Tales From the Book of Thoth

As mentioned last week, “The Princess, the Sword, the Jewels & Everything” came about from working on “Cops & Robbers” (Expert Card Technique by Jean Hugard) and reading Stephen Minch’s “The Book of Thoth”. The result was a unique and successful bit of “bizarre” magic, if you will. That being done, I found two effects in Minch’s book that appealed to me. One is called “Towering Prediction” and the other is “Lunar Fating”. I decided I would perform both for “Magic Friday”.

“Lunar Fating” is a very pretty effect. At first I passed it over since it deals with a top stock. I don't remember ever performing a card effect involving a stock. It always seemed like too much preparation and too little flexibility. But I was intrigued by the effect and the aesthetically pleasing visual at the conclusion. (Not to mention an unexpected revelation). Minch tells us this effect is an adaptation of
Harry Lorayne’s “Coincidently Yours” from his book “Close-Up Card Magic”. But in order to feel confident in the effect I had to work on my false shuffling. I’ve never been great at false shuffles. That’s because I never spent enough time to make one look natural and convincing. I remembered there was a beautiful false riffle shuffle described in “Stars of Magic”. This is part of Vernon’s legendary “Triumph” routine. Adapting this shuffle to tarot cards was not difficult. I also polished a fantastic false overhand shuffle I learned from Ian Kendall in his marvelous series “Basic Training” in MUM. (Dec. 2009). And now, the greatest secret I have learned in magic. I learned it years ago, but I never tire of being reminded of it. Give no attention to the slight. Broadcast no indication that something important is happening. Casualness wins the day. And that is what I did. I briefly showed the tarot cards as I mentioned they were the same ones we used last week. (Which were thoroughly examined at that time). I false riffle shuffled 2 or 3 times (and a few running cuts) very casually as I explained that I discovered something unusual about the cards and called for two helpers. Once my helpers were in place I momentarily asked them if they had their psychic mojo on etc. During this short by-play I (again casually) did 2 false overhand shuffles while looking at my helpers. My goal was to make it look like I was toying with the deck before beginning the trick. I must have been successful because this routine played BIG. I am so glad to have put aside my prejudgment of stock routines. As a result I have acquired a beautiful routine that leaves a very strong impression.

The other effect was “Towering Prediction”. It’s an old principle. Nine cards are laid out and the spectators make a series of jumps. One card is removed after each jump. Finally, if instructions are followed, everyone ends up on the same card. I saw Kevin Spencer perform this last summer in a wonderful stage show. Spencer’s version involved travel destinations. It was extremely well presented and played powerfully. I think I also remember David Copperfield using this principle on one of his television specials in the ‘80’s. Since I have a “Smart Board” in my classroom, I scanned in some tarot cards a made a “PowerPoint” with the cards fading out after each jump. It looked great. I even worked it out so each class would wind up at the end on a different place and card than the other classes. (Teenagers talk to each other).

Results: I expected “Towering Prediction” to be the big winner today but I was wrong. All audiences unanimously preferred “Lunar Fating”. I understand why, it’s a beautiful routine, but I really expected my audiences to be totally blown away by “Towering Prediction”. It was successful, but not as strong as I thought it would be. I must rethink my presentation. I believe some people suspected that the effect was mathematical in nature. I need to find a way to make the number of jumps seem more random. One possible solution might be to present the effect in the light that although everyone has endless choices of directions and combinations of jumps, everyone will (by psychic means) choose the very same paths. It’s worth a try.
To conclude, Stephen Minch’s wonderful little book “The Book of Thoth” has provided/inspired at least 3 very successful bits of professional level magic. In fact, there is one more effect from that book I am looking at. Until then…