PURE Q & A

By

Paul Voodini

Copyright © 2011All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be copied, shared, or reproduced without the copyright holder’s express permission.

Cover designed by Anton James.Many thanks Anton, it’s wonderful!

Forewords by Luke Jermey, Neal Scryer, & Chris Beard.Thanks guys!

H

You fill up my senses like a barrel of Magnet, Like a packet of Woodbines,Like a good pinch of snuff,

Like a night out in Sheffield, Like a greasy chip butty…

PUREQ & A

“Well, I suppose one ought not to employ a magician and then complain that he does not behave like other people,” said Wellington - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke.

“Throughout the ages, man has sought to look behind the veil that hides him from tomorrow. And through the ages, certain men have looked into the polished crystal... and seen. Is it some quality of the crystal itself, or does the gazer merely use it to turn his gaze inward? Who knows? But visions come. Slowly shifting their forms... visions come. Wait. The shifting shapes begin to clear. Isee fields of grass... rolling hills... and a boy. A boy is running barefoot through the hills. A dog is with him. A...dog…is... with...him.” - Nightmare Alley (1947).

Dedicated to all those who have at some point in my life inspired me (and in no particular order):

Spider-ManDr. StrangeHG WellsHammer horror films1950’s Hollywood sci-fiCarry On ScreamingAbbott & Costello Meet FrankensteinThe SpecialsBlue Rondo a la TurkBatmanBuffy the Vampire SlayerThe Watchmen Sherlock Holmes RafflesTales From the Crypt Tales of the Unexpected The PersuadersPlanet of the ApesJason KingThe Avengers (UK TV)The Avengers (Marvel comics) Northern SoulTrojan record label Lambretta scooters Starsky & Hutch Tim BurtonDr. WhoPan’s LabyrinthJonathan Strange & Mr. NorrellHarry Potter Prince Buster Star TrekThe Million Dollar QuartetBobby DarinWayne NewtonNew York City on Christmas EveStingrayThe PrisonerThe Magnificent SevenStephen King Clive Barker Indiana Jones

… and a kerzillion others who I have momentarily forgotten about. Thank you.

Special thanks to the following wonderful, generous people who have assisted, aided, and offered advice:

Docc Hilford

Luke Jermay

Richard Webster

Neal Scryer

Iain Dunford

Extra special thanks to Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko.

Excelsior!

FOREWORD BY LUKE JERMEY

International mentalist and mind-reader.

Paul Voodini is my kind of mind reader and his books are the kind of books I love to

read. What you hold in your hands at present is no exception. I love this book, I love the

material in this book, and I love what I know this book will do for you. In the past I have

stressed the importance of a ‘toolbox’ of method and approach. It is my feeling that the

best thing we can all do is expand our available method and intellectual understanding of

varying approaches to allow us to perform our unique vision of mentalism in varying

situations, settings, and venues. With this in mind, Paul Voodini and his published work

are of significant value in the landscape of literature available to the mentalist. Every

time I read Paul’s work I get to add something new into my own toolbox of method and

approach. This makes his books inspiring, interesting, but most importantly valuable to a

commercial performer. The mark of a truly great thinker is that of his concepts being

adopted into others work and with that and my personal experience with Paul and his

concepts becoming a part of my own performances I feel Paul’s thinking launches him up

into the ‘greats’ instantly.

If you are anything like me, as you read this book you will begin an imaginary, mental

journey with Paul’s words being brought to life inside of your own imagination. You will

find yourself imagining either Paul or yourself performing the material as it is written.

This is often the moment I know whether a book is ‘my kind’ of book or not. If the book

sends my mind off on the imaginary journey and I am excited by the visions it inspires in

my imagination, and more importantly if the book contains the real world experience of

someone who has clearly worked the material, that imaginary journey will be rich, full

and easily created within my mind. With those books that I love I almost instantly see

myself applying the methods, concepts and approaches in my imagination. With Paul and

his work this process is instant and easy. The concepts, his scripts, and his approach bring

themselves to life in my own imagination with almost no effort on my part. So good is his

thinking that it almost takes on a life of its own inside of my mind. This is clearly

material that has captured my attention and imagination and I know it will do the same

for you.

What else will this book do for you? How about being able, in any setting, to present a Q

and A show with next to no props, no gimmicks, and no tricks. A Q and A act that your

audience will know in their heart is not a ‘magic trick’ but is the ‘real thing.’ How about

being handed a full show that has been tried and tested in front of paying audiences? How

about all of this with nothing more than your mind and the minds of your audience? For

those of you who are looking to add material to offer within your professional services,

Paul has literally handed you a new income in the form of a new show that will book

itself with the word of mouth reaction it will create. Sound good? Well that’s just the start

of what this simple, unassuming and honest book will do for you. I am excited for what

your about to read and what I know it will give you and I hope you are too.

Enjoy it.

FOREWORD BY NEAL SCRYER

New York City psychic and co-author of “The Practical Psychic’s Little

Black Book”.

I have one word for this work - brilliant. Paul and myself think along very similar

wavelengths, and maybe that is why I love his work so much. I own all of his previous

work, and all of them contain kick ass material! Never once have I been disappointed,

and the same applies to this work. It is just fantastic, and is jammed solid with real world

ideas.

To be honest, Paul was hesitant about releasing this work. However after long email

conversations I managed to convince him to release this manuscript in order to leave a

legacy for future generations of mentalists. What you have in your hands now is

dynamite. Use it well.

FOREWORD BY CHRIS BEARD

UK mentalist.

Yes yes YES! This is what a Q&A effect really is! Most Q&A effects are pretty much

"write down the question, performer divines question, applause.....next question" but

here...here is a true Q&A performance. I say performance but that is not what it truly is -

what you are now about to read is what can be referred to as nothing less than a full,

blown out show!

When reading this manuscript you will realise, if nothing else, that Paul has balls the size

of 2 tortoise shells. How many performers do you know that have gonads big enough to

attempt, just once, a completely clean, ungimmicked, no cheating drawing duplication?

The fact that Paul does this at every show is mind boggling! I think that is what really

draws me towards Paul's style. Although completely different to myself, he has the guts

to try what I have never seen any performer try, which for me demands utmost respect.

As brilliant a performer as Paul is however, I'll never forget the time when we last

performed together; one of Paul's routines caused the necessity for one lovely lady to

excuse herself to the bathroom feeling rather queasy. To this day he still claims it was the

alcohol rather than the performance itself, but I know better, and now so do you!

Don't tell Paul you know otherwise though - just nod sympathetically and give him an

understanding smile and pat on the shoulder should he ever mention it!

Poster for one of my Q & A shows. Note the slightly scary photo of the bright, sparkly, debonair star of the

show. I appear to have aged considerably since the last time I looked at myself. It’s frightening. Also note

at the very bottom the “entertainment” disclaimer (sign of the times) and the notification that I AM NOT A

BLOODY MEDIUM!

In the Beginning…

I hope this doesn’t sound too weird, but a favourite hobby of mine is to go and see

mediums giving shows or “demonstrations”. I would much rather see a good medium at

work than a magician or mentalist, though I must admit that I probably cut an unusual

figure at these events. I am generally the only male in a sea of females, and my tendency

is to sit at the back of the room scribbling notes. No-one has ever approached me and

asked what, precisely, I’m actually doing at these shows which often surprises me.

