PSYCHOLOGICA

By

Benjamin Earl
 ...... '
/
I I \ '-

Expectation creates existence

Dedicated to my wife, Kathryn
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Psychologica, Copyright© 2016 by Benjamin Earl

Photography and design by the author
Edited by Justin Higham and Mike Vance
First edition January 2016
 CONTENTS

viii Preface

Background Theory
Expectation and Imagination
Memory Distortion
Embodied Cognition

8 Psychologica
Selection Procedure
Finessed Slop Shuffle
Overhand Mess Shuffle
Hallucination Shuffle
False Frame Script

19 End Notes
VIII

PREFACE
In Subtle Problems You Will Do ( 193 7) by John Braun and Stewart Judah, Sid
Lorraine contributed an effect with an ordinary deck of cards called 'The S. L.
Reversed Card'; the cards were mixed face up and face down before they all
magically turned the same way, with the exception of a spectator's selected card.
This plot is popularly referred to as 'Triumph' and is understandably associated
with Dai Vernon; however, Mr. Lorraine undoubtedly created the modern
handling of this plot and deserves far wider acknowledgement. I have developed
Mr. Lorraine's original effect - including his brilliant yet much-maligned
technique, the Slop Shuffle - into completely new deceptive territory.

Over the years I have experimented with virtually every handling of 'Triumph'
you can imagine (including many unpublished routines), but none of them
really delivered in the way I wanted them to; I had to invent something new.
I wanted the spectator to see the mixture of face-up and face-down cards in
their own hands, then close the deck, and when they respread, the cards are all
the same way except the card of which they are thinking! I also wanted this
to be performed under any conditions, not require the use of a table and to be
performed with an ordinary deck! This may sound like a pipe dream, but after
many years of experimentation, risk, failure, creativity and refinement I can
confidently state that Psychologica delivers all of this and more.

Psychologica subtly bombards a spectator with deceptive visual and

psychological techniques in order to reliably manipulate their experience.
This 'manipulated experience' is the space where Psychologica exists; it can
be argued that it doesn't exist in the objective movements of the cards or the
words of the performer, it exists in the subjective understanding and memory
recall of the spectator. Therefore, Psychologica is the point where technical and
cognitive methodologies converge within the mind of the spectator; it's about
them and their internal experience ... not you and your objective actions.

I have included some academic research references in the Background Theory

chapter of this publication. However, this is not an academic paper holding itself
up to the lofty heights that constitute scientific study; it is a subjective, artistic
expression of the many ideas and concepts which I believe inform Psychologica.
The academic references have been included solely for interest and in order to
aid the reader's understanding of my approach.

Benjamin Earl, January 2016.

 BACKGROUND THEORY

Expectation and Imaeination

In the 18th century Franz Anton Mesmer claimed to have grasped the beating heart
of the universe with his 'animal magnetism' (later to be known as mesmerism
and hypnosis). Although Mesmer had tremendous success at healing the sick,
his claims served as a distracting veneer to what was truly remarkable about his
methods: the power of expectation and imagination to influence experience.

Over the past few decades a large body of research has made some interesting
discoveries regarding expectation and imagination; expectation and imagination
are not exactly the same concepts, but they are closely related and reflect the
mind's constructivist nature toward understanding and experiencing reality.
The research is comprehensive and often counter-intuitive, such as: tricking
athletes into better sporting performance, 1 thinking yourself thinner2 or
stronger, 3 improving eyesight,4 improving the taste of wine 5 and even curing
illness through imaginary surgery! 6 Probably one of the most remarkable areas
of research I have come across regarding the imagination concerns the fact that
eating cubes of imaginary cheese or imaginary M&Ms can affect how full you
feel!7

This is just the beginning; for example, it is even possible for the placebo response
to expectation to become a conditioned response within the immune/nervous
system of rats! 8 Does this have implications for the response to expectation
in humans? Human mirror neuron research shows that mirror neurons fire up
simply by viewing the same behaviour, thinking about the behaviour or doing
it ourselves. 9

