Hey I recently purchased 7 Deceptions and Building Blocks by Luke Jermay. Both are fantastic books! I've been working on my mentalism lately so I can prepare some harder stuff. (i.e. Suggesstion, cold reading, etc...)

I must say, Luke's material has made me do something I haven't been compelled to do for a while, actually PRACTICE...A LOT. Because I have been exaustingly practicing his work on my family, I have been able today to finally go out with some wonderful material.

BUT... there is one thing that sounds amazing, but I simply CANNOT do at the moment. And that is the Reverse Gestalt Moment effect.

I understand there is a fall back plan that works great for the audience, but I need some advice on how to make it work completely. I know it won't work 100% of the time but...

If someone could please PM me or post a response. Also, which patter do you use, Jermay's or Knepper's?

Thanks a ton!!!

Basically, you just have to make yourself feel comfortable with it. Some people it simply won't work on. So you just have to keep practicing with new people. That's all that you can do.

Do you think it won't work more than it will?

For me, I've gotten it to work now, the majority of the time. When I started doing it at first, I hardly got it to work. It just takes time. Especially if you're younger. Because you have to break the stereotype that people have (that younger people don't know what they are talking about).

So, at first, it may not work all of the time. But if you keep up with it, you will start seeing that it starts working more and more. Which will build confidence, as well as allow you to perfect the patter to fit you.

I've only been doing mentalism for two years (albeit with a lot of practice and study) and can tell you that I pulled it off the first time I did it.

First- make sure you choose a good subject (usually female or an intuitutve type)

Second- Make sure that everyone see's you put the 'same' card' down after the DL. Confirmation.

Third- TAKE YOUR TIME.

During the moment with the fingers coming together, my subject literally started fluttering her eyes and starting saying 'oh my god, I feel something..' If that happens, just confirm with a nod and slow it down and play it up.

Fourth- The only thing I might change, is the extreme difference between the two cards. Because dispite it's initail success, after some time passed she began to think that there was some kind of card trickery.

Other than that, just do it! Practice practice... You'll get it!

As a mentalist I don't think you can really expect to actually have the ability to cause amnesia in one of your spectators (unless you are using hypnosis/suggestion) any more than you can expect to actually be able to read minds.

You can probably increase your chances by choosing a suggestible spectator but you cannot kick yourself if it doesn't work.

Presentation may help but I wouldn't recommend copying Jermay's style.
SKULLDUGGERY was the most disappointing mentalism DVD I ever purchased. Mr. Jermay doesn't seem to entertain his spectators, rather, he seems to put them ill at ease! This might be fine for a performer of bizaare magic but I'm not sure it's what a mentalist should shoot for. I also think that when he told the female spectator he could cure her of one of her phobias that he was crossing an ethical line that put him in John Edward territory!

I suggest you check out Jay Sankey's 22 BLOWS TO THE HEAD for an effect similar to RGM called "Memory Lapse". This has recently been expanded upon by Banachek in his PSYCHOLOGICAL SUBTLETIES 2 in a section titled "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little...What?"

One possible modification is to make a stronger suggestion. A classic hypnotic induction is to place someone's hand slightly above and in front of their forehead. Have them stare at a spot on their hand. You suggest that, as their hand slowly moves toward their head, their eyeslids will become heavier and start to close. This is repeated until the hand touches the forehead, at which point the person should be in a light trance. You can see an example on Youtube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e1xCAtrFuc

You can do something similar by modifying the finger-touching routine mentioned in 7 Deceptions. Start out the finger-touching rountine as described in the book. Ask the volunteer to stare at the tip of your finger. As you slowly move your finger towards the volunteer's finger, you can say something like: "Now, as you watch my finger slowly get closer to yours, you can let yourself relax and remember how easy it is to forget things. You can just relax and watch my finger drift closer towards yours. And as you watch my finger, you can notice it becomes easier and easier to forget. The closer my finger gets, the more relaxed you can feel, and the easier it is to forget. Just relax and forget. Relax and forget." While saying this, slow down the rate at which you are speaking and slightly lower your voice, becoming more soothing and relaxing as you go. This should help strengthen the suggestion to forget. When your finger touches the volunteer's finger, pick up on the instructions in 7 Deceptions again.

Also remember the illusion *always* works as far as the audience is concerned. This is because the audience always remembers seeing a different card than what the volunteer remembers seeing.

It helps to set things up with the patter described in 7 Deceptions about the old film. Later, if the volunteer is really insistent on having seen a particular card, you can simply remind him what you said about the old film. This indirectly explains to the audience why the volunteer is so insistent.

I have also modified the illusion by using a color change instead of the card manipulation described in 7 Deceptions. After the volunteer shuffles the cards, stand between the volunteer and the audience. Take the cards and turn to face the audience. Hold the cards in the left hand, card facing the audience, with the right hand covering the bottom card from view. Tell the audience you want them to remember the card they are about to see. Remove your right hand, show the audience the bottom card, then replace your right hand. Now turn around and face the volunteer. When you remove your right hand to show the volunteer the card, perform a color change called the "winter change." (I learned the winter change from Ben Salinas "Hot Shot Color Changes" DVD, available at Penguin naturally.) Keep your hands fairly close to your body to protect visual angles from the audience. Cover the bottom card again and it's done. This handling seems more natural to me since I don't have dexterous fingers.