Mentalism and Mind Reading

Mind reading can either be a special mental ability or a magic trick depending on the person using it. As the former, it is an exceptional ability to discern other people’s thoughts without normal and tangible means of communication. On the other hand, it could involve magic tricks for purposes of entertainment, and the person doing it does not really have an exceptional mental ability used for the performance. This simply involves the illusion of telepathy while performing the art of mentalism.

Mind reading as a mental ability may refer to:

> The power to discern the thoughts of other people.

> Telepathy, the ability to transfer information to another without using the five senses.

> Thought identification, using neuroimaging methods and techniques to read other people’s minds

CAPABILITIES

The user senses what the other person is thinking, and hears him like ordinary speech. Usually he senses the surface thoughts or some other mental communications, but may also push farther into memories and the subconscious. Specific features of mind reading are as follows:

> Applications: Telepathic Prediction, Lie Detection,

> Variations: Visual Telepathy, Mind Words

> Associations: Memory Reading, Omnipathy, Mind Link, Telepathy

> Limitations: 1- Doesn’t work on inanimate or mindless beings; 2- May be limited to work, on a certain

range including touch only; 3- The target may be limited to one at a time.; 4- The user may fail to know when to stop and continue to hear thoughts resulting in ineffective mind reading in large crowds; 7- Too many thoughts may overwhelm the user.

MIND READING MAGIC

The other art of reading people’s minds, commonly referred to as mentalism, has been impressing audiences for centuries. The goal of mentalists or people who employ mind reading tricks is to convince people around them that such magic tricks are actually real just like hypnotism, psychokinesis, precognition, divination, clairvoyance, telepathy, and mind control. Below is an example of such trick:

Predict the Luckiest

1- Select five persons from the audience and ask their names. Write the names individually on a notecard and place them all in your hat. Then, you will write on a slate or chalkboard, your prediction of the name of the lucky person to be drawn from the hat. Get a volunteer from the audience to draw from the hat the lucky person’s name, and it will surely match your prediction.

The trick is to write down repeatedly the name of the same person from the selected group of five as you ask each person’s name. This means that for the five persons you have selected, you will only have one and the same name written on the five cards placed in the hat. Remember the following important reminders as you write each name:

> Make sure no volunteer or any member of the audience can see what you are writing on the card;

> If you are performing at an event or party to honor someone, just write down the name of the honoree on all the cards to make sure he’s named the luckiest person there.

> Instead of predicting who the luckiest person is, you can try something else for a change, like who’s

going to get married next, or who’s the unluckiest person. Tailor your pick to the people present and the event.

Write your prediction down in big letters on a slate or chalkboard, for everyone to see after all the cards have been placed in the hat. Show the name to the audience and announce that you are certain the name written there belongs to the luckiest person in the room.

Ask for a volunteer from the audience. Hold your hat above his or her head and ask her to draw from the hat the card bearing the name of the luckiest person. Tell the volunteer to announce the name to the audience, and surely people will react with surprise and amazement to see the same name written on your prediction card. Just be sure to immediately keep the remaining cards away to avoid the trick being discovered.