REINCARNATION

- Jermay’ � � General Pe  r 
 r  on Ploy -

THE EVENT 2018

- Lecture Note  � � -
REINCARNATION
 Jermay' �  Gene  �  al Pe  r on Ploy

CREATED & WRITTEN BY

 Luke Jermay

EDITED BY
Tara Whittaker

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY
 Martin Eder

WWW.JERMAY.COM
 2
 REINCARNATION - 'Jermay's General Person Ploy'
Copyright 2018 (C) Luke Jermay. All Rights Reserved.

 All legal owners in possession of an original copy of this manuscript have the
right to perform these effects in all performance settings. Conflicting first person
 performance rights are withheld. They are not permitted to teach, sell, resell,
lecture, manufacture, translate or otherwise use, demonstrate, display or perform
the contents.

3
4 
 INTRODUCTION
 Tese lectures notes were prepared to accompany my exclusive
presentation at Te Event   in 2018. Te Event   is an annual
mentalism convention I produce, in association with my friends
at Vanishing Inc Magic, that aims to bring the very best
performers, thinkers and creators in contemporary mentalism
to London to share their wisdom, insights and professional
performance material in a day packed full of exclusive lectures,
presentations and performances.

 Tis manuscript could be thought to mark the sixth instalment

in an ongoing series of releases in which I aim to document my
explorations and expansions on what might be one of the very
oldest techniques in all of recorded theatrical card magic; Te
General Card Ploy. Te earliest written description I can �nd of
this wonderful principle is on page 159 of the Pieper
translation of the formally unpublished manuscript referred to
as Sloane 424 , dated to the 1600’s.  Te translation of this
remarkable historical document can be found in Gibeciere,
Volume 5, Issue 2, published in the summer of 2010 by the
Conjuring Arts
Ar ts Research Centre.

For those who are unsure, Te General Card Ploy can be easily
summed up as a deception in which the performer forces the
same card on multiple spectators, each of whom believe they
have selected diff erent
erent cards to one another. Later, this forced
card and several other random cards are in some way displayed
or revealed to the spectators and each verify that their chosen
card was among those revealed or displayed.  Te resulting
belief in both the audience and the participants is that each
person selected a diff erent
erent card.  Tose participating believe this
5 
since they assume the other cards revealed or displayed were
those selected by everyone else involved.  Tose observing
believe this since those participating con�rm their selections
have been revealed. It is a bold, brilliant and highly
sophisticated deception.

 Tose readers who have been performing mentalism for even a

short period of time will instantly recognise the General Card
Ploy as being the central mechanism within the venerable
Tossed Deck.  Te Tossed Deck is a wonderful example of the
General Card Ploy applied to a direct demonstration of mind
reading. As a community we often call the General Card Ploy,
 when utilised in the context of a mentalism routine, the Hoy
Principle due to the widespread exposure to Hoy's performance
piece Tossed Deck,  which utilises the principle as its core
methodology. Curiously, many have failed to notice that the
concept of the Tossed Deck predates Hoy with an earlier, almost
identical, routine in print by Orville Meyer which can be found
on page 2 of the often overlooked periodical  Mental-Wise,
Volume 2, Issue 8, published in March of 1956.

Hoy gave no history to his routine when he included it on page

25 of a collection of  his
  his fantastic performance
performance material entitled
Te Bold and Subtle Miracles of Dr. Faust, published by the
Ireland Magic Company. While Hoy off ered ered no mention of
Meyer it is highly likely that this is where Hoy got the
inspiration for his routine from. What is certain is that few
realised the power of the concept until Hoy brought it to the
attention of the mentalism community with his commanding
theatrical performances. Once the power of this simple concept
 was recognised the routine spread like wild�re. It became a
modern classic with amateur and professional performers,
including none other than Orson Wells, making good use of it

6
 in their own performance work. History aside, the General
Card Ploy and the Tossed Deck have been a constant source of
fruitful inspiration for me personally for more than than 20
 years.

My �rst major contribution to the body of work utilising the

principle was my original routine Touching On Hoy, which
Hoy,  which �rst
saw print in 2002, but was created in 2000, in a set of lecture
notes dedicated to it. Touching On Hoy is a prop free mind
reading sequence which transformed the General Card Ploy’s
scope and expanded it to work not with playing cards but with
human beings. I consider this routine as the foundational
building block that all of my other related material stands upon.
It is included in this manuscript, in its most recent form, to
present the reader with a well rounded understanding of the
process of exploration I have taken
t aken with the core methodology
methodolog y.

I believe this expansion of the General Card Ploy’s reach and

scope to be my original contribution to the body of work
connected to the General Card Ploy and one that I am very
proud of.

Touching On Hoy opened the eyes of many to the �exibility of

the General Card Ploy; 
Ploy;  something that previously had always
been used only in conjunction with playing cards was now
applicable to more interesting and further reaching information
and performance
perfor mance applications.

Since sharing Touching On Hoy  with the community it has

garnered universal praise,
prai se, even being awarded ‘Trick
‘Trick Of Te Year’
from the readers of  Magic Magazine after it appeared in my
friend Joshua Jay’s ‘Talk About Tricks’ column.

I'm thrilled to say it has become a pivotal piece in many

professional performers’ real
real world
wor ld shows across the globe.
7 
In 2015, thirteen years after Touching On Hoy �rst saw print, I
decided to share more of my explorations on the General Card
Ploy applied to human beings. I began by sharing Touching On
Divination as part of my 4 disc DVD set  Jermay's Mind,
produced by Vanishing Inc;Inc; this is a sequence which allows the
performer to seemingly answer thought of questions held only
in the minds of spectators.  Tis handling is also included in an
updated form here in this manuscript.  Tis is my personal
favourite of all the routines I have created and the one I use the
most in my ownown professional
professional work.
work. It has
has a �exibility and an
authenticity that makes it very useful and hugely impactful on
an audience.

Next, I released a PDF and audio training package called

Cartomancy  which detailed an entire show themed around
fortune telling with playing cards which utilised the concept in
one of its central phases.  Tis can be found as a stand alone
PDF download at my online mentalism store.
sto re.

 Te third release on this theme was Touching On Hypnosis; a

sequence of pseudo hypnotic phenomena made possible thanks
to the General Card Ploy  which appears on my second 4 disc
DVD set Premise And Premonition, produced by Vanishing Inc,
available at their website and in magic stores around the world.
world .

 Te fourth was Vibrations; my professional, dare I say, avant-

garde approach to Psychometry.  Tis is available as a stand
alone PDF download at my online mentalism store.
sto re.

My �fth release was Folie à Deux detailing yet another manner

in which taking the General Card Ploy from playing cards to
human beings can be expanded and exploited to produce a
radically diff erent
erent outcome in performance as it produces an
elegant and expanded demonstration of the neoclassical PK
Touches premise
premise..
8 
It is my hope, that by documenting the many diff erent erent routines
I have created using the single principle as a muse, giving birth
to a new approach which I now call 'Jermay's General Person
Ploy' , the community will begin to see these routines not as self
contained ‘tricks’  but
  but rather, diff erent
erent disguises for a utilitarian
technique. A technique upon which direct and startling
miracles can easily be built once the approach is fully
understood.

In this manuscript you will discover three fully formed

professional routines and one universal technique; each built on
'Jermay's General Person Ploy' to produce a wide array of distinct
and powerful professional performance pieces. Both ‘Broadcast’ 
and ‘One
‘One Are All’  have
 have never been shared, in any form, anywhere
before.  Tey are exclusively housed within this limited edition
manuscript.

 When I decided
deci ded to
t o present a lecture
lect ure on 'Jermay's General Person
Ploy', my biggest challenge was in deciding what not to include.
 Te time restraints of a convention lecture forced me to re-
examine all of my work with 'Jermay's General Person Ploy', both
published and unpublished, in order to select what I felt was
the best variety of information for those in attendance. It was,
at �rst, an annoyanc
annoyance.e. However, it soon becam becamee cle
clear
ar this
challenge was a blessing in disguise.
disgui se.

In examining my diff erent
erent routines, techniques and concepts I
soon realised that I could select routines to demonstrate the
depth and breadth contained within the principle allowing each
of the routines to showcase di ff erent erent techniques and
applications in their own right.
r ight.

Consequently, I have selected the the routines included in this

manuscript to highlight diff erent
erent manners in which the
principle can be exploited, also to introduce many of the
9
previously unpublished additional utilitarian 'Jermay's General
Person Ploy' techniques that I use in my own performances, to
the community
community.. I suggest
suggest you read these
these notes from start to
�nish and do not jump
jump ahead. I have structured these notes in
such a manner that each routine builds upon the last as they
introduce techniques and applications that are transferable to
one another.

I hope these lecture notes provide you with a new way to look
at something very old. It is my hope
hope that the work I have done
in developing 'Jermay's General Person Ploy' will
Ploy'  will inspire you not
only to go out and perform these routines but to ask yourself
 what unique discoveries you might make as you explore a
principle that has, in my experience, only continued to grow,
shift and expand as it continues to occupy as special place in my
mind.

 LUKE
 LUKE JERMAY

Yorkshire, 2018

10 
 TOUCHING ON TELEPATHY
TELEPATHY
 Touching
 Touching on telepathy is a sequenced routine of two diff erent erent
demonstrations (Touching On Hoy and Touching On Divination)
built on 'Jermay's General Person Ploy'  that
 that off ers
ers the performer a
startling, prop free, demonstration of test conditions telepathy,
immediately followed by a prop free demonstration of
divination and fortune telling in which the performer answers
the personal questions of random audience members that are
only 'thought' about. I personally follow these two sequenced
routines with my personal approach to George Anderson’s
‘Dynamite Mentalism’   which allows me to present a full, prop
free, performance lasting anywhere between 20 and 35 minutes.

Nothing is written
wr itten down, there
there is no preshow work and there is
no stooging.  Tis is a true, prop free, demonstration of
telepathy that leads to one of the purest, test conditions,
demonstrations of true Questions and Answers that you will
encounter.

I recommend that you read this chapter fully, even if you are
already familiar with my work, as many of the principles and
techniques that are taught are utilitarian and will be transferred
and brought forward in the material that makes up the rest of
this manuscript. Consider this a chapter of foundational
information.