I E. S. Chambers, M. W. Bridge, D. A. Jones, 'Carbohydrate Sensing in the Human Mouth Effects on Exercise Performance and Brain Activity',
The .!011mal ofl'hysmlogy 587, (2009), pp. 1779-1794
2 Alia Crum. Ellen Langer, 'Mind-set Matters: Exercise and the Placebo Effect'. P.'iychologi<.:al Sden,·e 18:2, (2007), pp. 165-171
3 Vinoth K. Ranganathan. 'From Mental Power to Muscle Power: Gaining Strength by Using the Mind', Ne11rop.\y1..:hologia 42, (2004), pp
944-956 See also Vlodek Siemionow et al., 'Relationship Between Motor Activity-Related Cortical Potential and Voluntary Muscle Activation'.
Experimental Brain Re.\·earch 133, (2000), pp. 303-311
4 Ellen Langer et al, 'Believing Is Seeing Using Mindfulness (Mindfully) to Improve Visual Acuity', /'syc:holog1'·al Science 21 S, (2010), pp
661--t.66
S Frederic Brochet, 'Chemical Object Representation in the Field of Consciousness', Working Paper, General Oenology Laboratory, Bordeaux
School of Oenology, France, (2001)
6 Margaret Talbot, 'The Placebo Prescription', New York lime.,· Ma>Jazine, (January 2000)
7 Carey Morewedge, Young Eun-Huh, Joachim Vosgerau, 'Thought for Food: Imagined Consumption Reduces Actual Consumption', Sl'lem:e
330 6010, (December 2010), pp 1530-1533
8 Roben Ader, Nicholas Cohen, 'Behaviorally Conditioned lmmunosuppression', /'...yt.:ho.mma/K Meduwe 37 4, (1975), pp 333-340
9 Roy Mukamel et al_, 'Single-Neuron Responses in Humans During Execution and Observation of Actions'. Current Biology 20·8, (April 2010),
pp 750-756
2

Again what is the relationship between brain activity, psychological and

physiological response to expectation and imagination? Exactly how do these
factors impact experience in the world? The interaction of physiological and
psychological states/responses to expectation and imagination are fascinating
and we are only just beginning to see the correlations, causes and possibilities for
how they can impact experience. For those of you interested in further research,
source the cited articles, or for a very good and comprehensive collection of this
research read Mind Over Mind by Chris Berdick. 10

One thing is for certain: due to our physiological/psychological response to

expectation and the brain's difficulty in distinguishing between real and imagined
events, it can be definitively stated that expectation and imagination impact our
perceptions and experiences of reality. This is profoundly interesting to me and
continually informs my approach to conjuring methodology.

I 0 Mmd Over Mind: The Surpri...mg Power of Expec;ta11011s, Current, (2012)

 3

Memory Distortion

Memory is not simply an objective recording of experience; it's a partial,

edited and re-edited digestion of information over time, therefore it's prone to
continuous error in its attempt to reconstruct events. General working memory
operates by understanding the rough idea. Specifics are not its strong point;
when we remember events we fill in gaps by what we already know about the
world or what is an easy fit. Without wanting to launch into an essay about
models of memory and the very complex research behind the encoding, storage
and retrieval of memories, instead I will detail some extremely basic concepts
that will help you understand how false or distorted memories might be created.
By considering the extremely basic information listed below it is not difficult
to see how intentionally targeting or considering one or more of these concepts
might result in partial or full memory distortion:

Schemas: a mental model of objects, events and information that includes

knowledge, beliefs and expectations. Schemas are pre-existing frames 11 of
reference that we bring with us to any situation or environment. Faults in
schemas or differences between schemas and reality can affect memory.

Source Amnesia: not remembering the source of information is very

common as it often doesn't seem as important at the time or it's not as
distinctive as the information itself. Therefore, distorting or altering the
source can be a relatively simple process.

The Misinformation Effect: people's recollections of events are distorted

by information given to them after the event occurred. This effect can be
responsible for altering existing memories or constructing false ones.

Hindsight Bias: the tendency to interpret the past in a way that fits the
present. Many magic effects use this principle as part of the methodology,
including the classic card trick which relies on a spectator mistaking two
pseudo mates as the two original selections.

The Overconfidence Effect: the tendency people have to overestimate their

ability to recall events correctly. Most people are completely unaware of
how inaccurate their recollections can be and would be shocked to learn
how easily distortion can occur.
l l If you are interested in the idea of 'frames of reference' and how that relates to expectations and decision making, then I would suggest looking
into the work of Gary Klein and his work with Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) and Recognition Prime Decision Making (RPO)
4

Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has been a pioneer in the area of false/distorted

memories and her contributions to this area of research have had far-reaching
consequences, such as her influential work on the misinformation effect which
showed that memory reconstruction can affect eyewitness testimony 12 (although
this has been criticised by a study in 1986). 13

Loftus also conducted a famous experiment in 1995 in which she was able to
convince 25% of the experimental group that they were once lost in a shopping
centre as a child, even though this was completely false. 14 The work of Loftus et
al shows the impact that suggestion can have on memory

Combining imagination and memory distortion, Goff and Roediger ( 1998) 15

demonstrated how easily imagined events can be stored in the memory as real
events; participants of their study were asked to either imagine performing
an action or really do it (in this case breaking a toothpick). This process was
repeated at a later date. Then, later still, participants were asked whether they
had performed the actions or just imagined them; those who imagined the
actions more frequently the second time were more likely to think they had
really performed the actions the first time.

