2008 master mentalism main

Master Mentalism is dedicated to all the professional mentalists, hypnotists,illusionists and magicians that have given interviews allowing the followinginformation to be available for your dissection.


Introduction

Congratulations...

You made a great decision is deciding to get a copy of Master Mentalism! The exact material that

you're about to uncover in the following pages has not only launched the careers of several professional

magicians, mentalists, illusionists and hypnotists, but it has also helped countless other amateur and

beginner magicians enhance their skills and take their art to the next level.

DO NOT GLOSS OVER THIS INFORMATION!

Those that have gotten the most out of Master Mentalism are those that have taken their time while

going through the material. This is not something you should read in one day!

The best way to put the information to use is read just one small section with a trick or illusion that you

are interested in doing... Then spend as long as it takes practicing that one single trick or illusion until

you've mastered it!


Some of those that have become most successful with Master Mentalism have spent weeks, or even

months practicing just one single trick until they became an expert at the trick and only then did they

move onto something else.

Remember, it only takes one great trick or illusion to completely astonish your audience (no matter if

your audience is just one single person or an entire theater full of people). Take the time to MASTER

each trick that you are going to do rather then spending your time trying to learn many different tricks.

Another thing to keep in mind is this...

JUST KNOWING HOW TO DO THE TRICKS AND ILLUSIONS IS NOT ENOUGH!

Magic and mentalism is about more than knowing how to do a trick or illusion! You have to have

personality – you can even become a character.


Just because you know how to do magic like Criss Angel doesn't mean you can pull it off like he does.

Professionals like Criss have spent years developing not only their magic skills, but also their

personalities! When someone says “MindFreak” you think of Criss Angel because that is the

personality or character that he has developed.

Now I'm not saying that you have to change into someone else or change your name or do anything

else that doesn't feel right to you... What you DO need to do is to start developing some showmanship.

You need to feel comfortable talking to people (even people you don't know) and you need to be a

confident in everything you do.

If you're not naturally a confident person or you don't feel comfortable taking to people then it's

something you need to start practicing. You can practice developing your personality even without

doing anything with magic or mentalism.


One of the easiest ways to start developing that outgoing personality needed to be successful in magic

and mentalism is to just go to your local mall or another place with a lot of people and just start saying

hi to people you don't know – and smile at them when you say it. Once you feel comfortable doing

that... Try starting a conversation with someone. If you don't know what to say just try asking

someone's opinion on something.

Here is an example of a simple conversation you could have with anyone that could help build your

confidence and make you feel more comfortable interacting with people (which is something you

MUST do when you're doing magic and mentalism).

YOU: “Hey, can I get your opinion on something?”

THEM: “Okay”

YOU: “I'm really hungry for Chinese food and I just walked by the food court and I noticed there are

two Chinese restaurants - China Garden and Panda Express. I've had Panda Express before, but never

China Garden. Do you know if it's any good?


THEM: “I don't know, I've never tried it.”

YOU: “Okay, thanks anyway, I think I might give it a try.”

It's really that simple. Of course you'll have to customize it to fit your own situation, however, it's a

great exercise in human interaction skills that are vital to being a good magician or mentalist.

On an interesting side note...

I've heard reports back that people have taken my above advice and have gone out and done the

exercise of talking to strangers have made new friends and some have even reported getting dates using

that simple exercise! This is all without using any magic or mentalism (which makes it easy to make

new friends).


This manual is broken into six major sections:

A) MENTALISM, MIND READING & PYCHOLOGICAL ILLUSIONS

B) INTERVIEWS

C) DAVID COPPERFIELD SECRETS

D) LEVITATION

E) CARD TRICKS

F) HYPNOSIS


TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION 1 : MENTALISM, MIND READING & PYCHOLOGICAL ILLUSIONS

Simple Shape PredictionI’ll Name that Card in One Heads or Tails?Remote Viewing Book Test Find the LadyExtra Sensory Perception A Coin in the Hand Mind Reading for Two Tarot Reading Key Bending Spoon Bending Chevreul's Pendulum Pseudo-Hypnosis ESPrediction Numerical Prediction More Pseudo-HypnosisCutting Cards by Touch More Remote Viewing Do As I Do! Under the Influence Four Thought Wallet, Watch & Coin


Magic SquareThree Minds Into One Sit and Stay Drunk on Water Finger on the Pulse Crafty Stooge Selection Telepathy for Two

SECTION 2 INTERVIEWS

David BlaineCriss Angel

SECTION 3 : DAVID COPPERFIELD SECRETS

Making A Jumbo Jet Vanish The Flight Of Icarus Statue of Liberty Vanish Snow in the theater Floating Rose Walks through The Great Wall Of China

SECTION 4 : LEVITATION

Study of LevitationDavid Blaine And The Balducci Levitation Floating Bill And Small Objects LevitationGroup Levitation SecretClassic LevitationAll Man Levitation


SECTION 5 : CARD TRICKS

2 of a Kind Ace Party After Drinks Appearing Card Back Flip When’s Your Favorite Hour? Bent Card Double Prediction Weird Coincidence Another “Trick”

SECTION 6: HYPNOSIS


SECTION 1:

MENTALISM, MIND READING & PYCHOLOGICAL ILLUSIONS


I'll say it now and repeat it several times throughout this manual – the secret to performing convincing

mind reading is in the performance. Some of the techniques you'll learn are astonishingly simple, so

the more you can do in your performance to distract your audience away from that fact, the better.

The first section of this manual concentrates primarily on techniques; very little direction is included.

This is because your personality is the most important element in mentalism. Once you fully

understand the techniques revealed herein, think about how you can apply your personality to the

proceedings and invent your own patter to suit.

So let's get going with some mind-blowing illusions ...


Simple Shape Prediction You walk out on stage and place a large card on a chair or easel facing the audience. The

card has three shapes drawn on it; a square, a triangle and a circle.

You choose an audience member and ask him to stand. You explain that when people are

asked to think of a simple shape, these are the three commonest designs chosen. You ask

him to choose one of the shapes, in this case he chooses the square.

You then ask him to reach under his chair where he'll find an envelope stuck underneath.

Ask him to remove the envelope and as he does so, explain that earlier on you made a

prediction as to which shape he would choose and stuck it under his chair.

When he opens the envelope, there is a postcard inside that reads 'You will choose the

square'.


This is a nice opening effect and usually works very effectively.

Make a large card with the three shapes drawn on it as described above. On the back write, “You will

choose the triangle”. Write “You will choose the square” on a postcard and seal it in an envelope.

Before the show, stick the envelope underneath a chair in the auditorium.

To perform the effect, simply reveal the appropriate prediction either by asking the spectator to remove

the card from under their chair or by asking him to come on stage and turning the card around to

reveal the prediction.

If he chooses the circle, then your prediction fails but all is not lost. State that most people choose

either the square or the triangle and because he has not done so, that makes him an interesting choice

to participate with an experiment.


Note that you don't mention anything about the prediction until the spectator has named their choice.

If your prediction is right, then great! If not, disappointing but you've not yet mentioned your

prediction so no one is the wiser. Just get the person up on stage to assist with a sure fire effect whether

the prediction works or not.


I’ll Name that Card in One

You produce a normal deck of playing cards and ask a spectator to cut the deck

anywhere they like. They remove the card they’ve cut to without letting you see it and

concentrate on its design.

After a few moments concentration, you announce the exact card they’ve chosen. You

have read their mind!

You’ll need a normal deck of cards but you need to arrange them in a special order. Mentalists refer to

this as a stacked deck.

One of the easiest methods of stacking a deck is the Si Stebbins system. In this system, each card has a

value; a jack is valued 11, a queen 12 and a king 13. All the other cards take their respective value, with

an ace valued 1.


The suits are also arranged in the order clubs, hearts, spades, diamonds. The easiest way to remember

this is by the word 'chased':

Clubs Hearts Spades Diamonds.

Start with any club, then for the next card in the stack add 3 to its value and make it a heart. For the

next card, add 3 again and make it a spade. For the next card, add 3 again and make it a diamond.

When you’re adding 3 to 11, 12 or 13, subtract 13 to get the value of the next card. The system repeats

like this until the whole deck is stacked.

For instance, if you started with the 3 of clubs (3C), the stacked order would be:

3C, 6H, 9S, QD, 2C, 5H, 8S and so on.


Place the cards face up as you stack them.

When displaying the deck to your spectator, make sure you fan them and let them see the faces. Don't

make a point of this – just fan them as you say “normal deck of cards”. Whatever you do, don't say “As

you can see, they're in no particular order!” Statements like this should be implied non-verbally.

This is important later on, if the spectator tries to 'reconstruct' the trick and work out how it was done.

If they can remember you casually spreading the cards, they'll discount any theories about the

deck being in a special order or perhaps all the same card.

Put the stacked deck face down on the table and invite a spectator to cut the deck anywhere they like.

Get them to place the top half of the deck face down next to the bottom half. Invite them to take the

top card from the bottom deck and keep it secret.

Pickup up the bottom half of the deck, place it on the top half and then pick up the whole deck. You

now need to glance at the bottom card on the deck and there are a couple of ways of doing this. You


can either put the cards back into their box, casually glancing at the bottom card as you do so. Better

still, hold the deck in front of you, as if demonstrating to the spectator how to hold their card. Either

method will need a simple verbal misdirection such has “Now hold your card up, still keeping it secret

and concentrate on the design.”

As they concentrate, ask them to look into your eyes. Pretend you are looking for subtle psychological

clues as to the value of their card. Look at micro-movements in their facial muscles also.

All you need to do to name their card is work out the next one in the sequence. So if the bottom card

was the ace of hearts, their card is the four of spades. Rather than just simply naming their card,

increase the drama and effect of mind-reading by revealing it bit by bit. The color first, then whether it

is a low, high or picture card. Then name the card in full.

To really play with the system, you can subtly suggest that you are about to read the wrong card. For

instance, if the spectator's card is the nine of clubs, you might reveal it in the following way:


“OK, its a black card, yes?” Look for visual confirmation.

“I'm getting an 'i' ... 'i' ... five ... a five? No, sounds like five – its a nine, yes?”

“Definitely not a spade so it must be the nine of clubs!”

Another method of revealing the chosen card is to draw it on a notepad. Keep your drawing hidden,

then invite the spectator to turn around their card and announce the design. You can then flip over

your notepad, revealing the same design.

This is a terrific routine and with a little thought, the Si Stebbins stack can be used for many other mind

reading effects. What’s more, the stack is instantly ready to use again simply by putting the

spectator’s chosen card on top of the deck face down.


After revealing these first two effects, I want to address something you might be feeling.

Disappointment.

If you're disappointed to discover you're not divining the chosen card by reading body language or

subtle facial expressions, get used to it! This is the way all mind reading illusions work.

If it were genuinely possible to read a person's innermost thoughts, feelings or memories in that way,

then the performer would be decades ahead of the greatest psychologists in the field.

It is all an illusion. You need to sell the idea to your audience and volunteers through your

performance. This is something we'll come back to throughout the book.


Heads or Tails?

Onto the table you place a sealed envelope and a 10, 20 and 50 pence piece. The spectator

chooses one of the coins and the others are discarded. The chosen coin is flipped so it

lands heads or tails.

The envelope is opened, turned upside down and a folded piece of paper falls out. The

spectator opens the folded paper to reveal a prediction. You have correctly predicted the

not only the chosen coin but whether it would land heads up or tails up.

This simple routine introduces two important concepts important to mind reading and mental magic.

The first is known as magician’s choice and can used in many mentalist effects. Although the spectator

appears to be getting a free choice, they are choosing exactly the coin you want them to.

For instance, if you want them to choose the 20p piece, invite them to choose two of the three coins. If

they choose the 10p and 50p, you ask them to push those to one side, leaving them with the 20p.


If they choose the 10p and 20p, ask them to push the 50p to one side. Then ask them to choose either

the 10p or 20p. If they choose the 20p, say “You chose the 20p. Then that’s the one we’ll use”, and ask

them to push to 10p to one side. If they choose the 10p, ask them to push it one side and say, “And

you’re left with the 20p. That’s the one we’ll use.”

Then ask them to flip the coin. See whether it lands heads or tails and ask them to call it out.

This is where the envelope comes in and as you’ve probably guessed by now, all is not as it seems.

This is our second important concept -multiple outs. We've already seen this used in the first effect,

where two outcomes were covered by two different predictions. Effects that use this concept have more

than one way of finishing, so you need to have all possible outcomes covered.

You will need two identical brown pay envelopes. Take one envelope and trim off about 1mm from the

bottom and sides. Trim off the flap so you are left with what used to be the front of the

envelope: a rectangle of paper just slightly smaller than the envelope.


The trimmed envelope slips inside the other envelope, creating two compartments.

(see example below...)

You’ll also need two predictions, one that reads “You’ll choose the 20p and it will land head side up”

and another that reads the same but ending “tail side up”. Place one prediction into each


compartment and stick down the flap.

When you slit open the envelope to reveal the prediction, slip your first and second fingers inside to

open up the envelope. As you do so, push the flap back or forward depending on which prediction you

need to reveal. Once the flap is in place, hold it there with your thumb and finger, then tip the envelope

upside down so the appropriate folded prediction falls out.

As the spectator is unfolding and reading the prediction, slip the envelope into your pocket.


Remote Viewing

Before the show, ask one of the spectators to draw a simple

design or picture, seal it in an envelope and keep it with

them. Later during the show, you invite them to think about

the picture and after some concentration you draw

something on a notepad. You ask the spectator to open their

envelope and reveal the drawing they made. You spin your

notepad around to reveal a matching drawing.

You need to make a gimmick to achieve this effect. You need one of those clipboards made of

cardboard with a plastic coating. Black is best. You can find these in most cheap stationers. Using a

sharp craft knife, carefully cut along the bottom of the clipboard to form an opening across the whole

width.


Next take a piece of carbon paper and tape it to a sheet of A4 paper at the top. Slide this into the flap in

the clipboard until it is completely inside. Now glue the flap shut and using a black marker pen, color

the cardboard to match the plastic on the clipboard. The gimmick is ready.

When you ask the spectator to make a drawing, give them the pad with a couple of sheets of paper

clipped in it and a fairly short pencil. A shorter pencil forces them to press harder on the paper, thus

creating a clearer carbon impression on the hidden sheet inside.

In secret before you begin your show, peel back the plastic and carefully remove the paper inside. The

spectator’s drawing will be clearly visible thanks to the carbon paper.

Most people will draw something simple like a house, a car or a face - so it shouldn’t be too difficult to

remember. However, it doesn’t matter if you get it slightly wrong -in fact, it may even look more like

real mind-reading.


Remote Viewing - Performance Tips

Remote Viewing is ideal as the second effect in your act. After wowing the audience with your first

illusion, you explain how you got one of them to make a drawing beforehand and ask them to produce

the envelope. Hold it up to your forehead for a while then announce “No - I’m not getting it - let’s try

something else.” Place the envelope somewhere in full view and never touch it again. Move on to some

other illusions. You can then reveal the drawing much later as your penultimate effect, even having

another couple of failed attempts during the show as a running gag.

On the subsequent attempts, just stare at the envelope rather than holding it and again announce that

you’re still not getting it and move on.

Alternative methods for doing this type of experiment include observing the tip of the pen or pencil as

the spectator makes their drawing to learn what it is and even special electronic clipboards that transmit

the drawing to the performer, who views it on a tiny TV screen.


Book Test You produce three paperback books and invite a spectator

to choose one of them. Another spectator cuts a deck of

cards anywhere they like and adds together the values of the

first two cards on the bottom pile.

Whatever number they get, you ask the first spectator to

turn to that page in the book and concentrate on the first line

of the page.

You concentrate and then announce a couple of words.

Then you pick up a notepad and scribble something onto it.

You ask the spectator to read the sentence aloud and it

matches what you have written.


Book Tests are a staple part of mind reading and there are hundreds of methods. This is one of the

simplest and uses another stacked deck, called a 14/15 stack.

To create the stack, remove the Ace of Hearts and Ace of Spades and arrange the remaining cards as

follows, with the 7D at the bottom, all cards face down:

7C 8C 6D 9S 5C 10H 4D JS 3C QS 2D KS AC KH 2H QC 3D JH

4S 10C 5D 9C 6S 8S 7S 8D 6H 9H 5H 10D 4C JD 3S QH 2S KD

AD KC 2C QD 3H JC 4H 10S 5S 9D 6C 8H 7H 7D

Wherever the cards are cut, the first two cards on the bottom stack will always total 14 or 15.

You’ve probably figured out that you use the magician’s choice explained earlier to force your

spectator to choose the book you need.


Book Test - Alternative Handlings:

A variation on this effect is to get a general impression of what’s happening on pages 14 and 15. You

can then draw a picture that illustrates the action in the book.

You can also perform this giving the spectator a completely free choice of book. Write lines 14 and 15

from each of the three books very lightly in pencil on your notepad. This will not be visible from a

distance but means you don't have to memorize each of the six lines.


Find the Lady

You show three playing cards, one a queen and the other

two ordinary number cards. You place them face down and

shuffle them around rapidly then invite a spectator to find the

lady (the queen). Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose.

Then you invite them to shuffle the cards and you find the

lady. You win every time.

The cards are then turned face up and the same thing is

done, this time with your back turned so you can't see the

cards. Once again your are able to consistently predict

where the spectator will place the Queen.

Find the Lady was a favorite trick amongst street con artists. To make the first part of the routine work,

you need to mark the back of the queen so you can always find it. This should be done very subtly so

only you know what to look for.


Look at the two card backs below:

The card on the right has been marked by carefully coloring in one of the white birds on the cyclist’s

left shoulder to match the backing. Depending on the back design, you can mark the card in anyway

you like - so long as you can easily find the queen.

It is also possible to buy whole decks of marked cards but some systems are rather obvious.


Just remember to only use marked cards for entertainment purposes - never involve real money betting

in Find the Lady.

To make this effect really work, you'll need to improvise patter based on where they place the Lady.

For instance:

“OK, so you put the Queen on the left last time, now most

people will put it in the same place the second time but you

don't seem like most people. I reckon you'll have put it in the

middle.”

“So you put the Queen on the left the first time and in the

middle the second time.

A lot of people would then go back to the left but you know

I'm expecting you not to do the obvious, so you would have


stuck in the middle.

Except you didn't – you suspected I'd know that so have

gone for the right hand side!”

For the second part of the routine you need a confederate. They signal to you the position of the Queen.

One method you could use is to have your confederate sit or stand with his chin in his hand.

His forefinger indicates the position of the Queen, as show on the image on the next page:


And of course, make sure your confederate sits in a position where you can easily see them without

making strange movements. A casual glance out into the audience should be enough.


Extra Sensory Perception

You hand a spectator a sealed envelope, explaining that it

contains a prediction. Ask the spectator to keep the

envelope safe while an ESP experiment is conducted.

You then spreads 10 ESP cards face down in a row on the

table and ask the spectator to pick any number between 1

and 10 inclusive. You count along the cards to the chosen

number, turn over the card and reveal it as the star symbol.

You then ask the spectator to open the sealed envelope and

read the prediction inside. It reads I predict you will choose

the star.

Write I predict you will choose the star on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope.


Lay 10 ESP cards (2 of each symbol) face down in a row on the table, ensuring that a star is at

positions 3 and 7 (counting from the left).

The image is an example of how to position the cards. For the effect, they should be face down.

When the spectator has chosen their number, count along the cards as below.


You will always land on a star.

1 Count O - N - E from the left 2 Count T -W-O from the left 3 Count 1-2-3 from the left 4 Count 1-2-3-4 from the right 5 Count F - I - V - E from the right 6 Count S- I - X from the left 7 Count 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 from the left 8 Count 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 from the right 9 Count N- I - N -E from the right 10 Count T -E- N from the left

You can then reveal the other cards to be different.

ESP cards, also known as Zener cards, are made up of five symbols: a circle, a cross, wavy lines, a

square and a star. Professional decks are available very cheaply from magic suppliers or occultism

shops but you can easily make your own based on the designs shown above.