Dressed in black (I am a mentalist after all) I stand out like a rather blackened sore

thumb. Occasionally the medium may be brave enough to turn his attention to me during

the show and say something along the lines of, “I’m sensing that you…. are… somewhat

psychic yourself? Do you, do you….. do something like mediumship yourself?” To

which I reply sweetly, “Sort of.”

My opinion (for what it’s worth) is that any aspiring mentalist would be better advised to

go and watch mediums at work rather than sitting in front of the TV watching Derren

Brown DVD’s ad nauseam. Seeing mediums working in front of real live audiences will

teach the aspiring performer bucket loads about audience management, how to win the

crowd over, and most importantly how it isn’t the “trick” that’s important but rather the

personality and how the trick is presented.

It was during one of these medium shows that I had my own personal eureka moment. As

members of the public streamed into the auditorium they were invited to take a piece of

paper. On the piece of paper there were instructions telling the recipient to write down in

the space provided any question they would like the medium to answer . There was also a

place on the piece of paper for people to write their name if they so desired. 5 minutes

before the show started these slips of paper were collected up by theatre staff and placed

into a box that was then placed on a table on stage. The house lights dimmed, the crowd

hushed and the medium walked out onto stage. I could hardly contain my excitement. A

box full of billets on stage? This was going to be great! I waited with baited breath to see

how the medium was going to get one ahead.

But there was no one ahead. There were no billet switches. There were no impression

devices. The medium put her hand into the box, pulled out a slip of paper, opened it up

and read the question out loud! She then proceeded to answer the question, utilising her

special gifts to enhance the answer with some brief insights into the querent’s life.

At first I was taken aback. This medium was simply answering questions! Sure, she was

adding a bit of spice with a few insights and was beginning each question with phrases

such as “What I’m picking up on here is…” and “The energy that I’m sensing around you

at the moment is…” but essentially she was answering questions with nothing more than

folksy wisdom.

Then it struck me. If I was a real psychic, with real super-human powers, why would I

expand all of my energy trying to divine the contents of a folded over billet? I thought of

all those images where the mentalist is holding the sealed envelope or folded piece of

paper in one hand, and has the fingers of his other hand pressed against his furrowed

brow as he tries with gargantuan effort to see that which cannot be seen! And I asked

myself “why”? Surely it would make more sense to simply open up the billet, read the

question, and use whatever special powers or gifts one professes to be using to actually

ANSWER the question and give useful, uplifting insights?

The spectator already knows what the question is. She wrote the blooming thing! Rather

than sit in suspense for five minutes while the performer strides around the stage, his

veins pulsing and eyes bulging, attempting to divine the question, it would be easier,

preferable, and more advantageous for everyone (performer and audience) to simply open

up the slip of paper, read the question, and then spend some time actually answering it in

a manner that shows you have a deep insight and understanding of the situation.

Shortly after watching the medium’s performance I was struck by the following

conundrum: What the medium was doing was simple and yet was perceived by the

audience as being real, whereas the mentalist who displays great skill and is able to

divine an unseen question is perceived as someone who is doing some kind of trick.

Although the audience may not know how the “trick” works, they know on some level

that it’s not real. So the simpler the presentation, the easier the routine is to perform, the

more likely it is to be seen as genuine by a lay audience. The more contrived the routine,

the more layers there are to it, the more displays there are of super-human powers, the

more likely it is to be seen as a trick. The old adage of “Keep It Simple, Stupid” seems to

hold true here, as long as we remember to “And Think It Through”.

In the days that followed this revelation, I prepared my own stage/parlour show based

upon the same principles. Namely, a Q&A based show where there would be no trickery

in the traditional sense. The only trick involved (and I balk at referring to it in such a

crude manner) would be what I later termed “enhanced cold reading”.

The show that I devised (and this is the show that I currently use & favour above all

others) is split into two halves of 40 minutes with a 20 minute intermission. There are

four elements to the show, two elements per half. These components break down thus:

First half

Introduction followed by the answering of questions written down on paper by members

of the audience.

A blessing for one member of the audience.

Second half

Tarot card readings delivered from the stage.

Ungaffed drawing duplication.

Each half of the show ends with a nice impressive routine that leaves the audience feeling

good about the performer and good about themselves. In a way, the little end routines act

as a full stop (period) to end the particular section on a high. That really is my only

concession to the magical performer in me - the accepted wisdom that you always end on

a high. To be honest it’s simply good showmanship, and is something that I always find

lacking in mediumship demonstrations. Often a mediumship demonstration can just fizzle

out at the end unless the medium is lucky enough to end with a really good “hit”. So the

end routines are not so much a magical compromise but just good showmanship and

crowd management.

PSYCHIC OR NOT?! Q&A routines throughout history have generally been sold as

demonstrations of psychic ability. This is because the Q&A show very naturally allies

itself to such claims. Personally I call myself “intuitive” when I perform the Q&A show,

and I tell my audience that they all have a degree of the intuitive in them, which is

something I actually believe in. You will see my full speech in the script which follows

shortly, but at some point you are going to have to decide upon how you are going to

describe yourself and your abilities. The NLP/body language approach really doesn’t

seem to fit well with Q&A, but I will leave those kind of decisions to yourself.

REMEMBER! Remember that being psychic has nothing to do with talking to the

dead! Mediums talk to “spirit”. Psychics are essentially gifted mind-readers who may

also be able to foretell the future, bend forks, stop watches etc. I always explain this fully

before I start my show (and indeed it is a point that I have reiterated time and again in my

previous manuscripts).

A full description of the “Pure Q&A” show follows shortly. However before we start the

in-depth description, there now follows a table that will help to get things straight in your

head.

SHOW COMPONENTS DESCRIPTION

FIRST HALF INTRODUCTIONS A short introduction to

explain to the crowd who

you are and what you will

be doing. An opportunity

to describe your gift/skill

and how it works for you.

FIRST HALF ANSWERS TO

QUESTIONS

The answering of

questions that members of

the audience wrote down

onto pieces of paper before

the show started. These

pieces of paper were

collected into a container

of some kind and placed

onto the stage.

FIRST HALF BLESSING A nice routine in which

one member of the audience

receives a blessing and a

good luck charm to keep

with her always. A really

good way to bring the first

half of the show to a close,

and one

that will leave the audience

feeling good about you and

themselves.

INTERVAL INTERVAL INTERVAL

SECOND HALF STAGE TAROT CARD

READINGS

The reading of tarot cards

from the stage for selected

members of the audience.

These are very quick,

punchy, and upbeat

readings utilising just one

card per person.

SECOND HALF UNGAFFED DRAWING

DUPLICATION

An envelope has been on

stage throughout the

evening. Inside the

envelope is a drawing.

Several members of the

audience will correctly

divine this drawing

without the use of any kind

of “magic”. A great way to

finish the evening.

SECOND HALF GOODBYES Thank the audience for

being the wonderful people

that they are, and accept

the applause!

TO RECAP - We will be presenting a full length show. The first half of the show will

be based around the answering of spectator’s questions. These questions will be answered

without gaff or gimmick or sleight. We can do this because we will be opening up the

pieces of paper and reading out loud the question! The “magic” will be in our answers.

