Luke Jermay Heavy Utterly Convincing Demonstrations of Supernatural Powers
Luke Jermay
18,216 wordsMentalismintermediateREINCARNATION - 'Jermay's General Person Ploy' Copyright 2018 (C) Luke Jermay. All Rights Reserved. All legal owners in possession of an original copy of this manuscript have the right to perform these effects in all performance settings. Conflicting first person performance rights are withheld.
ForcePsychometry
REINCARNATION - 'Jermay's General Person Ploy'
Copyright 2018 (C) Luke Jermay. All Rights Reserved.
All legal owners in possession of an original copy of this manuscript have the
right to perform these effects in all performance settings. Conflicting first person
performance rights are withheld. They are not permitted to teach, sell, resell,
lecture, manufacture, translate or otherwise use, demonstrate, display or perform
the contents.
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INTRODUCTION
Tese lectures notes were prepared to accompany my exclusive
presentation at Te Event in 2018. Te Event is an annual
mentalism convention I produce, in association with my friends
at Vanishing Inc Magic, that aims to bring the very best
performers, thinkers and creators in contemporary mentalism
to London to share their wisdom, insights and professional
performance material in a day packed full of exclusive lectures,
presentations and performances.
Tis manuscript could be thought to mark the sixth instalment
in an ongoing series of releases in which I aim to document my
explorations and expansions on what might be one of the very
oldest techniques in all of recorded theatrical card magic; Te
General Card Ploy. Te earliest written description I can �nd of
this wonderful principle is on page 159 of the Pieper
translation of the formally unpublished manuscript referred to
as Sloane 424, dated to the 1600’s. Te translation of this
remarkable historical document can be found in Gibeciere,
Volume 5, Issue 2, published in the summer of 2010 by the
Conjuring Arts
Ar ts Research Centre.
For those who are unsure, Te General Card Ploy can be easily
summed up as a deception in which the performer forces the
same card on multiple spectators, each of whom believe they
have selected different cards to one another. Later, this forced
card and several other random cards are in some way displayed
or revealed to the spectators and each verify that their chosen
card was among those revealed or displayed. Te resulting
belief in both the audience and the participants is that each
person selected a different card. Tose participating believe this
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since they assume the other cards revealed or displayed were
those selected by everyone else involved. Tose observing
believe this since those participating con�rm their selections
have been revealed. It is a bold, brilliant and highly
sophisticated deception.
Tose readers who have been performing mentalism for even a
short period of time will instantly recognise the General Card
Ploy as being the central mechanism within the venerable
Tossed Deck. Te Tossed Deck is a wonderful example of the
General Card Ploy applied to a direct demonstration of mind
reading. As a community we often call the General Card Ploy,
when utilised in the context of a mentalism routine, the Hoy
Principle due to the widespread exposure to Hoy's performance
piece Tossed Deck, which utilises the principle as its core
methodology. Curiously, many have failed to notice that the
concept of the Tossed Deck predates Hoy with an earlier, almost
identical, routine in print by Orville Meyer which can be found
on page 2 of the often overlooked periodical Mental-Wise,
Volume 2, Issue 8, published in March of 1956.
Hoy gave no history to his routine when he included it on page
25 of a collection of his fantastic performance
performance material entitled
Te Bold and Subtle Miracles of Dr. Faust, published by the
Ireland Magic Company. While Hoy offered no mention of
Meyer it is highly likely that this is where Hoy got the
inspiration for his routine from. What is certain is that few
realised the power of the concept until Hoy brought it to the
attention of the mentalism community with his commanding
theatrical performances. Once the power of this simple concept
was recognised the routine spread like wild�re. It became a
modern classic with amateur and professional performers,
including none other than Orson Wells, making good use of it
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in their own performance work. History aside, the General
Card Ploy and the Tossed Deck have been a constant source of
fruitful inspiration for me personally for more than than 20
years.
My �rst major contribution to the body of work utilising the
principle was my original routine Touching On Hoy, which �rst
saw print in 2002, but was created in 2000, in a set of lecture
notes dedicated to it. Touching On Hoy is a prop free mind
reading sequence which transformed the General Card Ploy’s
scope and expanded it to work not with playing cards but with
human beings. I consider this routine as the foundational
building block that all of my other related material stands upon.
It is included in this manuscript, in its most recent form, to
present the reader with a well rounded understanding of the
process of exploration I have taken
t aken with the core methodology
methodolog y.
I believe this expansion of the General Card Ploy’s reach and
scope to be my original contribution to the body of work
connected to the General Card Ploy and one that I am very
proud of.
Touching On Hoy opened the eyes of many to the �exibility of
the General Card Ploy; something that previously had always
been used only in conjunction with playing cards was now
applicable to more interesting and further reaching information
and performance
perfor mance applications.
Since sharing Touching On Hoy with the community it has
garnered universal praise,
prai se, even being awarded ‘Trick
‘Trick Of Te Year’
from the readers of Magic Magazine after it appeared in my
friend Joshua Jay’s ‘Talk About Tricks’ column.
I'm thrilled to say it has become a pivotal piece in many
professional performers’ real
real world
wor ld shows across the globe.
