The Psychic Agenda

The Psychic Agenda 1
The
Psychic
Agenda
For Those Unscrupulous Charlatans
Who Delight in Convincing the Unwary
That They Have Real Psychic Powers!
by
John Riggs
J
O
H
N
R
I
G
G
S
The
Psychic
Agenda
Dedicated to the unscrupulous charlatans who delight in
convincing the public that they have uncanny powers!
Bits and Pieces of

Pseudo-Psychic
Entertainment
by
John Riggs
Copyright 1996 by John Riggs. All Rights Reserved.

Contents
Foreword By Lee Earle
Introduction
Chapter One:
Some Cool Psychic Presentations
Poor Man's Room Service (With LePaul Wallet Option)
The New Add a Number Book
Harmonica Convergence
Marc Psiman's Psi-Flasher
Design Duplication Using Audience Drawings
PATEquivoque
They Hell Fire!
The Lady and the Lock
Bumbershoot Q and A
The Bivalve Billetbag
Chapter Two
Some Secrets of Becoming a Famous Psychic
The PK Recorded Tape Secret
Aura Reading for the Psychically Dyslexic
Right or Left?
More Secrets of Private Readings
Practical Applications of the Gail Sheehy Pattern
On the Road
Chapter Three
The Seven Psychic Secrets of Success
Conclusion
Foreword
By
Lee Earle
Mentalism is at a cusp, a point of change from which a new emphasis will
emerge.
This should be viewed as a natural eventuality.
Every performing art must evolve to keep pace with a constantly mutating
audience. Resistance to the inevitable is risky. Ignoring change is fatal. Just ask
the veterans of Vaudeville and Burlesque.
In Mentalism, we have associated important transitions with the names of
the movers and shakers of the period, such as Annemann, who helped bring
Mentalism under conjuring's umbrella and Dunninger, who elevated our art to
new heights of public awareness.
Since the era of Dunninger, however, stagnation has set in. The increasing
irrelevance of mental magic (magic tricks with a mind-reading theme) and
advancing levels of audience sophistication have made necessary yet another
metamorphosis.
Addressing that demand, Mentalism is beginning to stand more on its own,
acknowledging some overlap with the community of magicians but otherwise
developing as an independent, self-sustaining craft.
At the cutting edge, some would say the bleeding edge, of this flurry of
creativity and innovation stand a few hardy souls who are blazing new trails. They
are reshaping Mentalism for the new millennium.
Future historians will look back on this era and will search for a name
associated with the monumental evolution now occurring.
I wouldn't bet against them choosing John Riggs.
Introduction
This book is dedicated to those nefarious
charlatans who delight in convincing the
unwary public that they have uncanny
psychic powers!
The ethical debate over this issue is two
doors down, in the Skeptics's Corner,
where Randi, Penn and Teller, and Carl
Sagan are amusing each other with stories
about how clever they are. The channeled
spirit of Isaac Asimov looks on and
smirks knowingly....
We will deal in this discussion with pseudo-psychic methods, real psychic
methods, and out and out scamming to create a powerful magickal effect on
people who are seeking readings, people who are being read, and audiences in
general. Certain moral demarcations will be sternly drawn, however, as we're out
to sell a magickal experience, not candles, hexes, mojos, and messages from
departed loved ones.
• We sternly affirm our abstinence from legal, financial, and medical

advice. Our province is the spiritual and psychological arena, and we
leave the care of the more worldly aspects of our people to doctors,
lawyers, and financial planners.
• We stolidly dedicate ourselves to the entertainment of our audiences, by
whatever means we deem necessary to create a strong and convincing
result.
• We lovingly embrace show business and stardom in all its myriad
aspects— the dizzying highs, the terrifying lows, the creamy middles.
We're not satisfied with the stable, normal life upon which we so
stubbornly turned our collective backs!
• We further turn our backs on the trickster’s mindset that affirms that
spectators are too gullible and stupid to draw their own conclusions and
who need to be saved from their own folly. We further resolve to
embrace our audiences with all our hearts, and swear to treat them with
loving kindness.
• We resolve to learn all we can about psychology, counseling, and
spirituality in order to better serve those whom we profess to help and
entertain. We also promise to help other kindred spirits whenever
possible, that our craft may grow and evolve.
So mote it be!
“You’re about to be deceived by someone who

pretends to understand you”
Chapter One:
Some Cool Psychic Presentations
When working on developing a reputation as a Psychic, it’s sometimes very
desirable to include a little demonstration or two of Mentalism, along with your
genuine psychic insights. Here’s one of my favorite openers to use when
performing out-of-town.…
Poor Man's Room Service (With LePaul

Wallet Option)
Those of you that own the marketed trick Room
Service can use this handling to good effect. If you
don’t have the marketed set, I’ve described the
handling with a prop you can manufacture yourself.
Effect:
“Ah, it's great to be here tonight.” says the performer. “I feel that this is a
very special night. Will you come up here and help me?”
A woman comes up to help the Psychic.
“I would like you to accompany me on an imaginary journey. Imagine that
you were coming up to my hotel room for, let's say, a palm reading. The hotel I'm
staying at has five floors. I would ask you to imagine yourself stepping on the
elevator, and imagine that you're pushing a button to come to my floor. What
floor is it?”
She says, “Five.”
“Very good;” says the Psychic, writing the number on the pad. “Now,
Imagine that you're walking down the hall on the fifth floor, and you stop at a
room and knock. The door opens, and I greet you. Now, what room number are
you entering?”
“523.”
“Good, good! I knew that tonight was special! When I checked in tonight,
I picked up my room key. Just for grins, let's see what my room number happens
to be.”
The Psychic removes an envelope from his wallet, and hands it to the lady.
She rips open the envelope and removes a hotel key.
“In your vision, you saw yourself visit me in room number 523. Please tell
us what my room number really is?”
“523.”
“523. Remarkable. Thank you!”
As she returns to her seat: “Mable, I know you haven't ever visited my
hotel room, and YOU know you haven't ever visited my hotel room, but —what do
you suppose THEY are all thinking right now?”
Here's how to do it:

I'll describe this first using the homemade gimmick. If you have the
marketed version, it will be obvious how to modify the handling to suit you.
Buy a package of key tags. These are circular tags, about an inch in
diameter, with a string attached. You loop one end of the string through a hotel
key. Hotel keys are available at any hotel.
Prepare a LePaul wallet with an envelope as follows:
Slit the envelope open at the bottom, and coat the inner surfaces with
rubber cement for about 1/4 of an inch. Let the glue dry, and carefully load the
envelope onto the flaps of the wallet. Zip up the wallet and place it in your left
jacket pocket. Place the key into the load chamber of the wallet, with the tag end
dangling free. Place a Sharpie pen in the same pocket.
Performance:
Remove a small writing pad, and remove the pen from your pocket. At the
same time, pull the key tab out, being careful not to pop the key out of the wallet,
and lay the tab against the pad. The four-inch length of string attaching the tag to
the key gives you just enough room to allow this.
As your lady friend calls out her numbers, you double-write them on the
pad and on the tag. If you let go of the tag, the key drops to the bottom of the
wallet, pulling the tag after it.
All that remains is to remove the wallet, pull out the envelope, and press the
glued edges together, sealing the envelope. Hand it to the lady to open and
remove the key for verification.
The Marketed Option:

Obviously, if you use the marketed set, you place the key into the insertion
end of the wallet, allowing the tag end of the gimmick to hang on the outside.
Load the insert into the shell as you reach into your pocket to remove the wallet,
and allow the whole works to drop into the wallet. Conclude as above.
In fact, this is the way I currently perform Room Service -- but I used to
perform the home made version before I broke down and bought the marketed
effect from a magician at a swap meet for $5!!
I think this handling is much stronger than the usual handling, simply
because the key is isolated in a secure place, and apparently the only person to
handle it is the lady from the audience.
Sometimes, the strongest effects are done with the aid of objects or
information supplied by the spectator. This is especially strong when the thoughts
are supplied by the audience. Here’s a gimmick that will allow you to perform
miracles:
The New Add a Number Book

Using a double-sided notebook to switch out a set of
audience-supplied numbers for numbers provided by the
performer is certainly not new. But, in my quest for the
perfect solution to the problem, I developed a neat gimmick
that I thought I would share with you.
You will need to purchase two identical spiral bound notebooks. The ones I
like are about 4 1/2 inches by eight inches.
With wire pliers, cut one end of the spiral wire free so that you can twirl the
wire free from the book. Remove the front cover and about half of the pages. Do
the same with the second book. You will also require the back cover from one of
the books.
Re-assemble the two front halves so that you will have a double-sided
book. Align the back cover with either one of the two front covers. The two
halves of the book will be upside down to each other, but that is all right.
Re-spiral the wire binding in place and you're complete. You will notice
that the book looks ordinary from both sides, complete with a front and a back
cover.
Operation Switchout:
To preset the book, open the back cover and the front cover that lies
beneath it. Write your information on the front page. Close the two covers and
you're set.
Open the book from the other side, folding the front cover to the back of the
book. All three covers are now at the back. Have the spectators write their
information on the blank page. Retrieve the book, and ask a disinterested
spectator come up to total the figures.
As he comes up, you close the book and stick it under your arm to lead the
applause. Actually close two of the covers, the first front cover and the back
cover. This in effect turns the book inside-out. You have plenty of cover for this,
as all eyes are on the spectator coming up to assist you. Open the book to your
force info, and hand it to the spectator for totaling.
Rudy Hunter suggested, in Bascom's Magick, that instead of numbers,
you substitute words, using your anagram list! The spectator mentally selects one
word out of a couple of dozen supplied by the audience ( or so he thinks!). You
pump him and get the mentally selected thought! Sometimes, when asked to total
a column of numbers in front of an audience, the assistant suddenly loses 100
points from his I.Q.! The words are safer.....
This is a great idea, and I wish I had thought of it. I would have put it in a
book.
Well, O.K., I'll give you my pet routine using this useful gimmick. Its a
little scenario I call:
Harmonica Convergence
It occurred to me that when you use a turnover
book, you're not simply switching out the first
page - you're switching out half the book! A
revolution of thought followed, and with an idea
inspired by Dr. Charles Scott, the following
routine was devised.
“One of the most wonderful things in life is music,” says the psychic.
“Tonight we’ll explore our own rich musical heritage. I’d like everyone to think
of a song. As I pass among you, I'll ask you to write the name of your song on this
pad. It doesn't matter if I see it or not. We simply need a wide variety of popular
songs.”
The psychic mingles among the audience, inviting the members to write
their song on individual pages. Please note that they are to write one song to a
page—this is critical.
“My dear, will you assist me?” As the psychic recruits a helper, he's
tearing out the separate pages, containing songs, and crumpling them into balls.
The balls are dropped into a nice gift bag.
“We have about twenty different songs. Would you please take this bag and
mix the songs. Please reach in and select one.”
Donning a blindfold, the psychic says, “Please go behind me, near the
whiteboard, and open the paper and read to yourself the song you chose. Write
the name of the song on the board. Has everyone seen the song? Please erase the
title and return to your seat. Thank you!”
The psychic removes the blindfold. “Now, I would ask everyone to
mentally hum the song in your head. Go! Ow. ow! Stop! You're all in different
keys, and humming the song at different times — what cacophony! Do it on the
count of three. One, two, three!”
The psychic leads the audience in their silent concert by marking time with
his hand. He says, “That's better — from the beginning.” He removes a
harmonica. “One, two, three!”
As people are mentally humming the song, the psychic plays a jazzy and
rhythmic version on his harmonica. Imagine the effect on an audience when they
hear you playing along with their mental humming!
Method:
Almost disappointingly simple. On one side of your turnover book, you
have written the title of your force song (for instance, Hello Dolly, or Stars and
Stripes Forever) on about the first twenty pages. Open the book to the other side
for the spectators to write their titles.
As you approach your stage area, casually toss your notebook on the table,
doing the turnover move. Remove the gift bag as you get a lady up to help you.
Start tearing out the pages on the force side, screw the paper into loose balls, and
toss them in the bag.
The lady can only draw out your force song.
It’s relatively easy to learn to play one song well on a harmonica. As of