There is so much more that could be said on this subject regarding encoding,
storage, retrieval and the roles of emotion, expectation and suggestion ... but it's
not really relevant at this point. I just want you to grasp the basic concepts at
work. All that I want you to think about right now is that by exploiting some
very simple principles it is possible to distort a spectator's memory with relative
ease, including the notion that an imagined action really can be 'remembered' as
something that actually happened.

12 E. F Loftus & J C_ Palmer, 'Reconstruction of automobile destruction An example of the interaction between language and memory' ,Journal
of Verhal Leammg and Verhal Hehuvwr 13, ( 1974), pp 585-589
13 Yuille, J C., & Cutshall, J L (1986), 'A case study of eyewitness memory of a crime', .Journal of Applied P.\yc:hology, 71(2), p 291
14 Loftus, E F & Pickrell, J E. (1995), 'The formation of false memories', P.\y,·h1alrtL' Annal,-, 25, pp 720-725
15 'Imagination inflation for action events: repeated imaginings lead to illusory recollections'. Memory & ( 'oKflllion, 26, pp 20--33
 5

Embodied Co1:nition

Possibly the most interesting and counter-intmtJve theory to emerge from

modem cognitive science is the idea that cognition is embodied. 'Embodied
Cognition' suggests that the mind is not thinking independently of the body
and the environment, but the mind, body and environment think together as
a singular system. Embodied cognition (in any form) is about acknowledging
that the brain is not the only cognitive resource available to us when solving
problems or 'understanding' the world; cognition is a broad system involving
perception, physical action, and the environment.

Standard definitions of Embodied Cognition involve the straight-forward claim

that "states of the body modify states of the mind." This might not seem that
counter-intuitive or radical at first, however, if examined further the implications
of embodiment are quite profound; our bodies, their physical motion and the
environment does much of the work required to achieve our goals, replacing the
need for conscious, internal mental representations. Therefore, simple actions
or motions within the environment at that specific moment, can 'think' for us in
ways which are indistinguishable from how 'thinking' normally feels! Also, if
cognition is a broad system assembled from an extended array of resources, its
definition and agency can only be understood in the context of those resources
and any specific moment.

( 1) Cognition is situated.
(2) Cognition is time-pressured.
(3) We off-load cognition onto the environment.
(4) The environment is part of the cognitive system.

In order to effectively and efficiently operate in the world, cognition is constantly

taking shortcuts by off-loading 'work' to different aspects of its broad system:
Research has shown people perceive hill gradients as being steeper or flatter
based on whether an imaginary person with them was a helpful or non-helpful
person. This is based on their perceived access to resources ... changing their
visual perceptions! 16 As this research suggests, if cognition can find a 'thinking
shortcut' within its broad system, it will; regardless of whether that shortcut
is mental, physical, environmental or imaginary. I find this idea exciting and
inspiring, especially when applied to specific magic effects or the art as a
whole.
16 Thomas W_ Schubert, Anne Maass. Simone Schnall. 'Embodiment in an affective space· Social influences on special perception', Spa11al
/J1men.mm.\· o/Soc1al Thought, (2011), pp 129-147
6

Studies have also explored the effects that social power has on the perception
of the physical properties of objects. 17 Our perceptions 18 of reality are not only
~00~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
bodies are doing and how all these elements interact.

This perspective toward cognition is extremely interesting to me; it suggests

that when performing the magician is a critical part of the environment and
therefore a critical part of the spectator's cognitive system. Therefore, if the
magician is a part of the spectator's cognitive system then perhaps one shouldn't
underestimate the degree to which the magician can intentionally think/or the
spectator inn ways which are indistinguishable from their own thoughts! This
perspective also highlights the tremendous impact that the spectator's physical
actions or interactions can have on their cognition, regardless of how minor they
may be.

There is a huge amount of interesting research 19 on Embodied Cognition and I'm

sure there is much more to come, but for now let's just think of this viewpoint
as an exciting and ultimately empowering perspective, which although simple,
has profound implications.

