Al5o b!

i{arl, SLnvings

Booksand Lhclrte

AnnemannFo. Th9t \ ( t!/9.11. \jcnilMatargc Lc.lureNotes(1996)

lvlobrleMenLrir\mbookrnudrorapc scr( l!x:}5). Thc UnsenEdrrton( i997)
To Pa) Thetlicc ( | qt) . ConsrruculcN{enr{isrn( 19.18)
MiEc ForYoungUn's(t!).*l . Bdo,psi{ 1999)
Befo'c The Curhin R'scs (2000) . Anabm) oia Suc..ssiut(andVrrlu.r[y Bulte.proo0 MaFi. Shos (2000)
\4iraclesFr()n The Hrp(2tNIl . ThcUtrinraleIn\isjbleBr-arrsavc-The Bcirk (?(XXl)
PsiRa.lllptcr(LecrurcNoles)(]{{jr) . SlrdngeThoughb(Ul)
SrlentPanner(:CKl:)

On vrdeoandaudi(}

Annenanns Encorei199.1). Ho\! Tr)MakeLlon.! wlrh psipadresitEX)

Thc AnnemainUpgrades Vn. I ( t99'6) . SlnlingsSpeks\bl_ i ( l9C5)
StnrinssSpcalsVol.li(t99,5). \\AMt WalkAroundMenlltism( 199(t
Stnrin8sSp.)lis ASnin(1997). MenBtisn - A Vi\lerinr ( 1997)
Thcl\'lasrcrmrndAcr&CaSlrcsrrosCD,sul(l!/97).tjo$ To Creat\.ou. Own Mi.rctes 0997)
The DcsenBmrnstonnSencs(\rjrlrrheSir andOne,Ha . 1997),rhreeraocsel
A i A l ' S t l I . \ ^ t u m . l l l \ , t h l u J n f a n , . . aD
/ " ^ \ r nO n r , /R
, , , p h rB
Fel niL; Iut)
MrrkSlri\ingsCoesToDdv.are(1998). cer Morc Or Oi your Magic(I qlA)
MarkengYourMendism (l99a) . Kid StuJt, ThcA B C's l .Bou1Childftn {199a)
imagination ls Everl,thing(lgt) . A l ConienrionArTheCapitnl Lilc.Sg{19991
The HumanSoundack (2000) . Is Tl1atA penoilIn your p&kct, OL.. (200t)
Hor\ To MlieMone! PedonnirgFor l ligh SchootKids Afler D{k (?002) . Defering Murph} (2001)

Ellacrs-

Sr-mbolMindcd . As In A Miror D,{kl) Ttje Sequcl. Tam!Tell

ChallengeName A Crrd ' E\ra Sensoryfbrccprion . ArgnneImage
Tarot-Opnc. WarmFuzics Up Close . TarorTeLtB.Nic Kir . ArcanSynrbotMinded
Par OpncPlus . Se\cnKets To Baldpare. TheSighrUnseenC.rse. puzTief
kychic Psuds. HappyMc1Miraclc . SeShe[ DrvinarionKir . OFen& Shur
FrogS'c. AWorkOfA($ithRob'nDcWi(). N{nsk-e.ade * Mask-er.rdeII & t
The Joinfs Jumpin' . Koran Srr-leForceDeck . KoIn Sryle T\\,GWay Forc Deck
The RecognitircPupper. ChipShot . Tbeprccogniriv phingerpupper
The Ultnate InvisibleBrain$.ave. Blislnng. Hypno-Voque. ABindingChoice. SqueekMe!
Mindevek'pmenral Il (riirh ire Ma.eli) . onc Dst h.emonrr,lon. TethmmlorMriacle
PsychicSnd)p . Lorlo Luck . A PerfecrMalch . you MaLe The CnlI . hychic tnftueftre
The Sighr UnseenCaseGenrJtrooII

Markeredmaterhls-

The HomePs]hicPanyKit . Caliosrro's Crystal, TheDetuxSet . MeSaL,temor_v Dmonsrrn{by ChuckHickok)

BOR - Back Ot The R(!rm for Pslchic Fjterhrncrs (Kit) . RetractbleTbumb Writer (by creS Enmonds)
The MasterBillel lnde\ Kjl . The HumanCiga' . fie pirot pen (by Michet Sibbcmsen)

For morc ilforrraon on the conrpleE line of maenats for proiessionatmentjtists,

childrensand Iamil] enr,eiaiDers.pteasecrlt or \{rire:

Mark Strivings
8631 N. Lolvell Blvd.
r*'estminster, CO 80031
(303)650-6992phobe& fax
erna;l MarkyApril @aol.corn
 Mental Mix
Firstpublished2003by:
MarkStrivings
863I N. LowellBlvd.
Westminsrer.CO 80031
USA

Copyright02003 by Mark D. Strivings

This book may ot be reproduced,sloredin any retieval systemor tmnsmitled, in any form
or by any meaDs,electron;c.niechanical,photocopying,recordingor othewise.without
witten permissionof Mark D. Striviogs,8631 N. Lowell Blvd., Weshinster, CO 80031

Commercittlptoduction rights to all nateridls in this (jre oe expressl\,reserved.

 Mefr.alMk

ThiL ltoo/" tt /a?t//// {pl,acaJe/ lo lla nenauq ,ria* R, 6l/4,w

"/

Qo//znya, il4e441tcouatzJ uu,ze ol lu,apaa/iou,

dPnJA/e Wiu,L aa/ ooal tnfnalatat,
o uetuT
dea,z A r^"t114uared hrsr4.
"
 MentalMix

- Tableofcontents .
Acknowledgements
ne TopTenBoolest 1
A WorR0f Art (by RobinDewitt ErMark strivings) 4
Many Tekel 7
HalfAndHatf 73
Two,fhrce and Four-WayForceDeck 14
Half stacked

Half Roughecl 75
Half Tekeled 76
Lovefs Voodoo I7
Lovefs VoodooII 20
Synchronicity 21
FinalMix 45

- I -
 MenttMix

,-.',--^.r:,::1:laln."^,"-,,^^,:::"::::.",,I*"n"nr*no*ee,therdirecrryo,
indirectlyinvolvedandwho desene'thanks.

Theo Annemann. lbny Corinda,?1.Baker,

EugeneBurger,Jeff McBri<ie.l_any Becker,
Earle, rhe membersof the Six and One Ha, thernemiers Lee
of,i" p,ifr""l, in" Enrerrain
ersAssociation.Rruce Bernstcin, Docc Hilford,
Brian and Jan Fi"... ni"i-a'W.Oo_,
"sychic
Kathy
PatrickHoicombe, Roben and
Waller,Wencly
n ,.,"tf , O""iJ un,tMrO"i'Si"iig"., 1-""V*",,,, *,,,
CarlHenon..fony.Andmzzi.
Hunter.Richardtsusch,
RobinOrWrt unO.nii,ottr".....
...to each oi you. for a diiferent reasonand
for clillering circumstaaces,I thank
all of 1.outhis probably would not have beenpossible. !,ou. Without
We all ie"a ,,,fpoi, ona
inspirarionar varioustirnesin ourlives.All oi you
t u"" t"",, it ii,i,lg-; "n"our^g"n "u,
;,;',nu"n .o," to. *".
"."
I thankyou.

And to you, dearreade.,Ithankyoufor pultingyour

trust;uld timein{o this little effon.
I hopeyou find somethjngwonhwhjle.'Ih-L. to you-putfi""tlo".
you,therewouldbeno reason. i*" *i ... p*.,Ole. Wthout
Enjoyl

.II .
 Mefttal Mix

TheTopTenBoaktest
ByMark Strivings
Wby in the world would we needrnotherbooktest? Well thebasicansweris very simple.
Different t) pes of booktestsallow 1bra variety of presentation,nol to nention method.What lve
ha\ e here usesa tried and true nethod corbinedwith a presentatjonal hook. which can be a ton ol
fLrrrior the righr performer.

Plus this pafticular booktestusessome of the ratherunique propertiesof the David

LettemranTop Ten I-ists booksto specialadvanrage,both in method and presentation.lf your
performing st,yleleansto$ards the possibleuse ol l-etlerrnanstyle humor,this could be a major
$ inncrlor ;ou. Piusit's deadeasyl

Effect -
The performer producestrvo books, "David Letterman'sBook of Top Ten Lists and Zesty
Lo-Cal Chicken Recipes" atrd"David Letterman'sNew Book of Top Ten Lists and Wedding Dress
Pattemsior the Husky Bride". One of the books is selectedand a pageis randomly chosen.Both of
theseare completelyfree actions,no iorce ol any kind is used.To add to the fun a number lrom one
lo ten is also called out. The spectatorlooks up the chosenpageand the ilcm at the number callcd
for in the top ten list ofl thal page.

Meanwhile the pe.forme. looks up the top ten list on that samepage in the otlea Top Ten
book. He can proceedto read all or part of the iist. Needlessto say,the periormer now has
Letterman'swriting stafTworking for rin / This can be a .iot unto itself. Finally the perfomterhas
the spectatorread the selecteditem to himself. The perfonner conceotratesand revealsnot only the
irem at the selectednumber but also the Top Ten List topic on that page.In fact, the perfonner can
revealthe entireTop Ten List if so desiredl It's a fun-filled miraclel

Method-
I claim no originality for the actualmethod of this little mystery,apart from the useof the
ktterman books,which allows for someinterestinghandling ideas,as you'li seeshortJy.As I said,
this is a tried and true method and is very easy to pull of. I'll give you a couple of different method
and presentationideas.But first we needto do a bit of constructioo.

You'll oeedto get tlre copiestotal of the ktterrnan Top Ten trooks.Yo can checkonline
at Amazon.comor any otler bookstoreyou like. Candidly theseare getting toughto find new io a

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 Mental Mix

booksto^re so your besrbet is probably a usedbookslore.This is where

I found my copies.There are
flr e different r,olumesavailable.Three of them are in paperback
,nd th" otl,", t*.n o." rn hardback.
PersonallyI usethe two hardbacktirresristed above.'r-n. gooa
tting au.,rrt or thesebooks is thal
they afe identicalin jayout.sizcand design,whichallowslor "il
'Zesty some-veryinteresting possibjlities.
I
uset$'o copiesof thc Lo-CalChr.l,enRecipc!.andone copl ol: Wedding
Dresspalems..
You ll needan Exactoe!knifeand somecontactcemelt to do
thisjob. you.re going[o
separatetbe cover of the book fiom rhe main body. .l-odo this
vou needtJopen the book all the
$ay (ary book of the three books at this point since you,re
going to iio this proceourero tr\.o out ol
the three books), nteaning both coversshouta be touctring
elch Jrfr", o,, U"'oppo"* .r;.;;; ;r;
closedposition. Now take the Exacto@_kliifeand cut carefully where
the cover meetsthe lirst page.
You.want to cut the piece of paper that is glued to the inside
of the hardbackcover non,r push too
hard or you'li go all the rvay through rhe spineof thc book.
cut down rhe ;nsideof both tfic fronr
and backcover You thenwill haveto uorkthe pagesloose
from the binding.Do this as carefully
as ) oucan because you re going to needeilherthe co\ er or tlre pxgesthenr;lves
dcpendlngon
whichbook you're cunentlydestroying_

ln the example aboveI nrentionedthat I use two copiesof the .Zesty

Lo-Cal Chicken
Recipes'and_onecopy of .WerJtlingDress patterns,.Remove
the guts from'one copy o1eachof the
titles, which leavesn single copy of, st},I_o Cal Chicken Recipi., unrou"h"a. Clarefull),renove
any looseflaps of tom paperor other obstntctionsfrom both pajs
that you havesepamted.

re now going to grue the guts from the 'zesty Lo Cal chicken
- . 'Wedding
-You Recrpes'ioto the cover
of the Dress pattems,.To do this, apply contactcement to both
the endso1 the guts from
the llrst booli and the insidc of the spineof the cover of the secon
dbook. l,<:tb.)th .t theseparts dry
comp.letebbeforc-),oustickthem together,Oncelhey are dry,
line them up carelully atd stick them
together.Be careful with thjs procedurebecausethey will stick
totally an rock solid the instart
they touch! Once all is in position presseverything solidly into
plaJand you,re done!

You wili stilr ha'e the guts and cover from the other two books
, reft over. you dol,t need
them, unlessJou feel like makng anothergaifed book. It won.t
wo.k with the set you,ve.just
constructed,but it is atr option.

