The Effect:
The performer begins..."As you are undoubtedly aware, we are ruled by an incredible synthesis of "choice and chance." Our ability to control certain pathways in our destiny are inextricably linked to forces truly beyond our meager human abilities to comprehend. One of those forces, perhaps one of the most powerful of all, lay far beyond our grasp...our reach. I am of course referring to the vastness of outer space; the cosmos, the influence of the planetary bodies themselves. I have a set of "planetary glyphs," tokens inscribed with various planetary etchings. There is Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, The Moon, The sun, and Neptune. Today we shall see which planetary body you are under the influence of. I have in this small pouch a symbol of what I believe represents that very planet." The small pouch is then placed on the table in full view.
The performer continues, " Please take theses glyphs in your hands. Warm them with your life force. Shake them up, throwing the planets into a state of cosmic disarray! Now cast them to the table and observe: some glyphs are face up, while others are face down. Those face-down glyphs no longer have influence on your life. Let us remove the face-down glyphs which might cast negative influences. Now take the remaining glyphs and once again warm them...and toss." The process is repeated until only one glyph remains face-up.
The performer continues, "You will notice that the last remaining glyph presents an image of the Moon, the symbol of both the Greek Goddess Diana, as well as Hecate...the celestial and the infernal. It is a symbol of the cyclical nature of life, of new and old, death and rebirth; lost and found opportunities. You are strongly influenced by The Moon. If you doubt this, please remove the small "stone" from my pouch as proof." The spectator than removes a small moon shaped stone from the pouch. It matches the symbol on the glyph precisely!
Cost - $22.95 (at Hocus Pocus)
Difficulty: 1/2 (half) = EXTREMELY easy to do)
Review
I received my Planatery Glyphs set today and I'm sorry to say, there were problems. One of the glyphs were broken completely in half. Fine, that can obviously happen during shipping and I could send it back and get a new set. However, most of the other glyphs are warped and bent in one way or another. In all honesty, the material used to make the glyphs is so cheap, I am almost afraid to have people picking them up and throwing them down on the table for fear they would break. I don't know what kind of cheap, lightweight material these glyphs are made from (most likely some kind of resin) and I honestly didn't really expect much for $22.95, but let me just say that plastic glyphs would have even been MUCH higher quality!
Above all, the contents of the package was NOT as described in the ad or as shown in the pictures (or even in the instructions for that matter). For instance; The nice shiney "moon stone" that is displayed and described in all of the ads i've seen (and even in the instructions) for this effect is not even stone. It is a cheap, flimsy metal charm to a necklace. It even has the little loop on it, where it would connect to a chain! The photo in the ad also shows a nice black velvet drawstring bag. Mine came with a cheap, see-thru, ugly, pee green colored bag. Personally, I would be completely embarrassed to pull out such a clown-esque' looking bag in front of an audience and then proceed to present a serious piece of mentalism. This isn't a huge deal, because as we all know, nice drawstring bags are a dime a dozen (literally). But, here we go AGAIN with paying good money for effects, only to receive junky, low quality props then having to set out on ANOTHER journey to find better looking/better made items to replace them with!
I have to say, all of this is very disapointing, because it really is a decent routine and it does come with a nice presentation, as you can see in the description. I have already been doing Jay Sankey's improptu version of this effect with borrowed coins for quite awhile and although this effect itself isn't exactly mind-blowing and the method is pretty much a no-brainer, I had high hopes that these props, along with the included presentation would add a lot of mystique.
Reluctantly, I am going to go ahead keep the effect and track down my own moon-shaped stone and a nice drawstring bag, only because Hocus Pocus told me to keep the set I have now and they're sending me a whole new set. So, at least I will have some replacement glyphs for if/when others break....
Overall
Overall, I give Mephysto's Planatery Glyphs a 2/10 and that is ONLY because it does give you a solid presentation for the effect.
