No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced or utilised in any

form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or

hereinafter invented including photocopying or recording or in any
information storage or retrieval system without prior permission in
writing from the author and or any other contributor referenced.

The right of Mark Edward to be identified as the author of this work

has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.

ISBN: 978-0-244-41013-1

First Edition September 2018

Copyright © Mark Edward 2018. All Rights Reserved

3
Dedicated to the memory of
Jules Lenier
Contents

Foreword ~ Tony ‘Doc’ S/z/e/5 10

Introduction 12

The Dusty Drawer 17

Mis-Fire 38

Lady Doyle’s Diversion 43

Book of Love 61

Wishing You Well 71

The Nazca Stone 79

Crossroads 85

5
Contents (Continued)

6
7
Acknowledgement

Over the years there have been so many brilliant minds who have taken
the time to sit down and share their methods, stories and best kept
secrets, it could take a separate book to fit everybody in. However, I do
feel it necessary to mention a few outstanding friends and teachers that
come to mind:

Tony Andruzzi; for the single malt. John Baldessari; who taught me so
much about conceptual art and how to apply it to the performance of
magic. Carl Ballentine: whose wise words helped mature my thoughts
about the dubious world of humor in mentalism. Larry Becker, Ross
Berteig, Tony Blake, T. Everett Bookings III, Eugene Burger, Julie Cain, Bob
Cassidy: whose support and diabolical mind remains an inspiration.
Christian Chelman: a true antiquarian who has evolved his Magick beyond
what most of us can only dream about achieving. Craig Conley, Pascal de
Clermont: for the straw trick secret he never shared with me. Robin
‘Kardor’ DeWitt: for his brilliant humor. Paul Draper, Lee Earle: for his
invaluable knowledge of pre-show and how best to use it. Michael
Fraughton, Uri Geller: who has remained a friend through thick and thin,
Joe Givan, Carl Herron: who started the bizarre fires burning. Docc
Hilford: whose performance technique and characterizations will forever
loom large in my mind. Ray Hyman, Bascom Jones: a dear soul who gave
me a chance to shine when others held back. Kenton Knepper, Joe
Lantiere, Jules Lenier: who pulled me kicking and screaming from the

8
horrors of standard magic and into the frying pan of pure mentalism and
psychic readings. Ted Lesley, Jim Magus, Rick Maue, Max Maven, Harley
Newman, James 'The Amazing’ Randi: for all the laughs we share when we
get together to talk about magic and the crazy people we have known.
Todd Robbins, Ned Rutledge: for his wonderful simplicity of thought and
delivery. Brother Shadow: who met me on many a dark path. Sandy
Spellman: for his totally classy approach to mediumship. Dai Vernon: for
all the great Houdini stories he shared with me. Ehler Voss, Richard
Webster, T.A. Waters, Don Wayne, Mark Wilson and private student Bill
Yamane for his amazing generosity and steadfast friendship. My list is
likely to grow as the tentacles of Dark Magick and the circle of the seance
room continue to expand. It is all a work in progress.

Special thanks must go to Steve Drury for taking on the task of compiling
this book and Tony "Doc" Shiels for his friendship and long-distance
mentoring over many years. And finally yet importantly; the fabulous
Susan Gerbic for putting up with me.

9
Foreword

"What of the Darkness? Is it very fair?"

(Richard le Gallienne)

All’s fair in spook-raising and other conjurations; scaring the living

daylights out of people, especially in total darkness. There are many weird
tales to be told in the dark. When I was but a wee laddie, during the dark
days and nights of World War II, my mother, a Scottish lady, would
entertain and scare friends (and her young son) with an upturned glass
and a circle of alphabet cards, plus YES and NO cards, on the surface of a
polished table top, after the manner of a Ouija board, whilst intoning: "Is
anybody there?" Almost invariably, there was, eventually. Mother would
invite questions from her friends, and the spirit would spell out the,
sometimes quite surprising, answers. And yes, I know mammy gently
pushed the glass towards the answers she desired. Such is the seance. No
sophisticated science.

Then, stories would unfold concerning connections, often with objects.

For example, that polished table had, years before been found, encrusted
with barnacles, on a beach near Isle of Whithorn, Scotland. The antique
glass had once contained the blood of a sacrificial goat in Foxford, Ireland.
Nonsense! Darkness helped to sell those stories.

10
Dark seances have been happening for thousands of years, all over the
world. Long before those foxy rap artists, Margaret, Kate, and Leah,
conjured up 'Mister Split Foot’ in Hydesville, New York: ages before the
antlered sorcerer of Les Trois Freres communed with the spirits in his
dark cave; shamanic showmen made contact with the unearthly denizens
of the 'Other Side'. Nothing new under the moon? Read this book.

In celebration of spirit-raising, I will raise a glass (that very glass), now

containing the Caribbean spirit Baron of Samedi; then some Scotch to
toast the Laird of Boleskine; then Irish whiskey for Dann Agus Lugh. Later,
perhaps, pure water for Horace Wilcox, who established Hollywood. Only
joking.

Mark Edward is a master magician, surrealchemist and seer. He knows

that any house can be haunted, and a ghost can inhabit almost any
machine. Mark is a fairly scary fellow. Mark his words. Keep it all dark.

Tony 'Doc'Shiels

Nnidnid. Co. Kerry. Ireland.

August 2018

11
Introduction

The best part of any seance is when the darkness falls. This is a moment
of supreme dramatic tension. The roller coaster of fear starts its creaky
ratcheting up to the top of the highest hill of the ride. The sitters have
formed the psychic circle and are held in anticipation comparable to when
the lights dim in a theatre. A hush descends. A palpable electric feeling
runs around the circle. The story has been carefully delivered and each
sitters’ mind has been primed to invite into the circle their own personal
interpretation of what phantoms might soon intervene. Total darkness
ushers in the shuddery apprehension of the unknowable and the
possibility of spirit communication. Hence the title of this book.

While it has never been my intention to create sheer terror for the sake of
adding more unease to a world already fraught with so many dreads and
jitters, any sane person willing to sit through one of my performances is
usually expecting and anticipating some level of cold sweat or they
wouldn’t be there. A good portion of any seance group craves this dark
thrill and I aim to please that group in whatever way I can.

I know this to be true because on a number of occasions, the sitters were

far creepier than I could or would ever hope to be. My work in these
circumstances is cut out for me. Any squeak from a chair in that first
minute of pitch black can generate screams and nervous laughter around
the circle. This anticipatory interlude is where my effectiveness is tested.

12
Frisson in this moment is a combination of hundreds of psychological
factors I can only speculate upon and the fact most people have no idea
what happens or what to expect in the seance room. It is pretty much an
open field waiting to be ploughed. Unless the sitters have previously been
to a seance or had the misfortune of viewing one of Hollywood’s
overblown film dramatizations, performers of seance entertainment are
in the enviable position to be able to take full advantage of their ignorance.
Do not feel bad, welcome to the grand tradition of mediumship.

In the pages that follow, you will find the strategies I have used to hit the
ground running and put the sitters in the proper frame of mind previous
to taking the final leap into total darkness. We need a starting point and I
will offer you several of my best. I call these ‘experiments’ the 'Light
Seance'. As a Medium, one cannot just walk into a room and announce,
"And now... here's the ghost." You are welcome to try this, but be prepared
to be asked to leave the room.

The entire group needs to be gently coaxed, teased and lulled along into
the mood with every method we can summon. Anything else would be a
ludicrous parody and unless you are into satire verging on religious
heresy, I would avoid any quick shows of either dexterity or intimidating
magician style chicanery. I like to think with each effect I present 1 am
calling forth a spirit of romance, not trotting out another way to confuse
people. They have had enough of that. They are looking for intoxicating
escape, not frustration.

13
The principle delight is wonderment, brought forward with a keen eye to
empowering a new way of seeing, feeling and experiencing. This goes for
all parties concerned - including The Medium. If you are having fun, they
will have fun. If you lay a heavy trip on them, do not expect to be invited
back. Each of the following pieces is crafted to reflect the goal of not only
being invited back into the homes of my hosts, but back into their lives as
well. If they hire me again and I get to know them, this is fine, but what I
am more interested in is getting back into their dreams, unconscious and
their positive memories of the mysterious. Can you remember the first
time you saw magic performed by a truly professional entertainer as a
kid? Feature that. I am inviting each sitter into my world of cultured
antiquarian whimsy, where they are encouraged to participate and play
with my toys.

This relationship need not end when the lights come back up. If expressed
with humility and respect these interactions are many times only a
starting point. I have developed many lifelong friendships with complete
strangers who up until experiencing total darkness and immersion into
the thoughts and personal reflective processes possible within the seance
room, didn't have a clue about how fascinating the rich lore of ghosts,
clairvoyance, telepathy and the realm of the supernatural can be. In
addition, let us not forget all my dear friends in the skeptical movement,
who embrace these techniques and cunnings for entirely different
reasons.

What you will find in this book involves building and sustaining a
relationship with your sitters, not a menu of glamorous gimmicks and

14
look-at-me hype. There are no new dazzling magical slights or cutting-
edge methods here. If you purchased this book, I am willing to bet the last
thing you need is a new trick.

As one of those performers who believes once you have found two or
three solid effects and a magical premise that truly suits your personality,
the real work is recognizing these rare opportunities and sticking with
them for a lifetime, refining and taking out what doesn't work rather than
adding more distractions. Pull from the fire of your imagination the
brightest embers. Keep it simple, employ tried and true methods, but most
importantly: tell your story with utter conviction bordering on the slightly
delusional. In my world if you get wild applause anywhere during your
performance of a seance event, you are doing it all wrong.

Partake of the feast and carry on in the spirit of the storyteller, because
after the world's objects and material fancies are but dust, the person who
can tell the best story will be the one who holds court around the
campfire.

Mark Edward

Los Angeles. USA.

August 2018

15
16
The Dusty Drawer

In the center of the performance space sits a small table, upon which is an
antique wooden box with a clear glass top. On either side of the table are
two chairs. The performer seats himself in one of the chairs and begins his
tale...

"This antique curio box contains a rare collection of oddities and curios. One
of them is haunted. The box was a gift from Richard Buffum, a dear friend
who was a collector of antiquarian and Victorian magic.

17
He introduced me to its previous owner, a Captain McBain many years ago
when I visited him at his Lido Island workshop in Newport Beach. McBain
was a salty old bird with a rather secretive nature surrounding him. He
didn't say much but exuded a palpable aura of mystery.

According to local legend, the good Captain spent many years as a sailor in
the Merchant Marines. Everywhere he went he collected curios and
souvenirs of his travels through the Orient and around the world. His
ramshackle house in Newport Beach was infamous as a hoarder's clutter of
musty antiques, nautical anomalies, bad taxidermy and bottles of strange
smelling things.

The box contains 14 different pieces from his collection. Each is quite rare,
and one in particular is credited with being an item of great occult
significance.

Richard Buffum told me when he handed it over to me, he wanted nothing

more to do with any of the objects. He never explained why and passed away
shortly after- before I could share with him what I discovered about one of
the objects in particular.

If you believe in psychometric energies or the ability for an inhuman spirit

to live on inside an inanimate object, carrying forward the previous owner's
vibrations, experiences and sensations, what is about to happen might
suggest such unseen forces truly exist.

Through my investigations, I have found that although all 14 are somewhat

uncommon baubles, one of them is most certainly haunted by a strange
energy. It has the singular ability to literally reach out from the box and
psychically grab onto a person's soul.

18
You can't fight it. I only have the known history of this object to guide me to
any clues about why this influence is so strong.

I would like one of you to sit down here and relax while I open the lid to the
box."

A sitter from the audience volunteers and sits down in the chair opposite
as the performer opens the hinged lid of the box.

"Please look inside. One of the objects is already mentally shouting out to
you. You might have at first chosen what you might fancy for yourself, but
your mind was then quickly snared by the power of the one haunted object
... and you were forced to change your mind. Am I right?

You cannot resist it.

It has now not only attracted your total attention, but it's almost hypnotic
in its power to outshine all the rest of the objects. Would it surprise you if I
told you it has willed you to choose it? Not only that, but that it knows your
deepest darkest secrets as well?

As impossible as it may seem, this one object can and will tell us all about
you as we will soon see.

Captain McBain was also known to be a bit of a seer in his later years and
locally known as a fortune teller. Atone time, he held the dubious occupation
as the writer of fortunes at a fortune cookie company when he lived in Hong
Kong. It didn't work out well for him as his ramblings and miniature visions
were so accurate and so intense, after a while no one would hire him or
cared to have him around.

19
I will not touch anything. What’s done has already been done perhaps
centuries ago in some far-away place where this one object has sat
gathering dust.... waiting for you. Which object are you now thinking of?"

The sitter answers with their choice.

"Fine.

Please pick it up and hand it to me.

This is the________________ .

Its history is_______________________________.

When I received the box, I was puzzled when I opened the dusty drawer and
found it empty ...except for one small piece of paper. Only later did I begin
to understand why it was there. Would you please slide open the drawer,
where you will see that very same folded piece of paper left by Captain
McBain.

It is closed-up for a very good reason. On the outside you will see his typed
fortune. Wouldyou please un-seal the folded slip and read what the message
says.”

The sitter reads aloud what is on the slip.

"Does that make sense ...or, resonate in any way with you?

It does?

Good. It's working.

In fact it sounds like something you might have recently discovered about
yourself- or even talked about with someone. Is that correct?"

20
The sitter replies that it does indeed read as an accurate assessment of
their personality.

"Like I said... it 'knows' things.

But I can tell by the reaction of the rest of the group, a few are not impressed
with this revelation or how it connects with the object you were drawn to.

This object is an: [description and details of the one chosen object.]

Would you now open up the folded slip and read aloud the name of the object
typed inside the fortune?"

Typed on the inside of the paper slip is the object selected by the sitter.

-------- ------------------

Arcanum

1 love boxes. There is something inherently mysterious about a locked

box. I have a collection of them in all sizes and shapes, each with its own
specific story and purpose. If 1 may presume to digress, my experience as
a collector of odd boxes was shared for many years with the late great
Joseph Stefano, creator of the original television series, 'The Outer Limits.’
Joe had quite few boxes, especially puzzle boxes, and felt the same way
about the ritual of wondering what is inside, the curiosity and experience
of excitement in the opening and closing of a box used as metaphors for
the beginning, middle and end of tales or fables. If you can, find a way to
view a few of his episodes like, "Don’t Open 'til Doomsday" where he

21
examines our fascination with boxes and what might or might not be
inside. I once showed Joe a three-hundred- year- old bronze-banded
Chinese box 1 had recently purchased, planning to use it to hold a portable
seance kit. I told him as I set it before him, "It’s empty." As was Joe’s
fantastic way of thinking, he looked at me with a characteristic
mischievous twinkle in his eye and said,"... Are you sure it's empty?" Joe
was a most remarkable man.

This mini-seance idea was first shared with me in the company of the
great T.A. Waters when he was the Librarian at The Magic Castle. One
night he, Max Maven (sorry about all the name-dropping. Ray Bradbury
told me to never name drop ...) and I, got to talking about predictions and
how such things can be so very unbelievable and contrived as to be
impossible for anyone to truly accept or buy into.

T.A.'s take on this was the classic - If you could really tell anything about
the future, why would you be working in a magic club in the first place?
Why aren’t you at the racetrack or buying Lotto tickets?

This reflects a solid logic that most headstrong mentalists and magicians
refuse to accept and a point of contention I have heard expressed by
countless individuals who have proudly proclaimed the exact same
sentiment in after-show discussions. It does not make any sense, unless
the audience concludes you are supremely godlike, magnificently wealthy
and only standing up in front of an often-inebriated audience in your
spare time solely for the thrill of it. This is a possible but not a likely
scenario and we have to face the fact that most audience members will
ask themselves just that uneasy question: What is more likely?

22
Predictions are indeed a very tricky business in these troubled times. Say
the wrong thing and you risk enduring an uncomfortable visit from the
C.I.A. At the time, we all agreed that there needed to be ways to distance
the predictive effect by perhaps weaving it into a storytelling or
mythological vein that would take the heat off the performer and put the
unbelievable premise of seeing the future into something benign like an
object, maybe even a possessed or cursed relic? Let the superstition carry
all the responsibility. After all, people carry around rabbit’s feet and four-
leaf clovers, don't they? They never question their lucky number or
knocking on wood. Ask a baseball player or actor about their lucky
underpants or special charm they wear. It is therefore only a small leap to
go from this sort of absurd belief to a haunted amulet, weird object or
curio. Later this idea was written into T.A.'s massive tome, ‘Mind, Myth and
Magick’ as the very first effect in the book: 'New Thoughts for Old’ ~ 'Box
Office.'Pages. 5-8.

As a big fan of cabinets of curiosities in general, the box itself intrigued me

as a project 1 wanted to build and use. I always had my eye out for just the
right jewellery box that could be optimized to make this happen. When I
stumbled upon a bevelled glass-topped model in a thrift shop for five
bucks, I was on my way to making T.A.’s concept a reality.

First: The box must have at least two or three levels or compartments, one
above the other, with a bottom drawer that pulls straight out.
(See photo next page)

23
With a sharp matte knife, remove the part of the box that is directly
beneath the top 'tray' that can be lifted out, so that there is now a direct
path straight to the bottom drawer when everything is closed up.

The solution to this mystery is simple: 14 outs. In my box there are 14

spaces separated by dividers, so there are 14 objects. Each object has its
own unique story committed to memory and each also has a pre-typed
fortune (I used Remington Typewriter Font) on the one side of a folded
strip of paper approximately 4" x Folded inside is typed the name of
each object. Make up your own fortunes relating in some nuanced way to
each object and which are general enough to be reasonably accurate with
90% of the population.

24
Here’s a sample of what I used for one of my objects and its fortune:

Each object must be shaped to conceal a small but powerful magnet.

The magnet side of the object must also lie flat on the surface of the tray
to allow maximum magnetic adhesion to whatever is below. More on why
later. The magnets I use are half-inch rounds available at a good hardware
store. They will hold up to one pound. Once you have secreted the
magnets inside your objects, used a bit of self-drying clay and/or paint to
further conceal anything outward if necessary, all you now need do is
figure out your matrix of items, fold up each matching fortune slip and clip
it with a paper-clip to keep it closed. The paper clip does all the magic by
holding the slip magnetically against the top tray bottom with its
corresponding object above until the sitter picks it up, releasing the one
folded slip onto the bottom drawer below.

My top tray has a diagram on its underside (See photo next page) of the
matrix of objects to facilitate easy re-set for after performing or after the
box is moved around or joggled. Each slip has to be in the right place!

25
Fellow Elders member, Ross Berteig, suggested this ‘blueprint’ concept
with each object written into each space with an ‘X’ showing where the
magnet will rest. With this plan, you simply place each paper-clipped slip
on the drawing where it belongs and set the tray down on top of it, quickly
adhering everything in place. This takes away the rather awkward
practice of having to look at the underside of the tray each time to know
exactly where each slip goes. Thanks Ross!

Each slip must be carefully placed to avoid overlapping. You do not want
to have two slips fall at once or the wrong one. I place each on a slight
diagonal with the metal as close to the source of the magnetic pull as
possible. Experimentation will provide the best adhesion.

26
Since I have collected decades of curios and strange whatnots, (... or
"Junque" as Richard Buffum used to call his workshop full of wonders) it
was easy for me choose 14 oddities to fill the spaces in my box. Visit estate
sales, antique malls or eBay if you do not already own such trinkets.

Use however many you want or whatever will fit the spaces in your box.
These objects do need to be somewhat held in place so that they aren't
mixed in transit or before performance time, this is why the jewellery box
tray dividers come in handy.

My objects are: a pair of antique purple glasses, a rampant wolf heraldic

pin, an ivory skull, a Chinese bead in a silver box, a glass dragon's eye, a
carved wooden foo dog, a silver key, a brass lock, an aquamarine stone, a
Roman coin, a glass eye, a pocket knife, an Egyptian scarab and a gold
locket.

Picture in your mind the relative size, shape and dimensions of these
smallish items and you can visualize how easy it is to affix a magnet in
some way to each, then camouflage it to blend in with a little work.

If you have to stick the magnet on what may seem like an obvious visual
place on any of your objects and are worried somebody might see it,
remember:

A little model-paint the same color(s) as the object painted on the magnet
itself will go un-noticed because, nobody knows what is coming, and most
importantly; as in the dialogue supplied; the sitter chooses the object,
then you immediately ask them to hand it to you. If this is done naturally,
the sitter will not have time to examine or handle the object for more than
a second or two. They have already done the real work by releasing the
slip without knowing it! I love magnetism!

27
All that remains for you to do is tell the story behind the chosen object in
the terms you have already stated: "I only have the known history of this
object to guide me to any clues about why this influence is so strong." You
have complete freedom to use as dark or as light a touch as you please.

The fortunes 'typed' on the outside of each slip also offer a perfect
opportunity for a quick cold reading. However, remember that in this case
Captain McBain gets the credit. Resist the temptation to grandstand here!
Save it for another effect. Play it low key and direct any positive hits or
feedback to Captain McBain, not yourself. You are only the facilitator or
curator and not the seer.

After the sitter has read the fortune, you can inject humor and by-play
around the idea in a fairly accurate manner. Pause for a stage beat or two,
and then go in for the kill with the reading of the actual object on the other
side of the slip.

If played well, this can be a memorable double whammy for the sitter; the
object he or she seems to have been inexplicably drawn to not only relates
in a psychic way to them but turns out to be the haunted one. It is literally
all in their hands. No switching, no fumbling, just a powerfully direct
demonstration of the superstitiously supernatural.

For me, the fun part is of course the storytelling.

Take your time. Talk low and talk slow. Relax into it. People will listen.
Everybody loves a well-told ghost story! As soon as you mention the word
'haunted', you will have most peoples’ attention. Each time you perform,
you will find a large part of the attraction for all concerned is this

28
storytelling exercise. You can add or subtract aspects to each object as you
evolve what works.

1 leave it to you the reader to supply a credible (or totally incredible) tale
for each of your own treasures: a tiny doll's head, a lock of hair, a torn
button from a murderer's coat? Use whatever suits your style.

I do suggest writing out a very brief script for each object to begin with,
match it with a plausible fortune and become familiar with both
beforehand so you do not look like you are totally faking it - even if at first
you are. Take time embroidering each as you grow with the overarching
premise. Treat each object as a priceless relic and it will be perceived as
such by your sitters. To help the reader get the juices flowing on how I
fashioned my own tales for each item in my box, I have included the
following pages of my own scripts for the objects I use. Please remember,
as in all seance or storytelling Magick, these snippets are only 'jumping off
points' to have mentally prepared beforehand to give each piece a sense
of believability. They are suggestions, because that is exactly what we are
expected to do as magicians; we suggest.

As you will read, the noun 'influence' peppers the scripts I use, hinting to
the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour
of someone or something. Inculcating a sense of foreboding and
anticipation by activating the sitters' curiosity helps create and sustain
interest about how and when such a strange event might happen.

I would hope that you would take the time to create your own personal
mini-scripts to go along with the objects you choose.

29
Purple Glasses

"Captain McBain’s snow glasses. They apparently caused many problems for
him and his family. As the rumour goes, when worn they can see the truth in
others and oneself. Local papers attest that when discovered later by his
heirs, they led to a series of suicides, murders, and tragedies for the wearers.”

Rampant Wolf Herald

"A brass pin typically symbolizing the rewards of perseverance in long sieges
or battle. Used for centuries particularly in Northern European countries as
a shield against evil, families using this heraldic symbol are often said to be
variously related to wolves and there are legends of their ancestors being
raised by a wolf mother."

ivory Skull

“Apart from its obvious representation of death and mortality, this little
skull was a pocket charm McBain carried when he travelled into uncharted
regions of the world. My sources tell me that while not especially
superstitious, he nevertheless believed it was better to go into the unknown
with something substantial he could focus his fear upon rather than project
that emotion to another human being. Imagine all the fears he must have
experienced locked up inside this tiny bit of ivory?”

30
Chinese Bead

"An ancient iron-age bead from Tibet. Beads like this are a traditional tool
used to count the number of times a mantra is recited, breaths in meditation
or the repetitions of a Buddha’s name. There is no evidence that McBain was
a Buddhist, but his house was filled with Tantric and Buddhist carvings and
art. He must have prized this bead as something very special, as it had its
own protective silver box. Beads like this one have been known to be over
1000 years old and as such can influence us in ways we can only begin to
comprehend.”

Glass Dragon’s Eye

"The dragon’s eye talisman has been known as a protective amulet for
centuries. It symbolizes a choice between good and evil. Sailors use it as a
psychic compass that can guide a soul to survive in times of disaster and
turmoil. Captain McBain managed to survive five different shipwrecks
including the infamous Baychimo, which sailed in the Canadian Arctic until
October 1931 where it became trapped in the ice. According to ship's
documents that still exist, McBain’s crew didn't want to abandon all the fur
the ship was carrying, so they built a wooden structure next to it on the ice
and waited. One night they went to sleep, and the next morning when they
awoke, the ship was gone. They thought it had sunk, but an Inuit seal hunter
called Aguta swore he saw the ship drifting nearby—and he was right. The
ship continued drifting and became known as the "Ghost of the Arctic’’ until
its last sighting off the coast of Point Barrow, Alaska, in 1969. This dragon's

31
eye was a gift to McBain from Aguta after they were rescued. By the way,
the name Aguta means “gatherer of the dead."

Carved. Wooden Foo Dog

"Ancient guardian statues of China. Foo dogs are actually lions. In China,
where foo dogs originated, they are called shi, meaning "lion," or shishi,
meaning "stone lion." They do share a resemblance with the Chow-Chow and
Shih Tzu, which led these figures to be called foo dogs (orfu dogs) in English.
McBain had a huge pair of these creatures on either side of his front door. In
many cultures they serve as a familiar and come alive when necessary to
protecta magician or shaman."

Silver Key

"In traditional metaphysics, a silver key represents spiritual purity or

enlightenment. I have no idea what door this key unlocks. It remains a
mystery. It was tried in all the doors in McBain’s house after his death in
1989. None of the locks would accept it. It's much older than his home - and
much older than Captain McBain himself. When I first acquired it, an
antique dealer referred to it as a Janus Key. Janus was the Roman God of
Gates and Doors. He is also the two-faced God who could look in both
directions at the same time. All doors have an entrance and an exit. He was
the gatekeeper. He could see the past as well as the future, not unlike
Captain McBain himself. Who knows what this key might unlock? It's been
touched by thousands of souls."

32
Brass Lock

"In Victorian times a small heart shaped keepsake lock is traditionally used
to hold fast a diary or to safely enclose a box holding a small portion of
cremated remains, a lock of hair or dried ceremonial flowers. The heart
shape indicates love. McBain never married, so we can only speculate what
love this might symbolize. Maybe yours? Love and Death both reside in this
box just as they do in our lives. Captain McBain certainly had his share of
adventure and Death might be his greatest adventure of all. His diary and
the key to this lock are both long gone - like McBain himself. Buried with
him? Hidden in his house?Lost onboard some sunken ship? Who knows? We
can only wonder what writings or artefacts it might have kept secret. He
took many secrets to the grave and the secret of this lock itself is one of
them."

Aquamarine Stone

"Aquamarine is Latin for seawater. One of its powers is said to calm waves.
A powerful amulet the Greeks and the Romans called the sailor's gem,
ensuring the safe and prosperous passage across stormy seas. It is likely
Captain McBain carried this stone wherever he sailed. A grimoire of 1377
mentions aquamarine as an antidote for poison widely known throughout
Europe. There was an increased number of poisonings amongst royalty at
the time, so the gem was in popular demand just for that purpose. It was not
necessary to pulverize the stone, as it was with other gemstones. Simply
wearing the stone as a pendant or in a ring was just as effective. It's not
known if McBain himself ever used this stone for such a purpose, but his

33
knowledge of poisons, potions and spell casting is evidenced by books full of
notes he left behind. Writers of the middle ages also claimed this stone was
the most popular and effective of the oracle crystals and thought to be a
superior stone for fortune telling. We know the good Captain was
remembered by many as a most accurate teller of events that would come
to pass in the future - as we will soon see."

