talkmagic.co.uk

what a list!

SidoonMan wrote:I still haven't found any info about Barnam Statements, if anyone can help?

You have - you just didn't realize it.

The ten Barnum statements:

• I have a great need for people to like and admire me.
• I have a tendency to be critical of myself.
• I have a great deal of unused capacity which I have not turned to my advantage.
• Disciplined and self-controlled outside, I tend to be worrisome and insecure inside.
• At times I have serious doubts as to whether I have made the right decision or done the right thing.
• I prefer a certain amount of change and variety, and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations.
• I pride myself as an independent thinker, and don’t accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof.
• I have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing myself to others.
• At times I am extroverted, affable, sociable, while at other times I am introverted, wary, reserved.
• Security is one of my major goals in life.

The immortal Mark Lewis and Craig Browning plus the legendary Abraxus & Tomo have supplied enough info to last a lifetime of study. One small thing I would add is that you can read every book ever written on cold reading (lord knows I have), but you will only start really learning how to "read" when you sit down in front of somebody, clear your throat, and begin to dissect their life...

One last thing (and I know that many folk on here who I admire deeply will disagree), my personal opinion is to learn a real method of divination (palm, tarot etc). It just adds a deper level to your readings. The palm is good - packs small, plays big as they say. The tarot are good and dramatic and give a level of credence to your readings before you've even begun.

Good luck -and remember the lesson that Spider-Man learned the hard way: With great power comes great responsibility.

would it ever matter that I dont believe in palmistry or tarot?

That may come across in my body language when performing

Blapsing_Beard wrote:would it ever matter that I dont believe in palmistry or tarot?

That may come across in my body language when performing

In the film "Marathon Man", there was a scene where Dustin Hoffman had to play a man who had been up all night. So, being a method actor, he stayed up all night so that he'd come across as being completely authentic. His Co-star, Laurence Olivier, asked why he didn't just act.

If you don't believe in palmistry or tarot, act like you do in the same way that you act like you were really making a sponge ball disappear (or whatever). Remember that a magician (or a mentalist) is just an actor playing the role of a magician.

While in the "real" world I may have certain doubts about what these methods of divination can or cannot do, while I'm performing I absolutely, positively, believe in them 100%.

I guess that may be my problem. I tell them before I start that none of what I do is "real" as such - all psychology, sleight of hand, and luck. I wouldn;t want to tell them that tarot is 100% real - if I do not believe it is. If they beleive it - fair enough - but if they don't, I wouldnt want to sway them.

I guess that may just be me

Well, the deck is real. You can pick it up and look at the cards. So, do you believe in the tarot, or the meaning of the tarot?

oh you sillyu sausage! You know what I mean

The deck is real...but I dont believe in the way tarot works is true. Like I don;t believe in fate e.t.c

I believe that the choices you make affect the future, and not what the random turn of the cards are (for I truly believe that it is random)

The cards can affect your future, yes, but only if you believe in it. If the cards said you were going to win the lottery, that may cause you to buy some tickets and win. Then again, who is to say you wouldnt have won without the cards if you had brought them then? Nobody - it is the choice you make that affects your future - not the cards, even if (in some circumstances) they have a contribution due to the psychological nature of it.

Dunno if my rambling made sense there - I'm dying for the toilet and wanted to end my post quickly!

Sometimes it doesn't matter what you tell folks - they'll believe what they want to believe anyway.

You could certainly use the tarot or the palm in a "psychology" type act by simply pointing out that the palm tends to reflect certain personality traits (this is actually in my experience true - while divining the future in the palm may be open to discussion, forming a personality profile from the palm in my opinion is extremely accurate). You could also discuss how the tarot deck has a psycholgical effect on people and talk about how people can tend to squeeze and push tarot meanings to fit in with their own lives - then do a killer reading to prove your point.

Just an idea.

personally speaking beardy, if you're framing everything as psychology and all that stuff...you seriously cant go near tarot then can you cos you'd be contradicting yourself in many ways...

hoisted by yer own petard there..that's the difficulty in mentalism, you have to have a water-tight back story, either constantly on the money, or vague and mysterious...

you could say that a psychologist can sum someone up by the way they carry themselves, pupil dilation, breathing patterns, micro-facial movements, flushing of cheeks etc...but again, to zoom in on a specific memory...hmmm dunno about that one...im sure i'll be corrected though!

they'd at least have to ask a few questions surely...

please don't use derren as your get out clause...

a psychological background i would of thought would instantly negate tarot, they'd have to need to use that tool, when they have others at their disposal...

maybe if you approached the palm from the aspect of you study it as you find it interesting, and that even today, in japan, some of the largest companies have graphology and palmists on their payroll for when they hire new staff...which is true...

there you go...graphology...s.j. lea had an e-book for sale on that, it was very good...

Only two simple points to add. 1st Graphology used in the hiring practices of many major companies is not what you may think if you are linking it with palmestry etc. There are two different forms of graphonalysis.

2nd is the term silly sausages. I like it.

I only 20% believe in palmistry but it hasn't stopped me yet. I do believe however that you should impart genuine palmistry information based on the traditional meanings of the lines. You may as well do things correctly.

However I do believe 100% in the tarot but have to time or inclination to explain why. I don't think it is magic or supernatural but I do think it is real and has a logical earthly explanation as to why it is real.

I certainly agree with Magic Wand that you have to have a system. Reverend Browning also believes in a system. Ian Rowland has no system and therefore does not come up to the required standard.

mark lewis wrote:
I certainly agree with Magic Wand that you have to have a system. Reverend Browning also believes in a system. Ian Rowland has no system and therefore does not come up to the required standard.

would it ever matter that I dont believe in palmistry or tarot?

That may come across in my body language when performing

Personally I don't believe in any of it, neither do I believe in God, fairies at the bottom of the garden or BBC phone in competitions.
I'm quite sure that no-one here belives that it's possible to levitate objects, make rings appear in lemons or for cards to jump to the top of decks by themselves but every day we try and make other people believe these things. It all has to come down to the much written about silent script. Every one from Slydini to D Brown has used one. No matter what you're doing keep running over and over over in your head your belief in what you're doing and that you can and will do it, your body language will display your belief even when it comes to such laudable nonsense as the tarot and palmistry.