A Coin in the Hand

You invite a spectator to take a coin from their pocket and

behind their back to conceal it in one of their fists. They bring

their fists in front and time and time again you correctly

guess in which hand they’ve hidden the coin.

When the spectator brings their fists into view, you’re looking for visual clues as to which hand

contains the coin. Look for the following:

i. The direction their nose is pointing – seriously!

ii. Which fist looks more clenched. Look for whiteness around the knuckles.

You won’t necessarily get a match on both of these clues but since you already have a 50% chance of

getting it right just by guessing, a hit in one of these significantly increases the chance of getting it

right.

Be prepared to get this one wrong occasionally. You can turn it around and pay a compliment to your

spectator, saying “You’re really good at this!


Also remember to stop while you’re ahead. Correctly guessing just 3 or 4 times is enough to complete

the effect. Don’t push your luck by carrying on -because the spectator will then try to catch you out.


Mind Reading for Two

You invite two spectators to help you. The first spectator cuts

a deck of cards and removes one card, keeping it secret.

The second spectator takes the next card and similarly

keeps it secret. They are both asked to remember their

chosen card.

The deck is reassembled and the two cards replaced in

random locations and the whole deck is shuffled. You then

begin dealing the cards face down on the table, stopping at

one. That card is moved to one side and the rest of the deck

discarded. You pick up a notepad and scribble something on

it. You ask the first spectator to name their card and you flip

over the notepad revealing that you’ve written the name of

their card. The second spectator is invited to name their card

and turn over the card on the table. It is the card they chose.


This is a complicated routine and will require a lot of practice to get right. But the results are well

worth the effort required.

For this effect you will need a deck of cards with a one way back. This means that the design on the

back of the cards looks different if the card is turned upside down.

The most obvious type of one way deck is one where the cards have a photograph or picture on the

back. If you invert the card, the photograph is upside down. This however, would be too obvious for

our purposes. You can buy one way backed cards from magic dealers, or you could make a small dot in

the top left hand corner of each card in a normal deck - making sure to conceal the dot in the design.

Whichever method you use, you need to be able to see the orientation of the card without too much

effort.

Put all the cards the same way up in a Si Stebbins stack, face down on the table in front of you. Stand

between your two spectators and invite one spectator to cut the deck and place the top half to one side.


Generally, when the spectator cuts the cards he will put the top stack down in the same orientation as

the bottom. If he doesn’t you need to make a mental note of this so that when you reassemble the deck,

all of the cards are the same orientation.

Ask the first spectator to take the top card from the bottom stack and the second spectator to take the

second. Then reassemble the deck and fan them out face down.

Ask the first spectator to remember his card then slide it back into the deck. Then twist through 180

degrees to face the second spectator and ask him to do the same. By turning to face this

spectator, you are effectively turning the deck through 180 degrees, so the spectator’s card is ‘upside

down’ in relation to the rest of the deck when it is slid back in.

When you reassemble the deck to shuffle it, you have ample chance to glimpse at the bottom card.

Once you know the bottom card, you know the first spectators card thanks to the Si Stebbins stack (add

3 and move to the next suit in the sequence). You also know the second spectator’s card by again

working out the next card in the stack.

Deal the cards face down onto the table until you reach the one that is ‘upside down’ and deal it to one


side face down. Pick up your notepad and write the name of the first spectator’s card.

It then only remains for you to ask the spectator’s to call out what cards they chose and for you to turn

over your notepad and the card on the table.

This effect relies upon good spectator management to ensure the cards retain their correct orientation.

Without good management the trick will fail, so pay attention at all times to the orientation of the cards.


Tarot Reading

You produce a pack of Tarot Cards and invite your volunteer to shuffle them thoroughly. After shuffling them, you take the pack and deal six cards face down on the table, discarding the remainder of the pack.

As each card is turned to reveal its symbol, you make startling revelations about your volunteer that convince them you can see into their mind and personality.

Tarot Reading relies on a technique known as cold reading. It's a technique used by clairvoyants,

psychics and mentalists to make a person believe you can read their innermost thoughts. The

statements used are specially designed to sound specific to one person and yet they are so general, they

actually apply to a large percentage of the population.

Look at the statements below and see how many apply to you. Imagine if someone claiming to be

psychic told you these things; would you believe they had special powers?

1. You have a need for other people to like and admire you

2. You are overly critical of yourself.


3. You have some personality weaknesses but are generally able to compensate for them.

4. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not yet turned to your advantage.

5. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you are worrisome and insecure on the inside.

6. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing.

7. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety

8. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof.

9. You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others.

10.At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved.

11.Some of your aspirations can be rather unrealistic.

12.You become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations.

13.Security is one of your major goals in life.


Now all you need to perform some cold reading is a pack of Tarot cards and to memorize the above

statements. Get your spectator to shuffle the Tarot deck and then ask them to deal six cards face down

on the table.

Turn over the cards one by one to perform your reading. No matter what cards turn up, recite the

phrases above and try to personalize the phrases as much as you can. You will get far more 'hits' than

'misses'. And think – how many times have you heard a psychic say that the images and names of Tarot

cards should not be taken literally in a reading? Now you know why!


Key Bending You toss a quantity of keys onto the table and invite your spectators, along with you, to choose a couple and trying bending the keys with mind power. As they rub their keys in vain, you announce that one of the keys you chose is bending. As your spectators watch intently, the bend becomes ever more visible. But when they try to replicate the bend using their bare hands, they find it impossible. The explanation – you bent the key with mind power!

When you choose your keys, pick up a mortice style key and a Yale style key. When your spectators

are absorbed in rubbing their keys and trying to bend them with their minds, slip the Yale key in the

mortice key as shown below, covering the move with your hands.

This provides the leverage you need to bend the Yale key with your hands. Just make sure everyone is

absorbed with their own bending when you perform the move.


Discard the mortice key and hide most of the Yale key with your fingers. As you rub, slide the Yale

key into view, revealing more of the bend as you do. If you hold the key vertically with the teeth

pointing up and rotate it downwards as you rub, the illusion of movement can be created. Some

spectators will swear they saw the key bending as you rubbed it.

All metal bending, whether it involves keys, forks or spoons, uses a similar method. Despite what some

(very famous) performers claim, it simply is not possible to bend metal with the power of the mind.

Every bend you've ever seen is achieved by sleight of hand and

misdirection.


Spoon Bending

A spectator holds a teaspoon between their palms. They rub

their hands together and the spoon bends under

psychokinetic power. Taking another spoon, you rub it gently

with your fingertips until the bowl begins to bend and swing

wildly, eventually falling off!

First you need to invest in some easily bendable spoons. As you become more accomplished at spoon

bending you can move up to heavier cutlery but for now, just buy some cheap stuff.

Prepare one spoon by gently bending it back and forth, until you can see stress fractures starting to

appear (as shown in the picture below). The other spoon is unprepared.

Explain that you are to demonstrate psychokinetic spoon bending and approach your spectator holding

one spoon in each hand as shown below. Angle your body so that the unprepared spoon is closest to the

spectator and ask them “Which spoon would you like to use?”


Your positioning is a psychological suggestion for them to choose the unprepared spoon and they

usually will.

Set the prepared spoon down on the table and ask your spectator to hold out their left palm. At the same

time, drop your arm so the spoon is by your side. During this action, move your thumb up into the bowl

of the spoon and press down, producing a slight bend. This bend remains hidden by your hand.

Place the bent spoon on their outstretched palm and place your other hand over theirs at the same time.

Ask them to place their other hand in the same position as your upper hand. Don't remove your hand

until their's is in place, covering the bent spoon.

Now ask them to gently rub their hands together (as if rolling a sausage). As they do this, suggest that

they will begin to feel the spoon getting warm. They will eventually feel warmth due to friction.


Now suggest that the spoon is probably beginning to bend and they may even feel the bend rubbing

against their palm. Again they will feel what you suggest.

Ask them to lift up their right hand and examine the spoon. A bend will be visibly apparent but this can

be enforced by holding it alongside the prepared spoon.


Now explain that you'll demonstrate what can be achieved when these psychokinetic powers are

focused.

Hold the prepared spoon by the handle and cover the stress fractures with thumb and fingertips. Now

begin gently rubbing your thumb and finger tip together.

After a while, state that the metal is getting really warm and starting to bend. Hold the spoon by the

handle and bowl and gently bend it up and down. Then rub some more.

Keep doing this until eventually the bowl falls off. You can involve your spectator by asking them to

hold the bowl as you tilt the handle up and down.

Spoon Bending – Alternative Handling


If the psychological force fails and your spectator chooses the prepared spoon, launch straight into your

spoon bending demonstration then use the unprepared spoon the demonstrate

what spoon bending powers they have, explaining that they are likely to be less developed than yours.


Chevreul's PendulumChevreul was a distinguished chemist and Director of the Natural History Museum in Paris. He

developed the simple experiment outlined below to demonstrate how the unconscious mind can be used

without conscious awareness.

You will need a small weight (such as a ring), a piece of thread about 8 inches (20 cm) long, a pencil

and a piece of paper. Tie one of the thread to the weight and the other end to one end of

the pencil. On the piece of paper, draw a straight line about 6 inches (15 cm) long. Hold the pencil at

one end between finger and thumb so that the weight is suspended directly over the

straight line at a height of about 1 inch (2.5 cm). Concentrate intently on the straight line and wait...

Did you find that the pendulum began to swing in the direction of the line? If you were unsuccessful,

keep trying. You really need to concentrate hard on the line. In effect, you are entering a light hypnotic

trance, shutting out external stimuli and focusing all your attention on the line. Imperceptible muscle

movements controlled by the unconscious mind produce movement in the pendulum.


Once you have successfully got the pendulum to swing under unconscious control, move the piece of

paper round so the line is at right angles to its original position. Eventually, you

will find that the pendulum changes direction and follows the line once more.

Now draw a second line at right angles to the first, forming a cross. Repeating the experiment, you

should now find that the pendulum swings along the line upon which you concentrate.

On another piece of paper, draw a circle and see if you can make the pendulum follow the circle under

unconscious control.

This is a simple and powerful demonstration of the unconscious mind at work. It shows clearly how the

unconscious mind can influence our behavior without us being consciously aware of it doing so.

Find a willing volunteer and repeat the experiments outlined above with them holding the pencil rather

than yourself. Use the piece of paper with the cross drawn on it and suggest to your volunteer which

line the pendulum will follow. When that proves successful, suggest that the pendulum will swing

along the other line. When that proves successful, suggest to your volunteer that the pendulum will

swing in a circle. When it is swinging in a circle, suggest that it will soon slow down and come to a


stop.

Here we have demonstrated the power of suggestion, the ability to implant an idea in the unconscious

mind of somebody. This entirely natural ability, which we each possess, is the main

component of performing hypnosis. The subject of hypnosis will be explored later in this E book but

for now, let us examine an effect that looks like hypnosis but is actually based on the laws of physics.


Pseudo-Hypnosis You invite a man and a woman to participate in this experiment. Position the man and woman standing facing each other and instruct the man to lift the woman by placing his hands under her armpits. He will successfully lift her.

You then wave a hand in front of the man's face and suggest to him that the next time he tries to lift her, he will find it more difficult. The man tries to lift her again and sure enough, this time he struggles to lift her.

This effect looks like hypnosis but actually relies on a principle of mechanics to work.

The first time the man lifts the woman, have them standing quite close together so the man's arms are

bent when lifting her. After the first lift, step between them, stand in front of the man and perform your

pseudo-hypnosis as follows.

Waving your hand in front of his face, say

“OK, just close your eyes for a moment”

“In a moment I'm going to ask you to try lifting this lady again.


On this next attempt, you will find it much more difficult.”

Tap your forefinger on his forehead and say

“OK open your eyes and try lifting her again.”

Here comes the most important part of this effect. Gently guide the pair into position, with the man and

woman twice further apart than before.

This time the man will need to extend his arms more to lift her. Twice the difference means double the

effort. So even if he can still lift her, he will find it more difficult. You wording has been sufficiently

vague (“you will find it much more difficult”) that whether he lifts her or not, both outcomes are valid.


ESPrediction You produce a pack of 25 Zener cards and invite the spectator to cut the pack anywhere he likes. The card cut to is placed to one side, face down, as a prediction.

The remaining 24 cards are divided into 2 packs of 12 - one for you, one for the spectator. You and the spectator begin dealing your cards simultaneously until a matching pair is found. Whenever a matching pair is found, the two cards are placed alongside the prediction.

When all the cards have been dealt, the prediction card is turned over and it bears the same symbol as the matching pairs previously found. An ESP miracle!

The deck needs to be stacked so the five symbols repeat in the same order. For example, Star, Square,

Wavy Lines, Cross and Circle repeated five times. It doesn't matter what order you put them in, as long

as it repeats five times.

You can have the spectator cut the cards several times because an order will always be maintained.

The cut to card is removed, placed to one side and the bottom of the cut deck is placed on top of the

other stack.


Now deal off 12 cards for yourself. This reverses the order of your cards. The remaining 12 cards are

given to the spectator.

When the cards are dealt, two pairs will always match and they have the same symbol as the prediction.

You just need to dress this up with whatever patter feels right for you and it creates a fantastic ESP

routine.


Numerical PredictionYou produce a sealed envelope and announce it contains a numerical prediction. Placing the envelope on the table for the moment, you hand a small piece of card and a pen to a spectator and ask them to write a number between 1 and 1000 on the card.

This done, the spectator hands the card and pencil to another spectator and you invite them to do the same, writing their number below the first one. This is repeated with a third spectator before the card and pencil are retrieved.

The card, pencil and sealed envelope are handed to a fourth spectator who is asked to total the three numbers written on the card. When he's done this, he opens the envelope and finds that your prediction matches the total of the three numbers.

Write three numbers between 1 and 1000 in different handwriting on a card. Find the total, write this on

another card and seal it in an envelope.

A blank card is handed to the three spectators. When you retrieve it, turn your back and walk towards

the table to fetch the envelope. This gives you sufficient opportunity to swap the card for the one

you wrote on earlier. Hand the prepared card and envelope to the fourth spectator and the effect is


complete. What you must ensure is that the fourth spectator is sitting far from the other three so they do

not realize the numbers added are different to theirs.


More Pseudo-HypnosisAgainst their will, a spectator's fingers stick together under

mind control.

Ask a spectator to fold their hands together, weaving the fingers

and clasping them tightly. After a few moments, ask them to raise

their two index fingers so they are sticking up, about an inch apart.

Now slowly and without touching the spectator's hands, move your

hands theirs and say

"Concentrate on your fingers. Soon they will begin to move together. You can fight it but they

will still touch!"

Slowly but inevitably, their fingers will start to move together.


Cutting Cards by Touch

Producing a deck of cards, you announce that through years

of practice you are able to cut to any number of cards called

out, simply by touch.

A spectator calls out a random number, say 23. Placing your

hand gently over the deck, you cut off a packet of cards and

give it to the spectator. He counts them and finds there are

indeed 23 cards.

This effect requires some practice but nowhere near as much as your patter would suggest.

You'll need a 'stripper' or 'wizard' deck of cards, available from magic dealers. In a stripper deck, each

card tapers slightly so they are wider at one end than the other. If all the cards are the same way round,

and one card is then reversed, you can feel the wider end protruding out where the other cards are

thinner.


There are two ways of setting up the deck to perform dead-cutting. Either reverse every tenth card or

arrange the deck in packets of four, with each packet of four in the reverse position from the one next

to it.

When the spectator has called their random number, use your thumb to count off the separate packets to

get as close to their number as possible. Keep your thumb at the back, out of sight of the spectator

when performing this maneouvre.

Once you've cut roughly to their number, hold the pack slightly open with your little finger and then let

drop or pick up with your thumb, enough cards to complete the cut.

Cutting by Touch - Alternative Handling:

Arrange your stripper deck in a Si Stebbins stack. Deal off 13 cards, reversing the orientation of the

first card you deal off. Now place this package back on top of the deck.


You can then give your patter about about being able to cut to a certain number of cards. Say

something like

“For instance, If I wanted to cut off 13 cards, I'd do this ...”

Cut off the top 13 cards by finding the reversed card, count them onto the table to show there are

indeed 13 cards, then place this package back on top of the deck. You've not only demonstrated

cutting by touch but now have a perfect Si Stebbins deck ready to perform a mind reading effect!


More Remote Viewing

You hand 5 ESP cards, a notepad and pencil to a spectator.

Turning your back, you ask him to look through the five

designs, choose one that appeals and draw it on the

notepad. As he does this, you draw on a notepad of your

own.

When the two notepads are turned over, you've both drawn

the same symbol!

This effect relies on two principles:

i. Out of the five Zener designs (circle, cross, wavy lines,

square and star), the star and the wavy lines are the ones

most psychologically appealing and commonly chosen.

ii. The five designs are made up of one, two, three, four and


multiple lines respectively.

By giving the spectator a short pencil, they automatically use more force to draw the design. You

should be able to hear the pencil moving across the notepad and from the number of lines you hear

drawn, determine which symbol they chose.

If you couldn't hear clearly make an educated guess between the

star and wavy lines based on what you did manage to hear.


Do As I Do!You produce two decks of cards, one for you and one for a

spectator. You both shuffle your decks, secretly choose and

card, memorize it and then cut it into the middle of the deck.

You then switch decks, and each look for your chosen card

and place it face down on the table. When the cards are

turned over, you've both chosen the same card.

This effect can be done with any two decks of cards – they don't need to be prepared in any way.

Produce the two decks and invite the spectator to choose one of them. It doesn't matter which one he

chooses. You then both shuffle your decks.

Now switch decks but as you do so, glimpse the card on the bottom of your deck and memorize it. This

can be done very casually as you hand the deck over.


Ask the spectator to fan the cards in front of his face, choose one, memorize it and place it on top of

deck without letting you seeing what card it is.

You do the same but use any card – just keep memorizing the card from before.

Now ask him to reassemble the deck, cut it and complete the cut so that his chosen card is lost in the

deck. You do the same.

Switch decks again and ask your spectator to look through the deck until he finds his chosen card. Ask

him to remove the card and place it face down on the table.

As he does this, you look for the card you memorized and remove the card immediately to the right of

it, placing it face down on the table.

Now recap what you've done. Say:

“We both shuffled our decks, chose a card, switched decks


and then located our chosen card in the other deck. What

you didn't realize was that through subtle use of body

language and phrasing, I subconsciously influenced you to

chose one particular card. The same card that I chose ...”

“Turn over your card ...” He does so.

“Which was exactly the card that I chose!”

And you turn over you card to reveal that it matches his.


Under the InfluenceYou explain that through subtle use of body language and

verbal phrasing, you will influence a spectator's behavior.

A volunteer comes on stage and you hand him a deck of

cards. You ask him to shuffle them, which he does, then fan

them out with the faces towards you. You mentally select

and remember one of the cards.

The spectator shuffles the deck again and under you

instruction, divides it into four roughly equal packs. You ask

him to pick up each pack in turn, look through them, and use

his instincts to decide whether your chosen card is included

in the pack. If it isn't, he discards it and moves on to the next

pack.


Once the pack containing your card has been selected, you

ask him once again to act on instinct and place your chosen

card face down on the table. All the other cards are

discarded.

He asks you to name your selected card. When the card he

has chosen is turned over, it matches your chosen card.

This effect uses nothing more than a marked deck. Talk your volunteer through the moves above:

shuffle the deck, divide it into four packs, look through each pack and decide whether your chosen card

is in the pack. When one pack is left, ask him to once again use his instinct to remove one card and

place it face down on the table.

At this point, you look at the markings and declare that card as the one you selected earlier. The

volunteer turns over the card to reveal it is correct!

Under the Influence - Alternative Handling:


Whichever card your volunteer chooses, name its mate as your chosen card. For instance, if he chooses

the 8 Clubs, name your card as the 8 spades. If he chooses the Jack Diamonds, name your card as the

Jack Hearts. This makes it look like the spectator almost got it right !


Four ThoughtYou produce a stack of forty or so business cards and show

them to the audience. The cards have various instructions to

think of a random number, a color, a popular meal, famous

actor, politician, country etc.

