Ian Rowland - Alpha Mentalism Lecture Notes

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Alpha Series Lecture Notes

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Set 1: Mentalism

Alpha series Lecture Notes Set 1: Mentalism by Ian Rowland Contents Light Metal ....................................................................................................

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Thought Hash ...................................................................................................

12 19 28 36 45

The Subliminal Prediction ................................................................................. Elephant From Matchbox .................................................................................. The No Method Drawing Duplication ................................................................ Preludes ............................................................................................................

Alpha Series Lecture Notes Set 1:Mentalism Copyright O Ian Rowland 2003, London, UK Published by Ian Rowland Limited All text and freehand line illustrations by Ian Rowland

AU rights reserved. This publication may not be copied in whole or in part by any means or in any manner without the written permission of the author. Ian Rowland's website is: These lecture notes are only available from this website. Please d o not make copies of these lecture notes. xir304082

Alpha series set 1:Mentalism

Light Metal As I explain in the lecture, this routine has been part of my shows for as long as 1 can remember. I often use it as an ice-breaker or an opener. To those of us in the trade, the method is trivial. However, in my experience:

- audiences love it

- audiences are genuinely baffled and impressed by it - it is easy and fun to perform

Effect The theme is that of psychics who give 'test conditions' demonstrations of their amazing powers. The Performer invites a spectator on stage to help, and to examine some stainless steel spoons. In a variety of entertaining, humorous and dramatic ways, the spectator proves that the spoons are genuine and unprepared; there are no 'strange chemicals' involved; and no sleight of hand or suspicious moves. Nonetheless, the Performer holds one of the examined spoons, and without any moves or cover causes it to slowly and visibly bend. Eventually, it breaks completely.

What You Need A selection of stainless steel spoons (see notes below) A metal tray A piece of cloth or silk to cover the props prior to use

Preparation There is nothing new about the preparation - you put a 'fat frac' (a fatigue fracture) into one spoon by bending it back and forth until it is almost ready to break. More or less everyone who has ever used this method has their own preferred way of doing it. Let me just add my two cents, based on experience.

The Fat Frac When you fat frac a spoon, it gets hot. Very hot indeed. For this reason, some people suggest you can prepare the spoon under a cold tap or in a basin full of cold water. This Ian Rowland Lecture Notes

isn't always practical, it's messy, it slows the process down, and it makes it more or less impossible to use the correct grip (as explained below). It is simpler and more practical to just wrap the spoon in a handkerchief or piece of cloth. Grip the spoon face up (that is, so the spoon could hold soup) between your hands, as shown. In the illustration, I've omitted the handkerchieflcloth or else the illustration would be pointless.

Your left thumb rests firmly on the top of the spoon's neck, precisely above the spot where you are going to 'stress' the spoon. The left fingers are curled around the bowl from below this isn't very comfortable, but you can bear it. The right thumb, also on the top of the neck, is just a little short of the tip of the left thumb. The right fingers grip the spoon's neck very firmly from below. As far as you can, try to get your elbows, your thumbs and the neck of the spoon aligned straight across your body and parallel to the floor. This is indicated by the dotted line in the illustration below left. It is impossible to achieve perfectly straight alignment (at least 1 find it is), but just get as close as you can. This is your Starting Position. You can now begin to fatigue fracture the spoon.

As I demonstrate in the ledure, don't just bend the spoon using the strength from your wrists, hands and thumbs. You will get a better result if you generate the necessary strength and force using your whole arms, especially the entire forearm area, which you channel downwards through your thumbs into the neck of the spoon. Using this method, put a slight bend in the neck of the spoon. In the second illustration, I have exaggerated the extent of the downward movement for clarity. Keeping your grip perfectly constant, bend the spoon up again until you return to the flat, level Starting Position. Never go upwards beyond the horizontal level from which you started.

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Repeat this process, using slow, deliberate actions. Keep returning to the Starting Position, with everything in alignment. Keep your grip constant from the start of this process until it is completed. It's harder work than you might think, but it does produce good results! If the spoon gets too hot, you may need to stop for a while to let it cool down. Do this just by holding it in the Starting Position. Do not let go of the spoon, or put it down, or change your grip at all. Eventually, you will have developed the fracture until only a thin 'skin' of metal is actually keeping the bowl attached to the handle. This is the Ready Point, and it becomes easier to judge with practice.-You can handle the spoon fairly freely, and it will stay intact. However, with a little extra persuasion at the stress point during performance, the bowl will break away completely. If you pre-stress the spoon correctly, it will still look more or less as it did to start with. There will be some evidence of the fatigue fracture - most of it on the underside of the neck, but some on top where it can (in theory) be seen. Don't worry about anyone noticing thii during the show - they never do. These tell-tale cracks are rather like the marks on a marked deck: obvious if you know what to look for and where to look, and otherwise invisible. Prepare several spoons until you have two good ones that show minimal evidence of the fatigue fracture. One is for the show, and the other is a reserve in case anything happens to the first one before your show. Supplementary note 1: the 'hacksaw' method Instead of using the fat frac, some deceivers use a fine hacksaw blade to saw through the neck of the spoon from the back until it is at the Ready Point. The supposed advantage is that it is theoretically possible to leave the front of the spoon's neck looking more or less perfectly intact. If you want to pursue this, you can even buy a very fine hacksaw blade, snap a section off, and carry it around with you. Thus you are prepared to attack any spoons you want to use for 'impromptu' demonstrations.

I have tried the 'saw' approach in the past, but 1 prefer the fat frac. I happen to believe it creates a more 'natural' looking break when the spectators are examining the spoon afterwards (which they usually do). I also don't have to worry about whether or not I have my 'pocket saw' with me. Supplementary note 2: clever touches that aren't This is also a good time to mention several touches which I've heard about or tried over the years, just so that I can tell you not to waste your time on them. Some clever souls, worried that the fatigue fracture leaves a few visible cracks, have tried to hide them using putty, wax or filler. They rub the putty (or whatever) into the neck, then polish or burnish the spoon so the cracks are concealed and the spoon looks brand new again. First of all - not necessary. The spectators never notice the cracks. Second of all - doesn't work. You just end up with a spoon covered in unsightly gunk. Another fun waste of time is to fat frac the spoon, then get your aerosol of silvery paint and give the spoon a re-spray, making it look as good as new! It's the same story: not necessary, doesn't work.

Ian Rowland Lecture Notes

Before You Perform To actually perform, you will need one of the prepared spoons and seven other stainless steel spoons of roughly similar size and shape. These can be of the same brand as your prepared spoon, or they can be a variety of different brands. For the actual routine, place the gaffed spoon and seven normal ones on the metal tray, 'head to toe', with the gaff at one end. Cover the spoons with a cloth or silk so they are not seen ahead of time. Place this tray on a table in the centre of the stage, set back a little so that you can stand in front of it during the routine. During the routine, you will first of all be in front of the table, a little stage left of the table itself, facing the audience. You will then turn around just enough to pick up the tray in your right hand, and extend it towards a spectator standing on your right. At thii point, you will want the gaffed spoon nearest to you, and farthest from the spectator, so this tells you which way round to place the tray on the table.

The Routine I am assuming you will have seen the routine during the lecture, so these notes are intended just to refresh your memory as to the main points, and the sequence in which they happen. Introduction, silent shout g a g and volunteer After any appropriate preamble you say "According to some psychics, to make a spoon bend you have to tell i t to bend in your mind. So let's have a try - yes, this is audience participation and don't you just love it? Okay, everyone on this side [gesture to indicate the right-hand half of the audience from your point of view] when I count to three I want you in your mind to shout the word 'Bend!' really loud, one two three".

Say this clearly but quickly. One or two spectators will misunderstand and shout out loud. Extract whatever humour you can. Have them all by again, and this time they will all get it right. Gesture towards one or two people and act as if - due to your telepathic powers you can tell they did not join in. Say "One or two of you not joining in, which is a shame."

Gesture towards the other half of the audience, and say "And now your turn. Shout 'Bend' in your mind, one two three!"

It's rare for anyone to make the 'shout out loud' mistake this time. Gesture to this second half of the audience, turn to the first half and say reproachfully "See? They can all do it!"

This gets another small laugh. "Now to prove that this really is a genuine demonstration of mind power, we need a volunteer to check a few thines - out. So olease evervone -out -vour hands toeether and give a warm round of applause for our keen volunteer!".

At this point I simply go into the audience, choose someone and lead them back to the stage. The fact that there is no volunteering whatsoever gets a mild laugh of its own - and the use of the word 'keen' or 'eager' adds to the fun. This may not be to your style or taste. More on this under 'Thoughts Arising' at the end of this routine. Alpha series set 1: Mentalism

Random choosing, hardness test Ask the spectator her name. For explanatory purposes, we will assume she is called Jacqueline. The table with the tray on it is centre stage, and slightly to the rear so that you and Jacqueline can stand in front of it. You are a little to the left of the table, from your point of view as you face the audience, and Jacqueline is to your right. Turn to your tray of spoons and discard the covering cloth or silk. Pick up the tray in your right hand by the short end. The spoon nearest to you is the gaffed one. Extend the tray a little towards Jaqueline. With your free left hand, invite her to make a pointing-from-above gesture as shown in the lecture, moving your pointing finger in small circles as if randomising your choice. "In sport they have random drug testing, and in my show we have random spoon testing. Jacqueline, please take your finest pointing finger and point to any spoon a t all. It doesn't matter which".

Jacqueline will copy the 'pointing-from-above' gesture. As soon as she does so - and you know she has understood you - look away from Jacqueline, and directly out into the audience, to emphasise that you do not care which spoon she points to. Turn back to face Jacqueline. She will usually be pointing at one of the ungaffed spoons (we will cover other possibilities later). Invite her to pick it up and examine it. Set the tray down again on the table behind you. "Pick it up! Check it out! Have a good look a t it. Now the first thing we need to check is that these are solid steel spoons. They are not plastic or rubber, and we need to prove this in a theatrically satisfying manner. So Jacqueline is going to bang the spoon hard on my heace'.

This practical, if faintly absurd proposal, gets a laugh, and Jacqueline's reaction is usually good fun as well. Make it dear that you are perfectly serious, and that you really are going to do this. Make sure Jacqueline is holding the spoon by the handle before proceeding, as you saw in the lecture. "So on a count of three, Jacqueline, I want you to bang the spoon on my forehead as hard as you can. Isn't this great?! You get to inflict violence on a man, and it's perfectly okay! [To the audience] And if you are quiet, you will actually hear the satisfying sound of steel on bone!"

Turn to face Jacqueline, lean forward slightly and incline your head down a little. You do the countdown, and Jacqueline bangs the spoon on your forehead. She will either do this quite lightly, or very hard, and you can a few laughs either way. If she employs a light tap, say it was not hard enough to prove the point, you cannot afford to leave doubts, and so she must d o it again much harder. If she hits you really hard, pretend that you never meant her to do it that hard, and feign a sense of hurt and alarm as you 'realise' that Jacqueline is rather psychopathic and prone to violence. Ian Rowland Lecture Notes

Spoon tossing and the simple switch Pick up the tray once more, and again extend it towards Jacqueline so that she can repeat the pointing-from-above action and choose another spoon. Again, she will probably not pick the gaffed spoon (if she does, see Thoughts Arising). Invite her to pick up her second chosen spoon and examine it as you say 'You know, we could have Jacqueline randomly choosing and checking spoons all night very scientific but also extremely boring. The fact is they are just solid, stainless steel spoons. Jacqueline, the spoons are for real, aren't they?"

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Jacqueline agrees. Address the audience and say "In fact, you can check them out yourselves. I'm going to throw a few of these out so that you can all join in and try spoon-bending for yourselves. Come on, who wants to experience the miracle of spoon-bending?"

You are now going to toss spoons out into the audience, and also accomplish a very simple switch. At the start of this section, Jacqueline is holding the two spoons that she has randomly chosen and examined. You have six spoons left on your tray. Five are normal, but the one nearest to you is gaffed. Pick up normal spoon #I and make it clear you are going to toss it out into the audience to anyone who wants it. Stir up some interest, much like a market trader promoting a special bargain - 'Who wants a spoon? Come on - who wants to join?. Throw the spoon out to someone in the audience. During your patter and byplay with the audience, pick up normal spoon #2, and throw this out as well. Throwing spoons out to various members of the audience creates quite a bit of chaos, laughter and chatter - which is intentional. Increase the pace, pick up normal spoon #3, and throw it out. Make it an ambitious throw, quite a way back (but d o it safely). Without breaking pace, turn to Jacqueline, smile at her, take one of the spoons she is holding and throw that out into the audience as well. Don't ask her or comment on this, just turn to her, take one of her spoons, turn to face the audience and throw it out. From the tray, pick up normal spoon #5, and throw that out as well. Jacqueline is now holding one spoon, and the gaffed spoon is left on the tray. Pick up the gaffed spoon, and set the tray down on the table. That's the 'switch' achieved, although it is so simple as to be barely worth the name. In the lecture, I stress the need to have fun with this, but also to take care and make sure you don't harm anyone. If the venue is large, I usually have some fun seeing just how far 1 can throw some of the spoons - but only if I am confident that I can do this safely, and that noone is going to get harmed. I haven't taken any eyes out yet. T h e 'Finger licking' gag With any luck the rather dramatic process of hurling silverware around the venue will have gained quite a reaction from the audience. Allow the audience to settle down a little. You are about to get a very big laugh indeed.. "Now, people with very suspicious minds sometimes say that spoon bending involves chemicals on the fingers."