Take this new book and combine it with the regularbook that
is unalte(ed.What you have
are two books with different covers but identical pagestiroughout.
Sjncetbesepafilcular books are
identical in layout and designanyway,this is even ore a""ltirr"
tt * u"uJ. you can tossout the
two books with completeconfidence,as there is virtually nothing
to discover unt.ss the two books
are direcrly comparedside by side. ir o ,o*"rr, ih", p"rio.ps thi, effec, ,s noafor,)or. There
frrir
rs no leasonon earthfor the spectatorsto ever compare ihe
two books side'by side,so don,t let this
stop you. Believe me, this is extremely deceptiveand absolutely
flies right bi every audience.

-2-
 Mefttal Mix

\Vith these t$o books votl have all you need to perform a completeaDdcomnercial miraclc_
Hereis lvhatI do in m) routine.l'll give lou so e otheride;lsatterthat-

Olfer up the l!vo books and have the spectatorselectone.It does not matteawhich one the!
pick. Keep the other onefor yourself. Have a page selecled.You can have someonecalLout a
randomnnber betweenI 165(Ihere:ue 165pagesin the books)and haveyour spectator tum to
that page.Meal\\,hile you a'e apparcntlytuming to the sanrepagein ]our book. I tum to a page
that is actuall,rabout 20 pagesawayfrom the actual nunrbercalled.There's no heat and no one cr
tell rvhich pageyou areon any\ray.The reasonfor this is ro apparentlysho$ what top ten lisr is on
l h a lp a p ei n r h eb o o kl h e ) d i d n o rs e l e c t

ll ,vouhave a copy of the book you can easily cover the pagenumbersat the bottom of the
pages* iLhlour finge.s. This iurther concealsthe deception.Readout the top ten list on thal page
and read a few of the items-This is always good for a feq, laughs.I then ask my spectalorif the list
on their pageis lhe sameor not. Ol coursethey will sayit's diiTerent.

I now ask lbr someoneto give a lumber between1-10.This will be the item of the list that
your spectatorwill conceotrdteon. While this is being done, I casuallyflip through a few more
pagesand tum to the samepagemy specttoris looking at!Again, there is no heat and all you need
is a glimpse any$ ay. wilile looking at that pageI indulgc in a bit of acting. I look over the page
very openly and get the sbject of the list as well as the number item they are thinking of, morc if I
can get it easily and rememberit on the fly. I don't lalk as I do this and am apparentlyreading a
randoD list that I happenedto comeacross.I let out a bit of a chuckle and lhen comment,almost
underm) breaththat thesebooks,"crack me up." I then close the book-

Now I'm good to go. I can have them concentrateon the item in the list and then revealthal
item as \i ell as the topic of the list aDdperhapsanothercouple of items from the list. It's a miracle!

I mention abovethat I flip to a pagea ferv pagesaway from the actualnamedpage.Since

much of the time thereis a ce.tain limited rangeof pagenumbersthat getscalled, I will frequently
tum to lhe samepage eachshow (in my caseit's eitherpage 64, 'Top Ten Ted Kennedy Campaign
'Top Ten l-eastPopular
Slogans',or page 69, Mall Shops').The reasonI chosetheseparticular
pagesis becausethey can be doneal any time of the year (even tie Kennedy list), and becausethey
arefairly quick aDdeasyto understand.This gives me the option of readingll ten items iII the list
and not taking too much time with it. It keepsthe preseotationmoving along.

Il, on the other hand, the pageoaned is close to these trumbersI'll flip to a mndom pageout
of rangeofthe actual named page.The main tiillg is that you want to selecta page that is not gojng
to be accidentallydiscoveredby yonr spectatorin his book. Remembcr,you are mis-calling the

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,
 MentalMix

page and passingit off as bcing the jc

uri"ro.r,o* tr,oi
pug; ;#; ;;;;#:;1';:,fr:lff ;;lJ*::;:1il::r,5 ::"jJ"1
managenentalong with this snrll dotge rr
a| you need.Just a tiny bir of spectaror i:
rhanenoughto make this subtlelyfly is usually more
right by

Therearc otheruaJs lou cango about

doingthis cffect.The aboyeroutine
u s ea n dI | $ o rl . l i l e a c h a m t .B | l t is exactlJ,whatI
] o , rc l uh a v eo t h e ro p t i o n r .

One is to litererlll.menrorizean
top tct lisl l or portions of a list) frcm
books.once rhe page nu.5". i. llllle ore of rhe
"o1"0
f,:T'"'1",::*i,ln;ilH:'J;'1;:xT:'i:iiffi'::,::xx?
."'",r1""::i1,,":':.H'ii}:J;:i?1,::ton ararge padandjustrevear
those
if vou'drike.r've
tn" routlne-Write tie main word or tw-ofrom the main
subjectof the list and ,h" a.in *o.d or'
two lronl the selectednumber itcm.
Iarge. It's casy and plays

experimenl_ation
on Jour parr you,ll come up with several
,_,^.
proys ^ .^t_T :1":set
tor your :t,:,some presenrational
of books.One goodt
berier
w'rger
1,ou to-;;; ;;;::;;,;i;r':,iil:T,l#:nilHJli:.Ji:ff:ffi:,,";
regularly which makeswhat little work you
haveto do eyen easier.

..:, *ese books togerhcr The presentatjon

solld _L,
"^,,, mystery :t is lighrheartedand fut aDclil.s a rock
to boot. Have fun!

A WarkOfAn
ByRobinDeWittand-MarkStrivings
Beforewe divein hereI musttl my verydearfriendRobinDeWin for his pemissioo
releaserhiswonderfui.;;.;;,;;. ir"- ro
.;{:LT"
atameeringorrhem*n*_"."i,1i"lT:*:"Tlty;"1,ili.tJ,l'_
tnp acrossrheCatiforniaandArjzonadese"
.;.1" _ ji,rJa;;;:;;"._"
". r".rr.
Onthis particlaroccasionhe hroughtalong
a specialdeckof cardshe badfound and
wantedto do somebrainstormins ivirh rhe;ung. H f,uu t r".
After muchexchanginsof ideasimost of w-h.; -n4 uu, oo ,n",r,oa.
*;,; "oo'""[io
;" i;;:;0,,-0i,",,,1 *. .","rioo hit nle.
 MentalMix

I've donethis little miraclethisway eversi ce.I wasableto reieasethisas a commercialproduct

for a shofi period of tjnre severalyearsago.but had lo stop becauscthe special decksI had sirnply
ran out. If you're thinking that I'ln no\! pritrting somethingthat Jou'll ne!'er be ableto do, -'"ou
need not \\'orr). I ll fill you in shonly on whcrc \'ou caB gei all yo needto make thjs miracle
happen.It s very cool and.as it tums out.suapnsiogly easy.

Effert -
'Ihe performer
inLroducesa deckof art cards.Each cafd depictsa *'ork of alt ralging from
paintingsand sculpturesto multimediaand e\'ent' aat.F-achDajor style and petiod of arl hislory is
represented.I'he cardsare mixed and a wo.k of art is selectedat random. a conlpletcl) free choice.
'l'he
spectaloris theo told to concenfateon tbe work of art they randomly selected.

The perfonner thcn talcs :i iargepad of paperand proceedsto starl drawing. In tbe coutse
of dralving,the perfonner also rcvcalssomeolhef infonnation about thc work the speclatoris
holding such as the date,the rame of the artist and mote Finally the dra*'ing and freely seLected
work of art are comParedandfou dtobeamatch!

Md.hocl -
This is very easy.In fact the deckdoes about997o of the lt'ork fot youl There is no force of
any kind and the deck is sholvnopenLyat the outselof the efiect. There is no tough and smooth.no
long and short.The cards a.e completelynomtal. Plus as you will see,you don't have to be a great
artist to do this despitethe facl that you're using artistic masterpiecesas your targets.

It's a mene tekel deck! lf you're not familiar with this amazingconceptin card work' lhen
you are missing somethingthat is both devious and diabolical. It's easilyone of the most utlder
utilize.dgaffed detks in the businessand you can do absolutemiracles with it.

You'll needtwo matching decksof art cardswith the same color and Pattemon the backs-
F equentlythesecome in setsof two decks,but the backs are different colors. You need backsthat
are the samecolor in both decks.Thesecan be obtaited at most art museumgift shops.There is
also a chain store that can be iound in some of the more up_scalemalls around the country called
the MuseumStoa.They also have thesemaavelousdecks. w}Ien I releasedthis commercially the
decks lhat I used were issuedby the SmithsonianInstitute.Any matching decksthat depicl rlorks
of art will work.

Take one deck and remove 26 catds.You can hand pick the 26 images that you like the best.
ln ml deck I use imagesthat are visually distinctive and easyto draw. Since I an1not an artistI
choseimagesthat had easily distinguishablefeatures.For instanceifthere is a paintiDgthat has

-5-

!-_
 Mental Mix

obviouslargecircularobjects
in
i! ar
conceprs
or rhepaint;ng. l:"lcl beeasv
yoirr ca'ds anditpick
.r,urnot,i,.'.lli,il1::'-*l*t
to drawthemair
the 26 'nost strikiDg irnages-Keep
in mina thrt you can *'..0 ,ii,'"".ii"'""*"
' from shge' and you $nt the imagesyoll choose
'isible and easy to seeas possible- to be as

Remove the same 26 cardsfro

andshufre them
'parrup'these
tho,."rr; .;'.i""
:ll-.:iilJ ;:""::i,["i:*::il.":;Lt"
cards. "; each,m","f,;ng
Tbalis,pl.ce pri, oi"",a. ,oiori o,n"..
no!r'have52 cards,
eachimage
is directry.n"^t "o .f,ouf'
,o'iit -uL.t. ioi",oii,i. "ou
thereare
matchingpairsof cardspreseDt in the oair of imagessothat tiey
"",rrat
oppositcdirecrions.Think ot card,", j"il l-t:- "i* areracing
marchingtwin.end fo."na.o i,i.ru"go;;,:rd;:iij.:I,]:$."lil1i,,lT,ili"rl;i,ii."
onentedin oppositedirections.
Do this wr!t each pair in tlredeck.

This deck can be cut as much .

candidry rsussest rh",ill;;;;;il'":.T{ *1:"T:'1"i'l"":i1ff,tJ;
face down and ha!,esomeoneselecta , *" ..".
jflj#T:""I;:
:aljawai,
made
eithe.rab:"" ";;;;;. ;;; :[i:., ,#'il::..i'"","#:::;:::ljn
,.
and conlplete the ct, the matchi
All youruouldiaveto a. ir .p"ii'n..'il"t l1d
ivouldbeo,,ejthe'thetoPor thebotlom
of tbe "
deck.
) otrwouidbelookingdirectlyat thesarne
imageand
oth;r information
tha,r";.;;;; :1t" "od
There is only one problem. Which card js
the matchingduplicate.the top or the bottom?
usea verv simple soiution to this that ! I
tr'"ua.tortrJtopc",;;;#;;,;iJ:;:t:Jil:',.T"t'r:"'";lTllil:l*:H
simplycurthe deckat rhat point.I_ooktth-e
backof thc new top .".i.1i,i"." i. p"ncil dot,it,s
rnetop cardof anorhermarchjDsDair.lherefore
the mateof thes'ef
* deckfaceupasyouplac"it ba"kin you.c;.;;;i; on",n" ,u"" of rl"
""oJ*r;"
l::\."1,il?y.:l* i;.**ion issrarirs

If, on the other hand, you look at tle back

ol the top cardafter the cut and you do
pencil dot, that reansthat the mate of not seea
t
the, back or!).
rsimpr, a."r,i""",i-r,J"lii,l!'r:":
as I put it away. Once again I have
:1.;.J;H*.:llT""i.rTil:ji""jr",
the information I need.

All that is left to do is to pick

uD
orart
rrthereisanypi;*;;#i".:1iff1il.:,j'"ff"::::l"j,r".j1,J1"","?
gqlvo, vlw
that in the course of doilg you. dmwing. / .j
simplel

-6-
 MentalMix

There are a couple more poinls to coler. I nentjoned abo\,ethat the 1'aces of cach pair of
cards are oriented oppositeto cach other.You cando a casualspreadof the cardsand display the
deck more easil) than i1 the pairs of crrds faced the sane way- I tend to do a some$hat chopp)'
spreadof the cards and cut off small packetslo display variouscardsin the deck.This way there
are no duplicatesscen and the deck appcarsto be \(,ell mixed and normal (as normal as it can be, ai
least).Expc.inrent *ith this arld y{'ll scc what I mean-It's very eas)_to do and makeslbr a
convincingdisplay.

A1so,reset is very easy.If the card they selecteddoesnot havea pencil dot on the back,
sirnply place it back on lop or bottom of the deck and I ou're reset-lf they selerteda card that does
have a pcncil dot, ,vouwill have done a doble cut of tLe malching cardto thc face of the deck.
You'il needto placc their selectedcarddlrove tharfilatch;ngcard. in olher words, secondfrom the
bottom.Now you'aereset.

