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 Nada
Written by Pablo Amirá

Thanks for respecting this art and keeping this document to yourself.

Copyright: © 2016 Pablo Amirá

All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of
the publisher

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Table of Content

Introduction

10 Commandments of Propless: Follow this and you shall be

saved

Zodiaco: During a casual conversation and potential reading, get

secretly your participant´s Zodiac Sign! No BA/PA/BS

Solar: Mindreading and a memorable entertaining visualization.

Mind Map: With this routine you will be able to predict a selected
country with 100% accuracy without any props.

RRV: A bold and direct method to know thoughts. As simple as that.

Conclusion

Introduction

You don’t have nothing…

Nada…

Maybe you are in nude beach (we love that situation apparently),
maybe you have the opportunity of your life to perform to someone
who can give you something special for you but you are not able to
use your own props or even borrow them or you simply want to learn
new information to create apparent psychic phenomena anytime,
anywhere, propless.

In “Nada” (“nothing” in Spanish) you will learn some of my favorite

creations whenever I want to create a mysterious experience with
someone without the use of any physical extra aids. Just
psychological techniques and words to deliver an interesting
experience and memory for the future.
So now if you want to perform, you can. You don’t have any excuse
to stay in your “comfort zone”. With this information you will be able
to do psychic miracles really anytime, anywhere.

Learn the techniques, make them your own including your

mannerism, tone of voices and go out and do them! They will teach
you a lot about human interaction and empathic processes.

Our mind alone is a powerful tool. Use it intelligently and wisely.

Pablo Amirá, 2016

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 I only have two things in this world:
My balls and my word…
Tony Montana

10 Commandments of Propless

1. BE interesting without your tricks

This one is a hard one, I know…
You need to question yourself:
“What can I offer more than my mystery performance?
“If I was him/her, I would be interested to just talk with me?”
“If I remove the trick, I am still memorable as a person?”
I really believe that any Mentalism effect is a companion of your
own self, not your complete self. You need to be a good listener,
to have stories to tell, to be interesting and entertaining without
your tricks. In this manner I believe you will become an integral
performer who knows that even without performing, you can leave
an impression in other person and not just “impress” them. This is
relevant specially in “propless” material, in which you are
vulnerable as a performer, without the potential psychological and
physical protection of a prop if you can’t connect with your
participant(s).
Read a lot about what you enjoy and also about what you don’t
enjoy maybe at the present moment, meet people, learn to listen
them and really care about them. In that manner your
performance will not be performer-centered rather participant-
centered, creating a good experience for them and of course, get
recognition as a gently psychic kind a guy.

2. Learn to elicit imagination processes

Because propless is all about words, mental actions and imagery,
you need to understand that Mentalism performance needs to be
approached both the rational and emotional of your participant.
We have not just the potential of see images in our mind, but also
taste flavors, sense different sensations, smell different aromas
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 and all our normal senses in our inner psyche. Take that in
consideration and always pace and lead with your participant, so
he can feel that you are not just a theatrical mindreader, but in
some real way you are sensing his present state of mind and you
can lead him knowing when he is. Remember the “Telepathy” isn’t
originally about “thoughts”, rather “feelings” (In greek “Tele” is
distance and “Pathos” is “Affliction/Feeling”). Literally is feeling
other at a distance and from there knowing his potential thoughts.
All is mind.
Think about the implications of the last ideas. They are powerful
and can re-shape your approach.

3. Approach performance in a bold state of mind

A performer that doesn’t take risks from time to time during
performance will never get a legend-state. David Berglas, David
Hoy are clear examples and also the great Peter Turner is a
master of it in a modern time. This is real specially in “propless” in
which you can have a more casual and relaxed approach to
performance, in which a small mistake is completely constructive
to the overall credibility of the experience.
Remember that there is no failure, just feedback. Once you get
that thought and feeling in your mind and body, you will realize
how simple can be to take other person into a journey of Propless
Mentalism without fear of being “right”, rather to do the best you
can, and that means to also take calculated risk (as Michael
Murray says)

4. Don’t assume that propless is inherently better that using

props
Because there is not a “visible compromise”, some performers are
too submerging in the idea that don’t have props is just better and
I disagree with that. Yes, it is empowering to know information to
look as an “apparent real mindreader” without using cards or
billets, but remember that your audience is seeing you as the first
exposure of what you do, so they will follow your path of actions
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to understand the subtext of your performance. Why do you need
to take a card? Why do you need to write the thought? Well, work
that for yourself depending of your own persona as performer, but
the point is that “propless” is not inherently better because is
“visible cleaner”. As a matter of fact, “propless” normally is
heavily needed of a clear procedure that needs to be done
correctly, so in a manner is “invisible dirty”, using words and
psychology as your means to create your desire results. The nice
think is that words and memories can be re-shaped so the real
procedure can be very different to the overall memory of what
really happens. This is true for normal prop-based Mentalism but
specially for propless.
Propless is another way, with his own pros and contras, the same
as prop-based performance. Learn both, get the best from them
and jazz the world

5. Combine “procedure” and “process” in one harmony

For me “procedure” is the needed sequence of actions to arrive to
my desire result (such as using a riffle procedure to to arrive to
the force word during a book test, using a ESP deck to know a
thought of symbol or using an anagram, discarding letters to get
to the thought of zodiac sign, etc). This needs to be as
abbreviated and uninteresting as possible. This because I don’t
want to create from this a memorable moment. Yes, the book can
be an interesting one or the ESP deck a visually appealing one,
but the procedure has to be quick and vanish from the mind of my
audience if I want to really explore the mysterious experience.
The “process” is the magic. The process is what I want to create
as memorable. Whenever I connect with my participant to get his
thought, the moment in which the participant feels my energy
during a PKMB demonstration, the moment in which I am
receiving psychic insights and while I let my participant changes

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 his mind during a prediction routine, etc. I want this moment to
be as elongated and memorable as possible.
In “propless” this is relevant because most of the time because
your method lays in your words, you need to understand that
“procedure” and “process” needs to be harmonic. You cant do a
long procedure of mathematical calculations and then just in 2
seconds reveal the number. That is boring and just stimulates the
rational mind to understand the experience as a puzzle that waits
to be solved. In the other hand, if you understand how to create a
“procedure” that mixes with the interesting “process” in an
harmonic way (if you don’t know about music, you can study the
implications of the “harmony” concept in here) you will create a
flowing experience in which you apparently did nothing contrived
or complex. Complexity needs to be in your inner reality of the
method, not in the outer reality of the performance and overall
subjective experience of your participant.
So if you work towards this beautiful integration and let the
“process” to shine and the “procedure” to be as much as part of
the “process” possible, you will get great mysterious interactions
with others, I am sure.