11
 TOUCHING ON HOY
 Phase One: Telepathy

 After some introductory remarks about the nature of telepathy,

telepathy,
mind reading and divination, the performer explains he will
begin with a mental warm up and to do so he must work with
receptive minds. He has the audience relax and remain
remain open
minded. He then has the entire roomroom attempt to pick up on
three simple thoughts that he explains he will 'project' to them.
Each time he has those audience members who accurately
perceived his thought indicate this by standing at their seat in
the theatre. He then selects three of the standing audience
members to join him onstage. Each person sits in a chair lined
up across the stage.  Te performer instructs the spectators to
close their eyes. He then openly walks to the spectator in the
chair furthest to the left, from the audience’s viewpoint, and
taps that person several times on the shoulder.
shoulder. He then
addresses that spectator directly:

“If you just felt me touch you, you are Player number one. I would
like you to think of two simple shapes.
shapes. Keeping in mind,
mind, that with
my artistic talent, a heart or a star would be exceptionally complex;
a square is my kind of simple…go ahead and think of two simple
shapes for me now…and lock those in your mind. From this this point
onwards your task is to simply focus your mind on whatever shapes
 you happen to have picked. Ignore what the other players are doing
up here. You are Player number one; focus only only on two simple
shapes.” 

12
 Te performer then moves to the spectator sat in the centre of
the three and taps this person several times on their back. He
then continues:

“If you just felt me touch

touch you, you are player
player number
number two. I would
like you to
to focus on a name; a name that you say everyday.
everyday. It could
be a loved one, a family member, a friend; anyone that is a part of
 your life…your task f rom this point onward is to simply focus your
mind on that person’s
person’s name. Ignore
Ignor e what the other players are
doing. Simply focus your
your mind on whichever name you have decided
upon. Feel free to change your
your mind a few times if you wish, before
 you settle on one, however,
however, once you have decided; lock that in your
mind and focus all of your attention on it. You are player
player number
two; focus only on your chosen name.” 

 Te performer moves to the �nal spectator sat in the chair

furthest right and taps this person. He address this person
directly:

“Finally, player number three…If you just felt me touch you…you

are player number three.
three. I would like you to
to focus your mind on a
date. A date
date that holds some personal signi 
signi 
  � cance
cance to you. Maybe a
 graduation year,
year, perhaps the year a child was born, whatever it
happens to be; a year that holds some special meaning to you,
 personally. Focus your mind only on that year, year, you are player
number three.” 

 Te performer moves to centre stage and addresses all three of

the onstage spectators at once, clapping his hands together, he
continues:

13
“Please, players
players 1, 2 and 3…open
3…open your eyes for me now! All of this
applause is yours.” 

 Te three onstage spectators open their eyes and the performer
leads in a round of applause.  Te performer continues,
addressing all three of the onstage spectators:

“Please take a moment to focus your mind on your speci 

  � c thoughts.
You each have one concept in mind. Player number one, some simple
shapes; something of a warm up.
up. Player number
number two, the name of
someone close to you and player number three, a year that has some
signi 
  � cance
cance to you.” 

 Addressing the audience at large the performer

performer continues:

“I  � nd
nd telepathy
telepathy is much like any learned skill. It requires a speci 
  � c
 process for best results. Right now this simple test will serve as my
warm up. up. If I can successfully perceive the three thoughts of three
random people we will begin to move onward…but let’s not get
ahead of ourselves just yet as success is never assured with mysterious
matters of the mind.” 

In silence the performer walks behind each of the seated

onstage spectators. He places his hand on each of the
spectators heads, closes his eyes for a moment and moves to the
next spectator.
spectator. He repeats this with each of the three
three onstage
spectators. When �nished he walks centre stage and instructs
the onstage spectators to stand at their onstage chairs. He
pauses and then dramatically continues:

14 
 “I believe I have been able to reach inside your mind and  � ndnd the
speci 
  � c thoughts I was looking for.
for. I have two simple shapes,
shapes, a year
and a name. Strangely, this evening, the thoughts that were
normally the easiest, the shapes, were the most di   ffi cult
cult for me to
  � nd.”
nd.”

 Te performer turns to address the onstage spectator who

focused on two simple shapes:

“So, Player number one…if I get even one of the two shapes you
have in mind, we will count that as a success.” 

 Te performer then continues, addressing the audiences and

onstage spectators at one time:

“ Te name and the year were very clear. Te shapes that came to me
were a triangle and a circle. Te name was Tara and the year 1985.
Tese were the thoughts that I connected with.” 

 Te performer turns to address the onstage spectators. He

begins, addressing the �rst spectator:

“If I successfully named your thought…sit down.” 

 Amazingly the spectator sits in the onstage chair; indicating

the performer was indeed accurate in the thoughts he
perceived.  Te performer addresses the audience:

15 
“One out of three, in most scienti    � c circles, would be considered
highly signi 
  � cant
cant but right here and right now we are not interested
in scienti 
  � c signi 
  � cance…” 
cance…” 

 Te performer then continues, addressing

addressing the second spectator:

“If I successfully named your thought…please, sit down” 

down” 

 Te performer �nally addresses the last spectator:

“ Te moment of truth…If I successfully named your thought, please,

sit down.” 

 Amazingly the �nal spectator sits.  Te audience reacts with

shocked silence quickly followed by intense applause.

16
 TOUCHING ON DIVINA
DIVINATION
TION
 Phase Two:
Two: Questions & Answers

 With the three onstage spectators sat in the onstage chairs the
performer continues, addressing the three spectators and the
audience at once:

“I am warmed up. While I understand the need for tests of

telepathy,
telepathy, its not really the best use
use of the gift. Let’s move on to
to
what really matters the most; the past, the present and the future.
 After all, what else is there?” 

 Te performer addresses the onstage spectators as a group.

group.

“Please close your eyes. Player number one, I would like you to
to think
about a question; the kind of question you might ask a tarot card
reader or psychic, a question about your personal future. Please
avoid the temptation to ask a silly question; silly questions always
receive silly answers. Tink of a question you personally want the
answer to about
about your own future. Player number
number two, I would like
 you to focus your mind on a question about your present and player
number three, please focus your mind on a question about your past.” 

Once again the performer walks along the line of the three
onstage, seated spectators, brie� y touching their head as he
does so.
so. When he has made
made his way
way along the line he returns
to stage centre and continues:

17 
 “Please, all three of you, open your eyes. I have the answers you seek.
Player number three, when it comes to the past you have to be careful
not to allow it to in  � 
  � uence
uence the present and interfere with the future.
 At this point in your life there is nothing more you can do to mend
the situation. I believe that Joanne was not in possession of all the
information she needed to make the best decisions, however,
however, now it is
 your duty to move
move forward.
for ward. Now is the time toto let this go.

Player number two, the present, I feel you asked a question literally
about the present. Something about you right here and right now;
something of a challenge. I believe you want me to tell
tell you the colour
of your underwear
underw ear.. Understand that I normally would not accept
any challenge, however, you seem fun; it is blue.

Player number one, the future. I believe you already know the the
answer to your question and I believe your own insight into this
situation will prove correct, however, it would be wise to adjust
 your timeline to
to allow a little freedom in reaching this.” 

 Te performer looks to the audience and then back to the three
onstage spectators and continues:

“If I have given you the answer to your question…please return to

 your seat in the theatre.”

 All three of the onstage spectators stand, and walk from the
stage to return to their seat in the theatre.  Te audience, after
recovering from the shock of what they have seen, applaud
enthusiastically.  Te performer then continues by having every
person in the room focus their mind on a personal question
18 
they would like to the answer
answer to.
to. He then works with various
spectators, dotted around the room, accurately answering
questions.

BEHIND THE CURTAIN

Te Core Methodology

Before we launch into the exact details of the method, I would

like you to consider that the routine appears exactly as it has
been described above.  Te routine makes use of no preshow
 work, no stooges and no props at all.
a ll. Once you have processed
and understood the information I am about to share you will
have, ready and waiting, a full demonstration of direct telepathy
and pure Questions and Answers with nothing more than your
 words, mind and body.
body. Please take a moment to consider this
before you launch into the details.

 Tis is by no means a di fficult routine to learn or perform,

however, it does require strong audience management, a fully
operational mastery of the script and full understanding of the
methodology and the concepts that underpin how the sequence
blends together
togethe r.

 Tis routine will make use of bold methodology to create a

striking miracle in the minds of the audience. Understanding
the sequence fully will require a shift in your thinking.  Tis is a
demonstration employing language as its main method.  Tere
 will be no sleight of hand but much sleight of mind.

19
Much has been made, in recent years, of the notion of Dual
Reality.  Tis is the term given to an eff ect ect in which an
audience member has a diff erent erent experience to the performer,
and each has diff erent
erent experiences to the audience at large. I
have always been somewhat puzzled by this notion being new.
It seems to me there is not a single example of a magic or mind
reading demonstration which, at its very core, is not an example
of Dual Reality
Realit y. In truth, for any deception
decepti on to take place, the
performer must always manage multiple experiences and
realities; this routine will highlight that fact.

 To
 To begin, I wish to present you with a simple overview
overvie w of how
the demonstration works; this will be terse in detail but will
allow you to have a basic working understanding of the
demonstration as we progress and explore the subtleties and
psychological principles that will all play their part in
completing the deception in performance.  Te 'hardware' of
this routine is really
really simple. Its power is in the fact that ninety
nine percent of the deception is complete before the audience is
even aware the demonstration has begun.  Te detail and
attention is really found within the performance script.

 At the very heart is a simple concept, one commonly credited

to David Hoy for his now iconic 'Tossed Deck'  routine.
  routine.  Tis is
often referred to as  T  'Te Hoy Principle' but can, more
accurately, be considered an outgrowth of the ‘General Card
Ploy’ . So central to this demonstration is the ‘General Card Ploy’ 
that, in my earlier version of the demonstration, I included
Hoy's name
name in the title. We shall use the tossed deck as a
 working example of this principle which I will then transfer to
the mechanisms of 'Touching On Divination'.

 20 
 To
 To properly understand this routine it is important that you
understand the 'Hoy Principle’ , imagine you have a deck of
playing cards; of which �fty one cards are all alike.  Te
remaining card, which is diff erent
erent from the �fty one all alike
cards, is on the face of the deck.  Te complete deck is wrapped
in a rubber band. Imagine you were to throw the deck to
diff erent
erent people in the audience; accompanied by instructions
for them to each break open the deck and look at one, and only
one, card within and commit it to memory and then have the
deck returned to you. You would present whatever
whate ver vision
visio n of
mind reading process you personally favour and �nally reveal
that you have several cards in your
your mind. If you were to now
announce the card used for the �fty one alike cards, along with
several other cards,
c ards, and then ask the audience members to sit, if
and only if, you had named their card, all the spectators would
indeed sit.  Tey have no other option since you have
announced the card that makes up all of the possible selection
�elds within the deck. Each person would assume that the
other spectators each selected one of the other cards the
performer named. Here is the Hoy principle in action as
published by Hoy in his 'Tossed Deck'  routine. In many ways,
 what follows is an expansion and elaboration on this classic
routine, only we shall not make use of playing cards
c ards but instead,
 with bold methodology,
methodology, create a human 'Tossed Deck.'

