Mohamed Khaled - Astrum - [mentalistry]

Astrum “The sky is so tragically beautiful. A graveyard of stars” - Unknown

Performance: Performer: “Have you ever heard the phrase “Randomness is just an illusion”?

Participant: “No/Yes.”

Performer: “It means that nothing is random and everything we do, hear, or say somehow relates/connects to us in some way. I find this idea quite surreal but it’s true! Let me show you what I mean. When we were younger, information was much easier to stick in our minds, especially if it had a certain rhyme; You are probably familiar with lullabies and nursery rhymes such as the Itsy Bitsy Spider or Old MacDonald had a Farm, yeah?” (The participant agrees).

“Great! Can you get a couple of songs like these in mind… done?”

Participant: “I have a couple in mind.”

Performer: “From one of these songs, focus on one basic word (slight pause) something you can imagine and draw easily. Got something?” (The participant confirms that he/she has a word in mind).

“And this word is totally random, yes?” (The participant agrees).

“Actually, let’s test the randomness of this word. Does it have any common letters with…. say, your astrological sign? Do they have any letters in common? Yes or no? If yes, how many? 2, 3, 4?

(The participant takes a moment to think).

Participant: “No letters are in common.” Performer: “Really? That’s interesting because that is usually associated with someone who’s very individualistic, by that I mean you’re the kind of person who doesn’t go with the flow. You have this edge that forces people to treat you the way you want to be treated; consequently, you view most people as tools! Tools you can use to build your imagined grand future and that comes from the gift you have; the gift of seeing right through people. I believe lately you felt something about someone close to you and it appeared to be true, something negative, does that relate?” Participant: “Yes it does relate, massively.” (The performer smiles).

Performer: “Can you do me a favour and imagine your sign written in front of you (pause) and give me your hand please. Say each letter in your mind now (The Performer snaps his fingers, closes his eyes and after the a few seconds the Performer opens his eyes).

Performer: “Are you a Gemini?”

Participant: “YES!”

Performer: “I thought so! (Let this moment sink in). But can we go back to the picture that you were focusing on a minute ago, because I have this feeling that it has a very strong personal relevance to you and it’s not as random as we really thought! Draw it and really picture it in front of you (slight pause) Oh, now I see the connection and it’s not random at all!

“Be a 100% honest with me please because I am not asking, I am not guessing, I am telling you and I need your confirmation on this. In your life, in vital aspects of your life, you want to become this thing, yes?” (The participant smiles and agrees!)

“And if I am interpreting the connection clearly, I can confidently say that this focuses on your future more than anything else.” (The performer is a 100% correct).

“If this is how you really see your future then there’s something I’ve got to tell you, because I know now

(pause) it’s in you. And it’s this – you’ve got to stop burning yourself for others. Most of the time you give your feelings, energy, thoughts and effort to people who doubted and underestimated you. They don’t deserve you. I think you’ve had enough of it and now you have this clear, solid distance between those people, where they can see you, feel your presence but could never hurt you. I know you’re going to prove every single one of them wrong, aren’t you?”

Participant: “Yes, I will.”

Performer: “Life can have this quick-sand effect on almost all of us, so I’m going to write something for you to act as a simple reminder of what just happened.”

(The performer takes out a blank business card and writes something on it, then asks the participant to sign the back of it and to write today’s date. The card is folded and handed to the participant to keep).

“Opening this at the RIGHT time could possibly become a turning point in your life, so just when you feel it’s the right time and I promise you will, whether it’s a month or two, a year or two, open it then. And just then you will unleash its true powers.”

The force: This is a little piece of genius from Tomek Grudzinski’s mind; it’s insanely reliable. And he is JUST UNBELIEVBLE WHEN IT COMES TO PSYCHOLOGICAL FORCES, so all credit goes to him on this piece. You can find EVERYTHING and MORE about this piece in the interview I did with him, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ota8DZ7xz2E&t=533s

Put on your headphones and raise the volume. Enjoy! Apologies for the light, that annoying thing will disappear after min. 7

You are forcing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” then using very simple language to guide them to focus on our target word, which is STAR. Here’s how it should go in its basic form:

“I believe you’re familiar with some lullabies and nursery rhymes such as the Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old MacDonald had a Farm, yeah?” (The participant agrees) Get a couple of songs like these in mind… done?”

