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The $1000 Secret Seance by Docc Hilford.

Cost: around £25 from most on-line magic retailers.

They Say: Earn $1000 performing seance theater in any house, guaranteed!

I Say: First of all I have to confess that I absolutely love everything about this 40 page booklet. Yes, it is £25 for a 40 page booklet, but the info, tricks and tips contained within the pages are genuinely priceless.

However...I personally doubt whether the practitioner of the skills outlined within this booklet could genuinely pass them off as authentic seances, as the book claims. Personally I have used all three seances detailed in the $1000 Secret Seance to great effect in an entertainment setting. I would doubt if someone with an interest in the occult would be too happy if a seance they had paid to host suddenly degenerated into an orgy of thumb flashers and flash paper (without giving too much of the book away).

That said, if you are a magician with a mentalist, psychic, or bizarre twist to your act, then the $1000 Secret Seance is an absolute must buy. Used in an entertainment setting, it will knock the socks off your specs. If however you want to host "genuine" seances, I would suggest the intense study of cold reading techniques and the watching of the various mediums & psychics that run amok across Living TV, Living TV +1, and Living TV 2. They really are masterclasses.

As well as the three routines, the booklet also contains help and info relating to the development of your psychic "character" and ways to market yourself.

I give the $1000 Secret Seance a wonderful 9 out of 10. I knock the 1 point off simply for the fact that I don't think the routines would work in a genuine seance setting. Perhaps it's just me, or perhaps it's a USA - UK cultural difference? Whatever - go buy!

Sorry Paul... there are at least a dozen people I know of using that manuscript and making MORE than the promised $1,000.00 a week. It just takes nerve and the willingness to sell your soul

Craig Browning wrote: It just takes nerve and the willingness to sell your soul

Thanks for the info Craig - yes, perhaps it is just having the b*lls to pull it off. However I have led "genuine" seances before, and to be honest it would be a lot easier and a lot more authentic (IM very HO) to simply go down the cold reading route (a la Jonathan Edwards - allegedly) than to introduce items like thumb flashers and birth sign revelations. This is just my opinion and my experience.

However I would reiterate that the $1000 Secret Seance is an absolute gem - whether you choose to use it in an entertainment setting or a "genuine" setting perhaps depends on how big your b*lls are!

This sounds very cool. Is it worth getting into this type of magic?

I suppose that very much depends on whether or not you think you're getting paid to entertain people. I think there's something morally wrong with lying to people about their dead relatives, but then I'm not familiar with this trick or its patter.

smarvell wrote:I suppose that very much depends on whether or not you think you're getting paid to entertain people. I think there's something morally wrong with lying to people about their dead relatives, but then I'm not familiar with this trick or its patter.

It's not a "trick" it's a set of three progressive routine; a "Pocket Seance" that you can do more or less at the drop of a hat; the Formal "Group" Seance, which is a bit more traditional in style. Docc has exploited the ideas behind a Ouija and added a bit of Tarot to this particular routine which makes it a bit fun (of course, I've added a few twists that makes it even more interesting). Finally, there is a "Personal Seance" which takes on the feel of being a counselor of sorts; one-on-one interaction.

Performance and "enactments" of Seance programs are a primary aspect of Mentalism and were probably the key to what allowed this side of the magic field to evolve. When it comes to people using the idea of morality & ethics as a reason to snear at this kind of work and put it down... well, generally the rule applies to this just as it would pornography... you don't have to patronize it if you don't agree with it but let those that can and will do as they will so long as no harm is coming from it.

Personally I've seen more psychosis develop in folks that have gone to a certified clinician or priest for dealing with the issue of death and dying than I've ever seen from folks that chat with a psychic for an hour or two here and there. Like it or not, the placebo affect is frequently more powerful than any kind of "legit" mode of approach. This is exactly why our ancestors used theatrics within religious rites and why its still done today within religion and even political and sport oriented rallies.

