Firstly let
let me start by saying thank
thank you to
to all the people that have
have followed this course.
It really is crazy how time flies – This is the 6 th volume in the series and this month we
will be looking at ‘Numbers’.
I am writing the introduction to this volume from within a tiny coffee shop in Dusseldorf
(Germany) and was hit with a moment of overwhelming feelings at how far I have come on
my journey. I was reading through an old notebook of mine (of which I have many, s temming
 back to scribbles from the first week I became interested in mentalism) and I read a
paragraph that has inspired this introduction.
-
 “I really wish I knew more about the grandfathers of mentalism, I know their material
(which is incredible, inspiring and life changing) but I really wish I knew more about
 them as people. What they felt
felt like when they were writing,
writing, what inspired them, what was
 their interests/ hobbies outside of mentalism
mentalism and what would it be like to sit and have a
conversation
conversation with them”.
I wrote that sentiment 4 years ago. It dawned on me just now, even though I never expect
 to be as well-known
well-known as the greats in mentalism
mentalism or even
even spoken of with the same respect,
respect, I
may not ever meet you the reader in person. I may not ever get to sit and have a
conversation with you in person (which is a shame as I wish we could all connect) and I
realized that after all of these years that is what my writing is missing… ME
During this volume (and this volume alone) I am going to share my feelings whilst writing.
You will get to know
k now how I am feeling at the time of writing certain sections and I will
 be open and honest about
about me as a person
person as to give you an insight into
into my world.
At the time of writing this introduction I am content, I started my journey in magic and
mentalism roughly 23 years ago and cannot believe all of the amazing opportunities and
doors it has opened up for me and I am thankful more than you guys will ever know.
I was a strange child, a little bit distant and had a crazily vivid imagination.
I was bitten by the magic bug the day after my mother abandoned me and my younger brother
 Sam’
 Sam
‘ ’ on my Nans doorstep. I remember seeing Lance Burton on television on Xmas day (we
were ditched Xmas eve) and being in awe as I watched him make doves appear and disappear,
candles turn into handkerchiefs and range of other unworldly things. I knew in my heart
from that very moment what I wanted from life… To be a magician.
I was an unruly child, wild and carefree and very, very independent. I think upon
reflection that my Mum leaving was probably the best and worst thing that has ever
happened to me. The best in the sense it changed time and space and opened up this world
of opportunity the worst because psychologically it makes it very difficult for me to
sustain a meaningful relationship with people (as a whole).
I learnt my first series of magic tricks from a supply teacher that came into the school,
I had been making drawings of me performing magic tricks and had told him that when I
 grew up that’s what
what I was going to be… Not what I wanted to be, what
what I was going to be.
 Armed with an array of effects – I wanted to show anyone who would give me the time of
day my skills.
 The problem was that no one really
really cared for my magic asas a child, it really fucking hurt
every time I tried to show someone a trick and they never took me seriously or dismissed
d ismissed
me. The only person that ever did was my Granddad and I saw him in-frequently. I started
 to become withdrawn and more wild, it seemed the
the only time people paid attention
attention to me was
when I did something dangerous like jumping out of trees or climbing shed roofs. I became
 a fighter, where I grew up you had to learn to defend yourself and this made me more
unruly. It was really strange because my circle of friends were the sort that attracted
 bullies, my best friend had (and still has) no hair as he had lost it to alopecia, another
friend of mine was Mark Pearson, was obsessed with Freddy Kruger and used to draw him
 all the time and then there was Robert Greenwood who stuck wax crayons in his ears and
 ate them (why I don’t know). The only thing that could ever really
ever  really hurt us? Words – If
 anyone even
even came close to trying to physically
physically attack
attack me or my friends (and
(and they tried on
 numerous occasions) I would battle them.
 That part of my world
world was manic.
Magic was the exact opposite - it brought balance and order to my life and it gave me
something to look forward to. Creating effects, sitting and refining my skills, having
something that was just mine that no one could take away from me and it made me feel
 alive.
I stayed friends with my small group throughout the entirety of my school life and the
only thing that really changed was the way that magic was perceived. David Blaine came
onto the scene, I was in high school at the time (we call it upper school in England) and
when his special hit T.V suddenly magic was cool. I was constantly flocked at high school
 to perform effects.
It was really strange because our little group had shifted from being outcasts to in-
 betweeners. We were accepted by the popular kids and even managed to stop a lot of the
 bullying that occurred in our year at school. It really was strange because the line
 between popular and outcast really became blurred, towards the end of high there really
wasn’t much of a difference anymore. I am not saying I was the sole reason for this
happening but I know the magic certainly helped.
 Because I always
always did my own thing andand never cared about
cared about anyone
anyone else’s
else’s opinion, when girls
suddenly ‘appeared’ I
‘appeared’ I was very popular because of my way of life. I used to walk down the
corridors with a guitar on my back twiddling cards around… In hindsight I probably looked
like a complete penis. I never shared with the ladies what I did on a Saturday afternoon
–  Each Saturday I worked on a market stall pitching magic products wearing a purple
velvet suit… I can assure you
assure  you I looked more or a penis than the guitar toting card twiddler
I was Monday through Friday.
I remember being on the stall and picking up a book that was all the way from America
(for the life in me I can’t remember what it was) and closing my eyes and imagining that
someone on the other sside
ide of the world would read my creations. It gave me a really strange
warm feeling. I continued creating effects and performing them at school, moving from one
 girlfriend to the next (not real relationships,
relationships, the teenage kind)
kind) and was very happy with
 the way things were going, life was running smoothly for the first time in what seemed
 an eternity.
My school life came to an end at 14 – I never finished upper school.
-
 This is a fact a lot of people do not know about me, I started at first skiving (skipping)
school and going round to a friend’s house to build cars and play the guitar. For the
record he never led in anyway, I made my own decisions. This went on for about a year
 and then my Nan found
f ound out, she took the news surprisingly well
we ll but my uncle (My Nan’s
son) who also lived with us went psycho. My uncle was a hot head and was very corporal
with his punishments (too extreme at times) and after a good beating he threw me down the
front steps of the house and told me not to come back.
 Things were about to change massively. I had just turned 15 and I was stubborn, if I had
returned home a couple of days later and begged for their forgiveness I would have been
 allowed back, I know that in my heart of hearts.
hearts. At the time
time I took it as a personal attack
 and after remember how my mum had treated me couldn’t help but feel that I was getting
 the same treatment. I vowed to punish them by not returning. It was autumn (fall) going
 into winter and I had no covers
covers a very small amount of clothing and
and nowhere to go as my
Nan was the only family that I had that lived in the area.
 The first couple of weeks I went to a nearby allotment and made a little shack out of
 broken bits of wood, twigs and debris and during the day did
d id the same as I always did
(never telling anyone my situation as I was too proud) and at night when all my friends
had gone in from playing out I returned to my shack.
I got caught living there by one of the residents that lived near the allotments and I
was forced to flee… I needed to change my tactics. I headed for the city center in the day
 time and busked using magic to make money get food and sustain myself and the nighttime
I would find a phone box to stay in for warmth.
 One day quite by chance my friend Tom (the chap who had
h ad lost his hair due to alopecia)
was off of school and I was on my way down towards his house and met a local business
owner John Creber who saw me messing around with the old pasteboards (cards). He asked me
 to show him a trick and after showing him a few of my pet effects he asked me what I was
doing off of school. I don’t know what compelled me but I told him I had left school (I
 never mentioned the fact that I was living
living on the streets).
streets).
He told me to come see him when I was 16 and he would give me a joinery (carpentry)
 apprenticeship, I remember jokingly telling
telling him to pick a card and if I could guess it he
was to give me the apprenticeship early.
early.
Cut a long story short the next day I was working for ‘Accommodate U.K’!
I was finally earning money, I rented a little bed sit on my own at 15 and had a full
 time job in a position
pos ition that most people would have had to finish school with good grades
 to get… All because
because of magic. It was around about this time sat in my bed sit I turned the
 television on and saw Derren
Derren Brown. My interest
interest in mentalism
mentalism had started
started I was hooked
hooked and
 the rest is as they say – History.
 I will save the rest of the story for another time as I feel by now
no w that you are itching
 to get into the content.
content. But
But I wanted to share with you
you just how much of a consistent thing
magic/ mentalism has been in my life. It is the only thing that has truly stayed with me
 through everything, relationships have come and gone as have friendships but the things
I am sharing with you in these volumes come from my heart and soul.
so ul.
If I went back to having nothing again tomorrow (in the materialistic sense) - I would
still be smiling as I would still have this.
 Through thick and thin…
thin…

P.s – My friend stopped

s topped eating wax crayo n…
 n… Well at
Well at least I think he did.
 Seems like a crazy
crazy question right?
right?
 Think about it,
it, numbers are something that appear
appear in every single aspect
aspect of our life from
pin codes, telephone numbers, addresses, age/ d.o.b to the # code of the hue scripting of a
colour! It makes complete sense to focus on numbers when performing mentalism. There are
so many interesting routines that are created based around number mentalism that it really
would be a shame to not take a look at some of the things that can be created around these
 abstract units. I am going to start by sharing the re-workings
re -workings of an idea of mine
m ine from
my very first release ‘Devious realities’ it is strange for me to look back at that work,
 it really was a pivotal
pivotal point in defining who
who I am now. I look at it and sometimes shake
shake
my head at how naïve I was, the methods and plots were cool but some of my thinking back
 then was out there. Kenton
there. Kenton really
really seemed to
to enjoy this routine,
routine, it was
was my take on ‘Gumball
 guessing’ at a fair ground except with Lego blocks?!?
blocks?!? Why Lego blocks I do not know but I
 got some great mileage out of this
this routine look how different
different I look here
here ha!
 The main reason I want to share this routine is that within it there is an interesting
principle that takes place towards the back end of the routine (or at least how I would do
 it now) after reading this I am going to share a close up variation straight out of my
close up set. The method for this is very, very simple and enables so much in terms of
performance.
I am going to start this routine in an unusual fashion, by sharing the method first!
 The method we are going to be employing during this routine is the old ‘Toxic force’ –
Here is the outlined method for the Toxic force.

 This principle goes
principle goes all the way back to the 70’s and as far as  I am aware is credited to
 Bob King. John Cornelius is credited
credited in other literature
literature that I have read on this subject
 but I believe
believe it pre-dates
pre-dates him.
 This principle enables you to turn some scientific calculators and mobile (cell) phone
calculators into calculators that will force any total you want – Without having to rewire
 them or tamper with them. I personally
personally use an IPhone
IPhone to perform this
this principle.
I always borrow the participant’s phone, I never use my own. Ensure the phone you use is
 an ‘IPhone
‘ IPhone’’ – This
– This will not work on an android. If you have an IPhone you can try this
 now, if you do not ask someone who does (that you know) if you can try this.
 Type in any total you want to force on your calculator,
calculator, then press