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In 2015, thirteen years after Touching On Hoy �rst saw print, I
decided to share more of my explorations on the General Card
Ploy applied to human beings. I began by sharing Touching On
Divination as part of my 4 disc DVD set Jermay's Mind,
produced by Vanishing Inc;Inc; this is a sequence which allows the
performer to seemingly answer thought of questions held only
in the minds of spectators. Tis handling is also included in an
updated form here in this manuscript. Tis is my personal
favourite of all the routines I have created and the one I use the
most in my ownown professional
professional work.
work. It has
has a �exibility and an
authenticity that makes it very useful and hugely impactful on
an audience.
Next, I released a PDF and audio training package called
Cartomancy which detailed an entire show themed around
fortune telling with playing cards which utilised the concept in
one of its central phases. Tis can be found as a stand alone
PDF download at my online mentalism store.
sto re.
Te third release on this theme was Touching On Hypnosis; a
sequence of pseudo hypnotic phenomena made possible thanks
to the General Card Ploy which appears on my second 4 disc
DVD set Premise And Premonition, produced by Vanishing Inc,
available at their website and in magic stores around the world.
world .
Te fourth was Vibrations; my professional, dare I say, avant-
garde approach to Psychometry. Tis is available as a stand
alone PDF download at my online mentalism store.
sto re.
My �fth release was Folie à Deux detailing yet another manner
in which taking the General Card Ploy from playing cards to
human beings can be expanded and exploited to produce a
radically different outcome in performance as it produces an
elegant and expanded demonstration of the neoclassical PK
Touches premise
premise..
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It is my hope, that by documenting the many different routines
I have created using the single principle as a muse, giving birth
to a new approach which I now call 'Jermay's General Person
Ploy', the community will begin to see these routines not as self
contained ‘tricks’ but rather, different disguises for a utilitarian
technique. A technique upon which direct and startling
miracles can easily be built once the approach is fully
understood.
In this manuscript you will discover three fully formed
professional routines and one universal technique; each built on
'Jermay's General Person Ploy' to produce a wide array of distinct
and powerful professional performance pieces. Both ‘Broadcast’
and ‘One
‘One Are All’ have never been shared, in any form, anywhere
before. Tey are exclusively housed within this limited edition
manuscript.
When I decided
deci ded to
t o present a lecture
lect ure on 'Jermay's General Person
Ploy', my biggest challenge was in deciding what not to include.
Te time restraints of a convention lecture forced me to re-
examine all of my work with 'Jermay's General Person Ploy', both
published and unpublished, in order to select what I felt was
the best variety of information for those in attendance. It was,
at �rst, an annoyanc
annoyance.e. However, it soon becam becamee cle
clear
ar this
challenge was a blessing in disguise.
disgui se.
In examining my different routines, techniques and concepts I
soon realised that I could select routines to demonstrate the
depth and breadth contained within the principle allowing each
of the routines to showcase di ff erent techniques and
applications in their own right.
r ight.
Consequently, I have selected the the routines included in this
manuscript to highlight different manners in which the
principle can be exploited, also to introduce many of the
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previously unpublished additional utilitarian 'Jermay's General
Person Ploy' techniques that I use in my own performances, to
the community
community.. I suggest
suggest you read these
these notes from start to
�nish and do not jump
jump ahead. I have structured these notes in
such a manner that each routine builds upon the last as they
introduce techniques and applications that are transferable to
one another.
I hope these lecture notes provide you with a new way to look
at something very old. It is my hope
hope that the work I have done
in developing 'Jermay's General Person Ploy' will inspire you not
only to go out and perform these routines but to ask yourself
what unique discoveries you might make as you explore a
principle that has, in my experience, only continued to grow,
shift and expand as it continues to occupy as special place in my
mind.
LUKE
LUKE JERMAY
Yorkshire, 2018
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TOUCHING ON TELEPATHY
TELEPATHY
Touching
Touching on telepathy is a sequenced routine of two different
demonstrations (Touching On Hoy and Touching On Divination)
built on 'Jermay's General Person Ploy' that offers the performer a
startling, prop free, demonstration of test conditions telepathy,
immediately followed by a prop free demonstration of
divination and fortune telling in which the performer answers
the personal questions of random audience members that are
only 'thought' about. I personally follow these two sequenced
routines with my personal approach to George Anderson’s
‘Dynamite Mentalism’ which allows me to present a full, prop
free, performance lasting anywhere between 20 and 35 minutes.
Nothing is written
wr itten down, there
there is no preshow work and there is
no stooging. Tis is a true, prop free, demonstration of
telepathy that leads to one of the purest, test conditions,
demonstrations of true Questions and Answers that you will
encounter.
I recommend that you read this chapter fully, even if you are
already familiar with my work, as many of the principles and
techniques that are taught are utilitarian and will be transferred
and brought forward in the material that makes up the rest of
this manuscript. Consider this a chapter of foundational
information.
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TOUCHING ON HOY
Phase One: Telepathy
After some introductory remarks about the nature of telepathy,
telepathy,
mind reading and divination, the performer explains he will
begin with a mental warm up and to do so he must work with
receptive minds. He has the audience relax and remain
remain open
minded. He then has the entire roomroom attempt to pick up on
three simple thoughts that he explains he will 'project' to them.