So here's rhe entire handling.Casualll' displa) the deck (usigthe techniquedescribed

above) comnrentingon the various imagesand stylesof art represenledthere. Have a card selected-
Cut the deck at the point wheretbe cardwas selectedand glanceat the back of the new top card. Ii
there is a pencil dol, simply tum the deck face up as you put it back in your case.Sight the
infomration and the work of art at iiat tilne. If lhereis no pencil dot. double cut tbe top card10thc
face. Turn the deck face up as vou placeit back in your caseand sight the infomration.

Take your pad of paperand dmw the generalimage as bestyou can (believeme, it \r ill be
just fine) and revealas much information fron1 the cifd as you !l.ant-Show-thematching images
and takeyour well-deservedapplause!

ManyTekel
ByMarkStrivings
Since we'vejst describedan effect using a mene tekel deck I thought I'd give you some
work on the subjectlhat may (or may not) be of interest.

The classicmene tekel deck consistsof 26 marchingpairs of playing cards.They are

stackedin any order,as long as the individual pai are together.The deck can be cut as much as the
perfonner wanls and the intcgrity of the set up remainsintact. You caa do all kinds of marvelous
things r ith this deck.

But there are a coupleof inherentproblems with this deck. The most immediatis lhal you
cannot spreadthe deck face p and displayit. The nratchingpairs are extremelyobvious.This has
 Mental Mix

been handledofl a lo!1.le!.ei in .A Work Of Art.

by the revenjediaces of the cards, but that
rsn't possiblewith regularplayingcards. simpit

According to ,EncyclopediaOf CardTricks,

edited by JeanHugard, the onginal decks
madeuseofthe long and shon principleandthe <ieck
*orke in sinriia'rfashionto theSvengali
decli.The matchjngcardsrverecon..
someadvantases and,h.,.o,."r"o.r):iff":'Jilliij[il:I;i::lr#.#i;;T;"J,,,:-**
PackOf Cards"in theaboveciredbook.Thereare olro .";n. ;;;;.,,;-;ilrs
may be of interest.Checkit out. ourlrnedrherethat

Hilliard has a brief chapterin .GreaterMagic,

ald sratesthere thai the deck was createdb],
Burling Hull. Hilliard also gives the derailsabour
ihe long/shortt unati,rgiJ. tf.," 0""t. H" ot.o
gives some,otherjdeas.forhandling of the <teck,
includin! the basiccon berund.A Work
Art', elsewhrein this book. This referenc. i, ut.o .,".y of
,,iu.h 'uo.ti;l;-;;
"".
But as far as I can tell, this rvoe of Mene Tekel
Deck using long and shon cardshas not
beenavailablefor many years (l've never even
seena deck like this before). so it would have
specially made. to be

The next most immediatesolitrion is to rough

those pairstogetherand indeedthat has been
a srandardsolution to tlris problem for decades.
Also this deck can i" ."nr"*i", conslmcted
at home. But as-isrrue in so many areasofmagic, ".,,,y
a solution ;";; r;r;;,"; ;"r, *rse orners,and
that is the casehere

There are dmes when it is simDly not desirable

to use a rough aDdsmooth deck.There may
be technicarreasonswhy the cardsall need ro be.ioose'. pr.s,
a ro.'.ghani sootn cect loots tite
a rough and smooth deck, in that you only see26
cards.I havc neu"ri."n u'yon. ,rr,o can handle
.ough.andsmooth deck in such a way that you would a
be absolut"ry ,"" is a full
deck there.The fact thal you seediffereDtcrds ".r"ir""
is really more ofa sultiety "ere etse.you
ttr.ananyning
haveto relyonyo. specrators
assuming
rh"tt1"." -uit i" lz
maglcrancanspola roughand smoothdecka mile away. ""a-ri.l,io ", "ou^" "

Iflou arefamiliarwith my work, you know thatI

, haveseveralways 'was01_working aroundthis
rough and smoothproblem.But tiat is not necessary
here.what I wanted to be ableto haveno
roughand smoothar all. I wanredto be ableto spread
th" de.k aoai^r"i, uip"u. oo..l. f
wantedto havethe propertiesaodadvantage, oiu ,n"n" ,"f"t a""t. if,ut *ilic .."rn to be u"f.o
tall order.Here'smy solution. f*ty

The deckI useis gaffed,but ro roughandsmoolh

. o. any odreraltemtionsol thecards
themselves
is used.Ifyou casuallysp.eadthedeckit will appear
t" t" ."._a ,rr"rneddeck and
"

-8-
 MentalMix

) ou \r!ould swear you see every cerd (w hich, in lact you can).On it's most basic level, wht nrakes
this \ ersionof the menetekel deck work is that theredre matchingpai.s of cards.but they aren'1
sideby sidc.This versionusesgft)r?r of pairsoI cardsto makeit work. Tlere is a slightamountof
very casualhandling that needsto irappen,but it passcslvithout nolice when done corectly. Not
necessarilysleight of hand.just handling.kt me first explain ,.)lr this works and then we'll go
into the constnrctioDol the dcck itself-

I've got a Many Tekel Deck in frort of me and here are Lhetop eight cardsin order 8C,
6H, 75, 95, 8C, 6H, 7S, 95. Notice that the mate of each of the first four cards is four cards away,
i.e., the mate of the 8C is four cardsbelo*' it. etc. The deck js constructedof setsol eight cardslike
lvhat you seehere. So basically what makesthis $ ork is that the maLeof any card is only four cards
alvay, eitherabove or below it in the deck.Does that maie sclrse?

Here s how to constructthe deck.It ma! soundcomplicatedbut stick with me. When
everythingis done, )ou'll have a poteot weapon with which you can work miracles.

You'll need two natching decks of playing cards with the sarnecolor back-Take 2.1(not 26)
cards from either deck and shulfle them droroughly.Take lhe same2,1cardsliom the other deck
and have thenr available.

Now take the top lour cardsfrom your shuffled pack and the samefour duplicatecards.
Stack thesedupiicatesin the sameorder and drop one packet oD top ofthe other.Repeatthjs same
procedurefor the remailing cardsin groupsof four cards.You will end up with six groupsoI cards.
each compaisedof two sets of four duplicatesstackedin matchingorder. Stack thesesix setsol
cards on top of eachother You end up with 48 cardsaltogether.That's closeenoughto a full deck.
Now spreadthe deck in front of you with the facesshowing. Wltat you'll notice is that the deck
looks remarkablynormal. Yes thcre are very obvious duplicales.It helpswhen you alteady know
they are there.Do not worr)'about this. There aaeenoughcardsshowi[g that lhe dupesate never
nouceo,

Try this. Spreadthe cardsfrom hand to handand watch yourself in a mirror. You can do this
in a fairly slow and unhurried malner Believe me, in ao audienceof lay people (or nugicians, for
that matter),the duplicateswill never be noticed and the deck will passas completely norral.

For those who wart to have a tenplate to follow, here'sthe exactrDakeupof the deckI have
in front of me, from the top down with eachindividual set of eight cards:

8C,6H, 75,95,8C, 6H,75,95

KS,9D, 3D, 10H,KS,9D.3D, 10H
2H,35, KD, lOC,2H, 35, KD, IOC

-9-
 MentalMix

55..lH,JS.eC. -sS,.1H,JS,eL
4C,8H.5D, QH,4C.8H,sD,QH
2C.7D,JI], 6C,2C,7D,JD,6C

Notice how eachcard hasa du

s,ack.
rhisdeck b.",,,". .".i,-"-ffi:TiiTil::.,11;""*;;rJ;.*:'.:- ',r *.
ca,r
on:"9 to dolhe abo!,eso you couldseejust
..^. -..,., " horvnormalthe deckcan look.-fhedeck
not qurle ready to usejust yet_We still have is
a bit ;f wo.t to Oo.C"t ouiu-nrre point
is the same colo. as the back of the cards. Sharpie@that

Now you need to mark the car(

dupricate oreserec,.o i.].1] ii;ilin:ii;:^r;',:::.ljl 3:)"?ff:,ilii'",.1.,"0
c a r d l.u s e l r { o m a r l j n p"",i
. r h a t ' n a l c l h i 5 D r o c . . . , , " , , " , , -^,"_^^, ,. ^ " i . " " ' 1 " '. ,
and canadapt
),ou it r. *n,,""",r"" ilj'll""l:T::,5::iiililll.. r'il exrrain
exacrrv
whatl do
First thing is to mark rhe cfids
orient
rhe
cards
c-orre",,"*i*r""ii"'J."iJ:';ii:l"J*:,:,:;:;I?:J:f.jfi:"
upright (or upside down). If you look at the
top oI the cant 1,o, *;ff *" ,.'o"rn,.,, llgres
like rhe petalsof a florver There arc eight that look
li ,f" p"of. *a u'".n,".',p* ifi], i" ,n"
on the left hand flower. If you do that with *nter spot only
every card in the cieckand orient eactrcard
* thefarendasyourookut ti," uu"r<.oi tr,. so that
;::i::."::t. ";,
;;;';i be.oneivay,
".*
Next we'll mark thc deck for the location of
the mate
of eachcard. This ts extremelyeasy.
Lookarrheve.ycenrerof rhebackof rhecara.f1"..
ls a sm"ti*tr;i" Joi, Uy*fro, loof.
*" t'*ller extend rromthe1o,"". r'ri"nio"r"O
io,r'"
l]i:;,1tr"**'i'"1'j.S5 upi.rrisht.(see
oieach 1r,;;,.
these ;;;:;";*tJ":n:lll;*iffiffl#*:: H,*a*,"';;;;;-
one'or
Geryourlirsr groupof eigbrcards.Thisis a set Colar in this whitt lin"
, , of forrrcards
anornentnesamelour cardsaga;n.eachselin lhe
sameorder Forrhis
examplewe'll usetfiefirst setof crdsabov" _gC,

o
eF{,ZS,95, 8,"""
cards
jl: ll":nj-..I::t-q,h.e racing .up,(,"rn".L.iL"
youJustput on thecard?Make surethat "na-rni,ir,,g
everycardis orientedsothai
markis al rhetopof the cardas
_yo!look a, i,], *. y.". Sfrl+i: rr'
colorin rhatsmallrrhireliDeon theupperblade.
This i.,theline rhat
cxlenos I romthecenrercircleupwards to rhe righr.Colorin thatsmail
whiteline aDdtlat cardis readyto go.
fie.A
lqrcat\ expauledarut rct
evenrentet! to scak)

-10-
 Mental Mk

On the next lbur cards- 6H,73, 95. 8C you're goingto color in thelower blade.'l'hisis
Ihe line that extends from the centercircrledownward and to the lett. Do all folrr cardstht u'a]'atd
keepthem in order.Finally colortheremainingthrcc cards 6H,75, 95 fill;ng in theupperblade.
This is exactly the sameas yo did *'itI the first card of tie set,lhe 8C.

'up and
ThinkiDg of thosecards wh;ch have e upper bladelllled in as . thosecardsrvitlr
jr
the lolverbladelllled as down'. do al1six setsof cardsthis same\!ay. The top cardis up', the
'down' and lhe 'up'.
next four cardsare final threecards are Again. be sure that all of the cards are
orientedconecLlywith the suall marking at the top of eachcard facing the righr direction.

You can now stack all six setstogetherin aoy orderyou like. As long as the eight cards
\\'ithin each set are in order and together,the order of the sets lhemselvesis not irnportant.The deck
is now dore and ready to use. Here'sho\r' it works.

As you recall, the ate of enchcard is just four cardsaway al any given time. Thosc
lrarkings thal youjust pul on lhe cardsrvill tell you exactly tha! male is. Let's lry a smail
",t"re
experiment.Be sure thal the deck is being heldin the'up' position (the small marking on tire outer
end of the cards,assurningall cardsare orienledthe same.a simple glanceat thc top cardis all you
need).Cut the deck anywhereand completethe cut. Placethe cardyou cul to off lo one side. Notr
look at the centercircle of the new top card.You have two possibilitiesat this poiflt.

'donn'(the bladejs
L If the coloredin bladeof thatnew top cardis pointing darkened
the lower one, extendingfrom the centercircle downwardsand to the le{t), the mate
of the card on the table is the fourth card from the top of the deck. Checkjt out.
Count down to the fourth cardirorn the top wilhout changingthe order of the cards.
It's the same card as is on the table.

