Every time i'm doing the Premonition effect i get the feeling that the counting part in that trick has some kind of hypnotic effect.
Is it?
does counting numbers from 1 to 51 {or any number}
can hypnotize someone?
Without any mention of the word hypnosis?

Yaniv Deautsch

Not in the way most people think about hypnosis. Unfortunately due to the image that television, movies and stage performances have portrayed hypnosis and hypnotists, there is a large amount of disinformation out there on it. The counting in "premonition" is not hypnotising your audience, it is boring and putting them to sleep. It is not an easy thing to do to keep that an exciting part of the trick nor a very logical way to show one card missing.

PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat

(Without knowing zipf about hypnosis): Concentrated counting probably does "alter your state of conciousness", especially when the counter is nervous on stage.

Yaniv, the more important question IMHO is if you can do anything with this "altered state" (be it hypnosis or not).

Are you kidding?
The counting bit is the best part in Premonition.
You are breaking their psychological block one card at a time.
Slowly but surely.
If i can only do one trick in my life this will be the one.

Yaniv Deautsch

For an entertaining (and suspenseful) version of "Premonition," check out "The Immortal" effect found in Christian Chelman's book "Capricornian Tales."

Thanks.
But I Prefer my own version.
It's like a Rod Serling trick or something,
right out of the Twilight Zone.

Yaniv Deautsch

Hello,

I do agree : this effect is as strong as it is boring ! Last month I saw a mentalist performing (as well as it is possible to do) this effect and it was soooooooooo long ! Perhaps with a giant video screen so the audience can see the counting...

The Chelman's presentation is far more exciting !

Best,
Fred

I still think that Premonition is a strong effect for a stage mentalism...but you need to play with your audience during the counting of the cards. I saw Ted Lesley performing it. He was singing with his audience "1, 2, 3...51" and it became a very entertaining trick.

I personally use a version of this that saw print in Theatre of the Mind. I try to eliminate some of the boredom of the counting procedure by asking the spec. to think stop when they see their card. I do not actually count the number of cards but instead run through the entire deck and claim that I had no "vibrations etc" telling me to stop on any of the cards. Ask them if they did think stop and they will say that they did not see their card within the deck. I then go on talking about "how before the show i had a strange feeling of a certain cards significance .... ect" and reveal the card in my pocket.

Best,

Luke.

Hi,

The purpose of the count is to distract the participant so she want notice a duplicate (almost a secret).

Yours faithfully

Dan Kirsch

They do seem to kind of TRANCE OUT while counting all that time. Could you slip a suggestion in during the procedure? I'd like to try it. In my version of "Uncle Charlie" they seem to be very compliant.

I slip suggestions in before during and after the effect. The audiences I do this with are rivited to the counting by then. I think this effect is one of the best effects in mentalism. My presentation is totally different.

I also think many on here miss out on the real power of suggestion. Its not in trying to "trance" out or embed or slip in a formal induction - its in the structure of the complete presentation. In other words the sequencing and chunking of information from the start to the finish of not only the routine but the whole talk/show.

There are many more ways to deliver suggestions then attempting to embed an formal induction. And most of them are a lot more useful and powerful.

Mindpincher, read your statement out one more time. You'll probably want to change it. It's not making a lot of sense.

I know bobser it probably doesn't make much sense if you have limited knowledge.

Perghaps I should work a little harder to simplify things. Unfortunately I don't have all day.