Roman Coin

"I did a little research on this coin. It's rare and called a Caracalla Illium
Troy, named after Caracalla, a Roman Emperor who died in 217 A.D. He was
one of the most nefarious of Roman emperors and known by writers on
ancient Rome as the common enemy of all mankind. Evil was his middle
name and when he crossed a sorceress called Sagana, the legend says she
uttered a famous curse that later was his ruin: "Tu coepisti in strato tuo per
mensem mingit" or “May you urinate in your bed for a month." Three days
later when just 29, as the emperor stopped his troops on the side of the road
to relieve himself, one of his many hidden enemies killed him with a single
thrust of his sword. I'm not sure if we could call this a good luck charm, but
as McBain was a keen collector of coins, sigils and amulets, it's singular
message of respect in the face of unseen forces must have made this a special
memento in his eyes."

34
Glass Eye

"I'm not sure why McBain kept this single glass eye, but I have some
suspicions. In mainland Italian it is mal occhio or "the bad eye." Over the
centuries, it has come to be known as the evil eye. It's well known around the
world. The old Scottish word for it is "overlooking," which implies that the
gaze has remained too long upon a coveted object, person, or animal. I'm
not saying that this little piece of glass is necessarily evil but carrying it
around in one’s pocket might portend its efficacy at warding off evil. Its blue
pupil compares with a Nazar charm, an eye-shaped amulet believed to
protect against the evil eye. Maybe it works both ways or perhaps Captain
McBain just picked it up off a barroom floor? Who knows?"

Pocket Knife

"A rather nasty looking little knife. It's very sharp. Every sailor owns at least
one. In China where this knife looks like it came from, it’s believed sleeping
on a bed with a knife under it will scare away evil spirits. Some knife owners
believe that you never truly own a knife unless it has "bitten "you or tasted
your blood. Once a knife has taken its owner's blood, the owner will never
sell or trade that knife with anyone. A knife like this made of steel is also
believed to protect you against curses and faeries, but who believes in that
superstitious nonsense, right?"

35
Egyptian Scarab

“Powerful Magick here! Scarabs are associated with death, rebirth and
eternal life. The Captain kept one possibly as a charm for its protective
abilities. It’s one of the oldest known sacred representations of God. In this
case Ra, the Sun God. If you are going to worship something in 2000 B.C., it
makes sense it would be the Sun, especially if you live in the Egyptian desert.
In one of his journals, it's noted that Captain McBain visited Egypt many
times and at one point took part in an archaeological dig at the Temple of
Karnak. He was warned several times not to take home any souvenirs."

Gold. Locket

"This gold locket must have been a very personal item for Captain McBain.
Inside are tiny photos of what appear to be a Victorian couple, probably
some ancestors of his. In his house, there was a framed photograph of his
great grandfather with a lot of strange Masonic scribbling on its back. He
evidently practiced some form of ceremonial magick. Not a lot of family
heirlooms were found, so this one is most certainly a sentimental piece
Captain McBain would have treasured."

36
Final Notes

Do not draw any undue attention to the paper clips! It is doubtful anyone
would ever catch on to the metal and magnet nexus, but why give them
any clue. Re-read what I say when they retrieve the folded slip from the
drawer:

"Would you please slide open the drawer, where you will see that very same
folded piece of paper left by Captain McBain. It's closed-up for a very good
reason. On the outside, you will see his typed message. Would you please un­
seal the folded slip and read what that message says?"

The word "unseal" covers any suspicion as to why he paperclip is there.

T.A. Waters writes in ‘Mind, Myth and Magick’ the idea of having the
spectator set in motion the mechanism to accomplish an effect is nothing
new. He cites Ed Mellon’s ‘Quantamental Stand' and'WhosGotWoiJ by Eric
Lewis in his ‘Crowning Miracles' as examples.

This magnetic form of ‘getting the dirty work done’ is one of the most
diabolic. You never touch anything except for opening the lid of the box,
and only touch the object after it has been chosen and handed to you.

37
Mis ~Fire

As the Medium is about to begin the seance proper, the sitters are
admonished that strange and bizarre sensations may be seen, heard or
felt throughout the evening. In order to assure the complete safety and
protection of the seance circle, not only is everyone told to follow seance
etiquette, but The Medium offers to read aloud a protective sigil that will
keep any forces invoked outside the seance circle and not allow any
unforeseen entities to multiply, possess any of the sitters or travel home

38
ro cause psychic disturbances or unsound dreams after the seance is
concluded. It is further suggested that what is about to be read acts as a
sort of prayer directed toward the Forces of Darkness to hold them at bay
and not toward any spirit in particular.

After being granted the sitters unanimous agreement for this procedure,
The Medium solemnly opens a small leather booklet and removes a
tattered piece of parchment with Cabbalistic writings on it.

‘And now, with your full attention 1 will read aloud this sacred sigil.
Remember, only after it has been completed, will the cleansing process leave
us with a clear mind and a protected soul."

In the darkness of the room lit only by a single guttering candle, The
Medium brings the piece of paper close to his eyes, straining and having a
hard time seeing it in the faint light. He puts on his gold wire rimmed
spectacles and to help with his reading, moves the candle closer. With
outstretched hands, he focuses and begins to read aloud:

"To protect from the awesome powers of Sutekh, killed by Horus God of
Light, Aha Baha Ha Mein! Rejoice in the true path! Use the power of this
sacred amulet carefully or receive the gift of death reserved only for
humans. To breathe free of the ancient bonds of evil, one must..."

The Medium stops, adjusts his glasses and squints in the candle light to
get a better view. As he moves closer to the only source of light, he

39
accidently touches one corner of the paper to the candle flame. It bursts
in a sizzling blaze of unholy fire!

One must... AAAAgggahhhhhhhhh!"

The Medium looks around the room as if expecting something, then

quietly adds, "Oh well. So much for protection... I don't know. We have come
this far. Everyone showing up on time dressed to kill, a great dinner, good
company... It seems a shame not to go ahead. Shall we take a vote as to
whether or not we should go forward with the seance - protected or not? All
in favour say aye. Well, it's just as I thought. As usual, the ayes have it. We
will just have to continue."

40
Arcanum

A small 3 x 4-inch square of flash paper is prepared by writing some

alchemical symbols and designs on it with a fine point pen. The rest is
acting - and that critical element to any bizarre ritual: storytelling.

You have to tell it as if you believe it. Embrace the horror! That makes the
'blow-off that much more powerful and sets up a nice tension to break
the ice for any opening effect. Obviously, you would not do this bit for a
dyed in the wool serious seance crowd. We are looking for laughter, but
only of the most nervous type. Other times, you may not be after such a
response. This is a prime example of using black gallows humor in the
seance room. It sets the tone for the right group.

Play this interlude seriously and not for laughs. That would be too easy!
Taking something like this having its own inherent humorous elements
and playing it for big laughs would be a very big mistake. It is not
supposed to be funny to you. This also sets up a vulnerable human side to
The Medium. Peter Sellers as ‘Inspector Clouseau' comes to mind with a
little Hitchcockian nod to Alfred's style of dour delivery.

Read some texts on Ancient Magick and sigils if you have not already. I
suggest memorizing some brief esoteric text from somewhere (or use
mine) and then pretending to read such dialogue into the symbols on the
paper. That way, you can concentrate on the screwing up of your eyes as

41
if not seeing and moving the paper in and out of focus, getting it nearer
and nearer to the flame until you get to the "One must..." line.

Remember... This is not a magic trick or an effect in itself, it is a set-up

used as an interlude. The effect should be one of punctured reality. You
build the tension and release it as a preamble for what is to come
repeatedly in your seance production. It is the first small dip in the roller
coaster ride. It is also a fun story to tell for the average group where it will
most likely be greatly appreciated.

For my money, seances that are too dark or intense are not really that fun.
Nobody likes to be frightened for too long, and with a ‘Mis-Fire’ you will
let everybody know they can expect the unexpected.

This idea came from an actual ritual I attended where it really happened,
only not with flash paper.

42
Lady Doyle's Diversion

The Medium removes an old box from a dusty cloth and places it in the
center of the seance table.

"How many of you know who Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was?"

A few people nod in response.

“Hmmm. That's good. I like working with a literate group. If you don't
recognize the name, Sir Arthur was the author of the famous Sherlock
Holmes short stories. Those familiar with his tales of the great detective
would probably agree this author must have certainly been a rational

43
thinker of the highest order, heavily involved in matters of deductive
reasoning, evidence gathering and putting the tiniest clues together to solve
a crime.

Few people know he was a firm believer in Spiritualism, which ran rampant
during the turn of the century. Yes, this man of science was an absolute
believer in ghosts, faeries and the Spirit World. Through their mutual
investigations of the mysteries of mediumship, Doyle became close friends
with Harry Houdini, who often taunted him with his credulity in accepting
the most outrageous claims of the mediums of the time, most of whom
employed magic tricks and sleight of hand to create their seance effects.
Strangely enough, Sir Arthur believed Houdini possessed genuine psychic
ability and further, that he only became a stage magician to cover-up for his
supernatural powers. I like that. It’s an interesting way to look at magic and
magicians isn 't it? Their friendship was a tenuous one at best as Doyle's wife
was reported to be a trance medium prone to go off at the slightest
encouragement. I have in this box several objects that once belonged to Lady
Doyle given to Houdini shortly before his death in 1926. She apparently felt
he should have them to accompany him to The Other Side; they are quite
rare and valuable. That’s why I keep them protected in this box."

The Medium opens the box, removing a bundle of old letters tied with a
black ribbon, a Victorian cameo and a dusty pack of playing cards.

"This is a cameo of Lady Doyle from the 1920’s.”

44
Passing the cameo counter clockwise around the seance circle, The
Medium removes the ribbon from the bundle of letters and sorts through
the crumbling pile. One envelope is carefully removed and set aside.

"This bundle of correspondence passed between Lady Doyle, her husband

Arthur and Houdini. There are a lot of strange cabalistic symbols, odd
rhymes and scribbling, but this one letter concerns us tonight."

The Medium opens the envelope and unfolds a piece of yellowed

stationary, showing the Houdini theatrical letterhead at the top.

45
"This is a letter written to a Judge Meyer by Houdini's last known stage
manager, Al Smith. It goes into a lot of details about Houdini's trips abroad
and other business affairs, but the part I want to read has particular
meaning for what is about to take place in the next few minutes. Houdini
was once known as "The King of Cards, so it's not surprising to read what
transpired between him and Lady Doyle."

Putting on his gold rimmed wire spectacles. The Medium takes a solemn
deep breath, clears his throat in a lawyerly manner and reads the first two
paragraphs of the letter.

46
The Medium pauses before refolding the letter and placing it back in the
envelope.

"So, there you have it Ladies and Gentlemen, a short but sweet claim of
ghosts inhabiting a pack of playing cards. Incredible isn't it? Ridiculous you
say? We shall see. Whether you believe in spirits is not important. What I
propose is to let one of you act as a medium and channel the spirit of Lady
Doyle through your body for a few minutes. There’s nothing to be afraid of.
I will act as your facilitator and endeavour to protect all of us from any
undue harm or influence that might enter the seance circle. First I want to
test one of you to see if you can be "en rapport' or that is, susceptible to the
spirit forces we are about to invoke. You may have heard of cold spots or
ectoplasm? These mysterious forces can manifest in places where spirit
activity is present. I'm going to ask you to hold out your left-hand. It's the
more psychic hand you know. I read about it in a Deepak Chopra book so I
know it must be true. Very good! Now relax you hand and keep your fingers
together. I'm going to attempt to open a portal for spirit energy in the form
of a cold spot from inside the box and transfer that energy to you. Don't
move."

The Medium reaches into the dark recesses of the box and seemingly
scooping up some invisible force, raises a hand high above the sitter's
palm, slowly bringing it down to meet their hand without touching it.

"Didyou feel something cold? Yes? Good!"

The Medium now removes from the box a bronze bell like one would see
in a turn of the century schoolhouse. Placing it in front of the sitter who
has just felt the cold spot, he or she continues.

47
"This is a Spirit Beil At one time, bells like this were used by mediums to
receive messages from The Spirit World. This one came from Edinburgh,
Scotland and is over one hundred and fifty years old. I bought it from a little
shop on The West Bow of Victoria Street, right next door to a house once
reputed to be the witch house of Major Thomas Wier. In a few moments, I'm
going to ask you to lift the bell with your left-hand and ring it. Not just
anytime, but when you feel any strange sort of feeling in your arm and
fingers. Do not try to control the bell in any way. Lady Doyle will reach
through your arm and cause the bell to ring. Do you understand?"

The sitter nods yes - perhaps hesitatingly.

48
And now for the cards. As you can see, other than the fact they are a bit
stained, mouldy and smell rather musty, it's a pack of cards like you may
have at home."

The Medium removes the cards from a discoloured paper wrapping and
casually fans the faces of the cards in front of the group, showing them to
be different and well mixed.

"Now if you would kindly please cut the cards wherever you like."

Suiting action to words, the pack is placed on the table in front of the sitter
and they cut the cards. The Medium takes the cut off portion and asks the
sitter to take the card they cut to from the top of the remaining pile. That
done, they are to show it to the rest of the group, but not The Medium.

"Please notice if you had cut the cards one card above it would have been a
totally different card, (whatever that may be) and if you had cut one card
lower it would have been (whatever that card may be)."

49
The Medium shows these two cards and once the sitter's card has been
seen and remembered, they are instructed to place it back where it was
on the tabled portion of the deck.

The Medium reassembles the whole pack by replacing their half on top of
the sitter's card. Turning to the sitter with the bell, The Medium addresses
them with a sly glint in his eye.

"Now we get to the really interesting part. Tonight, we will concern

ourselves with two very different worlds. First is the world of the living or
the earthly plane most of us are hopefully inhabiting here at this table. The
second realm is the Spirit World, which is the domain of the spirits and
where Lady Doyle resides. I'm going to separate all the cards into two piles
to represent these two worlds symbolically. As I do so, our collective
subconscious minds will respond to this suggestion. Therefore, as I deal the
cards into two piles, I want all of you to visualize in your own minds what
for you might represent the Other Side. Perhaps you may think of a beautiful
park or rolling green pastures. Maybe it's a waterfall and singing song birds.
You might envision departed relatives stepping forward or lost pets
surrounding you in a warm glowing light. Whatever your vision. Let it be a
totally pleasant feeling and nothing bringing to mind sadness or discomfort.
Please focus all your energy on this positive emotional image. I now have
two piles of cards. We must eliminate one of the two piles."

The Medium now addresses the sitter with the bell.

“Please hold the bell out over the two piles and try to relax. I want you to
temporarily surrender yourself to Lady Doyle's influence for just a few
minutes. You will find this experience most invigorating I assure you. Do not
be afraid. She will work through you. You may feel her energy flowing down
through your arm and into your hand. When it feels right, please ring the

50
cell and place it on one of the two piles of cards. Do you understand? Good.
~hen we shall proceed."

The sitter composes their thoughts for a moment, then ringing the bell,
places it on one of the two piles of cards.

'You have been guided to this pile. Very well"

The Medium removes one of the piles, setting it aside to his left. Turning
again to the sitter holding the bell, they are further instructed:

"I'm going to lay out each of the cards face up in a pile in front of you. 1 want
you to watch carefully and tell me if you see the card you cut to a minute
ago."

The Medium lays out the cards in an open even row in front of the sitter.

“Was it there? No? That's good. Lady Doyle is with us!"

The Medium scoops up all the cards shown and places them aside.

“We now have one pile left. I'm going to place each card, very slowly one at
a time on the table face down. As I do this, I want you to one last time allow
Lady Doyle to divert her energy to your hand and when you feel her ring the
bell through you, ring it and I will stop with that single card. Okay?"

The Medium begins slowly laying the cards face down in a neat pile on the
table. After several cards are dealt, the sitter rings the bell. The Medium
stops, asking the sitter to make sure they feel intuitively this is the right

51
card and not the one on the table previously or the one held by The
Medium. After affirming their choice, The Medium places this final
selection to the right and away from everything else. He then tells the
sitter to place the bell down on top of that card. The rest of the pack is now
picked up and placed on top of the previously tabled pack to the left.
Pointing to the bell and the single card, The Medium sits back with a crafty
smile.

"Your choice? Is it really or could it truly be some otherworldly force at work

among us tonight? You don't do any sort of ceremonial magick or spell
casting in your spare time do you? I thought not. At least you didn't - until
tonight. Please tell us the name of the card you cut to and then turn over the
card under the bell."

The sitter names the card and turns the card face up, showing it to be their
chosen card.

“It appears Lady Doyle has reached across the ethereal path and made
contact through you! Here it is Ladies and Gentlemen, physical proof of the
power of The Spirit World!"

52
Arcanum

This seance is built around, horror of horrors ... a pack of playing cards!

I can honestly state after performing this piece for many years, I feel very
comfortable bringing it out before any group of sitters. Everyone enjoys
watching this tale play out. The sitter gets to be The Medium for a few
minutes. How tantalizing is that? During that time, all the attention is on
the one sitter and like in any good psychic reading, nobody likes anything
more than having all the attention on him or her, especially if they are a
believer. If they are not, they soon find out if they play against our
mediumistic facilitation between them and the spirits, they will only end
up looking foolish. You will see it is a win/win situation for even the most
stubborn rational minded sitter in the group. They will eventually bow to
the spirit of Lady Doyle.

1 reached deep into my trunk of discarded wonders and came up with a

‘Svengali Deck’, aged with all the methods I could devise using coffee, tea,
light green and brown watercolor paints and local dirt. In addition to the
'Svengali Principle’, I thought it desirable to be able to show the faces of
the cards by employing the ‘Rough and Smooth Principle' invented by my
very first magic teacher, Joe Berg. Each pair of cards has one indifferent
card backed by one force card, which are all the same. Mine is The Nine of
Diamonds, which by the way is known as ‘The Curse ofScotland' -but that
is another story.

53
These pairs are rough and smoothed using ‘Krylon Matte Finish' to be
found in most art supply stores. The advantage of using matte finish
rather than the old school magic shop liquid is it will not smear or ruin the
card pips and is far more lasting and economical. All the faces of the force
cards are lightly sprayed and the backs of all the indifferent cards are
carefully sprayed. After they are dry and assembled into the pack of pairs,
I can freely show the cards by squeezing the pack gently and fanning them
towards the sitters, which holds each pair together. Because of the
'Svengali Principle’, after squaring the pack when the cards are placed on
the table and asking the sitter to cut the pack, the card the sitter will
always cut to will be one of the force cards.

The pacing of the divining process with the sitter and the bell accentuates
the sense that Lady Doyle is doing all the work. Working with the sitter
and the bell has proven to be an interesting interlude of light
psychodrama rarely seen in an entertainment venue. This can be
especially true if we are stuck with a stubborn sitter who just will not ring
the bell. This is akin to having to take extra time to deal with a sitter or
psychic reading client who just won't let a pendulum swing and it remains
still and unresponsive. Fine. We have all the time in the world. We simply
wait and if needs be, mention they might be too analytical, rational or
perhaps the spirits are not feeling welcome. As a mediumistic facilitator,
it is our duty to remind the sitter to not be afraid, stop resisting and go
with the cosmic flow. Like with a pendulum, eventually they will come
around and ring the bell. They have to. Nobody wants to sit there forever
waiting for the bell to ring! The other sitters’ impatience will soon act as
the peer pressure needed to make some kind of movement. I have had to

54
tell a reluctant sitter holding the bell they are overthinking or, "Lady Doyle
s a gentle spirit who may only move the bell just enough for us to hear it."
a the worst-case scenario, (which has never happened) give the bell to
someone else!

.Vhen working with aged or altered card decks, things may not always go
as planned. The cards can be truly old and sticky. To make absolutely sure
the sitter has cut to a force card, I mark the backs of all the force cards so
I can immediately recognize these when I first glance down after the sitter
has cut the deck. If I see my mark, I know 1 can proceed with showing the
following ruse:

After the sitter has shown their card to the rest of the group, I always do
the business about showing if they had stopped me one card above the
card they cut to, it would be different. By holding the cut-off portion and
simply revolving that portion face up. You will be showing them one of the
indifferent cards. By showing them the card on top of the other tabled
portion, (the card below the sitter's card, who will be holding that one)
we briefly flash another of the indifferent cards. A small detail, but this
helps convince everyone all the cards are indeed different. It also lets us
again know the sitter has to be holding one of the force cards!

The sitter looks at their card shows it around to the group. BTW: I would
much prefer the sitter NOT show everyone else the card, but experience
has unfortunately taught me; especially with a hard-drinking seance
group, it is best to have a few more people knowing what the target card

55
is. If only one sitter forgets the card, you and Lady Doyle will have gone to
a lot of trouble for nothing.

After showing their card around, the sitter replaces it back where it was
on the top of the bottom portion remaining on the table. The deck now
back together, I start dividing the cards into two packets by dealing the
cards one at a time alternately into two piles. Since the first card on the
top of the face down pack will be a force card, that card is placed to the
right. The second card will be placed on the left and so on. All the force
cards should end up on the right and all the indifferent cards should end
up in the left-hand pile.

The dealing of these cards makes total sense when we weave the 'Two
Worlds' motif into the story. By invoking a vision of two very separate
worlds as we deal the piles, we take the tedious boring quality of what is
essentially a counting cards procedure and turn it into a metaphysical
guided imagery experience for all the sitters. I have seen sitters totally
relax and even close their eyes during this process. Perfect! Does anyone
reading this think they are focused on the cards? No way.

We now ask the sitter who has been patiently sitting with the bell to pick
it up, holding it about ten inches above the two tabled piles of cards. I tell
the group, "We need to eliminate one pile of cards.” The key word
eliminate makes the ‘Magician’s Choice’ make sense. If you do not know
what the ‘Magician’s Choice’ is ...ask a magician. The bottom line is you will
kill it dead if you ask them to "choose a pile.” You are in control of this

56
elimination’ process and as long as you limit yourself to one use of this
force per seance, everything is grand.

The sitter is instructed to "feel the vibes" then go ahead and ring the bell,
placing the bell on top of either pile. They will either put the bell on the
right-hand pile of force cards or the left-hand pile of indifferent cards.
Either way, pick up the indifferent pile and lay them out in small rows or
groups, asking the sitter who cut the cards to look carefully and see if their
card is there. Of course, it will not be there. Pick up these cards and turning
the whole pile face down, place them aside to your left. Ask the sitter to
pick up the bell one last time. Pick up the remaining force pile at the same
time telling the sitter you will take one card at a time and place it face
down on the table. Whenever they “get the vibration" they are once again
instructed to ring the bell to stop you dealing any more cards.

The cards are transferred very slowly and deliberately until the sitter
rings the bell. We may have to go through the whole pile of cards more
than once, but that is fine. Nobody becomes psychic, overnight do they? It
makes no difference. All the cards are the same.

I use all the standard helpful magician convincers such as,” Did you want
the card in my hand or the card already on the table?" or “Are you feeling
it’s the next one down?'When they ring the bell, openly slide this card off
to the side directly in front of the sitter, keeping it face down. T ell the sitter
to put the bell on top of the card, marking it visually and making it difficult
for anyone to reach over and reveal the card too soon. Pick up the rest of
the face down force pile, square it up and place it face down on top of the

57
indifferent pile you have set on your left. I can now safely pick up the rest
of the deck and fan the face stock of indifferent cards casually towards the
group and remark, "We have gone through all the rest of these cards and
only one remains under the Spirit Bell”. End by asking the sitter to name
the card they originally cut to, then have them lift the bell to reveal the
card.

Boom!

It would seem Lady Doyle still has a ghostly hand reaching into the world
of the living!

Lady Doyle's haunted pack of playing cards is the perfect complement for
my own 'Houdini Seance’ as I mention in the historical asides that Lady
Doyle, Sir Arthur and Houdini were such great friends despite their
obvious differences. Change the owner of the cards and other props to any
other well-known dabbler in the occult like William S. Burroughs, Peter
Sellers or Jimi Hendrix and you cannot lose.

This is a wonderful storytelling piece and one of my personal favorites to

perform. There are enough facts in the story to sell it to anyone who has
even the slightest interest in Spiritualism and is a very effective lead-in to
a dark Seance. Remember; we did not do anything but act as a guide or
facilitator. The sitter and Lady Doyle did all the work!

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The sitter really has no idea what they are doing. Following along with
your 'spiritual guidance’ and ending up passing through a collection of
roller-coaster emotions running the gamut from mildly frightening,
disturbed, genuinely and authentically unsettled - and perhaps even a
wee bit empowered.

For me pursuing this direction in mentalism and seance production is

always uniquely satisfying for both The Medium and the sitters. If I could
not have this sort of tremulous interaction in my work, I would have
stopped performing seances long ago. Treating ‘spirit communication’ as
play disarms those in the group who may have anticipated an arch-witch
or warlock character to be casting a dark spell over them. Lady Doyle’s
Diversion is also a powerful demonstration of how, if we can 'letgo' of our
pre-suppositions about the Spirit World and work together physically as
well as psychically, amazing things can and will happen.

Play to the believers if you can!

The ‘Cold Spot’ technique used to make the palm of the sitter's hand cold
may not be familiar to the reader. It is called ‘Dunninger’s Finger-Tip Aura.’
Since this little gem is in print as his and not my original effect, I can only
highly suggest looking it up in his book ‘How to Make a Ghost Walk.’ When
it works, it really gets an uncertain feeling started in the seance circle and
telegraphs to the rest of the sitters something weird is definitely afoot.

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The providence of the original Svengali/Houdini idea came about over a
period of mailings back in the day of Brother Shadow’s 'Shadow Network'.
Shadow's pre-computer snail mail group traded secrets from around the
world in the late 90's. This one came from Denis MacKensie called
appropriately, 'Houdini and the Svengali.' From "Fechter's Finger-Flinging
Frolic."

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Book of Love

The Medium displays a tattered book of Ancient Magick and explains that
it once belonged to his great grandfather Silas, who was involved with
charms, clairvoyance and spell casting. Opening the book, the sitters see
the inside is hollowed out. The Medium removes several objects hidden
within the book wrapped in a stained piece of oily cloth: A brass
candlestick, a stub of black candle, a crusty old letter inscribed with
Sanskrit writing and a darkened set of aged tarot cards.

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Counting off twelve cards to match the traditional number of seance
sitters, months of the year, holy disciples or whatever other iconic
numerical symbolisms may come to mind, The Medium hands them to a
sitter to be mixed, explaining that his great grandfather believed that
certain cards of the Tarot hold a strong emotional influence over our lives,
both when we are alive and long after we are dead. Further stating that
written into the aged letter is a prediction of a future event yet to come to
pass written over 200 years ago, The Medium insists the letter still
contains a powerful magick spell that will manifest itself if those gathered
to pay it honor follow carefully the ancient ritual invoked by Silas decades
ago.

The sitter is asked to remove any number of cards from 1-12 taken from
the mixed Tarot packet he holds and hide those cards on their person
where no-one can see them, remembering their secret number for later.
After they have removed that number of cards, they are to place the
remaining cards back on top of the tabled portion and square the pack up.

The Medium then sets the candlestick on top of the closed book and lights
it, solemnly uttering a strange incantation in Latin:

Ergo Sum Papa

“I am the Pope”

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The Medium then hands the tabled packet to the sitter, asking them to
carefully count twelve more cards onto his or her hand one at a time. This
done, The Medium places those cards clock-wise around the book in a
wide face down circle, starting at one o’clock and ending with the twelfth
card or hour, which is placed sideways at the top position. This is to
reinforce where the sitter will begin and end their count later, so that
there can be no confusion to which card is twelve and which is one o’clock.

