Hardin's Magic Brain

VOL #4 - Billets
Introduction
Welcome to this month‖s instalment in which we will be taking a peek (mind the
pun) into Billet work. Billet work has long been the secret of many psychic
reader/ mediums in order to gain information there is no way they should
possibly know.

The notion of switching/ peeking billets long pre-dates ―mentalism‖ and similar
techniques shared in this document have been used in the past by several
people (I will not name) to gain cult like status.

In the wrong hands these techniques could potentially be dangerous, because of
the amount of mystery that surrounds these techniques I have decided it would
be a good subject to focus this month‖s document on.

I have (up until this point) for the most point kept my thoughts upon billets
and the psychology of all things surrounding billets behind closed doors. It‖s
been something I have not really discussed, not because I don‖t use or utilise
billets but because it‖s something I have kept for myself.

I was taken aback by how incredible billet work can be after reading ―Peek
Performances‖ and ―Peek Encores‖ by Richard Busch (two articles on the subject I
highly recommend) and have been obsessed ever since.

When you read this document the ideas are incredibly simple, so simple that
they are very easy to overlook as relevant because of how straightforward
they are in terms of mechanics. As I mentioned earlier, these types of
techniques have helped people gain cult like status and therefore it would be
a foolish mistake to make to dismiss any of the information you read in this
document as not worth your time. I completely mean that in the least
egotistical sense possible.

In this document you will find a multitude of peeks, presentations and
justifications which will enable you to go out and start using billets in your
mentalism performances. I have mixed classical techniques with modern
principles to create real world working material and I hope you find my twist
on things and the contributions by other artists an interesting read.

I hope you really hope you enjoy this month‖s edition,

Peter Turner
The Psychology of peeking
The most important aspect of billet work is the psychology behind the
motivation for peeking; the participants mind set, the justification (if any)
and placement of the billet within a routine.

Let‖s start with the participants mind set, there should never be a suspicion in
your participant‖s mind that anything is happening outside of what you are
telling them is happening and that boils down to the participant‖s
believability in you.

I have heard comments batted around when giving advice on peeks to people who
are unfamiliar with peeking that range from – “If you can get away with it”
to “they will never catch you doing it” -

These comments not only place you (the performer) into the wrong mind set but
they also make what you are doing a game in which you are expecting to be
caught at some point and therefore your actions will never be natural or
subtle.

There is an artistry to billet work, the idea is to be as natural as possible
and remember that a massive proportion of billet work is not even about the
billet!

Which sounds counter intuitive, but if the participant believes in your ability
and they feel that you really are reading them, then why would they even
suspect that you would peek at the billet?

In the participants mind there should never even be an inclination that you
could peek, they should just see what you are doing as a facilitation to reach
the conclusion. If you can make the billet seem as irrelevant and non-
important as possible then that‖s the way your participant will feel about the
billet also.

There are a few subtle ways to control the participants thinking in order to
make them believe the billet is irrelevant.

One is to never refer to the billet as a billet, card or piece of paper. This is
only tiny and you may think it makes no difference but it really, really does.

The reason you should never refer to the billet as a billet or paper or piece
of card is once you name something you give it an importance. Once you label
the billet (Whether you call it a card or piece of paper) it becomes something
that the participant will remember as it is an integral part of the routine
you are performing.
So what should you call billets in performance?

I always refer to billets as ―this‖ or ―that‖ - “Take this and write…” “I want
you to take hold of ―that‖ and write”, it makes the billet meaningless as it
doesn‖t have a name and is seemingly unimportant to you and therefore it will
become unimportant to them. This is a very small change, but an accumulative
of small changes amount to a big difference. I think I remember saying in an
older piece of work that two small changes amount to a regular sized change,
you will notice in this document how many subtleties are used in combination
to have a drastic effect on the outcome of your routines.

Another way to make the billet seem irrelevant is to guess things that are not
on the billet and make the participant feel that you know the entirety of
their thoughts and not just what they wrote on the billet.

Things that surround what they have written on the billet are just as
important as the information they wrote.

Let‖s look at an example of things we can get for free that stem from/
surround what the participant has written inside the billet.

- THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SECTIONS IN THIS MONTHS DOCUMENT

For the purpose making this easy to envision let‖s imagine we are going to ask
the participant to write something on a billet –

Performer: “I would like you to take this and write something that means
something to you. Make it something that no one would be able to instantly
guess this could be the name of a person, a pet, a number, the name of a
place… anything that stands out as being important but remember nothing that
is instantly guessable”.

Take note here, without doing anything we have opened up the opportunity to
get a hit on the category the participant decided to select.

For the purpose of this document let‖s imagine that the participant has written
―Spain‖ on the inside of the billet. We will peek this information (using one of
the peeks outlined later) and will instantly know it is a place that the
participant is thinking of BUT this is not going to be the first thing that we
reveal.

Let‖s look at how much information I would be able to reveal from this simple/
singular piece of information, first I will outline the script so you can see
how it is going to play out in full and then after that I will break down
each section and outline exactly what is going on in my head and then the
participants.
Performer: “Right now I have no idea what it is you are thinking of, your
thoughts are so vast and deep and there are so many things that you could
have been thinking of. I will just tell you what I am receiving and you can
translate it for me should I need you to help me. This is about your mind
communicating with mine.

The first thing that I am feeling is that that there are a lot of positive
memories connected to this thought. Therefore I really don‖t think it could be
a number as normally thoughts connected to a number to me feel cold and this
has a really warm beautiful feeling connected to it.

