Easy Mentalism

“Magicians don\’t pretend that they really have psychic powers.” – Austin Hackney

—————————————————–
Card Tricks are some of the most popular magic tricks that there are and equally mind-reading effects are increasingly popular, so why not combine the two and learn ow to do mind-reading tricks with cards? Not only are you tapping into the two most popular kinds of trick, but there are some simple card techniques that lend themselves naturally to the performance of mind-reading effects.

So what card tricks techniques lend themselves especially well to mind-reading effects?

Well, first of all let’s be clear what a mind-reading effect actually is. It is when a magician appears to ‘read’ or ‘see’ the thoughts or an image in the mind of a spectator. Of course, this can’t really be done and it has been scientifically demonstrated often enough that people who claim to have ‘psychic powers’ are either lying or deluded and that all the effects that people experience with them can be easily explained scientifically. That doesn’t, sadly, stop it being big business. There’s always someone unethical enough to try and make a buck from the gullible or the needy.

Magicians who do mind-reading tricks, however, fall into a different category. Magicians don’t pretend that they really have ‘psychic powers’. We know it’s a trick, we say it’s a trick but we all join in as if it was a mystic event for the fun of it. The real techniques behind mind-reading are the same as any other magic trick: misdirection, props, gimmicks, sleight-of-hand, stooges in the audience, smoke and mirrors!

So, what card effects can we use in mind-reading? The three main ones that come immediately to mind are the ‘card force’, the ‘marked or spotted card’ and ‘the controlled shuffle’. You could also use ‘palming’, ‘switching’ and any number of other sleights but to keep it relatively simple, let’s just focus on those first three.

A ‘card force’ is when the magician controls the card that a spectator chooses, seemingly by a free or even random choice. There are many techniques for achieving the force, some of them simple and others more subtle and complex. We won’t go into them here but the point is that clearly if the magician can secretly force a card on a spectator then he can very confidently ‘predict’ what the card is or ‘read the mind’ of the spectator as they concentrate on the image of the card to seemingly ‘divine’ what it is. This, simple as it is, can be dressed up with patter and other business to make a very powerful and baffling number of effects of the ‘mind-reading’ variety. You can learn card force techniques from reputable books, websites and your local magic club.

The ‘marked’ card technique is also quite straight-forward in principle. The magician allows the spectator a genuine free choice of card but then marks it out in some way, so it can be located again even if he hasn’t seen its face value. The card can be inverted, scratched or crimped, for example. Under cover of some misdirection, the kind can then be secretly viewed. Then the magician can go on comfortably to read the spectator’s mind in whatever elaborate and acted-up way the trick requires!

The final method we’ll look at here is the ‘controlled shuffle’. In this technique, the magician allows the spectator a free choice of card and then, as the card is replaced into the pack it is shuffled in to give the impression that it is thoroughly lost in the deck but actually the magician has used the technique to guide the card through the pack to wherever he wants it to be – usually the top or bottom of the deck from which point it can easily be glimpsed and then ‘mind read’ or predicted.

If you already do some card tricks and are familiar with these techniques then you can start straight away to build mind-reading routines using the skills you already have. If not, then it’s worth your while learning this basic card techniques as they’ll open up endless possibilities for you and are not difficult to learn with just a little practice. You can learn them from books, other magicians, some websites and, of course, downloadable video tutorials.

Do You Want to Discover the Secrets Behind Mind Reading Magicians? Click Here to Download Mind Reading Exposed Right Now:

==> www.mind-reading-tricks.com/go/exposed/

——————————————————————
Austin Hackney is a performing magician, entertainer, theatre practioner and writer of many years standing, always keen to share his experience and encourage the novice. His website, The Magic Tricks Homepage is a great free resource for magic tutorials, articles, visual guides, eBooks and more. If you want to learn magic well, not just a huge number of tricks but solid performance skills, the site is well worth a visit. You can download magic video tutorials here which is a great way of learning and building a repertoire.

—————————————————–
“Magic tricks are a lot of fun to watch and they’re even better to perform. Most people believe magic tricks are too hard to learn but this isn’t always true.” – Ryan Even

“It is all about keeping the attention of the audience on YOU and not the cards. This is the misdirection that is needed to pull this off.” – Adam Davies

—————————————————–
There is ONE technique all mind readers and mentalists MUST know…

This is called Card Forcing

What IS Card Forcing?
Card forcing is where you get a volunteer to ‘randomly’ select a playing card but you really ‘force’ that card on them. This means that it looks like they’ve selected a random card that you, the mind reader, have no idea what it is, when in fact, you do. (You actually choose which card you want to force beforehand). There are literally thousands of ways you can force a card, some easier than others, but in reality they are all as powerful.

