. I've shared these abilities with the world, professionally,
since around 1978 or so.
I'm going to be 44 this year. If I could travel back in time, and talk to
that wee lad sitting in front of that television, watching The Magical Land of
Alakazam, watching Dunninger and Kreskin read the minds of incredulous
audiences, that little boy already planning to set the world on fire with his
own magic, What would I tell him?
Would I say to him, “Look kid -- by the time you grow up the world
won't need magicians. They'll abandon magic for reason, for prepackaged
answers to life's riddles and dry, bottom-line rationality. You won't inspire
wonder. You won't change lives. You'll be a momentary diversion at a
cocktail party.
“And the problem is, you're sensitive; you CARE about what people
think. You're not arrogant or self-centered enough to say ‘screw
'em.’ People will say mean things, snide things; they'll blow you off, they
will treat your magic, your wonderful magic that took you years to perfect,
like a mildly-amusing joke. Oh, you'll make money; your peers will
recognize you, but you will fail utterly at your primary goal. And this failure
will haunt you.

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“Furthermore, you will live to see your beloved craft, whose secrets
you swore to protect with your life, sold on the internet to anyone with a
search engine and a credit card. Worse, self-styled guardians of public
morality, missionary-magicians, members of Skeptic cults, failed
entertainers, will expose the closely-guarded secrets of the mentalists on
public television at the drop of a dime.”
Would I go on to say to that child, who dreams of inspiring the world
to believe in magic, “Go on and follow through with your Plan B. Get your
PhD, get a job teaching at a college. You'll have a career, respect, a saucy
co-ed now and again to play with, and you can even have your beloved
magic as a hobby when you retire. That's the safe way. Believe me, kid, it
will hurt a whole lot less if you do that.”
If I could travel back in time, in a miraculous machine or even in
spirit, would I whisper all this to that child, that young boy sitting in rapt
attention, eyes aglow as he dreams of following in the footsteps of the Great
Mystery Entertainers?
Would I?
WOULD I?

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Millennial Prediction

This is another variation on a number addition/

prediction effect that has a long history in mentalism
literature. Originally a lightning-calculation effect
by Will Dexter and Frederick Lowe, many variations
of the original concept have appeared in print.
Probably the person with the most variations to his
credit is Larry Becker, the incredibly prolific creator
whose Sum Total and all of its variations are well-
known to most mentalists. David Harkey has a
couple of workings with the instructions of his Pocket Cache, and Richard
Osterlind has contributed a few of his own, most notably Sum Total Radio.
I’ve toyed with the premise off and on for years, explaining one handling in
Psychic Soirees.
Here’s another one that I’ve been using for a while, that packs a very
solid punch and incorporates a handling that is so clean, fair and above-
board that it meets all of my requirements for a stainless methodology.

What the Audience sees:

“I need someone to come up and act as scorekeeper – you sir, you’re
perfect! Just come on up and don’t step on anyone.”
The performer hands the audience helper a red marker and then holds
up a 2’ x 4’ piece of posterboard. Near one corner of the board, we see a
large bulldog clip, holding a folded, bright-pink index card. Calling
attention to this card, the performer says, “On that card are some thoughts
that I recorded earlier. These thoughts may have some significance on
what’s about to follow, maybe not. We’ll see. But for now, we need to
construct a target number – a six-digit target number. One in a hundred
thousand.”
To the audience helper: “You’re in charge of the marker, okay? Good,
take this marker and I’ll hold this board. You’re in charge, point to anyone
in the audience.”

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The person stands up and the performer says, “I would like you to take
a deep breath and listen to me very carefully … ‘Mary had a little lamb …
its fleece was white as snow … and ever where that Mary went … the lamb
was SCARED to go. NOW! Give me a number between, oh, 120 and 200.
You can take your time; let the number float up into your mind. What’s the
first digit .. the second … the third … Write those down, my friend. Now,
point to another person.”
The second person stands up. “Listen to me carefully. ‘Rock a bye
baby, near the shore’s edge, when the tide comes, the baby will cringe.’
Now, give me any three-digit number greater than 200, since that was his
range. Take a deep breath; relax your mind, what’s the first digit … the
second … the third … thank you! Write those down!”
The nursery rhymes and bromides are little mind games I play, sort of
in a Hannibal Lechter manner, and is a bit creepy. The idea is that I’m
somehow causing an altered state of mind.
The performer holds the board perfectly still while the audience
participant records single digit numbers that the audience calls out. This is
continued until a six-digit number is constructed along the top edge of the
board, in red marker, entirely of single-digit numbers supplied by the
audience.
Once again, the performer calls attention to the clip. “Now we have to
see if this makes any sense.” He removes the folded card and hands it to the
helper, who opens it up.
“What’s on it?” the performer asks.
“A whole bunch of numbers,” the helper responds.
“Are they the same numbers we have up here?”
“Uh, no …”
“Let me see …”
The performer looks at the card and smiles. A light goes on in his
mind! “Ah, this is a math problem! This is a column of four, five-digit
numbers. I was trying to solve this last night and couldn’t figure it out. Let’s
see if we can make sense of this.” The card is clipped back to the board in
an open position, so that the helper can see the column of numbers.

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The performer hands the helper a black pen. “Please write these out
so that everyone can see them.”
The chap complies while the performer helpfully holds the board, and
the audience sees that there are indeed four five-digit numbers in a column.
“Now, let’s add them up,” says the performer, “And all of you out
there help me and make sure I don’t make any mistakes. Eight and five are
thirteen, and eight makes twenty-one, um, hmm … and two is twenty-three.
Write down the ‘3’ and carry the ‘2…’” About right now the audience
realizes that this matches the last digit in the predicted number (which,
you’ll recall, is written in red at the top of the board).
As each column is added and each number matches the red target
number, the performer becomes more and more excited. Audience reaction
builds. When it’s seen that all six digits match, it’s a beautiful moment!

Method:
In my opinion, this is the strongest version yet of this effect. All other
versions suffered — in my opinion – from one flaw or other. For example,
many versions required that you miscall the column of numbers, or that you
load the double-written paper into a wallet or envelope, or there lacked a
clear, definitive “I didn’t have anything to do with it” presentational motif.
Not to mention that tallying up numbers can be slow. But if you build
up the revelation of each digit as a separate dramatic entity, the energy
builds until you circle the last digit triumphantly and the audience can’t help
but be caught up in the excitement.
Notice that in this presentation, the performer can’t be doing anything:
his hands are in plain view holding the board. He can’t be up to anything
sneaky…can he?
Well…
There are four separate pieces of deception at work here:
• The mathematical principle that makes the trick work
• The Ostin Bulldog Clip
• Swami Writing

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• A secret pocket on
the back of the posterboard,
cleverly disguised as price
sticker.

(1) On the card, in three of the

quadrants, write the following
numbers:

52, 135
32,368
26,608

These three numbers add up to 111,111. This is the secret that makes
the trick work. When the audience calls out numbers later, you will
mentally subtract ‘1’ from each digit and record them in order on the folded
card with your Swami writer. This will construct the necessary fourth five-
digit number. More on this fascinating principle later.
Fold the card so that the numbers are on the outside. I know that this
will drive you crazy, but neither the audience – nor the helper – will give a
hoot. When you insert the card into the pocket, the blank field will be
outermost, so you can Swami write on it.
(2) As you should know, the Ostin clip is a metal bulldog clip fitted
with a rubber band that slips around a piece of folded index card. When the
card is pulled out and the clip closed, it holds the card in place. When the
clip is opened, the card is pulled back into the clip. This setup is clipped to
the top of the board near the left (audience’s left) top edge. As an added
convincer, write one of your numbers on the fake card in your Ostin clip.
(3) You have to be proficient at Swami writing (often called Nail
writing or Thumbwriting) to perform this routine. Neophyte mentalists are
forever asking “What is the easiest nailwriter to use?” and “What is the
quickest way to learn nailwriting?” The answers are: “Find ONE Swami
writer and practice, practice, practice for about a year, and (2) “There is no
easy way, find one Swami writer and practice, practice, practice for about a
year.” It surprises me that fledgling mentalists think that such a

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fundamental and pivotal skill

should be easy. It takes a lot of
work. However, I have a DVD
lecture called Psecret Writings
that can help ease the learning
curve a bit, available through
me.
(4) To make the fake price
sticker/pocket, print a barcode
on a piece of paper and stick it
along the bottom and two side
edges on the board. For your
convenience, I’ve included a
template that you can copy and
cut out.
You must leave room in the pocket to hold a 3x5 file card folded in
fourths. Use a strong glue, too.
I use double-stick tape. The
folded card goes into the Figure 1
pocket folded edge down.
Where you stick the
pocket depends on you. You
have to reach it comfortably
with your Swami while
apparently innocently holding
the board in place for your
audience helper. (See Figure
1)
With the sticker/pocket
in place, load the folded card,
blank quadrant facing outward,
firmly into place. The Ostin
clip, with the folded fake card
extended, is clipped near the
right top edge of the board as

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you would be looking at it from the rear.