The Medium now states that long ago a secret seance was held for twelve
people to invoke the most powerful and sacred of all magical forces. The
thirteenth guest was The Medium, Silas. At this point, the letter is
reverently set on top of the book next to the candle as another brief
incantation is intoned:

The Stage is now set.

The Medium asks for one of the other seance members to act as a witness
and accompany him or her into another room, where in their absence the
following ritual is to be performed by the sitter who hid the cards. They
are to use their secret number to look around the twelve cards thinking of
the circle as a clock face, starting at one o’clock and locating the particular
card corresponding to the number of cards they have originally hidden
from The Medium. Once arrived at, they are to look at that card, remember
its name and picture, let the image momentarily burn into their mind,
show it to the other sitters and then replace it back into the circle exactly
where it was.

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The Medium returns from the other room and has the witness verify that
he or she was far away from any door or way to see the process that took
place around the book.

The Medium now asks if all the instructions given were understood and
carried out correctly, adding that only if each step of this ancient ritual has
been strictly adhered to without variation will the spirit forces manifest.
The Medium further admonishes that any misuse of the inherited cards,
letter or invocation might cause the most dreadful and appalling
situations to occur - not the least of which could be injury or death to the
Medium.

This being said, The Medium carefully picks up the candle in its holder in
their right-hand and the letter in their left-hand. Mumbling some guttural
incantation whose meaning and language can only be guessed at by the
sitters, he slowly begins to pass the candle around the circle in a counter­
clockwise or 'widdershins' fashion as in ancient Druidic fashion.

With eyes closed, The Medium continues for some minutes until finally he
or she looks the sitter who chose the number square in the eye and tells
them exactly what number they are thinking of!

He then sets the candle down and hands the letter to the sitter, asking
them to open it and read aloud the message written inside, it reads:

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It seems as if Uncle Silas has reached across the ethereal path and left an
unmistakable thought form to be uncovered by the group.

His message is ...

65
Arcanum

You will probably recognize the well-known 'Ten' or ‘Clock Force', this
time using 12 cards instead often. In this set-up, at the beginning, the 13th
card from the top of the face down Tarot packet is your force card - in this
case, The Lovers. You can use the Death card or the Devil if you want a
more macabre ceremony. The Lover card has some tell-tale marking on
its back allowing you to find it easily after it has been dealt face down onto
the circle.

If the instructions are followed as above, the force card will always end up
at the exact number of cards (or the number) that the sitter has chosen.
This is important: Be sure that you have the sitter deal the second batch
of twelve cards directly onto your hand before you deal them onto the
final circle, otherwise they will not be reversed. As you pass the candle
slowly around the circle in the classic widdershins fashion, possibly with
eyes half closed, simply glance casually down at the cards at some point.
Once you have spotted your force card, you can stop and look the sitter
‘square in the eye' and boldly state the number they have been thinking
about.

It is always nice to make mention of any customary witchery, so if you are

entertaining that kind of open-minded group, I will often add before
beginning the perambulations around the circle of cards:

"Widdershins is counter clockwise or counter to the sun's motion. This is

considered an aid to intuitive channels in many cultures. In the mythology
of the North Yorkshire Moors it is believed that if you dance nine times

66
widdershins around a faery ring of toadstools you will come under the
power of the faery people."

As with 'professional psychics,’ it is important to make bold statements. Do

not ask if that is the number they are thinking about, announce it
confidently! You are the freaking Medium and you are supposed to KNOW.
This is subtle but extremely strong stuff. However, there is more. Have the
sitter read the letter aloud for your kicker. You might even have a tiny
drop of melted candle wax drip onto the card as you move around the
circle, as if some sort of sign has manifested; then reveal the number. It
depends on your style. After they read the letter and acknowledge The
Lover as the predicted card, turn it over.

I have found local stamp and coin stores sell 'covers’ which are old used
letters that may or may not have had their stamps cancelled or removed.
These relics are saved and traded by collectors for their dated markings.

Beautifully hand script-written old envelopes can be purchased for quite

cheap and they look real - because they are. You do not have to go the
trouble of any aging process. The letter inside should be carefully aged to
match the old pen, ink and old paper, but that is part of the fun of building
your own props and seance material. You end up with something unique
that cannot be picked up at a magic shop and resonates an arcane reality
all its own. The envelope I use is addressed to someone in London and has
Tibetan Sanskrit writing all over it including a fantastic stamp showing
the Goddess Kali, I think I paid a dollar or two for it.

67
Another ploy to consider in any clock effect allows the sitter to mix all the
cards before starting the routine. The card to be forced which is again
marked on the back, sits waiting in your lap. After the sitter mixes the
cards, you retrieve the packet and add on the force card, which is added
on to the top as you misdirect the sitters by drawing their attention to the
book, candle or letter. Then, by way of demonstrating what you want
done, you say:

"We are dealing in time - ancient time and time yet to come. To infuse your
spirit into the ceremony, I want to introduce a time that is uniquely yours.
The time could be the month or year of you or a loved one was born. Say it
was April, the fourth month of the year. To put a part of you into the cards,
deal off four cards for April, the fourth month. Or perhaps there is a special
hour in the day that has a meaningful significance like the hour of a
marriage, birth or even a death. If it was say, nine o'clock, you would deal
off nine cards."

As you speak this 'example,' you deal nine cards on top of the four
previously dealt, pick up all thirteen cards and return them on top of the
deck. Slide the now slyly stacked deck to the sitter and continue:

“Once you have decided on the hour or month that has meaning to you, take
that number of cards and place them in a pocket or as close to your heart as
possible."

After many performances of this effect, some situations have come up

which should be covered for the sake of completeness: If the sitter

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chooses a single digit number from 1-10 everything stays the same as
above.

However, if when using the 22 Major Arcana as in the preceding

description, the sitter choosing their hour or number of cards to hide
chooses 11 or twelve as their number (which may happen) you will not
have enough cards left for the sitter to deal back to you to complete the
clock face. You need 24 cards to cover this possibility. I have two extra
cards from the Major Arcana from another deck just in case this happens.
Chances are these cards will not be noticed during your performance.
Why would anyone care anyway? They are your Uncle Silas’ cards after
all. Who knows why he has chosen the particular cards he has saved. The
24 cards will now allow for all the choices including the numbers 11 and
12.

You could also state, before they choose their number, that Silas was
involved in the science of Numerology and that according to the precepts
of this form of divination, any double digits are reduced down to a single
digit. This will also cover the 11-12 problems. Telling the sitter to reduce
their number to a single digit between 1-9 gets things straight again: 11 =
1+1 - 2, etc.

Having the extra cards is the best answer to the problem. Bringing math
and mixing in elements of Numerology into an already instruction heavy
routine is risky at best. If you have been using Numerological concepts in
other parts of your presentation, this could still be an appropriate 'out.'

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Also, worth considering when performing this seance: Have the sitter
place the chosen number of cards into Silas’ open letter envelope or inside
the Tibetan book instead of placing them into their pocket or purse. This
avoids the possibility of the sitter inadvertently walking off with your
Tarot cards at the end of the evening! Asking for their return is just
another thing you have to remember to do later and 1 have forgotten this
small detail more than a few times. Tarot cards can be expensive and hard
to replace, especially when you have taken all the time and care to age
them to look old.

70
Wishing You Well

"As a small child, I was fascinated with wishing wells and their allure. People
suddenly became solemn as they threw their coins into the pool, fountain or
well. A change seemed to come over them. They were transformed. Even
though at a very young age I had no idea what was happening, 1 intuitively
knew it was serious business. I was intrigued by the open actions of both
grownups and other children who participated in this exercise. It felt
distinctly magical.

Adding to the mysterious ceremony of such experiences, these participations

with nature always took place in calm quiet dells and forests. Other than the
crowds always noisily surrounding the main wishing well in the center of
Chinatown in Los Angeles, these restful places were reverent and apart from
day to day reality, as if they existed on the borderland between this world

71
and the next. As each person stepped up and sometimes closed their eyes in
wishful thought, they seemed to have one foot in the real world, while the
other balanced on the very edge of some future universe of potential and
hopefulness. I quickly learned that to wish was a recognition of what was
important.

People focused as if in prayer on whatever was vital to them in that brief

moment when the coin left their hand and plinked into the water, sending
out ripples of happiness. Was this devotion, spirituality or... something else?

Germanic and Celtic peoples considered springs and wells sacred places and
marked them with wooden statues possibly of the god associated with the
pool. Throwing armor and weapons of defeated enemies into the water
acted as offerings to their gods.

Water has so many occult qualities. It is unique and mysterious. Water is the
only natural substance found in all three physical states; liquid, solid and
gas. Psychics use reflections of water for scrying or the practice of seeing the
future in its depths much like a crystal ball. Pools, ponds and wells capture
our imaginations with their dark reflective quality. If you are a Cancer,
Scorpio or especially a Pisces,you already know about water signs. Water is
the essence of life on Earth. We could not live long without it. Water is
believed by many to have healing powers. Need I mention the millions of
people who make pilgrimages to sacred spots like Lourdes and St. Madron's,
drinking the water, bathing in it or just simply wishing over it. Many
traditions tell us each wish is granted by the guardian or dweller of the well
based upon how the coin would land on the bottom. If the coin landed heads
up, the guardian of the well would grant the wish, but the wish of a tails up
coin would be ignored. It was thus potentially lucky to throw coins in the
well, but it depended on how they landed.

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Silly isn’t it? What a meaningless ritual!

Well...perhaps not. There is some science-based evidence for curative

outcomes. Call it the placebo effect or even better. Seekers of healing may
have unknowingly discovered the biocidal properties of both copper and
silver; the two metals traditionally used in coins. Throwing coins made of
either of these metals could help make the water safer to drink. Wells that
were frequented by those that threw coins in may have been less affected by
a range of bacterial infections making them seem more fortunate and may
have even appeared to heal people suffering from repeated infections.

Mimir's Well from Nordic myths, also known as the 'Well of Wisdom' is
known as a well that could grant infinite wisdom provided you sacrificed
something you held dear.

Odin was asked to sacrifice his right eye, which he threw into the well to
receive not only the wisdom of seeing the future but the understanding of
why things must be. MImir is the Nordic god of wisdom and his well sits at
the roots ofYggdrasil, the World Tree, which draws its water from the well.
The list goes on and on, but this common history and belief from around the
world tells us we need magic in our lives - and will literally pay for it.

Suffice it to say, whatever is going on with this magical tradition, it remains

a fact that we mortals continue to toss our money away. In some places, this
action has reached a level where many of these magical places have become
clogged with so many coins, the water so essential to the completion of the
ritual has threatened to dry up. Years ago, I remember watching one day at
the aforementioned Chinese Wishing Well as an old Chinese man dressed in
boots and wielding a shovel and a canvas bag did his job of removing
hundreds of dollars in change from the grottos and pools. In November 2006

73
England's 'Fountain Money Mountain’ reported that tourists throw just
under 3 million pounds sterling per year into wishing wells.

Later in life as I began to question religious rituals and our need to secure
magical ways to deal with life, I saw a deeper significance to this wish
compulsion. 1 wondered what about the well? Could this be an offering to
some god or goddess we may not even be aware of? Is each pool different in
this way and imbued with an endless stream of good will that never runs
out? Can we continue to take and take without somehow replenishing this
precious resource with nothing except pieces of chump change? Do we really
believe the guardians or dwellers of the well would grant us our wish for a
nickel or a dime? It didn't seem right or fair. What would be the inevitable
outcome of such an obsessive practice? Other than the Chinese man who I
hoped worked for the city and saw to it the monies collected placed in some
reputable fund, who looks after all the millions of wells? Many more
questions than answers nettled my conscience. It seemed a selfish one-way
practice. After recently coming across the writings of Anthemion Deckle
Buckram, I ask you to consider, for a change, what does the wishing well
need?

Water.

Without water, there would be no well.

There would be no reflective surface.

Without water, there would be no plink or plonk as we release our deepest

wishes into its depths. A wishing well can do nothing with gold.

Anthemion tells us, "The unenchanted think that throwing a coin into a well
is the key to having a wish granted, but we wizards know better". A gift in
return would be a gift of water. This action logically would have the effect

74
of increasing the "well-being" of a wishing well.” Mr. Buckram recommends
collecting water very deliberately for this purpose."

And so begins the ‘Wishing You Well Ritual'...

7 have practiced the ritual you are about to see many times, and it worked
in ways I couldn't have imagined. I started by placing a copper vessel like
this outside during a gentle rain shower. Anthemion admonishes too stormy
a shower will make for tempestuous water and will unsettle the wishing
well. We don't want to do that, do we? It's all about peace, calm and clarity.
Collect only as much as you can hold in your cupped hands, or about as much
as I'm going to pour out of the vase."

The Medium pours out a small handful of water from the vase into a clear
bowl and reverently sets it back down on the table.

"Anthemion also tells us to now approach the wishing well in a spirit of

friendliness and generosity. We come not to take from the well, as most do,
but to give. If we follow these instructions, amazing things can happen.
Please remember this ritual is about our intention to replenish without
wishes or any hope of reciprocation from any gods or goddesses. What I
discovered as I sincerely invoke this mental intention, water seems to come
from nowhere and re-fill the vase ...like Magick!"

75
The Medium picks up the previously emptied vase, pouring out another
handful of water from it into the bowl. Emptying it to the last drop, he sets
it down again.

"Whenever I know I'm going to be in the vicinity of a wishing well. I take this
vase with me, concentrating on my intention to give and not take, allowing
the water to trickle into the well, after which I lean forward and listen for
the well’s voice to rise from the depths.

I don’t throw things into wishing wells anymore, because when I hear the
sound of the water restoring and refreshing its core, this is the one and only
way to learn new magic words and gain wisdom from a wishing well. I don’t
need to make a wish and wait for it to come true.

I listen and I hear it just like you just did,"

Once again, the contents of the vase pour into the bowl as The Medium
adds, "Listen. Did you hear the voice?”

76
Arcanum

This is of course another interpretation of the classic ‘Lota Vase'

Over the years, I have had so much fun performing with my stage size Lota
Vase, I wanted to have a way to incorporate its wonder in a more intimate
setting and with a more thought-provoking storyline that made sense in
the context of ceremonial Magick instead of just as a running gag as it is
usually performed.

77
If you are not familiar with its inner workings, The Lota Vase is based on
a century's old scientific principle of hydraulics once used in ancient
Greek temple magic.

It is a brilliant illusion that never ceases to be a crowd pleaser. If you do

not already know about this practical gem, get one. They come in all
shapes, sizes and prices in a variety of materials from plastic to ceramic.
Once you have tasted the power of being able to fill and refill an emptied
vessel with nothing more than a few magic words, the effect will likely
become an important part of your act. Clever and without a clue as to
where the water, wine or whatever liquid you may choose to want to
produce comes from, it is a classic.

Mine is a ‘P & L' mini version, just big enough to show in a close-up or
seance situation. Of course, the larger stage version pours huge amounts
for six or seven shots, the smaller version still creates a subtly puzzling
illusion that fits for the story I have created with the kind permission of
Mr. Craig Conley, (a.k.a. ‘Anthemion Deckle Buckram.']

I liked Craig’s overall thinking on the wishing well concept and received
his permission to use his cogent thoughts and words.

You can read more of his works in this direction in his book ‘The Young
Wizard's Hexopedia.'

78
The Nazca Stone

"Man has long assigned significance to the roles of coincidence and intuition
in his daily life, coloring it with such phrases as ‘out of the blue', 'gut level'
and ‘off the top of my head'.’’

The Medium picks up a small box, opens it and removes another smaller
box sealed with rubber bands.

"What do these phrases mean? What do we see or feel when we look up into
the blue sky? Are these phrases descriptive of psychic flashes or contact with
extra-terrestrial origin?Some say they are."

79
Selecting a spectator at random, The Medium asks him or her to choose a
one, two or three-digit number. As the spectator names the number aloud,
The Medium holds the box up to focus attention on it.

"This box contains a decorated stone from the Nazca plateau in Southern
Peru, where archaeologists have discovered drawings etched into the desert
so vast they become recognizable images only when viewed from high
above. The Nazca tribe in approximately 300 B.C. created them. The riddle
of why these mysterious lines were created and who intended to view them
has puzzled investigators for decades.

Theories range from the belief they are religious symbols to landing sites for
UFO's.

Due to all the relatively recent interest in ancient astronauts and UFO's,
these stones have become much in demand. After the success of Erich von
Daniken's best-selling book 'Chariots of the Gods,’ tourists began taking
them home as souvenirs. The Peruvian government later clamped down on
the export of these cultural artifacts. There are now only 1000 of them
available. Each stone is individually numbered on the back."

As The Medium speaks, he removes the rubber bands holding the box
closed, lifting off the top of the box and reversing it on the bottom. The
hand-painted stone it contains is wrapped in black velvet cloth. The
Medium does not touch the stone, but extends the box to a spectator,
asking them to remove the stone and turn it over. On the back of the stone
is written the very number thought of by the spectator!

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Arcanum

Nazca Stones' are available online at places selling fossils or natural

history items. Get one for around $12 or simply make your own from a
smooth pebble painted black with a white petroglyph on it. No need to
travel to Peru to pick one up unless you can afford the trip, then I say go
for it! The store-bought versions are stylized reproductions made in a
factory and usually come in a small box perfectly suited for this effect,
with the lid fitting partway down over the four sides. Any medium gift box
with these characteristics will work as well. You will need to modify the
box slightly. Left off the lid and cut a 2" square hole in the bottom of the
box. Now glue a piece of black velvet approximately 6" square to the
bottom of the inside of the box. This piece should have a corresponding
2" hole cut into its center.

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The stone conceals this hole when it lays flat in the box. Now glue a small
square 3” x 3” patch to the inside middle of the removable lid.

Before putting the stone into the box, affix a medium ‘Avery’ label to the
bottom of the stone. The position of the hole and the label on the stone
should align and match up. Later with the lid closed and held in position
with four rubber bands, you use your best nail writer to write the thought
of number on the exposed label as you hold the box up, finding more than
enough time to accomplish the writing as you vertically display the box
and remove the rubber bands. If fitted properly, the rubber bands help to
stabilize the stone in the box for the writing.

As you carefully lift away the box lid (do not flash the black patch on the
underside) to reveal the stone, which is nestled in the folds of the velvet,
you reverse the lid and place it under the box itself.

82
You do not touch the stone but allow the spectator to remove it from the
box. The hole in the bottom of the box will be camouflaged black-art-style
by the velvet patch which you lined the underside of the lid. The illusion
is perfect.

Sorry, if you do not know what a nail writer is, please find out! If you are
not already using one for psychic demonstrations, you will soon never
leave home without one. If you haven't become accustomed to the
advantages of a good nail writer, I could write a whole book on just that.
Fortunately, quite a few books have already been written. A nail writer is
an invaluable tool and to my way of thinking, the most powerful hidden
gimmick any medium (or magician) could ever have at their disposal.
There are many styles to choose from, my choice being a ‘Scarab’ or
modified ‘Boon-writer’. Check out 'Step One’ of Corinda's ‘Thirteen Steps to

83
Mentalism' for a full description of Eric Mason's‘Boon- writer'. Get one. In
fact, if you are smart, get two and here is a good reason why:

There is a famous story, possibly apocryphal, about Maurice Fogel and the
night he was performing a command performance for The Queen at The
Royal Albert Hall. He was just at the point in his routine when he needed
to fetch out his nail writer from his vest pocket to do his secret writing,
and it slipped off onto the stage! I never heard how he managed to get out
of this scrape, but I have it on good authority he never went back on stage
again without having TWO nail writers - one in each vest pocket to
prevent this embarrassing incident from ever occurring again. True or
not, it is good advice.

Above is the first appearance of nail writing technique in print. From

William E. Robinson's'Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena.’ Munn & Co.
N.Y. 1898

84
Crossroads

"I have in this bag a brass metallic version of Saint Brigid's cross. It was
given to me by an old Irish cunning-man named Doc Shiels. Though not
technically a witch, Doc's own abilities have many times crossed the line
from simple fortune telling to outright predictions of the future and even
monster raising. He's known throughout Europe as The Wizard of the West.
In the mountains around Anu or Danu known locally as 'the Mother of the
Gods of Ireland’ near Killarney, Doc is famous for summoning not only the
legendary 'Mowgawr’, but also being in telepathic contact with the 'Winged
Owl-Man of Cornwall’.

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Before I left Killarney, as I stood at the crossroads nearby, he shoved both
this cross and this little box into my hands. He told me it would all make
sense one day if I followed his instructions. His actions unnerved me at the
time. It was almost as if he wanted to get rid of these things for some reason.

I also have a Chinese Feng Shui compass, which will allow us to properly
align the four points with the four points ofBrigid's Cross here on the table.
Only after doing so, can we summon the true power of Saint Brigid.

Cross roads of any kind are tricky places and need careful navigation, even
one as small and innocent looking as this one. Walking between worlds has
long been a theme in human beliefs, superstitions, and folklore.
Otherworldly beings are often sited at the boundaries and edges of this
realm and the next Because the crossroads is land that belongs to no one, a
place outside the borders of town, it’s considered a suitable site to perform
magical rituals and cast spells. It was also believed spirits can only travel in
straight lines. If you have ever been to a traditional Japanese park, any
bridges you may cross over are always zigzagged and never built in a
straight line.

Traditionally this 'no man’s land’ or place of ill reputation, at the center of
which one finds oneself on two roads or in the position of making a choice
at 'thefork in the road,’are such places. Choices. Life and death? The symbol
of the cross itself may represent this duality. On the Isle of Man, people will
sweep a crossing place at midnight to keep it clear of spirits. Witches are
still thought to hold their Sabbaths at a crossroad. In some cultures,
offerings are left at these points to appease malevolent ghosts. The choice of

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four separate routes, north, south, east and west is believed to confuse
ghosts, keeping them bewildered until the light of day forces their return to
the grave. For this reason, suicides and suspected vampires were often
buried near these spots, and gallows were sometimes erected there. In the
Deep South of the United States, crossroads are held to be places where one
can sell his soul to the devil in exchange for the granting of a wish, often for
musical talent. We are not going for anything like that. Just a small bit of
prophecy is all we are asking the spirits for. To argue at a crossroads is a
sure invitation to misfortune, so let's all try to get along and keep cool no
matter what happens in the next few minutes, Okay?

Does anyone have an iPhone with a compass on it? Please turn it on and set
it on the table after setting it to true north. Good, we can re-check our Feng
Shui compass with it to make sure. Let's set that up now.

We have now started a working crossroads invocation. I'm going to leave

the cross in position for a few minutes.

For our divination, I will make use of tarot cards. Not just any tarot cards
mind you, but the deck considered by many to be the most modern and
accurate system, the Thoth Tarot, painted by Lady Frieda Harris according
to instructions from Aleister Crowley.

It's interesting to note this current edition of the U.S. Games Systems Thoth
Tarot available at almost every major bookstore chain was originally
sponsored by a man denounced in the popular press as "the wickedest man
in the world" and labelled a Satanist because of his embrace of the title 'The

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Beast'. He is also popularly known by his nickname '666.' Since we have a
cross right here, that should certainly ward off any evil. The Thoth has a
history of'cutting to the chase' without any nuances — they are big, bold
and powerful. There are 78 different cards as in the standard pack, but
that's where any similarity fades away into antiquity. As you can see, The
Thoth are quite colorful, but strikingly different from the more well- known
Rider-Waite pack most people are familiar with. For example, the Strength
card has been replaced by Lust and The World has been reinterpreted into
The Universe, while the suits have been re-created into the various Zodiac
signs.

I'm going to cut the deck into two piles. Which half do you want? Good,
please take that portion of the deck. I want you to mix all your cards face
down and when finished, please place them back on the table. Excellent. Now
I will give you mine to mix. Now, please place one hand on each of the cut
packets. We need to eliminate one pile, so as I hold Brigid's Cross and pass it
slowly back and forth, I need you to say now when you think we have
'crossed over.' Which packet do you want to use next? Sometimes people
actually feel something happen, like when a magnet pulls, only more a
mental tug and not exactly physical. Did you feel anything?

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 Cross pointing towards True North, South, East and West

Now if you would please further cut four piles with the cards. One at North,
one at South, then East and West at the four points we have calculated using
the compass.

Excellent. In choosing our first crossroad, I need to ask you, which is the most
desirable direction you are attracted to in this present space-time
dimension? By this I mean, are you a Northern person, maybe you like colder
temperatures or do you prefer warmer climes such as in a Southerly

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direction? Maybe you are an East Coast person, or maybe you like it in the
West?

Please let the spirit of Saint Brigid direct you. You might think of her as your
intuition, your conscience or your spirit guide. This choice will begin the
ritual of Saint Brigid’s Cross.

Now we have one deck of cards. Please mix them and set them up again, I
don't want to touch the cards. Four more piles please. Shall we stay with
your first chosen direction to set the cards out or would you like to change
to another? Life is a journey.

We now have around nine cards. Please deal them out slowly. Starting at
your choice and moving counter clockwise, or widdershins.

Which direction will you go at this crossroad?"

Again, cards are discarded.

“We now have three cards left. This time, please hold Brigid’s Cross in your
own hand and place it on top of one of the three.

We have finally arrived at one card. Using your intuition and Brigid's Cross,
we have taken away 77 cards — a seven and a seven. Let's hope they are
lucky sevens. Please place Brigid’s cross on one of the remaining cards.”

There is now one card left untouched on the table.

"Please open the small box and tell everyone what is inside. An object
wrapped in a piece of paper. What is written on the scrap of paper? Can you
please read it aloud in a clear voice?"

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I he paper is unwrapped from around a small heart-shaped metal charm.
Written on the paper are the words:

Absolute True love will (find you.

"Now, if you would please turn over the card on the table."

The sitter turns over the card on the table and it is seen to be "Love."

"Somehow, a prediction made months before in a place thousands of miles

away, matches the tarot card you were drawn to. Was this truly random?
Could it be possible the love that made Saint Brigid's Cross so powerful and
remembered from AD 451 still exerts its powers over us today?"

The Medium holds the scrap of paper near the candle flame and it bursts
into a brilliant ball of flame, leaving no ash.

"451 by the way, is the temperature that paper burns."

After a suitable moment of silence, The Medium continues.

"At times Saint Brigid's fire burns more brilliantly than at others. Her
energies can sometimes attach to those who summon her. Would you like to
see if her presence is near you?"

When and if this is agreed upon, The Medium has the sitter stand up close
to the iPhone near the edge of the table where it is still registering true
North on its compass.

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"Are you right or left-handed? I want you to extend your left-hand palm
down, fingers together in a relaxed manner toward the phone like this."

The Medium lightly holds the fingertips of the sitter in his right-hand and
moves them toward the phone.

"Now we will ask if Saint Brigid is with us. Brigid, are you with us tonight?
Can you give us a physical sign that you are here with us? Please work
through this sitter and enter into contact with her as your medium. You are
our guide."

Slowly the needle on the phone's compass moves away from true North
as the sitter holds their hand above it.

"She's here! You can see for yourself! Don't be afraid. After all, ... she’s a
Saint!"

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Arcanum

Here is performance of spirit-theater with a story that will enthral even

the most jaded sitters. The facts are mythical as well as historical and play
out with the powerful takeaway of the sitter becoming charged with the
power of love. Good wins over all evil.

To supply the proper background story, here is a brief synopsis of Saint

Brigid’s Cross and her legend:

Celtic Origins

The presence of the Brigid's Cross in Ireland is likely far older than
Christianity. The Goddess Brigid was one of the Tuatha De Danann. Her
Feast Day was the Feast of Imbolc, and the cross made of rushes today is
very likely the descendant of a pagan symbol whose original meaning may
have been locally understood even into the early 20th century in rural
Ireland.

One remnant of that tradition in the meaning of the Brigid's Cross today,
is that it is said to protect a house from fire. This does not fit with any part
of the Christian story of St Brigid, and so is likely a part of the older
spiritual tradition behind the feast day. Both Brigid the saint and the
goddess were renowned as protectors of virgins.