this writing, however, the only two harmonica-playing mentalists I know of are
Charlie Scott and me.
This routine sounds schmaltzy, and I admit it, but audiences eat up this
sort of thing. Remember, the only real difference between mental magic and
psychic entertainment is the emotional involvement of the audience!
The always eclectic Dr. Charles Scott tells me the same effect can be
obtained using an OM Billet Box.
Needless to say, if you play any other instrument, substitute it. Or play the
tune on the Kazoo. Your choice, my friend.
Marc Psiman's Psi-Flasher

How would you like to build your own FISM flash style
unit for under $5? It’s useful, at times, for a psychic
entertainer to be able to produce a flash of light. As you
know, this light can be effectively picked up and reflected
by a cut crystal bowl, goblet, or locket -- producing some
eerie effects.
Marc Psiman shares this secret with us. Please see the accompanying
schematic.
Obtaining the parts:

A source for inexpensive flasher units can be had by visiting your local
photo store and asking for the used disposable flash camera units. You can
usually purchase these from the store for under a buck -- the discarded units are
usually sent back to the company and recycled.
Take your treasure home and get out your needle nosed pliers.
CAUTION!!! REMOVE THE BATTERY FIRST!!!!!!
Building the unit:

You’ll find that the camera is held together with a series of small tabs.
After removing the battery, dismantle the camera. It will fall apart before your
eyes, revealing our golden nugget— the inner works.
You’ll see a flash unit, a battery holder, a circuit board, and a resistor. Be
very careful with this unit, it can shock the living heck out of you. I learned this
the hard way.
Here's the plan: Go to Radio Shack and get a small doorbell and some
small gauge electrical wire. This wire is the same gauge as the two wires that
activate the flash unit. Get a soldering iron if you don’t already have one.
From a small block of Styrofoam, hollow out enough room to nestle the
unit in snugly. Cover the front of the unit with a piece of matte board, with
cutouts for the flasher and recharge switch. Glue a small rubber knob onto the
switch.
Glue the assembly together, MAKING SURE THAT THE ENTIRE
CIRCUIT BOARD AND ALL ELECTRICAL CONTACTS ARE
COMPLETELY COVERED WITH HOT GLUE! Use hot glue to fill in ALL
the cracks. I'm not kidding -- that capacitor packs quite a wallop: 600 volts!.
Solder about eight inches of wire to the two leads and run them to the
doorbell. With electric tape, seal off the two leads in order to prevent a short-
circuit. Important step: With hot glue, completely cover all the solder points,
wires, and any exposed metal part, including the top and bottom of the capacitor.
Barring any cosmetic finishing, your unit is complete. Attach the doorbell
to your belt or simply keep it in your pocket. You charge the unit by applying
pressure to the charger switch until the light behind the flasher starts blinking.
Activate the flash by pressing the doorbell. I suggest covering the flash
with a red gel so it doesn't look so much like a camera flash.
Neither Marc Psiman nor the author of this book assume any liability for
injury arising out of improperly assembling the unit. Please seek out a
professional if you feel that you cannot build this unit safely.
Design Duplication Using Audience Drawings

I’ve always been fascinated with design duplications — I think, properly
performed, it looks like the real thing.
However, I have never loved the idea of supplying the designs for an
audience member to choose from. It seem to hint of
preparation. I’ve owned many great symbol decks, and
I think that Annemann's Extra-Sensory Perception is
a classic. But I’ve sensed for years that something has
been missing from pre-structured design duplication
effects. When I’ve performed one-on-one design
effects, using devices such as Lee Earle's Clone Pad,
the results were tremendous. So what was the
difference?
Obviously, the audience is more involved when the drawings used in the
test are supplied by the audience members themselves.
I think when we supply our own symbols, people aren’t nearly as
impressed. Maybe we have 'trick symbols' that are subliminally coded to
influence a spectator into selecting a specific symbol. Maybe this “psychic
demonstration” is just another card trick. Sleight of hand is a possibility. Perhaps
the audience cannot intellectually grasp the concept of a large number of different
designs. Perhaps they do not feel, in their gut, that there’s truly an almost infinite
set of possibilities.
I had a thought one day, (it almost died of lonesomeness!) and tested it. A
routine took shape. Now, the following routine is a staple of my repertoire when
performing before smaller groups (around fifty or so). I have also used it in
psychic development classes. I hope you like it.
Effect:
The audience members are supplied with large (8" x 8") cardboard squares
and marker pens. Everyone is requested to draw a simple picture of an everyday
object. The cards are gathered and mixed, and a series of remote viewing tests are
proposed.
• In the first test, The performer writes a target on a whiteboard, and hides
his drawing from the audiences eyes. An audience member calls out a
number from one to ten. The drawing at that number is displayed and
identified by the audience artist. When the target is turned around, it’s
seen to very closely match the target!
• For the second test, several audience members concentrate on drawings.
One by one, the psychic duplicates them on a whiteboard. Audience
involvement is keyed in as each drawing reproduced is identified by the
person who originally drew it.
• For the third test, The performer removes three drawings or so and
performs a detailed character reading on the drawing. Using these
characteristics as cues, the psychic correctly identifies the artists!
How:
Three of your cards are marked for easy identification. Think of them as
'A', 'B' and 'C'. As you pass the cardboards out, form a mental mnemonic link as
follows:
• Spectator 'A' is having his face eaten off by an ape.
• Spectator 'B' is being stung in the eye by a giant bee.
• Spectator 'C' is stuck in a tub of cement and is drowning at the bottom of
the sea.
As you gather up the drawings, you select ten easy to remember and
different objects and mnemonicize them in order, using the peg system. Any of
Harry Lorayne's memory books describe this system in all the detail you’ll ever
need. This isn’t as hard as some people think.
The discarded drawings are simply placed to the bottom of your rapidly
growing stack. You also position two similar drawings third and fifth from the
top of the stack for a total of eleven cards. The rest of the drawings do not matter
for now, except be sure your three marked cards are not among the top eleven.
For your target prediction, draw a reproduction of the duplicate drawings at
positions 3 and 5. Mix the indifferent drawings, leaving your top stock intact.
Pardon me for introducing card terminology here!
Spread off and remove the top eleven cards without calling attention to the
exact number. Have a random participant call out any number from one to ten.
Using the European 10-11 force, you can arrive at one of the two
duplicates, by either starting the count from the top or bottom of the stack. This
force has been described to death, so I'll refer you to my own Simply Tarot from
my first book Heavy Mental for more details on how I handle the concept.
When you count to the card, be careful not to upset your mnemonicized
stack.
Now, have a participant remove a small bunch of cards -- about three.
Have a second participant remove a small group, and give the rest to a third.
Since you have mnemonicized the cards, you know exactly which drawings
each spectator has. Have the first spectator remove one drawing, hiding its face
from you, and concentrate on it. He places the other two aside for the moment.
You simply watch to see which one he removes, and painfully draw it! Repeat
with the other two spectators. Be sure to ask the audience to raise their hand if the
drawing used is theirs.
Send the participants back to their seats, and pick up the stack of discards.
Have the drawings mixed as you proclaim that you will now demonstrate the
psychic technique backward.
Fan through the stack and remove your 'A', 'B' and 'C' cards. Do your best
cold readings and return the drawings to their owners!
Be advised that this is an act in itself, to be structured around whatever
message you desire. This is why I didn’t include my presentation, as I usually do.
PATEquivoque
The PATEO force (Ken Baker) is a classic way to force one of several
objects. So is the Equivoque. Why not combine the two and allow the
synergistic interplay to strengthen the selection procedure?
Briefly, the PATEO (Point At Two, Eliminate One) force involves an
elimination process between the spectator and the performer. Let's assume that
you have five colored stones in a row, and you want to force the red one.
You point to two of the non-red stones and say, “Which one do you want
me to eliminate?” When your helper decides, you set that stone aside. Now, you
invite the helper to point at two stones.
If she points to two of the dead stones, you eliminate either one. If she
points to the red stone, you eliminate the other. Now, you point to the remaining
two dead stones, and she eliminates one.
Now there are two stones remaining, and it’s your turn to eliminate one of
them. You eliminate the dead stone, leaving the red one. This matches your
prediction. This is the standard procedure for the PATEO force.
Now, here are my objections to this standard procedure. I do not like
'eliminating' items — it smacks of manipulation and tricks of the magician's
choice variety, of which many lay people are aware. The first alteration therefore
to perform the PATEquivoque is to point to two stones and say: “Which one do
you like? I'll keep the other one.”
Digression: Often, when performing a magician's choice with two items,
the spectator points to the awkward object. When you set it aside, they will often,
and reasonably, ask: “Why can't we use the one I picked?” Elimination confuses
them — everyone understands picking a favorite. Let 'em keep the one they like
better!
Now, it’s your helper's turn. She points to two stones. You say, “I like that
one!” And take it. Set it aside.
Now, it’s her turn to pick. Point to the two dead stones. Say, “Which one
do you want to keep?” Set the other aside. “Then this one is mine.”
Now, here is the final convincer that all is fair. You have two stones on the
table. One is the force stone. It’s your turn to pick one. Completely blow them
away by saying, “I don't know which one I like best. Do me a favor, my
darling —you pick one for me! Hand it to me.”
Wow! You’ve waived your right to the final selection. If she hands you the
predicted stone, call attention to it as you casually brush the last dead stone aside.
If she hands you the dead stone, set it aside and call attention to the remaining
stone— the one she saved for herself!
Finish the effect in grand style, and pass the collection plate. It doesn’t get
any cleaner than this.
For a cool application of this force, see Mark Striving's Warm Fuzzies Up
Close. For the final word on the equivoque, See Jack Dean's book Equivoque.
They Hell Fire!