Place the posterboard aside until needed.
In your right coat pocket (assuming you’re right-handed) place the red
and the black marker. It’s useful if you can tell them apart by feel. I wrap a
small rubber band around the black marker and that’s all it takes. Also in
this pocket is TWO swami gimmicks. I prefer a Boon style writer, with a
medium-strong adhesive. You should be proficient in putting it on with one
hand. If you use an undernail or band style writer (or ANY style Swami
gimmick) the same applies – you have to be able to get it on and off fairly
quickly with one hand.
So why TWO writers? Well, it’s easier to find one of two gimmicks
than trying to fish around for a single gimmick. Furthermore, if you drop it,
or break the lead, believe me – you want a backup handy.
Okay, so now everything is in position for performance. Grip the
board with your left hand near the left edge and reach in your right jacket
pocket as you’re talking to the audience. The board provides a great screen
if you need to fumble around to get the Swami gimmick into place. At any
rate, when you finally get it on, remove the red marker and elect an audience
member to come forward to help you out. Pass the board to your right hand
and take the pen in your left. This hides the Swami gimmick and you can
pass the pen to the audience helper. As soon as he takes the pen, re-grip the
board with your left hand and assume what we will call the Master Position.

The Selection of the Numbe rs

Now, you’ll allow audience members to call out the apparently free
choice of numbers that will make up the prediction total. As you’ll recall,
the first number has to fall between 120 – 200 It cannot be inclusive; it
MUST fall between these two numbers. You have a choice here on how to
ensure this. You can either have the audience member call out a single,
three-digit number that falls within that range (“I’ll give you one, and only
one clue: The number of which I’m thinking is between 120 and 200”), or
you can have three single-digit numbers called out, as long as the second
number they call out is greater than 1. I’ve found that it always is; nobody
ever says “1” when offered a choice between 1-9. If they ever did, I would

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Figure 2:
Showing how you Swami write the numbers
onto the folded card in the Secret Pocket!

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tell them, “Between 1 and 9, please.”

The six numbers can be called out by six separate audience members,
but I’ve found that this takes too long. I far prefer to limit it to two
members, three numbers each.
The second number is a three-digit number between 200 and (as I like
to say) infinity. Actually, of course, it only goes to 999. So allow your
second audience member to call out his or her numbers one at a time, and
these are dutifully recorded in red ink along the top edge of the posterboard.,
continuing the number started by the first audience member The only
restriction is that the first digit of this second number cannot be 1, so if you
choose to have the audience call out numbers one by one, control them so
they do not call out “1” as the first number.
Now, what have you been doing while the audience members are
calling out these numbers? You mentally subtract “1” from each one and
Swami the result onto the blank quadrant of the card as sown in Figure 2.
From the front, it appears as though you’re doing nothing more strenuous
than acting as a human easel. Near the back of the room, however, your
fellow mentalists are giving you a standing ovation. By the way, since the
first digit of the audience-created prediction is always “1” (since it falls
between 120-200, duh), you don’t have to Swami in the “0,” Braniac.
For example, if your first audience member calls out, “135,” you
would Swami “24,” and put a comma. When the second audience member
calls out, say, “468,” you complete the simple subtraction and Swami in
“357.” This creates the five-digit number “24,357.”
Now, let’s test this and see if it works.
The audience created the prediction number “135,468,” which is
written in red at the top. You’ve Swami’ed in your number “24,357” onto
the blank quadrant of the card which already contains the Master numbers:

52, 135
32,368
26,608

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Which now will look like this:

52, 135
32,368
26,608
24,357

And if you add these up, you will arrive at the audience’s number:
135, 468!
Now all that remains is to dump the Swami and switch out the dummy
card for the one with our sweet, sweet numbers … this turns out to be a
piece of cake every bit as sweet as the payoff.
Loosen the card from the pocket as much as you can without risking
the danger of it dropping out. Reach into your pocket with your right hand,
drop the Swami and remove the black pen. Pass it to the left hand and regrip
the board with your right hand. Work the folded card loose with your right
thumb and draw it toward a right fingerpalm position. With your left hand,
take the red pen from your helper and pass it to your right hand, which helps
hide the fingerpalmed card. Quickly drop the pen in your pocket, making it
obvious without saying so that you can’t be taking anything from the pocket.
Ask the participant to hold the board for a second as you open the clip
with your left hand. Your right hand comes up to meet the opening clip and
apparently removes the folded card. Actually, the Ostin clip sucks the fake
card into its jaws and the palmed card – with your numbers on it – comes
into view. Otherwise, your hands are fair and empty, and you should make
the most of this fact. Open the card, and reclip it on the board so that the
column of numbers is visible to your helper.
Now you, the ever-helpful Human Easel, regrip the board so that your
scribe can write the four five-digit numbers in a column for easy addition.
When the audience sees each row of figures add up to match the
number they created, it’s a beautiful and powerful moment!

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The Hour of My
Grandfather’s Death

This is an eerie little tale that I like to reserve

for Halloween shows, or any other occasion
where I need an extra little chill factor.
I begin by removing a handkerchief-wrapped
bundle from my pocket, which I handle with
some reverence. “This is a relic from my
grandfather, a family heirloom,” I say. I
unwrap the bundle to reveal an old wristwatch. “My grandfather wore this
wristwatch for years. In fact, he wore it on his deathbed. In fact, he wore it
up to the time he died. And do you know – as quite often happens – the very
moment the old fellow’s heart ceased to beat – the moment that he breathed
his last breath -- the watch ceased to tick. The hands of the watch
STOPPED,” I pause for a dramatic three-count, “… recording forever the
very hour, minute and second of the old chap’s last moment on earth.”
“As a matter of fact, tonight is the twentieth anniversary of my
grandfather’s death. Do you imagine that it would be possible for his spirit
to reach out from beyond the veil to connect with us tonight, to produce a
remarkable event? Perhaps? Let’s try something. Sir--” I point to a young
chap near the back “—Please stand up, and imagine a clock, the hour hand
spinning, spinning. Now it stops, sometime in the wee hours of the night.
What time does it stop. Just the hour please.”
We will suppose he says, for example, “Three o’clock.”
“Thank you, you may sit down. Young madam, would you stand up,
and imagine a clock, and the minute hand spins and spins, and then it slows,
and finally stops. How many minutes past three AM does it stop?”
We’ll assume she says fifteen minutes after three AM.
“Now, ladies and gentlemen, imagine my grandfather, at the end of his
life, as his breath slows down, his heartbeat dwindling to a stop – tap – tap –
tap – and the hands of the watch slow down in perfect timing, finally

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stopping.” I approach an audience member near the center aisle and hand
him the watch. “Sir, tell everyone. What time did the watch stop?”
He says, “Three fifteen.”
At this point, there’s usually a very strong reaction. I go on to say,
“However, I don’t expect you to take my word for it.” I reach into my pocket
and remove a faded piece of paper. “I have my grandfather’s death
certificate. Sir, please read aloud the day and time of my grandfather’s
death.”
He reads aloud today’s date (twelve years ago, of course), and the
predicted time. Man is it strong!

Method(s):
This breaks down into two effects. The time prediction effect is just a
framing for the Watch and Wear, Time Machine, or Perfect Time
watches. You’ll note I’ve incorporated a verbal subtlety in the hour
selection. I say that my grandfather died in the “wee hours of the morning.”
This almost always prompts a time between 4 – 6 AM.
If you begin with the hour hand in the 12 o’clock position, you have
plenty of time to let it spin to the called-for hour time while you’re asking
for the minute selection. Then you talk about the old party’s heart tapping
out while the minute hand is stepping into position.
By the way, until you develop skill with those watches, it’s easy to
overshoot the minute hand by a few tics. If you feel less than confident in
your ability to hit the mark every time, Hedge your bet by saying that you’ll
consider it remarkable if the audience participant can guess the time within
five minutes. This, of course, gives you an eleven-minute leeway.
The second effect involves the death certificate, a copy of which is
included for your use. Make as many copies as you like and age them by
soaking them in hot tea and laying them on towels in the sun to dry. Or use
light brown Kiwi shoe polish, or any other antiquing method favored by
Bizarrists.
Fill out the death certificate with your favorite family decedent (my
fictional grandpappy is Alphonse Saint-Germain). Use pencil or whatever

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medium matches your SWAMI GIMMICK. Fill out all the information,
including the date of the performance, but leave the hour and minute blank.
Fold the death certificate so that the blank hour and minute area will
be easily accessible to your nimble thumb when you remove it from your
pocket later. Fill in the hour and minute with your Swami Gimmick and
you’re all set for a bone-chilling climax.

The Center Tear

– An Almost Perfect Ploy
Much thought has been expended on the center tear –
mostly “centered” on explaining or justifying the
tearing procedure. Mentalists are forever coming up
with visualizations to go along with the tearing
procedure. These are:
“Imagine your bad habit evaporating into the
atmosphere.”
“Mentally break your word into pieces, just as I’m
doing this paper.”
“Well, we don’t need THIS anymore.”
I’ve been as guilty of this as anybody. I think the reason we do this is
because we feel guilty as hell and self-conscious of the tearing procedure.
Why is this?
Because it’s been exposed a lot, of course. We’re afraid we’ll get
caught.
But mentalists are a resourceful lot, always staying one step ahead of
the pack. Beginning with Al Baker and continuing through Bruce Bernstein,
Richard Osterlind and Even Ed Marlo, mentalists began developing methods
where the information is peeked as the billet is torn.

The Problem with Instant-Peek Methods:

To combat this problem of overexposure, the procedure of opening the

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center step-by-step as it is torn came into being.