Now you understand the 'Hoy Principle'   in its classic guise.

Let’s see how we can apply that to three living, breathing
human beings on stage.

 You
 You will invite three spectators to
t o each take a seat onstage.  Te
chairs will be arranged in a neat line across the centre of the
stage.

 21
 With the spectators sitting, you stand behind the spectators in
the space between the second and third chair as you instruct
the onstage spectators to close their eyes and for them to keep
their eyes closed until you ask them to open them again. You
appear to lean forward to look up and down the line of
spectators to check that they have each closed their eyes.  Tis
action, while benign and uninteresting to the audience proper,
 will allow the cover you will need for the major deception
 within the routine. While you appear to simply be looking up
and down the line to check the spectators have closed their
eyes, in truth you are doing something else. With the body
leaning forward your arms are in the perfect position to secretly
'touch' the spectators who sit to either side of you. You will
secretly touch the two spectators roughly in the middle of their
backs.  Tis is over in a split second and the larger action of
leaning forward to check that the spectators have closed their
eyes is ample cover for the smaller action of secretly applying
the touches to the spectators’ backs.

 You
 You have now,
now, unknown to the audience at large, secretly
touched
touc hed two of the three onstage spectators.
spectat ors. You will now
openly walk to the remaining spectator and openly touch them
on the shoulder. You will say:

“If you just felt me touch you…you are Player number one.” 

 Te extraordinary result of all of this is the fact that you are
now talking to each of the spectators but the audience believes
 you are only addressing the spectator that you openly touched.
 You
 You have, in essence, the beginnings of a human 'Tossed
'Tossed Deck.'
 You
 You will now need to control the choices of all three of the
spectators during the scripting that the audience at large
 22
believes is only being actioned by the spectator they saw you
openly touch on the shoulder.
shoulder. I choose to control the choices
by employing a classic psychological force of two simple shapes:
a circle and a triangle. Once this is complete you will move to
the second spectator in the row of chairs, you will appear to
'touch' this spectator somewhere on their back; in truth you
merely mime the actions of touching the spectator but do not
contact them in anyway. You now speak to 'player number two'
as if they were
were on the stage with you.
you. In truth there is no
player number two.  Tis means that you can create any
selection �eld you desire since no matter what you say, you are
correct.
correct . You will repeat this with the third spectator,
spectat or,
approaching and miming touching them on the back, in truth
not making any contact with them whatsoever
whatsoe ver.. You then
address 'player number three' as if they were onstage with you.
In truth again, you are addressing
addressing no-one. Player number three
is nothing more than what player number two was; a �gment of
the imagination of the performer.
performer.

Each onstage spectator believes themselves to be 'Player

number one' and each onstage spectator has focused their mind
on two simple shapes. Since we off ered ered this selection �eld
using the classic psychological force all of the spectators will be
thinking
thinki ng of circles
circ les and triangles.
tria ngles. Now,
Now, when it comes to
'reading their mind' and revealing the information, we simply
follow the lessons laid out in Hoy's 'Tossed Deck' by
announcing:

“I see a circle and a triangle, the name

name Tara and the date
date 1985. If I
have correctly named your thought, please,
please, sit down.” 

 23
 Te name we reveal and the date can be anything; since no-one
is really thinking about a name or a date. Since all three
spectators were instructed to take part as Player number one,
 who we employed the psychological force upon, all three
spectators will sit down.

 To
 To the audience at large it appears as if we have somehow
managed to reveal not only two simple shapes but also a name
and a date.  Tis is a major moment; it feels like real mind
reading. No props, nothing
nothin g written
wri tten down, just straight ahead
direct mind reading.

I understand that this is a diff erent

erent approach to much of the
mentalism most people will have encountered
encountered before.
before. Indeed,
it may take a while for your mind to wrap itself around these
concepts. Take a while to really
really understand the information I
have shared until this point; resist the temptation to move
further into this routine until you are con�dent you fully,
completely and totally understand the mechanism that
underlies all that will follow.

 As with all great mentalism the real deception takes place in
the mind of the audience.  Tis is the strongest of all deceptions
and it only happens when we apply the right construction and
performance psychology to the mechanisms that produce the
illusions. Now I have explained the core method at work
 within this routine it is time for us to delve further; to explore
the subtleties, scripting and �nally see how the core method
can be expanded to allow for the Questions and Answers
routine.
routin e. In the �nal section of this chapter I will cover the
manner in which I blend this routine in among other classic

 24 
concepts to create a twenty � ve to thirty
thirt y minute prop free mind
reading demonstration.

THE REAL SECRETS

Te devil’
devil ’s in the details

Now you have a working understanding of the routine it is time

for us to look at the real secrets that will elevate the
demonstration to a professional grade mystery.  Te �rst detail
that will make a huge di ff erence
erence to the success of the
demonstration is understanding the proper manner in which to
apply the secret touches to the two onstage
onstage spectators. A vital
element in this process is the positioning of the chairs
themselves on the stage.

Position three chairs in a line. Leave just enough space in

between each chair to allow your left leg to extend into the
space between. Your right leg will be planted �rmly behind the
spectator to your right and your left leg will extend further in
the gap between the spectators on your left and right. At �rst
this will feel like a strange way to be standing and that feeling
is correct; this is a strange way to stand, unless we are leaning
forward to look along the line of spectators.  Te left leg
extending into the space between the spectators allows us to
bend slightly at the waist and lower our body into the space
between the chairs; all with your right leg �rmly planted
behind the spectator
spectat or in their chair,
chair, to your right.
right . You will
notice that in this position your arms naturally ride up to waist
height allowing you to easily touch the spectators on the left
 25 
and right at the exact moment you turn your head to look up
and down the line of spectators, seemingly checking they have
followed your instructions and closed their eyes. You will now
straighten your body up bringing your torso out of the space
between the two chairs.
 You
 You will lead with your right leg as you walk to the only
spectator who was not secretly touched.  Te entire secret
touching actions happen as you appear to be casually checking
the spectators have closed their eyes. You will walk freely
behind the spectators before you instruct them to close their
eyes, at this moment you will then take up position with the
left leg extended in the space between the chairs, execute the
secret touches and then move away leading with the right leg.
 Tis entire process will take a matter of seconds and appears to
the audience to be very uninteresting. In the experience of the
audience at large nothing has yet taken place; instead it appears
 we are about to begin. You now move to the remaining
spectator and openly touch them on their shoulder.
shoulder.

 You
 You will now label the spectators to all believe they are Player
number one. To do this you will make use of a speci�c piece of
scripting:

“If you just felt me touch you, you are Player number one…” 

 All three spectators now believe they are player number one.
From this moment onward any instruction we off er er directly to
player number one will be followed by all three of the onstage
spectators.  Te audience proper believe only the spectator that
 you openly touched is player number one.

 26
 We
 We now �nd ourselves at the second critical junction of the
�rst phase of the routine; the psychological force. Many pages
in many books have been �lled giving avid readers precise
scripts which promise them some magical power over the
minds of the audiences and spectators they work with.  Te
truth, in my humble opinion, is that this has hindered the
ability for many of those avid readers to successfully perform a
psychological force. While obviously the script is of vital
important, little has been discussed about the tone, delivery and
 vocabulary
 vocabular y used in the execution of that script. A psychological
force is, in truth, not a force but rather an invisible restriction
upon the available choices; these restrictions stack on one
another until the only available options are those we de �ne
prior to the performance. If we examine the force of two
simple shapes as an example, we can clearly see what I mean by
the idea of restrictions:

“I would like you to think of two simple shapes. Bearing in mind

that with my artistic ability a heart and a star would be very
complex. A square
square is simple! Do not think of any of those…but lock
two simple shapes into your mind for me now.” 

 Tis is the exact script I use when performing the psychological

force. However, for it to be eff ective
ective for you, it should not be.
 Te reason I have success with this force is that it sounds
correct and in character with the manner in which I talk
onstage. If you try to rigidly stick to my script it will not sound
natural; it will alert the audience to something suspicious
happening. Tey will not know what it is that is happening but
they will feel something is off   and it will cause an internal
alarm bell to trigger in
i n the mind of the spectator.  Tis will ruin
the force. It will remove the audience member from the

 27 
moment and they will simply not follow with the restrictions
because they will suddenly become aware that this is what you
are trying to do; restrict their choices.  Te challenge for you is
to take the structure that I use, which allows you to remove
most of the possible choices from the spectators selection
simply because you have named them aloud in your
instructions and �nd a way for you to say it that sounds natural
and real in your own words. Do not use my words, do not use
my vocabulary,
vocabulary, do not use my delivery or tone. Find your own;
it is the only way it can work.

Since in the scripting we have directly announced a square, a

heart and a star, we leave the spectator with only two real
choices; a triangle and
and a circle. We will make use of one more
subtle language trick during the revelation process which will
sky rocket the odds of success by reducing the level with which
 we need to be accurate. We will get back to this during the
revelation
revelat ion process. For the moment, the most important
importan t thing
 you can do is spend an hour examining the way in which you
 will use my structure to deliver the classic
c lassic psychological force in
a manner than feels authentic and real in your own style. Go
and do this now; I will meet you back here in one hour.

 Welcome
 Welcome back. At this point you should have worked out your
own unique vocabulary, style and tone for the structure of the
psychological force. If you have not done this and instead
ignored my request that you spend some time doing this, I will
repeat: this is a critical step in executing the psychological force
or, as I prefer to think of it, the psychological restriction,
successfully.
successfully. I urge you to give this some serious thought
thought and
really apply yourself to developing your own way.

 28 
Now you have your own way to handle the language for the
force let’s look at the exact way in which we will pull together
the secret touches and the force/restriction to create the desired
outcome; three people all believing they are 'player number one'
and each thinking of a circle and a triangle:
“If you just felt me touch you,
you, you
you are player
player number one. I would
like you to think of two simple shapes. Bearing in mind that with
my artistic ability a heart and a star
star would be very complex. A
square is simple!
simple! Do not think of any of those…but
those…but lock two simple
shapes into your mind for me now. Remember, you are player
number one; your task is only to focus on two simple shapes. Ignore
what all the other players upup here are doing. Focus only on your
chosen shapes.” 