I don‖t know if you will understand what I mean by this, oddly I‖m feeling
this is something that you could touch but in my head its saying you don‖t
touch this or you can‖t touch this and what that usually represents is a person
that is no longer with us, or a place…

Ok, this is larger than the depths of my vision so I am going to go with a
place, this is a place right?”

Participant: “Yes”.

Performer: “You are doing amazingly, just keep telling me in your mind what
you want me to pick up on. Instantly I am seeing a photograph with you and
another person in the photo, you have your arm around this person. Have you
got this photo on display at home?”

Participant: “Yes!!”

Performer: “Let me describe what I am seeing, (this is where I would close my
eyes) in the photo you are wearing light coloured clothing, I can‖t see much of
the background in the photograph but the clothing leads me to believe this
place is warm as you are not wrapped up. As soon as I said warm, I instantly
got a really vibrant positive feeling from you, in the picture you are in
front or close to water as I am feeling a cool breeze but only subtle not
harsh.

This is a place I am not familiar with, so I am going to assume this is not in
England as it just feels different. Let‖s rewind the memory slightly to help
me envision what it is you are sending to me. I want you to imagine getting
on the plane in England and focus on your feeling while you started boarding.
You didn‖t go from Manchester airport did you?”

Performer: “Yeah I did”.

Performer: “Imagine the journey and landing in the new country, imagine
seeing the place you are thinking of written as you walk into the airport
after landing. See those large white letters with the name printed upon it.
Are you doing that?”

Participant: “I am”.

Performer: “Ok I am feeling this was a rather short flight, 3 or 4 hours…Be
honest, did you imagine the white writing of this place on a blue background?”

Participant: “Yes I did”.

Performer: “Send it to me one last time….Ok I think I have this”.

This is where you would reveal the place in whatever manner that you desire.

Breakdown
Let‖s take an in-depth look at what is going on here.

Performer: “Right now I have no idea what it is you are thinking of, your
thoughts are so vast and deep and there are so many things that you could
have been thinking of. I will just tell you what I am receiving and you can
translate it for me should I need it. The first thing that I am feeling is
that that there are a lot of positive memories connected to this thought.
Therefore I really don‖t think it could be a number as normally thoughts
connected to a number to me feel cold and this has a really warm beautiful
feeling connected to it.

[Straight out of the gate, I am reminding them implicitly that they could be
thinking of absolutely anything. I also tell them that they might need to help
me at points as I am not going to understand everything I am seeing – Why
would I ever mention this if I wasn‖t seeing anything?

I also get a hit from stating it is not a number, by discounting something I
already know it not to be I am getting a hit!

It couldn‖t be easier, this is a really important point and I am about to make
a cliché comment but I feel to be very true in this case, this tiny little
subtlety is worth the entire price of this pdf, really think about the
information you dismiss as irrelevant. What something is not is also
information that you can get a hit from!

You have to remember that the participant does not know that you know what
category their thought belongs to and therefore why not point out what it is
not to get a free hit?

You can fit this type of thinking into any type of performance, if you know
the participant is thinking of a playing card for example (this is just an
easily imaginable example) – Let‖s say you know it is a heart they are
thinking of you could say –

Performer: “Ok, I am feeling that you changed your mind a couple of times… I
can tell straight away that you dismissed the spade subconsciously and
therefore I 100% know it is not that”.

- That is a hit.

Peroformer: “I feel a warmth surrounding your thought, warmth is usually
associated with a brighter colour instead of a darker colour… You are
thinking of a red card right?”

- That is a hit.

Performer: “Indefinitely a heart”.

Again a hit, you can see the point I am making, I have used what it is not to
get a hit right at the start for free. It is very easy to overlook this type of
way to reveal as we are too quick to try get to the definitive outcome.

- Back to the breakdown of the billet work scripting.

This type of scripting all adds to making it seem to the audience you are all
knowing. It couldn‖t be simpler, take a look at the way that I revealed the
information as that is also something that is very important.

“I really don‖t think it could be a number as normally thoughts connected to a
number to me feel cold and this has a really warm beautiful feeling connected
to it.”

I pointed out that the thought FELT warm and normally numbers FEEL cold to
me. This is implicit that you are feeling their thoughts, it helps make the
participant feel what you are doing is real. You will notice all the time I am
trying to elicit that response from the participants, I want to take them on a
journey where they see me whittle in on their thought while letting them know
how I am feeling/ thinking.

“I don‖t know if you will understand what I mean by this, oddly I‖m feeling
this is something that you could touch but in my head its saying you don‖t
touch this or you can‖t touch this and what that usually represents is a person
that is no longer with us or a place.

Ok, this is larger than the depths of my vision so I am going to go with a
place, this is a place right?”

[Notice how I don‖t jump straight into saying this is a place, the JOURNEY is
the key factor here, I know I keep saying that but it really is important. I
want the participant to feel that I am translating their thoughts and feelings
bit by bit and it is not instantaneous for me (this is implicit that some
thoughts are more difficult that others). I start by saying it could be one of
two things - This itself is a minor hit and then I hone in on what category
I believe the participant‖s thought pertains to, more importantly WHY I believe
it pertains to that category and I take the hit from that.]

Participant: “Yes”.

Performer: “You are doing amazingly, just keep telling me in your mind what
you want me to pick up on…

Instantly I am seeing a photograph with you and another person in the photo,
you have your arm around this person. Have you got this photo on display at
home?”

Participant: “Yes!!”

[This is where I employ something that other mentalists shy away from or
dismiss – Like I have said a lot of times in the past, this is the way that I
do things and it is merely an opinion and there is no right or wrong.