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After traditional prayers and a meal, crosses would be placed under the
eaves in the house or in outhouses. Before they were placed in the thatch,
however, the crosses would sometimes be blessed with holy water, a
ritual with connotations simultaneously Christian and Pagan.

These crafts of Brigid's feast day were not only believed to have curative
powers and to counter barrenness, but to protect the family and animals
from natural calamities, especially lightning and fire. In the Tuatha de
Danaan, Brigid is a life-giving goddess but is also attributed with fire, both
in its destructive uses and in metalwork.

These crosses are important to the study of Brigid's evolution from

goddess to the saintly daughter of a druid and a slave because they allude
in so many ways to the questionable status of her Christian origins. Most
obvious are the links to cattle, life-giving, and death, although the design
itself may suggest vestiges of solar symbolism. There seems to be little
argument among scholars that even if an actual holy woman named Brigid
existed, in fact over fifteen were recorded, that her life and miracles are
Christian revisions of pre-established beliefs. There are too many
coincidences in the life of the saint, the mythology of the goddess, and
strangely similar festivals to believe otherwise.

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Christian Origin

in Christian religion, St Brigid and her cross are linked together by a story
about her weaving this form of cross at the death bed of either her father
or a pagan lord, who upon hearing what the cross meant, asked to be
baptized. One version goes as follows: A pagan chieftain from the
neighborhood of Kildare was dying. Christians in his household sent for
Brigid to talk to him about Christ. When she arrived, the chieftain was
raving. As it was impossible to instruct this delirious man, hopes for his
conversion seemed doubtful. Brigid sat down at his bedside and began
consoling him.

As was customary, the dirt floor was strewn with rushes for both warmth
and cleanliness. Brigid stooped down and started to weave them into a
cross, fastening the points together. The sick man asked what she was
doing. She began to explain the cross, and as she talked, his delirium
quieted and he questioned her with growing interest. Through her
weaving, he converted and was baptized at the point of death. Since then,
the cross of rushes has existed in Ireland.

Symbol

To some extent, the Brigid's cross has become one of the symbols of
Ireland, along with the shamrock and harp. It is also said that Saint
Brigid's Cross can protect and attract positive energies from outer
dimensions if its four points are set to point to the four points on the
compass: North, South, East and West. Early ley-lines or alignments of

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ancient sites or holy places, such as stone circles, standing stones, cairns,
and churches have a rich history in the paranormal. In aligning these
sources of electro-magnetic resonance, not only curative but also the pre-
Christian pagan divinatory powers may be summoned. These powers or
ancient energies pre-date both science and medicine. Isn't that what
Magick is all about?

That being said 'Crossroads' is basically a card trick!

However, with detailed props and a carefully crafted script you will
completely transcend any suspicions that you are doing so. Read my script
and the accompanying facts about what we know .. .or think we know,
about the fabled Saint Brigid, then go a few steps further to make it your
own. This is an ‘olde wives' tale' full of opportunities to bend to your own
style. When you see the look on your sitter's face when Brigid's powers
are physically transferred over to them, it will be well worth any time you
may spend making it ‘real’.

The objects used are all readily available and can be collected with a few
days of preparation. A single glowing white candle should be on the table
to send a message to St. Brigid, signalling her a seance is soon to begin.

First, you need a Brigid's Cross. Google it and you will see dozens for sale
on-line. Mine is polished brass and purchased on a trip into Killarney,
Ireland with Doc Shiels, who by the way started me on the process of
creating this effect.

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The addition of the wrapped metal charm in the small box helps convince
any skeptics you did not do any switch to get the predicted tarot card to
be accurate. The box sits quietly in front of the group from the beginning.
Anything to take away from 'tricky' is always encouraged. The story and
your acting ability are what sells this effect and makes it live a life of its
own in the minds of the sitters.

The ‘Thoth Tarot' pack is a force deck available through magic dealers
consisting of 78 cards; 39 are different and include the Major Arcana: the
cards mentioned and openly shown in the introduction, while the other
39 cards are all the same. My force card is Love. The Thoth Deck also
conveniently features a 'one-way' back design, which enables you to set all
the force cards going one-way and the normal cards going the other. In
preparation, these are separated and the force packet is placed on the
bottom of the face up pack. The two or three Major Arcana cards
mentioned in the introduction are on the face of the pack and are casually
discussed and tossed on the table as you describe the pack and Mr.
Crowley. This is all delivered in a matter of fact way, without acting furtive
or drawing any attention to the balance of the pack, which sits quietly on
your left. There is no reason for anyone to suspect anything unusual, the
cards and your story are unusual enough.

The whole deck is again reassembled with the packet on your left (the
force cards) placed back on the top. Your introduction to the cards is over.
Set the complete deck to your left.

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Now we set up the cross with the iPhone. You must use an iPhone for this
to work. Most people do not know this, but the compass on any iPhone is
sensitive to magnetism. You have a nice strong PK magnet rolled up in
your right sleeve. Be careful not to get it close to the iPhone until you are
ready for the 'summoning.' This is why you politely ask someone else to
set his or her iPhone up for the group. Once set to the compass function,
it is placed about 10 inches from the table's edge, with the compass needle
pointing to true North. The Brigid's Cross is now discussed with the
backstory about crossroads as you set it with the points of the cross in the
four directions using true North as your guide.

If you have one, recheck with your handy Feng Shui compass, just to make
sure. This is science after all.

Now your table is visually set and you should have effectively drawn all
attention away from the tarot cards. Picking up the deck, you casually sort
through the face down pack until you see the back designs going the
opposite way and cut the deck at that point into two piles. The force half
(top portion) goes to your right. The normal half is set down to the left.

Asking the sitter which pile they want and giving them a free choice, they
are asked to mix their pile face down. You perform a ‘Do as I Do' and mix
the pile you have. If they have the force pile, fine. If you have the force pile
— it does not matter, just keep track of which is which. The piles are now
mixed and the cross brought into our process.

Asking the sitter to place both hands on each of the two piles, you explain
that, "With the help of Saint Brigid we are going to eliminate one pile."

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Remember, the key term eliminate? You are once again performing the
classic 'Magician's Choice.'

Picking up the cross and standing above the sitter, you begin to slowly
move the cross back and forth over the two hand covered piles, saying,
"Let the thought of Saint Brigid guide you. Which pile do you want to use
next?" Eventually they will say one of the two. Do not rush this part. It is
magical, visual and is helping to build the ritual aspect of what we are
trying to invoke in the minds of the sitters. Sooner or later the sitter is
going to decide and we take full advantage of this interlude.

Once they have made their choice, be sure to add in the "Did you feel
anything?" question. It is always amazing that 90% of the time, a sitter will
enthusiastically agree that they did feel something. This builds the belief
and adds to the drama for the rest of the sitters. If the sitter remarks they
did not feel anything, no matter; we are going ahead anyway. The fact is:
most sitters do not want to admit they did not feel anything when they are
in front of a group of people. It makes them seem somehow insensitive.
With the 'spiritual' aspects of this whole rigmarole, it is only fitting they
should feel something. I do not push it, only mention it.

Thanks to the time-honoured ‘Magician's Choice,' you have a 50% chance

that either the sitter wants to use the force pack next, which is the best
outcome. In that case, you simply pick up the other normal cards and
move them away. If they have chosen the normal cards to 'use next,' you
simply pick them up and do the same. Either way, we now have 39 force
cards on the table. By now, it should be clear where we are heading.

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Ask the sitter to hold their cards face down then cut the packet into four
piles. They are to place one face down pile at the each of the points of the
cross, representing the four directions on the compass: North, South, East
and West. It is important to mention, 'You do this. I don't want to touch the
cards." This strengthens the idea that everything and every choice is
entirely up to the sitter.

Now we get to play a bit with the choosing of which direction the sitter is
most attracted to. The verb 'attracted' alludes to an unknown force. You
could ask whatever questions are congruent with this theme: Do you like
the cold? Are you from the East Coast? Do you like the South? Do you like
to watch the sun set in the West? Once this is determined, that pile is left
and the other three again placed aside. Be sure to place these discards face
down on top of the reject pile.

The chosen pile is cut into four more piles. You should have roughly 9
cards in each pile. Each pile is placed again at the cross points and the
sitter is asked again which direction are they 'feeling.'

Do they want to change direction?

After the sitter's decision, the other piles are discarded and eight or nine
cards remain.

Now tell the sitter to give the cards one final mix and follow this action by
dealing the cards widdershins face down around the Cross.

We are left with two [possibly three) cards. The cross is now picked up by
The Medium and handed to the sitter. They are told to listen to their
intuition and place it on one of the cards. Pick up the cards left and place
them aside, leaving the cross on top of the one last remaining card.

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All the cards are now removed from the table and the small tin box, which
has been sitting in plain view the entire time, is pushed toward the sitter
with the instructions to open it and tell everyone what is inside. This done,
the sitter is asked to turn over the card on the table — it will be the 'Love'
card.

Since you are not always likely to get a 'Love' force card in a purchased
force deck (unless you ask) and it could be conceivably any card in the
Thoth pack that is repeated to make up each deck, any small object that
can somehow be connected with that word or image will do wrapped in
the message you write. This 'charm' is wrapped in flash paper and once
set aside, (you might even make it a token gift to your sitter) the paper is
ignited by bringing it close to the candle flame. If you have taken the time
to mention that Saint Brigid's Cross has been used to protect the family
and animals from natural calamities, especially lighting and fire, this is a
great tie in. The fact Brigid happened to be born in AD 451 is another
bonus worth stating right before you burn the message. Fire is always a
classic way to end any ritual. Don't burn your fingers.

If the sitters have supplied an iPhone and you happen to own a good
strong PK magnet and have taken the time to roll it up into your upper
right shirt cuff, and most importantly: If the sitter is willing, they are
politely asked to stand and placed as close to the edge of the table and the
iPhone as possible. Some sitters may not want to go any further and be
quite satisfied with what has already happened. Other groups demand
more. Play this part carefully.

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The religious aspects of blending dark and light / Crowley and Saint Brigid
may have worked enough Magick for some groups.

If willing, the sitter should be positioned so that they are looking down
and you are standing slightly behind them on their left. Once they are told
to extend their left arm over the iPhone and are relaxed, you reach over
and gently hold the fingers of their hand from underneath, (this brings the
magnet closer to the iPhone) very slowly moving their hand nearer to the
iPhone a little at a time. Practice this in private to get the proper distance
and you will see the needle move from 0 degrees to anywhere up to 60
degrees or more. Any action must be done slowly. We are not trying to
show any abrupt change or make obvious jerky movements, nor trying to
show anyone else that the compass needle is moving. The sitter is the only
one who must be looking at the needle and watching it move off course
ever so slightly. Since they are busy looking at the compass and if done
tactfully, it is doubtful anyone will notice you are very slightly moving
their hand. You are busy forcefully asking the spirit of Saint Brigid to give
everyone a physical sign. You are summoning a dead saint! Look down
and when you see the needle move, ask the sitter for acknowledgement
they have seen it move.

They are the eyes for the rest of the group. If someone else jumps up to
confirm the needle has moved; fine, but do not play to anyone else but the
sitter whose hand you hold. With this sort of manifestation, less is
definitely more. After releasing the sitter's hand, thank them for their kind
assistance.

If you are willing to practice the timing diligently, you will have a twenty-
minute piece of spirit theater that is very powerful to perform, especially

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if you happen to be Irish and choose to provide this bit of entertainment
on February first: the date of the Feast of Saint Brigid.

Special Thanks to Doc Shiels for getting me thinking on this when I visited
him in Ireland and to Tony Blake for the inspiration and method for using
the iPhone compass. I feel confident this potentially insulting use of The
Thoth tarot has the decaying corpse of Aleister Crowley spinning wildly
in his unholy grave. In fact, the very night I finished writing this, Crowley
's legendary home Boleskine Manor near Loch Ness, Scotland, burned to
the ground. Coincidence?

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Pieces of Mind

The psychic investigator - for this effect hereafter referred to as the P.I. -
shows his or her assembled students of the paranormal two or three
dozen picture postcards of different tourist spots, objects and locations.

He or she speaks with authority about the reality of remote viewing and
the infamous government telepathy project called ‘Stargate’, whereby
random images were projected from one person to another telepathically
or in double-blind experiments with sealed envelopes, sometimes
hundreds of miles apart in such places as submarines and underground
bunkers.

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Suggesting everyone possesses a certain level of telepathy or intuition and
only a matter of developing these powers through practice to get better
and better results over time, a test to experiment with these possible
abilities is proposed.

After handing out the packet of postcards for inspection, The P.I. points
out they are all different and the descriptive identifications on the back of
each has been blacked out, effectively making any clues from the back
impossible.

He also displays a small clear plastic frame with a cardboard insert that
fits a postcard when pushed together with whatever art is inside. These
are available at any picture frame store.

The PI. splits up and hands out the packet of postcards to several people
in the audience, instructing three people to each choose one image that
strongly appeals to them. Scanning the group, the P.I. picks out one person
who is addressed with the exclamation that they seem particularly
‘sensitive’ and who may indeed possess an undiscovered telepathic
potential only waiting to be tapped by the right facilitator. This person
agrees to act as the 'Sender.'

The P.I. takes back the balance of the postcards and sets them aside.
Holding the three chosen cards face down, these three are handed to the
designated ‘Sender’ and they are asked to look over the three images and
decide on the one image with the strongest psychic vibrations for
transmission. The P.I. underscores the fact that they will act as the
‘Receiver’ while the other person will be the 'Sender.'

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The 'Sender' is asked to finalize in their mind what is known in
parapsychological investigations as the 'target' image.

This target is chosen by the 'Sender', handed to P.I. or ‘Receiver’ who holds
the card first face down, then while keeping his or her back tuned
completely away from the audience, holds it up for all to see. The entire
group is now asked to snap a mental picture of this image and remember
it.

The ‘Sender’ takes this target card back and re-mixes it with the other two.
The 'Sender' is to further focus on any details or sensory feelings that may
go with the final target place or thing and conceptualize the whole idea in
their mind. For example; if it were a picture of an ice-cream cone, they
would think of cold and perhaps a flavor, if a photo of a rock and roll star,
a specific sound or song and so on.

The P.I. takes back all three face-down postcards, randomly holding up
one to remind the audience that they will need to remember just the final
target image and forget the other two, gesturing with whatever it may be
at this in his hand as an example.

To his right is a brown paper bag, which is shown empty and confirmed
to be unprepared. At this point, the P.I. may be genuinely blindfolded if
desired, although IMHO the effect about to take place is strong enough
without it.

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The P.I picks up the cards from the table and proceeds to hold them in his
hands lengthwise, tearing them down the middle. He puts the two stacks
together and again tears down through the entire packet, stating he now
holds twelve pieces of postcard.

To assure no other pieces a can be added or taken away while avowing

the need to preclude any sort of shenanigans and to further back up this
claim; the P.I. openly and slowly counts each piece of postcard aloud as it
is dropped one at a time into the paper bag, which is held by a second
spectator. The bag is given to this spectator who shakes it up until they
are sure the pieces are thoroughly mixed. Further stating its success will
therefore depend on the full cooperation of the audience and in particular
the 'Sender.'

The second spectator is now handed the two frame parts and told to take
each piece as it is removed from the bag and fit each into the four corners
of the frame face down, using the tears and straight corners to guide them
to where they fit in the quadrant design. The P.I. then asks for complete
silence and for the 'Sender' to concentrate on the image they have chosen.

The P.I. slowly and with much dramatic flair reaches into the bag and
removes one piece at a time until three pieces have been assembled into
the frame. At this point, The P.I. seems to have some trouble.

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Picking out a piece from the bag, The P.I. looks at it for a moment, stares
at the spectator who is concentrating on the image for a brief second or
two and looking unsure, puts that piece back in the bag, stating, "I’m
literally not getting the whole picture." Stressing the whole group's 'mind'
will have to help. A few moments of tense concentration pass, after which
The P.I. drops his hand from his fevered brow back into the bag and
removes the final fourth piece, handing it to the second spectator, who
drops it into the frame and presses the insert into place securely holding
all four pieces together.

The P.I. then reveals the face of the frame. It holds the completed picture
postcard view intact. All the pieces match!

A miracle of thought transference!

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Arcanum

Tell the story about remote viewing and your familiarity with its
possibilities or this routine will come off as just another magic trick
without having any reason to happen or scientific plausibility. The story
and your compelling need to ‘experimentJ is what makes it all work in the
minds of the audience.

Follow the steps up to where the first spectator has chosen their ‘target’
card. As you hold up this card for the entire group to look at and commit
to memory and your back is turned away, you secretly nail-nick the two
long edges of this card before returning it to the other three to be mixed
again. One edge, thumb-nail nicked is usually sufficient to tell which one
is the target card from the back, but I like to get both long and short edges
marked to be sure to be able to spot it without too much fumbling.

You can easily accomplish this dodge by holding this card up slightly
above your head with both hands and stating boldly that, "This is the
image we will use" (nick one edge), then say to someone in the front row,
"I'm holding it the right way up, aren't I? I want to get this right in your
mind". You shift it around as if waiting for a response, which you will
eventually get, allowing you plenty of time to nick the short edges.

If the card happens to be upside down at this point, it makes total sense
and if you happen to be blindfolded, it is already a minor miracle that you
could know it.

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If the image is right-side-up, no big deal you just go on. You have a 50%
chance to score here, so why not? Little bits of business like this are
surprisingly what audience members will later comment upon. All this by­
play gives you plenty of time to mark the card.

Keeping the card face down, you then have it mixed for a few moments
with the other two cards by the 'Sender'. After you have received the cards
back into your hands, you quickly ascertain which the target card is and
get it into the middle of the three-card packet. If you are lucky, it will
already be there, which you can tell by feeling the nicks or warp of the
selected card.

If the card is not already sandwiched between the other two, a few
approaches can be used to get the target card where you want:
If it's on the bottom, simply pick off the top card and hold it up and state,
7 want the Sender to concentrate on whichever image they have chosen!"
Holding up the top card as an example, then replacing it casually back on
the bottom of the packet as you gesture. If the target card is on the top, do
the same line and action, only holding up the bottom card, replacing it on
the top. You are now set.

no
Now the important part!

Hold the assembled packet of cards in the left-hand, long edges against the
thumb on one side and fingers on the other. The right-hand now reaches
over and tears downward through the middle of the packet, separating
the two halves openly as your hands pull away from each other. One-half
remains held in your left-hand, while the right-hand pulls its half away
and places it behind the half held there. This torn packet is turned % turn
to the right and torn again down the middle into quarters.

Again, place the pieces from the torn away right-hand bunch behind the
pieces held in the left-hand. After all the pieces are torn and held in the
left-hand, count each piece aloud from the top (facing you) as you place
them separately into the bag. Be very careful if you are blindfolded,
intoxicated or otherwise impaired! If you drop any part of this critical
packet on the floor, the experiment is over. Reach deep into the interior of
the bag and keep the fingers of your hand out of sight for just a second,
because the real trick is this:

As your hand momentarily goes out of sight behind the top of the bag, your
fingers secretly crimp the 2nd, 5th, 8th and 11th piece as you release it
into the bag. I give each piece and unmistakable bend in half between my
right thumb and forefinger.

You now have the twelve pieces with four pieces crimped 'in the bag.'

These four should make up the matching target card if you followed the
instructions carefully and practiced. I use a memory peg that reminds me
that news shows run at two, five, eight and eleven.

Close the bag and give it to another spectator to shake up.

in
Instruct the second spectator they will place each piece, as it is handed to
them one at a time, into the corresponding corners of the frame and to
close up the frame after the four corners are in place.

Now put on your best clairvoyant persona, ask for complete silence from
the audience and the total concentration of the ‘Sender’.

I always hesitate on the last corner, bringing out any other random piece
at this point. I then look at this piece for a moment, glaring for a second at
the 'Sender/ (or getting a laugh by quickly lifting the blindfold for a
moment to look at both if you are blindfolded) then dropping that piece
back into the bag while uttering, "...I'm having trouble seeing the last
section of the picture." Then ala’ Annemann, I implore, "...the entire group
needs to get the total image in their minds." Pause for a stage beat or two,
focus, then reach into the bag and grab the final crimped piece. Have it
placed into the frame, the insert pushed into place and then reveal the big
picture.

I have purposely 'missed' one piece at times to apply the 'too perfect'
theory, implying that the audience was not 'en rapport’ with my mind and
not cooperating. This works particularly well with a drinking crowd or
one that has been aggressive and defiant. Hey, it happens! I am only
human! In my work, having this kind of stunt in the middle of a show can
help get people back on track and make things much more believable.
Three pieces out of four is still impressive.

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The beauty of this effect is that as your fingers feel for the crimped pieces
in the bag, you flatten out each piece between your thumb and forefinger
before you bring it out in the open, thereby destroying any evidence as
you are ‘sensing the vibes.'

Again, I endorse any routine where the modus is removed through the
handling. When you finish clean and the skeptics can examine everything,
all is well in the universe.

Try to use newer postcards, as older ones do not tend to spring back as
easily.

This 'test1 has never failed to receive a great response and it has the added
benefit of making the Sender feel empowered by acting as the catalyst to
the whole demonstration. This is always good theater and helps garner
much more respect from the audience than the performer boasting of his
or her ‘great powers.’ This is strong visual E.S.P. you can use anywhere.
The finished framed image makes a nice signed gift for the host if you are
so inclined. Who knows where it might be seen and what might be said
about it later? For a bigger venue, just use a bigger set of oversize
postcards and a bigger frame. Practice it a few times with some old playing
cards and you will see how easy it is. I am confident most of the P.I.s
reading this have some of those around, right?

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Touch of the Covenanter

The Scottish martyr Margaret Wilson is my oldest known ancestor.

The Medium removes a cloth bag revealing a small framed print showing
a group of people looking on at another woman tied to a stake in the tide.

"In February 1685, eighteen-year-old Margaret left her home to join other
Covenanters in the hills. The Covenanters were a Scottish spiritual
movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to
a lesser extent that of England and Ireland during the 17th century.

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They were rebels who fought against English rule. Although the word coven
usually refers to a gathering of witches, the term has remained largely
unused in English until 1921 when occultists promoted the idea, now much
disputed, that all witches across Europe met in groups of thirteen, which
they called covens.

The actual definition of a Covenanter is a borrower or a person who

promises to do something. They promised to remain free of the Church of
England.

It is still somewhat of a mystery about exactly what the more pagan sects of
the Covenanters were specifically involved in other than a fanatical need to
worship in their own place in their own way. At that time the wild hills of
southern Scotland and the borderlands between Scotland and England was
their refuge and only place to gather and worship together. They were by
necessity nomadic and kept moving because they were a hunted group.
Especially in what has become known as The Killing Time in accounts of
persecution under the Stuart monarchs that took place roughly between
1680 and 1688.

The girls went on a secret visit to Wigtown to visit friends, where Margaret
was taken prisoner, possibly after declining to drink the King's health. She
was summarily placed into the thieves' hole. She refused to take the
Abjuration Oath renouncing the Covenant.

On 13 April 1685 they were indicted as being guilty of the Rebellion of

Bothwell Bridge. The Assizes session took place and a guilty verdict was
brought. Margaret was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to be tied

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to palisades fixed in the sand, within the flood mark of the sea, and there to
stand till the flood overflowed her.

Despite a reprieve by the Privy Council, over-zeal was not a crime in 1685
and on 11 May 1685, Margaret Wilson was chained to a stake on the Solway
Firth. At the last moment, choking on the cold salt water, she was allowed
to offer a prayer for the King, which she did, but she continued to refuse to
abjure the Covenant. This was not good enough for her accusers and she was
forcibly thrust beneath the waves. It is said that as the tide rose, she defiantly
sang until she drowned. About 18 years of age at the time of her death,
Margaret Wilson was buried, together with her friend Margaret McLachlan,
in the churchyard of Wigtown.

Before I returned to Edinburgh, Scotland for a gathering of fellow magicians

in October, 2001, random genealogy papers and an extensive family tree
tracing back to Margaret Wilson fell out of a torn and disintegrating file
folder that had been sitting on a dusty shelf since my father's death in 1989.
Since I knew I might have some spare time to wander about while I was in
Scotland, I decided to take this and a few other family tree documents with
me.

As I folded these into my backpack, I felt an odd sensation. Something akin

to fear mixed with excitement. Certainly, one of my favorite sensations to
experience, but nonetheless slightly foreboding. I remember asking my
father while he was still alive why he hadn’t taken a further interest in our
family history other than this cursory file folder. He had responded with a

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strange comment that he was, "...afraid he might find out something bad
about our family.”

After arriving in Edinburgh and spending a night carousing and sharing

Magick with Scotland's best purveyors of ghostly mysteries, I was
admonished to not miss a visit to Greyfriars Kirk. Known as one of the most
haunted cemeteries in the world and host to the gravesites of many of
Scotland's most famous and infamous citizens, I decided to spend one of my
bag lunch afternoons strolling through the headstones. It is a quietly
disturbing place to visit. Full of the most amazing moss-covered art and
lichen stained carvings, it immediately calls forth a baleful respect.

Soon after passing through its gates and into the cemetery proper, I walked
slowly past a blackened building that looked to be a church or large
assembly structure. It wasn’t just the wet streaks and cold stains that made
it appear empty and dark, I resolutely felt a distinct vibration of utter misery
emanating from it. Something damp and dreadful came over me. This was
especially present when I stood directly in front of a huge engraved bronze
plaque with raised letters marking hundreds of names. These names meant
nothing to me and I assumed they were buried inside, yet I felt I had to turn
away and keep moving. Fear. j4s I felt this chill pass through me, I remember
thinking it was a fair day and the sun was shining full upon me. Why on
earth was I suddenly feeling chilled? Something made me look at my watch
and I noted the time was 1:50 p.m. I had a pleasant hour or so exploring and
enough time to scout around until a sudden rainstorm began to take shape
and I sought refuge in Greyfriars Pub where it was warm and comforting.

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There by the glowing fire, I did a quick reality check and convinced myself
that once again, my imagination had taken advantage of my fanciful mind.

At that evening's dinner-party, I was introduced to a Scottish man and his

son who were both decked out in full Scottish regalia. As friendly as most
Scots are, we soon started talking about ghosts. I mentioned that I was a
Wilson and had my family tree with me. I fetched it out of my backpack.

They were both immediately drawn to the Margaret Wilson entry. They
proceeded to tell me the Solway Bay Martyr story and how it has become
not only legendary, but also a great source of mystery among the more
occult minded. It appeared some of the less religious among the Scots and
those who still clung to Pagan roots, thought Margaret Wilson was not just
a zealous eighteen-year-old, but perhaps something more. I was intrigued
and as we shared tales I spoke about the menacing feeling I had experienced
upon passing the dark building in Greyfriars Kirk. Suddenly both father and
son exchanged wide-eyed glances. I thought for a moment they were having
me on. They briefly turned away for a quick private consultation. The father
then told his son, "... You better tell him." What? I wondered?

With some trepidation, his son told me after the greater number of
Covenanters were gathered up and arrested in 1679, they were sent to
Edinburgh for trial. While awaiting trial, over200 of the less fortunate were
crammed inside the tiny building I had passed by.

One of the people held there 322years ago was - Margaret Wilson. He told
me I would find her name on the bronze plaque I had seen and that in fact,

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the original National Covenant was signed on a flat tombstone in Grey friars
Kirk in 1651, with many using blood drawn from their own arms.

After a sleepless night, the next morning I was back in Greyfriars. It was a
bright sunny day and as a crisp breeze swept leaves and branches in my
wake, I stood in awe as I traced the name of Margaret Wilson near the
bottom of the plaque.

Coincidence? There's more.

When I returned to Edinburgh in 2014 for a seance at Summerhall, I took

the opportunity to revisit my old haunt, just to assure myself what I had seen
and felt was still intact. I happily entered the Kirk with a few friends ready
to share my story. We walked to what I now knew to be the Prison Chapel. I
began looking for the bronze plaque. It was nowhere to be seen. I re-checked
my directions and map. There was no plaque. After circling the building two
or three times, I was vexed. Had they moved such an imposing historical
monument? If so, why?

