COLOUR DIVINATION

Although this is one of the first tricks I performed for my friends and family when I was a youngster, it is one that I will perform from time to time and find that it works well for audiences of all ages. It's really quite simple to do, and the only requirement is an ordinary box of wax crayons.

SECRET: The magician stands with his back to the audience as he instructs one of them to open a box of crayons, remove one and note its colour. He holds his hands behind his back and has the audience member place the crayon into one of his upturned palms. Holding the crayons behind his back, he turns to face the audience and explain that you actually intend to divide the crayon's colour by the sense of touch. As you say this, scrape the thumbnail of the hand holding the crayon across its waxed end, thereby forcing a small amount of wax to lodge under the nail. Transfer the crayon to the other hand and bring out the one with the coloured wax under the nail. Touch it to your forehead. As your hand travels past your face secretly catch a glimpse of the colour. As soon as you
glimpse the colour, close your eyes and pretend to be in deep thought as if you were really trying to divine the colour. All that remains is for you to name the colour and bring forth the crayon for verification.

The most important aspect of this trick is its performance. When attempting to divine the crayon's colour, you must act as though you really have the ability to do so. If you believe that you can divine the colour, so will your audience.

 ODD OR EVEN

The magician asks an audience member to momentarily turn around, take some coins from his pocket, and hold them inside a closed fist. The magician removes some coins from his pocket, and holding them in his closed fist, turns and says,  We both have coins concealed in our hands. Although I have absolutely no idea how many coins you have hidden in your hand, I can positively predict that when my coins are added to yours, if your amount is odd... it will become even. If however, your amount is even, then it will change to odd.

The audience member counts his change and finds that he has an odd number of coins. The magician adds his coins to the spectator's and, as predicted, the total changes to even.

SECRET: Although it would appear that the solution to this swindle depends on the magician's ability to secretly ascertain the exact amount of coins concealed in the audience member's hand, nothing could be further from the truth. The trick works regardless of the amount. The secret lies in the fact that the magician's hand always contains an odd amount of coins. The odd amount of coins, when added to the audience member's will make an even amount total odd, and an odd total even.

 FIND THE ACES

An audience member shuffles a pack of cards while the magician has the inside pocket of his coat inspected. The pocket is found to be empty and the deck is placed inside.

The magician explains that he will attempt to locate the four aces by the sense of touch. With that, he thrusts his hand into the pocket and brings out an ace. this is repeated until all four aces have been retrieved. The rest of the pack is removed from the pocket and immediately handed out for examination.

SECRET: Prior to the performance, remove the four aces from the pack and place them into either your left upper vest or shirt pocket.

Begin by having someone shuffle the deck. Since no one knows what you intend to do with the cards, there is really no reason for you to be concerned about someone that the deck is aceless.

Upon receiving the shuffled deck, have your left inner jacket pocket examined and, after it's found empty, have the cards placed inside. Explain that you intend to locate the aces through your uncanny sense of touch. Thrust your right hand under your coat and into your left vest or shirt pocket and, after a brief moment, extract one of the aces. Repeat that procedure until all four aces have been removed. Take the deck from your pocket and hand it out for examination.

 YOU DO AS I DO

This card matching effect is by far the best of all self-working card tricks. If you really want to fool a friend with a great card trick, this is the one that will do it. Even though it requires no skill and is relatively easy to do, it is very interesting to note that the impact of this effect is so great that quite a number of professional magicians, who are proficient sleight-of-hand experts, still feature it in their performance.

The magician offers an audience member his choice of two decks of cards. The audience member chooses one and the magician takes the other. Each shuffles their respective deck. The decks are exchanged and the magician and the audience member both select a card from their deck. The cards are returned to the decks and the decks are given several cuts. The magician and the audience member exchange decks once again and both remove their selections. When both cards are turned face-up, they are shown to be identical.