'rp'(the
2. If the colored-ilt bladeof that new top cardis pointing darkenedblade is
the upper one, extendingfrom the centercircle upwards and lo the right), the mate
of the card on the table is the fourth cardfrom the boftom of the deck. Che.k it out.
Count up to the founh card lrom t}lc ,.)ton \r'ithout changiDgtlte orderof the cards.
It's the samecard as is on the table-

If that card you counted lo is not the sameas the card you cut to at lhe beginningof this
litde procedure,you have constructedthe deckwrong. Go back and try it again.

Now the big questionis, what can you do with this specialdeck? The short answeris, a
bunch! Obviously any routine whereyou needto know what card a spectatorhas picked withoul
any force $'hatsoeverand without the card being retumed to the pack is a natural.All you would

- 7 1-
 Mentat Mix
needto do is have lhe card selected.
sight the marking to leam the locatiot
that card. You,ve got yourinfo.mation ol its duplicatealrd peek
ana."n pro".a f.orn ,tr.rl.

,"",,, :T::x*x:;:::,1;,:5i:i.1.H:l:1ff
"liil:l$".:ilj fl;.
"T#i."ffiil:
o b rr o u .ap p l i c . i o o
n f rh i sr e c h n i q u c .

In the abovecited .Encvclonedia Of CardTricks,,thereis an excelienl

Four" by B.F. Orrin on pug. 2j9 (dou.r tnck called.,OneIn
Fiition),rhar firsthe Many Tekel Deck
highlyrecoarmendyou look it up. when tike a glove. I
you readit. il will u"com" l-rn"ai"tery
new deck makes the effect er.enstronger obvioushow thjs
tho" tf," o.;g;oA- Ii.-*i;;#i

By the wy, Mr. Orrin

seemsI
eridence b,.his
nam; r;;;;";;i"i:;T:;f fT:iir_l;,ff#:il"J;j::,.:1i::
I ooted
all andsundryq rrhlhi5clcverdeck.r,_
.rri rr" r."T,n",.
ili,
i:
"""i0 l'*".r,
-* '''iththisnew
deckrhat
arcmuch
more
difncurr,
'.*"'l,xl'll,l:',i"*;T:,'::[1i,t' if nor
l:il:11: to"r
::,
duplrcates do ":l
#;;il' il ";*Tji:':T:Ji"fi::i:'LT:if,*:ih:
with asyou prease.
Irnagineif you wereto havetou, .uJa
rhenpalmout thefo'ur ,l"p:";. y;;;;;;i"#""'"".,r_" ."r""t"a uy rou,
differenrspecrators,
evenretumedto thedeck_ Have{hese selecrions
were
rerumedafreryou havethe walleton the
Shufflethemintoihe ;;;k;;;;;; tabte.
;,"",,.ns
experimentwithrhem..*_;r;;;il-r",-:.:sl,"rr::::'lJ;11i,'::i:;,.,,
here,but;u.t.*p"ri-""i, i""i ti""lii*"r*
easl lllspareyoualrofrhedcrairs
,, .",.
'Jrourspectators
theexact
same
wav.
simpry
have
a
",.0,",I'Jiii#i;;:'it
oup".una."itt'i.
ffi;ff-t thenext
cardonsPec
#2andsoon.Thensishtthe
-in#lJ:lrf."e
I'm sure you,ye thought of other ways
thesesanc things could be done.Bve.',tljng
has a trade off. ln the caseof this deck we do
the selectionprocessis-extremel"y-fii"r
ano *re deck looks
fl'r"""",fii:*::i:'*::::i::::,T"'9.'v""a''"r *il"i'"'lvpi"ru""uu." vou
duplicatecard' The"'*
potential for poweul materiat
wrth Just a liftle imaginatioD. is s'trong

you Oner,se
morething.Obviouslythis
taror
;;:.,1':j:f :::"ili"J.,1:;r."r"j,i,,;lj:.:iliir#J".**
"oua
could bemadeto work with thisprinciole.
f" ._y *"1. ,f,lJpni"ipou,o O"
deceprive
with theseothertypesof cardsrhan "Sr[ _o."
r ith pla)ing "u"n
cardsp'iely bauseof what is on their

- 12-
 Mental Mit(

lces-The variet)' of designactually can becomepart of $hat coverstire method.This is especially

tme \r'ithtarotcards.Try it out andcomeup rlith customnliraclesof your own.

prodction drLl ,Jistrihutionrights strictl),rcserred.

Can etu:iL1l

HalfAndHalf
ByMark Strivings
What I have for you here is a conceptand somevery practicalapplicationsthat you may
wish to considerwhen comingup with ;our own marerial.I call it the .HalIAnd Half'principle.I
certainl)did not inventit. lt would appearlhatno oneactuall)doesknow $ho djd. [t's beenaround
lbr decades.I do knorv that its useshave beenvery limired, far too limited in my opinion, ) have
usedlhis subtleidea to devastatirgeffect io a number of my own creationsand have found it to add
immeasurablylo certintypes of effects

The rnain use for this idea is with playing cardsbut therc is no rcasonq,hy it can't be
appiied to any other typesof cards.It works great with tarot cards,postcards,nurnbercards,
Lexicon cardsand flashcardsof all liinds. So even if vou don't useplaying cardsin your own work,
thereis no reasonto passthis by. Trust me, I havefooled all and sutdry with this simple idea and
you can,loo.

I havenever seenthis idea applied to anything apartfrom one basic application.If you are
awareof anothersourcethat I haven't seenyet, pleasecontact me so I can continuemy owo
education.Apart from my own fairly extensivework with this idea,I krow of no one who usesit in
rvalrsother than it's most basic use.

As I said,I know of only one applicationof this killer idea.and that's what hascome to be
known as a 'Half and Half' deck, or the '5G50' deck. This is a deckof 52 playing cardswhere the
top 26 cardsare all identical (for instancethe 4C) and tle bottom 26 cards areall X cards(anything
exceptthe 4c),thrs making it incredibly easyto force the 4C (in this case).you can casually
spreadthe lower half only of tJle deckface up and gi\,e the impressionof a fulj, shuffled deck. Then
tum the deck face dowtr, spreadthe ilpper half only and have a cardselected.lt's aboutas cleatr asd
naturallooking a force as you're likely to ever find.

This deck can alsobe given ajog shuffle and a false cut (my personalpreferencebeing the
Rosini false cut in Tarbeli, but any false cut will do). Wlen combinedwiti the natural look of the
deck. there'sno choice bt for your spectatorsto arrive at the conclusionthat the deck is normal. lt

-13-
 Mental Mix

looks nomral,it actsnonnaLand it is haodledin a nomlal fashion.lt must,e normai.I t's a beautiful
thing.

I rememberthe first time I eversaw one of thesedecksin action.ll wasat c magic

convention and was used b! one of the lccture6. The force was so clean and carefree that no oDe in
the room had a cllc holr he mandedto tbrce that crd. Wlen he revealedit, the whole placefell
apart laughing becausewe were all so incredi,h fooled by i!. Needlcssto say {his made a ,eal
imp.essionon me and l've usedlhis specialdeckfor a wide varietyof purposeseversince.

But it alwal s seemedto me that the.e $ as so much morc you could do with (he underlying
Drinciole.

The basic essenceof all that follows this is that half of the deck is completely normal, half
is not. l'm sure that once you read through the follo$,ing, you \r,ill startto come up with ideasof
your o!l'n to apply this marvelousprinciple. Here are a few ideasthat I have usedover the Vears.

Two,mree and Four.WayForceDeck.

Perhapsthe most obvious application would be to constructa two-way forcing decksing
the exactsame modus.ln this caseyou would requiretwo different setsof 13 cards,for instancethe
7D and QS. You would also need 26 X cards. Simply stack the two force banks on top of eachotlter
in a knowo order, then place that stackon top of the X cards.As an exan1ple.readingfrom the top
of the del]k down, you might have 13 7D's, 13 QS's and 26 X cards.The deck handlesexactlythe
same !\ay as the regular 50-50 deck as ourlioed above.When it comestime for the fotce spreadthe
top 13 ca.ds and force the 7D, then spreadthe next 13 cardsand force the QS. you could place a
simple pencil dot on the back of eachcaredin the QS force bank so you would know whereit
beganand the 7D force bank ends.This would also denotewhere the X cards start. Simple!

This idea originally appearedin my first book, 'ADnemann For The 90's" but seemsto have
gone completely unnoticed.['ve beenusing it for years in wide variety of applications,and have
even marketedthis idea in a couple of different incamations.

Of courseyou could also extendthis idea to a three or four bank force deck. with
appropriatesize force banks.Use the pencil dot idea to denotewhere eachforce bank endsand the
next one begins.

Bt there can be so much more thaojust thesevery elemeltary applicationsof this

Drinciole.

-14-
 MentalMix

Half Stacked-
How many limeshaveyou useda completestackeddeckto identifyor locateooe orti.|o
cards.usingthe propertiesof the stackas yoLlrmodus?For;nstance,supposevou usea Si Stebbins
stack.Youfalse shufflcand cu{,thenha\.ea cardselected. Cuttingthe deckat thepoint \\,herethc
card is selectcdbrings the ne\t card in the stack to tle top (or face dcpendingon how you do it).
Giimpsingthat cardcan thengive yo the idenrityof the cardyour spectalorselected. Simpleand
eas),right?

Here's somethingto rhinli about.Why do you need the entire deck to be shckcd whenolriy
one cardis going to be selected?How about this?The whole deck is stackedin yor favorile
s!stern. Have the spectatorcut the deck.Now takethe deck and give it a good jog shuffle (which
retainsthe upper stock of the dcck. only mixitlg thelower half) ard a false cut. This proccdureonlv
destrols the lo$ er half of thc stack.The eDtireupperhalf is still good to go.

Justas in the 50 5{l deck. spreadjust the upperhalf of the deck and have a crd selecred.
Cut thc deck at lhe point where the catd is chosen.You're good10 go!

Using the genuincportion of rlre.jogshuffle (half of rhe deck is legirimately shulfle{i) a-\
parl of the proceduredestro\s any notion of therebeing a stackinvolved. The mechatics areevery
bit as easyas using a regular 5O 5) deckarrd the resultsale evenmore convincing than if the deck
$ as overly handledto nlaintain the entirestack.

Ot course,your stack is basicallydestroyedafter this whole procedure,but for a .on up.

perlbrmancelr,hcreyou are going to go on nd do othe. effectswith the deck, o, sinrply put the
d ( c k a $ a l . l h i sa d d i t i o ni s h a r dr o b e a l

Naturally you could startwith the upper half of your deck stackedin your favorite system
and handleitjust lhe same as a 50-50 deck.The main advantageto the above descriptionis that the
deck canbe cut anywhereby the spectatorbefore tbe shuffle commences.This seemsto be very
fair (andit is).

Half Roughed-
You're probabiyfamiliar with tle rough and smooth deck usedfor forcing. It consistsof 26
pairs oi cardsroughedtogetler. The fac card of eachroughed pair is ao X card and the backcard
is a force card. You simply spreadthroughthe deck and have your spectatortouch the back of any
card. Separatethe rcughedpair that he touched and reveal the force card.Works like a charm.
There's only one problem, the deck will only show 26 cardsfrom either side when it is spread.As

- t5 -
 Mental Mix

I ve statedeisewherein this liftle tome,I hare yet to seeanyo e in theworld who can hilndlea full
roughand smoothdeckin sucha way thatyou \{ould be convincedthatthere:]re52 cardssbowing.

Suppose) ou ,,!ere to nlake a rough smooth force deck.but only use 13 pairsof roughed
cardsinsteadof 26?The top 26 cardsof thedeck coDsistoi roughcdpairsjust like the regularrough
and snloothdeck-'Theboftom26 cardsareall loose,singieX cards.Obviousll you would have
your spectatorselecta card from the top i3 roughedpairs.

The big advantagehereis that 39 cards(which is \r'hat shows iD the above configratjon)
looks a wlole /or different thanjst 26. Don't believc me? Try it and seefor yourself. Even the
most well posted card man $ould be hardpresscdto sav for srewhetherthey say all 52 cardsor
not. Having those 26 X cardsis a completethrow off and addsa wholc new dimensionto how
convincirg the effect can bc.

Half Tekeled-
ll Jou .ercIo take whai we've discussedelser|here in this littlc tome with regardsto either
a'regular'l]lene tekel deck or my own Maoy Tekel Decl: and apply thc Half and Half principle to
it, it would male ejther dcck doubly as effectiveas ir alreadyis.