Gathering up the cards, you invite another spectator to take

part in the experiment. You ask him to verify that each card

has instructions to think of different things. He agrees that

they do.

Placing the cards face down on the table, you ask him to cut

the cards anywhere he likes and take the card he cuts to.

The other cards are discarded.

The spectator then concentrates on the four things listed on


the card. You then correctly name the four things he was

thinking of.

This effect, based on a principle known as dual reality, takes guts to perform but the results are worth

it. Dual reality means that the spectator's experience of the effect differs from that of the audience but

both experiences are still valid.

As well as taking guts, this effect also requires a fair amount of preparation – in particular making up

the special pack of cards with which to perform the trick.

These can be hand written or printed with a computer. Choose whatever method best suits your

performance style.

The stack is made up of three different types of cards: two "spectator" cards (shown to the spectators),

twenty one "volunteer" cards (shown to your volunteer) and twenty "force" cards (ultimately, the card

chosen by your volunteer).


The two spectator cards look like this:

For the "volunteer" cards, make 10 of one and 11 of the other of the following two cards:


And all twenty "force" cards look like above:

Using a sharp craft knife or guillotine, trim about a 1mm wide strip off the bottom (longest) edge of

each "force" card.

Then stack them face up in the order below (from bottom to top):

Force card, volunteer card, force card, volunteer card, force card, volunteer card ...

and so on, with the top two cards ending up as "volunteer" cards of two different types. The two

"spectator" cards then go on top, completing the stack.

To perform the effect, select your volunteer and have him take a seat on stage. Pick up the stack and

approach the audience, explaining that you have a special deck of cards that instruct someone to think

of particular things like numbers, celebrities, colors and so on.

Show the stack face up to the spectators so they can see the top card. Make sure plenty of spectators get


to see the card and as you do so, pick off the top card so they can also see the second card. Turn the

deck towards you and remove the second card also, letting

everyone see it.

As you walk back to your volunteer, place the two “spectator” cards on the BOTTOM of the deck.

Walk up to your volunteer and show him (but do not hand to him) the rest of the deck. Pick off the top

card (now one of the "volunteer" cards) and say

"You didn't get a chance to see. The cards have instructions for you to think of a famous actor, a

color, a number ... things like that."

Keeping the second, different "volunteer" card on top of the deck, show it to him saying

" ... and on this card, a famous composer, a country, you get the idea. Forty cards, each asking

you to think of different things."

Here you have set up the dual reality: your description of the cards satisfies both the volunteer and the


spectators. The spectators think all the other cards are like the ones they saw, the volunteer thinks the

spectators saw cards like the ones he can see. There is no reason to think otherwise.

Square up the cards and place them face down in front of your volunteer. Ask him to cut the deck

anywhere he likes and remove the card he cuts to and place it face down on the table. Gather up the

other cards and place them in your pocket.

Because you have trimmed all of the "force" cards, your volunteer will automatically cut to one of

them.

Now turn your back and ask the volunteer to look at his card and think of the things it tells him to.

Continuing the dual reality, the spectators think the volunteer is going to think of a random number,

country, composer etc himself. The volunteer understands that he is to think of the things written on his

card and because all the cards are different, you are to read his mind and discover which card he chose.

To conclude the effect, say "OK I'm getting it – you're thinking of the color red, the country is Sweden,


the composer is Mozart and ... a very popular meal indeed - steak and chips! Correct?”

And of course, you are correct!

Four Thought - Alternative Handlings :

i. Reverse the positions of the spectator and volunteer

cards. This allows you to show the cards to volunteer first,

then approach the audience, cutting the volunteer cards to

the bottom as you do so.

ii. Less spectacular but this effect can be performed one-on-one

by removing the spectator cards. You then show your volunteer

just the two top cards as examples of the cards, before cutting

them to the bottom and commencing the effect.

iii. Holding the cards by the right hand edge allows you to fan


them either to your volunteer or spectators. At most, they

will see the words “Think of ...” on the cards, a powerful

psychological misdirection that makes them believe all the

cards are different without you having to say so.

However you choose to perform this effect, the dual reality principle is at the cutting edge of modern

mentalism. It can be used to give the illusion that a performer is divining complete memories of past

events; the sights, sounds, smells and feelings associated with a particular experience. Once again, with

a little thought and imagination, the force card technique used for 'Four Thought' can be adapted into a

whole range of mind reading effects. Have fun!


Wallet, Watch & CoinA male volunteer places his wallet, watch and a coin on the

table. Turning your back, you invite him to place each of

those objects into his front left and right and one of his back

trouser pockets.

Turn around and explain that through subtle use of body

language, you can determine which object was placed in

which pocket. After looking him up and down for a while, you

correctly name the location of each object.

For this effect, you need a confederate who signals to you where each object has been placed.

You can use a similar system revealed in Find the Lady or one of your own devising. For instance, your

confederate folds him arms, signaling 1, 2 or 3 by how many fingers he shows on the uppermost hand.

Your volunteer is positioned behind you and you turn your back to face the audience and your


confederate.

You need a volunteer with, not surprisingly, a watch, a wallet and some loose change – at least one

coin.

Here's how it works. Ask the volunteer to pick up any object and place it in his left trouser pocket.

Each object is assigned a predetermined number.

1 – “Wone” equals “W”allet

2 -“Two” equals “T”ime (watch)

3 - “Three” equals coin “Three-penny bit”

Work round the positions in the same order every time you perform this effect: Left front pocket, right

front pocket, either back pocket. So for example, you ask the spectator to choose an object to place in

his left trouser pocket. The spectator chooses the coin, so your

confederate signals “3”.

You then ask the spectator to choose an object to place in his right front pocket. He chooses the wallet


and your confederate signals “1”.

The third object can go in either rear pocket. A signal is not required for the third object.

All you need to do is remember the two digit sequence: 3, 1 in the example above or it might be 2, 1 if

the watch went in the left pocket and wallet went in the right. Doesn't matter!

Explaining that the effect is achieved through subtle body language is a nice double entendre. You are

reading body language – but its a secret language between you and your confederate, not that of the

spectator! You can also explain that people tend to respond to certain psychological principles. As an

example you state that most men place the wallet in their right trouser pocket, or most men place the

watch in their right trouser pocket, whatever is the case.

Or you can say “Most men place the wallet in their left trouser pocket but you're a little unusual; you've

placed the coin in the left pocket!”

Reveal each placement as above, with enough psycho babble to explain it and your audience will be

amazed!


Magic Square

A spectator gives you a random number and you're instantly

able to create a magic square of numbers in which all rows,

columns, diagonals and corners total his chosen number.

This looks absolutely mind blowing when performed well but is technically easy to achieve.

The diagram below shows the basic framework for the square:


The numbers shown in the above square will always be present, whatever random number is chosen.

You need to memorize the order and positions of those numbers. The gray squares A to D are where

you will add additional numbers to complete the magic square.

If like me you have a terrible memory, write the basic framework of the magic square using very light

pencil in the corner of your notepad or flip chart. It will be visible to you but not to your

audience.

To begin, ask for a random number between 25 and 100. Let's say your spectator chooses the number

37.

Subtract 21 from the number given (in this example, we get 16) and put it in position A. Then add 1 to

this number and put in position B. Add 1 again for the number in position C and finally 1 again for the

number at D.


In our example, we finish up with the magic square shown below:

Look at the resulting square and you'll see that all rows and columns total 37 – the spectators chosen

number. Also, both diagonals total 37. The numbers at each corner also total 37. And


the four 2 by 2 squares at top left, top right, bottom left and bottom right also total 37 (e.g. 8, 11, 16

and 2; 17, 1, 7 and 12 etc.)!

Actually, there's more! Choose any 3 sided square and the numbers at each corner also total 37 (e.g. 8,

17, 3 and 9)!

Although this may seem like a simple concept, Derren Brown used a magic square effect as the encore

for his 2004 UK tour and got a standing ovation!


Three Minds Into One

Three spectators each remove one card from a normal deck.

The 3 cards are mixed by another spectator and then

returned to you face down.

Turning over the first card, you correctly announce which

spectator selected it.

You then do the same for the second card.

Obviously knowing who chose the third card, you leave it

face down on the table and pick up a notepad. After a

moment's deliberation you write something on the pad. The

third spectator is then asked to name his card and as he

does so, you spin the pad around to reveal you've written the

name of his card.


Like some of the previous effects, this one requires a confederate. Your confederate is the spectator

who collects the 3 cards from the other spectators, who are genuine. This can be the same person

already used because this is the first time they take an active and visible part in the show.

Here are the workings of the effect:

You hand a deck of cards to a spectator on the left of the audience. Mentally label him as 'Spectator 1'.

You ask him to shuffle the deck if he likes but in any event, to remove one card, keep that card hidden

from view and pass the deck onto another spectator to his left. The second spectator ('Spectator 2') does

the same and hands the deck to 'Spectator 3'.

Now you have 3 spectators, each holding a randomly chosen playing card. Ask them each to

concentrate upon and remember their chosen card.

Now turn to your confederate, gesture to him and say,

“You Sir, would you mind helping with this experiment? Can you retrieve each card and bring


them to me, making sure they are face down so I can't see them? Bring the remainder of the

deck also.”

Your confederate collects the cards and the remainder of the deck. As he collects the cards, he marks

them for you in a particular way. To mark the card from Spectator 1, he presses his forefinger and

thumbnail into the top right corner of the card as he holds it face down. This produces a slight 'nick'.

This can be done quickly and will not be noticed.

With Spectator 2's card, he makes the nick in the middle of the right hand side, again face down.

Spectator 3's card doesn't need to be marked.

Once he's collected the cards, ask your confederate to place the remainder of the deck on the table and

then hold out your left palm to accept the cards, again face down.

Ask the three spectators to stand. Holding the three cards face down in your left hand, you say the

following:


“I'm about to look a the top card. When I reveal this card,

please, whoever chose it, make no sound or movement to give yourself away. Remain calm,

motionless and blank faced.”

While you are saying this, place your little finger above the bottom card and slide it in slightly to form

a 'break' in the cards. This will be hidden from view of the spectators by your hand (see photograph

below).

Now flip over the top card (keeping it on top of the cards in your left hand) and announce it.

“The first card is the three of clubs ...”

Holding your right hand palm down, slip your thumb into the break created by your left little finger.

Position your fingers across the right hand side of the two top cards (see photograph below).


Now lift these two cards as one, twisting your right hand through 90degrees so the audience can see the

face up top card. This action reveals to you the face down second card (in this case, the 8 of spades).

Remember that card – you need it for the final part of the act.

Rotate your hand back and place the two cards on top of the card remaining in your left hand and say,

“Could the person who chose this card repeat its name over

and over in their head – 3 of clubs, 3 of clubs, 3 of clubs etc.”


Pick up the top card on its own and place the remaining two cards next to each other (still face down)

on the table as your return to your position.

Look at the card markings to determine which spectator chose that card. After a little deliberation say

“The three of clubs was chosen by this gentleman ...”

Walk over to the respective spectator and tap him on the shoulder saying,

“Thank you – sit down please”

Now pick up the third card (the one you haven't glimpsed), look at it and show it two the audience.

“The next card is the Jack of Diamonds. Again, could the person who chose this card repeat its

name over and over in their head”

Look at the card markings to determine which spectator chose that card.


After a little deliberation say

“The Jack of Diamonds was chosen by this gentleman ...”

Walk over to the respective spectator and tap him on the shoulder saying,

“Thank you too – sit down please”

There is now one card remaining on the table and one spectator left standing. Say

“Now obviously it doesn't take a mind reader to know who chose the remaining card, so I'm

going to try something different with this one. Sir, could you also repeat the name of your

chosen card over and over in your head please?”

As he does this, pick up a notepad and pan. Look at him for a while then draw the card you glimpsed

earlier. Keep the drawing concealed from your audience then ask the remaining spectator to name his

chosen card.


After he has done so, flip around your notepad to reveal that you've read his mind and drawn a picture

of the chosen card.

Three Minds into One – Alternative Handling

1 - Instead of 'nicking' the cards to mark them, your confederate can simply give them to you in a pre-

agreed order, e.g.: Spectator 3's card on top, Spectator 1's in the middle and Spectator 2's card on the

bottom.

2 - Rather than playing cards, you could hand out business cards and ask 3 spectators to make a small

drawing or write a word on the back. In this alternative, you don't need a confederate. The

business cards can be pre-marked by you and handed out in order.


Sit and Stay A volunteer is invited to sit on a chair on stage. As you talk to

them, they feel heavier and heavier, to the degree that when

you ask them to rise and stand they are unable to do so.

As described, your volunteer takes a seat on stage and you perform a 'hypnotic induction':

“As you relax in that chair, feel all energy drain from your body. You are unable to move; you

have no need to move.”

Stand in front of the volunteer and place your forefinger on their forehead.

“Now, when you feel this your whole body becomes heavier. Your arms and legs become weak.

This pressure on your forehead is becoming ever greater. So great that it glues you to the chair.

Now try to stand ...”


Keep your finger pressed to the volunteer's forehead. They will be unable to stand.

“Now the pressure is lifted. That heavy weight disappears ...”

Remove your finger from their forehead and let your arm relax.

“The strength returns to your body and you're able to stand. Rise and stand now please ....

“Thank you so much for your co-operation ...”


Drunk on WaterA spectator drinks water that you supply. Despite it being

purely water, they display signs of drunkenness.

This is a throwaway stunt that can lighten the mood when used appropriately.

Get an empty wine bottle (and cork) and fill it with water. Invite your spectator on stage, hand them a

plastic cup and uncork the wine bottle.

“I want to show you how to save a fortune when buying expensive wine.”

Pour some water into their cup.

“This bottle used to contain wine. But I drank it. This is just water. Take a sip to confirm that.”

“Not even expensive mineral water but just tap water, yes?”


Your spectator confirms this.

“OK. Now in a moment I'm going to ask you to take another sip of water. It will still taste like

water but your brain will believe it is wine. Take another sip ... tastes the same yes?”

“It tastes the same but your brain thinks you're drinking wine. Take a really big gulp now ...”

“This experiment has been performed with large groups of people at a party. Half the group

were given alcohol, the other half water. Over the course of an evening, the half drinking water

became just as drunk as those drinking alcohol.”

“Let's try something. We know that alcohol affects coordination. Here's a really simple test of

coordination.”

Extend both your arms, holding them about 1 metre apart. Now extend each forefinger and bring your

arms together so both forefingers touch. Practice doing this until you can do it quite quickly.


Demonstrate the move for your spectator.

Ask your volunteer to do the same. They must bring their fingers together quickly. Invariably they will

miss.

“No like this ...” and perform the move again.

Again they try and fail.

“OK. Take another sip of water. This time your brain knows that its water. The effects of the

wine wear off – the water cleanses your system and you return to normal.

“Thank you. You can drive home safely now ...”


Finger on the PulseA spectator joins you on stage. You sit facing the audience

and the spectator takes your pulse with one hand. With the

other hand, they tap a glass or tumbler with a pencil in time

with your pulse.

You breathe deeply, more and more slowly. Steadily your

pulse becomes weaker until it stops altogether; the spectator

stops tapping the glass. Your breathing stops.

Moments pass. Your pulse remains stopped.

Suddenly you take a massive breath of air and your pulse

starts again. Your eyes flicker open and your return, slightly

dazed, to normality.


To prepare this effect, take a large handkerchief or scarf and tie a knot in the middle. Then tie the

handkerchief firmly around your left arm so the large knot rests in your armpit.

By bringing your upper arm gently in towards your body, the knot presses against the inside of your

arm. This pressure stops your pulse. Releasing the pressure allows your pulse to return. It will take

some practice to get the knot size and positioning right for you.

To take your pulse when practicing, use the first three fingers of your right hand. Place them along your

left wrist just behind the thumb, with right hand thumb on the back of your left wrist. In performance,

you should direct the spectator to take your pulse in the same way.

Finger on the Pulse – Alternative Handling

Place a knotted handkerchief under both armpits. The effect can then be performed with two spectators

and allows you to stop your left pulse, start it again and stop your right pulse, then stop both together.

That's the mechanics of this effect; the rest is pure showmanship.


Crafty Stooge Selection

Here's a great way of ensuring a required stooge is selected from a group, seemingly at random.

Take a bunch of blank business cards and seemingly draw a cross on one of them. In reality, just

scratch the card with your fingernail – no cross is drawn.

Your stooge already has an identical card with a cross drawn on it.

Mix the cards and hand them to a spectator in the same row that your stooge is sitting. They should be

sitting perhaps two away from your stooge. Ask him to keep the cards face down, take one and pass the

rest to the spectator next to him (in the direction of your stooge).

Each spectator in the row takes a card and passes the rest to the person next to them. Once everyone

has a card, ask the spectators to turn over their card to see who has the one with a cross on it.

At this point, your stooge switches his card for the pre-prepared card and so joins you on stage to assist


with your next effect.

Your stooge can think of a pre-arranged number, childhood memory, country, playing card, city,

favorite film etc that you are then able to correctly divine without anything ever being written down.


Telepathy for Two

This is an experiment in telepathy and automatic writing.

Two spectators are used. The first chooses one of the five

Zener designs. The second is blindfolded and given a white

board and a marker pen. The first spectator is asked to

concentrate on their chosen Zener card and the second

spectator lets the pen drift lightly across the board to

produce unconscious automatic writing.

The design drawn by the second spectator matches the card

selected by the first!

You need to prepare a few gimmicks for this one. First obtain 5 A4 sized pieces of white card. Using a

marker pen, draw the five Zener symbols on the cards – one design on each card. If you're right

handed, do this with your left hand and vice versa. This makes the design very rough. Now make a few

other lines and splodges across the symbol.


You also need to completely dry out a marker pen so it no longer writes.

In performance, spectator 1 is seated on the left of the stage and spectator 2 on the right, both facing the

audience. Spectator 1's chair should be positioned slightly further forward than spectator 2's chair, so

they can't look across and see what is being written.

Spectator 2 is blindfolded and asked to relax.

“The blindfold is to shut out external stimuli and help you concentrate.”

Approaching spectator 1, you fan out the five ESP cards face up, ask him to take one and to concentrate

on the design.

At this point, note which card he takes.

At the back of your table, have the 5 prepared boards in order (circle, cross, wavy lines, square, star)


with the blank side facing the audience. Obviously, they need to be stored out of site. A cardboard

folder pinned hanging down the back of the table is ideal.

Take care to keep the blank side facing the audience at all times when you remove it.

Rest the card vertically on Spectator 2's knees and ask them to hold it with their non-writing hand. Now

hand the dried out marker to spectator 2 and position the pen just lightly touching the board.

Explain to the spectator that the pen must rest lightly on the card all the time for automatic writing to

take place. Their writing arm must be held up unsupported. Don't let them rest their arm on their lap.

“Automatic writing is done by the unconscious mind. Don't think about what to write, don't

deliberately move your arm; just allow it move on its own under unconscious control.”

Ask spectator 1 to concentrate on their card and 'will' the design to spectator 2. After a while, check the

white board and say


“There are a few lines but nothing distinct. (Spectator 1) you're doing really well – I'm getting

the image very strongly. (Spectator 2) is almost there but needs a little help. Let's get everyone

involved.”

Ask spectator 1 to simply show his chosen card to the audience.

“Can everyone see that? Good. Now, nobody must say anything but I want you all to

concentrate on that design and 'will' it to (Spectator 2). Let's go ...”

After a while, return to spectator 2 and say,

“OK I think you can stop. This is really interesting ...”

Take the pen from the spectator and put it in your pocket. Place the white board in their lap, blank side

up and remove their blindfold. Let their eyes adjust and say

“Keep that card in your lap for just a moment please ...”


Turn to your audience and say

“Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you. You've all achieved something really remarkable tonight.

You all concentrated on the 'star' design (or whichever was chosen) and have successfully

transmitted that thought to another person.”

Ask spectator 2 to stand and turn over the white card to show the design.

“There is the evidence. Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you once again! And a round of applause

for our two brilliant volunteers!”


SECTION 2:

INTERVIEWS


David Blaine Interview

Interviewer: Larry King on CNN's Larry King Live

KING: How did you choose magic as a life?