SECRET: The principle used to accomplish this effect is called the Key Card Principle. A key card is a card whose identity and position in the deck are known only to the magician. Although a key card can be located anywhere in the deck, for simplicity, most magicians prefer to use the top or bottom card of the deck as their key card. The idea behind the principle is to secretly position the key card, by means of a cut, directly alongside the selection, either above or below it, and thereby use it to correctly identify the chosen card. To accomplish this trick you will be using the bottom card of your deck as your key card.

Begin by having someone select one of the two decks. To avoid confusion, it is important that you use two decks that have contrasting back designs. Have the audience member shuffle his deck and you shuffle yours. Secretly sight and remember the bottom card of your deck as you exchange decks with him. This should be done in a casual way so as not to arouse suspicion. A quick glimpse is all that is necessary. As you exchange decks say,  You've shuffled the cards that I'm going to use and I've shuffled the deck that you're going to use. This way it's impossible for you to know the position of any card in my deck and I can not possibly know the position of anyone in yours. 

Explain to the audience member that in order of this experiment to work, it is absolutely necessary that he do exactly everything as you do. Reach into the centre of your deck and remove a card. Instruct him to do the same. Tell him to remember the name of his card. Although he remembers his card, it is important that you do not. Just pretend to. Return your card to the top of your deck and have him do the same. Cut off about half the cards and place them off to the right. Complete the cut by picking up the remainder of the deck and placing it onto the cut-off portion. Have the audience member do the same. When he cuts his deck he will unknowingly place you key card directly on top of his selection. Suggest that the cards be cut in the same manner a second time in order to further loose the selections and, when that's done, suggest that you both cut the cars one more time for good luck. These additional cuts are merely a ruse to convince the audience member that the cards are completely lost.

The decks are exchanged once again. He takes yours; you take his. Tell him to look through the cards to find his selection. As he does this, you look through your deck and locate your key card. When you find it, the card directly below it, to its immediate right, will be the audience member's selection. Remove this card, set your deck aside and place the card, face-down onto the table. Have him do the same. Turn to him and say,  Because we each did exactly the same thing, believe it or not, we each selected the very same card!  Have the cards turned face-up to show this to be true.

 DIME AND PENNY TRICK

This is a fine impromptu mind reading effect that requires no preparation whatsoever. The magician has an audience member hold a dime in one hand and a penny in the other. He's instructed to close both hands into fists. The magician turns his back and asks him to concentrate on one of the coins. After a moment the magician turns around and correctly identifies the mentally selected coin.

SECRET: Begin by handing the audience member the two coins. Place the dime in his right hand, the penny in his left and tell him to close both hands into a fist. Look directly at him and say,  I want you to concentrate on one of the two coins. You can think of the dime or the penny, but, please don't give me any help. Don't glance at your hands, just concentrate on one of the coins and I'll try and tell you exactly which one you were thinking of. 

Close your eyes as if you're actually trying to read his mind. After a moment open them and say,  I'm having some difficulty, I'm not getting anything. You're going to have to help me. I'll turn my back, and while my back is turned I want you to place the hand holding the coin you're thinking of, against your forehead like this.  Demonstrate by holding your fist against your forehead. Turn your back and say,  All right place the hand containing the coin you're thinking of against your forehead. Have you done that? Good. Now hold it there and concentrate on the coin. Concentrate, trying to visualize it in your mind's eye. 

Pause for a moment and then say,  All right, I think I've got it. Please take your hand from your forehead and place it alongside the one holding the other coin. Have you done that? Good. Then it's all right for me to turnaround.  Turn to face him and, as you do, glance at his hands. One will be considerably lighter in colour than the other. The hand he held up against his forehead will be much lighter due to the fact that the blood has rushed out of it. Do not stare at his hands--a cursory glance is all that is needed. Instead, look directly into his eyes and dramatically name the coin he's been concentrating on. If his right hand is lighter, it's the dime. If his left and is lighter, it's the penny.