 To punch in the Parenthesis

Parenthesis (open bracket)
bracket) on the IPhone you
you have to rotate the phone on
 its side and the calculator
calculator on an IPhone
IPhone will turn into
into a scientific calculator.
calculator. Ensure
you press the buttons in that order and if you have done it right the times key will be
highlighted. Simply press the number zero and you are ready to test the phone.
 Type in any sum you want, make a few additions, subtractions, and
and when you are done
press equals and the look at what happens… The total you want to force will be the total
of all the sums you typed in!!
Just like that, you have an Add-A-Number force calculator.
 The reason this is called the TOXIC principle should be apparent but even people in the
 know sometimes miss this – toxic is the mnemonic used to remember the buttons to press.
 T O X I C
+ 0 X |(
It’s a quick way to remember, should you forget the order to press the b uttons in.
I will explain how I punch this into the participant’s phone in the second variant of this
effect.
 “A wisdom of crowds was a theory used
used to guess the weight of an ox. Many people have seen
contests in which they win a prize if a single person can guess the number of items in a
 barrel or jar. This is because guessing on your own can deceive you. Working with an
 average of many
many minds often gets
often gets you closer
closer to the truth.”
A jar is displayed that is filled with Lego toy pieces (or sweets). Eight people call out
 their guesses of the amount of Legos in the jar. A subject acting as judge writes
writes down the
 guesses called out. The judging spectator adds up all the numbers called out and gets a
large sum, such as 984. The judge then divides this large sum by the number of people who
called out numbers and gets to the average number of the group. In this example, 123. The
judge then opens the jar (or someone else may do so). Inside the jar, on top of the Legos is
 a paper with the true amount
amount of Legos in
in the jar written
written on it. Amazingly
Amazingly the total is 123!
 The calculations help
help both to bury and excuse the use
use of the calculator.
calculator.
I took the amount of Legos (123 pieces) and decided I was going to have eight people call
out their guesses from the audience, so I punched in this equation on an unprepared
calculator:
123 x 8
 This totaled 984, 984 is going to be the
the number I force.
force.
When I am performing this effect I always use this line –
Performer: “Inside this jar there are a number of Lego blocks, I think it is obvious by
looking there is more than one piece and just so you are aware there isn’t over three
hundred pieces. I want you all to think of how many blocks
many  blocks there are
are inside this jar”.
I would then ask eight people to shout numbers out, as the numbers are being shouted out I
have a judge on the stage who punches the number into the calculator.
 Of course this is when the person
person uses the IPhone and the total
total is already predetermined.
predetermined.
 They add in all the numbers and hit the = button, thus arriving at the total 984. I then
proceed to address the audience,
Performer: “I did say earlier that there is less than 300 hundred pieces and therefore I
 think it is obvious that there is not 984 pieces, but if we take that total and divide it
 by the number of people that took a guess we will arrive at the average number of the
 group as a whole.
whole. This is known as ‘The wisdom of crowds’.”
crowds’.”
 This is the beautiful part of the routine and the bit that I think completely kills any
 notion of the method existing.
existing.
I would then ask a member of the audience to remove their phone and go to their calculator
–
While they are doing this I ask the participants that made a guess to raise their hand and
I count them asking each one to drop their hand as I do so. This gives the person getting
 the phone out time to access the calculator
calculator and kills
kills the dead time.
 I then tell the person who has the calculator to punch in the total 984 and divide it by
 8 as that is the number
number of players
players and then press
press equals and call out the total.
 The total of course is
is going to be 123 –
 This is such a strong routine
routine - it hits hard! I also love
love the fact that the last section of
 the routine ends in the spectators hands.
hands.
 There is one subtlety that I highly recommend, when applying the toxic force it’s
understandable to be worried about letting the participant punch the numbers into the
phone as they could accidentally
accidentally punch in the wrong digits or clear the toxic force when
 they make a mistake
mistake by pressing the clear button.
button.
I had this happen on several occasions when first putting this type of routine into my
close up act.
Whenever you hit a snag like this, it’s very easy to over think the situation and decide
you are going to punch the digits into the phone to save this happening.
 This totally detracts from the overall power
power of the routine, it kills the reaction on the
end and leaves people with theories as to how the effect is achieved such as ‘maybe he
didn’t
didn’t punch in the right digits’ or ‘maybe he did something sneaky that we didn’t see’.
 There is a simple
simple remedy – think about the choreography
choreography of the routine and the way it is
constructed.
 Sometimes something as simple as one sentence can completely control the entire way a
participant acts.
In this situation the sentence I found worked the most seamlessly.
Performer: “I want you to do your best to punch in the numbers exactly as they are called
out, but if you make a mistake don’t worry just
worry  just keep moving forwards,
forwards, don’t try to rectify
 the mistake, as the mistake
mistake will just add to
to the randomness of the outcome of the total”.
total”.
 One thing I focus on extensively
extensively that I feel trumps
trumps every
every other principle in mentalism
mentalism is
‘Reframing’ .
 There are a lot of times when I feel a routine has a moment or phase that detracts from
 the overall performance
performance and the logical thing is to try and hide that moment or make it
 as invisible as possible.
possible.
I think that the exact opposite logic should be applied sometimes. The process of taking
 that moment and making it stand out the greats of mentalism ‘Banachek’ and ‘Ned Rutledge’
Rutledge’
call ‘Painting it red’. When I read  about this principle I instantly fell in love with it
 and it inspired me to think about how I could apply this logic
logic to my performances. After
 a while I got so used to
to taking the negative moments in performance
performance and changing them so
 that they made
made the overall
overall performance
performance seem
seem impossible that
that I started
started to call this process
‘Reframing’.
I was asked last week why I name every subtlety or principle and give it a label, this is
something that I feel is a good question, you may have even wondered that yourself and
 the honest answer is once I have named a subtlety or a principle its easy when I am
 creating an effect to quickly jump to the reference of the principle or subtlety if it has
 a name.
 Sometimes I create principles and have no place to put them as they don’t naturally fit
 the context of the premise or method I am working with at the time and I am never one to to
use a method or a principle for the sake of it. So I give it a name, which makes it findable
later when I am going through my notes.
Not only that, when someone asks me questions later it quickly enables me to know exactly
which detail they are talking about.
Anyway back to reframing, in this routine you will notice that the worry is that the
participant may clear the toxic force out of the calculator. We take this moment and we
make it an integral part of the routine and claim that if it happens it is something that
 none of us could have pre-empted and it only makes the entire routine as a whole more
 impossible.
 This from the participant’s perspective
perspective seems to be logically true and therefore it is
something that is not questioned because it coincides with their logic.
Rapport building is massively important in mentalism, the only time one should ever try
 to go against the grain,
grain, is
 is if it completely
completely integral to the routine (in terms
terms of that’s how
 the method works or it entails going against the grain in order to re-frame the
performance)… Let me try to give an example that is not relevant to this situation (very
 quickly I promise).
Peek Wallets – I fucking hate them, no offence to anyone that has created one or anyone
 that utilizes
utilizes them they just don’t work for me it doesn’t fit my character. A few years ago
ago
I was consulting for a performer who adored them and no matter how much I tried to
persuade him to convert to
convert  to a good billet
billet peek he wasn’t
wasn’t swaying.
I asked him what his justification was – he told me he didn’t need one
on e and that may be
 true (for you the reader) but the amount of times I saw people ask to look at the wallet
 after a routine was startling.
startling. He asked if I could
could help create
create a routine that utilized
utilized the
peek wallet.
 The long and short of the
the justification was this –
You find the biggest skeptic in the group, point out that you would like to play a game
where they have the chance to win everything and lose nothing, by everything you mean
 all the money that
that is in the wallet.
wallet.
 This is
is the point you would open the wallet and show 20/ 30 pounds, and bring out a business
card with a blank side on it.
 Explain that the skeptic
skeptic is to make a drawing
drawing on the card – This ensures that they cannot
lie later on or change their mind… Why wouldn’t they if the temptation of mone y is
 involved?
While the skeptic is making the drawing nominate a judge who is going to be the mediator,
 it is explained that the card is going to be placed inside the wallet with the money and
 they are to hold onto it. This ensures that the skeptic cannot
cannot switch the card and that the
money is on display at all times.
I think you can work the rest out.
It is integral to this routine to rub against the grain and create a game type scenario to
justify the need to put the card into the wallet. The logic that
tha t was created sits with the
participants understand of what is logical and we have reframed the weakest part in the
routine to be the fairest. This is I feel the only time you should go against the grain –
playfully.
 The rest
rest of the time
time it should be about creating
creating a positive
positive rapport – I have literally seen
performers ask people if they believe in psychics and then tear into the participant for
 their beliefs and that is not cool, nor does it make people want to remember you or pay
 an interest in what
what it is you have to show them.
When you reframe the parts of a routine that are the ‘compromise’ - reframe them to fit
 the participant’s beliefs and create
create a logic from their perspective.
perspective.
Note to the reader*** to stick in line with the way I set out to write this volume (as
mentioned in the introduction) I thought I would share my feelings at this point.
Whenever I am writing I feel one of two ways, excited inspired and raring to go or
 irritated, poorly (ill) and the words start to become a blur and I wish the world
wo rld would
just swallow me so I get away from the same sentence that I keep messing up over and over
 again.
It is currently 5.45am I have not slept for two days, I have just finished consulting for
 the night and time has ran away with me. This happened yesterday
yesterday I had not eaten
eaten all
all day
 and by the time I had finished around this sort of time,
time, left to get something to eat
eat and
 then replied
replied to my mail over breakfast,
breakfast, it was 9am. After breakfast
breakfast I was asked to go into
into
 a meeting with
with a magic company – which lasted an hour and a half. I then opened my mail
on Facebook and forgot that I had booked to have a meeting with a graphic designer, after
 the meeting
meeting I talked with
with Ben Seward via
via whatsapp
whatsapp about his new book and wrote a forward
for him and then Skype began to ring and Mijrin was calling me – After an hour on Skype
with Mijrin, a shower and a little bit of writing for
fo r myself (this volume) I was consulting
 again and today I was filming the introduction to this series and editing it whilst
multitasking and I was supposed to be going on a date this evening but cancelled it as I
was needed for a consultation… Don’t think I will be seeing her again.
Anyway I have ‘Making a murderer’ on in the background and I am now writing again, I
feel dehydrated but no amount of liquid is helping hydrate me. My eyes are burning in the
sockets but I have too many ideas going around in my head right now to sleep.
Mijrin joined me during part of my tour in Holland and he asked me after witnessing it
firsthand how I cope – The honest  nswer
a nswer is sometimes
sometimes I don’t!
What I am about to share is straight out of my working set. I love this routine… It kills
– When you read this, it is going to seem simple and you might dismiss it, try it because
I promise you the reactions you get when performing this routine are crazy. I have
h ave shared
 this routine with one other performer and he was dubious when he read it, he saw me
 performing this routine, added it into his close up set and he now uses this at every
performance he does.
Let me outline the full performance first then break it down piece by piece.
 There are a couple
couple of really
really beautiful moments
moments of psychology in this routine.
I have never given this routine a title – Staying consistent to the type of documentary
 that is on in the background
background I am going to call this routine
routine –

 The performer is sat at a table after performing several feats of mind reading with a
small group of participants.
 One of the participants
participants addresses the performer –
Participant: “Can anyone do what you do or is it something that you were born with”.
Performer: “Anyone can do it, it just takes time, and
time,  and with the
with the right guidance
guidance you wouldn’t
 believe the things that are possible.
possible. Do you have a bank note?”
note?”
 The participant reaches
reaches into their bag and produces
produces a bank note.
 The performer hands the note to another participant at the table whist addressing the
 group,
Performer: “I am so confident in your ability to do this, I am willing to bet ten pounds
of Sam’s money on the outcome”.
 The performer
performer asks to borrow
borrow the participant’s phone and accesses their calculator and
calculator  and lays
 the phone face up on the table. He then looks at the participant to his far left.
Performer: “I was asked if anyone can do this, they really can but you need to trust
yourself. I live at a property that has a two digit number on the door, tell me what number
house do I live at?”
at ?”
Participant: “17”
 The performer punches
punches 17 into the phone and then continues,
continues,
Performer: “As you walk into my house there are a series of paintings
painting s I painted, one is a
 triangle with the word freedom under it, what three digits
digits are surround
surround the triangle?”
Participant: “363”.
 The performer punches those digits into the calculator, then looks at the second participant.
Performer: “I am going to add whatever digits
whatever  digits you say to XXX’s.
XXX’s. I have a year in mind, a
year that is special to me. Tell me when you have a year in your head don’t say it out
loud”.
 Participant: “I have one”.
Performer: “You second questioned yourself, that’s not the year . Change your
your mind and tell
tell
everyone
everyone what year you feel is important to me”.
Participant: “2008”.
Performer: “Looking at me what singular digit is coming into your mind?”
Participant: “6”.
 The performer punches the numbers
numbers into the calculator
calculator and then quickly
quickly addresses a third
participant,
Performer: “Name the first number that pops into your head?”
Participant “9”.
 The performer
performer presses the plus key very openly and presses
presses the number nine and then stops
stops
– He readdresses the third participant.
Performer: “In-fact
“In-fact take the phone, punch in a
in a random digit (the participant does)… Another
(the participant does)… another two (the
(th e participant does). Place the phone face up on the
 table”.
 The performer looks
looks at the group for a second and then
then addresses them,
them,
Performer: “I asked you to tell me the exact
the  exact address I lived at, I live at 17 Thornton rd.
 and the painting inside my house has a triangle with the numbers 363 surrounding it.
Anyone in your position would have gone for the exact same numbers”.
He looks towards participant number 2,
Performer: “2008
Performer: “2008 was the year that my son was born and the number 6 was the very first
digit I learnt to transmit from mind to mind and started me upon the very journey that
has led me to this table right now and anyone in your position would have gone for the
same numbers also”.
also”.
He then looks towards the third participant,
Performer:  The
 “The numbers you punched in were seemingly random, had this of been anyone
else these digits would have been different but fate decided you would punch in these
 numbers. Fate decided you would be here tonight, out of anywhere else in the world that
you could have been and fate decided that we would meet.
Press the equal’s button”.
equal’s button”.
Does this total mean anything to anyone here?”
 The group proclaim
proclaim that it doesn’t.
 The performer then
then reaches for his wallet
wallet whist saying
saying –
Performer: “Would you believe
believe me if I told you that before I left the house tonight I took
 a pen and on a receipt
receipt in my wallet I wrote
wrote this number down and brought it with
with me?”
 The group look in disbelief as the performer casually shows his hands empty and slowly
reaches for his wallet, the group lean in intently waiting to see the receipt the performer
slowly opens his wallet and says –
Performer: “No I haven’t”
 The group breathe
breathe a sigh of relief.
relief.
 The performer then
then addresses the group,
group,
Performer: “Wouldn’t it be interesting if this total was the serial number on the bank note
 that you have been holding the entire time?”
 The group look at the
the serial number…
number… It matches
matches and the group go crazy!
 Trust me, when
when I tell
tell you
you how amazing the reactions are when performing this routine… It
 kills
Hence calling it Serial Killer.
I am going to break this routine down into steps, the first step is stealing the serial
 number from the participant’s
participant’s bank note
note – This
– This is incredibly easy

When you ask the participant for a bank note, try to ensure that it comes from the
participant’s purse or wallet. The reason being that the note will be in the note section
of the wallet and it will come out flat as opposed to folded. If it does come out folded
don’t worry, just simply open it.
You are looking for the serial number, on the English notes it is on the width edge of
 the note. Remember the last six digits, on an English note they
they are
are grouped
grouped together. There
 is no real technique to remembering
remembering the 6 digits
digits - let’s say the number was 873456, I just
say it to myself in my head a couple of times. You can break it up into two, three digit
 numbers but honestly
honestly you are only remember the
the digits for a few seconds.
 On an American note, remember the
the first 6.
 The way that this section of the routine is framed is that you are using this as part of
 gag/ prize, there is no heat on the note as that is all it seemingly there for. No one is
watching out for you to be looking at the serial number, just take your time there is no
rush, in performance trust me this flies by.
 The mechanics are simple you take the note whilst
whilst saying –
Performer: “I am so confident in your ability to do this… (This is where you take your
peek) I am willin g to bet (Double check
check the serial
serial number) 20 pounds of XXX’s money on the
outcome”.
It gets a laugh and you hand the note to someone in the group. You are literally
literally holding
 the note for the briefest
briefest period of time
time and handing it
it on.
 When you come to the kicker of the routine  the participants will swear you didn’t touch
 the note and
note and you didn’t ever
ever know/ see the serial number. The amount of times people
people will
swear that they handed the note to whoever is holding it is startling.
 The next section is loading
loading the
 the total into the participant’s phone.
phone.

