Justin Higham Background
In spite of the title this has a good chance of working, and even when it doesn’t the spectators should still be intrigued by the mere attempt to make it work. Although there is no sleight-of-hand, you will need all your wits about you as this is not a push-button effect.
In effect a spectator thinks of a card and the mindreader discerns which one.
The method is based on two old principles: the “moving elbows” principle (Encyclopaedia of Card Tricks, pp. 386–387), and the “direction of gaze” principle (Discoverie of Witchcraft, Dover, p. 189). As far as I know, Marlo was the first to apply the former to a
“Mindreader’s Dream” (Hummer) type effect (That’s It, p. 61). The present method is a combination of the Marlo effect just cited and my “Simple Mindreader Follows Your Gaze”
from Clairvoyant and Related Effects (electronic edition, p. 48). Incidentally, if you know Marlo’s “Silent Count” as detailed in his Second Method, then you can also apply that to the following.
Working
With the spectator sitting opposite you at the table, have them shuffle the deck and then hold it face down under the table.
Instruct the spectator to think of any card they like, “…but to make it easier for you, think of any spot card.” If you know any subliminal cues for guiding them to think of certain cards (or you know that they are in the habit of thinking of a certain card), then by all means use them. This is one of those no-holds-barred methods where the more skulduggery you can employ, the better (see the Notes at the end).
Once they have a card clearly in mind, have them mentally focus on the numerical value of the card. Explain that in order to connect their thoughts with the physical realm you want them to symbolise their card by transferring some cards from the top of the deck to the bottom one by one. They are to do this slowly and silently. For example, if they are thinking of an Ace then they transfer one card, for a Ten they transfer ten, and so on.
As they transfer cards one by one, watch their arm movements, and particularly their elbows. Try to determine how many cards they are transferring.
Now have them focus on the suit of their card, and then mentally spell their suit as they again transfer cards from top to bottom, one card for each letter of the suit. Here it should be easier for you to tell, say, a Club from a Diamond. If you are not sure, go for Heart or Spade.
Once they have done this you will have, at best, a clear idea of their card, and at worst, no idea! However, all is not lost, as we now obtain further evidence.
Have them shuffle the deck, after which you take the deck and ribbon spread it face up from left to right in the normal way. Note that you want the indices facing you to make it slightly harder for the spectator to find their card. This is to aid you in following the
direction of their gaze as you tell them that, in order to focus their mental image of the card, they are to look for and then concentrate on their thought-of card.
Naturally, when you follow the direction of their gaze you visually locate the card or cards in the spread that closely match your estimate of their selection.
If you get an exact match—for example, you estimated, say, Six of Hearts or Spades, and they are looking at the Six of Spades – then you can be fairly sure of your estimate. Look around the target card for any similar cards, and then close up the spread. Name the colour, suit, and value of their card in the time-honoured fashion.
If there are any similar cards in the target area then you will need to fish for the card. This also applies if you had obtained no clear idea of their card while watching their elbows earlier.
For example, you may have a rough idea that they are thinking of a mid-value Spade or Heart. Look for such cards in the target area and memorise them. Close up the spread and fish for the correct card.
Notes on Patter
A patter theme that you can use to justify the counting and spreading of the cards is that the counting locks their mental selection into the intellectual, left hemisphere of their brain, while their visual location of the card locks it into their holistic, right hemisphere. By engaging both of their brain hemispheres in this way you are hoping to trigger a clear psychic projection of their thoughts.
More Notes
Other combinations of method are also possible. For example, instead of transferring cards at the start, the spectator can write the initials of their card on a billet which they then fold up and set fire to. You then use a combination of your estimate of their card (obtained through pencil reading as they write on the billet), and following the direction of their gaze as you spread the deck and have them focus on their card.
In short, the direction-of-gaze principle is used as back-up for whichever hands-off method you initially used to obtain the information. This could include Think-a-Card itself, noting the various target cards as you square up the fan (or use the springing-the-cards method
‘as used by Rosini’ from Expert Card Technique), followed by shuffling to distribute the target cards, and then spreading on the table to follow their gaze and affirm your estimate.
If it is wrong you simply go with the new target cards for your fishing procedure.
As mentioned, if you know the spectator has a favourite card then you can simply have them think of this card, and then covertly affirm its selection via the direction of their gaze.
Or, “Think of a number between one and ten (seven)”, and then add a suit to that number to get a composite card’ (use a hand gesture to subliminally force the suit). Now go into your back-up procedure.
Of course, you can also switch the methods around, using Think-a-Card/direction-of-gaze or favourite-card first, and then use the moving-elbows/transferring-cards procedure or pencil reading to confirm their card. You can also use a number of principles for combined back-up as follows:
Start with some kind of subliminal force. An effective one is to perform an “Ambitious Card” effect (under the guise of a hypnosis experiment if you are a mentalist) to covertly lock the picture of a card into the spectator’s short-term memory.
After one or two other effects, ask them to think of a card. Very often they will unwittingly think of the Ambitious Card, as it is sitting in their short-term memory, ready to be recalled as an apparent independent thought. Have them write it down on a billet and then burn it, then follow the direction of their gaze, and fish to end.
In short, you are using four different principles – subliminal force, pencil reading, direction-of-gaze, and fishing – to hone in on one card, even though the spectator thinks you are only doing one thing: reading their mind.
Web site: www.card-magic.com