The second half of the show will be based around tarot card readings delivered from the

stage. The tarot card readings will not be connected to the questions. The questions are

only used during the first half of the show.

WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS CAN WE EXPECT?

There now follows a list of genuine questions posed to me, selected from several shows:

Will I have another baby?

Is my father my biological father?

Will my son ever calm down?

Will I live abroad?

Will my eldest daughter ever get married?

Will I stay in my present job?

Has my daughter found true happiness?

Will the problems be sorted out soon?

Did I pass my exam?

Is my father okay?

Will we move house soon?

Will I get a job soon?

Will I get what I want in life?

Will my son find true love?

Am I psychic in any way?

Will I ever visit Thailand?

What will this week’s lottery numbers be?

You may have noticed a few patterns in these questions! These patterns will be explored

shortly. However, first, a few questions from the more eccentric members of the

audience:

Did you like the pigeons I set off?

Who is the spirit child I see at night in my bedroom? Ribbons

dance around the lamp, flowers at my bedside.

I would like to arrange an easy way to move furniture where I work. I

would like to see a bridge over a wall to a roof and in through a window

made into a door so lads can carry things easier NOT UP TIGHT

STAIRS.

All perfectly genuine and reprinted here verbatim. To be honest with you, I didn’t even

attempt to answer the question about the stairs and the moving of the furniture at work! I

had no idea where to begin! The odd question asking if I liked the pigeons I responded to

by simply stating “Yes. I did.” This was met by much laughter from the audience and it

really brightened the mood. I will discuss the “spirit child” question shortly. But for now

let us examine how I answered the more mainstream questions.

FRAMING YOUR ANSWERS. In order to maintain the psychic/intuitive element

of your show, you will need to begin your answers with vague statements such as: The

impression I’m getting is…I’m picking up on feelings of…There’s some very strong

energies around you…I’m sensing…My intuition is telling me that…etc. You can really

go to town with these kind of statements. One of my favourites is “I’m getting images

popping into my head, almost as though I’m flicking through a photograph album…” Use

your imagination and create in your own mind ideas of how it would feel to be really

psychic or to be able to really read minds. How would that feel? Would you hear voices?

See images? Feel emotions? How would these impressions affect how you answered the

questions? Picking up on vibrations, seeing mental images etc would probably be hard

work. Don’t be afraid to illustrate this to your audience by sipping on a glass of water,

dabbing your forehead with a handkerchief, sitting down occasionally etc. Tell your

audience that this is hard work, make them understand that what you are doing is super-

human and by no means easy. One of my favourite sayings that I will use as I sip on a

glass of water is “They say it’s a gift, but sometimes ladies and gentlemen it’s more like a

curse.” But then I lighten the mood by adding, “I’m sure you all feel terribly sorry for

me!” with a smile and a wink.

COLD READING. This manuscript is not about teaching you how to actually cold

read. This manuscript is about the application and presentation of cold reading

techniques. I am assuming that if you have purchased this manuscript you will have a

good knowledge of cold reading or will have the tools in your armoury to access the

appropriate knowledge. If you find yourself struggling with the cold reading element may

I humbly point you towards a publication of mine called “Reader of Minds”. There are

also many, many other great manuscripts available on the subject of cold reading.

FIRST HALF OF SHOW (A) - ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS.

The slips of paper that are handed out to the audience prior to the show are thus:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLEASE WRITE YOUR QUESTION BELOW. THERE IS ALSO A SPACE TOWRITE YOUR NAME. HOWEVER AS SOMETIMES THE QUESTIONS CAN BE OF A SENSITIVE NATURE, PLEASE LEAVE THE NAME BLANK IF YOU WOULD PREFER. PLEASE WRITE AS NEATLY AS POSSIBLE. THANK YOU, PAUL.

MY QUESTION

MY NAME

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I answer the questions by using what I call “enhanced cold reading”. What this means is

that rather than cold reading the person, I will cold read the question. Essentially I will

“read between the lines” and divine the true nature of the question. What vibes does the

question give me? I put myself in the place of the querent and ask myself, “How would

this situation make me feel?” I also want to leave the questioner feeling good and positive

about themselves and their situation. My old adage is to leave the spectator feeling better

about themselves than before they met me - this is true whether I am running a stage

Q&A show or a one-to-one tarot card reading. If the person has written their name on the

slip, I will ask them to identify themselves prior to beginning the answer, thereby

allowing me to cold read the person as well. I also ask them to call out their name to me

to allow myself to “tune in to the resonance of their voice”. This is fluff and nonsense of

course, but it sounds good. Let us begin:

Will I have another baby?

Firstly we may assume that the querent is female! Secondly there is an obvious desire in

this question for the answer to be “yes”. If the querent did not want another baby, the

question would not have entered her mind. If the querent is thinking of this question to

such a degree that she is willing to write it down on a slip of paper to be read out in front

of a room full of strangers, this must be something that is very important to her. Now, this

question is sailing dangerously close to being a “health” question. I have a policy of not

answering health questions as you will see later, however I felt it appropriate to answer

this question if only to give the querent a boost of positive energy. My response was

along the lines of: “I’m sensing a great deal of desire here. This is something that I feel is

longed for, or is wanted in some way. If I was pressed for an answer I would go for the

positive - that yes, this will happen. However we are dealing with fate here, and fate can

be a fickle beast at the best of times. I feel that if it is the right thing to happen, then yes it

will. I’m also sensing that you have other children or at least one other child here? I feel

you are a very caring, nurturing person and that another baby would certainly be loved

and well cared for.”

You will note that the question actually states “Will I have ANOTHER baby?” This tells

me that the querent already has at least one child, but by only reading out the question

once and allowing a little time to pass before I state the fact that I believe there are other

children involved, the audience will miss the fact that the question actually told me of the

other children!

Is my father my biological father?

I did not answer this question. I read it out and then explained how there was obviously a

lot of heartache tied up with this query, a lot of unanswered questions, a lot of confusion.

I stated that the images I was receiving were very cloudy, like looking through a fog, and

I could not get a clear answer. I said that I had a strong feeling of “be careful what you

wish for”, and that some times it is better to “let sleeping dogs lie”. You will notice how

there is a lot of folksy and clichéd advice handed out, but it is the kind of advice that

works well when started with statements such as “I’m getting a strong sense of…etc” I

also explained that ethically I would find it hard to answer this question. I explained how

I am only human and am prone to make the occasional mistake, and I would hate to leave

the querent with false or incorrect information. By having a strong sense of ethics and

choosing to not answer certain questions, you are not only being true to your own ethical

standpoint but you are also demonstrating to the audience just what a good guy you are.

The fact that you refuse or admit to being unable to answer certain question will give you

more kudos with the audience, not less. They will see you as a genuine, honest, caring

individual - which of course you are.

Will my son ever calm down?

