talkmagic.co.uk

Hello!
After a long while I've started doing magic again. I am trying to learn street magic, but I've always been interested in mentalism.

I've decided I want to learn how to do some street mentalism (not mental magic). What I mean by this is, I've seen some videos on youtube where people for example make a person think of an object, and they find out what the object is.
I don't want to use a whole lot of props and such.

I found a site that has the kind of tricks I want to learn, http://www.mindreadingexposed.com/
If you scroll down to "Mind Reading Exposed includes:".
I don't want to buy this book because it looks like a scam site, and some other place I read its just a ripoff of others work.

I read 13 steps to mentalism a long time ago, but I found that more like a book aimed for stage.
The question: How can I start learning street mentalism?

You should probably bear in mind that 'street' mentalism effects that look outrageously clean, are commonly anything but, and your yearning to be free from props might mean you are not able to pull off the kind of tricks you wish to. I assure you, the tricks described on that site are nowhere near as straight-forward as they're pitched. They just want you to buy their product.

I wouldn't write off 13 Steps, some of the tricks may feel antiquated or designed for the stage, but they can be brought up to date and adapted to suit various situations. Check out Three Little Questions, its something you can really make your own and it hits hard.

You mentioned drawing dupes, but is there a specific kind of thing you want to perform?

Thanks for your answer, Grimshaw. I didn't mean drawing duplication with the objects thing. I don't know what its called, but you ask a person to think of any object in their mind, and you can name what object they are thinking of, for example a ball. Maybe say a few questions or something idk.. But atleast it would seem as you read their mind.
I want to learn to do that.
And I will check out Three Little Questions as soon as I can.

Another thing I want to perform is maybe the "which hand" trick, where you know which hand they hide, say a coin.
Anything that I can do anytime, anywhere.

Lastly, is there any books on street mentalism?

Thanks in advance
- Andrew

It is my understanding that street mentalism is a bit of a myth. What you see on TV are performances filmed in the street, but that's quite different to actually going out and performing in the street. As Grimshaw alludes to, what you see in those filmed street scenes is just the tip of the iceberg.

Even if there are one or two books on 'street mentalism', I would be deeply suspicious about them without reading some positive reviews written by respected performers.

T.

One question I would have is "why?".
Why do you want to do street mentalism
Why do you think it might work
Why do you think it would be a good thing to do

I'm not entirely convinced by "street magic/mentalism" full stop because I don't like the whole "ambush people and magic at them" thing. I am particularly sceptical that people want street mentalism in that form, mentalism as part of a ghost walk perhaps by not doing mentalism at people.

........
Whatever.. thought maybe asking people here would be smart, but nope.

Bear in mind that just because you ask a question, you won't necessarily get the answers you expect. The responses are valid and based on a great deal of individual and personal, experience so please don't dismiss them lightly. Perhaps the overall summary is that you probably can't 'learn' street mentalism from a book, a DVD or a download, you have to take things i 13 Steps and other traditional works and adapt them to your style. We each have to develop and 'invent' ourselves, no matter if it's street, stage, parlour or cabaret.

andreasgan wrote:........
Whatever.. thought maybe asking people here would be smart, but nope.

Listening to what's being said would be smart.

There are no books called 'street mentalism'. There is no single book / D.V.D that will teach you everything you want to learn. There is no 'secret method' to actually reading peoples minds, there are only many methods to appear to read minds.

I am currently working on a purely mental star sign revelation, and I've come to accept that no matter how good I get at it I will never be 100%. Here's an example why. I had narrowed down someone star sign to be in summer and an animal (Leo, Cancer) so I said 'This is quite a threatening animal isn't it?' If I got a 'yes' then it was Leo if I got a 'no' or a 'maybe' / 'sort of' it was Cancer. He said 'Can be I suppose.' So obviously he was a Cancer right? Wrong apparently he only saw a lion as 'can be' threatening.

The point is there is no singe way that people think or react in social and mental situations. Is the person avoiding eye contact because they're lying or because in their culture it's a sign of respect? Did the persons just smile because you hit on something they were thinking about or did they smile because you've clearly * up? If I was asked to pick a single digit number and go for my first choice, it wouldn't be what most people can be relied upon to pick, it would be five, because I'm obsessed with the number 23.

On the other hand I feel I'm on to a good thing with this star sign revelation. The other day I floored two people I'd just met on the street. Without any props at all, without any writing down or previous knowledge I got one day off the first persons birthday and got the second persons birthday dead on.

But I didn't learn this from a single book, this was seven years of obsessively reading every book on star sign revaluations, and practicing, refining and merging every technique, and I still don't think I'm fully there yet, I've still got quite a way to go.

andreasgan wrote:........
Whatever.. thought maybe asking people here would be smart, but nope.

People are being honest and constructive, with any performance you need to consider what the motivation and effect of your performance is.
Mentalism/mental magic is strengthened by storytelling/scene setting which is something that I think is very difficult to effect in a street situation.

andreasgan wrote:........
Whatever.. thought maybe asking people here would be smart, but nope.

Asking is definitely smart. You don't have to agree with the answers. If you think any answers are wrong then ignore/refute them.

If you find any decent resources for street mentalism, and any good examples of it, then please share for the good of the group.

All I was saying is that I've not seen any good resources and in fact don't believe that what you *think* is street mentalism actually *is*.

Happy to be wrong.
T.

All I going to say is learn the basics first. There's nothing wrong with 13 Steps but you need to learn it and learn how to apply the methods to the situation that you're performing in. It's certainly not purely stage material, I've take a lot from that book and have used it well in close up settings. Also please remember that what you see on TV might not always be exactly how things really happened, it's rarely as clean a some people might like to make you think.

I will perform some internet street mentalism right now. I hope I am wrong but I predict your endeavour will fail. First you asked a question and then when you didn't like the answer you insulted everyone who tried to help you. I understand that you feel they did not help because you didn't get the answers you wanted.

B. You are looking to create real mentalism. In which case why would you be doing it in the street? In one of your examples, ie which hand an object is in becomes a simple game of chance to a spectator and not an actual feat of mentalism. Knowing what object a person is thinking with just a few questions can itself take years of experience unless you narrow it down to some sort of force.

If you read and study 13 steps to mentalism you will get a firmer grasp of what you are dealing with, what is and isn't possible and you can go from there.

Now go out and there and please prove me wrong and become a successful street mentalist.

And if you are still reading can you actually tell me the difference between a mentalist and a magic mentalist? I'll save you writing out a response and simply tell you. It is all in attitude. Other than that it is all magic.