It is of great importance that you instruct 'player number one'

to ignore what the other players are doing.  Tis single step will
ensure that when you later pretend to touch the second and
third spectators, each time off ering
ering some further instruction,
that all three of the onstage spectators ignore these instructions
and only think about two simple shapes. It is also important
for the second phase that the players are told to remember their
number.
number. Once you have successfully executed the psychological
force/restriction, instructed the onstage spectators to remember
their player number and to ignore what the other players are
doing you are essentially home and dry.  Te major deceptions
have been taken care of.

 You
 You will allow a slight delay to let that sink in.  Ten you will
say something along the lines of:

“…and now moving on…” 

 29
 Tis simple piece of scripting e ff ectively
ectively informs the three
onstage spectators
spectators that something newnew is about to come. In a
moment they will understand this 'new thing' to be the
introduction of the second player
player into the game. Since they are
now thinking of themselves as 'player number one' they will
naturally ignore the instructions you off er er to 'player number
two' exactly as you instructed them to earlier. After the pause
has passed you will move to stand directly behind the spectator
sitting in the middle of the three.
three. You then appear to touch
this spectator on their back. In truth simply mime these
actions; do not contact the spectator at all.  Tis literally is the
simplest of all possible method; you are simply pretending to be
doing something when you you are not. When I walk and openly
touch the �rst spectator, after having secretly touched the other
two spectators, I make this action look like it is large and
laboured. It almost appears like I am doing the infamous
Saturday night fever dance move!  Tis is basic magic
psychology; whenever we can do something secretly, when
performing the same action openly we should make it look
more difficult to hide. By making the actions of openly
touching the spectator appear large it further creates the notion
that it would be impossible to sneak around secretly touching
people.

 After you have pretended to touch the spectator sitting in the

centre of the row you will off er er the following instructions,
again, in your own unique vocabulary and tone, after you have
moved to the left of the entire row.

“If you just felt me touch

touch you, you are player
player number
number two. I would
like you to think of a name; a name you you say every
every day. Maybe a
loved one, a family member, someone close to you.”

30 
It is important that, after you have labelled the spectators as
player number one, you instruct the spectators to ignore what
the other players are doing and focus their mind only on two
simple shapes.

It is also important that you do not 'linger' behind any of the

onstage spectators for longer than
than is needed. It is common that
 we can, even with our eyes close, sense when someone is
standing behind us.  Te longer you stand behind any of the
spectators during the pretend touching sequence the more
chance there is for one of them to become confused; they
might sense you standing behind them off ering ering instructions
and requests.
 Te solution is simple: as soon as you have executed the false
touches move away from that spectator and continue issuing
instructions and requests from a diff erent
erent position.

 At this point you will have appeared to have touched one
person on the shoulder and asked them to focus their mind on
two simple shapes and then moved onto the second onstage
spectator, who you appear to have touched on the back, and
instructed to think about the name of someone close to them.
In truth the second spectator is merely an imagined person. All
three spectators
spectators are thinking of two simple shapes. No-one is
thinking about the name of someone close to them.

 You
 You will now repeat the actions of the false touch. You will
approach the third spectator and pretend to touch them on the
shoulder.
should er. You will, of course, as you did with the second
spectator, simply pretend to the touch them but in reality make
31
no contact with them at all.  Te moment after the pretend
touch has been executed you will move to the left of the entire
row of onstage spectators and off er
er the following instructions:

“If you just felt me touch you,

you, you are player
player number three. I would
like you to focus your mind on a year. year. A year that holds some
 personal signi   � cance
cance to you. Maybe an anniversary, maybe a
 graduation year,
year, maybe the year you decided to stop counting how
old you really are…whatever you want.” 

I handle the scripting exactly as it is written above. My

motivation for this is simple but subtle. Many times, by
off ering
ering the instructions as they appear above, the onstage
spectators will smile at the somewhat humorous notion and
tone at the end of the scripting.  Tis is designed to raise a
smile;
smile ; not cause
caus e a laugh. We do not want the onstage
spectators laughing, however, if they smile something amazing
happens.  Te audience will only notice that the �nal spectator
smiles, this is simply due to the fact that this is the spectator we
are placing all of our attention and focus on. on. Regardless of
 whether or not the other spectators onstage smile, the audience
only see the �nal spectators smile.  Tis further cements the
notion we are talking directly to this person in the minds of the
audience.  Tis is a very subtle but hugely
hugely powerful deception. I
am constantly amazed
amaz ed by just how deceptive a smile can be.

 At this point the audience believe you have touched the �rst
spectator on the shoulder and asked them to focus their mind
on two simple shapes, you then touched the second spectator
on the back and asked them to think of the name of someone
close to them and then �nally touched the last spectator on the
back and ask them to focus their mind on a year that holds
32
some personal signi�cance to them. In truth you havehave touched
two spectators secretly
secretl y and one openly.
openly. You have then labelled
all the spectators as 'player number one' and forced each of
them to think about a circle
circle and a triangle. You have then
pretended to touch the spectator in the middle of the row and
instructed an invisible person labelled as player number two to
think of the name of someone close to them, you repeated this
to create another invisible/pretend person on the stage who is
apparently thinking about a year that is important
impor tant to them.

 At this point you will ask the onstage spectators to open their
eyes. You will then go through whatever theatrics
theatr ics you wish to
frame the mind reading as. You may decide you wish to present
 your mind reading skills as body language, contact mind
reading, the real thing; whatever best supports your style,
personality and vision.

 We
 We now �nd ourselves at the conclusion of the �rst phase of
the sequence; successfully revealing the thoughts of the three
onstage spectators. At this point we have the human tossed
deck we spoke about earlier. We will simply reveal the two
shapes and then reveal any information we wish to cover the
two pretend
pretend players in the game. Each spectator believes they
are player number one therefore believing that the other two
spectators onstage are players number two and three.

 We
 We will also incorporate a small but massively important
language trick in the way we reveal the information. Facing the
row of onstage spectators and shifting eye
e ye contact between each
of them you will say something like:

33
 “I have three thoughts. Interestingly tonight, the thoughts that are
usually the easiest were actually the
the most challenging;
challenging; the shapes. So
 player number one, if I get even one of your two shapes correct you
will count it as a success. However,
However, the name and the year came to
me nice and clear.” 

Read this once more. You have now created a situation

situat ion in
 which you only need to accurately reveal one of the two shapes
for the spectators to consider the information accurate.  Tis
sky rockets the eff ectiveness
ective ness of the force. Remember
Rememb er,, we
eliminated a heart, a star and a square during the language we
used to execute the force.  Te only remaining 'simple' shapes
are a circle
circ le and triangle.
tria ngle. However, by using this additional
additi onal
insurance we are covered even if the spectator wished to think
of a circle and a hexagon or a triangle and a pentagram. We
now have two chances to guess one of the shapes correctly
correctl y. I
assure you, use this language and the trick will never fail.
Before I changed the script to incorporate this concept I faced
the odd psychological force failure here and there. After
adding this moment into the script, I have never failed.
faile d. You
 will now announce all of the information at one time:

“ Te thoughts that came to me were, a circle and a triangle, the

name Tara and the date 1985.” 

Obviously you may substitute the name Tara and the date 1985
for whatever you wish, providing
providing it is logically set up during the
earlier phases.  Tere is nothing stop you having the second and
third players thinking of other pieces of information; remember
these spectators are strictly imagined therefore whatever you
decide they are thinking will be correct.

34 
 You
 You will
wi ll ha
have
ve the
th e spec
sp ecta
tato
tors
rs con
co n�rm the information
individually thanks to a wonderful notion from Wayne Dobson
 who published the idea of having each spectator sit down one
at a time in his version of the tossed deck. I think this is a
great concept as it further strengthens the idea that each person
is thinking of one distinct and separate thought. To do this
address the spectator furthest to the right of the row and say:

“If I successfully named your thought…sit down.” 

 Te spectator will sit down. Make some comment about being
right with one out of three.  Tis is only to provide a slight time
delay.
delay. Next, address the spectator
specta tor sitting in the centre of the
row and say:

“If I successfully named your thought…sit down.” 

 Te spectator will sit down, quickly address the �nal spectator.
Increasing the speed here creates a feeling of pace and builds
the reveal to more of
o f a punch, address
address the spectator:

“If I successfully named your thought…sit down.” 

 Again, the third spectator will sit.

si t. All three spectators have sat
back in their chairs indicating that you have accurately revealed
their thoughts. Accept your applause
applause graciously before moving
on to the second phase of the routine. Allow the �rst phase to
sink in before launching into the second phase of the routine.
 When you feel it is correct continue to the audience by

35 
 explaining that while tests of telepathy are all well and good,
 you are not interested in tests; you are interested in people.
people.

Position yourself to the right hand side of the seated onstage

spectators, from this position you will off er er all of your
instructions. You will instruct the onstage spectators to once
again close their eyes. Begin by instructing the onstage
spectators:

“Player number one, I would like you to think of a personal question

about your future. Te type of question you might ask a psychic or a
tarot card reader
reade r. Resist the temptation to ask a silly question;
questio n;
remembering that silly questions
questions will receive silly answers. Lock a
 personal question into
into your mind relating to
to your own future.” 

 Tanks to all of the work you put in at the very beginning of

the routine with secretly touching two spectators, openly
touching one spectator and labelling them all as 'player number
one' as well as during the �rst phase instructing the spectators
to remember their player number, you are now in the
astonishing position of talking to all three spectators at once;
they are all aware that they are player number one. However,
the audience believes that only one of them is.  Tis is
remarkable.  Te entire second phase requires nothing more
than your words and yet is as close to the real thing as anyone
 will ever see.

 Afte
 Af terr you have
hav e comple
com pleted
ted givin
gi vingg 'pl
'playe
ayerr number
num ber one'
one '
instructions you will move on by off ering
ering instructions to player
numbers two and three:

36
 “…Player
“…Player number two, I would like you to focus your mind on a
question about your present and player number three, please focus
 your mind on a question
question about your past.”
past.”

Remember
Rememb er,, there are no players two and three. At this point in
time we once again have the human tossed out deck situation I
have used as my example throughout. However, this is a more
complex situation since we have not used any kind of
psychological restriction, instead we have allowed people to
think of any question
questi on relating to their future. However, we will
take this complexity and cut it right to the bone with an answer
that each of the spectators will accept as being accurate, no
matter what question they focus on. But before we get ahead ahead
of ourselves there is much to be exploited in the current
situation; we can make the answers to players two and three
 very interesting indeed.