 This is my favourite section because

because it is the boldest little
little moment in the entire
entire routine
 but flies by beautifully.
beautifully.
When you get to the calculator hold it towards yourself and look at the participant who
 gave you bank note, punch in the serial number on the calculator and apply the toxic
force.
 Then proclaim to yourself,
yourself,
Performer: “In fact, let’s do it this way”.
[The aim here is to make it seem like you were going to get them to do something and then
 at the last second changed your mind. I would suggest
s uggest putting the phone face down for a
few seconds and then picking it up and sstating
tating the line above.
After stating the above line hit the number 0 and BOOM! You are ready to rock and roll,
 the rest is
is all presentation
presentation from
from this point. There are a couple of moments in the routine
I want to talk about that make this routine special (at least to me). This first is to pay
 attention to what numbers the participant calls out. This routine you will find makes it
 incredible easy for you to remember the numbers that are called out as each one you are
connecting to something visual. The numbers are also broke down into sections, so it’s not
like remembering a huge total but a series of broken down numbers.
 There is 2 digit
digit address, a 3 digit number around
around a painting,
painting, a year and a random digit –
remembering them like this you will have all the time in the world to commit them to
memory.
You don’t need to remember the last 5 digits that
t hat the participant punches in.
When you call out the digits back to the participant in a confident manner (just before
 they press the equal’s 
equal’s  button) it will be as though the participant’s  genuinely guessed
 numbers that are tied to your life. When the reveal hits at the end of the routine it
confirms that they genuinely did guess things from your life (giving themselves credit
for doing something that can only be described as inexplicable).
Another little subtlety is when the second participant
participant thinks of
o f a year. It really doesn’t
matter what number the participant thinks of as the total is predetermined so I take
 advantage of this tiny moment – I tell the participant the first year they are thinking
of is wrong and to change their mind, without them ever saying the year they are thinking
of out loud. Think of this from a psychological point of view, it suggests that you can
read whatever
whatever numbers come into the participant’s head when they were  thinking of them
(in a very indirect sense). This is again confirmed when the reveal comes to fruition.
 There is one
one more area I have
have found gets a great reaction even though I have done nothing,
 the wallet.
wallet. This moment
moment plays
plays a huge part in the routine from a construction
construction point
point of view
 as it releases some of the pressure that has been built up and kills a lot
lot of the participant’s
expectations. When the numbers are revealed to be the serial number of the bank note it
 totally takes the participant out of the left field and knocks them for six. I love the
 idea of diverting
diverting the attention of the
the aud
audience
ience after creating an expectation,
expectation, killing that
expectation and then reinstating it with a bang. This routine is one of those routines that
 is ultra-simple
ultra-simple in terms of mechanics and the big moment doesn’t take a long time to get
 to. Try this routine at least once I guarantee
guarantee you
you will love the
the way it plays
plays out.

 This routine is a routine that I have mass amounts of fun playing around with, the more
you do this the faster you will get at it and the cleaner it will appear.
 This is a variant of something that I released in the past that 90% of you wont of seen
or had the chance to play with and this is a variation you most certainly have not seen
 as I have been selfish with it for some time.
I am so shocked
s hocked that no one has come across this before, it is not only clever but fun to
perform and impossible to back track.

 The performer proposes to try an experiment with a couple of participant’s, before he

 attempts the experiment he looks at the two participants
participants and tries to work out how each of
 them thinks. He proclaims that one of them he believes sees things analytically and the
other aesthetically but he might be wrong.
He asks the first participant to take out their mobile phone and punch in a series of
random digits, whilst the first participant is doing that the second participant is asked
 to think of the name of someone that means something to them but not to go for a
ridiculously long name for reasons that they will understand in a moment.
 The first participant
participant adds more digits to the digits he has already
already punched in and whilst
 the first participant is punching numbers in the second participant is asked to look at
 their dial pad on their
their phone and under the numbers they will see letters.
letters. They are
are asked
 to convert the letters
letters to numbers so for example the name ‘Rose’ would convert to the
 numbers ‘7673’ as the letter R appears with the number 7 above it the letter O with the
 number 6 above it
it and so on and so forth.
 The participant
participant is advised
advised to not choose a name that is longer
longer than 6 letters
letters as they
they have
 to remember the digits
digits and the entire outcome
outcome of the experiment is based
based on their ability
 to do so.
 The first participant at this point has finished creating a random pin code, the second
participant is handed the phone and is asked to add their private code to the first
participants and press equals. The performer directs the second participant to not worry
 about the total as it will confuse things the total is there merely
merely to obscure the two pin
 codes and that if he (the performer)
p erformer) was to look at the total he couldn’t differentiate
 between the first pin code punched into
into the phone and the second.
 The participant agrees that is so, just before the phone is handed to the performer, the
performer notices that the first participant is looking dubious so he asks for the total
 to be erased entirely.
entirely.
 The performer then looks at the first participant and guesses their pin code confirming
 that the participant
participant does think analyticall
analytically.
y.
He looks at the second participant and starts to struggle, he claims that his suspicions
were true the second participant focuses on things aesthetically and he would like to try
 things differently as
as he is struggling
struggling with the number.
number.
 The performer takes his mobile
mobile phone out and asks the participant to think about the name
of the person he is thinking of.
He takes a photo of the participant and starts to point out things from within the
photograph that are giving him clues and finishes by correctly guessing the name that the
second participant is thinking of!!

 This routine was something that was created by accident, I was sat on hold when calling
Virgin media (which is an internet provider in the U.K.) and then an automated voice came
on and said “To help speed things up ,
 , use your keypad to punch in the first digit of your
 accounts passcode”.
passcode”. Normally
Normally I am pissed off at the lack
lack of human interaction during these
these
phone calls, but this one was different I put the phone down before even connecting with
 an actual human to
to talk about my account.
I ran straight to my note pad and thought about all the different applications, I thought
 if I could get hold of the
the numbers somehow I could
could convert them back
back to letters and know
what the participant was thinking of.
 The first idea I had was way off base and
a nd I was struggling to convert the numbers back
 into letters as the time it took was far too long. Disappointed I made my call to Virgin
Media and put the idea to bed.
A few months later I was going back through my notebooks and I saw this idea and thought
I would give it another go. I once read a quote (I don’t know where from) that suggested
 if there is ever anything you want
want to know just Google it.
I Google’d and google’d and after about an hour of searching I came across this –
www.Aer.org
 This will convert the
the numbers back
back to a word in an instance.
instance.
You may be thinking to yourself – Why not just have someone write it down on a billet
 and then reveal it. Valid
Valid point, put I think it is counter intuitive
intuitive to have someone
someone create
 a passcode on a mobile phone to then have someone else write
write on a billet
billet – Doesn’t it make
sense to have both participants entering their information on the same platform?
 Not only that, as they are changing the letters to numbers they assume you are going to
reveal the numbers making the reveal of the word/ name incredibly impressive as they
 never expected
expected it.
Another positive is that it instantly makes the plot credible, claiming that you find one
participant analytical and the other aesthetic based in their thinking and then proving
 it in the end by reveali
revealing
ng the information the way you first called
called it.
I believe whole heartedly if the participant is alone and you have a billet to hand
 UTILIZE THE BILLET but if you don’t have a billet and you want to reveal words or names
 this will work perfectly and is often more impressive as it’s a less direct line to backtrack
 than writing on a billet.
Let’s first take a look at the dodge (motivation) to put the numbers into your phone to
convert them back to a word. I am going to describe this in the only way I can (from the
perspective of an IPhone owner) – If you own an android you can do this, I just don’t know
 the buttons… Sorry.
Sorry.
 On your IPhone visit –
 The aforementioned website
website – www.Aer.org
Note to the reader*** Just to show you how good this website below is a picture of a dial
pad, create a long word and punch the numbers into the website – Here is an example of
how to create a code.

Let’s say you were thinking of the word ‘damage’ look at the numbers that create that word
 The first one would be a 3 (as the letter ‘d’ is in the box with the number 3) the second
would be a 2 (as that’s where ‘a’ is) and you would do this for the rest of the letters.
Note on the IPhone the letters are underneath the dial pad.
 The numbers that would
would be used to represent
represent the word damage
damage would be – 326243
If I copy these letters into the website this is what I get

You will notice looking at the photo, there is only one word – The rest are broken in
half, all you need to do is quickly look down through the center of the breaks to the one
whole word (connected) and you know what the participant is thinking of.
 The question that should be on your mind
m ind right now is how in the middle of performance
do you access the website and punch in the numbers?
 Test this out –
Leave the website open, press the home button on the IPhone. The phone will go back to the
main menu, go into your gallery on your phone and look at a photograph (you will understand
why in a moment).
Double tap the home button twice and a quick access menu should appear, swipe up on
 anything other than the photo you are looking at and the internet page (www.aer.com). It
will close the rest of the applications and just leave them to open.
In performance you won’t have to set this up again as long as you remember to close all
other applications before you go into performance.
Double tap the home button again it will go back to the photograph.
Let’s pretend you are looking at the photograph of the participant, touch the screen a few
 times like you are pointing things out about the photograph (this is purely theatrics but
serves a purpose) double tap the home button after a few seconds
s econds and click the safari tab
you will notice it instantly jumps to the webpage!
 Under the guise of pretending
pretending to point out other things
things about the participant
participant photograph,
you tap in the numbers and click enter. When you know the word simply double tap the home
 button and click the photo and the photo will
will open again!
again!
It literally takes a few seconds to jump between the two.
If you know the star sign anagram (outlined in several of my earlier works) you can
perform this during looking at the photograph, it is not necessary but can buy you time
 if you are slow during the punching in the number process. If you have practiced this
dodge enough it should only take a few seconds to do.
I love the visual of asking a participant to think of the name and then take a photograph
of them whilst proclaiming –
Performer: “Our brains process up to 15,000 thoughts a second, by asking you to focus
f ocus on the
 name and taking a photograph at the exact moment it’s at the front of your mind  means
 that I can read the photograph without other thoughts clouding the thought that is relevant
 to me guessing what you
you are thinking”.
thinking”.
 This I feel is the perfect justification for taking a photograph, I also love the visual
or reading the photograph to deduce things about the participant. Thinking about it, this
 is almost a modern
modern take on ‘Sneak Thief’ – It
– It is certainly remnant of it.
 For more information on reading the participant, refer back to the ‘Readings’ volume in
 this series.
Now I have outlined the process of how to convert the numbers back to words, let’s take a
look at how to retrieve the numbers so that we can punch them into the generator.
 The first participant’s number you have a choice you can use the ‘toxic force’ outlined
earlier no matter what numbers they punch into the calculator you know what it is going
 to equal in advance
advance – That takes care of the first participant’s
participant’s code.
If you do not want to utilize the toxic force you can always use the ‘life equation’ this
 is something I have covered a few times in my previous works – If you do not know it,
here it is
it is outlined quickly
quickly (As I don’t want to
to keep going
going over old material).

 This is a very, very

very old effect and
and one that in its original
original form was
was fairly
 transparent. With the
the scripts I offer here, you will
will never get
get called on this,
this, as it seems
so fair.
Did I mention this can be done over the telephone?
I will outline the script that makes this seem impossible after the breakdown.
Ask the participant to go into their calculator. Most mobile phones have them, making it
probable that they have one on their person.
At first I will explain the formula, remember this is transparent and appears like math
 in its original form
form (until you add the script).
Ask the participant to type in the year they were born. Make sure they type it in in
full four-digit form.
 Tell them to press
press the plus key and
and to type in a year
year that is special
special to them.
 Tell them to press
press the plus key again
again and then
then to type in their age.
 Tell them to press
press the plus key for the last time and to type in the number of years
yea rs it’s
 been since the special
special year.
year.
Press the equal’s key.
equal’s key.
What they have just done is calculated their life number. If you take a look at the math,
you will see an interesting
interesting thing has taken place.
 They will type in their D.O.B. and then their age.
age. When they total
total this, it will total the
year we are in currently (2016).
When they add their special year and the number of years it’s been since the special
year, it will also equal the current year (2016).
When you add these together it will total 4032 (sometimes 4031). Stripped down and
 arranged like this the equation seems totally obvious.
 To hide the process of this mentalism effect, one could stagger
stagger the mathematical
mathematical
operations so that it looked less obvious, but with a little investigative work it become
fairly easy to backtrack.
Here is a script that I use that ensures that it will never be backtracked.
 Performer:  There
 “There are three
three ways to generate
generate pin
pin codes, the first is to hit and
and hope
punching in random numbers and hoping we remember them at a later date, the second is
 to choose a number that
that would represent
represent something that is
is meaningful to us like
like a year
 and the third is to take
take a series of events
events from our life and add them all up and create
 a total. The last way
way is the safest because it is not just one event, and two if
if at any
point we forget the total, we will never forget the events and therefore we can never
forget the pin code.
I want you to take out your phone and access you calculator, type in the year you were
 born —
 — the full four digits
digits if you will.
will. Keep the calculator
calculator toward
toward yourself.
 There is no way I could
could know the year
year you were born.
born. I could estimate,
estimate, but that’s
that ’s all it
would be: estimation but I don’t feel this is a fair enough pin code.
Press the plus key for me and then type in a year that is special to you, one there is
 no way that anyone here could know again
again four digit form.
 This number is a number
number relevant only
only to you and based on probability
probability this number will
 be completely different
different from everyone else’s here .
 . Things are getting
getting a little fairer.
Press the plus key again and then type in your age and press the equal’s key.
equal’s  key.
I want you to look at that total, my special year occurred
occurred in 2010, I am assuming yours
 is different right?”
It will be based on prob ability
 ability (if
(if it is not don’t worry).
Performer: “If
“If you were to press the plus key and type in how many years it has been
since your special year, in my case it would be six (2016 is the year we are in) I would
have a different total to you even if coincidentally we were the same age.
 So think of how many years
years it has been
been since your special
special year, press
press the plus key type
type
 in that amount and press
press equals.
What you have just done is generated a pin code, do you agree that this pin code is
fairer than the actual
the actual one you have
have set on your
your phone right now?”
 The participant will
will agree
agree it is.
Performer: “Can you remember this number for me?”
(Let the participant respond.)
 To reiterate the total will
will be double the year you are
are in. It is 2016 here
here so it will be
 “4032”. You will notice
notice that the number
number will be “4031”
“4031” if the participant’s
participant’s birthday has
 not occurred yet.
yet. If you wanted you can
can ask off the cuff if the participant
participant has
celebrated their birthday this year. If they say no the total will be one less.
 This kills on its own! I have
have been using this for the last couple
couple of years
years and I love it
when I have nothing on me, as it can be performed anyplace, anytime.
In performance you might think this takes a long time, but it really doesn’t. It is over
very quickly once you have the scripts memorized.
memorized. I can have this done
done in about 30
seconds -
 This is the life equation.
equation.
It can be used over the phone, as a standalone effect or as part of a larger routine (like
 this one).
 One thing that is important to know is where I ask participant
participant two to work out their code
–
When participant one presses equals for the first time (after they have punched in their
 age) this is where I have participant two take out their phone, give them the instruction
 and as they are undertaking their instructions (generating the numbers from the letters
of the word) I then get participant one to finish their final instruction (adding the
 amount of years
years it has been since their special year). This ensures that both of them finish
roughly at the same time.
When they have done this you would ask participant one to remember their total and then
hand the phone to participant two. You would then proceed to ask participant two to press
 the plus key and add their pin code.
code.
 Tell them to ignore
ignore the
the total, the total is there just so you (the performer) can’t tell the
difference between the two numbers whilst looking at the total. Essentially you have
obscured the two pin codes.
 This is where you have
have a few options open to you –
If you are utilizing the toxic force, you can always use something suggested by Karl Scott
 in ‘Isabella’s
‘Isabella’s Star 2’ that
that was
was called
called ‘the poison peek’
peek’ essentially
essentially if you
you round
round of the total
you want to force to a square (ish) number like ‘5001’ for example then when participant 2
participant  2
 adds their number to it you are instantly going to know the second person’s total with a
simple bit of mathematics for example if the total was – ‘9982’ just look at the difference
 between each number- you would pretty much instantly know that the secon d participant’s
code was ‘4981’.
 This is if you want to look
look at the total – and you want to apply the toxic principle.
If you are utilizing the life equation the math  is just as simple. Let’s say for example
 the code is –
‘9346’
If you look at each digit in turn (from left to right) just look at the difference in size
of each number in comparison to the life equation.
4031 – This is the total of the life equation (2016).
9346 – This is the overall total.
 The first one is 5 higher, the second one is 3 higher,
hi gher, the third one is 1 higher and the
last one is 5 higher.
 So the second persons
persons pin code should be –
‘5315’
 Obviously the more digits the second participant chooses the
the harder
harder the mathematics becomes
 to work out.
I personally prefer to use Michael Murray’s
M urray’s – ‘CAL ender’ principle which I think is
diamond! As with anything Michael does, it is pure genius. If you are interested in getting
 any of Michael’s work
work visit – www.mindfx.co.uk
– www.mindfx.co.uk
Note this principle will only work with the IPhone, when you pick your participants save
 this effect for when you
you notice that the participant has
has this type of phone.
After the second participant has added their number to the first participant’s number and
has pressed equals, if you ask them to tap the erase key (ensuring they tap it just once)
 if you take the phone and press equals, just the second participant’s total will pop back
up onto the screen!
Which means that you will instantly know the second participant’s total
participant’s  total and all you have
 to do is remember it.
it.
We have found out how to gain access to both numbers (as the 4031 should be committed to
your memory and therefore you don’t need to think about the first persons pin code) and
 the second persons
persons will just be a case of recalling
recalling the total and then after recalling
recalling the
 total remembering
remembering the numbers
numbers to punch into the website whilst using the
the photograph
photograph dodge.
dodge.
Note to the reader*** If you are using the principle that gain you access to the second
participant’s code, then there is no need to see the total of the two parti cipants numbers.
Pay close attention to the section of scripting above where I mentioned that the two codes
 are obscured by adding them together
together and creating
creating a brand new
new total.
After you have said this, you would then proceed to say –
Performer: “If I was
wa s to look at the total now I would obviously not be able to tell your
code (pointing toward participant one) from yours (pointing towards participant two)”.
 Both participant’s will obviously have to agree,
agree, this
 this is where you follow up with -
Performer: “I  know you are a little skeptical (aimed at participant one), you think if
somehow I see the total it might give me a clue, okay I wouldn’t usually do it this way.
 Tap the ‘clear’ button for me.”
[Note I use the word tap.}
 This is where you would utilize the principle
principle once the participant believes
believes it is gone and
 the second participant’s
participant’s code will come back.
In the participant’s mind, even if you somehow recalled the total (which shouldn’t cross
 the participant’s
participant’s mind) how could
could you possibly
possibly know by looking at the
at the total the pin codes?
You can also perform this with one participant – (if you don’t have a billet handy).
You would ask the participant
participant to create a code and remember it (based on a name or a random
word) then you would ask them to access their calculator and punch in their favorite
 number and proceed to ask the participant
participant to add the code to it and ignore the total as
as in
 the performance –
 Then use the ‘CAL ender’ principle
principle to gain the second
second total – This
–  This is where you would ask
 the participant which
which number is the most impressive
impressive number of the two to guess. Of course
 they are going to say the pin code generated by the name as it is the longer number of
 the two.
Proceed to move into the photo dodge and boom! You know the exact word/ name the participant
 is thinking of.
 This is very simple in working but I feel is a very modern way to gain access
access to someone’s
 thoughts without having
having to rely on billets or mass amounts
amounts of mechanical labor.

