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your english is great- I don't know much about what literature on mentalism there is in other languages- all I can do is hope and pray that there is a translation of the 13 steps to every language on the planet- some of the language is quite out of date and it cannot afford to be misunderstood or hindered by the language barrier.
As for the swami- I have no nails so I use a b**n. I can't really reccomend anything as I haven't experimented a great deal and it is subject to personal taste and preference (and nails). Just buy a good quality one and don't be afraid to loose a little money over it- it's a more than worthwile investment I assure you. Used sparingly it's a killer.

But stil im sure there are techniques like hypnosis, several mentalists work with in pre show work. For example "the manchurian aproach" dvd teaches techniques like that. I dont think you can learn hypnosis from a dvd but in a hypnosis school.

there is one of germanys biggest schools almost 5 kilometers from my home away and i guess hypnosis and patterns etc. Could make those effects. What do you think about that? I know, one of germanys most succesful mentalist, jan becker, visited that school a few months ago (oh i wish i knew that g*) so, whats your opinion about that?

Well, whatever you want. There are easier ways of doing it than preshow hypnosis, but the effect is what counts. The best thing to do is to just create your own material. It is the most satisfying thing on the planet.

I wouldn't bother with hypnosis. Certainly not as pre-show. It's too unreliable.

Most performers who claim (or imply) that they're using hypnosis aren't. It's just showmanship. At most, they're using simple relaxation techniques -- pre-hypnosis, if you like -- to get spectators to relax and seem to be in a trance.

gasmann001 wrote:But stil im sure there are techniques like hypnosis, several mentalists work with in pre show work. For example "the manchurian aproach" dvd teaches techniques like that. I dont think you can learn hypnosis from a dvd but in a hypnosis school.

there is one of germanys biggest schools almost 5 kilometers from my home away and i guess hypnosis and patterns etc. Could make those effects. What do you think about that? I know, one of germanys most succesful mentalist, jan becker, visited that school a few months ago (oh i wish i knew that g*) so, whats your opinion about that?

Swami... (again)

I think the general answer to this one is probably "swami"

I dont think so, because i mean effects, when you ask someone to think of a name, word etc. And then you tell him in the eyes what word he was thinking of, without pulling out a billet or doing center tears. I guess there are other techniques available for that. For example pre show techniques etc. .

sorry im going on your nerves, but i quess thats possible. For example, on youtube, there is a tutorial video, where a spectator is asking a spectator how last christmas was, then he talks one or two several sentences.

further he gives her esp cards and she tooks the card with a star on it. He shows her an esp card he lay down next to her without doing tricks. Its the starcard. Because he talked about christmas bevore, she takes that card. Know what i mean?

yes, but the word swami is still my answer. because he effect is just as strong to them, just not to you.

I think the general answer to this one is probably "swami"

swami... again

I could give a whole list of quotes.
Now- something I see all to often is someone asking quite silly questions- people wanting to know impromptu ways to fly, how to vanish without any covers, how to read minds e.t.c. Whilst impractical and often very ill thought out, the idealists (who more often than not know very little about magic) have something called 'vision'. They know how magic is supposed to look and aiming for that vision is the way 'magical' magic is created. Here we have an example- a spectator thinks of anything and thier thought is divined straight out of their head. No 'compromise'- it is something many people new to mentalism expect. But there isn't actually anything wrong with that thinking- there is a lot of very strong mentalism created with that vision in mind. And true, if you were a real mind reader, you wouldn't need billets, you wouldn't need to reveal your prediction afterwards and that is a vision which can result in some very powerful mentalism. Personally, I strive to achieve that aesthetic- and find myself using a lot of dual reality and linguistic deceptions, cold reading, hellstromism, hypnosis and dare I mention some nlp, psychological subtleties (You'll have to get banachek's and Tomo's book(s) about that) non-verbal communication and various other techniques. As a result, I am approaching that aesthetic.
BUT. and I mean:
BBBBBBBBBBBBBUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT,
Billets are only a problem if YOU think they are. And as has been said 5 gazillion times already it is all about performance. If you create the situation where is feels natural that the spectator names their thought first to allow you to 'swami' then it doesn't register with the audience. I mentioned som subtleties with the swami gimmick earlier. Same with the Billet work, it is a HUGE aspect of mentalism and if you view it as compromising on what a real mind reader would do, the audience will pick up on that. I can tell you, a real mind reader think twice about weather writing their thoughts down would compromise thier ability and I know that people never question writing thier thought if the enviroment is right, and as Corinda said treat it with indifference. I have seen mentalists who give the spectator the billet and get them to write the thought without any justification and the audience senses that that is important some way because the performer valued the billet, but if it is played down I PROMISE you, with the right performance nobody will even remember the billet. So, in the spectator's mind you are achieving that aesthetic I spoke about earlier. And that is the central theme of magic- it is not about how clever the method is but how strong the effect is or rather what the spectator is experiencing- if they feel satisfied that the billet is not important, you cannot see what they have written then you have read their mind. It is all about how the audience percieves it and that all comes down to your presentation. I don't want to knock your vision of 'pure' mentalism, because that can ONLY be a good thing, but.. I mean, come on, your on a magic forum telling us you'd rather not use billets or the swami gimmick. They are you most trust worthy devises. I did a whole impromptu routine with billets on one mate and that was the first time I had read his mind. I treated them with indifference and believed in my imaginary abilities. From that point that was the only thing he had seen me do, and the next time he saw me perform I was doing a trick which I was mighty thrilled with- the method was very elegant and difficult and the effect was that of 'pure' mind reading, nothing was written and the spectator selection was fair and I revealed my predictions first. I was chuffed and indeed it was a strong effect. I looked at my mate who had watched me perform for the second time and I looked at him with anticipation and said, 'so?' to which he replied 'Yeah, I already know you can read minds, I think that thing you did with me was better.' I was slightly temporarily crushed and upon composing myself realised it was a positive thing.So the moral of the story- aim to make your audience believe in your ability and by all means keep aiming for that pure vision
of what mentalism should look like- but don't give up billets, don't give up the swami- you are chucking away your most versatile and potent tools.

