reformedarsonist wrote:Well how else could it be done? That's the problem with astrology - if it actually worked, there would be a way of telling from looking at somebody. Pity it's nonsense really.
Astrologer/author Linda Goodman used to get paid big money, long before her books became well known, to attend mixers and simple chat with guests. Oft times even without asking a word or any kind of communication whatsoever, you would correctly state a person's birth sign.
It's got to be prior knowledge, really, hasn't it? For it to be absolutely foolproof, at least.
I can assure you, it doesn't.
There are at least two well known systems spoken of several times in this forum alone and I can think of a good dozen other methods on the market right now that would give you this very same advantage, some better than others.
You may want to look up an effect called "What's My Sign" or visit
http://www.deceptionary.com/signlanguage.html for a decent variant to that original course of thought. You will also find two variations in T.A. Waters MIND, MYTH & MAGIC and another couple in the Psychological Subtleties material by Banachek.
That's where things like Facebook come in handy. But if that's not available, pickpocket them. Nothing wrong with that. While you're in there, I'd memorize a few other things - pictures on cards, contents etc. Looks extremely impressive, if you tell somebody what's in their wallet when you haven't been near it.
Though this sort of thing has been done as a gag on stage... kind of a "
Paper Wads Over the Head" routine for Mentalists, it's not something I'd encourage anyone to do. Lifting a person's wallet in today's world could end up placing you in a very ugly position even if you did it as part of a gag. The on-line network sites are also a problem in that very few people list factual, applicable information about themselves and too, most folks are savvy enough now days to figure that connection out.
There's a thing in a book I read about how to wittle it down by letter... might have been the cold reading book, actually, or it could have been 13 steps. Basically it's quite blatant fishing, and as a result - in my opinion - it's utter rubbish, but if you just want a way to tell somebody their star sign then that might be something to look at.
It's called a Progressive Anagram... see the above material for a better understanding and NO it's not in Corinda.
If it looks or feels like "blatant fishing"
you're doing it wrong. If you believe it to be "utter rubbish" that's perfectly fine in that the majority of the pros I know not only use that technique with tremendous success, we've invested a good deal of time into evolving the basic idea in ways that completely conceal the fact that this is what we are doing.
What's one man's trash is another man's treasure and when it comes to Progressive Anagrams, most students of mentalism view them as something priceless.
The moral of the story is make certain you know what you're talking about when you are trying to help someone out with an issue or question.
Oh
...
Take the Rowland book with a small Ukrainian Salt Mine in that the man has NEVER made a living as a professional Reader and most of what he exposes in that book is based on opinion, theory and supposed discoveries by other admitted cynics. While I do encourage people to study this book as an intermediate step when it comes to Cold Reading I cannot support the act of placing it into the hands of a novice. If you want to learn the real thing then dig into the works of Richard Webster, Bob Cassidy and Ron Martin with a touch of Herb Dewey & Brad Henderson in follow up.