Revealing the information is the really fun part of the routine.

 You
 You get to play the part of the real mind reader and, trust me, it
really feels like you are. I begin my answers with
with player number
three who has seemingly been instructed to think of a question
relating to their personal past.

“Please, all three of you open your eyes. I have the answers you seek.
Player number three, when it comes to the past you have to be careful
not to allow it to in  � 
  � uence
uence the present and interfere with the future.
 At this point in your life there is nothing more you can do to mend
the situation. I believe that Joanne was not in possession of all the
information she needed to make the best decisions, however,
however, now it is
 your job to move
move forward.
for ward. Now is the time to to let this go…”

37 
 Tis answer is amazing to an audience. It appears we
we know the
the
detailed information about their life, including details as
speci�c as names. Next I answer spectator number two as
follows:

“…Player number two: the present, I feel you asked a question

literally about the present. Something here and now; something of a
challenge. I believe
believe you want meme toto tell
tell you
you the colour of your
underwear
underw ear.. Understand that I normally would not accept any
challenge, however, you seem fun; it is blue…”

 Tis language allows me to create an apparent challenge

situation. Houdini proved once and for all the power of
accepting and meeting a challenge.  Tis also, once again, gives
us credit for revealing deeply personal but factual information
and also breaks
breaks the heaviness
heaviness of the answer that preceded it. I
complete the answers with the third answer; remember this is
the answer that each spectator onstage believes is aimed
directly at them and them alone:

“…Player number
number one: the future. I believe
believe you
you already know the
answer to your question and I believe your own insight into this
situation will prove correct, however, it would be wise to adjust
 your timeline to
to allow a little more time for you to
to get there.” 

Read the answer

answer several times. You will see that it really
really says
nothing; essentially I say that I think they already know the
answer and they will be correct. Test the e ff ectiveness
ectiveness of this
answer by thinking of several questions about your own future.
 Ten read the answer and see if it works. It always
alway s will. We

38 
 will once again ease away any potential problems when we
come to having the spectators con�rm the information.

 Allow the answers to hold in the air for a moment.  Ten

address all three of the onstage spectators at once:
“If my answers made sense to you. If I answered
answered your question…
 please return to your seat in the theatre…” 

 All three spectators will stand and leave the stage con�rming
the accuracy of your telepathic impressions and your answers.
 Te key thing here is
i s beginning the scripting with the words:

“If my answers made sense to you.” 

 Tis, combined with the nature of the future answer, will create
a situation in which you will always have three spectators
leaving the stage. Of course, this answer makes sense no matter
the question.
questi on. You have successfull
succes sfullyy read the minds of three
randomly selected audience members and then successfully
performed a pure demonstration of the classic Questions and
 Answers premise, all with no props, nothing written down and
no preshow work.

Being a true mind reader, I can sense and understand your

thoughts
though ts at this moment as you read. You are thinking: wow,
wow,
this is great…but…what if it doesn't work? What is the out? I
assure you, at this point I have performed this routine for over
ten years and I have given you all the information that will
ensure you never fail. I have faced the trial and error and the
re�ning for you; you have the ready to work, magic bullet.
39
 Approach each performance with the utmost con�dence; in
 your mind visualise the success that will follow.
follow. I assure you,
 your fears are the only things to be fearful of. However,
However, with
that said I have developed a series of 'outs' for when the worst
does happen.
happen. I have
have only ever used these outs in the re�ning
process of the routine, the script I have presented you with here
has never, ever failed me. I have even performed
perfo rmed this exact
handling with someone translating my script into German,
Italian and Fr
French
ench and never
ne ver had any failure.

 Te out for the second phase is simple. Should one of the
the
spectators not accept the answer you give them for their
question simply say:

“Trust me, in a short amount of time you will understand my

answer. Tank you.” 

Usher the spectator off   the stage and lead in a round of

applause. If you
you handle this
this with con�dence and do not appear
phased or bothered by the situation the audience proper will
not register this as a failure of any kind.  Te outs for the �rst
phase are a little more complex. We will need to navigate the
complex realities we have created with the language we have
used. Let’
Let ’s examine all
al l the possible situations.

Imagine we �nd that after revealing the information and asking

the spectators to sit, none of the three sit.  Tis has never
happened to me. Not one single time, however, if this were to
happen I would say:
say :

40 
“Mind reading is hard…” 

I would smile and allow the audience to release any tension

 with this simple aside. I would then continue:

“I think I got a little ahead of myself.

myself. Let’s start
start over…” 
over…” 

 Addressing the three onstage

onstage spectators I would say:

“We will do this di 

  ff  erently. Please allow your
your mind
mind to go totally
blank. Remove all thethe previous thoughts you had in mind. Tis
time I would like each of you to think of something very simple; a
two digit number…” 
number…” 

I would then have each of the spectators write their thought of

number on a blank piece of card and using any number of
possible techniques I would peek and remember the
information
infor mation.. I would then reveal each of the numbers
number s quickly
quic kly,,
in the style of the tossed out deck. I would
would then repeat the
secret touching process and continue with the second phase,
 which is assured to work and bring the routine to a satisfying
�nish.

If only one of the three spectators were to sit down, again, this
has never happened to me, however, if this were to happen I
 would say:

“I have found the person

person I am able to connect with. It is you!” 

41
 I would then ask the other two spectators to leave the stage and
I would present another direct mind reading demonstration
 with the single onstage spectator.
spectator.  Te audience proper do not
know what my intention is; I could simply have been doing this
in order to �nd the person I need for what follows! Con �dence
and guilt free delivery of this script would be essential to its
success. I will repeat that
that in my ten years of performing this
routine, in its many less re�ned states to the one you now have
in your hands, I have never had either of these situations
happen to me.

Early in my re�ning I did face the last situation several times,

however, with the script outlined in this book I have never had
to use the out I developed for this situation. Let’
Let ’s imagine two
two
spectators sit down, leaving one spectator standing. It appears
as if you have successfully revealed the thoughts of two
spectators on stage.
stage. Addressing the standing spectator:

“Well
“Well I thought we might have
have a little problem.
problem. I think I know
what the problem is and I think I know how to solve it. Please take
a moment to let your mind go blank. We will try this di 
  ff  erently this
time. I want you
you to
to think of…” 
of…” 

 At this point I would ask them to think about whatever the
audience believed they were thinking about during the �rst
phase.  Tanks to the language above the onstage spectator will
not be confused; I have told them I will try something
diff erently
erentl y. In their mind this 'diff erence'
erence' is that previously they
 were thinking about two shapes and this time they have been
asked to think of either a year or the name of someone close to
them. It goes without saying that if the spectator was the one
the audience believe was thinking of a shape I would not have
42
them think of a shape again: this would alert the other two
spectators to something being amiss. In that situation I wouldwould
use the same scripting above but instead of asking them to
think of either a year or a date I would ask them to think of
their favourite song, movie or book. Once the spectator
con�rms they have something in mind I would off er er them a
card to write down that information. I would then acquire the
information using a peek or even a centre tear and reveal it in
the most dramatic way possible. After this I would have them
sit and I would continue with the second phase which is
assured to succeed. Armed with these outs you you have
have all the
the
information you will ever need. I assure you, while
understanding the outs is useful, if you follow the information
as I have shared it in this chapter
chapt er,, you will not need them. As a
�nal note to the 'what if' questions, this routine is not suited to
performance in small rooms. I personally only perform this
routine to more than �fty ft y people. You do not want people
exchanging their experiences after the demonstration with each
other; much like the tossed deck it is best to pick people from
diff erent
erent parts of the audience to assure they are likely to not
know one another and compare notes after the performance.

It is possible to use Touching On Telepathy   as the main

centrepiece within a performance of thirty minutes. To do this
as it is detailed in the 'audience experience' section at the very
start of this chapter, I use a series of classic psychological forces
 with the entire audience to bring three people to the stage. I
explain that I can form a connection with these three people;
since they correctly picked up on the simple thoughts I was
projecting to them.

43
For a large collection of psychological forces see 'Psychological
Subtleties Volume
Volume One' by Banachek. I then use these three
spectators for the routine as explained.
explained. After these spectators
have returned to the audience I have the entire audience focus
on personal questions which I then work with.

For this I make use of my own handling of George Anderson's

seminal 'Dynamite Mentalism.'  To
 To explain my personal handling
of this concept would actually do you a disservice. Much like
my feelings toward psychological forces, 'Dynamite Mentalism'
requires you to �nd your own voice, tone, vocabulary and style.
 You
 You will not use the same style as me. Instead I highly
recommend you study the George Anderson manuscript titled
'Dynamite Mentalism’, which is available as both a hard copy
booklet and an eBook, it will give you all of the information
 you could need. You can see a performance of this full
sequence on my DVD set ‘Jermay’s Mind’   available from
Vanishing Inc.

44 
 ABRACADABRA
I am often surprised that magicians and mentalists shy away
from the word Abracadabra. It carries within the community a
great sense of collective shame. It seems to produce the idea
that magic is in someway trivial bringing images of bad
birthday parties to minds of otherwise cool and interesting
performers. I do not feel the same way. Te word has a long and
interesting history all of its own that began long before clowns
and birthday parties.

 Te word, translated from the original

ori ginal Aramaic, means ‘I Create
Speak’; literally by saying out loud the thing you wish to see
 As I Speak’; literally
manifest in the world that very thing is manifest; let there be
light and there is light. What a remarkable and magical
concept. It also seems to me to perfectly describe the true
power and the biggest secret to mentalism.

In mentalism, more than any of the genres of magic, the words

 we use are the most powerful weapons in creating the
experience of a miracle. It also serves as a powerful piece of
inner game for me. I even wear a small pin that has the word
 written on it hidden beneath the lapel of my jacket. It is not
there for anyone else to see; only I know it is there.

However, it reminds me that the words I use are my greatest

resource. Both in practical terms in successfully concluding
demonstrations but also and arguably more importantly, inside
my own mind. If I can truly believe that ‘I Create As I Speak’
then I am acutely aware that the words inside my mind are
producing the reality that I experience.
experi ence.

45 
If I believe that I will stand onstage and produce astonishing
demonstrations of telepathy and divination with nothing but
my body and mind. Providing my internal belief and experience
are in line with this thought then that will indeed become
reality.