6. Always be entertaining, always.

If you perform for real people (amateur or professional), you
know that people just want to be entertained. The mean is
personal to the performer itself, but people want to have a good
time, disconnect a little bit from his own reality and observe a new
one, in which different emotions and thoughts can be perceived.
We have I think the BEST type of thematic in our performances.
We can inspire others to seek the wonders of the universe, the
mysteries of our existence, the fun to connect with others and be
a person who can interact, share and be a memorable human,
inspire emotions, and much more. For that same reason we are
responsible to do “Mentalism” as well as we can. Being mediocre
isn’t accepted in any way or form, again, doesn’t matter if you are
amateur or professional. So learning the methods and tricks isn’t
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enough. You need to be entertaining, specially in “propless” in
which you don’t have any visible props to elicit interest. YOU ARE
the one which is visible now. So if you are boring, if you don’t use
language and overall communication in an effective manner
towards your entertainment goals, you will create the idea that
Mentalism/Magic and at the end what you do and yourself is
boring and don’t deserve any time and attention. Work towards
the magic that doesn’t have magical tricks and you will be able
even to entertain one person or a group without even “mental
tricks”

7. Study human communication and psychology to improve

your propless skills
Because in “propless” Mentalism we are relying in proper script
and psychology it is fundamental to understand human
communication in a deep manner. I am not just saying to study
the Magicians or Mentalists that talks about that, rather study real
sources from these topics. Do your own search and read a lot!
A classic is “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale
Carnegie, but others as well are “Smart Talk” by Lisa B. Marshall,
“Magic of Impromptu Speaking” by Andrii Sedniev and “Presenting
to Win” by Jery Weissman.

8. Always focus in the subjective participant experience

Being egotistical is an inherent aspect of the “performer nature”
for some of us. Sometimes we need to have too much time alone
in the process of development of material and creation and that
can be prejudicial to performance I believe if we don’t handle this
consciously. It is a daily task to avoid that tendency and specially
in “propless”, we need to really understand using our best
empathic abilities what is the subjective experience from our
participant. Is the procedure that I am using to convoluted? Is the

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 procedure that I am doing not emotionally relevant and overall
boring? It is the main effect interesting to experience? How can I
make it more relevant for him? As you will see, in the next pages,
the core method of “Zodiaco” can be used also to reveal other
type of thoughts, not just zodiac signs, the same as “Mind Map”.
Be as much in the mind of your participants for real and use that
effort to improve your performance.

9. Use caring and empathic verbal language

At the end, Mentalism is a way to connect with others, reach
another person in a human way, entertain him with your skills as
influencer and in the verbal area of our language we need to use
conscious constructive, positive and empowering language.
If for some reason your participant committees a mistake, don’t
worry! Just take off pressure of him in a kind manner and repeat
the procedure or just doing something else. Never treat them bad
with your words, rather have always an optimist frame of mind
and use everything that happens in the performance favor.

10.Learning propless allows you to understand the real inner

secrets of any Mentalism performance

I believe that everything that we do needs to feel like propless.

Needs to feel not too theatrical so the mysterious aspect of your
performance makes the effect even more powerful. Propless has
that inherent quality of being casual and conveys the idea of non-
effort, in which you are imply that you are not even trying to be
amazing. Propless teaches us to be subtle and powerful at the same
time, to work hard towards the human connection with our
participant and to be able to be amazing without any needed prop.
Again, propless is not best as prop-based Mentalism, but knowing
both areas will allow us the be a little bit better.

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Zodiaco

History
Being comfortable is kind of risky. I had a classic approach for
knowing a zodiac sign using a progressive anagram, but because
I didn’t want to become too comfortable with it, I wanted to
explore a new way that allows me to secretly get that information
to boost the experience of my participant during a casual
conversation and intimate connection. I then imagine the
dramatic pose of touching my participant´s hands and fingers
and from there I start to develop this full routine, in which we will
use several subtle methods to get the desire information covertly.

Outer Reality
During a casual conversation about the mysterious, numerology
and arcane world, the psychic entertainer ask his companion, a
beautiful girl called Patty to think about his “zodiac number”.
Then the performer claims that via a psychic connection he will
be able to know the unknown, revealing not just personal private
information but also her zodiac sign with 100% success.

Inner Reality
The wonderful method of “Zodiaco” isn’t based in long
mathematical processes and boring calculation. Just casual
conversation and dramatic moments presented as psychic
connection that will let you know the information that you need to
know. The method can be divided in separate phases:
1. Know if your participant born in November or December
(Month 11 and 12).