Just as an idea – Note this is something I have not played with but it might give you food
for thought and I have certainly never seen it used before.
Imagine that you were performing to six participants and you learnt each of their names
– For
 For example
 Erik, Oscar, Leanne, Fred, Robert
Robert and William. We will imagine the performance
performance is an after
dinner performance for these six individuals.
It is preferred if you know the guests first names from wedding table lists, private dinner
 banquets etc.
IF you are bold during performance you can do this real time.
 Either way, take the
the first letter of each of the participant’s
participant’s names in
in this case it is –
 E, O, L. F. R. W
And visit this site –
Litscape.com
If you punch those letters into the website it will give you a series of words that can be
made up of these letters.
 The longest word that
that can be created
created from these letters
letters is the word – Flower.
 Flower.
It might occur that all of the letters won’t make a word, let’s imagine 5
imagine  5 out of 6 of the
letters will for example -  all you need to do is make whoevers letter doesn’t app ear in
 the word the judge of the experiment.
With a word like Flower you could probably force this using a psychological force (outlined
 in the ‘Drawings’ volume )
 ) and therefore you wouldn’t revert to using numbers (as you wouldn’t
 need to).
Look at your dial pad and see what numbers make up that word.
In this case (flower) the code is - 356937
 This is the total
total you
you will
will punch
punch into the toxic force, hopefully
hopefully some of you might
might already
already
see where I am going with this…
 Here is a performance pretending that we knew just the first names of the participants in
 advance.

We will pretend that the performer has be come acquainted with the participant’s. He addresses
 them,
Performer: “What I am about to show you is not de javu
de javu in the sense that this is something
 that I have lived
lived out before but Vu jade in the sense
sense that I have pre-empted what is going
 to happen before it happens.
I have here a prediction, a vision of things to come that I think each one of you will
find interesting.
 Fred I am going to start with you, take
take this phone and punch
punch in a five digit
digit number that
means something to you, it can be made up of your date of birth, a pin code or any five
digits that are only relevant to
relevant  to you”.
 The performer writes down the name Fred on a piece of card. It is essential that we
remember the order the numbers were punched in – It is essential to the outcome”.
 Fred finishes punching in the numbers
numbers and then the performer asks the phone to be handed
handed
 to Leanne.
Performer: “You do the same, five digits tha t
 t me an
 an something to you
you in some way”.
 The performer writes
writes down the name Leanne.
 The phone is handed to, Oscar, William, Erik
Erik and Robert and the process is repeated.
repeated.
After each member of the group have punched in numbers that mean something to them they
press the equal’s key.
equal’s key.
 The total is written
written down underneath the
the list of names.
 The prediction is then
then opened and inside it says –

 The group watch intently as the numbers are punched into the box – the group are asked
what coherent word is made from the exact total they punched in.
 They come up with the word Flower – It is explained how that word is generated and the
 group understand that had the total been different the word would have been different.
 The performer then
then addresses the group,
group,
Performer: “Does the word Flower mean anything to any of you?”
 The group proclaim
proclaim that it does not, the
the performer continues,
Performer:
Performer: “Sometimes the greatest things in life are right underneath our nose and we
just don’t know it, this word means a little bit of something to each and every one of you.
 There is no way any of us could have known the total right? I asked each of you in a
particular order to punch in digits that mean something to you.
What word do we get if we take the first
f irst letter of each of your names?”
 The piece of card is turned around and the group realize that the word spelt using the
first letter of each of their
thei r names is the word ‘Flower’.
 The group go nuts!
I think you can see
s ee the potential this type of routine has, the routine is so simple in its
working and I can assure you I will be refining it as I feel that it has some real value.

I said in the introduction to this document sometimes I will chime in with my feelings,
right now I am feeling wide awake! I have been writing for a few hours it is currently
3.12am and I think I will do another hour before I try rest my head.
I want to share what helps me decide on pursuing a routine or an idea, this is going to
sound like a really esoteric view (to which you are either going to believe me or not) but
I feel it. I am working on something with a pair of dice at the moment, the routine is not
even about a pair dice (or associated with dice) the idea behind the routine was to force
something else (which I won’t go into right now) and I cannot for the life in me tell you
why I decided to use dice (albeit invisible) to force this thing.
 Something just made
made me feel like a pair of dice would work… I am about 30% away from
finishing it and I really am glad that dice popped into my head as it completely was a
 good choice. The point I am making is I feel something no matter how silly it seems I
follow my feelings and see it through to the end. I don’t worry about anyone else’s opinion
I just keep moving forwards.
When you come to creating your material, trust your feelings and instincts and see where
 it takes you. Each month I have made an effort to talk a little bit about my creating
process and this plays a big role in it – It works for me.
 On another note, I highly recommend ‘Making a Murderer’ –  It was insightful and even
 though it was only on in the background
background it was a great series
series that I watched back to back.
 Speaking of dice,
dice, here is something that
that you can have
have some fun with.

A performer is sat one on one with a participant (this can be a group).

Performer: “Have you ever had or heard of  a numerological
numerological reading before?”
reading before?”
Participant: “I h ave
 ave heard of them,
them, but
 but never had one”.
one”.
 Performer: “The way that they usually work is that the reader would take the date and
month the was born, for example mine is 26 10 and then add those numbers together, which
 in my case would be
be 36 and then they
they would add those
those numbers together
together to create a single
digit in my case 3 and 6 would be 9.
 They would then take
take the number 9 and give you a reading based
based on that number. What
month and date were you born?”
Participant: “12 th of February”.
Performer: “So yours would be 12 and 2 add them together you get 14 and then reduce it by
 taking 1 and 4 adding
adding them together
together to get 5. As you
you can see our totals
totals are different.
different. I
 am going to give you a reading.
reading. Before we get
get into this, name a playing card
card suit for
me”.
Participant:
Participant: “Hearts”.
Performer: “I want you to imagine you are holding a dice in your left hand and another
 in your right, in a moment not yet you
you are going to
to roll the two dice.
dice. Obviously each
dice has the numbers 1-6, a different number on each face when you roll them I want you
 to see two different numbers, if you rolled
rolled them one dice
dice might say 2 and the
the other dice
might say 6 added together the total would be 8. The total is going to be different each
 time you roll it the second time you roll it the total might by 5.
Imagine rolling the dice now, seeing the two numbers and then adding the two random
 numbers together”.
together”.
Participant: “Done”.
Performer: “Do you agree that this total is completely random?”
Participant: “Yes”.
Performer: “What is the number you created?”
Participant: “7”.
Performer: “If we took this number and the playing card suit, combined them, the playing
card you generated is the 7 of hearts.
Please don’t forget that.
In a deck of cards you have 52 playing cards, I want you to imagine taking a number of
cards out of the box, it is essential that you know the number of cards in your hand and
 in the box. For example
example if you took 13 playing cards
cards out of the box there would be 39
 that remain inside the box.
Have you done that?”
Participant: “Yes” .
 .
Performer: “In my case there is more cards inside the box, in your case is there more in
 the box or more in your
your hand?”
 Participant: “More inside the box also”.
Performer: “If I took the amount inside my box and used the same numerological principle
principle
 that we discussed earlier
earlier with the birthdates, I would
would have 39 cards,
cards, so 3+9 would be 12
 that’s still a two digit
digit number so I would
would do this again
again to get a single
single digit, 1+2 would
would
 be 3.
In my mind I imagine taking 3 cards out of the box and adding them to the amount in my
hand.
I had 13 in my hand to start with, so if I take three more out of the box and added them
 to my hand it would be
be 16.
Can you do that with yours?
Participant: “Erm.. Yes”.
Performer: “Can you tell me the amount in your hand when you have done that?”
Participant: “25”.
Performer: “Again you can see like our birthdays the number I chose, created a different
 total to yours.
Just so we are clear you have 7 of hearts for the playing card and the number 25
correct?”
Participant: “Yes correct”.
Performer: “If we look at the 7 of hearts, in terms of a reading, the 7 of hearts is
representative
representative of the type of person that is outgoing, someone who is guarded when it
comes to their feelings but to family and friends completely open hearted. Someone who
 is currently starting
starting a new chapter
chapter in their lives be it romantic
romantic or in career
career as it’s
 almost like everything
everything was turned
turned upside down but now it has started
started to take shape or
order.
 The number 25 is the number
number that represents
represents fate, one could
could say that because
because you chose
 this number if you believe
believe in fate then it was pre-determined
pre-determined that
that you would choose this
 number. It represents
represents the fact that everything is destined to happen
happen for a reason
whether it be love or loss. You being here today, at this time in this place was all
written and coursed out for you before you ever decided upon it mentally.
Do you believe in fate?”
Participant: “Not really”.
Performer: “Well maybe it is a coincidence that you chose the 7 of hearts and the number
25, see that deck of cards that has been sat on the table the entire time?”
Participant: “Yeah?”
Performer: “Pick them up and count them down face down one at a time to 25”.
 The participant does
does this.
 Performer: “Turn the 25 th card over”
 The participant does
does it and it is the 7 of hearts!!
After the participant reacts they settle down,
Performer: “If you think that was a coincidence then you will think this is one hell of
 a coincidence, turn
turn over the rest of the deck”.
 The rest of the deck is
is turned over and it is entirely
entirely blank! The seven
seven of hearts was
 the only printed card
card inside the deck.
deck.

 This routine is incredibly

incredibly simple and
and is based on the truthful
truthful way that people
people give
 numerology readings.
readings. They genuinely
genuinely do reduce
reduce double digits down
down to one digit and then
then
use that digit to give a reading, if your participants wanted to Google numerological
readings this would be the first thing that pops up. So if your participant’s wanted
wanted to
do this later they genuinely could and it would stay consistent with the story within
 this routine.
 On paper this is something
something that is going to seem like a big process, when you
you perform it
 is not. I remember when I wrote up ‘trust your instincts’
instincts’ and everyone
everyone said the process
process
was far too much and dismissed it (because it was written and not filmed). I then
performed it as the open to my penguin lecture and it fooled the majority of people that
watched it because in performance you cannot from the audience’s perspective
perspective see the
process.
You are privy to all the subtleties, details and alternative presentations,
presentations, so when you
read this it is going to seem like a much longer process than it plays out in
performance.