It’s a very clever an elegant solution, and I recall spending countless
hours and thousands of 3x3 note slips learning both the Bernstein and
Osterlind methods. To see Bernstein or Osterlind perform their methods is a
thing of beauty. However, I could never reach a comfort level with either
handlings. That moment – that essential moment – where you have to grab
the peek was always a problem for me. For a long time I couldn’t quite
understand why. When I watched other mentalists perform the tears, I
flashed on the reason: I didn’t want to ever look at the billet.
After all, my impressions are supposed to be psychic. When I perform
readings, I frequently look at the middle distance. Looking at the paper at
any time felt odd to me, especially since I sometimes required more than the
bare split-second provided to glimpse the info. I like to take my time
deciphering a participant’s sometimes cryptic handwriting.
I wanted something like the original handling described by Annemann
in his release Ne Plus Ultra message reading: Steal the center, unfold it, read
it after the billet is long vanished from the participant’s mind.
Al Koran had a great solution that I used for a while. He cut a
rectangular hole in a matchbox. You unfolded the stolen center and fed it
into the hole, then read it as you removed a match from the matchbox. This
is great if you smoke (which I don’t) or worked in venues where you could
burn things (which I seldom do). Anyway, by 1986 or so I had to abandon
the method. It just wasn’t natural for me to carry a box of matches.
As a side note, there are a lot of me thods for reading that stolen center
in JG Thompson JR’s Centermental. None of them appealed to me, which
is why I’m adding yet another method to the mix.
The original, unblemished, unadorned center tear is a wonderful,
almost perfect tool. Is there any way we can save it?
Yes, I think so. But first, let’s discuss how we get the stolen center in
such a way that the participant doesn’t think about it at all.

The OOPS Maneuver:

Remove a piece of paper and have the participant write down any

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word or thought to use as a target. There are far too many books and videos
on various presentational approaches to determine exactly WHAT you want
the participant to write for me to describe them. No doubt you have your
own favorite.
After the word is written, have the participant fold the paper into
fourths. Actually, it doesn’t matter how many times the paper is folded, as
you have lots of opportunity to get it into the “Pre-tear” condition when you
need it.
Retrieve the paper and from this point on, DO NOT LOOK AT IT.
Perform the following gambit: “I’d like you to visualize your thought
in big, bright letters, like neon chalk on a chalkboard . . . just like when you
were in school, standing before the classroom trying to solve a difficult
problem, or spelling a complicated word . . . I think I’m getting something …
is the second letter round?”
Actually, you have no idea about the word at this point, you’re just
creating the impression that you’re already connecting with their thoughts.
This also sets you up for the OOPS Maneuver.
If they agree that the second letter is round, try to guess the first letter.
I usually say, “And the second letter is ‘S?’”
All this time you fondle and crumple the billet. You don’t want it to
be pristine and special. It’s just a wad of paper. Don’t wad it too tightly;
just rumple it a little. This will help you later.
I keep guessing letters until I get a “No.” This sometimes happens on
the first letter, but you’d be surprised how many letters you can guess
sometimes, especially if the hidden info is a person’s name.
Anyway, as soon as you get a “No,” you look surprised and
embarrassed. Grin a little bit. Don’t overdo this. I use what actors call a
“silent script.” A silent script is what you think in your head in reaction to
what’s going on around you.
A silent script provides realistic reactions. In this case, my
silent script is, “OOPS. I screwed up!” I don’t say this out loud; I just think
it.
Again, without looking at the paper, tear it up and hold the pieces in

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your right hand, with the center

piece under your thumb, as shown
to the left. ALL your
concentration should be on your
participant.
Say, “Let’s go to Plan ‘B.’
Imagine your word written in
black letters on a white wall, and
then a red ball comes along and
bounces along the letters at
random …” You can use
whatever visualization you like
here, just make sure while you do
it you gesture with your hands – especially the one holding the torn bits.
Pull the center piece a little further into your hand so you can pass the
(for lack of a better phrase) non-center pieces into your left hand. You retain
the stolen center loosely between your thumb and first two fingers. Watch
your angles and this is totally invisible to audience participants.
You’re now into position to unfold the center and read it.

Unfolding the Torn Center.

Some of the old mentalism books tell you to use the Umbrella Move
to pop open a torn center. Right … if you’re spending twenty years in a
federal penitentiary and have lots of time on your hands, you can TRY to
learn to do the Umbrella Move with the ragged edges of a piece of paper.
We WILL use my variation of it a little later on with a billet, but
that’s a different story.
For the stolen center, I prefer the following, very easy procedure:
Remember that you fondled and crumpled the billet earlier on, while
receiving impressions? This softened the billet just a bit. You’ll find that
it’s easy to ‘smear” the stolen center halfway open by pulling with your
thumb and pushing with your fingers, as shown on the first illustration on
the next page.

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You then smear it the rest of the

way open by pushing with your
thumb and fingers in the
necessary direction, as shown in
the second illustraton.
Of course, this latter action has to
be performed under some kind of
cover, or it would be obvious.
Often, all you need to do is drop
your hand to your side, or — and
I know you’re going to find this
difficult to believe until you
actually try it for yourselves —
do it as you put the torn pieces
away in your pocket!
Okay, that last might be a little
bold for you, although I assure
you that I get away with it quite
a bit. So, here’s another option:
Place the torn bits in the left
hand, holding out the stolen
center. Talk for a few moments,
then reach into your pocket for a
notebook or pen, performing the
“smear.”
Here’s a way to read the center,
once you’ve “smeared” it.
Discard the pieces. Remove the pen, reach for the notebook and read the
center while you write down your impressions.
Or here’s another one that might appeal to you. Discard the torn
pieces and pick up a paperback book. Perform the “smear” behind the cover
of the book. Don’t try to read the center yet, though. Riffle through the
book and ask someone to say “Stop.” When they do, hold the stolen center
against the page, and run your finger down the page, as though hunting for a
word. Say, “Aha!” Look at the person who wrote down the word, and ask,

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 Psychic Pselections

“Is the word you’re thinking of ‘tangerine?’” (Assuming that’s the word
they wrote down, of course). Close the book, along with the torn center, and
you’re clean.

In A Glass Obliquely

There’s an effect in mentalism (or rather, a

genre of an effect), where you have an audience
participant stare into a crystal ball or cube — or
a glass of water, in some cases — and ask them
if they see anything. They say that they do, and
proceed to call out a series of numbers, or a
playing card, that matches one selected
previously by another audience member.
The reason the participant sees the number, or
card, is because it’s written on the ball or cube.
There are lots of ways to get the writing on and off the ball, including clear
tape, half shells, turnover moves, heat-sensitive inks, etc.
The problem I’ve always had with this effect is that it falls in the
“instant stooge” category. The audience participant is never amazed. Now,
as an audience member watching from the seats, wouldn’t you think that
person up there would be absolutely flabbergasted by the appearance of
ghostly digits in the clear interior of a ball?
Hell, I would.
And, as in most Instant Stooge effects, the on-stage participant
immediately returns to his or her seat and tells anyone within earshot, “It
was written on the ball.” Mystery’s over. Oh sure, you predicted the
NUMBER — but you were caught cheating, so you are, after all, a fake.
And if you faked this, you probably faked the rest. Somehow.
What I wanted was to have those numbers appear out of nowhere in
the middle of a clear surface. And by golly, I got pretty close.

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Psychic Pselections

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 Psychic Pselections

Check this out.

You will need a glass with a faceted circumference. I use one with a
ten-sided facet, furthermore it has a division at about the 3/4th point that
comes in handy for the gimmicking that we’re about to apply. See the
illustration for the type of glass I mean.
Next, make a clear flexible plastic insert that exactly fits the inside of
the glass. This is sort of like a mirror glass, but without the mirror. This
insert doesn’t have to fit perfectly, but it needs to fit closely. Write your
numbers — and I don’t recommend more than three — in very light gray,
smoky characters, near the halfway point. With a strong multipurpose glue,
attach the bottom of the insert to the bottom of the glass.
When you fill the glass with water, the insert will vanish. If you hold
it edgewise, you can’t see the letters at all! Now, slowly rotate the glass as
you swirl it around to your line of sight and the numbers appear in the
center. But we want to make the illusion better than this, so get a bottle of
black ink, the kind with a dropper.
Drop a small drop of ink in the glass and swirl it around as you rotate
the glass, as the ink swirls around in tendrils, the numbers form in the
middle of the cloud!
To perform, force a number on someone in the audience. For
example, you can borrow a dollar bill, crumple it up, and toss it to someone
else if you like. Ask them to open it up and concentrate on the first few
digits of the serial number.
Pick up the glass and hold it so the thin edge of the gimmick is toward
the audience helper. When viewed edgewise, it’s invisible, and the faceting
of the glass helps this.
Now, drop a drop of ink in the water and swirl it around, saying,
“Look deeply into the water, and as the ink swirls around it will form
images." As you swirl the glass, rotate it so that the insert faces the
participant's line of vision. If you do this slowly, it seems that the image
should at first seem to be just a swirl, then coalesce into the number and it's
floating in the middle of the glass!
The participant should be amazed as the image appears, and the ink
will make the water a bit murky, hiding the insert even further.

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 Psychic Pselections

I like for the onstage participant to almost faint with astonishment, and
for this amazement to telegraph to the audience. I think that something like
the above would do it.