Why card forcing?
The reason it is the number 1 trick you should master is because mind reading & mentalism is ALL about the performance. The only difference between a mind reading trick and a magic trick is the way it is dressed up. Often the same methods and principles apply in magic, mind reading and mentalism.

The card force is also one of the easiest, yet one of the most powerful tricks you can perform at a moments notice with any regular pack of playing cards. It also lets you perform an endless display of mind reading, psychic predictions, influence techniques. All depending on how you want to ‘dress it up’.

For example, if you wanted to take on the persona of a ‘psychological type expert’ like Derren Brown who makes it look like he’s influencing your decision with either body language or through conversational hypnosis etc.. You can use a card force to do this.

An example of a type of card force…

The Criss-Cross Performance
The mind reader produces a piece of paper and while covering the paper, he writes down something in permanent marker pen on the paper and places it face down on the table in full view of the audience. The mind reader then pulls out a normal pack of playing cards and places the pack face down in a pile on the table also. The mind reader asks a volunteer to ‘cut’ the pack and asks them to place the cut half next to the remaining pile, he then asks the volunteer to criss-cross the remaining pile The Criss-Cross Revealed…

This is one of the more simpler card forces, although it is simple, it is surprisingly very deceptive and a good place for the beginner to start as it is completely self working and you can concentrate on the performance where your confidence will act mostly towards the misdirection. I don’t actually use this force any more as I have other favourites which I reveal in my Secret Ultimate Mind Reading Manual along with step-by-step full colour photos. Nonetheless, Here is how it is done..

You need to know the bottom card of the pile of cards when it is face down on the table. This is the card you will be forcing! This is so when they cut the cards, and place the remaining pile on top of the cut in a criss-cross, the bottom card is brought to rest on top of the criss-cross cut so when they pick up the top half and look at the bottom card of that pile, this will be the card you already know. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this, I have performed this hundreds of times and have never been caught. It is all about keeping the attention of the audience on YOU and not the cards. This is the misdirection that is needed to pull this off.

To understand what I mean, you will need a pack of cards in front of you so you can follow the bottom card and see for yourself.

To know the bottom card – for beginners I recommend you have the bottom card in position before you bring out the pack, otherwise, while handling the cards before you place them on the table, get a sneaky peek at it. When you take a peek, make sure you are talking and do it casually. I usually shuffle the pack and take a peek while I’ve finished shuffling and while I’m squaring up the cards.

Have fun with this one as it’s self working and you can really work on the performance.

Do You Want to Discover the Secrets Behind Mind Reading Magicians? Click Here to Download Mind Reading Exposed Right Now:

==> www.mind-reading-tricks.com/go/exposed/

—————————————————–
To learn the secrets to mind reading tricks visit the mind reading trick blog.

—————————————————–
“Almost everyone throughout the world loves to watch magicians perform any type of magic trick that they are able to see.” – Alex Olson

I just discovered a brand new manual where lots of hidden mentalism and mind reading secrets are revealed.

In the manual the author (known only as ‘The Revealer’) takes you on a journey into discovering the real secrets behind the mind reading tricks you see performed by professionals like Derren Brown, Cris Angel & David Blaine on TV.

This is a manual for complete novices who had never done a trick in their lives AND for the professionals who were looking to take their magic to the next level and wanted to add incredible mind reading tricks to their arsenal.

You can expect to discover:

– The strongest trick you can perform with a pack of cards
– How to REALLY stop your pulse and freak out your friends
– TV Mentalism Finally Revealed
– The Closest Thing To Real Mind Reading

And much, much more..

The manual includes full colour illustrations and step by step guides so you can easily recreate these amazing tricks to perform on your friends, family or strangers. Amazingly the manual also includes FREE coupons whereby you can ask the author how any trick you’ve ever seen is done and he will reply with the answer!

Click This Link to Download the Ultimate Mind Reading & Mentalism Manual Right Now:

==> www.mind-reading-tricks.com/go/mindread/

To Your Mind Reading & Mentalism Success,

James Jack