Each time he has those audience members who accurately
perceived his thought indicate this by standing at their seat in
the theatre. He then selects three of the standing audience
members to join him onstage. Each person sits in a chair lined
up across the stage. Te performer instructs the spectators to
close their eyes. He then openly walks to the spectator in the
chair furthest to the left, from the audience’s viewpoint, and
taps that person several times on the shoulder.
shoulder. He then
addresses that spectator directly:
“If you just felt me touch you, you are Player number one. I would
like you to think of two simple shapes.
shapes. Keeping in mind,
mind, that with
my artistic talent, a heart or a star would be exceptionally complex;
a square is my kind of simple…go ahead and think of two simple
shapes for me now…and lock those in your mind. From this this point
onwards your task is to simply focus your mind on whatever shapes
you happen to have picked. Ignore what the other players are doing
up here. You are Player number one; focus only only on two simple
shapes.”
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Te performer then moves to the spectator sat in the centre of
the three and taps this person several times on their back. He
then continues:
“If you just felt me touch
touch you, you are player
player number
number two. I would
like you to
to focus on a name; a name that you say everyday.
everyday. It could
be a loved one, a family member, a friend; anyone that is a part of
your life…your task f rom this point onward is to simply focus your
mind on that person’s
person’s name. Ignore
Ignor e what the other players are
doing. Simply focus your
your mind on whichever name you have decided
upon. Feel free to change your
your mind a few times if you wish, before
you settle on one, however,
however, once you have decided; lock that in your
mind and focus all of your attention on it. You are player
player number
two; focus only on your chosen name.”
Te performer moves to the �nal spectator sat in the chair
furthest right and taps this person. He address this person
directly:
“Finally, player number three…If you just felt me touch you…you
are player number three.
three. I would like you to
to focus your mind on a
date. A date
date that holds some personal signi
signi�cance to you. Maybe a
graduation year,
year, perhaps the year a child was born, whatever it
happens to be; a year that holds some special meaning to you,
personally. Focus your mind only on that year, year, you are player
number three.”
Te performer moves to centre stage and addresses all three of
the onstage spectators at once, clapping his hands together, he
continues:
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“Please, players
players 1, 2 and 3…open
3…open your eyes for me now! All of this
applause is yours.”
Te three onstage spectators open their eyes and the performer
leads in a round of applause. Te performer continues,
addressing all three of the onstage spectators:
“Please take a moment to focus your mind on your speci �c thoughts.
You each have one concept in mind. Player number one, some simple
shapes; something of a warm up.
up. Player number
number two, the name of
someone close to you and player number three, a year that has some
signi�cance to you.”
Addressing the audience at large the performer
performer continues:
“I �nd telepathy
telepathy is much like any learned skill. It requires a speci�c
process for best results. Right now this simple test will serve as my
warm up.up. If I can successfully perceive the three thoughts of three
random people we will begin to move onward…but let’s not get
ahead of ourselves just yet as success is never assured with mysterious
matters of the mind.”
In silence the performer walks behind each of the seated
onstage spectators. He places his hand on each of the
spectators heads, closes his eyes for a moment and moves to the
next spectator.
spectator. He repeats this with each of the three
three onstage
spectators. When �nished he walks centre stage and instructs
the onstage spectators to stand at their onstage chairs. He
pauses and then dramatically continues:
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“I believe I have been able to reach inside your mind and �nd the
speci�c thoughts I was looking for.
for. I have two simple shapes,
shapes, a year
and a name. Strangely, this evening, the thoughts that were
normally the easiest, the shapes, were the most di fficult for me to
�nd.”
Te performer turns to address the onstage spectator who
focused on two simple shapes:
“So, Player number one…if I get even one of the two shapes you
have in mind, we will count that as a success.”
Te performer then continues, addressing the audiences and
onstage spectators at one time:
“ Te name and the year were very clear. Te shapes that came to me
were a triangle and a circle. Te name was Tara and the year 1985.
Tese were the thoughts that I connected with.”
Te performer turns to address the onstage spectators. He
begins, addressing the �rst spectator:
“If I successfully named your thought…sit down.”
Amazingly the spectator sits in the onstage chair; indicating
the performer was indeed accurate in the thoughts he
perceived. Te performer addresses the audience:
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“One out of three, in most scienti�c circles, would be considered
highly signi�cant but right here and right now we are not interested
in scienti�c signi�cance…”
Te performer then continues, addressing
addressing the second spectator:
“If I successfully named your thought…please, sit down”
down”
Te performer �nally addresses the last spectator:
“ Te moment of truth…If I successfully named your thought, please,
sit down.”
Amazingly the �nal spectator sits. Te audience reacts with
shocked silence quickly followed by intense applause.
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TOUCHING ON DIVINA
DIVINATION
TION
Phase Two:
Two: Questions & Answers
With the three onstage spectators sat in the onstage chairs the
performer continues, addressing the three spectators and the
audience at once:
“I am warmed up. While I understand the need for tests of
telepathy,
telepathy, its not really the best use
use of the gift. Let’s move on to
to
what really matters the most; the past, the present and the future.