DAVID BLAINE, ILLUSIONIST: I loved it since I was 5 years old or even, maybe younger, 4. It was

just like a digital fixation with cards and math and science and then I started to look at images of great

magicians from Houdini down the line.

KING: Studied them?

BLAINE: Yes, studied them extensively. Not just magicians, but guys like Orson Welles, who did "The

War of the Worlds," or Buster Keaton and everybody else.

KING: In other words, you liked the different?

BLAINE: Yes. I liked all the great showmen.


KING: That's what they were, right? The good ones are showmen.

BLAINE: Yes.

KING: Why illusions?

BLAINE: Well, I also love magic, which is, you know, different than showmanship. Magic's an art

where you use slight of hand or illusion to create wonder. And I was just intrigued with that idea. I'd do

things to my mom and her friends and I was a 5-year-old boy making these adults run around

screaming. So, it became addictive.

KING: You were big at Halloween, huh?

BLAINE: I didn't -- yes. Just -- I don't think -- I just always did stuff at all times to everybody. Even if I

was riding a subway to school, I would just do magic to the people sitting around me, or if I was in a

library, I'd do it to the librarians and they were just all...


KING: How did you get well-known? What happened to you to put you on the world scene?

BLAINE: Well, as I was doing magic, I used to always -- me as a magician, I would watch people's

reactions, because that's what I love the most, people who have the funniest reactions and the most

beautiful reactions. So I would focus on that. So when I was about 19, I shot a tape of me doing magic

just to people on the streets, and I would edit together all the reactions and I kept pushing this idea, and

then ABC came on board and made my first show. But not a lot of people really saw it, but the ones

that did, I think liked it. And I've buried myself alive for seven days and seven nights in New York

City, which I thought was the hardest thing ever at that time. Now it's like a vacation...

KING: Yes, we'll get to that in a while. Where did you -- where were you buried?

BLAINE: Trump gave me some land on the West Side Highway by the river, where he was building a

new building complex, and I just dug a hole, put a coffin and went in.

KING: Now, how would you make money from that?


BLAINE: I didn't make any money from that, but you know, eventually if I kept making more shows, I

would own the rights to the shows and I would film around the world and stuff like that.

KING: Could you successfully levitate? You levitate, right?

BLAINE: Right. Well, it's an illusion.

KING: OK. Now it's a -- you're not -- you're not leaving the ground?

BLAINE: I make it look like I am, you know.

KING: But you can give the illusion of going up. Do you need props to do this?

BLAINE: No, that's the thing about -- when I started doing magic, I started thinking the best stuff were

things that you don't need any props, like because it's – in my mind, the best magician, I didn't think he

would walk around with boxes or props, I figured he would just do with his strength, and my whole

concept was to bring magic to people looking as though I have almost nothing. Of course, there is


always something, or there's something to do or something learned or something worked on.

KING: So you didn't bring rabbits out of hats.

BLAINE: No, I stayed away from everything everybody else was doing.

KING: Are there some people who believe that there is an occult aspect to this...

BLAINE: Yes...

KING: ... some magical powers?

BLAINE: Yes, there's not -- it's tough when people ask you to do really weird things, you know, bring

back somebody...

KING: You don't buy that?


BLAINE: No.

KING: What do you make -- what did you make of Siegfried & Roy?

BLAINE: I mean, I love them. I feel terrible for what happened.

KING: That happened while you were up there.

BLAINE: Yes. And I didn't know about it until afterwards, really. Somebody wrote a sign, but I didn't

understand what they meant. That's horrible.

KING: Yes. In the next segment, we'll talk about the whole box thing and how you got to do all of that.

But driving force in your life, you said, was the death of your mother?

BLAINE: Well, her life is my driving force, because she gave me so much attention and so much love.


KING: Your father left the family early.

BLAINE: I never knew him. I never knew him. And I just told last night, because I saw my mom's

brother, who I haven't seen in years, I just heard that the man that I thought was my father maybe

wasn't. I don't know if that's true or not. To find out all these strange things, but...

KING: Did your mother encourage what you do in life?

BLAINE: My mother encouraged it so much. She was so supportive. Even if as a kid, I would do the

dumbest trick, which now that I look back on some things, she would love it, she would say that's

amazing, or if I'd make the ugliest drawing, she would hang it up. She was amazing.

KING: Do you -- are you thinking of something to do, like your next thing?

BLAINE: Oh, I've been thinking about that my whole life. The whole time I was in the box, I kept -- I

wrote down a whole list of what I need to do. But yes, the next thing I'm going to do is a crazy one.


KING: Can you give me any kind of clue?

BLAINE: I could tell you it has to do with a helicopter and me falling from a helicopter into a river,

and it's called the dive of death, and it would be from such a tremendous height that there's only a

couple of people that have lived from that height because when you fall from that height it's like hitting

pavement.

KING: That can't be a trick.

BLAINE: No, no.

KING: Right. No parachute.

BLAINE: Oh, no, no, no, no. Nothing like that.

KING: There is no way to practice this.


BLAINE: Oh, yeah, there is. For that...

KING: What do you do? Do you do practice someplace?

BLAINE: Yeah, I'm going to do. No, I don't care. Everybody can film me, but I'm going to learn how

to hit water from tremendous height -- not the full height that I am going to go, but I will learn how to

hit at like 110 feet, which is...

KING: And your belief is that this can be done, right?

BLAINE: It can be done, but it can also go terribly wrong, like everything I do.

KING: So there is a little Evel Knievel in you. A little risk.

BLAINE: Evel is one of the greats. That's what I was hoping would happen in the box -- not that I

hoped for it, but I kind of expected it to go really well. I figured -- no, but I figured that like...


KING: If only it would fall.

BLAINE: No, that I didn't want to happen. No, but I figured my mind would start to hallucinate, like

after about -- I would go crazy, it would be really interesting.

KING: How said it didn't happen, David.

BLAINE: I'm happy it didn't. It's amazing that it didn't. But yeah, I think that when Evel Knievel

crashed over the fountain at Caesar's, it kind of gave you a credibility and then anticipation for

everything he did.

KING: He's a good guy, too.

BLAINE: Yeah.

KING: You lived in a box for 44 days starving. So the obvious, why?

BLAINE: It was a dream that I had. Like, one day I kind of had this thought. I woke up about a year


ago and started to obsess on the idea of living in a box. But a box of mirrors, actually, so I could only

see my reflection for 44 days because that's my birthday, April 4. So, that's my lucky number. So I

started obsessing on the idea of going 44 days in a box was nothing. But, then the mirrors, I decided

would make me crazy. Like my mind would completely flip. So we got rid of it and ended up making it

like this.

KING: Why, London?

BLAINE: Just thought London would be a good place for, you know, something different for a change.

KING: Did you need permission as to where -- how high up was the box?

BLAINE: Also, the Tower Bridge was so beautiful. It was a dream to do something off of the Tower

Bridge. I originally wanted to hang it off of the Tower Bridge, but we couldn't get permits to do it

there. So, we got the field next to it which was good but it was about like 30 feet up when it was windy

I they kept it low. But when it wasn't, in case people threw stuff at it, and stuff like that, they would

raise it up.


KING: So, they could move it up and down?

BLAINE: Yes. It was on a crane.

KING: Did you expect it to get the attention it got, world wide?

BLAINE: I mean, I kind of hoped it would, but all of my friends told me everybody will be bored.

Everybody said don't do it, it's going to get bored except for a friend Harmony who directed the show.

He said, just do it. Who cares? I said, yes, you’re right, who cares? And we rushed...

KING: Where did you make this thing.

BLAINE: In London. My original idea was we wanted to make it bullet-proof but because we had three

weeks from when the deal was made until the show -- when I was going to put in the box, in London,

they can't make anything that's bullet-proof. So it's like this. And when people would shoot fireworks at

it in the nighttime. Not every night, and not everybody but one in a thousand would do something

crazy. When they'd shoot fireworks, I would jump because I was sure they were shooting a gun at me. I


could wake up and my heart would start racing.

KING: You had to start to get a little whacked after while right. When people starve they get a little...

BLAINE: I don't think so.

KING: Hallucinating.

BLAINE: It's like a heightened sense of awareness. All the sounds became really intense and the colors

were vivid. Blues look different. Things like that.

KING: Who paid for the box?

BLAINE: Sky TV and Channel 4.

KING: They are the ones who showed it in Europe?


BLAINE: Yes.

KING: They had the rights?

BLAINE: Both of them do.

KING: What's it made of?

BLAINE: Plexiglas.

KING: How did you pick this size? Why isn't it a little bigger?

BLAINE: It was going to be 7 feet by 7 feet by 3 feet and I had a mock-up made in my apartment. I got

in there and looked at it and said, it's too big, could we shrink? So we shrunk it. It now it's about 6'3".5

by 6'4" by 2.5 or something. Maybe still 3 this way.

KING: How did you go to the bathroom?


BLAINE: Well, when you're not eating, you rarely take a number 2.

KING: But you were drinking right.

BLAINE: Yes. There's a hole here and a rubber tube that came up and pulled the rubber tube up and

had a cup, a big cup and I would urinate into it, but I wrap a blanket around me at all time. It's crazy

when I would urinate people would cheer. It was like nuts.

KING: They knew when you were urinating?

BLAINE: Yes, of course. So, for the first week, it used to take me 10 minutes to pee. I would have to

close my eyes and pretend I was in front of a toilet. And I'd have to block everything out. By but like

the eighth and ninth day and tenth day, I would pee in like two second with my eyes open.

KING: Were there days you thought of saying bring me down?


BLAINE: There was a couple of times. Like the one time, a guy late at night at 4:00 a.m. climbed up

the water tower. Because we didn't have enough security. Climbed the water tower and there we these

cables that connected to this. And I think he thought it was what was holding me up and he starting to

swing everything and yelling, go back to America. I hate you. I'll kill -- I mean, crazy things. And I was

-- it was -- I was waving and smiling but really, I was like this is it, I'm done. At that point, I realized it

really got into the psyche of some people in a serious way.

KING: Why? Why did you annoy people.

BLAINE: Well, I think the way

KING: It was a clever stunt, it was cute, it was fun.

BLAINE: I think it would have worked that way anywhere I did it because for people, it's kind of

boring in a weird way. It is a guy in a box doing nothing. So they think, well the heck.

KING: Worldwide about a guy in a box doing nothing.


BLAINE: They think what the hell? And I think it reflected more about like how like if I felt a certain

way and I came and saw somebody doing this, number one, I would have a tough time believing it.

Like it would be tricky.

BLAINE: I would think he was something. You know, it would bother me. If I was in a bad mood,

throw an egg at it. Not to hurt the guy but funny to see an egg blast and the radio stations saying we'll

pay 100 pounds if you hit him with an egg. So that -- there was also for every one guy throwing an egg,

there were hundreds of people who would wave and smile.

KING: Was it pure water or like Gatorade?

BLAINE: Absolutely Pure water.

KING: Gatorade is electrolytes, right. It would have kept you going.

BLAINE: No. If I had -- wrong. If I had glucose, my body's metabolism would have stayed up


encrusted itself quicker and my brain would have been affected more, actually. The glucose would

have stopped the starvation process. Because when you are starving your body slows down.

KING: You were trapped in a sense?

BLAINE: Yes, it was really hot, because it was a heat wave in London which was unusual and sunny

every day except for two days. Which is really unusual for London.

KING: Thought it would rain.

BLAINE: Yes. Because it was so sunny, this is like a green house. The temperatures -- it was 114

degrees in the daytime on most days and 34 degrees at night. And these were supposed to be heaters

but these were only 130 watts at max. So these are 150 watts. But one of them went out right away. So

these provided more heat than these, but this is at the top. And when you're sleeping at the bottom and

cold in the nighttime these do absolutely nothing. So, the cold was the top three most terrible things I

had to face.


KING: How much did you sleep?

BLAINE: In the beginning, I slept pretty well because it wasn't cold at night. It wasn't bad. I had the

blanket and I was OK. But like, at the end when you're starving, your body produces a third of it's

normal heat so, so it was very difficult to sleep more than two hours a night.

KING: Body odors?

BLAINE: Terrible.

KING: Your own body odors?

BLAINE: Terrible. I had baby wipes but it was terrible. I have the clothes I brought for you.

KING: Delightful.

BLAINE: Yes.


KING: There was no trick way to sneak out?

BLAINE: No.

KING: And get something to eat.

BLAINE: Well, there was paparazzi and people with cameras there at all times during the day and

night. So, if I would have snuck out, somebody would have had that picture.

KING: I heard you wrote on the walls?

BLAINE: It says God, faith, will and water. That's king of what I had to make it through this.

KING: Faith, God, will and water.

BLAINE: God first. Yes.

KING: Are they in order then?


BLAINE: Yes. When I was really miserable, I'd write things that reminded me of how, you know, how

to...

KING: You had a pen?

BLAINE: Yes. I had a pen, a journal.

KING: What did you write on your blanket?

BLAINE: There I wrote, 44 days and 44 nights of peace and torment.

KING: You had both, right?

BLAINE: Yes.

KING: How did you sleep?


BLAINE: This mattress would be unrolled, but it was really thin.

KING: So, you lied straight down on that?

BLAINE: Well, the thing about that is when it's cold out, which it was, it was 34 degrees every night,

this becomes like a rock. So, the first thing to start me was my back started to kill, because when you're

sitting on this all day long day, you can feel that thin pad, it kills. And then when you're laying down

on it, it like a rock, your back just begins to ache. That was like the hardest thing right off the bat

starting on day two.

KING: Were there always people watching you?

BLAINE: Always. At all times. All day, all night. That was the most ironic thing. It's isolation, but in

everybody's view.

KING: What were you out to prove? In other words, not a magical stunt. This is not an illusion. You

were not disappearing or levitating. An animal wasn't appearing where a motorcycle was. What were


you proving?

BLAINE: For me, I like the idea of endurance. I was obsessed with the idea of fasting and isolation.

When I was 11 years old, I would stop eating for nine or ten days. And even now, until -- before I did

this, I would go with 20 days without water.

KING: How much weight did you lose?

BLAINE: 54 pounds in about 45 days.

KING: Did they do any studies of you, any doctors?

BLAINE: Yes. The best starvation expert, Paletuck and his partner. Well, number one, they kept all the

urine that I would pee out. They went into a tube that they medically took and they preserve it to study.

My key-tone levels and everything. They kept those frozen or refrigerate and preserved.

And then when I got out, before they refed me, they took tons of vials of blood, which they stored. And

the doctor even thought, who was helping me, he thought that I had cheated somehow with vitamins or


nutrients or something. Not with food because that's crazy, not with glucose that's crazy, sodium is

crazy. But what happened is, when he got the tests back from the blood, everybody in the hospital said

at the Independent Hospital in London (ph), suddenly looked at me differently and started to really do

research on me.

So now, he's publishing a paper which shows how to refeed people suffering from malnutrition.

Because there's nobody that's had documented cases since 1910.

KING: What's first thing you ate. You can't eat heavy, right? When you starve for 44 days.

BLAINE: Afterwards, no. You have to refeed. That's the dangerous part.

KING: You could be killed.

BLAINE: It isn't the starving part, anybody could do -- anybody could be in the box for 44 days just on

water. It's true. It is true. But the refeeding, is where most people suffer the great -- that's where all the

danger is.


KING: Worst part?

BLAINE: All of it was the worst and all of it was the best, but I think little things start to get to you,

like all the little things here, to stay warm, see that?

KING: What are they?

BLAINE: Wool balls. I had a wool thing on and it was freezing so I had to wear it all the time. And

wool would be everywhere. So at all times, I had wool balls in the back of my throat. So besides the

horrible back, the freezing cold you know, the fantasies of food --

KING: Was anyone talking to you?

BLAINE: Yes. Everybody would yell.

KING: You hear them?


BLAINE: Oh, loud as anything. If anybody said anything right now...

KING: You can hear right through it?

BLAINE; Loud as all. It echoes in here.

KING: Did you know the attention you were getting everywhere?

BLAINE: No, no idea. I just knew that there was a really good base of people here and at nighttime

when people were drunk, or when the sun went down, it would change a little bit and some bad people

-- not bad but throw things at me. Which I became accustomed to.

KING: No feeling of being closed in?

BLAINE: Only once when Harmony came up. Because, he was directing this film about me. So, when

he came up to shoot me, and he's my best friend as well, and he's the one who supported this in the

beginning, when I was going to not do it. He came up on a cherry picker. But on the first time, when it


was on like day 38, he -- I was seen face to face. Nobody had been this close to me. He looked at me

and looked really scared. And so did the cherry picker operator and the other guy Tom, they looked

really frightened. Tom's the one that designed this for me. They looked really scared.

And when they went back down, I yelled -- I could open the hole. I yelled, Harmony, what's wrong? He

went nothing, nothing. Harmony, what's wrong? I said, Harmony, how do I look? He went, you look

good. I said, how do I really look? He said honestly? I said, yes. He said you look gray, white circles

under your eyes and you looked really gaunt and sucked in. It's really bad. Then the walls went -- like

that. I started to panic. I couldn't breathe. I was...

KING: How did you overcome it?

BLAINE: I just laid down and just practiced focusing my breath for like ten minutes and it went away I

never thought about it again.

KING: Did you have any pain?


BLAINE: During it? Horrible pain, because when you're in starvation, when your body is eating your

own muscle tissue, your own fat and the organs, so you feel all of your muscles literally like they're

being chewed off.

KING: What was the 44th day like?

BLAINE: That was the craziest one, because like day 40, I started to have heart palpitations, but really

it was just my heart would speed up or slow down really fast -- abruptly. So when it happens, you can't

breathe and there was like, you know, 40,000 people all there and by then, they were really supportive

which was amazing, but it was scary, too.

And so, had a pillow and I tried to throw it out to the people that were there. Because some people

came every day for 44 days. So I tried to throw it at these girl's direction. I hadn't moved that much in

the whole 44 days. When I went to yank the pillow, I had never used that muscle and sharp pains

started shooting everywhere. My heart was racing. I couldn't breathe and actually thought I was going

to not finish before I finished.


KING: You are aware a lot of people thought it was a trick?

BLAINE: Yes.

KING: That there was something going on.

BLAINE: They always think that. Because I do illusions, as well. Like when I levitate, that's an

illusion, or when I do slight of hand.

KING; You don't pretend that's -- no, that's a trick.

BLAINE: Yes, that's illusion. That's what I love to do. But this is a different thing. This is an endurance

piece.

But, the other thing is, like, when I did this, there was no agreements of confidentiality agreements, not

from anybody. No security guards. And Sky and Channel 4 hired everybody. So everybody involved,

there was nothing. You're getting ready for something, huh?


KING: Tell me about people throwing things at you. What that was like.

BLAINE: Well, it is really loud in there. It echoed everywhere. So, when you're trying to relax and

trying to focus...

KING: They would throw eggs? What did they sound like?

BLAINE: Or this gay parade came by and threw sausages at me.

KING: Whoa! Whoa! Hey!

BLAINE: That's what it was like.

KING: Jesus! And you had that any night?

BLAINE: No, no, no. But usually there was only like two thrown, because it was a far shot. Not this

close. Not every night. The first ten nights which was horrible.


KING: You were crying when you came down. Why?

BLAINE: It was just such an emotional moment for me. At that point, I was living on adrenaline.

Everything was rushing through me, and it was sad and beautiful at the same time. Like, to finally be

released was just so overwhelming for me.

KING: All right. What's the first thing you ate?

BLAINE: Well, the first thing I had was a -- like, a handful of potato chips. I wasn't supposed to, but

five days into it, in the hospital being fed with liquids, all my friends would come and they'd leave their

food there, and in the middle of the night, I'd grabbed a bunch.

KING: Because you're not supposed to eat big, right?

BLAINE: No. No, no, no. No. And then I started to have fruit and then there was this one fantasy I've

been having the whole time which was a lox and cream cheese bagel.


KING: Funny. I would think the same thing. It's the heritage.

BLAINE: Dreaming about. So I kept thinking about this bagel. So the next thing my friend gave me

two of them. And I ate one of them and my stomach was killing for the next three days. So after that, I

was really careful and moderate.

