Principios y normas de obligado cumplimiento

Vincent Marra is a father, husband, blogger, consultant and mentalist. He does the consulting bit to pay the bills, and all the rest for pleasure. Vincent began performing magic at a young age, putting on shows for his parents with his first "Houdini Magic Set" while dreaming of becoming the next David Copperfield. In more recent years, Vincent expanded his performance portfolio to parties and larger audiences.

Most recently, Vincent has taken a deeper interest in mentalism and has been studying the art carefully, from the staples of Corinda, TA Waters and more, to more recent releases, such as those from Bryn Reynolds, Jerome Finley, Tom Baxter and many others.

His goal is to develop mind-blowing mentalism routines that can be performed up close and impromptu, or nearly impromptu, with only a few small props; then, like he did with magic, perform his routines everywhere and anywhere he can find an audience. You can find Vincent's fatherhood blog that is all about being a dad at http://thedadjam.com. A blog about his experiences with performing mentalism may be coming in the future... that is an open prediction he is willing to bet on! Vincent's version of the open prediction was inspired by Tom Baxter's wonderful book, "A Card Merely Thought Of," and his research on the subject of NLP.

31. NORTHERN NIRVANA

EFFECT

The spectator is given a deck of cards (which may be borrowed) and is asked to shuffle the cards. It is a completely free shuffle and the spectator verifies that the cards are indeed all different and shuffled. The performer writes down a prediction (the name of a card) and leaves it on the table for everyone to see. At the same time, he/she instructs the spectator to deal the cards face up, one by one, starting from the top, dealing only one card face down whenever he/she feels like it. The spectator gives the pack a final cut and follows the instructions. After all cards are dealt, the spectator turns over the one card he/she dealt face down. The spectator is shocked to see that it matches the prediction that has been on the table the entire time!

METHOD

The first idea for this method came from what Thomas Baxter wrote in his book, A CARD MERELY THOUGHT OF… , about flashing a card to subliminally put it in the mind of the spectator. The second idea came from my knowledge and

readings of NLP and methods to create a mental "bridge" or association/link in one's mind. Some of the patter comes from what I have learned about hypnosis and suggestion.

Choose a spectator that seems to be open to your suggestions, mentally. You can determine this either through previous effects you have performed for the spectators, by noting who in the group seems to be most cooperative and open to your instructions, and is able to follow your instructions.

You can also fairly reliably determine someone's openness to your suggestions by shaking their hand vigorously, and noting if they go along with it or resist it. If they go along with your handshake and mirror it, they are likely more open to your suggestions than if they resist your handshake with a firm handshake. Ask your chosen spectator to shuffle the deck, which can be a completely free shuffle with a borrowed deck.

Have the spectator turn the cards face up and spread through them to make sure they are all different and all well shuffled. At this point, note the top card of the deck. Say, for example, the top card is the Jack of Hearts.

Ask the spectator to square up the cards and place them on the table. Do not ask the spectator to hand you the cards. You want the spectators to think that you never touched the deck.

Casually pick up the deck while you are explaining the instructions. You want the spectators to forget that you have picked up the pack when they are recollecting the trick in their minds, so don't bring a lot of emphasis to the pack. Give the spectator the instructions as so:

"Now... I want you to relax and keep an open mind. Now... for this effect, it is important that you follow my instructions carefully and remain relaxed." This is attempting to relax the spectator and put them in a state of hightened suggestability.

"I am going to ask you to deal the cards from the deck, one by one, face up. Now, at some point, you will deal one card FACE DOWN…”

As you say the words FACE DOWN, flash the bottom card of the face of the deck.

“…that is, one by one, you will place cards face up on the table, and whenever you feel the time is right, place one card on the table FACE DOWN.”

“At the end of your dealing, only one card on the table should be FACE DOWN (flash) and the rest will be face up. Are you ready? Have you understood? Now deal the cards face up, and deal only one card FACE DOWN. (flash). Good."

This is the most important step and absolutely needs to be done correctly. If done correctly, you will have created a mental bridge in the spectator's mind between the bottom card of the pack and the words “FACE DOWN”. Casually place the deck back on the table.

Take out a piece of paper and write down your prediction. The prediction you write down is the card that you noted as the top card in the pack (e.g. the Jack of Hearts). Writing the prediction at this point in time creates some time delay between touching the pack and the end of the effect, so it will be harder for your audience to remember that you even touched the pack at all.

Ask the spectator to cut the pack and then to following your instructions. The action of cutting the pack places the top card that you predicted exactly one card after the card that the spectator has associated with the words FACE DOWN. Lets say the bottom card with the mental association is the Ace of Spades. Now the Ace of Spades is directly above the Jack of Hearts in the pack.

The spectator begins to deal cards face up. When he/she gets to the associated card (e.g. the Ace of Spades), without knowing why, the thought of FACE DOWN will come to the spectator's mind. Without even thinking of it, the spectator will be compelled to deal the next card face down, because this mental association has been built and ingrained into the spectator's mind. He/she can't help but to think of FACE DOWN when he/she sees the Ace of Spades. The face down card will of course be the card that was formerly at the top of the pack, and this is the predicted card; in this example, the Jack of Hearts.

The spectator deals the remainder of the cards face up.

All cards have been revealed except for one. The spectator can turn that card over and will see that it matches with the prediction that has been openly on the table the entire time! The spectators can examine everything and will not have a clue how it was done. Recount that the spectator shuffled and cut the pack (without mentioning that you touched the pack in between). This will help to erase the memory that you picked up the pack in between these two actions.

ALEXANDER MAY (USA)