After all, what else is there?”
Te performer addresses the onstage spectators as a group.
group.
“Please close your eyes. Player number one, I would like you to
to think
about a question; the kind of question you might ask a tarot card
reader or psychic, a question about your personal future. Please
avoid the temptation to ask a silly question; silly questions always
receive silly answers. Tink of a question you personally want the
answer to about
about your own future. Player number
number two, I would like
you to focus your mind on a question about your present and player
number three, please focus your mind on a question about your past.”
Once again the performer walks along the line of the three
onstage, seated spectators, brie�y touching their head as he
does so.
so. When he has made
made his way
way along the line he returns
to stage centre and continues:
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“Please, all three of you, open your eyes. I have the answers you seek.
Player number three, when it comes to the past you have to be careful
not to allow it to in�uence the present and interfere with the future.
At this point in your life there is nothing more you can do to mend
the situation. I believe that Joanne was not in possession of all the
information she needed to make the best decisions, however,
however, now it is
your duty to move
move forward.
for ward. Now is the time to
to let this go.
Player number two, the present, I feel you asked a question literally
about the present. Something about you right here and right now;
something of a challenge. I believe you want me to tell
tell you the colour
of your underwear
underw ear.. Understand that I normally would not accept
any challenge, however, you seem fun; it is blue.
Player number one, the future. I believe you already know the the
answer to your question and I believe your own insight into this
situation will prove correct, however, it would be wise to adjust
your timeline to
to allow a little freedom in reaching this.”
Te performer looks to the audience and then back to the three
onstage spectators and continues:
“If I have given you the answer to your question…please return to
your seat in the theatre.”
All three of the onstage spectators stand, and walk from the
stage to return to their seat in the theatre. Te audience, after
recovering from the shock of what they have seen, applaud
enthusiastically. Te performer then continues by having every
person in the room focus their mind on a personal question
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they would like to the answer
answer to.
to. He then works with various
spectators, dotted around the room, accurately answering
questions.
BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Te Core Methodology
Before we launch into the exact details of the method, I would
like you to consider that the routine appears exactly as it has
been described above. Te routine makes use of no preshow
work, no stooges and no props at all.
a ll. Once you have processed
and understood the information I am about to share you will
have, ready and waiting, a full demonstration of direct telepathy
and pure Questions and Answers with nothing more than your
words, mind and body.
body. Please take a moment to consider this
before you launch into the details.
Tis is by no means a di fficult routine to learn or perform,
however, it does require strong audience management, a fully
operational mastery of the script and full understanding of the
methodology and the concepts that underpin how the sequence
blends together
togethe r.
Tis routine will make use of bold methodology to create a
striking miracle in the minds of the audience. Understanding
the sequence fully will require a shift in your thinking. Tis is a
demonstration employing language as its main method. Tere
will be no sleight of hand but much sleight of mind.
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Much has been made, in recent years, of the notion of Dual
Reality. Tis is the term given to an effect in which an
audience member has a different experience to the performer,
and each has different experiences to the audience at large. I
have always been somewhat puzzled by this notion being new.
It seems to me there is not a single example of a magic or mind
reading demonstration which, at its very core, is not an example
of Dual Reality
Realit y. In truth, for any deception
decepti on to take place, the
performer must always manage multiple experiences and
realities; this routine will highlight that fact.
To
To begin, I wish to present you with a simple overview
overvie w of how
the demonstration works; this will be terse in detail but will
allow you to have a basic working understanding of the
demonstration as we progress and explore the subtleties and
psychological principles that will all play their part in
completing the deception in performance. Te 'hardware' of
this routine is really
really simple. Its power is in the fact that ninety
nine percent of the deception is complete before the audience is
even aware the demonstration has begun. Te detail and
attention is really found within the performance script.
At the very heart is a simple concept, one commonly credited
to David Hoy for his now iconic 'Tossed Deck' routine. Tis is
often referred to as 'Te Hoy Principle' but can, more
accurately, be considered an outgrowth of the ‘General Card
Ploy’. So central to this demonstration is the ‘General Card Ploy’
that, in my earlier version of the demonstration, I included
Hoy's name
name in the title. We shall use the tossed deck as a
working example of this principle which I will then transfer to
the mechanisms of 'Touching On Divination'.
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To
To properly understand this routine it is important that you
understand the 'Hoy Principle’, imagine you have a deck of
playing cards; of which �fty one cards are all alike. Te
remaining card, which is different from the �fty one all alike
cards, is on the face of the deck. Te complete deck is wrapped
in a rubber band. Imagine you were to throw the deck to
different people in the audience; accompanied by instructions
for them to each break open the deck and look at one, and only
one, card within and commit it to memory and then have the
deck returned to you. You would present whatever
whate ver vision
visio n of
mind reading process you personally favour and �nally reveal
that you have several cards in your
your mind. If you were to now
announce the card used for the �fty one alike cards, along with
several other cards,
c ards, and then ask the audience members to sit, if
and only if, you had named their card, all the spectators would
indeed sit. Tey have no other option since you have
announced the card that makes up all of the possible selection
�elds within the deck. Each person would assume that the
other spectators each selected one of the other cards the
performer named. Here is the Hoy principle in action as
published by Hoy in his 'Tossed Deck' routine. In many ways,
what follows is an expansion and elaboration on this classic
routine, only we shall not make use of playing cards
c ards but instead,
with bold methodology,
methodology, create a human 'Tossed Deck.'