Search For The Premise

Quite frequently, neophyte mentalists ask

me where they should look for inspiration
building their premise. They ask me if they
should study Cassidy, Annemann, Corinda.
While these sources are terrific for
methods, may I suggest that you do not
search in magic or mentalism literature for
insights relating to persona, but in books
by Joseph Campbell, such as Hero With a Thousand Faces, or in the history
of parapsychology, or archetypal folklore. You'll find all the premise fodder
you need.
I’ve long noticed that most mentalists are afraid to be over the top.
loud, outrageous, Wagnerian, archetypal (and I don't mean McBride here,
but primeval) super-heroish, powerful. “Why?” I've asked. The answers are
myriad, differ from performer to performer, and I really think a lot of the
answers depend on the market of each performer. I'll leave it unanswered
for personal exploration.
Back in a certain time, most mentalists believed in the possibility of
the paranormal, and this belief gave a dynamic power to their performances,
as though through the faking of the phenomena there was a search for the
reality behind the illusion. Sort of looking for the reality behind the clown
makeup.
However, in recent years there's been a more cerebral trend, where
mentalism has become more psychological and “believable” in its
premise. I'm not sure this is an improvement. I'm not saying that it is NOT,
I'm just saying that I'm not sure that it IS. I feel that when people seek
entertainment, they would rather see Superman then Freud.
Personally, I find this sort of psychological premise uninteresting. It's
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 Psychic Pselections

more of a lecture than entertainment. It lacks fire.

Yes, it's essential to bring the focus on the audience, but dumbing
down to them isn't the answer. I believe that the thing to do is not to bring
our craft into their mundane world of believable phenomena, but to reach
out, grab the audience by the neck, and DRAG them into our world, where
the sky is a different color, dragons roar just over the mountaintops, the laws
of physics aren't quite the same and where the ride is a hell of a lot more
fun.
As E. Raymond Carlyle asks, 'What's it like in MY world? Let me
show you?" Carlyle's world is fun and amazing. The audience knows they
are in for a great time.
Batman says, "My world is a scary place to be."
Saint-Germain's world is somewhere in the middle.
Of course, sometimes a person can take an ordinary skill and make it
extraordinary, as in the case of Sherlock Holmes -- oops, he was a fictional
archetype too, wasn't he? Then it becomes more interesting. Someone
whose powers of observation and deduction are so refined that they can read
your mind? Is such a thing possible? Who’s to say it isn’t?
Anyway, enough, I've spent too much time on this subject. You
bought this book to read about routines, not listen to me preach, but this is a
topic near and dear to my heart.

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 Psychic Pselections

The Great Rhine Remote Viewing

Demonstration

Man, do I love this. You can get rid of all

your expensive gimmicked wallets; I
predict after mentalists learn this routine e-
Bay will have a run of them. All you need
is a stack of business cards (or index cards)
an envelope, or an ungimmicked business
card wallet. And ONE simple sleight. You
can even dispense with that if you’re
willing to do a little prior preparation. This
can also be performed with Zener cards or any symbol pack.
Effect:
“When I was a lab rat in the parapsychology labs, we did a series of
experiments to test an ability called Remote Viewing. Do you know what
that is? No, it’s not looking for your lost television remote. It’s the technical
term for what the rest of the world calls clairvoyance, the ability to see
distant events.
“Anyway, in the lab, the scientists had a series of several dozen
pictures, all kinds, and they would pick one, and we weren’t allowed to see
it. Here, why don’t you just take one of my cards and draw a picture on the
back — don’t let me see it or it ruins the experiment. When you’re through,
let’s isolate it.
“In the labs, they sealed it between lead plates. I don’t have any, so
put it back here, between the stack of cards. You can’t see through these, can
you? No, me neither, I don’t have X-Ray vision like Superman. The science
guys would then seal the lead plates in a leather pouch, here, seal them in
the envelope and put it in your pocket. I need one to draw on, let me have
it.”
During this explanation, the drawing was placed between the two
halves of the stack of cards, squared, and sealed in the envelope. All the
performer did was remove the bottom card upon which to draw his
impressions.

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 Psychic Pselections

The rest is pure showmanship. The performer struggles, gets

impressions, crosses them out, eventually makes a drawing. When he shows
it to the test subject, it is uncannily close to the drawing he or she made and
sealed in the envelope!

The Method:
There are a couple of points that make this a perfect crime. When the
participants open the envelope (or business card case) the drawing is still
buried in the middle, so it seems impossible that you peeked it. Yet, you and
I know that you had to.
But how?
First of all, inside the envelope you already have five or six cards that
your audience doesn't know about. If you’re using coin envelopes, you can
tuck in the flap and place the other cards that you will add to the stack
behind the flap. These cards will be added back to the stack later, when you
put the stack in the envelope. Don’t worry — nobody will notice the extra
thickness.
To peek the drawing, you must control it second from the bottom of
the stack of cards. This is so much easier with a stack of business cards than
with a deck of cards that it’s child’s play. You can even do a classic pass and
nobody will see it, but I use the Hofzinser Pass. I’ll explain it for the
Magically-Challenged:
The drawing is placed in the stack, which is slightly spread. The
fingers of the right hand pull it under the stack a bit, then let it ride under the
stack as you close it. The drawing continues to ride beneath the stack and
ends up between the bottom card and the rest of the deck. Why beneath the
bottom card? I’ll tell you:
As soon as the stack is squared, you say, “ ...You can’t see through
these, can you? No, me neither, I don’t have X-Ray vision like Superman…”
and turn the stack over so they can see the bottom. This conveys a sense of
fairness and security; the drawing is really buried in the middle of the stack.
The line about the lead plates is funny too.
Now to get the peek, you remove the bottom card and look at the
drawing! Toss the bottom card blank-side-up on the table and all eyes will

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follow it anyway. Get the envelope and put the cards in it, making sure that
the cards you place in the envelop coalesce correctly with the cards already
in there. Now, the drawing is buried again, and everything is clean.

Additional Comments
As I said earlier, you can do this with a symbol deck, but I like the
near-impromptu nature of a handful of cards. I’ve done it now and again in
my pocket and gotten away with it, though I wouldn’t want to make a
regular thing of it.
I promised you a no-sleight way to do this. It involves using the
principle of a long card. Basically, you have two sets of cards, one set
longer than the other. You add one of the long cards to the short stack every
time you want to do this routine, and this is the one upon which you have the
drawing made.. When it’s returned, you can place the stack aside for a
minute, pick it up later, and casually cut the drawing plus one other card to
the bottom. Finish as described before.

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 Psychic Pselections

The Embryonic Thought

This application of a favorite mentalist

appliance came to me one night in a
vision, and my head filled with an evil
delight. There is a beautiful built-in
psychological misdirection that protects
you at the “hot” moment, too, that you’ll
love.
The setup is an inflated balloon with an Ostin clip hanging by a string
from the knot area. To make it, you have to get the clip inside the balloon,
inflate the balloon, then tie the knot around the string (See Figure below).
You can figure this out easily enough, but to spare myself all those late-night
e-mails and phone calls, I’ll tell you the easiest way to do it:
Stretch open the mouth of the balloon with the first two fingers of both
hands. I suggest you use the large Qualatex transparent balloons that are
used for the trick Needle Through Balloon. With the mouth of the balloon
open, work the clip inside, then push it in until about two inches of string is
inside.
Next, Relax the mouth of the
balloon and inflate it, keeping hold of
the string. Adjust the length so that the
clip hangs at the midpoint of the
balloon, and tie the knot off. You can
trim off the excess string.
I assume you already know what
the Ostin Bulldog Clip is, if not, there’s
a explanation of this wonderful device
at the beginning of this book.
The performer shows a curious
contraption, a transparent balloon with
a bulldog clip hanging in it. A piece of
paper is tightly gripped within the jaws
of the clip.

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 Psychic Pselections

“What you see here, Ladies

and Gentlemen, is an Unborn
thought, still in the womb. That’s
right, an Embryonic Idea, waiting
to be born. I need someone to
hold our darling little monstrosity
… ah you sir, you can be the
prospective parent. Stand up
please. Hang on here.”
The audience participant
grips the balloon with one hand
cradling the bottom end with one
hand while pinching the knot with
the other. This serves two
purposes: (1) It’s a wonderful display position and (2) It keeps him out of
trouble.
At this point, you are wide open to possibilities, you can perform a
Confabulation routine using Double-Writing, for example, that will leave
you with a folded duplicate prediction fingerpalmed in your hand. The ever-
popular Dream-Date scenario works
fine here, so let’s explore that for a
while:
To set this up, you need a 6’ x 9’
memo pad, and small folded paper that
will roughly match the folded slip in
your Ostin clip. The folded slip is set
up as shown to the right, ready to be
secretly filled out later. You hold the
pad for writing, with the slip under your
thumb. This will make it easy to
secretly fill out later when you need to
do so.
During the participatory part of
the program, we’ll get three people at
random to stand up. To do so, you