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 2. Know which month your participant born.
3. Know the exact zodiac sign.
Before going into “Zodiaco”, is important to know if your
participant knows his zodiac sign. If not, just let them know using
his smartphone or asking other person.
The performance starts with the dramatic pose of touching all 10
fingers with your participant, palms facing each other. You stare
her eyes keeping that position, revealing some information using
your best reading techniques, and at a moment say:
“I feel that your beginning isn’t on November or December,
right?”
In here language is important due the fact that “beginning” is an
ambiguous way to say “birthday”. If your participant agrees with
that, you know that her birthday is in the range January-October.
What if your participant born in November-December? No
problem. If your participant replies “no”, you just add:
“That´s interesting. That tells me that you have a emotional and
spiritual life that in a way or other let me feel that you have in a
way other beginning in your existence in other time of the
year...”
As you can understand, we will later give importance to other
moment in your participant´s life that happened in the range of
January-October. You can just fish for this later or just ask. The
nice thing is that your participant will feel the gaps himself and
give proper meaning to your statement.
So now, you know the information that you need to know.
Let’s cover first the case if your participant born either in
November or December. Because you just know that, you have 3
options to fish (Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn).
We will know which zodiac sign is just during casual conversation
presented as revelations. In here the key is not asking, rather
telling and see for reactions from that replies, always adjusting
yourself.
In here is very important to create time lapses between your
fishing of information. You don’t want to be just a seeker of

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information to end your “trick”, rather just embed those moments
during different revelations that you can create using your
reading techniques and intuition.
Regarding the Zodiac Signs, there are more probabilities that
your participant is a Sagittarius, so we will have that first option
to reveal and them branch the other options.
“ I feel that you have and interesting connection with nature that
allows you to be in there and feel refresh and energized. I also
feel that in a deep manner you want to be more out there and
enjoy the simple things in life.
I feel also that in a profound manner, in life you feel sometimes
that your behavior is very different from others, and that at times
make you feel both special and strange. That make sense to you
now?
You know the symbol of your zodiac sign? Yes… great, because I
feel regarding your aura and energy that in your zodiac there
isn’t a strong connection with an animal, like Taurus for a Bull,
right?”
If your participant agrees with that, you know that she is a
Sagittarius, due the fact that Scorpio and Capricorn are linked to
animals in a direct manner.
If your participant denies that, add:
“And that´s because you feel that you are in control of you. Your
destiny isn’t written in the horoscope, rather I feel a strong self
knowing about yourself.”
So now you know that is either Scorpio or Capricorn. Now you
need to use “Non Verbal Fishing” to know which one is. Just
declare that you saw in the first letter of the word a “curve”. If
you receive good verbal/non verbal confirmation, you know that
is a C, if not, adjust yourself and declare that you are seeing
things clearly now and you see now the S.

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 This technique can be also used if your participant doesn’t know
the symbols/mascots of her zodiac sign, so you don’t need to say
before that her sign isn’t related with an animal.
Let’s see written example:
Performer: “Please visualize your zodiac sign as a word floating
between us…The first letter has a curve…
1.
Participant: Yes (with certainty that allows you to know that is a
C)
Performer: As a fact, it´s just a curve… right? (Reveal Capricorn
in your favorite manner. Hopefully a credible one)

2.
Participant: Yes (with a tone of voice that allows you to know that
isn’t a C, rather a S)
Performer: ...Look at the middle of the word…There is a double
letter somewhere…
2a.
Participant: No
Performer: I say that because for a moment I saw a double
“P”…but I know that you know that Scorpio has only one “P”
2b. Participant: Yes
Performer: Yes, a moment ago you focus on that but you where
not sure that Sagittarius has a double “T”….

So know, you successfully reveal her zodiac sign. Remember to

keep a casual attitude during this process. This isn’t like a card
force in which you clearly are doing movement to let them take a
card (and ultimately using the classic force), rather it should like
just conversation and revelations.

Now, lets take the other routine in which your participant says
“Yes” to your first statement about November-December. So, you
know that her birthday is in the range of January-October.

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“I feel a strong energy in other place in the year.
There is something called your “zodiac number”, which is
basically the month in which you born. Think in that number
while I try to connect with you, and imagine placing a ring of light
on the finger that correspond your “zodiac number”, being your
left pinky finger 1 and your left right finger 10….”

In here I can tell you that most persons just look casually to the
finger. With this simple observation you can know which is the
number. If you can know with certainty and you want to check,
we will use and expanded version of Al Baker´s “The Finger
Knows”, which is basically doing CMR (contact mind reading)
using fingers and moving them to feel resistance. The more
resistant is the one thought of. If you don’t have experience
with this piece, you can start to just use the original use that Al
Baker teaches using just one hand (during maybe an ESP symbol
revelation). You just need to ask for cooperation and be
“pleasantly commanding” to instruct her clearly and feel the
proper resistance.
The process of CMR in “Zodiaco” is embedded as “psychic
connection”, so you can move your participant fingers casually
with your own mirroring finger or approaching your hand to each
finger. You can create in here your own dynamic, at the end you
need to know covertly the thought of number, knowing with that
the month of birth and keep proceeding with your performance.
“As you keep imagine that ring of light on that precise finger, you
will be in a calm state, being at the same time centered, and that
will allow me to feel your energy…”
In here is very important to NOT ASK, rather tell and be
observant about the subtle responses, I can’t stress this enough.
Now let’s see the different situations that can occur. Most are
very similar, but I will explain the approach nonetheless. With
some experience you can create your own approaches:

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 A. If the number is 1: You know that his birthday is in January,
thus knowing that his Zodiac Sign is either Capricorn or Aquarius.
In here we will use again the “Non Verbal Fishing” technique to
know.

Performer: Now visualize your Zodiac Sign as a word between

us…that´s right, the first one in caps and the other ones in lower
case (Instructions as mindreading). The first letter has a curve…
1.
Participant: Yes
Performer: (reveal Capricorn in your favorite manner)

2.
Participant: No
Performer: But that make you sense in a way, because if you
write the word all in lower case, the first letter has a curve… I feel
a lot of movement around you….water, you are Aquarius, right?

B. If the number is 2: You know that his birthday is in February,

thus knowing that his Zodiac Sign is either Aquarius or Pisces.

Performer: Now visualize your Zodiac Sign as a word between

us…that´s right, the first one in caps and the other ones in lower
case (Instructions as mindreading). The first letter has a curve…
1.
Participant: Yes
Performer: (reveal Pisces in your favorite manner)
2.
Participant: No
Performer: But that make you sense in a way, because if you
write the word all in lower case, the first letter has a curve… I feel
a lot of movement around you, water, you are Aquarius, right?

C. If the number is 3: You know that his birthday is in March,

thus knowing that his Zodiac Sign is either Aries or Pisces.