Now you understand the 'Hoy Principle' in its classic guise.
Let’s see how we can apply that to three living, breathing
human beings on stage.
You
You will invite three spectators to
t o each take a seat onstage. Te
chairs will be arranged in a neat line across the centre of the
stage.
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With the spectators sitting, you stand behind the spectators in
the space between the second and third chair as you instruct
the onstage spectators to close their eyes and for them to keep
their eyes closed until you ask them to open them again. You
appear to lean forward to look up and down the line of
spectators to check that they have each closed their eyes. Tis
action, while benign and uninteresting to the audience proper,
will allow the cover you will need for the major deception
within the routine. While you appear to simply be looking up
and down the line to check the spectators have closed their
eyes, in truth you are doing something else. With the body
leaning forward your arms are in the perfect position to secretly
'touch' the spectators who sit to either side of you. You will
secretly touch the two spectators roughly in the middle of their
backs. Tis is over in a split second and the larger action of
leaning forward to check that the spectators have closed their
eyes is ample cover for the smaller action of secretly applying
the touches to the spectators’ backs.
You
You have now,
now, unknown to the audience at large, secretly
touched
touc hed two of the three onstage spectators.
spectat ors. You will now
openly walk to the remaining spectator and openly touch them
on the shoulder. You will say:
“If you just felt me touch you…you are Player number one.”
Te extraordinary result of all of this is the fact that you are
now talking to each of the spectators but the audience believes
you are only addressing the spectator that you openly touched.
You
You have, in essence, the beginnings of a human 'Tossed
'Tossed Deck.'
You
You will now need to control the choices of all three of the
spectators during the scripting that the audience at large
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believes is only being actioned by the spectator they saw you
openly touch on the shoulder.
shoulder. I choose to control the choices
by employing a classic psychological force of two simple shapes:
a circle and a triangle. Once this is complete you will move to
the second spectator in the row of chairs, you will appear to
'touch' this spectator somewhere on their back; in truth you
merely mime the actions of touching the spectator but do not
contact them in anyway. You now speak to 'player number two'
as if they were
were on the stage with you.
you. In truth there is no
player number two. Tis means that you can create any
selection �eld you desire since no matter what you say, you are
correct.
correct . You will repeat this with the third spectator,
spectat or,
approaching and miming touching them on the back, in truth
not making any contact with them whatsoever
whatsoe ver.. You then
address 'player number three' as if they were onstage with you.
In truth again, you are addressing
addressing no-one. Player number three
is nothing more than what player number two was; a �gment of
the imagination of the performer.
performer.
Each onstage spectator believes themselves to be 'Player
number one' and each onstage spectator has focused their mind
on two simple shapes. Since we offered this selection �eld
using the classic psychological force all of the spectators will be
thinking
thinki ng of circles
circ les and triangles.
tria ngles. Now,
Now, when it comes to
'reading their mind' and revealing the information, we simply
follow the lessons laid out in Hoy's 'Tossed Deck' by
announcing:
“I see a circle and a triangle, the name
name Tara and the date
date 1985. If I
have correctly named your thought, please,
please, sit down.”
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Te name we reveal and the date can be anything; since no-one
is really thinking about a name or a date. Since all three
spectators were instructed to take part as Player number one,
who we employed the psychological force upon, all three
spectators will sit down.
To
To the audience at large it appears as if we have somehow
managed to reveal not only two simple shapes but also a name
and a date. Tis is a major moment; it feels like real mind
reading. No props, nothing
nothin g written
wri tten down, just straight ahead
direct mind reading.
I understand that this is a different approach to much of the
mentalism most people will have encountered
encountered before.
before. Indeed,
it may take a while for your mind to wrap itself around these
concepts. Take a while to really
really understand the information I
have shared until this point; resist the temptation to move
further into this routine until you are con�dent you fully,
completely and totally understand the mechanism that
underlies all that will follow.
As with all great mentalism the real deception takes place in
the mind of the audience. Tis is the strongest of all deceptions
and it only happens when we apply the right construction and
performance psychology to the mechanisms that produce the
illusions. Now I have explained the core method at work
within this routine it is time for us to delve further; to explore
the subtleties, scripting and �nally see how the core method
can be expanded to allow for the Questions and Answers
routine.
routin e. In the �nal section of this chapter I will cover the
manner in which I blend this routine in among other classic
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concepts to create a twenty �ve to thirty
thirt y minute prop free mind
reading demonstration.
THE REAL SECRETS
Te devil’
devil ’s in the details
Now you have a working understanding of the routine it is time
for us to look at the real secrets that will elevate the
demonstration to a professional grade mystery. Te �rst detail
that will make a huge di fference to the success of the
demonstration is understanding the proper manner in which to
apply the secret touches to the two onstage
onstage spectators. A vital
element in this process is the positioning of the chairs
themselves on the stage.