 This is the bit of the routine

routine that is not 100%
100% and I am still
still cleaning this up but I
have a large amount of success with this way of forcing
f orcing a card. Because there is a
process in getting to a number from 1-52 the playing card force really needs to be over
very quickly and therefore I feel this is perfect for that. The reason I chose the
 number seven is because
because I can force the number seven
seven in a variety
variety of different ways.
ways.
 The first way is outlined
outlined in the ‘psychological
‘psychological playing
playing card forces’
forces’ vol.
Let’s take a look at the combinations in which can be rolled by two dice after I have
eliminated specific numbers from
from the participant’s choice or range.
 The first thing I say is not to throw two of the
the same numbers on the dice ensure they
 are different.
 The number 1 cannot be rolled as there are two dice, the number 2 can never be rolled as
 that would be two
two 1’s to m ake
 ake a 2.
I mention that a dice has the numbers 1-6 upon its faces and to roll the dice choosing a
 number on each dice
dice FROM 1-6.
 From being the key
key word this should eliminate
eliminate 1 and 6 from
from being thrown
thrown and any
variant of.
I then also say – “If you threw a 2 and 6 that would be 8”
 This indirectly kills
kills a 2 and a 6.
And then say if you rolled the dice a second time it might be a 5, which should kill
 them thinking of the number
number 5 as the total.
total.
I also open myself up for a second chance should it not hit the first – by saying “I am
sure you know that each time you roll the dice it would be a different total if you were
 to roll them now for example, the total would be?”
be?”
If they say 7 then it is perfect and you have achieved what you set out to achieve. If
 they do not roll the number 7 it is fine, just simply say.
say.
Performer: “How fair is this? Roll them again the total will be different and we will go
with whatever the next total is”.
Look at the key line in the script
s cript I carefully crafted the words ‘for example’ into
example’  into the
script–
script– this is placed really cleverly
cleverly in the scripting in a place that means you can go
with the total they give or point out that when they just rolled it would be an example.
If they hit seven on the second roll you are golden, the first part will only ever be
seen as an example.
If they do not hit either of the numbers do not worry, at the start all you ever did was
claim you were going to give them a numerological reading. Simply give them a reading
 based on the number that they have
have created. Utilize
Utilize the star sign anagram outlined
outlined in
 the ‘Readings’ volume
volume to guess the participants
participants star sign and give them
them a reading to
finish up.
 Trust me though, try this
this a few times and see how cleanly it hits.

 Forcing the suit is simple,

simple, you can use
use any of the rouses outlined in the ‘psychological
playing card forces’ volume in this series. You can play the probability
probability card and assume
women will go for hearts and men clubs or you can frame the force around the number
 they have chosen (this
(this will only
only work if you don’t ask them to verbalize their
their total. I
might be tempted to have them write down their total on a business card with a marker
pen and listen to the sound the pen makes. If it sounds like it has hit (and you will
 know) then proceed by saying
Performer: “Dependent on the number you havehave in your mind we will decide upon a suit.
If the number you are thinking of is 1-5 we will use a club or a diamond, odd number
clubs and even cards heart. If the number is above five, hearts and spades. We will make
 the spades erm. .. even and
and the hearts odd numbers”.
numbers”.
If they have picked the number seven it means they have to go for a heart – I honestly
feel there is too much process doing this but you might not. We all do things differently
 another variant
variant is to just carry two
two decks one with the
the seven of hearts
hearts in and one with
 the seven of diamonds in.
in.
 Then asking for the suit
suit first saying to the
the participant,
Performer: “I am going to ask you to name a playing card suit and even get you to
completely change if you really wanted so that it really is something none of us could
predict. If you were to name a suit, what would it be?”
At this point if they say a heart or a diamond you are covered but if they say one of
 the black suits simply
simply counter with – “I did say
say I would even get you to completely
change your mind, if you were to completely change your mind at this point what suit
would you be thinking of?”
 This subtly suggests to change everything
everything about the suit including the colour. As soon as
 the suit is named you pull
pull the relevant
relevant deck out, the moment the deck comes
comes out of your
pocket needs to be timed correctly and it should be removed when you ask a participant
 to imagine holding a dice in their
their left hand and one in their right hand. If you ask
for the suit and then pull out the deck straight away the participant
participant might think that
you have more than one deck of cards you really don’t want that to happen.
I much prefer this version – But it does require carrying two decks of cards.
Another variant I have found if you ask a male what suit he would least likely name (to
ensure there is no psychological force) most of the time they will say Diamond. Females
will say Spades.
 Forcing the seven
seven of hearts is something for me that I find simple
simple so I never
never really
worry about this portion of the performance. It is something that becomes easier and
easier with practice.

 The way the principle

principle works in this routine
routine the participant
participant really
really has no choice.
choice. As
long as the participant goes for a number over the number 15 the total will always equal
25!
 There is a beautiful
beautiful little subtlety I have
have added to ensure that they always
always feel the
 total would be different
different and I have
have updated an
an old mathematical
mathematical principle and adapted it
 to be used in conjunction
conjunction with an acaan.
 This routine is inspired
inspired by Frederick
Frederick Demuth’s routine ‘a Divination with
with matches’. I
 absolutely loved
loved this routine and
and in my DVD ‘Jinxed’
‘Jinxed’ I looked at this
this routine in depth
depth
 and even created
created an updated modern version using cigarettes. Outlined
Outlined his routine below,
below,
 after you have read
read the routine
routine I will explain
explain what I loved
loved about the routine and what
I thought I could change.
 An extremely cute match divination can be presented impromptu with a book of paper
matches. It's ideal for close-up work, and although it's based on an old mathematical
principle this new dress and presentation makes it completely mystifying.
mystifying.
 Effect: Hand a book of paper
paper matches to a spectator and ask
ask him to turn his back and
remove several matches. Ask him not to let anyone see how many he's taken and then put
 them in his pocket. Next
Next he is to count the number of matches
matches remaining and then
then tear
out enough of them to represent that number. For instance, should there be 15 matches
left, he is to tear out one and lay it on the table, and then tear out five more and lay
 them alongside of the
the first match. He is
is to put these matches
matches in his pocket along
along with
 the first ones. He is then
then asked to tear out any number of the remaining matches he
likes and hold them in his hand.
At this point, you turn around and reveal the number of matches he is holding, although
 it is obvious that you cannot know how many matches have been
been torn out.
 Secret: It is only
only necessary to use
use a new or nearly
nearly full pack
pack of matches. In a new
new pack
 there are always
always 20 matches.
matches. By following the above directions
directions you will find that there
will always be nine matches left after the first two actions. When you turn around, pick
up the pack of matches, light your cigar or cigarette and note the number of matches
left. Subtract this number from nine, and you know the number of matches being held. As
 indicated above, this
this will work just as well if you
you use a pack that is
is nearly full.
full.
 End
 This is the entirety of the routine, not a lot to work with and
and you have to read
read it a
few times to be able to properly understand it but the principle itself is beautiful.
 This a very old mathematical
mathematical principle
principle and if there
there is one thing that
that I have learnt
learnt
 about numbers, there
there is always a formula and pattern
pattern that will run
run concurrent no matter
matter
how big the numbers get. I first tried using this principle with the any card at any
 number about a year
year ago and then
then put it to bed and it wasn’t until talking
talking with Alex
Alex
Hinojosa recently that I decided to revise it. If it was n’t
 n’t for Alex I wouldn’t
wouldn’t have
chased this up and put on my thinking cap. He believed in the idea even as a seed and I
 thank him wholeheartedly
wholeheartedly as this routine
routine wouldn’t be close to what it
it is now had he not
pushed me.
I had told Alex previously some time ago that I had used this mathematical principle in
forcing a number from 1-52 he loved it. After a few Skype sessions, he was totally
 intrigued with the possibilities and went away and made
made me a spread
spread sheet of all the
different combinations in which could occur. The mathematics behind all of this boils
down to two numbers - 16 and 25.
Initially this was an issue because if the participant chose a number that was under 15
 then they would end
end up at 16 as the total.
total. The first solution was
was to place 2 duplicate
playing cards in the deck one playing card at 16 and the other at 25. This is a solution
 that will totally
totally work, I prefer
prefer however not to utilize this
this and to steer them
them away from
 the number entirely
entirely by giving
giving the participant
participant an example
example using the number 13. This
 should force the participant away from this number and as long as it is over 15 you are
solid. If for whatever reason the participant names a single digit number, just simply
say,
Performer: “make the number you choose two digits as we are going to apply
ap ply the
 numerological principle
principle we discussed earlier
earlier ”. There isn’t much to this principle just
make sure they choose over 15 – Don’t say “Please choose a number over 15”, it would be a
shame to add that seeming restriction to the routine.
When you give the example of 13 the total will come out 16 and when the participant adds
 their number up and it equals 25 it
it will subtly
subtly suggest that the total
total is always going
going to
 be different. That on top of the demonstration
demonstration you gave at the start with the
the birthdays
 and there will be no doubt in your participants mind
mind that the totals will always be
different.
When doing it with a deck of cards you need to take into account a few things.
If the participant is bad at mathematics, then tell them to use the cell phone – After
you have explained what they are going to do it doesn’t matter if you see them create
 the total as remember
remember they don’t know the
the outcome. They can
can always use their
their cellphone
cellphone to
 to
help them – I have found that if I show them with the number 13 on the phone and then
 ask them for a number and do the math for them,
them, this routine runs
runs smoothly.
When they have imagined taking out a number of cards it is essential that you know if
 there are more cards in their
their hand or inside the box.
As that is where they are going to make the numerological additions.
Let’s create an example –
Let’s for example sake say that the participant says he would take 36 cards out of the
 box – 52 minus 36 = 16
 There are obviously
obviously more cards
cards in your hands.
 Take the number in
in your hands, and create
create a total 3 + 6 = 9 take those cards from your
your
hand and place them back inside the box.
If you count the amount of cards inside the box after adding the nine cards it will 25.
In this example there are more cards inside your hand so you would do the mathematics
 there (if there was
was more in the box
box you would do the mathematics
mathematics there).
there). If there is more
cards in the box you are removing them and adding the removed cards to the amount in
your hand and if there is more in the hand you would add cards to the box.
 Obviously being that there are
are 25 cards inside the
the box in the end of the mathematics
mathematics
here, you would have the 25 cards dealt down and have the participant place them into
 the box. They have essentially brought their imagination
imagination to life.
life.
(Read on for what to do in this scenario)
 Before we get to
to that let’s
let’s give an example
e xample for more cards in the box (just for fullness
of vision).
 Let’s say for example there are 18
are  18 cards in the hand and 34 in the box.
As there are more in the box I would now add the numbers in the box to create a total
which would be 7.
Removing 7 cards from the box and adding them to the hand… 18+7 gives a total of 25.
 Then you would use the number of cards inside the hand to create
create the finish.
I personally never feel there is any issue with having them focus on the number of
cards inside the box instead of the hand.
If you really were worried about the inconsistency one thing that you could do is place
 the force card 26 th card from the top. That way if you end up with going with the number
 in the participants
participants hand you can have
have them deal that number of cards
cards into their hand
 and then point to the top of the deck stating
stating “we have arrived at a card at complete
complete
random, had you of put one more or one less card into your hand the outcome of this
would have been different”.
If it ends up being the number of cards in the box you can simply say – “There were 25
cards inside the box in your vision, so place 25 cards inside the box. (Point to the top
of the deck) we have arrived at a random card, had you of placed
placed one card more or one
card less inside the box this would have been different”.
 This is a really simple solution – At the start you can also state that whatever number
 they name you will
will be turning the next card over.
 So the mathematics
mathematics summarized is as simple
simple as –
Ask the participant to take out a number of cards mentally from the box.
 Ensure they know the number
number in their hand and the number in the box.
Ask them where there is more cards, in the hand or in the box.
Wherever the larger total is add those two digits in that two digit number together to
reduce down to a single digit. If the total is still two digits add them two together to
 get to a random digit.
digit.
 Take that number of
of cards and add them to the other pile
pile (hand or box)
If the larger total was in the hand to start with, the number you would go for in the
end would be the cards in the box. If the larger number was the box to start with it
would be number of cards in the hand you would end with. This bit might sound difficult
 but trust me it is
is simple when you physically
physically try
try this out.
Hopefully you can see how I force the number from 1-52.
 For the reading simply follow the full performance outlined in the effect section. This
 is a completely clean hands off acaan
acaan that has a beautiful
beautiful kicker. The credit for the
 kicker - I honestly cannot tell you who invented
invented it, I have seen several
several performers
performers
utilize it and loved the idea of it within the context of this routine.
 I was performing this for Martin Adams (magic factory) I was performer the effect and I
said “I would take 13 cards out of the deck. How many would you take out?”
He said 25 – I obviously at this point didn’t need to do the mathematical principle,
principle, I
just simply said “I am sure if I asked you this
you this question several
several times the answer
answer would
 be different”.
I just rolled into the effect and BOOM it hit so hard – The participant might say 27
straight off the bat, if they do all you need to counter with is “So that leaves 25 cards
 inside the box right?”
right?”
 They will say yes
yes – Then proceed by simply saying “place 25 cards inside
inside the box,
leaving the 27 cards in your hand. This is entirely fair and had you named a different
 number this would have
have been
been entirely different correct?”
What you have essentially done is just dealt down the twenty five cards as you would
 normally (I mentioned
mentioned earlier
earlier the subtlety
subtlety about placing
placing the force card
card at 26) by
shifting the focus on the box it seems so natural to place 25 cards in the box to leave
 the 27 cards remaining.
remaining. Logically
Logically the participant
participant will never
never know the difference
difference as it
seems above board.
Another little subtlety I didn’t want to share, but I feel that I have to for completeness
 is the one card readjustment.
readjustment. If you place
place a joker or game
game card on the top of the deck
when the cards are removed if it turns out that the ending to the routine is placing the
cards inside the box then the hit card will be the 26 th card.
If the ending of the routine ends in the hands, then simply proclaim “
proclaim “II did say a number
from 1-52, I believe I left a joker on the top of the deck let’
let ’s get rid of that”
that .
” This is
one way to readjust mechanically.
mechanically.
 Try it –

Let’s take a look at our first contribution in this month’s volume, this contribution is
from a mentalist I have long been a fan of. He is slick, thoughtful and his choreography
 is well thought out – I am happy to Present Paul Brook.
 For those who don’t know Paul (and you should) before becoming
before becoming a full time entertainer
entertainer he
was a psychologist and that is reflective within his materials. He has an innate
understanding of the human mind and uses this understand to create real world materials.
materials.
Paul has worked as a professional mentalist for over twelve years for an array of
 impressive clients all over the world and has written more than twenty (you heard me
right) books on the subject of mentalism. With all of these accolades under his belt it’s
easy to see why Paul is also kept busy consulting behind the scenes for both television
 and theatre shows alike.
alike.
It isn’t just mentalism effects that Paul has become known for, drawing on his psychological
education and knowledge he analyses the theoretical applications of mentalism and his
 stand alone book on mentalism theory ‘The Alchemical Tools’ is considered by
considered by many a modern
classic.
If you are interested to take a look at some more of Paul’
Paul ’s material, visit this link
http://www.HeKnows.co.uk.
 This routine is an excerpt
excerpt from 'The Chrysalis
Chrysalis of a Polymath'.
Polymath'.