Eventually I asked an older sexton working in a nearby alcove what had

happened to the plaque and what of Margaret Wilson? He looked at me
strangely and stated there never was such a plaque.

While it was true the Covenanters were once held in the building and nearby
fields, he had no idea about Margaret Wilson and knew nothing of any list
of Covenanter's names ever existing on the building.

Since this adventure, I have had pause to reflect on what happened. False
memory syndrome? A strange hallucination or confluence of coincidental

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information? Wild imagination brought on by drink and the influence of
magicians and their wild nature? I have no idea. However, I do know that in
some odd way, Margaret Wilson and her history found me. She reached out
and laid a cold wet hand on my soul. I had never sought her out nor had the
slightest knowledge of her until that dusty bundle of inherited genealogy
literally fell into my lap. Whether she was a witch, a person who dabbled in
the old paganism or something more than a devout religious fighter for
freedom may never be known. Was it just an errant chill that passed over
me? What I do know is she exerted an influence. There can be no doubt about
that. I know what I saw. I know what I felt.

In the next few moments we spend together, I propose a seance to try to

reach out to my oldest ancestor - again. This time with the expressed
purpose of getting a sign - a physical sign, from Margaret. If you feel a chill
or hear some seashell echo of a faraway ocean, don’t be surprised. Cold spots
are a common occurrence in many seances and ghost investigations. If
Margaret was with me then, it is my belief she can be with us now if we are
willing to set the stage.

Shall we begin? I'm going to light the candle honouring her past, her
courage and her convictions."

After solemnly lighting a ceremonial candle, The Medium offers the

framed print to be passed around the seance circle.

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"This is a memorial drawing of the Wigtown tragedy taking place. It’s a
terrifying little scene as you can see. It comes from a volume of books on
great Scottish women, 'Ladies of the Covenant’ from 1863. You can see
Margaret at the water's edge and the locals cheering her on. It must have
been quite a day. The sky looks clear and sunny. I imagine a few of the King’s
men may have even brought a picnic basket."

After the picture has made its way back to The Medium, he or she tells the
sitters to "please keep the image in mind as the seance proceeds," placing
it reverently back into the bag. Standing and crossing the room, the bag
and its contents are placed on the table in front of the sitter as far away
from The Medium’s chair as possible.

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At the conclusion of the dark Seance after the lights are turned on, even
though The Medium is exhausted and shaken, he or she slowly regains
their composure, focusing their eyes on the velvet bag across the table.

It is gently undulating on the table like a trapped frog! Standing and again
crossing to the other side of the table, The Medium grabs the velvet bag
and removes the framed drawing, staring at it with a horrified expression,
slowly turning it toward the sitters. Scrawled in oily black across the
image and filling the previously clear glass surface are two huge initials
"MW.”

"Most extraordinary! It looks like Margaret has left an unexpected addition

to the artist's work. These are actually my initials as well... Wow. I hope I
have given you all something to think about. Margaret, you have certainly
given me something to think about."

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Arcanum

The image you use is very important. I would always recommend using
some family heirloom you may have of your own, with your own haunted
story to match. Since the prop you will make can be any photo or picture,
make it a good one that matches whatever tale you plan to tell. Without a
sense of personal history in the framed image handled by you and the
sitters, it loses its charm and, well ...its magick. You are literally dealing in
charm or charms.

Never underestimate the gullibility of a sitter. You will find that skeptic or
not everyone believes a little bit. Choose your cherished image with care
and treat it as if your world depended on it. This gives a solid reasoning
for having it kept safe in its velvet bag. Play the shaman game.

When the magic happens; and I want to stress this to the magician who
may think after reading this effect there is not much magic or trickery
going on here, so be it! The true family history aspect carries the
imagination far away from any charlatanism if you play it right. You are
weaving, not tricking. What is bizarre Magick if it is not down to the
storyline behind the supposed phenomena? You are working the darker
back rows of the theater of the mind, where superstition rules the stage.
You want your sitters to think, not feel fooled.

The haunted framed drawing comes from an old idea I first published in
Scott Davis’ ‘Seance Magazine'. It makes use of an even older principle
found in a once marketed effect called ‘Mirror Mirage' wherein a chosen
card is revealed on a previously initialled mirror. This concept is also

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written up using the mirror principle in my book 'Restless Plots' as ‘Mirror
to the Other Side.’ Of course, you can have the mirror initialled if you really
feel it is necessary, but to me that feels like mental magic and not
shamanism. You do not have to prove anything. You are a Medium!

The strategy is the same. Beforehand, you have taken black paint and
scrawled the initials "MW" (or whomever) in a large ghostly hand on a
fairly stiff piece of clear plastic that fits snugly into the small 5" x 7” frame
on top of its outside glass surface. You can get Lexan clear polycarbonate
sheets from your local plastic depot or check it out on line. Remember to
keep it thin and flexible. The frame must be carefully adapted to receive
the plastic sheet and hold it firmly in place.

This is accomplished by opening the frame and adding an extra matte or

cut out border that fits in-between the outer glass surface and the inside
edge of the frame, giving it just enough space to allow the cut semi-flexible
plastic piece to easily pop into place over the glass. When in place, it
should look like the writing is written on the inside print. If you are having
a hard time visualizing this, think about a time in your past when you
casually slipped a photo or ticket stub into your wall mirror’s wiggle room
space to hold. Same idea.

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 Photos for clarification. The glass goes on top of the added white matte, The

plastic sheet slips into the darker space between glass and inner frame edge.

In preparing, after you have inserted the extra outside edge matte in place,
I suggest getting a large sheet of plastic and cutting a few pieces matched-
up with the glass from the frame. Practice will get this right: Using a metal
ruler and a sharp matte knife, carefully edge-cut away 1/16 of an inch
first, adjusting the size as you go until the plastic can snap in place. It does
not have to be perfect, just secure. If this is cut right and the plastic sheet
has enough flexibility, you should be able to gently buckle it to remove it
after the seance is over to re-set. If it fits in tight, no problem, you merely
open up the frame from the back and remove it to re-set.

This plastic sheet with the written message is hidden in the velvet bag
from the beginning, situated horizontally in preparation for when the
framed picture is returned to the bag after showing it around the seance
circle. As I place the frame back in the bag, it goes behind the plastic sheet.

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As I dose the bag, (mine has a zipper) my left fingers and thumb stabilize
both pieces in place together through the bag, while my right thumb snaps
the plastic in place. A bit of practice with this will show how easy it all is
as long as you have cut the plastic sheet to fit tightly enough and not too
tightly to bulge. It needs to lie flat in place against the glass without much
wiggle room.

While the frame is being passed around the seance circle. It is important
to call the sitter's attention to, "Please keep the image in mind." You want
your sitters to remember that original image, ostensibly as a chilling
reminder of what happened to poor Margaret, but more importantly as
foreshadowing for the sitters to be able to recognize the difference in the
image after it later transforms.

How does that bag seem to jump and move on the table all by itself you
ask? Well it does not have to, but if you really want to go the limit like I do,
here is how:

For many years at The Magic Castle, I made good use of a joke shop item
called a ‘Plate Lifter.’ That is correct; a plate lifter. How else? If you are not
familiar with this little joke shop item, you are missing a great gaff.
Especially if you call yourself a Medium.

The plate lifter consists of a small squeeze bulb attached to a length of

tubing with a bladder or rubber bag at the other end.

When the normally uninflated bag and tubing is placed underneath the
tablecloth and played across the table to under the table edge where you
sit, it is an easy task to squeeze the bulb while your hands are in your lap.
This causes whatever placed on top of the other end to jump, move or

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gently undulate. The spot on the table has been previously marked in
some subtle way with chalk or whatever so you know exactly where to
place the bag.

Years ago, in The Houdini Seance Room at The Magic Castle, a plate lifter
was custom built into the table top manipulated by foot. It was a large
photographer’s squeeze ball used in professional photo studios.

Due to its increased size, it was more stable than the joke shop version
and any movement was controlled with the slightest toe pressure. The
bladder end was a flat nail head that raised up in a special hole in the table
and then receded back flush after each pulse. I truly loved using this effect
in full light and it never failed to get a scream from the closest lady sitter.
This might have been one of the reasons it was summarily removed by
management during my tenure. Screams were never encouraged at The
Magic Castle. If you use the joke-shop version, 1 suggest you pull it out
from under the tablecloth as soon as you can to keep it from prying eyes.

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The Lost Girl from Killarney Wood

The Medium joins the seance circle and places a small glass topped
specimen box in front of the group. Inside is an old stamped letter. After
lighting a ceremonial candle, The Medium begins:

“The disappearance of Eliza Siofra Boland remains a mystery."

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Lifting the top of the box, The Medium gently opens the letter and removes
an old photograph. Also, inside the letter is a small bundle of what appears
to be dry leaves and old paper.

"Here is a photo of little Eliza. Cute, isn't she?

Growing up as a child in County Kerry near the Paps of Anu, the two low
mountains of southwestern Ireland, she spent her childhood wandering and
collecting leaves in an area called Na Fiacla, which was a sacred
processional route in early pagan times. In the forests and fields there,
where the two mountains known as the 'Great Breasts of the Mother
Goddess,' it is undeniable among the locals that magic and mysterious forces
are at work.

The tall standing ‘stone nipples' connected by this ancient route have seen
countless rituals over the centuries. Tombs, Ogham stones and faerie circles
command the landscape.

Elizabeth, or Eliza as she was a called, was a precocious child, often leaving
home without saying where she was going and spending what many
thought was an inordinate amount of time outdoors. Rain or shine, she could
be seen traipsing through the woods unaccompanied by any parent or
guardian. Except for a few imaginary friends, she had little contact with
others and kept to herself. When she stayed at home, she never did chores
and refused to pick up clothes, tidy her room or even make her bed. By the
age often, she was willful and mischievous.

Some even hinted that Eliza was a changeling, or a faery child who replaced
a human baby in exchange for a pact with the subterranean's or the small

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woodland creatures who are said to live in the burial mounds, hillocks and
surrounding lakes.

As strange as it may seem, tales of faeries, brownies and changelings still

exist in parts of this isolated Irish countryside. Eliza's story is not
uncommon. Brownies orsith are traditionally linked to firesides and seen by
people alluded to have the second sight.

They are especially fond of porridge and honey and will work for any small
amount of the substance - but only at night. Irish folklore is full of reports
of cluttered and filthy homes left overnight and found next morning cleaned
and sorted out. This is the stuff of legend and notjoked about or taken lightly
by the Irish countryfolk.

I inherited this letter from my mother's side of the family. Inside are a few of
the leaves Eliza collected. These were handed down to my relatives for
reasons that will become clear shortly.

Each came from the area around Killarney and are over 150 years old. They
are all from ash trees, also known as the Goddess Tree and often used by
Druids and magicians to fashion their wands and spears. It is unknown why
Eliza kept these leaves, but one of them in particular is said to exert a
strange magical influence.

On the full moon evening of 22 July, 1865, Eliza's parents Niall and Colleen
Boland noticed she seemed preoccupied with the moonlight and even more
energetic than usual. She ate no supper and allegedly went to her room in a
high state of agitation.

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The next morning her parents found her room completely ordered and the
bed neatly made up - but Eliza was not in it She seemed to have vanished
into thin air. No one saw her leave. Since her room was on the second floor
of the cottage and she would have had to pass through her parent’s room in
order to exit, nothing could explain her disappearance.

To add to the mystery, a single ash leaf was discovered under her pillow. One
of these three leaves is that very leaf. My grandma told me it can draw
energy from human beings as well as respond to a summoning.

Perhaps if we invoke the spirit of Eliza through the ritual of seance we may
see a sign? I cannot guarantee absolute success, but I'm willing to give it a
try - if you are.

Yes? Well then good.

I’m going to separate each of the leaves on the table in front of you and defer
to one of the oldest forms of magical divination; the pendulum. I never leave
home without mine.

Pendulums have been in use for centuries as tools to unlock the subconscious
powers of the mind. Through its use the most amazing information can be
released - if we are willing.

Science says if placed end to end, the human nervous system is over twenty-
seven miles long. The theory of the pendulum is if we give this long chain of
nerve endings a very succinct end: the small weight there will move through
unconscious mental reflexes. It is a very subtle energy but can be tested and
proven by experiment.

In traditional occult Magick, if while dangling the pendulum over a specific

object we treat this energy as if it were an outside entity all its own and we

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ask it a question; if it swings in a straight line, the answer is yes. If it goes in
a circular fashion, then it is a no.

Since I already know which of the leaves is the one possessed with the
singular powers I have shared, I’m going to ask one of you to hold the
pendulum in your own hand. Will you try?"

Motioning to a nearby sitter, The Medium places the pendulum in their

hand, helps adjust it a few inches above the first leaf in the row, and
continues:

"As you place the pendulum over each leaf you will ask it, are you the one?”

The sitter takes the pendulum and asks the question. After a few trials
starts and stops, the pendulum seems to move more freely. One by one,
each leaf is eliminated until there is only one causing the pendulum to
move in a straight line, back and forth over it, signalling yes. The others
are placed aside.

The Medium asks,

"... Are you sure this is the one?

After the sitter agrees, The Medium retrieves the pendulum and asks the
sitter to carefully pick up and open the folded card the leaf is attached to.
Inside is the inscription:

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The other leaves are freely shown to be without inscriptions; one being
by itself and the other wrapped in old tissue.

It appears Eliza Boland's favorite hobby is still active over a century after
her mysterious disappearance.

Arcanum

This is a re-working of a premise I have played around with for a long time
- almost as long as 1 have performed seance Magick. It comes from an old
Genii Magazine effect called ‘Grave Decision' by James J. Delmar.

The story is cobbled together with myths that are all part of traditional
Irish folklore. Do not perform this storytelling seance if you cannot keep
a straight face and without some sense of decorum or you may receive
scorn from anybody who is Irish or a believer in faeries, elves and
brownies. Believe me - they are out there. They relish their tales and
beliefs and it would not do to make this a parody. If you believe it, they

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will believe it. Treating this story too lightly will also make the job of
getting the pendulum to swing even harder than it might ordinarily be.
This is a seance deserving time and solemnity, especially if you are going
to end up with the side note that is to follow...

Three outs. How else? Simplicity of method makes it possible for you to
focus on the story.

Leaf #1...
By itself without any wrapping or card, but inside the envelope along with
everything else, is a carefully antiqued strip of parchment paper that
reads:

This strip is small enough to be inside the envelope until if or when you
need it. Once your sitter has arrived at their choice and you have taken
everything else off the table, if leaf #1 is the one, simply reach into the
envelope, hand the sitter the slip and say, “...Here is a little note Grandma
left for me about Eliza’s leaf collection."

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Leaf #2...
Is wrapped in old browned tissue paper. In this case, on the back of the
photograph of Eliza, an inscription has been written:

After the decision is made, simply reach for the photograph, which has
been sitting on the table within your reach, should anyone try to examine
it prematurely. Hand it to the sitter and have them read what is on the
back.

Leaf #3...
In the effect described; this leaf is pasted on the face a small piece of old
folded card stock. Inside the folded card is inscribed:

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Once your sitter is satisfied with their choice, gather up everything else
including the photograph, place it all back in the letter, open up the card
and handing it to the sitter, have them read what it says. 1 put two very
tiny pin head dots of 'Magicians Wax’ on the inside corners of this folded
card so it looks flat and stays shut on the table until I need to open it up
and hand it to the sitter. Now place the remaining leaf (whichever it may
be] reverently back into the letter, the letter back in the box, blow out the
candle and take your bow.

Any leaves will do as long as they look suitably old and dried out. Of
course, it is best to get real ash tree leaves if you can find them. Get old
paper from local estate sales or charity shops. There are plenty of strange
looking old photos of little girls from the 1860’s on eBay for next to
nothing. If you find you cannot write decent looking notes in a scribbly
hand to look old, find somebody who is into calligraphy and get them to
fix you up with the three notes. 1 have found excellent resources if you
search in places like 'Friends of Calligraphy’ or ‘Society for Calligraphy’ that
would be happy to help you out if you buy them a drink - or just ask.

Do not be put-off if your sitter does not immediately start swinging the
pendulum all over the place. Most people are unsure of all this mumbo-
jumbo (as they should be). As previously mentioned, your patience will be
rewarded. This is not a marathon it is a seance! Take your time. Let the
candlelight and atmosphere you have thoughtfully prepared work its
Magick. No one wants to be put on the spot for too long and even if your
sitter is fighting you, (which they should not be if you have chosen your
sitter carefully) peer pressure, boredom or frustration on their part to get

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it over with will soon move the pendulum. Like ringing the old bell in Lady
Doyle's Diversion, at times 1 have had to say, "It's okay,you’re not used to
this sort of psychic work" or "Just relax, don’t try to make it work, let go and
let your subconscious take over.”

Here is your ending side note, if you choose to use it:

"Not many people know that Eliza had a younger sister called Bridget. She
grew up and in 1887 married one Michael Cleary becoming quite famous for
being killed by her husband in 1895. Her death is notable for several
peculiarities: the stated motive for the crime was her husband's belief that
she had been abducted by faeries with a changeling left in her place; he
claimed to have slain only the changeling.

Brld Nt Chleirigh / Bridget Cleary

The gruesome nature of the case — she was either immolated while still
alive or set on fire immediately following her death — prompted extensive
press coverage. The trial was closely followed by newspapers in both Ireland

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and Britain. /Is one reviewer commented, nobody, with the possible
exception of the presiding judge, thought it was an ordinary murder case.
To this day, Bridget Cleary's death has remained famous in popular culture.

An Irish nursery rhyme reads,

“Are you a witch, or are you a faery - Or are you the wife of Michael Cleary?"

She has been popularly described as the last witch burned in Ireland or as
the subject of the last of the witchcraft trials although it has been noted that
Bridget was never actually described as having consorted with the devil,
which is customary with accused witches. Instead, she was thought to have
been replaced by a faery changeling.

If you are ever worried about your child being abducted as a changeling,
Irish custom says that brewing eggshells, inverting a coat on a chair or
leaving a pair of open iron scissors near the bed will ward off any evil.

Final Note

Siofra is an Irish-language girl's name. It is commonly accepted to mean

changeling child or ‘elf, sprite' in Irish Gaelic. Pronounced SHEEF -Ra.

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Fingers that See in the Dark

The following is a routine I have performed for both believers in E.S.P. as

well as the most strident skeptics with equal success. It has never failed
to create a favorable audience reaction, whether performed for a few
curious friends in an intimate setting or on a large stage before hundreds
of people. It is the most powerful routine I know with E.S.P. cards. Learn
it and you need no other demonstration of your psychic abilities. My late
great teacher Jules Lenier taught it to me, having his own unique style of
creating the dramatics and dialog, which I have emphasized in bold to
indicate their importance. For total impact, I suggest not to deviate from
his presentation. It has long been one of my favorites to perform for this
reason.

The Medium displays a pack of standard E.S.P. cards explaining how they
have been used in parapsychology labs for seriously testing Extra Sensory
Perception. Each of the five separate symbols is introduced and expected
matches through pure chance of five in a mixed run of the twenty-five
symbols is explained. Anything above those odds happening in a single
run may indicate possible paranormal forces. He also tells the audience
about Russian experiments into the ability to 'see' colors and shapes with
the fingertips. Professing some knowledge of ‘dermo-optic-perception' or
DOP, The Medium proposes a test.

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A sitter will have a free choice of three symbols from the mixed pack and
The Medium will try to match each card with another taken from the
darkness of his coat pocket, using his fingers as the point of ‘psychic
contact.’

The Medium mixes the pack, cuts it several times and places it face down
on the table. A sitter is given the chance to cut the tabled pack as many
times as they like. When finished cutting, they are instructed to take the
top card and, not looking at it, place it into their inside shirt pocket with
the face of the card closest to their body.

Next, a second card from the top of the pack is placed, again without the
sitter or Medium looking at it; face towards their body into their right-
hand coat pocket. Finally, the third card from the top is placed into the
sitter's left-hand coat pocket.

The Medium never touches the cards and each is now out of his reach. He
picks up the remainder of the pack, and after showing his coat pocket
empty, gives it a quick shuffle and places the cards into it. The sitter is now
asked to stand across the stage as far away from the performer as
possible, explaining at this point no one could either know what’s in the
sitter's or The Medium’s pockets. The Medium tells those assembled he
will attempt to concentrate on each of the sitter's hidden cards, reach into
the darkness of his pocket and retrieve the target matching symbol cards
one at a time.

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To further randomize the experiment, The Medium gives the sitter a
choice of where to begin, asking, "...Which pocket do you want me to start
with ? The inside shirt pocket or the right or left coat pocket?" After deciding
where to start, The Medium states he or she, "Needs a little help in
warming up for this experiment” asking the spectator to show
everyone what symbol the sitter has randomly chosen, for the first time
the sitter reaches into their pocket (whichever it may be) and shows the
audience and The Medium what the symbol is. Let us say for example, it is
the circle. The Medium now turns his head away from his right coat
pocket, concentrates for a moment, uttering something like, "I need a
card that has rounded shapes, no hard edges or straight lines". He
pulls out a single card, holding it face down in his right-hand. Both sitter
and Medium now turn over their cards in unison on the count of,
"one...two...three!"Jhe first match is revealed as correct: a circle!

The Medium again asks which pocket is the sitter’s choice? The right or
left coat pocket? They make their choice, but before reaching in and
pulling their respective choices out, the performer tells everyone that
since they did so well with the first target card, he feels strongly that he
can go, "a little further now that we have warmed up."

This time The Medium tells the sitter while his back is turned away to look
at the symbol for the first time and show it to the rest of the group.
Everyone is asked to remember the symbol on the card. The sitter is told
to concentrate on it and hold it face down in their hand.

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The Medium stresses the odds against hitting two in a row are tough, but
he will try for another match. He concentrates for a moment, shaking his
head and saying, "No ...I just can't seem to get a clear image of
anything yet.” He starts to pace the stage, unsure of what to do next.
Nothing happens for a stage beat or two. After a moment more of
frustration, he turns to face the audience, telling them he is not getting
anything, suggesting, "Everyone please concentrate on the target
card as this may help send a stronger telepathic image to me. More
minds equal more mind power." He closes his eyes in concentration
and almost as if he hears something coming through to some inner ear,
nods his head slowly and says, “Yes, ...now I think I've got it! “

Again, turning away from his right coat pocket, he reaches in and removes
a card, holding it face down in his right-hand. He tells the sitter on the
count of three both will turn over and reveal their cards. Counting aloud,
“One...two...three” both cards are turned over and shown to be another
perfect match! This time for our example; two plus signs.

The Medium has again beaten the odds. He thanks the group,
congratulating them on their ability to concentrate and send their
thoughts his way. Stressing that he could not have accomplished this feat
without their help. He now tells them he feels confident enough to take
the whole test even further into the realm of the completely unknown.
Telling the group at this point, no one knows what the last symbol card
the sitter has in their last pocket could be. He suggests a double-double
blind test. This time, neither the spectator nor anyone else will see the
target card until after he has made his choice by removing one last card
from his pocket beforehand. He reminds the group that the odds against

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him being able to score a direct hit on this final card are much higher
because he will not be able to see it or depend on the spectator's or the
group mind for an image. A true psychic test with a verifiable pre­
cognition of a future event. That is; seeing the completely unknown card
and making a blind choice before it is seen by anybody. Impossible? It
should be.

The Medium decides as an afterthought to make this final test even more
difficult by handing the pack from his pocket to the sitter and allowing
them to mix it completely. This done, they are handed back and replaced
into the coat pocket.

Taking a deep breath, concentrating for a moment and reaching into his
pocket, The Medium removes his final choice, holding it face down in their
right-hand as before. The sitter takes their last card out and holds it face
down ...ready for the final draw. Once again, on the count of three, both
cards are revealed. - It’s a match!

After the massive applause has subsided, The Medium thanks the sitter
and all those involved in the group for their cooperation in making all
three tests a success.

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Arcanum

This ingenious routine makes use of the well-known cyclical stacking

system for E.S.P. cards. The twenty-five cards are stacked in order of five
each from the top down. This works automatically as long as you follow
these instructions. Follow along with a pack of E.S.P. cards in hand. After
setting- up the stack, for example; circle, plus sign, wavy lines, square, and
the star repeated until you have used up the pack. The star will be the
symbol on the face of the pack. You will soon see how easy the handling
is, giving the performer optimum time to focus on the presentation which
is particularly powerful.

The patter, build-ups and odds-beating pacing brings the audience

gradually along with you, gets their full attention and provides great
audience/spectator interaction by your apparent taking of so many risky
chances and still managing to beat impossible odds. As mentioned, I have
purposely highlighted the comments needed to accomplish these
dramatic moments in bold. If you want to get the kind of response that
really knocks the audience sideways, I again strongly suggest staying with
Jules' lines that work so well. Watching Jules’ performance was a pivotal
experience for me. It was hard not to believe what he did wasn't real as
each progressive hit reinforced the next and dramatically built on the
previous revelation.

We will assume that you have finished your brief introduction about the
history and odds with the cards. This is important otherwise; the audience

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will not understand what you are talking about later. Emphasize it is not
a children's game and this exercise simulates an honest laboratory
experiment. Read up on the ‘Rhine experiments’ if you are unsure. Acting
as The Medium, you are supposed to be an expert on extra-sensory-
perception! Present this material as if it is something you are well
acquainted with.

The pack is now in order. By doing single cuts, (The 'Hay-Mow' or ‘Charlier
Shuffle') the pack's cyclical order will not be changed, these single cuts
only change where the cycle of five cards starts from top to bottom. You
can now safely do single overhand shuffles as well - as long as they are
SINGLE cuts shuffles only. The pack is casually cut by you then set on the
table where it is offered to a sitter to cut wherever and as many times as
they wish. As long as they make SINGLE CUTS and replace the pack
together without being too sloppy, you are set. Watch the spectator very
carefully. If they do not do single cuts and you end up with some fool
making a bunch of separate piles and picking them up randomly, you will
have to forget this routine and be prepared to do another E.S.P. stunt,
unless you want to go for a real session of E.S.P. testing work. You may not
be quite as successful. NOTE: Always have a backup or you risk looking
like Mr. Geller on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson." I will assume
most of you reading this will remember that sorrowful event.

The sitter is now instructed to remove the top card from the tabled pack
and place it in their inside shirt pocket. This will be the FIRST card. The
SECOND card goes into the right coat pocket and the last THIRD card goes

145
to the left coat pocket. You must remember that order: top, right and left.
That is it.

Now pick up the remaining pack that is on the table and holding it in the
face down position to do an 'Overhand Shuffle', shuffle two cards, one at a
time from the top to the bottom. Do this quickly and smoothly and do not
make a big move out of it. It should look like you are just giving the pack
a casual mix.

In reality by doing this, because of the repeating five card stack, you
should now have a new set/cycle of five symbols from the top down that
will match the first, second and third cards just removed by the spectator
no matter where the cuts ended. The pack is dropped into your right coat
pocket with the card faces toward your body so the top cards are facing
outward. This way you only have to 'see with your fingers’ and count to
whichever card is called for from the top. If the spectator calls out their
right-hand pocket's card, you simply count to the second position from
the top with your right fingers and remove it, holding it face down. It will
match. Please do not pull out the card out and wave it around as if you
have conquered the world. Where is the suspense in that? Build it up.
Remember with the first card, you pretend to need help to "warm- up."
Re-read that section if you need to. This will get the attention of the
audience and some degree of interaction - and even sympathy, so
important in any psychic test.

