Does anyone have it and use it? What can you tell me about it?

Have it. Haven't used it yet.

Basically, you get a laminated card and a somewhat thick booklet of ideas and pseudo-instructions.

What do you want to know about it?

I'm looking for some Seance style tricks, probably mentalism/PK. Somebody asked me about maybe doing some shows this October at a Haunted Hayride. The show will only need to be about 20 minutes. I need some spooky effects without investing a lot in some of these Bizarre Magic props that are out there.

Would this work and would you have any other ideas.

Well... this is kind of a tough one. I'm tempted to just say, "Yes... depending on your presentation," but that starts to sound hollow after a while.

The Sanctum 2 prop can best be described as an "opportunity." It is a laminated card that has certain text and imagery on it which allows for the possibility of a number of mentalism effects. What those effects are exactly is ultimately up to you; IMHO, the "instructions," if you want to call them that, seem written in a deliberately vague fashion in order to emphasize your role in creating effects and routines out of what the Sanctum card provides. The instructions are deliberately descriptive more than prescriptive, telling you what the card is moreso than exactly what to do with it.

In a nutshell, it is an opportunity for the creation of close-up mentalism routines. It's about the size of a business card, making it more appropriate for intimate work than for stand-up; the imagery is not as readable from a distance as is the face of a playing card.

In a way, it's more like a swami gimmick than a book test... more of a utility device than an effect in itself, though "utility" isn't quite the right word.

To be honest, I've had mine for a year and haven't used it yet. I'd like to, but I just haven't found a way to work it into what I do... kind of like buying a t-shirt with a really cool design on it that is just maybe a half-size to small; when you put it on, it feels just a bit too uncomfortable... almost a fit, but not quite... you could get it to fit if you worked out but just haven't found the motivation yet.

The thing is, you might look at the card and see a use for it immediately... or you might work your way through the 46-page "manual" and end up saying, "Why the heck did I buy this?"

Personally, I look at some of the comments on the Cafe about this thing being able to "freak people out" and "seriously unnerve" and think, "Really?"... but I'm just not there with it yet and might never be.

But I don't think that's the fault of the product. I really think it's one of those things where what you get out of it is directly proportional to what you put in. However, you have to temper that with the fact that this is more suitable for a certain type of person and certain type of performance persona than for others.

Maybe it's a just me, but I don't see mentalism as being particularly appropriate for a "Haunted Hayride," anyway. Spooky magic, sure... but that's not necessarily mentalism per se, nor does it have to be. You'd probably get more mileage out of doing a Zombie Ball routine with a skull than, say, the Dracula Book Test. But that's just MHO.

That's kinda' what I was thinking. I've never done "Seance" magic, but it doesn't need to be much for this. I think its going to be more about the story telling that the actual execution of any effects. Thanks for the feedback!

Outlaw Effects also has some great mentalism pieces that lend themselves well to story telling. I have a few of them I got as payment for working on their website a while back. There are some old looking books with faded pages and torn cover that can tell the story of Jack the Ripper in London. It's supposed to be a "case book" of unsolved murder cases. With virtually no "fishing" (well, a little but it's well hidden) you can have someone turn to any page and without looking you can "read" everything about the case, who did it, how it was done, etc...

The only prop at all is the book itself. The rest is up to you and your acting abilities.

If you don't mind me asking, TheCaffeinator, what exactly are some effects that are possible with the card?

Did you ever hear of Mark Jenest's "MagiCard"? It's a faux credit card with four different prediction effects built into the graphics, text, and numbers on the card.

Sanctum 2 - Sanctuary is sort of an upscale version of the MagiCard best-suited for "eerie" mentalism (same sort of mood as many of the Outlaw book tests DaveV mentioned).

One side of the card looks like a membership card from some strange arcane "Illuminati"-type organization; there are a number of "possibilities" built into the text and graphics on that side of the card.

The "big" effect is that you ask the spectator a series of questions about a room which they create in their mind. After the spectator generates a "detailed" description of the imaginary room, you turn over the card and show that the entire back of the card is a painting of the exact room they have just thought up.

I just got this yesterday and I'm very happy with it. If you are looking to buy an effect you can do right out of the box, this isn't it. This will require some time and dedication on your part to perform well.

I don't mean that you need to practice like you would with a sleight of hand move, you need to work on your story telling and your mental forces to take the story where you want it.

I'll have lots of fun with this once I've had some time to work out a routine that fits what I want to do.