You know when I first started messing around with Mentalism I thought it was going to be really difficult… if only Mentalism Revealed had been around then!
Lucky for you, I’m going to show you how to get started straight away.
One of the biggest mistakes people make when they first start to play with this fascinating branch of magic is that they believe its going to be hard work, somehow requiring years of study, amazing mental faculties and incredible observation.
The fact, exciting when you think about it, is actually the opposite. In fact mentalism is one of the easiest branches of magic to get into and to be convincing at. Let me show you something.
The effect I am about to share with you works well at the start of a performance. On the board at the front of the room, you have three shapes – perhaps a red triangle, a blue square and a green circle.
As people arrive everyone notices the shapes, which you don’t mention.
You explain that you are going to talk through how minds can affect other people and you ask for a volunteer.
You confirm nothing has been agreed with them, and after talking a little about embedding commands, mental mind waves or whatever else you want, you ask them to tell you their shape. Lets say they pick the Triangle.
Instantly, with no pause, you flip the board over, where everyone can see you have written the words (You will pick the triangle)
Person sits down and you continue – believe me, I have done this many times, and audiences are always amazed and keen to know how it works….
You want to know too? Ok… so lets say they pick the circle – straight away you point to the persons chair (the person you picked) and tell them to look under it, where stapled to the underside of the seat they will find an envelope predicting they will pick the circle.
And if they say the square, show them the envelope inside your pocket – being clear there are no other envelopes there…
Now this may not sound amazing to you, but mentalism effects are often very simple – the real “secret” comes in the performance – and that is something I will reveal in greater depth in another article.
Now, I don’t know about you, but when I first came across this magic trick I was very skeptical that anyone would believe it was anything special. So I started using it – the first time I can tell you I was shaking, literally, in front of a VERY senior client. I mean, I was using this effect to “prove” that I have great perception skills, and the client I was showing this to has spent a lot of money with us over time. The room was maybe 45 people, all very well educated, intelligent and switched on… I certainly was setting my standards high!
Anyway, I needn’t have worried, at the end of the session I was mobbed by various people asking how I had done it, and I overheard literally loads of possible solutions – all of them RIDICULOUS!!!
But that is what is so good about mentalism, even when I revealed the solution to one of my colleagues he almost refused to believe it was that simple.
The second time I used this effect was at a trainer session – I was teaching trainers how to use effects like this to improve their status with their clients. As the mentalism revealed itself to be little more than three predictions, I had to spend another 15 minutes explaining and re-explaining that I simply had NO idea what the volunteer would say, and that I had no idea how to guide them what to say. Even when I took the audience step by step through what I had really done, some of them still could not understand that it was performed in this way.
How did I make them so sure it couldn’t have been the simple act of three predictions? Well – the amazing thing about humans and mentalism is this – we all tend toward the most unlikely solution IF it is explained and sold in a convincing way! So, when I was first doing this effect, Derren Brown was often on television, and people loved his explanation of embedding commands into the audiences mind. SO I simply said things to my volunteer like
“Lets not go round in circles”
“As we talk, please don’t think I will try and, you know, try angle your thoughts in one direction…”
“Its really neither here, nor square….”
Yes – ridiculous, but afterwards he confided in me that he heard some of the commands (as he called them) and then was concerned that he was making the right choice!
The great thing is, I could do EXACTLY the same method (ie, HOW i ACTUALLY did the magic trick) but with a different explanation – to suit the times, my audience, me and so on…you want examples…?
So I could link with the spirits, and get some clues from the spirit helper, who would tell me in advance what was going to be said
OR
I could claim to be expert at seeding ideas, say at a sales conference, and so long as my opening script mentioned the shapes, people would believe that
OR
I could claim to have hypnotised the volunteer to say what I want them to say….
You see the thing I really like about mentalism is it is SO versatile. The real magic secret that you need to understand is that it is all in the performance. Certainly some magical ability helps, and will allow for greater effects, but I would never have believed the reactions I have had to the effect above, if I hadn’t seem them myself.
I would love to know how this effect works for you, and anything you would like to add to it is well received.
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Graham has been interested in Mentalism and Magic for many years, but it was a series of meetings with some of magics professionals just three years ago that taught him some of the real secrets to being a top performer. Graham uses Mentalism to entertain and instruct in his training sessions, often claiming the effects are a result of “embedding commands” and subtle reading of “micro-signals”. His ongoing interest is in practical solutions to performing Mentalism to amaze, astound and entertain others. You can catch up here: mentalismrevealed.net/