With the second card, the procedure is the same except you will ‘have
some trouble' getting the mental image. Give this your best faltering

146
stance. It is time to make things look a bit difficult and play up your
dramatic mind-reader persona. Only after sweating it out for a few
minutes can you then turn to the audience out of desperation and beg for
their collective help. If you do not believe how powerful this can be, watch
a master like the aforementioned Uri Geller work a room and you will
soon realize how a super-star psychic bonds with his or her audience. The
group concentrates and together you both make it happen. This is called
teamwork. You have given everybody not only something to do to keep
them from being bored, (a failing of most mentalism) but 'empowered’
their egos. Empowerment is a favorite term for psychics, mediums or
shamans to use liberally. Corporate trainers, life coaches and CEOs sit up
and pay attention when you invoke this modern-day magic word. I realize
I am beating the same performance drum as in many of the other routines
in this book, but I disdain any outward show of magician style bravado.
Share the love and reap the benefits.

This is why Jules’ effect is solid psychic entertainment and not just a clever
card trick. Acting and showmanship gets the front seat. Any outward
demonstration of flashy card worker's skill should not be the driving
force. You nail the second card, getyour applause (unless you are met with
stunned silence - which is even better) and prepare for the knockout
ending.

Now comes a subtlety that throws magicians. Before the final, third test,
you remove all of the cards from your pocket, except the top card. Which
you secretly leave behind. This is the match to the spectator's final third
card, no matter where they started. You purposely leave it in your pocket

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so the sitter can mix the balance of the pack to their heart's content. After
they mix and hand the cards back, you now casually drop them back into
your coat pocket, simultaneously grasping the single card you previously
left behind with your right fingers hidden out of sight as you do so. Then
prepare to stun your audience with the finale. Build it up again! Do not
make it look easy! You are a bit uneasy but poised with some well-earned
self-confidence. Have the sitter remove their final card without looking at
it. Keeping it face down both cards are turned over for the one, two, three
punch as before. Booml

I believe in the nomenclature of the professional mentalist this is referred

to as a killer routine. Try it once or twice in practice and see for yourself.
You literally ‘let your fingers do the walking.’ If anyone asks you how you
do it - you can honestly say, "With my fingers of course!" If you follow this
set of instructions, paying attention to the set dramatic structure, you will
have an easy to prepare winner suitable for close- up, seance room, parlor
or the biggest stage you can find. This one packs small and plays big. It
also plays really well in radio or podcast situations.

When Jules Lenier first showed me the possibilities this routine offers
many years ago, it stuck with me. It was only after seeing him perform it
did I see for myself how powerful it can be. Use it wisely. This specific
handling is not in print anywhere else. One more thanks to Jules in the
hereafter! I highly encourage anyone interested in his work to read his
books, articles and performances.

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The Power of Suggestion (Re-Visited)

Eventually at social events the word gets out I am some sort of thought-
reader and challenged to perform. I am sure the reader has experienced
this situation. It would be a shame and professionally unacceptable not to
oblige! With the following effect in mind, you will be well prepared. Yes, it
is a card trick and yes, I do not care. It is simply the best borrowed-card
effect I know. I am always an adherent of using borrowed cards on such
occasions and for this and other reasons, this effect is truly one of my
favorites.

The Medium accepts a borrowed pack of cards and stating Jokers are bad
luck, he throws them aside. He then asks a sitter to take the cards and
thoroughly mix them. This accomplished, the sitter is asked to consider
for a moment the month they were born and its number. If they were born
in April, that would be the fourth month and so on. This will be their
‘secret number.’ They are to remove that many cards and place them in a
pocket or hide them somewhere. The Medium reminds everyone if this
were simply some kind of mathematical magic trick depending on a
certain number of cards; the spectator has now not only completely mixed
every card, but also removed a random number of same, cancelling out
those options. If they want to shuffle or mix the cards again, they are given
the opportunity to do so. The Medium now retrieves the cards and asks
the sitter to again think of the number of the month they were born. He
instructs them to watch carefully as he, starting with the month of

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January, will now go through the twelve months of the year, showing one
card for each month. When a card is arrived upon that falls on the number
of the month they were born, they are to remember that card. When the
twelve months have been shown ending with December, The Medium
now cuts the pack a few times, adding it would be impossible for anyone
to be able to identify the card the sitter is merely thinking about. The sitter
must agree. Let us say for example, the card glimpsed is The King of Clubs.

Holding the cards on his outstretched palm, The Medium tells the group
he will now mentally influence the sitter’s mind, telling everyone, "I’m
going to suggest when I snap my fingers; the sitter will not be able to see the
card they are thinking about. It will no longer be in the deck. This is the
power of suggestion."

The Medium now turns over a small number of cards on top of the deck
telling the sitter to watch carefully for their card as they go slowly through
each one. They are asked to stop The Medium if they see their card.
Passing one card at a time from hand to hand in front of the sitter’s eyes,
this packet is shown openly.

The Medium asks, “Did you see your card?”

The sitter answers, "No”.

The Medium smiles and says, “Good, my psychic suggestion is working."

He now asks for the sitter's hand and places this packet of cards face up
on their palm.

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Another small packet is reversed on top of the deck and again each card is
openly and carefully shown, one at a time to the sitter. Again, they are
asked if their card was among them.

The sitter again answers, "No".

The Medium places this packet face up on top of the first packet the sitter
holds, again replying, "Good, I only have this one last packet of cards left, so
[pointing to the last packet in his hand] it must be in here, right? By the
way, you are an excellent subject for this experiment."

The Medium now goes through this last packet of cards and asks the sitter
for the last time if they saw their card, for which they answer no.

The Medium states, "So to be clear, a card you have been merely thinking
about, has mysteriously vanished from the entire pack of fifty-two cards. As
I suggested, you can no longer see your thought of card. Is that correct?"

The sitter must agree.

The Medium further states, "This is what is known as the power of

suggestion. The amazing part of this is the fact that although I can suggest
you cannot see your card here (pointing again to the cards] I cannot erase
the thought from your mind where it still sits waiting. Is that correct as
well?"

The sitter again agrees,

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The Medium focuses on the sitter for a moment adding, "If I could see a
picture of that card in your mind that would be called telepathy. And yes, ...I
see the King of Clubs."

After receiving the requisite stunned response from the sitter, The
Medium places the cards back in the box, adding; "You may put the cards
you have been holding back in the box now."

After handing the boxed cards back to the owner, The Medium continues,
“But honestly, since I have borrowed your cards, it is now useless to you for
playing cards since you can no longer see your card. This doesn’t seem fair
does it?Please hand the pack to someone else."

The sitter hands the pack to another person. That person is instructed to
open the pack and hold the cards face up in their hands.

The Medium asks, “Willyou please help us straighten out this situation? I
need you to break the spell for us. I wantyou to go through the face up cards
and when you come to one face down card, please show it to the sitter who
could not see it a few moments ago.

The person tasked with this job goes through the pack and finds one card
reversed in the deck, it is the King of Clubs!

152
Arcanum

Larry's Becker’s take on the classic 'Clock Trick' called ‘The Power of
Suggestion’ is brilliant in its simplicity and a total knock out. However,
after thinking it over, I concluded that, while in Larry’s version, the
spectator chooses a number from one to ten during a pre-show set-up, the
choosing of numbers during pre-show made little sense, especially if I
wanted to perform this totally impromptu. The effect becomes more
baffling if you ask the spectator to merely think of the month of their birth.
Truly impossible for you to know unless perhaps you are psychic. If they
were born in May, their 'secret number' would be five. They would then
remove five cards and put them in their pocket or out of sight. If they were
born in March, they would remove three cards. While your back is turned,
they remove that number of cards in real time.

After again shuffling the deck as many times as they like, state that you
will show twelve separate cards, one at a time, one for each month of the
year, adding, "When 1 show you the card that falls on the month of the year
you were born,you must remember that card."

Begin showing each card starting with ..."January, February, March" and
so on. Finish with December as the last card. After showing the sitter the
twelve cards, keep a ‘break" under the twelve cards and 'double-undercut'
them to the bottom of the deck. Push over the next five cards on top of the
deck, obtaining another'break1 under these cards as the deck is squared.
This is the moment I take advantage of having counted off five cards to say
to the sitter, "It would be impossible for me to know which of any of these

153
cards could be the one you are merely thinking of," as I briefly slightly fan
those five cards face-down. Square these cards on top of the deck on top
of the 'break' and again perform a ‘double-undercut’, sending the top five
cards to the bottom of the deck.

As a brief aside; I have always been a staunch believer that every time 1
can suggest a sitter has ‘thought-of a card (or anything really) it sends an
entirely different set of imaginings and expectations of what you are
capable of doing. Think about this: Isn’t it much harder to grasp a thought
than just find a playing card? I want my sitters to think I can read their
thoughts. As has been said many times - it is not what you do, but what
people think you can do.

Now, the spectator is told that through the 'power of suggestion’, their card
will become invisible. I let that thought sink in for a stage beat or two,
holding the deck out on my outstretched left palm. Still holding the face­
down deck in my left-hand, I bring the cards back to chest level and begin
pushing cards to the right with the left-thumb. Quickly count-off (silently)
17 cards. If you have good eyesight and can get used to doing it, it is faster
counting two cards at a time. Flipping these 17 cards face up, they are
casually spread and the sitter is asked to look for his mentally selected
card. After completing this procedure, ask if they saw the card they are
thinking of. When the sitter responds they have not seen their card, The
Medium asks they hold out their hand. The cards having been displayed
are squared and placed face up on the palm of their hand.

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The Medium shows another 17 cards in the same manner as before. Again,
the sitter is asked if he has seen their ‘thought-of card. Again, the sitter
replies they have not.

At this point, the top card of the remaining packet in your left-hand is the
sitter’s card. One more ‘break* is now obtained under this top card of the
packet in the left-hand. The 17 face-up cards in the right-hand are squared
and the right fingers simultaneously 'pick-off the face-down card, secretly
adding it to the face-up cards. As you hold this 18-card packet of cards in
your right-hand, state the sitter’s card must be in the remaining cards you
hold in your left-hand. As you say this, turn the right-hand away from you
slightly and using the right forefinger, tap the remaining packet in the left-
hand. As you do this, the bottom card of the right-hand packet can be
secretly 'peeked' and remembered. The packet of 18 cards is now placed
face-up on the packet of cards being held by the spectator. Now you not
only know the identity of the card the spectator is thinking of, you've also
caused it become invisible among the cards the spectator is holding (even
though it is now face-down). The sitter thinks they have examined all of
the cards they now hold.

Since the sitter has not seen their card up to this point, The Medium can
hand the remaining cards to the spectator to examine. In this scenario, the
sitter must hand the packet of cards they are holding to The Medium to be
able to do this. Naturally, the sitter finishes looking through the remaining
packet of cards and even though he or she is the only one to know the
identity of it, they cannot see or find it. I prefer to finish the showing of the
final cards myself as handling any of the cards after they have been placed
in the sitter's hand may arouse suspicion.

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The Medium retrieves the balance of the deck and after boxing it, the deck
is handed back to the sitter. After stating, "That is the power of suggestion,"
The Medium then mentions mysteriously almost as an afterthought, "If I
could see a picture of the card in your mind that would be called telepathy
... and I see the King of Clubs!"

The cards now can be boxed and as the sitter receives them back in their
hands, tell them how bad you feel as the deck you borrowed is now useless
since they cannot see the one missing card. How will they play poker
without it? Ask the sitter to hand the deck to someone else and finish with
the card being found face down in the face up pack.

This is to me the ultimate mental card effect; several things happen one
after the other. There are no clues. The sitter will easily go along with his
birth month when you show them the corresponding cards. How could
you possibly know the sitter's birth month? The fact is, you don't know it
and never need to know it. Thanks must go to Larry Becker for the original
routine. In a letter he sent me, Larry mentions his version of‘The Power of
Suggestion, Part II.’ In the end of this version, the spectator finishes the
whole effect by ‘imagining their card' as in the classic ‘Invisible Deck' and
"turning their thought-of card around in the pack.'When they fan the cards
to themselves, they then find their thought of card in now turned around.
The Roswell Effect

"How many people here believe in flying saucers?

I'm sure you have all heard about the famous Roswell incident? Something
happened in Roswell, New Mexico 71 years ago. An alleged cover-up of a
crashed UFO continues to exert and powerful point of contention between
skeptics and believers. Tales of lost time, men in black, abductions, cattle
mutilations and the invisible teleportation of people and objects have been
closely watched by our highest government officials.

The truth?Well, who knows? I have been doing research of my own and have
discovered an unusual dimensional warp that seems to occur around those

157
who manage to get too close to this type of encounter. I call it The Roswell
Effect.

I have read everything I could get my hands on including these publications

that I assure you are very real and not just tabloid fantasies. One is "The
Skeptical Inquirer/' obviously taking the point of view that the whole thing
is a hoax. On the other side of the spectrum, "The Roswell Crash Up-Date,"
which includes personal interviews and conclusions based on the more
fantastic elements of the story. Finally, I have the de-classified official U.S.
government record "Results of a Search for Records Concerning the 1947
Crash Near Roswell, New Mexico" published by the Government
Accountability Office in response to New Mexico’s Representative Steven
Schiff who demanded an investigation into the matter.

It shows un-covered information and actual internal documents explaining

away this event as a top-secret weather balloon experiment that went
wrong. It’s odd there are so many blacked out sentences and names if you
read through this document. I also have a road map of New Mexico that
targets the Roswell area and Mac Brazel's ranch where the whole adventure
"came down" if you will, in July of1947.1 assure you each of these documents
are as real as they can be.

I feel psychically that somewhere in this collection of information lies the

truth, something quite mysterious or at least something that passes for truth
- in this dimension.

According to many of the UFOlogists and even quite a few of the scientific
experts, the alien autopsy film we all remember that came out was nothing

158
but a clever hoax meant to cover-up for the real aliens that got away or are
being held by the US government One reliable source told me these beings
are not extra-terrestrial, but rather extra-dimensional, meaning they can
travel from place to place without any flying saucers by literally teleporting
themselves invisibly through space. Fantastic? Yes, but I propose a test of
these unseen forces under strict laboratory conditions to prove to you what
I have discovered.

I'm going to place these three books on the table. Sir, I need you to step up
to the table and pick up two, one in each hand.

Now hand me one of the two books,

Good, you are now holding "The Roswell UFO Crash Up-Date." How many
pages are in that book? 190? Good.

Please go over to the other side of the room, hold the book tightly in both
hands and wait for my instructions. Don't let go no matter what might
happen, okay?

For this test I need two people. Now you Sir, here is a small scrap of a map
of New Mexico. You can see it shows the exact point of impact recorded for
the Roswell Crash. It’s circled in red ink. I am going to seal it inside this
envelope and have you initial the flap and then place it inside a second
larger envelope and seal that tightly. Now please go to the opposite side of
the room from our first person as far away from him as possible.

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Three-dimensional time and space. I'm afraid that's ail we have to work with
on this plane of existence. We will have to make this happen with the limited
resources on hand. Numbers can be random. They can be very precise yet
present infinite random possibilities. Many scientists conjecture everything
is made of numbers in one form or another, so for our purposes; we will start
with a few random numbers.

I have a pad and pen and I would like a few of you, starting with you Sir, to
please merely think of a number from one to 100. It can be a one, two or
three-digit number. After you have it in your mind, please write it down here
on the pad, leaving room for two more people to write underneath your
number. When you are finished, please pass the pad to someone else.

Now if that person would do the same directly underneath your first
number. Finally pass the pad and pen to one last person. Please write your
thought of number directly under the other two.

We now have three random numbers chosen by three random people in a

room full of random humans. I ask you to consider, are they really all that
random? Could somebody or something manipulate our thoughts by
probing our minds and planting those numbers?

I will now give the pad and pen to the person holding the book and ask them
to carefully add up the three numbers, check your addition to be sure; and
when you are finished, please turn to that page in the book you have been
holding.

What? Wait. What do you mean there is no page there?

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The page is missing?"

The performer retrieves the book. Holding it toward the audience so

everyone can clearly see there is nothing except the ragged remainder of
the page that has been burned away from the spine!

"Look! This is bizarre! Incredible as it seems, the page has been burned away
leaving only the burnt edges! In addition, look what is in its place...the piece
of map! You sir, across the room, would you please carefully open the
envelope you have been holding and bring the smaller signed envelope to
me?"

The spectator dutifully opens the larger envelope and after confirming
this is the same envelope, shows the initialled inner envelope to the group.

7 think you had better carefully unseal your envelope and show the
audience what is inside."

The spectator opens the inner envelope he has been holding and inside,
discovers the other part of the burned page. Turning to the spectator who
added the numbers created by the audience together, the performer asks,
"What was the number you arrived at?"

The spectator answers, "Page 152,"

Turning to the spectator holding the single burned away page, the
performer continues,

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"And what is the number of the page you are holding sir?'

It is proven to be page 152.

It looks as if some form of interdimensional transference has taken place!

One more thing, sir; other than the fact the page is singed, is there anything
unusual about that page? Are there any words circled or other markings?
Yes? A word? What is the word?"

The word is TRUTH.

"Whether teleportation has taken place, ora transmutation of matter linked

to a possible telepathic abduction of your thoughts as well, I cannot say. I
leave it to the skeptics."

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Arcanum

This is a re-working of Ted Annemann's classic 'Whim ofTituba' from his

invaluable ‘Practical Mental Effects,' with a topical UFO premise rather
than the original witchcraft theme. I highly recommend anything by
Annemann. He believed the method secondary to the story, to which I
agree completely.

The three books described (see chapter introduction photo) are on your
table. Depending on your chosen theme, any three books or periodicals
will work. You will simply force a prepared book using the 'Magician's
Choice’ ploy to swiftly eliminate two of the books, ending up with the first
spectator getting that book. Pick up two, hand me one, ...you know that
routine by now, right?

The random numbers thought of by the audience are of course switched

at the last minute. I use the well-known ‘double-sided spiral-pad’ force.
This method makes use of a small pad cleverly constructed with three
numbers written beforehand by you in three different styles to look like
three different peoples' writing. These are on the top page of one side of
the pad. The spiral-pad is put together to have two identical cardboard
covers. Accomplish this by buying two at the stationary store (where all
good mentalists shop) and unscrewing the spiral coil on both, substituting
one of the same color fronts for the back of one of the pads. One side has
an easy to spot marking to tell you one side from the other. The other top
page on the reverse side is blank. This is where your spectators write their

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number from 1 - 199. Limiting the number choice keeps the numbers
chosen from reaching a number that could conceivably be beyond the
pages in the book you will use. Think this through. As you go through the
audience asking for the random numbers, simply tilt this side toward each
person and have them write on that top sheet. As you make your way back
to the front of the group, you casually close the pad up for an instant. As
you return to the first spectator holding the book, the pad is turned over,
then opened for them to your set of previously written numbers. I pre­
write only the different looking force numbers on this top sheet before the
show.

Later, as I approach the spectator who will be doing the addition, (best to
choose someone already wearing glasses if you can, this spares any
embarrassment) before I hand him the pen, 1 draw a 'total’ line beneath
the three numbers, keeping everything looking fresh. They look at only
your force numbers and add those together. It is always a good idea to
have this spectator check the addition - especially with a drinking crowd.
Trust me here. It has to be right. Since you know the total, I further suggest
glancing at it before continuing - just to make sure.

Any book will work if properly prepared. In my UFO themed routine, the
force book I use is the aforementioned paperback trade edition: 'Roswell
UFO Crash Up-Date - Exposing the Military Cover-Up of the Century,' by
Capt. Kevin Randle. (1995). My edition is brightly illustrated with a lurid
sci-fi cover and a nice 6" x 9” size that makes the riffle force about to be
described easily accomplished. The force page with whatever word you
choose to circle is carefully torn out in a jagged fashion, leaving plenty of
the left-hand margin paper near the spine to be artfully scorched with a

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Bic lighter to give it a ‘burned away' appearance. Scorch the torn-out page
edge as well. Two pages on either side of this 'phantom page' are trimmed
1/8" on the long edge to allow casually riffling through the book while
describing its photos and general content without 'flashing' the hidden
burned edge and duplicate map piece using the ‘Magician's Coloring Book'
principle. Practice flipping through carefully but rapidly, not drawing any
attention to anything in particular. The audience will only remember your
introductory flipping through.

Two Identical Map Pieces

Two identical pieces of the same Roswell quadrant of a map of New

Mexico are used. One is loose and openly shown to the audience before

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being sealed into an envelope, the other is inserted into the force page
section of the book beforehand. Both map pieces should be sized to fit
within the inside of the book without showing anywhere outside the
pages when closed and wedged tightly into the spine of the book to keep
it from dislodging or falling from the book while being held by the first
spectator. This is why you must command him or her to hold the book
very tightly between both hands to prevent peeking at the book or having
the second map piece fall out before being revealed at the end of the
routine. Keep an eye on this spectator from time to time to make sure they
are not curiously flipping through the book. For them, it will be tempting.

You will also use two stacks of envelopes. Three or four catalogue size (at
least 6” x 9"] and six to ten envelopes you place the first map piece into
and have flap-signed by the first spectator.

The larger holds the smaller and keeps it safe and isolated during the
procedure and adds to the laboratory conditions' so popular with the
logical scientifically minded. If you are not already familiar with the
classic envelope stack switch, 1 will walk you through it. It is a solid
method used in dozens of mental effects.

(See first image on following page to see how the stack appears to the
audience)

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 As the envelope stack appears to the audience

To prepare. All the flaps of all the envelopes in the smaller stack have had
the flaps opened out and been stacked one on top of the other. With the
flap sides of the envelope stack facing you horizontally in your left-hand,
the topmost envelope has its flap removed and is empty:

Top Envelope with Flap Removed

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This facilitates the next envelope down from the top’s flap to stick up as
normal. This regular envelope has the scorched page inside. When you
insert the map into what appears to be the 'top envelope’ after showing it
to the audience, you actually put it into the flapless envelope, then pull
away the second envelope by its flap under cover of sealing it before you
hand it to the first spectator to sign his initials upon. I use self-sealing
envelopes. No licking for me thanks. This all takes less than five quick
seconds to accomplish. Do not think about it, just do it. The spectator now
holds the force page but thinks they have the map piece. They then seal
this initialled envelope into the larger envelope you hand to him.

The rest is of course all showmanship, storytelling and nerve, which

Annemann had in spades. Selling the pseudo-scientific aspects of this
story is easy. Everyone wants to believe otherwise they would not be at
your show!

If you can, pick and circle a relevant word in red ink on the forced burned
page you can include throughout your introduction a few times. By doing
this, you will hopefully psychologically set-up the audience to believe later
that it was truly plucked from someone's' mind - yours! I use TRUTH.

If you really want to go over the top, (and who does not who is reading
this?) you could have the second spectator who initials the map piece be
your stooge. He signs his initials on both pieces of duplicate map in exactly
the same spot. One is in the prepared book beforehand and the other
signed in front of the audience on a previously agreed upon spot in the

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same style and ink, then sealed into the envelope. A very convincing
teleportation! Perhaps too impossible? You decide.

I have also suggested to the first spectator holding the book they may feel
warmth emanating from the book at some point. Most of the time they will
agree and admit to a warm feeling, especially if you have chosen a believer
or, ...hidden a squeeze activated sports injury heat pad that has been
activated and placed on your table, where it warms up.

Take a few minutes to describe your premise after placing the book in a
spot-on top of this pad hidden by a few papers before you hand it to him
or her. This makes the final revelation of the burned away page even more
extraordinary.

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Ancient Influences

"We are all aware of the incredible power of standing stones and circles are
we not? Many ancient sites found on British ordinance maps can be
connected to form an incredible confluence of interconnecting lines.
Scientists and archaeologists theorize these sites might be energized by vast
networks of ley lines or earth grids, which are part of ancient systems of
higher knowledge. These geometrical structures spread out over countless
landmasses and over incalculable eons of time. In some places such as
Greece and Saudi Arabia, even at this very moment, new discoveries
continue to unfold. We can’t see the energies, pointing to the fact that what

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may really be going on in sacred places or stone circles and mounds could
be happening miles below the surface. What is beneath the surface is where
the real cosmic truths lie buried and undisturbed. We have just begun to
scratch the surface in many of these remote locations.

I believe we may indeed be like the physicist Sir Oliver Lodge, who wrote
'Like excavators engaged in boring a tunnel from opposite ends, amid the
roar of water and other noises, we are beginning to hear now and then the
strokes of the pick-axes of our comrades on the other side.'

In my own studies, I have found one singular place in the United Kingdom
that exerts an uncanny influence on anyone who will open their mind to
these potential factors. I won’t mention the name. Not yet. To some it is
sacred and like many spiritual disciplines, to mention it aloud before
experiencing it first-hand may have the effect of lessening its dynamic
potential to reach out to us. I fully realize this sounds crazy, but even today
in places like The Isle of Man, certain words are forbidden to be uttered for
these and other reasons. Are they magic words? I'm not sure, but I'm
prepared to try a simple and direct test using the ordinance map that
originally led me to this spot many years ago. Call it what you will, power
centers, sacred spots, magical wells, haunted or whatever, we have all
experienced such places haven't we? They are somehow enchanted and
otherworldly. I'm convinced I can share with you just how remarkable and
compelling this magical place is if someone in this group is willing to help."

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The Medium invites a spectator to join him in front of the group. On the
stage is an easel board with a large canvas backed map of Northern Britain
tacked to it. On the ledge of the easel is the map book, a magnifying glass,
a flashlight and a small pile of map pins. The Medium positions the
spectator directly in front of the easel with their back to the map.

"You would agree that with your back turned away from the map, you would
have no way of reading or being visually influenced by any of the words or
coordinates printed on the map?"

The spectator must agree.

"Good. It's impossible. There are literally hundreds of monolithic sites

scattered all over the North of England and hundreds of town names, moors
and parishes notated on this map. Could any one of them be somehow
connected to you? Have you ever done any genealogy?"

Regardless of the reply and joining in the discussion if there is one, he

opens the map book and takes out a folded letter, handing it to the
spectator.

" Well, I've done my own research and I think you will find this amazing.
Here, hold this folded note in your left-hand. It was printed out by a
professor at the Quatermass Institute in London."

The Medium then reaches behind the spectator and removes one pin from
the easel ledge, holding this single pin up to the crowd as he continues.

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"Now, the main thing is, you mustn't try to second guess yourself. Most
mental testing involves getting the subject to concentrate on something.
There is no need for that. I want you to do just the opposite. Do not
concentrate; rather open yourself to the cosmic nature of the universe.
Again, I know how looney this must sound and it may be very hard for you
to grasp, but for this experiment to work in a positive manner, you must let
go and let your intuition guide you through what is about to happen. Do not
think. Do not use your intellect! Do you understand?"

After receiving a positive agreement, The Medium hands the spectator the
pin and tells them to reach behind his or her back and gently push the pin
into the map wherever they feel is right, somewhere in the center. After
this is done, The Medium hands the spectator the magnifying glass and
the small flashlight, asking them to now turn around and find the spot on
the map they have pin-pointed. Once that has been sighted and
acknowledged, The Medium asks the spectator to please call out the name
that is closest to where the pin has been placed in the map.

They focus in on where the pin has been placed with the magnifying glass
and see the pin stuck right next to a place called "Stone of Manau." They
call it out.

"Ahhhh! I knew it! Yes! My theory is correct! Clackmanau! The stone of the
Monks! King Robert’s Stone!"

The Medium enthusiastically jumps up and down in glee, shaking the

spectator's hand and appearing genuinely excited. This soon dies down as
he eventually gathers his composure and looks out over the audience who
are not impressed - yet.

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"What ...you want to see proof?"

After some humorous byplay, the spectator and the audience demand
satisfaction.

Fine. Please open up the letter and show everyone the words printed on the
paper."

The spectator unfolds the letter and reads aloud the name printed on the
page: THE STONE OF MANAU

The Medium helps them turn the letter around to show the audience the
words that have been printed in large Old English letters. It appears this
ancient stone still exerts a powerful psychic influence over anyone who is
willing to acknowledge ancient influences.

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Arcanum

Simple yet diabolical.

