talkmagic.co.uk

So i've set up an interesting situation:

In my office the staff started bringing playing cards to play with while they are working. The company itself also supplied several jumbo decks of cards which are now just left in random places.
So i went in early one morning and stacked all of the decks I could find in my memorised order! I've checked the decks every morning since then (I start before anyone else)
So now i am just waiting for someone to ask to see some magic...

I don't want to offer to perform, and i don't want to obviously hint at performing, but i want them to ask me to perform something and to think it is their idea.
I'm hoping to create a seemingly impromptu moment of incredible magic (I already know what i will perform, and i have a backup plan in case the deck is no longer stacked when i receive it).

Do you have any advice as to how to get this situation to arise?

I'd subtly steer the conversation towards subliminal learning.
"My friend has got one of those sleep learning CDs, he's learning Spanish via his subconscious mind. I'm not sure whether it's a scam or not, but he seems to be able to speak a bit of Spanish already.":
sleep learning tapes - LINK

And from there to ways of bypassing the conscious mind to get at the knowledge in our unconscious - speed reading, that sort of thing.
"Recent research has shown that the subconscious mind can process 20 000 000 bits of info per second. The conscious mind can only process 40 bits of info/sec. So the subconscious mind can process 500 000 time more what the conscious mind is able to..."
speed reading: LINK
hypnosis to unlock details in the memories of eyewitnesses - LINK

Then, when it was being discussed I'd suggest a demo.
"If I asked you to learn the order of this deck of cards by heart, it could take you hours, possibly days, maybe even weeks. But that would be conscious learning. What if I said your unconscious mind could learn it in seconds?

"Stand here, and as I flick the corner of the cards like this, I want you to watch the indexes as they rush past. It will be a bit of a blur, don't try to see any individual cards, in fact you can even let your eyes lose focus a little, just look past them.

"I'm going to flick them again. And once more.

"There. Now if I was to ask you what position for example the Three of Clubs is at, would you be able to tell me? Is it 5th from the top or 25th or 45th?

"No, of course not. But I believe that this information is there in your unconscious mind - we just need to access it through visualisation and imagination.

"Let's test it. Somebody name a number between 1 and 52. 31? Good. Now, if we asked your conscious mind, I'm sure you wouldn't know for sure what card is 31st from the top of the deck. So let's bypass the conscious mind.

"I'm going to ask you to use your imagination now, to visualise some events and make some choices. We're going to eliminate some cards until we're just left with one. Try not to overthink these decisions, just go with the first thing that pops into your mind, whatever feels right. Okay?

"Close your eyes for me, take a deep breath and relax. Imagine we're stood facing one another either side of a small table. On that table is a pack of cards. We're going to start by taking out the red cards or the black cards..."

And so on. Using Joshua Quinn's Deckquivoke procedure to force the card at the named number.

For me, it's the most powerful and believable ACAAN presentation. I've done this a lot and it works really well for me. The premise makes the equivoke procedure seem reasonable - we're bypassing the conscious mind. And they're the star. You have just facilitated the demo, they have displayed the incredible powers.

nice Mat, nice

I'm just amazed that you work in an environment where one can sit around and play cards and the company provides cards. I have to 'hide' at my desk. by 'hide' I mean sit at my desk and just not really care.

bmat wrote:I'm just amazed that you work in an environment where one can sit around and play cards and the company provides cards. I have to 'hide' at my desk. by 'hide' I mean sit at my desk and just not really care.

So, did you ever capitalise on your sneaky set-up FTHO?

Matcult - I love your presentation of ACAAN, it takes it out of the realm of "look what I can do" and puts it into "look what people can do (if they know how)". Joshua Quinn's Deckquivoke is great fun, I love what you've done here!
Unfortunately i have not yet been able to make use of this sneaky set-up. A few days after i posted this, a team game of higher or lower has been started and the decks are getting shuffled quite regularly... I am going to wait until they fall into misuse again and then I'll try again.
Thanks for your detailed post.

bmat - A lot of the staff in my office sit around waiting for a large portion of the day. My role is pretty non stop so i don't get much time so unfortunately I don't get to have cards at my desk... However i will happily take advantage of everyone else's cards.

FTHO wrote:a team game of higher or lower has been started and the decks are getting shuffled quite regularly

A lot of the staff in my office sit around waiting for a large portion of the day. .

Your office sounds amazing!

Thanks for the kind words about my post.

do you work in a fire station?