17 Lee, Eun Hee, Schnall, Simone, 'The influence of social power on weight perception', .Journal of Experimental P.\ycho/ogy General, Vol
143(4). (Aug 2014), pp 1719-1725
18 Gibson's work on direct perception (Gibson, 1966, 1979) changes the nature of the problem facing the organism Perception is not critically
flawed, we have extremely high-quality, direct perceptual access to the world This means that perception (and by extension, the environment) can
be a useful resource. rather than a problem to be overcome by cognitive enrichment
19 Eerland et al, (2011 ), Adam and Galinsky, (2012), Lakotf and Johnson, (1980, 1999), Miles et al, (2010), Gibson, ( 1966, 1979)
 7

Summary

Memory is a malleable and unreliable way to record reality. It is prone to

continuous error and thankfully, for our purposes, it is open to direct and indirect
manipulation. Expectation and imagination can deeply affect experience and
memory, and our cognition is not a simple case of internal mental analysis but
part of a complex system spanning the environment, action and the moment. With
this in mind, it is not hard to see how a simple magic effect might manipulate the
experience and memory of a spectator, especially if the effect is designed to do
so with multiple, mutually supportive and complimentary techniques.

This stacked, co-operative, methodological approach is the essence of how

Psychologica will bend reality for the spectator; distorting real memory,
implanting false memory, stimulating mirror neurons, creating expectations
(which are congruent with both real and imagined events) and creating
opportunities for the mind to take desirable cognitive shortcuts. Of course this
is all just theory; however, it seems to work and it's deeply interesting to me. I
hope this chapter has helped convince the reader that this approach is not only
possible but completely practical and very reliable.

Although Psychologica will also be exploiting the notion of hallucination, I

haven't explained the role that expectation, the imagination and suggestion
might play. From a scientific perspective this subject is so vast that I simply
don't have time to go into it. I think at this point the reader is probably more
than aware that expectation-based hallucinations are not only closely related
to the material presented in this chapter but are a common feature in conjuring
methodology.

This chapter, and its apparent correlation with my methodology, is included

speculatively as I have not conducted any serious experimental trials to test
my ideas Uust highly subjective, performance-based analysis). However,
Psychologica works, and the reasoning presented throughout this publication
is my best understanding of how and why. Hopefully that comes across, rather
than a collection of hokum and non sequiturs. Obviously this is not an academic
paper, just an attempt to explain an aspect of my approach or attitude toward
conjuring.
8

A spectator thinks of a card and the deck is cleanly mixed face up and face
down. They see the deck is a complete mess and they take the deck in their
hands and mix it further. Without the performer touching the deck, the cards all
straighten out with the exception of a playing-card of which they are thinking.

Selection Procedure

Introduce a deck of cards, hand the deck to a spectator and ask them to shuffle
as you say,

"I came up with this piece after something that happened to me when I first
started in magic. I did a card trick and a guy took them from me and shuffled the
deck face up andface down. The deck was a complete mess offace-up and face-
down cards on both sides. He said he was thinking of one and he challenged me
to find it ... I didn 't know what to do. I couldn 't even touch the deck as he was
holding them.

"Imagine that; imagine looking down now to see a mess offace-up and face-
down cards between your hands... and you had to find what I was thinking of
What would you do?

"It was a disaster. For years I thought about that moment, and I wish I could
have done something. Over the years I thought of several things I could have
done ... until I finally created something interesting. So, I'm going to show you
what I wish I could have done back then.

"If this sounds like I'm showing this to you as a form of cheap therapy ... that's
because it is. "
 9

As we will establish later this is a very important moment: you are implanting the
concept and visual image of cards being mixed face up into face down ... while
they have the cards in their hands; they have a tactile experience of shuffling
and have imagined seeing this mess in their hands. They are also listening to
something that apparently happened, so it is something 'in the world'. Over
time all of these separate channels of information will become conflated into
one experiential channel. Therefore the script above is not just a 'presentation'
or 'patter', it is cognitive methodology.