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 Psychic Pselections

could use another balloon to fit in with the theme. I used to try it with the
same balloon, but the clip rattling around inside would sometimes (not
always) cause it to pop. Toss the balloon out and have the person who
catches it to stand.
Ask him or her, “What is your name please?” Write this down. “And
where would you like to go on your dream date?” Pretend to write this next
to their name, but actually write it in the blank data field of your prediction.
Have the balloon tossed to the second person, and ask them to stand.
“And what is your name?” Write this down, “And at what restaurant will
you be dining?” Once again, write this in your blank data field.
Have the balloon tossed to the third and final person. Ask for his or
her name, write it down then, “And with whom — and I mean with anyone in
the world — would you like to have this dream dinner?” Fill in your last
field, and fingerpalm the prediction. Hurry over to the participant who has
been clinging to the Amniotic Prediction this entire time, remove a pin, and
hand it to him.
“It’s time for the Blessed Event, the time for our Unborn Thought to
become born. Do the honors, Pop. I mean pop it!”
Now, get ready. Because check this out: when he pops the balloon, he
will wince away. He can’t help it. And as soon as he does, you reach in and
remove the folded paper from the clip.
At least, this is what you appear to do.
Actually, you pinch the clip open, the rubber band sucks the fake billet
into the clip, and you allow the fingerpalmed prediction to spring into view.
This happens, by the way, about the time the proud parent opens his eyes
again.
All that remains to do is read aloud the names of the people who
volunteered the information and confirm the information they volunteered.
Have your participant read aloud the newly-birthed prediction, and voila —
you have created yet another miracle!
Oh, by the way, if I hear rumors of anyone passing a needle through
the balloon without pooping it before revealing the prediction, I swear said
miscreant will feel the wrath of my lash across his back …

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 Psychic Pselections

Pocket Q and A

This is a very compact method for performing

the Q and A act suitable for small to medium sized
groups. It combines the Hull Reversible card with
my Bumbershoot Q and A move from The Psychic
Agenda.
I came up with this when I needed a quick, down-and-dirty Q and A
method I could perform in the round for a series of nightclub performances.
Start off by making sure that everyone has a Q and A card that is
designed to do the Hull reversible card handling. I will not repeat this here,
but it is completely explained both in Burling Hull’s Supper Club Mind
Reading Act (reprinted in Hull’s Encyclopedia of Mentalism) and in my
book, The Compleat Fortune-Teller.
Ask everyone to write his or her name on the outside of their card,
and then concentrate on a question of a personal nature, write it on the inside
of the card, and fold the card in fourths. When they finish, ask them to raise
their hands.
When you gather the cards, you put them in your right pants pocket.
Grab them by the handfuls and stuff them in there.
Now, here’s the procedure:
Reach into your pocket and remove a
card. Holding it as shown to the left,
read the name aloud and ask the
person to raise their hand. When he or
she does, run over to them. As you do
so, raise the card over your head, and
use the large movement to hide the
smaller movement of you reversing the
card.
It isn’t necessary to make a
move of this. You simply turn the card inside out as you raise your hand
over your head. Remember, there are people all around you to use as
screens, if necessary, but believe me — the large movement is more than
enough to hide that small, insignificant reversal movement.
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 Psychic Pselections

As you approach the

participant, make some
comment about his or her
name, which gives you an
excuse to glance at the card and
read the question. I like to say
something like, “Interesting
way you make your ‘J’ Jimmy.
Is shows that you like to relate
to women in a non-verbal
way.”
The picture to the left
shows what you see. You have
to learn to read the question at a glance. All you need is the gist of it
anyway. Doing a graphoanalysis of the signature is always a good ploy if
you need a closer look.
Now you refold the card
into fourths as shown to the
left, and stick your thumb into
the fold in preparation to do the
Al Baker Umbrella move —
but don’t do it yet.
You’ll clean up the
reversed condition of the card
using a unique application of
the Umbrella Move.
By this time, you’ve made your
way across the room and are
standing alongside the spectator. Answer his question in fine manner (See
the Compleat Fortune-Teller series for how).
Openly do the Umbrella Move, and the card pops open with the
question facing the spectator! This is shown on the first illustration on the
next page, from your point of view. The second illustration shows it from
the audience point of view.
Ostentatiously keep your head turned away from the card. “Sir, will

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 Psychic Pselections

you read aloud the question? I don’t want to

even see it. Was I close?” Of course, he reads
the question aloud and the audience applauds.
You have to try this to see how clean it is.
After you answer the question, dispose
of the card. Do not let the audience members
keep it. It doesn’t take much brains to figure
out the reversible card principle! You can
either put them in your coat pocket or crumple
them up and toss them away. If you crumple
them up, they’re fairly safe. Their reversible
nature is hidden. The card is just a piece of
crumpled paper at that point and the
origamilike-secret is hidden.
Now, reach into your pocket and remove
another question and read aloud the name, or
as I like to do, have the audience member
reach in (only if he is a male), remove a card,
and read it aloud. Take it from him ,and as you
turn rapidly away and run across the room,
reverse the card as you hold it over your head.
Read the question as you do a brief
character analysis on the signature, then fold the card into fourths. Ask the
person to concentrate on his or her question, and answer it.
Use the Bumbershoot move to straighten out the card and have the
question verified. Sometimes I like to look away and do the move before I
answer the question. Think about it — I can’t see the question, so I can
open it, hand it to the person, and have them verify my conclusions!
It’s cool, give it a try.

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 Psychic Pselections

The Testicular Pocket Writing Miracle

This is just what it says. You have to be bold

as brass to pull it off. I’ll tell you how I’ve used it
to make an indelible impression on random groups
of people at trade show type events in elevators
and in restaurants.

Here’s the effect:

You get on an elevator full of convention
attendees, arguing with a friend. “I’m telling you, I
can so do it!”
Your friend shakes his head, “No, can’t be done. I've seen you do
some amazing things, but what you’re describing is impossible.”
“Why … you .. look.” You turn to the crowd for appeal. “Hey, would
you help me settle an argument. This guy will owe me lunch after this.”
At this point, the crowd looks at each other in bewilderment.
You remove a business card from your pocket and scribble a word.
“Don’t peek! Hmmm …”
Look the crowd over, point to a likely looking subject. “Would you
simply imagine a paperback novel, and open it to any page. Good, now
imagine any word floating out from that page .. A single word, not too big,
not too little … what is it.?”
The person says, for example, “Wheat.”
“Ha ha! Told you I could do it.” You open the folded card and show it
to your friend. “What does it say?” You show it to the subject and the
crowd. “What does it say?”
Of course, it says “Wheat.”
You turn to your friend as you walk off the elevator. “You owe me
lunch.”

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 Psychic Pselections

Method:
When you write down your word at the beginning of the presentation,
you fold the business card and put the pen back in your pocket, taking the
folded card with it. You do this as you say, “Don’t peek!” The important
thing is not to make a move of it. Just fold the card, pretend to put it in the
left hand, retain it in the right hand, and put the pen away with the secretly
retained card. The left hand curls into a loose fist as though retaining the
card.
As soon as the pen is replaced, your right hand goes into your right
trousers pocket, jauntily, prepared to Pocket Write. Of course, to do this
you have to have the proper set-up and skills, so I assume that you do so. If
not, buy my book PW: The Mentalist’s Secret Weapon and my DVD/book
lecture set Psecret Writing. (For those not familiar with marketing, the latter
plug is called an upsale).
Now, several things happen very quickly. As soon as the person calls
out the word they picture from the imaginary book, you pocket-write it,
remove the card and fold it into fourths. Next, you turn to your friend with a
grin of triumph and say, “YOU owe me lunch.” Remove your hand from
your pocket with the folded card fingerpalmed, and PRETEND to remove it
from your left hand, open it and show it to your friend. “What does it say?”
He nods, disgusted.
Then you show it to the elevator people. “What does it say?” They
should be amazed too. Leave them with your card and something to talk
about.
If you’re working a booth at a trade show, by the way, don’t forget to
toss over your shoulder as you leave the elevator, “Oh yeah — come see us
at booth two at General Mindscrewery Techtonics!”
If you don’t want to do this with a friend or as a walk-on challenge,
you don’t have to. The handling works well just as a plain ol’ ordinary
prediction.
Also, you could use a billet switch, like Sanky’s Paperclipped, etc.
But isn’t it more fun the way I just described, and cleaner too? There’s
nothing to dispose of at the end.

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 Psychic Pselections

I See Naked People

Start out by saying something like,

“Psychologists tell us that every aspect of our
behavior reveals something about us — even the
way we sleep. There are scientists who spend
their every waking moment studying sleeping
people, which is a funny thought, when you
think about it.
“Apparently, people who sleep on their sides like to feel secure, like
little babies all curled up. People who sleep on their backs tend to be bold
and adventurous, confident in themselves.
“People who sleep on their stomachs can be assertive, sometimes
aggressive. And people who sleep naked are free spirits who hate to feel
constricted. That’s how I like to sleep, which isn’t usually a problem with
most people, except on those long airplane flights … If that conjured up a
frightening visual that traumatized anybody, I apologize. Anyway,
everybody think of their favorite sleeping position and I’m going to try to
guess it.”
At this point, you descend among the masses and point to a person
near the front. “Sir, stand up. What’s your name?
“Billy.”
“Billy, think of your favorite sleeping position, just imagine yourself
all nice and cozy in your bed … aha, ummuhmm, I got it. I think” At this
point, you’ve made some scribbling on your notepad. “Now, tell everyone,
how do you sleep at night?”
He says, we will suppose, that he sleeps on his side. You show him
the pad and ask, “What did I put here?”
He reads aloud, ‘Billy sleeps on his side’
You crow, “Terrific! Let’s do it again!”
You repeat this several times, and at one point you decide to get more
detailed. “Left side or right?” You ask a MALE audience member if he
sleeps clothed or nude. By the way, over time you can learn to spot a nude

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 Psychic Pselections

sleeper; usually a bold smirking sort of chap. He reads aloud. “Jimmy

sleeps NEKKID.”