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Performer: Now visualize your Zodiac Sign as a word between
us…that´s right, the first one in caps and the other ones in lower
case (Instructions as mindreading). The first letter has a curve…

1.
Participant: Yes
Performer: (reveal Pisces in your favorite manner)
2.
Participant: No
Performer: But that make you sense in a way, because if you
write the word all in lower case, the first letter has a curve… I feel
a lot of movement around you, water, you are Aries, right?

D. If the number is 4: You know that his birthday is in April, thus

knowing that his Zodiac Sign is either Aries or Taurus.

Performer: Now visualize your Zodiac Sign as a word between

us…that´s right, the first one in caps and the other ones in lower
case (Instructions as mindreading). There is an “A” in the
beginning…
1.
Participant: Yes
Performer: (reveal Aries in your favorite manner)
2.
Participant: No/Mmm…yes (with a tone of uncertainty that allows
you to know that A is the second letter)
Performer: But that make you sense in a way, because if you see
the word, the second letter is an A….I feel a lot of force, strong
movements around you, earth, you are a Taurus, right?

E. If the number is 5: You know that his birthday is in May, thus

knowing that his Zodiac Sign is either Gemini or Taurus.

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 Performer: Now visualize your Zodiac Sign as a word between
us…that´s right, the first one in caps and the other ones in lower
case (Instructions as mindreading). The first letter has a line…
1.
Participant: Yes
Performer: (reveal Taurus in your favorite manner)
2.
Participant: No/Mmm…yes (with a tone of uncertainty that allows
you to know that is a “G” and not a “T”)
Performer: Not a big line… but I am seeing a line in that first
letter… You tend to be analytical about your experiences, almost
watching them in different perspectives…you have a friend who is
almost like your twin… you are a Gemini, right?
F. If the number is 6: You know that his birthday is in June, thus
knowing that his Zodiac Sign is either Gemini or Cancer.
Performer: Now visualize your Zodiac Sign as a word between
us…that´s right, the first one in caps and the other ones in lower
case (Instructions as mindreading). The first letter is a C….
1.
Participant: Yes
Performer: Yes.. You are focusing in that… lot of love around you,
you are Cancer, right?
2.
Participant: No/Mmm…yes (with a tone of uncertainty that allows
you to know that is a “G” and not a “C”)
Performer: and that C is morphing in your mind now into a G…
You tend to be analytical about your experiences, almost
watching them in different perspectives…you have a friend who is
almost like your twin… , you are a Gemini, right?

G. If the number is 7: You know that his birthday is in July, thus

knowing that his Zodiac Sign is either Leo or Cancer.

Performer: Now visualize your Zodiac Sign as a word between

us…that´s right, the first one in caps and the other ones in lower

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case (Instructions as mindreading). I sense that you are
visualizing just a few letters

1.
Participant: Yes
Performer: (reveal Leo in your favorite manner)

2.
Participant: No/Mmm…yes (with a tone of uncertainty that allows
you to know that is a Cancer and not Leo)
Performer: I am not saying that the word is short, just that, for a
moment, you were focusing just in some letters. I can see that
you tend to see yourself as casual, almost like just walking thru
life in a slow and calm manner… that tells me… you are Cancer,
right?

G. If the number is 8: You know that his birthday is in August,

thus knowing that his Zodiac Sign is either Leo or Virgo. In here
we will use the same fishing technique from the previous one.

Performer: Now visualize your Zodiac Sign as a word between

us…that´s right, the first one in caps and the other ones in lower
case (Instructions as mindreading). I sense that you are
visualizing just a few letters.
1.
Participant: Yes
Performer: (reveal Leo in your favorite manner)
2.
Participant: No/Mmm…yes (with a tone of uncertainty that allows
you to know that is a Virgo and not Leo)
Performer: I am not saying that the word is short, just that, for a
moment, you were focusing just in some letters. I can see that
you see like to create a lot of different relationships with others

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 persons…. Some more important than others, I see some green
in your aura… that tells me… you are Virgo, right?

H. If the number is 9: You know that his birthday is in

September, thus knowing that his Zodiac Sign is either Libra or
Virgo.

Performer: Now visualize your Zodiac Sign as a word between

us…that´s right, the first one in caps and the other ones in lower
case (Instructions as mindreading). I see a “bee”…
(In here we will use the phonetic ambiguity of “Bee” as the letter
but also the insect)
1.
Participant: Yes
Performer: (reveal Virgo in your favorite manner)
2.
Participant: No/Mmm…yes (if you see no nonverbal reaction that
let you know that you need to adjust your statement as the
insect, thus knowing that her sign is Libra)
Performer: I see an imaginary bee around you. That means a lot
of hard work in your life but understand the simple beauty of life.
Some green and violet aura around you… you are a Libra, right?

I. If the number is 10: You know that his birthday is in October,

thus knowing that his Zodiac Sign is either Libra or Scorpio.

Performer: Now visualize your Zodiac Sign as a word between

us…that´s right, the first one in caps and the other ones in lower
case (Instructions as mindreading). See just the first letter….I see
a line
1.
Participant: Yes
Performer: (reveal Libra in your favorite manner)

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2.
Participant: No/Mmm… (if you see no nonverbal reaction that let
you know that you need to adjust your statement, thus knowing
that her sign is Scorpio)
Performer: And that line starts to curve in your mind… That
right… like you see in your life, always going thru the river and
working hard although some times you don’t receive that you
expect…. I feel a sharp and astute attitude and yellow auras, you
are a Scorpio, right?

Reading all this can see as a lot of hard work, but remember that
this is just a flowing conversation in which your participant is
cooperating, so the CMR and NCMR (watching subtle cues) will
help you to get your desire result.
At the end of the revelation one important factor that I found is
NOT communicate that this climax is the end of the routine. This
whole experience isn’t about the revelation, rather how mentally
you can connect with other. Keep reading her, always lifting her
up, giving positive suggestions and thought implantations.