Data Spaced is a three-phase (or, if you so wished, a four-phase) routine. The routine itself
 is fairly fast-paced and demonstrates a range of different abilities in a short space of
 time.
I’ll stop writing
stop writing and get right into it:

 The Performer has just met a group of chaps. After finding out that the Performer is a
mind reader one of the group asks to see something.
Performer: “It is possible to understand a lot about a person by the numbers that he or she
chooses when given a choice.
 Equally, knowing only
only a small amount of information about a person can give
give you an idea
 as to the number that
that person is likely
likely to choose.”
Looking over the participant, the Performer appears to be deep in thought before picking
up a business card and pencil.
A few more moments of thoughtfulness pass before the Performer writes something on the
card and places the pencil on the table.
 Still holding the business card the Performer continues:
Performer: “Right, think carefully. Only when you are happy with your choice should you
 answer.
 Think of a number between
between one and 100.”
100.”
 The participant takes
takes a good ten seconds in order to decide
decide on his final number.
number.
Participant: “I’m going with 36.”
Performer: “It’s amazing how you can map a person’s mind just based on clothing and body
movement.”
 The Performer passes
passes the card to the participant.
Participant: “Shit!”
 Spectators: “What does
does it say?”
Participant: “36.”
 Performer: “It isn’t really fair, as I can use your personality to get an accurate estimate
of what number you are likely to think of.
 This is why I prefer to
to create unique numbers using your personal information.
information.
Personal details, such as the house number
n umber of your first home, will always remain the same
 and are not influenced
influenced by your personality.
personality.
 So we’ll make a unique number now. Can you take out your mobile phone and load up the
calculator, please?
Let me know when you are ready to go.
to  go. Oh, and make sure I cannot see the keypad.”
keypad.”
Participant:  “OK.”
Performer: “We will start off with some information from you. Place your month of birth
 into the calculator.
calculator. Don’t say what
what it is, but it will
will be a number
number between one and 12.”
Participant:  “Done.”
Performer:  “Now multiply that number, whatever
whatever it is, with
with the number two.”
Participant:  “Yeah.”
Performer:  “Now add, err, I dunno, five.”
Participant: “OK.”
Performer: “Multiply by, umm, 50.”
Participant: “OK.”
Performer: “We need some more perso nal
 nal info, so add the day of the month you were born.
 So if you were born
born on the 28th you
you would add 28. ”
Participant: “Right.”
Performer: “Now subtract 365 and press equals, but don’t say what the total is.”
Participant: “Sure.”
 The Performer removes
removes a business card
card from his pocket and picks up the pencil.
pencil.
Performer: “We now have a unique number. You provided information about yourself that I
couldn’t possibly know. I provided some maths to randomise the information you have given
me.
How many digits do you have in your number?”
Participant: “It is a three-
three -digit number.”
Performer: “Alright, look at me and think about the first digit. Do not say anything and
 try not to give it away.”
 The Performer looks
looks over the participants
participants face and
and eyes multiple times.
A wry smile appears as the Performer continues:
 Performer: “Got it. Please try not to trace the shape of the number with your eyes as you
 think of it.”
 The Performer writes
writes down a single number on the back
back of the business card.
card.
Performer: “Now think of the second
s econd digit. This time I want you to name any digit between
zero and nine. It could be any of the digits, even the number you are thinking of.
In your own time, no rush, just name a digit out loud.”
Participant: “One.”
Performer: “That gives me an idea abo ut the second number. It will be one of two options.
 OK, I will take a punt
punt at the number I think
think it might be, but I’m not 100 per cent on this
this
one.”
 The Performer writes
writes another number
number on to the back
back of the business card.
Performer: “Now, with the last di git
 git in mind, please think of a colour, but keep it to
yourself and let me know when you have one.”
Participant: “Got one.”
Performer: “Is it red?”
Participant: “No.”
Performer: “Awesome, then I think I know what the last number is.”
 The Performer writes the final number onto the back of the business card and tables the
pencil.
Performer: “Right, I am committed in writing. What number did you create?”
Participant: “401.”
Performer: “Damn! I wasn’t close.”
 The Performer passes the card to the participant. As soon as the card is turned over, he
says:
Performer: “I was bang on.”
Participant: “Fucking hell, that’s unreal.”
Performer: “You know what, I want to try something else with you but, as I don’t know you,
I’ll need to ask you a few quick questions.”
Partic ipant:
 ipant: “Go for it.”
Performer: “Do you have a middle name?”
Participant: “Michael.”
Performer: “What year were you born?”
 Participant: “1972.”
Performer: “Where were you born?”
Participant: “Cornwall.”
Performer: “Do you believe in star signs?”
Participant:
Participant: “No.”
 The Performer
Performer has been
been making
making notes
notes on another business card
card after
after each
each answer
answer was
was given.
given.
After around 20 seconds the Performer writes something down on the business card. Then,
having a change of mind, scribbles out something and writes again on the card.
 The card is then tabled,
tabled, writing-side down, in front of the participant.
Performer: “Right, I wasn’t sure my first answer was correct so I changed my mind. But I
feel sure about what I have written now.
 Tell me, what star
star sign are you?”
you?”
Participant:  “Taurus.”
Performer: “And there is no way I could know that?
 These guys haven’t told
told me and we have
have only met
met each other 20 minutes
minutes ago .
 .
Participant: “Unless
Participant: “Unless you
you have been stalking
stalking me,
me, and that’s not very likely,
likely, t here is no way
you could know.”
Performer:
Performer: “Please turn over the card.
 The card has
has not been touched by the performer
performer since it
it was tabled
tabled - and it was placed
placed on
 the table before
before the participant
participant named his star sign.
Participant: “Piss off!
 Tha t
 t is extreme. Man
Man you’re good!”
 The card is shown around
around and it has the
the word ‘Taurus’ written on it.
Performer:  “You said you were born in 1972?”
1972?”
Participant:  “Yes.”
Performer:  “What date?”
Participant:  “The 16th of May.”
Performer:  “The 16th of May 1972…
1972… That was a Tuesday.
Tuesday.
You were born in Cornwall, which was sunny but slightly overcast the day you were born.
Please, check the date on your phone if you have a calendar function. If not, write it
down and check it on the
the internet when you get home.”
Participant:  “No, I can check it on
on my phone.”
 The participant removes his phone, opens the calendar
calendar application
application and inputs the date 16th
May 1972:
Participant:  “That’s insane! You’re right,
right, it was a Tuesday.
Tuesday.
I’m speechless!”

 The way in which I have constructed this effect allows the performer to demonstrate
various abilities:
Personality Profiling
 Body Language Reading
A Large Mental Database Of Information
A Powerful Memory
 These abilities are obviously changeable depending on the presentation that you wish to
use. This effect can use used
us ed as an opening or standalone effect to establish exactly what
 it is that you do. It is for this reason that you should make sure that the abilities are
 tailored to fit your
your persona.
Despite the fact that you are able to demonstrate a range of abilities for prospective
clients, the method requires relatively
relatively little work.
 The first part of the effect is achieved
achieved simply by using
using a nail writer
writer or boon.
A nail writer or boon is used once again for the second section of this routine. However,
 the participant creates a number using a mathematical principle that secretly gives you
his birthday.
 Once you know the birthday from the second section itit is possible to
to work out the person’s
 astrological sign. I shall provide a nice and simple way to remember where the astrological
signs are within the year. During this section you are also able to ascertain the year in
which the participant was born.
 Before the last stage you actually
actually know the participant’s birthday, as well as his
his year of
 birth, whilst the participant
participant only believes you have his year of birth.
With this information you’re able to work out the actual day the participant was born
using the The Day Of Any Date effect.
After calculating the actual day the participant was born, you are able to ask (apparently
(apparently
for the first time) for his birthday and instantly tell him the day he was born.

 The power of a simple nail writer or boon number prediction is often overlooked. It is
straightforward and hard-hitting for the laity. Despite this, I have an ulterior motive
for including it as part of this routine.
 As stage two requires the use of mathematics to create a random number, this stage becomes
 a convincer.
convincer. The lack
lack of mathematics
mathematics in this stage removes any heat from the mathematical
mathematical
construction of a number in stage two.
 For now, all that is
is required is
is a little acting
acting and swami ability.
ability.
 Build up the premise that different personality types are statistically more likely to
choose certain numbers. Look over the person a few times as though analysing his
personality.
Whilst you remain focused on the ‘analysis’, place your hands into your pocket and apply
 the nail writer or boon. Keep
Keep a business card in the same pocket. Once the nail writer or
 boon is attached, removed the business card. The business card should
should be used as cover for
 the swami.
 From another pocket remove a pencil
pencil and pretend
pretend to write down a number.
number. Place the pencil
down quite close to the participant (if standing, have the participant hold the pencil) to
solidify the idea that you cannot write the number after it is named.
Have the participant name any number after considerable thought. As you will be writing
 the number after it is named there is a strong position of freedom for the participant.
Make sure that this strong position is not lost by the participant frivolously naming any
 number, as he may believe that “everyone must
must name that number”.
number”.
Having him give serious consideration to the number he chooses allows for more emotional
 involvement from him. It will stop any ideas of common answers and the extra involvement
involvement
will make him ‘own’ the number he names. This adds congruency to the idea that you have
determined the number based on his personality. If he just named the first number from
 the top of his head your
your apparent personality reading
reading would be weakened.
weakened.
However, once the number is named, make some comment long enough for you to write down
 the named number secretly. It is very important that you engage the participant in
conversation before starting to write the answer secretly. This keeps his eyes focused on
your facial area rather than on your hand, which is doing naughty things.
With the number now written on the card, turn the card writing-side down, fingers on the
 top of the card and thumb (with swami) underneath
underneath it. This way, when the card
card is removed,
 the swami will be shielded from view
view by the fingers.
fingers.
Move the card forward, in a giving motion, towards the participant and hold it there until
he takes the card. Once the card is taken it would be unusual to keep your hand hanging
 there in midair, giving
giving you reason
reason to return your
your hand back towards
towards your body.
If you feel comfortable keeping your swami on whilst you continue to talk then feel free
 to do so. However, if you
you are not comfortable
comfortable with this you are now able
able to ditch it when
when
you bring your hand back towards your person. The downside to this is that you will need
 to reattach it once again later. But this is a very
very small downside if your confidence would
 be knocked with continued
continued wear.
 This stage is the most important in the routine, as the information you gain here will
 allow you to get
get one ahead.
You explain that the chosen number would have been influenced by the participant’s
personality. You are able to profile different personality types, so the test was not very
fair.
 To make things a little fairer for the participant
participant it is essential to create a random
 number. This number should include information that is static
static and unchanging,
unchanging, such as the
participant’s house number. The information should also be unknown to the Performer .
 Obviously this process,
process, whilst appearing
appearing to be fairer,
fairer, is actually decidedly unfair.
Here’s
Here’s how the process breaks down:
Month person was born
x 2
+ 5
x 50
+ Day on the month born
-365
 This process will give an answer. This answer you will apparently ascertain through
reading the participant’s body signals.
signa ls.
After each apparent reading of body signals you should pretend to write down a number.
When you have apparently written down the three-digit number on a business card, follow
 the procedure as in stage one.
 Once the person names the total arrived at in the calculation, you will swami it on the
 business card and pass
pass it to him.
Here is the really cool part.
When the person tells you the number, mentally adding 115 to that number will tell you the
particip ant’s
 ant’s birthday.
I will take you through a few examples of the maths in a moment, but let me first review
 the situation.
If you were to perform the effect with mathematics alone there would be unquestionable
heat on the use of maths. However, having performed the number prediction in stage one
without the use of maths (or restrictions), you have removed any heat. It also helps to
validate the notion that the maths is being used to create a random (and fairer) number.
 The personal information the participant
participant inputs into the calculator
calculator allows them to feel as
as
 though the number is unique to them. When the total is named, it doesn’t resemble the
 birthday of the participant in
in any way. AsAs far as he is concerned,
concerned, the effect
effect is that you
 are able
able to use body reading to ascertain
ascertain the number, not to find out his birthday details.
details.
 To get a better idea of the maths involved I shall include a few examples before we
continue.
 Example 1
 Birthday = 14th of May
May
Participant inputs:
5 (for the month)
x 2
+ 5
x 50
+ 14 (for day of the month)
-365
 Total = 399
 Secretly 399
399 is thumb written
written onto the business
business card.
Now the Performer
Performer must mentally add 115 to this number: 399 + 115
115 = 514
 The last two digits of the number will
will always
always be the day of the month that the person was
 born. In the example
example above
above the last
last two digits are 14 telling
telling us that this person was born
born
on the 14th day.
Ignore the last two digits and look at the remaining number. It will be a number between
one and 12, which will indicate the month that the person was born. In this example that
 number is 5, indicating
indicating that this person was
was born in the month of May.
Participant’s
Participant’s Birthday = 14th of May
 Example 2
 Birthday =1st of December
December
Participant inputs:
12 (for the month)
x 2
+ 5
x 50
+ 1 (for day of the month)
-365
 Total = 1086
 Secretly 1086
1086 is thumb written
written onto the business card.
card.
Now the Performer must mentally add 115 to this number: 1086 + 115 = 1201
 The last two digits of the number will
will always
always be the day of the month that the person was
 born. In the example
example above
above the last two
two digits are 01 telling
telling us that this person
person was born
on the 1st day.
Ignore the last two digits and look at the remaining number. It will be a number between
one and 12, which will indicate the month that the person was born. In this example that
 number is 12, indicating
indicating that this person
person was born in the month of December.
Participant’s Birthday = 1st of December
 Example 3
 Birthday =31st of July
July
Participant inputs:
7 (for the month)
x 2
+ 5
x 50
+ 31 (for day of the month)
-365
 Total = 616
 Secretly 616
616 is thumb written onto the
the business card.
Now the Performer must mentally add 115 to this number: 616 + 115 = 731
 The last two digits of the number will
will always
always be the day of the month that the person was
 born. In the
the example above the last two digits are 31, telling
telling us that this person was born
on the 31st day.
Ignore the last two digits and look at the remaining number. It will be a number between
one and 12, which will indicate the month that the person was born. In this example that
 number is 7, indicating
indicating that this person
person was born in the month of July.
Partic ipant’s
 ipant’s Birthday = 31st of July
 Example 4
 Birthday =10th
=10th of October
Participant inputs:
10 (for the month)
 x 2
+ 5
x 50
+ 10 (for day of the month)
-365
 Total = 895
 Secretly 895
895 is thumb written onto the business card.
Now the Performer must mentally add 115 to this number: 895 + 115 = 1010
 The last two digits of the number will
will always
always be the day of the month that the person was
 born. In the example above
above the last two digits are 10, telling
telling us that
that this person
person was born
on the 10th day.
Ignore the last two digits and look at the remaining number. It will be a number between
one and 12, which will indicate the month that the person was born. In this example that
 number is 10, which indicates
indicates that this person
person was born in the month of October.
Participa nt’s
 nt’s Birthday = 10th of October
 Example 5
 Birthday =23rd of January
January
Participant inputs:
1 (for the month)
x 2
+ 5
x 50
+ 23 (for day of the month)
-365
 Total = 8
 Secretly 8 is thumb written onto the
the business card.
Now the Performer
Performer must mentally add 115 to this number: 8 + 115 = 123
 The last two digits of the number will
will always
always be the day of the month that the person was
 born. In the example
example above the last two digits are
are 23, telling us that this person was born
born
on the 23rd day.
Ignore the last two digits and look at the remaining number. It will be a number between
one and 12, which will indicate the month that the person was born. In this example that
 number is 1 indicating
indicating that this person
person was born in the month of
of January.
 Participa nt’s
 nt’s Birthday = 23rd of January
As far as the participant is concerned two effects have been performed. One where a number
he was thinking of was predicted based on his personality and a second one where a number
created randomly
randomly was ‘pulled’ from his mind.
 Sneakily, however, the Performer is now one ahead in the sense that he has obtained the
person’s birthday covertly. This allows us to progress
to  progress to stage three.

