Copyright © Anthony Black 2013

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 Introduction
Thank you for purchasing this idea of mine and I really hope you enjoy it and
put it to use in your performances.

You may see the method as rather ‘bold’…I see it as fun, for those of you
willing to try it out that is.

As always please try and adapt this to fit your character and performance style,
this is just a rough map…it’s up to you to complete the journey…and take the
audience along with you.

Anthony Black,

March 2013
 The Story

Mr Black sits at a table with his friend Chris at the local gentleman’s club
enjoying a pint of locally brewed ale and a pipe, when the question is asked
by Chris, as it most often is in situations such as this…that question is…

“Can you show me some real Magick Mr Black?”

Mr Black leans back into his chair, the old leather creaking nearly as loud as his
joints as he takes a puff of his pipe and smiles.

“I suppose I could show you an idea I have been working on and its best we try
it now before this fine ale addles your brain completely! But first I must ask
you Chris, do you dream much?”

“Well, answers Chris, I suppose I do, as much as the next man does anyway.”

“Interesting…I wish to try something with you now…a sort of ‘waking dream’ if
you will and you need a good helping of imagination for it to work. Only those
with the sharpest of minds usually find success, but I suppose we could give it a
try anyway” says Mr Black, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly as he
takes out a pack of playing cards and places them on the table.

“Give those a mix up for me Chris, says Mr Black handing the cards to his
friend, and then place them on the table.”

“Oh no, exclaims Chris as he places the mixed cards down, ‘Not a card trick! I
thought you were going to show me something real, whispers Chris leaning in
closer, you know…some real Magick! Like that thing with the spirit”

“Don’t worry yourself man, you’ll spill your pint and keep your voice down,
said Mr Black looking around the room shiftily, you never know who’s listening
in, anyway who said anything about a card trick? You’re getting ahead of
yourself again…just forget about the cards for now and relax.”
“Now then, I want you to close your eyes for me and relax…that’s it…just
breathe in and out nice and slowly…I’m going to take you on a journey…I want
you to imagine you are a young man once more and you have snuck into your
old school on a dare from your friends at night.”

“I want you to just allow yourself a moment to wonder around…picture the

scene in your imagination…it’s deathly quiet and you are the only one there.
The only light available to you is coming from the streetlamps outside the
windows. Now I want you to take a walk to your old art classroom…just allow
yourself the time to get there…”

“You walk into the classroom and the walls are filled with the drawings of your
classmates…over there is a picture of a house…next to that is a dog…but one in
particular draws you in…because on one of the walls there is only one
picture…but you can’t quite make it out so you move closer towards it…and as
you do, you realize it’s a picture of a playing card…now keep your eyes closed
and tell me Chris…which playing card is it?”

“It’s the ten…the ten of hearts”, whispers Chris slowly.

“That’s great Chris, now I want you to take that picture down off the wall for
me…just fold it up and put it inside your pocket.”

“Have you done that?”, asks Mr Black.

“Yes”, answers Chris quietly.

“Good…now I want you to leave your old art classroom and walk once more
down the empty corridors of your childhood. I want you to slowly make your
way towards your old maths classroom for me…take your time Chris…there is
no rush…just nod your head for me when you arrive there.”

After a few moments Chris slowly nods his head.

“Now Chris, I want you to step into the empty classroom and make your way
towards the blackboard for me…that’s it…on the blackboard you can faintly
make something out...it’s some kind of square…but it’s not clear enough so
you slowly make your way towards it in the dim light…as you get closer you can
see it’s a large square drawn in chalk…the square contains numbers…the
numbers are from 1…to 52…it must have been left there from the
teacher…now Chris…I want you to reach down and pick up the chalk for
me…and when you have done that just nod.”

Chris nods his head.

“OK, now I want you to look into that box of numbers between 1 and 52 and
reach up and draw a circle around one of them…and tell me which number you
chose.”

“I…I circled number 21”, whispers Chris.