Method:
This routine has lots of room for comedy if played correctly. For
example, if performed for the RIGHT crowed, you could ask “And who
would you like to sleep WITH?” How you do it is simple. This uses a
checklist and a Swami Writer. This is part of my Multipad Routine that I
may release at a future date (and then again, maybe I wont,
bwhahahahahaha!), that I like to do early on in the show to establish rapport
with the audience and allow me to move around a bit.
The checklist has a blank spot for writing in the person’s name, and
then it says
“likes to sleep on ___

side
belly
back

When you get the person’s name, you write it down and pretend to
check off the appropriate box. I’ve reproduced my checklist on the next
page for you. It is in handwriting, so that it matches the information I write
down later.
Since only the person for whom you are doing the reading sees that it’s
a checkbox, most of the audience thinks you’re writing a detailed message.
The words in the illustration below that are not handwritten show the ones
you write in yourself. Or, you could write the whole sentence in but this
takes more time and gets boring after a while.
When they answer how they like to sleep, you check the appropriate
box and let them read it out loud.
The last couple of pages have an additional line that ask about
sleeping clothed or nude. The reason I don’t have this on the earlier pages is

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 Psychic Pselections

because I learned early on if I put these lines on the paper, the earlier
participants saw it and thought it was so funny they yelled it out loud and
laughed, spoiling the comedic punch at the end.
I hope you try this out if it fits your style. I’ve had fun with it in the
appropriate venue. I cannot stress that last sentence too hard, by the way.
Don’t do it for the Daughters of the American Confederacy Cotillion.

JIMMY

HIS

HE

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 Psychic Pselections

CYA

Here I reveal a secret that I've used for years

when I travel to multiple venues. I do not trust the
airlines, plus I travel with sharp knives and a high
power air pistol. I have three backups of my show.
We're not talking a lot of stuff here, I ain't
Pendragon. One act is always at home, ready to go.
The other two I SHIP to the first two hotels at the
venues. I work one-ahead. I ship the act from the
first hotel to the third, and from the second to the
fourth, etc.

The one at home? If one of the other two gets lost, I can call my wife
to overnight it to me. Worst case scenario, and I have NOTHING, I can find
a local Office Depot and get enough together for an hour of performance. I
keep a list of things I can knock together from scratch:

• Index cards
• Pencils (steal them from the hotel!)
• Envelopes (see above)
Exacto Knife
• Duct tape
• couple of books
• Sketch pad
• Glue stick
• Rubber bands
• Table napkins from the hotel
• Business card wallet to slit
• Paper bags
• A couple decks of cards (I know ... but we're talking
EMERGENCY).

From the Index cards I can construct an Add-A-No Device that I

described in Fat-Free Mentalism, and a "Peek Stack" based on the old X-

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ray Deck, from the Fred Kolb book Exciting Experiments in ESP. I could
also could mark the cards for a "Doodleology" presentation. A good fifteen
minutes or so right there.

Slit the business card wallet and use it for a design dupe. Books for,
well, a book test. Index cards, pencils, duct tape and table napkins for Q and
A. I've seen folders in hotels that would work well to perform Psi-Grafico!

A pocket writer constructed from cardboard, rubber bands and the glue
stick... also a stub of pencil. A few Statistical Forces for filler. Paper bag
and balls of colored paper for Kiritsuke, because my beautiful Charles
Gauchi Body Language setup is in limbo somewhere...

But wait -- I still have the Body Language gaffus, because I wear it all
the time! So I can add a small magnet to my list and load it in the colored
paper ball. Or maybe use borrowed dollar bills; four ones and a fifty.

Hell, now I have TOO MUCH material -- all I need is an hour's worth!

If this sounds fanciful, realize that I learned this from experience.

About ten years ago I was booked to do an hour of palmistry at an event in
Georgia. I drove there, and the customer told me that I would take the stage
after the band!

"Stage? I was booked to do palm readings."

“Well, if you want to get paid you'd better take the stage after the
band."
If necessity is the mother of invention, sheer panic and a car payment
is the mother-in-law. Richard Webster described a similar situation, and he
went into a Psychometry routine. Gordon Hoenir had an insert in Magic that
addressed the issue of what you do when your act disappears on you. I
decided to see what I could come up with, and cobbled together an act and it
played very well. It isn’t really all that hard to do.

So, perhaps here is a fruitful line of discussion ... many years have
passed since Bascom Jones asked the question: "What do YOU do when the

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airline loses your act?” We’ve enjoyed lots of advances in mentalism

technology since then.

What would YOU do?

Immaculate Impressions

A few years ago I got tired of buying

crappy impression devices (well, to tell
the truth, I became tired of tearing up my
toilet trying to flush them) so I decided to
make my own. My engineering
background finally came in handy for
something other than the years of psychotherapy it spawned. From the
months of trial and error, research and development came the “Bugboard”
series: the Brown Hornet, Black Mantis, Grey Mosquito, and the Baby
Hornet.
My goals were simple: (1) to make boards that LOOKED like real
boards, (2) that took good impressions and (3) reset instantly.
I’ve been told by just about everybody that these are the best
impression devices ever made. I’m glad that this is the case, because I’d
hate to think of the number of broken toilets I’d be causing otherwise!
Anyway, what I would like to do now is share some of my favorite
handlings for the use of impression devices. Most of these can be used with
most impression devices, but work best with mine.
(I) Preshow.
Place three or four clipboards on a table, some distance away from
where you are setting up your show before people arrive. Each clipboard
has a piece of paper that has “Registration” or some other note at the top.
Eventually, someone will approach you and ask who you are.
“Me? Oh, I’m your entertainment tonight.”
“Really? What do you do?”

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“Well … I’m a mindreader.”

“Really?”
Now listen carefully, because they’re about to play right into your
hands!
“Can you tell me what I’m thinking?”
You: “Oh, I’m glad you asked that. Do me a favor. Go over there,
wher I can’t really see what you’re doing, because a lot of people think I
read their eyes (?) or something. Further … further … (you’re directing
them to the table full of clipboards, see?) Now, think of something I couldn’t
possibly know, like the name of your best friend in the first grade, and write
that down. Is there something to write on over there? Okay. Now, fold it
up, and take it out of the room , and hide it somewhere on your person where
I couldn’t possibly find it.”
This last phrases is key to the psychology of this deception. It takes
all the heat off of you having them write it down. They know there’s no way
you can read the paper.
While they’re writing the info, by the way, you pay absolutely no
attention to them — except to note which clipboard they use — you
continue setting up your act.
You can repeat this two or three times. The great thing about this ploy
is that as far as the participants know, those aren’t even your clipboards!
At some point, you collect your clipboards and read the info, using it
as you like during your show.

(II) Preshow
Approach a person with a clipboard with a piece of paper on it. “I
wonder if you could help me? I’m your entertainer tonight, and I’m trying
to get a feel for the audience before starting in.”
“Um, sure, I guess … what do I do.”
“Oh, no big deal. Later on, I’m going to have people think of things
and I’m going to TRY to tell them what they’re thinking. The operative word
here is try. Sometimes I get it, sometimes not. One of the things I try for is a

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word, and this is one of the more difficult ones, so I like to walk around a
little before the show and warm up a bit, like an athlete stretching. You
understand, don’t you?”
“Sure. What do I do?”
“Well, we’ll start with something easy.” Hand him or her the board
and a pen, and turn your back. “Please write down something I couldn’t
know, something personal, like your Astrological sign. Okay? Now,
imagine a little red ball coming out and bouncing among the letters at
random, mixing them up in your mind, um humm, I see an “R” is there an
“R” there?”
Basically, you go into Ray Grismer’s What’s My Sign to determine the
person’s Astrological Sign. This is an idea of Dr. Charles (Cicardi) Scott’s
that convinces them that you can perform mental feats and softens up any
suspicions they may have about the clipboard — not that they’ll have any if
you use one of mine, of course!
Once you’ve determined their Astrological sign, you say, “That was
excellent, I think we can move on to something much more difficult. Why
don’t you either draw a simple picture or write down a word. It can be
anything you like. I’ll give you absolutely no restrictions. But make it clear
and legible, so everyone can see it. That way you won’t have to leave your
seat and come to the stage.” This plays on the psychological reluctance of
most people to leave the herd and be singled out with you on the platform.
Of course, you now have all the time in the world to collect the written
data and use it as you see fit during your show.

(III) Preshow
Screw a cuphook in the wall and hang a clipboard with a
housekeeping list on it. The list has a bunch of tasks listed, such as: collect
tablecloths, place dishes, order placemats, set up wet bar, vacuum hallway
etc.
Handle the setup as in the first example. When someone asks you to
read their mind, have him or her remove the clipboard, turn the
housekeeping list over, and write or draw something. Either take the
clipboard back (We’d better replace that before they think we’re stealing

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it!”) or have them do it. Either way, open it and read it, and leave it on the
wall for the rest of the evening. Or not, it’s up to you. This works
beautifully with instant-access boards like my Brown Hornet.