KING: You jumped out -- you snuck out of the hospital one day too, to go see -- what? -- "Mystic

River"?

BLAINE: Yes.

KING: Sean Penn's your friend?

BLAINE: Yes. Yes. Snuck out of the hospital because I just couldn't be there. I was there for a week

and I went to see his movie, "Mystic River." And it so overwhelming, and I had edema -- my legs were

swollen from edema and my heart was really weak because it had shrunk in size. And I'm in the movie

and it starts to get really emotional and I started to suddenly panic and have an attack and I couldn't

take it and I had to leave and go home and stand in front of the hospital. And then I got better in a


couple of days.

KING: You got mail? People wrote letters to you?

BLAINE: Yes.

KING: Well, how did they deliver it? David Blaine, care of Tower Bridge, London, U.K.

BLAINE: Yes. The postlady would just deliver it to the security.

KING: And how did they get it to you?

BLAINE: They would give it to the -- to the people on site, whether it was my girlfriend or if was the

security guards, the post lady would come every day and leave it there.

KING: Were you warned? The British press said you were warned against making love to your

girlfriend for awhile because it could kill you. True?


BLAINE: Yes, it is true. And a few nights into it, I did that and I had heart monitors on at all times and

they came rushing in because my heart was racing so -- it was – yes.

KING: What was the psychological impact of all this, do you think?

BLAINE: I think in a lot of ways it was an amazing learning experience. I learned how to kind of

appreciate the things that are important, which are simple things that exist right in front of us. You

know, what we have, like a sun rise or a sunset and everything that kind of that God puts in front of us.

But as soon as I was refed, it's like I forgot everything. Like all those awakenings I had....

KING: Do you appreciate the incredible ability of the human body?

BLAINE: Yes, which was unbelievable. I read this book, "Fasting Can Save Your Life" and he spoke

about how salamanders and starfish -- like, a salamander, when it loses its tail, even if it's starving, it'll

digest its body and it'll leave its tail because it needs a tail to survive to get more food. And so that's

what the human body does is, is it learns how to digest everything it has to sort of protect its brain and


the brain stays completely functional and -- yes, we're amazing.

KING: Let's include some phone calls for David Blaine.

New York City, hello.

CALLER: Hi.

KING: Hi.

CALLER: David, with the influence of your mother in your life, what are you feelings about

fatherhood?

BLAINE: I think I was lucky because my mother had been so supportive. And even though I didn't

have a father, she gave me the amount of love that was necessary. She was never on the telephone to

her friends smoking cigarettes and she never made the television a babysitter. She would just really

dedicate her attention to me. Even though she worked three jobs, she was really serious. I think that's

just love from somewhere is all of it we need or...


KING: Are you worried about people trying to imitate you? Go up and starve themselves, young kids

affected by...

BLAINE: A little bit, because I practiced and I trained first. It's not like I decided one day to just starve

myself. I had done fasts before and I had done slow build-ups and I had built up in weight and I had

gained a lot of weight for this one. And then I went and did it with a complete set mind. I practiced

meditating. So yes, I prepared.

KING: Hopeful -- Hopedale, Illinois, hello.

CALLER: Hi, Larry.

KING: Hi.

CALLER: Hi, David.


BLAINE: Hi.

CALLER: I wanted to know how you handled the negativity of some people and the heckling that you

received and if you were surprised by that?

BLAINE: I was a little surprised. I expected it. And in the beginning, it was tough to hear people

yelling curses at you and stuff. But I would focus on the good things instead of on the bad things. And

in some cases, when somebody would come and, like, wave at me, and when I'd wave back they'd give

me the middle finger. Really -- I mean, guys in business suits. So what would happen is it would

distract me. And of all a sudden, I'd focus on this guy and wonder, Who is he and what's he about? All

of a sudden, two hours would pass -- or if an egg was thrown -- the egg, I'd try to figure out who did it

in the crowd and then I would watch, you know, somebody come and clean it up and then, all of

sudden, four hours would be gone. So I knew I had a thousand and 56 hours do in the box, and any

distraction was an advantage.

KING: Tell me about this journal you -- what, you kept a journal?


BLAINE: Yes. I kept a journal every single day.

KING: Writing -- just show you how this looks. You wrote...

BLAINE: Every thought that I had I would write. I would write and draw and put pictures in.

Thoughts. And, yes. Yes.

KING: This is a -- why don't you publish this?

BLAINE: I'm going to do that, I think.

KING: Now, you have a book on "The New York Times" Bestseller called "Mysterious Stranger."

BLAINE: Yes.

KING: A Book of Magic. And there you see the cover. And in the book, you have $100,000 treasure

hunt?


BLAINE: Yes.

KING: A hundred thousand dollars is hidden somewhere, right?

BLAINE: Yes.

KING: And we understand, you're going to give one clue tonight.

BLAINE: Yes. I'm going to give a clue that's very simple. It's one sentence.

KING: It's in the United States?

BLAINE: Uh-huh. And this is the first clue that I'm giving that's simple, that has nothing to do with...

KING: And this is cash? The person will find cash?

BLAINE: Well, they'll find a ball and they'll find my phone number. Then they'll call me, and then the

book publishers have a check for $100,000 that they'll give.


KING: The clue is?

BLAINE: The clue is, if my tattoo is fearless, then climb 10 weeks to find the route, and route is

spelled r-o-u-t-e. If my tattoo is fearless and climb 10 weeks to find the route -- the other thing I would

say is drop the most common dice number that's thrown on a craps table.

KING: Good Luck!

I saw a photo of your teeth after you came out of the box. Did you finally get to brush them?

BLAINE: Yeah. After 44 days.

KING: They didn’t look normal, that color was what, lack of vitamin C?

BLAINE: Yeah, you bleed all over your mouth. It's from the beginning of scurvy.

KING: What did it feel like to do this?


BLAINE: It felt amazing. It was like all of my senses suddenly came back. And even looking in the

mirror was crazy, because I hadn't seen myself in five -- six and a half weeks. So suddenly, I look in

the mirror and I'm 54 pounds lighter and I look completely different with a beard and, I was, you know.

KING: The Bronx, New York, hello. The Bronx, are you there?

CALLER: Yes, hi. Hello.

KING: Go ahead. Go ahead.

CALLER: Hi, David. Hi, Larry.

KING: Hi.

CALLER: Basically, I wanted to ask, has anyone ever questioned your sanity? And if so, how did that

ever make you feel?


BLAINE: They always question my sanity. I don't mind it. I'm used to it now, yeah.

KING: But I guess you've had that all your life, right? Why does this kid like to starve for seven days?

BLAINE: Well, people just always thought I was a strange kid in a lot of ways. I don't think so, really.

KING: Well, you were different.

BLAINE: Yeah, I don't know.

KING: You know anyone else like you?

BLAINE: No. I was competitive in myself in weird areas. That's what it was.

KING: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for David Blaine, hello.

CALLER: Hi, Larry, hi, David. I kept up with your progress on the Web, and was disappointed that we


couldn't get the live feed here from Channel 4 when you actually left the box. But my question is, how

close do you feel you came to dying? And do you think you're going to live to an old age?

BLAINE: I don't know the answer to that. I know that I'm going to keep doing these things for as long

as I possibly can, because that's what I feel my reason is, to be here in a lot of ways. I just love it so

much, and I can't answer the how long.

KING: What do you do with -- what did you do with hunger? We all know hunger pains. How could

you go 44 days? You wrote hunger on your lip?

BLAINE: Yeah. I had it tattooed.

KING: It's tattooed onto your bottom lip, the word "hunger"?

BLAINE: Yeah, right there. As far as hunger goes, I would practice fasting all the time, so the hard part

for most people they say is in the first five days, because after that the hunger pain completely goes

away.


KING: You didn't have like in the 10th day...

BLAINE: I was ready for it. I was completely -- no, I was ready for the first five days, so it was not like

it was a surprise and somebody was locking me away without me knowing. So I was prepared. And

then after that, I just didn't feel the hunger anymore.

KING: Curst, Texas, hello.

CALLER: Hi, Larry. I just want to say thanks to David for the new clue he's given us to solve this

$100,000 challenge.

KING: OK, good.

CALLER: And how long, David, do you think it's going to take us to solve it now that we have this

final clue we were so close?

BLAINE: That's a very serious clue. I mean, that puts you right there.


KING: Really?

BLAINE: Yeah.

KING: You're close, ma'am.

Phoenix, Arizona, hello.

CALLER: Hi, David. I was just wondering, I know that you've noticed that a lot of people on the

Internet are exposing your secrets to your magic tricks.

BLAINE: Right.

CALLER: And I was just wondering how you feel about that.

KING: Is that happening?


BLAINE: Yeah.

KING: People write how you do what you do?

BLAINE: Yeah, it's always happened. I don't mind it. I'm used to it. I think in a weird way, it's good

because it motivates me to keep going on with new stuff, to keep working, creating.

KING: True, there is a code among magicians you don't tell how a trick is done?

BLAINE: For some magicians. Some of the other magicians are the guys selling the secrets on the

Internet.

KING: Have you seen any magician do something that you have no idea how they did it?

BLAINE: Some -- not really like that, but I had a great appreciation for what they have done. There's a

lot of great magicians, like my best friend, Bill. He doesn't believe in magic. He's a performance artist.

So he sits in his room and does it alone to himself.


KING: Would Houdini have done what you did?

BLAINE: I don't think so, no.

KING: Ellijay, Georgia, hello.

CALLER: Thank you, Larry. David, did you hear during your 44- day ordeal, did you hear from Prime

Minister Blair or any of the royal family?

BLAINE: No.

KING: How could you have heard from them? They had to go by and yell up.

BLAINE: I was locked in a box. So I didn't really...

KING: New York City, hello.


CALLER: Hello. Larry, David, I wanted to know if David is planning any sort of traditional kind of

Vegas or Atlantic City type of shows.

KING: Good question.

BLAINE: I've been working on a show for about seven years, which will sort of bring magic back to

the old days of freak performances and phantasmagoria, and it will be scary and beautiful and it'll be

kind of like if Barnham put together something.

KING: You're going to tour it or put it in one place?

BLAINE: I'm thinking about putting it in New York City and leaving it in a venue where people can

come all day and all night on the weekends and have all kinds of different magic...

KING: And you would do performances?

BLAINE: Yeah, every night there would be a show and it'll be unlike anything anybody has seen. And


this is my baby. I've been protecting it, working on it for years and years and years. So yeah, I will.

KING: Wilmington, North Carolina, hello.

CALLER: Yes. I was just wondering where or how do you come up with the ideas for your stunts?

BLAINE: I kind of just have an idea or it might be a dream or just some visual image that I love. And I

start to obsess on it. And I start think about how it could be possible.

KING: You obsessed right. It's hot so you're obsessed on ice?

BLAINE: An idea that comes and once it comes to me, it sticks there. I can't fight it. It's like I don't

want to give it up, so I keep fighting.

KING: Like the helicopter thing. You think about it more about.

BLAINE: Yes. That's my new obsession.


KING: Maybe the water will be cold.

BLAINE: And also, then the guy that did it in 1887 and survived, Steve Brody.

KING: The famous Steve Brody.

BLAINE: Pulling a Brody.

KING: Brooklyn Bridge.

BLAINE: Then when I was in the box, somebody held up a poster for 1930 that said dive of death and

then I suddenly realized that's it. Don't need to be chained like Houdini or something. I can just do a

dive from a deadly height.

KING: Warren, Indiana, hello.

CALLER: Hi. You said you don't have a fear of death. But, when you were in the box, you said you


were afraid of being shot. You thought fireworks were shooting at you.

BLAINE: Right.

CALLER: So, I don't understand. You said you don't have a fear of death.

KING: Has a fear of getting shot.

BLAINE: No, a fear of like somebody shooting me isn't the same thing. All of a sudden sitting there

and a loud noise is banging next to you, it's scary whether no matter whether you fear death or not.

KING: Niagara Falls, Ontario, hello.

CALLER: Hi. I just want to tell you, you've been a really, really big inspiration for me.

BLAINE: Thank you, man.


CALLER: And I just wanted to ask you, when you're planning on doing your next stunt, dropping from

a helicopter.

KING: When?

BLAINE: I'm hoping to do it on April 4. Which is my birthday, 4/4/4. But I don't know if I can prepare

that quickly.

KING: So, you have to practice.

BLAINE: I have to learn how to hit water. Because if you go in even a little bit off, if you're not

perfectly straight, you don't pierce the water right. You rip your ligaments off, you're paralyzed,

anything can go wrong.

KING: Out of all of the things in history, what's one feat impressed you the most?

I mean, I liked when Orson Wells did the "War of the Worlds."


KING: When he fooled us all.

BLAINE: The radio. And everybody thought aliens were coming down.

KING: Fooled my parents.

BLAINE: Yes, thought I thought was amazing.

KING: My mother and father went running into the street.

BLAINE: I also liked Castro came into power and seemed like a white dove flew out of no where and

landed on his shoulder and he just continued his acceptance speech, but you could see a guy throwing

the doves from his jacket. That's how I think doves should be used.

KING: One of the great illusions. Use a dove, throw it on your shoulder.


David, this has been a delight. Great pleasure finally meeting you.

BLAINE: Thank you. You, too.


Criss Angel Interview

Interviewer: Reg Seeton of UGO

UGO: A couple of years ago, it seemed that all of a sudden you just burst onto the mainstream scene.

What were you doing prior to the Mindfreak series?

CRISS ANGEL: Years ago, before the series came out, I had a run at Madison Square Garden. I

headlined their Halloween show and did about 500 performances for them. Then I went on to create,

direct, and star in a show called Mindfreak, which was the original Mindfreak in Times Square on

Broadway and 33rd. I was supposed to do three months there and ended up doing 600 performances in

just over 14 months. I started in 2001 and then in January of 2003 I closed the show. That experience

spawned two television specials, one was self-titled Mindfreak for ABC Family and I was very

fortunate to have the highest rated original programming in the 13 nights of Halloween. Then I did

another Halloween show for SCI FI Channel the following year, which did just as well or maybe even a

little better. After I closed the show I was going through a transformation of experimenting and

evolving in material. I wanted to get away from the whole Halloween theme and do something a little

more versatile and accessible. From there, we quickly went on to do the television series and the first


season of Mindfreak, which originally started off as 8 episodes and we were very fortunate not to have

to do a pilot. But after A&E saw some of the raw footage that we shot, they went ahead and ordered 16

episodes, which turned into 21 episodes for season one. That was the youngest demographic at the time

in A&E's history and the show became the number one best selling DVD for A&E as well. It broke all

sorts of records in demographics and became the number one show in its time slot. Then we went to

season two and there have been a lot of great things that have transpired since.

UGO: On the Halloween Special, illusionist Franz Harary said that in every generation someone comes

along that changes the game. How do you feel you're changing the game?

CRISS: Well, I think magic as an art form, unfortunately, doesn't garner the respect that cinema does

or that musicians do. It's perceived as a hokey, cheap novelty, like a man taking a woman in leotards

and shoving her into a box. It's kind of behind the times. I wanted to make magic very provocative and

engaging. I also wanted to connect to people on an emotional level. It doesn't matter how I do

something, instead it matters how you feel when you watch it. I really think that's what Houdini was so

successful in doing. Up to 50,000 people would turn out when he'd do his version of street magic and


escape out of a straightjacket. People looked at Houdini and saw a man not necessarily escaping the

straightjacket, but saw a man that was symbolic of their own lives in that they'd ask themselves, "If

Houdini could escape the straightjacket, maybe I can escape poverty. Maybe I can make a better life for

myself?" I really think that was the essence of his success and why his name is still synonymous today.

My goal is to have that same organic approach; to touch people and make them feel, make people laugh

or cry, or even make people scared. I want to approach magic in a way that's much more provocative

and get rid of the things that are associated with magic, like the boxes and the hokey presentations.

Whether it's on the street, on the stage, or public demonstrations, I want to present a new form of the art

of magic.

UGO: How has technology helped to take magic to a whole new level?

CRISS: Well, technology has been an incredible asset and it's been an incredible curse. It's been a

curse because today everyone has a cell phone with a video camera in it and I'm in a lot of public

places with high traffic, like Freemont Street in Las Vegas or Times Square in New York City. Without

tooting my own horn, I'm doing things that no other magicians have done, like levitating a girl while


completely surrounded by people below and above me in various buildings. All of these people, in their

own way, are able to shoot whatever they see. It keeps me on top of my game and it's really what I get

off on. It's the fact that I'm challenged to be able to pull it off and be able to do it so that people are

mesmerized by it and don't understand how it works. But if I blow it, it will be on the Internet before

you'd even be able to say my name and it would definitely have an affect on my career. I think that's

why I've been successful, because I understand how to present magic in the day and age that we live

and these situations that no other magician has taken chances with outside of doing card tricks. It's like

making an elephant disappear or floating from one building to another, walking on water in a public

pool, and the various things that I think are very challenging in a challenging environment.

UGO: In many ways, you seem like the Bruce Lee of magic. How do you balance discipline and the

physical with spirituality and magic?

CRISS: I think that when the mind, body, and spirit work together, anything is possible. I live my life

with that belief. A lot of what I do is completely real and there are no tricks. A lot of what I do is pure

illusion. That's the line I try to blur and it's another element that engages the audience, because they


discuss it among themselves as to what is what. A lot of times they think that what is illusion is what is

real, and vise versa. That, for me, is something that all stems from my father when he got diagnosed

with carcinoma, which is a stomach cancer, and was given a death sentence of three weeks to live. He

didn't care what the doctors said and was a very strong-willed person with an incredibly positive

attitude and outlook on everything. He was not only an inspiration to me, but to everyone he came into

contact with, because here was a man who had a very fatal disease yet despite being in tremendous

pain, he always had a smile on his face. He was always very positive and appreciated every day. He

believed that his body was a slave to his mind. He didn't care what the doctors said and was able to live

for more than three years and really affect people in such a positive way that it truly inspired me to look

at my own fears, like the fear of needles. I used to go to the doctor's office to have blood taken and I

would pass out.

So, what did I do? I confronted probably the most obscure and painful scenario with hooks; to have

four hooks placed into your back with no painkillers or anything and hang by a helicopter more than a

thousand feet above the Valley of Fire. That's what I try to illustrate in the demonstrations of mind,

body, and spirit so people can see that. It's incredibly rewarding when you get people to watch these

things and they say, "You know what? I couldn't get on an airplane or I couldn't go in an elevator but I

just saw you do the craziest thing I've ever seen. I can obviously deal with something so simple and I'm


going to get help." When art affects people in that way, it's just an amazing feeling.

UGO: With regard to the musical side of your career, how did you hook up with Jonathan Davis from

Korn?

CRISS: What's interesting about the art of magic is that so many people love it. It appeals to the child

inside all of us, except there haven't been too many people that have the sensibility of popular culture to

be able to put it into a presentation and a form that people can relate to. When people think of magic,

they're often thinking of some greasy guy pulling rabbits out of a top hat. Someone like Jonathan, who

I've been a big fan of, he obviously loves magic and loved what I did with it. The same company I'm

managed by managed him and we hooked up years back, hit it off and have been friends ever since.

You know, people like Jonathan from Korn, Sully from Godsmack, Ice Cube, Minnie Driver, Pamela

Anderson, the list goes on and on, they're all people who appreciate magic and I guess I've been

fortunate enough that they appreciate the way I present it.

UGO: Musically, you've recently worked on the Mindfreak soundtrack with Jonathan, Sully and Nuno


Bettencourt for MF2. What can fans expect from the upcoming soundtrack release?

CRISS: Well, it's 22 tracks and the official soundtrack of seasons one and two of Mindfreak. As you

know, MF2 features Sully, Nuno, and myself, plus in the video there's also Vince Neil and Shannon

from Godsmack. That's the single, but there are other tracks with the theme song and other variations of

the theme, plus tracks from the show and tracks that haven't appeared on the show yet. As well, there's

also a DVD with a 30-minute behind-the-scenes making of with all of those artists, from Jonathan and

Sully to Shannon, Nuno, and Andy Davis, who produced Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and Van

Halen. It's a great product that I take a lot of pride in. I have a lot of credibility from people that do

music for their living that would never lend their name to something that's cheesy or hokey, so I'm

really proud of that fact. Considering that it's a soundtrack, I think it's great start. The single has been

released and it has done well in a few key markets, so the fans seem to be anticipating the album and I

hope they enjoy it.