 Tere is no room for any other outcome in my mind and that

leaves no room for any other outcome in my reality. I am often
asked questions that begin with ‘what if ’ quickly followed by a
series of potentially disastrous occurrences that would ruin a
routine. In almost every case I have never had any of the
occurrences actually happen in performance. In most cases I
have not even imagined such things happening. I believe this is
 why I so often am described by other performers as ‘lucky’
‘lucky ’ with
strange things happening in performance. I do not believe
anything about this is lucky.

I believe this is the result of a series of deep, inner game

exercises that allow me to communicate the power of the
miraculous in such a manner that the atmosphere of the
impossible is alive and felt and in that atmosphere only
miracles are welcome. Tis is why I am so comfortable with the
types of processes and approaches in professional performance
that are often labelled as scary or bold by others. If you do not
feel the same, if you are not able to place yourself in that
position of internal power, these processes will seem mysterious
and frightening. Spend some time making your mind believe in
the truth of the deception and you will soon �nd yourself
comfortable and powerful with such things. Before you know know
it routines such as ‘Touching
‘Touching On Hoy’   and ‘Touching On
Divination’  will
 will be as commonplace and comfortable for you as
 your favourite pair of shoes.

46
 BROADCAST
 Te usefulness of professional grade performance material that
requires no specially prepared or gimmicked props can not be
overstated. For the professional performer who travels, such
material is veritable gold dust. Broadcast   requires only three
pieces of ordinary paper and an ordinary pen, items so
commonplace I believe they can be sourced pretty much
anywhere at any time with no eff ort
ort at all. Astonishingly I have
 yet to �nd myself in the uncomfortable position of arriving at a
far �ung destination without my luggage. I do, however, believe
that one day I will.  Tis fear is somewhat comforted with an
arsenal of "prop free" material that can be called to action
 whenever needed.

I de�ne Broadcast   to operate within the parameters of the

fashionable borders of "prop free"  mentalism.
 mentalism. I believe the papers
and pen are utilised in such a way that the audience will
perceive and experience the demonstration itself as focusing on
only the performer’s and the audiences’ minds. By this result,
the routine is indeed prop free. However, personally I believe
the real usefulness of prop free material is not in the simple
absence of visible props onstage but rather in the fact that such
material can be stored safely in memory for the dreaded day
that I arrive somewhere without my luggage.

It could be said that such routines "live in your head"  meaning

  meaning
once you have mastered them, at any time that seems right,
they are available to you.  Tis thinking has inspired me to
create many routines that "live in my head"   where they wait
ready for use at the right time. Broadcast  is
 is such a routine.
47 
 Once it is mastered it is always waiting and ready for you to call
upon it to assist in creating the experience of mystery for those
 you perform for,
for, under almost any conditions.

 As a teenager I �rst began exploring the use of psychological

forces, sequenced together, to create a demonstration of
thought projection. I was inspired by the master Bob Cassidy
 who used such a routine wonderfully in his seminal ‘act’ 
detailed in his towering contribution to the art " Te Art Of
 Mentalism Volume 1"   in which he seemed to project thoughts
into the minds of the audience as part of the opening phase of
his performance. I always liked this theme and the openness
and ease with which a sequence of this nature was achieved
but was never taken with the use of a series of psychological
forces that, in my opinion, are not speci �c enough to build to
an amazing outcome worthy of its own feature status in
performance.

Ordinarily such routines are used as introductions or

supporting aspects to a larger routine that will follow, I believe
this choice is often made in an eff ortort to mandate against the
lack of impact on the audience due to a lack of speci �city in the
information used to form the sequence of forces
themselves. With
themselves.  With that said I do not doubt that the process of
audiences receiving thoughts, even if those thoughts are the
commonplace statistical psychological forces, is one that is
highly engaging and fun for an audience to participate it. Better
 yet, such routines are easy for the performer and interesting
even to those who do not succeed in receiving the thoughts
projected. Tese factors made me search for a manner in which
I could retain all of these positive qualities but add something
extra to the demonstration to end on a really amazing
demonstration of very speci�c thought projection.

48 
Broadcast showcases a manner in which it is possible to perform
most of my previously shared performance pieces utilising
'Jermay's General Person Ploy'   technique, without the need to
touch audience
audi ence members openly or secretly.
secretly.

Indeed this simple approach can be adapted to allow you to

exploit the central mechanism of many of my routines,
including ‘Touching On Hoy’   and ‘Touching on Divination’ ,
 without having the audience members leave their seats.  Tis is
a very useful utilitarian technique to know, especially if you �nd
 yourself in a situation which makes it difficult and time
consuming for audience members to join you onstage.

 When performing Broadcast in formal settings such as theatres,

I use an A6 sized spiral bound pad, with some minor
preparations made to it and a special handling to add what I
believe is an additional layer of deception to a central method
at play.

However, I have performed this routine with nothing but a pen

and a borrowed stack of paper.
paper. My formal handling of the pad
 will be explained at the conclusion of the information that
follows as I view it as an advanced addition rather than a
foundational aspect of the routine.

Broadcast   is a fun, easy and compelling routine that can be

presented in a deeply theatrical manner in a formal theatre, or
stripped down and presented simply and plainly.
plainly.  Te real value
and beauty of routines like this lies in their versatility for the
professional performer
per former..

Even if your luggage doesn't arrive and the venue has a power
cut and you break an arm, you will still be able to present an
engaging and powerful routine. I believe this makes Broadcast
49
 not only another interesting expansion and exploration of my
original eff ect
ect Touching On Hoy but also a worthy addition to
 your memory;
memory ; worth the intellectual space if for no other
reason than the comfort it provides when you face the fear of
lost luggage.

50 
 BROADCAST
Tought Projection

 Jermay introduces the routine by brie� y discussing the nature

of sending and
and receiving thoughts. He then proposes a special
test with random audience members who will attempt to
receive Jermay’s unspoken thoughts. Jermay removes a small
pad of paper and a pen from his pocket. He writes the number
1 on the top sheet of paper and tears it from the pad, screwing
it into a ball throwing it to a spectator in the front row, who he
cautions not to open the paper but rather to hold onto it for the
next few moments.  Tis is repeated writing the numbers 2, 3
and 4.

 Jermay instructs the spectator to mix the papers and throw

them at random into the audience. Jermay continues
instructing those who catch the papers to throw them once
again. He then has each person who has caught a ball of paper
paper
stand at their seat. He continues explaining that this
experiment will be conducted as a "blind" test meaning no-one
else should know which player number anyone is, apart from
the player
player themselves. He cautions the spectators not to tell or
show anyone their number and then instructs them to open
their paper and read which player number they are. He
explains that once they know their number they should screw
the paper back into a ball and throw it to the stage as a signal
that they are ready to participate in the
t he experiment.

Once all the spectators have learnt their player number and
have thrown the paper balls back to the stage Jermay continues,
instructing the audience members to: “close their eyes and open

51
 their mind”, he then guides the audience members through a
quick hypnotic process as a way to connect his mind to theirs.
 When this is done he begins projecting his thoughts to each
spectator at their seat in the audience:

"Player 1: I will send to your mind a simple thought. A colour. Focus

now and receive this colour as I send it from my mind directly into
 yours…now!”

 Jermay dramatically snaps his �ngers and then continues:

“Player 2: I am sending a more complex thought to you. A number;

it has 3 digits. Receive the  � rst
rst digit now…”

 Jermay dramatically snaps his �ngers and continues:

“…and the next…”

 Jermay dramatically snaps his �ngers and then continues:

“…and now the last digit directly from my mind into yours…”

 Jermay dramatically snaps his �ngers and continues:

“Player 3: I am sending a thought to you now, a feeling, a sensation,

 pay attention to what you sense and feel at this very moment…
right now…remember what you feel…”

 Jermay dramatically snaps his �ngers and then continues:

“Player 4: I am sending a thought you. A speci 

  � c place on earth,
allow a country to come to your mind as you receive this thought
 from
 f rom my mind to
to yours.”

52
 Jermay dramatically snaps his �ngers and continues:

“Now, the moment of truth…please open your eyes. All that

remains is for us to discover if you were able to receive the thoughts
and ideas I was projecting to each of you…

Player 1…I was sending a simple thought to you; a colour. Te

colour blue but I did also, for a moment, think
think about red. I apologise
 for not thinking clearly. I made your life harder.
harder. So, player one,
whatever you received; let’s say you were successful in receiving my
thought.

Player 2…I was much more precise

precise in my thinking with you. I was
careful to only focus my mind clearly and powerfully to ensure there
would bebe no room for ambiguity.
ambiguity. I was sending the
the number
number 128.
128. I
sent it precisely and with great focus. 128. If you received 128 you
succeeded. Nothing but
but 128 can be considered successful!

Player 3…I focused on a sensation and feeling. It was the sensation

of rain falling on my face. If for a moment you felt the sensation of
rain on your skin you succeeded.

Player 4…I focused on a country; it was India. I sent the image of

the Taj Mahal into your mind. If you saw that image or thought
about India you succeeded.

 If you successfully received my thoughts; if you were successful, please,

sit down now!”

 Amazingly all four spectators sit down, con�rming they

received Jermay's mental broadcasts.

53
 BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Tools and Utilitarian Techniques

I am certain that you will already be well ahead of me in

understanding the method for this routine. It is a natural
outgrowth from what has already been explicitly explained in
this manuscript.
manusc ript. In short,
short , just as in 
in  ‘Touching On Hoy’ and
Divination’,   we will create a hidden reality in
‘Touching On Divination’,
 which all players are actually player number one. Just as in
‘Touching On Hoy’, if we are able to control what Player number
one thinks, we can create the illusion of knowing what the
remaining players apparently think in the minds of the
audience
audie nce proper.

 Tis routine showcases a diff erenterent manner in which we can

create 
create  'Jermay's General Person Ploy' in real time.  Tere is no
need for us to use any secret touches or indeed to have the
audience members leave their seats.  Tis is made child’s play
simply by fake writing on the pad. When the performer seems
to be writing the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 on pages which the
tears from the pad and throws into the audience, in truth he is
not doing this. Instead,
Instead , before the performance
perfo rmance begins, on the
second, third and fourth pages of the pad you have already
 written the number 1 on each page. In performance you will
open the pad and display casually the uppermost blank page.
On this you will write the number 1. Tear this page from the
pad and screw it into
i nto a ball, being careful not to expose the next
page in the pad which has the number 1 already written on it.
 You
 You will now pretend to write the number 2 but in truth not
 write anything at all. To do this bring the tip of the pen close
to the page but do notnot allow it to touch. Instead, extend the tip
of your �rst �nger, of the hand holding the pen, to contact the

54 
surface
surf ace of paper. Now,
Now, trace the outline
outli ne of the number 2
allowing the �nger to scrape along the surface of the paper
making a sound as if the tip of the pen were contacting the
paper. Tear this page from the pad, again being careful
caref ul not to
expose either what you have written on it or the page beneath
and repeat this process twice more to apparently write the
numbers 3 and 4 on screwed up balls of paper.