This force comes from Corinda by way of the late great Sandy Spillman, a
former Medium who taught it to me after seeing it performed by E.
Raymond Carlyle, former Resident Medium at The Magic Castle. I liked it
and have used it several times at corporate and skeptical lectures. The
original effect called for the prediction of a specific city, mountain or
landmark to be predicted by having the chosen spot sealed in an envelope
taped to the back of the map board on the easel.

You have previously stuck a matching pin on the pre-designated spot

written in bold letters on the note you hand the spectator.

Watch where the spectator puts their pin and quickly pull it away as you
reach behind them to hand them the magnifying glass and flashlight.
Simply drop it with the rest on the ledge. It becomes invisible and your
pre-placed pin gets all the attention. Since the spectator is standing in
front of the map, he or she masks your movement. Have them move to one
side as you simultaneously hand them the magnifying glass. Pick a big
person if you can. They search and find your pin. I use standard map pins
having a round white head. No one knows what is to come, so nobody will
see it until you need him or her to find it.

After looking at the image on the following page of the Clackmannan

Stone, who could doubt its Pagan influences?

175
The Clackmannan Stone

176
The Clown in the Graveyard

An Introduction to the Keith Moon Seance

Before beginning an hour-long performance entitled ‘Psychic Readings for

Fun and Prophet' at 2012's Dragoncon in Atlanta, GA, I decided to try
something different. Performing a solid hour of cold reading can be
extremely taxing- as well as boring. As a so-called 'psychic,' you cannot
repeat the same reading or fall back on old lines and platitudes for too
long. You have to appear fresh and apparently picking up rapid-fire
thoughts on a very personal basis. It has to look spontaneous and allow
each spectator to imagine you are possibly going to deliver something
astonishingly accurate to just them.

This is akin to watching a comedian who appears to be totally off the cuff
when he or she starts in with lines like, "So, ...where are you from?" and
other casual remarks. They seem unscripted the first time you hear them.
After you watch a pro work a few nights in a row, it soon becomes obvious
they have delivered these same lines dozens of times -perhaps thousands
of times. Your mind tricked you into thinking it was a special joke or one-
off observation created just for you.

A psychic or medium has the same challenge and at times must work hard
to not sound scripted or over rehearsed when they take the stage. This is
also why I take time to carefully first write all my seance scripts, then put

177
them aside or tear them up after I have the gist. Have a framework, then
dial back and improvise if you can.

A few weeks prior to going to Dragoncon, I had watched an Italian 'giallo'

horror film called ‘The Iron Rose.' (1973). The film features a young couple
who decide to take a stroll through a cemetery. As darkness falls, they
realize they cannot find their way out and soon their fears begin to
overtake them. In an early scene, we see a quickly inserted shot of a clown
putting flowers on a grave. For whatever reason, this image stuck in my
mind. Mentalists and psychics are often treasure troves of meaningless
trivial images and quotes they pull from their minds like magicians pull
rabbits out of hats. I filed it away in the back of my mind.

That night in Atlanta, the house was packed wall to wall with over 300
people. I danced through several pre-show ‘visions,’ accurately telling
different people I was sorry they had recently lost their pet dog, how
another had some difficulty with her brown car and a few other bits and
pieces. I was doing quite well, but reaching the end of my material and
suddenly decided to make a leap and just throw something out. I
remembered the image of the clown in the graveyard and took a shot in
the dark.

Stopping for a stage beat or two, I gripped my temples in both hands in a

display of intense concentration and blurted out to the crowd; "Tm picking
up a strange image. Tm not sure, but Tm going to go ahead with what Tm
seeing. Tm seeing a clown,yes. A man dressed as a clown. He's standing in a
graveyard and he's putting flowers on the graves."

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I then delivered the time-honored traditional mediums' question to the
audience: "...Does that mean anything to anyone?" Not expecting any
response, but still ready to deal with what I thought at the time would be
a very slim chance of any hit I waited.

It is always good business to throw in two or three ridiculous visual bits

like this. When a psychic is wrong, it makes them more believable. The
audience reasons (wrongly) if what they heard was a trick, then like a
magician the performer would have been dead-on right. But since they
were wrong and get no response - it must be something real. The Medium
couldn’t be a magician, trickster or a fraud. Why else would he or she say
that? This beautiful dodge allows a canny charlatan to say just about
anything - which was where I was going. I didn’t really care. I only half
expected a laugh or giggle. This was not like, "I'm seeing someone’s
husband. Did someone's husband pass to the other side from lung cancer
here tonight?" After which any psychic worth his or her salt would expect
to see dozens of up-raised tear-filled eyes. In this case, the 'psychic' only
has to briefly scan the crowd and pick a miserable soul that looks well off
and desperate enough to book an expensive reading with them later, then
go in for the kill. This is like shooting fish in a barrel. 1 also added for fun.
“...and I see the name Stanley." I had no particular reason to choose Stanley
over any other name; it just popped into my head. In mentalism and
spiritualist circles this is referred to the "scattershot" approach. Nothing
ventured, nothing gained.

Lo and behold, a woman in the middle of the room stood up! I looked out
over the crowd to make sure it wasn't one of my friends or someone
playing a prank on me. However, no, there was a total stranger standing

179
up looking quite terrified. She screamed out, "There's no way you could
have known that! There was an old man in my hometown who used to dress-
up in a clown costume and put flowers on the graves in the town cemetery.
My name is Cindy but for some reason the guy always called me Stanley!
How the hell did you know that?”

I was momentarily stunned. In the character of The Medium, it is always

best to remain unruffled and calm as if to say, “...Of course I knew that," but
1 was a tad befuddled. This little off-hand interlude was going to make my
skeptical explanation I was being paid to deliver more complicated. On
one hand, this is the sort of 'hit' a mentalist or psychic prays for (if you will
excuse the expression). On the other hand, in the minds of the audience, it
was overwhelmingly against the odds for this to be written off as mere
coincidence. It was a nearly precise hit - and two hits in one reading! I
thought for a minute. Maybe Cindy's a nut and just going along with me
for a lark, but it would have been indelicate for me to say so under the
conditions I found myself in.

So how did this happen? Who was fooling who here?

Perhaps more importantly, what did I do with this?

It is important to be reminded of a few things before going forward. This

was at Dragoncon, not a skeptic's convention. Most of the attendees were
already prone to fantasy and the world of Dr. Who, Hobbits and Star Wars.
Although this particular lecture was a featured event in the ‘Skeptic Track1
of the convention, the mere suggestion of something psychic going on
drew a huge audience of all kinds of seekers of strange things from all over

180
the convention. Dragoncon generally attracts over 60,000 people. It is not
a stretch to consider a very large percentage were probably expecting
miracles to happen. In such a rarefied atmosphere, the law of large
numbers (LLN) comes into play. This ploy assures the larger the audience,
the more likely a 'psychic entertainer' is to get a ‘hit' or more than a few
respond to just about anything he or she says. This is prime territory to
apply the line, "Does this mean anything to anyone?"

Which brings us to another rule of thumb any medium takes full

advantage of when working a room. Unlike standard magic tricks where
the audience would in some cases like nothing better than to see the
performer screw something up, the spectator in a psychic venue will
generally pull for the performer to be correct. As in psychic readings and
seance work - they want the performer to succeed and, in most cases, will
do anything they can to help. People need to believe. They may not
necessarily need to believe a rabbit comes out of a hat, but when it comes
to death and the hereafter an audience of believers will consistently make
connections of the most bizarre and ridiculous kind. Hence, my "clown in
a graveyard" leap was delivered.

I had tossed a curve ball into a wide net and caught a live one. As they say
and if you will again excuse the expression, shit happens. This time it did.

The truth is, as far as 1 can conjecture is if incidents such as this one never
happened; firstly, that would be really weird - that’s just life, and secondly,
if it didn't happen throughout my experience as a mentalist and medium,
I would have stopped performing this sort of work a long time ago. It can
be a powerful opportunity offering real chances to stretch and improvise.

181
Take those chances! Make those leaps! You really can’t lose, right? Well,
that depends on what winning means to you.

1 soldiered on with the show and continued as if nothing out of the usual
had happened. Of course, I have had such things happen before in the
seance room or doing readings. Its par for the course as I am sure most of
you reading this will agree. But this time ...wow. I had a problem.

As this was a highly publicized skeptical event, I had agreed at the 50-
minute mark in the show to slide into the "reveal” part of the act. Here I
stop and ask the audience, "You really didn’t think I was talking to your
dead relatives, did you?" and begin explaining how it's all done in the ‘big
fish' psychic market. 1 swiftly segue into the tricks of the trade phase of
my performance, sharing how I quietly speak with several people in line
before the show, asking them whom they might want to reach in the spirit
world. When these same individuals are called upon after 1 get my psychic
swoon, of course the rest of the audience has no idea I already had
everything I needed to weave a convincing vision for everybody else.

Not too perfect mind you and always a little off pays the bills in the
devious occupation of the grief vampire. This same person still gets a nice
warm fuzzy reading and is generally happy with what I say, so it is a
win/win for everybody. Most of us recognize this method as ‘pre-show’ in
the spook racket and it has always been one of my favorite ruses to
exploit. Nobody seems to even consider that a 'psychic'or 'medium'would
be acting and using information they already knew, taking it on faith
everything they hear is coming directly from a divine source.

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As I’m talking about this, I could see the woman from the graveyard was
still standing and shaking her head in disbelief. She didn't see how my
explanation fit with her reading. I then had to stop and tell her about LLN
and the important fact she was conveniently neglecting to fathom. If I had
pointed straight at her and singled her out from the crowd of 300 and then
delivered the clown in a graveyard line directly to her, that’s a whole lot
different than saying, "Does that mean anything to anyone" or "Does that
make sense to anyone?" This didn’t matter to Cindy. I had been a little too
accurate for my own good. I tried in vain to explain to her and the
nervously attentive crowd if psychics were real, they wouldn’t need to ask
a single question. They would just know. Period. End of story. Just one real
psychic would be the most dangerous person on Earth, all the while
knowing I was painting myself into a very uncomfortable corner. As in
what frequently happens in these kinds of demonstrations, the show is
rarely over when I leave the stage. True to form, Cindy immediately ran
up to the group of people who were chatting with me after the lights went
down. She looked dazed and unsteady and insisted again there was, "No
away in the world" I could have known about the guy in the clown suit and
further, how did I know the name the clown had spoken? She also
admitted she felt sick to her stomach after 1 had uttered my vision. She
thought she was going to throw up. There was no assuaging her.

Many a mentalist would have paid handsomely for a stooge like this, but
alas, I had outdone myself. To the group assembled, she clearly was not a
stooge or if she was, she was overplaying her role rather severely. My
explanations fell on her deaf ears. Who could blame her? The odds were
staggering. The more I explained, the deeper the hole I found myself in.
There was no wiggle room. The air became stifling and claustrophobic.

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Mentalists who have a conscience and are not out to get a hook in folks
like Cindy know this feeling of a no win after a successful performance.
We can tell a curious spectator it's all tricks until we turn blue and
unfortunate as it may seem, the more we try to convince them we are
complete charlatans, they can end up thinking we are covering up for our
mysterious 'gift by trying to talk them back down to earth. No amount of
logic or common sense will prevail. In addition, I'm certain many who are
reading this know if you aren't careful after a few of these mind rattling
experiences you can end up believing in your own bullshit. The eternal
"what if?" raises its ugly head. One simply doesn’t get into these messes
with multiplying billiard balls or four ace tricks.

In this case my entire show and everything I did in it was fully revealed,
explained and taken apart piece by piece because it was what I was paid
to do by the groups involved, and Cindy had a very hard time letting go of
her belief system. I had made her feel special, different and more
important than all the rest of the readings I had given that night - as
indeed she was! After several tense minutes and some reinforcement
from a few of the other science activists in the room, I was finally able to
make my escape after convincing her that truly, there was no way in the
world I could have known about her clown friend. Just coincidence
...that's all! Of course, the irony is Cindy was sadly disappointed in hearing
this. I'm sure she still thinks I was only trying to cover up for my 'real
powers' like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believing his friend Houdini was a
real sorcerer pretending to be a stage magician to deflect inquiry.

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In these rare instances, there is simply no answer that will suffice. What
had occurred was "just one if those things." As performers tasked with
presenting the impossible as everyday occurrences and when such 'leaps’
jump far outside the framework science has set-up to justify such semi-
awkward moments, such phantasms give opportunity to indeed pause
and consider what we as mentalists or mediums are playing around with.

Ray Hyman, a dear friend credited with being one of the pioneers of the
modern skeptical movement once told me in an interview,

"The problem with much ofmentalism is that unless the people believe it's
real. It's useless. It’s not fun."

If it's not fun, why bother. It is sometimes hard to remain completely

skeptical under these circumstances.

After traveling around the world collecting these mediumistic curiosities

from both believers and skeptics, my serious German scientist friend
Ehler Voss wrote a book entitled, 'Sprouts of Doubt.’ He (like Cindy) is
intensely interested and refuses to be satisfied with coincidence or
synchronicity as the ultimate explanation when these glitches occur. Ehler
wants to quantify, pigeonhole and understand how and why this
experience happens. To him this is the 'tipping point' of all psychic
phenomena, whether in the experience of believers or as entertainment.

As a 'psychic entertainer' working in the guise of one who must deal with
these sorts of one-off experiences as a way of life, all I can do is be
prepared to both enjoy and take full advantage of these moments. After
all the jacks are in their boxes and the clowns have all gone to bed, I look

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upon this 'whatever-it-is' as what I’m really after. I feel driven to inculcate
by persistent performance these anomalous experiences and if possible
sustain them for as long as and in whatever ways I can. Whether such
events can be created to order in controlled laboratory conditions’ is
doubtful and remains to be seen. I no longer care. I will not be holding my
breath for an answer. Despite what the diehard believers continue to
insist, for my part we cannot count on it or sell tickets to it - yet. If we
could do that, our reality would be quite different and we as 'psychic
entertainers' would soon be out of business. Perhaps it is just wishful
thinking on my part or perhaps the accumulation of many of these 'hits'
over time that has generated my own peculiar cognitive bias. I should
know better, but I have my doubts about both sides of the equation.

Bob Cassidy used to say if we set the table for coincidence to happen,
many times it will show up. I have made it my business to set up tables
whenever and wherever I can. This isn't based on any belief or a faith or
anything I can pin down, but 1 know it when I see it. The seance table
seems to offer the greatest chance for this ‘field of dreams' effect to take
place. Minds are stimulated, pushed or become overloaded. Doors of
perception are left ajar. The ‘what ifs?' become the prime movers and like
a lost kitten, sometimes the black cat just walks in and sits down on the
middle of the table.

If we are willing to entertain projective geometry's theory that two

parallel lines must eventually meet and cross at some point, allow me to
extrapolate; when science and religion hit this intersection ... Boom!
These events happen and there is no planning for it or easily explaining it
away.

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Therefore, the question remains: Can setting up a seance table and
weaving believable stories based on facts somehow merge or move these
theoretical lines closer together?

That is the crux of the experience of seance work. If you are selling it for
real you are bound to be disappointed or worse dismissed as an outright
charlatan. If you treat it as play and offer no promises or keys to the
kingdom of the hereafter, expect the unexpected. Tease it. Coax it and
laugh at the clown in the graveyard.

To keep hold of your sanity and prevent yourself from slipping into a
world of darkness you may well regret opening the door to, might I mildly
suggest continuing to ask yourself along this twisting path; what is more
likely: Can a medium open communication with a dead entity or are we
only tickling the fancies of ourselves and our sitters with convincing
manipulations of the ‘what if?' reality?

Over the years, the "no way he could have known that' comment has grown
to be one of my favorite expressions. I hear it often and I want to hear it
even more often. In fact, I've heard it spoken so often and by so many
otherwise rational critical thinking people, I have many times found it
necessary to stop and remind the person uttering it that in this
complicated world of cyber intoxication, where anything and everything
about us floats around in one information system or another, I can say
confidently without any supernatural powers I'm aware of and after
nearly 40 years of searching, beware. Because in an awful lot of cases ...
yes, there is.

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The Keith Moon Seance

"Keith Moon, The Who's eccentric drummer, better known as" Moonie" or
"Moon the Loon" the celebrity train wreck. He wanted to be a star like many-
young rockers in the early days of rock and roll. He wanted to be immortal.
He loved surf music and amphetamines. In many people's minds, he was the

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greatest rock and roll drummer of all time. Uninhibited, totally expressive
and totally immersed in the late 60's world of sex, drugs and rock and roll,
you had to love him. Once upon a time, Keith Moon broke into Steve
McQueen's home and bitten by a dog. Moon bit the dog back. He once told
Pete Townshend, after Pete threatened to remove him from the band for
drunkenness, 'But Pete, I'm still the best Keith Moon style drummer in the
world!’ This was true and couldn't be argued. He is still talked about and
universally accepted as one of the greatest British eccentrics of all time."

In the center of the seance table sits a wooden box. There are no other
props or objects visible to the sitters.

7 have in this locked box artifacts collected from many diverse places and
people. They are all personal items, many in fact from the Keith Moon estate
sold at Sotheby's in 1992. Some have been given to me by friends, fans and
relatives of the deceased, still others were ...well, I'd rather not say how I got
them. Let us just say the person or persons involved with those acquisitions
wishes to remain anonymous.

I respect the dead, their privacy and the time-honored tradition of allowing
them to rest in peace. I do not take meddling with ghosts lightly. In fact,
unless there is a compelling reason to disturb their rest, I am totally against
exploiting their souls for your entertainment. However, in this case, the
bizarre circumstances of how Keith died, his penchant for publicity and to
be the center of attention, cries out not only for a tribute, but also allowing
the possibility that Keith’s spirit may take this opportunity to reach across

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the ethereal path and give us one more taste of his shatteringly entertaining
buffoonery.

This said I still refuse to trespass on the world of the undead without his
expressed permission. It would be dangerous to anger such a rebellious
spirit. Not that Keith was particularly violent, but his one and only ex-wife
Kim Kerrigan would certainly warn against upsetting him while he was
alive. He was unpredictable, mischievous, self-destructive and cunning to
say the least. Will his spirit throw a couch or television set out the hotel suite
window somewhere tonight? Who knows? In any event, we can’t just douse
the lights and say, "And now ...here’s the ghost of Keith Moon! I have been
warned by more than one or two mediums and psychics to tread lightly on
Keith’s grave. Such silliness would be rude, pretentious and a crude act
showing a total lack of seance etiquette. No, we must be gentle, coax out his
spirit gradually, and be patient. I propose a few experiments in full light to
this end. Are we all prepared for whatever may happen?

Receiving an affable response, The Medium continues.

This box contains intimate possessions of a rock god. I have a key ring with
several keys on it. I would like to have the man on my left turn the box so
that the padlock is facing you and as I hand you each key, I want you to try
it in the lock and see if it opens the padlock. After you try each key, I also
have seven small leather bags, just big enough to hold a key. You will place
each inside a bag and drop them on the table one at a time so that everybody
can see them. Do you understand the procedure?"

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The sitter agrees and all of the keys are removed from the key ring and
placed on the table before the sitter. "You may start with any key and any
bag you wish until only one is left on the table."

Six keys are tried, and found unwilling to open the lock. There is one
remaining.

"You have tried all the keys in a totally random order. Wouldn't it be strange
if the spirits somehow arranged for the one last key to be the one that opens
the lock?"

The sitter must agree.

"Go ahead and try it."

The sitter places the last key in the lock and discovers that it will not open
the lock. Looking up at The Medium with a defeated expression, The
Medium continues, "Sorry, ...I was just messing with you."

The Medium reaches in his pocket and pulls out his own set of keys.

"Something even more amazing is going to be given the chance of

happening. You see, I keep this one key with me at all times. It's way too
valuable to just have floating around."

The Medium removes the key from his key ring and hands it to the sitter.

"Try it."

The sitter places the key in the lock, turns it and the lock snaps open.

“So you see, only one key can open the lock. Now for the fun part. Please
place this most important key into the remaining bag you have, then mix up

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all the bags so that no human mind could know which one contains the
special key we need to open the box."

This done The Medium distributes the bags to various members of the
seance circle. "You may trade with anybody at this point. When you are
finished, please hand me one of the bags.”

The sitters briefly entertain themselves with mixing until one of the bags
is passed forward to The Medium. Taking it in his hand, he addresses the
sitters. "I am now going to take the first step to invoke the spirit of Keith
Moon. Only with his expressed permission to proceed, can we hold this
seance tonight. If he doesn’t guide me to the correct key to open the box, we
may have to satisfy ourselves by singing hymns or playing bingo. Do you all
understand?"

After receiving the go ahead, The Medium continues. "I call forth the spirit
of Keith Moon. If you are with us tonight, will you give us a sign that you are
here?”

There is silence for a moment or two. Then The Medium looks as if he is

listening to something. "I’m being told to ask if anyone wants to trade keys
with me. Will somebody please trade bags with me?”

Eventually, one of the sitters gives over their bag.

"Good, thank you."

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The Medium trades with that sitter, receives the bag in his hand and
placing his other hand a few inches above it, again asks the sitters.

"Would anyone else like to trade again?”

Again, another bag is traded and The Medium asks one more time.

"Three is traditionally a charm. Does anyone else want to trade? It's all up
to the spirits now. You may even give me back one of the bags I have already
held. Let the spirit move you!"

One final bag is held out for trade. The Medium backs away from this bag
as if it is alive, telling the sitters, 7 don't want to touch it. Please hand it to
the gentleman who is already familiar with the lock.”

This final bag is given to the sitter, tried in the lock and lo and behold; the
lock springs open. "We have been given permission to proceed! He's here!"

The rest of the bags are retrieved and set aside as the lid of the box is
slowly opened.

The Medium removes a brass candlestick and a stub of black candle.

Placing the candle into the holder, he begins the ceremony.

"By lighting this candle, I would like to now formally begin this seance for
Keith Moon. Keith, we graciously ask for your attention."

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The Medium begins to remove objects from the box. Taking out a pair of
drum sticks, he silently crosses them on the table without comment. He
also places a tambourine nearby.

"I have a sealed envelope found among Keith's mass of fan mail and notes.
It remains unopened. In the Moon auction it was said to be merely one of the
thousands of fan letters he received. In order to establish what medium's call
a rapport or the belief necessary to open the portals of the Other Side, I
would like to try a small experiment by asking the lady on my left to think of
a person who is no longer with us among the living. If this is a person or
memory that causes you to be uncomfortable or sad please choose someone
else who has a more positive mental vibration for you. Do you have a person
in mind? Good. What was that person’s name?

(For example, the sitter says the name "Suzy Smith”)

I’m now going to unseal the envelope by tearing one end open. You can see
a small card down in the bottom of the envelope. Kindly take it out and read
to us what it says?"

The card reads ...

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"So far, so good. I wonder if it could be... the same person? Stranger things
have happened in the seance room. Let's try another test.

I have nine postcards of dead rock and roll stars. Yes, I know it's a bit morbid,
but hey, that's my job. The number nine is traditionally known in the science
of Numerology as the number of chaos, so in Keith's case I'm sure he would
approve. By invoking this number in our seance tonight, we may bring some
reaction from the spirit world.

Eight of the postcards are of other rock gods; Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim
Morrison, John Lennon, Buddy Holly, Elvis, Frank Zappa and George
Harrison, all tremendous losses to the music world. The ninth postcard is of
Keith himself dressed in his iconic costume of The Queen. We need to set-up
a test between myself and the spirit of Keith Moon. Are you all willing to help
me? How about you?"

The Medium chooses one of the sitters to help.

I will give you this pencil. I want you to write your name on the back of
Keith's postcard. By doing this the postcard you have signed will become the
only one of the nine having your personal vibrations on it. Personal
vibrations are very important in the work I do. The card becomes yours now.
Do you understand? When you are finished writing, I will give you one of
these envelopes. I want you to place your postcard face down into the
envelope then fold the flap inside so that it will be folded shut. After doing
this, I want you to hand the rest of the postcards and envelopes to one of the
other sitters. They will place the other eight postcards into the remainder of
the envelopes and do the same with the flaps. Then will you please mix the
envelopes so that no one knows which one contains your Keith postcard.

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When we are finished, you will have a stack of nine mixed envelopes. Place
them in front of you. Fine. I will now lay them out on the table."

Reaching into the box, The Medium pulls out a drum key like those used
by professional drummers to tune their drum kits. It is on a long chain.

"The auction also had quite a collection of drum keys. This particular
Premier drum key was from Keith’s famous set of Premier drums. He wore
it on a chain around his neck. In fact he wore this very drum key at one of
the last places he was seen alive; a party at Peppermint Park in Covent
Garden given by Paul and Linda McCartney for a film they were premiering
about the life of Buddy Holly. If you believe in psychometric energy, or the
power of an object to be imbued with psychic energy, I think you would all
agree this drum key probably contains strong vibrations. It's on a chain so
that I can use it as a pendulum.

Do you all know about pendulums? They are a sort of portable Ouija board.
Pendulums have been used for centuries for dowsing and are also known as
a sex detector, having the ability to show a pregnant mother whether her
child will be a boy or a girl. They are very sensitive to psychic vibrations.
Science tells us the average human nervous system, if placed end to end,
would stretch out to over twenty-seven miles.

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For our experiment tonight, let us consider that at the very end of my
nervous system is this drum key, suspended in mid-air by the chain. If you
have ever played with a pendulum, for most people, when it swings in a
circular motion, this indicates a 'no' answer. If it swings back and forth or in
a straight line, that indicates a 'yes' answer. For our purposes, I'm going to
try to use Keith's drum key to determine which envelope contains his
likeness. This is called sympathetic Magick in some places. Like attracts like
and so on. If I’m successful, this may act as the final indication he is willing
to step forward into the seance circle and join us."

The performer takes back the mixed stack of envelopes and solemnly
places one at a time in a grid, three across, three down. He then takes a
deep breath, holds the drum key by its chain above the first envelope in
the spread and speaks. "Keith, will you join us here tonight? Can you work

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through me to give these sitters assembled here tonight a clue that you are
here with us and ready to give us a physical sign? Keith, will you work
through me?"

Slowly, the pendulum swings in a circle over the first envelope and given
its no answer, placed aside. This process in continued with the remaining
envelopes until only two remain in front of The Medium.

The Medium is puzzled and unsure, but continues using the pendulum,
imploring Keith ... "I’m so sorry, I'm just not getting the final result I need
to conclude this experiment. Perhaps Keith is being stubborn or mischievous
as usual. I'm going to ask for a little psychic help from the lady who signed
the postcard. Will you please lightly hold my other hand as I focus on which
of the two remaining postcards is sending out the strongest vibrations? You
may help make a difference."

One final envelope eventually sits before The Medium. It is opened and
found to contain Moonie's postcard with the sitter's name on it. The
postcard is offered to that sitter as a memento.

"Please accept this image of Keith as a memory of this evening. I think we

are getting closer to being ready for the dark seance! First, I want to share
one more piece from the collection. It's a copy of Keith’s death certificate
and a few other bits and pieces of documentation I keep for anniversaries
and seance sittings like this."

The Medium removes a folded parcel of documents from the box.

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"You can see the kind of images that continues to haunt Keith's legacy. This
is a page from "Beat Instrumental" magazine where Keith wrote a
continuing article about his antics and adventures over many years, inside
that is his death certificate. It's odd that what eventually killed him was an
overdose of the drug Heminevrin, a sedative prescribed to alleviate his
alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Keith wanted to get sober, but due to his fear
of psychiatric hospitals, he wanted to do it at home. Heminevrin is
discouraged for unsupervised detoxification because of its addictive
potential plus its tendency to induce tolerance and its risk of death when
mixed with alcohol. How sad Keith tried just a bit too hard with what was
meant to save him. He never did anything in half measures, that's for sure.
As you can see, there's nothing unusual inside these papers right now, but
I'm never sure what might happen in a seance. I'm going to fold these pieces
of rock history back together and give them to you (pointing to a random
sitter) to hold on to during the dark Seance. You must promise once I give
this packet to you, you will not take your hands from their position on top of
it, no matter what happens. Okay?

