The Wizards' Journal #47

$7.00

Table Hip-Hopping
by Jim Gerrish

Levitating Tables began in 1898, the invention of Spiritist/Magician William E. Robinson, better remembered as Chung Ling Soo. Since then they have evolved to where they can take over an entire performance, thanks to improvements by Dirk Losander and others. Follow the history of the dancing and floating tables, and then learn how to build your own and make them levitate in ways not yet revealed on YouTube by spoil-sports. Build your own table and you can both float it and make it vanish when you are done. Reclaim the mystery from the know-it-alls and leave them scratching their heads.

$7.00

4-D Card Trick
by Professor Spellbinder

Watches are changing with the times. Today many have digital watches like the one pictured at the right. This 4-D Card Trick works with any watch, analog or digital, no matter what kind, now or into the future. Your spectators with watches can choose any time in the near future for something magical to happen. You have a card freely chosen and signed by someone and it is then inserted into the deck and everyone can take a turn shuffling the card deeper and deeper into the depths. A minute or so before the chosen time arrives, you have different spectators deal off the cards face up on the table, while those with watches are having a count-down to the chosen time to yell "STOP!" When they yell Stop, the card on top of the deck is turned over and it is the signed card at the exact time to the second that was predicted in advance.

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Knotty Knot
by Jim Gerrish

You pass around a small wooden box. It has a hole in front and back, and closes and locks. When the box gets returned to you after making the rounds, you pass out a length of rope, 3-4 feet or so. You ask each person to tie some kind of knot in the rope, and keep it going from person to person as you continue with whatever magic tricks you've been performing. When the thoroughly knotted rope gets back to you, make sure everyone has a good look at it to see that it is thoroughly tied up in knots with just the two ends sticking out somewhere. Have someone take the box, put the Knotty Rope inside and thread out the two ends through the holes before they close the box and lock it. You have them wrap white electrician’s tape around the box and sign their names all over the tape. Now you send the box around for each person to untie one of the knots. They have no idea how to do that until you suggest they just pull both ends of the ropes that are sticking out of the holes and let the knots untie themselves inside the box. And they do! Magic happens in their own hands!

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Chess Affinity
by Professor Spellbinder

Some people just have a natural affinity that attracts them to the game of Chess. Our goal is to attempt to measure that affinity, even in someone who has never or rarely played the game. On that premise, we procede a brief encounter with mesmerism to see if a predisposition exists between the Chess pieces and someone who starts off as a skeptic and ends up a true believer.

Also includes the game of Wiz Chess for those who don't have time for a long drawn-out game of regular chess, and a complete set of Jumbo Chess playing cards you can print out using your computer and any inkjet printer.

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Svengali Redux
by Jim Gerrish

The common Svengali Card Deck was invented in 1909, but it was based on principles dating back to the 1500's. This is my new version "redux" or "redone" so no one will recognize it. Any spectator can cut the cards and each time he cuts to a new and unpredictably different card - you can't do that with today's Svengali decks - you get only ONE force card. With Redux, you get 26 or more (up to 52) force cards. So when he finally cuts the cards, hides his chosen card in his pocket, and seals the deck inside a transparently clear plastic box, your audience is astounded when you are able to read his thoughts and draw a picture of the card he chose. You can buy several of these clear plastic boxes at the sources given, so you can also have, for example, THREE or more spectators cut the cards, hide the chosen card and seal the rest of the cards away in a separate box. Using only the telepathic powers of your mind, you divine each different and separate card, one by one.

$7.00

Swami
Revisited
by Jim Gerrish

This old trick from the 1950's* has been brought back to life. A spectator becomes the Swami by looking through his eyes, seeing hidden secrets, and what the future holds in store. One routine: A spectator pokes out the cardboard eyes of a cardboard Swami picture. Then he freely picks a card from any deck of cards and puts it, sight unseen, in his pocket. A different spectator looks through the holes in the Swami's eyes and only he can see and name the hidden card. But it's not just a prop for card tricks. The Swami can reveal other future events before they happen, and more.

*-https://www.magicnook.com/EZcatalog1951/ezmagic31-40.htm#Swami --Then Scroll down to Page 35.

$7.00

Pad-Epic
by Professor Spellbinder

From Grant's Citation in 1949 to Fetsch's Mental Epic in 1954, years of Epic This and Epic That for hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Now, for the cost of a Pad of Paper and some cards and paperclips, Spellbinder gives you his latest Epic that has no moving parts, sliding panels, and spectators can hold your Pad and tear off the sheet at the end. D.I.Y. for under $20. His routine includes up to 12 members of your audience getting their thoughts read, their futures divined, their fortunes determined in a flurry of predictions and secret knowledge. Also, you can make 4 predictions, not just the usual 3. Magic or mentalism? Who cares? It's all fun! Seriously!

$7.00

Ghost House
by Professor Spellbinder

It has been years since I dreamed up my little Ghost House, but every Halloween, out it comes to help me greet Candy Collectors on the front porch. I hold it in my hands and the little ghost appears inside the house and then mysteriously passes right through the house to fly and float all around it before grabbing a piece of candy and dashing back inside the house. The house can be taken apart to show that the ghost has vanished, yet when it is reassembled, back he comes to get more goodies. It's a "Close-Up In-Yer-Hands Illusion" and not just for Halloween, but whenever you need a friendly Spook to help you with your magic.

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Think Again
by Jim Gerrish

There is a myth that mental magic is not for kids. The truth is, to young kids, all magic is mental magic. We start with a “Guess What I Am Thinking” game. You show a book (or several books) with pictures of objects that kids recognize, animals, fruit, toys, etc. The child chooses a page in the book, then takes a marking pen, selects a single object on the page and circles it. Then he closes the book and you go to work to “read his mind” and identify the object that he circled in the book. Perhaps you draw the object on a pad of paper. Plus four other Mental Magic tricks for kids using Picture Cards. Sources given to buy wipe-clean books and cards, or print them yourself.

$7.00

Peek-Velope
by Jim Gerrish

You can spend a lot of money on a wallet that lets you peek at a card or whatever. But it makes more sense to hide whatever you have to hide inside an opaque paper envelope that can be handled by the spectator who hides it there. He sneaks a card from a deck and slides it into his opaque envelope, then seals it so he’s the only person who knows what it is. The rest of the deck is in his pocket, so you can’t learn what card he chose by looking through the deck. If you have $800 or so, you can buy electronic "stuff" that will tell you what the electronic card is. My Peek-Velope costs about 8 cents per envelope. You can let the spectator write all over his ordinary playing card, and rip up the envelope at the end, if you want. Don't try that with "electronic stuff."

Published by Imagineering Magic
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