 CARDS OF COINCIDENCE

The current popularity of psychic hotlines and paranormal TV shows makes this baffling mental mystery a sure-fire winner. A pack of playing cards
is shuffled and handed to the magician, who removes two cards, indicating that they will be used as predictions. The two cards are placed face-down onto a table. The deck is handed to an audience member who is instructed to deal the cards, face down, onto the table until he feels like stopping. As the cards are dealt, the magician explains that the audience member is not obligated to just deal cards from the top of the deck, but is free to deal cards from anywhere. When he stops dealing, he's told to put aside the remainder to the deck and to pick up the tabled packet of cards for another deal.

The magician instructs the audience member to deal the cards, alternately, into two separate piles until they're exhausted. Once the cards have been dealt, the magician tells the audience member to turn up the top card of each pile. We will assume these to be the eight of clubs and the king of hearts. When the magician turns up his tabled predictions, we see that they're the eight of spades and the king of diamonds. A perfect, predetermined, match!

SECRET: Begin by having an audience member shuffle the deck. Take the deck, turn it over, so that the faces are turned toward you, and secretly note the two top cards, which, as per our earlier example, we've assumed to be the eight of clubs and the king of hearts. Cover your actions by explaining that the two cards that you're removing will serve as predictions. What you'll actually do is remove the mates of the top two cards, in this case, the eight of spades and the king of diamonds. Without revealing their identity the two cards are placed, face-down, onto the table.

Return the deck to the audience member and have him deal cards, one at a time, onto the table. After he has dealt the first two cards (the eight and king) tell him that he can actually deal the cards from anywhere. No matter where he deals from, when he stops, have him put the rest of the pack aside. Instruct him to pick up the tabled cards and redeal them, alternately, into two face down piles. When he's finished dealing, tell him to turn over the top card of each pile. Since the eight of clubs and the king of hearts were the first two cards to be dealt onto the table during the initial deal, it should be apparent that when the cards are pick up and dealt a second time that they will, in fact, be the last two cards to be dealt and eventually turned face up. All you have to do is pick up the predictions, turn them face up and set them alongside their respective mates.

 OUT TO LUNCH

This is a wonderful mind reading effect that can be performed for a very large audience. All the necessary requirements to make it happen can easily be found in your kitchen.

The magician holds up a paper shopping bag which is sealed by a simple fold at the top. He explains that the bag contains a vegetable which is going to be used in a mind reading experiment. He sets the bag aside as he asks several members of the audience to call out the names of various
vegetables. As each vegetable is named, it is written on a slip of paper and the paper is folded and placed into a glass or bowl. After eight or ten slips of paper have been deposited in the container, the magician invites an audience member to reach into it and remove one of the slips. The
audience member is asked to unfold the paper and read aloud the name of the randomly chosen vegetable. He opens the paper and says,  Tomato.  The magician has him open the bag to discover, much to his surprise, that it contains a tomato.

SECRET: This trick requires a shopping bag, a vegetable, and in this case a tomato, although you may use any vegetable, several small slips of paper, a pen or pencil, and a glass or bowl to act as a container. Place the vegetable in the bag, seal it with a fold, and you're ready to perform.

Hold up the bag and explain that it contains a vegetable that will be used as a prediction. Ask several audience members to call out the name of a vegetable. As each vegetable is called, you apparently write its name on a slip of paper. What you really do is write the word tomato on every slip of paper. Needless to say, it is important that you do not let anyone see what you actually write. Since the audience has no reason to think that you're writing the same thing on each slip, they will assume you're writing the name of each vegetable as its called out. The slips are dropped into your container and mixed-up.

Offer the container to an audience member, saying,  Reach inside, choose one of the slips of paper and, when you've done that, open it and read it aloud. After he names the vegetable, have him open the bag and remove the tomato to confirm that you have correctly predicted exactly what vegetable would be chosen.

 DICEY

This mysterious bit of mental magic can be performed just about anywhere due to the fact that it utilizes items that can be found in almost any household.

The magician passes the dice to an audience member, saying,  Take the dice and roll them onto the table.  The audience member does so and the dice roll to a stop. We will assume that the uppermost numbers are a six and a five. The magician asks the audience member to add the two numbers together. This results in a total of eleven.

