Looking for a couple nice mentalist effects to put into my routines. Not too many, maybe a single trick or source that has a couple. don't want too many because I have plenty other material but no mentalism and I want one or two mentalist tricks in my arsenal. What should I check out??

If you've seen any of my other posts, chances are you've seen at least one reccomending Street Magic by Paul Zenon. That has several good mentalism effects, and some that could be presented that way, although they aren't presented that way in the book.

Collectors Workshop has a number of nice mental effects.

Also check out the work of Paul Hallas.

13 Steps to Mentalism by Tony Corinda
If you are new to mentalism this book is priceless. Uri Geller claims is the only magic book he read in his life!

"Mentalism" DVD by the Greater Magic Video Library Teach-In Sessions. You'll find presentations and explanations by Colombini, T.A. Waters, Larry Becker, Finn Jon and Joe Stevens, owner of Steven's Magic. Very basic and easy material.

I had a look at this DVD just a few days ago. Try it.

José

Think of mental applications of the tricks that you already do. This will help you work on a convincing mentalist persona. Make some card tricks into mentalist tricks. Even a simple key card location can be a powerful demonstration of your ability to pick up a thought from the air, or detect a specator's pulse as your wave her hand over the spread cards. Or maybe you can pick up a spec's residual heat off the card.

A HUGE part of making an effect "mental" is how you present yourself and the experiment. Check out the works of Jay Sankey. A lot of his mentalism dvd's feature reworkings of other great effects into a mentalist experiement.

Lots of my best mentalism effects are card effects done with index cards or business cards rather than playing cards. I also love using levitations to demostrate my powers.

I love the nail writer, has been used by major names in street magic.

13 Steps to Mentalism is a must.

If I could pick one mentalist effect that could work well in a magician routine I would say book test when done right it's quick direct and completely impressive and weather it's presented as magic or mentalism no one can figure out how it's done.

I like the psycholigcal subtleties books by Banacheck. (Spelling isn't my strenghth). 13 steps is def a must have book. Also annemans practical mental effects

I would consider what mentalism routine you're mixing in with your magic. Some mentalists would say you cannot mix the two, I say why not? But it depends on how you're doing it. Magic tends to be very visual, introducing the wrong mentalism routine in the mix may make that part of your performance slow and boring. You may also reduce the effect of a mentalism routine by how it's introduced (what you perform before the mentalism) or what you perform after.

To better guide you in the right direction, it would be good to know what your magic performance is like, or what kinds of magic effects you're doing? Are you using a lot of playing cards? Live animals? Silks and sponge balls? That kind of stuff.

Yeah I agree with 13 steps. I don't do a lot of mentalism myself either but consider it one of my best books. It's got great material and allows you to get a grasp or at least an introduction on most mentalism methods.

Hey newtomagic,

What if I told you that you could have some of the greatest secrets of mentalism ever put to paper? I'm talking about the stuff that many professionals use to make a living! What if I told you that the source of this knowledge would cost less than $11, and that most props needed could be made/purchased for less than $5 at a local retailer? Would that sound pretty good?

Well, it's all true!!! Check out Practical Mental Magic by Ted Annemann from Amazon, your local magic shop, or your favorite online dealer. I believe that this is the best starting point for mentalism possible. At least if you decide that mentalism/mental magic is not for you, you've wasted very little money. If you decide to pursue it further, to go deeper, you'll have a purchase that you'll never regret; one that will hold you in good stead for decades to come as it has done for decades gone by.

Wishing you the best of luck!!

Hi,

I would rather recommend that you use your material and work out a mental effect, and I can't suggest you to get Practical Mental Magic or 13 Steps for the absolute beginning or for just one effect for a magic routine. Maybe a easy effect for a magician would be to predict a card (just use a force) or let the spectator pick a card and figure out which it is (I think you can figure out a method by yourself). And it's important to know that mentalism is not presented like magic, not as "just a trick". Your presentation sells the effect. But I would never mix magic with mentalism.

Though, maybe you are searching for mental magic instead of mentalism?
As a good source of mental magic I can recommend some stuff from Jay Sankey.


Greetings

Prometheus

Duh-oh! I just realized that I was suckered into responding to a thread that's six years old. The OP is long gone, but I feel there is a valid point to be made for other newcomers who might stumble into it.

I don't want to start a flame war here. That is not my intent.

The point I want to make is that many of us forget that we had to crawl before we could run; we had to take basic math before we took trigonometry. In other words, very few simply make the decision to be a mentalist...it usually starts with basic magic, progresses toward more serious efforts, and can progress towards mentalism as the person's inclinations lead. That's basically my story!!

I'm not saying that mentalism is a higher art form. Just that an interest in mentalism is likely to start with magic, then mixing magic and mental stuff before someone decides to dedicate themselves to just mentalism. BUT, you have to start somewhere!! So, if someone mixes magic and mentalism, performs it as a "trick," or gasp, even trivializes the art, it's going to be ok. These are learning experiences for them, and they will be better off for it. As they have some successes, they will learn, adapt, and seek more counsel. But let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. If someone wants to add a mental effect to a magic program and call it mentalism, cool! At least they're performing, which means they're growing!!!

The Café is filled with stories of people who started by mixing magic and mentalism before they became more serious about making the mentalism believable. If you're just starting out, do yourself a favor and get Annemann's book. Read it, study it, apply it, and PERFORM IT! That is the only way you will go further. Best of luck to everyone!

A prediction type of effect where the sealed prediction has been in full view throughout the show would seem to work in a regular magic act.

Methods abound. It's more enjoyable to think up your own methods.

For an off-line effect there's an effect in my 1976 book, "The Propshop: E-Z Tricks With Magical Accessories" called "The Mailed Deck" that would work well for a magician. (That effect is not original to me, please note.)
http://www.seleccionesmagicas.com/3546-h......urio.jpg

Good luck with your quest.

Brett

I did an impromtu prediction with three people using a B**n W****r. Un-BE-lieveable response! I'm forty years into magic. Very little mentalism experience. I do not mix the two, though. If I do "magic", that's all I do. The BW is performed by itself. L*n@ is performed by itself. You do not want dilution. Mixing mentalism with magic tricks takes the power away from serious mentalism.

Doug

Fair Play just came out, and that seems like a good mental magic type plot.

It has elements of both.

Doug