Walk around mentalism is rare. To fill this need, Mark Strivings
has written an excellent book, Mobile Mentalism. And I don’t
plug Mark's book simply because I'm in it - it really is a good
source of material for the walk-around mind reader.
Richard Webster has a videotape with cool close-up psychic
routines which is available from Flora & Co. Yet, until recently,
Close-up mentalism was a neglected field.
Years ago, I was desperately seeking good, convincing material for walk
around mind reading situations. I didn't want mental magic; I wanted convincing
demonstrations that puzzled the skeptic and enraptured the believers.
So I got out Bascom's Magick, and culled out a few routines. One of these
was Cicardi's Hell's Fire. I adapted it and changed the handling to sterilize it a
little, and now, with Cicardi's kind permission, I give you this variation on his
classic effect.
I’d like to say at the outset that while I originally thought this would be a
pleasant little interlude, it soon became one of the strongest routines of Close-Up
mentalism I’ve ever performed. It is just so convincing.
Effect:
“It’s been observed that the incidences of spontaneous psychic
manifestations increase when strong emotions are involved. We’ve all had a
creepy feeling that something wasn't quite right about a person we’ve just met.
Or a premonition of death or disaster.”
Removing a pencil and a banded stack of business cards, the psychic
removes four of them.
“On these cards I'll write words that represent four common emotions. I'll
try to project them to you.” The four cards are placed, face-down, in a row on the
table. “One of these cards has a world that inspires fear and horror — Rush
Limbaugh! Just kidding!. I'm going to try to steer you away from that word.
“I’d like you to think of something that is the occasion of great joy. An
event of supreme happiness. And then, following your hunches, just touch any one
of the cards.”
The helper touches a card, and the word 'Joy' is written on the back.
The performer continues. “Now, I would like you to think of something you
really hated. This could be a visit to a dentist's office, with the sound of the
whirring drill and the smell of tooth burning away. Or, it could be an ex-lover or
spouse! Something or someone who arouses hate in you. This is a private
thought, and one I'll not ask you to share. Just see it. Then, touch a card.”
The word 'Hate' is written on the back of the card.
“Now, please, think of something or someone that you love. Feel the
emotions warming and delighting your heart. Now, touch either one of the two
remaining cards.”
The word 'Love' is written on the back of the card.
“The card you avoided is the card carrying the thought that inspires fear in
the hearts of people. No matter what nationality or age you happen to be, this
word will cause fear and panic.”
The performer writes 'Fire' on the back of the remaining card. Turning it
over, he says, “And see! You intuitively matched the thought with the action!”
The word ‘Fire’ is also written on the front of the card.
“But not only that— when you thought of love, you found the love card,
when you thought of joy, you found the joy card, and when you thought of hate,
well ...see for yourself!”
The helper matched all four emotions!
Method:
The evolution of this effect can be found in Paul Curry's Probability Zero,
Orville Meyer's ESP Testing Game, and my own ESP Testing Game 2000.
Everything Cicardi touches comes out cleaner and stronger, and this routine is no
exception.
To perform the effect, write the word 'Love' on both sides of a card. Under
this card is another card with the word 'Hate'. And under this one is another card
with 'Joy' written on both sides.
This stack of three cards are placed on top of a stack of cards banded
together with a rubber band. This is a subtlety that makes the subsequent
switching of the cards inconceivable. The stack goes into your left pocket with a
pencil.
To perform, remove the stack of cards with the left hand, and hold them in
dealing position in the left hand. The three loose cards are on the bottom of the
stack. Pull out four blank cards from the stack, and drop them onto the stack.
As you’re delivering your opening remarks, write 'Fire' on all four cards.
Do this in a manner so that no one can see what you’re writing.
This is Cicardi's revolutionary addition to the methodology of Probability
Zero that makes the ending a killer.

Table the four cards in a row, writing side down, and mix them around a bit.
All this time, keep the stack of cards in your hand.
When the person indicates his 'Joy' selection, write 'Joy' on the back of the
card and drop it on top of the stack.
Repeat with 'Hate' and 'Love', dropping them on to of the stack in the left
hand. Remember, at this point, all of the cards have 'Fire' written on the back.
You're now going to get set for a gambler's move called 'The Flop'. The
move is used to reverse a faced deck -- which is, after all, what we have at this
point, with 'Love' showing on each side.
As you write 'Fire' on the last tabled card, your left hand turns palm down,
so that the forefinger can steady the card as you write on it. It is under cover of
this natural gesture that the first half of the Flop occurs. Many words can be used
to describe the Flop, but basically, you turn your left hand palm up, but the stack
does not turn over. Your second, third and fourth fingers curl into a fist as the
hand turns palm down. This reverses the stack.
As the hand turns palm up, flipping the 'Fire' card over to show that both
sides match, it is perfect cover to naturally turn the hand palm up, and re-gripping
the stack in dealing position.
Now, the gaffed cards are on top. It takes the spectator about two seconds
to begin to wonder if 'Fire' was written on all the cards. We give them about a
second and a half. Then, we deal the three loose cards face up one at a time,
showing the rare synchronism at work between two minds!
Cop the three dirty cards and pocket them under the ample cover you’ll
have, and toss the clean and still banded stack onto the table. Or, pocket the entire
stack. Either way, there’s nothing to see. The banded stack seems to preclude the
possibility of a switch, for those who would even consider it in the first place.
And that is my revolutionary addition to the effect!
If you want to add comedy, write the name of the current President on the
fear card instead of 'Fire'.
The Lady and the Lock

It all started with Annemann's Seven Keys to Baldpate.
Various evolutions occurred, such as the mechanically
delightful Keyr-r-r-rect and the Grismer lock. Some
versions of the effect (expensive ones, too!) were atrocious
and obvious, requiring obvious manipulation by the performer
before the final key is tried.
Magic shops and other sources, plus increasingly suspicious
audiences, have given the audience the idea of a “trick lock.”
But the various versions of Seven Keys are so strong theatrically, that it seems a
shame to trash the entire effect because of this simple complication.
So, these days, I ask the person booking me for the show if he would be
interested in a Psychic challenge.” “What kind?” He usually answers
suspiciously.
“I perform a demonstration where an audience member Psychically opens
an ordinary lock. People are suspicious if I bring my own lock, so I wonder if you
could do me a great favor and supply a new lock, still in the original wrapper, for
my show?” Usually, they agree.
“I need an ordinary Master Lock gate lock. That's all. Bring it to the show
and I'll ask for it when I need it. Thanks.”
Comes the night of the show, and I have the lock opened by the dignitary
and the key is used to open the lock. Now, I introduce six other keys, and have
them tried in the lock, one by one. They fail to open the lock. Since I’ve
requested a known and very common style of lock, the indifferent keys are easy to
provide.
The dignitary is invited to remain onstage and to indicate two other
audience members of his choice, one man and one woman. These two come up to
a smattering of applause.
“Do you believe in Psychic Intuition?” I ask innocently. No matter what
the answer, I lock the two men together through their buttonholes! “You’d better,
unless you want to go home together!” I inform them.

