talkmagic.co.uk

Didn't Cassidy, when performing in his cups, do a successful Any Card At Any Number? The gig was videoed and in the sobre light of day he reviewed it and reviewed it because he had no idea how he'd done it, and in the end realised he'd just been chancing it.

Talking of mobiles, I had a great hit from my last show. I was doing a Q+A and said I'm getting Katie and one of my friends said what did you say? I said Katie, que much screaming. Turns out a friend of a my friend had had several mis calls from a Katie L during the break. Only thing is there was no Katie L in her phone book and they were dated 1998? Wish I'd said no I'm looking for a Katie L as I was it was another friend in the audience who's name is Katie Lowe. Sorry to go off topic.

I think I can give a clue to why this kind of stuff works. I wrote it up on a sceptic's forum which I invaded for a bit of mischief. Strangely enough my theory is not incompatible with the belief system of sceptics. If I can exert myself to find the bloody thing I will post it here. I am not sure I have the energy though.

i suppose when it happens a fair bit, its something to investigate - if it happens just once or twice and we accidently forget all the times we are wrong, then the whole community would be far more interesting...

i once did a booktest with a pendulum - and divined the word without looking at the page or anything..but it only happened once!

I have found the sceptics forum referred to. I have just been reading the conversation and I found it hilarious. I must say the svengali chap is a genius beyond compare.

http://www.skepticforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1567

Now I realise that half the time we can't access links to other forums from this site so I will shortly post the bit where I explain how psychic ability works. It isn't as funny as the rest of the conversation but at least it will be educational.

As expected when I clicked on to the above link it said the topic did not exist. However I know it bloody does since I just read it. I suppose once you get to the sceptic's site you should do a search for the word "svengali" and after wading through different conversations you will find what I am referring to.

In the meantime however here is the most important post on the thread. It defines what I believe psychic ability to be. It is posted by "svengali". I will let you all use your psychic ability to figure out who he is.
.............................................................................................................

svengali wrote:
I am afraid that you do not understand psychic ability. If I knew everything I COULD predict the Lotto. However that is NOT what psychic ability is for and is not the way it works. I have suggested in the past that sceptics define what they mean by "psychic". They never seem to be able to do so.

My definition is a trifle less spectacular and ludicrous than other psychic people. I would merely call it heightened intuition. When you do this kind of work you become very sharp indeed. The psychic stuff happens at a deep subconcious level and there is nothing whatever mysterious about it. We all have it but naturally someone who does it all the time has sharpened skills. I believe I know why it works too.

If someone sits down in front of me I know all about them within seconds without them saying a word. In fact I prefer them not to speak since I like the sound of my own voice and I know perfectly well if they start yapping to me I will never get rid of them.

Now how do I do this? I sense things. And 70% of the time I am correct. You can't expect 100%. This is not an exact science like mathematics.

And how do I sense things? At first I was not entirely sure but now I believe I know what is going on. It is all perfectly simple.

Things happen at a subliminal level. Let us assume someone comes into me ten years previously. That person has marital problems. They have a relative who is ill. They also have money problems. They work say in the legal profession.

In the reading they will manifest certain signs and behaviours. I will have no idea what they are. And it is a very hard thing to explain. It is more than body language although no doubt that is part of it. They will have a certain look and there will be a certain feel for the situation.

Over the next 10 years the psychic will see hundreds of different clients but they will all have variations of the same problems. In actual fact there are very few scenarios. Most people come because of love problems and there are only a few situations that come up all the time. Same with money. Health issues and work issues. There are probably no more than about 20 or so different scenarios that come up all the time. I haven't counted them but that is my estimate.

Now here is the interesting thing. Each person will manifest the same signs, micro expressions and body language that people in similar situations will do. Again and again and again. The psychic doesn't have to study these indications. Indeed most psychics may not even be aware of them. However they will pick them up subliminally and not even know that they are doing so.

So ten years later a similar client to the one the psychic saw 10 years ago comes in with an identical set of problems. Or at least some of the same problems. He or she will also give off the same indications that someone did 10 years ago. Psychics who are not as brilliant as myself will delude themselves that because they know the chap is a lawyer, has marital problems and money troubles they will assume that God has given them great and wondrous powers that are not available to the rest of humanity.

They do not realise why they know what they know. I believe that through having done thousands upon thousands of readings they are picking up on subliminal signs that are the same every time. So they call themselves psychic.

I do believe 100% in the Tarot cards. Not because I believe they have certain supernatural powers embedded in them. I do not believe in Jung's theory of synchronicity even if I knew what the hell it was. I believe that the cards come up at random. However for very logical reasons which I do not have the energy to explain they WILL help the psychic to tune in to the client's life. They simply help the intuition process that I have already explained.

