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Performer: Hi there. I'd just like to try a little something, if that's okay? You may or may not be aware of this, but one of the ways that a 'mind reader' can practice his skills is by correctly deducing somebody's star sign without a word being spoken. Now, before we start, can I ask: do you know your star sign?

Volunteer: Yes, yes I do.

Performer: That's great. Now obviously don't tell me what your star sign is. Just have that thought in your mind, and perhaps also, along with your star sign, also be thinking about the date of your birth. Don't worry about the year, but just the day and the month. So for me it would be the number 16 and the month of March. Okay?

Volunteer: Okay. Got it.

Performer: Great, and despite the fact that I'm trying to pick up on your star sign, this is really all about the day you were born, your birthday. That's what this all boils down to. Now birthdays can be strange things, a little like Christmas. It can be a very happy day, or it can be a little sad if you're missing someone. Perhaps a husband or boyfriend who has to be away on your special day, or parents who live a long distance from you. So, as humans, we developed a way to ward off the sadness that absence can bring. Long before telephones and texts and emails, we developed the birthday card. It's a way of simply saying 'I'm thinking of you on your special day'. Now some birthday cards are heartfelt, others are humorous. Some are humorous without meaning to be, and I'm sure we've both had awful birthday cards from aunts and uncles or even our own parents that have made us cringe! Some birthday cards take on huge sentimental value – cards from loved ones, sweethearts, or children can become cherished items that we save and keep locked up in a box of precious trinkets. Every now and again we may take them out of the box, read them again, and feel sad, happy, or just nostalgic for days passed. Birthday cards can be very powerful things, despite the fact that they're just, essentially, small pieces of cardboard.

I have here a pack of playing cards. It's a bit of a stretch, I know, from birthday cards to playing cards, but bear with me. It'll all make sense in a moment. What I'd like you to do is think about your birthday, but also think about what's going on in your life right now. What's important to you right now? There are four main areas that generally concern or interest people when it comes to their lives. These are: Love, obviously, relationships, family, friends, and those kind of things. Secondly, money, wealth, work issues. Thirdly, change, people think about progressing, moving on, changing jobs, and those kind of things.

And lastly their dreams, their hopes and ambitions. Four areas that concern people, and, as luck would have it, there are four suits in a deck of playing cards. Each of those suits ties in with one area of concern. So Hearts obviously ties in with love. That one's easy.

Diamonds ties in with money and wealth. Again, that makes sense. Now Spades is all about change. If you imagine a spade being a kind of sword with sharp edges, cutting through the dead wood, or perhaps a spade making changes in the garden. And finally dreams and ambitions is Clubs, and if you think of the shape of the Club emblem, it sort of looks like a thought bubble in a cartoon or comic, so thinking about your dreams and your hopes for the future.

So what I need you to do is think of the number of your birthday, so for me it would be 16, and also think of the suit in the cards that ties in most closely with what's going on in your life right now. Love, money, change or ambitions. Now obviously if you're birthday is from the 1st through to the 10th, then the card is fairly obvious. For the 11th, we can say the Jack, 12th is Queen and 13th King. If it's a double digit number above 13, you need to think of two cards. So for me, with 16, it would be the Ace for 1 and the number 6. 1 and 6 for 16. Okay? Likewise for, let's say, 23 you would pick a 2 and a 3.

So what you'll have in mind now is either one or two cards and a suit. Right?

Volunteer: Yep, got that.

Performer: Great. I'm going to hand you the cards now and I want you to look through and find your special card or cards. The one you're thinking of right now. Once you've found the card, place it face down on the table making sure that I don't see it.

The performer hands the cards to the volunteer who looks through the deck secretly and selects either one card or two cards depending on their birth date. She places the cards face down on the table, and the remaining deck of cards is placed to one side. The performer then takes an envelope out of his pocket and places it on the table.

Performer: In a moment I want you to place your special card into this envelope, a little like a special birthday card to yourself! But first, there's something missing. We need a card to represent your month! So again with thoughts of which suit you'd like, think of the number that corresponds with your month of birth. So for me, it's March so my number would be 3. Okay? If the number of your month and the special suit has already been used for your birth date, don't worry. Simply choose a different suit. It's not too important.

Volunteer: Okay, yes.

