talkmagic.co.uk

Rather than add to an existing thread I thought I'd start a new one.

based on this quote from one of our junior members..

jaredmagician wrote:Thanks for the feedback, im new to mentalism completly, in fact im only 15 and have only done magic for 3 or 4 years, and i just wanted some advice and i think ive got it, so i will wait untill im older and see how the magic oes so i can always make the switch then, thanks.
Jared.

My question is:

Is mentalism a natural progression from card magic and traditional magic ?
Does anyone go straight into mentalism ?
is a grounding in traditional magic desirable, essential, necessary ?

I am at a half-way house. I love performing close-up magic yet I find myself gravitating towards mentalism and hypnosis.

Discombobulator wrote:Rather than add to an existing thread I thought I'd start a new one.

based on this quote from one of our junior members..

jaredmagician wrote:Thanks for the feedback, im new to mentalism completly, in fact im only 15 and have only done magic for 3 or 4 years, and i just wanted some advice and i think ive got it, so i will wait untill im older and see how the magic oes so i can always make the switch then, thanks.
Jared.

My question is:

Is mentalism a natural progression from card magic and traditional magic ?
Does anyone go straight into mentalism ?
is a grounding in traditional magic desirable, essential, necessary ?

I am at a half-way house. I love performing close-up magic yet I find myself gravitating towards mentalism and hypnosis.

I did a little survey a few years ago and the dominant response from over 100 mentalists was that they had come from traditional magic and moved into mentalism...I do think a 15 year old is too young to perform mentalism, but it is a great time to start studying mentalism...Luke Jermay started out very early indeed, but it is exceedingly rare that a young person can pull off a convincing performance.

Mentalism simply requires life exeprience and the wisdom that comes with it....

There are many skills from magic that are vital for mentalism. but there are also many hangups and horrible tendencies that need to be expunged from the mind of the performer to move into strong mentalist performances...look at the banal stuff being performed on The Magicians on the BBC to see my point...

The essays here by Craig Browning are strong on this point, and I would highly recommend The Artful Mentalism of Bob Cassidy, which is full of wonderful insights. I can also highly recommend Chuck Hickok's Mentalism Incorporated Volume 1...

The route is a very long one and worth taking time studying many things not directly magic related....

Best wishes

Dr T

What is mentalism? I trained as a hypnotist & would say some of what I did with the therapeutic use of hypnotism fits within the mentalist description. I got into escapology via my having worked in both the building trade & vehicle recovery with both developing a knowledge of gaining entry & an interest in how locks work. Via escapology I gained an interest in the early spiritualists who were often restrained & would personally say that spiritualists, etc etc are mentalists. But others will disagree.
Given that the whole spiritualist movement is built upon the actions of two young girls who both played with an apple on a string in the dark & then learnt to use their feet to bang on the floor by controlling their leg muscles to such a degree that on looks could not see them causing the bangs. I would say that age is unimportant.
Edited to add. The Fox sisters were 12 & 15. Had no books to read, no others to learn from. Yet they developed the whole spiritualist movement.

I came from close-up magic into mentalism but i had always studied the classics of mentalism when i was working as a magician so i had a good grounding in the subject.

Bob Cassidy's 39 steps answers part of the last question better than I can explain

http://www.lybrary.com/thirtynine-steps ... -a-10.html

Most mentalists come from a magic background, but not all do. I have never heard of John Edward being in a magic society, or Uri Geller for that matter.

I do believe that there is a danger in coming from magic to mentalism. You can carry over the magician mentality. A mentalist is a completely different beast. Many magicians who think they are mentalists are just magicians doing mind-reading tricks. Until you drop the trick mentality you are not a mentalist.

I don't believe that age is necessarily a barrier, but Todd is right; life experience is a must to carry it off convincingly.