Hold your left hand up flat to the audience, as you saw in the lecture. With your right hand, gesture towards your splayed left it as you say "To prove that this is not the case, Jacqueline is now going to lick [pause for a beat] each of my fingers ..."

The minor pause after the word 'lick' is important, and allows the audience to get ahead of you and work out the general idea. This will get a big laugh. First the audience will laugh at the unexpected and outrageous idea. Then they will look to see Jacqueline's reaction. She Alpha series set 1:Mentalism

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will usually either be laughing, or making signs and gestures to the effect that she refuses to do this. No matter what her reaction, it will get a second wave of laughter from the audience. Look at Jacqueline and act puzzled and disappointed at her reluctance. This is a beautiful dramatic point in the structure of the routine, because the audience have no idea how you will resolve this apparently awkward moment. If you want to twist an extra laugh out of this, say "Come on, Jacqueline, it's for science. Ladies and gentlemen, you all saw her volunteer for this, didn't you? You all saw her agree to take part?"

Most audiences, even the good-natured ones, generally enjoy behaving rather treacherously towards Jacqueline and agreeing that she volunteered, even though she did no such thing (assuming you have followed my practise of simply choosing someone and leading them on stage). Pretend to have second thoughts as you gallantly decide you could not possibly expect Jacqueline to go through with this action. Say "Okay,just to prove the point, I'll do it". Lick each of your fingers, on both hands, as you saw me do during the lecture. On the printed page, this may read as rather distasteful. It doesn't have to be. Many spectators watch this 'licking' process very carefully, just to check there really ore no chemicals.

The high and low display With the 'licking' gag out of the way, face Jacqueline. Arrange yourself, her, and the spoons as shown, so that one is 'high' and the other is 'low'. You hold the spoons by the necks, near the bowls, and she just holds the tips of the handles. The gaffed spoon can be in either position. Let us assume it is the upper spoon, in your right hand. Your right thumb covers any fatigue cracks or evidence of tampering. Try to achieve a very clean 'high' and 'low' display, to give the audience the best possible view. "Okay, let's focus on the spoons. Now, Jacqueline, tell me, do you feel any slight psychic tingle in either the upper spoon or the lower one? Anything at all?"

It doesn't matter whether the spectator says she can feel anything or not - this line is pure opportunism. Sometimes, she might come up with quite an imaginative response. On occasion, she will say she can feel some strange kind of sensation, and this deepens the mystery and makes the routine more baffling. At other times, her response might be quite amusing. The next step is to give use equivocation to make sure she ends up with the normal spoon: "I want you to choose one, so it's up to you. Upper or lower?" Let us assume the upper spoon is the gaffed one. If she says 'Upper': "The upper spoon. Okay, the spoon you choose is the spoon we use. Watch...".

You let her keep hold of the other (normal)spoon, while you take the gaffed one and turn to the audience, holding the spoon in the Presentation Position shown at the top of the next page - one hand rubbing the neck between finger and thumb, the other lightly holding the handle. Invite Jacqueline, and everyone in the audience holding a spoon, to hold their spoon this way.


If she says 'Lower':

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"The lower one? Okay, your choice, take it and hold it like this." You demonstrate the Presentation Position using the spoon that you have been left with (?) and you get Jacqueline, and anyone in the audience with a spoon, to d o the same. So far, the mopd has obviously been rather lighthearted with several laugh points. You now change gear, and adopt a perfectly straight, factual delivery. "Now all of you with spoons, just hold it like this - you too, Jacqueline - and gently stroke the spoon. Remember a t the start you practised saying 'Bend' in your mind? Now is the time to do that. Just stroke the spoon, no force or pressure, and in your mind, tell it to bend, ask it to bend, believe it will bend." As you deliver these lines, you are holding the gaffed spoon in the Presentation Position. Rub the neck of the spoon with your thumb and forefinger. At the same time, add just enough up-and-down stress via the handle to encourage the fracture to develop. Show that the spoon is beginning to 'melt' a little.

Continue to apply slight pressure until you can feel that the spoon has fractured completely, and the bowl is now actually separate from the handle. Keep this fact concealed. Maintain a tight grip with your thumb and forefinger, so there is no obvious sign that the spoon is already in two pieces. Hold the spoon in an elevated position with one hand, as shown. By gently relaxing the pressure, allow the bowl to 'bend' sideways v e y slowly. With a little practice, you can make it travel slowly as if from '12' on a clock dial to '4' or even '5' before it is ready to fall away completely. This is a beautiful visual illusion - enjoy it and let your audience enjoy it. Focus your eyes, your attention and your body language on the spoon while the bend is in progress.

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During the visual bend, you say: "Ladies and gentlemen, we've had some fun with spoon bending this evening, but it really is a striking phenomenon. You may have seen it on TV,you may have read about it. However, this is the only demonstration you have seen in which a member of the audience [nod towards Jacqueline] is invited to freely examine the spoons a t the start; in which we checked the spoons are solid, stainless steel; in which there are no chemicals, and no strange moves or sleight of hand. In short, ladies and gentlemen, the only time in your lives when you will see, first-hand in full view, the miracle that is mind ... over... metal ..." Without taking your eyes off the spoon, ask Jacqueline to kindly pass you the metal tray. Take it in your free hand, and hold it underneath the spoon, as far below as your stretched arm can allow. finally, let the bowl of the spoon fall away completely, landing on the tray with a nice, loud crash. This will generate spontaneous applause. Take your time with this visual bend and break - 40 or 50 seconds is not too much. Some members of the audience are holding spoons. See if any of them report their spoon has bent. If so, let them have their moment of glory, and let people work out how you managed to make that spoon bend as well! People often report all sorts of weird Alpha series set 1:Mentalism

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phenomena after this routine. Take some of the credit for yourself, but be generous sharing it with the individuals concerned.

Thoughts Arising Anyone wishing to be disparaging about this routine has plenty of ammunition! The 'method' is childishly simple. One canchoose to react with supercilious disdain to the vulgarity of the 'bang on head' and the 'finger-licking' gags. And if you think mentalism must always be solemn, then this routine will be high on your l i t of 'No Hope Mentalism Routines From Hell'. I'm not remotely defensive about it, because I can tell you - having performed it for 15 years or so - that audiences love it. They have fun, I have fun, and yet there is a strong mystery involved. Fun stuff aside, it does seem as if the spoons were examined, the spectator decided which ones would be used, there were no false moves... and yet the spoon visibly melted on command. I hope you enjoy amending it to suit your own style, and get some mileage out of it. W h a t if t h e spectator p o i n t s t o t h e gaffed spoon? During the pointing-and-choosing phase, what if the spectator happens to point to the prepared spoon? This is not a problem. You just need to adapt the routine slightly. Consider the spectator's first choice. If she points to the gaffed spoon, just pick it up yourself and, in a very matter-of-fact voice, say, 'and we need one more... choose another". Whichever she nominates, invite her to pick it up. Set the tray to one side. You are holding a gaffed spoon, she is holding a regular spoon. You can now go through the 'banging on the head' gag, and the 'chemicals on the fingers' gag. When it comes to distributing the spoons throughout the audience, you do not even need the simple 'switch'. With your free hand, pick up the remaining spoons off the tray and toss them out. You can now truthfully point out that you had some spoons on a bay, the spectator freely decided which two spoons would be used for the demonstration, and all the others have been handed out for examination:The same is true if she chooses the gaffed spoon on her second choice. You pick it up. She's holding a regular spoon, you are holding the gaffed one. The others can now be thrown out into the audience.

The 'volunteering' o f the spectator In the Routine described here, I suggest that you make a joke of referring to 'a volunteer' when in fact you simply go and fetch someone up on stage to help you. Thii may or may not suit your style, but let me expand on this. In my earlier performing days, I used to spend quite a chunk of time getting someone up on stage to assist. I droned through a lengthy 'no stooges or confederates' disclaimer, then I promised not to embarrass anyone, and then I mentioned a few other bits and pieces before I finally invited volunteers and picked someone. Yawn. Eventually, I began to appreciate that good pacing is important in any kind of magical performance. Although 'pace' does not mean 'speed', it is generally wise to keep things as dynamic and flowing as possible. Houdini advised performers to d o everything at the briskest possible pace - consistent with the need for clear delivery, clear exposition, and good dramatic form. So one day I dispensed with the all the tedious preamble, and just took someone out of the audience as described in the Routine. It didn't diminish the routine one iota, nobody thought it objectionable, and it got a minor laugh. Ian Rowland Lecture Notes

Personally, 1 always choose a woman to help. I find that women respond better, are more fun on stage, and are almost always better turned out and hence nicer for the audience to look at. I don't think that's a sexist comment - it's just true. Most women have at least a modicum of good dress sense. Most men, myself included, exhibit the dress sense of a chimp let loose in the 'Extra Dull And Shapeless' clothes shop.

Thanks and Credits This is a very simple metal-bending routine. If you want to learn the really good stuff, refer to Banachek's gxcellent video, 'Psychokinetic Silverware'. Banachek has the best metalbending moves I've ever seen. And if you ever get a chance to see him perform his metalbending routine, take it. You will see entertaining deception taken to its psychological and visual zenith. My friend Massimo Polidoro, based in Milan, also does some excellent metal-bending work. All I know about his moves are that they work beautifully, and I can't do any of them justice. I'd also like to mention Scotland's finest mentalist, Drew McAdam, who bends so many spoons he gets banned from restaurants. The nice thing about Drew's work is not so much the moves - good though they are - as his very relaxed and fluid style, allied to a deeply natural and plausible presentation. When he bends a spoon, it just looks like the most natural thing in the world.


Thought Flash In essence, this is a Polaroid camera trick which you can perform without the trouble of having to carry round a Polaroid camera, or indeed any sort of camera. It can also be adapted to keep up with any changes in camera technology. I have used it as both a stage and close-up item, and it has proved a reliable crowd-pleaser. It's so simple the cat could do it, but audiences don't know this. As far as they are concerned, you can catch thoughts in a photograph. Which is quite something.

Effect A spectator's thoughts are captured on a blank piece of photographic film. More specifically, a spectator freely chooses one movie star celebrity from many possible, and concentrates on her. You project an image of this randomly (?) chosen movie icon on to what was previously a blank piece of photographic film.

What You Need The main things you need are:

- a Himber wallet - a way of generating two photographs (or things that look like photographs) roughly the same size and shape as a genuine Polaroid photo, but small enough to fit in your Himber. In other words, square or square-ish, measuring about 3 to 3 112 inches (8-9cm) to a side. Create these photos any way you want. I mention a few possibilities during the lecture.

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some flash paper some blank card stock and some roughing nuid a good photo of whichever famous movie star you want to feature in the routine a cigarette lighter which is visually unusual, distinctive or notable in some way. Note that it is not enough for the lighter to operate in an unusual way. It has to look distinctive or eye-catching in some way. For many years I used one of those novelty cigarette lighters that resembles a hand gun. Just look around 'novelty' shops until you find something suitable.


Preparation First of all, you need to create your two photographs. The first has a solid black back, preferably with a white border (this is what a real Polaroid photo looks like from the back, but that's not important). On the face, this photo shows solid, empty blackness. From the back, the second photo looks identical to the first. It has to, because you are going to switch one photo for the other (as if you hadn't guessed). On its face, it bears the image of the famous movie star whose name you are going to force. For this explanation, I'm going to suppose it's Jacqueline Bisset. At the time of writing, she's possibly not the most famous actress in the world, but she's a firm favourite with me! You should choose a movie star whose name and image will be well-known to everyone in your audience. You want this image to be clearly recognisable, yet also slightly hazy or distorted in some way so that it looks like the result of paranormal thought projection. When I first prepared such a photo, I just got a poster of the movie star I wanted and played around with lighting and blurring until I got a Folaroid of it that I liked. These days, I have the luxury of a digital camera and computer magic. Use whatever resources are available to you, and have some fun doing it. You have your Empty Black photo and your Movie Star photo. Take your Himber wallet. I expect that you have already added a small secret mark to the outside of your Himber so that you can readily tell Side 1 from Side 2 before you open it. If you haven't, it's a darn good idea. In Side 1, tuck the Empty Black photo face down. Trim some flash paper into strips roughly 1 inch (3cm)wide by 3 inches (8cm) tall. Tuck three strips into the wallet as shown. May I suggest you add some other bits and pieces to make the wallet look like your regular wallet - currency notes, credit cards, Jacqueline Bisset's phone number... that kind of thing. I haven't included these bits and pieces in the illustration. In Side 2, do exactly the same so it looks identical - photo face down, flash paper strips, same bits and pieces. The only difference is that it's the Movie Star photo. Put the Himber in your inside jacket pocket so that you know which way round it is, and can take it out and flip it open at Side 1with confidence. Next, you need to make a rough and smooth forcing deck that will force the name Jacqueline Bisset (or whichever less talented, less beautiful actress you prefer to force upon your audience). Take a stack of 20 blank cards. Write the name of a different well-known movie star on each one, in clear black capitals. Write them so clearly that someone who normally reads with glasses could read them without their glasses - it might happen! Rough these on their backs. Take 20 more blanks, and write 'Jacqueline B i t ' on every one. Rough these on their faces. Assemble your deck of cards, rough to rough. Make sure your novelty lighter works, and stash it in your outer left pocket.