UGO: In the second season of Mindfreak, you've been raising the bar on yourself even more. In

upcoming episodes, you're keel hauled under a boat and you're also performing inside a shark cage.


How do you mentally prepare for the danger?

CRISS: It's weird, because in season one it was about whether I was going to live or die each week.

With season two, I really made a conscious effort to say something different and try to grow and not

become a caricature of myself. I tried to do things that were much more diverse in season two and show

that maturity. Whether it's the celebrity scene that will air on Halloween where I take five or six

celebrities - from Steve Valentine from Crossing Jordan to Deborah Gibson to 36-Mafia and a Playboy

model - and put them in a location that is said to have more paranormal activity than anywhere else in

the United States, to making an elephant vanish, to walking on water, the key for me was to really do

things that were diverse. In that, though, I still had to do things that had a life and death scenario. With

the keel haul and the underwater sequence, it's incredibly challenging because it's never been done. I'm

dealing with two elements - water, which has killed a lot of escape artists and a straitjacket, which unto

itself is challenging enough. If you combine them together, it's a situation where I think I have it

worked out, but until I'm actually strapped to the harness and attached to a boat, I don't know if my

theory is going to work 100%. I do little tests, but I really need to keep myself focused because I don't

know what's going to happen and any obstacle that arises I have to keep myself calm, cool, and


collected to deal with it. Hopefully, my physical and mental training, even spiritually what I believe,

allows me to address any hurdles that might arise.

UGO: For this generation, it seems that there are two guys out front on the scene right now, you and

David Blaine. What's your take on what he's doing?

CRISS: Honestly, I don't even think about it. I just look at what I'm doing and I don't really spend any

time thinking about anyone else. I just do my thing and I don't look over my shoulder; I just look

ahead. But, I wish everyone else the best in what they do.

UGO: With the increased exposure and deadlines on the series, how has the show affected your

approach to the magic and your concepts?

CRISS: Obviously, it's a challenge that no one had to deal with before. We've done more hours in

prime time with magic than any magician in the history of television in the U.S. It's a challenge that I'm

still trying to figure out in the process. It's becoming even more challenging because as the show gets


more successful and I become more of a personality that people recognize, what we used to do doesn't

work anymore. Now when I walk down the street, I'm bombarded, which is fantastic and I'm very

grateful to all of the people who support Mindfreak, but it becomes one of the logistics that you have to

contend with. I'm also trying to do other projects that I have the opportunity to take on, which I couldn't

a year or two ago. I'm going away this week to Mexico to write the third season and I basically have to

come up with about 300 demonstrations to have a kill ratio built in there. There are people out there

who don't learn 300 effects in their entire life, but I have to come up with it, figure it out, design it,

bring it to fruition, and then perform it like I've been doing it for a hundred years. It's incredibly

challenging, because my time is much more limited than it used to be. This season, I shot as many as

two episodes in five days, which is insane. It's interesting, because I don't ever want to repeat myself. If

I don't have anything to say or create I just don't want to do it, because it's never about the money to

me. I really want to push the envelope and take people in a different direction. It's challenging to come

up with that material and it's challenging to figure out how to shoot it within a very tight schedule

between an album, a book coming out, and working on my live show. There are a lot of different

projects that I'm working on and the television series is just one of those.


SECTION 3:

SECRETS OF DAVID COPPERFIELD


Making A Jumbo Jet Vanish The vanishing of a 747 Jumbo Jet while it rests on the tarmac has become one of the most significant

vanishes of all time. On many occasions this illusion has been performed before a live television

audience, while a crowd of onlookers keep an eye on the real thing. It is not an illusion most magicians

can afford to perform, still I will explain the most common way of performing this trick.

The audience will see the jet as it taxis onto an area at the landing strip. The crew will park the plane

and disembark. The audience, both viewing at home and on the scene, can see the airplane from all

directions. Spotlights will be pointed at the plane, making it fully illuminated against the dark night.

At the performer's command, the lights to flash off, then back on. When the lights are re lit, the plane is

gone. The spotlights are once again pointed in the same direction as before, but there is no jet plane,

only the tarmac and the night. The plane is then brought back in the same manner. The lights will flash

off then on, and the plane is back. The crew boards the plane and taxis it back to the hangar.


The secret: I'm sure that you guessed it: The plane never really leaves the tarmac. But how is it made

invisible? Many spotlights are surrounding the plane, which is in a cordoned-off area all set for the

effect. Between the massive search lights and the audience, there is a netting draped from light to light.

Encircling the plane.

When the plane is first driven or taxied into the area, the one opening between the searchlights is clear

of the netting. Once the engines are shut off and the crew disembarks, the technicians will hook up this

last piece of netting. This is done under the cover of preparing the these massive searchlights for

illumination.

The netting is the same which is used on stage productions. On the stage, the netting acts as backdrops

for various scenes. With the proper lighting, the backdrops and scenes will change. When back lit, you

will see the image on the netting, when front lit you will see right through it.


In the case of the jet plane, the huge searchlights are set in such a manner that at one point you see

through the netting and you can easily see the plane. In the next setting, you only see the black of night,

since this is the scene secretly painted on the special netting. Black is also the same color of the tarmac,

so it appears that the jet is gone and you see the ground where the plane once sat.

When the jet is made to reappear, the netting is dropped to the floor while the lights are out. Turn the

lights back on and the jet has returned.

Positioning of the netting depends on the circumstances. If the audience is only in front of the plane,

then only mask that part of the plane from the audience with the netting. For more angles, use more

netting, surrounding the plane if necessary. Neither the human eye nor the camera will be able to see

through the netting when the correct lighting is in effect.


This netting not only is used in stage plays, but many of the modern magicians will use this effect on

their shows and specials, it is a great way to make things appear or vanish.

Only a performer with a keen sense of timing could come up with events such as these. So look around,

see what other opportunities for these types of effects are available, then go out and perform them.


The Flight Of Icarus

Oh to fly. This ambition is and will continue to be humanity's greatest quest. Siegfied and Roy have

had this trick as part of their Las Vegas show-off and on -over the last couple of years.

The effect: The lights focus on the performer, who, without any effort at all, lifts up off the stage. Back

and forth, across the stage, the performer can be seen to fly. Rolling, floating, hovering above the stage.

Whether the "flyer" is flying through hoops, into boxes or otherwise about the stage, it appears to be

done with great ease and a great deal of magic!

The secret: Before you run out and try to duplicate this effect, remember this: The trick is done with

wires and truly needs a great showman to make the audience watch with interest.

For years and years, big stage productions have had everything from furniture to people flying in them.

One of the most memorable was the Peter Pan stage production. In this show, up to two dozen people

are seen flying at different times.


Is this magic? No, not at all. It is merely a stage effect. The performer actually leaves the stage just

before the flying is to be performed in order to have a body harness installed, and wires attached. The

leaving of the stage is covered with any of the following: a screen projection depicting the history of

flight, other performers taking the stage, an encore trick, etc.

In order to hide the wires, which make this trick work, you need to have a very special background.

The background must either be the same color as the wires, or have a busy pattern. Have a fan or wind

machine blowing onto the background curtain, the rippling will make it more difficult to see the wires,

which will be in the foreground against the moving curtain.

The wires are hooked to a series of pulleys, and the performer becomes a human marionette. The wire

system usually are operated by two people, but depending on the complications of what you want out

of this particular effect, they can be controlled by as many more assistants as desired.


Adding flight within a glass case or box is just more of the same. The wires will travel on either side of

the lid and continue to hold the performer off the floor. The flips or somersaults can continue because

the wires are still connected to the performers harness.

Anyone who has seen a skilled puppeteer may have seen this same overall type of effect with the

puppets. In Peter Pan, as an example, whole scenes were built around flying. The most famous, to me,

is when Peter teaches the children to fly. This feat supposedly is accomplished by thinking of good

thoughts. When that happens, out the window all the children and Peter Pan fly to Never Never Land.

But what really makes the flying trick a show stopper is the fact that the performer wants it to be. The

performer sets a mood of make-believe in which we believe anything is possible. No, no one actually

believes that they have just witnessed flight, but people do enjoy being absorbed into the world of

fantasy and magic.


Unfortunately, this effect is one that can't be performed in every setting. The background must be

specially set and the wires and pulley system must have the proper theater hook-ups to make it work.

Lighting, too, will play an important part in pulling off this feat.


Statue of Liberty Vanish

By far one of the most celebrated illusions David Copperfield has performed.

As seen by millions on television and by a select group who were on site, the statue was clearly seen

against the night sky, both with spotlights shining on it and a ring of lights at its base. The select

group of participants sat on a small stage facing a small curtain. The curtains were then closed, when

they were reopened, the statue was gone, while the spotlights were still blazing and the ring of lights

were still lit. Above, a helicopter hovered, but no statue was in sight.

Moments later the curtains were closed. This time, when they reopened, the statue had returned. What a

sight. Such a trick.

The secret: Although there are actually several methods to this stunt, I will describe the one which is

easiest to perform.


The staging area for the trick is really the seating area and not the statue. The seating area and the

television camera bay are located a short distance from the statue. The seating area is a circular stage

with curtain suspended between two pillars. The curtain area is between the sight lines of the seats and

cameras, and that of the statue. The spectators at home and those in attendance have a good view of the

statue, through the open curtains. When the curtains are closed, the statue is completely blocked out.

Surrounding the statue is a ring of lights and in the immediate area are spotlights, focused on the statue.

Actually, there are two sets of lights. One rings the statue, one rings an area next to the statue. More

amazingly, the platform on which both the spectators and cameras sit, is nothing more than a large

turntable.

Here are the inner workings: The ring of lights around the object (in this case the Statue of Liberty) is

lit. The spotlights sweeping the area are focused on the object too. When the curtains close, the

spectator platform slowly turns away from the object. The first set of lights ringing the object are

turned off. The second set, near the object are turned on. The spotlights are now redirected to the area


above the lit ring of lights. A smoke machine is turned on to further hide the object and to make the

lights dance in an eerie empty space.

When the curtains are reopened, all that is seen is the smoke, the lights, the searchlights, but not the

object. Because no one can see around the curtain area, the audience is unable to make out the dark

silhouette of the actual object. But to further diminish the chances of this happening, a bright flash of

light precedes the opening of the curtains. Much like looking into the flash of a camera light, there is a

temporary blindness which stays with people for many seconds. In the meantime, hovering, the

helicopter also has moved, and is now over the new empty area. Naturally no object is beneath it. Even

photographs won't later reveal the trick. Any one around the outside of the platform taking photographs

with a small flash camera, would not be able to pick up the dark statue because those small cameras

have short flash ranges and do not have the distance required to photograph the object. But the

photograph touch is a nice addition to an otherwise simple trick.


Returning the object to visibility is simply a reversal of routine. Unfortunately, the slow, steady

movement of the seat platform makes for a slow paced and dull effect.

When you break it down, the Statue of Liberty vanish becomes a simpletrick. Much like a black art

illusion. But, more importantly, it just shows how gullible people can be. I'm sure that if people did feel

the seating area move, they wouldn't say anything. No one would want to ruin such a good trick. This

way, they felt like they, too, were in on the trick. And tricks were meant to be kept a secret, now,

weren't they? Well, maybe not.


Snow in the theater Less of a magic trick and more of a theatrical production, Snow in the theater is an "Inside" trick.

The lights go down and the performer stands in the center of the stage. It becomes windy on stage,

while the lights have been turned off and replaced with a spotlight on the performer's hands. As the

performer rubs their hands together, a snow like substance appears from the performer's hands. Then,

magically, the theater begins to be bombarded with snow blowing out from the stage and onto the

audience, which begins to reach out and touch or catch the snow-like substance.

The secret: Anyone old enough to remember the Lawrence Welk Show, will remember the champagne

bubble music, which was a mainstay of this television program. This trick, complete with music

(although it is rock music), has just the same effect.


Behind the performer's hands and hidden by the darkness is a bubble making machine. A similar

machine can be found in most theatrical theaters. It basically manufacturers a bubble from a soap-based

liquid. Much like a children's bubble toy sold by the thousands each summer across North America.

The bubbles are created, then blown through an opening, out toward the audience. The larger the

bubble machine, the more bubbles will result. Additional machines throughout the theater also will

make bubbles, sending clouds of them floating all through the theater.


Floating Rose

Effect:

You probably seen David Copperfield do dancing paper & floating rose in his TV special. You take a

piece if paper, give form to it, and in you command the paper float in the air, it also move. You can do

it with your hands in your back! After, you take the paper, give it the shape of a rose, and magically the

rose float in the air. You set fire to the paper rose and it transform into a real rose!!!

Preparation:

You need to buy some "invisible thread." Take one single strand of the thread and attach two pieces of

tape, one at each end. On one end wad it up into a ball. On the other end, attach to anything. You also

need some flash paper with which to make the rose. You will need a real rose, concealed in your left

pocket and a lighter.

Method:

First, Put the balled up tape end of the invisible thread in your mouth. Then make a rose out of the flash

paper. Step back until the thread becomes tight (you can tell because the tape in your mouth will start to

come out). Now place the paper rose on the thread, engaging it under one of the petals, and viola! You


now are floating a paper rose! You can move it by simply moving your body. Now for the switch. Your

body should be with the right side to the audience, and the left side hiding the rose. With your right

hand, reach for a lighter (preferably a zippo) and light it. Bring it under the paper rose, but DO NOT

ignite it. This is misdirection while your left hand grabs the real rose. With the rose in your hand, light

the flash paper, and bring your left hand up to the same position as the paper rose. The appearance will

be that the paper rose turned into a real rose! Take a bow, and throw the rose into the audience.


Walks through The Great Wall Of China

When David Copperfield goes inside the first box there was a switch made, Copperfield goes under the

box and goes into the hollow stairs he then gets carried away inside the hollow stairs. A lookalike in

shadow form pretends to walk through the first part of the wall, after he plays his part he gets inside the

hollow base platform. By that time the assistance's pull the sheets away to show that he walked through

the first part of the wall.

The stairs that Copperfield is in is behind the camera boom as it makes a complete rotation over the

wall. The assistants on the other side of the wall take the same stairs and put it next to the other plate

form.

The assistants climb the special stairs and hold up a small white sheet of cloth. It looks like David

Copperfield is pushing his and and face through the cloth. The secret behind this action is that the

person on the right is just controlling a pair of fake hands which he controls with his right-hand. The

person on the left is just pushing a fake face through the cloth with his left-hand.


The two assistants then drop the small sheet cloth and listen to the wall to see if David is all right. They

then slowly roll down the sheets to cover the frame box up and make sure it is tucked in good, they go

down the stairs to wait for Copperfield to make his way through the second part of the wall.

All he has to do now is get out of the hollow stairs and inside the box and watch his angles with the

light. He then comes closer to the light so it looks like he is coming through the second part of the wall.

He pulls the sheets away to reveal himself, the white cloth stays on the floor because it contains the

props.


Section 4:

Levitation


Study Of LevitationLevitation (lev’i tay shun): to rise or cause to rise in the air, esp. In apparent defiance of gravity.

Levitation is a phenomenon of psychokinesis (PK) in which objects, people, and animals are lifted

into the air without any visibly physical means and float or fly about. The phenomenon has been

said to have occurred in mediumship, shamanism, trances, mystical rapture, and demonic

possession. Some cases of levitation appear to be spontaneous, while spiritual or magical adepts

are said to be able to control it consciously.

There seems to be several general characteristics about levitation. The duration of the phenomenon

may last from a few minutes to hours. Generally it requires a great amount of concentration or being in

a state of trance.

Physical mediums who have been touched during levitation usually fall back to a surface. Levitations

of saints usually are accompanied by a luminous glow around the body. Numerous incidents of

levitation have been recorded in Christianity and Islam. Among the first was Simon Magus in the first

century. Other incidents reported among the Roman Catholic saints include the incident of Joseph of

Cupertino (1603-1663), the most famous, who is said to have often levitated through the air. It is

reported he often gave a little shriek just before levitating, and on one occasion levitated for as long as


two hours.

Saint Teresa of Avila was another well known saint who reported levitating. She told of experiencing it

during states of rapture.

One eyewitness, Sister Anne of the Incarnation, said Saint Teresa levitated a foot and a half off the

ground for about a half hour. Saint Teresa wrote of one of her experiences: “It seemed to me, when I

tried to make some resistance, as if a great force beneath my feet lifted me up. I know of nothing with

which to compare it; but it was much more violent than other spiritual visitations, and I was therefore

as one ground to pieces.” (Evelyn Underhill “Mysticism,” 1955)

Also Saint Teresa observed these levitations frightened her but there was nothing she could do to

control them. She did not become unconscious, but saw herself being lifted up.

And, at the beginning of the twentieth century Gemma Galgani, a Passionist nun, reported levitating

during rapture. Incidents also have been reported in the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Milarepa,

the great thirteenth century yogi of Tibet, is said to have possessed many occult powers such as the

ability to walk, rest and sleep during levitating.


Such feats were said to be duplicated by the Brahmins and fakirs of India. Similar abilities were

reportedly shared by the Ninja of Japan. Within the Eastern traditions levitation is reportedly

accomplished through such secret techniques of breathing and visualization.

The techniques involve the employment of an universal life force and are called by various names such

as: ‘prana,’’ch’i’ and ‘ki.’ Louis Jacolliot, a nineteenth-century French judge, traveled the East and

wrote of his occult experiences. In “Occult Sciences in India and Among the Ancients” (1884, 1971) he

describes the levitation of a fakir: Taking an ironwood cane which I had brought from Ceylon, he

leaned heavily upon it, resting his right hand upon the handle with his eyes fixed upon the ground. He

the proceeded to utter the appropriate incantations...[and] rose gradually about two feet from the

ground. His legs were crossed beneath him, and he made no change in his position, which was very like

that of those bronze statues of Buddha...For more than twenty minutes I tried to see how (he) could

thus fly in the face and eyes of all known laws of gravity...the stick gave him no visible support, and

there was no apparent contact between that and his body, except through his right hand.”

Jacolliot was further told by the Brahmins that the “supreme cause” of all phenomena was the


‘agasa’ (‘akasha’), the vital fluid, “the moving thought of the universal soul, directing all souls,” the

force that the adepts learn to control.

Throughout history the determining factor for judging whether the practice of levitation is caused by

good or evil influenced seems to depend on the one doing the levitating.

Simon Magus was judged evil while Saint Teresa was said to do it in states of rapture.

During the Middle Ages and Renaissance levitation was thought to be a manifestation of evil. It was

said to be an unusual phenomena generated by witchcraft, fairies, ghosts, or demons. Even to the

present levitation is often thought to be involved in cases of demonic possession. Many times beds,

tables, chairs and other objects have been witnessed flying up into the air apparently by themselves.

They frequently aimed themselves at the exorcist or his assistants

. In 1906 Clara Germana Cele, a sixteen year-old school girl from South Africa, was said to be demonic

possessed. She raised up five feet in the air, sometimes vertically and sometimes horizontally. When

sprinkled with holy water she came out of these states of possession. This was taken as proof of

demonic possession. Likewise, incidents of poltergeists and haunting often involve the levitation of

objects.

Some physical mediums claimed to have experienced levitations. The most famous is Daniel Douglas


Home, who reportedly did it over a forty-year period. In 1868 he was witnessed levitating out of a

third-story window, and he floated back into the building through another window.

When levitating Home was not always in a trance, but conscious and later described his feelings during

the experiences. Once he described “an electrical dullness” sensation in his feet. His arms became rigid

and were drawn over his head, as though he was grasping an unseen power which was lifting him. He

also levitated furniture and other objects. The Catholic Church excommunicated Home as a sorcerer.