Extra Ideas
a. You can use a pendulum for the 2nd phase of the method as
well. In that way you can know the “zodiac number” thru a
pendulum process of ideomotor movement. Just ask your
participant to just close her eyes while she holds the pendulum
and while you name out loud the numbers from 1 to 10,
whenever she hears her number, she needs to imagine a flowing
of energy from her mind and heart to the center of the pendulum.
Using this method you don’t need to discriminate the November
or December, so you can use from 1 to 12.

24

 b. Being an opportunist is a great technique to have as Mentalist.
You can hear other one´s conversation, knowing someone month
of birth or his exact day. Then you can use the information and
create a miracle.

c. If you have a deck of cards available, you can create a very

direct solution to know the “zodiac number”. You just need to ask
the participant to take his “zodiac number” in the deck of cards.
You then can know the card via markings or a glimpse, thus
knowing the month and go directly to the “Non Verbal Fishing”.

d. Mnemonic system to remember the proper signs:

1. January: Capricorn or Aquarius.
Gun: Imagine a half goat half fish (Capricorn symbol) shooting a
jar full of water who spills a lot
2. February: Aquarius or Pisces.
Shoe: Imagine fishes in the sea with shoes
3. March: Aries or Pisces.
Tree: A goat climbing a tree to eat fishes that are on top
4. April: Aries or Taurus.
Floor: A goat and a bull fighting each other on a dance floor
5. May: Gemini or Taurus.
Hive: A bull with 2 hives in their horns
6. June: Gemini or Cancer.
Bricks: A crab with two big bricks in each hand
7. July: Leo or Cancer.
Heaven: A Lion eating a crab that is flying to heaven
8. August: Leo or Virgo.
Weight: A beautiful lady with a lion on top trying to weight herself
9. September: Libra or Virgo.
Wine: A beautiful lady balancing herself with a huge cup of wine
10. October Libra or Scorpio.
Hen: A hen balancing in weighing scales with a scorpion

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Credits and Inspiration

Al Baker's The Finger Knows- and Tells from Al Baker & Co.-Our
Mysteries. I read the use of ambiguity in phonetics from Joshua
Quinn and Gerard Grey.
Kenton Knepper for the idea of “Thought Implantations”, Richard
Webster and Neal Scryer for reading techniques.

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Solar

History
I created this effect in 2010, when I first learned about
progressive/branching anagrams in the effort to create mindreading
with a random thought, not just a fixed information such as my
participant zodiac sign. After the realization of the core method and
the applications towards the theme of “planets” the complete method
and performance was created, including the visualization (which is
very important in my opinion, don’t dismiss it) and the potential
subtle sensations that you can cause using suggestion that again,
creates a deeper and stronger mystery piece.
A funny story. I prepared my “No Prop Act” and I had an immediate
opportunity to show it. For some strange reason I completely forgot a
performance that I was invited to do during an event at my colleague.
I receive a phone call while I was walking towards my house and the
woman told me “Hi Pablo, the audience is waiting you. Are you
coming?”. I say “Yes, I am coming”. I run like never before in my life
and at that moment I feel the pressure to arrive as quick as I could
but I also feel relief to the fact that I knew that I could use this “No
Prop Act” and entertain the group. I arrive to the small theatre, did
my performance and everything went as good as I could, doing this
piece and others.
A powerful lesson: ALWAYS WRITE your events and be sure to
remember them! Don’t committee my mistake.

Outer Reality
The performer invites a participant to an experience of visualization
and “guided mindreading”. The participant thinks in any planet from
our solar system. The mentalist then guides him to a visualization in
which he can enjoy an extraterrestrial experience full of sensations,
finishing with the arrival to his thought of planet.

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Inner Reality
The core method of “Solar” is based in the concept of progressive
anagrams (also called branching anagram) used by Stanley Collins in
1920 for zodiac revelation. After this several other performers start to
use it for different effects. Several years ago I create this utilization
with the theme of planets but adding to the performance the use of a
visualization of part of the process for the participant, so although you
just need to memorize the progressive anagram to do it, you need to
engage your participant in that visualization to gave the performance
much more weight. In this manner you will not do just mindreading,
but a complete different experience. This also helps to you elicit more
emotional response, thus taking attention to the logical/rational
aspects.
Originally when I use this routine Pluto was still a planet. Nowadays
the procedure is even shorter. You can add it if you want.
The planets are: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune. As you can see “Earth” is not an option because you are
asking in the narrative of the routine to think in a planet to do an
“imaginary journey”. I suggest you to take all the planets and make
your own progressive anagram. In that way you can play with
different finesses that you can add. As an option you can also get
applications and computer programs to do it. This is a possible
progressive anagram that you can use for:

U-Mars
R-T-Venus
-Neptune
T-E-Mercury
-Uranus
N-Jupiter
Saturn.

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If you don’t know how to use this type of method, I highly suggest
you to check the books from the “credits and inspiration” section. This
method can look like real mindreading or just a simple “guessing/20
questions” procedure. You need to obviously aim to excellence, so
work hard to make it look good and interesting. I will give you a brief
explanation.
The planet at the end (Saturn) is the word that you will start to use
as the progression of the procedure. Naming the letters that are in
the left side (U-R-T and N) and the YES/NO answers from your
participant will let you know the possible outcomes. So for example if
your participant is thinking in “Jupiter”, during the process of
visualization and “mind-to-mind communication” you will name the
“U”, the “R”, the “T” and the “N”, receiving a NO in the last letter.
That negative reply will let you know that you need to move to the
right and not down.
Other example, your participant thinks in “Mars”. You will name the
“U”, and because you already received a “NO”, the progression now is
to the right, thus arriving to “Mars”.
In using progressive anagrams, it is VERY important to communicate
that a NO is not a failure from your part perse, rather part of the
process. You can communicate this in various manners in your script
and in the narrative of the performance. One of the ways that I use
particularly in this routine is to ask the participant to imagine “stars”
to form the letters from his thought of destination. So if I receive a
“NO” I immediately add:
“Ok, I am seeing it blurry, focus again please, don’t worry… That’s
right, now I can see better that form, is an S. I saw the curves but I
saw it from other perspective…”
So your “mistake” does not look and feel uncomfortable, rather a
moment that cements the idea of mindreading.
Let’s see the last example, so you can have a basic understanding the
progressive anagram used. Your participant is thinking in “Neptune”,
so you reveal the “U” and it is correct. Now you go to “R” but it is
incorrect. As you can see, we have only two options now (Venus and
Neptune), so now you can reframe your “mistake” with the “R” using