You will notice that I tell the participant that they are doing amazingly…
For doing nothing, the reason I do this is it suggests that they are doing
SOMETHING. I am not doing this to be condescending or patronising towards the
participant. I want my participant to feel that they are sending information
for me to receive, by telling them they are doing amazingly and proving I am
receiving their thoughts and relaying the information to them not only
creates a great rapport with the participant BUT it helps them believe in my
ability and they will be more inclined to be excited and forthcoming with
information.

This also aids in conditioning them to respond with positive affirmations
should I want to move into prop-less material later or during these type of
routines (such as a star sign divination).

You will notice I start to use a very typical psychic reader‖s technique; I talk
about an object that they have at home that relates to the participants
thought.

I use a photograph; notice how I imply that the details of the photo are vague
and that I cannot see the person they are with inside the photo. Think about
every holiday or trip you have been on, did you take a photograph with
someone? Of course you did. We usually store these photos on our mobile phones,
females are more inclined to print these off and have them hanging in
frames.]
Performer: “Let me describe what I am seeing, (this is where I would close my
eyes) in the photo you are wearing light coloured clothing, I can‖t see much of
the background in the photograph but the clothing leads me to believe this
place is warm as you are not wrapped up. As soon as I said warm, I instantly
got a really vibrant positive feeling from you, in the picture you are in
front or close to water as I am feeling a cool breeze but only subtle not
harsh.

[During this part of the process I close my eyes, I have made a conscious
effort up until this point not to close my eyes so when I do and start to
portray what I can see it really helps sell that I can actually see things
when I block out visual things out around me.

I have in the past (not so much recently as I haven‖t thought about it for a
while) pointed out why I have closed my eyes. It‖s nice sometimes to paint a
picture in the participants mind of a process that doesn't exist, by simply
saying “I am going to close my eyes in a moment, I am not doing this to be
rude or ignorant, I am doing this so I can block out everything around me
that could potentially act as a distraction and just envision what it is you
are sending to me to be able to deliver a clearer translation.”

This is a simple script but from a presentational view point can add so much.

I also know that the people in the photo are going to be wearing light
coloured clothing and not wrapped up as it is a warm country. There is a high
probability that there is going to be water close to where the participant is.

Notice how I said, “you are either in front of or close to water” this again is
suggestive that you can see things that there is no way you should be able to
see/ know and further takes the participant away from the billet.

I also use the principle I mentioned earlier taking a hit from something that
most would consider irrelevant and overlook. I point out that this is a place I
do not recognise and get a hit from saying it is not in England, this from
your perspective (as performer) knowing the information seems ridiculous but
again remember the participant doesn‖t know that you know the information. So
to them this is a hit and one more piece of information that you can use to
your advantage… I know I am repeating myself here but really take your time
to think about the information that you overlook and can use for free.

I finish with the closed question;
“You didn‖t fly from Manchester did you?”

I ask this as a question, I know based on probability that close to me this is
the airport that they will fly out of.

There is a valid reason I change the pace and ask this as a closed question -
if the participant says that they didn‖t fly out of whatever airport you call
out, you simply counter with,

“For fullness of vision and just to help me share your memory, where did you
get on the plane?”

It will seem like a question to help you build your vision, NOT like you were
trying to make a deduction; it will never seem like a miss.

If they confirm that they did fly out of the airport you called out, you have
opened yourself up for another hit for free.

All you need to do is know the airport closest to where you are, again not
earth shattering in terms of methodology but all of these small details come
together to aid in creating something beautiful in the long run.]

[This is the section where I am simply asking them to imagine the writing of
the place, there is a really, really important key point here that is very
important not to overlook and something I consider a mistake that is very easy
to make.

I have myself been suspect of making this mistake in the past. We have taken
the participant so far away from the billet that it would be a crying shame to
bring their attention back to the billet at this point.

If I said to the participant “Imagine the place that you wrote down for me” or
“Imagine this place you wrote down written largely in the air” the
participant‖s thoughts will instantly go back to the piece of card that they
have written on. I really don‖t want this.

As an alternative I give them a natural context in which to imagine the
writing, a context in which naturally fits into their memory, further taking
them away from the billet and placing their focus firmly on their memory (not
the billet)

Performer: “I am feeling this was a rather short flight, 3 or 4 hours…Be
honest, did you imagine the white writing of this place on a blue background?”
[You know the country hence you will know the rough amount of time the
participant took to get to the destination they are thinking of, this is again
something you can get for free that you don‖t need to take a guess at – It
isn‖t hard to roughly know the time it takes to get from England to other
countries. Hopefully you can see just how much information we pass over
without thinking about, this gives a lot of food for thought and is the main
focal point of a lot of my attention these days. I tend to obsess about specific
areas of mentalism and this area is one I have always been obsessed with.

It‖s very strange saying this being that this is a pdf about billets, but the
least important thing about a routine in which utilizes a billet peek is the
billet. The idea is to try and take the participants focus away from the billet
all together.

Another little subtlety I have shared here is guessing the wall that is behind
the letters. I know for a fact the wall is not going to be white as I asked
them to imagine large white letters upon the wall, when have you ever seen
white letters on a white wall? It just doesn‖t factor into our heads.

Had the country been Ireland I might have gone for the guess of a green
background but for the most part people will think of blue.

You can see clearly that the utilisation of the billet in this routine and the
information upon it really only play a small part. This really opens up so
many options in terms of direction you can take a routine in and this is the
area I feel should be practiced the most. Learning what hits you can get for
free in the heat of the moment.

One question that will be going through a few readers minds is, that‖s all well
and good but how did you get the information they have wrote down?

The next couple of peeks I am going to share I have released in previous
publications, some of you will have seen them others won‖t. Don‖t skip them as I
have added new subtleties and additional ideas.
Peek a boo
Effect
A performer places a stack of business cards behind his back and asks a
participant to draw an image or write a name (or any piece of information) on
a business card, fold the piece of card and sign it so it can‖t be switched at
any point.