Position three chairs in a line. Leave just enough space in
between each chair to allow your left leg to extend into the
space between. Your right leg will be planted �rmly behind the
spectator to your right and your left leg will extend further in
the gap between the spectators on your left and right. At �rst
this will feel like a strange way to be standing and that feeling
is correct; this is a strange way to stand, unless we are leaning
forward to look along the line of spectators. Te left leg
extending into the space between the spectators allows us to
bend slightly at the waist and lower our body into the space
between the chairs; all with your right leg �rmly planted
behind the spectator
spectat or in their chair,
chair, to your right.
right . You will
notice that in this position your arms naturally ride up to waist
height allowing you to easily touch the spectators on the left
25
and right at the exact moment you turn your head to look up
and down the line of spectators, seemingly checking they have
followed your instructions and closed their eyes. You will now
straighten your body up bringing your torso out of the space
between the two chairs.
You
You will lead with your right leg as you walk to the only
spectator who was not secretly touched. Te entire secret
touching actions happen as you appear to be casually checking
the spectators have closed their eyes. You will walk freely
behind the spectators before you instruct them to close their
eyes, at this moment you will then take up position with the
left leg extended in the space between the chairs, execute the
secret touches and then move away leading with the right leg.
Tis entire process will take a matter of seconds and appears to
the audience to be very uninteresting. In the experience of the
audience at large nothing has yet taken place; instead it appears
we are about to begin. You now move to the remaining
spectator and openly touch them on their shoulder.
shoulder.
You
You will now label the spectators to all believe they are Player
number one. To do this you will make use of a speci�c piece of
scripting:
“If you just felt me touch you, you are Player number one…”
All three spectators now believe they are player number one.
From this moment onward any instruction we offer directly to
player number one will be followed by all three of the onstage
spectators. Te audience proper believe only the spectator that
you openly touched is player number one.
26
We
We now �nd ourselves at the second critical junction of the
�rst phase of the routine; the psychological force. Many pages
in many books have been �lled giving avid readers precise
scripts which promise them some magical power over the
minds of the audiences and spectators they work with. Te
truth, in my humble opinion, is that this has hindered the
ability for many of those avid readers to successfully perform a
psychological force. While obviously the script is of vital
important, little has been discussed about the tone, delivery and
vocabulary
vocabular y used in the execution of that script. A psychological
force is, in truth, not a force but rather an invisible restriction
upon the available choices; these restrictions stack on one
another until the only available options are those we de �ne
prior to the performance. If we examine the force of two
simple shapes as an example, we can clearly see what I mean by
the idea of restrictions:
“I would like you to think of two simple shapes. Bearing in mind
that with my artistic ability a heart and a star would be very
complex. A square
square is simple! Do not think of any of those…but lock
two simple shapes into your mind for me now.”
Tis is the exact script I use when performing the psychological
force. However, for it to be effective for you, it should not be.
Te reason I have success with this force is that it sounds
correct and in character with the manner in which I talk
onstage. If you try to rigidly stick to my script it will not sound
natural; it will alert the audience to something suspicious
happening. Tey will not know what it is that is happening but
they will feel something is off and it will cause an internal
alarm bell to trigger in
i n the mind of the spectator. Tis will ruin
the force. It will remove the audience member from the
27
moment and they will simply not follow with the restrictions
because they will suddenly become aware that this is what you
are trying to do; restrict their choices. Te challenge for you is
to take the structure that I use, which allows you to remove
most of the possible choices from the spectators selection
simply because you have named them aloud in your
instructions and �nd a way for you to say it that sounds natural
and real in your own words. Do not use my words, do not use
my vocabulary,
vocabulary, do not use my delivery or tone. Find your own;
it is the only way it can work.
Since in the scripting we have directly announced a square, a
heart and a star, we leave the spectator with only two real
choices; a triangle and
and a circle. We will make use of one more
subtle language trick during the revelation process which will
sky rocket the odds of success by reducing the level with which
we need to be accurate. We will get back to this during the
revelation
revelat ion process. For the moment, the most important
importan t thing
you can do is spend an hour examining the way in which you
will use my structure to deliver the classic
c lassic psychological force in
a manner than feels authentic and real in your own style. Go
and do this now; I will meet you back here in one hour.
Welcome
Welcome back. At this point you should have worked out your
own unique vocabulary, style and tone for the structure of the
psychological force. If you have not done this and instead
ignored my request that you spend some time doing this, I will
repeat: this is a critical step in executing the psychological force
or, as I prefer to think of it, the psychological restriction,
successfully.
successfully. I urge you to give this some serious thought
thought and
really apply yourself to developing your own way.
28
Now you have your own way to handle the language for the
force let’s look at the exact way in which we will pull together
the secret touches and the force/restriction to create the desired
outcome; three people all believing they are 'player number one'
and each thinking of a circle and a triangle:
“If you just felt me touch you,
you, you
you are player
player number one. I would
like you to think of two simple shapes. Bearing in mind that with
my artistic ability a heart and a star
star would be very complex. A
square is simple!
simple! Do not think of any of those…but
those…but lock two simple
shapes into your mind for me now. Remember, you are player
number one; your task is only to focus on two simple shapes. Ignore
what all the other players upup here are doing. Focus only on your
chosen shapes.”