Although he was never discovered to be a fraud like other mediums who used wires and other

contraptions to levitate objects. Italian medium Amedee Zuccarini was photographed levitating with his

feet twenty feet off of a table

Controlled experiments involving levitation are rare. During the 1960s and 1970s researchers reported

some success in levitating tables under controlled conditions.

The Soviet PK medium Nina Kulagina has been photographed levitating a small object between her

hands. Skeptics of levitation have come up with several theories as to its cause including hallucination,

hypnosis, or fraud.

These theories are not applicable to all incidents, however. The most likely and acceptable explanation

is the Eastern theory of an existence of a force (simply, an universal force), which belongs to another,


nonmaterial reality, and manifests itself in the material world.

The technique of “yogic flying” which consists of low hops while seated in the lotus meditating

position has been achieved by advanced practitioners of Transcendental Meditation ™. This has

received worldwide publicity. The technique is claimed to be accomplished by maximizing coherence

(orderliness) in brain-wave activity, which enables the brain to tap into the “unified field” of cosmic

energy. However, skeptic say yogic flying is accomplished through muscular action.


David Blaine And The Balducci Levitation

Effect: The magician raises his arms up by his sides and slowly appears to rise a few inches off the

ground for a little while before returning to earth quickly.

Balducci Method: The Balducci method involves positioning your audience about 8 to 10 feet away at

a 45 degree angle .You need to keep your audience small so they are within this field of sight.

This is a very restrictive angle trick and it is essential that the angles are practiced, preferably with a

friend or in front of a mirror.

The Balducci levitation involves pretending to float off the ground by going on to your tip toes on just

one foot ( the one furthest from their view ) while the nearest foot is raised a little off the ground.

This looks fantastic as the foot on your tip toe is hidden by your trousers, the nearest foot and the angle

they are watching at. You only rise a few inches off the ground but the impression is fantastic. This

trick is all in the presentation with you appearing to rise slowly, wait for a second or two and then

return to the ground quickly so as the audience do not have time to figure the trick out.

The picture on the next page shows the beginning on the left and the climax of the trick on the

right.


David Blaine Version : David Blaine used various camera shots in his TV special with the audience

reaction being filmed close up and linked to other clips of him in mid air with some of the angles

showing the Balducci levitation .

The view that shows him rise a good few inches in the air and does not show the audience, would

possibly have been done with a bar attached to a pivot like a seesaw.

The end of the pivot could have had a hook which clipped onto a harness attached to his belt and a


member of the crew would have pushed down on the other side of the bar lifting David up in the air.

The camera angle would have hidden the props.

This film would have been mixed in with the audience clips in the studios later.


Floating Bill And Small Objects Levitation

David Blaine demonstrated a classic object levitation on his TV special where he asks a

spectator to watch while he picks up a leaf and causes it to levitate above his hand.

This appeared to be totally impromptu which made it even more impressive.

This type of levitation is performed by using "invisible thread" which can either be

purchased as a proprietary brand from good magic suppliers or by separating some fine

polyester thread into individual strands and using a single strand.

One end of this strand should be attached to some sticky tape and placed high up[ on the

magicians body such as a shirt button while the other end can be placed at the right

moment to a solid object ( In David Blaines case, the tree.) The magician then stands at

the correct distance so that the string is tight and the object ( a bill or a leaf) wrapped

around the thread which is above the magicians hand.


This should look like the magician is just scrunching up the note in the palm of their

hand.

By using very small movements of the head or body, the magician can then tighten the

thread causing the note to rise and is also able to move his hands around the object to

show that it really is levitating.

The object can then be made to return to the palm and be examined by the spectator.

The magician can then casually walk away, the thread breaking which is not a problem

as it is reasonably priced.

This trick is also performed more smoothly and discretely by use of an ITR which is

used by professional magicians and which can be picked up at any magic shop .


Group Levitation SecretEffect: A person becomes seemingly weightless and may be lifted from a chair on

the index fingers of four smaller people.

Although various explanations have been proposed, this classic stunt continues to

mystify and amuse.

Stage 1:

The person to be lifted ( choose a fairly heavy person ) should be relaxed but upright on

a firm chair. Feet should be on the floor and their hands on their lap.

The four assistants should stand two on each side of the person, one by each shoulder

and one by each knee.

Each assistant should make fists with both hands, then extend the two forefingers and

touch them together, gently but firmly the two assistants standing by the shoulders, place

their extended forefingers under the seated persons right or left armpit. The other two

assistants place their forefinger under the seated persons left or right knee


The person to be lifted thinks "down" and imagines him or herself to be sinking into the

chair.

In this position, the four assistants should try to lift the person.

Stage 2:

The assistants should now place their palms on top of the seated persons knee or

shoulder and together, exert a steady downwards force.

While they are doing this someone counts out loud from one to ten.

On the count of nine, the four assistants quickly take their former positions with

extended forefingers under the armpit or knee. On the count of ten, they try again to lift

the person. The seated person should think"up" and imagine himself or herself rising

into the air.


If these instructions are followed carefully, the person will soar straight up into the air

on the forefingers of the assistants.

This trick is very visual and can really entertain a crowd.


The Chameleon Effect:: Magician is seen to levitate inches off the floor. This levitation can be viewed from three sides.

Preparation: The end of a block of wood is sawed off to a size that is smaller than the magician's foot.

It should be small enough not to be seen when the magician is standing on it and also small enough to

fit under his trouser, tucked in his sock (like where you used to hide things when you were young) The

sides of the block are painted the same colors as the carpets or floors where the magician will be

performing this illusion. Black - white and gray are the best colors.

Method: The block is stowed away in the magician's trouser leg until he is ready. He bends over and

removes it from his sock under the pretense that he is tying his shoe. The block is placed on the floor

(color side towards your audience) and hidden beside his shoe. When he is ready and has everyone's

attention: He hops up on the block on one foot.

Comments: You might think "flying" forever is a cool thing, but it isn't as with any levitation, the

longer the magician is up - the longer everyone has to notice how the trick is done. To avoid this, the

magician usually drops down fast and hard as if the levitation had taken a lot of effort and tells the

audience that he is "mentally and physically drained" and cannot perform the levitation again at that

time.


Classic Levitation

I will explain the illusion in terms of floating a woman, but the principle will work with any

object, big or small, male or female.

Effect : The assistant is brought up to centre stage. She is placed in a reclining position on a couch.

Then covered with a large cloth.

She is commanded to rise. Once she has risen to a height of one foot above the couch, the couch is

taken away and the performer walks all around the floating woman.

She continues to rise until she is well over the head of the performer. Then she slowly descends until

she is level with the performer's head. Again she begins to rise. This time, the performer takes hold of

the cloth and while she is rising, the cloth is whisked away. The woman is gone, vanished right in front

of the audience.

The Secret : The secret is in the couch ( the couch has a secret compartment that the person can slide

into) and the rest of the effect depends on a mesh-like screen which is shaped like the assistant's body.

As soon as the assistant lies down on the couch, the performer picks up the cloth which will be used to

cover her. While this is taking place, the body mesh or screen is lowered over the assistant. Since the


body mesh is clear, it is not seen by members of the audience. This movement of the mesh is done by

someone behind or off in the stage wings. The body mesh is moulded to resemble a woman, it is

attached by four strings of invisible thread to a location controlled by another assistant. When the

performer covers the woman with the cloth, it is the screen which is really being covered.

As soon as the woman is fully covered, she secretly slips into a hidden compartment in the couch. After

the couch is removed to a backstage area, the woman gets out of the couch. Because the couch has

played such a small role in the effect, most people forget about it.

The shape of the mesh screen leads everyone to believe that the woman can still be seen from the

audience. In reality, the trick is already done. Now the performer merely plays out his or her part.

The off-stage assistant watches the moves of the performer, lowering or raising the cloth covered

screen as per the performer's commands. When the cloth is whisked away, the invisible screen can't be

seen by the audience.

The mesh body screen seems invisible for a couple of reasons, first the back ground or back drop is

dark. Black is best. The mesh is made of a nylon material which can also be black or transparent. Either

way the audience is unable to distinguish the mesh from the dark background.

It is usually a good idea to have the off-stage assistant raise the uncovered screen completely up out of


view anyway at the conclusion of the trick, this keeps the stage area clear.

This effect is difficult for television, because the television eye can often pick up the movements. But

this effect is great for a full stage presentation.


All Man Levitation

Effect: : A magician sits down in a chair and puts a sheet over him. Suddenly, he rises one foot in the

air. Shoes, everything comes of the ground. The audience is dumbfounded.

Method:: The secret to this is very devious and requires lots of practice to perfect it. What is vital is

that the sheet is not see through. Before the start of the trick, make sure that your shoes are on your feet

loosely, but that the looseness is not obvious to the audience. Once you stand over the chair, throw the

sheet over you and the chair.

When ready to sit down, slip off your shoes and place your feet behind your shoes so that the shoes are

protruding from the sheet. Now comes the tricky part. OK, think about this. When you want to pick up

your pair of shoes and make them rise at the same time, you hold them with your foot at the double line

formed above the laces when the shoes are placed together.

Use your big toe and your second toe of your right foot and hold your shoes with these toes. Put your

weaker hand over the left leg so that that hand and arm " blends " in with the left leg. While doing this,

put your stronger hand (the right one in this case ) behind your back so that it rests on the seat of the

chair .


Pushing on the seat with this hand should cause you to rise a little. The foot, which is holding the shoes

should rise and hence the shoes will also rise. The left foot is on the ground also helping you push up.

This foot is hidden from the view of the audience by the shoes and the sheet.


SECTION 5:

CARD TRICKS


I have only included a few beginner level tricks in the manual. However, keep in mind there are

hundreds of additional tricks available in the bonus materials you got with this manual!

2 of a Kind

Effect: The magician picks out two cards. He has a spectator cut the deck. He flips over

the cards that he picked, and then he flips over two cards of the deck that was cut. The

cards match.

1.) Shuffle the deck so the spectator doesn't think you've rigged it.

2.) Tell them you will pick two cards. Go through the deck making sure you look at the

bottom and the top cards of the deck.

3.) Pick out a card that matches the bottom card. (If the bottom card is a Four of Hearts,

you would pick out the Four of Diamonds to match it.) Then pick out a card that is the


same as the top card.

4.) Ask the spectator to cut the deck.

5.) Take the first card, the one on top of the original top of the deck, and flip it over.

6.) Flip the bottom half of the deck over completely.

7.) Flip over the cards you picked. They all match!


Ace Party

Effect: With the spectator's help, you make four piles of cards. When this is done all the

top cards of those four piles become all ace.

Preparation: Arrange the deck with four aces on the top.

Presentation:

Ask the spectator to cut the deck (face down of course), and then tell him to cut the deck

again from those two decks that is been already cut from the beginning. Now you should

have four decks facing down. Make sure you remember which pile has all the aces on

top. Then just tell the spectator to move half of one pile to another, move on card to

another, any order you want. But you must keep in mind the four aces that are being

moved. At the end, just make the spectator to move each aces on top of each deck and

tell him to flip over all top cards of four piles and they are all aces.


After Drinks

This is a GREAT trick. And it's REALLY EASY. It is "detectable," but you get away

with it most of the time. If people have had a drink or two, this is an incredible trick --

they'll think you're David Copperfield or something...

EFFECT: The audience is given two random cards. They look at them, but the magician

doesn't see them. The audience inserts the cards into the deck, and without shuffling, the

magician throws the deck into a chair, but somehow manages to pick up the two cards,

holding them up in front of the gaping audience members.

HOW IT'S DONE: This is a trick of the mind.

- You prepare the deck this way: pick two cards of different suits, but the same color,

such as the Eight of Spades, and the Three of Clubs. These are the cards you are going to

give to the audience. Next, pick the "opposites" of the cards: the Eight of Clubs, and the


Three of Spades. These are the cards you will fool your audience with. Put the opposite

cards at the top and bottom of the deck - Eight of Clubs on top, Three of Spades on bottom. And the

"real" cards both go on top.

- Without too much explanation, deal the two top cards out, face down, and let the

audience look at them. Next, let them insert the cards back into the deck.

- Make sure they can see that you're not doing ANYTHING to the deck. Hold the deck

between your thumb on top, and your fingers on the bottom. Swing the deck back and

forth a few times (make SURE they can't see the bottom card, though!) Perhaps you

count 1, 2, 3, and then throw the deck into a chair (or couch, or something, where it'll be

easy to pick up.) As you throw the deck, hold onto the top and bottom card with your

thumb and middle finger. IMMEDIATELY hold the cards up for all to see.

- It helps if you position yourself so that the audience doesn't turn their heads around to

watch where you threw the cards. You should be close to the chair you throw the deck

into, so you can draw their attention back to the two cards you held onto.


- They picked the Eight of Spades, Three of Clubs - but you are holding the Eight of

Clubs, Three of Spades. It's VERY rare that anybody notices. And if the audience is

drunk, you get a lot of "Ohmygaaawd, how'd he DO that?" and gaping mouths... Great

trick!


Appearing Card

Effect: A spectator picks a card out of a shuffled deck. You put it with three random

cards, place the cards at the bottom of the deck, and shuffle. You take three cards from

the bottom of the deck and ask the spectator if any of those are his. None are. These are

laid on the table, one of the cards is flipped over, and the selection appears on the table.

HOW IT'S DONE:

Ask a person to shuffle the cards and then choose one card. Have them give you the deck.

Take three cards from the bottom. Tell the spectator to put their card on top of those

three, then to place the four cards at the bottom of the deck.

Shuffle the deck, but be sure to keep the four bottom cards in the same spot. (Editor's

note: There are false shuffles explained on the Terminology Page.) Shuffle the cards a

couple of times. Now take the first bottom card and place it face down on the table. Take

the new bottom card and put it at the top of the deck. Place the other two bottom cards


face down on the table. The last card you put down is the spectator's card. Be sure you

have that card at the top of the tabled pile. Set the rest of the deck aside.

Pick up the tabled cards. Square them up, and hold them so the spectator can see the face

of just the bottom card. Ask if this is their card. They will say no. Lower the cards so they

are in dealing position and quickly deal the top card (actually their card) onto the table. If

you do this naturally, without comment, they will think you dealt the card you just

showed them.

Show them the top card from those in your hand, and ask if it is theirs. Again they will

say no. Lay this card on the table. Finally, show them the last card in your hand and ask if

it's the selection. When they say no, put this card onto the other two. Ask them what their

card was. When they tell you, use the other two cards (like a spatula) to flip their card

face up on the table. You have made their card appear!


Back Flip

This is a very simple trick, and works best on kids, but it can be made to look pretty

impressive.

EFFECT: Audience member picks a card, which the magician does not see. The

audience member inserts the card back into the deck. Next the magician drops the card

onto a table top, and the card jumps out of the deck, face up!

HOW IT'S DONE:

-Shuffle the deck so that everyone can see you are not preparing the deck in any way.

(Don't comment on this, just do it.)

- Fan out the cards in your hand, and have someone pick a card.

- While they look at the card, you do two quick, easy maneuvers:


1) Quickly move the top card to the bottom, while flipping it face up. You're left with a

deck with the bottom card upside down.

2) Turn the whole deck over. You're left with an upside down deck, but because the

(now) top card is reversed, it looks like a regular deck.

- Now hold the deck out (make sure you don't fan the cards at all - you don't want to

reveal that you're really holding onto an upside down deck.) Have them insert their card.

- Turn around (yeah, this part is kinda cheesy, but it works fine, especially on kids.) Turn

the top card back over so it faces the same as the rest of the deck. Scan through the deck

to find the upside down card that the audience member just inserted.

- Here's the BIG FINALE, that really makes this trick worth it: put the card on top of the

deck, and hold onto the deck from above. You are about to drop it, flatly, onto a table top.

BUT slide the top card back off the deck by a quarter-inch (this will be covered by your


hand). Then, drop the deck from about two feet up. The deck will hit the table, and the

top card (the selected card) will flip over. This is a real crowd-pleaser.

- An alternative ending is NOT to turn around, but just to move the deck back to right-

side-up, while moving the inverted top/bottom card back to its former position. Now, you

put the deck down, do some Hocus Pocus and tell them you just made their card flip over,

inside the deck. Fan the deck out, and their card is the only one reversed (it's actually

better if you put the deck upside down and fan it out, so the chosen card is the only one

that's right side up) However, a smart audience member will quickly figure you out this

way, just because you mentioned "reversed" - it kinda gives them a clue...

Ending Variation

Instead of the last three steps tell the person to imagine their card flipping over

backwards, then go through the deck and show them the card. (But be careful not to show

the bottom card!)


When’s Your Favorite Hour?

Effect: A spectator chooses their favorite hour of the day (not telling the magician), and

picks up the same amount of card from the top of the deck while magician’s not looking.

Magician makes a 12-hour clock using 12 cards and predicts spectator’s card.

HOW IT'S DONE:

Set up the deck so that a marked card (usually on the right corner, make a tiny pencil or

any kind of mark.) is placed in the 13th place from the top. So there should be 12 random

cards, then the marked card. When the spectator chooses the number and removes the

same number of the cards are removed from the top (while you are not looking), you turn

around and take out 12 cards from the top, but do it in a matter so that the first card is

placed under the second card, second card under the third card… in order like that. So


when you have 12 cards in your hand, face down, make a 12-hour clock starting 1 ‘o clock. So 1 o’

clock is the very top card from the face down deck, then 2, 3… so on.

Find the marked card from the clock, try to make it so that it does not look so obvious.


Bent Card

The Effect:

The magician begins by showing the spectator a card. For example lets say the ten of

clubs. He then takes that card and bends it in half, showing a noticable crease in the card.

The magician puts the card back face down, and then puts it in the middle of the deck.

Showing the spectator the deck, the spectator can see the bent card in the middle. Then

with the twitch of his hand, the magician makes the bent ten of clubs come to the top of

the deck.

The Secret:

Have a card on top of the ten of clubs. For example a Jack. Do the double lift and show

the spectator the ten of clubs. Then still holding both cards fold both of them so it looks

like you're folding only one card. Put both folded cards on the top of the deck, face down.

Then with the jack on top, take it, making sure to hold down the bent ten of clubs. Put the

bent jack in the middle of the deck, making sure to keep the ten down. Show the spectator

the deck, showing them the bent card in the middle. Then in one swift move, push down

the deck so you can't see the bent card in the middle, and let the ten of clubs pop up on


top. Then show the bent ten of clubs to the spectator. You can even have the spectator sign the card for

more effect.


Double Prediction

This last trick is an excellent prediction trick. Make sure that you have all 52 cards for

this trick. Look thru the deck as you tell your victim that you are looking for a prediction

card. What you're really doing is seeing what the 21st card from the top of the deck is

(because that's the card that your victim will chose). Let's pretend that the 21st card is a 3

of hearts. You must look for the 3 of diamonds (the card that has the same value and

color) because this will be your prediction card. Pull it out and put it down faced down.

Explain to your victim that this is your prediction card and that it will have the same

value and color as the card that he will chose. Tell your victim to take a small pile of

cards off the top of the deck. Make sure he picks up less than 20 cards. Now with the

remaining deck, place the top 20 cards faced up on the table one by one. I like to place

the top card to my left side and keep dealing towards my right. Now you have a row of 20

cards in front of you. Ask your victim if he has any idea how many cards he has cut off in

the beginning. He will say no. Tell him to count how many cards he has cut off. Let's say

that he has cut off 10 cards. Tell him that his card is the 10th card, from your right, in the

row of 20 cards in front of you. Pull that card out and flip over your prediction card. They


should match in value and color.


Weird Coincidence

Effect

The performer and the spectator both choose cards from different decks and they are the

same!

Secret

You need two decks for this trick. Give a spectator one pack of cards, keep the other

for yourself. Both of you shuffle your pack. You now exchange packs and shuffle the

cards again. Once again, you exchange packs, but this time, you secretly look at and

remember the bottom card before handing the pack to the spectator.

Ask the spectator to remove any card from his pack, look at it, and remember it, and

say that you will do the same. Look at the card you have selected but make no attempt to

remember it. Each selected card is then placed on the top of its pack and the pack is then

cut once. The selected cards are now "lost" in their packs.


