Jay – Exclusive Magic

11 Sep

Five of My (Current) Favorite Magic and Mentalism Books

Jay0 Comments

Guest article by Patrick WooleryMark Wilson's Complete Course in MagicThis belongs on every magician's bookshelf. It is the closest we have to a single volume complete collection of magic instruction. From close-up to stage illusions, cards, coins, sponge balls, even some bar betchas, this book has almost everything. Except the vital ingredient, which is meaningful presentations. But for the mechanics, no other book gives better value for money than Mark Wilson.George Anderson's Magic DigestI think of this as a companion volume to Mark Wilson. The unique element here is that the book is written for the person who wants to…

25 Aug

My Five Favorite Mentalism Books

Jay0 Comments

If I have to evacuate and can take 5 books with me, these are the ones.Recently in a Facebook group someone asked a good question, and while I answered it there, I thought I’d expand on it here, giving some reasons why I made the choices I did.Question(Paraphrased) Write down your 5 favorite books on mentalism from which you really learned some new, creative ideas and methods. Books that you don't want to end when you read them. AnswerThe following are not necessarily in order, and I’ll admit I'm kind of cheating because the first two are single books of…

24 Jul

Mastermind Groups for Mystery Performers

Jay0 Comments

Maybe this is a piece of the performing puzzle that will help you.If you’re not familiar with the term “mastermind group,” it’s basically a small group of people working toward similar goals who get together regularly for brainstorming, sharing what’s working and what isn’t, asking for help with problems, etc. The concept was coined in 1925 by author Napoleon Hill in his book The Law of Success, and described in more detail in his 1937 book Think and Grow Rich. The core idea is that putting more than one mind working on an idea will create better results that one…

22 Jul

NuMatrix Cards

Jay0 Comments

Want to get into readings but don't know where to start? Get your feet wet -- NuMatrix Cards is low pressure and has a surprise ending!The Effect: The mentalist shows nine large cards, each with a different grid of 16 numbers, and allows the participant to choose the one that appeals to her at that moment.Setting the other eight grid cards aside, the mentalist writes something on the back of the extra Lo Shu card and places it aside for later. Handing the dry erase marker to the spectator, he asks her to circle a number on the grid. He…

22 Jul

Layne's Nightmare: A Fishy Story

Jay0 Comments

A close-up routine for the people in your audience who’d rather be fishing.In a nutshell: Sixteen cards are face down in a grid. Your helper chooses a number from 1 to 4 and the cards in that row and column are swept up and fish on the other side they didn’t catch are shown. More rows and columns of cards are taken up. One last time and only one card is left on the table. Your helper’s catch of the day is shown to be a boot!(Psst! I don’t want to say this is self-working, but…)The effect: Sixteen fish cards…

22 Jul

Going Viral (Inspired by a Larry Becker Routine)

Jay0 Comments

A fun parlor or stage mentalism routine that’s current and relatable to virtually everyone in your audience! In a nutshell: Three spectators each secretly choose a pen name and social media platform. The mentalist is able to determine each name and the platform on which they’re going viral.(Psst! The focus is on entertainment and mystery, not secret moves!)The Effect In Full: To begin with, the mentalist shows five cards, each with the name and logo of a different social media platform such as Facebook and Twitter, and talks about what they’re typically used for; people posting pictures of their lunch,…

19 Jul

Back in the Saddle (Finally!)

Jay0 Comments

Coming Home After Too Many Years Away From The StageI gave my last magic performance probably around 2003, and the last one for a paying audience probably 15 years before that. Then I did a few community theatre plays and that was it. Over the years I’d thought I should get “back in the saddle” again, but it never took. Finally……after watching the documentary “Muppet Guys Talking” I felt horribly homesick. And almost physically sick because I knew I took a wrong turn so many years ago when I gave up performing. The other thing that got me focusing on…

16 Jul

What’s Wrong With Mental Magic

Jay0 Comments

I hate the term mental magic. It’s almost never used as a descriptor, but as an insult.I think someone with good performing chops could take pretty much any "mental magic" piece and make it look like real mentalism, so it's not the trick that's the problem, it's the performer.The only thing wrong with mental magic are the elitist snobs who use that term to put other performers down.

09 Jun

Coming soon…

Jay0 Comments

Exclusive mentalism and magic effectsOver the past few years I’ve created several effects — mostly mentalism-flavored, but some easily fall into the mental-magic category (depending on how you define it).I’ve created instructions for everything and tutorial videos for most of them, but never took the final step to release them. To make them actually available for people to buy and use!I’ve decided to fix that and over the next few weeks you’ll start seeing effects show up in this area.Please feel free to send me feedback on what you see here, especially if it’s the kind of stuff you enjoy…

09 Apr

Top 10 Resources for Mystery Performers

Jay0 Comments

(Where Top 10 is defined as a handful...)Top 10 lists are completely subjective -- what may make the list for me, might not even show up on your Top 50 list. And even our own individual lists will change over time as we grow. But still, sharing what each of us thinks is important can be a good thing.I hope you find at least one thing here you didn't know about that helps you become a better performer.Exclusive Magic is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Here they are…