I can always tell if a lawyer is sitting in front of me. It happens very rarely but when it does I always know it. I know when a journalist or nurse is sitting in front of me. I know when I have a businessman. I know when I have a cop coming in for a reading (much more common than you might think)

How do I know? Pure intuition and experience. Not psychic you may say? I don't care what you call it as long as the client pays. The sceptics don't pay my rent so their opinion doesn't really matter. I am only coming on here to amuse myself. Irritating people is a hobby of mine.

What I am talking about is nothing whatever to do with Sylvia Browne or the claptrap that TV mediums come out with. I am not into guessing games the way they are. I am not a psychic medium and I do not contact dead people.

I do know when a close friend or relative of my client has passed away because this certainly fits into the limited scenarios that comes up as I explained earlier. And I sense the signs of it even though I have never bothered to analyse what those signs are. I just know. However I never contact the person because I know perfectly well that I can't.

Many psychics are sincere people who unfortunately are hampered by belief. That is why they get some things right and some things wrong. Luckily for them most people forget the wrong things and concentrate on the right.

There are very few outright frauds in the psychic business except of course some of the TV mediums and the gypsy type psychics. However there are indeed gifted people who do not understand where their power comes from and consequently are prone to deluding themselves as to what is going on.

I must emphasise that I never try to analyse how people are reacting. I barely look at the client. I am concentrating on their palm or the tarot cards. I pick up their reactions at a subliminal level. It is interesting to note that the more tired I am the more accurate the readings are. That is because the logical analytical part of mind closes down and the "psychic" part (for want of a better word) sharpens up.

There. Now you know what it is all about.

IAIN wrote:i suppose when it happens a fair bit, its something to investigate - if it happens just once or twice and we accidently forget all the times we are wrong, then the whole community would be far more interesting...

Yup - we try this stuff more than most, and have ways of "adjusting" what we've said when we are wrong, so it's bound to happen from time to time.

I must say that I think Mark has hit the nail on the head. My belief is that we store all of our encounters we have with people throughout our lives in a part of the subconscious. When I'm doing a reading for someone my subconscious scans through all of these "templates" that I have stored and finds the one that closest resembles the person I'm looking at. Then my subconscious feeds the information about the template into my conscious mind, and I then relay the information to the sitter.

Something like that anyway...

So what you're saying, Mark, is that psychic skills are learnt by induction?

themagicwand wrote:

MagicalSmithy wrote:When I was on holiday I dounf my self in a raging argument on how the supernatural is real with a wiken believer......she explained to me that magic is completely real and that I believed I was using slight of hand as the powerful ones did not want me to know that it was all real (appt they do not like to be beaten.)

She was then guaranteed that Derren Brown honestly summons ghosts to aid in his shows....

This has been going on for centuries. Doyle honestly believed that Houdini was using the spirits to aid his escapes.

However don't laugh too hard. Houdini saw an apparition of his own mother the day before she died.

And one time when Houdini was stuck in a trunk and had no idea of how to escape, he sent a coded message to Bess (his wife) on stage saying that he was in trouble. Bess muttered a Jewish prayer in desperation, and Houdini felt a surge of calmness overcome him. The method of escape suddenly came to him in a way that Houdini felt was supernatural.

Houdini actually wanted to believe.

MagicalSmithy wrote:How can you deal with people like this.

She just doesn't understand "magic" anymore than you understand Wicca. Why not buy a book and educate yourself? Knowledge is power after all. And you'll get some good inspiration for presentation techniques as well.

At first I was vert tempted to look into all this wica thing but.....

She informed me that there was no way at all that wica was foney as they took a random man that the wica head figure had never met and got him to hide a coin oon top of a hill.....he was then requested to place his hand onto the head of the small wica groups shoulder and he then went onto to read the mans mind to find the coin....

Is it just me or is this not a very clever muscle reading trick.

Some interesting stories and experiences being noted, the sort of things that really do happen to those of us actually invested into this sort of work by way of the old school. I've always found it interesting how so many of the "Rowland Inspired" folk never found the BALLS to go out and invest a solid year or two doing Reading work day in and out as a way of making a living, just to prove that he's right and it's all hokum...

Of course, I don't know of many in the world who've done Readings on that level -- dozens or even over 100 sessions a week -- who've not had experiences such as a few have shared here... and yes, sleep deprivation is one of the classic techniques used for centuries that allows the sensitive to become more aware of what the subconscious mind taps into when it comes to a specific client or object... being a bit drunk or stoned can have similar results for similar reasons.

True to my nature I'd penned a rather extensive response here but I'm trying to chisel it down... bare with me...

The masturbative antics of inexperienced and eager "magicians" who've been inspired by a handful of biased sources vs. wisdom and being a part of life itself not only angers the people they harass it adds to the on-going public loathing of "us"... and I can assure you that most laymen don't hold magic in the high esteem our egos tend to believe it worthy of... of course, the new unkempt hoodlum/punk image so many want to embrace these days isn't helping, but that's aside from the issue here...