Now, we begin by having a card selected, however it is important to create the

impression that they simply 'thought' of a card and the following technique is
my way of creating a strong impression that they really have just thought of a
card. 20 Take the cards back from the spectator and spread the deck face up, from
hand to hand, in front of their eyes while looking away as you say, "/don ~ want
to see the order of the cards... /just want you to think of one ofthem." Close the
deck and hold it in a position ready for the fingertip peek and, while continuing
to look away, synchronise the following actions and words:

"I'll.flick through the cards like this. You 'II see lots or reds, blacks and numbers
spinning around. .. like a roulette wheel. Just say stop somewhere inside and
think of one you see. "

Slowly riffle the comer of the deck until they say stop and hold the gap open for
them to see; let the cards go and maintain a break with the little finger. Make
sure the deck is closed and square, ask if they have one in mind, and once they
confirm that they have, relax, lower the deck slightly and tum back to look at
them and say the following:

"You probably saw quite a few different cards. You can change your mind ifyou
like ... it doesn ~ matter as long as you have a card in mind. This is much better
than you 'taking a card'; I want you to think of one you see so it only exists
inside your head. "

While delivering the final part of the script above, control the card above the
break to the bottom via a shift and a casual bottom slip shuffle, or use a very
direct overhand shuffle control by maintaining the break as the deck is levered
onto its side, chopping off all the cards above the break and shuffling the
remaining cards on top. This control is simple, relaxed and unconsidered. At
20 Over the years many ideas by many magicians have informed aspects of this technique, including Chris Power, Cy Endfield, Eddie Fechter,
Chan Canasta and Del Ray
10

the completion of this sequence subtly deliver downward pressure with your
thumb in the middle of the top card and squeeze with your fingers; this delivers
a subtle concave bend to the deck which is imperceptible and over in the blink
of an eye. This longitudinal concave bend will become very useful at a later
point in the effect.

The above script serves several functions: it introduces the idea of chaos and
chance by mentioning a roulette wheel, allows them to feel that they can change
their mind and implants the idea that they are just thinking of a card. If you study
the script and choreography a little closer you will see some very clever things
going on. With the spectator now 'thinking' of a card (which unbeknownst to
them is under your control at the bottom of the deck) you now mix the deck face
up and face down with a finessed technical and psychological handling of Sid
Lorraine's Slop Shuffle.

Finessed Slop Shuffle

"I'll mix the cards/ace up and/ace down ... ifyou see the card you're thinking
ofjust ignore it. Face up and/ace down. .. at this stage it doesn ~matter as long
as all the cards are in a mess. "

As you deliver the above line your left fingers have pushed off a portion of 6-10
cards into the right hand (Fig. I). The right hand then revolves palm down and
another portion of 6-10 cards is pushed off under the right-hand portion. The
right hand grips both portions and moves to the right (Fig. 2) as it then revolves
palm up, and once again another portion of face-down cards is pushed off under
the cards in the right hand. This process of the right hand turning palm up and
palm down as small portions of cards are added to the portion in the right hand
continues roughly six or seven times until the final portion is pushed off into the
palm-up right hand and the left hand is left holding the bottom card (Fig. 3).

Now the right hand turns palm down and the left hand places the single face-
down card onto the exposed face-up card on the 'bottom' of the deck (Fig. 4).
Without the slightest hesitation, and in a continuing flowing motion, the right
hand turns palm up (turning the deck over) and the palm-down left hand grabs
everything (Fig. 5). The left hand now turns palm up (Fig. 6) and the deck is
displayed for a brief moment before it is delivered into an overhand shuffle
position (Fig. 7).
 II

(Fig. I) (Fig. 2)

(Fig. 3) (Fig. 4)

(Fig. 5) (Fig. 6)
 13

This is a finessed handling of the Slop Shuffle. However, there are some important
points to bear in mind: the exact nature of the movements communicates a
casual randomness and maximises the perception of contrast while making the
movement of the selection look more incidental. This all happens in conjunction
with the script above, which takes their focus away from the mixing and
temporarily makes them focus on the possible appearance of their selection.

The Slop Shuffle is largely considered an amateurish move, a 'beginner's'

technique lacking in the sophistication and deceptiveness of modem techniques.
I believe that this perception is not only inaccurate, but in fact, the Slop Shuffle
(when executed well) is the most psychologically and visually deceptive
'mixing' technique in existence. However, it requires that you overcome your
elitist assumption, remove your ego from the equation and instead objectively
look at the expression of the technique. It's a thing of sheer beauty. What follows
are some simple and direct 'convincers' which simultaneously prepare the deck
for the climax while further compounding the impression of a genuinely mixed
deck.

Overhand Mess Shuffle

With the deck in position for an overhand shuffle (Fig. 7) the left thumb chops
off a small portion of I 0-15 cards (Fig. 8); this packet is picked up behind the
rest of the deck as the left thumb chops off another 10-15 cards (Fig. 9). At this
point all that is important is that there is a face-up card visible on the front of
the portion in the right hand. Now everything in the right hand is brought down
onto the packet in the left hand, as the left thumb grasps the packet above the
break (Fig. IO; exaggerated for clarity). The right hand now lifts all the cards
beneath the break, as the left fingers push up on the rearmost card (Fig. 11 ); this
position looks very haphazard and convincing as there are face-up and face-
down cards visible in both packets.