The Routine Intro and N a m e Force

I am assuming you have seen me present this at the lecture so you know what happens. You force the name. You show the Empty Black photo. There's a bit of byplay and you sneakily switch it for the Movie Star photo. Miracle accomplished. Here are the main points of the routine. "There are some-psychic powers that everyone's heard of, such as ESP or spoon-bending, but others are less well-known. I'd like to share with you something that is truly very strange, and that you have probably never seen before. It's called thoughtography, and in the 60s a guy called Ted Serios caused quite a sensation with it. I'd like someone to help with this - it's very easy, involves no heavy lifting or nudity, in fact you don't even need to come on stage".

Choose a suitable volunteer. This routine is one of the few for which I usually choose a man rather than a woman. Let us assume he is called John. Have John stand up in the audience. Pick up the packet of cards. "First of all John, we need to select a target a t random. These are all names of famous people, and I'm going to take names off the top, one a t a time. All you have to do is to say 'Stop' whenever you like. It's up to you. When you do, the very next card off the top will be yours - no question. Some people say 'Stop' quite quickly, some people wait a long time, for others it's somewhere in between ... I don't care, it's up to you. Okay?"

Hold the packet of cards in your right hand, in an elevated position as shown. The point is to give everyone a very clear view of what's going on. With your left hand, take cards off the top of the deck one at a time - actually, thanks to the rough and smooth principle, it's two at a time, but the audience don't know this.

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Hash the face of each card (actually a pair) as you remove it, so everyone can see there's a different name every time. Make the process slow, clear, deliberate, ultra-clean and ultra-fair. This is one instance when the need for a slow, 'fair' action over-rides the usual imperative to maintain a snappy pace. When John says "Stop", you say, "Fine. Let's see who you got."

Very s-I-o-w-I-y, and fairly, remove the next top card, actually separating the rough and smooth pair so that the card you show says aacqueline Bisset'. Show this very clearly around the room, and take your time. "Remember the name. I t doesn't matter if I see what it is. Just remember the name you chose."

As you show the card around the room, briefly tilt it towards yourself so that you can

glimpse it, and then carry on showing it slowly around the room. You are not performing a secret glimpse. You are openly taking a quick look at the card, ostensibly so that you can see who was chosen - because remember, it was chosen at random. Once everyone has seen the name, you can set all the cards to one side.


Photo Display and Anti-Climax

You address John and say "John, earlier I said that to help me with this part of the show wouldn't involve nudity or coming on stage. Well, I lied. [This gets a minor laugh]. But only about the last part. Please, join me on the stage".

John joins you. "Okay, keep thinking of your chosen name. Now, here's the really strange psychic thing I was talkingabout. Here in my wallet is an actual photograph, taken some time ago, of the very person you're thinking of. Don't you think that's amazing?"

Take out the Himber. I will assume that John is to your right, and you are turned slightly in his direction. Your left side is nearest the audience. With your right hand, flip open the Himber. With your left hand, extract the Empty Black photo, face down. Hold it so that neither John nor anyone else can see what's on it. This is a nice moment in terms of dramatic structure. The audience will be in two minds are you bluffing, or have you really managed this rather impressive feat? They are also interested to see John's reaction when you ask him if he's impressed. Say "Seriously, this really is a photo of the person you're thinking of, Jacqueline Bisset [name your Movie Star]. Isn't that extraordinary?"

As you have still not shown the photo, and proved your claim, there is plenty of scope for byplay here. You can act a little hurt if he seems unimpressed, or a little surprised if he seems astonished too easily! Moving on, you raise the photo up as if to display it for all to see, but time the revelation with the following words, "Well, it is a photo of Jacqueline Bisset, but the... [pause for two beats] flash didn't work."

Time the words to establish the appropriate build-up, and then puncture it with the intentionally pathetic anti-climax. The empty black void of the photo should only become visible as you say the words 'flash didn't work'. The audience will feel a palpable sense of disappointment at this stage, because the blank photo is such a poor joke. Act as if you really have nothing to offer except this dull and unimpressive joke. Be sure to ask John what he thinks about this. "It's just a joke. You don't think it's funny?"

You are still holding the Himber in your right hand. With your left, replace the photo in the wallet in exactly the same position it had originally. Flip the Himber closed. With your left hand take out the novelty lighter from your left jacket pocket, say "Do you know what this is?" and hand it to John. This provides the perfect moment to adjust the Himber so it will now open at Side 2. John will identify the item as a cigarette lighter. It should now be clear why you use some kind of 'novelty' cigarette lighter that is unusual or visually interesting: - the audience's eyes and attention always focus on what is new in a scene, and this effect is heightened if the 'new' thing is (a)moving and (b) visually interesting in its own right - because the lighter is visually a bit strange, each spectator's mind goes into 'analyse and identify' mode, during which time it cannot pay attention to anything else

- because it looks a bit weird, you aren't insulting John's intelligence by asking him what he thinks it is


All in all, lots of misdirection. John replies to your question, and you say "Absolutely correct. It's a lighter, and we're going to use it to create some flash." Flash Paper and Finish

Flip the Himber open on Side 2. To the audience, everything looks exactly as it did before. With your left hand extract the photo but keep it face down (you don't want anyone to see that it bears the image of Jacqueline Bisset). Invite John to extend hi right hand, palm up and flat, so that you can rest something on it. Place the face down photo on his hand, and then place the lighter on top of it. Take out one strip of flashpaper, and put the wallet away.

... This is what we use to create the flash. It's called flashpaper. You get it from theatres, and they make it by soaking tissue paper in nitroglycerine. I am not making this up, it's true. Nitrogylcerine. And when you set fire to it, i t goes up in a 'flash', hence the name."

"

This is a fairly accurate description of what flashpaper is. Fold or scrunch the flashpaper up into a ball which you hold in your left hand. You now d o two things in a single action. With your right hand, pick up the cigarette lighter, and with your left hand place the scrunched ball of flash paper on the back of the photo. With your right hand, pick up the photo by its nearest corner and position it - still face down of course - on the outstretched palm of your left hand. As far as John and the audience are concerned, it is just the empty black photo they saw before. Hold the photo, with the flashpaper on top, fairly close to John's face. "Piece of paper. Nitroglycerine. And I'm going to set fire to it. Very near to you."

John might be smiling at this point, but he will be feeling some anxiety as well. It is a nice moment dramatically, as the audience are aware that something is going to happen, but they are not quite sure what. Position the cigarette lighter so that when you operate it, it will set fire to the flashpaper. Act as if you have a certain amount of trepidation about actually doing this, and as you gradually 'steel' yourself to actually set the paper alight, offer John a series of quasi-humorous fake reassurances ... "Might take your eyebrows off a bit. But it's all for the sake of entertainment, so I know you won't mind." "Possibly a little bit of partial, temporary blindness. Clears up in days. Nothing to worry about, all for the sake of entertaining the lovely ladies and gentlemen". "Worst case scenario, perhaps 90% scalding around the face. But, hey, it's all good entertainment and that's what we're here for".

Before you actually set the flashpaper alight, you get a little more serious. "John, do you believe in the power of visualisation? That by visualising something in your heart, you can maybe cause it to appear in your life? Well, I believe in it, and this is just a small illustration of what visualisation can achieve. Earlier on, we had lots of famous people to choose from and you chose someone a t random ... who was that? [John says the name of the forced Movie Star]. John, I want you to visualise Jacqueline Bisset as hard as you have ever visualised anything in your life. I will work with you, and something very special will happen."

After all this preamble, move your hand a little away from John's face, so that there is no risk whatsoever of him actually coming to any harm. Set the flash paper alight and move your left hand once up and down rapidly, as if catching a thought. Allow yourself a few seconds of absolute stillness and dramatic tension. You say nothing, and d o nothing. Turn to John. "Who was it again?"

John confirms that he was visualising Jacqueline Bisset.


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"John, this is just a little demonstration using a simple target, but I hope you will always remember the power of positive visualisation, because it really works. Here's the proof. Your thought, Miss Jacqueline Bisset, captured, on film." Slowly, and with as much dramatic grandeur as you can muster, turn the photo over and show it - first to John, and then to the rest of the audience in a slow, broad arc so that everyone gets a good look.

Thoughts Arising -

I make no apologies for the extreme simplicity of thii effect. There are at least 10,000 skilled

dose-up workers out there who could execute a much better switch, without the need to resort to a Himber wallet. Nonetheless, having performed this routine almost everywhere for almost everyone over the past ten years, I can tell you it can get actual gasps of astonishment from audiences. Actual dumbfounded, drop-jawed 'Oh my God!' bewilderment. That's why I do it, and that's why I like it. Preparing the H i m b e r wallet In the 'Preparation' section, I suggested that when you have loaded the Himber with the bits you need for the routine, you add extra bits and pieces so that it looks like an actual wallet. May I just repeat that I think this is a good idea. It's a shame to see a magician or mentalist take out a wallet which is totally empty except for the card or envelope or whatever he needs for the trick. A wallet is supposed to have things in it. If it doesn't have things in it, you are announcing that it's not really used for anything except the trick. You may as well stamp 'Magic Prop' on the outside. About showing a few more cards There is a point in this routine where 'John' has just said 'Stop' and you have shown the force card. At this point, I sometimes like to run through a few more cards, just to casually demonstrate that if John had carried on he would have arrived at a different choice. It only takes a second or two, and I think it's an appropriate convincer. Versatility It should be clear that thii routine is extremely versatile. It can be themed around any people you want: movie stars, sports stars or even people in the company who have hired you as the corporate entertainment. Also, it doesn't have to be about people. It can be about any group of items that are visual and which can be named: famous landmarks, famous paintings, famous composers... any theme that is of interest to you or to your audience.

If you don't want to make your own R&S deck to force a person, place or thing, you can use a regular R&S deck, so the routine is about choosing a card and then the card appears in the photograph. This is very pedestrian.

The W h e n You Say Stop' patter There's a point in this routine at which you are going to take cards off the top of the deck and invite the spectator to say 'Stop'. As you will have seen at the lecture, I suggest that you say something along the following lines: "All you have to do is to say 'Stop' whenever you like. It's up to you. Alpha series set 1: Mentalism

Some people say 'Stop' quite quickly, some people wait a long time, for others it's somewhere in between ... I don't care, it's up to you."

There is certainly no need to say anything quite this long-winded. However, over many years of shows and performances, I have found this verbal formula to be extremely disarming. Whereas most spectators are co-operative and relatively easy to work with, there are a small number who occasionally want to 'challenge' the performer in various ways. On a 'Stop' trick, it can be rather unhelpful if someone is determined to say 'Stop' very quickly (such as insisting on the top card) or to wait a very long time. What's more, if you are using a rough and smooth deck of any kind, you are running out of cards twice as quickly as normal, so you really d o not want the spectator taking forever and a day to say 'Stop'. All 1 can tell you is that the wording 1 have suggested above tends to eliminate any such extremism, and ensure that the spectator behaves co-operatively. That's why I'm passing it on. If it's not for you, then it's not for you.

Thanks and Credits If you currently lack a Himber wallet, may I suggest you invest in one. They are extremely useful tools, with countless applications in magic and mentalism. Personally, I use one made by Roy Roth, and I don't really think it could be bettered. This routine is based on a real paranormal claim. In the 1960s a chap called Ted Serios claimed he could project his thoughts on to unexposed film. If you like to bolster your presentation with a little knowledge, you can read all about Mr. Serios in books devoted to paranormal research. Two good ones are 'Pseudoscience and the paranormal' by Terence Hines, and 'Him-Ham' by James Randi (but please don't ask me where to get hold of them).

Please don't make copies of these Lecture Notes. It has taken one heck of a lot of time and money to produce them. If you know someone who is interested in these notes, please don't just run off a copy. Instead, please play fair and refer them to my web site: www.ianrowland.com . I will sell a copy to anyone with a bona fide interest. For the work that went into them, I'm not charging over the odds. Thank you. - Ian


The Subliminal Prediction Two of my favourite examples of brilliance in magic are the 'Viewed ESP Prediction', from Richard Osterlind's 'Dynamic Mysteries', and 'Hasterix' from 'Person to Person' by Lewis Jones. They are both prediction effects in which the prediction is shown or read first, and then choices are made which are seen to fulfil it. This 'Subliminal Prediction' routine is not in the same league as either of the above. Nonetheless, it contains one cute twist which I think you will have fun with: the prediction is in full view right from the start, and you even point it out several times, yet no-one ever sees it. This is a very versatile routine, and in the lecture itself there isn't time to explore all of the variations and options ... so you're going to get them now.

Effect The Performer shows a &splay board featuring sixteen famous celebrities. A spectator chooses any one of the sixteen via a process of elimination, and her choice is found to match the Performer's sealed prediction. So far, so normal. The Performer then proves that in fad this was an experiment in guided subliminal persuasion: the predicted outcome was actually stated on the display board, in full view yet not a soul in the audience noticed it!