The performer then discards the rest of the stack into his pocket and looks at
the participant for a few seconds, without any fishing whatsoever the
performer is able to divine the participant‖s thoughts.

Breakdown
I really like this peek; it‖s probably one of my favourites in terms of
quickness and ease and is totally reliable. Before we take a look at the
breakdown of the peek let‖s first take a look at (and go off on a little
tangent) a question that has caused controversy for the longest of time – Can
playing cards be used in mentalism?

The answer to that question is whatever you make it (as mentalism is a purely
subjective art form) BUT if you answer ―no‖ they shouldn‖t be used, don‖t dismiss
learning card slights. You might be thinking to yourself - how does learning
slights benefit me in anyway shape or form as a mentalist?

Let‖s take a look at a couple of examples of playing card slights and how they
fit hand in hand with billet work.

The first is the top change, this age old classic serves as a good example of
why slights can be so benefitting in any billet routine. I am going to explain
what the top change is, as I know that a lot of people reading this will have
shied away from these types of slights and therefore might not be aware of
what it is.

The top change is pretty much exactly what it sounds like; the top playing
card of the pack held in your left hand is going to be exchanged for a
playing card you are holding in your right hand (without the participant
seeing).

Let‖s imagine you are holding the deck of cards in your left hand (or right if
it is more comfortable for you) holding the, as though you would deal them
around a table when playing a game of cards (this is known as ―dealers grip‖
or ―dealers position‖). For practice purposes hold a playing in your right hand
(or left if you are holding the deck in the right), hold the card just like you
would if you were to deal the card onto the table (holding the long side of
the card) instead of the top side.
Move your hands together and then move the single card towards the deck (like
you are returning it onto the top of the deck), under the cover of this card
thumb over the card on the top of the deck. You are essentially moving the
card on the top of the deck over underneath the card you are returning to the
top of the deck.

Push the single card you were holding on its own onto the top of the deck
whilst thumbing the top card from the pack into the hand the single card came
from. Essentially you are changing the top card on the deck for the single
one in your hand (that‖s probably the easiest way to describe it).

This is done on the offbeat while asking a participant a question, usually the
question asked while performing a top change is - “Are you right or left
handed?” – This type of question is a pet peeve of mine, it‖s a typical question
that makes absolutely no sense in the context of the routine you are
performing.

Another question like this (that I hate even more) is when using a nail writer,
it‖s really strange how we are all conditioned to all ask the exact same
question during the context of a nail writing routine - “Why did you go for
that number?” or “Why did you go for that?”

This question is typically asked during the moment of writing the information
with the nail writer, It‖s one of them questions that really gets to me – If
just because of my ocd.

I love looking at the tiny moments in mentalism that get overlooked and
pulling them to pieces and rebuilding them. This is one of them questions I
have taken apart and rebuilt… The aforementioned nail writing question for
me makes no sense and this is why -

At the moment you are going to nail write asking a question directs attention
towards you, all eyes are on you and therefore even logically when you think
about it this doesn‖t make any sense.

I hate these type of awkward moments, no matter how much you practice it isn‖t
ever going to feel smooth in performance and for me stands out like a sore
thumb (no matter who you are); this is because it lacks thought, construction
and choreography. It‖s even worse when it is being recorded and played back as
the focus is on you.

Here is a simple fix, let‖s pretend we have got to the point of using the nail
writer, the context of the routine in which we will imagine is that the
participant is going to guess a two digit number you are thinking of
(Spectator as mind reader or you influencing them).

You have handed the participant the pencil and you are being very open
handed and you are holding the billet in your right hand at head height,

Address the participant.
Performer: “For the first time can you tell everyone here what you think the
two digit number is I am thinking of?”

Participant: “23”.

DO NOT NAIL WRITE YET

Performer: “The really interesting thing is just how unique a thought is, IF I
had of asked anyone else in this room they would have gone for a completely
different number, to press my point what number would you have gone for?”

Point at someone with your left hand (the free hand)

Everyone‖s attention for a few seconds goes to that random member of the
group.

Random: “17”

As he says seventeen write in the digit your participant said (In this case it
was 23), pass the billet into your left hand (numbers still facing away from
the audience) and hold the billet at the tips of your first and middle finger
above your head – This will make it seem totally out of the way and is
implicit that you cannot tamper in anyway with it.

Then with your right hand point to someone else at random,

Performer: “How about you?”

Random #2: “96”.

Performer: “If I had of chosen anyone else their answers would have been

totally different and the outcome would have been entirely different”.

Bring the billet down and hand it to the participant face down.

It‖s a very simple change that makes a massive difference, the attention is
deflected away from you, not directed towards you and you have actively
involved more members of the audience and seemingly made the effect a little
bit more impossible by pointing out how different the outcome could have been
if you had of chosen anyone else right before the moment of the reveal.

The left hand is the hand that is handing the billet to the participant is
clean and extended above the body meaning you can cleanly ditch the nail
writer from your right hand without having to give it a second thought as all
of the focus is on the left hand and the billet. Note*** If your left hand is
your dominant hand then you would use opposite hands to the ones depicted
above, this is described for the right handed performer.

All in all you can see how it makes the presentation much nicer and makes the
performance simpler for the performer leaving you more time to clean up
because of the choreography.

I apologise for the tangent, but it is billet related so forgive me!

Back to the top change, it is the same asking a question that is directive
towards your hands for me makes no sense whatsoever – If there is a pen on
the table ask them to take the pen and uncap it, then sign the back of the
card.