Now bring the right-hand packet down onto the cards in the left hand, but as you
do so, pin the face-down card with the left thumb as your right fingers lift up on
the face-up cards and move them from side to side in an apparent mixing motion
(Fig. 12). At some point continue to push up on the rearmost card, 21 leaving the
deck in an apparently chaotic state (Fig. 13 ), which you allow to be displayed at
the fingertips for a brief moment.

21 This is a brilliant touch which I first learned from Gree11Mag1C Vol I, VHS by Lennart Green in a shuffle he called the 'Greek Shuffle'
14

A close study of the Overhand Mess Shuffle will reveal that it is technically
a combination of very old and simple full-deck false-shuffle techniques;
however, its visual expression is very different and incredibly convincing when
choreographed in this way. You now tap the protruding cards square with the
right fingers.

With the deck now square you separate the cards at the point where the cards
meet back to back (made easier by the longitudinal concave bridge) by lifting
the top half off with the right hand and turning the hand palm up (Fig. 14 ). The
right hand now reverses its actions but keeps a break between the halves, and
then the right hand lifts off a small portion of 10-20 cards and once again turns
palm up (Fig. 15). This moment occurs as you say:

"Jn a moment you are going to hold on to the deck yourself. .. and mix the deck
some more.

You now replace the right-hand cards onto the cards above the break and
immediately execute a half pass with all the cards below the break as you raise
the deck to the fingertips and manoeuvre it into a longitudinal position (Fig. 16).
This entire sequence happens in one simple, smooth and flowing action and will
be completely imperceptible.

Hallucination Shuffle

You are now about to execute a very special shuffle of mine that I call the
Hallucination Shuffle. This shuffle is incredibly convincing and will actually
induce a form of hallucination based on a small amount of visual stimulus,
expectation and verbal priming. Unfortunately - like all expectation-based
hallucinations - the performer's knowledge will prevent him from personally
experiencing the illusion.

"But before you do that... lets give the deck one more shuffle so you can see the
cards mixing.. .face up and face down. "

As you deliver the above sentence, split the deck in half as if preparing to
execute a Faro Shuffle (Fig. 17), weave the two halves together, making sure
that the face-down card is on top, and manoeuvre the deck into a position so that
you can bend the cards and cause them to visually cascade together (Fig. 18).
Here comes the most deceptive aspect of the Hallucination Shuffle: as the
 15

(Fig. 17) (Fig. 18)

pressure is released and the cards are visibly shuffling together (Fig. 19), the
spectator should be looking directly into the space/arch of the shuffle at the
exact moment you say the words, "... face up and face down. " The cards are
now handed to the spectator in their unsquared condition (Fig. 20). The mixture
of visual stimulus, verbal priming and expectation will cause the spectator to
perceive a perfect mess of face-up and face-down cards falling randomly before
their eyes, even though there are only face-up cards falling!

The Hallucination Shuffle is not a false shuffle in the traditional sense but rather
a real shuffle which creates a false perception via a visual hallucination. I cannot
stress strongly enough how convincing this technique is; just make sure that the
face-down card on top is clearly seen throughout, and the cascade is sharp and
fast. Another convincing touch is to flex the deck enough (Fig. 18), and at the
right angle, so the back design of the bottom card is seen in the left hand for
a split second before the cards cascade. This shuffle can also be executed as a
tabled riffle shuffle or as a classic in-the-hands riffle shuffle (both ending with a
cascade), but be careful not to expose too many face-up cards during the initial
riffle.
16

At this point the spectator has seen the cards being mixed face up and face
down in a variety of simple yet utterly convincing ways. There will be no doubt
that the deck is a chaotic mess, however, it is only at this moment that the most
devious aspect of Psychologica begins ... the False Frame Script.

False Frame Script

With the spectator now holding the deck, Psychologica truly begins; you are
about to use a bespoke script to impact their understanding, expectation and
memory of the effect. The script is designed to reframe their understanding of
what they have experienced and is the MOST important feature of Psychologica.
I will explain in detail why each aspect of the script is there and what it is
designed to accomplish.