The magician points out that if the two top numbers were arrived at by random, then certainly the two, unseen, bottom numbers were also. The magician has the audience member turn over the dice and total the two bottom numbers. The bottom numbers, a one and a two, total three. The magician asks the audience member to add the bottom total to the top total. This results in the number fourteen.

The magician removes the deck from its case and hands it to the audience member, saying,  You rolled he dice and arrived at a random number, the number fourteen. Please take the deck and count down to the fourteenth card.  The fourteenth card is turned face-up and revealed to be the king of hearts. The magician has the envelope opened and the prediction read aloud. It reads:  I predict that you will select the king of hearts.

SECRET: Prior to the performance write  I predict that you will select the king of hearts  on a piece of paper. Place the paper in an envelope, seal it, and write the word PREDICTION on its face. Remove the deck of cards from the case, locate the king of hearts and place it in the fourteenth position. Place the deck back in the case and you are ready to perform.

If you perform the trick exactly as it's described, the audience member will always select the fourteenth card. The reason for this is really quite simple. The top and bottom numbers of any single die always total seven. This is a fact that most people are not aware of. Therefore, when the numbers on the top and bottom of a pair of dice are totaled the number will always be fourteen. Needless to say, since the total is always fourteen, it is important that you do not repeat this trick before the same group of people.

 TELEPHONE TELEPATHY

This feat of long distance magic can be easily mastered in a few minutes. It's really quite perplexing and a lot of fun to do.

The magician asks someone in the audience to call out the name of a playing card. Upon hearing the name, the magician explains that, through the use of telephone telepathy, he intends to have his personal telephone psychic, the Wizard, reveal the name of the chosen card. He picks up a nearby telephone, dials a number and, after a moment, asks to speak to the Wizard. When the wizard answers, the phone is immediately passed to the person who selected the card, who, much to their amazement, hears a mysterious voice correctly identify the chosen card.

SECRET: In order to perform this unusual bit of telephone trickery, you need to enlist the aid of an accomplice. Someone who will answer the phone and play the part of the Wizard.

Begin by having someone call out the name of a playing card. We will assume the card named is the nine of hearts. Have the person concentrate on the card as you explain that you're going to use the telephone to call the Wizard, who will attempt, through long distance mind reading, to identify the card.

Pick up the phone and dial your accomplice's number. When he answers, say,  I'd like to speak to the Wizard, please...  Your accomplice instantly replies by naming each of the four suites in a slow and deliberate manner, in the following order:  Clubs, Hearts, Spades, and Diamonds.  The moment he names the correct suit, (in this instance, hearts) you cut him off by saying,  Yes, the Wizard.  He now knows that the card is a heart. He then calls out the cards' values in the same deliberate manner:  Ace, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king. when he reaches the number nine, you immediately cut him off, saying,  Hello, Wizard...  This informs your accomplice that the card's value is a nine. Hand the phone to the person who named the card, saying,  Ask the Wizard to name your card. The Wizard replies in as mysterious a voice as he can muster, saying,  The card you're thinking of is the nine of hearts!

 ODD MAN OUT

The magician places a penny, a dime and a quarter in a row onto the table. He reaches into one of his pockets and removes a fourth coin, which he momentarily conceals from view in his closed right hand. An audience member is asked to select one of the coins, and regardless of the choice, when the magician opens his hand the audience sees that it contains a matching coin, proving that he knew in advance which coin would be selected.

SECRET: To perform this remarkable prediction you will need a penny, a quarter and two dimes. Place one of the dimes into your pocket and you're ready to begin.

Place the penny, dime and quarter, in that exact order, in a row on a table. Reach into your pocket with your right hand and remove the dime, but do so in a manner that will not reveal exactly what you are holding. State that your right hand contains a prediction. Turn to someone in the audience and say,  Pick up one of the coins…  If he picks up the dime, which, due to its central position, is most often chosen, continue with the sentence, saying,  and place it here in my hand.  Extend your left upturned palm to receive it. Look directly at him and say,  You could have chosen any of the three coins. You chose the dime. Look, here's my prediction.  Open your right hand to reveal it contains a dime.