“Great! From one of these songs just focus on one basic word (slight pause) something you can imagine and draw easily” It’s pretty simple and straightforward. The songs you’re mentioning “as an example” you’re really eliminating them, such as the 3 in the 7 force – feel free to mention any others that you feel may be commonly thought of in

your experience. You could also use this piece as a standalone word reveal or a drawing duplication piece. ;)

The groups: Here’s how the word STAR divides the signs according to the amount of common letters given: Common letters

Signs

0

Leo, Gemini

1

Virgo, Pisces

2

Cancer, Capricorn, Libra and Scorpio

3

Aries, Aquarius

4 / “All of them”

Taurus, Sagittarius

You can clearly see that the moment they give you the amount of common letters you’re down to two signs! It’s insane, I know right?!! No throwing letters, no weird processes, no visualizing the animals, no nothing! They do all the work for you and once they give you the number of letters, you are home free.

Except when the amount is 2 letters you have 4 signs to work with but don’t worry I’ve got you covered, believe me. You will need to memorize the amounts and which signs they connect to. I will detail how to nail the exact sign in a later section.

Readings based on connection: What do you do when you have the amount of common letters? You give them a very simple reading based on how strong or weak the connection is. Here’s a simple scale and an example lead-in line for the zero letters in common scenario:

0

No connection “That is usually associated with someone who’s very individualistic, by that I mean you’re the kind of person who doesn’t go with the flow”

1

Weak, but it is there

2

There’s a connection!

3

A strong connection

4

A very strong connection

Nailing the exact sign: In this section you will find the best ways to nail and home in on the participants exact sign. Four ways are provided by two giants, Michael Murray and Peter Turner. All credits and thanks go to them for this section. (I am a very big fan!)

1. A verbal 2-way out by Pete - it can’t get any simpler than this, really. I first read it in Volume 1, Psychological Card Forces, from Pete’s Master Class. You can find it under the name of the “but then…” ploy. Let’s use the above performance as an example, where the participant is either a LEO or a GEMINI. It goes something like this when you’re at the moment of revealing the sign: “The moment we sat together I instantly felt that you were a LEO (pause for a reaction, if there’s none, continue with) but after spending a bit of time with you I am a 100% sure now that you are a GEMINI!” Simply put, you are throwing out one of the signs out then pausing to see the participant’s reaction. If they react, that’s it! If they don’t react, you continue by simply dismissing your false first impressions and nailing their exact sign. This ploy is perfect for the PISCES or VIRGO scenario.

2. Second out by Pete – ‘State one and write one’. It goes something like this, using the LEO and GEMINI example: “I am going to write something down so I am fully committed to it. (The performer writes something down on a business card and then stares

at the participant for a couple of seconds, and states) You’re not a Gemini, are you?” “No” “Good thing I committed to this, which sign is yours?” They say LEO, and of course you wrote down LEO. If they would say “YES” to the closed question, you would simply take the hit, let them react, and pocket what you just wrote down. 3. Here things will start to get DIABOLICAL thanks to Michael’s mind or at least a piece of it ;) I am talking about CUPs. It’s a really simple technique that is probably the closet to real mind reading! I will outline it in the simplest way I know how and for consistency’s sake we’re going to use the LEO or GEMINI scenario: “Can you do me favour and imagine your sign written in front you, and now say each letter in your mind” that’s it! If they finish this simple instruction really FAST, they are a LEO, if they take a BIT OF TIME they are a GEMINI because Gemini has more letters than Leo! Take a look at which cases you can apply the CUPs principle: • Leo, Gemini (0) • Aries, Aquarius (3) • Taurus, Sagittarius (4, all of them) Do you see what I am seeing? You’re 50% down to ONE sign without asking a SINGLE QUESTION! Or doing anything for that matter. For the Virgo/Pisces case I personally use the verbal 2-way out provided by Pete.

4. This last piece is provided to remedy the worst case scenario; it’s the best way to go, in my opinion. It’s a genius little subtlety from Michael’s most recent book

Isolation. Go and get all of Mr. Murray’s work now, he’s a brilliant genius. It’s called the letter placement ploy and this is how it works in our favour. The signs we’re working with, in this case, are: Capricorn, Cancer, Scorpio, and Libra (2). Your script is as follows when it comes to revealing one of the group above: “Please just imagine your astrological sign written in front of you and focus on the first letter for me (slight pause) Just to get your thoughts in order, can you, in your mind, tell the exact position of this letter in the alphabet?” IF THEY GIVE YOU AN INSTANT “YES” THEY ARE A CAPRICORN OR A CANCER. IF THEY SEEM TO BE STRUGGLING OR A BIT/CONFUSED, THEY ARE A LIBRA OR A SCORPIO. This works because the letter ’C‘ is in 3rd position of the alphabet so it’s INSTANTLY recognizable. And letters ‘S‘ and ’L‘ are somewhere buried in the middle. You’re now down to 2 signs and it doesn’t stop here. You could use the verbal 2-way out or you could use CUPs to nail the exact sign. If they are a Cancer or a Capricorn, I suggest using CUPs. In the Libra or Scorpio scenario I suggest the verbal 2-way out. A performance tip is that I like to put my hand on top of theirs while they are saying the letters in their mind. It makes more sense in that manner. 5. And, of course, you could incorporate the infamous ‘repeat it ploy’ within the structure of the routine.