The participant‖s attention is away for a few seconds and it is in this moment
the change should be made, it should be gentle and elegant and not look like
anything has happened at all.

I know I am still talking about the top change being used with playing cards
but replace the playing cards with a stack of billets and you can still
perform the same move, they are roughly the same size and handle more or less
the same (they are just less slippery).

Imagine from this point if the participant takes the stack of billets signs
what they believe is their billet and then caps the pen and places the billet
they believe to be theirs face down on the table. They have left their actual
billet on the top of the stack for you to access in your own leisure.

In shore what has just happened is - You pick the participants billet up
keeping it facedown, start to place the billet on the top of the stack, this is
the moment where you would ask the participant to pick up the pen and uncap
it.

You execute a ―Top change‖, dropping the ―dummy billet‖ (A dummy billet is a
billet with nothing on, one you have switched in place of the participant‖s
billet) onto the top of the stack and hand the participant the full stack
asking them to sign the back of their card.

Things are interesting when you look at them from the participant‖s
perspective.

You have picked the card up from the table, they have picked up the pen, you
place that card on the top of the stack and then hand them the stack asking
them to sign their card.

That split second is all it takes to change their reality, which I think is a
totally crazy thing in itself. Something as simple as this can change someone‖s
entire reality!?!?
What‖s even crazier is that this is all because we have utilised a playing card
slight. Take a look at these types of slights, honestly this is where the gold
resides. Look at simple playing card changes, palms and switches I promise you,
you won‖t regret it.

Let‖s get back to the peek I was meant to explain before I got off on a
tangent.

This peek is another peek that uses an old playing card technique, and as I
said earlier it is a favourite of mine for its sheer simplicity and ease of
use.

For brevity of explanation lets imagine you have become acquainted with the
participant and you are at the point of asking them to write something down.

Take a stack of business cards; hold them in your left hand in dealer‖s
position/ grip (described earlier) and make a break underneath the top two
cards with your pinkie. There is no rush while doing this do this while you
are talking to the participant.

Place the cards behind your back and ask the participant to write/draw on the
card.

When the participant has finished flip over the two top cards as one (like
turning over a double lift) while saying,

Performer: “Sign it so it can‖t be swapped at any point”

Point to where you want the participant to sign, remember this is still all
going on behind your back.

[There is a subtle dual reality going on at this point because the audience
never see you flip the cards, so they assume you are just asking the
participant to sign the card. There are further layers of deception in a
moment.]

The participant believes that they are signing the back of their card in
reality their card is the second card down they are signing the back of a
dummy.

After they have signed the back of the dummy billet, pick it up and fold it in
half. Extend the folded billet to the participant,

Performer: “I want you to take this and fold it and then keep it held tight in
your hand”.

[This is again another subtle layer of dual reality as the audience believe
that the participant has picked up the billet and folded the billet themselves.
The way the audience perceive what has just occurred is that the participant
has written on the billet, signed it and folded it themselves.

I have had a couple of people express concern that the participant will open
the billet and see that it is blank. Why would they ever do that if they
believe it is their billet?

If you give the participant clear instruction to fold it and hold it tight
they will do exactly what you ask them to do. It is all about audience
management. The participant is now holding a dummy billet and you are holding
the stack with their card on the top.]

This is where you go through the process of ―reading the participant‖.

In reality, all you are doing is taking the participants card from the back of
the stack and moving it to the face and when you bring the cards back from
around your back you will know the information that the participant is
thinking of by looking at the card on the face.

The one issue I had with this peek initially was the clean-up, the participant
is still holding the dummy and if you guess the information verbally there is
always the chance that they could open the billet.

Here are a couple of ways to tie up the peek so you end the routine cleanly.

The first way is to guess what the participant is thinking and take the folded
billet back and pocket it – Which is not very appealing and not recommended.

The second way - the way I always do this now is, whilst the stack is still
behind my back, the participant has taken the folded dummy, I flip over the
top card (the participants card) so it is face up on the top of the stack. When
I bring the cards out from around my back, I keep the stack facing me the
entire time and pocket the cards.

In the motion of looking at my pocket to guide the stack in, that‖s where I get
my peek.

After ―reading the participant‖ I reach into my pocket pulling one card out,
ensuring that this isn‖t the participant‖s card and write whatever the
participants thought is (the information I peeked).

I then fold the card into quarters (the same as the dummy billet the
participant is holding) I hand them my billet proclaiming I have committed
and extend my hand to take the billet they have signed (the dummy).

I open the dummy billet keeping it towards me (as I know it is blank) I then
rotate the billet, like I have opened the billet upside down – I do this because
it is an implicit action, why would I rotate the billet if there was nothing
on it?
I then call out whatever information I know the participant is thinking of,
like I have just read it off of the dummy billet. I then tear up the billet
into pieces, and pocket the pieces, ask them to open what I committed to.

Of course it matches!

Brandon Queen – Additional thought
If you want to appear to be hands off during this effect take some lip balm
or double sided scotch tape (if you are going to use scotch tape ensure it is
not the ridiculously sticky stuff, de stick it by touching the tape a few times
this will ensure that it will hold two cards together but that those cards can
be separated with little force) and apply either the tape or the lipbalm to the
face of the dummy billet.

This means that you don‖t need to hold the break you can hand the stack to the
participant have them write whatever he/ she wants and then they place the
stack back into your hands and you can cleanly flip the two cards over and
have them sign the back.

This all still takes place behind your back.

It‖s the openness of the flipping of the cards and the fact that you can let
them hold the cards when writing that makes the difference.

It‖s only a small difference, but as I have said a multitude of times its the
smallest differences that make the biggest changes in the long run.