(IV) Twenty-First Century Fourth Dimensional Telepathy

Annemann’s Fourth-Dimensional Telepathy, sometimes known as
the Three-Envelope Test, is one of the enduring classics of mentalism. The
person who has done the most work on the premise is none other than the
modern genius of the craft, Robert Cassidy, whose versions are legion. You
can read about them in his works, The Art of Mentalism and in Principia
Mentalia.
In this version, you have to have an instant-access clipboard, one that
allows you to read the information in real time, such as my Brown Hornet.
In fact, this is the routine for which I invented the device.
The effect, in case you do not know it, is that three audience
participants are invited to record three pieces of information — for
example, the name of their best friend in the first grade, a random word,
and a drawing — and to seal these fragments of thought into opaque
envelopes. These envelopes are held by a another audience member for
safekeeping as you, the mentalist, one by one determine the thoughts. As
you do so, each envelope is opened to determine the accuracy of your
prognostications.
It was Cassidy, I believe, who added the subtlety of numbering the
envelopes to eliminate the suspicion of the old One-ahead (which is
actually how it’s done in the classical renditions) and I liked this idea. In
addition, I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if you could do it without ever
having to touch the envelopes yourself?
So, I decided to do it with an impression device. But this raises
another problem. Whenever you use an impression device, it focuses
suspicion on the device itself. I always try to routine the handling so that I
never touch the clipboard in the sight of the writer, but how was I to do this
in the context of this routine?
Hee hee — read on.

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 Psychic Pselections

Performance (I):
Your setup is simple: a Brown Hornet or similar device with a single
piece of paper clipped to it, and three envelopes. You also need a case to
work from or some other screen, such as a pile of books on a table, to place
the clipboard behind to get your peek later.
Draw an “x” near the bottom inch or so of the paper and hand the
clipboard, three envelopes, and a pen to an audience member (henceforth
called the Judge) and ask her to hand the clipboard and pen to anyone in the
audience. “Sir would you please think of something that I couldn’t possibly
know, something I couldn’t possibly find out through internet research or by
asking anyone in this room — for example, is there any way I could possibly
know the name of your best friend in the first grade?”
He will agree there would not.
“Excellent, then please write that down, near the ‘x,’ and tear the strip
off. Fold it up — don’t let anyone especially me, see it, and place it into the
envelope the Judge will hand you. Please seal it carefully, and hold it to the
light to make sure it is completely opaque.”
He complies, and you continue.
“Now, write the number ‘1’ on it and hand it to the Judge please.
Thank you; everyone give him a big hand!”
Instruct the Judge to hand the clipboard and pen to a second audience
member.
“Ma’am, please imagine a large dictionary, maroon cover,
unabridged. Millions of words, and it is flipping pages past your eyes, faster
and faster! Suddenly it stops, and then your eyes scan the page, and you
focus on a single word. Please write that word near the bottom of the paper,
tear the strip off and seal it in the envelope the Judge will give you. DO
not — repeat, DO NOT — let anyone see it, especially me. Hold it to the
light, make sure you cannot see through it. Thank you, now write the
number ‘2’ on it and hand it to the Judge. Everyone give her a big hand!”
Instruct the Judge to do the following:
“My dear, you’ve done an excellent job. Now, please do this: on the
remaining piece of paper, make a simple drawing; it can be anything you

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like. When you’re finished, fold it up, put it in the last envelope, seal it,
write the number ‘3’ on it. And come up here please. Everyone give her a
big hand.”
Now, when she comes on stage she’ll try to hand you the clipboard,
DO NOT take it. Wave her toward the case or table as you talk to the
audience. You want to establish a complete disconnection between you and
the clipboard in the audience’s minds as much as possible. Ideally, she’ll
place it in the case for you. Worse case scenario, she’ll place it on the table
near the case. No big deal.
Turn and face the audience. “What I am about to do is extremely
difficult. I’m going to try to establish a telepathic connection with three
people, one at a time. This is the human equivalent of receiving three
television stations at once and attempting to make sense of it. I cannot
promise that I’ll get all three.” Smile. “That’s why I use three — so that I’ll
get at least ONE.”
Point to the two participants still in the audience. “Would you two
please stand?”
Now, go over to your case and get your sketchpad. If your clipboard
is in your case, open it up and read all three pieces of information. The first
piece is at the bottom, second in the middle, and the drawing , well, you can
figure it out.
If the clipboard is on the table, pick it up and put it away in your case,
opening it and reading it.
Pardon me a minute; Bwhahahahahahahahaha! I just had to do that….

Okay, back to the show. You now know all three pieces of info, and
there’s your Judge standing thee with all three pieces of info sealed away in
impervious envelopes! Ask her to hand you Envelope Number One. Fondle
it, cares it, gaze in a psychic manner at Audience Participant Number One,
sigh, act troubled, then write the name of the childhood friend on the pad
and hold it against your chest.
Hand the envelope back to the Judge and have her open it, remove the
slip, but not to read it aloud yet. Ask Audience Participant Number One,
“Please now, for the first time, tell everyone the name of your childhood

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friend?”
“You want me to tell you?
“Yes, or send it to us via e-mail.”
“Norbert.”
You slowly turn your pad around, and there is the name NORBERT.
You repeat this procedure for the second Audience Participant,
extracting the random word from the recesses of their gray matter. If your
afraid you’ll get a brain cramp and forget the second word, use a dry erase
board and go back to your case and get an eraser for your board to get a
second look.
So now it’s down to you and the Judge, whom, you remember, drew a
picture. Have her tuck her envelope away somewhere and hand her a
sketchpad or dry erase board (and a marker, if you want to add a visual
element to the final revelation). This also gives you a third chance to peek,
if you have a really short attention span. Stand back-to-back with her and
draw simultaneously, both revealing that you drew the same image! Ta-
dahh!
Now, please take a look at what the audience has left to reconstruct.
Sure, you handled the envelopes — you want to do so, by the way; if you
don’t, the audience won’t have anything to focus their suspicions upon, and
you want them to suspect the poor, innocent envelopes that have absolutely
no secrets to reveal, heh heh. But the envelopes are completely opaque, and
the last one wasn’t even opened. So how did you get that information?
You couldn’t have used the One-ahead. And believe me, friends,
people know all about that trick. It’s been exposed a lot, by Militant
Magicians protecting the world against Those Like Us who used deception
to convince the unwary that we have supernatural powers.
Don’t even worry about the clipboard being suspected. You never
even touched it.
What does that leave?
Mind reading.

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Performance (II)
This uses either the Skeeter, Baby Hornet or any smaller impression
device. The small Post-it note board Bob Cassidy sells could be used as
well.
Stick a Post-it Note on the board and hand it to a person with the
request that they write or draw something. Say, “Now, remove the thought,
fold it up really small, and take it out of the room. Hide it somewhere on
your person where I couldn’t possibly find it.”
Of course, this gives you all the time in the world to peek the info.

Performance (III)
The following idea came out of an idea session with Ford Kross. Do
the same as above, but have the person hide the folded drawing anywhere in
the room while you’re not looking. While they hide the note, you have all
the time you need to peek the impression.
Now, when the person is finished hiding the note, you have them grip
your wrist and you use Contact Mind Reading (CMR) to first find the hidden
scrap of paper, then you can reveal the secret thought!

***

There you have it. These are my pet routines with the “Bugboards.” I
hope you like them.

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Strategies for Readers

Performing psychic readings for entertainment in a

public venue is a challenging task.
Assuming for the moment that you’ve overcome
such obstacles as noise from the band/music/DJ, smoke,
conversation, etcetera, there still remains quite a few very stiff problems to
overcome.
For example, it’s important to stick to a uniform time for
everyone. The best (and indeed, only way) to do this is with a timer. A lot
of readers like to use a gentle chime, or an hourglass — something with
“ambience.” Some like the quiet, vibrating timer. Well, not me. Over the
years, what I’ve found works best is an electronic kitchen timer with a loud,
obnoxious beep that’s IMPOSSIBLE to ignore.
Here’s my reasoning: The hourglass looks great, and you can have it
as a decoration, but you have to keep checking it. This takes away from
your total concentration on the sitter. Most of the time, I’m concentrating so
intently on the reading I can’t even feel the vibrating timer, and the sitter
doesn’t understand why you’re stopping the reading without some kind of
overt timer anyway.
Don’t get me wrong. The chime sounds wonderful, gentle and New-
age, but stubborn sitters (and you will get them) will not take the hint and
continue talking and asking questions over the ting-ting; ting-ting.
So take my advice: get something that’s loud and penetrating.
Another, and more difficult issue: Quite often, you’ll run across
someone with a serious need to talk about a personal problem or a lonely
person who needs attention. It’s very tempting to want to spend extra time
with them. I’ve done this myself. I’ve read on some of the internet
discussions where some chaps have said that you have to set the
entertainment role aside and become a “human being” and counsel the
person.
However — and I know this sounds harsh — you MUST resist the
temptation to do this. Explain to the person that you’re there that evening in