If, however, the audience member's first choice is the quarter, you continue by saying,  Good. Now since I'm only going to need one coin for this experiment, would you pick up another coin with your other hand…  If he picks up the penny say,  Excellent! That leaves us with only one coin, the dime. Somehow I just knew you would choose the correct coin. Look, here is my prediction.  Open your right hand and allow the dime to fall next to its mate.

If, after picking up the quarter, the audience member picks up the dime, hold out your upturned left palm and say,  Excellent. Now hand me one of them.  At this point he has two choices. He can hand you either the dime or the quarter. If he hands you the quarter, place it on the table along side the penny and push them both aside, saying,   you have selected the dime. Somehow I knew you would.  With that, open your hand to reveal the dime.

If he hands you the dime, hold it on your outstretched palm and turn all your attention to it as you say,  You have selected the dime. Somehow I knew you would. Open your right hand and reveal the dime.

In order to insure the end result, it is most important that you use the exact words described in the text.

 THE IMPOSSIBLE LOCATION

A card is freely selected and returned to the centre of a shuffled deck. To insure that the card is completely lost in the pack, the magician has the person who selected the card cut the pack several times. When the magician receives the deck he looks through the cards, removes one and places it face-down on a table. He asks the person to identify his card and upon hearing its name, he turns over the card to reveal that, although it seemed impossible, he has some how located the chosen card.

SECRET: The method for accomplishing this effect is called the  Key Card  principle. A key card is a card whose identity and location in the deck is known to the magician. Most key cards are positioned on the top or bottom of the deck. In the performance you will use the bottom card of the deck as your key card.

Begin by having the deck shuffled. When you receive the cards, secretly glimpse and remember the bottom card of the deck. This will be your key card. It is important that you glimpse the card in an off-handed manner so as not to arouse any suspicion.

Hold the deck in your left hand and begin to cut off small packets of cards from the top of the deck with your right, and place them face-down on top of each other in a pile on a table. After you cut off a couple of packets ask someone to stop you at anytime. When they do, tell them to look at the top card of the pile on the table, remember its name, and replace it back onto the pile. The moment the card is replaced, your right picks up all of the cards from your left and drops them onto the pile on the table. This puts your key card on top of the selection.

Square up the cards and say,  Your card is lost in the deck. Well, that's not exactly true. We do know that your card is somewhere near the middle of the deck. In order to lose it completely, I'd like you to cut the cards like this.  Cut off about half the cards and place them off to the right. Complete the cut by picking up the remainder of the deck and placing it onto the cut off portion. Square up the cards again and say,  Now please cut the cards exactly as I did. When he completes the cut say,  That's good. Now I'd like you to cut the cards in the same manner, two more times. Not one more. Not three more, But exactly two more times. 

When the cuts have been completed pick up the deck and look through it. What you're looking for is the key card. When you find it, the card directly below it, to its immediate right, will be the selection. Remove this card and place it, face-down, on the table. Ask the person who selected the card to name it. When he does, turn over the card to reveal his selection.

Every so often, when you look through the deck for your key card you will see it on the bottom of the deck. This means the selection is on top. When this happens, set the deck back on the table and tell the person who selected the card to wave his hand over the pack. When he has done this, say  You did it perfectly! You made your jump to the top of the deck. Turn the top card over.  When he does, he will be surprised and somewhat perplexed to find his selection on top of the deck.

 THE THREE CUP MYSTERY

This is a great after dinner trick that only requires the use of three ordinary coffee cups. The magician displays three coffee cups, mouth upward, on a tabletop. He turns the centre cup mouth downward and in three moves, cause them to end up mouth downward. The member who, no matter how well he tries, fails to end up with them in the desired position.