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a common letter from the two options and continue with your
consistency as mindreader.
“Oh ok, I rush a little bit, don’t worry… now I see better.. you did that
letter in capital letters in your mind, right? I thought that it was
lowercase…but now I see the transformation more clearly, it is an
“N”… it is similar…”
How do you know that it will be capital letters? Simple, you will ASK
him to do it before the visualization of the letters, but thanks to the
timing of your revelations and words, the participant will not debate
the statement, and it will be seen as other small revelation.
Now you need to discern if the planet is “Neptune” or “Venus”. You
can use the letter “T” as a way to discern it as I suggest in the
“progressive anagram” but you can also use other psychological
techniques to do it. If you use the line that I gave you, you can add:
“ I see a double letter…”
And wait for a non-verbal answer from your participant. If your
participant agrees, you know that is “Neptune” (double “N”). If not,
add: “… but I am not sure…please focus more”. In here you will
basically hear unspoken words. You will interpret your participant´s
non-verbal communication to understand if he is telling “YES or “NO”.
This is a more advance approach but with the proper training, you can
do miracles with this type of techniques. This is what I call “Non
Verbal Fishing”. You say ambiguous statements and then read your
participant non-verbal reaction to know your need of adjustments,
but due the nature of it, it will never look as “fishing”, just casual
conversation. As you can see, there is a lot more than just going
straight in the “progressive anagram”. You need to understand the
subtext, use the narrative and theme of your routine to make
everything fit perfectly.
So now that you understand the core method, lets go with the whole
description of the performance. Take your participant and let him
know that he will do an “imaginary journey to space”. Ask him to

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think in the name of one planet from the solar system as his
destination.
After this just guide him to a visualization process. Now you need to
use all your abilities as good communicator to do an interesting
performance and moments for your participant. I normally start this
imaginary journey placing my participant seated inside a rocket, so I
can do the countdown and let the participant even feel the force
against his chest and elicit various types of sensations through
suggestion. Then the rocket goes to space, and after a few moments
he can stand up and see thought a window all the stars and the
space. At that moment I ask him to visualize the letters in capital
size, made from stars from the thought of planet/destination
scattered in the space. Now you can slowly go to the progressive
anagram.
Remember that the mindreading is just part of the process, is not all.
Do not place much attention on it rather have proper balance
between that and the visualization. This is one of the factors to a
successful performance in my opinion. Let the audience and
participant enjoy the whole experience, not just the mysterious. At
the moment that you know his thought of planet, do not reveal it yet.
Continue the visualization and after some moments add:
“Ok, now imagine that the rocket slowly stars to slow down. You are
arriving!. That thought of planet, that desire place for you…
The rocket stops. Now the door is open and you are going outside.
And outside there is a big sign that says, “Welcome to… Uranus”…”
As you can see, the revelation of the planet is not a separate moment
for the visualization. In this case, in my experience with the effect, I
have a flowing dynamic. After the affirmative response from my
participant I ask him to see one more time everything in his mind and
to comeback slowly while he opens his eyes. This is done so the last
conscious focus is not in the mindreading itself, rather in the
interesting subjective experience from your participant. Now you can
ask him some questions regarding his visualization, even about his
feelings once you start to read his thoughts (presupposition that you

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actually did it) and conclude your performance with applause for your
participant.
This is a powerful demonstration of positive mind influence, guidance
and apparent real mindreading. Learn from this model of performing
and I am sure that you will get much less hecklers and resistance
during other performances.

Extra Ideas
1. You can add more options to the selection choice such as more
planets, different types of celestial bodies, etc. I prefer to keep it
short and simple.
2. After the performance, you can do a reading based on the planet
using Richard Webster-Psychometry from A to Z or Art Vanderlay-
SRS.

Credits and Inspiration

If you are interested in more work and techniques to do progressive
anagrams you can check the work from Atlas Brooking, Art Vanderlay
and Peter Turner.
Atlas has a similar idea in his book “The Prodigal”. I came up with this
routine in 2010 for my “No Props Act” using the visualization as a
parallel experience to make the performance more interesting.

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Mind Map
History
I like the idea to invite my participant into a journey. From that
desire I create this piece, in which we will use our hand in an
interesting manner and also the power of communication to guide in
an opportunist manner to our participant into an impossible piece of
prediction or coincidence (however you want to frame it).

Outer Reality
Two participants are invited to a mysterious experience. One of
them is asked to keep in mind a piece of information, secret for
now. Other is invited to create a decision based in visualization.
After some procedures and choices, one country from the world is
chosen as destination, which was named as prediction to the first
participant!

Inner Reality
In the core method of “Mind Map” we will use a timing force to
arrive to one particular continent traced in the palm of your own
hand and then use “Imaginative Equivoque” to arrive to the
predicted country. If we are approaching this in a 100% propless
manner, we need to use a participant as “human prediction” but if
you have some paper, pen or a phone around, you can write it
there.
So the first thing is to ask a participant to hear some secret words
that you will say. To him you will just say: “I feel that the selected
place will be FRANCE”.
Now you will find other participant to be the one which will do the
“imaginary journey”.

You know that sometimes you just enter to a trance-like state and
inspiration strikes you. Time ago I was looking my hand and I
realize that I could ask a participant to visualize in my palm a “world

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map”, so from there I realize that I could be able to force one
particular continent using a timing force technique. I normally force
“Europe”, but obviously you can go with any one. It is obviously
very important that your participant has the typical image of a World
Map in his mind. I was surprised to share this piece with some close
friends around the world some time ago and realize that for some
people in some cultural and educational contexts they don’t know
with certainty a world map!
So as you can understand participant´s selection is important here.
Choose someone that you intuit will have basic knowledge of the
world map.