Lt's use the exact deck set up that I describedelsewhere_Here's a possibility for a'Half
Many'lekel Deck'(lrom the top down)

EC.6H, 75, 95, 8C, 6H, 75,95

KS, 9D, 3D, 10H,KS, 9D. 3D, 10H
2H,35, KD, 10C,2H,35, KD, 10C

That's 24 cards.Norv all you needare 28 more X cards(so the numberswork out dght
totaling 52 cards).Any cards will work so long as they don't match any of the abovestack. place
the 24 cardslisted here on top of the 28 X cards you've got and you'rc setl The rest of the working
should be obvious irom here.

lf you have taken the small bit of trcuble to ma](eup the deckjust described,you can spread
the deck and immedialely seeho\{' completely normal and aboveboard it looks. All you would
need to do is have a card (or cards)selectedfrom the top stock, cut the deck at that point and
proceedfrom there as describedearlier in this book.

Are you startingto get ao idea ofhow versatileaod devious this simple principle is? Of
courseit hasits limitations. There are certaintypes of effects where it.just doesn,tfit at all. But

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 Mental Mk

therearetimeswhen'Halfatd Half canaddawholene$ dimensionand leveloi deceptionto

$'hatever
eifect you're doing.Checkit out. Youjust might like it.

Commefti.tl productio 'nd distriL)utionrights ro all rf the above effecttt)nd trcthod! are strictL\:
rcserred b Mark D. Striringt.

Lavet'sVoodoo
ByMark Strivings
In lhe right handsand with the righr crowd this pieceis a lot ol lun. II you are the kind of
perfonner who thinks iast on his (or her) feet and itreracls r|ell with your crowd. this corrldbe for
!ou.

Effe* -
The performer bringsup a marded coupleand introducesa 'Lover's Voodoo Doll,. This
specialr'oodoo doll is covered\{ith words; attributes,goalsand eventstha! everyonewants(or
doesn't $ ant, as the casemay be) and happento all of us.Things like ecstasy.find gold, stop
snroking,happitess,impotence,find keys, lose weight, marriage,win at track, flat tire, etc.Also
introducedare five small pins \'ithdilferenl colored headson them.A sealedenvelopeon the table
completestlre set up.

The performer explainsthat lhis is a love.'s yoodoo doll and each partneris going ro get a
chaDceto cast a spell on the other.The wife getsto go first. She selectsany pin shewants and
pushesit into ary word on the doll that pleasesher The husbandgoesncxt and so on, until all five
pins havebeen used.There is obvious roorn for much byplay here dependingon the couple's
rcaction to each other's selectiols and so forth.

L-et'ssupposethat the pins are stuck into the following words -

Red pin happiness

Black pin - kittens
Blue pin - busted
White pin - car towed
Green pin - start smoking

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 Mental Mix

The performer thanreils thc audiencethat this couplesselectionsof spells tells a lot about
them.Again there is rnuch rooDl for fuD and comedy here.The envelopeis opened.Inside a.e t$,o
slips of paper The larger of the h{,ois openedand readaloud as foLlows.

'Thank you lbr playing

our Lover's Voodoo game.Herc is what each pin aud the word that
was selectedby it mean:

Red pin - This is I hat this personwantsmost in the kircheo (in this case.happiness)
Black pin l his is I hat this personwantsmost in the garage(kittens)
Blue pin This is what this personwantsmost in the batlroom (busted)
White pill This is what this personwants nost in the living room (car towed)
Green pin - This is rvhat this personwants Drostin the bedroom(star.tsmoking)

Bur the.'s rnore to it lhanjust that. I had a feeliog about what you wanted most in the
bedroom.Open the other slip and readwhat I saw for you."

The oLher,snaller slip is openedand it says the words 'stan smoking'l

Method -
You can't evenbeginto fully appreciate hot{'muchfun rhjscan bc from the above
description.Through ail of the by play of the routine (which plays out differently every time), the
revelationof the final selectedword comesout of the blue and makesa great endjng to a ful)
routine.

Keep ir mind that ere are no forces of any kind. They spectatorscan stick the pins into
any word they want (and there are neariy 60 words on the doll). They can usethe pins in ary order
they wish. The envelopeis on the table from the very beginning.I'm begjnning to soundtike dealer
hype

The solution is very simple.A window double envelope(more on this momentalily) and
secretwriting of some sort,pocket writing in my case.You also needthe voodoo doll. We'll discuss
that in a moment as well.

This is simplicity itself. Sinceyou know what coior pin you're looking for (greenin this
example),wheneverthat pin is used,simply secretwrite that word on the smaller slip. ln my caseI
pocketwdte the word and fold the slip inro quarters.I palm it out and load it through the window in
the envelope.

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 MentalMix

You could nse a regu{arrvindorvenvelope.ln caseyou.re not iamiliar with this time
honoreddevice.takea nranilacoin envelope(a #5 l/2 workswell) andsimply cut a windowabout
2 inchessquareinto the solid(not glued)sideof theenvelope.That way you can loadthe palmed
slip throughthe window and erac! i1froD the envelopeasit it were alwaysthere.

But I actuallypaeierto usea windolvdoubleenvelope. This simpledeviceis my own

creationand was rst pul into print jn m! book ..MobilcMentalism',-Io make this you will need
l\r,o manila coin en\elopes.Use otre to make the \L,indowenrelope describedabove.Using a sharp
pair of scissors.cut the entireback includingtheflap off thesecondenvelopewhich leavesiusta
solid sheetof paper.Trin it do$ n aboutl/4 of an inch.Tlen slideit into the wirdow erveloDe.
1'h;s crcatesa panition inside the envelope.

lf you exanrinethis simple envelopeyou rvill find that otle side of tire partitioll is now a
solid compartmett r\hile the other side is now a windoq, compartment.Anything placedinto the
solid compartment won't fall out rhroughthe window and yet won,t intederewith anythingbeing
loaded into the envelopethroughthe window. Ever].thingis secureard works like a charm.

The main slip of paper(with all of the pin meanings)is hanclwritrenon a 5 l/2 by g l/2 inch
piece of peper and lolded into eighths.You ,1./rt hand \r,rite rhis entire pageand make it look as
close to your secretivriting (pocket writing. boon or nail writing, whateveryou,rc goiDgto use) as
possible.This slip is placed into the solid compartnrentot e windo\i double envelope.The other
smaller slip is readyto be written on in the pocket.you're good to go.

Do everything as outliDedabove.'l rust me, jt's easv10havc a lot of fun playing off of
whateverwoads that you. volunteersdecideto stab.This is the main reasonfor sing a married
couple.There can be so mnch ad lib happeningand the couple can play off of eachother lf they
have friendsin the audiencethis can be even more fun. Mrenever the color pin you,re looking for
is usedsimply pocketwrite the word, fold ad palm out the slip. No matterwhen the slip is chosen
you { ill have plenty of time to do this. Even if it is chosenlast, there js still the by play of the
couple aDdthe words that havebeen chosento work wi.

Once the slip is palmed ou! simply pick up the tabledenvelopewith your other hand and
place it ditectly over the palmed slip. You can then open the envelopeand remove the large slip
llrst and then the smaller one. Quietly pocket the envelopand you,re completelydore! IJave the
smaller slip on the tablc and haveyour spectatoropen thc largetone. It is read aioud.Again, there
is a bunchof room for fun heredependingon what words were actually chosen.

Finally havethe smaller slip openedand readfor a snashing finale!

I love this routine ard have a lot offun with it. I know you will, too_

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 Mental Mix

Here'sthe scoopon the doll. It is simplycalled'VoodooDoll'and is madeb)

Accoutrements@.I found it in a ganie store.l've also seenthem in novelty stores(iike Spencer
Gifts).lt standsabout9 incheshigh and is coveredin a red fabric.It hasvariousrvordspr;ntedall
overit and is a sightto beholdall b) itself.tr comes1{ithblackandwhite pins.but you *il1 need
other colors as well. You can get what )ou needat yoLrrIocal fabric store.Track one of thesedolls
down,you'll be glad you did.

Uher Options-
You don't have to use pocketw.iting to do thjs effect. If you're an aficionadoof naii or
boon $'riting, use the exact sameset up as describedaboye.The only differenceis that you necd to
havethe slip to be written on in the window of the eovelope.Simply hold the envelopein your
hand with the window facing you. With your thumb writer in place,you're good to go. Proceedas
above.

I won't go into the mechanics of pocketrvritinglrere.I've writtenextensivelyaboutit in

other publications, not the ieast of which is my book, "Miracles From The Hip" which is entirely
devotedto pocket u,riting. See my contact ;nformatior elsewhereto get jD touch with me about this
tltle.

You can also do what I do and prepat_ethe envelopeto disguisethe window. See
'Synchronicitl elsewherein this book for
the details on rhat. I use the rvords"Lover's Voodoo" in
the windorvand oudineas detailedin 'Synchronicjty'.It's a beatifulthing.

That's it! If your style of perlorming lends itscll to this type of prese.tation,you will be
doilg yourself a favor to track down one of thesedolls and work this up. lt can be doneclose up or
on stage,althougb candidly I reserveit stdctly for close and parlor conditions.The iaterplay
belweenthe spectatorsand myselfjust seemsto work belter that way. Enjoyl

LovefsVoodooII
By Mark Strivings
In caseyou catr'tfind thedoll but still want to do the effect,you've got threeeasyoptions.
One,you couldmakeyour own doli and writewhateverwordsyouwant on it. Tow, youcould
simplydrawa doll andhavethepicturecoveredwith words.Or three,you caneliminatethe doll
altosether.

-20-
 MentatMix

With either of tiie first llvo options you could still !se the colored pins (which makessense
u ith the voodoo theDe) and rl'ork thirgs exactl) as above.

with the lhird oplion the eflect is prett]' much identical,but the presenttionwould have to
be trveakeda bit to work out- [n tiis caseyou'll have about60 blank iace cardswith the words
wdtten on them, one \.!ord per card.If you alsoivanted to usc the colo. schemefrom the first
versioni_oucould have differenr colored poker chips or markersof some other solt.

Have the \lords selected,eitherrandomly or have yoLrrspectator'se)iacUywhich $ords they

want, and then ha\rethe markeasmalchedup to dre words. You could then proceedpretty much
e\actly as in the original version of this effect.

Regardlessof \ahich versionyou choose.do lry this out. The preDise is firn. the mettlod is
eas) aod sureli.e. and the props makethings ioterestingand visually arresting.It's a great
combinationand Dakesfor easyandlight (andverv commercial)mentalismthatcan play
practically arywhcre. Enjoy!

SynchraniciW
ByMark Strivings
Strap yourselvesin for a wild ride. The following will seema bit dauntingat first, but the
overali effect ald end result is really qujte clear.This is a teatureroutine and car easily be the
highlight of your program.The effectbuilds to a mind-boggling conclusionin a way that no one is
expecting.Enjoyl

Effect -
The performeralnounces that it's time to play everyone'sfavorite psycbicgame,
'Synchronicity'.
He points out a securelylocked cash box that has been in plain sight sincebefore
the program began.He explains that inside is a valuable prize ("over six-hundredgrand") that one
ol our lucky audierce memberswill have a chanceto wiq but fit we need conrestants.

Five peopleare selectedto come on stageand panicipate,plus one more who will act as a
'facilitator'.
The perfomrerthen bringsout a few keys and shows that each fi the lock and turns,

-21-
 Mental Mix

but only one actuallyopeosthe lock. lt is re-lockedand the kels are lhoroughLy mixed it a goblet.
Each of the fi\'e contestantsis allowed to seiect a key at mndom arld eachis gii,en a small key tag
ro attachto their key.

The facilitator norv eliminatesthe contestanlsone bv one untii onl) one remains.Let s say
this is a qoman who is tall lvith blondehair pulledbackwith a blue ribbon,hason a low cut blue
velvet golvn llith black shoesand diamond earrings.This lucky persongets to try their key in the
lock. lt opens!Havethey wofl the big prizc?Thel could win ovcr six hundredgrandl

Upon opening the locked box no money is seeoin the coiD tray in the box which coversthe
entire opening,but thcre is an envelopewhich is labeled 'Stn.iri) nici'}'- Ereryone'J Favorite
Psl'c1ri,Oorr". OJlicial Rules- Keep in a securektcatictn'. Whal could be more securethan the
lockedbox that conlainsthe prize?The eovelopeis openedard insideis a singlesheetthatcontains
all the rulesof lhe game.It says:

S\nchronicit\
Everyone'sFavorile Pslchic Gamerx
OfJicial Rules atu! Elt Bib iLit! Requirements

Ddte af Getfie:

l. There musl be lhe lame number o-fcontestantsas there are kejJ.

2. There nlust be kel tdgsavaiktble.for each kel' used.

3. Contestabtsmus( h.lveJree choiceofa !- kel theJwish.

4. Cantestantsmust haveJree choiceof any key tag the! wish.

5. Potentidl winning contes,dntmusl be selectedc rlthdomJiom all conleslants

6, Thepotenlial witning contestant'ske! must be the era.t ker-thal opens the lock to the box.