You Will Need - an extendable pointer, of the type used by lecturers - the display board of 16 celebrities - a large photo of whichever celebrity is to be your prediction - some blank card stock and some roughing fluid, and a marker pen Let's take these one at a time. The extendable pointers are widely available from places that sell office or educational supplies. The one I use was actually a free gift with some office supplies.


For the display board, all that really matters is that: (a) it shows 16 names arranged in two columns of eight, as per the illustration (b) it contains the hidden 'acrostic' that gives the routine its surprise ending As you know, an 'acrostic' is a message spelled by initial letters on consecutive lines. In this example, there are 16 names on the board and the one that will be forced is 'Julia Roberts'. Hence the first letters of each line, apart from some random letters, spell out 'J-U-L-I-A R-0-B-E-R-T-9. This is the basis of the surprise twit that gives the routine its climax. At the lecture, you will have seen the display board I use (or at least the one I use when I'm travelling around giving lectures). It's quite colourful, with photos or historic illustrations of the 16 people featured. You can make yours as fancy or as simple as you like. See 'Thoughts Arising' for more options. Get a large photo of the celebrity whose name you are going to force. Write the celeb's name in bold letters across the bottom, so that even if someone doesn't recognise the picture they know who it is. You can seal the prediction any way you like - even bake it in a loaf if that kind of thing rocks your world. I suggest for this routine you keep it simple. I use a piece of black cartridge paper twice the size of the photo, folded in half. Just slip the photo inside, and close with a paper clip. Decorate it with a mystical design if you wish. Finally, you need a packet of 'name' cards that will force the correct name. Take 32 pieces of blank card stock. On 16 of them, print the name of the force celeb. On the remaining 16, print the 15 non-force names from your display board, and duplicate one of them. In other words, pick any one of the 15 non-force names on your board (preferably one you think is least noticeable) and print it on two of the non-force cards. For this explanation, let's assume we have two Queen Victoria cards. Rough the 16 force cards on their faces. Rough the 16 non-force cards on their backs. Assemble in roughed pairs. You have a set of 16 roughed pairs, two of which say 'Queen Victoria' on the face and none of which say 'Julia Roberts'. Set the two duplicates (Queen Victoria) aside for a moment. Arrange the rest in any mixed-up order, specifically not the same order as the names on the display board. Put one 'Queen Vic' card on top of the face-down stack, and the other tenth from the bottom.

The Routine Many mentalism routines are all about the Performer demonstrating what he can do. Where possible, I prefer to turn things around so that the routine is about the spectator achieving something they didn't realise they could do. The Subliminal Prediction starts off in this vein. "I believe everyone has some kind of intuitive gift - some call it the power of intuition, others say it's positive visualisation. I think it's just a case of learning how to tap into it. I'd like to try a n experiment along these lines. It's kind of fun, but a t the same time I hope it will show just how powerful intuition can be."

Have a spectator come up to assist. Just for the sake of example, let us suppose she is called Jacqueline. Hand her the marker pen and tell her she'll need it later on. Call attention to the display board. Ian Rowland Lecture Notes

"Jacqueline, here are 16 famous people. Take a good look. There's quite a variety. Some men, some women, some historical figures and some who are still with us. In here [pick up the black prediction folder] is one of these 16 people. But you don't know which one, do you?"

Jacqueline agrees she has no idea. "There's no way to work it out, by reasoning. And if you tried to guess, you'd probably guess wrong. But you're not going to use reasoning or guesswork. You're going to let your intuition guide you."

Isolate the prediction folder by placing it somewhere prominent or entrusting it to someone in the front row. Pick up the packet of cards. They are actually 16 roughed pairs of cards, but I will refer to them here as if they were single cards. Show them face up, and casually spread through them. Do not systematically show the face of every card. Just show enough to convey the general idea, and point out that they are in a random order. Hold the cards faces towards yourself, and mix them up a little more. "Jacqueline, I'm mixing these up a little, and it's important that you just relax. Remember, you aren't going to have work anything out, or use any reasoning, or make guesses. Just rely on your intuition, and you'll be fine. Trust me."

All you have to do is to make sure that one of the duplicate cards (Queen Victoria) stays on top, and the other stays around tenth position. I'm referring to 'cards' meaning roughed pairs of cards. Hold the cards face down. Vey openly, thumb off eight cards so that you have eight in your left hand and eight in your right. Either packet contains one of the duplicate Queen Victoria cards. Hold the two packets wide apart, like a bragging fisherman. You are now going to use an elimination process involving 'left' and 'right' choices. Your left and right is of course distinct from the audience's left and right. Thii provides scope for confusion and ambiguity, so it is very important to be absolutely clear, and totally unambiguous, at every stage. "Jacqueline, eight names in my left hand [look a t your left hand, raise it up and down, as you saw me do a t the lecture], and eight cards in my right [likewise]. Don't reason, don't guess. Look a t the display board. Take your time, rely on your intuition, and then nominate left or right."

Let's suppose she says 'Left'. "Left? That's these names here, in my left hand. Jacqueline, you tell me, do we carry on using these [look a t your left, gesture with it] eight names in my left hand, and get rid of the ones in my right [look and gesture for clarity]. Or do we get rid of these [left] and carry on using these [right]. It's up to you".

Jacqueline makes her choice. In the lecture, I talked about the need to show 'appropriate feeling' at these moments in mentalism routines. You should appear to look slightly relieved or pleased, as if you know that Jacqueline has made the right choice. If you don't show this feeling or expression, you are undermining the logic of your own routine. And if you don't believe it, you can't expect anyone else to. give it to her to hold face down for a second Whichever packet Jacqueline wants to h, (she's not allowed to look at the faces). Take the remaining packet of eight cards, and briefly display their faces to show a few different names. Do this fairly quickly -just to show that a few different names at random have been discarded. Just take care not to flash the duplicate 'Queen Victoria' card - it's near the vey back of the face-up packet, so it's easy to hide. From this point on, there is no more duplication to wony about. Discard this packet. Take back the eight remaining name cards. Thumb off four, so that you have four cards in either hand. Repeat the very fair elimination process. Be sure to make Jacqueline look at the display board and use her intuition. She makes her choice, and this time you can show the discarded names as clearly as you like. Alpha series set 1:Mentalism

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So the eight names get whittled down to four, and the four become two. Here's the handling for the final two. You have one in either hand. "Jacqueline, it's your final choice. I don't want to say too much, but let me reassure you, you're doing fine. Now, take one last look a t the display board. Use your intuition. I have one name in my left hand, and one in my right. You are going to tell me to put the left card on top, or the right card on top."

Make the appropriate gesture, as you saw me do at the lecture, of bringing your hands together and miming either putting the left or the right on top. Separate your hands again, so Jacqueline can make her choice. Bring your hands together slowly and carefully, so everyone can see you aren't cheating. Place left on right or right on left, as Jacqueline prefers, and extend you hand to Jacqueline so she can take her marker pen and write her initials on the back of the card. 'You have finally committed yourself to one choice. Sign it for security"

Separate the roughed card, hand it to Jacqueline but don't let her look at it yet. Casually flash the other name (actually a roughed pair with a single extra card at the back) as you add it to the ditched pile. Retrieve the black prediction folder. "Jacqueline, I'm confident you have done very well. [Addressing the audience a s a whole]. Ladies and gentlemen, this experiment is interesting on two levels. Let me show you what I mean"

For the first time, let Jacqueline look at the name she selected. She reads out 3ulia Roberts'. Make sure everyone in the room sees this and hears it. Take the name card from her, while you hand her the black prediction folder. Hold the name card so everyone can see it, and have Jacqueline open the prediction. Everyone sees she is absolutely right as she holds up the photo of Ms. Roberts. This will win your customary round of applause, and eueyone will now believe the routine is ouer. Enjoy this. Set aside the name card and the photo. "I said this was interesting in two ways... but you have only seen one of them. Jacqueline's intuition managed to find Julia Roberts. But to make this work, I tried to help Jacqueline, to influence her, without her even realising it. You may have heard or read about 'subliminal persuasion'. But it's very rare to see it demonstrated. Believe me, it can be frighteningly powerful stuff. You will notice that I asked Jacqueline - and indeed all of you - to look a t this display about a dozen times or more. There was a reason. That reason, is subliminal persuasion."

Take out the pointer. Extend it dramatically. Tap out the letters: "Jacqueline, every time I made you look a t the board, you were taking in a message whether you realised it or not. It's all about the first letter on every line. Some are random, just to hide the secret. But look... J - U - L - I -A, R - 0 - B - E - R - T - S. And that spells, Julia Roberts. And that is the power of subliminal persuasion".

If you sell this correctly, you should now earn yourself an audible gasp of realisation, followed by one of the strongest rounds of applause you have ever enjoyed.


Thoughts Arising The forcing p r o c e d u r e The routine as described uses a special packet of cards to force the name. If you think this is too crude, by all means substitute a force you like. All I suggest is that it should at least resemble a process of elimination, as opposed to just a straight 1-from-16 shot. For completeness, here are some forcing suggestions.

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Alternative #I: name cards, but n o R&S Take 16 blank cards, roughly the size and shape of blank Jumbo cards. On the backs, put big, bold numbers 1-16. On the faces, write your 16 display board names in a random order - not corresponding to the order on the display board. Take the card bearing your force name (in this example, Julia Roberts). With the card face up, cut out a half-moon shape from the lower edge, about two inches in from the left. Shuffle the other 15 cards thoroughly. Arrange all face-up, force card at the bottom. To use. Pick up the packet and display the names casually, being careful not to reveal the bottom card with its secret cutaway portion. Square up, and say (but don't show) that the names all have numbers on the back, but they are randomised - there's no way of knowing which number is which name. Say you will mix them up a bit more. Do so, and you can even briefly turn away from the audience for a second if you like. Turn the cards face down, so the numbers are showing. Pretend to mix them, or mix for real, but just make sure the force card is on top.

These illustrations are from your point of view. The 3ulia Roberts' card happens to have '12' on the back (it could be any number) and is on top of the face-down stack. The half-moon cutout is now on the edge nearest the audience, so you must hold the packet with the top angled slightly up and away from the audience, just enough to hide the cutout from view. You now appear to remove cards one at a time from the top, showing each card to the audience as you d o so. In fad, you are performing a sort of second-deal each time. Your left thumb comes over exactly as it would to take off the top card, but thanks to the cutaway it actually moves away with the next-totop card. Show this card, and then repeat the same action. Someone says 'Stop!' whenever they want. At that point, change your grip so that your hand conceals the cutaway (illustration below left). Show the number that was stopped at. Alpha series set 1:Mentalism

Take away the rest of the cards, fan or spread them slightly with one hand and give them out. You can then turn the card around - it only takes a little care to keep the cutaway concealed - and show the name 'Julia Roberts'.

This contravenes my own earlier suggestion that the force should be an elimination process, not a single 1-from-16 shot. This is a glaring lack of internal consistency, but I'm too old to worry about it. As Walt Whitman once said, "I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. I am vast. I contain multitudes". Alternative #2: as above, with a minor tweak You can modify the cutaway gimmick card so that the cutaway half-moon is not removed entirely, but is attached to the card with a hinge (invisible Scotch tape works well). When you want the cutaway for the 'second deal' process, it's there. When you want to straighten the card out for display purposes, you can fold the cutaway part down and it therefore bears more scrutiny. Alternative #3: still with the name cards, but no gaffs or fakes You could achieve the required force of 1 from 16 purely by equivocation (also called "magician's choice" and several other names). Several people have written about good equivoque technique, Max Maven being among the most lucid and authoritative. Another great source of expertise is David Berglas, who probably got more mileage out of skilled equivoque than anyone else. David Britland's superb book, 'The Mind and Magic of David Berglas', contains much wisdom on this subject. Equivoque is fast, neat and direct. Its only demerits are that (a)in less then expert hands, it can be less than convincing, and (b) some people, in some audiences, can smell it a mile away. Alternative #4: n o name cards, 'X' marks the spot process Here's another forcing option. You create your 16 names so that a series of binary choices can lead to the force name. For example, 8 names are male and 8 are female. You force 'female'. 4 of the female names are historical (a euphemistic way of saying 'dead') and the other 4 are living. You force 'living'. 2 of them are singers and 2 are actresses, you force actress. You're left with 2 actresses, and force Julia Roberts. How to achieve each binary force? In each case, you have two cards (file cards or blank card stock). On the first, you write the word 'Male' and on the other you write the word 'Female'. The spectator takes these behind her back, mixes them up so she does not know which is which, and marks a cross on the back of one of them with the pen you give her. In reality, the cross is already on the back of the one you want to force, and the pen is non-writing. The non-writing pen ruse has been used many times in mentalism. If you like it, you will love Basil Smith's 'Xoteric Forces' which takes this principle to new deceptive heights. I cannot give details because it is a marketed dealer item, but I promise it is devastatingly clever and well-worth investigating.