Imagine that in your hand you have the map of the world and you
will realize that at the base of your first finger, you can locate
roughly “Europe”. So in a basic aspect for the first half of the core
method, ask the participant to imagine a “world map” in your open
left palm and while you point with your first finger from your right
hand, ask him to say “THERE” whenever he feels like it to arrive to a
random continent while you move your finger on your palm. You will
obviously stop at the precise point in which “Europe” can be named
(base of your first finger)

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After your participant says “THERE” (I use that word and not STOP
due the fact I prefer to have positive words in my act) you stop at
the precise place and ask: “In which continent we are?”
They will say “Europe”. If your participant has some problems, just
help him. It doesn’t matter, because he already made the “free
choice” of position. You can say: “At the right we can see “Asia”, at
the left “North America”, but the finger is on….”

So, you effectively force “Europe”, now let’s see how we can arrive
to a particular country. In here I use an opportunistic and
“Imaginative” approach to Equivoque, just imaginary choices are
used.
I normally predict archetypical/psychologically appealing choices
such as FRANCE or ITALY (at least in my context). You can play with
your options and choose other countries, but the opportunistic
approach is all about being flexible and casual in your verbal and
non-verbal communication. A potential line is this: “So, we are in
Europe. Name quickly a country…”

A simple line like this will allow you to take the appropriate route, so
if you predict “FRANCE” to your “human prediction” participant and
your “traveler” choose “France” as his first option, you have a direct
miracle. If not and your participant names other one just add
casually: “Ok, an other one… (gesturing with your left hand as if
counting)” implying that you meant in the first place to name other
ones. If your participant names “France” now, you can again, be
flexible and choose if you stop there the selection procedure or
continue. I normally prefer to continue due the fact it has a better
flow in terms of procedure in my opinion. In my experience with
“Mind Map” I have never had more than 4 or 5 countries, so don’t
worry and be bold. If for some reason the third is not your predicted
country, just open the selection to the audience and just miscall a
named country.

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After this and you have the selection of European countries, just
proceed with a properly equivocal procedure to arrive to the
predicted country. Because this 2nd half is highly flexible and
dependent, I will share with you some strategies. Lets say again
that you are forcing “FRANCE”:

I. “Ok, so you have Germany, France and Italy. Imagine

that they are floating around here (point a space in the
air)….strange thing to imagine right? (let that line sink
and be part of the narrative. Those small cognitive shifts
makes the process more entertaining)
One will be selected, the other 2 eliminated, so name one
now! (snap your fingers as added psychological pressure)
1. France: Ok (while you gesture in the air in a swipe
motion implying the elimination of the other two
countries)
2. Germany/Italy: Ok, an other one to continue the
process, now!
2.1 Germany/Italy: Good, that leaves only one
floating, only one selected…The other two are a gift
for you, one in each pocket…(again, make the
unimportant important for the sake of the
entertainment and cognitive shift to make the
equivocal procedure less relevant)
2.2 France: Ok, so we narrow the selection from three
to two…Each one in one of your hands. Now in a
moment you will feel something different from one of
them. You will hand one of them to me to finish this
strange imaginative game. Do it now! (now depending
of which one your participant hands you, you proceed
leaving “FRANCE” as the relevant one)

Hopefully this small example can give you some ideas about how to
handle the “Imaginative Equivoque”. This document isn’t in any
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means a crash course in the art of Equivoque, so if you need more
help, please search for the basic literature first.
So now, thanks to the innocent timing force and Equivoque, to can
predict ANY country, anytime, anywhere, even when you are
completely unable to use any visible props, literally NADA.

Extra Ideas

1. If you have access to a pen, you can ask the “human prediction”
participant to write the country in his hand. In that manner at the
revelation you have a visual cue and not just the verbal
confirmation.
2. You can also write the prediction in your other palm (the one that
will not be used in the procedure) so you can have a dramatic reveal
(slowly opening your palm)
3. You can also frame this effect as coincidence of thoughts, in
which your “human prediction” participant is apparently thinking in a
random country. So is not that you told him directly, rather you
create the dual reality that he is apparently thinking in any country
at all, still the mysterious event happens.
4. You can also ask the “human prediction participant” to close his
ears to the whole process and re-connect with the group after the
whole procedure is done. This adds an interesting drama to the
performance and for him, a subtle dual reality as well.

Credits and Inspirations

The use of hands in Mentalism is not new at all, but I think that
applying imagination, visualization to create a world map is original.
Other authors that had explored the use of the timing force beyond
playing cards are Patrik Kuffs and Kenton Knepper.

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RRV
History
I love creative challenges, and being able to know a simple thought
in a propless manner was and is one of them for long time. I believe
that this is one of my best creations in the propless area. With a
simple, bold method you will be able to know the first letter of a
thought of word and from there start your psychic journey finishing
(hopefully) with the revelation of your participant thought. I love
this type of uncertainty, makes me alive during performance,
different from a billet read for example in which I clearly see the
thought and the process of revelation is pure acting. In here you will
know, but not much, so the realistic aspect and the opportunity to
use your psychological and intuitive capacities are huge.

Outer Reality
During a casual meeting, a strange proposal is asked. The
mysterious guy asks his companion to imagine any fruit in his hand.
Then thru a visualization process and some time of empathic
connection, the thought of fruit is revealed!

Inner Reality
RRV stands for “Real Remote Vision”, because in a way, you are.
Communication is a beautiful topic to study in life, specially as
performer. We can improve our lives understanding in a better
manner the subtle aspects of effective communication and in
performance we can create the difference between someone who
can’t connect with his participant/audience and the successful one in
creating entertainment and human connections using Mentalism.

You know that we as Mentalist have the tendency to make

everything too rational and place too much attention in what we say,

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script, language patterns and not in the subtle but fundamental
aspects of acting/theater applied in our context, non verbal
communication and fine methods that we can use to arrive to our
desire results. RRV is not based in words to get information, rather
just observe in a covert manner an imaginative process from your
participant. Mentalism in his roots is about creating reality with our
mind, and this is what we are doing. Through your relevant script
but most important, your effective communication and observation
you will really know your participant thought.