I've seen too that most of the younger folk that take this supposed "High Ground" view do so simply because they go to the JREF web site and have a head full of Rowland to boot. They get no other perspective that is free of this particular bias, nor have they actually "investigated" such situations for themselves and gained first hand knowledge (and please don't start down that path of "I don't have to do drugs to know they're bad for me..." spiel so many critics like to use to justify their not having done any honest investigation.

Anything can be corrupted but a Seance (far different from what John Edward & the Gang do) is rarely designed to work in such a way. Most exist as a KNOWN entertainment while some are still scheduled for more theraputic concerns, if you would. It is exceptionally rare to find any "Medium" out there running scams on the public so let's stop beating a horse that's been more or less gone and forgotten for most of the past three or so decades if not longer.

Delude wrote::o This sounds very cool. Is it worth getting into this type of magic?

I find the whole psychic angle a real kick. Far more fun than sponge balls and bending balloons! So my answer would be - yes!

I'm not denying that it's theraputic, that's the main counter point. I find it hard to agree with saying something like "your mother forgives you for putting her in a home" or "your father is so sorry for XYZ and wishes he'd had the strength to tell you in life" when that's just not something they know.

Just because it doesn't harm people, it doesn't make it OK.

From your description, it sounds more like a totally different aspect of mentalism which I don't have a problem with. Certainly, if people are divining things they know themselves, then that's all OK by me.

I'm not sure I have to actually perform a psychic reading for someone in order to prove to myself that it's something I don't agree with, unless you're implying that if I do, and see the relief and pain moved from the subject's shoulders, then I might. If that is the case, then I accept your point, but will not be trying it all the same, and I certainly won't be charging for it.

I disagree with your notion that charlatan psychics died out in the 70s, but that's a different story.

In summary, it would appear that the "trick" is not what I was harping on about and everything's OK.

smarvell wrote:
I disagree with your notion that charlatan psychics died out in the 70s, but that's a different story.

I wouldn't disagree with much of what you say. However it is interesting to note that the two most influential "magicians" of the day (Blaine & Brown) both have a huge obsession with "charlatan psychics". In fact it is the techniques used by psychics & mediums over the last 150 years that have influenced modern magic the most - from mentalism to escapology, it all started with the Fox sisters.

I sometimes think the world would be a more wondrous place if Derren Brown actually claimed to have psychic powers. It would certainly be more exciting by NL bloody P.

themagicwand wrote:In fact it is the techniques used by psychics & mediums over the last 150 years that have influenced modern magic the most - from mentalism to escapology, it all started with the Fox sisters.

Oh, absolutely, and for the purposes of entertainment they are fantastic. I'm not arguing that they don't have theraputic uses too, as a technique. What I don't like is people getting paid to lie to vulnerable people under the false pretext of special powers.

themagicwand wrote:I sometimes think the world would be a more wondrous place if Derren Brown actually claimed to have psychic powers. It would certainly be more exciting by NL bloody P.

Oddly, I think it's much more interesting to claim it's a skill rather than a power. A power can dismissed out of hand, but a skill, especially a scary skill, is much more tactile.

I don't think I said that the crooked psychics died out in the 70s... rather, I believe I was pointing out that through the 70s and into the 80s we shifted from the classic "gather around the table" Seance to what has become known as Channelling or, as magicians and cynics like to call it, "Cold & Warm" Readings. The whole bit with marianette puppets and glowing cheese cloth we read about in those old Houdini & Kellar stories is no longer the prime vehicle... that's all I'm saying. Though a few still do them as a legit deal, it is not the common route in today's world of "Spirit Communication"

Paul is very close to the mark in his observation about the old Spiritualists and how that particular movement has affected the world of magic. In that I'm covering topic in one of my books I do not feel like making an essay here on the topic, but know that most of what we see in those books as to "How it is done" isn't material that mediums got caught red handed using but rather supposition by magicians and methods they've come up with for replicating the same. Our job as magicians is to make the "impossible" real e.g. being able to replicate paranormal phenomena is not any big surprise... it's part of our job. The problem is, many of the more cynical minded see our ability to replicate as "proof" that something is fake (and many people that are desperate in sustaining the idea that it's all hokum, will allude to this and mis-represent what I've noted here, so as to detract from the public's sense of belief... to weaken their will, as it were.)