Once again, you exchange packs. Each person then fans through this pack and removes

the duplicate of the card he chose. In actual fact you do not do this. You really look for

the card you saw previously on the bottom of the pack. Because of the way the packs

have been exchanged and cut, the card to the RIGHT of the one you remembered will be

the card selected by the spectator. This is the card you remove, pretending it is your card.

Both you and the spectator hold your cards face down. You then turn them over and

they are seen to be identical. What a coincidence!


Another “Trick”

This one's not really a card trick, however, it didn't really belong in mentalism section either so I put it

here.

1.Pick a number between 1 and 10

2.Multiply that number by 9

3.If you end up with a 2 digit number, add the two digits together, if it is a single digit

number keep that number.

4.Subtract 5 from your new number

5.Find the letter of the alphabet that matches your number (1=A, 2=B,....)

6.Think of a country that begins with that letter.


7.Take the next letter in the alphabet, (if your letter was B, your new letter would be C),

and think of an animal that starts with that letter.

8.Now think of the color that the animal would most likely be.

- THERE AREN'T ANY GRAY ELEPHANTS IN DENMARK!!!!!!!!!


SECTION 6:

HYPNOSIS


An Introduction to Hypnosis A basic knowledge of hypnosis will greatly enhance the way you present your mind-reading illusions.

Your choice of phrasing and use of language can turn a simple mechanical deception into a mind-

blowing psychological illusion. With this in mind (no pun intended!), we shall now examine a few

basic concepts about hypnosis.

The Human Mind

The human mind is composed of two elements, the conscious and unconscious. The conscious mind is

the voice in your head, the one that you actively think with. It is critical and analytical, sorting

information by comparing and noticing differences.

The unconscious mind contains your memories and intellect; it contains your emotions and directs your

behavior. The human mind is not physically separated into two; the terms conscious and unconscious

are merely models for the way your mind works.

You may have heard the term ‘left brain-right brain thinking’, a theory which supports the idea that the


conscious and unconscious minds actually reside in two separate parts of the brain. This is not the case.

In truth, although the brain is divided into sections which perform different functions, these sections are

not clearly defined and do not reside exclusively in either the conscious or unconscious.

Depending upon the physical, emotional or mental tasks required of these sections at any one time, they

may shift between unconscious and conscious control. For instance, repetitive tasks are easily handled

by the unconscious, but any task which requires continuous assessment and re-adjustment to

circumstances and surroundings might be better performed by the conscious mind. Thus, consciousness

is not fixed - it is a spectrum of awareness which changes and shifts throughout the day.

The hypnotic state is a natural part of our conscious awareness that we often enter automatically. You

are going to learn how to induce this state artificially with the use of hypnotic techniques.

I would like you to consider just how quickly you are able to tie your shoelaces. It's just a matter of

seconds isn't it. Now think about each individual stage required to perform that simple task. If you had

to describe to someone how to tie a shoelace it would take quite a long time since there are an amazing


number of separate operations required.

I imagine you can remember first learning to tie a shoelace, the amount of hard concentration required.

And yet now you do it so easily! That's because when you first tried to tie a shoelace you were using

your conscious mind. Eventually, the repetitive operation became imprinted in your unconscious mind

and now it takes no effort or concentration at all. This simple example is an effective demonstration of

the extraordinary power of unconscious thought.

In the Chevreul's Pendulum experiment, we learned the power of suggestion; the ability to implant

behavior in the unconscious mind of somebody. This entirely natural ability, which we each possess, is

the main component of performing hypnosis and it is a skill, as we shall learn later, that can be

developed and enhanced by careful use of language.

A Model of the Human Mind

You might care to imagine the human mind as an office building. On the top floor is the Managing

Director. On the lower floor are the ordinary workers quietly doing whatever they need to do


to keep the office running. The Managing Director is the conscious mind, the workers are the

unconscious mind. Between the two floors is a secretary who passes orders from the Director to the

workers and also provides a summary of what the workers are doing for the Director.

The secretary is very efficient and strict and will only allow orders to passed if they come from the MD

directly. If an infiltrator, for instance, tried to pass on some orders, the secretary would spot them

immediately and have them destroyed before the workers could see them. The secretary is also very

fearful of chaos in the office and so if something goes wrong, will not necessarily pass this information

on to the MD.

Sometimes, however, little mistakes escalate and before long the secretary, out of panic and anxiety,

must tell the MD. But now the situation is so bad that the MD does not know what to do to put it right.

I stated earlier that the unconscious mind knows how to solve a problem. What's important here is

whether the conscious mind will allow the unconscious mind to act.

If we consider this in terms of our analogy, imagine that a photocopier in the office has been


malfunctioning for a few weeks. One of the workers asks the secretary to inform the MD,

but the secretary decides that the MD is too busy to be bothered by such trivial matters. Eventually the

photocopier breaks down completely and the worker once more asks the secretary to tell the MD. He

wants the MD to authorize a repair man to come and fix the copier. The secretary informs the MD, but

the MD decides that a repair is too costly and ignores the request. In desperation, one of the workers

rings a repair man but when he arrives the secretary, being efficient and strict, will not let him go down

to the office. But the repair man charms the secretary and eventually is allowed to go down and fix the

copier.

So, the purpose of hypnosis is to relax the secretary, make him less strict, so that orders from outside

the office will be passed on. The workers have no idea that the orders come from outside, they simply

assume that they come from the MD and so act on them accordingly. If the correct orders are given, the

workers can act to regain control of the office. The secretary can then pass on the good news to the

MD.

In terms of hypnosis, the 'secretary' between the conscious and unconscious mind is called the critical

faculty. This is our ability to question, analyze, criticize and compare. Just as the repairman in our


analogy charmed the secretary into letting him go down to the office, by using hypnosis we can bypass

the critical faculty. Once we have access to the unconscious, we can uncover memories, release

repressions, plant positive suggestions and even reprogram unconscious traits responsible for habits

such as smoking or over eating.

You may not realize it, but you have been in a hypnotic trance before. While watching television or

reading a book, maybe even reading this, you are often in a hypnotic trance. In such a state you become

unaware of the room around and are focused on the program or book. It's not until someone calls your

name, or the telephone rings, that you realize just how deeply you were involved.

Another good example is when you find that you have driven or walked some considerable distance

and then somebody or something catches your attention. At this point you realize you can't remember

the preceding part of the journey. You were in a trance state.

The only difference between these types of trances and a hypnotic trance is that the latter is deliberately

induced.

What is Hypnosis?


When emerging from their first hypnotic trance, the commonest reaction is the subject claiming that

they were not hypnotized at all. This arises because of a misconception of what a hypnotic trance

actually is. In hypnosis, the subject is still aware, but in an altered state of awareness. A trance is

unique to the individual involved but there are several characteristics a hypnotic subject may

experience. It would be very unusual for someone to experience all of these but a list of the commonest

follows.

i. Sensory Awareness Feelings may be more forcible or numbed; sounds may seem louder, more sharp or quieter.

ii. Fixation -The subject becomes fascinated by an idea, an image, the sound of their heartbeat or breathing.

iii. Distortion of Time - It is common for an hour spent in hypnotic trance to seem much shorter, perhaps like just a few minutes.

iv. Logic - Rather like in the dreaming state, situations and environments which in the waking state would seem bizarre, appear entirely logical.

v. Amnesia - It is unusual for a subject to remember clearly what happened during the trance state. Recall is likely to be disordered and lacking in detail.


As well as these internal changes, there are also several external changes that the hypnotist can look for

to verify that hypnotic induction is proceeding as planned.

i. Eyes -During the early stages of induction, when the subject's eyes are still open, you will observe dilation of the pupils. As the induction progresses and the eyes close you will observe the eyelids fluttering. In very deep trance states Rapid Eye Movement (REM) may become apparent as the subject visualizes. ii. Face - As the subject becomes more relaxed, blood flows more easily to the capillaries at the surface of the skin, producing a slight flush. There may be slight facial spasms and generally the face will appear more relaxed.

iii. Breathing - Most people will generally breathe more slowly and deeply while in hypnotic trance.

A good hypnotist will observe the changes in their subject as they induce hypnosis and comment upon

them. As we shall see, by tying these comments to appropriate suggestions, the hypnotic state can be

deepened. In addition, the more times a subject experiences trance, the more marked the trance

experience will be. Previous experience of trance aids the development of deeper trance states in the

future and also makes it easier for a hypnotist to induce trance.

Basic Hypnotic Induction


This basic hypnotic induction follows a classic form, is easy to perform and therefore great for

beginners.

Here are the elements of this type of induction:

a. The Truism

The statement at the start of the induction is the basic element of a linguistic technique called pacing and leading. Pacing is the practice of meeting the subject's own experience. By commenting upon this, the hypnotist can use it to lead them into hypnotic trance.

At the start of this particular induction, the subject's eyes are elevated above the normal position. The eye muscles will inevitably tire because they are in an unnatural and strained position. The hypnotist anticipates this with the comment about the eyes becoming tired and the eyelids becoming heavy. This suggests to the subject that the hypnotist is actually producing the effect. Further commands will now be more readily accepted.

b. Rhythm

When hypnotizing a subject, I would normally observe their rate of breathing and synchronize my speech and own breathing pattern with their breaths. This is done by watching the chest rise and fall or observing the nostrils. It is most effective to coincide suggestions of relaxation with the client's exhalations.


As the breathing rate decreases, so the hypnotist's speech rhythm decreases to match. This is a process of feedback since by slowing the speech rhythm, the hypnotist can also decrease the subject's rate of breathing. The hypnotist begins by speaking at normal speed and then gradually decreasing their rate of speech and breathing as the induction proceeds, until it is about 30% of normal.

c. The Hypnotic Voice

There are two kinds of vocal delivery used for hypnotizing. The first is the monotone delivery, where there is very little inflexion to the voice. The conscious mind becomes bored by the hypnotist, while the unconscious mind accepts the hypnotic commands.

The second type is the undulating delivery, where the voice gently modulates and soothes the client into trance.

Your hypnosis voice will emanate from the unconscious and there is no 'secret' to this, it will evolve spontaneously. Just use a quiet but authoritative voice that suggests you are confident and know what you are doing. The words should flow smoothly and easily with no uneasy pauses. It would be best to memorize the induction so that you can speak easily and fluently. Eventually, you will discover your own style.

d. Occupying the Conscious Mind

The counting down from 300 is a simple but absorbing task for the conscious mind to perform. Because it is occupied doing this, it is less able to spot the hypnotic suggestions being offered. The critical faculty is being bypassed. This counting down technique can be enhanced by asking the


subject to visualize each number as they count down, making each number a different color. Any technique that occupies the conscious mind is useful in hypnosis because it assists the subject in becoming more inwardly focused and ignoring the stimuli around them.

e. Overloading the Conscious Mind

Despite being occupied with counting down, the conscious mind can still occasionally 'listen in' on the induction. In this induction, confusing combinations of words overload the conscious mind. When tied to suggestions that it is easier and easier to relax, this just seems the best way out. Relax, go with it, suspend conscious thought...

f. Embedded Commands

Commands such as 'relax' or 'your eyes are becoming tired' are preceded by a slight pause. This has the effect of subtly separating these commands from the rest of the text, although this is only perceived by the unconscious mind.

g. Using the Imagination

Remember, the imagination is rooted in the unconscious mind. By encouraging the subject to visualize, the hypnotist encourages the subject to abandon the analytical, critical conscious mind in favor of something more rewarding. The 'message' contained in the treasure chest is entirely personal to the subject rather than being imposed by the hypnotist.

h. The Release/Trance Termination

It is important that the release be performed correctly if the


trance is to be of benefit to the subject. Don't worry about taking your time with this part because you cannot bring someone out of trance too slowly. Bringing them out too quickly is another matter entirely. For a subject in a very deep trance it's like being violently woken; disturbing and traumatic. Too quick a release will destroy the effect of the trance, so just take your time.

During the release, you should gradually increase the rhythm of speech and increase volume until you are back to normal levels, as you were when you began the induction.

Beginning Hypnosis

Follow the full script presented below and look out for these seven elements. Then practice reading the

script aloud, bearing in mind the eight elements presented above.

If you wish to try the induction out with a willing volunteer, please feel free, but don't attempt to make

your own alterations or suggestions just yet. Stick to the script as presented and you and your subject

will be perfectly safe.

Your first few attempts will probably be disappointing so keep trying. Ask for feedback from your

volunteer subject. You may find that they drift up out of trance in response to certain

words or phrases, so find out when this happens and next time, modify your pronunciation and delivery


to compensate.

BASIC HYPNOTIC INDUCTION & RELAXATION SCRIPT

The first thing I would like you to do ...

before going into trance ...

is to make yourself comfortable ...

sit in a chair with your hands resting on your lap ...

and ... as you make yourself comfortable ...

focus your gaze on a point where the wall meets the ceiling ...

that's right ...

just let your eyes rest there ...

focused on that particular spot ...

and begin to relax ...

and as you relax ...

focused on that spot there ...

you can begin to notice any changes


that occur here ...

you might notice how your eyes are becoming tired ...

how your eyelids are becoming heavier ...

and ... as your eyes become tired and your eyelids heavy ...

you will notice how your breathing is deepening ...

how you are beginning to relax ...

I wonder ...

have you noticed how one hand feels more relaxed ...

than the other?

don't worry ...

as you continue to relax ...

the other one will catch up ...

there's no need to worry about anything ...

just relax ...

so calm ...

so peaceful ...

you can just close your eyes now ...


close your eyes ...

rest those tired eyes ...

and ... as your eye muscles relax ...

so that relaxation spreads ...

and it is easier and easier ...

to become more and more aware ...

of sensations and feelings within you ...

that may otherwise go overlooked ...

you can take time to notice how your whole body is relaxing ...

the muscles in your shoulders ...

arms ...

back and legs ...

all are relaxing ...

your breathing is deepening ...

breathe in relaxation ...

and breathe out tension ...

breathe in relaxation ...


and breathe out tension ...

and as you continue your deep breathing ...

try counting down ... in your head ...

from 300 ... like this ...

300 ... 299 ... 298 ... 297 ...

you continue like that ...

and continue your deep breathing ...

and continue relaxing more and more ...

that's right ...

you're doing fine ...

nobody wants anything ...

nobody needs anything ...

all you need to do is relax ...

let your mind drift down ...

drift down with each exhalation ...

that's right ...

with your conscious mind busy counting down ...


your unconscious mind can imagine ...

imagine sitting by the sea shore ...

imagine hearing the peaceful sound of the waves ...

with golden rays of sun warming your skin ...

feel that soothing warmth ...

hear a gentle breeze in the palm leaves ...

imagine ...

pick up a handful of sand ...

feel the soft, fine grains trickling through your fingers ...

trickling down ...

next to you on the beach ...

lying in the soft, white sand ...

is an old treasure chest ...

the once sturdy lock is broken ...

you can open the chest and look inside ...

do it ... ease back the lid ...

inside is a piece of parchment ...


with a message written in ancient script ...

a message just for you ...

and no one else ...

a calming, soothing message that is just right for you ...

right now ...

read it ...

remember it ...

it's just for you ...

as you relax on this beautiful beach ...

with the sea gently lapping at the shore ...

and the breeze brushing through the palm leaves ...

and now you look out ...

across the sea ...

there is a boat ...

waiting to bring you home ...

but it doesn't matter ...

you don't mind ...


because you know that the peace you have

found here ...

can be taken back there ...

as a memory ...

and whenever you need to ...

you can come back here in your mind ...

it won't be the same ...

but you will remember the peacefulness ...

for a while ...

just when you need to ...

and you have your special message ...

for peace of mind ...

so come back now ...

make your way back ...

confident in what you have learned ...

as I count from 1 to 10 ...

you'll awake, refreshed, relaxed and fully alert ...


bringing with you what you need ...

and leaving behind what's best left in

the unconscious ...

one ... two

three ... four ...

beginning to feel wide awake ...

three ... four ...

come back now ...

five ... six ...

wide awake ...

seven ... eight ...

nine and ten ...

mind and body have returned to normality ...


you feel wide awake ...

mind and body have returned to normality ... you feel great!


Advanced Hypnosis – The Handshake Induction

The basic form of the Handshake Induction is that of confusion induction. In plain words, your target

expects a certain set of circumstances to happen and is confused when what occurs does not match

what they expect.

This fact, combined with pacing and leading causes a rapid trance induction that can be deepened by

rapid use of hypnotic language.

Here's how to do it:

Walk up to your victim confidently, make eye contact, raise your right hand towards them as if to shake

hands and say:

"Hi, I'm pleased to..."

Break the handshake pattern NOW by doing something unexpected:

• Adjust your cuff-link • Scratch your nose • Reach for a drink • Grab their wrist and lift up their hand


• Grab your ankle • Raise your hand up to your nose • Do something unexpected! But DON'T BREAK EYE CONTACT!

As you do this, pretend to slip into a trance, just let your mind go blank and let your facial expression

follow. They will follow you!

And then continue:

“Sorry , I know what you're thinking, you're out of it... we all think that when this happens. So just RELAX. Just SLEEP. It's great that you're taking time to really think harder about it.

It's as if you're unconscious mind, right now, is making atrance for you to SLEEP through.You're drifting. Relaxing. Listening. And breathing deeper ...as you go into trance ...“

To release this type of trance, you might use a script similar to the one below:

OK ... as I count from 1 to 5

you'll awake, refreshed, relaxed and fully alert ...

one ... two

beginning to feel wide awake ...

three ...


come back now ...

four ...

wide awake ...

and five ...

wide awake ...

you are wide awake


Appendix I: Performance Tips

1 - Most people do not believe in mind-reading as fact but they are more likely to believe you can read

body language or influence behavior. To assist with this, set a mood and enhance your tricks by

dressing them up as psychological illusions.

● Dim the lights

● Dress appropriately in dark or black clothes

● Illuminate the room with candle-light

● Subtly suggest you are picking up on unconscious body language such as micro-expressions of the facial muscles, tone of voice, body stance and hesitation.


2 - Despite the descriptions used in the booklet, as far as your audience is concerned you are not

performing tricks or illusions.

● You are demonstrating effects not tricks

● You are conducting experiments

3 - Take Your Time

● Don’t rush any of your effects. It is much more dramatic and realistic to slow things down and reveal your predictions or revelations piece by piece. In our Book Test, for example, rather than reciting the whole first sentence, only a couple of words are revealed first. Then the whole first line is written down with each word being deliberated over to maintain the illusion of mind-reading and to build suspense.

4 - If Things Go Wrong …

● Forget about it! These are experiments, so if things don’t go to plan then simply move on. When things go wrong, compliment the spectator; say they were difficult to read and/or manipulate. Not only does this make them feel good but it also indicates to the rest of the audience that what you are doing is real rather than magic!

5 - Enjoy the Experience!

● If you enjoy yourself your audience will too. Don’t embarrass your spectators or audience; don’t make them


look foolish and don’t blame them if things go wrong. If a trick doesn’t work out the way you planned its not their fault - its yours. Learn from the experience, practice, practice and practice some more until you've Mastered Mentalism.

6 - Spectator Selection

● Unlike other forms of magic, Mentalism absolutely relies on getting spectators to assist you with your experiments. Getting your first volunteer to join you on stage to assist can be the most difficult part of the act. When choosing a spectator, look them directly in the eye and say “You Sir – would you come up here please?” Phrase this as a command rather than a polite request and follow it quickly with “Give him a round of applause, please” even before he is out of his seat. When you volunteer is up on stage, shake his hand, lean in and say “Thanks for coming up. Don't worry, I won't embarrass you or make fun of you. We're just going to have a bit of fun ...”. Having said this, stick to your word and further volunteers will be less difficult to find.


Conclusion

There is always the risk that in exposing secrets such as this, an air of disappointment is produced in the reader. When you have watched a skillful and talented performer do something that looks like real mind reading (or 'body language reading'), it can be disheartening to discover such mundane methods behind the magic.

The key to convincing mind reading and psychological illusions is not the gimmicks and techniques but the performance, something which is beyond the scope of this manual. But if you believe in what you are doing and have fun, your audience will too.

Thanks for reading! Take Care!


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