There is no such thing as magic, the magic exists only in the mind of the spectator - Ali Bongo

Thanks jim that was what I was trying to say.. only that it took a couple of thousand more words.

Ok. Took a long time to get me what you mean. I know that magic only exists in the heads. Thats the fascinating for me, but i understood not to damn the most important tools i even understood that there are better techniques than hypnotising spectators etc. . I thought about it and got to that point that its really possible to make predictions in the present. I could for example use one of the magic wallets or hand out the spectator a billet with a "prediction", which is put in a magic wallet (for them its my personal wallet of course). After the spectator thought of a word i could so easily change the billet in the wallet by a second billet i wrote on with a s***i. Tatatata... "heiko knew it before it happened, because he wrote it on a billet i personaly put in a wallet and watched at it all the time" i personally guess if you do that to show you are serious, they will never think you will do something like that (as you said).

i know that the show around must be very good to create great effects. For example, yesterday i remembered your words and went into a gas station. I went straight to the girl that works in there and asked her to watch my left hand and only at my left hand, then i sniped with my fingers in front of her face and asked her to suddenly bring me one article from the shop. She fetched one and i remembered her it could have been everything from the shop, but "i knew it before" and got a wallet out of my jacket, opened it up, got a folded billet out of a pocket from it, folded it up and there was written "tin of coke" she was absolutely amazed and i imediately went out with a smile on my face, wishing a nice day.

when i drove away, i saw her running into the chiefs office and pointing nervously at me.

thats why i like mentalism so much. To see that faces...you cant get that for money...these reactions to made someone paralized by magic...

but it would be nice if you could send me a pm with references of these banacheck and tomo books which are usefull for me. I still have some banacheck books, but rather tricks than explanations about the important showmanship or dual realities, dual phrases etc. .

thank you so much for your time to teach me. I swear its not for the ash tray. I will stay tuned on mentalism and wont give up. Never had so much fun with a hobby. Mentalism is even lifestyle for me.

Tomo can be contacted here on TM, he'll tell you what your after.
As for Banachek, you'll be wanting anything you can get- but I would reccomend psychological subtleties 1 (I have neither 2 nor 3 yet).
Both Naked Mentalism (Tomo) and Psychological Subtleties are about 'psychological forces': what decisions are people most likley to make, what colours are they most likley to name e.t.c. Psychological subtleties is full of little, well, subtleties that make mentalism so much more real- as Teller said at the start, the techniques within that book take the mentalist out of the realms of a trickster into the supernatural realms. Naked Mentalism is about using statistical information and 'naked' techniques to once again enhance performance.
Psychological forcing is a fascinating topic and even though more reliable and impressive effects can be achieved through cheating, they are little 'convinsers' which make the trickery that much more deceptive and inpenetrable. For me, psychological forces are part of every trick that I do and it has transformed my magic.

Okay, and psychological forces is a chapter in one of these books i guess?

(is banachek registered here, too?)

no, they are the general themes of the book, but they just have work transforming tips. To my knowledge Banachek is not on here, it would be very nice if he was though!