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in Capricornian Tales there is a nice little tarot routine where you divine the tarot card chosen by up to 4-5 persons thats a neat one. based on that one you can go further doing a quick reading for them.

Tarot cards are very magical by nature so they are wonderful for magic but yes as someone stated before tarot card on the ceiling would be quite silly

but as i already mentioned...put it in the right context and there are a lot card tricks you can do with tarot

greets

Replicant wrote:Does anyone here perform any Tarot card effects in their magic? I know there are a couple of effects in Rick Maue's The Book of Haunted Magick, but in The Black Hart's Tarot Made Easy course, he advises against using Tarot cards in magic. If you were going to perform tricks with Tarot cards, then perhaps a bizarre style of presentation would probably be more suitable and even then I think you would have to be careful, especially if you also do Tarot card readings. In fact, is it advisable for someone who is known to read Tarot cards to also perform magic tricks with those very same cards? What do you guys think?

Stephan Minch's Book of Thoth is nothing but Tarot related routines and I believe Jim Magus has a similar book or two on both Tarot & Runes.

I do not encourage people to use tarot in "magic shows" and if you do I recommend you use the Rider-Waite deck in that it is the most recognized when it comes to commercial art and too, the least threatening. More so, I prefer using this deck for "tricks" simply so I'm not using my Reading Decks... in part, out of respect to the Tarot itself as well as my own need for keeping my working decks "un-tampered with". I encourage all performers to consider this in that you will be judged by how to look at the cards and how others view them.

there's a nice little routine on Sankey's Hemispheres DVD using some cards from the Major Arcana, it's basically a rip-off of the effect on Banachek's PSI Vol 1 DVD using the corporate logos.

The trick is easily adaptable, you could use Tarot cards for a dark presentation, corporate logos for a corporate show, playing cards if you're a cardie, or even top trumphs or animal cards if you're a children's magician.

Basically, you show a series of cards after writing a prediction and putting it in an envelope, and ask the spectator to choose a card they are drawn to. Your predicition matches their choice every time.

On the original question, I wouldn't combine readings and magic in the same show, or if I was, I would use something like Deep Astonishment II by Paul Harris, which has a divination theme, but doesn't use actual Tarot cards. I don't see a problem using Tarot cards in magic, but like others have said, people are less familiar with Tarot cards, so I would stick to adapting packet tricks maybe only using 4 or 5 cards, rather than using a whole 78-card deck.

The Black Hart's Tarot Made Easy course, he advises against using Tarot cards in magic. If you were going to perform tricks with Tarot cards, then perhaps a bizarre style of presentation would probably be more suitable and even then I think you would have to be careful, especially if you also do Tarot card readings

Let me explain. I often use the tarot cards I am reading with to do a 'trick' for my sitter (the person having the reading), however this is most definitely NOT presented as a trick. It would be a demonstration of psychic ability or an 'odd' thing that just happened during the reading - such as a tarot card that I said was very relevant to the sitter being the very next tarot card dealt!

It is the context that these 'events' happen within that is important, you need to weave them into the fabric of the reading. I will do this at a 'corporate' for perhaps the second sitter (not the first as that is waaay to obvious), who will then go off and tell all their friends about the psychic happening! I may also do something special for the person who is paying the bill. 'Normal' magicians would be surprised just how much of an effect you can have on your audience with a simple DL or l****or card!

The next context is that of the 'Black Magic Theatre Show and Seance'. This is presented as a demonstration of the 'supernatural' in a very theatrical manner. Afterwards the audience are not quite sure whether what they saw was real or not. Whatever they do think they DO NOT think that they have just seen a conjouring show.

What I think does not work is when a magician who has been doing the usual card tricks and 'Dippy Duck' effects suddenly gets out a pack of tarot cards and goes in to a 'spooky' routine. I don't think this works on any level.

And let me add that whatever you do it must be ENTERTAINING. Yes, even the Black Magic Theatre Show and Séance has humour and lighter moments and so should your tarot/rune/palm/crystal ball readings.

Keith Hart

What I think does not work is when a magician who has been doing the usual card tricks and 'Dippy Duck' effects suddenly gets out a pack of tarot cards and goes in to a 'spooky' routine. I don't think this works on any level.

you could make a dippy duck that looks like a disembodied hand on a stand.
I can see this thing reaching down to the Tarot deck and pulling out a card for a sitter between it's boney fingers

I can see this thing reaching down to the Tarot deck and pulling out a card for a sitter between it's boney fingers

You shouldn't make jokes like this...because somebody will probably think its a good idea!

Keith Hart

I would never do tricks with tarot cards. It seems like sacrilege to me.

Besides I see enough of the things.

i have something with tarot cards, i pose the question that if i had some form of psychic ability - would i really need to see the cards to do a reading?

As I'm talking, I'm drawing something on a pad - i give a short reading, and then ask the sitter to show me their three chosen cards...

i let them look at the pad, and there is one scene that i have drawn, containing lots of elements from all 3 cards, and it has my name and occassionally a phone number or email address at the bottom of it...

IAIN wrote:i have something with tarot cards, i pose the question that if i had some form of psychic ability - would i really need to see the cards to do a reading?

Now you're talking my language

Ooh yes, very good. I posted something a bit similar earlier in the thread but using only one card. I quite like the idea of drawing a picture though. I use a "doodle book" more and more when I do close-up - it gives the spec the idea that they're seeing the workings of my mind before their very eyes (not a pretty sight!).

Many psychics work without tarot. However it is a very powerful tool for sharpening intuition. Why make it harder for yourself? Of course some of you being magicians use them for tricks. That is not what they were made for.

There is no space here to explain how the thing works but work it does. The tarot is REAL and it WILL trigger off psychic vibes. If you work without then it becomes much harder.

I do a nice fun routine, the first thing I do is ask a spec if they believe in mysticsm (sic) at all. After their answer I pull out an envelope and place it on the table. I bring the Tarot deck forward and give it a quick shuffle, then ask them to start dealing down random cards onto the envelope, and keep cutting and dealing until they have a nice random pile of cards on the table.
All the time I am reminding them, I am not a mind reader, I am a magician. I ask them to take their pile and deal it into three new piles. They turn over the top cards of each pile, and I give a short description of what a typical reading might be with those cards.
Completly hands off at this point, they open the envelope and see a picture of an old tapestry, the design is the same as the back design of the cards, and on it are the images of the three cards they chose, with a reading underneath each, and they are the actual images from the cards. I certainly had fun in Gimp making them and will post a picture of the effect when I get home to the laptop where they are stored.

black hart wrote:

I can see this thing reaching down to the Tarot deck and pulling out a card for a sitter between it's boney fingers

You shouldn't make jokes like this...because somebody will probably think its a good idea!

Keith Hart

as long as i get a freebie

You may consider tarot cards as a storytelling object.
Oracle is a very simple exemple how to do it.

http://www.surnateum.org/English/surnat ... oracle.htm