Bare-Bones Mentalism: Anagrams

Michael Kras · Bare-Bones Mentalism: Anagrams

I recently learned and memorized the Astrological Sign Anagram for mentalism... in case you do not know, it is a system that allows the performer to tell the spectator things such as her worst fear, her astrological sign, and more, all with no props or gimmicks.

However, I have been having difficulty and would like to ask your help... Whenever I do an Anagram-Based mentalism bit, people always immediately figure out the method no matter how subtly I do the "work". In fact, someone in the audience was able to tell the person's sign before I was!

My question is, how can I make the method less transparent? Is mentalism involving questions powerful anymore?

Craig Browning

Answer #1: The reason they "figure it out" is because you aren't creating any magic or misdirection to it. You are simply going through the motions and doing a trick vs. trying to create a miracle.

Answer #2: (and this is one most young people hate hearing)... YOU'RE TOO YOUNG TO DO THIS SORT OF THING AND MAKE IT BELIEVABLE.

Let me qualify that second response...

At around 22 years of age I did a very solid Psychic styled Mentalism Show in Palm Springs known as MIND SCOPE... it worked quite well and scared the ever liv'n crap out of me.

Why?

Because I didn't have enough life experience under my belt for backing it up and completing the primary illusion every Mentalist strives to make absolutely perfect -- the illusion created around themselves as being either a gifted person or an expert in a given field of study.

Taking on such a role requires a horrendous amount of discipline, maturity, study and application. It is not something that will happen over night no matter how much you throw into it, how many classes you take, etc. Though your efforts will eventually pay off, time and maturity are what you need more than knowledge and practiced bits or "performance" as it would be.

The majority of young people that manage to "make it work" when it comes to magic let alone something as demanding as mentalism, are exceptionally rare. They typically have strong (exceptional) family support in what they are striving to do, a sense of focus and discipline that don't have them bouncing all over the place... they know what they want when it comes to image and packaging and that is ALL they focus on... all they have time for!

Mentalism entails a hell of a lot more than knowing how an effect works, it requires a unique sense of showmanship and the ability to be an effective communicator that's why I have ALL of my students study Kenton Knepper's WONDER WORDS and now I, Jeff McBride and several others are having everyone we work with study Paul Brook's new ALCHEMICAL TOOLS... I'll warn you, it is a very challenging composition in that it deals with real world psychology and how to apply it within a performance but likewise how to practice it in real life. These are techniques that require YEARS to just become reasonably proficient at but they are the kind of techniques that will allow you to play with your anagram as part of a "casual" conversation and seemingly discern the person's sign without asking a single thing.

Given what you describe I think you may be using my buddy Quinn's ASCENSION though I'm not positive, there are many other methods, one of my preferred being DREAM SIGNS by Daniel Love but for you Michael I'd have to say your best bet is get an SUC Case and learn the Astrology routine that goes with it.

Michael Kras

Thank you for the help and advice Craig! Also, the recommendations. I do not use Quinn's effect, I used Banacheck's "What's My Sign".

Another good astrology routine popped into mind... thed Max Maven effect from his Nothing DVDs.

Craig Browning

Michael Kras

I've been working on a different (and quite brilliant) anagram for walkaround situations... and despite my efforts to make it seem nonchalant and casual, some people STILL remain unimpressed and tell me that I just used "the process of elimination", despite how much I try to sell it and how hard I try with my acting efforts. It's getting very annoying! What can I do?

Gary Dickson

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They have a product called Sensory Projection which may interest you. It is a system that takes anagrams to a higher level. Included in the system is an effect (Being There) in which you divine a movie from a list of fifteen. A sample script could run like this: "Can you play the theme tune of the film in your head? Good, I'm getting a sense of flying through the air - no, bnot flying, but definitely movement. Similar to flying, wait - swimming. Yes, definitely something swimming through the water. You chose the film Jaws, didn't you?"

Also, they have a piece os software called Panagram which allows you to create your own progressive anagrams quickly and easily.

With regards to your own anagram - how many 'no' responses do you need to get the answer? A good one only requires one 'no'. Panagram can help you top create anagrams that require less 'no' responses.

Also, you may need to sharpen your observation skills. Don't wait for the 'yes' or 'no' response but look for facial clues. An enthused, excited look will indicate a hit and a confused look will indicate a miss. If you can respond to the look, before a verbal confirmation then it makes for a stronger effect.

Also, have you considered acting lessons? If people are working out that it's a process of elimination it sounds like the problem is your presentation. Acting lessons could help this.

Do you present the anagram in conjunction with other more 'magiccy' effects - card tricks and so forth? This, in iteself, can be problem. If you are doing what are obviously 'tricks' then trying to present an effective piece of mentalism can be problematic in that the spectators will view the effect as a trick, rather than a piece of mind reading.

All the best
Gary
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Michael Kras

That is some fantastic information! Thank you for the source?

So you're saying this movie anagram is not based on letters, but on general plot points? If so, it sounds effective.

I've considered my acting skills to possibly be an issue... instead of confident, I may come off as being tongue-in-cheek about it all and make it seem like one of those "funny" mindreading things that kids do to each other all the time.. ("You're thinking of red.... blue? Green? Yellow? YES, that's what I thought, yellow). It's hard for me to tell personally though.

The anagran I'm working on does not involve a single negative... rather, multiple ones. I've tried working on it a bit though, example: "I think I see an 'A' there somewhere? No? Oh, I'm sorry, it was a bit muddled, the A is from the DIRECTOR'S name: Alfred Hitchcock. You're thinking of Psycho."

Gary Dickson

Sensory Projection uses concepts rather than letters some of which may be plot related.

If you've got more than one miss in your anagram, i.e. if the spec has to respond with 'no' more than once I would ditch it, unless you're proficient at spotting the visual clues and can proceed before there is a verbal response. Panagram, the anagram software they sell can help in eliminating misses.

Gary