7. If fue abow key successfully opens the lock to the box, the number on the ke! lag mst be

8. AII ke! tags must contain dillerent numbers.

.22-
 Mental Mix

9. Il the ubave ke\ succetslull\'.)pensthe lack t.) the box,tu1containsthe numberq. the
polenliarl ,rinning contestnt nxurtmeetthe foLLox,ingqualifcutions. which will tary with
even game.

Now let's back up a bit. Compareall of thesefacrs\rith c list youjust read.There are five
ke)s and five contesta[Is-There are key tagsavailableaod eachspectatorgetsa free choice of
which key and key tag thcy $,anl.ln fact the] can changetheir milcl and eventrade if they so
desire.The poten{ial lvinning contesrantis choscnat riurdonr.reallyI l_heirkey is the exact key that
opensthe lock.All of the key tagshavesnlallstickerson them $hich. wher peeledoff reveala
nunber lrrinen very boldly on eachtag. All of rhc numbersrre dilTcrcnrand rhe key tharthe
polential winning contestanthas. hasthe number.l written boldly on it! All of the other key tag
numbersare different. So far the rules match what hashappenedA'I RANDOM before the rules
u ereeveropened.But !rait, there'smo!,

The rules slip goeson to say:

tl i nning Contestctnt Qualcatians

If there is a certifable reinningcontestant,it is pL)ssiblethat ther na.,,be needecl

Jor
inlerriews vtith membersof the r'ess. Sincenewspaperpictures arkl Iele|ision braadcastsof the
potentiatlvinning conte;tctntrefle<tan evemone in|olved with thegame, thepatential winning
. nt(\taIt mu\r m(ct rhefallauing apyearanc . I itefid:

This must be o wotrttn who is taII with bl.)ndehair pulted bcttk o-itha blue ribbon, fu on a
lo\r cut ble wlvel gown with black thoes arl diananlj earrings!

Assumingall of the abaveconditionshave beenmet, the contestanttaiLlbe deemedas a

winner and qualifes for lha Grand Priae. Infact, all o.fthe ahave really has happened, everyone
desen'es a prize. Congrat u lalions !

I don't know if you were just paying aention,not or y did the randomly selcted
spectatorJskey open the lock, but it had the number4 on the key tag AND the official ,ulesjust
describedtfu e:xactpel.sonwho was randomly selectedto 1ry their key! This descriptioncan be as
detailedas you can possibly imagine.This is a mitrd-blowing moment!

Upon lifting the coin tray of the cashbox, thereare found seven .100 Grand' candy bars.
Eachof the cortestantsas well as th facilitator gets a caJrdybal and thc perfomrergetsto keep one
for himself, bringing this whole routine to a smashirg cljmax! The winning contestaDtalso getsto
keepthe copy of the Official Rulesas a lrremento.

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 Mental Mix

Mdhod -
-l
Believeme w hen I tell you thatthis absoiurelyslayslaymenas well as nag;cians. hereare
so many dead-or rratchcsin the prediction(the Ofcial Rules') and they are carriedout in such a
strict and inpossible fashion that lhere are no explanationsand it all comescrash;ngdown on the
audienceat once. Plus the llnal blow off of the cand)'bars (a l.arry Becker idea) makesfor a nice
tic up to the whole routine.

A few points to keep jn nlind herebefore I tip my hand.There arc no forcesol any kind
anywhere in the routine.ALL selections(the ke), e key tag, the wioling contestan!)are
completely free with no restrictiots of any kind. There are no stoogesof any kind. This is strictly a
one man routine $ilh no on or off-stagehelp. There is no secretwriting of any kind (rhank
goodness, who wouid want to write all that stuff underpressure?) and no inpressiondevices.The
cash box can be mailed to thc event producerweeksbefore the show and vou neverhave to go
a ywhere near the box before thc routine happenson stage.The box can be complelely examinedat
any time. Are you curious yet?This usesa combinatiol of prirciples thar come togetherto make
killer effect.You're going to love this!

You'll be glad to know that this routine is very easy io do, very lo\r' tech (which nreansjt
will actually work every time) and you can put togethcr90% oi it yoursell-*,ith materialsyou'll
find mostly at your local office supply store.

Tbe one thing you will Deedthat you cannotmakc yourself or buy at rhe office supply is the
lock and key effect. lt used to be knolvn as Key-R-Rect. You may already have one of these
mar\elous iocks. It was unavailablefor some time but as of this writing it is being rnanufactured
'CoFect Key'
again underthe rame and may be availabletlrough your local dealer This is the
only part of this rotine that ,vo'll needto go to the magic slorefor. You zay be thinking of
substitutinganotherrnethodfor the key effect, but candidly 'Cor.ect Key' is by far rhc beslproduct
and nelrod to do this overall effect.As you wili see,there's a bit more to the lock and key eifect
thal meetsthe eye, and that's true evenif you al.eady have the effect.

Since 'Conect Key'is a marketedeffect I cannot divulge the workirgs here.Sufhce to say,
whoever getschosenas the potential winnjng contestant,that personskey rill opn the lock. All
keys will be clearly shown to fit the lock beforehand,but orl) one will actually open it. There is no
force of any kind. lt's an extremely clever piece of workmanship and well worth having. You will
use the lock and five of the keys, including /ft" ls). Get the effect aDdyou'll know what I mean.

From your local office supply storeyou will need the following:

-24-
 Mental Mix
A locking CashBox - I useonemadeby SwintonAve.Trading.It is called,,CashBox wjth
Locking Latch'. It measuresJ 7i 8" X 11" X 7 5i8'' and featuresa renoveablc piastic tray.

Key'lhgs I usc a prod cl bt AveryC,,#11025,Ke)'tags, SplirRing.The) comein a

packageof 5O tags.Theseafe t l/4 inchesin diameter.
They a.e whitecardboard
wirh meraledges
and havea split ring on eachtag.

Colored l-abels I usea productby Aver)'@,#0-1469,Color Coding l-rbe1s.l)ark Bluc.

Reorovable.Theseare 3/4 inch round and come l0OOto a package.Be sure to get the remoyabie
stickersbecauselhey will needto be ableto comeoff easily.Also thedarkbluecolor is important.

Manila Coin Envelopes I use#5 l/2 coinenvelopes. Thesenreasure3 l/8" x 5 1/2".You

can useother sizeenvelopes, but ivill haveto adjustsomedimensions
of otherthingsIteron. Get
the heavieststockyou can find.

Yo will also need to replacethe splil rjngs on the key tags. I got a
'l
bag of 50 jewelry latchesat my local Michaels@. hese arethe sametype
of gizmo that is usedto attachthe two endsof a necklace(picturedhere)and
is alsofreqentlyusedin variousmodelsof Riog Flight.

You will also need a haspthat \rill be auachedto the box. I useoue
made by Stanley@,model #81-91O5.Fixed StapleDouble Hunge SafetyHasp.The haspcomes
with wood screws(sinceit is assumed that it $ill be screwedinto wood,duh),so you will needto
get replacementnutsand bolts of lhe proper size.I used lock Iashers with the nuts and boltsthat
are about3/8 inch long. If you use exactlyrvhat I use you will teed a total of sevennuts and bolts.

Apan from the aboveyou'll need:

an Exacto@knife,
scrssots,
a glue stick,
some plain paper for your computer'sprinter (or photocopy the artwork 1 supply),
a screwdriverand small wrench.
an electricdrill and appropriatesize bit to match the bols for the hasp,
a Sharpie@pen,
a couple of large paperclips,
a couple 3 X 5 file cardsand
a ready supply of'100 Grand'candy bars.These are made by Nestle@.You'll need6 7 of
them per show.I get them at my local supe.market.I recommendgetting a fresh batch
before eachshow. There'snothing worse than a stalecandy bar,and you don't want to give
your voluntersanlthing stale.Enough said!

-25-
 Mentsl Mix

No ir's rimeto do a coupleof smallconstntctionprojectsthat areve.y easy.First,the box

itselt.

meBox-
There's onll one alterationyou'll needto do !o the box, and tha! is to add the haspIor the
lock. lf you \ e obtainedthe sametype of haspthat I useon my box. you'll know thatit is actually
doublehinged,meanjngit is hingedin two diffeientplaces.This allowsthe haspto work over (or
around) a corner.Seelhc pics of m), set up to get ar idea of what \r'e're talking abouthere. I have
placedthe haspon ml box very specilically.While it has nothing to do with the workings of the
effect. it has everything to do \rith the haspmaking the box very secu.e,while not geing in the
\r ay of anything.

Hereare a 1e!\'thingsto considerwhen

placing the hasp.Make sure thal the lid will close all
the way easily.The bolts in the top of the lid must
not hit any portion of the coin lray that sits inside the
rop of the box.My haspis placedjust overn rnch to
the right of the claspthatis built into the box.If you
usea different box than what I use,be sure (o
experimenta bit before drilling the holes and making
your final decision about lhe hasp.

Once you havedecided whe.e to placethe hasp,drill the holes and atlach it wirh the bolts
and nuts. Do this with both parts of the hasp.Tighten all bolts and nuts very securcly.Once this
is done, beiieveit or not, the box is now readyto go!

-
ne Envelope
You now need to comstructa specialenvelope.You'll
needtwo of the manilacoin envelopes. scissors. aD
Exacto@knife, a glue stick atd photocopiesof the
examplesI will supply.Wlile this is not the least bit
difficult, there are severalstepsyou'll needto do- Fit of
all, use the scissorsand cut off the entire solid back panel

-26-
 Example# I Example f3

Synchronicity Synchronicity

Rulesand
Eligibility
Requirements
Ofticial Documents
Keep in a
ca^' 'ra ^1.^a

Evervone'sFavorite trvervones ravoflrc

PsychicGame'M PsychicGame'*

Step I - Copy example#1, cut outjust outsidethe

box pictured here and glue to the back (solid side,
Example#2
not glued)ofa#5 l/2manila coin envelopc.Center
it on the envelopeas exactJyas possible.Usc ar
Exacto@knife and cut out rhe poftion inside the
square,be as exact and straight as possiblewith this
cut. Use a playing card on the insideof the enve
Rulesand lop to avoid cutting all tle way through-
Eligibility
Step2 - Copy exarnple#2, cut ourjust inside rhe
Requirements box pictured here and glue to the single sheet
(madeby cutting the entire back off of another#5
Official Documents
i/2 manila coin envelope)you madeearlier In
Keep in a placing this cut out on tie single sheet,be surethat
..t tra ^lt^6
it will show through the window you cut in Step l.
The final product should look like Example #3
above.
 Mefttal Mix

oi onc of theen'elopes,flap included.

This $ ill leaveyou with a solid sheetoi paper.Placethisto
one sidc.

Now you $ ill need to eitherphotocopythe exaples of the artwo.k that you seepictrred on
the previouspage (p. 27).or useyour computerandpinter to makcup yourown. I actuallyuse
full-pagesized)abeis(availableat office supplvstores)to makethcse.

Theseeranlples are exactlywhat I useand are ade ior usewith the #-5l/2 ntanila
enveiopes- Either nlakeyour own or copy eramplethesanpleson page27.You will thenglueit
onto the back(solid side)of another#5 l/2 coin cnvelope.Centerit on the back as best you can.
You'll notice thal thereis a largc squarethatfills most ol rhe paperTake the Exacto@krife and cut
exactly (no pun intended)along the iDner edgeof the square.Placean old playing card inside the
envelopeto prevent cutting all the wa)' throUgb.When _roirare done.\'ou have a large.perfectlv
squareholein the solidside of theenvelope. This is a reallyweirdwindorvenvelope.But we re not
doneyet.

Now either copy examplc#2 (pictured previously) or createyour own on your computer.
Again, I prirt this on a full sheetlabel. Cut it to the size sho\an. This latlel $ ill go on the single
sheetthat yoll createda ferv II)omcntsago by cuttiDgthe back olf of anotherenvelopc.You'll have
to experimenla bit to get this riglrt. Slide rhis single shcct(from the other envelope)into the
wjndo\,r'envelopeyouJust created.You'li needro attachthe label(example #2) on this inner slip of
paperin sucha ay lhat it showsthrough the hole in the *indow envelopc.It rnust be centeredin
the hole.Onceyou've got this labelattachedto the slip.slidethewhole thinginto the window
envelopewith the messageshowinglhrough the window-

The resultingenvelopejs calleda'window doublcenvelope'(see'Love.'sVoodoo'ior

anolherexampleof this envelope),and now looksjusr like a prioted envelopewith all of the
printing showing properly.The trindo$ becomescompletelyinvisible when it's dooe this way. You
can openly handle the envelopeand show it freely from all sidesand it looks right from every
angle.

