viduals I and XXII. There are no cases of a conspicuous deflecting wrinkle in the M2 SH sample
H. sapiens as a species displays low frequencies and degrees of expression of shovel shape, particularly in the contemporary pop
Pablo Amirá
Participant and Audience Perception
A participant is invited to unlock his intuition in a very interesting way.
A handful of keys in a glass are given with a lock to check each key, while the performer chats a bit about the meaning of intuition. The participant realizes that no key opens the lock in the glass. The performer has the only key that opens the lock in his pocket, separate from the other ones. This key is shown to open the lock and then mixed in with the other keys.
The performer induces a trance state with the participant, helping to connect with the inner mind. After this, the participant goes to the glass and without thinking unconsciously takes one key only. The performer
recaps everything and shares the symbolic idea behind the key and the lock. The participant tries the key and it opens the lock. The participant is put into a trance again to fully awaken from this experience and to receive helpful suggestions from the performer, to end on a very positive note.
Effect
Intuition. The participant without conscious effort finds the key that opens a lock. Trance state that enhances intuition.
You Need Two locks
Eight to nine keys that can open only one of that locks Glass
Logical Disconnect
Indirection communicates the disconnection of a switch with the lock.
Memory
“I chose the key that opens the lock with my intuition.”
How?
This is a great parlor/stage piece that you can use to give your show a very interesting and profound moment. The lock and key can be a symbolic image for a locked life without apparent motivations, or a locked heart. Kenton often suggests that we add metaphor and larger emotional associations to effects. Think closely about what the symbols of a lock and key might mean.
Then find a way to incorporate these meanings into the performance of this effect. I agree with Kenton that such labeling and meaning can make a very great difference in performance and art.
I link this piece and the hypnotic induction in it to the idea of opening the mind to new possibilities and to be aware of the power and potential within.
The preparation is very simple. In your briefcase or on your table put the first lock (that can’t be opened by any key) and the a handful of eight or nine keys in a glass (these keys only open the lock that you will switch in later).
In your left pocket place another key that apparently is the only one that can open the lock and in your right pocket place the lock that can be opened by any of the keys.
The method I came up with is very easy. The lock that you show at the beginning is a dummy lock that cannot be opened by any of the keys. The keys in the glass and the key in your pocket can open the second lock that you need to switch in. This situation creates the effect that only the chosen key could open the lock.
In performance I give him the dummy lock and the keys in the glass to the participant. I ask the participant to check each key in the lock while I talk with the audience about intuition. Don’t create “dead time” here but rather utilize this time to create drama and tension about what you will do. Do not rush things nor allow them to be still. Keep things moving by the intriguing things you have to say to the audience. This is yet another reason why having a deeper purpose to the effect is useful. With a greater meaning than a mere trick you can speak for some time with emotional impact and intellectual reasoning around your subject matter.
After trying all the keys in the lock the participant obviously will say that none of the keys opens the lock. In that moment casually take the lock from the participant’s hand with your right hand and say that you know this is true because the key that opens the lock is in your pocket.
As you say this turn your body to the right (showing your left side) and take the single key from your left pocket. With this as cover you pocket switch the lock with the one in your right pocket.
Give the key and the lock (the switched one) to the participant and ask them to open the lock with this new key.
Obviously now the participant can do so.
“As you can see, only one key opens the lock, as you have proved, right?”
Let the participant confirm this statement. This is a subtle way to communicate using indirection that this lock is the same lock. (See Kenton’s “Secrets of Indirection” for a better understanding of the indirection principle for those of you who do not know of it yet.)
Put the keys and the lock in a visible place and put your participant into a trance. You can use any method, or apparent method, to do the trance portion.
Claim that with the trance state the participant will sense a deeper connection with their intuition and find the proper key without apparent conscious effort. After a few moments of drama with the participant on stage, awake them momentarily and ask the participant to, without thinking, just take a key and the lock. As you know, ANY KEY taken will open the lock. The participant and the audience of course do not know that this is the case.
Recap everything, explain the subtext behind the metaphor of the lock and the key, and only after this allow the participant to try the key in the lock. Obviously the key will work and your participant (and you) will receive much applause.
After the applause settles down, put the participant into a trance again to apparently awake him fully and giving him positive suggestions after this mystery experience.
Fully awake the participant and ask for applause for him again. This gives you two applause moments from the one effect. If you use this piece as a closer you can get three applause events without a lot of hard work.
Possible Dialogue Introduction
(Premise)
Tom, do you know what intuition means?
No.
Let’s use intuition in a very simple way.
(Conditions)
In here I have a lock and some keys in a glass. Please check each key in the lock. One of them should work.
(Meanwhile you talk with the audience about intuition or your metaphorical premise.)