 This is, by a long shot, my favourite stage in this routine.

routine. In this stage
stage you will perform
one of the cleanest astrological sign predictions possible, add a strong convincing memory
 to the routine and gather
gather information for the
the final stage.
I will progress sequentially in order to maintain the chronology of this effect. If you
 get confused at any point, fear not. I include
include a summary at the end of this effect.
effect.
 From the scripting you will
will see that, at this point
point in the effect, I ask the participant
participant a
 number of questions. This appears to aid me in my calculation of his astrological sign.
 Secretly, it allows you to write
write down his birthday and also work
work out the exact day he was
 born on.
 The first question:
Performer:
Performer: “Do you have a middle name?”
Participant: “Michael.”
After this question you apparently write down the answer in one corner of the card,
 instead you actually
actually write down
down the participant’s birthday.
Writing down the date will prevent you from misremembering it or, should you be distracted,
from forgetting it. In the script above the birthday was the 16th of May.
 The next question:
Performer: “What year were you born?”
Participant: “1972.”
With both the birthday and year of birth you will be able to work out the day of the week
 the participant was born using the The Day Of Any Date effect. However, before you make
 any mental workings,
workings, make sure to write down the year
year underneath the birthday.
 The next question is filler and should be asked halfway through
through working out the day the
person was born:
Performer:
Performer: “Where were you born?”
Participant: “Cornwall.”
Leaving another 15 seconds before you ask the next question should give you ample time to
work out the day on which this person was born. Write it underneath the year that you
 have previously written. But remember where the person was born as well, as this allows
you to provide a faux weather forecast for that area on the day he was born.
 The day of the week will be used
us ed in stage four, but for now there is the matter of the
star sign. Over the next few pages I have included a simple mnemonic in order to mentally
work out where the astrological dates fall in each year. Once you have this mnemonic
memorised it should only take you around six seconds to calculate the participant’s star
sign. Here are the astrological signs and their associated monthly dates in the year:
Aquarius - January 20th – February 19th
Pisces - February 20th – March 21st
Aries - March 21st – April 20th
 Taurus - April 21st
21st – May 22nd
 Gemini - May 22nd – June 23rd
Cancer - June 23rd – July 23rd
Leo - July 23rd – August 23rd
Virgo - August 23rd – September 23rd
Libra - September 23rd – October 23rd
 Scorpio - October 24th – November 22nd
 Sagittarius - November
November 23rd
23rd – December 21st
Capricorn - December 22nd – January 20th
It’s a lot of information to remember, in all honesty, and the first time I  looked at the
list I thought it would be a nightmare to build a mnemonic. It was tricky and somewhat
stressful at times. However, after having my friends and family learn the mnemonic and
successfully recall the dates, I am confident enough to share it with you.
Here is the breakdown of what each phrase contains, in regard to the astrological signs:
 Aquarium (Aquarius) with one Fish (Pisces)

Rams (Aries) have two Balls [Bulls] (Taurus)

 Three Twin (Gemini)

(Gemini) Crabs (Cancer)
(Cancer)

Lions (Leo) for Fur Coats [sounds like] (Virgo)

 Scaly [scales]
[scales] (Libra) Scorpions
Scorpions (Scorpio)

Citrus [similar like] (Sagittarius)

Corn [abbreviation] (Capricorn)

You may have also noticed that the months have been paired together to reduce the size of
 the mnemonic. Please familiarise
familiarise yourself
yourself with this pairing of the months. The year order
remains the same (January to December) so it shouldn’t be
b e too much trouble to the mind.

Paired Month Guide

1 January – February

2 March – April

3 May – June

4 July – August

5 September – October

6 November - December

Just take a little caution when recalling where the required month is in the sequence.
 Should you be trying to find the star sign for April (the 4th month) you do not recall
 the information for the
the 4th row down.
Instead, count through the months in your head until you get to April. After counting two
months push a finger against your leg:
 January - February
Press one finger against your leg
March April
Press another finger against your leg
 Stopping at April, only two fingers are pressing against the leg meaning that we recall
line two from the mnemonic:
Rams have two Balls
April is the second month in the paring, and therefore we look at the latter part of the
phrase. Balls sound like Bulls, which means April has to be Taurus.
 Follow this simple process in order to work out what month relates to each star sign.
 Observant readers amongst you will have realised that each mnemonic phrase contain
 information informing you
you which section it belongs
belongs to.

1 Aquarium with one Fish

2 Rams have two Balls

3 Three Twin Crabs

4 Lions for Fur Coats

 Scaly Scorpions
Scorpions
5
[S resembles 5]
Citrus Corn
6
[Cit sounds like Six]

 This numbering system is essential to the mnemonic as it prevents

prevents any order confusion. It
 also allows you to know instantly if you have the wrong set of astrological symbols for
 the month you are attempting to find.
 For example,
example, if you have
have been left with five fingers pressed
pressed into
into your leg, but recall
recall the
mnemonic as “Lions for (representing the number four) Fur Coats” you know you
know you are incorrect.
 Oh, and if you prefer to do something else other than press finger into your
your leg, then
then go
right ahead.
Looking over the astrological date you will have noticed that the star signs begin and
end at various dates. The majority of these dates are a day off of the 23rd of each month.
 By assuming that each month’s star sign begins on the 23rd we remove the need for extra
 information that will only slow down the process.
 In practice, when you get a month of February you would think “Aquarium with one Fish”,
meaning that the star sign for February is Pieces. However, we need to assume
ass ume that Pieces
 begins on the 23rd of February. If a date is given
given before the 23rd then you must use the
previous month’s astrological sign. In this  nstance
 instance that would be Aquarius.
Anything after the 23rd will still be Pieces.
 Should you ever get
get a date close to the 23rd always write
write both signs on the card.
card. Look at
 the date and, if it is before the 23rd, cross out the next month’s star sign with a single
line so that it can still be read. If the date falls on or after the 23rd, cross out the
previous month’s star sign in the same ma nner.
 nner.
In astrology it is often said that people who are in between signs in this way are ‘on the
cusp’. In my experience people often know if
i f they are on the cusp between two signs. This
T his
will give validity to writing both signs and crossing out one. People will offer up the
fact that both answers are correct.
 Some people will not realise that they are on the cusp but will, providing you cross out
 the wrong one, point out
out that you initially had it. When you do get
get a birthday
birthday around
around the
23rd, make sure to always comment that you are torn between two answers and that you will
 go with your gut feeling,
feeling, even though
though you are being
being pulled
pulled to the other answer. This way
 if you are correct it appears that your gut instinct was correct. If you get it wrong,
well, you did say you were going against your intuition, and really you should
s hould have known
 better.
I know it seems like a lot to remember but after half an hour of learning the six small
phrases, and remembering that each month starts on the 23rd, it will be second nature.
After a few weeks of practice you will be able to work out what the star sign is in the
10 seconds following the fourth and final question in stage three:
Performer: “Do you believe in star signs?”
Participant: “No.”
Apparently analysing these answers you are able to write down the star sign of the person,
 at the same time scribbling
scribbling out the previous notes.
notes.
No swami need be used. Write down the star sign and place the card, writing-side down, on
 the table in front of the person. If standing, have the participant hold their hand out
flat and use this as a table.
It is important to mimic how
ho w you have been placing the pencil down on the table in stages
one and two. In doing so you want the participant to misremember that the previous stages
were this clean. This misremembering is aided by the fact that this is the last part of the
routine where you write anything down on a card.

 Stage four is optional if you do not wish to learn The Day Of Any Date methodology,
m ethodology, or
 if you run out of time.
 Having already worked out the day that the person was born, you could name the answer
out loud. However, to do so would imply that you already know his birthday, which you are
 not supposed to know.
Reiterate the year that the participant has just told you and ask for his birthday. Make
sure to ask for the birthday, as it is one piece of information as opposed to the two pieces
of information (month and day of birth) that were inputted into the calculator. I do not
 think that people
people would link
link the two things,
things, but this should tip the stats
stats in your favour.
favour.
Within a few seconds of make-believe
make-believe mental gymnastics you reveal the day this person was
 born and then give
give the weather for the area he was born.
When revealing the weather take a guess at what it would be like in that month of the
year. Given the month of June I would always assume that it would be sunny, as June is
 in the summer.
summer. Nobody ever really
really knows what the weather was like and it would always
always be
difficult to find out. Weather can also be different in areas just
j ust meters apart so you are
pretty well covered.
I do like to add more than one weather type to the forecast in order to cover more bases
 and sound more specific.
specific. I may say:
 “Yes, despite the regular
regular sunshine at that time, this day had periods of overcast
overcast cloud and
 a spot of rain.”
It’s all very vague, yet it sounds specific enough to seem as though I know what I am
 talking about. By this point in the routine you have been correct about many things, so it
follows that you are correct about this also.
More and more phones these days have a calendar function that allows the user to go back
 to any date. Always ask the person to do this if they have this function on his phone.
 Sometimes people do not even realise
realise that they do, so make them check.
check.
In opposition to what I say
s ay in The Day Of Any Date effect, I think that you should have
 the person check to see if the day of the week is correct.
correct. Instantly knowing that you are
are
correct about the day adds further subterfuge for the other effects in this routine.
However, if the person cannot check that you are correct there and then, always write down
 the day that he was born and tell
tell him to check on the internet when
when he gets home.

If you have not learned The Day Of Any Date method yet, and find it to be too much
 information to learn,
learn, there is an alternative
alternative to stage four.
Add some more questions about the person’s lifestyle and family, such as how ol d his Mom
 and Dad are. Take
Take a minute to think
think about the answers
answers and say:
 “Right, I know you are
are a [star sign], which
which gives me a month of dates to choose from.”
from.”
Let’s assume the participant was
participant  was born on the 16th of March.
 “From the answers you have
h ave given me I
me  I would say that, statistically speaking, you must
have been bor n
 n on the 15th or 16th.”
16th.”
 Of course, you could be dead on each time. However, it would seem somewhat suspicious. I
recommend announcing a date that is slightly wrong – just one day out from the actual
date. This way it seems as though you genuinely do not know.
Along with that last subtlety, you have two possible endings in stage four. This stage,
s tage, as
mentioned earlier, is not at all necessary.
If you want to cut the routine short to three stages you will still have a number prediction,
 a body reading demonstration
demonstration and a very
very powerful
powerful and clean star sign reveal.
reveal.
 To minimise unnecessary movement, I suggest that you approach the participant with
w ith the
swami already attached.
It is fairly straightforward to keep it concealed from view using the fingers in any
manner of ways. When it is time to remove a business card, reach into the pocket with the
swami in place and take out the card. The card now provides the cover in place of your
fingers.
What about writing normally when you are wearing a swami?
 This is not an issue, as you will not
no t actually be writing anything with your dominant
hand, other than when you use the swami.
 Take the pencil
pencil in your non-dominant hand and pretend to write
write on to the card. The added
 bonus here is that the person
person believes
believes that your
your non-dominant
non-dominant hand is your dominant hand.
hand.
Holding the card in what appears to be your ‘weaker’ hand adds to the idea that you are
 not somehow writing in
in secret.
During stage two, where you ask the participant to input numbers into the calculator, it
 is extremely important
important that your choices appear
appear to be random.
As far as the participant is concerned, the numbers named and the calculations made should
 appear to be coming off the top of your head. Even
Even when you are asking him to enter his
personal details it should appear that the idea of using
us ing the birth dates appears impromptu.
 The worst case scenario is that the participant believes you could somehow work out what
 the end number is. However, as you have
have demonstrated that
that mathematics was not
not required to
do this in the first stage, this thought is nullified.
I mentioned in the explanation that you can make reminder notes on the business card
during the questioning.
questioning. These notes should be written very lightly on the card
card so as not
 to leave an indentation.
indentation.
You will probably be giving the business card away to the participant or others in his
 group. Even though you shall
s hall be scribbling out the notations, indentations may still be
read through the strikeouts. If anyone can read what you actually wrote, the illusion will
 be destroyed.
 Equally, I suggest that you make these notes as small as you can whilst maintaining
legibility.
Make sure that you are clear in your own mind about what you are apparently demonstrating
with each stage of the routine. This will enable your act more convincing.
 It can get quite confusing to work on the next stage whilst still apparently working on
 the current stage. A good knowledge of what you are supposed to be doing, and when, will
stop any awkward pauses or inaccuracy
Personally, when adding the 115, I will add the 15 first to see how that changes the number.
 Then it is fairly simple
simple to add 100 to that number.
It is imperative that you learn the mathematics of this effect off by heart. This is the
method I use to remember it. You may find it of some help:
Month double +5 x50 day –year
It is also important to remember the Star Sign Mnemonic. I recommend reading it out loud,
 a few times a day for a couple
couple of weeks. This
This will cement
cement it in your mind and before you
 know it you will be calculating
calculating star signs with speed
speed and accuracy.
accuracy.
Make the effects and demonstrations suit your style of performance. It is especially
 important to have something to say when
when you are swami-writing
swami-writing the numbers.
numbers.
 Talking to the participant will distract his attention away from your hand and focus it
upon your face. It will also cover any possible noise that the writing may make. Please, I
 beg you not to ask the question, “Why did you choose [number]?” unless
unless it fits in
fits  in with the
rest of the scripting you have.
When writing, it also pays off to gesticulate a little with the hand you are secretly
writing with. This will cover any movements made by your thumb. But be warned, over
 gesticulation or unmotivated
unmotivated movement
movement will draw attention
attention towards the
the hand.
In the scripting, I mention the memory aid of pressing your fingers against your leg to
work out what part of the star sign mnemonic to use.
 This is what I prefer to do, but you can fold fingers into your palm or simply work it
out in your mind if you feel comfortable doing so.