The envelopeis now readyto use.We're gettingcloser but not thereyet. Hang on, the end is
near.

Now you needto createthe proper key tags-Aren't you glad that you only haveto do all
this prepatiol] once aBdnot every show??

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 Mefttal Mix

TheKey Tags-
This is pretty easy.Take five of the melal rimmed key tagsand renove the srringsthat are
attachedto them. Replaceeachof thesestringswith one of the jewelry latches.Now look closely at
the tagsthemselves. You'il notjcethat one sideoI rhe taghas a flat, roundmetal rim. We'11call this
side A'.'l'he other sideof the taghasa metalrim thatis nrfiower and hasslightcrimpsin jt. l his
'B'. Take {our of these lagsand. usjnga SharpieG,, wrile the foilowing nunbe.s on the tags
is side
' A ' - 1 7 . 2 3 . 4 9 .1 2 .
onside

'B'.
Take one othe. tag amdI\rite the nunlber4 on side The writing should be centeredon
the face ofthe tag and should not fill the entireside of the tag. lt will needto

o
be able to be covered completelyby one of the Blue Avery@ Spots,so watch
your size.

Onceyou havethe tagsfilled in with the numbers.you'll needto

cover cach nunber t\ ith one of theAver!@ spots.BLIT. belore you do, tale a
'flap' on the edge
fold over a very small of each spot. Fold this {lap back over
so that the sticky adhesivesidesattachto eachother.This flap is no more thao I116 of an inch. This
makesa 'flat spot' on the edge of lhe label. lt also createsa small tag that can be grippedonce the
spotis in placc.I-ater on in the routine, you're goiDg to remove eachof the spots from the key tags-
These smali flaps $ili make that much easie.to do.

I orient the flat spot so that it is toward lhejewelry latch. Itjust looks better that way. Once
you've got the spols in place over the numbers,the key tags are ready to go.

You'll end up replacingtheselabels betweenevery show.

Now if you'll notice, becauseof the very small discreparcy involving the metal rims of the
tags,you can easily identify which tag has the number 4 on it. The rim itself becomesa markirg
device.lt's the tag with the na.rower rim which isn't so flat. Experimenta bit with this by mixing
the tags up and ;dentifying the #zltag. lt's rcally easyonce you get the hangof it. You'll see how
this comesinto play when we getinto the handling and routin.

By the way. the reasonfor the dark blue color of the Avery@ spotsis becauselhey will
completely cover and mask the numberswdtteD with the Sharpie@on tlre key tags.ltjust wouldn't
do if you caneasily seethe Dumbcrsthrough the labels.

The really good news is that, with the exceptionof having to replacethe Avery@labels after
every show, all of the work you've done so far will only have to be dor.eone time.you might $eed

-30.
 MentalMix

to .eplacethe envelopee!entually, but not until after,?r4l1\r

per{ornatces. l m still on m) original
envelope.Soundsgreatdoesn'tit? But we're not donevet!Almost,but rot quite.

me Index-
The INDEX!? Oh, did I forgerto ntcntionthatthere'san index?Well. thereis. And it,s
incredibl] easy to make.This is exacrlywhat I use.Tale a 3 X -5file citrd and fold it in half so thal
it is 2 l/2 X 3 inches.Take tlvo largc pape.clipsand attach thel]l lo the card on the fold, eachabout
l/2 inch io from lhe sides,oneoa eachside.That'sit! We'll put thingsinto thisincrediblyfancy
index right before the sholv.

TheSet Up-
Are you still with me?I hopesol l-hc endis in sight.lt wiil be worth it, trustme.

On the nexl two pages(p. 32-33) you'll seetwo exaniplesof two different 'Rles' slips that
I use.lfyou want to uselheseexactslipsin yourperformances, l've suppliedmasLers to make
copiesfrom at the end of thiswdte-up.You'll needone slip'A' andr4rcslip B'foreachshow.

Take a copy of slip 'A' and fill in the (hrecblanks on it. First is the dateof the show aod the
orher hro blanks wili need a number'4' in them.Fold this slip inlo l6ths (fold it in half, theni
half dre other way, then in half again the other way,and finally in half one more time the other
rl a) ), and place it into the solid side of the *indow double envelopei4'econstucted earljer.Try to
somewhatcenter the folded slip insidethe cnvelope.It will c.eatea slight bulge in the envelopeand
help hold the {lap iside closedagainstthe open window.l'his allows you to ha[dle the envelope
llith completefreedom.

'
Placeseven l0O Grand' candybars into the bottom of the cashbox. Placethe coin tray in
place and set the 'Rules' envelopeon top of the coin tray with the writing facing up. Close the boK
and set the 'Correct Key' Iock so it is ready to perform. Consult the instructionsthat came with
your lock so as to properly set it. Lock the box with the lock. The box is oow 10070ready to go.

Have the four 'regular' keys for the lock effect in a goblet or other containerand haveLhe
ley separatcdfrom the otherssomewhereelse, perhapson your tble. Have the key tags on your
table. From the audience'spoint of view, you're ready to go, but there is one small but incredibly
important piece of work yet to do.

- 3 1-
 Synchronicity
Everyone'sFavoritePsychicGame'"
o l l i f l " L R u l e d , ' dL l r g i b r { r R
l,gurrem(nl
Datcof Came:
1. Theremustbe the samenumber of{oniestantss thereare keys.

2. There nust be kev tags availablefor eachkey used.

3. Contestantsmust have a free choiceof any Ley the_l1|ish.

4. Contestantsmucl have a free choiceof any key tg {hey \!ish.

5. Potential I\inJ|in8 conlestanlmusl be slecledat random from

all conteslants.

6- The potentil r,!iming Conlestant'skev musl bc the e\aci kev

that openstie lock to t}|. bor.

7. If t]re abovkey sucressfullyopens the lok lo the box, the

number on the key tag musl be #

8. A1l key iags must contain different numbers.

9 . ls the abovokey successtullyopens the lo.k to the bo\ and

containsthe number- the potential winning contestant
must meel th qualiticalionsas lisled inthe fine printi

Fin Print s*d, q.r.dL,

Assuning all of tlre aboveconditionshave beenmet. the

contestantivill be deemedas a rvinner and qualifies for the Grand
?rjze.In fact, if all oI th abor,rcally has happened,everyone
deservesa prize.

Contratulationsl

CoD'right O MDS Enterprises

SliP'A
You will needoneof thesefor everyperformance
 Synchronicity
Everyane
s FavaritePsychlcGameu
Ctftiaa!Rul6 andEliSibrl,rv
Rcqui.ements
l)at.ot Lcme _
1. Theremust be the same number of contesranrsas rhe.e are keys.
2. Theremusl be ke), i.rEsavailablefor eachkev used.
l. , o n r r , r J n.l m u i h J v ca l l * . h . , i c eo r , r D \r e ! t h e rr i , h .
4. Contestantsmuct have a freechoice of an1.ke! tag lhev !! ish.
5. Polntii la,inninS(ontestantmust be seleciedat random from

6. The potential s'iruring Contestanls key musi be the exacl key

that ope s the lock to lhc box.
7. lf e abovc key successfullyopens the ]ock to t]e bo\, rh
numbcr on ihe kev tag rnustbe t
L All key taEsmusl coniain differ'ntnumbers.
9. Is the abole le) successfuUyopens the iock to tle bo\ and
coniairlslhe number - the potential winning contestant
must meel the qualiJications,$'l"dchwi)l !ary with every tame.
Wihning Conlestsht Oualitications
If therels a crtitiablewinning contestant,it is possiblethat the],
my be needed for inten iews siih membersof tne press-Since
ne{'spaper picturesand televisjonbroadcastsof the potential
n-inning contestantreflect on everyoneinvoh,ed w.iihthe grn,the
potential winning co testntmust metel the folloiring appearance
criteria:

Assuming all oflhe above conditions have beenmet, the

contestanlwill b deemed as a winner and qualifies for the Crand
Prize. ln fact, iJ all of the abovereallv hashappened,evryone

Con$atulations!

(signed)
Cop'.right O MDS Enterprises

SIip'B'
You will needreeof thesefor everyperformance
 Mefttal Mix

set up (the 'B' sheets)-

Ihe Presnow
You have to do a small amountol preshowwork to perform this little miracle. I l's vea]
coven andeasylo do.For this you will needthe five slip 'B' Rulessheets.

If .youexaminethe'B' sheetsyou'llsee the samebla i placesfor the tiateof the showand

for the ke)'lag #4. Fill in theseblankson all fir'e slips.You'll alsoseefour lines towardsthe bouom
of the slip. This is whereyou aJegoing to write in the exact physicnl descriptionof five differenl
people from your audience.Here js \!hat you're looking for in thesefive very specialpcople.

I look for peoplethat are dressedvery distinctivcl). I don't want three of m] five peopleto
all be wearingjeans and a t shjrt. I want five different looks, if possiblenot only diflirenr from
ecrh other,bt diffeteDtfrom eren,or? el.!ein the roon! As distinctiveas possible,that's rhat you
want. Plus it's also good to have both men aod women rpresentedin your line up. All five of these
indjviduals q ill end up on stagetvith you later, so pick carefully-

You will need to be able to rememberwhich spectatoris which. There are severalways to
do this. My personalfavodte is to use a formula I leamed in elementaryschool an classfor
rememberingthe color spectrum- .oy gebiv. lf you're not familiar with these threesyllables,
ROY standsfor Red, Orange, Ycllow. Gee, standsfor Green. BIV standsfor Blue, Indigo and
Violet. Most of the time I only ncedROY.GDE-B for this effect. I look for a distincriveRed,
Orange, Yellow, Green aDdBlue outht (or significart pa.t of the outfit) ifl the audience.This rvay I
can rememberexaa11-y who I did my preshowrvork on aod make sure they end up on the stagewiah
me- These are the live people who I will selectlater o .

Wlatever techniqueyou use to .emember which spectatoris ivhich, collcct thc inlormation
and $rite it on your five slips.

Be discreetabout lhis collection of data during preshow.You don't \{,ant to appearas though
you're lurking or paying undo attentionto anyone in particular in the audjence.I will usually carry
a small pocket size notepadand just wanderthrough the c.owd looking for likely suspects,making
Dotesas I go- I notice where they are seatedand make sure I get some small details(iewelry, rvatch
color and style, accessories,show color, etc.). be as specific in the details as you possibly can when
you fill in eachone of thesefive slips. Believe me, it will pay huge dividends later in the show.

By the way, ifyou would like more information about this incredibly powerful technique
(speakingof preshow work, here),I would recommendmy book "Before The Curtain fuses",
which the only book in existencedealing entirely witlr the subjectof preshowwork. It is a veritable
encyclopediaof this powerful techniqueard is the bestsourceof iDformation yo will find
anywhere.(Shamelessplug!)

- 34-
 Mental Mix

Once )ou'!e got thellve slipswrittenoul. you ll needto placcthem into the simpleindex
) ou made out of the folded 3 X 5 flle card. Fold the five slipsjust asrou did lvith the other sljp in
the envelope(foldedinto 16's)and slip four of then undereachsideof tlie paperclipsin a known
order, whateverorder *orks for you-This is $'hy it's so inportant to klow which slip goeswith
which spectalor You ll also notice that the.c is essentiallya pockct that ;s fomred in betweentlre
folds of the file card. Slide slip #5 into this centerpocket.Thc *'hole index gocsinto )our pocket
and.believeit or not. \'ou'refinally readyto go!

One more small note before \&eiartnchinto the handling here.I cannot stressenoughthe
necessityof thoroghpmctice and rehearsaiwith dris simpleindex you havejust constructed.lf
)ou can come up with a conllgurationthat rvorksbetter for you, do it! You must be able to get to
any of the five slips easily ald effortlessiyduring the show.This is critical.

TheHanclling -
Believe it or else,all of this work ) o've beeo doing is aboutto pay off. T[re actualwork
that you have to do in the show itsell is child s play.'l-hanksfor hangingin therewith me. Here we
go-

Posilion check here the index is in your pocket with five slips in a klown order Four of
the keys are in a goblet, lfrel-}'is on the table along with the five kcy tags.The box is locked with
the 'Correct Key' lock. The box containsseven' 10OGrand' candy barsuDdertie a:ointray and
your rvindo* double envelopeon top of the coin tray, the solid side of which conrainsslip 'A'
folded into 16'h's.Got it? Good. lt's sho\a'Lrme:

Pleasekeepin mind that I'm only going to give cursory stageinstructiooshete.You'11need

to work out your own presentationand exact blocking for all lhat follows. Of coursefeel free to
alteran1 of rhisto suit l our ou n nceds.