The star reading: This is the part where you deliver a reading that can’t go wrong and you’re a 100% correct! Here’s how: Get a pen and paper and, in bullet points, describe EVERYTHING about a star and what it does. Then pick 3 or 4 points that feel best as a base/guideline for delivering a reading. Then find the best way to relate those points to yourself or to another human being. Here’s my own list of points and how I converted it into a failsafe reading: • • • • • •

Lights the way to other people I want to be a star (The best) Very far and very big You could see it but could never touch it Burning most of its life You see it’s small but it’s much bigger and much deeper ;)

And here’s my reading:

“Be a 100% honest with me please. I am not asking, I am not guessing, I am telling you and I need your confirmation on this. In your life, in vital aspects of your life, you want to become this thing, yes?” (The participant smiles and agrees!). “And if I am interrupting the connection clearly, I can confidently say that this focuses on your future more than anything else” (The performer is a 100% correct).

“If this is how you really see your future then there’s something I have to tell you, because I know now (pause) it’s in you. And it’s this; you have to stop burning yourself

for others. Most of the time you give your feelings, energy, thoughts and effort to people who doubted and underestimated you. They don’t deserve you. I think you’ve had enough of it and now you have this clear, solid distance between those people, where they can see you, feel your presence but could never hurt you. I know you’re going to prove every single one of them wrong, aren’t you?”

Participant: “Yes, I will”

You just have to sit down and see what suits your flow and rhythm in delivering a reading.

The fortune cookie: I honestly believe that this is the best way to close this, leaving them with something they will remember. Here is what’s written inside:

What I love about what’s written inside is that it’s not just another cold reading/Barnum statement. It’s a genuine HIT; the star. They will smile when they see it and read the whole message. Gerry Katzman suggested that you could have their name written inside for a more personalized message.

Recap: 1. The ‘Twinkle Twinkle’ force 2. Ask them to see the connection (amount of common letters) and then give them a simple reading based on how strong or weak the connection is 3. Nail their exact sign 4. The star reading 5. The fortune cookie

Psychological subtleties: These are really important subtleties that are sprinkled all over the routine that will make this effect virtually impossible to backtrack, psychologically speaking:

1. Before getting the amount of common letters I referred to what they are thinking of as a “word”. I actually mentioned the word “word” 3 times before getting the amount of common letters. 2.

NEVER say “star-sign”. Instead say “astrological sign”, “zodiac sign”, “your sign”.

3. After revealing their sign you will want to refer back to what they have in mind (Star) as a drawing or a picture instead of a word, thus throwing their mind off any letters and words. 4. The word “Star” is never written nor verbalized 5. The last subtlety is in the fortune cookie. The star is not written, it is drawn. Once again throwing them completely off any letters and words.

Additional idea: If you do any ESP work, you could force the star symbol, and then segue into the idea that ‘nothing is random’ and maybe this has some sort of personal connection to the participant. They give you the amount of common letters and you now have their sign in addition to the routine you’re already performing. You could really implement this idea in multiple ways. As long as you’ve got them thinking of “Star” your imagination is the limit.

A few final words: There you have it. This is Astrum, my take on the star-sign anagram that I found accidently. But I think the concept could be expanded and the concept is this: find a category then find a word when compared to the words in the category gives you everything you need. I am really not sure yet if there’s a certain pattern to follow in finding this “magical word” but I will keep digging and so should you.

I really hope you liked it, and if you did please leave a review. This “review” will act as if you’re personally telling me “Keep on going Mohamed, you have some good material, I like the way you do things, and I want it all!”

I really recommend that you genuinely start believing that randomness is just an illusion. Why? Because the method to this incredible piece was staring to all of us in the FACE since we’ve learned to read. STAR-sign ;)

This is my email: [email protected] I would love to hear from you, whether it’s about Astrum, mentalism, or anything at all. I live a pretty much boring life so I will typically reply instantly!

I leave you now with the amazing Adrien Lochon…

Mohamed Khaled 1/05/2020

MOHAMMED’S REJECTS The title of this effect is a little nod to my friend Mohammed Khaled, who I first got in touch with when he was asking for some feedback on a couple of ideas revolving around birthday and star sign divinations, which evolved into his Astrum birthday divination. When we started jamming I had a couple of ideas that he was quick to discard as they weren’t going into the direction he envisioned, but I thought they had some merit, so I kept playing around with them. Then I performed an early variation a few times at a walk-around gig and the whole thing felt really fluid and it got a better reaction that I thought it would. So I kept tweaking it here and there, and this is the result.