Now, you have a variety of options other than the one I'm about to give
you. Most Seven Keys routines involve switching the good key out, and making
sure it is saved last during an elimination procedure.
In the original version, seven spectators each draw a key out of a bag. The
Psychic then determines who has the one key that opens the lock. Either of these
presentations, and the methods accompanying them, will work fine with the
borrowed lock.
Annemann's original version used a small change bag and seven duplicate
good keys. The change bag is used to force one of the good keys on a known
spectator.
Mark Strivings sells an excellent updated version that uses only the
original keys, no change bag, and is very clean. In fact, I use his handling when I
want a quicker effect. You may contact him, or see his tape Anneman for the
Nineties.
In this version, The Lady and the Lock, a different effect is created
through cheating.
The six indifferent keys are tried, one by one, by the lady, and dropped into
an elegant glass goblet. The good key is tried, the lock springs open, and the
performer then buttonholes the two male guests.
Swirling the keys around in the glass, the psychic drops them into the lady's
hands. She's instructed to clasp her hands together loosely around the keys. The
psychic then invites the lady to concentrate, using her best psychic insight, and try
to mentally locate the one key, the correct key, that will open the lock and free the
two gentlemen before rumors get started!
When she opens her hand, she gasps! Six of the keys are twisted and bent.
Only one key remains straight.
It’s the key necessary to open the lock! Hooray!
How to do it:
As the lady hands you the six indifferent keys, you secretly bend them as
you drop them into the glass. Guy Bavli's method is probably the best here.
Believe me, you have lots of cover.
If that method is too testicular for you (and it is for me!) try this: When
you procure the goblet to drop the keys into, with the right hand finger palm a
stack of six horribly disfigured keys. You can hold the goblet in the hand with the
finger palmed keys for a while, just to create some time misdirection.
Pass the goblet into the left hand so that the right hand is free to take the
first indifferent key from the lady, and hold it between the first finger and thumb.
This is the position required to execute a coin sleight known to magicians as the
Bobo Switch.
Eventually, you’ll be holding all six indifferent keys and she's trying the
good key. All eyes are on her, and so you have plenty of cover for the following:
Drag the discarded keys into finger palm as you release the finger palmed
keys into the goblet. Allow the lady to drop the seventh key into the goblet as you
move close in to her. Let her body cover your right hand carefully dropping the
palmed keys into the pocket. Do not let her get a good look into the glass!
The rest, as they say, is all buildup. I’ve used a pendulum at times to
channel the energy from the audience to bend the keys.
When the time comes, cleanly and dramatically show the bent keys, one by
one. Call attention to the straight key, and have the lady release the two
gentlemen from durance vile.
***********************************
In my restless quest for the perfect Q and A method, I’ve traveled many
routes. Most of these have been documented in the Compleat Fortune-Teller and
The Even Compleater Fortune-Teller. Here’s a handling I'm working these days
for audiences of skeptics; where an ultra-clean handling is of the essence. It is
based on the Volta Hull Reversible Card, and you should refer to my handling of
the card in The Compleat Fortune Teller in Whillicker's Favorite Method.
Bumbershoot Q and A
A combinations of methods are used to rule out skeptic's
theories. But first, an analysis of the top five theories is
offered.
• Pet theory number one: The questions are secretly read.
Presentation is the key to destroying this theory. If the folded
cards are never opened, then the idea cannot come up. Get rid of your
one-ahead!
Clean handling is the key here. In the following method, the information is
openly gleaned, but the method hides this action. If the billet is always handled at
the extreme fingertips, and always kept in full view, it goes a long way to assure
the spectator's peace of mind.
• Theory number two is the one - ahead, or some variation of it.
This theory is ruled out by changing the order of procedure. The performer
answers the question, then hands the billet to a spectator to read aloud. The billet
is then passed back to the questioner.
• Theory number three is planted questions.
To eliminate this assumption, as many questions as possible should be
answered. This should present no problem.
• Theory number four is the performer is reading the writing by feeling
the raised imprint.
This seems ridiculous, but I have heard this proposed by otherwise
perfectly intelligent people. This theory is eliminated by pointing out during the
writing procedure that it is impossible. Invite them to try it themselves before
they turn the card in. Caution them about bearing down too hard because it would
emboss the question on the back of the card.
• Theory number five involves the idea that the questions are opened in
the bag and secretly read.
I have the questions gathered in a nice gift bag, and move into the audience
as I answer the questions. Periodically, I invite the querents to look in the bag to
see if they can read any of the questions. They admit they cannot.
I give them the bag to shake up and select the next question for me. The
key here is audience participation. If they are involved, they’ll by too busy to
formulate destructive (to the illusion) theories.
Preliminaries:
First, some pre-show information is gathered. Five or so questions are
gathered in the audience. It doesn’t matter if the method destroys the billet or
not —all we need is the question and the name.
Plenty of methods exist that allow us to get the information. I prefer to
mingle with the crowd before dinner, and perform some readings and/or mobile
mentalism (as my friend Mark Strivings calls it).
At the conclusion of my performance, I have one of the spectators fill out a
billet. I use the Osterlind switch to switch the billet for a blank, and burn it. I
then say that I'll answer their question during the show.
The pre-show mingling assures that I can target people who are good
responders. If the table I'm working shows skepticism or hostility, I end the
performance quickly, and move on. Some may prefer impression methods, such
as the clipboard or Lee Earle's Pre-Show Pads.
At the end of my close-up performance, I innocently ask the good table if
they ever thought about seeing a psychic, or perhaps call one of those psychic
hotlines in order to ask a question. Usually, a good responder will say “Yes.”
So, I tell them, why don't you write down the question that you’d like me to
try to psychically answer. “Fold it up, and I tell you what — keep it until I ask for
the questions during the show!” This virtually assures that I’ll receive good,
usable questions, and not something like, “Wherever did you get this nice carbon
paper clipboard?”
As I described in my other books on Q and A, my pre-show slips are the
same color and appearance as my Q and A cards, except they are made from thin
paper. This ensures that I can avoid them by touch during the preliminary part of
the Q and A performance, and save the good stuff for the end.
Ideally, the five questions should be memorized, but I like to cover my
bets. Prozac has ruined my short term memory, so I write the names and
questions on a small, business card sized cue card. The cue card is in an easy to
reach location, near a large crystal ball. I also write down on this card any “dirt” I
have on the dignitaries present.
Phase One
Cards are passed to the audience, and they are invited to fill them out by
writing a psychic question on the card, folding it in half, and signing their names
on the outside. The cards are then folded in half again.
The cards are set up for the Volta Hull reversible card. As they are filled
out and folded, the cards are gathered in a cardboard shoe box with a slot in the
top. This assures the spectators that the cards are impossible to read. It also hides
the fact that the folded cards tend to spring open a bit.
The gathered cards are dumped into a nice gift bag. One folded card is
removed and held at the fingertips. “We have a card that has your name on the
outside,” the psychic says. “And your secret question on the inside. I'll call out
your name, and when you hear it, stand up and say 'Here!'
“Attend me carefully. It would be an easy thing to simply unfold the card,
turn it over, and read the question. But I'll not ever do that. I'll use my intuition
to try to give you meaningful impressions.
“However, I'm not at all limited to the information written on the card.
This is for verification purposes only. I may tell you a lot of things you didn't
think of at the time you phrased your question. But everything I tell you will be
meaningful to you.”
At this point, the folded billet is dropped into the bag, and is immediately
opened and folded inside out. Now, the question is on the outside of the card.
Since it’s folded into quarters, the card looks the same. Immediately remove the
same slip and open it halfway, ostensibly to read aloud the name.
“Here’s one. James Smith. Where are you?” You’ve apparently read the
name from the front of the card— but since the card is secretly inside out, you
also read the question. Fold the card back over as soon as you read aloud the
name.
Always handle the card at the extreme fingertips and in full view at all
times.
Now, in the best manner possible, deliver a reading and answer the
question. Walk briskly over to the spectator, with the bag of questions in your left
hand, hanging by the little strap at the top.
Position the visible card to perform the Umbrella Move. Don't do it yet.
You’ll clean up the reversed condition of the card using a unique
application of the Umbrella Move. Approach the spectator whose question
you’re answering, and insert your thumb into the card. Don’t stick it in too far.
By this time, you’ve made your way across the room and are standing
alongside the spectator. Answer his question in fine manner (See the Fortune-
Teller series for how).
Openly do the Umbrella Move, and the card pops open with the question
facing the spectator! Ostentatiously keep your head turned away from the card.
“Sir, will you read aloud the question? I don’t want to even see it. Was I
close?” Of course, he reads the question aloud and the audience applauds. You
have to try this to see how clean it is.
“Here’s another one.”
This procedure is repeated about five times. The secret reversal is
completely covered by being performed in a bag, and the cleanup is performed in
full view and is totally unsuspected, due to the weird topological properties of the
Umbrella Move. It’s the perfect crime!
To make the matter even more interesting, we throw them a curve ball.
Variation: Between Your Palms

Have a pen or small ruler in your right inside jacket pocket. Read the name
aloud, secretly reading the question, and chuckle. Start to walk the question over
to the person responding. Begin your character reading at this time.
Say, “I’d like to show you something interesting about your signature.”
Reach into your pocket with the hand containing the card (the other hand has the
bag and, if you use one, the hand-held mike), and re-fold the card to its original
state. Remember, this brings the signature back to the outside.
Show the person her signature and make a few marks as you point out
something interesting about her signature with the pen.
“These tight 'o' loops tell me you're a very private person, and aren’t likely
to tell anyone the whole story. There’s always a piece of yourself you hold in
reserve. Would you please hold your card between your palms and concentrate
on your question?”
Back away a few steps and piece together the threads of her question as
she's holding it between her palms! As soon as she verifies that you’ve given her
an answer, turn away and immediately go to the next question, leaving her with a
stainless, folded question in her hands that skeptics can examine to their heart's
content.
Phase Two
Now, to increase the pace, simply perform the first reversal in the basket for
subsequent questions, as in the original Volta Hull Supper Club Mindreading
Act. Call out the name, and answer the question. Ask, “Does that answer your
question?” each time for verification. Do not open or un-reverse the billet, just
drop it in your pocket or carelessly toss it aside. Keep this part as brisk as you
can.
The About-Face
At some point in the proceeding, I'll say: “I sense some skepticism in the
back — someone is trying to figure out how I'm getting the questions. Actually,
there are quite a few people wondering this. Folks, the point is not how am I
getting the questions — it’s how am I getting the answers? If you ask yourself
this question, you’ll begin to see the point of this show. And as you're beginning
to realize, I'm telling you a lot more than any of you wrote down!”
Phase Three
To further increase the pace, stop consulting the slips entirely and remove
your crystal ball. Secretly palmed is your cue card. By reading it through the
crystal ball, you read the thoughts of your pre-show assistants. Toss in some salty
sensational answers during this phase. Keep the pace fast!
Phase Four
Segue into a Hurling the headlines style delivery and say good-bye!
Prepare to be burnt at the stake.
After reading so many methods of performing Q and A in my books,
you're probably wondering: Johnny, what is your favorite method? Good
question….
The Bivalve Billetbag

I'm going to briefly describe this utility gimmick to you and let
your imagination run with it. I'll tell you that I use it now to
perform FloraRiggs from The Man With the $1.98 Hands.
The Ostin Billet-switching clip is a staple in Mentalism, and
many routines and uses have been devised with it. I use it a great deal, as did the
late Dr. David Hoy, while performing his bold and subtle Miracles.
Richard Mark has written a wonderful treatment on the Ostin clip entitled
The Invisible Hand.