The box is in full view and has been on display the entire show-The performerbrings up the
five people who be did the preshowwork on earlier, and whose slips are indexed in his pocket.

(Q. What if one or more of the preshowpeople left the building, or are in the bathroom,
or died of boredombefore this part of the show?

A. We'll answer that momentariiy. Suffice to say,at this poiDtyou really don't care.lf one
or more of them is missing in actiol1,justpull up someoneelse from lhe audience.
You'll seehow this all playsout in a bit.)

-5J-
 Mental Mix

You will also needone more personfrom lhe audienceto act as a faciritator,a totarof six
peoplefrom the audience.Line up the five conrestantsto the perfomrersIefr and the facilitator to
the right. The table should be behind the pe.former.

Have the facilitator try the four keys rhatwill oot open the lock ro 'erif). that they fit but do
not open it. Then have them try ,fte l"_1,.the lock n ill open.AII of the keys are then mixed in rhe
gobletand the lock is closedagaio.

Have the iacilitator take the glassand allow the fivc contestantsa free choice of any ke),
they wish as weli as any key tag they \rant. we now come to the first important item of the,outine.
wthout being obviousr try to note which spectatorhas the key tag that has rhe number four on it
(hereafterknown as the f4 key). Remenber the narrow rim? Try to spot it. .ll.lisis purely to save
you sometime atd thinking in a lew ooments. Try to mal(enote of \\'ho has it_If by chanccyou
miss and don't seethe marked tag. no problem. you,ll haveorher opportunities.Suilice to sav. I'rom
this point forv\ard, do your best to find that markedkey tag and note who hasit.

Have eachof the contestantsfiachtheir key tag to their selectedkey. This is easydue to the
jewelry clip. Now have your facilitator eliminate the contestaDtsone by one until a sirgle
contestarrremains.Ilach corteslant stayson stageeven alter they are eliminated.I usuallymake
some cormentabout them being potential runner up,s for Miss Congeniality.As this happensyou
collect the keys. In this stageof the routine one of two things lvill happen.Either the rcmaining
spectatorwill havc the #4 key, or you will havethat key in your hand from collecting them.

If the final remaining correstanthas the #4 key, you don't need ro do an).rhing.If however
you have the #4 key in your hand, you'll need to do a switch in a lerv momenls..I'here,sno heat on
this slvitch and it's done at a good time in the haodling, so don't be concemed.Here's the way it
playsout.

First of all, you'll need to get control of the #4 key. I casuallytoss the keys from hand ro
hand apparentlypaying no real attentionto them.At somepoint I get the #4 key ilrto a palm in my
left hand.Thumb palnr, finger palm, whateveris easiestfor you. yo'll have to experimenta bit.
Do this while the final contestantis trying *leir key in the lock. of course tie loch opens!At that
exact moment, table the remaining keys in your hand and retaiD the #4 key. Take the .winnjng,key
from the final spectatorand do a simple shuttle pass,apparentlyplacing it into the left hand,really
retainitrgit in tle right hand. B.ing the #4 key itrto view at the sametime as you concealthe
switchedoul key. ReDember there is no heat at this point, so don't make a big deal out of this.
Simply switch tle key. After the shuttlepass,immediately grab all of the keys from the table
addingthe switchedout key. Hold the #4 key high ard keepit in view while loosely holding tbe

-36-
 Mefttal Mix

ll ) ou walt you can aclali! handthe #.1key back to the final contesrantif you wish,
other ke-"-s.
and I do more ofter than nol-

No matter what. the final conlestantrnusaeod up $,ith the #4 key for the first revelationto
$ ork out. By far the best tinle !o slr,itchthat key is right after it is used,bur if you haveanother
timc and melhodfor makingtheswjtch(pleasedon't intoducc someswilchingdeviceat rhis poinr.
there'sno need).by all nlearlsgo fo. it. l'he above is basically ho$ I handleit.

This stvitchis someq'hatimpro\';sational iD nalure.Sinceyou neverkno\r,whomight ltave

the #4 key or if they tvill bc eliminatedor not, youjust have to llow with it. Practiceand rehea.se
elery scenarioyou can ilnagine. becausetheyrvili all happeneventually.You've got to be readyfor
!rhateverhappens.

Ok, so hcre s the deal. The final contestanthas opeoedthe lock with Lheirfreely selected
key and eitherby pure luck or by a sllr:rll bit of sleight of band, the key they now hoid is rhe #4 key.
Are we all on tbe samepage?

The box is openedandthe'Official Rules'

envelopesitting right on top. Your work is nearly
done. While the box is beiDgopened,you have one
more small picce of work to do. Since you now
know who the winniDg contestantis, )ou need to
obtain their malching slip from your pocketindex.
Simply palrn it out into your right hand.Pick up the
eDvelopeard display it openly,commentingon the
printing on it- Now ali you need to do is place the
envelopedirectly over the palmed slip with the
window side facing down. This action is much the
same as lhe shuttlepassyou probably had to do
earlier with the key.

Assume the palmed slip is in your right hand and the envelopeis being displayedwith your
left hand. This is purely a timing thing, but tlere is a tiny bit of heat at this poirt. Simply place the
envelopeio your right hand, turning the ight hand palm up at the last possiblemoment before tle
elvelope is placed-This concealsthe palmcd slip. I usually do this as I'm recappingwhat has
happenedso far. I want the eventsof the routine fresh in the audiencesmind becauseit's all going
to be predictedshortly.

So the palmed slip is now undemeaihthe envelope.Open the envelopewith your left
fingers and simply feed the palmed slip through the window ald pull it straightout of the envelope

-37-
 Mental Mix

as if i! wefe there the whole time. The envelopeis now pocketedand iorgotten about as all attention
is on lhat slip.

The trick is no\\. effectively over. Sirnply readthe slip right dowr and point our al1of the
pcninent infonnation, confirming it for the audience.I generaliyrcad the slip myself allowing the
final contestant to readit with me over my shoulderBelievcme. when you get to the part of ihe
slip rvhererhe personstandingright next to you is t'eing describedin minute detaii. this brings lhe
housedorvnl

Finally remove the coin tray tiom the cashbox to reveai the '100 Grand' candy bars.Pass
one out to each of your heipersand keep the final one yourself, while you acknouledge your well
desenedround of applause.Finis!

There are a few more things we shoulddiscussbefore I leave this topic behind aDdthey are
all pretty much directlv connected.You're probably rhioking, "what if one or more of my preshow
people getsup and leavesbefore I get to the routine?"

This is a very valid questionand one rbat normally demandscritical attentionfor the vast
ma.jorityof preshowapplications,however in this caseyo're more than amply covered.
Rernemberthal one extra slip that is in tie solid compartmentof the window double envelope
which we never eventouched in the abovedescription?Go back and look at slip 'A' (page 32)
again.

You'll notice that there is no blank spacefor the descriptionof the final contestant.There is
only tbe prediction of the key tag number and a mighty fine gag.After readiflgdown all of the nine
items on the list, I then mention, "and there'ssomefine pdnt down here,somethingabout bikers. ls
that right?" and I show it to the final contestatrt.They will invariably smile and agree.ln caseyour
eyesdor't read fine prjnt, it says,"Something aboutbikers. Somethingabout bikers", o\.er and

It's entirely possible that one ot mo.e of your preshow people might leave or be in the
bathroomwhen this segmeotof the show cones up. No problem-Bring up all of your other
preshowpeoplejust as described,plus anotberX personto fil] the empty space.If one of your
preshowpeople endsup bejng the final cortestant,great! Just pull up their slip from the index and
fi sh as above.

lf the X personends up being the final contestant simply bypassthe index entirely aad
reveal the extra slip already in the envelope!You're still covered,Gmnted, it's not as strong of a

-38-
 Mental Mix

fioish. but it still !\.orksvery lricely.Nobod) but \ou wiii everknoq what happeted,or didn't
happenas the caseInay be.

Likewise, this extia slip mea0syou can perl_ormthis predictior chest routine uodera ]
circumstances, evenwhenihereis no opportunitvto do thepreshowworkl Justbring up aandon
people(thro$ a brick into lhe audie8ce and selectpeopleat randon,jusl bc sureit's a foambrick)
and do thc entireroLrtineusingthe slipalrcadl in the envelopeas (hefinale. Still u'orkslike a
cnarm:

This one featureallows tremcndousflexibilit) and frecdon in performing this routine.

IVIanvdmes I have or ] had a chaoceto preshou one or two people frcn\ the audience.No
problem!I go aheadand havethe propcrslipsreadyto go in my index.lf one of them h;ts'then
I m good to go. II nol. then I use the alternateending. No ftatter what happensyoulve got a great
( r r d i n st o a i u n a n dh i g h l l c o m m e r c i ar ol u t i n t .

I ivant to congratulateyou for bearingwith nre through all of this. l've tried to be as
thorough as I possibly could so you would completelyunderstandthe in's and out's mof this
routinc. When you get right down to il, this is extremelyeasyand fun to do. lt's just got a lol of
pans !o put together.

Remcmber.before even show you'll needto replaceall of the slips, get new candy bars.
detachthc key tagsfrom the keys, resetthe lock aod so on. The really nice part of all this is that
you can prelty much set this effect and forget it. lf you haveit compielely set and don't useit for
three months there'sno problem.All you need to do is the small amountof preshowwork when
)ou get to the venueand you're readyto go. Simple! This is a worker

I have a couple more piecesof advice to give. Ifyou're going to do this routine a lot, I
$ould recommendputting togethertwo or three completesetsof the paopsand always havethem
readyto go. The reasonis that way you can mail a locked box aheadto one of your showsand still
have anothersetup rcady for showsin betweenbefore you get that box back. I have three boxes
constantlyready to go ard can pick up any one of them and walk out tle door to the show without a
care in the world. Plus I can have anotherbox mailed aheadto anothershow. This is a sreatwav to
\fork.

You're also going to want to have a bunchof the slips printed up. Take the mastersprited
on the next coupleof pagesand get a ton of copiesof eachmade. Cut each sheetin half to make
tu,o slips per page.Remember,you'll usc one copy of slip'A'per performanceand five copies of
'B'. so plan appropriateiy.
slip You can then havethem tound togetherin gumaed pads.This is a
very corvenienl way to carr)' them around.Your local quick print shopcan do this entire operation
for you very inexpensively.

-39-
 Mental Mk

Once again,congratulations on 1'ourpersisteoce in makingit all the wa]. throughthis

lengtiy discourse.Chancesare that ve^ lclr who read this rvill acrally go to the relatively sm.l1
effort it takes to make this up. \r'hichmeansif r,.Il do it, you'11have ar exclusive oI youl hards thal
no oneelsewill be doing.Enjoyl

Coptright .9200-)btMdrkD. Stririrys. All rights rcsened. Cat njcrcial ?rcduction urul
distri bLni on ri Bhts strictl\ reset'\'ed-

-40-
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 Mental Mix

FinalMix
Well we've reachedthe end ol lhjs little compilalionol nentalisnr.I sircerelyhopeyou
have found somelhing that you can use.I use all of tlris stuff and it works likes a charrn.Someof it
ivill require some basic gatheringof materialsand putring a few things together,but there,sreally
nothingterriblyjnvolvdhere.Certainlynothingthatshouldkeep you from puttingthis malerial
jnto your o\\ n performances.

There hale also been someopen,endedideastaftersfor thosof you who like to go on and
blaze your own trail. If you find a variation on someof this material that works for you, pleasedo
me the small favor of letting me kno!l,what you've discove.ed.I love to seewhat other performers
do 1()put their own specialtwist on my material.Ir's like secingmy childrengo oif ou theirown
and stana whole new ljle. So pleasekeepme postcdon anlthinglhat you might comeup wjth.

Thank you again for laking the time ro considerm) little creationsaod variations.I hope we
can lrleetsometimeaDdtalk shop.Until that dey comes,here'sgood thoughtsto you!

-+J -
 Wantmore?
For conrpleteinlbrmationon thc entirerangeof publicarions,
video and audiotapes,effcctsand accessoriesfor the professional
psychicentertaineravailablethroughMark Strivings,pleasecontact:

Mark Strivinss
8631N. LowellBlvd.
Westminster.
CO 80031
303-650-6992phone& fax
emailMarkyApril@aol.com
Mark is alsothe orvnerof thelargestsourcefor exclusir,eall-
mentalismproductsof all rypesin the rvorld, operatingunderthe
name'MentalConnections' . Feelfree to contactMark to be placed
on his email and regularmail list (at no costor obligation)as rvellas
to requesta free catalog.

Thankyou!