The first assumption I made here is that the son is in his teenage years (or perhaps early

20’s). All teenagers are to a certain degree rebellious, although of course some are worse

than others. The vast majority of teenagers will calm down before too long, get a job, get

married, and become productive members of society. Of course a tiny minority will never

calm down and find themselves living a life of trouble, usually punctuated by visits to the

local jail! But where’s the point in stating this? My answer was to say that of course your

son will calm down. “I’m sensing a lot of confusion around your son right now. I think

he’s looking for answers, and it’s almost as though the answers are shrouded in darkness

for him. He can’t see where he’s going or what he’s supposed to be doing. There’s a lot

of uncertainty and I’m also picking up on feelings of anger, though these will pass. I feel

your son is a good person, but he’s just struggling a little at the moment. When I try to

focus on your son I get an image of a dark tunnel that he’s struggling to get through right

now. But things will pick up, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I think he just needs

you to be there for him when he comes out the other side, does that make sense?”

Essentially I thought of myself as a malcontent teenager when answering this question,

and used my experience to inspire the answer. Thinking of yourself at an age mentioned

in a question is an old cold reading trick (see Reader of Minds) which states that the

human race are more similar than we are different, and that experiences I had at a certain

age will reflect experiences had by the majority of people at that age.

Will I live abroad?

Nobody would ever ask this question unless they actually wanted to live abroad, so I

answered in the affirmative. I gave lots of imagery about travel, foreign climes, and huge

changes. I was very positive: “I sense that this is something that you may have thought

about for a very long time. I think it will be the realisation of a dream almost.” You’ll

notice that in a lot of my replies I use words like “may” and “almost” a lot of the time.

This is my insurance in case the spectator disagrees with what I’m saying. So for

example: Me: “I think it will be the realisation of a dream almost.” Spectator: “No, not

really.” Me: “Ah, you see I said “almost” because for most people it would be a dream

come true, but it’s not for you really is it?”

Will my eldest daughter ever get married?

Again this is a plea from the heart. Please tell me that my daughter will get married! So

of course I answer in the affirmative, but dress it up with more folk wisdom such as

“when the time is right, she must make her own decisions in life, she must walk her own

path, but I do see happiness ahead, and I do hear church bells…”

Will I stay in my present job?

So by now you should be getting the idea! “I’m sensing that you’ll make the right

decision for you, but I feel that there is a lot of thought been put into this question. The

vibe I’m getting is that you may have thought about this question, this work situation, a

lot over the past few weeks or months.” If the spectator has written their name and has

identified themselves you can pull a very cheeky trick which is to ask: “Would you say

you were happy at work right now?” If they answer yes, you say: “That’s what I’m

picking up on, which makes me wonder why you’re even contemplating moving?” If they

answer no, they’re not happy, you answer: “That’s what I’m picking up on. A lot of

unhappiness and uncertainty. No wonder you’ve been thinking about changing job for a

while now.” As usual, be positive and upbeat. The future will be good, and the querent

will make the right decision for themselves.

Has my daughter found true happiness?

The answer to this question is very similar to the wedding question. I stated that there

was obviously a lot of love wrapped up in this question and a fair degree of concern. I

then went on to talk about the daughter having to find her own way in life, that there may

have been mistakes in the past but I believed that the daughter knows what makes her

happy and she’s no fool. Nobody wants to hear that their daughter is unhappy, so I said

that the impression I was receiving is that yes she is happy, but if it transpires that she is

not then I’m sure you’ll soon find out! All said with a wry smile and in a “Kids eh? They

don’t half cause problems!” tone of voice. Listen, essentially people already know the

answer to the questions that they ask. Primarily they’re at my show to be entertained, and

if they’re lucky enough to have their question answered then they’re looking for a bit of

good news. And I’m more than happy to give them a quick boost of positivity.

Will the problems be sorted out soon?

“I’m sensing that the past 12 months or perhaps even longer have not been easy. I know

that there have been trials and tribulations, and obstacles that needed to be climbed over.

But I am sensing very strongly that you may have turned a corner now. I feel that things

are on the up. I think you may need to start believing in yourself a little bit more, that

perhaps the past year or so has knocked your confidence a little bit, but as you start to

turn the corner, as things start to take on a more positive glow for you, I feel that you’ll

find some of that old confidence returning. Will your problems be sorted out? Yes they

will, but of course in life there will always be ups and downs, and the important thing is

to learn from them and to grow stronger. Try to remain positive and you’ll get there in the

end, I firmly believe it. Does that make sense to you?”

Did I pass my exam?

“I’m going to ask you to remain realistic in your expectations. Try not to get too carried

away with your expectations of how well you’ve done. I’m sure you’ve done very well,

but if you remain realistic and down to earth then there’ll be no reason to feel

disappointed. Did you pass? I’m pretty sure that you did, my feelings are very positive in

that direction.” I figured that anyone who comes to one of my shows and the one question

they want answering is to do with their exams must have a lot riding on them and must

have worked very hard towards them, therefore the chances are that they’d done well.

Is my father okay?

I have a personal rule that I never answer questions relating to health issues - this is just

my own personal moral compass, I’m sure you have your own. I wasn’t sure if this

question was a general enquiry or was related to a health issue, so I declined to answer

while at the same time explaining my reasons for doing so - “I’m not a doctor, obviously

if there are health related issues you should consult a professional doctor etc.” At the end

of the show several people came over to say how much they enjoyed the show, but also to

applaud my decision not to offer advice or answers related to health issues. They saw it

as a professional, sensible approach, which of course it is.

Will we move house soon?

They wouldn’t be asking if they didn’t want the answer to be yes, so the usual insights

followed by a general affirmative answer, when the time is right.

Will I get a job soon?

Positive, upbeat, and enthusiastic. “You can do this, I see good news in the near future

etc.” By now you should be able to answer these questions fairly confidently yourself!

Will I get what I want in life?

Again we remain positive and upbeat, but wax lyrical with folksy wisdom such as “You

must make up your mind up what you really want from life before you can go out and get

it.” If we know who the questioner is and it is a young person (teens or 20’s) we can talk

at length about how our needs and wants change over the years, and what you want now

at such a young age will not be want you want 10 or 20 years from now. Ask them a

question: “Do you know what you want?” and let them answer. Cold read them to add a

touch of zest and some psychic insight. You may even like to add, with a knowing look

that indicates your years of experience, “Be careful what you wish for because one day

you might just get it!”

Will my son find true love?

Yes, of course he will. “He’s waiting until the time is right. I feel that right now may not

be the time in his life to settle down, but it will come. I sense a romantic thunderbolt

heading his way! When he meets the right one he’ll know, and so will you!”

Am I psychic in any way?

“We all are!” See script that follows.

Will I ever visit Thailand?

“I’m sensing a strong desire here, but I’m also picking up on a lot of frustration. Would I

be right to say that this is a long held dream? Yes? I thought so! I was picking up on

some very deep seated and strong desires, which indicated to me that this is a dream that

you’ve held for a long time. Is that right?”

What will be this week’s lottery numbers?

This is always a fun question to answer. I’m usually a bit cheeky with this, and will say

something along the lines of: “If I could foretell the winning lottery numbers, do you

really think I’d be stood here tonight? I’d be on a beach in the Bahamas or somewhere!”