The performer hands the volunteer the playing cards and instructs the volunteer to simply place the card face down on the table, next to the birth date card(s). He then mentions the envelope again, and asks the volunteer to secretly place her special birthday cards into the envelope, making sure the performer sees nothing, and then to seal up the envelope and if possible to place it into an inside pocket close to her heart. If this is not possible, she is instructed to simple hold the envelope containing the cards against her chest, close to her heart.

Performer: Okay, so now I need you to continue thinking of your birthday. It would help if you can imagine a particularly happy birthday from the past. If you can't, don't worry!

But try to have happy thoughts of your birthday. And let me see if I can at least pick up on your star sign. Okay.... yes.... mmmm.... not so sure about this. Okay, I'm going to have to go for something. If it's wrong, it's wrong. But, I'm getting

Gemini with you. Is that right?

Volunteer: My god! Yes! I'm a Gemini.

Performer: Great! But there's more here. You're thinking about work or money issues right now. Perhaps you're wondering about your job or whether there's enough money coming in?

Would that kind of thing make sense to you?

Volunteer: Yes! That's exactly right!

Performer: Okay. Now I think we've got a particularly strong connection here, so I want to see if we can take things even deeper. Keep thinking of your birthday. Don't lose focus.

Keep thinking. The month is June. June. Quite early in the month. Not the 2nd. It's the, it's the 3rd! The 3rd of June! Is that close?!

Volunteer: That's exactly right! My god!

The volunteer opens up her envelope and reveals the cards that she secretly chose.

Explanation

Marked cards. You peek the marks before she places them into the envelope.

Subtleties

Presentation is everything. Get the volunteer to imagine a happy birthday and she will be filled with a warm fuzzy glow. Some people will even thank you afterwards for reminding them of memories they'd not thought of for years. That's, genuinely, a nice and often humbling piece of feedback, and it's a pleasant experience that you as a magician can give to people. Far nicer, I think, than telling them to empty their mind, wow, that was quick.

Sometimes you might find it fun to simply predict the star sign and not the birth date.

This is especially true if performing the routine more than once around the same table or amongst the same group of friends. Ham it up and claim to have a 'special link' with one of the group, and correctly get their birthday exactly right, whereas with others you can 'only' pick up on the star sign or the month or a rough estimate of the date.

At the end of the PDF is a list of star signs and the appropriate dates. These are pretty simple to remember, but if you can't (or don't want to) remember them, simply skip the star sign element and predict the month of birth and then go on to get the exact date. People are fascinated by star signs though, so I would always recommend that approach.

Very often the volunteer will need two cards for the birth date. This isn't a problem and you will never be stumped as to which card represents the first digit and which represents the second digit. This is because of the way things fall with the Queen being 12 and the King being 13. The next possible digit in 14 (an Ace and a 4), which can't be confused for the 41st! Also an Ace and a 2 must be the 21st as 12 is represented by the Queen.

The suits are only important in the birth date. Don't worry too much about locating the suit when it comes to the month card. Your volunteer will already have told you what issues are important right now with the selection of the birth date card(s). The meanings of the suits are just common sense, not even close to being cold reading. And you are only going to touch on the issues in the most general sense anyway. If you wanted, you could go into a far deeper reading of the issues, but that's not necessary. In this scenario, where the motivation is the recalling of happy birthday memories and a demonstration of a wonderful ability, a deeper reading is not required.

Most volunteers will select a Hearts card. Love is a prime motivator. This is followed by Diamonds. Money is also a huge motivator in life. Way down the list are Spades for changes and Clubs for ambitions. But you will get them, so be prepared.

If a volunteer selects two cards for her birth date and they are from different suits, interpret this as there being two different issues at work in her life.

My favored type of marked cards are the Boris Wild. I keep saying this but they never send me any free packs. I think I prefer Boris Wild purely because they were the first pack of marked cards I ever got, many years ago, and so I am used to them and can spot the mark in about a second. There are others on the market that are generally thought to be easier to read.

When looking for the mark, don't rush. This routine gives you all the time in the world to spot the mark. A good time to spot the mark is when you are holding the envelope and are indicating that the volunteer should place her special 'birthday cards' into the envelope. You point down at the cards and that action makes it perfectly natural for you to look at the card backs. The subtlety with the envelope, aside from being a prop that works well in the 'birthday card' setting, is that after the event the volunteer and other spectators will remember that the cards were placed inside an envelope so there was no way you could have seen them or peeked them or cheated in any way.