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Alternative #5: name cards or bidets, and a final switch device The 16 names are written on cards or folded slips of paper. These are whittled down to one, either by a straight 1-in-16 shot, or a binary elimination process. You find a plausible reason to place the final card or billet into something that can switch it for a duplicate bearing the force name. Himber wallet? Card box? Double envelope? You pays your money, you takes your choice. The very finest such device, in my view, is the Teleport Envelope invented by Ted Lesley and described in his book 'Paramirades'. However, Ted has refined the idea since Paramiracles was published, and he now sells the Professional Teleport Envelope Kit. This is well worth the small extra investment. Alternative #6: the clear vinyl forcing bag Another option is to use a two-way clear vinyl forcing bag. The first compartment contains black disks or counters, the second contains white. Your assisting spectator makes a series of 'test' selections to show that she gets black or white at random each time (you just vary the compartment she's dipping into each time). This having been demonstrated, Jacqueline's first choice is between male and female names. You let her (or the audience) decide whether black will stand for male or female. Jacqueline then reaches into the bag and pulls out one counter in her closed fst. With a dramatic build-up, she reveals whether it is black or white, thus nominating either the male or female half of the 16 names. And so on. This is clean, direct, fair and free, and achieves the necessary sod. Whether a clear forcing bag is too much of a 'magic prop' is up to you to decide. Alternative #7: the Diceman option The relentlessly ingenious Andy Nyman, who happens to be one of my favourite performers, has released a superb effect called The Diceman. I can't share any details because it's a marketed dealer item. Suffice it to say that if you know the principle involved, you will see that it could be applied to this routine to achieve a force of 1 name from 16 in a way which seems fairer then fair. You'd have to make up 16 laminated name cards, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Alternative #8: the impossibly clever Matsuyama Force Perhaps you have read all the foregoing options, but your soul yearns for something else something which is open, fair, sure-fire, does not involve equivoque, and uses no props. Well, there is such a method. You can use the Matsuyama Force. For this, all you need is a stack of blank cards. These are used purely to count with. Place these on a table in front of Jacqueline. "Jacqueline, in a moment I'm going to face away so that I can't influence you. I will ask you to reach forward and pick up a small packet of cards. Let me show you. [Pick up about 12 cards] This is too many, and will take too long. [Pick up 2 or 31 This isn't enough, and won't look fair. So, just a small packet, not too many and too few. Okay with that?"

Turn away from Jacqueline. She picks up a small packet of cards. Turn around, and pick up about half a dozen cards yourself. Say, "Jacqueline, no-one knows how many cards you picked up, or whether it's a n odd or even number. But I believe your intuition will have worked, and will help us find out who's in thatblack folder."

Hold your packet of cards out in front of you, ready to count them. Tell Jacqueline you will demonstrate what she is going to do. Say, "Jacqueline, I don't know if you ever played 'loves me, loves me not' as a kid, but this works the same way."


Take the top card of your packet, say "Female name" and openly and cleanly transfer this card to the bottom of the packet. Take the next card off the top of your packet, say "Male name" and discard it on to the table. Repeat this process. Now get Jacqueline to join in with her packet of cards. Top card, she says "Female name", transfers to bottom. Next card, she says "Male name", discards. Say "It's the last card that counts... let's see if you end on male or female".

You stop your counting procedure, but Jacqueline continues with hers until she gets to the end. She will end on "Female". If you haven't met the Matsuyama Force before, you might suppose the outcome depends on whether she's holding an odd or even number of cards. In fact, it makes no difference. Whichever value (e.g. male or female) is assigned to the cards transferred to the bottom, as opposed to being discarded, will always be chosen. Try it for yourself. You say to Jacqueline "So, if your intuition is correct, the person inside that folder must be female. Okay, now if we look at the Board we see eight female names, so it must be one of those. How can we eliminate some more... oh, I see, look, some are historical figures no longer with us, while others are very much alive".

You now repeat the process: Jacqueline picks up a random number of cards, and you help her through the counting procedure. However, you can add a minor difference. Even though Jacqueline is now familiar with the procedure, give her a quick demonstration again. This time, take your first card, discard it on to the table, and say, "Hitorical" (or you can use the word 'dead' if you don't think it will offend anyone). Take your second card, say "Living" and transfer it to the bottom. S o whereas previously you started with a transfer to the bottom of the packet, this time you start with a discard. To the audience, it should look like a little variety for variety's sake. Jacqueline follows the procedure, and ends up on 'Living'. "So far so good. According to your instinctive choices, the person inside the folder must be female, and someone still very much alive."

By repeating the Matsuyama Force procedure as often as required, you can force any result you like - male or female, living or dead, actress or singer, Julia or another actress. This force is clean, direct and deceptive. Its only demerit is that with repetition it can feel a bit slow and long-winded.

Creating the display board The real joy of this routine is its versatility. You can change the 16 names on the display board to appeal to any special group, or to reflect any special interests - sport, science, business, the arts, famous Belgian cellists etc. For a corporate gig, you can include the names of company personnel if their names fit the underlying acrostic. Devising a Board for your own purposes is not hard. Start by choosing your force name. It must be someone you are sure your audience will all recognise, and whose name spells with more than 10 letters but fewer than 15. Draw up a small grid on a scrap of paper - two columns of eight slots. Write the name out, one letter to each slot, but start from the 16th slot and work backwards. It's okay to have some empty slots at the top of either or both columns. They just make it harder for anyone to see the hidden acrostic before you want them to. Then fill in all the slots with names that fit these initial letters. If you are going to use a simple 1 in 16 force, it's a fairly easy task. If you want to use a force that involves binary elimination, you need to work out your three- or four-stage elimination process, involving pairs of choices, that will lead to your force name. A typical scheme might look like this: - the 16 names will be 8 male and 8 female Ian Rowland Lecture Notes

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either group of eight will consist of 4 dead and 4 alive

either group of four will consist of 2 actors and 2 singers Once you have your list - the force name and 15 other names - you just need to create the display board itself. I made my display board using my computer and lots of fancy photo and graphic design software. You can d o something similar, or something even more elaborate, or something much simpler. It's entirely up to you. If you want, you can simply take a marker pen and write the names out on a flipchart, whiteboard, pad or paper frame. The Subliminal Prediction also works as a nice close-up item. I prepared smaller versions of the display board printed on good quality paper measuring roughly 6 inches by 4 inches (16cms by IOcms). Folded once in half, this fits easily into my wallet. If I use the Matsuyama Force, all I need are items to count with: beer mats and torn pieces of newspaper work well.

Thanks and Credits 1 have already credited my two sources of inspiration for thii effect - Richard Osterlind and Lewis Jones. Lewis also told me about Mitsumatsu Matsuyama's binary elimination force, and shared with me some correspondence about its possible applications. He in turn came across it in Karl Fulves's book 'My Best Self-working Card Tricks'. I think I was also inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Purloined Letter' - the first story to feature something being concealed by not being concealed at all. I thought I'd mention this because my friend Rory Raven, who is not only a splendidly stylish mentalist but also an expert on this kind of literature, would quite rightly tell me off if 1 didn't. Thanks also to Banachek for expressing hi interest in thii idea and thereby encouraging me to develop it.


Elephant From Matchbox Effect The Performer suggests that everyone has psychic faculties, and introduces an experiment intended to explore this theme. He invites a spectator to hy a simple psychic challenge - guessing the outcome of a purely imaginary coin toss. On a normal writing pad, the performer writes down whether this imaginary coin lands heads or tails. The spectator makes his guess, and is 100%correct. This is not very impressive, because it's just a 50-50 chance. However, the performers then presents four more challenges of a similar nature. The spectator is correct every single time - and has no idea how he is doing it.

Introduction 'Elephant From Matchbox' is a general principle with many applications in mentalism. It enables you to offer any one-from-two choice, and to write down the answer beforehand, such that you can always control the outcome. If you want the spectator to be right, he will be right. If you want him to be wrong, he will be wrong. It does not use psychological techniques, nail or band writers, cues or prompting. If you use the spectator-as-psychicroutine, he has no idea how he is achieving his successful results.

What You Need A lined writing pad with 'comb' binding down the long edge (also called 'spiral' or 'wiro' binding)

A black marker pen Scissors, spray adhesive

Learning the principle The writing pad must be of the type illustrated, with what is known as 'comb' or 'spiral' or 'wiro' binding down the long edge, so that it opens flat. It must also be lined or ruled, with pre-printed horizontal lines across every page. I haven't included these

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horizontal lines in any of the illustrations, so please just imagine them. The pad should also have reasonably stout cardboard covers. To learn the basic handling, turn to the 10th page of the pad and write 'Heads'. Hold the pad up in your right hand as illustrated, as if you were displaying it to an audience. Note: I'm left-handed, so by all means swap left-for-right as you work with these notes. The cover is closed, but your thumb marks the page on which you've just written. With a gentle flick of your forearm and wrist, but very little movement, it's easy to make the pad swing open at the page marked by your thumb.

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Try it a few times to find the most natural position for you to hold the pad in this fashion, and note whereabouts your thumb tends to grip the page. For most people, it is just a little less than halfway up. Look at the knuckle of your thumb. You are using a 'lined' or 'ruled' pad, with horizontal lines on every page. Find the line nearest to the knuckle of your thumb. We'll call this the thumb line. Open your pad at the 10th page. With your scissors, cut along the thumb line for a couple of inches ( 5 4 . More specifically, this slit only needs to go as far as your thumb extends across the page. Having done this, turn to the 11th page and write 'Tails'. Turn back to the 10th page. Hold the pad as shown, with your thumb half inside the slit. Specifically, the lower part of your thumb is resting on page 1 0 ('Heads'), while the tip of your thumb has passed through the slit and is resting on page 11 ('Tails'). Retaining this grip with your thumb, close the pad and again hold it up as illustrated above. We'll call this the Display Start Position. You are now going to open the pad in two slightly different ways.


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First, with the pad still closed, slide the tip of your thumb down a little, so it passes back out of the slit. Then slide it back up a little, this time passing over the slit and covering it up. (The illustration shows a 'cut away' view of what is happening under the pad's closed cover.) Your thumb is now gripping the pad at page 10. Swing the pad open, and the audience see 'Heads'. Now try the alternative. Get back to the Display Start Position. The pad is closed, and your thumb is half inside the slit. Slide your thumb up the page a little, so that even more of your thumb passes through the slit. When you d o this, the lower half of page 1 0 comes free, and is no longer held by the lower portion of your thumb. When you now swing the pad open, it opens at page 11 and the audience see 'Tails'. The necessary thumb adjustment is tiny, and can be accomplished in a split second. This is the basic handling.

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Refining the handling ways of opening the pad You may find there is sometimes a problem when you swing the pad open at page 11 (Tails).Sometimes, the slit in the first page (Heads) can announce itself as the pad swings open. To solve this problem, you can open the pad in two other ways. The Book O~eninq.Hold the pad in the Display Start Position, with your thumb in the slit page as usual. To access the second page (Tails),perform the small secret move with your right thumb. Raise your left hand to grip the lower corner of the pad. Keep your right hand motionless, and slowly open the pad with your left hand like opening a book. This is gentler than the 'Swing' opening, and securely hides the secret slit. The S ~ i n Crack e Opening. Hold the pad in the Display Start Position as before. Execute the secret thumb move. With your left hand, grip the pad fairly tightly at the spine as illustrated. You can then open the pad with a kind of flexing action, pressing from the back with your left fingers to cause the pad to open. This is another way of opening the pad without any chance of the secret slit being revealed.


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Refining the h a n d l i n g avoiding show-through Most 'comb' bound pads use fairly thin paper. Hence if you open the pad at the 'Tails' page, to some extent you can see 'Heads' through the back of the opposite page. This will ruin the trick, so you must make the first page of the pair a double thickness page, simply by gluing two pages together. You can do this easily with some spray adhesive (available at any art and crafts supply store). Getting two pages of the pad perfectly aligned and glued can be harder than it sounds. Here's a little trick that helps. Hold the pad by one long edge, and let it fall open at the page that is gdng to be double thickness. Spray the adhesive, paying special attention to the outer edges of the page. Let the next page of the pad fall down, and give the pad a gentle shake as you d o so. Gravity does the work for you! The second page will fall down in perfect alignment with the first. Press the two pages lightly together so they adhere. You can then lie the pad flat, press the two pages together properly, and let them dry. This double-thickness page will be the first of your pair (the 'Heads' page, so to speak), so it will be the page with the secret slit. You now know all there is to know about the Elephant From Matchbox principle, and can start using it in an actual routine.

Five Challenges Routine preparation Start with a fresh, blank pad. Open it at the 10th page. You may be wondering why we start at the 10th page. The reason is that the principle works best when the part of the pad that you swing open is lighter than the part that stays put. S o we always work with pages in the upper half of the pad's thickness. However, a few blank pages above the slit page also help to disguise the secret. The 10th page is roughly the right place to start, but by all means vary this to suit yourself. In the routine, the first challenge will concern the imaginary coin toss. S o your first job is to create a pair of pages that will enable you to reveal either outcome. Convert the 10th page into double-thickness page, as explained above. Leave it blank. On the next page down, draw an H and a T as shown, standing for 'Heads' and 'Tails' respectively. Put a bold tick against the T. Turn back to page 10. In faint pencil draw an H and T in exactly the same position. During performance, these faint pencil marks will not be seen. You will go over them with your black marker pen, thereby matching the 'H' and T' you have already drawn on the page beneath. Cut the necessary secret slit in this page. That's the preparation for your first challenge. Pages 1 0 and 11 are all set, and you will be able to make the coin toss challenge come out either way.