I wanted a handling that would allow the spectator to remove the clip
holding the billet. It occurred to me that you could get the same effect if the billet
actually went up into the bag, instead of the clip. For what it’s worth, here's the
idea:
You have a gift in an ornate bag, with a horizontal stripe pattern. A bulldog
clip holds the bag shut, and under the clip a folded receipt can be seen .
An audience member guesses what she thinks the gift might have cost.
When she removes the receipt, the total at the bottom matches her psychic guess.
To make the gimmick, construct an extra 'lip' at the top of the bag about an
inch an a half wide. This lip looks like one of the stripes in the bag design. Glue
a rubber band to the inside top of the lip, and attach the folded billet to the band as
in the Ostin clip. The band needs to be of a size that will pull the billet up into the
lip of the bag. Pull the billet down, into view, and hold it in place by placing a
bulldog clip on the top of the bag.
When your assistant calls out her estimated price (Tell her its under $10)
you jot her guess down on a pad. You also double-write it on the blank spot on a
duplicate receipt. I know this is a sketchy description, but see FloraRiggs from
the book cited above for more details.
Now, two movements occur simultaneously. You instruct her to remove the
clip as your hand, with the palmed billet, turns palm up under the clip. It looks
like the billet fell from the clip into your hand! Sort of the mentalist version of
the shuttle pass.
The clip is clean, but the bag is dirty. Have your assistant open the receipt
and read it aloud. When the applause subsides, reach into the bag and give her the
gift. Warm Snuggles!
Psychic Fair Groupies

Chapter Two
Some Secrets of Becoming a Famous Psychic
There’s no doubt that one of the quickest way to build
your name up is to work a few Psychic Fairs. Rather
than being just another generic reader on the floor with
about twenty others, why not work a little harder to
increase your reputation as a magickal person?
Even in your community, you’d like to be known as a
person around whom weird things happen. I often deny
that weird things happen around me, while books are
crashing off of the shelf behind me.
I do want to point out that I personally have no need to resort to trickery to
accomplish any of the following effects. I'm a real Psychic, and I challenge
anyone to prove, to my satisfaction and under my conditions, that I'm not!
The Geller Wristwatch Trick During a Reading

This is a little thing I like to throw in every now and
again when I'm in a venue where I provide a lot of
readings, such as a Psychic Fair or corporate party.
I ordinarily don’t like to perform magic tricks during a
reading, but this little gem seems to occur after the
reading! Read on.
Here’s what I tell the sitter:
I take both her hands in my own, and say, as though in afterthought:
“You may want to remove your wristwatch and set it aside. During the
course of this reading, I'm going to be interacting with your Aura. You may sense
this interaction as a feeling of peace and well- being that will come over you.
Unfortunately, it can play Hobbs with electronics and watches. I'll just set it over
here.”
The sitter sees me set the watch, without so much as a glance in its
direction, on the table. I proceed with the reading. What the sitter didn't see is
that I popped the stem of the watch with my thumbnail and gave the knob a spin
or two before setting it down.
This is a very easy trick to do, and was a staple of Geller's repertoire. You
may have seen Randi demonstrate the trick as well. By the way, having seen the
two, Geller does it better!
So, when I give her the watch back the knob is snapped back in place and
she puts her watch on. I'm very careful to keep her attention occupied with some
engrossing conclusions while she does this.
Sometime later, she’ll notice her watch is several hours off! She's bound to
remember my remarks about the interaction of my Aura with hers.
I only perpetrate this beauty about six times out of thirty readings or so. It’s
enough to start a legend going around, about all the strange things that just seem
to happen all around your magickal self!
Another way to gain notoriety at a Psychic fair involves demonstrating an
ability that no one else has. If you combine this principle with the idea that most
of the products offered at Psychic Fairs are intangibles, you can come up with a
practical use for the following despicable type of dupery, that I'll discuss in detail
next. Bear with me:
Hypno Heat as a Crystal Cleansing Presentation

Hypno Heat is a generic term for any number of toxic
chemical preparations (such as mercuric chloride), that,
when applied to aluminum foil, creates an exothermic
reaction. In other words, the foil gets hot!
The drawbacks are that the chemical is messy and
dangerous. I personally don’t like using the chemical for safety reasons.
However, I'll admit that in the past, I’ve used the following at Psychic Fairs to
enhance my reputation, and — yes, to make a little money!
I “cased” the clients as follows:
Whenever someone bought a crystal and asked me what I thought about it, I
would grasp the stone and look vacant for a moment. “Whoo, this is hot,” I’d say
with a frown. “There's a lot of anger in this stone. I think this was once part of a
larger stone that was dashed to pieces in an argument. There are tears, shouting,
anger. Some of the rage remains. Would you like me to cleanse it?” I ask
innocently.
I look for a piece of metal, preferably some foil. I “find” a scrap of foil,
leftover from a piece of gum, chocolate, or cigarette pack. I personally don’t
smoke, but most psychics seem to.
Loading the foil with the chemical, I hand the balled fragment to the person
to hold on the palm of their hand. I place the crystal in the other. I hover both
hands over theirs, and hum softly.
Eventually, the foil becomes hot! They always react strongly. “There,
there,” I croon to the crystal. “You might want to hold this under running water
for one minute to complete the cleansing (!). Thank you; it is a very nice crystal,”
I tell the astonished client.
This is a necessary step, in my opinion, so that any trace of the toxic
chemical that remains on the foil is washed from the client's hands.
Soon, word spread, and I was “cleansing” stones for the low, low price of
$5 each.
If you use this, you're indeed despicable! Hee, hee, hee!
Sometimes, especially at Psychic fairs, the sitter asks for permission to
record the reading. At one time, I would record every reading and sell the person
the tape for an extra $5. If the sitter didn't want to buy the tape, I’d recycle it.
Over the course of a weekend, this incidental practice can generate a couple of
extra hundred dollars. I have a nice cassette insert for the tape.
But the fear was always in my mind that I might read a mother and
daughter, or a series of friends, perhaps hours apart, and give similar readings.
When you do fifty readings over a two day period, it’s bound to happen sooner or
later.
My paranoia was heightened when another reader was caught out doing
canned readings to four people who knew each other! Amateur...
The promoter gave the four ladies comp tickets, and all four came to me.
Together. One right after another. And all four listened to each others readings
carefully.
Needless to say, I was able to give them four very different readings using
my reading tradition, as I’ve studied real Palmistry all my life and see all hands as
different.
When they told me what had happened, I understood completely why they
were a little defensive when they approached my table.
So, I stopped recording readings.
However, some clients strenuously insist on recording the readings
themselves -- some consider it their right. They can get downright defensive
about this right to do so. So, rather than making the potential client angry, I
decided to let them record the readings, but ruin the recording!
How to do this is described next.
The PK Recorded Tape Secret

“We can try to record the reading, but I haven't had much
luck with it...”
“How so?”
“Well, I don't do real well with electronics. When I give a
reading, my Aura tends to interact with yours, and this
produces energy effects that seem to have a deleterious effect on electronic
equipment. We can try it. Just set your recorder over here. In fact, you may want
to remove your watch and set it over there as well (remember this?)”
“Oh. Okay.”
And I set their tape recorder over a small wooden box that contains a Tarot
deck, a pendulum, and a PK Micro 5 magnet!
Which pretty much says 'bye - bye' to any possibility of getting a usable
recording. I tried to tell you so, but you wouldn't listen.
If you hate me, I don't blame you! In order to balance Karma, I'll discuss
how to use our power for good in the section entitled More Secrets of Psychic
Readings.
By the way, if you use a PK magnet to stop someone's watch, realize that
people pay a lot of money to have expensive watches demagnetized! Show a little
consideration, fer cryin' out loud!
One of the most popular phenomenon today concerns the seeing and
reading of Auras. For those who have studied this phenomenon, the Aura is a
type of energy given off by the spirit or soul. The ability to see and interpret
Auras can be a very lucrative one.
I claim that I can teach anyone to see Auras in twenty minutes. When
people enquire or point out about why some people see one color while some see
another, I respond, “The type of energy we perceive as the Aura is not color at all.
It’s an energy field, and the brain interprets the energy as color. Actually, the eyes
are not involved at all. Different colors mean different things to different people.
I see red as a very independent and passionate color. Some see it totally
differently. Some don’t see the Aura at all, but smell it or feel it!”
I proceed to a demonstration. With a black or navy bandana handy, you can
perform two very startling demonstrations. I personally don’t need the trickery
described, since I can really see Auras, but I include two ideas for those who
can’t.
One, of course, is The Ultimate Psychometry from The Compleat
Fortune-Teller. Another one is on the following page:
Aura Reading for the Psychically

Dyslexic
“The Aura can be seen with the brain, not the eyes,”
asserts the Psychic. “Allow me to demonstrate the
characteristics of the Aura for you.”
Picking an obviously enthralled lady from the group, the Psychic continues.
“I want you to stand over there, against that back wall. Close your eyes and
imagine your Aura or Energy Bubble around you. Show me the boundaries with
your hands. Good, good!
“Now, slowly walk in this direction, and if you feel something enter your
space bubble, or Aura, try to avoid it.”
As she walks across the room, place your hand near the side of her head.
Most of the time, she’ll try to avoid it, even with eyes closed! Place a hand about
a foot in front of her face, and she’ll probably stop.
If you get a bad reactor, don’t make a big deal out of it. Try it with
someone else. This is the set up for the following demonstration.
Get a good reactor from your group, or if you're working one-on-one, use
the raw material you're stuck with. Remove the bandana, roll it into a tube, and
tie it over your eyes.
The following demonstration will be much more convincing if you had the
forethought to roll the blindfold from either end, leaving a single-layer gap in the
middle for straight-ahead viewing. This was a favorite method of Annemann's
and can be found in The Mystery of The Blackboard, from Practical Mental
Effects.
Now, have your subject stand in front of you, and tell them to imagine their
energy double, or Aura, extending out from them. “It’s said that the Buddha's
aura was six miles in diameter, and covered an entire city.”
Now, still blindfolded, with both hands describe the shape and extent of the
Aura. Simply move your hands around the person's body, about six inches away,
coming very close but never touching them! This looks a lot better than it reads.
I keep my head turned away as much as possible, and use peripheral vision.
Now, have them extend their arms to their sides. Once again, trace an
outline around the body and arms.
While you're doing this, you must deliver a reading based on the colors you
“see.” For instance:
“In this area is a strong violet or purple emanation, sort of a spout or
fountain coming from the crown, as my third eye sees it, which indicates a strong
empathic and psychic nature. Auras act as electromagnets, and the color violet
tends to attract — well, people with a lot of personal problems!
“You would tend to attract the personal confessions of others. The image
that comes to mind is that you're sitting in a doctor's office, reading a magazine
and minding your own business. Someone comes in and sits down next to you,
and in five minutes, they're telling you their life story! Extend your arms, please...
“Yes, I thought so - The color green emanates strongly in this area, and
green complements Violet. Violet, as I see it, is the color of responsibility. You
have a strong responsible sense, and while you may only have a few actual
children, you’ll be a mother to all! You’ll tend to mother your friends, and take in
lost souls under your wing.
“When something goes wrong, you try to make it better, even if you had
nothing to do with it. When someone does something nice for you, you can't rest
until you pay them back. You're in a period of transition, as this green has red
flecks in it. In a few years, those fleck or floaters will solidify into a protective
layer of more independence and self-confidence.
“You’ve already come a long way in this area. As I see it, a few years ago,
if someone said something about you that wasn't nice, you’d worry and fret about
it. Now, you're getting to the point where you could care less! Which is good, and
as it should be.”
And so forth. Richard Webster's Aura Reading for Fun and Profit will
tell you how to give the same person the same readings years apart.
For advanced audiences, very knowledgeable of metaphysics, you can point

out the seven Chakras, and give a dissertation on the relative color and blockage
of each individual area.
Right or Left?
It can be very impressive when you're reading palms to say
immediately upon seeing the hands: “Ah! A lefty! (or Righty)!
A certain way to tell is to look at the belt. The side that the pin
of the buckle points to is the dominant hand. Not all belts have
pins and buckles these days, but all of them have attachments.
Get a good look and use your deductive powers.
The triangle of a man's tie can also whisper the dominant hand. As a rule,
the direction the point of the triangle points is the dominant side.
More Secrets of Private Readings