All said with a cheeky grin and with a sense of fun. “I think we’d all like to win the

lottery, wouldn’t we? And I promise you, ladies and gentlemen, if I could tell you what

this week’s numbers were going to be, I would! But sadly it just doesn’t seem to work

that way. The insights, the flashes of inspiration that my intuition gives me doesn’t deal

in specifics like lottery numbers or football scores or things of that nature. My intuition

tends to show me images or pictures of future events, or more often than not gut feelings

that I can literally feel in my stomach. I sense future events instinctively rather than

having specifics laid out in front of me. Does that make sense?”

Who is the spirit child I see at night in my bedroom? Ribbons

dance around the lamp, flowers at my bedside.

Weird questions like this I tend to tie in to the “am I psychic?” question and answer in a

similar way. I would concentrate on the fact that this probably displays a certain amount

of latent psychic ability within the questioner. I may even turn it around a little bit and

say something like, “The fact that you’re seeing spirits, if indeed it is spirits, would

indicate to me that you have a very powerful psychic ability. Do you ever have psychic or

intuitive flashes? Do you also have very strong déjà vu’s? Yes, I thought so. In fact, if

you wanted to, I’m pretty sure you could be up here where I am answering the questions!

Do you fancy having a go? No? Okay then, not to worry! (again: sense of fun, cheeky

grin) But in all seriousness, you have a very strong gift. My advice to you is to embrace

that gift and develop it. Does that makes sense to you? Good.”

ASK THEM TO INDENTIFY THEMSELVES. If the questioner has written

their name on the piece of paper, get them to identify themselves and then address your

answer directly to them. This also gives you the opportunity to cold read them as a

person. If the questioner is anonymous, simply talk to the crowd. This can sometimes be

easier as it means there’s no-one to contradict you. You can wax lyrical about all kinds of

nonsense without fear that anyone is going to tell you that you’re wrong.

ONE AHEAD. Using the slips in this manner means that at any point you will be able

to get one ahead (should you wish to). I very rarely do this, but occasionally if I feel the

show is a bit sluggish or if the audience is half asleep, I’ll liven things up a bit by getting

a very strong “psychic connection” with a question, and get one ahead. I will then of

course feign the fact that I am divining the question before opening the slip. This is

something that I personally do very rarely, but you’re performance style may be different

and you may like the idea of running one ahead most of the time.

I find the best way of getting one ahead is to have a fake question in the box. This would

be a question that I have written myself and placed in the box along with the genuine

questions. I then mark the outside of the folded up piece of paper with a dot in a corner so

I know at all times where that question is.

I always use either the lottery number question or a health question as the fake question. I

have the fake question strategically placed within the box purely so that if anyone

questions me to show them the slip about the lottery (or health) I can fish my fake

question out of the box and show it to them.

What I proceed to do is pick up a genuine question, claim to know what the question is

without opening it (“I’m getting a strong intuitive connection for some reason with this

question, oh it‘s a lottery question I think, yes, I‘m sensing a question about the lottery

numbers…”), answer it, then open it up and claim to be right, while actually reading the

genuine question inside the slip. Then fold up the genuine question and toss it back into

the box. I can then stay one ahead for as long as I like, answering the question I‘ve just

seen while picking up and viewing another genuine question. However, personally, if I

ever decide to go one ahead I will only do it for two questions - essentially the fake

question and the genuine question. So I pick up the genuine question, get the connection

to the lottery numbers question, answer the lottery numbers question, open up the slip,

smile to myself and say “Yes, I was right, a question about the lottery numbers” while

actually reading the genuine question. I will then refold the slip and throw it back into the

box. I will then pick that slip back up again, and this time divine the genuine question

before opening it (“Ooh, another very strong connection here again ladies and gentlemen!

Let me see, I’ll try and get that connection without opening up the slip. Right, yes, I’m

getting an idea in my head what this is all about etc…”). Then after answering the

question I will open it up, read the question out, and get a member of the audience to

confirm that the question matched the answer. Following that I will shift back to simply

opening up the questions and answering them as before.

INTUITION. Take a deep breath and remember what it used to be like when you were

young and had an open mind (that‘s my wife‘s favourite saying when she‘s about to say

something that she thinks I might not be too keen on!). Sometimes when you’re doing

this kind of work you may find yourself getting what can only be described as genuine

flashes of inspiration or intuition. Ideas or images about the person you’re talking to may

pop into your head. I’m not about to go into a long drawn out discussion about where

these thoughts may or may not come from, but I would urge you to utilise such thoughts.

Do not simply discard them. Use them! They may not hit, and if they don’t - so what?

But if they do hit then you have just proved to the audience that you are some kind of

mind-reading demi-god. If you get a flash of inspiration, use it!

FIRST HALF OF SHOW (B) - THE BLESSING.

To bring the first half of the show to a close, I do a little routine that will leave a warm

fuzzy feeling in the hearts of your audience and will reinforce the fact that you are a kind,

considerate, spiritual individual.

I ask if any of the members of the audience have a question that they haven’t had

answered, or perhaps a question that they were too embarrassed to write down earlier. A

question that may be very personal, or a worry that they’d like to be alleviated. I reassure

the audience that the question used in this part of the show will remain private and

confidential - nobody will ever know it or see it. This is completely true.

Once I have a volunteer (sometimes you will have dozens of interested parties and you

will have to select one, other times you may need to be more encouraging to get just one

volunteer), I bring them out onto stage with me. I ask a few very general questions -

“Hello, how are you? What’s your name? Are you enjoying tonight?” - and then present

the volunteer with a small piece of white card. I ask the volunteer to write their question

or situation onto the piece of card. I also present the volunteer with a small white

envelope that the card fits into. Once the volunteer has written her question onto the card,

I ask her to place it inside the envelope but not to seal it up just yet.

I then ask the spectator if she has a ring or small item of jewellery that I can borrow for a

few moments. I explain how I need an item that the spectator has worn about her for a

while so that it is infused with her energy. Any small item will do - a ring, an earring, a

broach, a bracelet, or even a coin that the spectator had in a pocket or purse.

I then take the envelope from the volunteer a drop the piece of jewellery into the

envelope and seal it up. I then instruct the volunteer to hold one hand out in front of her

palm up. I place the envelope on the palm and then ask her to place her other hand palm

down onto the envelope so that it makes a kind of envelope sandwich. Then I place my

own hands around the volunteer’s hands, and I exclaim that we must concentrate on the

question and focus our energies into the envelope and into the question, and ask the

universe to supply a positive resolution to the situation.

After a few seconds, I let go of the volunteer’s hands, open up her hands and take out the

envelope. I then hand it to her with the following instructions: “When you get home

tonight and before you go to sleep, I want you to place this envelope, complete with

question and ring (or whatever), under your pillow. Then during the night you will have a

dream that will either answer your question or will give you an insight into your

particular situation. If you don’t have the dream, or don’t remember the dream, then

inspiration will come to you during the following day where you’ll get the answers that

you’re looking for. When you get out of bed tomorrow morning I want you to open up

the envelope and take out the ring. This ring will now be a good luck charm or a totem

for you, and I want you to wear it or carry it about with you for the following seven days.

If you ever feel worried or upset about anything, just remember the ring that you’re

wearing and the good luck that it represents, and perhaps hold it in your hands for a few

moments and feel the positive vibrations coming off it. And any time in the future that

you’re worried or upset just look at the ring and hold it between your hands and

remember what we’ve done here, feel the happy thoughts and good wishes that you’ve

received her tonight, and that will help you deal with any obstacles that life might throw

at you. Does that make sense?”

