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Hi all!

I'm planning an act, and I'm keen to include a remote viewing routine for the end. I really like Luke Jermay's A Remote Castle, but I don't trust a house of cards to stay put right through a performance, and I don't want to do this one as an opener.

Can anyone point me in the direction of other remote viewing effects that I can explore?

Thanks in advance,

Pete

Two Words: BOB CASSIDY

When all else fails, ask Bob... in this case, he has several such bits that are great. Too, I've frequently presented Book Tests in the light of being a demonstration of Remote Viewing or Astral Projection.

Thanks Craig!

Time to dig and delve.

Pete

First of all, what kind of remote viewing effect are you after, generally?

I'm looking for the illusion of seeing through a spectator's eyes. So it's not thought reading as such, and slightly different to a picture duplication.

Jermay's Remote Castle was a good self-contained one, as you have the spectator cast their eyes over a random scattering of face-up and face-down playing cards. The downside is that the routine begins with a house of cards, which the spectator demolishes, and unless you do this as an opener, there's no guarantee that the house will still be standing when you need to make reference to it.

Also, I'm keen to keep playing cards out of my 'mental magic' act if possible, as they're so closely associated with mainstream magic and trickery.

So essentiall, the spectator would be observing, and I'd be describing.

Does that make sense?

Pete

Perfect sense!

In essence, you can use any effect where you can guarantee to know what the spectator is looking at, because it's then all down to presentation. There are more effects like that and underlying techniques that you can adapt than you can shake a stick at. I'd advise you to do it that way rather than buy something off-the-shelf for the simple reason that you'll make it your own and it'll sit more comfortably within your usual performance.

So, think peeks, centre tears, impression pads, etc. and even psychological forces if you have the nerve and the outs if it goes wrong. Corinda's Thirteen Steps to Mentalism or Annemann's Practical Mental Magic are packed with useful techniques, but so too is Karl Fulves' Self-working Mental Magic, so it comes down to a matter of cost, really.

Basically, if it's guaranteed that you'll know what's being thought of, the sky's the limit because it becomes about presentation.

...as tomo says really...you should play up on the presentation...start describing the person's eye movement...

"i can see that you are scanning the page right now...slow down for me please...ah good - you're settling now, the first few paragraphs...could you focus in more please...ahhh...that's it...closer now...even more...just a little further...that's it...the 3rd paragraph....first sentence now...it's *insert force sentence*..."

so you end up telling them where to look, but others are just assuming you're describing what the reader is doing...

if the reader queries it "the 2nd paragraph?", you can turn it into a hit by saying "yes, that's right, im seeing the 2nd paragraph...further down now...settling onto the 3rd paragraph now...first sentence...."

just my thoughts anyway...