The second challenge in the routine is going to be about whether an imaginary roulette spin lands on red or black. So you need to create two more pages. You have just prepared pages 10 and 11. Leave a couple of blank intermediate pages, and then start preparing your next pair of challenge pages. It's the exact same procedure. Create the double-thickness page. Leave it blank. On the next page, draw Rand B, and put a large tick against the B. Turn back to the double-thickness page. Use your fine pencil to draw your guideline R and B. Remember, in performance you will go over these fine lines with your marker pen, so that the Rand B you draw will match the ones you have already drawn on the pagebeneath. Make the secret slit, and you're done. The third challenge will be about a choice between two shapes - a square and a triangle. So you create a pair of pages accordingly. Same process... leave some intermediate blank pages. Make your double-thickness page. On the next page, draw a triangle and a square, and tick the square. On the double-thick page, put in the faint pencil guidelines, and cut the slit. The fourth challenge will be about whether a thought-of number falls between 1-50 or 50100.Prepare the two pages in the usual way, but with a slight addition. On the second page of the pair, as well as ticking the 50-100 option, add a small '68?. The fifth challenge will be about whether a thought-of famous person is male or female. Prepare the two pages in the usual way, so that you can show either M for Male or F for Female. As with the 'number' challenge, there is a slight addition. On the second page of the pair, as well as ticking F for female, add a small 'Marilyn?. You're all ready. You just need the pad and your black marker pen.

Five Challenges Routine - performance You will have gathered from the lecture that I don't think mentalism always has to be either solemn or serious. However, I believe this routine deserves to be played straight. With a little acting, you can persuade the audience they really are witnessing something bordering on ESF: or at least some very weird and subtle form of influence. I am assuming you have got the gist of the presentation from the lecture, so I will cut a few corners here. You introduce the theme and get your volunteer (let's just assume she's called Jacqueline). "Jacqueline, if I toss a coin and ask you to guess heads or tails, you might guess right or you might not. [Take out the coin and toss it] The odds are fifty-fifty. But I believe you can be right a t least five times in a row. And we're not even going to use a real coin. [Put the coin away] This will all take place in your mind. Here's what I'd like you to do. Listen to my voice, and try an exercise in mental visualisation. It's like I'm running a movie in your mind. I'm tossing a coin. You see it in slow motion. I t goes up, up, high into the air... spinning, turning, high in the air... and it's starting to fall."

Pick up the pad and get ready to open it at the first double-thickness slit page. This is the top page of the two which you prepared to deal with the coin toss challenge. It appears blank to the audience, but actually bears very faint pencil traces which copy the H and T on the page below. Casually flash this apparently blank page. "All we know is that this coin is going to land heads or tails."

With your marker pen, write in H and T o n the blank page, following your pre-drawn pencil guidelines. Show the audience the result, standing in the Display Position, and explain that H is obviously for 'Heads' and T for 'Tails'. Turn the pad back towards yourself and say that you are going to tick one of them. Disguise your writing actions however best you can, so that no-one can tell where you put the tick. In fact, you tick H. Replace the cap on the pen. Put your thumb into the secret slit, and stand with the pad closed in the Display Start Position. Ian Rowland Lecture Notes

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But then ask her if she had a specific number in mind. If she happened to choose 37 or 68, which is psychologically likely, you have an extra climax. If not, show that she was right even though you had a different number in mind. The fifth and final challenge works in a similar way. You say "Jacqueline,you've done brilliantly well. We've worked with coins, roulette, shapes and numbers. For your final psychic challenge, let's work with people. I'm going to imagine a famous person walking into this room, and you're going to guess whether this person is male or female. I'll tell you this person is no longer with us, but their name and image will live forever. It's someone that everyone has heard of, a star, an icon of the twentieth century. He or she still has millions of fans."

You pick up the pad and use the final pair of prepared pages. The audience see the blank page. They see you write in M for 'Male' and F for 'Female', and you show these. Then, with the pad towards yourself, you tick M for Male, and also write 'Elvis?. The other prepared page takes care of the 'Female' option, and has 'Marilyn? added. With a little luck, Jacqueline will come up with one of these names. You take care of the outcome in the usual way. However, there's a strong chance that Jacqueline will also get the exact name - Elvis or Marilyn. Here's an additional presentation point. As soon as Jacqueline mentions her choice - male or female - mention the opposite example that she could have picked. So if Jacqueline opts for 'Male', say "Male? Good choice! You could have thought of... oh, let's say, Marilyn Monroe. She's actually the most common choice. But you went for male, yes?"

and show that she was right. If she also got 'Elvis', then she gets added kudos. If she opts for 'Female', say "Female? Good choice! You could have thought of ... oh, let's say, Elvis Presley. He's actually the most common choice. But you went for female, yes?"

and then you conclude the routine.

Thoughts Arising Elephant From Matchbox can be more or less any kind of mentalism routine you want.

If you want to be a super-mindreader, ask a spectator to just imagine tossing a coin and seeing if it lands heads or tails. You focus on him, divine his secret thoughts, study his body language and so on (depending what kind of patter you prefer) and write down your guess. He announces whether he was thinking 'heads' or 'tails', and you show you guessed correctly. You can d o the same with any 50-50 choice, and you can d o it as many times in a row as you want - depending on how many pages you prepare in advance. If you want to show you can predict the future, then you apparently write down 'heads' or 'tails' ahead of time, and then get the spectator to toss an imaginary coin or a real one, and you can show that you predicted the outcome correctly. Again, this works with any 50-50 event, and you can d o it as often as you like. If you want to build a routine around the psychic prowess of a spectator, you can use the sort of 'five challenges' presentation I have already described. If you want to show that you can out-guess the spectator, you can challenge him five times (maybe with a bet) and make sure he guesses wrong every time. Instead of one spectator facing five challenges, you can have five spectators who try one challenge each. This is useful if you like to involve more people. I don't think Elephant From Matchbox would be easy to use when working close-up. However, it is suitable for any type of platform, stage or cabaret work, and you can work

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with spectators either joining you on stage or simply staying where they are - seated or standing. You can even d o this on TV, and read the mind of a viewer at home who is phoning in to the studio.

Thanks and Credits Derren Brown has popularised an effect in which he correctly guesses in which hand a spectator is biding a coin, five times in a row. Charles Gauci's 'Eye To Eye' enables the performer to present similar kinds of routines. Neither of these has any direct bearing on Elephant From Matchbox. However, while watching Derren's routine I thought how nice it would be not to use an actual prop, such as a coin, and d o the whole thing as a thought experiment. I just imagined writing the 'right' answer on a pad, and then revealing what I'd written with no moves... just by letting the pad swing open. After banging my head against a brick wall for a long time, which is something I d o a lot, I came up with the routine you've just read. Another influence was Max Maven's 'Khan Artist', from Volume 3 of his Videomind series. There is no resemblance in terms of plot or method. However, a major deceptive feature of 'Khan Artist' is that it seems to use very simple, innocent-looking home-made props. This, I think, was an influence when Elephant From Matchbox was taking shape in my head. You will be wondering about the name. Some time ago I was in a pub in Bristol with Derren Brown having an enjoyably stupid conversation. We were talking about magic books, and how the names of the tricks are often rather dull. For our own puerile amusement, we started thinking up silly names for tricks, such as Torn And Restored Statue Of Liberty, Signed Card to Pancreatic Duct, Levitating Fog, Poker Deal From Silk and so on. Elephant From Matchbox was another example, and I just thought it was time someone actually used it.


The No Method Drawing Duplication There are essentially three situations in which you might attempt a drawing duplication. The first is a formal show, where you are all set to use your preferred method, whatever this happens to be. The second is an impromptu situation. You are not prepared, nor d o you have any special props with you. However, you riffle through your mental checklist of impromptu drawing dupe methods, and hope that one will work:

- psychological forces -

glimpses and peeks

- the centre tear - naturally-occurring reflections and shiners - naturally-occurring impression devices, such as the shiny paperback cover - pencil reading, or (more ambitiously) sound reading All of these methods have at least two things in common. They can all be devastatingly effective. And they can ail can be spiked by a reasonably intelligent lay person who isn't wen trying to be particularly awkward or unhelpful. There will always be despicable people who make sure you can't see or hear anything, can't peek or glimpse, and that everything they use - paper, pad, pen - stays well-guarded until the experiment is over. This brings us to the third possible situation: an impromptu setting in which you'd like to try a drawing dupe, but none of the usual impromptu methods will work. For all such situations, I here offer the No Method Drawing Duplication.

The Basic Ingredients The No Method Drawing Duplication uses four ingredients:

- educated guesswork based on experience - visual ambiguity

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a small number of outs

- acting


There is an excellent book called 'Psychology of the Psychic' by David Marks and Richard Kamman. sub-titled A ' wnetratina scientific analysis of claims of psychic abilities'. In the ~ ~ ~ e n dthe i xauthors , provide a list of the most common things ihat people draw when invited to make a simple drawing. The illustration below is derived from the list in the book, with some additions based on my own experience and suggestions from other mindreaders. Marks and Kamman sorted their list by frequency, whereas this list is sorted by theme or visual similarity. From the top:

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- the two commonest drawings: stick man, house - the basic geometrical shapes: circle, square, cube -

the triangle motifs: boat, star of david

-the circle motifs: sun, flower, apple, smiley face, spiral, circle with a cross in it, eye

- pets: cat, dog, fish

- tree, ladder - modes of transport: car, horse Twenty one items in all. (I'm actually a brilliant freehand artist, and I could have drawn all of these items with remarkable flair and skill. However, since most spectators draw fairly crude scribbles, I've deliberately simulated this lack of talent for added realism. I trust this is absolutely clear.) You do not really need to memorise this list. Nevertheless, if you intend to be dabbling in mentalism for any length of time, there is nothing to lose and lots to gain by committing this list to memory, and it helps to memorise the items in the groups presented here. Now let's look at the actual routine.


The Routine Let us suppose you are working with a young woman called Jacqueline (just to pick a name at random). First of all, it helps to present the item as a demonstration of her abilities, not yours: 'You know there's more and more research these days suggesting that we all have some kind of ESP. I mean, sure, there's a lot of nonsense talked about it as well, and if we all had these amazing powers of ESP we wouldn't need telephones, would we? But leaving all the nonsense asipe, it's surprising how many people can train themselves to kind of 'tune in' to some thoughts and impressions. Let me just try something with you. It's very easy, and I think you'll do well".

As you say this, take whatever pen and paper is to hand, and make a simple sketch of a cube and a tree, as shown. Show this as you continue: "Please make a simple drawing. Anything simple that you can visualise in your mind for two or three minutes. It can be just a shape [gesture to the cube], it can be something natural [gesture to the tree], but don't make it complicated. Try to avoid anything totally abstract or surreal, because that just makes it harder for you. Do you understand? Oh, and don't draw a 'stick figure' or a 'house' because everyone picks those."

This opening spiel has spiked four possibilities: cube, tree, stick figure, house. Get rid of the sheet on which you just drew a cube and a tree. You now need to make sure that you are left with just one piece of paper on which you will make your own drawing later on. This is an important part of the method, for reasons that will become clear later. S o if you are using a pad of paper, rip one sheet out for yourself and give the pad to Jacqueline, saying "I'll just keep one piece for myself". Similarly, if you are using loose sheets of paper, just take one that you say is for your own use, and make it clear that you will have nothing to do with the rest. It is important that you end up with just one piece of paper, and everyone knows this is the only piece of paper you will use. Jacqueline now makes her drawing under whatever conditions of secrecy she desires. For once in your life you are not trying to control her actions, glean any clues or accomplish any trickery. Enjoy this moment. Savour the delicious feeling of being able to relax, with nothing to conceal or worry about, and wear your halo of authentic innocence with pride. If there are others present, some of them may be scrutinising your actions carefully, hoping to catch any sign of trickery. Enjoy the fact that there is nothing for them to notice except your sincerity and innocence. When the gracious Jacqueline announces that she is ready, you can attempt your drawing duplication. Go through the usual 'Look at me and concentrate' rigmarole with Jacqueline, inviting her to mentally focus on her drawing in her mind and to 'send' it to you. As far as possible, arrange things so that no-one can see what you are drawing.


Step 1.Along the top of your piece of paper, draw a simple spiral shape. Then, next to it, draw two triangles as shown. Note that the triangles overlap but are not very well-aligned, and that the lower triangle has a slightly flattened base, although this is not very obvious. Write 'Z?'.

Step 2. Pretend that what you have just drawn was your initial impression, but you're not happy with it and you want to try harder. If you are playing to the gallery, you may want to actually say some words to this effect. Alternatively, just act it through your mannerisms, expressions and gestures. Fold the top part of the paper down, so that you conceal what you have just drawn, and give it a good crease.

Step 3. Write the words 'cat? pet? somewhere towards the upper left of the remaining page area, not too large. Cross them out with a single line. Step 4. Draw a large circle more or less in the centre of the remaining area. Do this in a single, continuous line. Note that at the top it does not quite connect with itself, and features a small dip or indentation.

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Step 5. Around this, draw what a cartoonist would call 'bright' or 'shine' lines. Draw the first so that it emerges from the indentation at the top of the circle, much like the stalk of an apple. Draw two more at what you might call the 5 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions. Add just one or two more, without being tempted to overdo it.