And with that your volunteer leaves the stage to rapturous applause, and you bring the

first half of your show to a close with a general sense of contentedness descending onto

proceedings!

You could of course gimmick the whole proceedings with an impression device and then

reveal your divine insight into her question. It certainly is not the way I like to work, but

you may have other ideas and surreptitiously obtaining knowledge regarding the question

or problem would certainly open up new avenues to take the routine. Personally I like the

simplicity of the routine the way I have explained it.

USE NICE STATIONERY! I use a nice white card that is around business card

size and a nice white envelope that the card fits into perfectly for this routine. The style of

card that I use is very similar to those used by flower shops for use on their deliveries, the

kind of card and envelope that contain the message from the sender. Indeed if you don’t

mind buying in bulk, you can get exactly what you need from a florist supplier.

Alternatively one of the large craft shops will stock very similar things. I find that these

nice items are far more suitable than just using a regular envelope and any old type of

card. A little bit of effort really pays off.

TIMINGS. The timings for the first half of the show should be approximately 25

minutes for introductions and answering questions, and 15 minutes for the blessing.

SECOND HALF OF SHOW (A) - TAROT READINGS FROM STAGE.

It is beyond the scope of this manuscript to teach people how to read tarot cards.

However I do imagine that if you are reading these pages that there is a very good chance

that you have good “reading” skills already. However if you are unsure about reading

tarot cards and would like to learn more I can recommend a couple of very good books.

Firstly, the book that I learnt from many years ago (too many to remember) was a book

called “Tarot Plain & Simple” by Louis. I believe it is still available today, Amazon is

probably your best bet. It is very much a “shut eye” book (IE it is a genuine esoteric

tome), but as we shall discuss shortly, that is not a problem. Another book that I would

recommend is “The Tarot Reader’s Black Book” by Freddie Valentine, which is available

both as an ebook or hard copy.

Doing tarot card readings from stage is an idea that I have been using on and off for

several years, and I first mentioned it in “The Paranormal Entertainer”, which was my fist

PDF released in around 2008. I enjoy doing this because I feel that the tarot cards take all

the pressure off the performer; rather than having to depend on a memory system to

remember cold readings statements or rely on our instincts and intuition, the tarot cards

essentially tell us what to say! In a standard pack of tarot, there are 78 cards. Each of

these cards has a particular meaning. These meanings are usually quite general and are

very similar to the Barnum Statements that most of us will be very familiar with.

Therefore a pack of tarot cards is essentially a pack of 78 Barnum Statements - a crib in

full view that no-one will question. If I was to stand on stage with a sheet of paper on

which I had typed 78 Barnum Statements and I proceeded to read them out, the audience

would rightly think to themselves “Hang on a minute! All he’s doing is reading out

statements from a piece of paper! That’s not psychic!” However they will gladly accept

the use of tarot cards that are in essence doing exactly the same job! Indeed by using the

tarot cards, this will give your readings extra weight - people will see the readings as

more genuine because you are using the tarot. “Ah!” they will say. “He wasn’t just

making it up as we went along. He was using the tarot!”

The use of tarot cards also protects you from failure. If anyone disagrees with your

reading or claims that it doesn’t make sense to them, you can simply say, “How strange!

That’s what the tarot cards are telling me. Are you sure it doesn’t make sense? Because

the tarot cards are being very specific here.” These works on two levels. Firstly it isn’t

your fault that the reading isn’t hitting - you are simply saying what the cards are telling

you. It is the cards that are wrong. Secondly the audience may be tempted to believe that

the cards (and you) are right, and that the spectator is simply being coy or doesn’t want to

discuss the situation in public. It is the spectator that is wrong.

I always start the second half of the show in a more relaxed frame of mind. I will say at

the start of the second half: “Well, this second half of the show gives me a chance to just

relax and have some fun with you guys. The first half of the show with the questions can

be quite hard work, so I like to have a bit more fun in the second half. We can all just

relax and enjoy ourselves.” And you will notice after that statement that the audience will

visibly relax in front of you. Their shoulders will droop, smiles will pop onto their faces,

and a more relaxed and calm atmosphere will descend.

I explain that I am about to provide very quick tarot card readings for members of the

audience that I feel drawn to. I will shuffle the cards while looking around the audience.

What I’m looking for are bright, eager eyes that look like they really want a reading. It is

also great to be able to do a quick reading for those people in the audience who may not

have submitted a question in the first half of the show.

Once I have decided on someone (and this selection process only takes about 3 seconds),

I stop shuffling and turn over the top card. This card will give me all I need to know for

the reading. The reading itself is very quick, perhaps only a minute or two. If it is

appropriate and the venue is suitable, I will leave the stage and stand or kneel beside the

person I am reading for. This helps to break down any barriers and makes the process

more personal. I have in the past even allowed the spectator to quickly shuffle the cards

before I start the reading, or place her hands on the deck to infuse it with her energy, but

this does depend on the environment that you’re working in. And do remember that some

people are truly awful shufflers and if you allow them to shuffle the cards you risk having

them flung to the far corners of the room! There is nothing less dignified than a psychic

entertainer on his hands and knees trying to retrieve the Queen of Cups from under

someone’s feet.

I use only one card per reading. This helps to keep the performance moving forward as I

don’t get bogged down in longer readings that using more cards might encourage. It also

allows me to edit the readings appropriately. Therefore if the card that is turned over is

not a particularly brilliant one - say for example the Ten of Swords - my strategy will be

to say that the past year or so has been fairly tough but that there are signs that that period

is now passing. If the card is a really good one - say for example the Ten of Cups - my

strategy will be to say that the future looks really good, there are good times coming. If

the card indicates change, I will state that this shows that there are changes occurring

right now that will lead to good things.

To put it very crudely, my basic script when doing one card readings from the stage is

that bad times are behind us, good times are ahead of us, and changes are happening right

now. From experience I have learnt that this is how most people view their lives. In all

my years of working as a tarot card reader I have (believe it or not) only ever encountered

two people who claimed to be perfectly happy and wouldn’t change anything in their

lives. I met both of these two shining beacons of hope on the same night at a very plush

(and expensive) holiday resort. And they say that money can’t buy happiness!! All of the

other thousands of people that I have read for have always had some kind of worry or

concern or period of change occurring in their present situation. This is a very crude and

simplistic explanation, but I think it gets the point across. And of course, this is just my

system. You may very well have a totally different system, and that’s great. This book

isn’t about how to actually do the readings, it’s about how to implement and use these

skills.

My credo with all readings, in whatever environment, is to leave my spectator feeling

happier and more optimistic about herself than before our paths crossed. I suggest you

have a similar outlook. I’ve witnessed some awful mediums reducing people to tears (and

not in a tears-of-happiness kind of way). I’ve no intention to ever be like that. I want my

spectators to be smiling once I finish their reading. Or if they are in tears I want it to be

because I’ve been kneeling on their big toe the whole time that I’ve been delivering my

oration.