It is of great importance that you instruct 'player number one'
to ignore what the other players are doing. Tis single step will
ensure that when you later pretend to touch the second and
third spectators, each time offering some further instruction,
that all three of the onstage spectators ignore these instructions
and only think about two simple shapes. It is also important
for the second phase that the players are told to remember their
number.
number. Once you have successfully executed the psychological
force/restriction, instructed the onstage spectators to remember
their player number and to ignore what the other players are
doing you are essentially home and dry. Te major deceptions
have been taken care of.
You
You will allow a slight delay to let that sink in. Ten you will
say something along the lines of:
“…and now moving on…”
29
Tis simple piece of scripting e ffectively informs the three
onstage spectators
spectators that something newnew is about to come. In a
moment they will understand this 'new thing' to be the
introduction of the second player
player into the game. Since they are
now thinking of themselves as 'player number one' they will
naturally ignore the instructions you offer to 'player number
two' exactly as you instructed them to earlier. After the pause
has passed you will move to stand directly behind the spectator
sitting in the middle of the three.
three. You then appear to touch
this spectator on their back. In truth simply mime these
actions; do not contact the spectator at all. Tis literally is the
simplest of all possible method; you are simply pretending to be
doing something when you you are not. When I walk and openly
touch the �rst spectator, after having secretly touched the other
two spectators, I make this action look like it is large and
laboured. It almost appears like I am doing the infamous
Saturday night fever dance move! Tis is basic magic
psychology; whenever we can do something secretly, when
performing the same action openly we should make it look
more difficult to hide. By making the actions of openly
touching the spectator appear large it further creates the notion
that it would be impossible to sneak around secretly touching
people.
After you have pretended to touch the spectator sitting in the
centre of the row you will offer the following instructions,
again, in your own unique vocabulary and tone, after you have
moved to the left of the entire row.
“If you just felt me touch
touch you, you are player
player number
number two. I would
like you to think of a name; a name you you say every
every day. Maybe a
loved one, a family member, someone close to you.”
30
It is important that, after you have labelled the spectators as
player number one, you instruct the spectators to ignore what
the other players are doing and focus their mind only on two
simple shapes.
It is also important that you do not 'linger' behind any of the
onstage spectators for longer than
than is needed. It is common that
we can, even with our eyes close, sense when someone is
standing behind us. Te longer you stand behind any of the
spectators during the pretend touching sequence the more
chance there is for one of them to become confused; they
might sense you standing behind them offering instructions
and requests.
Te solution is simple: as soon as you have executed the false
touches move away from that spectator and continue issuing
instructions and requests from a different position.
At this point you will have appeared to have touched one
person on the shoulder and asked them to focus their mind on
two simple shapes and then moved onto the second onstage
spectator, who you appear to have touched on the back, and
instructed to think about the name of someone close to them.
In truth the second spectator is merely an imagined person. All
three spectators
spectators are thinking of two simple shapes. No-one is
thinking about the name of someone close to them.
You
You will now repeat the actions of the false touch. You will
approach the third spectator and pretend to touch them on the
shoulder.
should er. You will, of course, as you did with the second
spectator, simply pretend to the touch them but in reality make
31
no contact with them at all. Te moment after the pretend
touch has been executed you will move to the left of the entire
row of onstage spectators and offer the following instructions:
“If you just felt me touch you,
you, you are player
player number three. I would
like you to focus your mind on a year.year. A year that holds some
personal signi�cance to you. Maybe an anniversary, maybe a
graduation year,
year, maybe the year you decided to stop counting how
old you really are…whatever you want.”
I handle the scripting exactly as it is written above. My
motivation for this is simple but subtle. Many times, by
offering the instructions as they appear above, the onstage
spectators will smile at the somewhat humorous notion and
tone at the end of the scripting. Tis is designed to raise a
smile;
smile ; not cause
caus e a laugh. We do not want the onstage
spectators laughing, however, if they smile something amazing
happens. Te audience will only notice that the �nal spectator
smiles, this is simply due to the fact that this is the spectator we
are placing all of our attention and focus on. on. Regardless of
whether or not the other spectators onstage smile, the audience
only see the �nal spectators smile. Tis further cements the
notion we are talking directly to this person in the minds of the
audience. Tis is a very subtle but hugely
hugely powerful deception. I
am constantly amazed
amaz ed by just how deceptive a smile can be.
At this point the audience believe you have touched the �rst
spectator on the shoulder and asked them to focus their mind
on two simple shapes, you then touched the second spectator
on the back and asked them to think of the name of someone
close to them and then �nally touched the last spectator on the
back and ask them to focus their mind on a year that holds
32
some personal signi�cance to them. In truth you havehave touched
two spectators secretly
secretl y and one openly.
openly. You have then labelled
all the spectators as 'player number one' and forced each of
them to think about a circle
circle and a triangle. You have then
pretended to touch the spectator in the middle of the row and
instructed an invisible person labelled as player number two to
think of the name of someone close to them, you repeated this
to create another invisible/pretend person on the stage who is
apparently thinking about a year that is important
impor tant to them.