SECRET: SECRET: Although this appears to be nothing more than a simple puzzle, it is in fact a complete swindle. When performed correctly, the audience member doesn't have a chance at winning. Here's how it's done:

Start with all three cups mouth upward. Turn the centre cup mouth downward as you explain that the object of the game is to end up with all three cups mouth downward in exactly three moves. You further explain that a move entails the turning over of any two cups. You offer to demonstrate by saying:  I'll show you exactly how it's done. 

1st MOVE: Begin by picking up the middle cup and either of the end cups and turn them over in place.

2nd MOVE: Pick up both end cups and turn them over in place.

3rd MOVE: Pick up the two cups that are mouth upward and turn them mouth downward.

When you finish the three moves you will end up with all three cups mouth downward. Now here's where the swindle comes in. Pick up the middle cup and turn it mouth upward as you address one of the audience members saying:  Why don't you try it? 

No matter how hard he tries he will not be able to accomplish the task because, even if he mimics your every move, the best result he can possibly end up with is all three cups facing mouth upward which is incorrect. The reason for this being is when you started out both end cups were mouth upward and the middle cup mouth downward. When the audience member starts out the end cups are mouth downward and the middle cup is mouth upward.

If the audience member fails in his first attempt, simply reset the cups in the lose position, i.e., with the middle cup mouth upward and the end cups mouth downward, and have him try again.

When an audience member ends up with all the cups mouth upward, offer to show him how it's done. Begin by turning the middle cup mouth downward and repeating the 3 moves and you will again end up with all three cups mouth downward. Turn over the middle cup (mouth upward) and once again offer the audience member another chance.

 A MATHEMATICAL PREDICTION

An audience member is handed a pencil and paper and requested to write down a six figured number. The magician, upon seeing the number, immediately writes down a prediction and places it aside. A second person is asked to write a row of six figures directly below the first. The magician writes a six figure number below this. A third person is invited to write a row of six figures directly below the magician's and the magician adds a final row below this.

One of the audience members adds the five columns together and when the sum total is reached, it miraculously matches the magician's prediction.

SECRET: Begin by noting the first number written. Subtract 2 from the last digit and add the 2 onto the front of the six figures. In other words, take two from the back and move it to the front. This will result in the seven digit figure that you write as your prediction.

EXAMPLE: The first spectator writes the number 193,427. You write 2,193,425 as your prediction.

When the second row of numbers is written, you add a third row that will make every number in the second row total nine (9). When the fourth row is written, you write the fifth containing digits that make every number in row four total nine (9). By making each of the digits in row two and three and four and five total nine, you arrive at a sum total of 1,999,998 which, when added to the first row of numbers will result in a total that matches your prediction.

 PRECOGNITION

This amazing prediction is one of my personal favourites. It's really quite mind-boggling.

pre-cog-ni-tion (pre/kog nish/en), n. Knowledge of a future event or situation, esp. through extrasensory means.

The magician removes three playing cards from an envelope as he announces that he has made a prediction. The three cards are placed, face-up, onto a table and an audience member is asked to touch any of the cards. Regardless of the choice, when the prediction is read it proves to be correct.

 

SECRET: It really doesn't matter which of the three cards is selected because what the audience doesn't know is that you actually have three separate prediction.

To begin with you're going to need three ordinary playing cards, an envelope large enough to hold the cards and a small piece of paper. For explanation purposes, we will assume these to be the ten of spades, the queen of hearts, and the ace of clubs.

Using a marking pen, write the following prediction on the piece of paper: I KNEW YOU WOULD SELECT THE 10 OF SPADES. The second prediction is written on the face of the envelope. It reads: I KNEW YOU WOULD SELECT THE ACE OF CLUBS. The third prediction is written on the back of the queen of hearts and reads: I KNEW YOU WOULD SELECT THE QUEEN OF HEARTS.