In the past I used to do three card readings from the stage (past, present, future). However

I found that too clumsy, and in a strange way I found having three cards left me with less

options on where to actually go with the reading. One card is simpler and more elegant in

my experience. Plus it is simply better management of your stage presence - holding a

pack of tarot cards, a microphone, and the three selected cards will sorely test your

juggling skills. Whereas it is simple to turn over the top card on top of the deck and keep

it there, still on top of the deck but just turned face up.

A quick example of a typical stage reading using the tarot might be along these lines:

“Okay, so what we have here is the 3 of Swords. I’ll hold the card up so maybe you can

see the picture. This is a card that shows me that you’ve certainly had a few ups and

downs over the past year or so. I think there may have been some challenges in your life,

and unless I’m very much mistaken I also feel that you may have been let down by

somebody. Does that make sense? It does? Great. But what I’m also picking up is that

you may be turning a corner right now. I think that this period of upset that you’ve been

through is passing now. I think you may even be aware of it yourself, that things are

going to get better in the coming months and certainly over the coming year. There are

good things ahead. The bad times are in the past, and you’ll become more aware of that

yourself in the near future. You’ve certainly been through the ringer though, haven’t you?

But don’t worry, good things are coming.”

And from there I would thank the spectator, start shuffling the cards, and start looking for

the next likely candidate.

SECOND HALF OF SHOW (B) - UNGAFFED PICTURE

DUPLICATION.

I have always enjoyed doing routines that involve no actual gaffs, gimmicks, or sleights.

Those of you who have read my work before, particularly the Paranormal Entertainer and

the Jack the Ripper Séance, will know that I always start my paranormal “séance”

evenings with a few routines that are designed to involve and excite the audience but

require the minimum of work on my behalf. My “ungaffed picture duplication” comes

from the same thought process and is used to bring my Q&A evening to a good,

interactive, fun end.

The idea is very simple, but do not let its simplicity fool you. Presented in the right way

this can often be the highlight of the whole evening.

At the start of the second half of the evening I place an envelope on a table where it is in

full view of the audience. I generally have it standing upright, lent against a menu holder

of similar. After I have completed the tarot card readings, I will draw attention to the

envelope and state how it has been on full view throughout this second half of the show.

“Ladies and gentlemen”, I will say, “last night, before I went to bed, I thought about the

show that I was going to present here tonight. And while I thought about this show, I took

out a piece of printer paper from my computer and I drew a picture on it. I drew this

picture with a black marker. I then placed this picture inside the envelope and sealed it

up. And now, here it is in front of us. Nobody has seen the picture that was drawn onto

that piece of paper and placed inside this envelope. There is only one person in this

building who knows what the picture actually is, and that person is me.

“What I want to do here, ladies and gentlemen, is demonstrate to you that many of you

within this room are capable of doing what I do. We all have latent talents, undiscovered

or untapped abilities, and some of you will have the ability to present evenings such as

this - you just don’t realise it yet.

“What I want to do is lead you all through a brief visualisation technique that will

hopefully allow you to actually see the image within the envelope without being near the

envelope and without the envelope being opened! Maybe one or two will be able to do

this, maybe half a dozen or maybe none! It’s impossible to say. But I can guarantee you

this: the more effort and belief you put into this, the more you want this to happen, the

more chance you have of being successful.

“We’re reaching the end of our evening here, so for this last ten minutes or so I would

ask you all to throw aside any cynicism or doubts, and just go with the flow on this one.

The more energy you put into this, the better the results will be, I promise!”

At this point I will always tell the audience that the actual picture that I have drawn is not

some random selection of shapes. It is not in any way abstract. This is a picture of

something that will be instantly recognisable. This steers people away from thinking that

the picture might be a square or a circle.

FUN! Just for fun now, close your eyes and quickly think what image I always draw on

the piece of paper! You’ll probably get it wrong, but if you get it right there’s a good

chance that you’ll freak yourself out - which is always fun!

I then ask the audience to close their eyes and relax for a moment. I ask them not to talk

or attempt to upset or influence people around them in any way. I may ask them to take a

deep breath, hold it for a second, and then release it. While the audience sit with their

eyes closed relaxing, I will tell them to let any worries or concerns fade away. I tell them

that such concerns have no place in this room, and that for the next few minutes they will

feel happy and contented. I then lead them through a visualisation routine where in their

minds eye (with their eyes still closed) they imagine they can see me still standing in

front of them. I will really push the idea of them firing up their imagination. “Just

imagine that you can still see me stood in front of you. Really use your imagination, and

really see me standing in front of you. In the picture in your mind, fill in as much detail

as you can. Remember the colour of the stage curtains, remember the clothes that I’m

wearing, remember the size and shape of the envelope. And those details that you can’t

remember, make them up! Really stretch your imagination and fill in all the details…”

I will then ask the audience to imagine me picking up the envelope, tearing open the

envelope, and pulling out the folded up piece of paper. Then I ask them to imagine me

unfolding the piece of paper and holding it out in front of the audience so everyone can

see very clearly the picture that is drawn there. At this stage, as you look around the

room, you should see a lot of people with their eyes still nicely closed, but with furrowed

brows as they attempt to “see” the picture in their imagination.

“Concentrate on the piece of paper,” I will say. “See what is drawn there. And this is your

imagination, this is your creativity, so if you want you will find that you can zoom in on

the piece of paper, almost as though you have a telescope or binoculars, and get close

enough to the piece of paper to really see what is drawn there.”

After a minute or so, I ask people to open their eyes and “join us back in the room”. At

this point, if the venue is suitable and the audience is no larger than 20 - 40 (so more like

a parlour presentation than a large show), I will quickly run around asking everyone to

shout out what they saw on the piece of paper. Surprisingly few will look at you like

you’re an idiot and say “Nothing.” Most will have “seen” something. Some very popular

answers are bicycle and tree. You will often get a smattering of elephants, a cacophony of

cats, and quite a few suns. If your audience is too large you will have to skip this part,

but if at all possible I really recommend doing it. You will have plenty of opportunity to

inject humour into the proceedings, and it’s always interesting to hear what people

imagined they saw on the piece of paper.

I will then open up the envelope, hold up the piece of paper, and present it in front of the

audience for all to see. The picture that I always use is a child-like picture of a house with

a winding path running from the front door. I also draw a sun in the sky, and have smoke

coming out of the chimney. Did you get it right??

If you don’t have the opportunity to ask the audience what they saw, you will have to

skip straight to the reveal. If you do this, ask everyone who got it right to stand up and

have the audience give them a big round of applause. I always ask them if the image that

was in their mind was “exactly like the picture that I drew?” Surprisingly the majority of

people will exclaim that yes, it was exactly the same picture.

If you do ask people beforehand what image they saw, you will know as you go around

the audience who has got it right and precisely how many people have got it right. Again,

have the audience give them a big round of applause and ask the same question - “was

the picture that you saw exactly like this one?”

Obviously when I start the routine I have no idea how many people (if any) will get it

right. I have performed this exact routine hundreds of times for audiences of vastly

varying sizes, and never once has it failed to produce a result. But you can never tell, and

when you get to the end of the routine it is real heart in mouth stuff - will anybody get it

right?? But I enjoy it immensely because of this edginess.