 There is not much

m uch to add to this routine in terms of presentation, as it is laid out in
depth. There is one thing I can add to this routine, a mnemonic (even though there is one
 already provided) I thought I would share the mnemonic I used to remember the order of
 the star signs.
 This is a creation by Stephen Eric Young, he added this as a contribution to ‘Isabella’
Isabella ’s
star 2’
2 .’
 “AQUARIUS rains
rains so FISH can swim, The RAM and BULL come charging in. The TWINS on
 giant CRABS will
will ride, The LION
LION sits by the VIRGIN’s
VIRGIN’s side. To
side. To BALANCE out the SCORPION’s
sting. The
sting. The ARCHER shoots the GOAT
GOAT for its skin”.
 Once you have done
done this for long enough you no longer need
need to revert
revert to these mnemonics,
mnemonics,
 it becomes second nature and you will just instantly know which signs fall on which
months.
 The next contributions
contributions is from a good friend of mine, a guy that
that really doesn’ t need an
 introduction. He’
He’s a man that can deduce things about your life from something as small
 as the way you wear
wear your watch.
watch. He has a brain
brain that works differently
differently to most and his
 innate understand ofof logistics and psychology
psychology is second to none.
 Ben Cardall.
Cardall.
He is a name many of you already know, if you don’
don t
’ know this man his material
material is
simply awesome, keep your eyes peeled as he hasn’
hasn t
’ even got close
close to hitting his peek.
peek.
If you are interested in finding out more about ben visit.
www.BenCardall.co.uk
Check out his latest book  The
‘ Monographs’
Monographs’ on Amazon!

PREMISE: As part of your stage routine you announce the following to your audience.
‘Our minds, our brains, our memories work in mysterious ways at times. Yet at other times
 quite similar. Take our memories for example,
example, we have
have all heard
heard of the phrase, I
remember his face
face but not his name.
name. Its never the other way around
around is it? Or I can
remember where everything
everything is in the supermarket but I don’t recall what I need. We get
past these through notes and other helping hands but it is always numbers that escape us.
Phone numbers, house numbers, dates, all seem very difficult to remember. I would like to
show you that with a little bit of practice that it becomes super simple! Before we
started, I had as many of you lovely people as possible write
write down a 150-200 digit
 number, write your
your name on, and pop them in this box so thank
thank you for doing that…
that…
 ONE OF THE AUDIENCE SELECTS
SELECTS A RANDOM SLIP OF PAPER AND
AND CONFIRMS THAT
THAT ALL THE
NUMBER SON THERE ARE RANDOM AND SUGGEST NO ORDER OR SIGNIFICANCE
SIGNIFICANCE
 …So here is what is going to happen,
happen, I am going to memorise
memorise the order
order of these numbers
from David Theroux (reads name off the back of the paper) , so thank you david. It will
 then be up to you sir, to stop me and start
start me in reciting
reciting this sequence whenever you
like. If you would just pass this whistle back to him. David this is for you to signify
when you want me to stop and start ok? Great…
 TAKE HOWEVER MUCH TIME YOU WANT TO SEEM AMAZING.
AMAZING.
 … Okay so where isis my helper
helper that picked this piece of paper, just take this from me so
so
you can confirm what I say or announce any mistakes. David, I am going to start in a
second, then the next blow of your whistle will signal me to stop and then show will
carry on. The next whistle blow will tell me to begin from where I stopped. This can
 keep going as long
long as you like
like to really make it as difficult
difficult as you like, it is
is entirely
your choice.
 THIS SIMPLY HAPPENS.
HAPPENS. YOU DEMONSTRATE YOUR INFALLIBLE MEMORY SKILLS.
 I don’t know
know what I would describe this routine as, other than a very powerful and
relatable demonstration
demonstration of your mastery of your memory. Some context would help
h elp I
suspect though. A few years ago, 2013 to be exact. When Maria Konnikova’s book Master
Mind was released, it gave me an idea for a show. I called it Master of Minds. The aim
of it was simple, someone with nothing supernatural
s upernatural about them at all could give
seemingly supernatural demonstrations through having complete mastery of their mind.
 This was one of my demonstrations.
demonstrations.
 The explanation of how
how to do it, is quite simple.
simple. You switch in
in a piece of paper
paper with a
list of numbers you already know. The switch you use can be anything from a clear
forcing bag to one of the many Q & A boxes that are available. To get the name on the
paper of one of the audience members, happens as part of your pre show. Are you ready?
It is a mind blowing and revolutionary method…ask them! I know right, madness! Though
you ask a few people as part of your conversation so as not to call focus to that one
person. Then you prepare
prepare your forcing slips accordingly. The only other preparation you
 need to do is to learn
learn the phonetic alphabet and
and then choose which one your favourite
movie speeches is your favourite? Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction or Russel Crowe in
 Gladiator. The alphabet
alphabet first though.
though. It is a Mnemonic device
device to help convert numbers
 into letters, so these can form pictures
pictures and therefore make
make something intangible,
intangible,
 tangible.
ALPHABET
0 – S,Z (Zero starts
starts with a Z, and looks/sounds similar
similar to an
an S)
1 – T,D (1 looks similar
s imilar to a t and sounds like a D when spoken)
2 – N (2 looks like an N if you were to tip it onto its side)
3 – M (3 Looks like an M if you were to tip it on its side)
4 – R (If you were to say it slowly, as if to someone who speaks another language. The
main noise would be that of an R)
5 – L (Hold up your left hand, put your fingers
f ingers together and stick your thumb out. You
 get an L)
6 – J, SH, CH, soft G as in genes (all sound similar and formed on the face in a similar
fashion)
7 – K, C, hard G as in Golf (When writing in cursive a 7 and k look similar and the
letters are all formed in a similar way in the mouth when spoken)
 8 – F, V, PH – (Elongate the lower half of an F and it’ll look like an 8, the letter
formations sound similar when spoken and look similar when formed on the face)
9 – P, B (9 looks like a backwards P, p and b are both plosive as well)
 The letters that aren’t part of the phonetic alphabet
alphabet are the
the vowels and W H Y. Easy to
remember if you think of it
of it like ‘Why aren’t
aren’t the vowels in
in the alphabet?’
alphabet?’ They are used
 as a filler letters
letters to formulate pictures in a more clear way.
 Then we take my favoured
favoured piece of Shakespeare,
Shakespeare, from As You Like It.
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
 They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
 Then the whining schoolboy,
schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
 Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
lover,
 Sighing like furnace,
furnace, with a woeful
woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
 Full of strange oaths
oaths and bearded
bearded like the pard,
pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
 Seeking the bubble
bubble reputation
reputation
 Even in the cannon’s mouth.
mouth. And then the justice,
justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
 Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth
s ixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
 For his shrunk shank, and his big
big manly voice,
voice,
 Turning again toward
toward childish treble,
treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
 That ends this strange eventful history,
history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
 Sans teeth, sans eyes,
eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
everything.
 So using the alphabet,
alphabet, this speech then
then becomes:
5514510016215513221323459540181410211421426021
551451001621551322132345954018141021142142602123220139032941
232201390329410071092708
0071092708260184011282135272197
26018401128213527219727212400430
27212400430
2102122707591001652162279674927
21021227075910016521622796749275702525527510752162584027578420
570252552751075216258402757842085955131103409
85955131103409420514855801426602194115
420514855801426602194115
7694175022401122172745077276999
76941750224011221727450772769995491128226722036216266012844
5491128226722036216266012844219556717925216008421
2195567179252160084219418843571855800021
9418843571855800021
31422012002109009416066681021652210599
31422012002109009416066681021652210599419215260971750220
41921526097175022021962010680558145111
21962010680558145111840642762721096325801
8406427627210963258014227
4227
727410651674959902105020021501028
72741065167495990210502002150102855612060014268218501400
55612060014268218501400721651620021349582021
721651620021349582021602002101028467.
602002101028467.
 The only difficult part is to remember
remember where the whistle blow stopped
stopped you. You are then
then
free to recall something seemingly impossible at will. So choose your favourite speech,
learn and then convert ;)
 The mechanical order
order is then as follows.
follows.
Prepare your forcing slips with the memorised
m emorised number on, and a matching number of
 blank slips.
As your pre-show, hand the slips out asking for a 100-150 digit number made up at random
 and then fold it up and write your name on. During your
your conversation, talk
talk to them
 informally getting
getting names. Tell them to hang on to
to their slips of paper
paper until the show.
show.
 Go back stage and
and write one of the names on the back
back of all your forcing slips, and set
 them in whatever forcing appliance
appliance you are using.
 Go on stage and deliver
deliver your patter,
patter, have the slips dropped into the
the appliance and use a
front row member to select
s elect the forcing slip.
 Find the person whose name you have and hand them the whistle.
‘Memorize’
Memorize’ the number
Perform the rest of your show.
 Enjoy my friends! It is powerful
powerful yeah but the most important
important factor of this routine is
has an extremely relatable element!

 The idea of having a super human memory

memory has always been something that
that has fascinated
me, Ben has, the plot he has shared
s hared above I think is incredible and if you take the time
 to learn it then
then you are going
going to look like you
you have the brain
brain of a computer.
 One thing I might add
add is a couple of subtleties
subtleties – the first is the number that is created
– No one is going to ever notice repetitions in numbers especially
especially that long and the
 idea of converting numbers to letters
letters is genius.
As an alternative you could start this with numbers you already know. For example your
date of birth, phone number, address, pin code,
261087075323236101175432
 You can see how this is already a large string of numbers that you cannot forget as
long as you remember the order you placed them in, in terms of category.
You could then if you wanted to recite the categories in a different order and no one is
 going to know any different
different as they are
are merely confirming you are right. This also
means that when the whistle blows as long as you know where about in your categories
categories
you stopped then you are fine, all you have to do is say to yourself for example “
example  “22
digits into my pin code”
code ” and go from where you left off.
Another thing that I find important to take into account is that the person that wrote
down the number is likely to remember the first three or four digits that he/ she wrote
down and if those numbers are not called out then the likeliness is that they are going
 to know that it was not their piece of paper.
paper.
 There is a simple remedy for this,
this, when you hand the judge the slip of paper
paper ask them to
 name the first number
number that pops into their
their head. They will
will likely say seven or there
there
 th
 about. Tell them to count along to the
the 7  digit and that is where you call out the digit
 in that position (just by
by counting along in your
your head). Then simply proclaim “We will
proceed from that digit” and now of course you have bypassed the first series of digits
meaning that the person who wrote the digits can never backtrack the fact it wasn’t
 their piece of paper.
paper.
 This is a really simple idea but I feel it covers
covers the one thing in
in the routine that could
 be cautionary. The tail end of the number might also
also be something that
that the participant
participant
remembers so after you have called out a long enough series of digits you can simply say
 “I think that proves I could consecutively
consecutively do this for the rest of the numbers”.
I seem to remember (and I might be wrong) watching a Lee Earle vhs tape years and years
 ago where he has
has a premise similar
similar to this one. I cannot
cannot for the life
life in me remember
remember the
 name of the routine but if you can find itit I would be interested
interested to re-watch
re-watch it.
I think (if I remember rightly) he asked the audience random member by member to call
out numbers real time which were then written on a board – For obvious reasons I cannot
 tip Lee Earl’s
Earl’s routine.
routine.
Adding the subtlety of calling out the position of the number is not essential but I
 always believe
believe that you should have something like this prepared.
prepared. I always
always try to tie
everything up so there is not a solution that can be gained or guessed by the participant
 and I feel something
something like this not only adds to the effect but
but really helps hide the
method.
 We have come to the end of this month’
month’s installment, each time I come to the end of one
of these volumes I have mixed feelings. I have started recently developing what can only
 be described as a fright when sending
sending out or talking
talking about new material.
material.
I don’
don t
’ know why, the reason
reason I share this
this material is
is to help the community
community move forward
 and hopefully inspire
inspire people to
to think. That is what I hope these volumes
volumes are doing for
people.
 The routines in this volume
volume are simple and straight forward,
forward, there is in terms
terms of method
 not much to focus on, and the presentation
presentation is really where you would make these effects
 blossom and grow into something
something incredible.
incredible.
If you have read this section of the volume, thank you. When I read a book, I read every
section intently as the beginning and end section of each chapter holds so much value
 and I see people
people skip these sections
sections to jump straight into the material and I feel if you
 are doing this you I promise you, you will
will never get
get the full experience.
experience.
It’
It’s 4.31am and I am finally seeing the finishing line – the birds are singing in the
 trees and I am inin my own bed in England
England tonight. It feels
feels strange, when
when you spend so
much time on the road, you grow to love your own home and area that you live in, in a
way that is hard to describe in words.
When I am coming over the tops of the hills toward my house (after being away) I always
 get a strange feeling in my stomach - a warm feeling.
I have been away for too long, they say that travel broadens the mind – It has
certainly helped me get a better understanding
understanding of who I am and what I want from life.
 The words I am writing
writing are now starting
starting to become hazy, my eyes are closing and I am
fighting the sleep. My bed is becoming increasingly more comfortable and with each
 breath I take I am sinking slowly.
slowly.
I think I just lost the fight.
 Until next time my friends.

 … Zzz
 The end