Credit
Astronomical – Tony Corinda
Envelope peek
A large manila envelope is placed on the table and verified opaque, a smaller
envelope is removed from inside the envelope on the table and that is also
verified opaque.

The participant is asked if they know the contents of the smaller envelope to
which they reply they don‖t, the envelope is emptied to show a business card
which is also verified opaque.

The participant writes or draws something on the business card and places it
face down on the table while the performer looks away.

The card is then sealed in the smaller envelope; the smaller envelope is sealed
in the larger envelope and is handed to the participant.

The performer is able to deduce the information under seemingly impossible
conditions.

Breakdown
This is a peek that is great for a one person Q+A, pre-show work and the
additional clean up I have added ensures that everything is examinable now in
the end.

Firstly I will explain how the peek works and then I will get into the
mechanics/ choreography.

The secret to this peek is hidden in the smaller envelope, the smaller envelope
is a ―coin envelope‖ or ―penny envelope‖ to prepare this envelope place a billet
inside the coin envelope and lay it onto a table address side up.
Fold the flap of the envelope back on itself, underneath the flap is where you
are going to make a slit. The flap is the key to making the envelopes
―examinable‖. Make the slit wide enough to slide a business card in and out.

Take a billet and write the word hello upon it.

Slide this card into the envelope; remember which side you orientated the
writing as this is going to be essential later on. Then fold the flap so it is
covering the slit and then place this penny envelope inside the larger
envelope.

You are ready to begin.

Performance
We will go from the point that the performer is acquainted with the people he
is performing for.

The performer addresses the participant,

Performer: “You are going to act as the eyes of the group, firstly, by looking
at this envelope (the performer hands the envelope to the participant) can you
tell me what is inside?”

Participant: “No, there is no way”.

The performer removes a smaller envelope from the larger one.

[The flap is held down covering the slit.]
Performer: “The same goes for this envelope right?”

The performer holds it up to the light, displaying both sides.

Participant: “There is no way to see through it”.

The performer slides out of the envelope a business card.

[Ensure you slide it out so the word hello is face down.]

Performer: “Finally, can you tell me what is written on the reverse side of
this piece of card?”

Participant: “No”.

Performer: “I think we have proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that each
article displayed is entirely opaque, what I am about to show you is going to
be demonstrated under strict test conditions”.

The performer turns over the card to display the word Hello.

Performer: “I would like you to take this and write a piece of information you
don‖t think I could just instantly guess and then place it writing side down
back onto the table when you have finished”.

The participant writes some information on the business card and places it
face down on the table.

When the participant has written the information and placed the billet face
down on the table reach down and slide the billet into the envelope but
instead of letting it ride down the inside of the envelope let it go through
the slit and proceed to push the card – To the participant it will look like
you are sliding the card inside the envelope they have just verified.

Close the flap on the envelope so it looks like you are sealing the billet
inside the penny envelope.

Just so you can see what this is going to look like from both perspectives
here are two photos. The first is from the participants perspective the second
is from the participants.

(See next page)
As you can see looking at the photo you will get a huge peek here that is
completely hidden from the participant‖s perspective meaning you get all the
time in the world to peek.

This penny envelope would then be sealed inside the larger envelope, I usually
wait until I am guiding the penny envelope into the larger envelope to get my
peek, this is because the peek is naturally in my line of vision at this point
and I am not oddly looking for the peek at the wrong moment causing a
suspicion in the participant‖s mind.

This should be the same for any peek, waiting until there is a logical moment
to look at the billet. Don‖t rush this, wait till the billet is in a natural
position to peek it. Don‖t ever force the direction you look in and don‖t be
scared to get close to the information written on the billet, hitting by
association – This will be taken as a hit and at the same time, why would you
purposefully not hit if you had seen the information?

For example if the participant wrote the word ―France‖ and you picked up on
the Eiffel tower this would be associated and never be classed as a miss.
Anyway back to the peak.

After placing the penny envelope in the larger envelope seal it. You are now
free to reveal the information in any way you choose.

To clean up so everything is examinable, keep your eye on the way you place
the penny envelope into the larger envelope. Remember the side the slit is at.

When you are ready to confirm to the audience that your thoughts were correct,
tip the large envelope so that the smaller one inside falls to the bottom and
then tear the large envelope open ensuring that you are tearing the coin/
penny envelope simultaneously along (or as close to) the slit as possible.

In short when you tear the large envelope, you will tear the coin envelope
also and therefore all the pieces can be displayed as the slit envelope will be
destroyed.
The Pac-man peek
This is by far the simplest of all of the peeks that will be outlined in this
document.

It is so simple in nature bit don‖t overlook the power of this peek.

Start by folding the billet in half BUT don‖t fold it down the middle of the
billet place the crease about 10mm from the center. Fold where I have placed
the dotted lines.

This is a view of the billet on its edge, notice how there is a bubble.

You will notice that if you hold the billet between your first and middle
finger it remains closed.
The participant is going to write on the top half of the billet, the bottom
half you are going to fill out (as described later). The bottom half I placed
an ex (this is from the participant‖s perspective).

If you close the billet (after the participant has wrote their information) -
Then turn the billet towards yourself holding the billet loosely you will
notice that the billet opens giving you a window of opportunity to peek.

(See next page)
The movement when peeking is very important orchestrate the peeking motion
nice and slowly there is no need to rush. You would orchestrate the peek when
handing the billet from one participant to another.

It is done simply on an offbeat, if you are worried about the peek you could
always ask the participant to hold their hand out, lift their hand with your
left hand so it is above your hands and then apply the billet peek underneath
their raised hand while going to place the billet into their hand.