You should find that around 10% of your audience will get it right. But that varies hugely

from event to event. I can remember one small intimate event where there were no more

than a dozen people and 6 of them got it right, likewise I can remember a corporate event

with 120 people where just 2 got it right. But it has never let me down, and sometimes it

can produce some truly bizarre results. At another corporate event, there were 3 tables of

12 people. On the first table, 8 out of the 12 said tree. On the second table everyone said

either tree or house. On the last table, 8 out of 12 said house. These were people who had

never met before, and they did not confer throughout the proceedings. As you can

imagine, this was a dream outcome and I managed to milk it for all it was worth. I talked

about synchronicity, thought transfer, remote viewing, the lot! It was wonderful.

By also including a sun in the picture you can mop up all the people who saw a sun and

explain that perhaps they were just seeing just one section of the image. And I can

remember one occasion when a woman said “tree” but then afterwards claimed that the

tree looked exactly like the smoke coming out of the chimney, so she had obviously

misinterpreted what she was seeing and had in fact got it right!

If you can be bold enough and lose the fear, this is a wonderful routine that produces

moments of real magic - and all without a gimmick, gaff, or sleight. This leaves you free

to concentrate on presentation and making sure the audience are having fun.

I will then talk quickly about the untapped possibilities of the human mind, thank them

for being a wonderful audience, and end the show on a real high with hopefully an

excited buzz in the air - particularly around the people who correctly divined the image

on the paper.

IS IT TOO OBVIOUS? You may be thinking right now that choosing a house as the

picture is too obvious, that people will figure out that it’s a statistical sure bet that

someone in the audience will think of a house. To a lay audience this isn’t a problem.

Because only around 10% will get it right, this means that 90% will get it wrong.

Therefore in the minds of the audience this might not have worked, and even if it was just

a lucky guess it was still a lot of fun - and that’s the main concern. Lose the fear. It’s not

a problem.

TIMINGS. The timings for the second half of the show should be approximately 25

minutes for the tarot card introduction and readings, and 15 minutes for the drawing dup.

OPENING MONOLOGUE SCRIPTS.

There now follows the opening monologues that I use at the start of both halves of the

show. Clearly they are presented here just to give you an idea, and hopefully you will

take some kind of inspiration and devise opening monologues more in keeping with your

own character. But if you do want to produce my scripts verbatim, I don’t mind.

OPENING SCRIPT FOR FIRST HALF OF SHOW.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to tonight’s show. My name is Paul

and I am what is known as an “intuitive”. What is an intuitive? An intuitive is somebody

who has a special empathy or bond with people. An intuitive is someone who can

sometimes predict the future, and or can see the hidden shadows in the past that perhaps

shape the way we live our lives today. An intuitive is essentially what used to be known

as a “psychic”. But I wouldn’t be so vain or so proud as to call myself a “psychic” - in

my mind it conjures up images of people with some kind of super-powers, and believe it

or not, ladies and gentlemen, I truly believe that most of you here tonight can do what I

do! If you had the right opportunities, the right training, and the right aptitude, I think that

this would be entirely possible. I don’t see myself as anything special, but rather someone

who has been lucky enough to develop his skills and to be given the opportunity to use

those skills professionally to inform but most importantly to entertain. And that is very

important to me, ladies and gentlemen. You’ve all paid good money to be here, it’s

Friday night, and I think that the most important thing is that we all have a good time!

What is really important and what will help me immensely is if you guys out there can be

as upbeat and as positive as possible. If I talk to you, please talk back to me and do it in a

nice clear voice. Believe it or not, a lot of my intuitive insights come from my interaction

with you, and the voice is an important part of that. Simply from the resonance and tome

of your voice, my intuition can really kick in and that really helps proceedings.

One last thing before we start, and I can see lots of lovely questions here in the box that

you’ve been kind enough to put to me, is that I am not a medium. I do not get my insights

or my messages from spirit, from the souls of the departed. As a intuitive, or even as a

psychic, I pick up my information from my own abilities. These are abilities that as I said

earlier we all share, but they do not come from spirit. Okay? Wonderful! Then shall we

begin? I’ll just take out the first question…

OPENING SCRIPT FOR SECOND HALF OF SHOW.

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen. I hope you had a nice, refreshing break and that

you’re now raring to go with the second half of the show - I know that I am! Well to be

honest, this half of the show is usually a lot more relaxed than the first half. The first half

of the show can be quite hard work for me, answering all of your questions - as lovely as

they were! This half of the show is an opportunity to relax a little more and have some

fun while hopefully giving some valuable insights at the same time. I will be starting off

by giving some of you guys very quick readings using my tarot cards. The tarot cards are

a very useful tool, and they help me to focus and concentrate my abilities. Now I’m never

sure where my intuition is going to take me, so if I feel myself drawn to you please talk to

me in a nice, clear voice so I can hear you and so I can tune into your voice’s resonance.

Okay? Likewise, if I come to you and you would rather not have a reading, just say “No

thanks” and I’ll move on to someone else, there’s no problem at all. To be honest, that

never happens! But just in case, you can say no if would rather not take part.

Following the readings I will then be testing all of you guys out there for psychic ability!

We’ll be testing you to see who in the audience tonight has a high degree of intuition or

ESP or telepathy. It’s very exciting and great fun, and we’ll be doing that in a short while.

But first of all, I have some readings to give to some of you lovely people! I’m shuffling

the cards as I speak and just sensing who I am being drawn to. Let me see, yes, this

lovely lady here…

FINAL THOUGHTS

Final thoughts? Have fun! I hope that this manuscript has demonstrated to you how it is

entirely possible (and often favourable) to present an evening of what we in the trade

term “Q&A” without the need for billet swapping, impression devices, or any kind of

outright subterfuge. I come from a background of watching performers (mediums mainly)

do this night in and night out. That is why for me it is the most natural way to work.

Gimmicks and sleights make me nervous! What if they go wrong?! But I realise that most

people in the mentalist community are used to working in a different way, and that these

people often feel more comfortable when they know they have certain gaffs and

gimmicks in place to help them provide wonder, and they will often feel quite naked

without them. Hopefully I will have demonstrated that although you may be naked,

sometimes being naked can be fun!!

Lose the fear. Don’t worry if you’re not getting huge hit after huge hit. That’s not the

point. If you’re getting huge numbers of perfect hits, that’s just going to scream “TRICK”

to your audience. Be human, be fallible, and the audience will embrace you even more.

Listen, if these third rate mediums can go out night after night and earn a living from

delivering third rate shows, surely we as “in the know” mentalists can do better? If they

can do it, so can you. You’re better prepared, you’re better informed, and you’re a better

entertainer.

Paul Voodini

July 2011

Also available from Paul Voodini:

Reader of Minds

The Magician’s Guide to Palm Reading

Psychic Cash Machine

Murder Most Horrid!

The Paranormal Entertainer

The Jack the Ripper Séance

The Haunting of Paul Voodini

Hypno-Mental Self-Working Card Tricks

Paul is also available to lecture to magic groups and societies. He is also

available to run one-to-one workshops with those interested parties keen

to take their skills to the next level. Email Paul directly at

sheffieldmagic@hotmail.co.uk

Paul’s website is: www.readerofminds.co.uk