"Now from that mess, I want you to try and find the card you 're thinking of
without having to search through all the face-up and face-down cards... instead
I want you to try something quicker. Think of your card and lift off a portion
of the deck and lets see ifyou can cut straight to the card you have in mind It
might be face up or face down ... it doesn ~matter. If its face up then you 'II know
immediately ifyou were right; if its face down, we 'II turn it over and see... have
a go. No? That wasn ~your card? Well, one day that might work! !just wanted
to try it. "

The first part of the script directly reinforces the fact that a card has been
'thought of' while directly addressing the face-up, face-down nature of the
deck. However it also introduces an opportunity for the spectator to literally see
face-up and face-down cards in their hands.

"Now to get serious, I'll try and.find it without touching the deck. If I could tell
you if your card was face up or face down you might be impressed because of
the random, tumbling nature of the shuffling... but in reality it wouldn ~ be that
impressive because by shuffling half the cards/ace up and half/ace down, [you
visually interlace the fingers of both hands] I have a 50150 chance of being
correct. So what about if I could not only tell you if it is face up or face down,
but I could tell you exactly how many cards down it is from the top?"

The second part of the script is another very subtle way of reinforcing the
random nature of the deck through a combination of visual metaphor and logical
thinking.
 17

"So lets imagine I say its face down and its thirty-seven cards from the top;
you would deal the cards counting aloud, ignoring the face-up and face-down
cards as you deal through. When you get to thirty-sixth, you push the pile of
face-up and face-down cards aside and then look at the thirty-seventh card to
reveal the one you 're thinking of! "

The third part of the script is particularly devious; it subtly implies what the
climax of this effect will be, creating an expectation about future events. The
spectator's expectation of the fature climax, causes them to subconsciously
believe that the deck is a complete mess in the present; a very interesting form
of temporal deception. The spectator is also aware that they have a physical role
to play in this 'future climax' (counting the cards) and so they will experience a
small amount of anxiety in anticipation of that role; this factor simply intensifies
the power of the mental simulation and the continued belief in the apparent
present state of the deck.

"That would be impressive... but before we do that, lets make this even more
impossible. Please cut the deck somewhere in the middle so that there is no way
I could know where your card is ... and turn the whole deck over. "

This is a very powerful moment. The spectator will once again see the face-
down card on top disappear and instead a face-up card appears, and then when
they tum the deck over they see another face-down card. This means that within
a split second they have cut the deck, turned it over and seen a face-down
card, followed by a face-up card, followed by a final face-down card. This is
an extremely powerful moment in itself, but more importantly it sets up the
following deceptive technique, which ironically is based on your being honest.

"Hand on heart, I have NO IDEA what card you 're thinking of .. or where it is.
Honestly, there is no way I could possibly know what you would do ... how you
would mix the deck. This was the same mess of a situation I was in when I was
a kid."

This aspect of the script is one of the most delicious moments of Psychologica
- you are being completely honest! You don't know what the card is or where
it is! This honesty will be felt by the spectator and they'll believe it must be
because of the chaotic nature of the deck (another super-subtle convincer). This
moment is also connected to the story at the beginning, so they will remember
the images that they constructed at the beginning of the effect. Therefore, these
recollections will feel like memories of real events.
18

Don't underestimate the deceptiveness of using 'honesty' in this way... and if

you think about it, this exact technique can be immediately applied to many
card effects with relative ease.

"So ... I want to try something that I wish I had been able to do all those years
ago. I promise I won t touch the deck. Everything will happen in your hands... in
fact, cover the deck with your other hand so that it is trapped inside. Now shake
your hands slightly. .. as if you were mixing a drink. Now while you are doing
that, name out loud the card you have in mind.

"Ok... well, if this has worked the cards should now all be facing the same way...
except for the card you just named. Spread through and look!"

This part of the script is self-explanatory: it once again emphasizes the face-up,
face-down condition of the deck and the 'thought-of' card, but it also introduces
a physical motion into the mix which can have powerful effects on cognition
and psychology.

Once they answer, ask them to spread through the cards; they will see the face-
down cards (this is the first time they have seen this spread of cards and it looks
much cleaner and neater than spreading through a face-up deck). When they
spread through and their selection appears, simply repeat the name of their card
aloud, reach forward and carefully up-jog it as you then remove your hand and
say,

"Every single card except the one in your mind. "