I understand that sounds completely confusing the best way to describe it is
imagine saying to a participant to extend/ hold their hand out (their hand is
about 3 foot off of the table) and then picking a coin up off of the table and
placing the coin into the participants outstretched hand. Imagine that when
the participant extends their hand it goes over the top of the coin (which is
laid on the table) you reach down and pick the coin up and then place it onto
their palm, that is essentially the same. Their extended arm will cover the
peek.

I never really worry about such things remember the participant is never
expecting you to look and so the move will totally go unnoticed.

One last thought, earlier I mentioned restricting the participant to writing in
the top half of the billet, this is achieved by giving your participant an
example of how you want them to write in the top half.

I will write in block capitals the word ―Hello‖, this ensure the participant can
clearly see where/ how I want them to write and at the same time ensure they
cannot write in the bottom half of the billet.

This is a simple yet elegant way to kill two birds with one stone, if you find
that you have a peek you already use where you need to restrict your
participant, this is the perfect justification for restricting the participant
in a natural and simple way.
The lotus leaf peek
Why this was named the lotus leaf I do not know as it doesn‖t resemble a lotus
leaf at all. This is a peek that I haven‖t used for a very long time, but it
works and like all peeks there is a right time to use it and a wrong time (it‖s
situational)

The motivation for this peek is very juvenile in thinking but that‖s why this
works so perfectly and will totally be overlooked by the participant.

The context of the routine that I fit this peek into is the thing that makes
the peek fly under the radar, there is no real skill required in getting the
information and the area of the billet that you get a peek of is of a good
proportion.

This peek is not for everyone for those who try this; you will love it as it
is simple and totally effective. For those who do not, you might get some
inspiration out of it in some sense.

Effect
The performer proposes to take the participant back in time to their school
days, days where the participant was young wild and free. The performer asks
the participant to write down the name of their first kiss and pass it under
the table to one of their friends sat at the table, just like they would when
they were passing on notes in secret in the classroom.

After the participant hands the note to a friend of theirs the friend is asked
to open it and keep the content of the note to themselves.

The performer starts to describe the participants feelings at the time of the
first kiss, he starts to describe what the participants date at the time looked
like and finishes by revealing the first and last name of the participants
date!

Breakdown
The method for this is ultra-simple; the presentation (listed after the peek) is
where the subtleties really come into play.

First start by taking a billet
Fold in half, length ways

Essentially you have just folded the billet in half. After you have folded the
billet in half, it‖s time to fold the both edges back on themselves. To get this
to make sense imagine the billet in two halves pretend each half of the billet
is a different entity. Take the first half and fold the billet in half again
(back on itself) then do the same to the other side. This is very difficult to
describe in words hopefully looking at the next photo you will understand.
What you have now is a billet that almost resembles the letter ―T‖
The participant is going to write on the inside of the letter T, when the
billet is closed it looks like this.

If you fold the billet inside out from the front it will look the exact same
from the participant‖s perspective as it did when folded (details on how to
fold inside out after the next two photos). This next photo is the billet folded
inside out, you can see how much it looks the same as the folded billet.
But from the performers perspective this is what he sees, note** you would be
holding the billet vertical vertical so you can see the participants
information they would be seeing the folded front. This photo is literally to
show you the size of the peek area.

As you can see you get a nice large peek of what the participant has wrote. To
fold the billet inside out, let the flaps fold flat – This would be done one
handed in performance.
Play with folding and unfolding the billet - If you place your thumb inside
the billet (where the participant‖s writing is – inside the letter ―T‖) and let it
roll naturally around your thumb, you will notice the billet turns inside out
and you have essentially enabled yourself to access the peek. If you put your
thumb back into the participants writing and push the billet will close itself
again.

In performance the actions are going to completely be justified and will fit
into the context of the routine as you will be using a table to hide the peek.
This can be done in the open but requires more work.

Let‖s take a look at how this type of peek fits into performance.

Performance
Performer: “One thing that I find interesting is memories, we all try to find
ways to share our memories with our friends, and we take photos of everything
from food to footwear just to be able to let people look into our world at
almost any time of the day.

There are a series of memories that we never capture on camera, sometimes
things that are so incredible we wish we had caught just to be able to share
them in vivid detail that words can‖t describe. How many people here have ever
wished they were fast enough to capture a moment on camera and completely
missed it?”

The group all agree it has happened at some point to them.

Performer: “What if I told you that there is a way to access those memories,
it‖s a little unconventional but I promise you the results are incredible. Which
of you would be happy to try this out?”
One member of the group nominates himself to share a memory with the group.

Performer: “Let‖s make this as interesting as possible, let‖s go back to a memory
that even you haven‖t thought of for a long time. Your very first kiss, I want
you to imagine going back in time to being the rough age you were when you
experienced your first kiss. I want you to take your time to think of the name
of your first kiss. If you can remember her first and last name great, if not
just focus on the first name. Take your time to remember what she looked like
and how you remember her, use all of your senses in symphony to re-create
this memory in your mind.

I want you to take this (the performer hands the participant the billet); we
are going to pretend we are in a school classroom. I want you to write the
name of your first kiss on there. Remember at school when we used to take
notes and place them under the table and pass them around?”

[This is where you will get the peek, as you say “Remember at school when we
used to take notes and place them under the table”. You are going to place the
billet under the table and then open it up (rotate it as described in the peek
photographs) bring the billet back out facing the participant, to them it will
look the exact same as when you placed it under the table but you are peeking
at the information while they still think they are seeing the same side of the
billet.

Don‖t make it overly obvious you are looking at the information; remember the
rule of placing the billet into a natural line of sight when looking at the
information. When you place the billet under the table make a conscious effort
to look into the eyes of the group, this will be implicit you are not looking
at the billet in anyway.]