 Tis is a very bold approach but one that is time tested.

Providing you present this with no sense of magicians’ guilt or
fear it will be accepted by the audience. I must
must confess that
 while I have used this approach many times in performance I
do think it can be made better providing you use your own pad
in performance. For my preferred handling with my own
prepared pad see the additions section of this chapter.

Once the papers are screwed into balls have them thrown into
the audience to select four audience members randomly.
randomly. Once
this has been completed have those randomly selected audience
members stand and open their papers to learn which player
number they are. Just before they do this caution them:

“We
“We are going to create a blind test
test situation. One in which I do not
know who is which player.
player. So, I want you to open your papers and
be careful not to let me or anyone else see which number you are.
Keep this private and secret. We won’t
won’t look; in fact, we will all look
away while you open your papers. Once you know your your player
number screw the paper back into a ball and throw it to the stage so
 I know we are ready to begin…”

 Tis is a very direct instruction to not only the spectators but to

those around them! I havehave found that this particular approach
 works very well. It has enough justi�cation built in that the
audience do not �nd it odd or suspicious. It may readread bold but
55 
give it one try and you will be more than happy with the result.
Once all the papers have been thrown back to the stage you are
ready to begin with your apparent thought projection process.

Personally I have the four audience members each close their

eyes and then engage in a simple visualisation process that has a
slightly hypnotic feel to it, in which I claim they are connecting
 with my mind, before I move on to the formal thought
projection. I will leave this to your own presentational
preferences as my motivation in this manuscript is not to share
my own scripts but rather to share utilitarian methods and
techniques you can
c an make your own.

 You
 You are now able to begin the thought projection process
process in any
manner you prefer. In the eff ectect description I used a failsafe
technique that I apply to 'Jermay's General Person Ploy' eff ects
ects
 when the theme is that of a spectator receiving or reading
another persons mind. I will return
return to this shortly.
shortly. I decided to
include this approach in the eff ect
ect description as this technique
is utilitarian in nature and can applied to any demonstration
 when I can take the blame for the apparent reason of confusion.
However, you could use exactly the same method of forcing
detailed in ‘Touching On Hoy’, apparently sending the thought
of two simple shapes into the mind of the audience member
and later exploit the same concept of doubling your chances of
success as in ‘Touching On Hoy’.  You
 You could indeed use any of
the standard psychological forces you
you are comfortable
comfortable with. All
options are available to you within any single presentation
using 'Jermay's General Person Ploy'   and since I do not
recommend using more than one routine exploiting the
method in one performance you have many di ff erent
erent options to
pick from.

56
 Since my aim in this manuscript was to showcase diff erent erent
techniques I have chosen to use a fail-safe method in Broadcast 
to use the routine as a vehicle to introduce not only the manner
in which I have labelled audience members without the need
for secret touching but also present another manner to control
 what all Player number one’s
one’s think.

I have Player number one prepare to receive the thought of a

colour from
from my mind to theirs. I then present a visual of
concentration and snap my �ngers claiming I have sent the
thought from my mind to theirs. I then continue
continue with sending
sending
thoughts to each of the other players; these, of course, can be
anything  you wish.  Tey can be as speci�c or vague as you
 wish.  Tese pieces of information are never going to actually be
anything other than what we say they are since there are no
players 2, 3 or 4. Once this is complete
complete I begin to explain the
thoughts I was sending:

“Player 1…I was sending a simple thought to you; a colour. Te

colour blue but I did also for a moment think about red. I apologise
 for not thinking clearly. I made your life harder. So, Player
Player number
one, whatever you received; let’s say you were successful in receiving
my thought.”

Read this a few times. Basically we have taken the blame for
any potential failure of any of the four spectators engaged in
the process as Player number one. We have also told each each of
these people that regardless of what they received they should
count it as a success.  Tis builds on the manner in which I
double my chances of success with the triangle and circle force
detailed in ‘Touching On Hoy’  but
  but transforms it to a totally fail-
safe method. All that remains now is to explain what the the other
apparent thoughts you projected were and �nally instruct the
spectators:
57 
 “If you successfully received my thoughts; if you were successful,
 please, sit down now!”

 All four spectators will sit down indicating

indicati ng they have amazingly
received the thoughts you have sent to them.

 When I perform this routine in stand up settings I use a

prepared pad. It is an A6 sized pad bound at the
the top with a
spiral of wire.  Tese are commonly available in stationary
stores across the world.

Begin by ensuring the pad you are using looks identical on both
the front and the back. You may well �nd such a pad available
commercially but more often than not I buy two pads and
carefully remove the back cover from one and replace it with
the front cover from the other.

 We
 We will now use
u se both sides of the pad in
i n performance
per formance without
the audience being aware of this. We will call one side of the
pad A and the other side B in the following explanation.

Page 1 on side A is left blank. Page 2 on side A has, pre-

 written, a number 1. Page 3 of side A is blank and trimmed
short on its lower edge by around half a centimetre. Page 4 of
side A is torn almost all the way out of binding and has a pre-
 written 1 on it.

Page 1 on side B is blank but trimmed short, page 2 on side B

is almost entirely torn from binding and has a pre-written 1.

Once this preparation has been completed you are ready to

follow the instructions
instr uctions below with pad in hand.

58 
 Tis all reads as far more complex than it actually is with
objects in hand, so I suggest taking the time to prepare the pad
before reading the handling below.

Begin with the pad open to side A and openly write the
number 1, casually allowing the audience to see this happening,
now tear off  and
  and screw the page into ball, being careful not to
expose the pre-written 1 on the page now on top of the pad.
 Tis is exactly as you might do with a deck of cards; simply
necktie the pad to keep the pre-written number 1 hidden.

Next, fake write 2 on the top page of the pad as detailed in the
formal explanation earlier, tear off  and
 and screw into a ball. As you
do this casually �ash the top page of the pad which is blank.
Now openly write the number 3 on it, necktie the pad and
remove the page beneath this; this is easy thanks to the secretly
trimmed page
page and the pre-torn page beneath it. Screw this
page into a ball.

 As this happens lower the pad to your side allowing the cover
to close and turn the pad over in your hand; this is much like
‘rolling the deck’ in traditional card magic.

Providing you execute this smoothly and con�dently the larger

action of throwing the screwed up paper ball will cover any
smaller movement of turning the pad over in the lowered hand
at your side.

Now, open the pad, now on side B and �ash the blank page,
 write, casually allow the audience to see you writing the
number 4 on it and repeat the action of removing the page
from beneath using the secretly trimmed section of the page as
explained earlier.
earlier. Screw this paper into a ball and close the pad
 without exposing the top page. I am aware that this reads as
59
 something very challenging and complex, however, I am
con�dent that after a single attempt with the prepared pad in
hands it will make perfect sense. I believe this sequence to be
 very deceptive and well worth mastering and including when
 you are performing ‘Broadcast’ formally with your own props.

A BESPOKE SUIT
Many tailors say that when commissioning a bespoke suit there
are more than 300 measurements and choices to be considered
before the �nal cut is established. When all of these choices are
in harmony with the client’s body and personal style
preferences the result is a suit that �ts the client so well it feels
like an extension of their body and personality.
personality. While this
might be interesting what does this have to with 'Jermay's
General Person Ploy' ?

I believe that it is very easy for you to generate your own

bespoke eff ects
ects utilising 'Jermay's General Person Ploy'  with far
less to consider than a skilled tailor cutting a suit. Rather than
 viewing the demonstrations in these notes as stand alone e ff ects
ects
I hope you can begin to see them as a connected body of work
 with utilitarian methodology.
methodology.  Te speci�c outcomes and
resulting eff ects
ects really are just a matter of the clothing being
 worn on the body of this utilitarian method. No matter how I
dress it up, underneath it is still all ‘'Jermay's General Person
Ploy'.’

In these notes I have presented you with eff ects ects that produce
the illusion of telepathy, fortune telling and thought projection.
60 
In my other published work I have presented e ff ectsects that
produce the illusion of hypnosis, cartomancy, divination,
psychometr
psychome tryy, PK touches and more. All of these premises are
simply new ways to dress 'Jermay's General Person Ploy' to
produce new and surprising performance pieces for modern
audiences.

 When creating your own bespoke eff ects

ects there really are only a
few things to consider:

Secretly Grouping & Forcing:

 Te �rst is how you will secretly ‘label’  the

  the participants as one
group among what the audience believe is a group of
individuals.  Tis is possible in a variety of ways, some shared in
these notes are bold; secretly applying touches to people
combined with psychological forces. Other options are more
traditional; fake writing numbers on the pages of a pad and
telling people directly what to think. When grouping
individuals we can work either in two steps; �rstly grouping
them and then later controlling their choices with a force, as
demonstrated in ‘Touching On Hoy’ or we can combine secretly
grouping with forcing to achieve both objectives at one time.
 An example of this type of approach can c an be seen in my release
‘Cartomancy’ in which one phase has the performer force the
same playing card on three diff erent
erent spectators.  Te audience
believe each person has picked a diff erent
erent card from the deck.
In this manner I have now created a connected group at the
same time as forcing the information. Diff erent erent premises and
eff ects
ects will better suit one
one or the other of these approaches. I
do not believe either to be superior to the other but rather
 judge them equally as tools to be selected for the proper job at
the proper time.

61
Te Premise & Outcome:

Once you have established a deceptive method to group the

individual participants as one and constructed a method to
ensure that all participants within the secret group are thinking
of the same thing all that remains is to work out what you will
do with that situation!  Tis might seem easy but in truth this is
the hardest part of constructing material using ‘'Jermay's General
Person Ploy'.’

Much like the tailor cutting a perfect �t, the real challenge is
not in �nding the mechanical solutions to the problems, the
real challenges hide in the tricky subject of aesthetic and
feeling. Some methods lend themselves naturally to certain
themes and premises. As an example let’ let ’s pick back up with
our three spectators who have all been forced to hold the same
card while the audience believes they have each selected a
diff erent
erent card. A naturalnatura l �t for this situation might be to
produce a resulting eff ect ect of divination and fortune telling
using cards. If the performer were to off er er the same
information presented in ‘Touching On Divination’   but
apparently based on the meanings of the cards themselves, he
 woul
 wo uldd succ
su cces
essf
sful
ulll y br
brin
ingg ab
abou
outt a deva
de vast
stat
atin
ingl
glyy dire
di rect
ct
demonstration in which the cards themselves seemed to answer
thought of questions.  Tis is where your unique vision of
mystery will come to life in your creations.