50% of the time the spectator will spread the deck in such a way that their
selection will be accidentally concealed (as they'll tend to push cards over in
clumps). To increase the likelihood of this happening, as soon as they begin to
spread, immediately say, "Every single one of them ... all the way to the end. ..
all of them. " This subtle line makes them a bit more self-conscious and feeling
pressured to reveal the entire deck so they tend to spread through a little faster,
which naturally increases the chances that they'll spread past their card. When
this happens simply get them to close the deck and to name their card again;
once they have done this, point to the deck and say, "Ok, NOW spread through
and look. "This line causes them to focus more on finding their card and so they
will spread more deliberately and the card will seem to appear from nowhere,
and you proceed as before. This is a stunning moment of pure magic and like I
said previously, probably occurs 50% of the time.
 19

ENDNOTES
Psychologica is a series of interconnected, overlapping, simple techniques; these
simple techniques converge in new ways to form an extremely sophisticated
deceptive experience. The visual and psychological methodology may seem
like separate phases to the performer, but to the spectator they will become
compounded into one experiential stream.

The Slop Shuffle is an overlooked technique; a large part of its deceptive power
is the relaxed, casual nature in which it's performed. The lack of neatness and
apparent control contributes immensely to the feeling of genuine chaos. I think
it's a thing of beauty. However, when it is followed by the archetypal/common
overhand style action and the look and sound of the final cascade, a sense of
free flowing chaos is created which feels perfectly natural and above suspicion.
Even though there is a brief display of conditions at the end of each shuffle
sequence, there is no sense of hesitation or interruption; all the techniques seem
to flow together and complement each other in a natural, unconsidered way
that seems free from tension or design. You must try to minimise the time it
takes you to complete this 'shuffling' phase - by keeping it between twenty and
thirty seconds - thereby maximising the spectator's physical and psychological
involvement in the effect.

There is a concept I want to reinforce because I believe it to be the most crucial

element in allowing these false memories and beliefs to inform the effect: It
simply comes down to the moments the spectator holds the deck; they hold the
deck for a while, in which time they are mentally simulating a scenario that they
believe to be based on the true condition of the deck. This is a very powerful
form of time misdirection and expectation-based conditioning. The fact that
they are holding the deck (they even cut the deck, which is visually congruent
with their expectations) suggests to them that everything is fair and free from
any possible manipulation. The spectator also shuffled the deck at the beginning
of the effect, which is another moment where they have a tactile relationship
with the deck and everything feels innocent and above suspicion (once again
this moment occurs while they mentally 'reconstruct' a face-up, face-down,
chaotic deck). Don't underestimate how deeply powerful this concept can be.

When I have had the opportunity, I have asked spectators (or had someone else
ask for me), what they remember happening. They always remember seeing
a completely chaotic, genuine mess of face-up and face-down cards spread
20

between their hands at some point. They never question if the cards were truly
mixed in that fashion, they simply question 'how' they all went the same way
in their hands!

The story I tell at the beginning is something that really did happen to me when
I was a teenager (with the exception that the man didn't mix them face up
into face down, he just aggressively grabbed the deck from me and even more
aggressively shuffled them). I channel this moment as I talk about it and it will
have an effect on the spectator; they believe me. This is powerful. Therefore I
suggest you work on the way you commit to this story, as the more they believe
you the better this will be. One of the first things they will do is ask you about
exactly what happened all those years ago. They will want to know if it's true
and what you did, so be prepared.

Here is a 'hidden secret': once the spectator has cut the deck in their hands,
hand them the card box and ask them to put the deck inside. Now continue as
before and have them place the card box in full view on their open, palm-up
hand as you reinforce the conditions of the effect. Now when the moment is
right, slowly and dramatically open the box, cleanly pull out the deck half way
(so they can remove it themselves) and conclude as before. This is extremely
powerful and is my preferred way of ending; the box seems to add something
mysterious to the agency of the effect as well as to the drama and staging. This
may seem like an insignificant detail but it is an incredibly magical touch.

Instead of performing Psychologica in its entirety, there are several very deceptive
elements that you may choose to incorporate into your existing handling of
'Triumph'. For example, the Hallucination Shuffle, 'spectator cut' (to set up the
ending) or The False Frame script can be adapted for virtually any handling.
Although there are many elements which can be 'borrowed' in this way, I believe
that the most deceptive approach is the complete handling described here. In the
past I have played with allowing the spectator to genuinely mix the deck face
up and face down and then I simply culled all the face-down cards as I spread
through before handing the deck back to the spectator and proceeding as on page
16. However, it adds less than you would imagine to the effect and introduces
other technical and theatrical issues that can be problematic. Psychologica uses
technical simplicity and psychology rather than 'strong-arm' sleight of hand as
I believe it to be a more beautiful and more deceptive approach.

Expectation creates existence ... in the past, present and future.

© 2016 Benjamin Earl