The closest to me will know that one of my favourite things to do in my spare time after dreaming up movie plots and blowing things up, is Mentalism - stage magic that appears to demonstrate telepathy and psychic abilities. Derren Brown is the most famous mentalist in the world. I only do it occasionally but what fascinates me is that its a different way of thinking and perceiving; it forces you to look at things differently and stimulates your sense of wonder.

Mentalism can be utterly hilarious, especially when it comes to spiritualism. The vast majority of stage magicians you will ever meet have an intense loathing for psychics, mediums, diviners, telepaths or other types who claim to tap into vague spiritual “energy”. They know its fraud because it’s Mentalism’s history and roots.

In the last few hundreds of years, musicians made their livings playing on the street as buskers or at larger performances. Magicians would work tables in restaurants and theatres, being tipped and paid by those they performed for. The wise will see what’s coming. Another form of going round tables and providing entertainment for money was spiritualism - telling fortunes, reading cards, doing seances etc.  Rich aristocrats would pay “psychics” to hold seances in their homes as dinner party entertainment.

So guess what happened? Fortune-telling became a way of making money. “Psychics” and Mentalists started borrowing each other’s acts to incorporate in their own trademarked performances. Every single book or text on the Mentalist arts features the secrets behind performing fortune-telling, acts of telekenesis, spoon-bending, mind-reading and more. All of it is fake, and its so intertwined that its now impossible to tell them apart.

Did you think Tarot (Playing) Cards really tapped into mystic “energy” somehow, and your personal psychic was real (because got the real one, maybe it was done for free and everyone else got conned other than you) and actually was somehow divining your personality and future? Moron.

They’re playing cards - get it?

This is an typical introductory article from a Mentalism archive about how to “read” Tarot Cards in your act.

Effect 10: Tarot Reading

You produce a pack of Tarot Cards and invite your volunteer to shuffle them thoroughly. After shuffling them, you take the pack and deal six cards face down on the table, discarding the remainder of the pack.

As each card is turned to reveal its symbol, you make startling revelations about your volunteer that convince them you can see into their mind and personality.

Tarot Reading relies on a technique known as “cold reading”. It’s a technique used by clairvoyants, psychics and mentalists to make a person believe you can read their innermost thoughts. The statements used are specially designed to sound specific to one person and yet they are so general, they actually apply to a large percentage of the population.

Look at the statements below and see how many apply to you.

Imagine if someone claiming to be psychic told you these things; would you believe they had special powers?

1. You have a need for other people to like and admire you
2. You are overly critical of yourself.
3. You have some personality weaknesses but are generally able to compensate for them.
4. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not yet turned to your advantage.
5. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you are worrisome and insecure on the inside.
6. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing.
7. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety
8. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof.
9. You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others.
10. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved.
11. Some of your aspirations can be rather unrealistic.
12. You become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations
13. Security is one of your major goals in life.

Now all you need to perform some cold reading is a pack of Tarot cards and to memorize the above statements. Get your spectator to shuffle the Tarot deck and then ask them to deal six cards face down on the table.

Turn over the cards one by one to perform your reading. No matter what cards turn up, recite the phrases above and try to personalize the phrases as much as you can. You will get far more ‘hits’ than ‘misses’. And think – how many times have you heard a psychic say that the images and names of Tarot cards should not be taken literally in a reading? Now you know why!

“Cold Reading” is a massive science that takes years to master. Don’t be tempted to think its just a little trick - there are hundreds of books, millions of words and thousands of practictioners who have been evolving it as a science for centuries. It as much a science as biology, chemistry and physics are, and a lot more than just noticing a wedding ring to give a prediction of engagement.

The claims made are also very. very subtle and not so obviously general that you would notice them. As a reader spends time with you they get more and more accurate. “Shotgunning” is the most used technique for crowds or TV.

The statements in the article above are known as “truisms”, which are based on Barnum’s Statements of personal validation fallacy or the Forer Effect. Here are some others:

• “I sense that you are sometimes insecure, especially with people you don’t know very well.”
• “You have a box of old unsorted photographs in your house.”
• “You had an accident when you were a child involving water.”
• “You’re having problems with a friend or relative.”
• “Your father passed on due to problems in his chest or abdomen.”

Or perhaps you can use the Rainbow Ruse:

• “Most of the time you are positive and cheerful, but there has been a time in the past where you were very upset.”
• “You are a very kind and considerate person, but when somebody does something to break your trust, you feel deep-seated anger.”
• “I would say that you are mostly shy and quiet, but when the mood strikes you, you can easily become the center of attention.”

These are just examples. A good reader will adapt and personalise these *types* of statements to you as they read you more and more deeply. As the “reading” goes on, they get more information and are able to personalise the statements with more accuracy.

The definitive reference is “Full Facts Book Of Cold Reading (4th edition)” by Ian Rowland:
Download “Full Facts Book Of Cold Reading (4th edition)” as a PDF

Of course, it’s just a bit of fun. Fun you paid for and spent money on, and thought was genuinely spiritual.