Performer: “I want you to hand this to anyone under the table, whoever
receives it I want you to open it up and take a look at the information, this
means there are two people that know the information and me and the rest of
the group are in the dark”.

The participant hands the note to someone underneath the table, that person
opens the billet and reads the information on the inside and folds it back up.

Performer: “The first thing I am feeling is that in this memory you are about
12/ 13 and this memory took place outside right?”

[This is a very simple verbal swerve, guessing the age of the participant is
the riskier guess out of the two statements, based on probability there is a
massively higher chance of the kiss being outside than inside (I determine this
data based on the amount of times I have performed ―first kiss routines‖). By
placing the age statement first and then continuing to talk without asking for
confirmation for the age and then finishing by asking if the memory took
place outside (which will give you a yes, trust me) the participants ―yes‖ from
the audience‖s perspective will confirm both of the statements!

I call this principle the ―Confirmation principle‖ I have gone into detail in
my other literature on how to use this principle in much greater ways. You can
use this in many other ways, I urge you to experiment with it and see how
many different ways you can come across uses for it. ]

Performer: “I feel an air of nervousness as you shyly look at each other, I
want you to be honest with me and I don‖t intend this in a rude way as I
understand it‖s been a long time were you torn between two names?”

[Let them answer yes or no, we are hoping for a yes here as it gives us some
leniency when we try to guess the description of the first kiss. If you get a
no, then move straight onto to the next section of scripting and skip trying
to guess the description, being honest I will always take the bolder option and
go for the guess, I am not afraid of missing.

If you ask the participant not to say anything out loud and just listen, then
give them a description and ask them to focus on the name without asking for
confirmation of the description you can then nail the name and have the
audience assume your description was right based on the participant‖s reaction
toward you guessing the name. I have in the readings document outlined how
this technique can be used in depth.

This is a simple way to get around having to guess the description but in all
honesty you can‖t go far wrong.

This is how I deal with the description (if the participant has admitted that
they are torn between two names – Which you will find is the case most of the
time.)

Performer: “You‖re not thinking of the dark haired female right now are you?”

[Lead with a closed question while smiling, this enables you to be able to use
another verbal swerve – If the person says yes they are thinking of the dark
haired female this is great, you respond with “I thought so” if the participant
says ―no‖ you then quickly counter with “ah so you‖re thinking of the female
with the hard (or soft depending on the name) first letter of the name”.

Remember this is an easy out that requires little work; it is up to you to
determine what you would consider hard or soft sounding letters. I would class
B, D, P and letters like this to be harsh sounding and S, C, U to be soft
sounding.
If the participant decides to be awkward and says they are not thinking of a
name with a hard or soft sounding letter (dependant on which you determined
it to be) which shouldn‖t happen - but its best to prepare for every
eventuality, respond by saying “So the first letter is not X” (replace X with
whatever the first letter is from the name you peeked).

IF you got a yes for the dark haired line, follow up by saying –

Performer: “Fairly small, maybe dancer or singer as I am seeing choreography
of sorts, she has a soft (or hard depending on what you peeked) sounding first
letter in her name doesn‖t she?”

[Again we are using the ―Confirmation principle‖ they will confirm the soft/
hard sounding letter and the audience will perceive the rest to be accurate
also. I outlined in the Portugal notes the exact way to be able to reveal
someone‖s hobby as a child, this would fit perfectly here.)

The participants memory will be vague anyway, dependant on the age of the
participant it will have been a while since they even gave this memory a
thought and when put under pressure they don‖t want to appear to have
forgotten, a lot of the time they will let you fill in the blanks for them to
save them looking stupid.

Don‖t rush in and reveal the name instantly, it would be a wasted piece of
information.

Think about your own experience with your first kiss; think about how you
felt at the time, if you describe the way that you felt at the time of your
first kiss, the likeliness is that your feelings will match the participants.

This is called ―Subjective memoria‖ principle, in particular situations your
feelings will be the same as the participants and by describing your own
feelings you are not only able to deliver the information credibly but
comfortably also as its not information you are having to fish for but
information that you already know.

Take your time to really paint a picture of the scene, and then proceed by
addressing the participant,

Performer: “I want you to close your eyes for me; I want you to imagine all
the thoughts that were running through your head at the time this memory took
place. Slowly open your eyes and look towards me”.

This is where you decide how you want to proceed, if you are going for the
tada style performance, write the name down on a billet and slide it forward
facedown. Ask the participant what the name is and let them turn around the
piece of card to reveal your thoughts were correct.
If you want to come across as a reader or more esoteric performer then simply
reveal the name verbally. This has a more real feel to it, choosing who you
are as a character is the deciding factor in how you choose to reveal the
information.

Additional ideas
The performance of this type of piece is great, even just for the versatility.
If there are a few audience members on the table there is an interesting thing
you can do from a performance point of view. After you have gained the
information via a peek, you can get everyone on the table involved in trying
to read the participant.

Instead of you deducing if the memory was outside or inside, put it to a vote
for the audience members at the table –

Performer: “I want you all to use your feelings to share this memory, take
your time to feel whether you think this memory took place indoors or
outdoors. How many of you feel this memory took place indoors by show of
hands?”

Let the audience vote.

Performer: “How many people think it occurred outdoors?”

Ask the participant after the voting process to say if the memory took place
indoors or outdoors.

Do this for the colour of the first kisses hair - light or dark.

Anything you can think of that is a binary opposite that pertains to the first
kiss that you can get the participants to vote on do as it gets everyone
involved. This keeps the members of the audie

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