In a core manner, you will ask the participant to visualize a set of

“alphabetical flash cards” from A-Z and you will simply ask to deal
them one by one until he can visualize the first letter of his thought
of word. From there you will know a very important information that
will lead you through other methods to arrive to the final revelation.
This observation of actions will be covert of course. You can use just
a “gypsy peek” for propless approach.

As you can see, I press the tip of my fingers to my right eye, slightly
showing the apparent pressure used, but in reality I was peeking
with my left eye. If you need straight vision, you can use the gap
between your ring and pinky finger.

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You can also use a blindfold, although this takes always the propless
aspect, isn’t that important sometimes and it gives the performance
a visual dramatic element.

So, as you can understand, with RRV you can reveal ANY type of
information such as fruits, vegetables, drinks, names, zodiac signs,
musical bands, etc. Just adjust depending your performance
context, participant and personal preferences.

So, at the beginning I act dramatically and I take something

invisible from my pocket. Let’s say that we are using the theme of
“favorite fruit”. So you will ask the participant to visualize in that
empty space his favorite fruit and to think in that image but also in
the word in his mind. Then from my other pocket I take the
“invisible alphabetical flash cards” and I explain the important
aspects. They are in order from A-Z and the instruction is to deal
cards one by one “A..B..C…” so on on the table until he reaches the
first letter of his thought of word and to just look at that letter in
bold print and to not say nothing after it until you connect with him
(in here you can make allusion to the fact that you are stimulating
with this the conscious/rational mind and then the
unconscious/irrational mind asking him to visualize the fruit in your
empty hand)
So now the participant starts the dealing procedure, in his hand
passing the cards to the bottom or in a table, as you want. At this
point you will use the “gypsy peek” to create the implication that
you are not looking. You can use indirect lines such as: “Do that
while I focus in here trying to connect with your mind patterns”.
Don’t claim directly that you will not see, because that will place too
much attention to that fact.

So your participant stars the dealing and you will simply count with
him!

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Because you are covertly observing, you will know when he stops,
thus knowing the first letter of his word. Remember that in your
instructions you clearly said to just stare the invisible card until you
“connect with him”. After some seconds that my participant stops, I
say:
“I am starting to understand your mind pattern. Now lets do
something different (now you can really close both of your eyes,
take your hand away from the gypsy peek to gesticulate in a
moment, thus indirectly showing that both eyes were closed before)
Choose any other letter from the thought of fruit, ok? Now you will
simply cut the portion of cards (do the action with your hands) and
see that new letter for a moment…”

So now your participant is seeing a new random letter, which

obviously you don’t know but creates a small cognitive shift and
adds relevance to the process. This also separates the logical idea of
knowing the letters because it is uncompressible to know
information just but asking other to cut an invisible set of cards.

So know you effectively know the first letter of his word, in this case
his favorite fruit. From this simple information you can work
precisely the word or at least 2-3 options in which you can use what
I call “Non Verbal Fishing” to know, this demands from your part to
be observant to your participant´s non-verbal communication
BEFORE he agrees or denies your statement in a verbal manner and
to adjust so you can apparently re-phrase the original statement.
Now take off the attention to the “flash cards” and go for the
visualization of the fruit in your other hand. In here is very
important to make the process entertaining to really elicit different
images, sensations, flavors, colors, etc. Avoid direct and quick
revelations, make it credible

So let’s say that the first letter is “P”, so the options are: Papaya,
Passion Fruit, Pear, Pineapple or Plum. My strategy at this stage is
to just guess using my first feeling: “Which fruit I think he choose?”

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As you can understand, each letter to each chosen category will be
different, so you need to be flexible and not be to focused in arriving
to a climax/TADA moment. Although this piece can be used in formal
performances, I prefer to use it in informal situations in which I am
not forces to create a more theatrical TADA context. I don’t care
really if I don’t hit directly the specific thought, far from that, if my
guess is not 100% correct, this alone construct in myself the identity
of a real mystery worker and not a trickster in the pejorative sense
of the word.

You can do “Non Verbal Fishing” with the size, shape, color and in
this case flavor of the object. Play with your creativity, the options
that you can arrive and make RRV your own. With practice and
proper understanding of your own ways you will discover many
subtle methods. You can even create an impromptu “Progressive
Anagram” if you know that the potential thoughts are 2 or 3 and you
can narrow the word using a particular letter to discriminate.

So here we have the basic approach to RRV, a simple way to know a

thought that will allow you to create mindreading moments anytime
anywhere with imaginative elicitation, credible moments and fun
challenges.
Not to place myself in a pedestal, but I found that this approach to
Mentalism in which you are not completely focused in direct hits
creates huge credibility among real audiences. Magicians can be
memorable by his great sleight of hand and cleverness, but we are
able as Mentalist to create memorable subjective and fantastic
experiences for others just using subtle methods, credible casual
acting and psychological directions and RRV is a prime example of
this

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Extra Ideas
1. If your participant didn’t deal any cards, clearly the first
letter is “A”, so again as in the original routine, wait a
moment and then ask him to visualize any of the letters from
the word via a cutting procedure.
2. This RRV technique can be also used for “invisible numbered
flash cards”. You can play with the options for ACAAN for
example.

Credits and Inspirations

The use of observation using a participant action and invisible
objects is inspired by Kenton Knepper-Truly Invisible, which was
taking without permission by a very famous UK mentalist in his Card
Magic DVD. Recently Peter Turner released his own approach to a
similar technique in his latest “Zodiac” Vol 9 from his series.
The idea is original to Kenton and we must know this to support
creators. Fraser Parker has also work great methods to covertly
know letters in words.

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Conclusion

Thanks for taking your time in reading “NADA”

Remember to connect with your participant, be empathic with them

so you can do your best to understand his own subjective
experience and not worry that much in great TADA moments or
reactions. Sometimes is better to see someone implode and not
explode. In that manner you can reach new levels with your craft
and artistry.

Stay in touch and keep enjoying nothing

All the best!

Pablo Amirá, 2016

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