I like to think that constructing material using 'Jermay's

General Person Ploy' is �fty percent craft and mechanical
understanding and �fty percent personality and artistic
expression.

Once you begin to see the material I have shared, not as stand
alone demonstrations but a body of work which continues to
62
 dress a utilitarian method in new clothing, you will be creating
 your own uses
u ses for 'Jermay's General Person
Person Ploy' in no time at
all.

63
 ALL ARE ONE
 Te �nal secret contained in these notes is not a fully formed
routine but rather a utilitarian
u tilitarian technique
tec hnique that, I hope, will spark
something creative in the reader. 'Jermay's General Person Ploy' is
a technique that allows the creative performer to produce
remarkably powerful eff ects ects with very little e ff ort ort in
performance. Each of the routines routines I have shared,
shared, not only in
these notes but also across my published work to date, focuses
on applying the concept to a small number of participants
 working directly with the performer. However,However, the technique is
not restricted to working with small numbersnumbers of spectators.
spectators. In
fact, it is possible to use the technique with an entire audience.
au dience.

Magical literature is resplendent with interactive material that

is designed to work
work with an entire audience at one time. Many
of these creations are mathematical in nature and have the
 whole audience participate in some process of selection and
apparent randomisation to select one thing from amongst a set
group.
group. At the conclusion, the performer
performer reveals that he has
predicted whatever the �nal selection each person in the room
has made.  Te audience are startled and surprised to �nd that
everyone has apparently freely chosen the same thing.

Personally
Personally these
these types of demonstrations do little for me. I
believe that, in revealing that everyone in the room has come to
the same ending point, the mathematical and formulaic nature
of the demonstration is instantly apparent.  Tat is not to say
that these contributions to the art are not fun and engaging for
an audience to take part in. I just prefer
prefer to look a little deeper
into what might be possible with them.

64 
By now you will have probably realised a connection between
these types of mathematical demonstrations and 'Jermay's
General Person Ploy'. Simply put; these demonstrations open up
a remarkably efficient opportunity for us to exploit the
possibilities of 'Jermay's General Person Ploy'  with larger groups
of people.

Imagine an entire audience being engaged in a process of

selection which secretly forces them all to one known outcome.
 Te audience believe everyone in the audience has a di ff erent
erent
�nal choice, from those available, in mind when in truth they
are all thinking of the same thing. In this moment you can
now have the entire room label themselves based on the their
decision. Of course they are all now ‘Player number one’  and
 and we
can use this in interesting, unexpected ways.

I have many unpublished exploitations of using 'Jermay's

General Person Ploy' on an entire audience at one time.
However, for the moment, these will remain with me. I will,
however, share one of the presentational approaches I have
enjoyed for a mathematical forcing process that opens the door
to labelling every audience member as ‘Player number one’  in
 in an
engaging fashion that is congruent within the framework of a
mentalism performance.

 Te example I give is my personal dressing for a sequence I �rst

learned from Jim Steinmeyer in his wonderful ‘Impossipuzzle’
series. It now looks and feels very diff erent
erent from Jim’s sequence
but the mathematical mechanism that produces the forced
outcome remains the same. All I have done is give it a new
dressing and a cool new name.

65 
 SUPREMO CABARET PERSONALITY TEST
Great title right? I miss the days of mentalism releases
releases being
titled supremo or ultimate   and personally I mourn deeply the
disappearance of the confusing trend to add the letter ‘O’ to the
end of words.
words. As we live
live through the
the obsession with one word
titles for products and performances �lmed in underground car
parks I �nd myself craving an additional ‘O’ on the end of a
superlative. I hope
hope my decision here
here may have quenched the the
thirst for some of my like-minded readers.

I decided to call this particular routine the ‘Supremo Cabaret

Personality Test’   not just because I am an old man su ff ering
ering
from bouts of whimsy and rose tinted glasses but rather since it
cannot be performed in an underground car park. Maybe that
 wasn't as clear as I hoped. I will try again. You can not, not
perform this routine in an underground car park. I am not sure sure
that has made anything clearer.
clearer. One last time; this routine is
designed to be performed in a formal settings and not in a car
park. However, it could well be performed in a car park with
the addition of visual aids in place of a video screen.
screen. As I type
this I now realise my title isn't really doing the routine full
 justice.

SUPREMO CABARET & UNDERGROUND

UNDERGROUND CAR
PARK PERSONALITY TEST
Better? I think so. Now that has been cleared up we we can
continue.  Tis technique is very easy to perform and I believe
is well suited to a cabaret setting. It can be customised as you
you
66
see �t. I personally think it makes an excellent addition to a
show if it plays as a connecting line throughout the longer
program. I will leave the performance choices to the reader and
present the technique as simply as possible.

On a large video screen the performer displays � ve diff erent

erent
images.  Tese images appear to be mysterious and ancient
occult symbols. Play along with the text that follows imagining
 yourself in the audience.

“ Tese symbols have been used for hundreds of years to reveal

interesting things about people. Tey come from a tradition of
 fortune telling and divination. Now, I do not claim they hold any
mystical power themselves but they do o  ff  
  ff  er an ancient personality
test that is remarkable accurate
accurate.. Let’s all play together and discover
what the ancient occultists know about us…”

“Begin by starting on the far left end of the line of symbols. In a

moment I will ask you to move  � veve times. You can move right or
left, one symbol at a time. You can go back the way you just
just came or
move in a progressive line; whatever feels right to your intuition…
make  � ve
ve moves now! One, two, three, four and  � ve. ve. Now you
should have ended upup on a random
random symbol.
symbol. A symbol that has come
to you
you based only on your
your own intuition. Your choices were guided
by your intuition…if you are now on the triangle with the circle
inside you are what the ancient occultists called an ‘intuitive’ you are
 people person, maybe not in the obvious way but you have a real
ability to understand others and you will be happiest when working
67 
with people on a deep and connected level; there is no point in small
talk with you!

 If you ended up on the cross

cro ss with the circle
cir cle above all the way on the
left of the line you are the what they called the ‘Vessel’, someone who
needs new information and experiences to live a fully engaged life,
 you will be happiest seeking out new experiences. You would be at
 your happiest working in an industry that brings you into contact
with new people and challenges as often as possible.

 If you landed on either of these symbols you can stop playing the
 game. Remember your symbol for later.
later.

 Everyone else…those still in the game, let’

let ’s continue and  � nd
nd your
symbol. Starting again f rom wherever you were I want you to
move to move one time. Trust your intuition in making this
choice…move once now!

 If, right now, you are on the crossed arrows you are what the
ancients called the ‘V
‘ Voice’ you need to share your ideas with the world
w orld
and help others by connecting them with on an intellectual level…
 you can stop playing having found your symbol. Remember it for
later but for now you are out of the game.

 Everyone else let’s continue…again start f rom wherever you were

and move one  � nal
nal time! Move one  � nal nal time now trusting your
intuition…if you are on the symbol that looks like a cruci    � x on a
triangle with two dots on either side you are what the ancients
called the ‘W
‘ Warrior’,
arrior ’, you are someone to have on side, when the going
 gets tough you respond to a cause,  � 
  � nd
nd something you believe in and
 you will move heaven and earth to to bring it to the world. Remember
 your symbol for later
later..

68 
Finally, if you are on the spiral symbol you are what they called the
‘Creator’, the type of person who needs to make an impact on the
world that will outlive them; you need to leave something behind to
mark your time here. Tis is your symbol and you can stop playing
the game now. Remember your symbol.

We will use you personal symbols this evening in our tests of

telepathy,
telepathy, intuition and prediction.

So, I wonder how accurate each of those personality traits are to each
of you? It is an
an interesting game and one that
that naturally
naturally intuitive
intuitive
 people can use to learn a lot about a person. However,
However, right now, I
want to continue working with some of you chosen at random to see
how much we can learn about each other without speaking a word.”

 Te performer has various audience members chosen at

random. He instructs them:

“If you are the Warrior, I want you to think about something you
want to change in the world.
worl d. If you are the Voice, I want you toto
think about something you want to tell the world about; something
 you are passionate and energised about f rom your own life. If you
are the Vessel I want you to think about some exiting new thing you
want to experience in your
your future. If you are a Creator I want you
to imagine a simple image. Begin by by seeing two simple shapes in
 your mind. When I say simple I mean something like a square;
nothing complex and then put those two shapes together in some
way. Finally if you are the Intuitive
Intuitive I want you to think
think about
someone you feel connected with from your personal life.”

I am con�dent that if you played along with this game you are
currently thinking about two shapes and they are probably a
circle and a triangle. As will everyone else in the room. A
simple process given a diff erent
erent tone, style and meaning has
69
 allowed us to elegantly label every single person in the room
 within one group. We now have a version of ‘Touching On Hoy’ 
that can be worked with an entire audience. I suspect you
already have ideas for how you might put this to work in your
own performances.

If you do not, I suggest starting to consider how this might

open up the routine detailed earlier in this manuscript in which
the performer seemingly answered thought of questions of
three onstage audience members.

70 
 FINAL WORD
Now we reach the end of this instalment of my ongoing
documentation of what I have come to call 'Jermay's General
Person
Person Ploy'. I hope that in this collection you see and feel why
I think of these routines not as a series of isolated, unrelated
eff ects
ects and demonstrations but rather as a utilitarian approach
that has resulted in a series of interconnected routines that
form a collection of explorations on a single theme.  Te
possibilities that exist for your own performances
perfor mances are limitless.

For example, you might like to present Touching On Hoy not

as a mind reading demonstration but instead as a display of
prediction. All that need change to bring about such a desire
desire is
 your presentation and script. Instead of revealing the
information verbally in a cloak of telepathy you could reveal the
information to have been recorded prior to the performance; in
bold thick ink on a large banner which was locked in a box
from the outset. A simple change to premise and presentation
unlocks almost any demonstration you desire.  Tis is the mark
of the utilitarian approach and one that I know will yield hearty
rewards for you in your own performances.

My love aff air
air with this deceptive principle began when I was
15 years old. Now,
Now, 18 years later, I am no less enamoured
enamoure d with
the potential that exists
exists within it. Time and time again I see a
new way to apply this concept to create something new from
something old. I suspect this will be the same for you. Enjoy
exploring!

Luke Jermay 

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