Not one works, right? That’s because the key that works is in my pocket. (Pocket switch the lock)
As you can see, only one key can open the lock, and you can check it, right?
Excellent. Now if I take that working key and mix it with the others, no one in the entire world could know which is the correct key, but as impressive as this sounds, you will find it in a moment.
You just need to believe that you can.
Middle
(Go into a normal hypnotic induction or just ask for the participant to close their eyes and guide them into a calm state. The idea here is to link a real mental state with the apparent intuitive connection.)
Now open your eyes for a moment and without thinking just take one key, one that calls to you, and the lock. Don’t think! Just quickly go with your own intuitive feeling.
Conclusion
Great. Carefully put the key inside of the lock but don’t try to open it yet.
You know that all the keys can go in, but only one really opens the lock.
Now all this could seem trivial. One in nine chances perhaps, but this as you can see is a symbolic moment.
Maybe in a way we all feel like that lock at some time in our lives. Close to the wonderful things that life gives us, yet not quite there. But remember that you already have everything to be better, and if for some reason in your life the best things seem to vanish, remember this pleasant sound that you will hear.
(Have the participant turn the lock and hear the click followed by applause. Receive your applause too and then put your participant into a trance again, giving them more positive suggestions for a successful and happy life before you awaken them fully.)
Give Tom a big round of applause.
(End) Ideas
1. You can create a “lock pendulum” to create the dramatic moment, if you don’t want to use a hypnotic induction. Just put a chord on the lock and use suggestions and pendulum work to create in the participant a subconscious response.
I have an upcoming project about pendulums, so if you don’t do anything with them, you can check Kenton’s “Pendulum Programming” and my work called “Ideas Vol 1. Pendulums.” More info about that at www.amirasideas.com
Credits and Inspiration
Credits to Annemann and his Seven Keys to Baldpate. I wanted to have a similar effect with a logical premise and I came up with this version. Kenton and others have since told me that they recall the idea of a lock switch being around, but this was original to me when I came up with it.
I believe my handling, premise and trance influence in this work allows it to remain highly original. We all agree that this is entirely commercial and one of the most direct and open ways of handling the Annemann effect.
You can obviously make a very big deal out of the choice of keys as the participant has an entirely free choice and does all the handling themselves. You never touch the keys or the lock save for the brief moment you introduce the “real key.” There are no key switches or any of the usual issues and if the situation warrants it, you can allow the person to take the key and lock home as a healthy mental reminder. For my Spanish speaking friends...
Créditos e Inspiración
El concepto de usar candados es muy antiguo. Annemann merece crédito acá.
Singular (The One Card Kolossal Killer)
By Pablo Amirá
“Insist on yourself; never imitate... Every great man is unique.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Participant and Audience Perception
Before an experiment based in the mind, the participant takes an envelope with something inside.
You start an imaginary game, eliminating fifty-one cards from a deck of cards; imaginary cards of course.
After the game, your participant decides on one card. This precise card is the one that you have inside of an envelope that has been in full view from the start, proving the power of “empathic imagination.”
Effect
Precognition. A participant, apparently with purely free decision making, arrives at one card that you have placed in an envelope before starting. This is my version of Kenton’s Kolossal Killer method and effect. It was never going to be shared or known to anyone but Kenton and myself but Kenton allowed this to be put into print in this collection. Keep it to yourself. This is a real miracle even to those who know the original.
You Need
Your Seven of Hearts (or any suit) with Kenton’s secret “Off By One” writing on the back, but slightly adjusted by me as you will see. This adjustment allows for FIVE outs on one card!
Logical Disconnect
The direct attention to the various choices that the participant has while you use Verbal Control and related techniques.
Memory
“He predicted the card that I chose in my mind.”
How?
The basic methodology of this effect is Verbal Control for the suit, an application for a classic
“psychological stop” force done with cards, invisible cards in this case, and a verbal finesse that I call “Conscious & Unconscious decision.”
You need a Seven of Hearts (or any suit) in an envelope or just in your wallet if you want to look more unprepared.
In this case the “Off By One” card contains five secret outs and looks like the first photo.
(My card obviously is in Spanish but the word POR in Spanish is OFF BY in English.)
(Photo 1)
As you can see, depending on the way that you hold the card you can show an “Off By 1” or
“Off By 2” message (photos 2 and 3).
(Photo 2) (Photo 3)
With this special writing adjustment you can cover the Five, the Six, the Seven, the Eight and the Nine of Hearts.
Give the card to the participant in an envelope or put it face up in their hands (obviously the participant shouldn’t see the face yet). Next we will use a ploy that I call “Conscious &
Unconscious decisions.” (Pablo unconsciously adopted a conscious/subconscious ploy Kenton has taught in various ways. He was not consciously aware that he absorbed this idea subconsciously until he sent this to us. Proof again that Kenton teaches at many levels at once and that the subconscious remembers everything, bringing it back to us for use in new forms and solutions as needed.)