Believe it or not the Shut Eye community does police itself. In certain city areas they have annual "Awareness" programs in which they reach out to the communities they live in and educate the market about predatory Readers/Healers as well as the antics of potentially dangerous cults (especially the smaller ones we rarely hear about). No, these public talks do not touch upon slight of hand, impression systems, etc. Fortunately the Shut-Eye community has been wise enough to move into the late 20th and early 21st centuries rather than dwell on well established and seriously out-dated methods such as the magic community keeps tossing out there as "Proof" (while ignoring the more legitimate dangers and related obligation).

Harry Houdini was a terror and recognized Bass-Tard when it comes to his interaction with Mediums. But his targets always focused on the predators that he could PROVE (by catching them in the act in the presence of witnesses) were such and guilty of larceny. He was wise enough to know that not all that claimed to be Psychic fit said niche and too, the public had a need for the surreal (just as he retained his need for faith and holding to the tenets by which he was raised in the Jewish faith). In fact Harry Kellar and Howard Thurston, two men that were busting predatory mediums & faith healers long before Old Harry decided to use it for a PR advantage, were both very devout men when it came to their Christian faith, Thurston actually giving up seminary so as to go into magic. You'll find that the majority of Skeptics from the 19th and 20th century, even to this very day in fact, have just such a background and that includes students of the esoteric and eastern traditions.

I'm betting many of our more cynical friends here aren't even aware of the fact that Lord Buddha taught against the miraculous some 2,500 years ago, touting the fact that only ego-driven entertainers made such manifestations for the sake of earning carnal treasure rather than expression of genuine enlightenment. This coming from a man known for the miraculous and even prophetic vision but who did not exploit such works as his mainstay; allowing his demeanor and how he lived his life within the parameters of his philosophy to be the validation. Which is the one thing most of today's cynics never weigh; they refuse to allow room for the good these people do in life, how they do deliver a positive service to their communities and their actions are not "excessive" when it comes to the gratuities granted them.

A corrupt Reader on the other hand, demands subservience and "tithes". They will manipulate their patrons by words of fear and exploiting the auspices of tradition, culture and related superstitions in order to generate a means by which they can live in relative comfort surrounded by finery. Something you'd be hard pressed to find support of in any major philosophy associated with spiritual advancement.

My point is simply this; rather than piling any and all things "Psychic" into the same pile why not extend your talent and knowledge in ways that actually do educate and protect your community, doing so in a way that allows the honest Readers and representatives of the shut-eye industry a semblance of dignity regardless your personal belief that it's all "fake"???

Doesn't it make sense, especially from a business point of view, to create allies rather than foes? To shine as a beacon of good rather than a threat? (and anyone that challenges faith, spirituality, belief, etc. is certainly viewed as a threat and soulless by that majority of the world that bears witness to such things).

I've done work like this for most of the past twenty-five years if not longer, and I've never been accused of insulting the intelligence of others while, in the very same communities, you will find dozens of magic enthusiasts not trusted by much of the faith-based population... and I word it that way in that not all people who believe in Psychic-like expression fall into the more typically accepted idea of things... people that believe in the power of prayer for example.

It's not impossible to meet people half-way and to be fair about things, nor is it unwise. The only barrier being when our own ego gets in the way and we want to believe that non-acceptance of such things equates to intelligence or some odd sense of superiority.

Come down to earth and be mortal. Allow yourself the opportunity to actually learn from ALL SIDES of any given issue otherwise you cannot give a fair and honest assessment to any of it. Nor do you have any ground upon which to stand when it comes to passing judgment.

So what you're saying is that it's wrong to mess around with someone else's belief system?

Perhaps better phrased as 'more considerate to not poke fun at other belief systems'. It happens, of course, but isn't always appropriate.

I'm very skeptical by nature but even I won't go the full 100% and say there's nothing in it - just in case !

I just think that if you go around saying you're getting information from the big beyond, then you are messing around with people's beliefs. I know a lot of working psychics will make some kind of disclaimer, along the lines of "I don't know where the information comes from" but if they then go on to say "I'm seeing a man with gingery white hair here, and he's showing me a box of old photos..." then they're certainly not sticking to their claimed doubts about the origins of the information. Throw a few grieving people into the mix, and then where are we?

Mr_Grue wrote:I just think that if you go around saying you're getting information from the big beyond, then you are messing around with people's beliefs. I know a lot of working psychics will make some kind of disclaimer, along the lines of "I don't know where the information comes from" but if they then go on to say "I'm seeing a man with gingery white hair here, and he's showing me a box of old photos..." then they're certainly not sticking to their claimed doubts about the origins of the information. Throw a few grieving people into the mix, and then where are we?

Ah but then we're talking about mediumship - a whole different kettle of fish. A can of worms, one could say. I must admit that I find the whole process of mediumship fascinating - I really enjoy watching the tricks and techniques they employ - but the whole talking to the dead leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth.

Hey, I've got an idea! Why not "borrow" the tricks and techniques used by working mediums, but employ these tricks and techniques to provide an ungimmicked stage mind-reading show? Oh hang on. I just finished writing a book about that! It's out soon!