At this point you will ask the onstage spectators to open their
eyes. You will then go through whatever theatrics
theatr ics you wish to
frame the mind reading as. You may decide you wish to present
your mind reading skills as body language, contact mind
reading, the real thing; whatever best supports your style,
personality and vision.
We
We now �nd ourselves at the conclusion of the �rst phase of
the sequence; successfully revealing the thoughts of the three
onstage spectators. At this point we have the human tossed
deck we spoke about earlier. We will simply reveal the two
shapes and then reveal any information we wish to cover the
two pretend
pretend players in the game. Each spectator believes they
are player number one therefore believing that the other two
spectators onstage are players number two and three.
We
We will also incorporate a small but massively important
language trick in the way we reveal the information. Facing the
row of onstage spectators and shifting eye
e ye contact between each
of them you will say something like:
33
“I have three thoughts. Interestingly tonight, the thoughts that are
usually the easiest were actually the
the most challenging;
challenging; the shapes. So
player number one, if I get even one of your two shapes correct you
will count it as a success. However,
However, the name and the year came to
me nice and clear.”
Read this once more. You have now created a situation
situat ion in
which you only need to accurately reveal one of the two shapes
for the spectators to consider the information accurate. Tis
sky rockets the effectiveness
ective ness of the force. Remember
Rememb er,, we
eliminated a heart, a star and a square during the language we
used to execute the force. Te only remaining 'simple' shapes
are a circle
circ le and triangle.
tria ngle. However, by using this additional
additi onal
insurance we are covered even if the spectator wished to think
of a circle and a hexagon or a triangle and a pentagram. We
now have two chances to guess one of the shapes correctly
correctl y. I
assure you, use this language and the trick will never fail.
Before I changed the script to incorporate this concept I faced
the odd psychological force failure here and there. After
adding this moment into the script, I have never failed.
faile d. You
will now announce all of the information at one time:
“ Te thoughts that came to me were, a circle and a triangle, the
name Tara and the date 1985.”
Obviously you may substitute the name Tara and the date 1985
for whatever you wish, providing
providing it is logically set up during the
earlier phases. Tere is nothing stop you having the second and
third players thinking of other pieces of information; remember
these spectators are strictly imagined therefore whatever you
decide they are thinking will be correct.
34
You
You will
wi ll ha
have
ve the
th e spec
sp ecta
tato
tors
rs con
co n�rm the information
individually thanks to a wonderful notion from Wayne Dobson
who published the idea of having each spectator sit down one
at a time in his version of the tossed deck. I think this is a
great concept as it further strengthens the idea that each person
is thinking of one distinct and separate thought. To do this
address the spectator furthest to the right of the row and say:
“If I successfully named your thought…sit down.”
Te spectator will sit down. Make some comment about being
right with one out of three. Tis is only to provide a slight time
delay.
delay. Next, address the spectator
specta tor sitting in the centre of the
row and say:
“If I successfully named your thought…sit down.”
Te spectator will sit down, quickly address the �nal spectator.
Increasing the speed here creates a feeling of pace and builds
the reveal to more of
o f a punch, address
address the spectator:
“If I successfully named your thought…sit down.”
Again, the third spectator will sit.
si t. All three spectators have sat
back in their chairs indicating that you have accurately revealed
their thoughts. Accept your applause
applause graciously before moving
on to the second phase of the routine. Allow the �rst phase to
sink in before launching into the second phase of the routine.
When you feel it is correct continue to the audience by
35
explaining that while tests of telepathy are all well and good,
you are not interested in tests; you are interested in people.
people.
Position yourself to the right hand side of the seated onstage
spectators, from this position you will offer all of your
instructions. You will instruct the onstage spectators to once
again close their eyes. Begin by instructing the onstage
spectators:
“Player number one, I would like you to think of a personal question
about your future. Te type of question you might ask a psychic or a
tarot card reader
reade r. Resist the temptation to ask a silly question;
questio n;
remembering that silly questions
questions will receive silly answers. Lock a
personal question into
into your mind relating to
to your own future.”
Tanks to all of the work you put in at the very beginning of
the routine with secretly touching two spectators, openly
touching one spectator and labelling them all as 'player number
one' as well as during the �rst phase instructing the spectators
to remember their player number, you are now in the
astonishing position of talking to all three spectators at once;
they are all aware that they are player number one. However,
the audience believes that only one of them is. Tis is
remarkable. Te entire second phase requires nothing more
than your words and yet is as close to the real thing as anyone
will ever see.
Afte
Af terr you have
hav e comple
com pleted
ted givin
gi vingg 'pl
'playe
ayerr number
num ber one'
one '
instructions you will move on by offering instructions to player
numbers two and three:
36
“…Player
“…Player number two, I would like you to focus your mind on a
question about your present and player number three, please focus
your mind on a question
question about your past.”
past.”
Remember
Rememb er,, there are no players two and three. At this point in
time we once again have the human tossed out deck situation I
have used as my example throughout. However, this is a more
complex s