Becoming a successful Psychic Reader is mostly a matter of
style. It can never be a product of simply memorizing
psychological truisms. I'll try to convey some of the real
secrets of successful readers, including myself and many of
the shut-eye readers whose techniques I'm familiar with.
Develop Interdependence
Ultimately, the real secret of Psychic reading is the same as
the secret to life itself: People must like you and believe that a relationship with
you would be beneficial and rewarding.
We all get where we're going through the agency of other people. If we
become too dependent, we lose our own sense of direction. If we become too
independent, we struggle very hard to do things for ourselves that would be better
left to some one else to do.

The middle path, interdependence, seems to be the most successful course
to follow. When we're interdependent, we rely on certain individuals and
institutions to provide for us as we provide for others. Sort of a sociological
Golden Rule. In this way, the maximum of independence can be obtained with
the least effort.
We want our clients to come to us, so that we can ply our trade in the world.
We don’t want to be the center of a cult following, however!
Don't “Should” your clients to death!

An instant turn off, for most people, is the phrase “You need to do this.”
Some similar no-no phrases are:
What you ought to do.... You should do this... and anything else that sounds
like you're imitating the authority figure in their life.
A more successful approach would be to rephrase your advice in the form
of suggestions. Use such modified sentence structure as:
“You could benefit from taking charge of your life, and stop relying on
others for answers....”
”It would be helpful for you to take this action.....”
“You would be less likely to stress yourself if you reassess your
priorities...”
You get the idea. Stress the benefits of complying with a specific strategy
or action. Be sure to stress that decisions affecting your client's life are their
responsibility, and not any other persons.
If you want to make sure that presents will be rattled and peeked at before
the Yule, what do you do? You put a label, DO NOT OPEN 'TIL XMAS! You
might as well send the child a written invitation to peek! We're contrary animals,
we humans.
Different Strokes for Different Folks...

As with everything in life, what you get out of a psychic reading depends
on what you bring to it. A person seeking insights will find them, even in a very
poor reading. A person seeking a curious experience may find that as well. What
does the skeptic receive?
Psychic readings don’t make sense to the analytical person. This is why
Pseudo Psychometry, such a beautiful effect for 90% of your audience, flies
right over the heads of your skeptics. While the “feelers” in the audience are
enraptured with your detailed and insightful personality readings, the analysts
SIMPLY DON’T GET IT.
Here is what the analytical thinker sees: The performer has five people
place items in little envelopes, and these are mixed up. Then, the performer goes
through some rigmarole, some psycho-babble, and figures out whose object is
which. Solution: He had some way of coding the information. How about those
envelopes? Bingo! Puzzle solved!
The best way to avoid this puzzle aspect is to simply eliminate the part
where you return the object. No, I'm not crazy— the routine plays twice as strong
this way.
Using the information coded into the envelopes, you deliver a cold reading
based on visual cues and the age of the subject. Then, you describe a few of the
physical attributes of the subject. Then, say: “If this is your object, please come
up here and take it.” When the person rises and claims her object, the audience
will make the necessary connections and will gasp audibly at how accurate the
reading was.
In fact, these days I'm performing my Ultimate Psychometry (from The
Compleat Fortune-Teller) this way. Since I'm blindfolded, it adds to the
magickal content of the experience.
The analyticals completely miss the point of this routine, but they can go on
to try to figure out the book test.
The Future
Futures are created, not predicted. I resolutely believe
this. We live in a universe bursting with goodies, and
all we have to do is ask for our share.
As Psychic readers, we see the seeds of potential
futures available to the client. We throw a little
manure, a little water on these seeds and help them
sprout. But nothing is written in stone, at least from
our human point of view, so the fulfillment of these
opportunities are the responsibility of the client.
There are a lot of people out there, and if you do
readings for any length of time at all, you’ll run into
them, who are perfectly willing to turn their lives over to you or any other Guru.
In New Age terms, they’re seeking validation and/or affirmation.
My attitude about the way I choose to live my life can be summed up very
succinctly: I neither lead nor follow. I choose to avoid any type of relationship
that smacks of domination or dependency, and I'm not interested in being anyone's
Guru.
The ethical responsibility of any psychotherapist is the ultimate
independence of the client. The client must be encouraged to become their own
therapist.
The universe loves to say “Yes.” If we ask for crap, we’ll get it. But if we
ask for good things, our cup will overflow with goodies.
Conveying this message to my clients is my essential and unforgettable
goal.
The Faces of Man—

Practical Applications of
the Gail Sheehy Pattern
Gail Sheehy did all of us Charlatans a favor
with her ground-breaking work Passages.
Many people, including me, have learned a
lot from this book. However, a lot of people
have told me they find such books boring. I suspect they have short head lines.
So, as your friend and pal, I'll detail the use I put Passages to. It’s killer!
Cradle to Grave
Passages deals with predictable crises of adult life. Before the age of
eighteen, the teenager wants to leave home, break ties with the parents, and
explore possibilities.
During the late teens and early twenties, the individual tries on different
hats, trying to find a sense of the individual self. Generally, the youth is attracted
to fads, as remote and foreign to the parents as possible.
Behind this outward show of assertiveness is the secret fear that “I really
can't take care of myself.” The objective at this time is to seek security by placing
oneself in a sex role, a career role, and an ideology. During this period, the young
person seeks out those who verify and affirm his position.
This period is marked by being torn between the desire for independence
and the need for security.
Throughout the twenties the individual seeks to develop his or her dream.
Questions of the inner self take a back seat as development of career and
relationships (externals) become important. We’re trying to do what we should
do. Finding a mentor is common during this phase. The conflicting impulses at
this time are to be ’set,’ to build a strong and safe commitment, and the desire to
experiment with possibilities.
The tendency is to keep commitments easily reversible, and yet to

stubbornly insist that we’ve found the one true course in life.
Around age thirty, we experience a sense of being too narrow and
restrictive. We experience a new vitality. We crave a change from the rut we’ve
created. Often, changes in career and life goals occur. There is a visceral feeling
of wasting time. Lots of thirtyish people go back to school.
In the mid thirties, we become very focused on career. We feel that time is
running out for us to achieve our goals. The foot goes down hard on the old
career accelerator. Its a feeling that this is the last chance to make something of
oneself.
During this time, especially for men, the inner, deeply personal issues and
needs go un-addressed, to surface during the late forties.
By forty, many people are changing careers and even marriage partners.
The late thirties and early forties are a time of reassessment and change.
A new stability is achieved in the mid-forties. A renewal of purpose occurs
to those who dealt with the earlier crises. A sense of stagnation occurs in those
who didn't. Women are starting to look for new mountains to climb; men are
starting to consider retirement options, having given up on reaching the lofty
pinnacles they envisioned during the twenties..
Near fifty, men experience what is known as the climacteric. This has
erroneously but colorfully been described as male menopause. At this age, the
emotions that the man suppressed during his career rush surface, often leading to
feelings of despair, sadness, and tears.
I’ve personally seen this passage in many men this age, and also heard it
described by frustrated wives who don’t know what the hell is going on with their
man. It’s as though the closet which held all those suppressed emotions burst
open, and all the feelings come tumbling out. It’s a difficult time.
Those who work through the emotional reactions of the fifties reach a new
plateau of enjoyment, and become very direct and no nonsense. Those who live
to an active advanced age, of both sexes, become very individualistic, outspoken
characters. It is sort of a second youth.

So, how does this help us as a psychic? Other than the obvious use of
telling us what crises the person is probably wrestling with? Well, a tradition that
has almost become lost is the cradle to grave reading. This was a very popular
type of reading decades ago, and probably best exemplified by Robert Nelson's
Dante's Life-Span Reading.
If you read Tarot, you can make a brief overview of the client's life simply
by hitting the high points of the above discussion. If you perform Palmistry, as I
do, I work this information in reading the Fate Line, which is the line indicating
the development and evolution of the personality.
The Sheehy Pattern Integrated In A Reading

My synopsis of the Sheehy pattern is about a minute or so,
and practically guaranteed to hit anyone at any age. This can
be worked into a Numerological Life Path Reading, A Tarot
spread, or a Palm reading.
I'll give an example from my reading method of choice,
Chiromancy. I would like to point out at the outset that this
isn’t a canned reading; that I work the information in to a
traditional reading of the Fate Line. This isn’t meant to be
used as a substitute for real reading, just an adjunct.
I'll use my own Fate Line as an example.
“Looking at your fate line, which reflects the development of your
personality, I see that it starts in Luna (the mound of Luna), so at an early age
you felt alone in your mind — even as a child playing with other children, you
may have felt different. In the family unit, you probably felt like you were from
another planet!
“There’s indication of turmoil in your childhood. What happened around
the age of 16 or 17? (This is a question I ask if the Head Line and Life Line are
tangled).
“These feelings of isolation will follow you until your forties or so, when
you realize that no one probably will ever understand you, and you may not even
fully understand yourself! Just learn to appreciate your uniqueness and celebrate
yourself.
“It looks like you had a mentor, someone who helped you shape your beliefs
around your—oh, late teens, early twenties. You became disillusioned with a lot
of potential friends and companions when you found out they weren’t as sincere as
you thought. There’s a period of disillusionment with life in general, and at times
your thoughts become morbid.
“Your tendency is to become a late bloomer, after several false starts, or
experiments you’ll experience a renewed sense of purpose around age 34 - 35.
You may find that what was once considered a hobby can become an income -
producing skill.
“You’ll tend to put your foot on the career accelerator at this time. I’d like
to caution you not to become so focused on career that you neglect your
emotional needs. You will in all probability stay active even in retirement, so
remember that you have plenty of time.
“After a brief emotional turmoil in the early fifties, you enter one of the
best and most satisfying times of your life. Your best years seem to come after age
forty-five. You’ll begin to rely less on the opinions of others and start to trust the
inner voice that’s really you.
“You’ll continue a tendency you feel now to care less about what others say
and think about you. You’ll say, “No more beating around the bush! Let's get on
with it!” You may become a little eccentric and outspoken as you get older.
“When you die, you’ll look back at a life well spent— if you have the time.
I suspect death will surprise you, you’ll be in the middle of building a house or
learning a foreign language — you’ll begin to think that you will live forever. ”
And so on. Please notice that many of the statements above are not
delivered by rote, but based on the actual development of my Fate Line. But
notice how the Sheehy pattern influenced the delivery of the information, based
on my age (mid-thirties) and the crises I probably have already faced.