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Step 6. Add two dots in the upper half of the circle, one left of centre and the other just right of centre. These could be eyes, drawn a little off-centre, or they could just be dots. Add a third dot off to one side.

Step 7. Add a curved line running around the lower right arc of the circle, quite close to the perimeter, and add a shorter arc which intersects.

Step 8. Add a slanted V shape to the lower left and scribble the word 'bright'.

That's all. It may seem like quite a lot, but that's because we've gone through it step by step. In actual fact, it's very simple. It's easy to memorise, and you could draw the whole thing in about 20 seconds or less if you wanted to. How long you actually take over it depends on your presentational style and the mood of the moment, but in general I think you can 'sell' this for at least 1-2 minutes, and the longer the better (within reason). You now invite Jacqueline to reveal her drawing so that you can compare what she was sending with what you received.


Circular themes In about 75% of cases, there will be some correspondence between Jacqueline's drawing and the central circular motif that you have drawn. If she has drawn a sun, flower, apple/ fruit, smiley face, spiral, circle with a cross in it or eye, or anything else with a circular aspect to it, you can credit her with a hit or a partial hit. All you have to do is find and emphasise as much similarity between her drawing and yours as possible. In discussing the outcome, don't be afraid to go over your sketch with your pen to strengthen the bits that correlate well, and thereby diminish the importance of the bits that don't. It's quite amazing how far you can push thiiidea, and revise the evidence, without detracting from people's acceptance of the effect. Where there are strong similarities, give Jacqueline credit and say those were the elements that came through most clearly. Where the two drawings differ, or some elements don't agree, blame yourself and say "Oh, those bits... 1 shouldn't have added them. 1 wasn't paying close enough attention to what you were sending me". Note that I d o not say you, the Performer, can claim a hit. Not at all. You make it dear that this experiment is all about her abilities and psychic talents, and it is up to you to give her as much credit as you can.

Spiral or triangular t h e m e s In another 15%of cases, you will need to work a little harder to make Jacqueline look like a success. If she has drawn a spiral, a boat based on a 'triangle' shape, a star of David or any triangle-based motif, then you need to exploit the small drawings you made at the top of the paper, before you folded the top section down. Do not simply unfold the top part to show that you the drawings match or partially match. It pays to be a little more subtle than that. Lay your piece of paper down, with the folded over portion nearest Jacqueline. Act as if you are disappointed in yourself. Say, "Oh, this sometimes happens. I've failed. I'm so annoyed with myself. You were fine, you did really well, but it's my fault. I've got to learn to trust my first impressions. I d o wish I'd just stuck with the first impressions 1 got from you." At this point, give a half-hearted gesture towards the folded-over portion of the paper, without over-selling it. You can guarantee that Jacqueline will now be very keen to see what your first impressions were, as will anyone else present. She will reach for the paper and unfold the top section to see what you drew. As before, your job is to find ways to give Jacqueline as much credit as you possibly can. The bits that are right are the "clearest impressions I got from you", and the bits that aren't are just down to your own mistakes and your lack of concentration. Pets

If Jacqueline has drawn a dog, cat or fish, then once again you must act as if you are disappointed with yourself for not having concentrated more on the clearest impressions you were getting. Point to what you wrote in the upper left section of the page. "You know something? That's what I wrote first of all, and then my concentration just wandered, 1 didn't think it was going to be that simple so I started making it more complicated. I'm sorry, you were fine but 1just didn't do well here". The claim that this is what you wrote first is true (forgetting about the 'folded over' part which you rejected when you started again). It is supported by the fact that these words appear in the upper left portion of the page, which is, presumably, where you would start your writing or drawing. Alpha series set 1:Mentalism

O t h e r possibilities

If it's a car or horse, or something else entirely, you don't have a satisfactory 'out' and you will just have to take the blame for it not having worked. However, you can at least take a chance and ask Jacqueline, "Did you honestly not think of something else first? Was that really the first idea that came to you?" There's a fair chance that she will say she did think of something else, at least momentarily, and hopefully this 'something' will have some correspondence with part of your drawing.

If her drawing has no connection with yours, and the 'Was that your first thought? ruse hasn't worked, then you have one last chance. You can identify one of the commoner motifs that are in your drawing, such as a flower or a cat, and ask Jacqueline, "Tell me something. I didn't do very well here and I'm sorry I failed, but is there any reason why flowers / a cat should be on your mind today, or recently?". Should she give any sort of positive response, you can try to massage this into a partial success if you think it's worth it. For example, perhaps she owns a cat. If so, ask her if there was some incident involving the cat recently, some little story or something unusual. You are almost certain to unearth some sort of incident or story, in which case you can claim that you tuned in to her feelings, her emotions, and for some reason the 'cat' came through so that's what you wrote. It's up to you how much mileage you try to get from this. You can say that it's quite amazing when someone does a drawing and they manage to send it to you, but how much more amazing when you manage to tune into something that hadn't even been drawn! With luck, this story will improve in the re-telling, and you will be credited with having managed to reproduce someone's thoughts even though nothing was written down. On such slender supports are many mighty and miraculous reputations made. And that is the No Method Drawing Duplication.

Thoughts Arising Pipe d r e a m o r practical? If you said you entertained a certain healthy skepticism about this item, I would understand your point of view. Let me give you a cast-iron assurance that yes, I have used this many times in real life, and yes, it does work. If I hadn't tried it out in real life, I wouldn't publish it here. In fact, although the NMDD started out as a kind of 'emergency life saver', these days 1 often use it in non-emergency situations. I am not referring to formal shows, where of course I prefer to take a more sure-fire route. But in all relatively informal situations, I often try out the NMDD even if I happen to have a more sure-fire method available. For one thing, I find it interesting and exciting precisely because the outcome isn't guaranteed. Secondly, I find that over time I'm getting better at making it work - both in terms of subtly constraining the spectator's choice, and also in terms of improvising during the climax so as to make it look as successful as possible. Of course, there are times when it fails completely. So long as it's not the only thing people ever see you do, I think occasional failure is an acceptable price to pay. Re-statement of aims Secondly, let me repeat what this is, and what it is not. It is a possible route to success, or partial success, when you have no formal method to hand, and the standard 'impromptu' methods are not going to work. 1 am hammering this point to death for a good reason. I once gave a lecture where I presented this item, and afterwards I heard someone say, "Why Ian Rowland Lecture Notes

take such a chance when there are so many reliable methods around, like dipboards or..." and luted several dealer items that facilitate drawing duplication. This same point was then echoed on various internet forums. "Why rely on such a chance approach when there are so many sure-fire methods around...". Excuse me while I step outside and scream.

Boosting the chances of a hit There are two further thoughts that I'd like to pass on. First of all, there is a very simple way to boost your chances of success to near certainly: ask two people to make a drawing instead of just on:! If two people d o a drawing, you can be virtually certain that either (a) there is a strong correspondence between either of their drawings and some element of yours, or (b) there is some correspondence between their two drawings. Either way, you can credit someone present with a degree of telepathic ability.

Custornising the 'most likely' list There is nothing set in stone about the l i t of 21 'most likely' drawings I present here. I think it's a good lit, and I've had a lot of success with it. However, with this routine as with anything else in magic, I hope that you read it only as a springboard for your own ideas and thoughts. I'm sure there are many social, cultural and personal factors which play a part in the development of a list like this. It is more than likely you would want to drop some of the 21 drawings suggested here, and to substitute others which come up quite often in your own experience. For example, I discussed an early draft of thii routine with mentalist Drew McAdam, who finds for some reason that he gets the 'car' coming up far more often than I do. He has therefore adapted his version of the NMDD to accommodate this possibility. Why does it come up very often for him, and very rarely for me? Who knows. There could be lots of reasons or none.

A final thought Here's one final thought. If you are working one-on-one, with nobody else present, then there is no need for Jacqueline to actually draw anything at all. You can take her through the same preamble, but invite her to just think of her 'drawing' without actually drawing anything on paper. It obviously makes no difference to the 'method'. You just draw exactly what you would draw in the normal No Method Drawing Dupe routine. You take the risk that Jacqueline might lie to you, but it's up to you judge if you can trust her. This 'nothing written down' approach is worth trying occasionally, just in case it works and you get a strong hit (which is bound to happen from time to time). If it does, encourage the person concerned to tell everyone about your astonishing experiment, and how she successfully transmitted her thoughts to you even though she wrote down nothing.

Thanks and Credits As far as I'm aware, Banachek was the first to publish a 'universal drawing'. It appears in his

book, 'Psychological Subtleties', which is absolutely required reading for anyone interested in mentalism. The drawing I present here is an amalgam of all sorts of ideas and small refinements which I built up over many years, starting long before I saw Banachek's wonderful book. However, this version does incorporate Banachek's idea as well, and I readilyacknowledge this. When I first lectured on this item, Banachek was gracious enough to allow me to refer to his own 'universal drawing' in the lecture. I thanked him at the time and I thank him again now. Alpha series set 1: Mentalism

I would also like to thank Mike Hutchinson for introducing me not just to the Marks & Kamman book, but also to co-author David Marks! Mike has been an invaluable friend for many years, and is very good at introducing me to interesting books and people that I doubt I would have met otherwise. I said that the NMDD started out as a kind of life-saver, which reminds me to mention that Michael Weber's superb book 'Life Savers' is well worth reading. It is packed to the brim with good ideas for 'emergency situations', and although it's not a mentalism book as such it contains plenty for any mentalist to enjoy.

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Lecture Notes Thanks and Acknowledgements I would like to thank my many very good friends in magic and mentalism who have helped in various ways while I was putting these Lecture Notes together. There are really too many to list here, but you know who you are. I recruited Lewis Jones and David Britland to wade through early drafts, and they both provided invaluable notes and corrected many errors. The errors that remain are entirely my fault. Drew McAdam also gave me the benefit of his views and experience after reading an early draft, which resulted in a few major tweaks here and there. Thanks also to Banachek for his influence and interest, and to Alan Jackson for sustaining me with much delightfully entertaining correspondence while I was putting these notes together. I would also like to thank all those who have encouraged me to give the occasional lecture, including Marc Paul, who first proposed that I should lecture at the Magic Circle, Duncan Trillo who founded the very enjoyable London 'Mind Magic' conventions and encouraged me to participate, and Spyros Melaris who organised the superb 'Escape From The Asylum' day and suggested I present a few bits and pieces.

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Preludes 'Preludes' is not a trick or routine. Preludes are just an idea that I have found to be tremendously useful, and which you might find useful as well. Put simply, Preludes are four double-sided picture cards which you can make and cany with you at all times. They have a least three uses:

- they serve as an excellent prelude to any close-up mind magic - they are useful when you want to entertain a small group but do not want to actually perform any mind magic tricks or routines as such

- they'make excellent promotional give-aways I will describe the cards I use (but you can make your own variations), and then 1 will explain how you can use them.

The Cards My set of Preludes consists of four double-sided cards. These yield seven different images to talk about (why not eight? You will see why in a moment). Most of these images are colourful, and contain a photographic level of detail. As these lecture notes can only indude black-and-white line illustrations, I can't convey the appearance of the cards very well in the illustrations on the next page. However, I usually have some actual examples with me at the lecture, so I hope you have had a chance to see them. Failing that, if for some reason you want to know what my set of cards actually look like, you can always contact me via my website (www.ianrowland.com). The seven images are as follows:

1. Marilyn Monroe illusion. Viewed upside down, it seems like an easily-recognised photo of Marilyn. Viewed right way up, it is seen to be grossly distorted. 2. Clown 1 Circus illusion. The 'Clown face' rotated 90 degrees becomes 'the whole circus' 3. Skull illusion. From a distance looks like a skull, but it's actually a lady in front of a mirror. 4. Twin circles illusion. Stare at the dot in .the middle and move your head backwards and forwards. The circles seem to rotate in opposite directions. 5. Cow's head puzzle picture. Seems to be meaningless jumble of splodges. When viewed correctly, is a photo image of a cow's head.


6. The Adelson 'chequer board' illusion. Features two squares, marked with an X, which seem to be differentshades but which are exactly the same colour. You can prove this by placing a 'mask' over the image so that only these two squares show through.

7. Hour Youth Income. My own invention. A written phrase that seems to make no sense. When spoken out loud, the words suddenly form a suitable message. I created the artwork for the cards as a single page in my computer graphics program (the mighty Corel Draw). I print this page out on to one sheet of 8 transparent, self-adhesive inkjet labels. I applied the labels to double-blank Bicyde card stock and trimmed the excess. This gave me four double-sided cards: 1.Marilyn / Clown 2. Skull / Circles 3. Cow / Chequerboard 4. Hour Youth / mask for chequerboard illusion On the fourth card, 1 took a sharp modelling knife and cut out two diamond shapes. This means this card can act as a mask for the Chequerboard illusion (thiipoint will become clearer later on). These cut-outs do not affect the 'Hour Youth' message on the other side. I cany these four cards around with me in my wallet at all times. They take up next to no room, can last forever and are easily replaced even if I lose them or give them away. Now let's look at how to use them.