I can assure you, there are things out there that we cannot replicate or explain away...

No, I'm not saying that you need to go out and do Readings to see how they help. I'm saying that you need to walk into the Metaphysical community with the willingness to learn vs. the more cynical mind-set that's being projected here, and see things for what they really are vs. what the Evangelists of Cynicism keep preaching about.

I have no problem at all in going after ardent criminals and scam artists. I have put my life on the line more than once doing just that and I do not do it so as to beat a drum about my work or get my name in the papers... in fact, I try to avoid press on such work because these people will kill you if given the chance. That's a fact! When you expose someone and make it so they can no longer bilk people for tens of thousands of dollars under the guise of bieng some kind of guru, you make some serious enemies... it's not like going after the local Tarot Reader down the street (as Rowland encourages in his book) nor is it akin to what we see big mouths like Jamie Ian Swiss or Penn Jillette doing, where they insult people that have belief and point blank tell their audiences "There is no such thing..." when in fact, there is no proof one way or the other (though technically, there is a growing body of evedence that supports the existence of Intuition and Telepathic ability as well as Reincarnation).

If you want to learn, then walk into things with an opened mind and the desire to learn.

I've been very lucky in my life when it comes to being able to see all sides of an issue for the most part. That is why, as a Skeptic, I also leave room for faith and admit that I too have a modicom of belief for many reasons, including some very disturbing personal experiences that absolutely NO ONE in the magic world can explain away... and I'm not alone... and since we are on the subject of Seance work... Yes, it includes circumstances in which I have felt the dead communicate through me...

Scoff all you wish but as I say, there is far more to it all than we sometimes want to allow.

Craig Browning wrote: I also leave room for faith and admit that I too have a modicom of belief for many reasons, including some very disturbing personal experiences that absolutely NO ONE in the magic world can explain away... and I'm not alone... and since we are on the subject of Seance work... Yes, it includes circumstances in which I have felt the dead communicate through me...

As someone who came to magic from a magik background, and worked as a reader for years before I even heard the phrase "cold reading" I would have to agree with you there Craig. Sometimes when I perform the lines between conjuring techniques and the real deal can become very blurred indeed.

I do however maintain a healthy level of scepticism both in my own experiences and in the abilities prophesed by others. Although I have a strong belief in the existance of psychic abilities, ghosts, etc., I also laugh the loudest at most TV psychics who can be seen engaging in ghost hunts or acting as mediums.

I guess I'm just a multi-faceted kinda guy! I believe in everything but doubt everything at the same time.

Randi's a bit on the angry side, but he's not a loud-mouth in the same vein as some people. He openly admits that he can't say for sure whether something is a trick or real psychic powers. It's people like Penn Jilette that take it a bit far on the offensive path, and that gives everyone a bad name.

Personally I don't believe in anything 'supernatural', but this doesn't mean I'm saying I positively believe there isn't anything supernatural. I agree with marvell, and what he says about telling someone that their dead relatives are saying things that they don't really know of. To me it's wrong to pretend about something that is so important. However if people genuinely feel better after seeing a psychic, that's their choice and good for them. But there's something about positively believing in the uncertain that just seems wrong (to me).

Just don't do a Sylvia Browne and make a totally wrong prediction 'everytime'.

I hope I haven't offended anyone (unless Sylvia Browne is reading this).

Anyway the product in question seems interesting, I might get it myself when I've got some more money.

Over here in Intriductions is a lovely post from a new member which has benefit to this thread.

I have said it in another thread and it's worth repeating here, that the question is one of context.

If one makes false claims in conjunction with ENTERTAINMENT, then so be it as there need not be truth in art.

However should one make false claims in an attempt to CON the public even with the best of intentions, then there behavior is not only contemptible but criminal.

One would also do well to consult an attorney to solicit what is and isn't acceptable in private readings as there are specific laws concerning ADVICE when payment is received.

One could be held liable for said advice leading to consequences in the life of there client.

Just some things to think about.

P.S. Thank you Marvel for your kind words. I missed your post prior to posting mine.