Mystery Woman

by Professor Spellbinder

This effect works especially well in night clubs and since I haven't included any night club oriented effects in the Wizards' Journal to date, now is as good a time as any. You may suppose there is no call for Wizards to demonstrate in the night club venue, but you would be supposing wrong. Night clubs look for unusual acts that attract drinking-age customers, and more to the point, acts that bring drinking-age customers back again with their drinking-age friends.

The purpose of this illustration becomes clear when you read the article's explanation!

Effect:

The Wizard walks into the audience and fans a deck of cards... not playing cards nor even Tarot cards, but an unusual deck with signs of the Zodiac decorating the backs of the cards. He quickly holds the fan out to several different people in the club and each person takes a card in rapid succession. "Don't look at it yet," he tells each person. When he has handed out the last card, he tells each person holding a card to turn it over to see if he got it right.

There will be general amazement throughout the club as each person who selected a card sees his or her date of birth printed on the face of the card, along with his or her Zodiac sign and a little horoscope reading. But one woman has received a card with only a question mark on it.

"I'm sorry," says the Wizard. "I was unable to see your astrological sign. There is much about you that is a mystery to me. Would you mind giving me another chance?" He invites the woman to stand and follow him to the performing area, wherever that may be in the particular club.

The Wizard holds out his Athame (AH-them-may), handle first, to the woman. "I usually don't give this ritual cutting knife to a woman on the first date..."

He spreads out a sheet of newspaper on the floor (or over a cork board if you're working in a night club where they don't like to have knives stuck in their floors), and asks the woman to drop the Athame blade first onto the paper. "On the other side of the paper is the horoscope section," says the Wizard. "I hope this clears up the mystery about you."

He removes the Athame, picks up the newspaper and turns it over, pointing to the hole made by the Athame. It pierces one of the Zodiac sections on the newspaper's horoscope section. "Is that your sign?" asks the Wizard. Of course it is. "Don't pay any attention to the horoscope in the paper," the Wizard tells her. "I have a feeling you were born on the cusp and none of those newspaper horoscopes applies to you. Let me see if I can determine the exact day."

The Wizard removes a small pocket calendar and hands it to her. "Flip through the pages until you find your birthday," he says. When she does, she finds marked on her birthday "??? Mystery Woman???"

"Is that you? Read what it says aloud," says the Wizard. When she has read the entry, he continues. "I made that entry several months ago, but I had no idea what it meant until now. We need to talk, but not now. Perhaps later?" He escorts her back to her seat and continues with his performance.

And you'd better be darn good when you go back to her table later!

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