The sitter agrees.

"During the dark seance, of which we will soon partake, it is important that
The Medium - that's me, be kept from influencing any of the objects we have
set on the seance table. In addition, should my body begin to levitate or
become unstable at any time, what we are about to do will protect all of us
from any physical harm. I'm going to ask this gentleman on my right if he
would mind tying me tightly into my chair? Please examine both these ropes
for any trickery. I’m sure there are quite a few hotel managers who would
have preferred Keith was kept tied up like this while he was alive. He once

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drove his car through the glass doors of a hotel, driving all the way up to the
reception desk, got out and asked for the key to his room."

The chosen man takes the two lengths of rope and ties The Medium's
hands tightly across his knees.

"Now my hands are tied firmly to my knees. If anyone wants to have a look
or tug on the knots, feel free. My hands are beginning to turn blue so let’s get
this show on the road - if nobody has an objection? Thank you, Sir. Please
remain here for another minute. You will later have to provide the hands if
1 ask you please. I am now going to begin the incantations to bring back the
spirit of Keith Moon.

I would like everybody at the seance table to link just your little pinky
fingers. Good. We have now formed the psychic circle. Please do not break
the circle at any time during the dark seance, no matter what happens! To
do so might cause injury or even death to the medium - that's me. I don't do
this for the fun of it you know. It's often painful and unrewarding. But for
the sake of Keith's memory and your ...entertainment, I will try to cross the
ethereal path. Should anything go awry during any part of the dark seance
or if I lose control or consciousness, please use the bottle of holy water. Do
not be afraid to splash a spray of it on me. It will work immediately and
allow me to break free from any negative trance I may have fallen into, holy
water will also banish any evil spirits from the room and protect everyone
present from having any dark spiritual entity follow them home. They can
be parasitic you know. I will leave the bottle with the woman on my right.
It’s sort of like being responsible for the emergency door on an airline flight

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Are you willing to use this if needed? And you feel fit enough to handle this
situation? Good! We can now proceed with a free mind and a protected soul.

Ladies and Gentleman, I’m now going to ask to have the lights extinguished.
This is your last chance to leave the room if you feel uncomfortable. The
doors will remain closed and locked until the conclusion of the dark Seance.
Are we clear?

Sir, will you please turn off the lights and remember where the light switch
is located when the seance is over? Please remember when there is complete
silence for more than a minute, it is over and you must turn on the lights. So
Mote it Be."

LIGHTS OUT.

A solitary candle remains lit.

Invocation

7 call upon the spirit of Keith John Moon. Are you with us tonight? Can you
give us a sign - a physical sign that you are with us in the seance circle? Can
you rattle the tambourine for us or do you have something more important
to tell us? We have people here tonight who want to reconnect with you!
They want to rock and roll! Can you hear us? Can you speak to us? Speak to
us. Speak to us. ...Speak to us...”

Silence for 10 seconds.

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KEITH'S VOICE THROUGH MEDIUM (Cockney Accent)

"Right! I'm here! What you want mate? You fuckin’woke me up!"

MEDIUM: "We want a sign! Will you give us one?”

KEITH: "Fuck yeah, I will! But you better be careful what you wish for up
there my lad! Heh, heh, heh! Blow out that stinkin’candle ..."

(The candle is blown out by The Medium)

TOTAL DARKNESS.

After a suitable delay, the silence is broken.

The tambourine suddenly rattles furiously then flies across the room over
the heads of the sitters, crashing into the wall. The Medium begins to
moan, tremor and spasm in his chair.

Silence for 10 seconds.

There is a loud boom. Something heavy has landed on the center if the
table and a faint aroma of Cognac is detected in the air

MEDIUM: 'Yes Keith! We sense your presence! We have heard you! This is
wonderful, but... wait. A dark energy is filling the room."

Suddenly there is a soft tapping sound gradually getting louder a little at

a time. It is a drum beat. Tap, tap ...tap. Then the sound reaches a louder

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more aggressive raggedy rim shot tempo and begins to veer into an erratic
and cacophonous sound of incoherent clattering. The Medium begins to
laugh, first softly, then gradually in a more frantic tone as the drum keeps
up its death rattle.

MEDIUM: "Thank you, Keith, ... but you must leave now. Leave us before
something evil enters the seance circle. It approaches! It must be banished!

There is the sound of wood cracking,.... slowly.

"Begone!

Ghostly spectre - ghoul or fiend.

Nevermore be thou convened.

Shepard's wort and holy rite

Banish thee into the night!”

Silence for one full minute.

The sitter who tied-up the Medium finds the light switch and turns on the
lights.

LIGHTS UP

The Medium is slumped over the edge of the table, apparently

unconscious; hands still tied tightly in his lap. His head rests on a snare

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drum. He does not move. After a few moments, the man who helped with
the tying and the lights asks the woman with the holy water to spray it on
the Medium. When she does, The Medium wakes with a startled cry.

"Wha?... Whoa... What happened? Is everybody okay? Did Keith show up?
Did you all hear him?"

After shaking his head and clearing his throat, The Medium glances at the
snare drum. "Where did that come from? Where's the tambourine?" This
drum is an odd manifestation?Maybe there is more. Let's see."

It is evident that one of the two drumsticks are broken in two, the pieces
laying separately on the table.

The Medium picks up one of the pieces, saying. "This is amazing. In the
world of the professional magician, when a famous one dies, other

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magicians gather and perform a broken wand ceremony, breaking a magic
wand in two pieces as a symbolic action of closure. A drumstick might indeed
be seen as a sort of magic wand. Keith’s style of playing would certainly
suggest magical energies. Ask any drummer. The wand in story and symbol
is an ancient conjuring representation of mystery. To the uninitiated, it is
but a piece of wood. To Keith, like a magician or The Fool of occult realms,
it was a reminder to him of the joy and pleasure of an entertainment art
that has existed since ancienttimes. Whata wonderful memento of tonight's
sdance."

The Medium hands the broken sticks to the host of the party. 7 think you
should have these. Keith would want it that way."

Next The Medium approaches the sitter who has been resting their hands
on the packet containing the death certificate. The folded documents are
retrieved from the sitter whose job was to keep their hands-on top of
them.

"This packet never left your hands did it?"

The sitter answers, "No."

The packet is slowly unfolded. Tucked inside the previous empty death
certificate is found a vintage photo of Keith’s first wife, Kim.

The Medium empties the folded death certificate and allows a small
handful of various pharmaceutical pills to cascade down onto the
tabletop.

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"Whoa. I'm not really surprised to see this, but finding this photo of Keith's
avowed first and only true lost love is very telling. Since his death in 1978,
his closest friends have said after Kim left him, he was never the same. Well,
she's with him now. She was killed in a traffic accident in 2006. As for the
drugs, could this be his way of showing us he's finally free from his
addictions? Perhaps it's a warning? Now he is dead. We remembered him.
Now we can never forget he died and will always remember he lived.

Ohhhhhh did he live!

So long Keith.

See you on the Other Side."

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Arcanum

Opening the Box

Props: Old box with evocative scent of decay.

You can use any method for arriving at a random winnowing down of a
set of keys for unlocking the box holding the important props you will be
presenting in your seance invocation. There are many key effects on the
mentalism market. 1 use the standard commercial version available
through most magic dealers. This prop padlock allows itself to be opened
by only one of seven keys. Once this singular seventh key is turned in the
lock, the lock springs open and only after being opened by that one key,
any of the keys will now open the lock.

The inside of the box has been ‘charged’ by placing one or two drops of an
essential oil or scent on the bottom a few hours before show time. Even
though Keith Moon was cremated. I use a special oil called 'Graveyard,'
which has a subtle smell of wet earth and loamy soil. I do NOT mention
any smells, but allow the sitters to discover these suggestive connections
on their own.

Trust me when I say that seance work is the one area of magic that gives
us the opportunity to ignite all five senses. As Ned Rutledge so wisely
stated: “Mentalism is the art of using the five senses to create the illusion of
a sixth." Details count.

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Seance productions are one of the very few situations where the
performer is given full reign to challenge each of the senses of his or her
audience to the fullest extent. Why not use all five? We can stimulate sight,
sound, smell, touch and taste. Standard magic rarely gets past sight and
sound. The sense of smell is particularly vulnerable to subtle persuasion.
The more we can involve and excite the inner minds of the sitters in the
short time we have to share with them, the greater the chance we will
strike at least one strong chord in their thinking that will push them past
the threshold of what they are normally presented with in everyday life.
We overload. We arouse. We agitate and alarm. Pushing past boundaries
is what is expected of a Spirit Medium.

Open the box slowly. Y ou are building suspense as if you expect something
might spring out. Moonie was known to dress up as Punch and a 'jack-in-
the-box' would certainly suit his eccentric style. You are building tension.
Take your time. If you can find an old box that creaks out a long squeaky
sound when the lid is slowly lifted, that is even better. I once purchased
an antique box solely for the odd noise the lid made when its un-oiled
hinges were pried open.

The first objects to come out of the box are a set of two drumsticks. Moonie
used the larger variety. If you go to a drum shop, ask for ‘Regal Tip 2-B's’.
You will need two sets, more on that later. Also inside is a tambourine, a
bottle of holy water, a set of nine envelopes and nine postcards, a drum
key on a chain, a pencil, a prepared letter, a set of Buddha Papers made up
using a copy of Keith’s death certificate, a brass candlestick, a stump of
black candle and a box of wooden matches.

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Place the candle in the candlestick and light it reverently.

Please never, ever use a Bic lighter to light a ritual candle! I cannot think
of a more ham-fisted way to dash the illusion of an intimate magic
experience than pulling out a cigarette lighter. Unless in this case you
happen to have a flip-top Keith Moon Who 'Mod' lighter, then I am willing
to make an exception. There is something inherently archaic about the
scratch and blaze of a safety match. If the match sputters and dies out, you
must persevere. It is about a fire ritual, intention and timing.

You will need four drumsticks that match. Two come out of the box (for
playing the drum, and yes ... you will play it anyway you can) and two
broken sticks to switch you have ready in your lap or nearby under your
chair in a soundproof bag. The cracking wood sound will emanate from a
small leafless tree branch you have also secreted under the table. Slowly
snap it two in a silent part of the script.

The normal sticks are switched out for the broken set and flung on the
seance table. Put the regular set back in the soundproof bag.

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To break a solid set of drumsticks isn't easy. Obviously doing so runs
contrary to their use. In preparation, you will have to find a strong bench
vice to hold each one in place as you apply pressure to snap the sticks in
two. Wrapping each in piece of soft cloth will reduce the chances of any
telltale marks on the sticks from the vice. One of my two sticks is in two
pieces, while the second stick is broken but not completely separated. See
photos.

The snare drum I use is a 'Piccolo' snare and is a smaller version of the
standard snare drum. It is lighter and easier to handle. This is placed
under the table near your feet before the seance group enters the room.
Velcro strips and patches come in handy for sticking things like this under
the table.

At the right moment after you have released your hands, you find the
drum, lift it as high as you can above the tabletop and in the silence
between the parts noted in the script, then let it drop directly on the
center of the table. Boom! Be mindful of not dropping it on any of the
sitters' hands or fingers! This might add to the drama in some venues, but
could also lead to litigation - which I always try to avoid. If you really
want to do it right and can afford the help of a hidden assistant, have them
dressed in black and quietly enter the darkened space with the set-up
purpose of dropping the drum on an agreed upon cue. Having this sort of
help can extend to all sorts of fun things, especially in a Keith Moon mode:
tilting paintings around the room, moving objects like furniture, television
sets, couches (slightly), and whatever 'Moon-like' ideas come to mind. I
once did a seance with a French horn that fell on the table in this manner
and it caused quite a panic. The sitters had no idea what it was until the

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lights were turned back on. Once that happened, there was nervous
relieved laughter from many of the group. As Shakespeare wrote: "In the
night, imagining some fear, how easy is a bush supposed a bear!"

If you have the luxury of being able to totally trash the room, 1 say go for
it! Just be sure to rehearse with your assistant in the space with total
darkness, otherwise, the joke may be at your expense. Having your 'ghost'
falling and breaking an arm or leg is a showstopper. Think this angle
through carefully.

In the past when I have used this most expedient way to get things done,
tiny pieces of broken up glow-in-the-dark plastic ‘bugs’ were planted on
the backs of chairs and objects to be moved. Each ‘bug’ is strategically
placed to be facing away from the sitter’s point of view while sitting at the
table. You do not want too much light or have the sitters able to see
anything.

If you have to black out the windows, do it carefully with tin foil and duct
tape. Any ambient light such as under doors, outside street lights or patio
lights that manage to leak light into the room, no matter how small the
source, will provide the sitter's eyes with just enough light to see you or
your assistant moving around once their eyes become dilated. This takes
less than one minute. If you have any light leaks, get any of the 'dirty work’
done in this minute or you are likely to be caught out. The room should
always be pitch black. Test this beforehand by holding your hand in front
of you face with the lights out.

Light is Your Enemy!

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Exit signs in public spaces can be problematic. Do not get caught in this
jam! Always test beforehand. At the Edinburgh Secret Society Seance, I ran
into this as a public safety issue. We dealt with it by clearly reminding the
audience exactly where the exits were in case of an emergency, then threw
winter coats over the signs for the short ten-minute dark seance. Once
your helper’s eyes become accustomed to the dark, they can spot the
subtle glow-in-the-dark markers and quietly move to each in a pre­
designated pattern. Again, I would generally opt for the less is more
approach: a tilted painting or mirror, a chair upside down and a falling
drum should be enough for most sophisticated groups.

One of Keith’s Hotel Rooms (After)

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Envelope and Fan Letter

Props: prepared envelope, card & nail writer

The fan letter is made up using brightly colored 60’s style Top Art’
stationary made into a 'slit envelope' from Annemann's 'Triple Coercion’
effect in ‘Practical Mental Effects.’ I have used variations on this principle
for many years. It is a brilliant concept.

Back with flap sealed

You will need to prepare an envelope as shown above. Seal the back-flap
side of the envelope and for some flash, add a ‘mod’ or ‘Flower Power’
sticker or a gold foil heart on the flap point.

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This touch adds to the illusion of the envelope appearing sealed when held
up to show. Some teenage girlish writing completes the vintage look.

Front with ragged slit

The front side has a ragged slit (slightly exaggerated for clarity in photo
above) running the width of whatever card stock you will use for your
note along the bottom about 1/2" above the bottom edge of the envelope
when held vertically. Use a letter opener or knife to make this jagged slit.
It cannot be a clean straight cut. You will find out why in a moment.

The card you prepare should look like that shown on the next page.

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The bottom part of the card is left blank. This is where the chosen
departed soul’s initials will be written in later with your trusty nail writer.
You will of course write this message with whatever nail writer you will
be wearing. It has to match!

I suggest using a nail writer with red china marker in it if you can find one.
It is more colorful and wilder, befitting a wild Moonie groupie. If you can
get a girlfriend to plant a garish teenage lipstick kiss print on the card or
envelope, even better. Again, details count.

With the flap side of the envelope sealed and the front side with its slit
ready to receive the unfinished message card, slide it in so only the bottom
of the card to be filled in extends from the slit and protrudes only as far as
the bottom of the envelope. When the card is pre-set into the slit all the
way up, the message you have written on the card should look like this.

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 Fully Prepared Envelope and Card

You can show this prepared envelope 'sealed' when picking it up from the
box by placing the fingers of your hand over the card end as you casually
exhibit the sealed flap side of the envelope to the audience by turning the
envelope quickly around as you speak. Do this naturally. There is no
reason to rush it and do not wave it around like a flag! Nobody knows
what is coming, just as nobody knows you are about to dip into your vest
pocket for your nail writer as soon as the initials are spoken by the sitter.

As the name is spoken, hold the envelope vertically in you left hand and
as you pass it into your right hand in preparation to tear the envelope
open, you write in the initials; sliding the card deep into the envelope with
your thumb.

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If I feel I'm being watched like a hawk, I may add in a line here like, “Is
there any specific reason you thought of that person you would like to
share?" or "Did anyone else think of those initials?" before I do the writing.
This will get the other sitters to look away to each other, giving you that
split second to get the job done. Now turn to your right away from the
group and ditch the nail writer into your right pocket.

If the sitters want to talk about why or if anyone else thought of similar
names or initials, give them the moment or two and let them talk. It will
only add to the theatrical web you are spinning. You would be surprised
how many times, even in a small group of twelve seance sitters;
sometimes the initials of a few different people are alike or even match.
The sitters not only want you to be right, but in most situations will go out
of their way to make the wildest connections for you. A few times when I
have performed this effect, the sitter could only remember one of the
loved one's initials. When I quickly jotted in the single letter, I later made
sure to mention when they read the card aloud there is only one initial
there ... just like their memory. This had the effect of making the
revelation even more memorable.

Now for my favorite part of this routine which is so diabolical and so much
fun to execute. With the card pushed down into the envelope and the nail
writer back in your pocket, I turn the envelope a quarter turn to the right
and fold the bottom end with the slit over at the point where the slit is.
With this done, the slit opening is nearly invisible. Now 1 tear the end of
the envelope open across this fold line, destroying all the evidence of the
slit opening. This is why the original slit must be a ragged one so it
matches with the rest of the tear. You are left clean. Both card and

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envelope can be handed over to the sitter as another memento of the
evening. Again, any effect that eliminates the method while being
performed is all right with me! Use a good stiff card stock to make the
writing easy.

Postcard Divination

PROPS: Nine postcards of dead rock stars, nine black envelopes, a pencil,
drum key on a chain

Nine black envelopes and nine postcards. Eight are postcards of various
contemporary rocks stars of Keith's era and the ninth is Keith. This target
photo is handed to the first sitter to write their name upon, and placed

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inside the first envelope. Emphasize this action is ‘personalizing’ that
postcard as 'their own,’ psychically setting it apart from the rest. I use
pencil so 1 can erase their name afterwards and reuse this postcard unless
I decide to give it to the sitter afterwards as a memento mori. It is odd, but
such dark gifts are rarely accepted. Oh well. You might even suggest that
they may need to help you by having some further psychic contact with
the envelope later. Mentioning sympathetic Magick and the practice of
‘like attracting like' used in the practice of Voodoo will set-up a premise
many believe to be true. If you speak for a moment about sticking a pin
into a doll’s arm and having someone miles away feel pain in the same
spot, you are suggesting a Magick spell is about to take place.

This first envelope is marked in some subtle way so you can immediately
recognize it from the other eight. Mine has its top right and lower left
corners very slightly rounded. This marked envelope is placed on top of the
flap side up stack and casually handed to the sitter to place the target card
into as you explain the procedure they are to follow. Once this is
accomplished, other sitters may take the remaining postcards and place
them inside each non-marked envelope. Be sure you are clear in telling
them just to tuck the flaps and not seal them! You want to be able to easily
re-open and quickly reveal the Keith postcard at the end of your dowsing
session.

Now the entire stack can be mixed. Once laid out three across and three
down, all you have to do is bring out the drum key, explain the uses for the
traditional pendulum, then do your best acting job to eliminate all but the
marked envelope.

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This is quite easy since you are staring at it the entire time!

Again, do not rush, change your mind once or twice with the two
remaining envelopes and do not be over-confident. You are sharing an
ancient arcane secret for contacting spirits - not doing a magic trick!

If you feel it is right, when faltering over the elimination of the final two
or three envelopes, suggest you need the sitter who signed their name to
help you pick up their 'vibes.' Take hold of their hand with your free hand
- and suddenly the choice becomes magically easier. Bonding with the
sitters like this is important!

Keith’s Death Certificate

PROPS: Pages of Keith Moon memorabilia fashioned into a 'Buddha

Papers’ style packet: a magazine cover, a fan magazine page, a copy of
Keith's death certificate, a photo of Kim Kerrigan and a small assortment
of different pharmaceutical pills.

If you do not know about the traditional magic shop trick ‘The Buddha
Papers,' it has been around a long, long time. Sometimes it's called 'Yogi
Papers’ or ‘Money Papers' but no matter its name, this method for
switching one small object for another has a long history. I have no idea
who invented it. I have heard someone once asked noted magic historian
Max Maven who invented the Buddha Papers and his response was, "...
Buddha!" Most magic sets have it included as part of the deal. However,
do not let that stop you! If you need guidance on how to construct this
useful utility prop, Google it on-line or do yourself a favor and go on eBay

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and spend the $2.99 to get yourself started. It may turn out to be the best
$2.99 you ever spent on magic! No less a personage than Carl 'Brother
Shadow' Herron turned me on to this minor miracle 'back in The Day'.

Despite the notoriety this gag/trick may have among magicians, it is not
well- known to the public. I have used various incarnations of this device
for years and never had anyone question its simple secret. Why you might
ask? Because I have taken the time to make each set of papers an integral
part of the story I tell. For example, in my ‘Houdini Seance', the three
papers are made up of a page from his early magic shop catalogue, his
death certificate and his business card pasted on the outside of the final
inner folded paper.

Well thought-out ‘documents’ add a historical value to the presentation

and distract the sitters from its primary purpose: to make an object
appear or disappear or switch/change one object for/into another - the
basis of almost all magic!

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 Cover of60’s Rock Magazine

In researching for different seance characters and situations over the

years, I have constructed variations on the classic out of old letters, maps,
sheet music, Chinese newspapers and vintage police ephemera.

If this simple trick had even the slightest chance of recognition by anyone
for what it is, I would not be passing its worth on to you dear reader. The
background, your detailing and storytelling will carry it through. Use what
you can find to make it real for your story and your sitters!

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 Cover Folded to Hold “Documents

Added to this is the fact that while the original papers are shown empty
while discussing them before the dark Seance, the objects come as a
complete surprise as it is not touched or mentioned until the packet is re­
opened at the end of the dark Seance. Time is on your side.

Inside Second Layer of Packet / Front & Back

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The classic ‘Buddha Papers' only involves one ‘move.’ I can hardly call it
that, because it is nearly invisible. However, to make things clear; at the
beginning I show the outside ‘Beat Instrumental' magazine page wrapper,
drawing attention to its history and unfolding it to present the second
folded layer, the ‘Driver's Seat’ page featuring Keith's first Premier drum
kit on one side and the Keith Moon Column on the other.

Both sides of this page can be shown freely; emphasizing the text and
subject matter. I then reveal the third folded inner death certificate, this
is opened carefully so as not to flash the underside, which has a matching
folded death certificate holding the payoff. This set is constructed by
folding and tightly pasting a second copy of the death certificate paper
that opens out on the other side. After displaying the death certificate and
speaking briefly about Keith's cause of death, 1 re-fold this critical third
inner sheet back together and turn it over to achieve the switch.

The first side is marked with a pencil dot or some other way to recognize
which side is which for easy reset. My Moonie set has a blue ink stamped
C.I.A. stamp on both death certificate sides with a slight difference I can
recognize on the empty side. I make no mention of this stamp. It is just
there to make things look official. Both sides must look identical, right
down to a small ink smudge you can see in the photo just to the upper left
of the stamp.

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 Inner Death Certificate Packet Ready to Unfold and Shown Empty

I finish the folding and hand this completed packet over to a sitter
somewhere as far away from my chair as possible, precluding any chance
1 could switch anything. The entire mini-illusion is now accomplished and
is literally in their hands (or under them actually.) Giving sitters
something to do keeps them busy and allows them to be an integral part
of the total experience. Use as many as you can! Be inclusive.

When you finally unfold the packet after the dark seance, your revelation
of Kim’s vintage photo and the smattering of pills is guaranteed to cause a
strong reaction. I suggest reading up on Kim and Keith’s tempestuous
relationship. Any time spent in this endeavor will help add a sense of your
understanding and possibly (for me, anyhow) identification with the total
performer Keith Moon exemplified.

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It is a fascinating love story full of starts and stops, dramatic ups and
downs, and the sort of tabloid adventures that make him the bigger than
life myth and memorable seance subject he was and still is. A little
knowledge goes a long way in seance research and a few hours of reading
can make the difference between ending your seance production with
mild magic show applause and actually seeing a few teary eyes around the
table.

After all is said and done, in the best of seance demonstrations, we are not
invoking a ghost, we are invoking emotion. After ratcheting up the tension

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with all the bells and whistles we can summon, the sitters will appreciate
this final moment to reflect on the entire experience they have witnessed.
The fact that these effects are so simple yet propelled by a subtle
generation of fear engendered by the supernatural narrative, relief acts as
a pressure valve and in this case, a tale grounded in emotional truth. We
are using the tropes of horror and the supernatural to cast light on the
inner darkness of humanity and in particular of our rock god hero. In a
lesser venue The Buddha Papers might seem laughable, but here the 'trick'
flies under the radar and results in a slightly unnerving manifestation.

Rope Tie

PROPS: Two pieces of standard magicians' rope.

Any good rope tie can be used. I prefer the in-chair-tie method I first
learned from ‘The Mark Wilson Course in Magic,' by Don Wayne called, 'The
Impossible Rope Escape.’ 1 use two lengths of rope, 36 inches in length. The
knots appear tight, legit and impossible to escape from. Without going
into details, see image below for the basic idea:

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If you do not have Mark Wilson's book. It is an invaluable reference and a
worthy investment. In lieu of the actual book in hand, remember please
all these things are now online. Google it or use your own imagination to
dig something up. The only prerequisite is to have the ability to free one
or both hands during the pitch black of the dark seance. Obviously, you
are going to need this slack to rattle the tambourine and toss it over the
heads of the seance circle, spray cognac into the air and generally create
Keith Moon havoc.

A Slight but Important Digression

Many years ago, when I first started using this tie, I performed it in the
standard magician's manner. That is, escaping from the rope and
triumphantly throwing the knotted mass of rope on the table and standing
up for my applause at the end of the seance, like Harry Houdini when he
would throw down his straight jacket.

Then I met Harley Newman.

Harley is a circus and sideshow wunderkind who has performed his

particular brand of escape artistry under the banner of ‘Professional
Lunatic.’ This moniker is descriptive of his off-the-wall style and not his
thinking. He turned my head around by suggesting the proper way this
rope tie should be performed. It makes no sense and looks like a magic
trick if you escape from the knots by immediately telegraphing to the
audience that you could have gotten free at any time if you are openly free
at the end!

I had overlooked this huge mistake. Unless you are doing Houdini
grandstanding, this complete logical disconnect should be obvious. To

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Harley’s and to many of the classic mediums including The Davenport
Brothers and Francis Willard’s way of thinking and performing, the knots
tied by the sitter should remain totally intact at the conclusion of the dark
seance. In fact, in the history of spiritualism (not magic), such knots were
often coated with red paraffin or wax to insure they were not tampered
with. Close inspection revealed nothing.

In Harley's handling, the same person who tied you up gets the privilege
to check the knots and make sure they have not been untied and follows
by untying his handiwork to signal to the rest of the sitters there was no
way you could have freed your hands while in the dark. They can tie down
your hands as tightly as they wish; you still can get the work done. The
actual freeing of the hands from the trick knot you have applied remains
a secret. Think about it. It makes total sense. Thank you again Harley.

Only after you have left out the bottle of holy water and set the
tambourine within easy reach directly in front of you where you can easily
get hold of it can you allow a sitter to tie your hands to your knees! The
candlestick is there in front of you as well, casting a ghostly reflection of
your face once the lights are extinguished. Remember, once the invocation
process has begun, you must be able to easily blow out the candle. In the
pitch-black darkness you need to be able to reach each object quietly and
effortlessly. Fumbling will not do!

A small spray bottle containing Hennessey Cognac is in my right coat

pocket. At the right moment in the seance script dialogue, when your voice
is at its loudest, reach into your pocket a spray just a little of the cognac

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mist into the air. I am sure if you are reading this book, you have already
become familiar with the term less is more and, in this case, it is
imperative. Too much spoils the olfactory illusion. Cheers!

Keith’s Usual Swill

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