Also be aware that the same principles of the Sheehy Pattern can be used in
Tarot, Numerology, Astrology, or whatever method of reading you prefer, to give
you a greater insight into the life pattern of the individual.
And to deliver a hell of a reading!
On the Road
This is a selection of ideas and tips learned
from many years traveling to and from
shows.
• Vaseline on your teeth makes your smile
a lot nicer. This is an old beauty contestant
secret.
Another beauty secret is if your hair
•
becomes greasy or sweaty, a little baby

powder combed through can make a big difference.
• Armor-All (TM) can be purchased in small packets. The packet
contains a small sponge soaked in the substance. Toss a couple in your
car or your case to give your shoes a quick shine.
• Walking around up close, your shoes are hard to see. But on a stage,
even a six-inch riser, they become easily visible. A lot of folks in the
corporate arena are very detail-sensitive and still judge a person by their
shoes!
• On the subject of being judged by appearances, be sure to select a
quality paper for your business card. I’ve seen a lot of impressively
designed cards spoiled by being printed on cheap paper.
• Re-sew all your shirt buttons with dental floss. There is nothing more
anxiety-provoking than to have a shirt button come unraveled one
minute before show time. Sometimes, even very expensive shirts have
the buttons sewn on in that manner that one good tug will unravel the
thread.
• Always carry with you a pharmacopoeia. Include aspirin, decongestant,
antacid, anti histamine, band aids, mouthwash, a hairbrush, shampoo,
deodorant, a candy bar, Pepto-Bismol, Kaopectate, soap, lotion, a razor
and a toothbrush. You never know....
• While you're at it, always have a repair kit nearby. It should contain a
razor blade or sharp cutter, glue, stapler, needle and thread, tape, small
tools, and anything else you may need to make a quick repair to your
equipment before the show. In fact, once when my zipper broke many
miles from home, I stapled that sucker shut and went on with the show!
• Never drive to the show in your performing attire, but never arrive at the
show in your street clothes. Dress in the lobby restroom, or stop at a
quickie mart a couple of blocks away from the performance to change.
Road-weary clothes are not very flattering!
• You must decide whether or not you're comfortable eating dinner with
your clients. My attitude has always been if you act like a guest, you’ll
be treated as a guest. Also, food in the stomach pushes on the
diaphragm and creates mucus in the throat. Either of these conditions
can effect your voice. Coffee, tea, and milk will produce mucus as well.
Caffeine makes you jittery. Drink lukewarm water to keep your throat
warm and wet.
• If you're working with a spot, have the house lights on and request the
spotlight to be on to full aperture. Never use a traveling spot light-it just
isn't practical for a mentalism show.
• Always provide your own P. A. I cannot stress this point strongly
enough. In 1996 dollars, you can tool up pretty professionally for
around $600. I suggest a high quality hand-held wireless microphone,
and sundry attachments and adapters in case you want to run your
system through the house sound. Also use a mike stand with a quick-
release clip.
• Remember that a podium is a raised stage. That thing that lecturers

stand behind is called a lectern.
• Many country clubs and hotels have speakers mounted in the ceiling,
and I take advantage of this whenever possible. I also have my own
amplifier and speakers with me in the car in case I need them. You’d be
amazed at some of the crap I’ve been handed in the past as “good P. A.”
• If you're qualified to do so, dismantle your speakers and check all the
connections. Re-solder those that seem weak to you. This will spare
you grief later on. A speaker going dead on you in the middle of your
show is no fun! I simply don’t want to worry about anything during the
show except entertaining the crowd. If you're not qualified to do this
check up yourself, pay a pro to do it. It’s money well spent.
• When performing Numerology readings at Psychic Fairs or other high-
volume events, it’s helpful to use a special calculator to convert the
names into numbers. Simply write in, with a razor point pen, the letters
associated with each number on the number pad. Then it’s a simple
matter to make the addition simply by spelling the name with the
keypad. Saves some brain cramping and inaccuracy.
• And finally, take a couple of minutes before each show to get yourself
focused. Imagine energy streaming in the top of your head, imagine
extending roots into the earth, and embrace the entire crowd with your
aura. Be focused!
***************************************************
I'll now discus a topic that you simply won’tt believe I'm even broaching.
Using the restroom.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to let anyone see you using the bathroom.
Period. You're a Magickal person; you're above such mundane things. It just
seems to me a very image-shattering thing to have someone come into the
restroom and see the performer on the throne with his pants around his knees!
All right, I'll tell you the story. I thought I would take this one to my grave.
Once I was performing my Psychic show out of town for a Christmas party.
The catch was this: I was in the middle of a bout with the flu, and it had reached
the point of progression where it had invaded my intestines and parts south. I had
a fever, bowel cramps, explosive gas, diarrhea, and chills.
The show must go on, right? Performing for a living is great 90% of the
time. But there are no sick days when you have a contract to honor and an
audience waiting to see you.
So I'm in the restroom, about thirty minutes before showtime, the rumblings
and other explosive sounds from my poor gastrointestinal system, mixed with my
groans and gasps, made for a horrifying audio experience. I was aware that
several gentlemen had entered the facilities, gone about their relatively quiet
business, and left, but, in my misery, I really didn't care!
Comes the showtime, and I'm knockin' em dead. There are plenty of laughs
in my show, and I encourage audience participation.
One guy says: “All this spectacular mind control, you'd think he'd be able
to control his BOWELS! You should have heard him in the bathroom an hour
ago! God, I thought he was DYIN'”
Its best to draw the curtain of discretion over certain scenarios. I believe
this is one of them.
What Life is Like for the Self-

Employed
Chapter Three
The Seven Psychic Secrets of
Success
I intend to pull no punches in this section. Rest
assured, if I step on your toes during the following
exposition that my toes are also being well-trampled.
I'm as guilty as anyone of the shortcomings listed
below. I'm an expert in the Art of messing up. This is
how I know what I'm talking about— I’ve done it all.
The First Step

The First Step is making a decision. Making a decision to become an
entrepreneurial entertainer. Deciding to be the best in your market.
It’s important to decide exactly what it is you're becoming. What is your
goal? Who do you want to be seen as? What, as I asked in another article, is your
premise? Since you purchased a book entitles The Psychic Agenda, I assume
your targeted market lies in the psychic arena.
Take, for example, a generic magician — one who tries to do everything.
In a generic magic show, the magician may perform illusions, escapes, rope tricks,
mentalism, and a comedy card trick. He isn’t a specialist; he's a generic
performer. The audience will perceive him as such.
Corporate audiences, and indeed any audience market worth your time,
want to obtain an expert, not a dilettante, or a jack-of-all trades.
Let me go further. Darwin Ortiz is a performer who understands the
concept of positioning yourself. He doesn’t bill himself as a magician. He’s the
world's leading card expert. He doesn’t perform card tricks— he's sharing
esoteric knowledge and relating inner-circle escapades of card hustlers and other
card experts.
Consequently, he pulls down larger fees and obtains loftier gigs than most
magicians. Remember that magic word— expert. Be an expert in your field.
Some magicians mix magic and escapes in the same show. I think this is a
bad idea. It’s better for the escapologist to specialize in escapes. If the audience
assumes the escape is accomplished through trickery, not expertise in extricating
oneself like McGiver from inescapable situations, most of the sense of danger is
negated and the appeal is lost. Decide who you are, and what you want your
audience think you're.
For example, I present myself as an expert in the silent language. I point
out that body language is one of the more obvious examples of this language. I
go on to tell my audience that experts (that word again!) who study such things
have concluded that human beings communicate over 11,000 non-verbal signals.
These signals are perceived beneath the conscious level and are
experienced as feelings based on past experience. The premise of my speech,
therefore, is defined by the material I use to present this message.
When we want a proper job performed, we hire specialists, experts, and
authorities. We don’t hire dabblers. I guarantee that corporations will not hire
you unless you're seen as an authority in your field. Corporate people are
perfectionists and cannot afford to let anything make a bad impression. Decide to
be an expert. Decide to be the expert.
A lot of magicians put the fatal phrase on their business card, Magic for all
occasions. Does anyone really believe that? The shows presented by such
performers reflect this aspect of their perception.
Sometimes we explain that we want variety in our shows. So, we do a coin
trick, a card trick, a rope trick, with no thought at all to continuity. In magic, this
is barely tolerable. In mentalism, it’s deadly.
If we present ourselves as a psychic jack of all trades, performing every
effect in the psychic catalogue — PK, mind reading, Aura reading,
clairvoyance —we're rightfully seen by the audience as a magician who’s
somehow imitating these phenomena. In mentalism, less is more.
It’s best to keep our claims modest. It’s better to be a really good
Numerologist rather than a dilettante in all psychic reading systems. At psychic
fairs, some reader advertise it all — Tarot, Palmistry, Numerology. Aura and
Chakra balancing, past lives, etc. They don’t attract one third of the business as a
person who practices one rewarding method and presents it well! Remember, be
the expert!
So, when we design our shows, we can benefit greatly by developing a
theme or ability that we’re demonstrating for the betterment and entertainment of
our audiences. Each additional effect should build on the previous effect in order
to clarify and expand our initial thesis. Decide upon your thesis.
Since my act is built around the non-verbal language, I’ve structured effects
that allow me to demonstrate how we can benefit from an in-depth understanding
of these silent communicators. So, even if I'm performing a book test, I can work
these concepts into the presentation.
In this way, each subsequent effect strengthens the premise. Decide to be a
strong performer.
The Second Step