Fold the written prediction in quarters and place it into the envelope. Centre the queen between the other two cards and place all three, face-up, into the envelope

PERFORMANCE: Introduce the envelope, flap side up with the prediction hidden on its underside. Remove the three face-up cards and place the envelope aside, flap side up. Arrange the three face-up cards in a row on a table and, in doing so, make sure that the queen remains in the centre between the ace and ten. Explain that you have made a prediction and have someone touch one of the three cards and, depending on their choice, you bring the effect to its proper conclusion by carrying out one of following actions:

IF THE CENTRE CARD THE QUEEN OF HEARTS, IS TOUCHED: Turn over the tow end cards, the ten and the ace, to show their backs. Pick-up the centre card, the queen, and turn it over and have the audience member read our prediction.

IF THE TEN OF SPADES IS TOUCHED: Pick up the envelope, open it and have the audience member remove your prediction and read it aloud.

IF THE ACE OF CLUBS IS TOUCHED: Pick up the envelope, turn it over and have the prediction read.

 THE 21 CARD TRICK

Even though this is probably the most famous self-working card trick in existence, it's still a great puzzler and a lot of fun to do.

The magician deals three rows of cards onto a table. Each row contains seven cards. An audience member is asked to locate the thought of selection.
 

SECRET: Shuffle the deck and begin by dealing three cards, face-up, in a row from left to right. Deal another three cards on top of the first three. In doing so, be sure to overlap them so you can still see a portion of the underlying card's faces. Continue dealing in this manner until you have three rows with seven cards in each row.

Ask an audience member to think of any of the cards on the table and then, without telling you its name, have them indicate the row that contains the mentally selected card. Gather up one of the two rows that does not contain his card. It is important that you do this in a manner that does not alter the position of any of the cards. Gather the row containing the audience member's card in the same manner and add it onto the top of the first gathered pile. Gather the remaining row of cards and add it onto the top of the other two. This will centre the pile containing the mentally selected card between the other two.

Pick up the packet of 21 cards, turn it face-down, and once again deal out three rows of seven, face-up, cards. Ask the audience member to indicate the row the row that now contains the mentally selected card. Gather up the three rows as before, and in doing so, be sure that the pile containing the selected card is once again cantered between the other two.

Turn the entire packet face-down as before and deal out three rows of seven face-up cards. Ask the audience member to once again indicate the row that now contains the mentally selected card. When he does this, you immediately look at the forth card in that row. Remember this card, it is the selection.

 THREE TO DIVINE

Although this feat of mental magic is very easy to do, its performance will create the impression that you possess extra sensory perception.

An audience member shuffles a deck of playing cards and removes three of the cards as the magicians inner jacket is inspected and shown to be empty.

The magician displays the three cards and asks some one to remember one of them. The cards are placed into the magicians inner jacket pocket and, after a moment, the magician removes two of the cards. The audience member is asked to identify the selected card and, upon hearing its name the magician removes the one remaining card which proves to be the selection.

SECRET: Prior to the performance, remove any two cards from the deck and place them, with their backs outward (away from your body), into your left vest or shirt pocket.

Begin by having the deck shuffled and the three selections removed. As this is being done, have someone examine your left inner jacket pocket. Place the deck aside and openly display the three cards in a fanned condition. As you display the cards, remember their names and the positions they occupy. For clarity, we will assume that the ace of spades is on the face of the fan, followed by the six of diamonds, occupying the centre position, and the jack of clubs at the back.

Have an audience member remember one of the three cards. Following this, place the cards in your inner left hand jacket pocket with their backs facing outward, away from your body. Explain that you will attempt to find their card. Thrust your hand under your coat into your shirt or vest pocket and remove one of the two cards hidden there. When the card is removed, it is important that the back is facing outwards, towards the audience, so that its identity is unknown. Add the card to the tabled deck and, as you do, indicate that it's not their selection. Repeat this procedure with the other card as you ask the audience member to name their selection. If the ace of spades is named, reach into your pocket and remove the card closest to your body. If the jack of clubs is named, remove the card farthest from your body. If the named card is the six of diamonds, simply remove the centre card.

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