Using the Cards What I d o not suggest is that you simply show one of the cards and say 'Look at this interesting optical illusion'. This misses the entire point of the Preludes. Instead, I suggest you use each of the images as a way of introducing themes pertaining to the mind, perception, mind magic or positive thinking and mind motivation. It only takes a little imagination, and some presentational experience, to exploit the illusions in thii manner. You will have your own preferred themes, and hence your own preferred way of exploiting the cards. The crucial point is to give each illusion a context, and to use it as an introduction (a prelude) to something your audience can relate to. I'm going to give you some examples based on my own work, and the kinds of subjects that I like to talk about when I'm performing. Adjust them to suit yourself. In the examples that follow, let's assume I am in a relatively informal close-up or social setting, chatting with a small group. I am either going to perform some close-up mind magic, or I at least want to entertain people for a short while. I almost always start with the Marilyn illusion, so I'll discuss that one fust.

The Marilyn illusion With my right hand, I hold the card directly in front of the spectator's face, but I cover the card with my left hand so he can't see what it is yet. The photo is in the 'upside down' position so that the distortion is non-obvious.


"I think you'll find this fascinating. In a moment I'm going to show you a photograph of a very famous person, and then I'll ask you who it is. This is not a trick question. She must be one of the most recognisable people of all time, and I promise that if you think you know the answer then you probably do! So I'll give you three seconds and then you can tell me the answer. It's upside down to make it a bit harder, but trust me, I'm sure you'll get i t right".

1 then take away my hand for three seconds, counting out loud "One second, two seconds, three seconds" and then I cover the image again. The spectator will say it's a photo of Marilyn Monroe.

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"Well done! Absolutely right. Now your mind has just done something absolutely remarkable. Out of all the millions of faces you have ever seen, your mind has just instantly located the correct label... in this case 'Marilyn Monroe'. And scientists still aren't sure how the mind can do this. But there's something even more fascinating. You have just managed to 'recognise', or stick a label on to, a n image you've never seen before in your life."

I then take my hand away, and slowly rotate the card 180 degrees so that people can see how distorted the image appears. Turning the card very slowly is important, because it gives the spectator a nice 'surprise' moment as the 'recognised' face becomes the 'hideous' face. I then give this a 'positive thinking' spin, like this: "I talk to people all the time about how the mind works, and how you can harness your mind's potential, and this [the illusion] actually illustrates a n important point. We often stick a label on a situation that we think we recognise. We say That's something I'd be no good at' or 'I could never achieve that', and we're sticking mental labels on to situations we think we recognise. But we could be mistaken, just like with this. By changing the label we stick on a given situation, we often change how we approach it, and this can open the door to achieving things we didn't realise we could achieve. So next time you find yourself sticking an unhelpful label on, such as 'I recognise this kind of challenge - it's the sort of thing I could never do', realise that the label might not be accurate. Try sticking a different label on it, one that says, 'This might be quite a tough challenge, but I'm pretty sure I can wpe with it' ."

If the 'positive thinking' spin isn't appropriate, then 1 might just use the Marilyn illusion as a prelude to a favourite close-up mentalism item, like this: "My field is the magic of the mind, and this [the illusion] illustrates some of the ideas that I play with when I entertain people. You see, you look a t it one way and your mind sees something fairly normal, fairly ordinary: a picture of a famous movie star. Look a t it another way, and it's very --ordinary! And my job is to explore that gap, where the ordinary becomes the extraordinary, and it all happens here, in the mind. For example ..."

And then I segue into whatever close-up mentalism I want to perform. Clown

/ Circus illusion

If I have shown the Marilyn illusion, I generally follow it up with the clown illusion on the other side. I present it the same way, by covering it up and revealing it for three seconds. Here's the kind of presentational patter I use: "Let's try just one more. This time, I'm asking you what job this person does. So I'll show you the picture, and if you think he looks like a doctor then you'll say 'Doctor'; if you think he looks like a n acrobat, you'll say 'Acrobat'. It's dead easy. Honestly, I've never known anyone not get this right. Here we go..."

After the three seconds the spectator will say 'Clown' and I cover the image again. "Absolutely correct. It's a picture of a clown. Where does a clown work, or where would you expect to find several of them?"


The spectator says 'Circus'. "Correct. And here's a picture of a circus".

I take my hand away and very slowly rotate the image through 90 degrees, so that the 'clown' becomes a 'circus'. I hold it in the circus position for a while, because it takes most people a few seconds to perceive the new picture. Here's my typical positive thinking spiel about this: "This illustrates a really important point. Sometimes, we only see part of the whole picture, here represented by the clown. It can be really useful to train your mind to look a t things in a different way, so that you see the whole picture, or a t least a more complete version. This is represented here by the circus. However, it does sometimes work the other way round! There are times when we're less effective than we could be because we take in too much - the whole circus - and we need to focus on the part or the detail that really matters - here represented by the clown. It's a matter of learning to look a t things in the right way, the appropriate way, to get the results you want. Sometimes, we need to re-train ourselves to see the whole picture [circus], and sometimes we need to screen out the larger picture and focus on the specifics that matter [clown]. This is all part of using your mind effectively".

Or you can simply segue into a mind magic effect.

I hope these two examples give you the basic idea. Each illusion can be used as a springboard either to talk about various aspects of the mind, positive thinking and mind training, or just to set up various themes and faux-explanationswhich we tend to work with in mind magic. Now that you have the basic idea, let me deal with the remaining illusions more briefly.

This illusion is more well-known than some of the others. Nonetheless, it is still a delightful image which most people tend to like seeing. The fact that it seems to be one thing, and then on closer inspection is revealed to be something quite different, provides scope for any number of different presentational possibilities.

I have adopted the artwork slightly so that the image incorporates a small card, the two of spades. This tends not to be noticed until it is pointed out. The presence of thii card means you can perform Chuck Smith's stunning effect called 'Imagination' from his book 'What if?'. It's a great piece of mental magic, and.worth buying the book for.

Circles This is the best example I know of apparent motion generated from a static image. All you have to do is hold the card up, stare at the centre dot and move your head back and forth. The circles not only seem to rotate, but they do so in opposite directions. As with all of the Preludes cards, this lends itself to several presentational themes - learning to see a different way / seeing what isn't there / not seeing what is there / the same opportunity being viewed two different ways / the results you see being changed by the way you choose to see... and so on.

Cow's Head This is a 'puzzle picture'. If you don't know what it's a picture of, it can look like random splodges. After a time, your brain does its magic and fits the splodges together to make a cow's head. Once you do know what it is, it's impossible not to see it. Alpha series set 1: Mentalism

All you do is give the card to the spectator and ask him if he can see what it is. It's up to you whether you help him by at least telling him the correct orientation. I sometimes perform the reveal like this. I hold the card in the correct orientation and say "Behold, one two three! [snap fingers] The amazing appearing cow! Look, it's a cow and she's turned her head to the side to look straight a t you. Here's a n ear, here's another. Here's her eyes, the front of her face, her dark nose."

Once you point everything out in this way, most people will see the cow's head straight away. You just made a cow appear from nowhere right in front of their eyes! This is quite a piece of dose-up magic. If I were you I would encourage people to tell their friends about the amazing performer who made a cow appear from nowhere! It's the kind of story that enhances one's reputation. How you use this to segue into some mind chat or mind magic is, as ever, up to you. My usual line goes something like this: W e are all swimming in a sea of great opportunities all the time, but most of us just don't see them. The difference between successful people and the rest is not that the successful people get opportunities that the rest of us don't. It's that they train themselves to see these opportunities. And the funny thing is that opportunities can be as big and a s obvious as cow, standing right in front of us, but we just don't notice them! So... that's the secret of success... keep your eyes open for cows!"

Adelson illusion Also known as the chequerboard illusion. Invented by Edward Adelson, whose website (at the time of writing) is: http://www-bcs.mit.edu,/people/adeLson/ade1son.html

I simply show the picture to the spectator and let her look at it for a while. She will not see anything very strange about it. Then I explain that the two s q u m marked with an X are exactly the same shade and colour. I generally try to encourage a certain amount of healthy debate and discussion about this, before I provide the 'mask' card to prove that this is h e . Most people instinctively want to try it for themselves several times - without mask, with mask - before they can bring themselves to believe it. I find this illusion generates a lot of discussion and interest. The way I generally 'tweak it' is to my, 'The important thing here is not just that your mind could make a mistake. The point is that your mind can see it both ways. You can still see how the squares look as if they're different, and yet with just a little help [the paper or cardboard mask] you can see they're in fact the same. Sometimes, that's all the mind needs to see things in a new and more accurate way. It can be a business problem, a fresh challenge... whatever. When you face something that looks daunting or difficult, you can often help your own mind to see it differently, And when you see differently, you think differently, and when you think differently you can achieve different - and more positive - results."

Or in a more magic-related style, "I specialise in magic of the mind, and I don't mean 'magic' a s in tricks so much as 'magic'as in wonder, amazement. Because the mind really is amazing. This [the illusion] is a simple example of the way that your mind can perceive the same thing in two ways, 'different' or 'same'. In my work, I explore a similar difference between 'possible' and 'impossible'. Very often, what might seem impossible is possible if you just look a t it a different way... and I've had lots of practice a t looking a t things in a different way! Let me show you what I mean ..."

and I'm away into my next close-up miracle. Ian Rowland Lecture Notes

H o u r Youth Income

I made this up some time ago for a lecture on critical thinking and problem solving. All I do is say to someone, "I'm interested in your opinion. Please read this to yourself and tell me if you agree or not." The aim here is to get people trying to read it to themselves silently, using their inner mental voice, rather than reading it out loud. Most people will try to make sense of it and get absolutely nowhere. Indeed, so long as they concentrate on the words as words, it remains utterly incomprehensible. They only need a little coaxing, however, to read it out loud and to hear the words as sounds, which yield the message, 'How you think makes a difference to what you think'. Which is a lesson in itself.

Thoughts Arising I said at the start that I find the Preludes have three uses. I'd just like to elaborate on this point. Rrst of all, they are a good way to get people in the right frame of mind for some close-up mind magic. When you show the cards and start demonstrating the different illusions, you are doing a number of useful things. 1.You are making yourself the focus of attention, and getting the people near you into the habit of listening to you, following instructions, responding to cues and otherwise doing as they are told! In other words, you are conditioning them to be good spectators. 2. You are raising your status, since you are the provider of the interest and you are talking knowledgeably about the mind and how it works (or at least pretending to d o so). 3. You are giving people fun that they can share. I find Preludes are very good for building up a small, intimate audience because people usually want to try the illusions on their friends. S o in all of these ways you are creating ideal circumstances for launching into some of your favourite pieces of close up mind magic. Preludes are also very useful in social and informal circumstances where, for whatever reason, you don't want to perform any tricks but still want to provide some interest or entertainment. This can often happen. For example, perhaps the circumstances aren't really suitable for performing mentalism - such as in a busy restaurant or an overcrowded party. Or you may feel that there are one or two undesirables present who would only make life difficult if you were to start performing (sometimes, even though you can deal with such people, it's nice not to have to). Or maybe you've been working too hard, this is your first night 'off' in a long while, and you want to give yourself a break from performing! With the Preludes, you can still entertain people for a few minutes, and use the cards as a way of making your mark and letting people know the sorts of things you're into, without actually performing any tricks. Finally, Preludes make great promotional give-aways. In my own case, I don't give the cards away very often. Normally, I just give out my regular business card. However, if I happen to meet a very important contact, and I want to make absolutely sure that they will remember me, then I give away one of the cards and point out that my contact information is written down the side. They always keep the card and show it to other people, thereby creating a chain of publicity and awareness. Once I'm home, I just print out another sheet of Preludes, grab a blank card, replace the card I gave away and my set is complete again!

If you give away the Skull card without having pointed out the small two of clubs/spades, you can perform an effect so strong it should be illegal. You can phone the person you gave Alpha series set 1: Mentalism

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it to at some later date, check that they have the card with them, and then perform Chuck Smith's 'Imagination' routine with them Qver the hone. Thii will knock them into the middle of next week.

A Word About Tact It should be clear from the examples I've given that I am very tactful when I present the Preludes. When presenting the Marilyn illusion, for example, it is very important that the person you are addressing feels reassured that it's not a trick question, that the answer is easy, and they do not need to worry about feeling embarrassed or stupid. L i i i s e , after the 'reveal' 1take a moment to make it clear that the person who said 'Marilyn Monroe' is not stupid or gullible. I usually say something like, "By the way, John [whatever hi name is], everyone always gives the same answer that you did! So you did just fine, and thanks for your help!". Customising the Preludes This set of Preludes features seven illusions that I happen to like, and which I could create on my computer and printer. I encourage you to find your own illusions to be used in the same way. You can find them in books and on websites, and there are many to choose from. The important thing is to find ones that you personally find interesting, so that your own enthusiasm infects the audience. You also want ones that are just a little unusual, as opposed to ones that most people have seen a hundred times. In my set, only the 'Skull' illusion is familiar to most people, but I've included it because I like it so much and because it makes the Chuck Smith routine possible. The Adelson chequerboard illusion is becoming quite well-known now, because it has 'done the rounds' by email. I first came across it years ago, in 'The Magic Show', an amazing book by Mark Setteducatti and Anne Benkovtii which actually performs tricks on the reader! The others are a little more unusual, and most people I meet haven't seen them before. Over the past five years, ever since I started carrying these things around with me, I have found them to be tremendously useful. I hope you find them useful too.

tan Rowland Lecture Notes

Ian Rowland - Alpha Mentalism Lecture Notes

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