The Second Step is visualization. A clear vision of your ultimate goal is
essential in communicating to your audience, and your market, what it is you’re
selling.
In Mentalism, we’ve gone to great lengths to placate those who point a
judgmental finger at us. To this end, we call ourselves Psychic Entertainers.
But just what the hell is that?
To an audience we're either a Psychic or a Magician, not some weird
hybrid floating somewhere in the middle. Why confuse our audiences with
needless distinctions that only make a difference to a handful of individuals?
Create a picture in your mind of what a real psychic would do. Communicate this
picture to the entire world (when you're a mentalist, the entire world is your
audience— you’re never offstage).
So we must lucidly visualize our goals. We must know ourselves. Only

then can we know our audiences.
There can be no underestimating the power of visualization. We know that
the course of serious illness can be diverted with positive thinking and
visualization. Your success or failure depends on your ability to visualize.
A written plan is a big help in this visualization. Write down your goals.
Where do you see yourself in five years. In ten? How much time do you think
you have? Visualize it!
When you construct your act, visualize yourself performing the various
routines in front of an audience. Before you retire at night, play a little game with
yourself, seeing yourself as the star performer you want to become. If you see it,
you can be it!
Create pictures in the collective mind's eye of your audience. Block out
your act so that you create dramatic pictures in your audience's minds. Use
charisma and charm in your gestures. Use pretty bags for your Q and A instead
of a fishbowl.
Above all, use your imagination. Write your predictions on an elegant
stationary. Or as I do in Bear Your Soul from Psychic Psoirees, write it in
crayon on children's stationary. The pictures you create in your audience's minds
are what they’ll carry with them from the show. Visualize!
The Third Step

The Third Step is education. Now that you have decided what you want to
do, and you’ve visualized yourself as a success, you must learn the skills
necessary to succeed.
Learning the skills you require in order to implement your decision. This is
by far the most costly step, both in time and money. Knowledge of the techniques
of Mentalism and psychic reading can only be found in rare and sometimes
expensive books.
We should spend at least two hours every day learning and studying some
aspect of our craft. We should also study other performers -- both the good ones
and especially the bad ones. Learn from those who have reached the lofty
pinnacles you desire -- and do not suffer the fools who’ll tell you that you can’t
follow your vision!
We must also learn how to act as our own agent and PR man. No one can
represent you like yourself. So, more study in salesmanship and marketing. Test
runs, sample mailings, disappointments and successes. Learn how to sell
yourself, every minute of the day.
Videotape your show and critique it. One of the best exercises you could
possibly do is to get an acting coach or produce to watch your tape and offer
relentless criticism. It hurts, but you’ll ultimately benefit from the experience.
And so will your audience, who, after all, pays your bills. Learn from it!
The Fourth Step

The Fourth Step is making your plan. You’ve learned how to perform in a
consistent and entertaining manner. You’ve developed the skills necessary to
market your product. We must now lay out, step by step, each successive phase to
get where we're planning to go. Always remember that our plans are subject to
revisions.
A timetable is very important. Goals must be achieved at certain times in
the plan. Short term goals must be so constructed as to pave the way to long term
goals.
For instance, you must have a videotape and slick promo package to book
the succulent shows. So, you must first perform a lot in order to afford the tape
and obtain good footage. Even before that you have to learn to book shows. And
before that, you must learn to do shows. It’s a step at a time procedure.
A five year plan seems to work best for me. My promo video was to come
along in year four. I actually did it in year three. I’ve consistently stayed ahead of
my original five year plan, forcing me to reconsider the plan and modify it.
But the key word here is plan! Otherwise, you drift along at the mercy of
fate and circumstance.
The Fifth Step

The Fifth Step is implementation. We must implement our plan. Action is
the key word here. We must work furiously to bring into reality the visions of our
mind.
When I was a youngster in school, my teachers informed me that I had a lot
of potential, but lacked discipline. They told me I needed more discipline. I was
almost thirty years old before I realized what discipline is. Here it is: Discipline is
focus.
You must possess unyielding intent in order to push ahead. It’s easy to give
in to pressure, negative thinking, and disappointment. Yet, we must keep our eyes
fixed on the horizon, on that precious something we dimly perceive out there, in
order to find the strength and courage to journey along our path.
This is the simplest of the steps, and can be summed up succinctly: Get off
your ass and do it!
The Sixth Step

The Sixth Step is Maintenance. He who rests on his laurels is wearing
them in the wrong place.
We must go over our plan carefully and buttress up the parts we may not
have covered as thoroughly as we could have. We remind ourselves of our goals,
and the rewards we will get when we get there. We reevaluate our written plan,
and laugh at our timidity when we first conceived it. We reevaluate ourselves and
find within hidden potentials we never dreamed we had.
We leave our comfort zone often, pushing the fragile barriers that society
and our own fears have created. If I'm not making a few people uncomfortable
now and again, I'm not doing my job as an entertainer carrying the banner for
future generations of would-be psychics.

Oh yes, we must never become jaded or smug; there’s always someone
hungrier than us waiting to take our places!
The Seventh Step

The Seventh Step is reassessment. Having carefully gone over our progress
and reminded ourselves of our plan, we must decide if we’ve settled for too little.
Perhaps the plan was too timid or perhaps not realistic. At this point we
may decide to revise our initial plan, keeping the parts that worked for us and
ruthlessly eliminating those that didn't.
We’ve learned from hundreds of performances. We know what works for
us and what doesn't. Our audiences have told us!
Perhaps it’s time to tear the show down and build it back up. Like in
bodybuilding, when you tear the muscle down and stronger tissue develops, this is
a procedure that is not without pain and discomfort. But it’s necessary and
imperative for us to grow to our maximum potential! Reassess!
Where to Then?
And at this point we come full cycle, and start again with our first step.
And so on!
Confession:
OK, I admit it -- this is excerpted from my motivational program. But it
makes you want to go out and tear up some territory, eh? Do it!
Conclusion
Thank you for staying this far with me on
another one of my rambling excursions into the
world of Psychic Entertainment. I really don't
have a lot more to say at this point; I would like
to express my undying love and gratitude to all
of you, and a few in particular:
Dr. Charles Scott, Lee Earle, Jack Dean, Ford
Kross, The Late David Hoy, The Late Bascom
Jones
You guys are the aces, and are responsible for
unleashing me on an unsuspecting public! Shame on you!
My best to you all. May you get what you want out of life.
Your friend
John Riggs
My Books
Heavy Mental deals with strong presentations of Psychic and

Psychic reading techniques.
The Compleat Fortune Teller is a treatise on the Question

and Answer effect, with some Pseudo-Psychometry thrown
in.
The Even Compleater Fortune-Teller is a continuation of

the Q & A discussion.
The Psychic Agenda is about ways to develop a reputation

as a real Psychic, with many routines of strong mentalism.
Psychic Soirees deals with Psychic Parties and small shows.
Phrenology for the Psychic Entertainer is an easily-learned way to perform

Phrenology readings.
PW-The Mentalist's Secret Weapon is devoted to Pocket Writing.
The Suburban Charlatan. Elegant mental mysteries for the Yuppie

Psychic, with contributions from Psiman, Pecor, and Ron Martin.
The Messiah Process. No mentalism routines, but an in-depth discussion of

psychological techniques to create a magickal experience in the sitter. Past life
regression, astral projection, hypnosis, implanting false memories. Three case
histories of people who created small cults using these techniques.
Fat-Free Mentalism. Tired of carrying around a trunkload of props? This

book has routines using minimal props or preparation .

The Psychic Agenda

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The Psychic Agenda 1

Bits and Pieces of

Copyright 1996 by John Riggs. All Rights Reserved.

• We sternly affirm our abstinence from legal, financial, and medical

“You’re about to be deceived by someone who

Poor Man's Room Service (With LePaul

Here's how to do it:

The Marketed Option:

The New Add a Number Book

It’s relatively easy to learn to play one song well on a harmonica. As of

Marc Psiman's Psi-Flasher

Obtaining the parts:

Building the unit:

Design Duplication Using Audience Drawings

They Hell Fire!

Zero that makes the ending a killer.

The Lady and the Lock

unless you want to go home together!” I inform them.

Variation: Between Your Palms

The Bivalve Billetbag

The Invisible Hand.

Psychic Fair Groupies

The Geller Wristwatch Trick During a Reading

Hypno Heat as a Crystal Cleansing Presentation

The PK Recorded Tape Secret

Aura Reading for the Psychically

For advanced audiences, very knowledgeable of metaphysics, you can point

More Secrets of Private Readings

left to some one else to do.

Don't “Should” your clients to death!

Different Strokes for Different Folks...

The Faces of Man—

The tendency is to keep commitments easily reversible, and yet to

characters. It is sort of a second youth.

The Sheehy Pattern Integrated In A Reading

on my age (mid-thirties) and the crises I probably have already faced.

becomes greasy or sweaty, a little baby

• Remember that a podium is a raised stage. That thing that lecturers

What Life is Like for the Self-

The First Step

The Second Step

So we must lucidly visualize our goals. We must know ourselves. Only

The Third Step

The Fourth Step

The Fifth Step

The Sixth Step

future generations of would-be psychics.

The Seventh Step

Heavy Mental deals with strong presentations of Psychic and

The Compleat Fortune Teller is a treatise on the Question

The Even Compleater Fortune-Teller is a continuation of

The Psychic Agenda is about ways to develop a reputation

Psychic Soirees deals with Psychic Parties and small shows.

Phrenology for the Psychic Entertainer is an easily-learned way to perform

PW-The Mentalist's Secret Weapon is devoted to Pocket Writing.

The Suburban Charlatan. Elegant mental mysteries for the Yuppie

The Messiah Process. No mentalism routines, but an in-depth discussion of

Fat-Free Mentalism. Tired of carrying around a trunkload of props? This

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