“Fantastic…now I want you to put the chalk back in its place…and then pick up
the blackboard rubber…and slowly rub away the whole square…that’s it just
rub it all away…once it’s nice and clean I want you to leave your old classroom
and make your way back into the corridors…just walk nice and slowly towards
the exit…and the closer and closer you get towards the exit the more you begin
to hear the sound of the room me and you are sitting in…and I’ll count
backwards from 5 to 1 and when I get to one I want you to open your eyes for
me and come back to our club…5…4…3…2…1 and welcome back!”

“Well, says Mr Black, “what did you think of that!”

“Hmmm, answers Chris, I suppose it was interesting but it wasn’t really Magick
was it?”

“I suppose your right, says Mr Black sadly, but just remind me again…what was
the card you saw?”

“The 10 of Hearts”, says Chris.

“And the number you circled?”

“Why 21 of course, says Chris slightly puzzled, why do you ask”

“Well…our imaginations are more powerful than most people realize, says Mr
Black smiling, “Just humour me will you…pick up your pack of cards off the
table and count down to the 21st card and turn it over for me…”

Chris does so and the 21st card in the deck is of course the 10 of Hearts!
“But…how…is that possible, stutters a slightly pale Chris, it was just in my
head!”

“Well, whispers Mr Black leaning in closer, I’ll let you in on a little secret… real
Magick!”

End of the Story

 The Tale Unravelled
I’ll tell you right now…some of you will love this method…and some of you may
not and for those of you who don’t…before you come calling with your
pitchforks and torches…I say to you two words:

Try it!

The method behind this effect is very simple as all of the best routines are, but
there are a few subtleties which you also need to take into consideration.

So here it is in its simplest:

When they have their eyes closed you simply place the correct card into the
correct position.

Still with me?

Good, then I’ll continue…

First of to make things even simpler for you, you will require two packs of
cards. One of which is loose, that is to say without a box, inside one of your
pockets in new deck order.

The second is a matching pack which you take out and ask your friend to
shuffle before placing on the table…then forget about it…and they will too.

As soon as their eyes are closed and you begin to lead them through the
visualisation you very quietly pick up the pack off the table and place it away
into another pocket whilst bringing out the deck in ‘new deck order’ and
holding onto it ready.

Now…when you ask them to imagine the scene, which by the way you can
change if you so wish to, and you get to the point where they name their
card…just keep talking them through it as you are secretly removing their
selected card from the deck.
The sound of your voice and the natural sounds of the room will allow you to
do this quite blatantly.

Then you simply place the card into the correct position when they name the
number, again talking over any slight noise you may make.

Do not rush, give yourself plenty of time to do this…just remember to keep

talking the whole time…keep the journey going.

When you have done that, carefully place the deck back on the table in the
exact same spot the other deck was in.

A tip:

Now lean back in your chair…as far away from the deck as possible…and place
your hands in your lap…and relax, psychologically distancing yourself from the
deck of cards in their eyes.

Then bring them back into the room…

And proceed to completely and utterly mess with their sense of reality.
Other Thoughts

This can quite easily be done with two people, with one of them choosing the
number and the other selecting the card.

Also, this can be performed impromptu with just one deck. I just thought I
would explain it with two decks to make it even simpler to perform, but once
you have tried that, and you know how long the ‘journey’ takes; switch to
using one deck if you prefer.

Another idea for those of you familiar with giving readings is to save the climax
as a mere afterthought.

For example after you bring them back into the room, you could talk about
their number and card selection and what this means about their character as
it was chosen by their sub-conscious.

Then go onto say as if you are talking to yourself:

“Maybe…but no…surely not…”

“What?” They would ask…

“Well, sometimes our sub-conscious is so powerful that it acts in ways that

sometimes seems strange…for example; when you shuffled those cards were
you thinking about the order of the cards?”

“No, why do you ask?”

“Well, just count down from the top of the deck until you get to the number
you chose in your vision and turn over that card…”

And they do…

And it is…
And one final thought…

Why stop at cards?

Have fun ;)

So Long
I really hope you enjoy this and use it.

Please get in touch if you have any questions as I’m always happy to help my
fellow performers.

Anthony Black

Other Effects & Routines

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