–1–

It is a neat little propless date of birth reveal that uses a couple interesting subtleties. We’ll dress this as a participant as mind reader experiment, where they try to guess our birthday and most likely fail, then we try it and — hopefully — succeed. This happens in 5 easy steps.

I don’t think we were born on the SAME month... but we’re CLOSE. With that in mind, focus on the month YOU were born in... and jump to the NEXT. In your mind, decide if you believe I was born on this month. If so, just keep focusing on this new month. If not, jump until you’re on the month you believe I was born… And give me a nod when you have a month in mind… Put some emphasis on the word “close” but hesitate a bit before you say it. We’re betting on the fact that the hesitation will make them feel we’re not on the very next month (or we wouldn’t have hesitated) and the fact that we state we’re “close” makes them not jump more than 3 times. When they nod, we genuinely don’t know how many times they jumped, but it’s pretty likely that they jumped either 2 or 3 times. This is deceptive on its own, but later we will add a layer by reframing this step to make it look like they could have jumped from month to month randomly and not necessarily in order.

–2–

Now, focus on the day of the month YOU were born in. I want you to add a number to this day... 10... or you can subtract... do you want to add or subtract? Ok, add and focus on this new number… What happens here is a very ambiguous language that, in all honesty, is at the very limit of being bold, almost to a point where it is obvious. It seems we’re giving them the choice to either add or remove 10 from the date. Later we will reframe so it looks as if we gave them the choice to add any random number and 10 was just an example. So, we know they’re thinking of a number either 10 below or 10 above their date.

Ok, so let’s recap. You started on your month and jumped randomly a number of times. I don’t know in which order you jumped, and I don’t even know how many times you jumped, so there's no way I could have nudged you in the direction I wanted. And the same goes for the day: you took your own date and either added or removed a random number that I have no way of knowing — I mean, to be fair, I do know it’s probably not 10, as I’ve used it as an example, but it still leaves a LOT of possibilities. So, since I know nothing, this was ALL you and your intuition... let’s see how well you did: what do you think is my date of birth? Here, we reframe both steps 1 and 2. We reframe step 1 by implying they could have jumped in any order. When we say this, they think they understood our instructions wrong: they understand now that although they jumped from month to month in order, they could have jumped randomly, which isn’t really true. Then we –3–

immediately state we don’t know how many times they jumped, which is sort of true. Then we reframe the second step by stating we asked them to add or subtract a random number to their day, and we even mention we don’t think they’ve added 10, as that’s the example we gave and people usually steer away from the example. This is, obviously, very false, but the language in the initial instructions is ambiguous enough so that this new reality makes sense in the mind of the participant.

If, by any chance, they’re right on their guess, it’s a miracle! If this ever happened to me, I think I would not guess their birthday and stop right here: it doesn’t get better than this. But in most cases, they’ll be wrong, and I don’t like to lie about my birthday because people can easily look me up. So, I admit they’re wrong, but then claim that someone important to me has his birthday a day or two away from whatever date the participant said. If the participant guessed September 17th, I could say something like:

Uh, no, I was born on March 5th. But my mom — with whom I share a very strong connection — was born on September 19th. Was it just coincidence, or is there something more going on here? I say this half joking, but I leave the door open for them to tell me what they think. Most people politely smile and find the coincidence sort of funny, but still just a coincidence. Another small note is not to forget to tell them your birthday. Although you’re going through all of this to ultimately guess their birthday, they think this is all about them guessing yours, so if you get to this point and tell them they’re wrong without giving them the correct answer and jump to you guessing their birthday, it feels a bit like off, almost like a setup — which it is. So, don’t forget to tell them your birthday, even if it means admitting they were wrong. –4–

So, we know the month they gave us is 2 or 3 months ahead of theirs and we know the exact day of the month. I like to use a simple hanging statement to get the month and quickly follow with the date. So, if they guessed my birthday was September 17th, I might say:

Were you born on June… No! July 8th? If they react after June, I simply follow with the day. If June gets no reaction after I pause, I correct myself and throw the second month, quickly followed by the day. I usually want to be a day off. This is mostly to distance myself from the day they guessed initially. If they say 17th and I say 7th, the dots are easier to connect. If they say 17th and I say 8th, the connection between the numbers is a bit less obvious.

This is a conversational piece that relies almost entirely on your ability to re-frame the process seamlessly and without hesitation. Deliver the script with confidence and don’t oversell it, and you have a surprising little piece of wonder at your disposal. Treat it carefully, study the script, the nuances and subtleties, and try it for yourself: you’ll see how fun this is to perform!

–5–