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the capacity of an entertainer, and what they want is beyond the scope of
why you are there. If you’re qualified to do so, and if it’s part of your
practice, hand them your card and encourage them to make an appointment
with you.
Remember, you are not hired to be a counselor, you’re hired to
entertain. If you keep people waiting while you counsel someone, you’re
stepping outside of the role for which you’ve been hired to perform. Be
tactful but firm.
Now, here’s the funny thing: although I do get a lot of referrals from
parties and public events, ninety percent of the time, those people who are so
anxious to talk to me with these urgent issues will never call me! They’re
just after a free reading.
The above scenario doesn’t apply, of course, if you’re hired as a
personal advisor at a psychic party. In a typical entertainment scenario,
however, I’m hired for a three-to-four hour stint and I keep the readings to
seven minute intervals. If you’re doing fifteen to thirty minute readings, you
can go into personal issues all you want.
What about those stubborn sitters, the ones who keep asking questions
and refuse to budge when their time is up? The singlemost effective trick I
came up with to pressure them to move on is to reverse our seating. In
other words, I sit with my back to the line, so that the sitter gets to look at
the line of impatient people waiting for their turn!
This takes all the pressure off of me and places it on them. Ha ha ha!
Between this, the angry beeping of the timer, and me standing and saying
“Thank you, our time is up,” they get the hint.
Many times your shift is almost over and you still have a lot of people
to read. I bring out a stack of numbered cards and pass them out. Usually,
I’ll do this at the last hour of my shift, and ask the people to explain to
anyone walking over than the numbers mean that these are the last people
for whom I’ll do readings.
It doesn’t stop hopeful people from waiting anyway, looking at me
with puppy-dog eyes while I pack up to leave, but it at least gives me an out
if I don’t feel like doing a few extra at the end of the night.
Another strategy I’ve been doing for a couple of years, when I get to

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the end of the shift is to do group readings. In other words, I’ll break the
line into groups of four, do a mini lecture on palm reading for each small
group, and let them read their own palm.
Any good book on palmistry can give you info on this, or I explain
how to do this in my book Psychic Soirees. Another approach, if you read
Tarot, is to have the four people draw cards and do a one card read for each
person.
I also recommend Gypsies go Roving, a book by Sheila Lyons and
Mark Sherman, which is available from many dealers of mentalism supplies.
This book explains a system of walk-around group palmistry that works
quite well with the above approach.

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Pselected Psychometry
Over the years, I’ve done a lot of thinking and
performances of Annemann’s Pseudo Psychometry, and
I’ve come up with a lot of different ways to do it —
many of which I’ve detailed in the pages of my books.
I’ve also benefited from listening to the experiences of
other performers who have performed the effect for many
audiences under many different circumstances.
I’ve arrived at some conclusions over the years that many
mentalists may disagree with, but since this is my book, I’m including them
here anyway, along with a really powerful handling of the effect.
First of all, I think it’s a mistake to return the objects to the owners.
Yes, I know that this is the premise of the effect, but bear with me on this.
When you work for a modern corporate audience, comprised of members
who are, for the most part, totally unaware of New-Age theory, here is what
they see:

(1)Performer has objects gathered in containers.

(2)Containers are mixed.
(3)Performer goes through some kind of psycho-babble
(4)Performer returns objects to owners.
(5)Conclusion: Containers are marked.

Sorry, but that’s the reality of life. If your experience is different, then
you’re performing for different audiences than I have (and many of my
professional colleagues, for that matter). However, the situation isn’t
hopeless. The problem lies in the relentless repetition of the effect.
Pseudo Psychometry, as it’s normally performed, doesn’t build. It
lacks dynamic growth. It’s up to us to give it a dramatic structure that (a)
hides the simple method and (b) creates an air of mystery.
And of course, I wouldn’t bring this up if I haven’t already solved
these problems!

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First, you’ll need containers for the objects that will allow you to tell
apart either by sight or touch. I won’t describe such containers, since there
are so many on the market and in the literature that to do so would be
redundant (and these books of mine aren’t meant to be primers).
So I’ll assume that you’re capable of assembling five suitable
drawstring bags, that you can tell apart either by visual inspection or sense
of touch, but to the audience seem absolutely identical in every way.
Now, select five audience members and ask them to place personal
objects in the bags, draw the strings and hand them to another audience
member who will mix them up and hand them to you.
The purpose of the bags, you explain to the rest of the audience, is to
prevent the personal energy of the objects from becoming commingled.
“Because what I’m going to do is touch each object and give each person a
detailed psychometric reading, based on the energy signature of that
particular person. If the object becomes contaminated with the energy of
another person, it will adversely affect the reading.”
Take the bags and look over your five audience members. For the
sake of this example, and to get my point across, we will select two people,
a slightly overweight woman with large, warm eyes and a tall, neatly-
dressed gentleman with a conservative haircut. As you feel the bags, locate
these two person’s bags and set them aside on your table. Basically, you
want to save them for the end.
Set aside two more bags, then open the remaining bag. Since you
know who the object belongs to, you can give a very accurate cold reading.
Depending on your reading skills (and if you perform this effect, you should
be as good as possible) you can describe the person’s traits to a “T.” What
you are going for is a personality portrait so accurate that audience members
will be able to identify the person.
Now, DO NOT RETURN THE ITEM. Ask, “Who does this belong
to?” The person raises their hand, and you give it back.. Ask them, “How
close was I?” and get them to respond. Restrain your ego. Don’t show off
at this point. You’re going to blow them away later, believe me.
Send the first person back to his or her seat accompanied by a round of
applause.

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Remove the second object, and warn the remaining subjects not to
show any sign or give you any clues. “Some people try to help me, but
please resist the urge.”
Repeat the exact procedure with the second person.
Now, on the third person we’re going to give the audience their first
“what-the-hell” experience. After you complete the reading, you turn
around walk down the line of people, stop directly in front of the person
whom the object belongs to, and say, “Something about this object just says
YOU. I KNOW this is yours, isn’t it?”
Wow!
Think about this for a minute. You performed two very accurate
readings (hopefully) and the audience is used to that. They’ve assumed that
you’re going to do three more. Now, suddenly, you took it up a notch. You
did something, well — psychic.
Let’s do some more.
Remember, you cherry-picked the last two people. I used two extreme
examples for illustration purposes; as you gain experience you’ll find you
can work more subtly. However, this will serve to illustrate the principle.
Pick up the last two bags, but do not open them. Hold the woman’s
bag in your left hand (for example) and the man’s in your right. Say, “The
object on my left resonates to a person who is warm and caring,
compassionate, probably has a great tenderness for animals and children.
His or her empathy is strong; I can see this person listening to the problems
of anybody.
“The object in my right hand vibrates to someone who is logical and
very sensitive to detail, I would say a perfectionist. I see him or her working
off a list or an agenda a lot of the time. Very practical, thinks before acting,
probably doesn’t always believe in this kind of thing but perhaps can be
open to it if there is a logical explanation.”
Approach the two people. “Sir, which one of these do you FEEL is
yours? And you madam?”
Let them select. Have them open the bags and remove their own
objects! Which, if you performed the readings correctly, they will.

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Conclusion

I don’t know why we authors feel it

necessary to write conclusions … perhaps
we just hate to let go of a book?
When I wrote Heavy Mental around 1990, I
never knew that I would write another
mentalism book. I thought that I would sell
a few copies and that would be the end of it.
Instead, I got a couple of mysterious phone
calls. One was from Charles “Cicardi”
Scott, who received a copy from Bascom
Jones. Wow! That formed a friendship that has lasted to this day. Another
was from Ford Kross (another friendship that has endured, and you couldn’t
imagine two gentlemen more opposite) who requested a copy for review in
Vibrations, the newsletter of the Psychic Entertainers Association. Based
on that review, I sold a few more copies, and was eventually invited to join
the organization. Wow again!
So that’s part of the magic of writing: you can reach out through the
media of the written word and make new friends whom you may have never
met otherwise.
It’s fourteen years later and I’m still writing. I can’t seem to stop. I’m
not only writing for the mentalism community, but for the public as well.
My books Runic Palmistry and Karmic Palmistry have been published by
Llewellyn Publications (with the help of Richard Webster!) and are doing
well. I also have some novels I’d like to see published some day.
Will I ever quit writing?
I hope not. It’s a lot of fun; like performing but not as hard on the feet.
Take care and be happy.

John Riggs
April 15, 2004

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My Books
Heavy Mental deals with strong presentations of Psychic
and Psychic reading techniques.

The Compleat Fortune Teller is a treatise on the

Question and Answer effect, with some Pseudo-
Psychometry thrown in.

The Even Compleater Fortune-Teller is a continuation

of the Q & A discussion.

The Psychic Agenda is about ways to develop a reputation as a real

Psychic, with many routines of strong mentalism.

Psychic Soirees deals with Psychic Parties and small shows.

Phrenology for the Psychic Entertainer is an easily-learned way to

perform Phrenology readings.

PW-The Mentalist's Secret Weapon is devoted to Pocket Writing.

The Suburban Charlatan. Elegant mental mysteries for the Yuppie

Psychic, with contributions from Psiman, Pecor, and Ron Martin.

The Messiah Process. No mentalism routines, but an in-depth

discussion of psychological techniques to create a magickal experience in
the subject. Past life regression, astral projection, hypnosis, implanting false
memories. Three case histories of people who created small cults using these
techniques.

Fat-Free Mentalism. Tired of carrying around a trunkload of props?

This book has routines using minimal props or preparation .

Psychic Psingularities. More cool ideas than you can shake a stick at.
With additional idea by Jack Dean, C.L. Borde, and Sal Francino.

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Psychic Pselections

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