As you know most people when asked to quickly say a number between one and ten will name the number seven. We can add an extra layer to allow two chances to get this psychological force to work.
With the participant facing say
“If I ask you to consciously and quickly tell me a number between 1 and 10, what would you say?”
Now, if you hit with your psychological force of the number seven, you are done. Go next to the Verbal Control for the suit. If your participant says another number, you continue as follows.
“Interesting. And that’s from your conscious mind, right? Well, I don’t care right now about your conscious mind but rather about your unconscious mind. You will decide on a few things just on
impulse, without thinking consciously, okay?”
As you can see, this question becomes an explanation about conscious and unconscious decisions rather than creating a selection from the first response.
After this, ask the participant to hold out an open palm because you will start an elimination game using an imaginary deck of cards.
Verbal Control/Equivoque/Magician’s Choice is an incredible technique that deserves study and respect. Verbal Control can create reputations, both good and bad.
David Berglas, Max Maven, Phantini, Annemann Docc Hilford, Kenton Knepper and a plethora of other genius minds in our art have made contributions to create solid fundamentals with these tools. I hope that you already have the skills to perform such things in a convincing and credible way.
The Verbal Control procedure here is rather simple but nonetheless requires practice. It’s all done in just two steps.
Before any decision is allowed, really believe and play with the idea of an imaginary deck. A lot of times we tend to rush these moments, but give yourself space to enjoy this rather weird situation with your participant feeling the deck of cards. Play with suggestions about the weight of the deck, its texture and so on. The more suggestions and associations you use to make the deck seem real, the more realistic the effect will be to everyone.
Let’s assume for this Verbal Control that you will force the suit of “Hearts.” The first step in the Verbal Control is for the participant to take a color.
“Imagine that I take just one color from your right hand. What color is it, black or red?”
If your participant says RED, say
“And with this color we can create two suits. Hearts or Diamonds?”
If your participant names BLACK, mimic the action of throwing the BLACKS out, pointing at the RED color left in the hand and say
“And with this color we can create two suits. Hearts or Diamonds. (Implying in an indirect manner that the RED color is remaining, while you point to the participant’s right hand.)”
So no matter what the participant says, you will always SAY the same thing, but your SUBTEXT changes a little bit.
“From those two suits, we need to eliminate one. Tell me Hearts or Diamonds.”
No matter what the participant says, you put the supposed Hearts in the participant’s right hand.
“So you get the Hearts.”
If you nailed the Seven in the psychological force at the beginning, just go to the revelation of the card. If not, use the following handling of a psychological force by taking cards, in this case merely invisible ones.
Because the “Heart cards” are in the participant’s right hand, you will start to take cards from their right hand into your left hand.
Don’t say directly what you are doing, just start to take invisible cards from the person saying
“Ace, Two, Three, Four…”
After the Four, say
“Say, ‘stop’ whenever you like.”
Time your actions to try to force the number Seven. They can stop you on the Seven as you take it, or stop you as you take the Six, which leaves the Seven in their hand.
Now comes the “Off By One with five outs” idea. You may land on the Five, Six, Seven, Eight or even the Nine, and create the finale desired with your single prediction card.
I know what you are thinking…What if you don’t hit any of these and your participant stops you on the Ten or the Jack?
Don’t worry! There’s no failure, just feedback.
Remember that the presentation of this is an “experiment with the mind” not a “prediction.” If you label the effect in this way their attention will be on the experience, not on the card.
Honestly only one time has this happened to me and I really didn’t care. I showed the card, congratulated the person on getting the color correct as well as the suit and a similar number, received some gasps because IT IS an incredible moment to be very close, and moved on to do something else.
This effect will not only give you new ideas about Verbal Control, but will also remind you that, in my opinion, failing can be perfectly fine.
Being a little more profound, human beings make mistakes in life and with that we can learn to walk, to talk properly and so on. A similar principle is to be considered here. If your participant stops you even on the King of Hearts, show the card, direct the attention to the fact that it was close and do something else. You are both learning and are likely to get better in time. Especially if you do Kenton’s Kolossal Killer the next time they see you!
Possible Dialogue Introduction
(Premise)
Alex, let’s try an experiment with the mind. Something simple.
(Conditions)
I will leave this below your hand (the envelope or the single card face up).
Great. We will play an imaginary game with this (show nothing in your hands).
Obviously you know what it is. It’s a deck of playing cards.
(Pass the invisible deck to his right hand)
If I ask you to consciously and quickly just tell me a number between one and ten, what would
If I ask you to consciously and quickly just tell me a number between one and ten, what would